Cupcakes

Haley loves cupcakes, so yesterday we decided to make some. We went to the store and I let her pick out which ever mix and frosting she wanted. I did limit her to one mix because she was starting to put all of them in the basket.

She got to help pour the mix into the bowl.

And stir, which she loves to do.

And the best part of making cupcakes, licking the spoon after the batter has been poured.

After the cupcakes were baked, cooled, and iced, Haley got to put sprinkles on them.

Then it was time to eat them! The second best part of making cupcakes.

They were a little messy, but absolutely delicious..

6 Months

Emily Grace is now 6 months old! Surely time didn't go by this quickly with Haley, but it seems to have flown by with Emily.

She is now a pro at sitting up and sits this way most of the day. When she's not sitting up, she's usually in the jumper. The girl could jump all day if we let her. She's also rolling around all over the place.

She also loves helping out in the kitchen. She's been drooling and chewing on just about everything (including her bottom lip), so I am pretty sure that a few teeth might be popping out soon.

She has a great personality, always smiling or laughing. Emily absolutely loves her big sister and smiles whenever Haley walks into the room. She is such a fabulously easy baby girl and I can't believe how quickly the time goes. Before we know it, she'll be walking and talking!

A Vent

I need to vent for a moment. Somehow I got sucked into this ridiculous website yesterday where parents can write down their most flame-worthy opinions. Most of them were silly and petty and there were even a few things I can't believe parents would say. There was one that really got my attention.

"I think SAHMs (stay at home moms) set bad examples for their daughters and I am embarrassed to be around women who don't work."

This really got me fired up and I started thinking. I went to college to have a career. To be able to provide for the kind of life that I wanted. I never would have thought that I would end up staying at home with my kids. I always assumed that I wouldn't have the ability to stay home, that I would have to work. I saw how hard my mom worked (two jobs) just to be able to provide for my brother and I. I was just positive that when it came time, I would be working, the kids would be in day care, and it would not be the end of the world. This even happened for 8 months.

Then we got transferred here and there's not very many options for me to work, so it made more sense for me to stay at home. It may not be what I went to school for, but I work just as hard at home (if not more) as I would (and did) at a desk job. I may even like it more than my old job. I get to watch my kids grow up. I don't think that many desk jobs get benefits like that. I may not contribute financially like I had been in the past, but I like to think that I contribute in new ways now.

Being a stay at home mom may not have been my career of choice, but I enjoy it and hope that I can stay home with the kids until it makes sense for me to get back into the work force. I hope my girls are proud of me for being able to stay home. I hope that they don't think that I set a bad example for them. I hope that my staying at home with them gives them the love, support, and encouragement to show them that they can do whatever they want in life and that you can do something you never thought you would.

January

Just because it's January, doesn't mean it's cold in Key West! The other day we actually put Haley in her SWIMSUIT to help Zach wash cars. It seemed so un-natural to put her in it, but sadly, it was warm enough.

2 and 1/4

Haley is now over a quarter of the way into age 2. It is amazing to see how much she has developed in the past few months. A light bulb just seems to have gone off in her and she amazes us every day with something new.

~She loves to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She has the whole song memorized and sings it to herself before she goes to bed. It is seriously the sweetest thing ever!

~Haley is also learning her numbers, ABCs, and colors. She can count to 12 and usually skips the number 6. It's not that important anyways, right? She also enjoys singing her ABCs, which means a few skipped letters, but she seems to get better every time. We have letter and number magnets on the fridge and she's started taking them off to show us that she knows what letter or number she's got. She knows over half of her letters so far. Colors are also getting better. Orange used to be her go-to color, but now she gets her colors right every time!

~Zach and I have also been teaching Haley her name. She will tell us her name is Haley Hinten and will sometimes even spell Haley!

~Potty training is going well. No accidents in over a week!

~Her favorite phrases- "Come on now" (while laughing), "Look at me Emily", "Coochie coochie" (while tickling Emily)

It seems like she has learned so much in the past few months. What's next?!

Friends

Today the girls and I were playing in the living room and Haley put her arm around her sister and told me that she and Emily were friends. Melted my heart. I told her she and Emily will always be friends.

Good Start

2011 is already off and running! It seems like new things are happening just about every day now. So here is a little run down.

*Haley is doing very well with potty training. She has been accident free for two days now. A few times she'll say that she needs to go, walk over to her potty, sit on it, and go. We hope this keeps up!

*Haley has also taken to fixing things around the house with her magic wand. She's a big help!

*Emily is sitting up more and more! She can be on her own for almost 30 sec to a full minute now!

*The girls play together quite a bit. Haley loves putting Emily's burp cloth on her head and playing peek a boo with her. Emily just cracks up!

*My new year's resolution to get back into shape was off to a slow start, but I finally made my first trip to the gym this morning. Zach is so wonderful to watch the girls while I shape up!

*The girls also have a brand new cousin! Cousin Jude was born a few days ago and they can't wait to meet him!

We're only 10 days into the new year and so far so good!

Adventures In Potty Training

For the past four days, this has been the center of our world:
We knew it was time to start potty training Haley a few months ago. She has been sitting on her potty and going. She's also fighting getting her diaper changed. Our original goal was to start after the girls and I got back from Texas in early December, but Zach's schedule wasn't all that cooperative, so we waited until the new year. What a way to kick of 2011!

We didn't really have that much of a strategy going into it. Day 1, we sat Haley on the potty every 15 minutes (which she didn't particularly enjoy in the afternoon) and she got to wear her "big girl underwear" all day. There were only two accidents and about five successful trips to the potty. I'd call it a success. On day 2, we extended her potty sessions to every 30 minutes and there were no accidents! Hooray! Day 3 was a little difficult. We decided to let her go bare bottom to see if she would start telling us when she needed to go, before she had to go. Sort of putting the ball in her court. She told us twice "pee pee" and then successfully went in the potty. Another time she said "poo poo" and we hurried her to the potty, but it didn't happen. Then we found it on the ground. I won't go into details. This happened twice.

Now here we are at day 4. I am hoping that Haley will get better about telling us before she has to go. I'm pretty sure that this is the key to it all. I have to say, potty training is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Somewhere in my mind, I thought since she was already used to going on her potty, that this would be a breeze. It's just going to take more time than I thought it would. But I know that she'll catch on.

Haley gets so excited when she realizes that she's gone potty in the potty. She goes, "OH!" and it's so sweet. And she loves wearing her big girl underwear. She already looks like such a big girl in them.