Cave Trekking, Carb Loading, and Play Spectating at 43 Weeks (Almost 10 Months)

Dear Hailey, 

You've been with us almost 10 months. In fact, you've been alive for about 26 million seconds and last night you slept the longest stretch of sleep in your whole life: 7 hours! This is looking good. You've been waking up about 2 times each night and as a result, I'm better rested, less grumpy, and more motivated overall. I blame myself for not taking advantage of the long stretch of sleep, and instead watched another episode of OISNB, but even if my longest stretch was 4 hours, I still feel pretty well rested. Let's hope this trend continues. 

I'm not sure what caused this, but for 2 days, I just followed your schedule and I let you sleep as late as you want. The books advise to wake up at a certain time, but I decided to just let you catch up on sleep as much as possible, even if it meant a 9 pm bedtime. Or, it could've been because we went swimming. In fact, all the kids slept in later today until 8:00. 

I know sleep is so important, that's why I stress so much. These past few days you are getting in between 13 and 14 hours of sleep, which is ideal. When you do get at least 13 hours, you are happier, giggle, and just more interactive.

 9 Years and a week ago, Mommy and Daddy got married. We celebrated at home with you guys. Hannah was the photographer for the following picture:

 Hailey is preferring table food more now. You especially like carbs. Pasta, bread, tortillas are all your favorite. You also enjoy some softer meats and peas. Girl, you love peas!

 This past week has been hot! I think the record high was 110 degrees. We decided to drive to longhorn Caverns to let you guys experience a cave. It was nice and cool down there.

Before our tour, we climbed up a tower to see the state park area.

 This is the entrance to the cave.

 The queen's dog, which is supposedly a natural formation.

 And a tiny little bat. I think it's the second smallest species of bats in the world. The guy described it as a burnt chicken nugget. You guys thought that was pretty funny.

 Hailey was pretty much asleep for most of the tour.

You both did really well in the cave and for the most part, did a good job staying focused and not complaining. On the way back out of the cave (last 15 minutes of the tour) the whining started to become more apparent. Luckily, we parked close and were able to get out quickly. 

On Monday I pretty much made Hannah's day when I cut a watermelon in half and gave it to you with a spoon stuck inside. You looked at it with your eyes so wide and asked, "This is all for me?!?!" 

Nathan, who doesn't even like watermelon saw it and wanted one so you could make a bowl out of it. 

 On Tuesday morning, we went to another Austin library to watch a play that we didn't get to see a month ago: If wishes were fishes. This was a very nice library with a great selection of books. It seems like we got the short end of the stick when it comes to libraries. The shelves at our library are usually only half filled with books and if I am ever wanting a specific book, I have to reserve it on-line. Lame. Well, ours is closing for a year for renovations starting next month, so maybe we'll see an improvement.

Hailey, you pretty much woke up on Monday a chatty little girl. Hannah, it looks like you have another sibling who loves to talk. Sorry.

 The big kids sat up front and giggled, and laughed for the 45 minute show. Hailey took a quick snooze during the show.

Yesterday, some friends joined us at our neighborhood pool. Hannah is now tall enough to touch the bottom of the pool! This is a pretty cool milestone because now this means you will be even more comfortable in the water and not as clingy. 

 This morning I introduced you guys to the crayon sharpener. Who knew sharpening crayons could be so much fun! All of our crayons are in great shape right now. We actually saved the shavings and put them outside to see if they will melt into a new rainbow crayon.

Today we went to AMD to visit Daddy at work. We get our usual pizza, quesadillas and Philly cheesesteaks with sides of onion rings and tater tots.

 Afterwards, we went down to the arcade to play for a bit. Nathan, your skee-ball game has improved greatly! The adults who were also playing made a comment about how you are even better then them. And Hannah, your arm is getting stronger so your balls are now actually getting you points. Keep it up girl!

This week we are still working on using our words. Hannah is still defaulting to screaming when things don't go your way, but we are slowly trying to help you understand that screaming is just going to make the adults be annoyed. I have noticed that you guys are not showing a lot of empathy, and I think it comes from me being more "cold" to you guys especially when you are hurt or sad. I am actually trying to show more empathy, acknowledging how you feel and asking if you need help calming down.

As a result of me being more empathetic and just more patient in general, I have found that Hannah, you've been saying "OK" more often as opposed to "NO!" I really need to remind myself that Hannah, you really are a pretty reasonable kid. I just need to take the time an work through ideas with you.

With Hailey, I have finally figured out a good groove. Once I realized that you are a slightly different breed of baby compared to your older brother and sister, and figured out your specific needs (rather than trying to make you fit in with what worked with Nathan and Hannah) things got a bit better.

Well, we are going to have an exciting 2 weeks ahead with visitors, and then after one more week, Nathan will be starting Kinder. Crazy!

Well, until next week,
Love,
Mommy