My Memories

While I am visiting my sister and her new baby I thought that I would continue to blog.  I thought it might be a little more difficult without my muse by my side, but I thought that being around a newborn baby I would be inspired to write about Haley's birth and first weeks on earth.

That has not been the case.

I am thoroughly enjoying the time that I have with my sister's baby. 

She is so tiny. She is so soft. She is so entertaining.

I enjoy watching her sleep. She is very animated while she sleeps, she makes a lot of faces and a lot of noises.  When she is awake she is just as entertaining.  I find myself just staring at her whenever I have the chance.

My sister has been asking me questions about babies, but it has been a long time since I have been around babies.  I don't think I have been much help.

What surprises me is that whenever I do remember what it was like to have a baby, to be around a baby, it is my first daughter that I remember.  I start to tell a story and I realize that it was Haley's Big Sis that was the subject of my memory.  I tell my story and then I sit and try to remember what it was like with Haley at the same age. 

I can't.

I do remember some things about when Haley was a baby though.

I remember Haley's birth.  I remember that she was tiny.  I remember that it was hard to find clothes for her that she didn't just swim in. 

I remember the fact that she had a hard time learning how to nurse.  I remember going to the doctor and finding out that she had lost weight.  I remember that we had to feed her with a syringe.  We had to wake her up every two hours to do that, if we hadn't she would have slept through the night and at that age that is not a good thing. 

I remember crying a lot. 

I remember worrying. 

I remember I loved to hold her.  She was so tiny.  She was so soft.

I remember that I wanted her to be my baby forever. 

I kind of got my wish.

Cats, Cows, and Dogs

The last two weeks while Haley's Mom is off enjoying time with our new niece I've taken Haley to yoga. The first week I carefully sat on the chair and watched. Haley's instructor finally encouraged me into getting on the mat and sharing yoga with Haley.

I've never done yoga before. Would I be able to control my body the way the instructor and Haley do? I was apprehensive at first.

On the floor I went about moving my body into positions and shapes I'd never tried before. I was of course a bit awkward at it but I had fun and by the end of the first session I had become a pro. I could do Cat, Cow, and Dog as good as Haley!

This week I walked in and asked if I could join in from the start. The instructor said sure and we got started. She'd coach Haley and I into the various poses through warm up, and into stretching.

Then it started.

The instructor decided I could do more advanced stuff. She'd coach Haley then she'd say "Dad, do what Haley is doing and add X" Usually X was lifting a leg, or not supporting my weight with my arms. What had started out as innocent fun with Haley was turning into work.

Yoga felt good. Even with the extras.

At the end of the session the instructor let Haley take the papers we were using as our list of poses home. Haley was pretty excited. She ran into the house with the papers not stopping to remove her shoes. She HAD to show her Big Sis what she does at yoga. She went into her undecipherable jabber pointing at each page with great excitement. Big Sis understood just what Haley was saying.

Yoga is fun. I can't wait for next week.

Kleenex

Haley's Dad here. As Haley's Mom mentioned she is off visiting our newly arrived niece so I have the pleasure of holding down the fort at home. You'll hear from me a few times over the next few weeks as I keep things humming along.

Before Haley's Mom left we went over things that I don't deal with as much as she does. I'm familiar with the afternoon routine as I often will take care of that side of things if Haley's Mom is busy. The morning routine I'm not as familiar with as I'm generally in my office hard at work while most of it takes place. I had to get the run down on timing, numbers of bowls of cereal, bus arrival, hair, and many other things.

Our first morning went well. We were right on time and I was busy with assembling Haley's lunch. The next thing I know Haley hops up from breakfast and walks over to the side board behind the kitchen table. What could she be doing? Did she leave a horse over there? I'm not used to her visiting that part of the house by herself.

Haley proceeded to open one of the drawers and pull out a Kleenex. She wadded it a bit and put it up to her nose and blew. I stood there with my jaw on the floor. I've never seen her blow her nose unless she is prompted (i.e. during colds when we hand it to her). She continued to blow until all of the overnight crud was out.

I thought, wow, how cool! Great, she knows how to blow her nose! I'm impressed!

Then she promptly tossed the used Kleenex on the floor.

Sigh.

The second day went much better with the Kleenex. She again retrieved her Kleenex but this time headed for the living room where she sat on the couch. She blew her nose and carefully set the Kleenex on the table. Improvement!

Maybe tomorrow we'll work on getting the Kleenex all the way to the garbage can.

Amy. Nola. Kisses.

My sister had her baby.  Her name is Nola. 

I am on my way to meet her.

I didn't tell Haley I was leaving.  I packed quietly.  I don't know if she really noticed. 

I did ask her to draw on a piece of fabric that my Mom will be making into a quilt for Nola.  She enjoyed the project and she wanted her square hung on the refrigerator. 

I had taken it down to pack it last night and this morning she wanted to know why.  I explained to her that I was taking it to Grandma so that she could make the quilt.

My husband may have told her where I was going.

This morning as I was putting a few things together Haley came up to me and started talking.  I didn't really focus on what she was saying at first, it took me a moment to realize what she said.

She said, "Amy.  Nola.  Kisses."

I told her that I would give Amy and Nola kisses for her.  She smiled, turned and walked away.

Our Little Beach House

Last week was Spring Break.  We went to "Our Little Beach Town" and stayed in "Our Little Beach House."

We have rented a little house on the beach four times now.  The first time we did was truly wonderful.  It was when the girls were small and we had stayed at a hotel at the beach before, but hotels were tricky with Haley.  Haley doesn't like to be confined and at that age she didn't like to sit still in restaurants.  A couple of days in a tiny hotel room eating out for every meal was not a vacation.  It was a trial.

We rented this little house that has two bedrooms and a fenced backyard.  The backyard was basically a fenced sandbox.  I could cook in the kitchen and watch out the window as the girls played in the sand.  It was really nice because the house was small, but just big enough.

We have stayed there enough that the girls are accustomed to it.  They like to spend time on the beach and also in the house.  This time was very relaxing for me, not only because I forgot my cell phone at home, but also because everyone else seemed relaxed.  There was no hurry to do anything, no real plan.

We did go for a hike to a waterfall.  Haley doesn't really like to hike.  I had to basically drag her and listen to a chorus of  "Yukon.  House.  Yukon.  House.  House!  House!"  About a third of they way toward the falls, which was a mile and a half hike, Haley stepped over a root in the trail and said "Good Job!"  I praised her as well, after that she was a little more into it. 

She liked the falls when we got there, she does appreciate the beauty of nature, but she was done.

Her Dad and her Big Sis went down to the bottom of the falls, but we got stopped by a log across the trail.  I tried to get her to duck under it, but she put up quite a fight.  I asked her if she wanted to turn around and go back to the truck.  She said "Yeah."  I knew she meant it.  We couldn't go back fast enough for her.  Soon after we turned back it started raining and we were soaked by the time we got back to the Yukon.  We didn't have to wait long for her Dad and Sister.  Haley did admit it was fun.

We also went to the Aquarium.  In the past this has been a problem.  Haley doesn't like the Aquarium.  I don't really know why, but my guess is that she doesn't like it because it is not the Zoo.  The first time we went there when she was very small she cried and said "Giraffe."  She threw herself down on the pavement and had a fit.  Then next time we went she started crying as soon as we pulled in to the parking lot.  That was not a nice visit to the Aquarium.  The last time we went to the beach, Haley and her Dad stayed behind.  We decided not to even take her there.

This time Haley's Big Sis really wanted to go, she suggested that Haley was older and may have grown out of it.  We also talked about reversing our normal trip through and starting at the "end."  We ate lunch first so that she wouldn't want to go to the Cafe.

When we got there Haley seemed a bit agitated and we had to stand in a little line, I started to be concerned.  Then after we got in she bee-lined for the Cafe.  I reminded her that we had just eaten, but you know how she can eat.  We went in to the Aquarium and headed for the end.  That strategy seemed to work pretty well.  There is a gift shop at the end however and she didn't want to leave it without buying something.  I convinced her that she would get a chance to shop at the big Gift Shop before we left.

We wanted to watch the feeding of the sea lions so we timed our trip through the exhibits so that we ended up there at the right time.  The viewing area is very small and there were quite a few people standing around trying to watch.  I could tell that Haley couldn't really see what was happening so I tried to get her to get closer.  Her sister pulled her up to the window and she just stood there.  She is really tall, so I was sure she was blocking the view for most everyone.  I tried to get her to sit down and watch.  She finally sat down facing away from the sea lions.  She was very frustrated and I was worried that everyone was going to get upset with me so I asked her if she wanted to go to the gift shop. 

I knew the answer to that question.

When we arrived Haley picked up a map of the Aquarium.  Haley loves maps.  She also walked right by the gift shop, so she knew it was there.  I didn't let her go in.  I told her that we would go in just before we left, at the end of the day.  She had been pointing to the map the whole time we were at the aquarium  saying "shop."

She said "Yeah!"

I told her Dad where we were going and we headed to the gift shop.  She was happy to be shopping.  Eventually when Haley's Dad and sister showed up we decided to leave.  We all wanted to stop at the restroom before getting back in the car.  Haley was not happy.  She still wanted to shop.  She wanted to buy.  She was getting upset. 

I said "You can buy one thing.  What one thing would you like?" 

She put up one finger, "one," she said. 

"Yes," I said, "One."

"One Sea Lion."

"OK, we will go back to the gift shop and you can get one sea lion."

Then she was happy.

I told her Dad that she wanted "one sea lion" and we went back to the gift shop.

Haley's sea lion made all kinds of noise on the drive back to the house.  It made noise all the way home the next day.  Haley's sea lion has been going to school in her backpack.  Haley's sea lion has a friend, a sea turtle, I have no idea where it came from, but that is another story.

Where is Haley?