Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Playing video catch-up

Prepare for a long post. Despite the pain in my butt that is video editing, rendering, and uploading, we will now be all caught up on the past 3 months of Hayley's life. Unfortunately, we weren't actually recording for those 3 months. You may notice a significant age gap between the first 4 videos and the rest. Miranda and I were too busy taking pictures. Silly mommy and daddy. We are doing are best to bust out the video camera as often as the regular camera now, so hopefully I'll get to post even more as time rolls on. Anyway, let's get started.


Still in the hospital, this was our first video update since the night of Hayley's birth. Our lives had drastically changed in just 2 days. Each of us was both overjoyed and exhausted.


2 more days later and it was time to go home. This video is actually multiple clips put together, much like the birth videos in the previous post. I was able to just get it within the YouTube time limit, so I didn't have to split it into 2 parts. I think my favorite part of this is the ceremonial placing of the Baby On Board sign.


Here we are 3 days after going home from the hospital, celebrating Hayley's 1 week of age. The highlight was capturing her smile on camera for the first time.


I think this is the next day. Hayley is enjoying her inaugural time in the bouncy chair. This kid knows how to relax. We get the first on-camera yawns. This video would have been much more entertaining if she had still been hiccupping by the time I was recording. Oh well.


So here is the big gap I mentioned. Hayley is about 11 weeks older than in the last video and it shows. Not only is she much bigger and more developed, she's talking! No, not really talking, just baby babble, but it's still awesome. Luckily she hasn't outgrown that bouncy chair yet.


Here we finally got Hayley snoring on camera. This is something we've been delighted by for weeks. You might have to turn up the volume for this one. I like to call it "sawing twigs".


Something else we have been loving for a while, now digitally immortalized: Hayley waking up and stretching in the morning. Over the last month, Miranda and I have managed to settle Hayley into a bedtime routine. Now that she has grasped the day/night cycle, Hayley is sleeping for at least 8 hours a night without waking up. Not only is this a HUGE help for everyone's health and sanity, but it means we all get to happily wake up together on weekends. The best part is watching Hayley stretch her little limbs after being swaddled all night.


Another video from that morning. Cuteness all around. That day (May 25th) marked 3 months since bringing our beautiful daughter home from the hospital.


Lastly, here we have the latest Hayley development: true giggling. She had actually been giggling for about a minute before the video starts. We weren't expecting it and the camera was not close at hand. Still, we caught some, and it's the greatest sound I have ever heard.

It seems like each day, week, and month that comes brings new and better things. Parenthood is quite the undertaking, but the rewards are priceless. I can't wait to see what my baby girl does next. Hopefully, the camera will be nearby.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Videos! (yes, really)

Hayley turned 3 months old yesterday. To celebrate, I finally got off my lazy butt and edited the videos we took of her birth (and the 2 days leading up to it). I put the 10 videos together into one big movie, but the total running time of 16 minutes is too long for YouTube, so I had to split it up. Here they are, parts 1 and 2 of our beautiful daughter's entry into this world:





We've got plenty more videos to post, so hopefully I can start cranking them out.

Friday, May 15, 2009

And I love every little inch of you


This afternoon Geoff took Hayley to the doctor's office for a weight check. She seemed to be putting on weight at a healthy rate and her clothes have been getting tighter and tighter so I've been really curious to see how much she's grown in the last 4 weeks since we took her in for her 2 month check up. At that time she weighed 11lbs 4oz.

Today, she's a whopping 14lbs 4oz! That's 3 whole pounds in just 4 weeks!

Slow down, baby girl. Mama's not quite ready for you to grow up.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

My First Mother's Day


All I wanted for Mother's Day was to spend a nice day with my family. Lucky for me, Geoff is a great husband so I got that and more.

The day started with Hayley letting us all sleep in until about 9a.m. One thing I love about the weekends is how we all wake up in our bed together. Within a few minutes of Hayley stirring (she's the dictator in this household) all 3 of us are stretching and yawning in sync. I love looking over to see this beautiful little girl between me and my husband.

Once Hayley was fed we all got up and ready to go the farmer's market. Before we left, Hayley and Geoff gave me a few cards and gifts. There may have been some tears due to the cards. Hayley got me some chocolates and Geoff remembered that there was this scarf at Nordstrom that I really liked because it was pink and green and reminded me of Hayley.

After changing into something that matched my new scarf better we stopped at Starbucks before heading to the market. We've been spending our Sunday mornings like this for a few weeks now and I must say it's quickly become one of my favorite parts of the week. We take some time to just relax and stroll around while looking at new, fresh and interesting foods and crafts. There is also a baby store that we visit each time that is owned by a former San Jose Sharks player and his wife. They have a one year old daughter who sometimes runs the shop with her mommy while her daddy, who is also a musician, plays his guitar outside. This Sunday seemed to be Hayley's day because she ended up leaving the market with 2 books about a turtle named Zonk by a local artist, a headband and a pink sun hat.
Doesn't she look like she's about to tell you your fortune? And you may not be able to see, but her shirt says "I'm Mommy's Dream Come True". Indeed.

Afterwards we went to my mom's house to wish her a happy Mother's Day and give her a present. The gift was appreciated, sure, but she really felt much like I did on that day: Hayley is by far the best gift we could have ever been given.

Eventually Margaret and Kelley came over and we all headed to the mall with Kati with a mission: find Kati a prom dress! I love looking at special occasion dressed and it was extra special to get to see my little sister look so beautiful in all of the dresses she tried on. We only had to go to 2 stores before finding THE dress. Kati's boyfriend, Matt, is going to be one lucky guy to have her on his arm that evening.

We had a bite to eat before leaving the mall and then called it a night. Once home, I gave Hayley a bath (which is the highlight of most of my days).

While I gave her her bedtime bottle Geoff went to pick us up some ice cream. Once Hayley fell asleep we moved her into our bed where I lay down beside her to go to sleep while Geoff rubbed my feet. To top it off, Hayley didn't wake up until I woke her at 6:15 Monday morning!

I just want to thank Geoff and Hayley for making me a mother and for making my first Mother's Day special. You both are my everything. I love you.