Thanksgiving!

Shaun and I have so much to thankful for this year, and Thanksgiving was another wonderful opportunity to take the time and thank God for the many blessings he has given us. But Thanksgiving was not the only thing we celebrated this past Thursday; it was also Shaun's birthday! And considering how thankful Lillian and I are for him I do not think that his birthday could have fallen on a more appropriate day. Shaun does so much for our family and hope that he knows how much I appreciate and adore him.

But back to thanksgiving fun... after a very yummy lunch at Meme's house Shaun took Lillian up stairs to put her down for her afternoon nap. 10 minutes passed, and then 30 minutes, and then 45 minutes. It never takes that long to put her down, so I thought that I should go upstairs and check on them. Lillian was asleep, and right there all cuddled up beside her was Shaun. I guess they both needed a little afternoon nap. It was so cute! After my two sleepy heads woke-up we got our stuff together and went over to my grandparents house for round two of turkey and stuffing. By the time we got home that night I think both Shaun and I had gained all of my baby weight back.

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving festivities!



Granddaddy John, Nunu , Lillian and Eli


Me and Alli loving on Lillian and Eli





just hanging out with Mark


Lillian loves her Meme! Such big smiles!


Shaun and Lilian taking a little Thanksgiving nap...

Birthday Date Night!

This year Shaun's birthday falls on Thanksgiving day, so I wanted to make sure that I made time for us to celebrate it so it would not get lost in all of the fun festivities. So we decided to take some time for ourselves last night and go on a date! It was our first date in over six months! To be honest, we could not even remember the last time that we had a eaten out together with without juggling a baby or running to the bathroom in between bites to feed Lillian. So we were very grateful that Alli and Korey were willing to watch Lillian, along with their new little man, while Shaun and I went to Bonefish for a nice dinner. As much as we love our little girl, and as hard as it is for me to leave her, sitting there last night made both of us realize how important it is that we take time to just be with one another. We are definitely going to make more of an effort to do just that.

I will say though that I really missed little hands grabbing things off of the table while we ate. And Shaun did drive a little faster than he usually does on the way home.

Just a little Shopping

Shaun has been off this week so I have been taking a break from blogging about our adorable child to spend some much needed time with him. But right now Lillian is taking her morning nap and Shaun is mapping out our game plan for our shopping extravaganza this afternoon. So I thought that I could sneak away and update Lillian's blog.


After a very busy weekend Shaun and I have just been trying to relax and lay low before all of the Thanksgiving craziness tomorrow. Yesterday after Lillian woke-up at 6:30 we managed to get her to cuddle with us and we all went back to sleep until 8:30!! I know that is the latest that Shaun has slept in a long time, so I was happy that he could just relax. But we couldn't lay all cozy in the bed all day because we had a full afternoon of Christmas shopping for Lillian!! The great thing about shopping for a 6 month old is that you can buy their presents right in front of them and they have no clue! I don't think that will be the case next year, so we totally took advantage of it this year. After Shaun just about bought out Toys-R-Us out, we went over the Galleria to see Santa Clause. But once we got there we decided to try Brookwood Mall's Santa sometime next week. The Santa at the Galleria was a little rough looking and I was not willing to let my child sit on his lap underneath his tobacco stained beard. Sorry Santa.


Here a few pictures from our trips to Toys R Us and the mall!


we got one of the last TWO of these! I was ready to fight for it!





some of Lillian's x-mas presents....

just stretching our legs...

hanging out in her stroller

Tells of public breastfeeding....

Let me be the first to say that I always try to be considerate about where I breastfeed and who I am breastfeeding in front of. I often resort to a bottle in public or in front of company, but that just leaves me feeling guilty for giving her formula. I know that most people feel like even though breastfeeding is a natural wonderful way to nourish your child they still would rather you do it behind closed doors. And God knows that I have always tried to find a place to do that. I have feed Lillian in the back seat of my car in random parking lots, in restaurant bathrooms, and in half of the dressing rooms at the Galleria. But the thing is that when you are out in the world and your child needs to eat you just feed them. Even if that means giving the Boardwalk Fries man and a few other strangers a little peep show because your six month is determined to pull at the blanket that you have oh so conveniently draped across your shoulder. That happened to be the case today anyway while we were downtown at The Market. While my sister managed to not only discreetly but elegantly get her son to latch on and have a quite meal, I fought with Lillian as she tried to expose me to the world. The bigger she gets the harder she is to hide under a blanket when she needs to eat; which brings us to the "Hooter Hider". It is basically exactly what it says that it is, a stylish giant drape that will hide you and your hungry child from the rest of the world. But until I can bring myself to buy one-they are almost $50 bucks- I guess that I will just have to stick to feeding Lillian in back alleys and public bathrooms.

The Market!

Today Lillian, Eli, Aunt Alli and I went downtown to the BJCC for The Market! It is put on by the Junior League of Birmingham, and all proceeds go to different charities. After having a hard time finding a place to park, and ultimatly parking illegally, we basically had to run to the BJCC to escape the freezing wind! We had a lot of fun walking around and checking out all of the different vendors. There was so much cute stuff! I think the most exciting part about going to the market was how we got there.... in my NEW car! That's right, Shaun and I bought a black Chrysler Pacifica with optional third row for that optional third child later on down the road. It makes driving kids and all of their stuff around so much more enjoyable. I thought that if I had to bend down and put Lillian in the car one more time that I was going to break my back! Believe me our chiropractor bill would have been more expensive than our car payment.

"You've Reached Shaun and Melissa..."

This afternoon with Lillian playing in the office and me checking email, I noticed that we had two new messages on our machine. When I pressed the play button Lillian's eyes lit up to the sound of the automated voice. She started smiling and laughing every time she heard him say "you have two new messages" or "message deleted". I had to play and re-play our messages over and over for her. It was so cute! Tonight when we got home I was excited to see that we had a new message just so I could show Shaun. It is funny though, because she could care less about the voice of the person leaving the message, but she can't get enough of Mr. Bill's voice. That's right people, I named the automated voice on our machine. I thought that it would be better for Lillian if I gave the voice a name. Lillian, Eli, Aunt Alli, and I are going to The Market at the BJCC tomorrow, so hopefully when we get home there will be a couple of messages for Mr. Bill to tell us about.

A Visit with Dr. Walley

Today was Lillian's six month check-up with our favorite pediatrician Dr. Walley! Here are the highlights-

weight: 15 lbs 15oz
length: 26.75 inches
head circumference: 16 inches

She is in the 95 percentile for her height, the 50 percentile for her weight, and the 25 percentile for her head circumference. Dr. Walley said that she was long and lean! Lean is not exactly the word that pops into my head when I see our chunky monkey undressed, but I was just glad to hear that she was growing and healthy. Not only did Dr. Walley measure and weigh her, he also did a few things to test Lillian's cognitive skills and her physical development. She really impressed us, and he told me that Lillian's "physical and cognitive skills are more mature than the average six month old." He said that she was on the level of a eight month/nine month old baby! I know that it really does not mean much that she is ahead of the game right now, but it sure does make Shaun and I feel like we are doing the right things as parents.

The doctor was not all fun though, Lillian had to get 4 vaccinations and the flu shot. One of the vaccinations was an oral one, but the others were shots. She got 4 shots total, and I cried right along with her. The doctor's office always wears Lillian out so I think that we are going to spend the rest of the night cuddled up on the couch with Daddy and Chinese food.

Splish Splash!

Bath time is one of my favorite times with Lillian. She absolutely loves taking baths and and gets so excited when you say "Lillian it is time for a bath!". Here is a little video of Lillian taking her bath and just jabbering away.

Six Months!!

We started this morning with lots of family cuddles in bed and cinnamon rolls! Right now Lillian is snuggled up on the couch watching Auburn football with her Daddy. Our weekend started early, with Shaun taking off of work Friday so that he could go with us to have Lillian's six month pictures made. That's right, our sweet little girl is already six months old!! I just cannot believe that it has been six months already. God has blessed Shaun and I so much over the past year and half. First with a wonderful marriage, and then with Lillian who just simply stolen our hearts. She has enriched every part of lives, and we are truly better people because of her. She has changed so much since the day we brought her home from the hospital. In the past six months Lillian has rolled over-front and back, she is sitting up all on her own, eating some baby foods, talking up a storm, understanding how to play and interact with her toys, and knows that just because you hide a toy under a blanket that it is still there ( that last one is a real developmental milestone). And everyday we are seeing more and more of her personality as it develops.


watching football with Daddy- WAR EAGLE!

Here are some of her Six Month pictures:

Can I go back to work yet??

Believe me, I know how blessed I am to be able to stay at home with our daughter and not have to work right now. But there are those days, like today, when I am ready to enroll her in the first daycare that I come across and head back to the work force. Needless to say it has been a long day at the Hays home. Thank God I have my sister Alli. I don't know what I would do without her. She was brave enough to take on my little monster and try to get her to go down for a nap this afternoon. It kind of worked. It worked for twenty five wonderful minutes anyway. Shaun just got home and he told me that I could have a 30 minute "time out" to relax or do whatever I wanted. THIRTY MINUTES!! I need like two or three hours; happy hours. You know the kind of hours that involve wine, beer, a mixed drink or two-usually half off. And some how I find myself using my precious thirty minutes to make a blog entry; go figure. The sad thing is that even now, while I am taking my time out, I am missing her and am jealous that Shaun is getting to feed her dinner. I know that there will always be days like this one. But we get through them, and we pray for a better tomorrow. And in the morning when Lillian and I are cuddled up on the couch, her dozing in my arms, I will kiss her and quietly thank God for those priceless moments.

Baby's Best Friend

Lillian has had a love affair with Moxie ever sense she was old enough to really be aware of her. She yells at Moxie whenever she walks by, and grabs at her nose and ears all the time. Moxie is such a good sport and really seems to love Lillian right back; just with a little less intensity.

Here comes Santa Clause...

Today Alli and Eli came over to take pictures of Lillian for our family Christmas card. She was in a great mood today and totally flirted with the camera the whole time. She is such a little ham, and has so much personality. I posted some of the pictures that we took today, but I did not put any of the ones we are using for the card. I want those to be a surprise!!








don't you love the chip clip? the hat was a little big..


she thought the raindeer antler were a tasty

Shopping with Babies!

Today while the hubby's worked, Alli and I took the babies and went out for a little Saturday shopping. We went to Short-n-Sweet in Homewood and got Lillian and Eli some really cute stuff. I love that store, and they always have cutest things. We also went to Toys R Us and got Lillian a new Combi stroller. She loves it, and it is so much easier to deal with than her big Graco one. After getting the kids some cute clothes Alli and I thought that the mommy's really deserved some new clothes too. Shopping with two babies can be really interesting. You pretty much spend your entire trip trying to maneuver your stroller through the stores, breastfeed in the dressing rooms, and deal with the exploding diaper that of course will happen when there is no where to change them. I would not trade any of it though. Well, maybe the exploding diaper thing. I could live without that part.


Eli took a ride in Lillian's stroller.




playing on the floor of the dressing room in GAP


riding in her new stroller and loving it!


sam dog riding between Lillian and Eli ...he was on his way to see Moxie for a play date.

Eli came over for a play-date this morning while Alli went to visit the dentist, and he and Lillian had so much fun together. Here are a few pictures of them hanging out in her crib. And then there is one of her from yesterday where Lillian is rocking out mine and Shaun's "I Voted" stickers. Turns out that they frown on you trying to take a picture of your daughter at the polls with your voting ballet in one hand and a pen in the other. I wanted it to look like she was voting. A mom has to capture these precious moments. The volunteers did not understand that.

My Granddaddy is a Councilman!

Last night Lillian's Granddaddy was sworn in as the newest Hoover City Councilman. We were all so proud of him and were excited that we could be there to support him. Lillian had a lot of fun looking around at all of the people, and playing with her cousin Eli. After the council meeting we all went Aldridge Gardens for the reception. Lillian is so proud of her Granddaddy!!


Lillian loving on Eli

the whole family

Granddaddy and NuNu

"Big" Girl Baths

It has finally happened. Lillian is to big for her baby bath tub! So we thought that since she is sitting up so well that we would just put her in the kitchen sink. She LOVES it! She splashes and laughs, and really likes being able to kind of be on her own in the water. Lillian has loved baths since she was born, so it was no surprise to Shaun and I when she loved bathing in the sink with some toys floating around her.




eating Sofia while taking a bath