Gatlinburg!

We went to see Chris, Lesley, and Isaiah in Gatlinburg this past weekend.   Hallie and Isaiah LOVED playing together! They would "chase" each other and just laughed! 

She would say "Zayah" and he would say "What"

The cabin we stayed at had a deck and we had some bunny vistors a few times!  Hallie would say "munnie" for bunny and "wrabbit" for rabbit!

We hiked to a waterfall on Saturday morning; it had a paved path so the kiddos were in strollers.  It was cute because they would call each other's name to make sure the other one was there!  Hallie wasn't too impressed with the waterfall....but she realized that it was water because she held out her hand the way she does for rain or the faucet!

The loved looking at books and each other's toys! She really liked the see and say farm that mom has and now can say 'Eeeii, eeeiii, ooo!"   Apparently, the only animal on Old McDonalds farm is a cow because that's all she'll say when we sing the song to her!

Isaiah really likes horses now, so he pointed those out to us in the books!  He really liked the lap top toy when it said the "ABCs" as well!

The men!



What are you looking at in my book???

Saturday night we went to "downtown" Gatlinburg and walked around after dinner. Lesley suggested doing the old time photos which we did (minus Carl).

The girls were Southern Belles and the boys were Cowboys!  

Addiction to Day-o (aka Elmo)

We think Hallie is officially addicted to Elmo.  He's got Hallie mesmorized!

I realized about a month ago that Seasme Street came on from 7:00 to 8:00 in the morning, so I turned it on for her to watch before daycare.  Elmo's World comes on the last 15-20 minutes of the program.  Now, anytime she looks at the tv she says "Day-o" (which is how she says Elmo).

She also loves peanut butter! She'll even eat it off of a spoon!

We've had a rough two weeks, with Hallie getting hand, foot, mouth disease at the end of April and we had some very tense moments of pain!  Then, Jason got it as well, so we're hopefully going on the uphill instead of the downhill now!

I found this post as a draft that I must have forgotten to actually posted from 1/23/11.

I titled it "What I've learned about parenting"...Here it is..remember it's from when Hallie was about 5 months old!

"Bibs make the best baby fashion accessory!
One must wait at least a few minutes after the last "rumble down under" is heard.
She is determined to fit her whole fist in her mouth one day.
A weekly (if not more) daddy or mommy nap is a must! (That is her napping on our chest)
Enjoy that she thinks we're funny right now; she won't think that forever
It is a bit depressing when they change diaper sizes and clothes sizes.
Thunder thighs and fat rolls are only cute on babies!"

As a follow up, here's what I'd say now!

"Lack of communication is the hardest thing with a toddler!
Parenting can bring out the best and worst in me!
I miss those daddy and mommy naps, but am glad she's in her bed! 
At least we get some daddy and mommy naps when she's sick.
Getting a full night's rest is the best thing ever!
I have no idea what I'm doing with this parenting thing! It's the craziest adventure ever!"