Tutu

I am working on building a portfolio and did a few shots with Hailey this week. I wanted to have some props and right now she can't do much besides lay down and hold her head up. I looked at other photographers sites and found that with little girls, tutu's are used alot. I tried to make one. It didn't come out how I wanted. But I did use it for a few pictures. I ordered a couple from Etsy.com. One for Hailey and one for Chey. Etsy is a site for people who handmake items and you can buy and sell. I can't wait until they get here and take some good pictures of the girls. All of these have no post-editing. These are straight out of the camera. I may do some editing and see what comes out... but for now this is what you get. What do you think?

I think she was looking at Cheyenne... "Hi Mommy!"

Look at those eyes! And those 2 bottom teeth!-This is my favorite.

Playing with the tutu

So beautiful

New Years Resolutions

I have decided that things are going to change starting New Years. There are several things I'm not happy about and I'm going to start working on them. Here we go.

First, we're going to get rid of this extra weight. Dad, William, Josh Katie and I start our "bet" on Sunday. I want to have more energy, feel better about myself and fit into all these clothes I have from high school. ::sigh::: That would be nice.

Next, I am going to be a better wife. I have been giving William a really hard time lately because of the kind of hours he's been working. I knew how his job was when I married him. I guess with the girls now it affects me alot more not having him home during dinner and getting the girls in bed. But he is the provider for our family and he allows me stay home with our girls and take care of them. I need to take this extra stress off of him and encourage and help him however I can. I know he must be scared and stressed sometimes knowing that he is the head of our family and the provider. That's alot to take on, and I haven't made it any easier on him. I am going to help make more time for us. That's going to require William doing his part, but I'm going to concentrate on mine.

Third, I am going to be a better mother. Sometimes I think I "complain" too much. I like to think of it as "venting" but truth me told, I'm complaing some of the time. Doing what I do is stressfull. I feel cut off from the world sometimes, especially we don't get out of the house for days and I don't have any adult contact. There are days when between Chey and Hailey, one is crying or whining all day long. This is my job. This is what I chose to do. I'm going to suck it up and get through it. Cherish each moment I have with them because they are growing up so fast. Hailey is 5 months old already! When I put Cheyenne in bed each night and she says "night night mommy. I love you. Sweet dreams" It makes the entire day worth it. That is why I get up and do it again the next day. Same with Hailey. When I get her up in the morning or from a nap and she sees me she has the biggest smile! It just warms my heart.

Our Hands

I got this kit from Red Envelope. I have it hanging on the wall in my office. I love it!

Playdough

Cheyenne got this Playdough Ice Cream Maker from Jenny, Josh and Emma for Christmas. She was driving me nuts this morning and I needed her to sit still for just a few minutes while I recomposed myself. I got this out and she played with it for over 30 minutes. She loved it! Thanks so much Newnam Family!

Christmas

We had a great Christmas! We spent Christmas Eve with William's mom, Katherine. William's brother, Miles and his wife Jessica cooked all the food and we had a wonderful dinner! J.C. also joined us. Cheyenne got a great gift from Jess and Miles. A jack-in the box..except it was a horse. She loved it. She laughed so hard when it popped out the first time. She even slept with it that night. Christmas morning we opened gifts at home. Cheyenne got a kitchen from Santa and Hailey got a busy town Choo-Choo. Cheyenne also got a basketball goal from Katherine that we set up so she could see it x-mas morning. We didn't get it out at her house because it was so big. She loved it! She kept saying "basketball!" We then headed over to mom and dad's to do Christmas with them. Jen brough some amazing muffins and we had lots of food to snack on. Chey got a art easel! Hailey got some wrist rattles, a couple of outfits and some toys from Katie. The girls had a great Christmas. William and I had decided we werent going to get each other anything since we had bought the hot tub...well I stuck to my end. I got him a Cubs towel for his stocking and the girls got him some boxers. Well William went out and bought me a brand new DLSR! I Nikon D90. I was shocked! This camera is so amazing!!! It does so many things my D70 doesn't. He also got me a new lens. It's Nikkor 18-200mm AF-S VR lens. I feel like William got jipped but we said no presents! (He did get his truck this year..so I guess that makes up for it) We also got a few gift cards..gotta love em. We all took a 2 1/2 hour nap and then headed over to Uncle Ray and Jill's for our annual Christmas gathering. We didn't stay long. The girls had had a long day and Hailey, especially needed to get to bed. I am so thankful to have a big family to share the holidays with. Christmas is so different when you see it through your child's eyes.

Christmas 2009

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New Lens Pics

I didn't have a lot of time to shoot much today. Here's just a few that I took. I can't wait to learn more about it and see what I can really do with it! If you would like some pictures taken let me know! I would love the practice!

Cheyenne at the park. I love this one! Hailey got this monogrammed diaper cover at her shower. It's just adorable.

Look at the detail of her fingers!

See how Hailey's stocking in his focus and the background is blurred! That's the depth of field I was telling you about!

My New Lens!

Why I am so excited? Because this little guy came in today! I have been wanting a Macro (well now they call them Micro) Lens for quite a while. When I was doing the photoshoot with Hailey I wanted to get up close and get detail like her little tushie and her feet, hands, etc. My prime lens will not let me focus cose enough to get a good shot. So I talked William into letting me get a Micro lens! It's a Nikkor AF-S 60mm 2.8G with ED glass! I can't wait to start taking pictures with this. I am going to be a busy girl for a while. This lens is great for close ups and detail as well as portraits and allows you have a small depth of field (f-stop goes down to 2.8!) allowing me to focus on a person's face and have the background blurry (de-emphasized), kinda like this picture is, but much better! Thank you William for letting me get this! It lets me take my photography to another level!!

Playdate

Cheyenne received a magnetic puzzle from Lily! Coloring..if you look closely you can see that Hailey let Natalie hold her. I was shocked!

Chey eating pretzels

Cheyenne, Brett, Lily, Luke, Mason and Jolie

This morning we had a "holiday playdate." Our usual group got together at Kristy and Brett's and we had a party! The children got to exchange a gift (we drew names) and we made stick puppets, colored Christmas pictures and had yummy snacks. Kristy made sugar cookies for the kids to decroate too! This group of children get along so well together. I'm so glad we have a neighborhood with families that have children around Chey's age.

Snow!!!

I can't believe we finally got snow! We haven't seen this much in probably 10 years at least! It's still coming down as I type. William's been at work all day..supposed to get off at 11:30 on Fridays..but as usual...it's 5:00 and he's still at work. (Can you tell I'm a little sour about the subject??) But Anyway. SO, I took Cheyenne out while Hailey was napping. We only got about 20 minutes before Hailey woke up crying..but that's okay. Chey had so much fun in the snow! We had a dusting last year and I'm sure she doesn't remember it anyway. She woke up from her nap and I showed it to her and she said "snow outside Mommy!" Hopefully we can get out tomorrow for a little while before it melts...

Feeling Guilty

I'm having a hard time breastfeeding Hailey lately. She wasn't eating at night anymore until this teething thing happened. She is waking 2-3 times a night. When she wakes between 4 and 5 the only way I can get her back to sleep is to feed her. She's not hungry when she wakes at 7, obviously because she just ate. I try to feed her before she goes down for a nap around 8:45 or so but still isn't really hungry. She eats for about 5 minutes. She wakes 30 minutes into her nap and I wonder if she's hungry, so I try to feed her. I don't know how much she's ate and its really screwing everything up! I find myself feeding her whenever she's fussing because I don't know if she's hungry! It's driving me crazy. I stopped nursing Cheyenne around this time and felt guilty because I don't think I tried hard enough to continue. Her not eating regularly is starting to affect my supply and that's a whole other issue. I want so bad to continue until she's a year old, that was my goal. It's so hard, especially with Cheyenne running around. I thought that the hardest part was behind me...feeding every 2-3 hours. She should be eating about every 4 now, but I find myself offering to her every 2. I'm just so tired. I feel so guilty, but on the other hand I think I could be *happier* and not so stressed if I didn't have to do this anymore. I'm just torn. I'm tired of pumping, tired of it all. I want to burn that darn pump.

Making Cookies

This morning Cheyenne and I made cookies. She just wanted to eat the dough...After they baked, we tried to decorate them. Chey wouldn't let me help...she kept saying "me." This was certainly an experience!

Sweet Potatoes

Hailey has done well with solids, so we've continued. We started with oatmeal, but she developed a rash. I don't know if it's related because she still has it. I'm starting to think it's dry skin, but anyway, we stopped the cereal for now. We have done pears. I made them! We started sweet potatoes today, which I also made too! I've also made banana and avacado and they are frozen and ready to go. They are next on the list. She seemed to really like the sweet potato. Gotta love the face...

Teeth and Poop

Here's a couple of pictures I took of the girls today. Cheyenne really loves her sister. She's always asking to hold her, give her hugs and kisses. Hailey is been through so much this week (and so have her parents!). Just today she cut yet another tooth. She was chewing endlessly on her thumb towards the inside of her mouth. So I took a peek and sure enough, there was a point to ANOTHER tooth. Poor baby! It's no wonder she's not been able to sleep. I mean, 3 teeth. Really?!?! Maybe she's going to get them all at once...

On another note, Cheyenne pooped in the potty today! There is no rhyme or reason to her potty training. If we're home, I usually have her just run around with her shirt on and no bottoms. I ask her every 30 minutes or so to go try to potty. Her little potty is in the living room (thank God for wood floors!) because she'll sit longer and "try" then when it's in the bathroom. It's working for now. She goes on average 3 or 4 times a day. This afternoon while I was cooking dinner, I started smelling something...I thought it was Hailey because she was right beside me in her high chair. Then I hear Cheyenne yelling "poopy mommy poopy!" Sure enough she had went all on her own and was on her way to the bathroom to "dump it" in the potty. Such a smart girl! We're just taking it day by day. Some days are better than others, but she's definetly made the connection!

2 Teeth!

Finally! Something to show for all these sleepless nights! Hailey has cut 2 teeth in 2 days. She got 1 Friday night and the 2nd one Saturday night. I believe shes working on another one, because our sleep issues haven't gotten much better. Last night was up about 6 or 7 times...I guess that's an improvement from the 12-15 times! Anyway, looks like she'll be eating steaks before we know it...

Sittin On The Potty, Drinkin Hot Chocolate

I took Cheyenne outside for about 20 minutes this morning, (the only time Hailey would nap in her crib today it turned out). It was chilly! But I knew we probably wouldn't get another chance to get out with the way our days have been lately. So we toughed it out. When we came back in and I asked Cheyenne to go try to potty. She asked for some hot chocolate. (We've had it before after coming in when it's cold.) So I made her a little and she sat on her potty and drank it. She's too funny.

Cereal

After trying everything lately to get Hailey back to sleeping decent, we tried solids on the advice of our pediatrician. Hailey had cereal for the first time today. We skipped the rice cereal since it's notorious for giving little ones constipation, as it did Chey and went straight to baby oatmeal. She wasn't sure about it at first, but after a few bites she loved it, opening her mouth for the spoon. We'll see how she does. I wanted to wait to start solids until at least 5 months, so if she has any problems with it, we'll stop and try again later.


She wasn't too sure about it at first...After a few bites, she was lovin it! "More mommy!"

Hanging on...

How are things here you ask? Well, not good. Not good at all. Hailey has William and I just exhausted. Last Friday we went out to dinner and Katie kept the girls. Hailey was already asleep when she got here and Katie put Chey to bed for us. Around 9:45, Hailey woke and Katie had a hard time getting her back to sleep. She finally did. When we got home, as we were climbing in bed, around 11, Hailey woke again. This is how the story goes. Every hour at least she was awake. Thought it was just a fluke and didn't think much of it. Thought she was just having an off night. Well Saturday, Sunday and Monday night, more of the same, except it got harder and harder to get her back to sleep and was pretty much up for the day at 5am. I took her to the doctor yesterday to rule out any kind of illness (ears, throat, etc). Doc said she is just fine. She has lots of swelling and red on her gums so she is obviously cutting teeth. I have given her tylenol to help with the pain, but doesn't seem to do a bit of good. I would never have though that cutting teeth would have given her this much touble and not let her sleep. The doc suggested that she was cutting several teeth at once. So this is what we're going with. I started using baby orajel last night and it seemed to help a little. She actually slept 3 straight hours. (Keep in mind she was doing 11-12!) Big change for us. Well, today she has decided she's not going to nap either. She's super cranky and constantly crying. I'm trying to comfort her, nurse her more often but nothing seems to help. All I can do is pray for this to be over! I'm trying not to get frustrated but William and I are so tired and irritable. I have papers and Finals this week and haven't even gotten to start on them because I spend all my time trying to console Hailey.

On a positive note, Cheyenne is doing GREAT with potty training. Yesterday she had only 1 accident, and that was in the car on the way to take Hailey to the doctor. (She had a pull up on) She is so cute. She runs to the potty, does her business then say s"mommy I pee pee! Jelly bean!" We've been giving her a jelly bean when she pees on the potty and 2 for #2. Here's a funny story. Monday night I was getting Hailey ready for bed while William was downstairs with Chey. She had a pull up on and is learning to pull it down herself. William had walked outside to put chemicals in the hot tub and when he came back in Chey had her pull up half down and had "tried" to poop in her little potty. It was EVERYWHERE!!! William got so upset but I had to remind her that she didn't mean to make a mess and that she tried. She's learning. He felt bad after that becaues he knew I was right. :) So things are progressing and she's getting better everyday. So that's what's going on in the Hollifield household. Just hanging on by a thread...

Squealing

Hailey has found her voice...especially in the middle of the night...

Photoshoot

I have been itchin to get back into my photography. I love love love to take pictures, especially of my little girls. Today I finally got out my SLR and took these pictures of Hailey. I'm a little rusty but they turned out pretty good. I am going to make more time to do this for myself. I enjoy it so much!

Visit With Grandma Katherine

Saturday morning we ventured over to Grandma Katherine's for a couple of hours to visit. Cheyenne loved playing with all the dogs and Hailey had a good time getting to know her Gran.

Katherine and Hailey

Christmas Tree

Saturday we put up our Christmas tree. William went and picked one up cause it was going to be too tough to get both girls out to go pick out one. Cheyenne "helped" decorate it. By help I mean she pulled all the ornaments out of the box and once I got them on the tree, she pulled them off. We didn't put many on this year and definetly didn't put any on that were breakable or sentimental. She pulls several off daily.

David's 4th Birthday

Yesterday afternoon I took Cheyenne and Hailey to David's 4th birthday party. David is our friends Jason and Kristie's son. His party was at Jump-N-Fun. It was a blast! Jason even took Hailey for me for a little while so I could get in there and jump with Chey. It was so much! Adults could get in there too. There were about 4 big inflatables set up inside. I'm seriously thinking about doing Cheyenne's birthday here!

Cheyenne and Kristie
Chey climbing up

Coming back down...

Joyner Family Thanksgiving 2009

This year we held the Joyner family Thanksgiving at our church, Flat Rock. Darlene and Bob usually host but Darlene's mom is sick and they just weren't up to it this year. Please keep her mother in your prayers. I've known her for quite a while and she's an amazing woman. She was a teacher at Children's Choice when I worked there and we all called her "BuBu."

It was much easier (in my opinion) to hold it at the church since there are so many of us. We didn't have as big a crowd as usual..it's so hard to get everyone together at the same time. We all have another side of the family to visit as well and sometimes the timing just doesn't work for all of us. This is probably a little less than half of us. All the brothers and Linda are pictures and a handful of the grandkids. I think Chey and Hailey were the only great-grandkids there. Anyway, it's always great to get family together.

4 Months

Hailey has changed so much in the last couple of weeks. She loves sitting in the high chair when I'm in the kitchen or when we're eating dinner. Here is a picture of her hanging out while I was getting dinner ready tonight. Everything has started going in the mouth too. She's been drooling like crazy so we've gotten out the drool bibs. Her bottom gums are swollen too so I think maybe we'll see a tooth poke through soon. Chey got her first one at 4 months and Hailey is 4 months now, so we'll see. She loves to suck/chew on her thumb too. She's using her paci less and less because she likes her thumb, although she's still using it to sleep. She is rolling onto her back almost everytime I put her on her tummy. Several times now I've gone into get her from her nap and she's on her back just kicking and talking (she's a tummy sleeper). It's annoying when she does it in the middle of the night and I have to go flip her over. But she goes right back to sleep. Some days she sleeps great, other days she wakes every 30 minutes, usually the days I have to take Chey to school. That totally screws up Hailey's day because she misses her first nap and makes her overtired for a while until I can get her caught back up. Hailey is now staying up for about 2 hours at a time and absolutely LOVES her jumperoo. I can't thank John and Connie enough for it. The girl just bounces away and has the biggest smile on her face when she's in it. She loves to "talk" to you and has started laughing this week too. It warms my heart to hear her giggle when I play peek a boo with her. She's growing so fast. I almost want her to slow down but I'm also looking forward to the day that her and Cheyenne can play together and entertain each other and give mommy a break. :)

Making Baby Food

Today I had my 1st attempt at homemade baby food. My good friend Heather has been making her own for her son Gavin and told me how easy it was and how much money it saved. I had all intentions of doing it with Cheyenne but didn't. She had the store bought stuff. So today, I got out my food processor that we got for a wedding gift that has NEVER been used. I registered for it for the sole purpose of making baby food for Cheyenne. I am determined to do it for Hailey. I like the idea of knowing that there are no preservatives in it and all that other stuff. I made peas first and then pears. I steamed them and then put them in the food processor. I then put in ice cube trays to freeze. After the cubes were frozen I put them in baggies and labled them. Now when I go to feed Hailey all I have to do is pull out a cube (each one is equivalent to 1 oz) and defrost it. At first I'll thin it with breast milk until she's old enough to have it a little thicker. This was just a practice run. I haven't started Hailey on solids yet. I'm probably going to wait another month. It can really mess with their digestive systems in the beginning and I think I'd like her to be a little older and her tummy a little more mature.