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.

Friends Thanksgiving

Today we held our annual Friends' Thanksgiving at Jason and Kristie's house.This year we have 3 new members to our group! Ryan's girlfriend, Melissa and 2 new kids, Hailey who was born in July and Tripp and Heather's son Gavin who was born in January. We do this every year and it's great to see how we all change from year to year. Our group is getting bigger! We enjoyed turkey, homemade mac and cheese, steamed veggies, stuffing, sweet potato casserole and other yummy stuff. We then had apple pie and brownies for dessert. We definetly ate good! Pictured left to right: Front Row: Mark, David, Jason, William, Hailey, Tripp, Gavin Heather, Cheyenne, Autumn, Katy, Ali Back row: Maggie, Kristie, Ryan, Melissa

Cheyenne Loves Her Sister

Cheyenne and Hailey Updates

Hailey is now about 3 1/2 months old and my how things have changed! She absolutely hates sitting in her bouncy seats for more than 5 minutes. As soon as I sit her in it, that little head is lifting up and she's trying so hard to sit up! If you are holding her, she does the same thing. You can't lay her back the least little bit or she gets VERY upset. She's still a car screamer, and by that I mean that as soon as she sees her carseat she starts crying and cries throughout the entire car ride. I've tried everything..nothing works to stop it. So for now I'm turning up the radio and trying to not lose my mind. This past Wednesday when I took her to the doctor to have her ears checked she weight 15 lbs 9 oz! She is getting huge! I looked back at Cheyenne's baby book and she's right where Cheyenne was at her age. This is when Chey started her "chunky" William looking phase. I just mean in the face she looked like William, not the chunky part..sorry babe! Hailey is still napping about every 1 1/2 hours but I think she is slowing starting to extend that. Today she did 1 hr and 45 minutes a couple of times. She's still waking a couple times throughout her naps but a pat on the bum and her paci and she'll usually go back to sleep. It's just annoying when Chey and I are outside to have to come in and out when she wakes. Hopefully around 4-4 1/2 months Hailey will drop a nap and that will be 1 less to deal with! She's doing WONDERFUL at night though. Isn't that strange how nighttime sleep is SOOOO different than daytime sleep? Hailey is usually asleep around 7-7:15 and most of the time wakes around 4-4:30 am to eat, then back to sleep til about 7-7:30am. Twice now she has not woken at all! She's gone 12 hours without eating! If she wakes though I'll go ahead and feed her if it's after 3am. I don't expect the 12 hours to be consistent at her age. But I'll take it when she does! She still loves sleeping in the MOBY in the late afternoon and while we're out and about. I know I've said this before, but I honestly don't know how I would live without it!!! Especially since I have a toddler under my feet constantly. I guess that brings me to Cheyenne.

Cheyenne's vocabulary is amazing! I cannot believe how much she has learned in the last couple of months. I can't even begin to list all the words she knows, but if you've been around her much at all, you know her annunciation is great! You know, it's funny. That 1st year all you're waiting for is that 1st word, and you hope it's mama or dada. Now I wish I could change my name! All day long I hear "Mommy, mommy, mommy!" I think that word is spoken in my house at least 200+ times a day. Cheyenne is in school on Monday and Wednesday mornings. Each morning when she wakes up and is eating breakfast she asks me "school mommy?" She gets to excited to put on her backpack and on Wednesdays carry her lunch bag. My little girl is growing up so fast! She is getting so smart too. She knows so many animals and what sound they make as well as the colors red, orange, brown, pink, green, blue, purple, and yellow. She knows what sound a car makes and a train, and loves to watch for airplanes in the sky. Cheyenne is also sleeping in a big bed now! The toddler bed wasn't working out, she kept falling out! She's an active sleeper, moving around so much. Other than driving me nuts, Cheyenne is doing just fine!