An Interview with Miss Delaney

Sit and have a chat with Delaney for a sec...

I'm THREE!

Today I turned three.

Being the princess that I am, I had a princess birthday party.

Of course.

I met my friend Norie at Papa's Pizza and we played and played.

We're both three now so get along just fine.

But Mommy wanted a picture of me and Norie.

I was NOT in the mood for a photo.

I may have cried and hid under the table after this picture was taken... but we won't go there since it was my birthday and all.

Mommy made me pink princess cupcakes.

I was very very very very happy.

I got a new baby with her own swing, car seat and crib.

I'm such a good Mommy to my babies.

And my best present of all was my new BIG GIRL bed!!

All day long Bubba kept hugging me and telling me Happy Birthday.

He even made a wish with a wishie that "Delaney could be 3."

His wish came true.

Baby D is Three!

My Baby D turns 3 today! My baby. My youngest. My last. My caboose.

(((sigh)))

How did that happen? Three years already?

Pictures of my little lady coming soon... let me just wipe the tears off my cheeks first.

Delaney and Her Words Part 2

Oh the cuteness that comes out of Delaney's mouth!
Here are some of the ways she pronounces things:


Christian: Bubba
Delaney: Naney
Morgan: Middy (our favorite because it's just so random!)
Olivia: Ee-ya and sometimes Ya-Ya
Binky: Bindy or Biddy
Move: Moop
Button: Butt
School Bus: Butt
Buzz Lightyear: Butt

She makes us smile.

Delaney and Her Words

Turning TWO years old in April, this little muffin is growing like a weed.

Here are some of her words.

We loooove her voice.

A Mind of Her Own

Would anyone like to take a stab at what happened here?

Fine. I'll just tell ya.

I got a call from Olivia needing some pain meds at school, so I quickly got Christian in the tub, Delaney dressed, shoes and all. Well Little Miss had other ideas. Apparently it wasn't fair that brother got a bath and she didn't and before I knew it, I hear Christian hollering, "Mama. Delaney's in the bafftub wiff her cwozs on!"

Olivia had to live without Tylenol for the time being.

Oh that Delaney.

Family Tubing Day

Two days before Christmas, the whole { H } clan - local at least - headed up to the snow to do some tubing on the Autobahn. HOLY FUN!
I was a bit worried about my tailbone (Dec.3 I took a good spill and it's still sore) but once we got up there and I saw there was no impact on your rear end, I decided to go for it. AND GLAD I DID! What a blast!
The day couldn't have been any better. The sun was bright. The snow was compacted just right to slide fast! And my kiddos stayed warm. What more could we ask for?

Nursery

Hi.
I'm {over} 18 months old now and I went to nursery for the first time.
I love it.
I don't cry when Mommy leaves me like my big brother did the whole year and a half he was in there.
I love my new friends and my nursery leaders.
I love to strut my stuff when my big sis Morgan comes to pick me up.
I'm a big girl now.
I say all kinds of words: Mommy, Daddy, Mickey, NO, Mommy, Mommy, MOMMY!!! I pretty much scream "Mommy" whenever I want something. Mommy thought it was cute at first.
I love to dance and shake my booty.
I pretty much know I'm cute.
Love,
Delaney

And She's Off

Guess who finally decided to walk!?

(15 months old)

I Can Count How Old I Am on One Finger!

Wasn't it just yesterday that this little 1 year old princess looked like this:

Please tell me how this happened... and how it happened so FAST?!?!

We celebrated today with family and friends: Grandma Sally, Papa, Auntie Carly, Grandma and Grandpa H, Aunt Margaret, Cousins Lauren and Bennett, Jennifer, Lonnie, Ryker, Julianna, Lillie and Kylie Rose. Thank you all for coming and celebrating the first year of Delaney's life.

I spent the last two days slaving over the birthday cake and the cake she'd demolish. Morgan and Olivia came up with the awesome idea - Morgan came up with the bed from The Princess & The Pea fairy tale... then Olivia came up with the idea of having Delaney's very own special cake be a pea. Here are the end results:

Oh it was alot of work, but oh so worth it. I found it ironic that April 17 of last year, the night before I checked into the hospital, Martin and I stayed up way too late cleaning the house and preparing for our new addition and the family that would be staying in our home. One year later to that very day, we stayed up WAY too late also in preparation for this little muffin and her birthday celebration. What we do for our babies, right?

Here we are singing Happy Birthday to Baby D. She sure loves her Papa!

And here she is with full reign on her sugar. At least she wasn't scared of the colored frosting like her brother was on his first birthday!

Big brother trying to help:

When Christian was feeding her, it reminded Carly, Mom and I of this video - one of our favorites!! Christian was lucky "Charlie didn't bite his finger".

The cameras and the flashes on this little beauty were hilarious! She seriously had a crowd of paparazzi swarming her every move.

When all was said and done, here was what her cake looked like. Poor little pea.

We even sang 'Happy Birthday' to Grandma Sally and Papa whose birthdays are Monday and Thursday. We sure love you guys and hope you have wonderful birthdays... especially Papa who's turning SIXTY!! WOOHOO!

One of our tables... The cool kid table! (notice how my mom & Carly are at this table!! It's 'cuz they're cool kids!)

Delaney got so many neat gifts... here she is opening her new "lovey", a baby doll from Grandma & Grandpa H. Thank you all for your creativity and generosity.

I love this baby.

I can't imagine life without her.

My mom made a comment today that it feels like Delaney has been a part of our family for much longer than a year.

And it does feel like that.

And she HAS.

She's been ours forever and will be ours forever and for that, I couldn't be happier.

As my fourth child and possibly last, I am trying to cherish each and every moment with her - even those middle of the night wakings on occasion. (Yes, she's sleeping through the night most nights!!). But those nights that she doesn't, I just hold her and rock her and soak up those special moments.

Oh the joy she brings into our home.

Happy Happy Birthday, Baby D!

For a look back on the beginning of Delaney's life, go here.

Muffin Top

Could she BE any cuter??

My D-Bug

Delaney.

10 months old already.

2 months away from turning ONE YEAR.

This photo was taken in December...

at 8 months old.

She's already changed so much.

3 teeth, one on the way.

Crawling.

Standing up in her crib, bathtub, holding on to the couch.

Attempting the stairs. (yikes!)

Waving.

Dancing.

Clapping.

Being absolutely delightful!

Crawling

Alright Jules. I have to thank you for making me stop what I was doing and videotape Delaney crawling.

THANK YOU!

She's just getting the hang of it and it's so cute. She reminds me of those dolls you can buy that crawl. Gram, I wish you could see the video. Maybe Mom or Carly can take you down to your computer room again.

Forgive the smudged lens. My children were making movies with my camera the other day. Lovely.

My baby is growing up... and is just over 2 months away from being a year old! WHAT?!?! How the heck did that happen?

Thank You Friend!

Over the years, I have made special friends with my daughters' teachers, one of which came over last week with lunch for us and a gift for my Delaney. Colleen was both Olivia's and Morgan's Kindergarten teachers seven and five years ago now and has been a special person to our small family ever since. It is so wonderful we are able to keep in touch and remain friends.

She knitted the CUTEST hat for Delaney with the softest yarn.

Thank you Colleen! You are wonderful!

I Hate Laundry

But Delaney makes it much more enjoyable!

Half a Year Ago

6 months ago this little angel was sent to me...

This is her today.

Isn't she perfect?!

Turning 6 months old means life changes for our little one. In this video, take a moment to join our world as we feed Delaney her first bites of REAL FOOD!

I don't know where the time went. It doesn't seem like 6 months ago I had her... maybe 2. But not 6. Delaney is a light - a joy. She is so easy and so good and so mellow and so absolutely SWEET. What a blessing she is to us.

TOFW Weekend - Part 4

After our conference was over Saturday afternoon and after we had met our "stars", we met my mom and grandma for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Amalfi's.

It was SO good to see my gram. I hated the thought of being up in Portland and not getting a chance to see her.

This was the saddest thing. All weekend long, Delaney was fine and dandy to hang out with strangers and let them hold her. NO problem whatsoever. But for some reason at dinner, she would break into tears when she'd look up at Grandma Sally. We figured out it was because this woman holding her looked so much like Mommy but wasn't, it must've freaked her out. Poor little baby!

Me and my Gram. I love her so much.

As we were saying our goodbyes, Merilee hugged my grandma and told her that Rachel talked about her all the time and loved her so much. My grandma's response:

"You told me that the last time I saw you."

LOL