What You Have Been Doing

Hazel,
Fletcher has been around for awhile now, and we have been so impressed with what a wonderful big sister you have been. You love him so so so much! In the hospital it was not easy to convince you to let anyone else hold him. You were pretty sure he was yours and you should be able to hold him all the time! Since then you have calmed down a little (you still want to hold and feed him most of the time, but you don't throw a fit if you don't get to)! You are so kind and sweet to him, and you care about him so much. If he starts crying you try whatever you can to make him stop. You get his binky, you pat his back (patting and hitting are very similar so we are still working on "gentle"), you give him kisses, you sing to him (ABC's is your favorite), you talk to him ("it ok Fletcher" "oohhh, Fletcher, I yuv you" "shhhh"), and you cuddle him (often looks more like smothering). It really is amazing to see your natural instincts for mothering.

When you aren't taking care of Fletcher we have been able to go to the park, go to OMSI, play with friends, and just play around the house! We are so thankful that we finished the playroom before Fletcher came. You have loved playing 'tickers (stickers), making Mommy coffee in your kitchen, going shopping (mostly you go to Target), and playing the "shopping game" (matching game)!

There have definitely been difficulties with this transition, but we are so thankful for your wonderful sense of humor, your sweet personality, and your love for us! You are so special, and such a great little person!

We love you!
Mommy and Daddy

Snow Day

Hazel,
It snowed here today! Crazy weather for this time of year. You said "Mama, it 'nowing" like 658 times, and we equally as excited each time! Before Daddy left for work we made sure to play in the snow and build a snowman. You thought it was hilarious that some of your play food was on his face. You also loved running around in the snow with Henry. Daddy threw snowballs up in the air and Henry would try to catch them and you laughed and laughed! Such a fun morning.

We love you!
Mommy and Daddy

22 months

Hazel,
We have been so busy lately. There is so much to catch up on. You are growing up so fast. You love play dates with friends. Our OMSI membership has been awesome! We have spent good time with good friends in the kids play area. You love exploring the sand box, the blocks, the water toys, and anything else you can get your hands on. You are kind to other kids, but definitely know what you want! Ms. Trish says you are wonderful at daycare, but that you are growing up and testing new limits (like pushing friends to get what you want). Luckily you learn pretty quickly what works and what doesn't. We turned the dining room into a playroom, and you love it! You are so creative in your play, and you can play by yourself or with us for a really long time! Right now you love coloring, stickers, shopping with your shopping cart, feeding us food you have made in your kitchen, and playing with your trucks and dolls! As always, your communication is awesome! You are so good at using your words to get what you need. You regularly use three word sentences, and sometimes throw in words we didn't know you knew! You like counting too..."free, two, free!!!" You are so proud of yourself! The other big news is that we moved you into your big girl room, and you are sleeping in a big girl bed! You have done so well sleeping in your new bed. I think you really like your room!

You are going to have a baby brother soon, which we still aren't sure if you understand. You are very sweet and give my belly kisses, and say "Hi Fletcher" sometimes. As more and more stuff for Fletcher comes into the house, you seem to want it to be yours more and more. We'll see how it goes when he gets here! Considering you love other babies, I'm hopeful you'll love him too!

You are so fun right now, and it is incredible to watch you grow. We are so lucky to be your parents!

We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

GG's 80th

Hazel,
Last weekend we got to celebrate GG turning 80! She is so wonderful, and so special to us it was great to be able to celebrate her. You were the hit of the dance floor. You danced with anyone and everyone who would dance with you. You especially loved dancing with Nana and Papa, and Daddy too! We ate yummy food, watched a video of pictures of GG's whole life, danced, and took pictures in our photo booth. You were such a trooper and stayed up so late, and were even happy the whole time.

We love you sassy pants!
Mommy and Daddy

Sunriver: Snow, Sun, and Cold

Hazel,

We were invited to go to Sunriver with the Hortons and some other new friends, David and Marlo a couple weeks ago. We had such a great time relaxing in the warm house while it was super cold outside. Daddy went snowboarding on Saturday with the other boys while the rest of us hung out and played, went for a walk to Goodies to get some yummy treats. You had some gummy candies for the first time and loved them, but your favorite part of Goodies was all the stuffed animals they had on their shelves. You loaded our stroller with some. When we were ready to go I put them all back, or so I thought. About a block later (while using the restroom) I realized you put one in the basket under the stroller, so we had to do the walk of shame back to return your stollen goods! Gets even better since I found another toy when we got back to the house! Sheesh Hazel, we really need to have a talk about not taking things that aren't yours!

Everyone else left early Sunday, but we decided to stay until Monday. Daddy and I took you and Parker to play outside while everyone else was packing up. You guys had so much fun playing in the 1/2 inch of snow!  We tried to go for a walk Sunday afternoon, but as you can see from the picture below, you were so cold (so was Mommy) that we only lasted outside for about 10 minutes! Poor girl, your hands were so cold they were numb when we got back...sorry about that. All in all we had a great time with friends and with our little family. It was so relaxing to get away.

We love spending time with friends and as a family!
We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Beach Family Fun

Hazel,
We started a tradition a couple of years ago of going to the beach with Nana, Papa, Aunt Al, Uncle Ty, and Aunt Hannah. We had so much fun then that we decided to do it again this year! We stayed at a great house right by the beach in Pacific City. The weather was mostly stormy (lots of sideways rain and wind), so we spent a lot of time inside cuddling, playing games, eating yummy food, listening to music, dancing around, talking, and playing with you! We did get to go for a walk on the beach when it wasn't stormy on the very last day. Although we didn't take many pictures of the rest of the trip, here are some from our walk. Such a great time to relax and be together!

I know the last one is pretty blurry, but it's a picture of all of us, so I'll take it!
We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

OMSI

Hazel,
The day after Christmas we went to OMSI with Aunt Al, Aunt Hannah, and Uncle Ty. You had SO much fun! I was a little nervous that the activities would be too old for you, but you loved it!! Everybody loved showing you new games and toys, and you definitely loved watching. You threw balls to watch them go round and round, you watched pop bottles be blown into the sky with air and water (Aunt Al's went the highest :), you helped Daddy and Aunt Al make sail boats to sail, and you climbed all over the crane and building station. At the end we went up to the little kids area. You were getting tired so we only had a few minutes to play there, but we will go back! So many fun games and activities that you would love!! We'll have to go back with some friends!

We love taking you new places and trying new things!
Love you,
Mommy and Daddy