Orange Plate

If you were around me while I was pregnant with Matney you know that when I wasn't throwing up I was sending Jared to the store for baby carrots. I loved them. When I was eating some last week M wanted to try...and she loves them too. Look at her orange tray...cheese sticks, carrots and a big orange paci. yummy!

Just like Mommy

Matney likes to copy me all the time. Here she is sporting a lovely elastic headband...and it is cuter on her than me. That should explain why I never leave the house wearing it. Headbands and my head just don't go together!



Apparently we have something on the lens of our camera because every picture I just downloaded has a big blurry spot to the middle left. So sorry!

Eat Mor Chiken

We are big Chik fil A fans at this house...and after this post Matney may be their new spokesman! My mom came up Friday night and I had taken the girls to Chilk Fil A with a friend for dinner so she met us there (it is just off our exit). Since she hadn't seen the girls in 2 months we wondered if Matney would remember her and sure enough M about threw herself out of the highchair when she saw her. I guess I shouldn't underestimate Matney's brain, she's always smarter than I give her credit for!
Anyway, we let Matney finish eating (both her own food and her friend Maggie's dinner but that is another story) and got Mom a sandwich to take home. Matney demanded to sit in mom's lap while she ate and kept trying to get bites. Mom had cut the sandwich in half and the next thing we knew Matney had scooped up what I guess she assumed to be her half and was chomping away. It was too funny...and she ate a lot of that sandwich. Ha! Now we know why no one gets to eat much with Matney around. She loves food!

Look who found her toes!

Halle Kate found her toes this weekend. She is so proud!

Peanutness Confirmed

It is confirmed, the Peanut really is a peanut! It is hard to believe that she is 4 months old. And we are still surviving. Most days.

We took the girls to the doctor last week for their 18 and 4 month check ups. Halle Kate weighed right at 11 lbs (0-10%) for weight. She is 23 3/4" tall (25%). To compare, Matney was over 11 lbs at 2 months! At her (Matney's 4 month appt she weighed 14kbs 10oz and was 25" tall). I was just like HK as a baby. Our Peanut really is a peanut. She checked out perfect on everything and seems to be a healthy, happy girl...except for the 4 shots she got. Poor thing.

I don't think I really realized how tiny she is until yesterday. My mom was in town this weekend and we went shopping to get the girls fall clothes. Matney has always been a size ahead. For example, when she was 3-6 months she wore 6-9 month clothes. Because of that the 3 huge boxes of warm clothes we have from her are 90% 12 month size. When we got back from shopping I tried things on Halle and realized she's a size behind. 3-6 month stuff is still way too big for her so we went back out and Mom got her a few 0-3 month outfits. So, in a few years all the clothes Matney wears Halle Kate might be able to use too. For now though she is going to have to have her own winter wardrobe. No hand me down options for this season. What an itty bitty thing!

Matney weighed in at 26lbs, which was actually less than I thought she'd be. That puts her around 75% for weight. I don't have the paper in front of me for height. It was 50% I know. I think 32". She also checked out great. She is talking at a 2 year old level because she's starting putting groups of words together, like "more cracker please". If you've been around her you shouldn't be surprised. Oh my, she never is quiet! She adds so many new words each day that I can't keep up with all that she can say. She also got 3 shots and has to go back next month for 3 more. It was horrible to watch her get so upset for those shots. Horrible.

We are so so so SO thankful to have two healthy girls. So thankful.

That's the update. I'm downloading pictures now and will get them up in just a minute.

Why haven't I blogged

This picture describes perfectly why I haven't been blogging.
Oh my! Matney has been...how do I say this nicely? Matney has been BEASTLY for the past week. I don't know what the problem is but this is what she looks like most of the time. UGH!!! I love her more than I could ever express but I have found myself counting the hours and minutes to naptime/bedtime MANY DAYS recently!!! Cute litle monster!

Its a Man's World

The Heald house, it is a Man's World you know. HA!!! HA!!! HA!!! Jared got a birthday present in the mail and check this out...
See that bag? It has hammers on it. This is by far the most manly thing that has come into the Heald house in almost 2 years. And notice that the closest object around it is Dog. This house is full of stuffed animals, ruffles and bows. I told Jared we'd keep the bag out just to have something not pink for him. My poor husband surrounded by all us girls!

Just for you, Sue!

Hey Sue Lay! I wanted to compete with my own friendly spider at the front door. This one needs a name...
...my pick is "GET LOST OR I WILL NEVER OPEN THE FRONT DOOR AGAIN"!!! Ewwwww, I HATE spiders!! I figure that I'll catch this one and bring it to your yard so that Golden Orb Weaver has a friend!

We've got a chewer!

Now that she can get things to her mouth Halle Kate loves slobbering on "rings". For the first time she finally is able to entertain herself. It only lasts a minute before she drops the ring and screams but there's hope that one day I can put her down and will be able to have more than a 2" radius of personal space!

Lazy Saturday Morning...NOT!

This Saturday started out slow and easy...and before 10am was wild and crazy! Both girls were up late Friday night. Jared worked late so I was late putting them to bed which meant that they both slept late (after 8am) Saturday morning. How nice, right? We all ended up downstairs, fed the girls and Daddy and Matney sat down to a tea party with Dog. I will spare you the details but just after these pictures were taken Halle Kate pooped...all out of her diaper. I went to change her and picked her up without a diaper on and she peed all over me. Sigh. All four of us headed upstairs. Jared ran water for Halle Kate's bath, I stuck her in the tub and got water in her ear while washing her hair. Why is that important? Because Jared got me toilet paper to dry her ear and the next thing we heard was splashing...oh yes, the door didn't get shut and Matney and Dog were playing in the toilet. Halle Kate out of the bath, Matney into the tub. Mommy into the shower to get rid of the pee and Dog in the wash all before 10am. And by 10:15, Jared was trying to find an excuse to head back to the office on a Saturday! Good times this weeekend, good times.
The tea party was cute to watch while it lasted!

Check out Little Sister!

Check out Halle Kate. What a big girl. She would rather be standing up, assisted of course, than anything else. She is so strong!!!

Steal of a deal!

I've been checking Craigslist every day looking for a play kitchen for Miss M. Today we scored!!! This kitchen was posted this afternoon and by 6pm Jared had picked it up. We got a great deal!!! It even came with pots and pans that make boiling/frying noises when you set them on the burners. How cool (to a kiddo) and obnoxious (to a mama) is that?!?! It has been totally washed/Lysoled (Lysoled is a word around here!). After Matney went to bed Jared brought it inside and it will be like Christmas when Miss M comes downstairs in the morning. Now we just need some play food and dishes and we're all set!

Have you seen this shirt?!?!?!

Have you seen this shirt? I don't know why but I LOVE them! I found these a couple of months ago and they only carried Matney's size so I didn't buy any. A friend knew I how much I want the girls to have them for fall and she hunted down these (THANKS, Brooke!). I have the right size for Miss M but the best we have found for Halle Kate is 12 months. If you live/go near a Carter's store will you PLEASE see if they have this is a 9 month? HK is still very much a peanut! She'll wear the 12 month if that's all I can find. However, if you see a 9 month please get it and I will pay you back. THANKS!!!

Whoo Hoo!!!

I've been updating the blog for an hour and half, from the floor of the living room (ie wireless), and had no problems. THANKS DAD!!! We appreciate you getting us fixed and up and running. How wonderful! I hope this gives everyone their Heald girls fix for a couple of days.

And now it is 10:30pm, Halle Kate will want to eat within the next two hours so I'm going to bed. Bible Study starts at church again tomorrow (we've been on a break since May). If you need comic relief come to my house in the morning. It took us until 4:30pm to get to the grocery store today. Tomorrow all three of us have to be ready to leave at 9am. HA!!! I don't have high hopes that we'll all be looking cute but please, please let the girls have good and let me just remember my shoes.

Tea Party

A day in the life of a house full of girls. Poor Jared!

Miss M and her animal tea party. Don't worry, she shares well. Halle Kate and I were both offered cups too.

18 big months

I cannot believe that Matney is 18 months old. Sniff, sniff! She's not a baby anymore. We're not taking her to the dr until the end of the month so that she and HK can go at the same time (HK will need her 4 month appt) so I don't have all her stats yet. Pretty sure our big girl is about 28lbs though. She loves her food! Here are some other things she's been up to.

It took 17 months to get Miss M to be a good sleeper but she's finally a champ about bedtime. She goes down about 8pm and gets up between 7-8am. Wonderful! She naps for about 2 hours during the day. Well, some days she doesn't sleep but she'll stay in her bed and play quietly which works for me.

Matney loves fruit and cheese. She'd eat those two things all day if we'd let her. Dog, or Pup Pup as she calls him, must go everywhere. The paci she'll go without but don't think about leaving her puppy dog behind. Animals and Sesame Street characters are her favorites. She is starting to "play pretend" and all her animals join her for tea parties every day.

Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. This weekend she said at least 20 new words. She can identify the numbers 1-4 and the capitol letters A,B,C,D,E,G,H,K,M,P,S,T. Such a smart girl! And she is becomming much more independent. She wants to pick out her clothes, feed herself, and put her toys just where she wants them (which means they often end up in the pantry or ball pit!).

It can take her a while to warm up to new people but once she's comfortable with you she'll give you hugs and kisses. She loves her sister and is always trying to kiss her head. Matney is just the sweetest girl. Jared and I could never begin to explain how much we love her. What a privilege it is to be her Mom!

Spoon time!

For the last three weeks Halle Kate has been increasingly frustrating to feed. It is a struggle to get her to eat more than 2oz at a time when she'd been eating 4oz. I don't know if it is that there is just so much going on she's distracted but it is driving me nuts. And, I think not having eaten as much during the day is part of what is making her needing to eat more during the night. This weekend, after a long day of getting almost nothing in her, I gave up on the bottle and tried rice cereal to see what she thought. I think she just thought I was strange!