happy birthday, havey girl!

today haven is two! some of the things i love about her right now include:

• the way she says "i wuff a you."
• the way she puts her little finger to her mouth saying "shhhh"
• the way she counts: "three, three, three"
• the way she can yell louder than i can and does so every single time she's excited about anything
• the way she sits on the "potty train" forEVER without doing anything yet refuses to leave the bathroom.
• that she calls me mommy now (used to always be mama).
• the way she adds "too" to the end of every request. like "i want drink too" or "i want kitty kitty too"
• that she's becoming less of a destroyer and instead loves to "keen up." and she sings while she does it.
• the way she runs to steve when he comes in the door yelling "DADA!" and gives him the biggest hug.
• that she loves to get dressed, especially in a dress or skirt. and that she loves all her accessories (bracelets, hair clips/headbands, shoes).
• the way she collapses onto me when i take her down to bed and when i get her up in the morning.
• the ways she throws her body in my arms to get me to rock her back and forth.
• the way she sticks her bottom lip out and tries not to cry when strangers look at her.
• the way she laughs, with her gap-toothed grin.
• that she tells me "go away, mama" after i've filled all her demands (which usually include ALL the following: blankie, binki, sippy, kitty kitty, book).

• the way she jumps (she grunts).
• the way she kicks a soccer ball...she's got skill.
• that she always wants her hood up when she has a hooded sweatshirt/jacket on.
• the way she says "cheese" when the camera is out yet refuses to actually look at it.
• the way she says "i k" when she gets hurt and keeps on going.
• that she loves babies and pets them and tries to feed them.
• the way she says 'whereditgo?' with her hands out to each side.
• the way she says 'nashy' and that she worships him. he's the first thing she talks about when she wakes up.
• that she loves butterflies and birds and
• the way she screams and jumps and points to the sky whenever she sees one.
• that she refuses to eat a pb&j like a normal person and instead opens it up, licks out the good stuff and throws the bread away.
• the way she sits in a slump, with her hands together, watching shows and that she loves "elmo abby" (sesame street) and "cifford dog" (clifford the big red dog).
• the way she concentrates when coloring or building with blocks.
• the way she says "kew" (cute) after she gets dressed or when looking at something she thinks is cute (usually jewelry or clothes).
• that she laughs and says "i funny."
• the way she waves and says "hi" and/or "bye" to animals and inanimate objects.
• the way she sings "jingle bells" and "happy to you."
• the way she says "nigh, night" to nash and begs for kisses even though he usually refuses.

we love our havey girl! 

first hair cut

havey got her first hair cut from stacy a few weeks ago. i just took a lousy camera-phone picture, but i still love it. she was so stinking cute on her little booster and in her kid apron.

recent videos

steve got mad at me the other day for not taking enough video of haven. he had a point...so i've been pulling out the camera this week. here are some winning videos:










it cracks me up that she can't say one of our names without yelling out the others.


i've got one more coming that's hilarious, but it also shows her privates. trying to do some editing. 

happy haven

some days, and lately it seems to be almost every day, i cannot get enough of haven. she's at such a cute age. today i tried to teach her "happy birthday" and she's been walking around singing "happy, happy, happy." she has the cutest little voice and loves to sing and dance. i made her dress out of a shirt i bought on the cheap when she was a fetus. i never wore it, but i love the fabric. i'm in love with it and the fact that she's also running around, spinning, and saying "dress! dress!" this girl generally hates the camera, but she really worked it today. i think these pictures do her justice-capture the real haven. i mean, check her out in that bottom one-supermodel in the making! (the second photo is of her doing the sound a monkey makes.) this girl melts my heart.

easter lolli

i cannot cannot cannot get enough of this girl right now. yesterday at grandma's she managed to open this lollipop from her easter basket on her own and covered herself with its sticky goodness. taking it away was a feat. i have never seen her throw a tantrum so violent or for so long. it was impressive. somehow it was also really adorable. she really knows how to give a good pouting lip. when we got home we let her have it back (partly just so i could take a picture) and had to go through the whole ordeal another time. she's nuts about her candy, this one.

binki

haven is starting to talk a lot. like all the time. she's either singing or talking. today as i was blow-drying my hair, she came in and pointed to her ear and said "ear." then she pointed to my ears and said "ear." then she did the same thing with noses and eyes. and then, she pointed to her mouth and said "binki." i think that means it's time to cut her off (the binki). she's just SO loud...

and as for her word list...it now contains nearly everything. my favorite is "shovel." she's busting out three and four word sentences. where has my havey baby gone?

words

sock
boot
shoe
show
phone
outside
car
ball
juice
help (sounds like hem)
jump
up
please

random photos

just the other day in the tub.

before we cut her hair.

little miss book worm

she loves books. she likes to scoot her little bum into mom or dad's lap with a book. she (we) reads them again and again. current favorites: things that go boo & dear zoo. both have flaps, which she finds especially exciting. last night she brought all the books from nash's room one-by-one into our bed and had a reading marathon. does the "book-it" program still exist? free pizza, here comes haven!

who is haven?

since havey is our second, she's often overshadowed by her big brother. he does things first and he steals the attention from haven most of the rest of the time. so i thought i'd sit down and really pound out some of the things we love about haven.

so who is our havey girl? what is she all about?

she is sweet and stubborn and silly.

she has 12 teeth (we think-she won't let us look, but i managed to sneak a peak when she was screaming after a full frontal collision with nashy boy on the hardwood floor) with a gap between her two front teeth-just like i did and my mom did when we were youngins. she reminds me of my mom as a kid, but then i also get glimpses of my dad (especially when she smiles a certain way), and emilie (because they both have twinkly-eyed smiles).

she has advanced to lip kisses, no more forehead kisses. each time she does she makes a little mmmmm noise. it's the cutest. but she does not give these kisses out like pretzels, it requires a lot of begging and pleading! most often the asker is refused with a head shake and a firm "no!"

if you ask her where anything is or ask her to say a word that is also one of her favorite objects (like binki, or kitty kitty), she says "whereditgo?" and begins to look for it under the couch or tables.

she says a few real words: snow, hello, shoes, so cool, so cute, star, nash, mama, dada, what's this?, i want that, whereditgo?, more, thank you, up, uh-huh, no (she sais this one A LOT), go, i want down, i'm all done. then she says a million other words all day long that i have yet to decipher-she has her own funny little language.

she loves the tub-when steve asks "who wants to take a tubbers?" haven goes crazy. it's like asking a dog if it wants to go outside. panic, run in circles, panic! even i want to take a tubbers when she gets that excited about it! she also drinks the water, and if there's not a cup or vessel of some sort she will just stick her face down in the water with her chubby behind sticking up.

she loves her kitty kitty and her blankie. she loves necklaces and things that go on her head (headbands, hats, etc.), but she won't keep a headband or hat on if it's part of her outfit-only if we're home playing around.

she loves to wear shoes and boots. anyone's shoes. she'll walk around in indie's or libby's boots all day if she can get away with it. she even wears her little ugg boots with her jammies and would probably sleep in them if i let her. when it's time to go she grabs her shoes and her coat and gets so excited to "go".

she loves to clean. when she spills her milk or juice she runs to the kitchen to grab a towel and tries to clean it up herself. she takes her trash to the garbage and, just like nash, gets really excited when she sees i'm going to clean the floors. the two of them with their little wet rags following me around generally creates more of a mess, but it's pretty darn cute. both are terrified of the vacuum, though.

she grunts when she's climbing on the couch, reaching for things, or trying to open things. she even grunts vicariously for me when i'm trying to open something!

she loves tv. she's a complete vegetable when the tv comes on-just like her dad. when sesame street starts she screams and runs to the couch. a few weeks ago i put a movie in and when she heard that little music blurb for the production company or whatever it was, she got really excited, pointed, and said "so cool!"

she loves her naps and bedtime. when it's time for a nap she sort of folds herself over a chair or the ottoman or a bed with her blanket and waits for me to notice and take her down to bed. as soon as i pick her and the blanket up she collapses on my shoulder. oh, i love it. she does the same thing in the morning after we get her out of the crib.

most of the time she sleeps on her tummy in a big lump. she uses her blankie as a pillow.

her hair...oh, what can we say about her hair? it's getting pretty red. it's stick straight. and it's...it's...okay, she has a mullet! there's no way around this and i refuse to cut the back because i'm convinced the top/sides will catch up soon. so, we resort to pig tails when leaving the house.

she's starting to grab my hand to direct me where she wants me to go and will sometimes even hold it just for fun. she has cold little hands with long fingers (and usually long nails, bad mom).

she has long legs. all of her pants are about two inches too short-so she wears boots to cover up the gap. we call her little miss long legs. and chubby buns.

she likes to do the motions for "once there was a snowman" with nash while he sings. she tries to sing along sometimes. she's starting to sing a lot, she walks around the house making up her own little tunes with her own little language's words. she seems to be taking after her aunty em and cousin libby-living in her own little happy world!

she knows how to turn on the stereo in nash's room and loves to dance. she does the funniest little move where she high-steps with one leg and jumps with the other. she also does a pretty cute squat and sway. once she even shoved her bum into dad's face which was mostly funny but a little scary. she also loves to jump on the bed but we're trying to keep that at a minimum since it's "danger."

she crosses her legs when she's sitting on the couch. and sometimes in the tub. she also has a little thing she does with her arms when she's waiting patiently for me to get her something in the kitchen. she holds one arm at the wrist with the opposite hand and just watches. it's about the cutest thing ever-especially in comparison to before, prior to this patient phase, when she would scream at me until the sippy/snack/binki was in her hand. she's come a long way.

she throws her food every single time she eats. she opens her sandwiches and eats only the good stuff smeared inside. she eats the toppings and sauce off pizza and leaves all the bread. she eats play doh if she plays with it for more than 20 minutes-it's like she loses all restraint at that point.

and that, in a nutshell, is our havey baby chubby buns. around age 18-20 months.

and her stats to correspond (these are from her 18-month well check visit):

height: 34 in/98%tile

weight: 23.7 lbs/41%tile

head: 18.9 in/87%tile

old video

these are from the summer, when havey first started walking (and running away from us):

sixteen months

number of teeth: 10 (six of which broke through within a day or two!)

words: uh-oh, hi, dada, mama (which she only says when she's crying). that's it. i think i've heard her say thank you and let's go and she'll copy some words, but she mostly just screams and points until we figure out what she wants.

loves: eggs, bananas, and food of most any kind, to be outside, running, dancing. we put the stereo in nash's room and she likes to go in and press play and dance her little heart out. she's got some good moves, most recently dropping to her knees during some hard rock.

she loves her pink blankie from aunt hollie. she nestles herself into it and coos. when she's sad she goes to her crib and gets it out to console herself. she puts it down on the stairs, the floor, a chair, and then flops onto it and sort of rocks herself. she loves that thing.

she also loves the tub and it's pretty hard for anyone in the house to take a shower or bath without her climbing in. once while steve was in the shower she climbed in fully clothed. steve had been facing the showerhead and when he turned around he screamed.

she loves to go on walks, especially when pushing a baby doll stroller. and she LOVES to swing and go down the slide. she especially loves the trampoline and runs around it like a crazy lady with her static-y hair. she's very daring and has to be watched very closely at the park. one day i looked away for two seconds because i had something in my eye and when i turned around she was hanging from an opening in the bars (why do they design playgrounds like that?).

last week as i lay in bed sick hoping the kids would watch tv all day, haven escaped. nash came running into my room exclaiming 'haven's outside, mama!' i ran outside (in my underwear) and found her two houses down. booking it. of course she threw a fit when i brought her inside.

she love to climb up and sit on chairs, especially our green velvet chair. you can tell she thinks she's pretty cool when she does it.

and, lastly, she LOVES her dad. she is a true daddy's girl. she walks around the house all day calling for him. she picks up the phone and tries to talk to him. she runs to him and gives him forehead kisses. she worships him. and he her. it's pretty darn cute.

things she doesn't like: listening, although she's actually starting to improve a little here. she used to panic and scream if you tried to get her to stop doing anything. now she'll listen about half the time without a fit. she hates to hold hands and she hates diaper changes. she screams and runs every single time.

she doesn't like to sit still and we have yet to make it through an entire sacrament meeting with her in the room. we started putting her in nursery a few weeks ago because it was too exhausting (and pointless) dealing with her in church.

she loves to fight with her brother, although this is not a good thing so that's why i'm listing it in the 'things she doesn't like.' a sneaky way of saying she doesn't like her brother. she knows how to pick a fight and even if he's trying to be sweet and give her kisses she'll usually throw a punch. in a miracle moment last week, though, she bowed to him and made her little bird noise (asked for a kiss) and nash obliged. sadly i was at the instacare and missed it, but steven said it was pretty cute.

let's just say she's a strong-willed spirited child, but she has her sweet moments and they are heart-melting. she's not a cuddler, but lately she's started to come sit in my lap or beside me on the couch. as long as i try to play it cool, she'll stay a while. but if i try to sneak a hug or a kiss she's outta there fast.

we love our girl!

she

she eats rocks.
she wears diapers. and dirt.
she loves eggs.
she says "hi."
she walks. most of the time.
she hits her brother.
she smiles. all the time.

buddies

haven thinks this doll is her best friend. i think it's ugly, but if it makes her this happy, she can keep it:

first birthday

havey turned one! we had a party in the park with friends and family. lots of treats and one present (we asked people not to bring them-she doesn't know the difference). it took a little coaxing to get her to eat her cake, but she soon figured it out. she's such a sweet girl and we love her to death. steve thinks she was especially pretty for her party-she's a daddy's girl for sure.

swinging

11 months

this little beauty is 11 months old today. i can't believe she's almost a year. it's flown by despite the fact that i told myself it would fly by and subsquently tried to slow myself down and enjoy it more. well, darn it. all my efforts proved pretty useless. i cuddled her way more than i cuddled nash and she's a crazy monster. something just switched on in her little head this last month and she's become a crazy, crazy girl. she's fast, she's determined, and she throws her head back into my jugular when i attempt to change her diapers. she loves the tub and loves to stand up and fall down in it to make a big splash (despite the fact that she nearly drowns doing it). she'd dive right into the pool if we let her, she doesn't like grass to touch her knees so she crawls like a gorilla, and she laughs and crawls away from me when she knows i'm trying to get her with the most mischievous face you've ever seen on an almost-one-year-old. she's a little she-devil and i have a feeling she's going to give us a run for our money. oh, but we love her.

10 months

havey girl is 10 months! and pulling up on anything she can. we caught her doing the splits yesterday, and she almost took a dive off the curb and grandma's house today. she's starting to really move-which means she's also starting to get into trouble. she's finally converted to a full crawl, and she looks like a little robot moving her arms and legs in perfect sync. she'll give you a good scrunchy face on demand, and loves to talk and yell. she can even hold her own when nashy boy tries to pick on her (she throws a good punch). she'll eat anything she can get her hands on, including dirt, rocks, and a close call with some mouse poop (sick-good thing mom was paying attention!). she's a content, happy girl and as nash likes to say, "baby yuz you." (literal translation: "baby loves you". but it really means "i love baby.")

9 months

9 months stats:

teeth: 2!
weight: 18 lbs. 6 oz./42%tile
length: 28 inches/60%tile

the doctor has a mirror on the wall that runs along the little bed/table. haven was IN LOVE with herself, laughing and kissing herself. it was sort of unreal, but we realized the only mirror in our house is the bathroom vanity, so this was totally new and exciting for her. the doctor thinks she's "a vain little thing" and the nurse said "my sister is the same way." i tried to take some pictures of the flirtation going on (with herself) but all i had was my camera phone, so they're pretty lousy.

she's starting to babble a lot and even gets out some mama and dada's. she's at that age where we're really starting to fall in love with her. we've loved her from the start, but now is when it starts to get fun and her personality really starts to show. the only thing i'm sad to report: her cheeks are deflating. noticeably. so we're trying to enjoy what's left of them while they last...

sweetness & light

emmy got this hat for me when she was on her mission in chile and we finally have a chance to use it!








i love taking tons of pictures of haven (i guess that's the one perk to having a crappy camera-i have to take millions to get a few good ones). i love to capture all her little "looks" that are so fleeting you almost miss them. then i can study them later to determine who she looks like. what i love most is seeing bits and pieces of all my favorite people all packaged into the one and only sweet* package that is haven.

*her sweetness takes the cake. nothing can bring her down-reflux, colds, ear infections, RSV, thrush. she's had it all and remains a happy little lump. it's almost sad that she's so happy in spite of being so sick...

just another day at home.

6-Month Stats

Weight: 17.38 pounds/76%
Height: 27 inches/88%
Head Circumference: 17.3 inches/87%

{Mmm...}

weight: 15.37 pounds/ 79.81%tile
length: 26 inches/ 94.19%tile
head circumfrence: 16.5 inches/ 70.82%tile

*we were a little late getting in for the regular 4-month visit, but close enough!

i can't believe this little girl is already four months (17.5 weeks) old today. the time seems to be flying by so much faster than it did with nash. i think i'm getting better at this mom thing and am enjoying it more and more each day. haven has been getting happier as each day passes, too, spending less and less time crying and more and more time smiling and laughing and learning. her a.r. is finally under control and we haven't had a freak-out in over a week. she wakes up giggling (sometimes a little too early in the morning) and screams with excitement when we go to her crib. she's quite a happy screamer and knows how to get her share of mom's attention. she loves to be held, but is content to lay and watch me play with nash. she's sitting up with a little support, rolling over and inching on her tummy, and sleeping like a champ. she scrunches her nose and raises one eyebrow when she smiles (i've yet to capture this on camera). and best of all, she and nash have an amazing relationship that blows my mind and makes me so proud. i hope every day that they will remain the best of friends.

little pink overalls

{3.5 months}

i had to show off this cute outfit from grandma m. she bought it as a baby gift for someone else a while back but couldn't part with its cuteness. good thing-haven wears it well! thanks grandma!

back-to-tummy

havey baby rolled over from back to tummy today in the time it took me to run from the living room to the kitchen and back (and if you've seen our house you'll know that's not very far!). and she did it from within her burrito (swaddle)! way to go haves! now that you've got the rolls under your belt (and all over your chubby little body), it's time to move on to sitting...

first swim

{3 months}