Who-ville

Before Christmas we visited Whoville at Opryland. Yep, we met all the Who's and even said hi to the Grinch. The entire city is made of ice and the building is kept at a frigid 9 degrees to keep it from melting. That being said, let me add that my adorable yet incredibly sassy little lady refused and I do mean REFUSED (screaming, flailing, kicking on the floor and all that jazz) to wear her gloves. So then she was horribly grumpy the whole time because her hands hurt. Well HELLO- its 9 degrees put on your stinkin' gloves! But no, and yes I do mean NO, I will suffer but definitely not in silence.

The ice was really cool. The child was not.

I'm sorry I've been so lazy about updating the blog, but life has been a little chaotic. Jona made it home from Mexico without amoebas and without fleas so all in all a safe return. Carol Ann arrived after my parents left to continue the grandparent spoiling of Hailey and we had a great week together before Daddy came home. Then Tony arrived a few days later and stayed to play until last Friday. Hailey had such a fun time with all the grandparents, I'm not sure that Jona and I are entertaining enough for her anymore!

So since I haven't updated in so long, this post will include lots of pictures. We start with a Diego reading session with Grandma her first morning in Nashville. Diego has completely consumed our lives, and although I often feel terrible that she is watching what feels like an endless amount of television, I can honestly say that she is learning from him. She can now count to 10 in english and in spanish, and knows an amazing number of spanish words and uses them appropriately. Her spanish vocabulary is just about as good as mine at this point!

The next pic just cracks me up because Hailey was quietly playing in her room when I walked in and found this scene. Please note that every baby doll has her own blankie, book, and cell phone...what else could a girl need?!?

Daddy's arrival home means lots and LOTS of running, playing and tickling! It really is astounding how much weight these children's toys can hold! This particular car was purchased with love from Gammy and Grampy and sings a variety of lovely, catchy, sing along tunes that are oh-so-fun to hear over and over and over again. When you hit the horn button it honks, next time it whistles, and then it plays what we refer to as her 'travelin music'. Whenever she is pushing you or she is being pushed, the movement must stop until she hits the button enough times to find her theme song.

Which brings us to Christmas tree shopping. We went to a little market just down the road from our house and picked out our tree in a matter of minutes. That is absolutely unheard of for us. It usually takes us multiple trips and at least one large argument to purchase a tree and get it in the house. No fighting this time. Walked onto the lot, picked the third tree we looked at, got it home, put Hailey to bed, got the tree in the house, adjusted it once, and VOILA- Christmas arrived in Nashville! Amazing. Hailey came out into the family room the next morning and stood in awe and said, "Mom, its beautiful." No lights or ornaments required, just a really cool tree in her house is all the girl needs. Decorating has also been fun. We put all the breakable ornaments on the top half so little hands wouldn't get to them, so the tree is rather top heavy. But we left a bunch for Hailey to hang and she did a fabulous job. She took so much time to find just the right place for each one and couldn't hang any of them until they got a hug and a kiss. She really is just too precious.

Well, that's enough for now. I'll try to do better, especially with Christmas, New Years, and her birthday rapidly approaching. And never fear, although we won't be with the rest of our families this year, Hailey will be more than adequately spoiled rotten :) Love to all.

She may be sick, but she is still adorble

Just cause she doesn't feel good doesn't mean she shouldn't look good!

Happy Turkey Day

I am so behind on my updates, sorry. Life has been a little crazy. Jona left for Mexico and my parents arrived to help with Hailey and to spend Thanksgiving with us. There are no words for how helpful they have been! Last weekend we all drive to Mississippi to visit Chris Perrin and family and while we were there Hailey chose to share her latest daycare bug (for her it was double ear infections) with everyone. Lots of tissues flying around and the constant noise of coughing children...a lovely time together, really :) Gammy got it first and still has the constant throat tickle, but Grampy got hit the hardest with pneumonia. Yep, thats right folks, I said pneumonia. See if they ever come visit us again! So we've been a snot filled bunch!

I worked Thanksgiving, so we just did our turkey day today. Gammy fixed quite a feast and Hailey is quite the fan of turkey smothered in gravy...and I mean floating in it. I am ready to fall sound asleep on the couch but I wanted to share the latest pics first. Let the holidays begin!!

Late Halloween Entry

I forgot to talk about our pre-Halloween adventures in my last post. The Sunday before Halloween we went to Gentry Farm which advertised it's pumpkin patch and 4 acre corn maze as the best in Nashville. Apparently they hadn't updated their ads post summer drought-please note the dead corn and lack of pumpkins. Sad, sad, sad times had fallen on Gentry Farm, but they had no problem with charging us to get in and go on the hay ride that involved NO hay and a few cows for our viewing pleasure. Not the best Sunday outing thus far.

So we bought our pumpkin at Publix and carved away. Hailey loved it and dug right in. We went with the cat theme for its face and for our first pumpkin I think we did a pretty darn good job.

Happy Halloween

There have been major developments since our last posting. Hailey started school two weeks ago and loves it! From the very first day she took over the joint and is now queen of the classroom. Her teacher loves her and there has not been a single tear shed over being left there. Apparently she really was ready. She asks everyday if she is going, and Jona says when he drops her off in the morning he can barely even get a kiss good-bye! Such a big girl. She is only there part time, but of course by the third day she already had a snotty nose...taking her antibodies!!

Halloween was great! Hailey was a kitty cat and thought she was pretty hot stuff when we trick or treated in our neighborhood. Of course, the best part was not the candy, it was the fact that almost every house had a puppy or kitty in the doorway, one even had a Great Dane- it was tough to pull her away.

I started work and can't decide if I'm going to like it or not. The hospital is very small and has a totally different feel from my last job, which is both a good and bad thing. I am in the newborn nursery, so I don't really get to work with moms as much anymore and I do miss the education part of things. We don't have neonatologists in house, unlike in Miami, so we the nurses are pretty much the be all and end all for the newborns. That both excites and terrifies me with every delivery I attend. I guess only time will tell which emotion wins out.

Jona leaves for Mexico in 4 days. He will be gone for a month to a town with no phones, no cell service, and no internet. Its going to be quite an adjustment for all of us and he is already dreading how much Hailey will grow up in that short amount of time. He is trying to convince me not to teach her anything new while he is away...don't think that's going to work out for us :)

Fall seems to have finally arrived. Our days are lovely and the leaves are starting to change. Hailey and I went on a walk this morning in Radnor Park and although this time we only saw one deer (the first time we saw 13!), it was still fun to have to wear our coats and have chilly fingers. Gammy and Bampa arrive next week and we're supposed to have our chilliest weather yet...I'm sure Dad will love that!

So, that's the skinny from Nashville. Hugs to everybody!!