Two Major Milestones for Hali

Hali hit two very exciting milestones (not your typical baby milestones) the same week she turned five months, at least exciting for us.
1. Her clogged tear duct in her right eye finally cleared up. Hurray! She has had this problem since she was born and everybody told me that it usually goes away in the first three months. Well for Hali it was five months. The poor girl always had her parents picking at her eye to clean it up. She constantly had tears running from it. I look at all of her past pictures and in most of them her eye is red (probably because we wanted to clean it up for the pictures we were taking). I love to wake up and see both of her eyes instead of one open and the other glued shut. Here are some before and after pictures. The before picture doesn't give just how bad it was justice! (You have to enlarge the picture to even see it.) Like I said I tried to clean it up before pictures, so this is about half of what it was usually. Everybody who sees her now says "did her eye clear up?"
BEFORE

AFTER

2. She finally decided to take another binkie! This is very exciting for several reasons. For one, she loves her binkie so much that it is in almost every picture and I was so tired of not seeing half of her face because it was being covered by the huge green circle! Not to mention when those green binkies fall out they bounce clear across the room because you can't put them on binkie clips. The day she turned five months I decided to revisit my assorted collection of cute pink and purple binkies. I put each one in her mouth and she spit most of them out, but this is the one that stuck! Perfect, I was so excited! I think she even likes this one better than the big green monster binkie!
BEFORE

AFTER

Yummy Cereal

On Hali's five month birthday we decided to give the rice cereal a try. She did pretty good. I don't know that she really loved it, but she didn't hate it either. As long as she has something in her tummy she is happy, it doesn't really matter to her what it is. Here are some cute pictures from the big event.
First veggie: squash
First fruit: applesauce

What is this stuff?

First bite.

I don't know about this.


All done, clean up!

I've been Spoiled!

I just want to share some of the fun things I have gotten recently and LOVE!! (this is for you mom, since I've told you all about my fun new toys.)

1) My new Dyson slim vacuum. I have never been so excited to clean in my life. The first time I vacuumed my house with it I was embarrassed by just how much dust and dirt my old vacuum missed. It is one of the best birthday presents ever!

2) My new jogging stroller. I've wanted to get into running, but couldn't take Hali in her regular stroller, so this is what we got and so far I love it (the day I have had it, that is)!

3) My Ipod shuffle! I haven't officially opened and used this yet because it is a Mother's day gift, but I am super excited about it. We already have the video Ipod, but Travis is always using it so I wanted something of my own. I didn't need anything fancy, I just love the clip and how how small it is. Just for your information it is $48.00 regular $78.00 at Walmart right now. I checked all of the sites Ebay, Overstock, etc and yes you can get a refurbished one for the same price, but not a new one. It's a great deal for anyone interested.

What the Hoopes' have been up to...

Apparently I have been looking at everybody else's blogs rather that posting on my own. I was way overdo so again there are many new posts!

Five Months Old and Tagged!

Yes it's true Hali is already five months old today! She is just growing up way to fast for us. She was tagged by her little friend Kate so I thought today would be a great day to do it.

HALI'S TOP 10 FAVORITE THINGS!

1. Her binki – she has loved this thing since the day she was born. It calms her down puts her to sleep and gives her a toy to play with. I’m not really looking forward to the day I have to take it away from her!
2. Her baths – she is such a water baby that even if she is screaming at the top of her lungs all we have to do it put her in the bathtub to calm her right down.
3. Her swing – I just don’t know what I would do without this thing. She just loves it and still takes most of her naps in it.
4. Her blanket – this girl has more blankets than any baby should have, but she definitely has a favorite. She loves her pink and brown striped and polka dot blanket. It is so soft she just loves to rub her face on it. I have to constantly wash it because it is always with us getting spit up on and whatever else; so my mom decided to make her another one so she would always have one while the other is in the wash! Thanks Grandma!!
5. Sucking on her hands – I swear half of my pictures her hands are in her mouth. She just loves them, and she is now starting to suck only on her thumb. I’m not really sure how I feel about that one.
6. “Superman” with dad – this has been something Travis has done with her ever since she was very little. At first it made me nervous seeing my little baby flying through the air on one hand, but now I just love seeing the two of them smile when they do it (of course with the song Travis sings too).
7. To eat – this girl is on a three hour eating schedule and she’ll remind you if you forget. She can be such a bear when she is hungry, but once she has a full belly she is as happy as can be!
8. Baby Einstein – she has just started to like these movies. I get to pick up my bedroom and do laundry while she sits on my bed and watches it.
9. Daddy – He is a lot more fun than me and definitely has a way with making her laugh, whenever she sees him she just lights up!
10. Mommy – I saved myself for last because as the saying goes ‘last the best of all the game’ right?! I have to be one of her favorites because I'm with her the most! Whenever she is upset and nobody else can calm her down, usually I just have to hold her and rock her to calm her down. It sure is nice to be wanted and loved that much!
Hali has brought so much joy to our lives and we love her so much!! We just love our little ‘bug’!

If you have a child (or more) you are tagged! Do it, it's a lot of fun!

McKenzie's Baby Shower!

Throughout my life I have been blessed with awesome friends who have always been a good influence on me and the decisions I have made. This past weekend we went to Richfield to have a baby shower for my good friend McKenzie. She is having a baby boy in May. Ever since we graduated from High School we have celebrated bridal showers, and are now doing the baby showers! We had it at Pepperbelly's in Richfield and we ended up staying there for over three hours talking! It is so much fun to get together with these girls and reminisce about crazy things we use to do, high school dances, boyfriends, sports, and where we are now in our lives. It doesn't matter how long it has been since we've seen each other we can always get together and have more to talk about that time! I look forward to the next event we have to celebrate together. Love you girls!

First Ponytail!

After I saw several blogs of friends who were doing pigtails in their babies’ hair I thought I'd give it a try. However, Hali was squirming way to much to get piggy tails so I was only able to get one, but it still looks cute! I didn't take these pictures until that night when I was ready to take it out so it doesn't look nearly as cute as it did that morning, but she's cute anyway!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

On April 8th I turned 24 and had a great birthday! Hali and I just hung out that day and then we went to Olive Garden for dinner when Travis got off work. That night Travis threw a little party for me with friends and family. We had a lot of fun. Thank you to all of you who were able to come. I got a lot of fun gifts including: a movie (All Dogs Go to Heaven) and candy from Clint and Angie, a cute mom picture from Stacy, Brad and the kids, BBW soap (and not to forget Amish bread) from Jeremy and Paty, a cute muffin mix from Grandma and Grandpa Searle, a Pandora bracelet, and new shoes from the Hoopes, a cute flower charm (for the bracelet) from Shellee (and a delicious birthday cake she made), the Penuche recipe I've been wanting FOREVER from my mom along with some cooking items, money from family, clothes and other things from Travis, and the item I've been wanting for some time now - A NEW VACUUM! I was very spoiled and had a wonderful day! Thank you everybody for making my day special!

Just like Daddy

Two peas in a pod!

More and more everyday I am seeing this little girl's personality and at this stage in the game she is just like her daddy: loves to smile and make others smile, laughs constantly, full of mischief, makes funny noises and loves to hear herself. Like I said just like Travis. Those of you who know him know he loves to make others laugh, is very optimistic and happy, is extremely energetic (never stops), kind, sensitive, often CRAZY, and most importantly everybody loves him and he gets along with everyone! They match each other to a T! I love it, but sometimes between the both of them I am exhausted by the end of the day! Thank you for filling my life with excitement, I love you both!!