Thanksgiving, Babies, Baths, Dresses, and Bows... Oh My!

Well, jeez. This is how horrible I am at blogging- I have about a thousand pictures and dozens of things to talk about. New Year's resolution: to update the blog AT LEAST once-twice a week. Hm, we'll see- I'm not so great with resolutions- my other resolution will be to be better at keeping my resolutions. Nice. Anyways, we had a marvelous Thanksgiving, like a year ago now, just kidding, only a month, with all of the usual suspects (minus a few) and delicious fare. This was my first year trying my Grandma's infamous yams and the much prized jello salad and I have to admit that I have been ridiculous and wrong for the past 24 years of my life. Both of those things are by far the BEST part of Thanksgiving and I am so disappointed in myself that it has taken me this long to discover their awesomeness. My life has new meaning now and I'm already ANXIOUSLY ANTICIPATING next Thanksgiving just so I can eat caramel yams, raspberry jello whipped cream goodness, mashed potatoes, and apple pie till I gag. What a simpleton I've been. Moving on: Thanksgiving was actually truly great because of all the family (not the decadent food). I LOVE LOVE LOVE my family. I don't think I can say it enough. Their company is so fun and fulfilling- we had lots of.... interesting stories and conversations this year- it was a blast. I love my own DARLING little family. I love my incredible parents and siblings. I love my wonderful ever-increasing extended family. BEST EVER. That's what I'm thankful for always.

The day after Thanksgiving Valentine got a visit from her BFF Louisa. They are CUTE and funny together. Valentine has been real interesting lately. She is definitely in the terrible two's and can I just say that that is not fun. Why do kids have to go through that stage? I just don't get it- like when I ask for something I need or something she's grabbed from me and she tries to hide it behind her back and when I actually reach for it she turns and CHUCKS it in the opposite direction or runs and throws it down the stairs. It's fun. Or when I have to tell her to not hit or chase Ada for the FIVE HUNDREDTH MILLIONTH time (those two are the bane of my existence) because she'll get bitten. But, it's worth it guess because she's also HILARIOUS. She is an awesome dancer and singer and does both alllllll the time. She also is the most talkative, energetic little thing and keeps us very very entertained with her little one-man shows or speeches that we understand nothing of because she's speaking in another language and very fast. She looooves dress up and is more often in dress up clothes than real ones- that is when she's not naked which is even more often- I just CANNOT get her to keep clothes on. Miss Hot-Stuff (as I've liked to call my sassy drama queen) is also a super sweet big sister. She loves loves her brother and is always kissing, trying to hold, talking to, concerned about "Mo-ness." I love them together- it makes me so happy and touched as a mother to see them getting along and so attached already.

On a little note- Kirby and I had a little show for our bows the other weekend with Taylor's fiancee, Michelle and her mom, Jolene, who are artists. It was great- we got a lot of work done and were able to sell some stuff and got really good feedback on our products. The website still isn't 100%, but go to it and please email us any orders you'd like for the Holidays!

P.S. If you'd like to see the pictures in chronological order start from the bottom and work your way up- if you can find the bottom that is- sorr-you (as Valentine says sorry).

This made me laugh really hard- poor little guy.






How Valentine is 90% of the time.




I can't get enough of this face.

Twinners!!!! Can you see Summer's cute twin belly? SO excited!
It makes me almost cry whenever I see Sierra hold Moses. What a sweet, special bond we all have from that sweet, special experience.


We way cracked out some Settlers action when everyone had left. Drew was in heaven needless to say.

I can't get enough of this face.

Maybe Valentine likes to be naked so much because I love my nakey babies- they don't get any cuter than when you can see every chubby roll and feel their soft silky baby skin.

Yet another dress.




JELLO SALAD! I'm pretty sure it was the word 'salad' that scared me off from ever trying this yummy treat.











By far the best picture of my life. Merry, the actress, always delivers.

MMM PIES!
YAMS!




Her favorite nightgown that she considers as a dress.

This is her new favorite dress-up dress- I bought it for $10 at a bridal store when Page was trying on dresses. And yes she always wears her crown backwards- apparently it's the only way she knows how to put it on.

She looks so much like Drew it's sometimes scary.



Bath time joy!

These are a few of my favorite things.....

Happy Late Late Late Birthday Valentine!

I'm already a terrible mother and awful at those whole 2 kids thing apparently- it's taken me almost a month to write about my sweet Valentine's 2nd birthday! Goodness. At first I was too tired and now I'm too busy/lazy. Anyways, the day before Baby Moses came into our world we had such a fun low key family celebration for Miss Tiny. I was waaaay too exhausted and down trodden at that point in my pregnancy to plan or do anything fun for my poor child (I promise I'll make it up next year!) but our little Sunday get together was more than sufficient for Valentine- I don't think anything would have made her happier than having her best friends- her cousins- over to play with her. Henry, Sienna, Noah and Louisa are definitely her favorite people in the world and all of her other cousins too. We had yummy chocolate cake, cupcakes, pink and princess adornments everywhere and about 500 presents. It was a good birthday. Still in shock that I had Valentine TWO YEARS AGO and that I've had another baby. Shock. Having Moses and celebrating Tiny's second birthday has made me finally realize that she is not a baby anymore. It makes me sad yet it is so unbelievably fun to watch her grow and turn into a little sassy person. After the birthday pics are my 10 things I LOVE about my Tiny:

1. If there is one thing Valentine does not lack it is personality. You always know when Valentine is around and she definitely makes everything so much more fun and interesting. She is large and in charge and vivacious and wonderful- everyone notices and loves Valentine.

2. She is the cutest big sister already. She loves her "Brudder" which is his official name for V. She is always giving him kisses, laying down with him, wanting to hold him and very concerned about him- "where's brudder?!" They're cute.

3. I love love love her little face. It's the most darling thing I've ever seen and she makes the best facial expressions EVER- I've even had strangers tell me that.

4. She has so much ENERGY. She is a little hurricane sometimes and as exhausting as it is I love it and would never change that about her (I only wish she could somehow share the wealth).

5. Valentine is sooo sweet. She still loves to cuddle with me and is always giving me kisses and hugs and touching my face and telling me she loves me and asking me to hold her- no matter how old she gets she'll always be that mamma's girl and my little Tiny baby.

6. Kids do really say the darndest things- especially Valentine. I think my favorite still is when she's in another room and I yell her name to see where she is or what she's doing and her answer to "Valentine?" is the same every time- "What???". She is too funny and cracks me up- I'll start a list of V quotes and put them up cause there are a lot any they are awesome. I also love it when she says "oh gosh" when she thinks something is pretty or when she tells me I look "so bootiful! like a prinsee!" whenever I put any form of a dress or skirt on.

7. She is so much like her dad it's comical sometimes. I love to see them together because most of the time they are just two peas in a pod and so fun together and can make each other laugh like no one else I've seen- there are sometimes though where they just clash and I have to step in and take over cause they are just too similar- it makes me laugh. The best is when Drew puts her to bed and she gives him a hard time and we can hear them hollering at each other from two floors down. Awesome.

8. Valentine is smart. She picks up on things and has always done things early for her age. She might not have hair but she'd got brains in that bald head and makes her mamma proud. You should see that way she works an i-phone or a dvd player, it's ridiculous.

9. I love that she really is tiny- that's even how she refers to herself. I think Moses is almost her same size. Just kidding, but I love my little little girl.

10. I love that Valentine is like me in some ways. She loves macaroni and cheese, she loves to dress up, she prefers dresses to pants, she loves pink and princess stuff, and best of all she already has a deep fondness for singing and dancing. She'll go and play the piano and sing to herself, she LOVES to have dance parties and has really good rythm! I was practicing a little singing the other day for the first time in weeks- maybe months- and she sat there watching me and grinning and kept asking for more whenever I stopped. I can already tell that these things that are so precious to me will always be a strong bond between us.

Happy Late Birthday Valentine! I love you- sorry I'm lame!

Introducing.........

Moses Robinson Hafer

Born Monday, October 11, 2010 at 9:59 p.m. weighing 9 lbs 1 oz and 20 1/2 inches long at the Family Health and Birth Center in Washington D.C.

Of course I have my nine pound baby without drugs and my six pound baby with them. Just kidding- I actually LOVED my Birth Center experience. I loved the calmness of the Birth Center, I loved that I could do whatever I wanted and how I wanted, I could eat (I didn't really eat cause I didn't want to- but I COULD have if I wanted.) I LOVED the tub- best pain relief ever- I loved using my hypnobabies, which worked wonderfully up until the end; and most of all I LOVED my wonderful birthing team- Drew, my mom, Kirby, Page, and my AWESOME midwives Sierra, Erica, and Candace. It actually makes me cry every time I think about Sierra and the help she was and this amazing experience we had together- I definitely could not have done it without her. I also couldn't have done it without Drew and my mom and sisters- they all took turns pouring water on my back or belly while in the tub and were there to do whatever I needed. Drew was amazing- such great support and help, I love him so much. I was in labor for about 16 hours- started having contractions at six in the morning and my beautiful baby boy was born at 10 that night. I have to admit that my labor was quite a bit longer than I was expecting. I also had a TON of back pressure for the last while of my birthing time- I had a pretty huge head down there for a long time and my water wasn't breaking- no hypnosis or epidural could have helped me with that. But Sierra broke my water- I got back in the tub and Baby Moses was born 37 minutes later. His head had been crowning for a long time and I was so confused as to why it wasn't out yet- I stayed really quiet outwardly while pushing, but the whole time I was yelling in my head, "WHY ISN'T HIS HEAD OUT YET??? WHY IS THIS TAKING SO LONG?? OK NEXT PUSH HE'LL BE OUT. NO?? OK NEXT PUSH. I CAN SEE THE HEAD WHY ISN'T HE JUST OUT YET???!!" His cute big head finally did come out and I pulled that baby boy up to my chest more relieved and happy than I think I've ever been in my life. When I held that chubby baby to me I looked at his head and chunky body and thought, "Oh! That's why it took so long." I couldn't stop laughing when they announced he was over 9 lbs- so shocked. But, he was perfect. He is perfect. I am so in love with my little boy. It's crazy to me that this was all over a week ago- it feels like it was yesterday and years ago at the same time. I've been amazed with both of my babies at that instantaneous love and familiarity you have with your baby. I can't remember life before Moses was here and feel like he's always been a part of my life. He's a sweet, good baby too- eats like a champ- I think he nurses about every 2 hours during the day. He sleeps well at night though. Just like his sister was he's already very alert and aware- but I think he's more mellow than her. And Valentine looooooves "baby brudder." We try to tell her his name is Moses but she will only call him baby or brudder or both. She always asks if she can "hold it!?" and is constantly showering him with kisses. I am so grateful for my darling little family- for my husband who is a great dad and for the two gorgeous babies we created.

This is probably mid-birthing time- awesome Halloween nightgown huh?
The tub truly was the best thing ever- everyone there laughed at my huge sigh of relief when I first got in.
Using my hypnosis during a contraction- or "pressure wave" I should say. Thank you Hypnobabies!
Drew smiling at his new little boy.
Pure joy.
Skin on skin contact while mom got out of the tub.
First family shot.
Awesome awesome awesome aunt/midwife Sierra.
Check out that chunky guy!
Some rest at last.
Could he be anymore darling??
Love love love him.