What I'm Loving

Kayla Kisses for Brody:  This little girl truly loves her little brother, and he sure gets a kick out of her.

Teething babies:  The ones who put anything and everything in their mouths.  And especially the ones who chew on their bottom lip if they can't find anything else to chew on. 

Toddlers who smile for the camera of their own accord:  This doesn't happen every day, but the days it does, I try to take many many pictures of her and the two of them together (because it's EASY peasy to get Brody to smile.) (And yes, I do have that many pictures on my iPhone...a week ago it was about 300-400 more than this.)

Smiling Eyes:  The way the biggest (and smallest) baby smiles begin with the eyes.  If only everyone smiled so genuinely you could see it in their eyes first, the world would be a better place.

Babies who do funny things:  Like suck on the arms of rattle toys like they are pacifiers and make adorable baby faces.

Oh and cheeks:  Big, soft, puffy, kissable baby cheeks.  Especially the kind that conceal their lips when looking at their profile.

Dancing:  Especially with my kiddos, while singing songs I love...

While they laugh hysterically.  

Oh and songs:  Songs that make you want to cry with their lyrics truly touching your heart.  The kind that makes you so very happy and thankful to have your husband and your kids.

Girly girl things:  Like dance class and ponytails.  And happy little girls.

Easy ways to calm toddlers:  Like stickers.  And hugs.

Playdates:  Especially the kind with long time friends and friends you've known for a long time but never dreamed you'd be as close of friends as you are.

Brody has two girlfriends. :)

Half birthdays:   Because it means they are strong and healthy.  And even though times speeds by, you build memories each day that passes.

Hard work and weight loss:  Especially when a pair of pants you loved prior to getting pregnant, don't fit anymore.  And you have to buy a new pair (in a better color) in 6 sizes smaller (or 3 sizes since it's by 2s.)

Catching special independent moments:  This has to be my most favorite thing ever.  It makes my heart smile seeing their independence and their bond.

Helpful toddlers:  I have one of the most helpful.  She may not do everything right but she loves to help me with the laundry, folding, loading and unloading the dishwasher, vacuuming and dusting.

This blog:  Because my memory is quickly slipping and I'm so glad I have this documentation to help me build memories of my kiddos when they are little.

Favorite things Fridays 10/21/11

I only have 2 today, although I know it's been awhile.  So I'll tide you all over with another adorable video of my sweetie. :)

1. Watching/listening to Daddy make Kayla laugh.  Baby belly laughs are seriously the most amazing sound....of pure joy.

2. Watching Kayla learn to walk.  Yep, she officially started walking this week.  Before she would take 5-6 steps here and there, this week, instead of crawling she chooses to pull herself up to standing and take small careful baby steps across the carpet to get my phone.

Stay tuned...tomorrow is another big day in A Hales Life. :)

Friday Favorites on Saturday

I was too busy with my family yesterday to post but here are a few of my favorite things this week:

• How Kayla has learned to stand on her own for up to around 10 seconds+ by using her extremely flimsy activity center arms to stand up and then proceeding to shake the activity center while standing.
• The adorable Sperry sandals we bought for Kayla and watching her wear them for the first time last night.  She was so confused, tried to shake them off, and had a little bit of a hard time moving around as much as usual due to the rubber soles sticking to the floor.
• Moving.  Well, not the actual act of moving (too much work) but more the idea of starting something new, like a blank slate.

Surfer baby

Friday Favorites

• The way Kayla crawls as fast as she can for something soft and fluffy (i.e. pillow pet, dog bed, furry blanket) and dives head first into said soft thing and comes back up smiling.
• How Kayla bends over to look under the cabinets/couch to find out where that ball she was just playing with rolled to.
• The way Kayla has SO much to say!  She is really loving learning all the different tones and decibels her voice can hit.  She like in a constant state of talking.
• Movies...almost any kind (especially old musicals I love that are on t.v...like "The Unsinkable Molly Brown.)
• Rainy days when Kayla takes long naps.

Happy Friday...enjoy the rainy weekend (if you are on the East Coast.)

Few Favorite Things Fridays

Sometimes, I have so many ideas of things to write about, and sometimes I feel like I have nothing, hence the reason I started New Mom Mondays.  Well I've been thinking about all the little quirks Kayla has that make me smile and thought it would be good to do a post a week about a few things that make me happy.

Coincidentally, one of the things on my 101 list, #42, is to write down 100 things that make me happy.  So this will be a great way to slowly do that over time.  I'll probably just write down a few bullet points, and it might not be every Friday, but I'll try!  Also, the things won't all be about Kayla, I promise, because there are a lot of other things that make me happy too!

• Kayla will be climbing all over me one second and the next second she's this independent little stinker crawling around and climbing on everything, pulling all of her toys out of the basket.  But when I look at her across the room and she looks back at me, I love the way she gets this huge smile on her face and starts making a beeline towards me again.  
• I love that Justin would do anything in the world to make me happy, including staying up with wide-awake Kayla in the middle of a week night to try to get her to sleep when he has to wake up early for work.
• I love having something to look forward to.  For example, our family trip to Hawaii in a little over 2 months!!! :)

Speaking of which, I took a quick trip to Target yesterday with Megan for some baby essentials...

Check out these adorable sandals for our trip to Hawaii! :) (BTW these were NOT the essentials I needed to get, they were just a bonus.)

Do you like the effect I chose in PS?  I'm trying to branch out from plain old editing. :)