Storytime

Hayes LOVES books!  I am so glad, too, because I have been collecting children's books for years and years.  It is so fun to enjoy these books now with my little one.  We've been so lucky to receive some really great books as gifts.  Aunt Ashleigh gave Hayes a really beautiful Mother Goose book with amazing pictures and we've already (in a week's time) read it cover-to-cover twice.  

Today we were so excited to arrive home and discover a package at the door.  It was a gift from our friends Brook, Benjamin, Ibby, & Mimi all the way from Dubai!  One of the items was a lovely book so of course we just had to sit down and read it! 

 

Hoppy Easter!

So, it's Hayes's first Easter and despite the fact that she will not remember a single thing we're doing right now, we still feel the need to celebrate each holiday and milestone to its fullest!  Easter is no exception.  We decorated Easter eggs (we're talking old-fashioned, smelly vinegar and boiled egg Easter eggs), made an Easter basket (no candy, of course, it could rot her teeth...oh, wait, she has no teeth), went on an Easter egg hunt (she slept through it), made a bunny cake (with her grandmother [Welch] and cousins), and even had her first Easter dress (a gift from her grandmother [Hampton]).  It was enough to totally wear her out - she is currently overtired and fighting sleep with Daddy as I type.  Enjoy the photos of Hayes's big Easter celebration!

Hayes getting ready for the big egg dying eggstravaganza.

An extremely sleepy Hayes.  She was over the whole egg dying thing about a minute after it began.  

She's a child prodigy - spelling her name and with paint to boot!

Hayes and her grandmother.  By the way, we do not have names for the Welch grandparents - anybody have any suggestions?

The annual bunny cake with cousins Wyatt & Ivey and Grandmother Welch.  Hayes supervised.  She's still working on her smearing icing & jellybean placing skills.

Hanging out with her cousin, Wyatt.  She's going to love playing with Wyatt when she can master the whole walking & talking thing.  

Some pictures of Hayes in her Easter dress.  She slept through all of church (all three services!) but looked lovely in her dress tucked away sound asleep in the sling.  

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

Our friends, Kelli & Andy, are back from Hong Kong & living in Michigan right now but are in Georgia this weekend.  Kelli and their amazingly adorable son, Drew, and Andy's mom came to visit us in Chattanooga today.  We took the little bambinos to the Aquarium.  Drew, who is 17 months old, LOVED the aquarium.  He was fascinated by the fish and seemed to have a blast.  Hayes actually stayed awake for a good part of the trip.  She, as a 6 week old, honestly had no clue what was going on but was a good sport, nonetheless!  We're sure she'll love the aquarium one day.  

Drew trying to reach a stingray (or perhaps just splashing around).

Drew, Kelli, Amanda, & Hayes at the Stingray pool.

Hayes looking for butterflies.
In the Butterfly House with Daddy.

Totally pooped out after all the fun.

Over the River & Through the Woods...

...to Grandmother's house we go!  We went to visit Grandmother (Amanda's mom) last weekend.  Hayes was going to go see the Easter Bunny on Saturday but, sadly, we spent the entire day inside watching the news and tornadoes pop up all over Georgia (and making sure we didn't need to retreat to the basement!).  On Sunday, Hayes had her first brunch at Chateau Elan to meet her third cousin, Louise Hayes Lake.  She was quite the fancy Nancy in her fancy dress.  Like most of her activities right now, she slept through the better part of the event but seemed to enjoy herself.

After our yummy brunch

Hanging out with Daddy

Chatting with her third cousin (who also shares the Hayes name!) 
Snuggling with Grandmother

In an attempt to not take every single thing we own for Hayes, we left her tubby at home so we had to improvise - though you can see it didn't take any of the fun out of it for her!  She loves tubby time!

  

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hayes's Aunt Ashleigh (aka her favorite Aunt) bought her a terribly cute little St. Patrick's Day onesie and bib which means, of course, that we had to have a little photo session!  Luckily I was even able to capture a smile!

So, from Hayes (& her mommy & daddy)...

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

And Baby Makes Four

Four generations, that is.  Hayes met her great grandmother this weekend.  We then realized that there were four generations of Welches all together...which, of course, warrants a picture (what doesn't warrant a picture when there is a newborn involved?!?!).

Hank's grandmother, his dad, Hayes, and Hank

Hayes meeting her great grandmother, Mammaw.  Mammaw kept asking if Hayes ever cries because she was an angel baby - letting everyone pass her around and even sharing smiles.  We're so lucky - she really is an angel (again, not that we are biased or anything).  

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

It snowed!  It was a pathetic excuse for snow but it was Hayes's first snow, after all.  If you squint and look very closely you'll see perhaps a flake or two.  Actually that white spot in front of her mouth was a flake falling just as we snapped the picture.  

Hopefully the baby girl will be able to see "real" snow at some point but in the meantime, we'll take what we can get!

Are we in Colorado?  This certainly doesn't look like Georgia!

Like I said, the snow wasn't much to write home about but even though we had no accumulation it did settle in the mountains.  This is a snow-capped mountain behind Hank's parent's house.  These pictures were taken from their back porch (overlooking the cow pasture).  So, Hayes did get to see some real snow (well, she would have if she were able to focus further than 15 inches in front of her).  :)

A Chat With Daddy

These are some of my favorite pictures of Hayes and Hank.  

This was one day after work.  Hank came home and grabbed Hayes just before her bath and it looks like she is just chatting away about her day.  I can just imagine her conversation..."and then I ate AGAIN.  And then I took a nap.  A couple of hours later...I ate again and then took another nap.  It was exhilarating."  

Ending the conversation with a kiss.  

Hayes Hits the Town

It was absolutely gorgeous in Chattanooga yesterday so we hit the town with Hayes!  We love to walk around downtown so we decided to take Hayes to a few of our favorite places.  

Hayes's first time over the pedestrian bridge.

Hayes on the new Market Street bridge.

Hayes by the river at Coolidge Park (under the pedestrian bridge) - actually just steps from where we got engaged.  

OK, truthfully this is mostly what Hayes did on her outing around town.