Hayden

This is my new nephew Hayden.

Isn't he just the sweetest? He was born at the end of January, but he's in Australia so I haven't been able to snuggle him yet - we have certainly been drooling over pictures of him!

Tara & Greg decided not to find out his gender before he was born.

I get it - I did that with a couple of mine too - but as a gift giver it poses a problem.  I think because most people do find out these days, it's hard to find gender neutral items. So, I decided to follow Brooke's cute idea and  recruited my siblings to send a "cousin library." We all bought several of our favorite books, and I made a bag to send them in.

But what to send from just me?

Then I saw this Eric Carle fabric. They are crazy about animals - so I knew it would be perfect.

Yes, that fabric is LOUD but I alway love to have a small quilt for my babies - small enough to be toted everywhere, to toss over the stroller and put on the ground at church or the park for the babe to lie down on. I though it wouldn't be too crazy loud for that purpose.

Here it is -

 

The back.

  

The tag.

  

With the book.

Hayden enjoying it!

(picture swiped from Tara's blog.)

Actually, I think both the bag & quilt ended up a little more "boyish" that "girly", so it's probably lucky he was a boy.

They'll be in the US in a few weeks, and I'll dash out to Utah in April to meet him and attend his blessing. They had to get his passports - this is his passport picture.

Can you believe how seriously cute he is?

(I also stole this pic from Tara's blog.)

Welcome Hayden - we're so glad you're here!

Sing Your Heart Out

We bought our first DVD player for Christmas 2000. Our first DVD was Annie. In fact, we came home from the birth center with Emily, just a few hours old, and watched it that evening (then went to bed at 7:30pm - I was tired!)

I've loved Annie as long as I can remember. Growing up, no member of our family could ever say the word "tomorrow" without my mother bursting into song ... 

Rebekah watched that DVD a million times, then Emy, Jacob watched it a little and now Jane has discovered it. I have to say that she is probably the one who loves it the most. She quotes it - seriously my 3 yr old is quoting a movie! So, Jane and I have been singing at the top of our lungs for a week.

We are having so much fun and I am in heaven.

OK, so you should know that I am a terrible singer. I think it really unjust that I could be given such a love of music & get so much enjoyment out of singing - and be cursed in such a way. Don't you think that people who are bad singers should also not like it?

I remedy this problem by singing in the car. I belt it out with the volume turned up like I was Celine Dion. I've always just assumed the volume of the music masked my inadequacy ....

Last night we took a quick drive to deliver valentines (since we 'll be skiing in Utah for the next 2 weeks.) The kids were watching Annie on the DVD player and it came time for "Tomorrow." I started to turn up the volume;

Emily started to tell me something "Just a minute Em."

"But, Mom..."

"Emy, just a minute - let me sing this song and then I'll talk to you."

"Mom, I'm asking you the question now to stop you singing the song."

"What!!!"

"Mom, it's really embarrassing."

Yeah, so I guess Emily's going to be taking the bus from now on!