Easter and A First Haircut

This school year has flown by, and thankfully, my traveling to schools is finished. Don't get me wrong...I love working with my teachers and I do only travel once or twice a week, but I enjoy a nice, long summer break from traveling. I'm looking forward to summer, spending time with Hayden, maybe taking a trip with Chris, getting a tan and going to the pool (the tan didn't happen last summer when I was pregnant and on bedrest), organizing (one of my favorite things to do), and maybe even doing some decorating of my house. I mean, we have lived here nearly a year, so I figure a few pictures on the wall and around the house might be a good addition. Hehehe... :o)

Life here changes nearly every week, mainly because of Hayden and his new tricks. He seems to change almost overnight and learn new things faster than I can get used to the old, new things. He's starting to feed himself finger foods, but as hard as it is to believe (being nearly 25 pounds at 9 months of age...the size of the average 18 month old), he seems pretty picky. He definitely knows what he likes and what he wants. I can't really get him to eat anything mushy (like sweet potatoes or bananas). If he does eat those things, they usually go in the mouth and right out of the mouth, or they just end up mashed up between his fingers. He's figuring it out, though and figuring out the textures he likes. I don't think it would be a terrible thing if he lost a pound or two or maintained his current weight for a while...he's a heavy load for this girl to carry around.

He's really mastered the skill of pulling up now and is pulling up on everything (including me). The latest thing he has discovered is that he can pull up on our furniture finally (it was too tall for a while) and the toilet (good thing I clean) and the whirlpool tub (can't wait til he figures out what those knobs do). He has even done some real crawling (instead of his usual tummy-on-the-floor brand of crawling) in the past three days. He's figured out how to find me in the house and how to follow me around the house, so I have a constant shadow. Sometimes, I'll leave the room, come back, and find him wandering around the house trying to find me.

Hayden's first Easter was good but uneventful. He's too young to really do much of anything, but he did have a good time playing with the grass in his basket (pictures included below). I'll be glad when he can understand Easter and what it means and enjoy our wonderful Easter services at church...we had some really good ones this year.

We did get his first professional pictures taken (pretty late, I know) by a photographer in Clinton, Heather Bryant. She's quick, which is the best thing you can be when you are taking pictures of an infant. Hayden's first pictures were some Easter pictures with a real, live Easter bunny. Bingo was the pet of a friend of our photographer, and I promise you that they had tranquilized that poor bunny. Heather would just plop Bingo down next to Hayden, and he'd just sit there and was content to chew on a piece of grass or leaf. There was never any hopping or biting. Heather had a real carrot as a "prop." Hayden took hold of that carrot and put it right in his mouth and even took it and beat Bingo upside the head with it. It was super funny. Let me tell you...those pictures turned out super cute. He also took some regular 9-month pictures the next Friday, and we took some pictures as a family, too. I'm excited to finally be getting some pictures of Hayden and of our family.

The latest new thing was a new haircut yesterday! Hayden had a pretty good head full of hair when he was born, and it's been over his ears for a couple of months. I've held off for a while, but lately, I've really had to do some work with it to make it go behind his ears and prevent him from looking like a girl. I love those curls he's getting, but I can't handle the prospect of my son being called a girl with hair over his ears. My mom and I went yesterday to get our hair cut, and after we were both finished, I asked the lady who cuts my hair (Beverly) about Hayden's hair. Well, I asked her and showed her how it goes over his ears, and she started cutting. It was so quick and happened so fast, and Hayden did super good. He never cried or anything. He was a normal kid and squirmed a good bit, but a blueberry sucker (a rare treat, but everyone deserves a treat during their first haircut) that Beverly had helped out with the squirming and left him with a very blue mouth. My mom took some pictures and gathered locks of hair while I held Hayden, but we didn't get a picture that showed his blue mouth. I can't imagine what his mouth would have looked like if I had let him have the sucker afer his haircut...there was blue everywhere. He looks so cute now, and as much of a little man as he was before, he really looks like a little man now. I remember going with Tracie to Lindsey's first haircut when she was two, and I couldn't believe my 9 month old was getting his first haircut. Lindsey was actually old enough to say she wanted to go shopping for shoes after her haircut. :o)

I'm including some pictures of Easter, Hayden and his cousins, the first haircut, and post haircut. You'll notice Hayden's cousins hiding from Hayden in some of the pictures. They are so funny to watch when they're around each other.