Blonde Hair and Red Heels

My adorable boy.

This is his freshly washed hair that shows how blonde it is.

I took this photo to see how small he is.

I bought these red shoes at a yard sale and Hailey thinks they're cool. I'm amazed at her coordination walking around in them.

Our Awaited Son

Jay Levi Butler

August 30, 2009

12:46pm

7 lbs 1 oz, 20" long

Saturday night about 10pm my water broke and filled a couple of towels so we headed to the hospital. We were met with a frustrating experience of deja vu as they couldn't chemically test the fluid as amniotic. So, a few hours later they were set to send us home. However, after my experience with Hailey and knowing how dangerous it is to be sent home without fluid around the baby, I requested an ultrasound to confirm that his fluid was still intact. Being that it was 1am there was no one around to do the ultrasound so they kept us overnight and said they'd do one at 8:30am. However, at 7am the doctor came in and said that since we didn't know for sure whether or not it was the amniotic fluid and since I was only 3 days shy of 39 weeks it'd be safest just to induce. So, at 8am we started on pitocin and at 12:46pm Levi made his appearance. We came home around 3pm on Monday afternoon. It has been good to be home and with Hailey again. We're so thankful to wonderful friends who helped us with Hailey, brought us food, went shopping and even did my dishes. Not to sound cliche or anything, but I really feel like we've been sent angels as friends. We are so happy to have little Levi in our home. He is so peaceful and sweet.

By Popular Demand

Although posting photos of myself with a big ol' belly isn't exactly the most thrilling thing to do, I know I love seeing my friends and I've had several request. So....voila. 37.5 weeks. If little man comes like Hailey did, he'll be here Tuesday. He doesn't seem as anxious as Hailey was though, so it may be a couple of weeks or so. We'll let you know when he makes his appearance. And no, we haven't decided on a name.

First Haircut

Hailey's hair has grown so long, but not super evenly so her ends looked pretty scraggly. Matt and I discussed trimming it, but I was just chicken. I got my hair cut last weekend and went back to my hairdresser for a simple little fix in one spot and had Hailey with me. On the spur of the moment I decided to get Hailey's hair cut too. She thought it was the coolest thing to sit in the chair and have a cape on. She wasn't too sure that she wanted to hold still until Carrie got her a dum-dum. Because it was spur of the moment and following my exercise class I didn't have the camera, so these phone shots are all I have. I didn't get a back of her hair before photo, but you can kind of tell in this and the second photo what it looked like.

She held really still and did very well. She even let Carrie blow dry and round brush her hair. My baby looks so grown up now!
What amazed me is that it really doesn't look much shorter, almost longer in some ways because it's all even. It looks so nice and I'm so relieved that I had Carrie cut it instead of Matt or me.

Hailey's 2 Years Old!

Tuesday, July 28th was Haliey's second birthday! It was such a fun day. The best part is that Matt's schedule worked out for him to be able to be around for all the festivities. We were so happy. Matt got her out of bed and said "Happy Birthday" to her as he walked in. She walked around saying it to me and herself all day.

The day started out at our local grocery store. Hailey LOVES to "drive" while we shop. I knew it'd be a special treat so I waited until her birthday morning to take her to buy her confetti cake mix. We even got her a balloon from the flower dept.
That afternoon after her nap we had a few little friends over for a party. We did all sorts of fun 2-yr-old activities. We blew bubbles in the backyard....
Had an amazing dance and played with balloons.....
And of course, played ring-around-the-rosies a few times.
We ate cupcakes and ice cream bars. Hailey knew exactly what to do with her candle, and she even waited until we finished singing to her. It was pretty cute to hear her as she sang the song over and over later in the evening. So sweet.
We finished with opening presents. She got some wonderful gifts!
Probably her favorite gift was her $1 "Mater" chair. We found it at a yard sale and she was so excited about it. I put it away during her nap the day we brought it home and when she asked for it after her nap I just told her that Mater went bye bye. She accepted the answer. It was so fun to see her squeal and giggle while saying, "Mater, Mater, Mater." It was so fun to watch her animated reaction to each of her presents.
After her friends left Matt and I took her for a little birthday outing. We took her to ride the carousel (again she squealed and started running when she saw it in the distance).
Every time they went around she waved at me with a huge grin on her face.
After her ride we took her to look at the toys at the Disney store. Next, we took her to Wendy's for chicken nuggets and fries - she was most excited about the dips that came with them. I wasn't sure if she was going to eat the food, but she ate it pretty well.
Lastly, we took her to the Build-a-Bear Workshop. I've wanted to take her since she was born and told myself I had to wait until her second birthday at least. She had so much fun and loves her new bear "Lizzie." She carried her box all through the mall and back to the car by herself. It has been a wonderful two years and we can't imagine life without our Hailey girl. I never knew I could love a little person as much as I love her.

Beautiful Memphis Flowers

I was daydreaming out the window during breakfast the other morning when I noticed a surprise. Seemingly out of nowhere we have a mini forest of long-stemmed flowers in our backyard. They are beautiful! They start out pink and as they age they get a blueish tint to them. Gorgeous. This specific flower is one I brought in and put in a cup after accidentally hitting the stem with the back wheel of the mower. It has been blooming and vibrant for 6 days now!

Count to Ten

Hailey has learned how to count to ten. It's evolved over the last few months. She still skips over one sometimes, but now she actually says all ten numbers. She used to say, "two, three, four, second, eight, nine, ten!" It's been really fun to hear her walking around counting. She's also learned how to count backwards from five. I'm thinking she's picked up counting from my exercise class - with sets of 15 the instructor counts to ten and backwards from five.