1 Year Pictures

Yesterday, we had some 1 year pictures taken of Esther. A friend of mine that I work with took them. She did pictures for us previously and these are the best yet. It was approximately 1,000 degrees outside. I am super happy with how they turned out, they really capture Esther well. I am especially happy that we captured the awesomeness of her eyes and her faces. And it is hard to get a good picture of Esther because she is on the move all the time and she is fast.

You can check out some of the pics on her blog. Alishia Snook Photography - http://www.alishiasnookphotography.blogspot.com/

Three against one...unfair odds

We had our sexting (Margo doesn't think that's the correct use of that word) appointment today. And we are not into keeping stuff secret, it is too hard. Drumroll................we are having a girl. We are very excited. We are already having proposals for arranged marriages because so many of our friends have boys and very few girls.

We have also decided on a name for her, Clara Pete Hale. We like old names and Clara is the one we narrowed it down to. It was actually the 7th most popular name in the U.S. in 1885. Slightly shocking middle name we know, let it sink in. I realized today that being a joking/non-serious person that people don't believe you when you tell them something that does not seem right, like a unique middle name. But I am serious. Clara Pete. We wanted to use a family name of mine with this one since we used a family name of Margo's with Esther (middle name Louise - Margo's grandmothers). One of my most favorite/most influential people I have ever known during my life was my grandmother on my dad's side. She lived the next town over when I was really young and we would see her often and I would stay with her for a week during the summer. When I was 12 or 13 she moved to Mena where we lived. I spent lots of time at her house and I would always stay with her when mom and dad were gone. She was one of the most fun, loving, and Godly people I have ever known and I can only hope that I can be half the person she was. I have lots of great memories of her and I think of her often. One of the saddest days of my life was the day that she died. I won't forget her funeral, instead of somber talk about her, everyone told funny stories about her and the things she had done. That is the way she wanted it to be. Anyway, her name was Wilma, which is itself a cool old name. But her nickname was Pete from the time she was little. Just about everyone who knew her closely called her Pete, or Aunt Pete, or Granny Pete.

When I told Margo that I would really like to use that name for a middle name if it was a girl, she was totally on board which made me happy. We like the uniqueness of it and that it does have meaning for our family. I will enjoy telling Clara and Esther about their great granny. Here are some pics that we got today and scanned in.

Profile

We were able to do 3D pictures also. They told us the 3D and 4D are better when they are a little older, right now it is more skeleton looking. The pictures look better in person also. The 3D and 4D are pretty cool.

Face

Hand over face. You can see the little lips also.

Here is my granny at our wedding

Birthday Party

Saturday evening we had a little party for Esther's first birthday. She has not told us who her friends are yet so we just decided to invite our friends over. Our friends Billy and Savanna let us have it at their place since our place is a little small. We are so thankful to them for letting us invade their house. It was pretty fun overall. Although it seemed like we should have been doing more since it was a bday party. But Esther can't do a whole lot so we can't play games and stuff like that. So, we basically just sat around and talked.

Unfortunately for Esther, she was sick and did not get maximum enjoyment out of her party. She was still running a fever from her ear infection and basically just sat in someone's lap with a straight face. This is highly abnormal for Esther, she is normally smiling, talking, and on the move. We felt very sad for her. When we got her home she had a 102 degree temperature and that was with tylenol on board. She is a tough cookie. Hopefully the antibiotics knock out her ear infection and she feels better soon.

We are not really big on Esther eating sweets. But we finally decided we would let her have cake for her birthday party. I don't think she enjoyed as much as she would have if she wasn't sick. But she really liked digging around in the frosting.

Here is her little cake after we decided she was done with it. As you can tell from her eyes, she did not think she needed to be done with it.

We told people not to bring presents but it is hard for grandparents and some others to resist.

This is a picture just to show you how Esther felt, her face says it all.

Margo and I decided we wanted to get her something for her birthday that would last her a long time and hopefully she would still have it to give to her kids. We really enjoy getting her this kind of stuff. One of our close friends who just had a baby had a kids rocking chair that her parents gave her when she turned one. We really liked this idea and decided to do it. As you can tell, Esther loves the rocking chair.

Happy Happy Birthday

It feels so crazy that Esther is a year old. It seems like time has gone by so fast. It is kind of happy and sad at the same time. She is so much fun and we can't imagine life without her. Today was kind of a bummer day for her though. She was running a fever so we had to get her from daycare. We took her to the doctor because she has been running this fever off and on for over a week and has been more fussy. It turns out she has an ear infection so they gave her some antibiotics. This is her first ear infection and her first medication. Hopefully she feels better for her party tomorrow. Here is a little slideshow of the year in pictures.

Happy Birthday

Happy 29th Birthday Momma

Without you, life (and taking a picture) is harder.

Tattoos and Daycare

I like tattoo's. If they are good ones and done well that is. I know the older generation was not a big fan of them (except maybe military guys) but they don't bother me at all. Anyway, one of our friends recently opened a store in Fayetteville, The Mustache. They sell interesting and fun gifts, and cool clothes and shoes. The other day he got some fake baby tattoos that we could not pass up. They are really funny, they look like classic tattoos but are baby themed. We tried a simple one out last week for church and it was a big hit. We will definitely be using them in the future for special occasions. Here is a pic.

Today was a big day in our lives. Esther started her first day of real daycare, up until this point she has been staying with friends. But we came to a point where no one could continue to watch her for us. So, we toured some daycares around town. Most of them won't do part time but we finally found one we liked and felt comfortable with leaving Esther at. It is called the Sunshine House. (funny side note: the daycare I went to a kid was called Sunshine House also) I think she is going to really like it, she is very social and enjoys being around others. I also think she will learn a lot. I think her first day went really well, except for one thing. She got bit by another kid. She is in the 12-24 month old class so she is the youngest. One of the kids is in that biting phase that most kids go through, and she got Esther. The teachers were really upset that this happened especially on Esther's first day. But we totally understood that this happens and thought it was a little humorous. The teachers were also surprised that she did not cry at all when she got bit. But we were not surprised, Esther hardly ever cries when she gets hurt. She's a bruiser.

Here is a pic of the bite mark. I guess we can consider this another type of tattoo.

Pregnant Women

I keep forgetting to post this picture. A little info first though. We know lots of people who are pregnant right now....lots. I am not sure what the count it currently because some people have had babies now. But as of a couple weeks ago we had somewhere around 15 girls at our church pregnant (and our church is not that big). Just in our Community Group (Bible study group of about 15 or so people) we had 5 girls pregnant and we already had 3 kids under the age of 1. And we know several other people who are pregnant as well. Anyway, we had some of these good friends over to hang out a couple weeks ago and took a pic of the girls.

Left to Right: Savanna-15 weeks, Margo 16-weeks, Ashley-6+ months, Emily-13 months (not really, but it looks like it)

This is their miserable face picture, Emily's is the most realistic because that is really how she felt.

And here is Benson who was born June 27th, 2 days after this picture to Evan and Emily.

Seriously? Nine?

That's right folks, today was Margo and I's 9th anniversary. It is very hard to believe. It makes me feel old. I do have to say that this past year was pretty amazing. Not only did we get the amazing gift of Esther, we also had a miracle happen and will have a second amazing gift from God. I know that all you all really care about is pictures of Esther so here you go.

She gets into everything and "no" does not register with her.

Breaking Records

On Sunday we had our 4th annual Fourth on the Farm. I love the Fourth of July and I especially love fireworks. We always throw a big shindig to celebrate. I was not sure how it would go this year with the new place which is a lot smaller of house and less land. We decided to invite less people this year to test it out the new place. That did not work so well, it seems that our numbers grew bigger by the day as we got closer. But we had a lot of fun and we now know we can handle a lot of people if they are mostly outside. And we got to test out the new deck and grill with a lot of people and they both worked out well also.

Anyway, we broke a record this year. Our previous record was like 63 I think. This year we had 74!!!!!! and if you could unborn babies 79!!!!!!!

I hope everyone had a good time. I would show you pictures but I was so busy that I did not take any. If anyone out there took some, send them my way.

Chicken Coop

One of my big farm projects to do at the new house was building the chicken coop. We really enjoy having chickens and were anxious to have the again. It finally surfaced to the top of the to do list so several weeks ago I got started on it. I finished it a couple weeks ago and we finally got chickens last week. It is nothing fancy but it will serve it's purpose. Since we are not planning on being at this house forever I am building this more functional than what my ultimate dream would be.

The actual coop is 8'x6' and the enclosed run is 8'x18'. We will eventually let them free range during the day and just coop them up at night and when we are gone. We plan on keeping around 10 chickens.

Anyway, my plan is to also build a small barn on the back side of the coop (they will share a wall) so I built it so that I could add that on later in the year.

Here it is after the main framing was done

Finished product

The goats love to rub on the chicken wire to scratch themselves which tears up the wire and stretches it out. I decided to try adding a couple barb wire strands around the run on top of the chicken wire to see if that what help. So far it is working great.

11 Months

She is getting older and growing up so fast. It is so crazy to look at pictures from when we first got her to now. She is babbling a lot more these days which is really cute and funny. She is also getting really close to walking we think. She pushes her little walker car around walking behind it, sometimes only holding on with one hand. She will stand for a few seconds without holding on to anything and take a step between things without holding on.

Here are a few recent pics of her.

This is before church on Sunday. She got her sandal off and was chewing on it. Everything goes in her mouth these days.

Here we are on Fathers Day

And this picture is a true depiction of Esther these days. There is a lot going on in this picture. Esther at the baby gate wanting to get to something on the other side that she can not have/ watching me work on the deck out the back window. Also using one of her toys to stand on to try to get a boost over the baby gate.

She is always on the move. She wants to be crawling/cruising around trying to get into whatever she can. Everything has to be baby proofed because she can open any door or drawer she wants. She would love it if we would let her play with power cords, the computer, or the trashcan. She definitely keeps us on our toes.

Winner

A couple of weekends ago we went down to Mena for a visit. While we were there the Lum 'N Abner Festival was going on. It was really hot, but we spent a few hours there walking through the car show, arts and crafts, and other festival activities. One event that we were excited about seeing was the All American Lumberjack Show. Two lumberjacks competed against each other in various lumberjack activities, like log rolling and speed sawing. They also did a chainsaw carving demonstration. The guy carved a little chair out of a log using a chainsaw. He said he would give it to the youngest person in the crowd. He started with two years old and then started working his way down. He got to 9 months old and there were no babies that young in the crowd. So he asked for 10 months old and there were two, Esther and another little girl. So it came down to the birthdate. He asked the other parents first, their little girl was born on July 21. Esther was born on July 22, so she won by a day! It was pretty exciting to win. The little chair fits Esther perfectly right now.

Josh and Esther collecting their prize.

Esther sitting on the chair (it was really hot and nap time, hence the face)

Let's Play

My parents have a house for sale just over the border in Missouri. With the bad housing market it has been on the market for a while (they don't live there anymore, it is just empty). Anyway, there was a swing/play set that my dad built at this house. It was not getting used at all and I don't think it was helping a whole lot to sell the house so they told me I could have it. We thought that sounded good to us. So, they took it apart and brought it to us a few weeks ago. And I finally got time to set it up yesterday.

Our friends Russ and Kristy came over for lunch so we had their daughter Sophie give it her stamp of approval. It is a little big for Esther yet but she will grow in to it and we know lots of kids who will enjoy playing on it. I had to do a little leveling with blocks since our land is not flat.

Esther really likes to swing. Hopefully soon I will get a little sandbox area set up under the platform that she can enjoy also

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Esther is getting big, and getting there fast. It is crazy to look at pictures of her when we first got her. This weekend we reached another milestone in her short life so far. Car seat upgrade. We moved up from the infant car seat to the convertible seat. The infant seat only goes to 22 pounds but the convertible goes to 65 pounds and can face back or front. Side note: New car seat guidelines were released a couple months ago. They now recommend that babies stay rear facing until they are two years old (it used to be 1 year old). Studies have shown that kids are 75% less likely to be seriously injured or killed in a car crash if they stay rear facing until 2 years. Okay, back to the post. Esther was looking really big in her infant car seat. One negative about switching her to the big seat is we can not take it out of the car with her in it like the infant seat. Usually if she fell asleep in the car we would just take her out in the car seat and let her continue to sleep, now we can't do that.

Here is an old pic of Esther in her seat, this is the day we brought her home. I wish I had got the whole seat in this pic for better comparison but you can look at the size of the tag next to her head for size comparisons.

Here she is on Saturday, she's a giant.

And her she is in her new seat.

A few pictures

Thought I would throw a few pictures on here to tide you over until we can put up a longer post.

Well

We have some big new on the Farm of Hale. We are growing again. It seems that we are pregnant. Seriously, not kidding. As some of you know we have some issues in the department of getting pregnant and were basically given an almost zero chance of getting pregnant. We tried for several years and were on some potent drugs for a while. Last year we stopped all the meds and decided to adopt. Which was awesome. What else can we say except that Esther is the best thing that has ever happened to us. Getting pregnant was not even a thought or consideration for us anymore. Well, we had us a good old fashioned miracle and got pregnant. It was quite a shock for us and very unexpected, but we will take it. Margo is 9 weeks and is due in mid December. We have had a couple ultrasounds and Margo is on some medication because she is at a higher risk for problems with her previously mentioned problems with her baby making parts.

Anyway, we are super excited and wanted to share the news. See ultrasound pic below.

I also want to go ahead and educate everyone really quick on something. I am not trying to be harsh here but more of just something that people should know. Fertility problems are hard. There are several things that people say that drive couples with fertility problems crazy and they can be hurtful. I know that people think they are being nice so we try to just smile and go on. Anyway, I wanted to share a couple things with you of what not to say to couples like us. First, when a couple is adopting because they can not have kids, don't say "I bet you will get pregnant after you adopt" "you will relax after you adopt and have a kid and get pregnant" and other statements that are similar. People who have dealt with infertility have dealt with a lot and had to go through realizing they will not get pregnant. It is hard, and these statements don't help, at all. There is a medical reason we are not able to get pregnant, adopting a baby does not change this. Second, if the couple does happen to get pregnant (like us), don't say "I knew that would happen", "it always happens to people who adopt". Again, these statements drive us crazy. We adopted because us having kids naturally is a very low chance, like 1% (it will vary from couple to couple). So not impossible but very unlikely. We found statistics that show that only 5% of people who adopt because they can not have kids get pregnant naturally down the road. So, that is my education of the day. If you have already said these things to us, we forgive you and there is no need to apologize. Just remember it the next time you are talking to someone like us. This was a total miracle for us and we give the credit to God, it wasn't "us relaxing" it was a God thing.


Here is our little blob

Happy First Mother's Day

Happy first mother's day Margo.

9 months!

Esther is 9 months old today. We can't believe how much she has grown and changed and how fast it happened! She is more like a toddler than a little baby now. She has a personality and likes to show it! She had her 9 month Dr. check-up yesterday. She weighs 19.5 lbs (70th percentile) and is a little over 27 inches (50th percentile). The Dr. gave her an A+, said she looks great and developmentally she is doing things that 12 month olds do.

Here are some of the things she is up to:

• Crawls everywhere, and she is fast. We've had to put up several baby gates to keep her out of trouble!
• Pulls up on everything! She loves to stand and has now learned how to get down from standing too.
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• Cruises around the furniture. She walks around the coffee table, goes between the table, couch, and recliner.
• Will walk if you hold her hands. We know it won't be too long before she takes off on her own.
• She has mastered the "pincher" grasp, so she can feed herself. She still loves all baby food but is eating some real food. She will feed herself pieces of avocado, banana, beans, cereal bars, green beans, puffs and more.
• She can drink out of a sippy cup.
• She babbles all the time and likes to screech and squeal.
• She loves all of our animals. She squeals every time she sees one of the dogs or cats and loves when she gets to pet them.
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• She is finally cutting her first tooth. It has just popped through her gum.
• She is so fun and we are loving every minute with her.