Splish Splash!

What an exciting an month! Our lives have settled down a bit since our last posting, however Hayley is still growing, growing, growing! She is quickly progressing in controlling her body, she loves her play mat and is learning to roll onto her side! Sometimes we check on her and she is totally turned around the other way!

Last week we had the chance to visit a really cool outdoor pool/park with some friends. It was so fun to dip Hayley's tiny feet in the water and see her take in all the action. She quickly fell asleep but we had fun going down the water slide and watching our friends lil' guy splash around and get all excited to go on the slide with his Dad. We're excited for summer next year so Hayley can enjoy it a little more :)Last week I was able to find an hour or two to get my canning fix. We visited Baggensto's Farm and picked raspberry's and marionberries. I made rasp. jam, white rasp peach jam, marionberry syrup and strawberry rhubarb jam. Yumm! I cant wait for the Oregon peaches to come into full harvest I'm still thinking about what to make with those gems :)

A couple weeks ago Skyler and I (and Hayley) traveled north to visit my parents and go to my cousin's baby shower. We somehow squeezed in a Mariner's game! We had great seats and came really close to some foul balls! At the same time we found out Hayley has grown pretty attached to us and had some separation issues when it came time to leave for the game, though she gave in to grandma and grandpa eventually.

On the horizon.. We're taking off to Utah at the end of the month to see family and go to Skyler's cousin's wedding! So much for escaping the heat though : ) We are also trying to prepare for our first plane ride with a baby, hoping to make it a seamless trip. We are happy to be flying with Sky's parents too.

Oh yeah... Hayley's warming up to bath time too :)

Growing up... (sigh)....

The last few weeks have been quite the whirlwind of activity in the Archibald house. At one point during all the chaos my father said, "As if the chaos of graduating and having a new baby were not enough, they decided to move at the same time."

It is true... We seem to be gluttons for punishment.

On June 6 we moved from our old apartment in the Cedar Hills area to our new place. It is a bit closer to Portland and we have a lot more space, a great view and no longer have to deal with the hassle of trudging up two flights of stairs with our laundry.

We were heavily aided in the preparations for the move by family. Chelsea's mom spent a week at our old apartment helping us to clean and pack and then we had an army of family show up on moving day to assist us. We were able to get done in just a couple of hours and I didn't even hit anything during my first uhaul truck driving experience.

Just one week later we welcomed even more family back to the Rose City for graduation. Yippeee... Actually graduation was a bit anticlimactic because I am returning to Portland State in the fall for some post-bac classes before I hopefully land on my feet at grad school somewhere and sometime in 2010.A pic of those that gathered....

A couple of days later, Chelsea, with mixed emotions, returned to work. She has worked the past couple of weeks part-time and is enjoying it. She was sorely missed at the hotel. Luckily, depending on how you look at it, she has been working early mornings. The new development has left me to spend more and more time with Hayley and it has been very rewarding. We have gone on walks, played, watched lots of Seinfeld and even spit up on each other...

Here are some recent pictures of the little bundle... Enjoy!!!

Strolling along

Family photo at Mom n' Dads

Adriana and Logan decorating for the shower

Diaper cake with cool shoes and head bands

Happy Hayley!

She looked big until I put her in... she enjoyed the stroll anyways : )

Family photo in Richland

What a great first month. I can't believe Hayley has been with us a whole month already. I will admit the first few weeks were pretty hard. I can say that we have both adjusted to our new lifestyles pretty good so far. I know we still have some growing left to do but I'm so grateful for all the help we have had so far. With Mom staying to help, casual week day visits from family and weekend help from Skyler's parents, meals from ladies in the ward and lots of hand-me-down's- the list goes on. What I want to say is- Thanks. We really couldn't have gotten this great of a start with Hayley if it weren't from all of you.

We recently had a family "Welcoming Shower" for Hayley. The weather was great, lots of family came, we enjoyed yummy BBQ and brownie sundaes, and played fun games. Did I mention Hayley got lots of cute clothes to grow in to (and out of :) ) and toys! I couldn't believe my eyes, all the little nieces and nephew, are getting so big!! Running around, seems like yesterday it was me and my cousins running around.

Celebrating Memorial Day weekend, we took a visit to Skyler's brother's house in Richland. Enjoying a beautiful drive there and back through the Gorge, we played Bocce Ball, ate great BBQ, and enjoyed the squeals from their triplets.

One more small nugget of gossip: On Memorial Day Hayley experienced her first real tears! I always thought it interesting that baby's "cry" so much but no actual tears come out. Hence the confusion with "No tears baby soap" since they don't really have tears anyway. . .

Today we also had our first much anticipated ride in the stroller. Which Ben and Jodi were so kind in letting us use. I was so excited I lugged it out of the trunk and put the wheels on myself! I strapped her in and out we went! Happy to say it rolls like a Royce.
Now that we're back, we're looking forward to moving (just a few miles away), blessing Hayley and Skyler graduating!!

Starting at center: Hayley Archibald!!!

Well my friends, its done. At least, this part is done.

After 41 terrific weeks Hayley Jean Archibald joined our family at 10 p.m. on April 23, 2009. She was a big girl, weighing in at 9 pounds, 14 ounces and ready to tip off her basketball career at 22 inches long already.

Chelsea is doing great especially considering the circumstances. The following is an account of our trip to the birthing club.

Wed. 8 p.m.-- Our original appointment to be at the hospital but we were delayed two hours because they were too full. Probably not a good omen but it did afford me the opportunity of double and triple checking the car seat, my one and only responsibility thus far.

Wed. 11 p.m.-- Chelsea's contractions begin being measured by doctors and nurses at the hospital. They are short and not as intense as necessary but we feel good that we are on our way towards having our baby girl.

Thurs. 1 a.m.-- Contractions intensify and our midwife and doctor decide that outside of pitocin, we should naturally progress. It is at this point that Chelsea starts using my hand as a stress ball. I was just glad to be involved in the process but wondered if my secret career aspirations to be a pianist or hand model were dashed.

Thurs. 7 a.m.-- Blessed soul that she is, having already endured roughly seven hours of contractions, Chelsea decides to continue on, with the aid of an epidural. The contractions continue and soon grandparents to be arrive.

Thurs. 3 p.m.-- Still showing signs of progress but no baby yet...

Thurs. 8 p.m.-- Still contracting like nobody's business, Chelsea is still not quite as dilated to the point where the little lady is ready. After strong consideration and thought, we decide to proceed with a c-section birth.

Thurs. 8:30 p.m.-- I put my scrubs on backwards as I prepare to go to the operating room for the birth. They (the scrubs) are a little uncomfortable and I was too afraid to ask one of the nurses for help because shouldn't they be attending to other more important matters?

9 p.m. The doctors inform us after prepping Chelsea for the surgery that she is now contracting and dilated. She could attempt to have the baby naturally but it might require pushing for some time with the possibility of no progress. Chelsea, bless her heart for all that she has endured up to this point, decides to continue with the c-section.

10 p.m. With little fussing and an absence of pageantry, our baby makes her entrance. She is beautiful, healthy and big. The doctors immediately tell us that Chelsea made a good decision because Hayley is nearly 10 pounds, 22 inches tall and her head was 14 inches around.

Isn't she beautiful?

Long story short... Hayley is beautiful. It is hard to believe that she is almost a week old. I know that it is a tendency of all parents to brag about their kids but she seems so strong and low-maintenance. She does like to eat and sleep though. We were looking through a scrapbook that Chelsea's mom put together that included some baby pictures and there was a very strong resemblance.

Here's some more photos:
And one video...

Here is the column that I filed for today's paper in regards to two of my favorite things: Hayley Jean and the Portland Trail Blazers.

Burn Betty Burn

An embarrassing, however very funny moment took place Sunday afternoon... Skyler was so nice and decided to make me Pot Roast in our slow cooker, So he gets out this Betty Crocker classic cookbook and puts it out on the stove, following each step. He had to leave for a couple hours and asked me to make sauce. Let it be known that I am notorious for turning on the wrong burner, the right side, but most of the time, the wrong one. So I turn on this burner and a few minutes later I'm standing in the living room and have this flash picture in my head of me turning on the front burner accidentally and instantly I smell burning. I run into the kitchen and there are little curls of smoke curling from under the precious Betty. My eyes got so wide, I don't know if I laughed first or had a small panic attack of potentially burning down our whole building. There was a small flame on the spine but luckly the sink was nearby. If this were any other of my cookbooks I would have cried, however I think she got what she had coming to her since alot of her stuff doesn't come out very good. So long Betty!