A "Magical" Half Birthday!

Awwwwwww....

Hayden's half birthday was back on the 1st and boy was it magical! We spent the day at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World and had such a great time. It is so hard to believe he is already 18 months old. I had great intentions of actually posting on his half-birthday like I usually do, but vacation was calling our names loud and clear and I just didn't have time to do it. We were just having too much fun to take time out for blogging purposes! As a matter of fact I didn't hardly get on the computer at all, which is hard to believe if you know me well!!! Needless to say our vacation was wonderful, and I'm sure I will have quite a few posts all about it. But, this post is going to be all about Hayden and his big half birthday!!!:) Let me just start by saying Disney was quite possibly one of the hottest places on earth, and not just because of mini-Matt growing inside me, both Hayden and Daddy were just as hot! Poor Hayden's hair was soaking wet at times! Oh, and you would not believe how much stuff you have to bring inside the park to make sure you have everything you might need(yes, you even need sunscreen and a mini fan!)... it kind of feels like you are moving in! But, it was FUN. And as I have always said, far before having kids, it is definitely magical. Something about the place just lights you up inside... you can't help but have fun. We even went back a second day to do a few things we missed the first day! And, believe it or not... I already can't wait to go back! I had so much fun watching Hayden taking everything in. He had a great time, and I had an even better time watching him have a great time! His favorite part was definitely the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party. It was one of the parades we watched come through the park and he loved it. Who knew a parade in the smoking hot sun could be so great? He liked it so much we went and watched it twice... and Daddy even taped him taking part in it the second time. So cute! We watched the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade too, but it didn't have as much dancing as the street party, so of course Hayden liked the street party best! We took him on quite a few of the rides and he liked some and disliked some. He got pretty scared on the ones that got dark like Pirates of the Caribbean, but loved making Dumbo fly in Dumbo the Flying Elephant. He used a little lever to make him fly that was just his size... it was definitely one of his favorites. I know it won't be long before he loves all the rides, but I must say he seemed to be scared on more this year than he loved! We watched two shows, Mickey's PhilharMagic and Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor and we all enjoyed both of them. They were a perfect length for Hayden(not too long!!!) and had good comedy for us!:) Don't worry, this post won't be all about the magic of Disney, I also came up with his newest like/dislike list just to give you a little update for 18 months! I must add here he had his 18 month check-up last Tuesday and he weighed in at 22 pounds 14 and 1/2 ounces and measured 30 and 1/2 inches. Yes, he's our tiny little man. Our tiny little man that must have the fastest metabolism ever(most of you know this, but just in case you were wondering... the boy can eat!). He was in the 10-25% for weight and 5-10% for height... one day he'll have a growth spurt!! Here's the newest list for you...

What Hayden Likes:
- Balls - LOVES them! And I mean any kind, if he sees one he HAS to have it. They definitely keep him occupied. He has always liked them, but never quite as much as he does now. His love for them just keeps growing and growing and growing! Oh, and he can throw them far!
- Fish - Better known as "pish" in our house! Another thing he has always liked, but the like has just seemed to escalate lately. We went to SeaWorld one day over our vacation and he could not get enough of them. The funniest thing is every time we are around water now all we hear is "pish, pish"!!! So cute! I can't wait to take him to the aquarium this year!
- Sprinklers - Man he loves these! I don't know what we will do in the winter! We went to a splash pad over vacation and he thought he had hit the jackpot! Just wait until you see the pictures! I'm going to have to take some pictures of him playing in the one in the backyard as well, because he loves that just as much. It is so fun to watch!
- Singing - Some of his favorites are The Wheels on the Bus, Old MacDonald, Twinkle,Twinkle and If You're Happy and You Know It. It is so cute to hear him sing the words he knows and even cuter to hear him clapping along! I'm sure it won't be long until he is singing the whole thing! I have GOT to get it on video!
- Watching DVD's in the car - This is the newest addition to his like list(mainly because we just got it before we went on vacation!) and he thinks the TV always has to be on even if we are only going down the street. I guess since he doesn't get to watch much TV at home it is super cool to watch it in the car!:) We got a couple of new mini movies, but he still likes Baby Einstein the best... weirdest movies ever and he loves them!
- Animals - Especially dogs and cows. He loves to bark and moo!:) We will be driving down the road singing a song and all of the sudden hear a loud "MOO" and see him pointing out the window to the cows in the pasture! He does the same with dogs... "dog, dog, dog" he will say when he wants to get over to one he sees and pet it. And most of the time he has to get right in their face and get a kiss!
- Talking - He gets it honest... you all know I like my fair share of talking. And now, Hayden and I get to do it all day long! He is pretty much trying to copy everything we are saying now which is both cute and a little scary! We really have to be careful what we say! He is even starting to say two things together. Growing up too fast... YIKES!
- Running/jumping/climbing - I like to call this category being a BOY! He loves to be chased so if he knows you are wanting to get to him he will run at lightning speed in the opposite direction. So funny to watch... not so funny if you are the Momma trying to catch him! He also loves climbing up on things, jumping on them, and even trying to jump off them! If something is too tall for him to pull himself up onto, we will hear the loudest "PEEEEAAAASSSSSEEE" you have ever heard! I blame Daddy for the fact that he likes to jump on the furniture, he is always encouraging him to jump so hopefully he can find a way to break this bad habit before he manages to get seriously hurt. I doubt it though... he likes to remind me "He's a boy!" Oh, and I must mention here that he loves stairs. I think climbing up and down them without getting on his knees and without the help of anyone else is at the top of his list of things to accomplish(yes... I think he has a little list of things to accomplish in that teeny head of his!). He practices over and over and he really doesn't like it when I want to hold his hand as he is trying to get up or down them. Scary huh?!?
- Feeding himself - This is more than a like, it is a MUST! We pretty much can't feed him anymore, he has to do it himself. And he LOVES the fact that he is doing it!:) Now he gets his own little plate and fork or spoon and does it mostly alone. In case you were wondering, this creates a HUGE mess, but he thinks it is great and we know he is figuring it all out, so big mess or not that is what we do for now. I am going to save my story about how much fun clean up is for a future post... man is it great!!!

What Hayden Dislikes:
- Sharing - I hate to even list this, but it is true of him right now so I figured I might as well be honest! It's not just toys either, the boy doesn't even like to share his bath time with anyone else. And don't even think about getting a bite of his food! We made the mistake of thinking Hayden would enjoy taking a bath with Grace on vacation and we were SO wrong. It was a disaster! We are constantly working with him to let him know sharing is important, but I feel like it is going to be something we are working on for quite a while. Maybe school will help in August!:)
- Discipline - OK, so I put this on his dislike list back at 15 months and surprise, surprise it is still there! I guess it will always be a dislike... what child likes time out? And time out is not the only part he doesn't like about the discipline thing, he truly doesn't like to disappoint. You can see those sad little puppy dog eyes pop out as soon as he knows he has done something to upset us. Yes, it makes it hard to stick to your guns and discipline!

What Hayden is not sure about:
- Swimming - Ok, so he loves and I mean loves the water, but he is not so sure about swimming. He pretty much has to have his feet touching the bottom at this point. We spend most of our time playing in the shallow! Don't worry, we just started swim lessons for this summer, so hopefully they will help his fear of the unknown! You never know, maybe he'll be a little "pish" soon!:)
- Waves - I guess this kind of goes with swimming, but I just had to add it because when we were at the beach the waves were fascinating for him. He loved the idea of them and loved when they would bring his balls back to him, but he highly disliked them when they knocked him over. Who can blame the little guy though... I don't like when they knock me over either!

As always, I have more likes than anything, but what can I say he is a happy little booger most of the time! Here are some pics from Disney on his 1/2 Birthday!:)

Y'all know I just had to get him some Disney PJ's... cute huh?!?

Our captain who drove us over to the Magic Kingdom via ferry!

Our view from the ferry.... almost there!:)

By the looks of this picture you would think Hayden enjoyed the ride,
but oh no... he hated it. It went way too slow and it was WAY
too hot. We took the monorail the rest of the trip!

Good thing that awfully hot ferry didn't ruin our trip. This was
right outside the Mad Tea Party(aka Teacup ride!) So fun!:)

I thought it was so cute how Daddy stood him up on the part that makes
the teacup swirl... too bad Hayden didn't want to smile for the camera!:)

Auntie Tiz took this for us as we waited in line for The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

It is one of the few rides we actually waited in line for... most of the time
we just used our fast pass so Hayden didn't have to wait! We are so
lucky Auntie Tiz got to come with us one of the days. She was
a big help and Hayden loved having her along for the fun!:)

Doesn't it look like he is having the best time ever on the carpets?!?

I guess at times it was fun and at times it was awful... he made

this expression on the EXACT same Aladdin ride!!!:)
I was thinking of sending this pic to Disney just in
case they wanted to use it in one of their ads!!!

Poor Hayden had to get his naps in on the go.

In his stroller...

In his carseat...

And once he even had to get a nap in on my shoulder.
I must admit this was my very favorite nap position he chose!:)

We got this pic right before Hayden met Goofy for the first time.
Goofy was all dressed up and ready for the Pirates of the
Caribbean ride, and by the looks on Hayden's face
he was SO ready to meet him!

I had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn't be too excited about
meeting him once we got up close... and boy was I right!
No more up close meetings with characters for us this
trip! The look on Hayden's face is priceless though!!!

Auntie Tiz snapped this for us while we were walking through the cave
to get on our pirate ship. Cute huh? I must note here the walk
was definitely the happy part... not the ride! It was
much too scary and dark for our little man...
the death grip came out!

This was during the Celebrate a Dream Come True parade...
I love the very first picture on this post because their
hands are perfectly in sync, but I had to post this
one too because you can see the character
waving in between their hands...
cool huh?!?

Don't you just love my color sketch of Hayden and I on Dumbo?!?

Having a blast learning how to maneuver the lever!

I just love our family Dumbo pic! So cute!!!

Waving to the animals on Jungle Cruise...

Which also got dark at one point. Thank goodness
Daddy was there to protect Hayden!:)

We had the sweet attendant take this for us after we got off the boat
on "it's a small world", which Hayden loved by the way.
It had perfect music and he loved all the colors
and people from around the world. So cool!:)

Can you tell by his death grip he was a little nervous on The Many Adventures
of Winnie the Pooh?!? Needless to say, it was no"it's a small world".
He did like parts of it(like the bouncing in the honey pot),
but he wasn't too fond of the wind blowing us away!:)

This was Hayden making his very first Disney souvenir penny.
He was so proud he could do it himself!:)

Dinner at Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney... really cool place to eat!
Definitely a must if you are at Disney!

Even though you can't see our faces that great, we were
having a great time on Cinderella's Golden Carrousel!

Love it!

Can you tell how excited he was to see the Mickey shaped pumpkins in Mickey's backyard?
You know how we love Halloween around here... maybe one year we'll have
ourselves a Mickey shaped pumpkin too! Oh, and yes you read that
right... the pumpkins were in Mickey's garden in his backyard!
We toured both Mickey and Minnie's Country House and
even Donald's Boat, and these pumpkins
were Hayden's favorite!

Hayden absolutely loved the LEGO Imagination Center
we visited at Downtown Disney... we had to
literally tear him away from the place!

Hayden giving his sweet kisses to the lego doggie!

And even posed with the whole lego family so Momma could get a pic!

As you can tell, he didn't want his pic with the huge lego robot...
there were much cooler things he could have been doing!:)

Although a little scary and very dark, he did manage to have
a good time on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin!

Hayden was way too interested in his pirate ship on Peter
Pan's Flight to look at the camera for Momma!

A nice man even got our pic in front of Cinderella's Castle!

And don't worry, I couldn't end this blog without the little video Matt got of Hayden at the parade...

Even though you can't see his face, I love how you can watch him enjoying the party! He was so into it which was so hard for me to believe at 18 months. We love a party, so I guess he does too!:) I loved watching him clap, dance, shrug his shoulders, interact with the people in the parade... can you tell I just liked everything about it?!? It was a great day and we can't wait to go back!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Hayden! We love you!