Thanksgiving and Hayden's Hair

This Thanksgiving was to be our very first (and last) in our own home.  Paul and I had planned the whole meal out: what we were having, what dishes or pans we would bake them in, where we would buy them, even how much they would cost.  i talked to my mom, Paul's mom, and Paul's grandma to ask them how they cooked their turkeys.  Seriously, we were ready.  Paul even got a turkey from his work for a Thanksgiving present!  It was on.  We were excited to try this meal on our own for the first time. 


Then Grandma Sutton called.  Ha ha, I love this woman for her generous nature--she's always giving and trying to take care of you.  Grandma knows what's best!  Ha ha.  So 3 days before Thanksgiving, we were invited to Thanksgiving at Grandma's house.  Paul and I set our plans aside and decided to go to grandma's.  I was assigned the rolls, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and vegetable tray.  (don't worry, they were awesome.  I made butt roles and they were SOOOO good.)


When I got to grandma's, I expected to see a turkey, some mashed potatoes and gravy, and some sweet potatoes.  Oh my goodness, there was sooo much more!  This woman likes to cook!  In addition to the aforementioned, there was a ham, jello salad (grandma is famous for it), stuffing, apple pie, lemon pie (all of which were made with homemade crusts), and I'm sure I'm forgetting something.


ANYWAYS...my reason for writing about this was to explain why we finally got to cooking our turkey last night.  Did I mention that?  Yeah, yesterday we decided to cook it.  For one, we went to grandma's for dinner, and two, the turkey took FOREVER to defrost.  I put it in the fridge the sunday before Thanksgiving and by Thursday morning, I could tell it was still frozen.  Awesome.  Ha ha.  

These pictures were taken the first time we took the turkey out .  Yeah, it wasn' done.  You can still see the pinkness under the skin.  You can also see the thyme that we stuffed under the skin.  SOOOO yummy.

So we cooked it.  We melted butter and put it and some thyme between the skin and the breast.  I poured chicken broth over it and layered numerous pats of butter on the turkey.  I put the turkey in and after 3.5 hours took it out.  I cut it open and, although the skin was gorgeous, the bird was STILL not done!  (My advice...don't pay to much attention to the time when you cook a turkey.  Just watch the little turkey timer in it's breast).  The bird went back in, and, after another 1.5 hours, were took it out.  Paul was sure it was dry as bone.  I was soooo sad.  We cut into it though and it was amazing---it was so juicy and tender!  The thyme and chicken broth had given it an amazing flavor.  SUCCESS.


Ok.  The turkey.  There you go.


On to Hayden's hair.  I have trimmed on Hayden's hair since he was born; it has never scared me.  When I noticed that it was really starting to get long, I kept trimming the sides, but I was a little nervous to give him the big chop!  Two nights ago I decided that it was finally time.  I hope with everything that it wouldn't turn out horribly unblended, but it's not like I have been trained to cut hair!  I sat Hayden on my lap and gave him something to play with as I cut almost an inch off of his head.  

Sorry the lighting is kind of bad...I took the picture this morning while it was still dark.  There's no  substitute for good natural light!

Oh my goodness I was so nervous.  But then I realized I was done....and it looked AWESOME.  yessssss.   The sides are short and it tapers up to a longer top.  His hair is even blended so that you can't see any cut marks (for the most part.  I mean...he's only 9 months and didn't exactly hold still).  Somehow with my trusty scissors, however I pulled it off.  Now he looks like such a big boy!

da-da

 Tommy:  You can't just go in and out; you've gotta 
finnesse'em a little bit.


Richard: Hey, by finesse, do you mean sputtering out 
sentence fragments and lighting things on fire?

Tommy Boy--

I don't know why that particular quote came to me as I sat down to write this little update on Hayden. I guess it's the whole "sputtering out sentence fragments" that reminded me of where Hayden is in the developmental world. Lately, Hayden has been trying really hard 

to communicate with us. Instead of his normal screeching, Hayden has been making the funniest consonant sounds!

It all started on November 5th--Paul's 25th birthday. We were sitting on the couch and I 

was probably on my lap top. I could tell that Hayden was making noises but I wasn't really 

paying attention. Paul turned to me and said, Did you hear that?!? Hayden's saying 

something! I started paying attention and realized that Hayden was making his first 

consonant noises! Besides being adorable, the sounds mean that Hayden is starting to understand tone and the emotional word around him.

ANYWAYS, the first sound he made was kind of a do do do do intermixed with giggles. Ha ha--whenever he's proud of something, he'll just giggle at himself! After a while, Hayden's do do do's turned into da da da's. I caught some of his da da's on film, so enjoy :) (turn 

your speakers up...he's kind of quiet (it's at about 32 seconds in).

New Foods and Stats.

DISCLAIMER:  So I realize this post will be a little boring---one of those that probably only grandparents will read.  Sorry!  

Hayden has been trying all sorts of new foods lately.  He eats squash, peas, yams, and pears.  We added two new foods the other day.  When we were in Colorado, we went out to eat lunch and Hayden was eyeing my salad big time.  I let him try avocado off of my pate and it was a huge success!  Then he tried tomato and it was the same thing---he LOVED it.  When we got home, I went and bought some avocados for Hayden to eat.  Paul fed some to him yesterday.

Yup.  An adorable boy feeding his adorable son.  OH!  I also have a video.  Just in case the picture wasn't enough, ha ha.  

And now for Hayden's stats.  We went to the doctor yesterday for Hayden's nine month checkup.  I expected that he would be getting shots (since I don't think he got any last check up).  I gave him tylenol and hoped for the best.  Then the nurse said since Hayden was all caught up on his shots, he didn't need any unless I wanted to request a flu shot.  I opted out of it and Hayden was shot free this appointment!  The doctor did mention that Hayden's gums were swollen....grrreaaaaat.....a teether.  It certainly explains his moods lately:  whining, new growling screams, reluctancy to go to bed.....yeah.  I guess at nine months it's about time he gets a tooth.


Anyway, I was shocked to see Hayden's stats!  Here they are:

• Weight:  18lb 15oz 23%ile (just shy of 19 pounds!  At his 6 month appointment, he was in the 39%ile which is what he was at when he was born.)
• Height:   28.5in 60%ile (He only grew 1/2 an inch since he was 6 months!)
• Head :  17.3in  13%ile (When he was born, he was in the 19%ile.  Yikes.)  
• BMI:  16.3 (At 6 months he was at 15.1 and when he was born, he was at 11.8...just to give you a frame of reference.)

So my little 9month old is...growing...kind of.  The doctor said he wasn't worried about Hayden's growth (especially with a SUPER skinny father....).  Yeah, now you know why I've been feeding him avocados--they are rich in healthy fat.  Hopefully it helps little Hayden gain weight in places other than just his cheeks!