Last year when Hailey turned 3 I asked her these questions and I thought it would be fun to ask her the same questions again to compare her answers.

1. What is something mommy always says to you?  That she loves me so much.

2. What makes mommy happy?  When I be good.

3. What makes mommy sad?  When I’m not good.

4. How does your mommy make you laugh?  By tickling.

5. What was your mommy like as a child?  She liked to play with the “patch” dolls, the ones that I play with now at Grandma and Pa’s house.  (Patch dolls are my old Cabbage Patch dolls.)

6. How old is your mommy?  16

7. How tall is your mommy?  4 inches

8. What is her favorite thing to do?  Play with me

9.What does mommy do when you’re not around?  Type on her computer

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?  I don’t know

11. What is your mommy really good at?  My mom is really good at going on the treadmill and playing the Hungry, Hungry Hippos game. (Funny since I can’t even remember the last time I walked on the treadmill!  Ha!)

12. What is your mom not very good at?  She’s not good at playing in the leaves.

13. What does your mommy do for her job?   She goes to meetings.

14. What is your mommy’s favorite food?  Broccoli

15. What makes you proud of your mommy?  Giving each other a hug

16. If your mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?  Ariel

17. What do you and your mommy do together?  Play

18. How are you and your mommy the same?  Our eyes

19. How are you and your mommy different?  Our shirts are different

20. How do you know your mommy loves you?  Because I love her so much

22. Where is your mommy’s favorite place to go?  To Disney World

Some favorites:

Favorite color:  Pink… I want to say more colors- blue, green, yellow and orange
Favorite animal:  Pigs- little baby pigs, but not the big mommy pig that pushed the baby pig away from me.
Favorite food:  Cheese
Favorite game:  Hungry, Hungry Hippos
Favorite toy:  The Scooby Doo toys and the Wendy toys
Favorite song:  Beauty and the Beast
Favorite drink:  Milk and water and chocolate milk
Favorite movie:  Beauty and the Beast
Favorite snack:  Oreo cookies (the Halloween ones)

Lastly: What do you want to be when you grow up?  A princess and I’m going to marry J.

It seems like we were just celebrating your 3rd birthday not too long ago, but another year has already gone by and you are now 4.

Every time I looked at the clock today I was remembering exactly what I was doing 4 years ago.  Actually it started yesterday.  I woke up early in the morning on October 6, 2006- I needed to make my hourly trip to the bathroom.  I went to the bathroom and when I stood up there was still a small trickle.  Was I wetting on myself?  Possible, since I was 9 months pregnant.  But not the case- my water had broken.  So I did what any sane person would do.  I started cleaning the house- dusting and vacuuming.  You were 3 weeks early and I wasn’t exactly ready and the house needed to be cleaned.  Then I took a shower because I didn’t know when they would let me take another shower at the hospital. After all of that was taken care of we went to the hospital.  You were born a short 32 hours later on October 7 at 1:34pm so I really did have plenty of time.

It really doesn’t seem possible that 4 years have passed and you are no longer a baby.  When I see other kids who are your age I think they seem so grown up.  When I see you I still see a little toddler with chubby cheeks and fat little arm rolls.  But then I realize that you have gotten very tall, you have slimmed down and you are just as grown up as those other 4 year olds.  As you told me, “I’m fouw (4) now. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

You are so independent.  When it’s time to get ready for bed, you run to your room and get your own pajamas on.  It’s nice to be able to tell you to go get dressed and you do it all by yourself.  You’re pretty particular about what you wear. Every night we have to plan out your outfit for the next day and you pick everything out, right down to your underwear and the bows for your hair.  You want to go to the bathroom all by yourself.  If someone comes in the bathroom you make sure they know they need to leave.  When did that happen?

You love all things girly- you like dolls and princesses.  You love pink and always want your nails painted. You want to wear your jewelry and you love dressing up in princess dresses.  You prefer to wear dresses and skirts and you love to walk around with my dress shoes on.

You love to cuddle, but only on your terms.  Sometimes you just need your space and you don’t want to be hugged or cuddled.  But when you go to bed at night, we lay together and read books and you tell me, “Cuddle with me mom.  Hold me tight.”  You and Daddy have a special little game you play called snuggle hugs.  Every night you ask him for a snuggle hug.  He has to pretend he can’t find your tummy and he looks for it all over- in your mouth, up your nose, everywhere.  And the whole time you just giggle and giggle.  Then when he finds your tummy he rubs his head on your tummy and tickles you and you laugh so hard.  I love hearing you laugh- it’s the best sound in the world!

You have blessed our lives more than we could have even imagined.  Our days are happier and full of laughter.  I never would have thought it was possible on that day you were born, but four years later I love you even more than I did then.

I love you Little Miss!!  Happy 4th Birthday!

Mommy

On Thursday evening we loaded up our car to drive to the airport.  We had found a nice cheap flight for our trip ($152 per person, round trip) but we had to drive to an airport 3 hours away.  Our flight was leaving at 5:50am on Friday, so we thought we would drive up on Thursday night.

We left around 10pm and Hailey went right to sleep.  We stopped when we were about 40 minutes from the airport so that Rich and I could sleep a little too.  But then Hailey woke up around 1:30am and was wide awake and would not stop talking.  Eventually we figured we would just go the rest of the way to the airport.

We hung out in an empty airport until the we could go through security.  Hailey kept herself occupied with her MobiGo but had no interest in going back to sleep.

Finally on the airplane!!  Hailey slept some on our first flight.  She woke up before we landed and when she looked out the window during landing it made her sick.  Thankfully I was ready with the barf bag.  During our second flight she was sound asleep the whole time and didn’t get sick at all!

Posing in the Orlando airport.

Waiting at the longest red light ever in front of our resort while we were on the Magical Express.

Finally there!!

When we got to our room these 2 lovely bird type things were hanging around outside our building.

After some lunch and a nice nap for Hailey and Rich (while I organized the room) we headed off to Magic Kingdom.

When we walked in Pluto was there signing autographs.

Pluto and Hailey

Us

Then we had to stop and see Chip and Dale

Posing with Chip and Dale.  Dale is pulling on one of Hailey’s braids.

Us in front of the castle.  I have no idea why Hailey’s face looks like that- she really was excited to be there!!  See the crane in the background behind the castle?  Apparently they are already putting up lights for Christmas time.

We got there just in time to see the Dream-Along with Mickey show.

Some more of the show.

Then it was time for the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party.

Hailey got the dance with Chip.

Then we went on our first ride of the trip- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

Hailey was begging to go on Splash Mountain, since she spent the last year hoping she’d be tall enough to go on it.  But we had a dinner reservation to get to so we decided to wait.

Hailey waiting for the train.

Then we were off to ‘Ohana for dinner.  Since ‘Ohana means family they treat you like family there and everyone is cousins.  It’s so much fun!  When Rich and I ate there for our anniversary we loved it, so we just had to go again.  The food didn’t seem as good this time, but it was still pretty yummy.

Hailey had fun in the parade.

And the coconut race was cute.

On our way out of ‘Ohana.

After dinner we went over to Epcot to enjoy the Extra Magic Hours.  It was a little after 9pm when we got there.

Hailey wanted to go on one of the big rides and the wait time for Test Track wasn’t too bad, so we decided to give it a try.

Finally tall enough!!  Last year she was just a little under 40 inches and couldn’t go on some of the rides.  This year she was definitely tall enough!

Waiting in line for Test Track!

Sitting in the car waiting to go, looking a little nervous.

And she did NOT like the ride.  When it was over she said, “I didn’t like it Daddy, can we go on Nemo?”  She said it was too fast and she was scared.

We were pretty exhausted by this time- so we decided to end the night with Hailey’s favorite ride- Nemo

Hailey loves posing inside Bruce’s mouth.

Then we went back to our hotel and slept very soundly for the night!

Favorite of the day- Hailey picked The Seas With Nemo and Friends as her favorite ride.

Yesterday was Hailey’s first day to go to UPK- and she has been so excited to go!  She started about 2 weeks late because we were in Disney World, but she did great!

Having a yummy breakfast before school

She was excited in the morning to go and posed very willingly for pictures.  Here she is showing off the outfit she picked out for the first day.

All ready to go.  She even told me what angles to take pictures of her princess book bag that she was so excited to finally get to use.

A close up shot of the very loved book bag.

Rich and Hailey walking through the parking lot to get to the building her class is in.

Hailey standing by her name where she hangs up her coat and book bag.

Hailey loved her first day of UPK.  When we dropped her off she hung up her things and went right to her teacher and said goodbye very easily to us.  When I asked her about her first day she said she loved it and loved her teacher.  Since Hailey started school late due to our Disney trip she missed seeing the caterpillars that they have been watching, but she did get to see that they had turned into butterflies over the weekend.  Hailey made a “Life Cycle of a Butterfly” book and told me her favorite thing she did today was to paint a caterpillar (a paper towel tube).  She was very excited that she was the line leader today. She wasn’t all that thrilled with snack- grapes and apples but said there was cheese too which she did like. When I asked her how she felt on her first day she told me, “Kind of good and excited!”  Hailey had a great first day and can’t wait to go back!