Hayden Michael - My great nephew

I am a great aunt!! Hayden Michael Porter was born last Wednesday. He was 7lb 11oz and 19 in long. He was born to my niece Jessie and her husband Mike.

We got to go visit him on the day he was born but I didn't get to see him again until Monday night. He is so cute. He ended up with jaundice and had to come home with the bili blanket just like Alayna. He is doing better.

Family dinners will never be the same. It is going to be so fun watching Alayna and Hayden chase each other around. I am sure they will have many adventures.

Alayna's adventures

Alayna is nine months old now. I can hardly believe it. It seems like only yesterday she was a tiny little infant. The last couple of months she has had some adventures and some developmental milestones.

At the end of June we went to North Carolina for my family reunion. Alayna took her very first plane ride. She did very well. She slept almost the whole time on both flights. It was a great first trial at flying because the flight was only a little over an hour.

We stayed with my cousin Diane and her husband Ronnie. Alayna took to them automatically. She let them hold her in the airport. I was so happy because she had been going through a "mommy" stage. While we were there she got to take a good old fashioned country bath in the sink. She loved it as you can see.


She started sitting up by herself at about 8 1/2 months. She still isn't crawling but will get up on her hands, turn herself in the direction that she wants to go,and then she rolls there. She can also maneuver quite well in her walker. She likes trying to pull the newspaper off of the coffee table.




She has also developed a very silly personality. She will laugh and laugh especially when she is tired. She loves being tickled and tossed up and down in the air. I love to hear her laughing.

She has learned to clap her hands and will do so when told. She will give hugs and kisses especially to Mom-Mom. She is Mom Mom's girl. She even said Mom-Mom last week. She likes to play with shoes, paper, and in the laundry basket as you can see.


Last weekend we went to Norfolk, VA. Alayna stayed in her first hotel room. They brought us a white iron crib for her. It was a challenge trying to get her to go to sleep in the room where we still had the lights and TV on. She was so funny because we put her in our bed and she kept lifting her head up to peek over at her daddy. She eventually fell asleep. We ended up having her sleep in between us both nights because she kept waking up every hour in the crib on the first night. When she got home she was so happy to be back in her own bed and room.

Alayna and her friends

Last Monday our friends Mike and Becky came over for dinner with their two kids Matthew and Anna. I was amazed at how well all of the kids played together. We sat Anna and Alayna down on a blanket together. They each played with their own toys and didn't seem to mind that the other was there. Matthew was being a great helper to the little ones. He would bring toys to them. Alayna was having a great time laughing at Matthew as he was studying her too.




Mike and Becky are leaving to go on a long term overseas mission trip. We will definitely miss them. Alayna will miss her friends Anna and Matthew also. I pray that they will be able to get to know each other again in the future and will be the best of buds again.