Our Kids

Heads up, metropolitan Phoenix area… here come the Haslup kids!

After consulting with Lela and Piper, the family took a vote and you guessed it, we’re heading back to Phoenix. We’ve had a great time in Bozeman (2 years, 9 months) and we’ll miss all our friends here, but we’re also looking forward to getting back. Stay tuned for news of the move… we’ll be soaking up the sun in no time.

To more exciting things… these cute little buggers that continue to amaze us every day. Be sure to check out the Flickr site for the latest in pictures. We’ve been a little busy lately but we’ll keep trying to put them up.

In the latest batch you get a glimpse of what’s entertaining us: Lela’s hair is getting longer but she’s still leaving all the teeth-growing to her sister. Piper has been getting more and more excited with things and lets us know with some great, high-pitched screams of joy. They’re both just crawling around like they’ve been doing it for months. Tonight Lela managed to chase Rupert (our golden retriever) out of the room just by crawling and sqeeking at him. I guess even goldens have their limits!

Lela’s taken to sleeping through the night (yay!)… and getting up at 5:30am (boo!). I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it too… Piper gets up maybe once a night and for various reasons, she’ll sometimes stay in our bed after her bottle. Because of this we’ve discovered two things: Piper snores and she’s a bed-hog. I’ll be sure to let future boyfriends know these facts… maybe during the “get to know Dad” lunch they’ll be having before even thinking about dating a daughter of mine.

Tonight was fun: while I was outside in the snow helping someone get their car out of a snow-filled ditch (I’ll miss Bozeman!), Mystique was playing a new game with the girls. She’d set them up in our living room looking towards the hallway. Then, she and Rupert would loudly run from the other end of the hallway and give the girls a big “hah!”. They would just *love* it! Piper would emit her squeel of joy and Lela would give us her big gummy smile and clap her hands with a laugh. With all these toys in the room I love the fact that they love Mommy the most.

And so do I so I better get off my “toy” and hang out with the misses. I think she’s done packing the living room now so it’s safe to go offer to help.

jason

Well Lela has become a regular pro at sleeping throught the night, pulling herself up to a stand, flipping from crawling to sitting and being a regular comedian. She loves to make faces, as well as rock and roll around. She loves to move, it is so cute. She loves bananas and yogurt and could eat them all day long. Lela has become quite mobile and enjoys sitting in the laundry basket and practicing standing.

Piper is on to other things such as yelling DA DA whenever Jason comes in the room, lest you think they don’t love me she says MA MA when she is upset, LOL. She can wave, give kisses and she tries to put on her own socks and shoes. When you are not looking she sits on the floor and puts the sock on her foot, without getting the foot inside the sock. She has started to yell like she is in pain but when you look at her she is just yelling and smiling:)

We are in the midst of a move but they seem to be handling it better than Jason or I. I guess that is the resilience of children. We are trying to learn from them but we are old and Jason is stubborn:)

I can’t remember if this is a first but if it isn’t it is a first in a long long time. Both girls slept through the night. Piper woke up around 10 when I was listening to my Dolly Parton CD too loud:) But then she went back to sleep. I, of course did not get 40 winks because I kept waking up to listen to see if they were up. All I could hear was the rasp of Jason, snoozing away in a peaceful slumber.

Who knows why it happened or if it will happen again anytime soon, hopefully next time I can enjoy it;)

Well the girls are both officially crawling, taking different tactics but getting there none the less. Piper puts her head down and really focuses on getting everything moving in sync, while Lela keeps her head up looks around smiles and drags her limbs along (on the laminate floors that is REALLY fun for her).

The other day Jace was upstairs and I went into the kitchen, next thing I know Jason is walking down the stairs and Piper is climbing up! She had made it to the fourth step, talk about leaps and bounds. Lela is content to follow along but in no rush to crack her skull open.

Today I was rocking the girls in their bouncy chairs before their nap and Piper reached out her hand and Lela held it. It was so sweet. They are becoming more aware of each other and poking each other, Lela puts her fingers in Pipers mouth so she can bite them. Sounds funny but it is really cute. Every new stage with the girls is so fun, I am always looking forward to what will happen tomorrow:)

Well time has just flown by and here we are a week from Thanksgiving, and right around the corner from the girls 11 month birthday. Can you believe it!

Anyway the girls traveled like the little angels they are, they slept and were no trouble coming and going. I took Lela on the way down and Piper on the way back, Jace had Peeps on the way down and Lela on the way back. Lela fell asleep sooner and slept the entire flight, Peeps was a little excited and fought sleep and only slept for about an hour of the flight. She was entertained by the window and the sights so it was okay. They did really well with all the grandparents and only got off their routines a tiny bit.

Piper has a funny new thing. When anyone sneezes we say bless you, so if you bless anyone she makes a fake sneeze and looks at you so you can bless her too. It is hilarious. Lela has found her first love, Elmo, wonder where she gets that from. Her grandparents bought her an Elmo in a chicken costume and she loves to just sit and rock back and forth to his music. She cries when he stops so we have to hide it when she isn’t looking.

Both the girls are crawling which is fun. You run to the kitchen and someone follows you now. I think we need a one story more than ever, the other morning Jason left the bedroom and Piper crawled after him. Lucky for me she isn’t too fast…..yet.

Well we are getting geared up for our first flight with the girls, it will be their second flight since they flew on the day they were born. I think it will be okay but it does fill Jason and I with a little trepidation. We plan to get up early on Saturday and drive to Billings during their morning nap, about a two hour drive. Then we will play with the girls for a few hours, maybe go by the hospital to see if their names are up on the wall of fame (a place where you can purchase a spot for your childs birthday to be displayed) and then head to the airport. We are hoping that the 2.5 hour flight coincides with their afternoon nap. It is a direct flight so the worst thing is that Lela screams the whole time, but that isn’t likely:) She is such a doll.

Anyway, check back to see how it went, it could make for an interesting read:)