Progress

Haley has made a lot of progress with her speech in the past week. Friday night we were playing a 'ready set go' type game. I stopped for a minute because Seth asked me something, and Haley tried to say 'ready' to keep the game going. It came out as 'airy'. :) She did it a few more times, so we know it wasn't a fluke. We're counting it as her first word since it's her first obvious attempt at a real word. It was a very exciting moment and very unexpected! We knew she would talk when she was ready, but actually hearing her try it was the coolest thing ever. Since then, she has been more interested in watching us say things and trying to mimic us. I have a feeling the explosion of words isn't too far away.

Speaking of smarty-pants things... After speech this morning, she grabbed a magnadoodle toy and scribbled something that looked like a '2' (she didn't mean to write a '2' but it definitely looked like one). She looked at it for a second and then held up 2 fingers. :) We didn't tell her it was a 2 or anything - it was all her. We work on numbers and counting with our fingers, so it was fun to see that she picked it up. I'll try to get her to do it again for a video.

The pregnancy is going really well - we made it to the 3rd trimester! We decided on a name - Blake Arthur Filkins. Blake and Haley sound great together, and Blake just feels right. :) I think I'm carrying him higher than I did Haley - he's squishing my stomach and lungs already. Eating the smallest amount of anything gives me heartburn, and I get winded very easily. It's not too bad overall, and I'm so excited to meet our little guy in a few short months!

As the weather gets warmer, I'm hoping to be able to do more photoshoots. Once the kids are older I plan to concentrate on building a photography business. For now, I'd like to do a few photoshoots when I can. If you know of anyone who would be interested, send them my way (www.alyssafilkins.com). :)

A few recent pictures and videos of Haley...















"I'm 2!"












Videos:










Crazy cat