The Taj Ma Haught

Catching you up!

2009-01-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

First things first. I am so sorry that we have been neglecting our blog site. We do have a couple of readers so this is for you! Since September we have been quite the busy family.

OCTOBER

In October we celebrated Jackson and Ellie turning 6. They had a big bowling party which was tons of fun. Kind of the first drop your kid off party. Whew!

For Halloween my mom came in to help us get the kids out to go trick-or-treating. We were out for more than 2.5 hrs. Cooper had a ball going up to the house just staring at people as they put candy in his bag. May the force be with you!

NOVEMBER
November was a big month for the Haught household. Jackson, Ellie, Chad, & I took off for Disney World. Cooper stayed with grandparents. We missed him BUT it was tons of fun to be able to just hang out with the big kids. They were the best to travel and experience Disney with. We went for 7 days and completed every park and every ride. Jackson was quite the hilarious one. Our first ride when we arrived to Disney was at Hollywood Studios - Tower of Terror. The kids looked like ghost when they got off. Jackson even cried a bit BUT that was the last tear we saw the entire trip. He rode every ride with awe and excitement. His favorite was at Animal Kingdom - Everest. It was a really big scarey ride. Ellie's favorite was thunder mountain. One morning at Magic Kingdom we got there right when it opened and I think we rode it 3 times in row. Yahoo. We had lunch with the Disney Princesses and breakfast with Pooh's crew and Mickey's. What a neat experience to watch your kids see these guys as movie stars! I think Chad even drooled a bit over Ariel. Jackson has now said that when he is 18 he is going to work at Disney during the summer. I asked him where he would like to work and he said space mountain (their other favorite ride) b/c he could ride it whenever he wanted. We had a truly magical experience. I would do it a million times again with them. Enjoy the scrolling pic!

DECEMBER
Now onto December. December was a bit slower month for us. Cooper is a busy little boy. He loves to play with balls galore. You name it he does it. He is quite the player of golf. Chad says he is our key to having a lush retirement. He kicks with both his left and right foot, we are hoping he bats the same as well. Ha! He is a cutie pie and J&E love him to death. He loves to blow kisses, give kisses, and of course what all boys do..head butt. He is talking some (not a ton). He makes the greatest animal sounds -dog, owl, cat, bear, dinosaur, pig, an snake. So fun. My favorite is the kitty cat. He also says car, baball, dada, uhoh, done, and a few more. We are just waiting for the babble to turn into sentences.

Christmas was fun. We stayed in Dallas until a couple days after Christmas. We had Chad's family in for a couple days and the kids had a blast. We went ice skating. Ellie was still a bit wobbly (just didn't want to get wet if she fell) when we finished up but Jackson had increased his skill level of skating while accomplishing being soaking wet!

The week after Christmas we headed to my dads and moms to visit their nonna/papa & Marmie/Papaw. They got to see their great grandmother who they were so sweet with. Just made me so happy to see them love on her!

We feel so blessed with the family that God has given us. We hope that your 08 was a blessing an that 09 will bring you more joy.

Whew!

Barber Shop

2008-09-21T20:35:00.000-07:00

Our surfer boy got a haircut. I am a bit sad but there is no one to blame but myself. We were out the other day at a birthday party and his hair was all in his face so I thought....his bangs could use a trimming. Well, lets just say my trimming was a bit crooked and shorter than Chad would have done (he is our barber in the house). So he decided to fix it up and trim all over. He looks sweet but not so babyish. Makes me sad. For those wondering...we will be growing out his hair again but keeping his bangs and sides a bit shorter.

A couple other fun things he is doing is throwing fits, throwing everything that fits between the stair railing down below, saying uhuhuh...oh wait...those are all the annoying things he does. Now seriously tho...he is cute and fun but definitely has an attitude. His recent word is DONE. I like that b/c he hands things to me vs throwing them across the room. Also, he knows his eyes, tongue, nose and ears! So much fun to see him stick his fingers up his nose when you ask him to show you his nose. One other fun thing is 'where did it go?' -with hands up looking around. Very fun. He is a ball of energy and we are so blessed to have him in our lives!

Ellie & Jackson are getting thier Edamacashun

2008-09-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

It was official, Jackson and Ellie are officially kindergartener's! We are so excited for them. I honestly cannot believe my sweet babies who weighed less than 4 pounds each are big enough to start school. WOW!

They have both transitioned so well. The school is in our neighborhood so it is easy breezy to get them to and from school. We have walked once and chad rode bike with them once as well. Fun stuff!

Ellie has Mrs. Archer for her teacher. She is gushy lovin'! Made for that age. She is so sweet. Ellie came home after a couple days and said, Mom - i love her, really i love her. AWE!!! I am so proud of her b/c she has made tons of friends already. Although I am finding she loves to play chase daily at recess with the boys. Oh boy!

Jackson likes school. His teacher is Mrs. Braxton. She is brand new to the school. She seems really nice and knows computers really well. Jackson will be a big fan! His biggest complaint at first was that it was eating into his PS3 and tv watching time. Ha! Such a boy. He is trying hard but like his mom his conduct will probably always be a problem.

They talk about a couple different things....their specials (PE, Library, Drama, Music & Art), when can they buy lunch, and why can't they ride the school bus....Ahhh the important questions of little ones.

Let's Ride. And do Flips.

2008-08-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

"Mount up! It means...get on your horses." It was those words uttered by Lucky Day in Three Amigos that I recall each time we go for the family ride. I bought one of those seats that goes on the back of my bike (now Kiley's bike - i'm not getting on that silly thing) so we can take Cooper on a ride. Now the entire Haught clan runs the neighborhood as part of our new bicycle gang - The Fantastic Four and a Quarter.

And Ellie finally got a new bike (not pictured). I ran over her other one. A valuable lesson is being learned thru all of this - check your mirrors. And if you want a new bike you have to do chores and earn money so that you can afford a new bike.

Riding as a family is so much fun.

We went to the pool today with our neighborhood pals, The Violi's. Our community pool has this cool area with slides and water shooter gun turrets attached to forts. So awesome. And there's this huge tank that fills up with water and then dumps a large amount of water all over this one area and scares Cooper. He runs away as if he were being chased by a wolverine.

So Jackson and Ellie tell me that they want to go swim in the deep pool. I mean what's more fun that leaving the adventure area of the pool than going to the big square of water that doesn't do anything. But on our way there we see the diving boards and I say to Jackson, "There's no way you'd jump off the high dive." Minutes later he's on top of the thing doing a cannonball. He's crazy.

Then just to top things off he does some tricks off of the regular diving board...

Another Weekend at the Lake

2008-08-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

It is now a major tradition with the Haught family to return on the 4th of July to the Haught House on Possum Kingdom Lake. It is so much fun I must say. This last trip we had 3 boats and a couple jet skis out there so needless to say the kids were loving it. A couple new things that happened this round....

Cooper rode on a boat for the first time. LOVED IT!

Jackson and cousin Cade attempted to knee board and succeeded with GREATNESS. Or as Cade said it...WICKED AWESOME

Ellie remained outside for the firework show without getting scared and actually enjoyed it.

Cooper learned to eat sunflower seeds with Honey. mmmm good!

These weekends truly are precious to Chad and I. We really enjoy watching our kids experience life with such fullness and be surrounded with family. The memories being made are priceless! We can't wait for the next trip out to Possum Kingdom.

The Flower Girl & The Ring Bearer

2008-08-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

My sweet little ones were asked to be in their 'Aunt' Sarah's wedding on June 21st. There were so precious. Ellie was so excited that she got to dress like an official princess. Jackson on the other hand was loving his black dress socks and shoes that he begged us to wear to the rehearsal dinner with shorts on. We were a bit worried about Jackson following the rules but when it came down to the day of, Ellie threw her roses and Jackson didn't throw any pillows up in the air. Sarah looked absolutely gorgeous and the wedding went off without a hitch.
CONGRATS SARAH & ANDREW!

What I love about Cooper...

2008-06-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

is that he is soooo DANG cute. Seriously. It is so much fun to watch him do life. I thought I would give a bit of an update on him. He is growing so quickly and you forget when you have 5 year olds that they soak up things like little sponges. The following are some fun little updates:

**He has about 4 teeth on top and 4 on bottom - he eats anything and everything
**He grabs my hand and leads me places
**He loves giving kisses - he even is learning to blow kisses
**He can say dada, uh-oh, again, and many other things we don't understand
**He loves to sit and read books
**He has been walking since 9 months and running since 12months
**He is loving the water already. When at the pool I think he thinks he can swim if I let go of him.
**He loves to slide and step up and down on steps.
**He really thinks he can play basketball with his dad outside
**His favorite past time is riding in the escalade with his sister driving him.
**He likes to bat at the ceiling fan chains. It is a routine as you leave his room.
**He is really good at opening and closing doors without hitting his fingers

Most of all he is just pure sweetness. He is such a content happy little one. Enjoy the pics from the summer so far.

Proof that Cooper will eat anything.

Summer fun swimming!

Ellie & Jackson Graduate Preschool

2008-06-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

It's official. Jackson and Ellie have played house enough times and colored with every crayon in the mega-crayola pack to graduate pre-school! I kid - we actually had a parent-teacher conference a few months back and they went over how ready they were for kindergarten and I was pretty amazed at how much ahead of the game they will be starting off. The teachers have done an amazing job. The kids can spell and even read some short words. I recall starting first grade not knowing how to read a dad-gum thing.

We went to the graduation ceremony and I watched as parents in the crowd worked overtime to get the perfect angle for their filming of the entire shebang. Can we come up with some sort of society-approved solution for reserving seats at events like this? How do people get into these places so early to stick homemade "Reserved" signs on so many seats? I picture moms crawling thru the AC ducts and repelling down into the auditorium to reserve their seats hours before everyone else gets there.

But I digress... The graduation was adorable. The kids we dressed in all white cap and gowns. They sang songs and had speaking parts. One little girl made my loud cackle laugh erupt when she walked up to the microphone then blew into it like 4 times just to make sure it was on before speaking. "Check one, check. Sibalence. Can you hear me in the back people? Okay good. Today is a good day because the Lord made it."

Ellie and Jackson both nailed their speaking parts. Jackson even had a "Woohoo!" in there that was funny. They called them up one by one handed them their diplomas (probably all written in crayon), shook their hands then had them pose at center stage so the parents fighting for a spot in the middle of the auditorium could capture the Kodak moment. Then after it was all over they gave them gift bags including a really loud, annoying horn that said "Graduate" on the side. I was sure to lose theirs in another kids bag.

So our kids are all growds up. They'll no doubt have their own Facebook pages soon and start asking for cell phones so they text their bff's.

The Bash 2008

2008-06-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

The Haught family has a tradition of every other year traveling to Destin Florida and enjoying life that exist on no time table. Each time we go we make it an adventure by picking a new home to stay in. Let me just say that the homes are always amazing and I could do life like that always! Our Haught party exists of Chad, myself and kiddos, His brother and family, his sister, His mom and dad, and then my mom and stepdad. It is amazing but every year we still continue to like each other :-).

This year was filled with fun. The weather was great, a bit windy, but enjoyable. Our days existed of, getting up, eating breakfast, putting our suits on, and heading down to the beach. mmmmm. Each year it gets better and better. This year all the kids LOVED the sand and water. They skimboarded, built sand castles, crab hunted at night, boogie boarded, and much much more. The beach is one big adventure for them.

Cooper was a whole new element that we added this year. We weren't sure what he would think but boy he loved the sand and was intrigued by the water. By the end of the week he would run towards the water and then come back but always having fun digging in the sand or watching the birds swoop down.

We ate some amazing meals! The great thing about our group is that we will shop at super walmart (spent right under $800 bucks) on groceries and then assign a night to each family. We have some amazing cooks so you can't get better than that.

The guys went deep sea fishing and had a blast. This was something Chad really was looking forward to and it met every expectation he had. He caught the biggest fish of the group - 14 pound grouper! Impressive! Check out the pics.

Chad, myself, his brother Jeff and wife Tanya played golf one day. Yes they took the women with them. We had so much fun. Check out the turtle on the course. Fun times. I have played again since then and am looking for some girls to play golf with!

These vacations are such an amazing time for our family. We desire to continue these trips for as long as we can do them. It is such a sweet time for us to spend as a family. We laugh, eat, relax together. We celebrate family! I want these memories to stick with our kids as they grow older.

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150 or Bust

2008-05-04T19:23:00.001-07:00

Chad did it!!! Chad rode in the MS150 this weekend and finished strong. I am SOOO proud of him. He did an amazing job. The one thing he said he didn't want was wind...what did it do Saturday morning early..start blowing crazy wind. He stuck with it tho. Saturday he rode 86 miles then came home collapsed at 7pm and then got up Sunday morning and rode another 74. He said today there was some MAJOR hills on the day 2 route. What are those people thinking when they plan a 150mile course to put hills on the second day. Crazy huh! He has been training for this for the last 6 months when my coworker Jeff talked him into it. He has really enjoyed it and said it was the hardest thing he has ever done.

Chad did this in honor of Tina, my sweet sweet friend at work. I have been blessed to have a friendship with Tina over the past 5 years. She is one of the most amazing people I know. You love her within 5 seconds of meeting her. She is full of life and her joy is contagious. Tina was diagnosed with MS about 9 years ago and has carried a spirit of strength that amazes me daily.
To know Tina is to love her!

Chad's Words:
I was telling everyone in our small group to pray for no wind but it did still end up being crazy windy on Saturday most of the day but I told God at one point - some little kids kite party needed that wind. Then I gave Him the stink eye. When we stopped at lunch Saturday all the guys that did the ride the year or two before kept saying they've never been that worn out on the first day due to the wind. When I got to the last rest stop with 14 miles to go it took everything I had to make it. I got home and layed in the bathtub for 45 min then went to bed at 7:30.

The next day was fantastic for the first 30 miles with NO wind. We made it to lunch in record time. After lunch the wind picked up a little and there were 4 hills that nearly killed me but getting to the tops of those hills were the best feelings in the world.

Here are some fun pics...

Day 1-Before the race

Ellie & Jackson with Tina

5 miles out from the finish line

Chad crossing the finish line - he is in the blue long sleeve pullover

Ellie Dances

2008-05-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

Ellie had her first dance recital this past weekend. Well..actually 4 of them this weekend. She did so good. We enrolled her in a new dance studio this past fall and she almost quit. She stuck with it and really has enjoyed it. Ellie is quite shy but once she hits the stage you would never know it (sounds like her dad). She took ballet and tap. Next year we are going to add Jazz. I think that might be her nitch since she enjoys making up her own dances. She is quite the performer. The girls that she took dance with are Anna and Annalisa. Annalisa is 7 and Anna is 6 so there is a bit of an age difference but even with that she kept up pretty well. We are so proud of her. I even teared up watching her Friday night do her ballet. So big!!!! At her last performance we took her tulips and she was so excited. She kept saying 'thank you mommy for my flowers'. My mom and I were staring at her today and were discussing how much she is changing and how beautiful she is becoming.

Cooper is One

2008-04-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

Cooper turned one yesterday so we had an official party for him. It was actually his second party for this birthday - when Kiley ran the marathon we had family in town so we figured we might as well have a party then too. So I'm sure we've confused him into thinking every birthday will be a month-long celebration of him. Kind of like the first time I took Jackson to a Rangers game and he got a foul ball. Now when we go back to games he'll say, "When am I going to get a baseball hit to me this game?" I think I've been to 100 Ranger games and have never gotten a foul ball.

The events of the day started with the cake. When we gave Cooper his slice then put the candle in it and lit it, Cooper put it out between his thumb and forefinger. How tough is that? No big deal though. When he finishes smokes his cigarettes he puts those out on his forearm. He did look at Kiley after that like, "That wasn't a very good idea was it?" then he got that look on his face that I get after I take a big bite of pizza and realize it's still piping hot.

He managed to fight thru the pain until we got the Curious George pinata up. That was a big hit. PUN! So when did they start making pinatas out of unbreakable material? Seriously. I'm importing all of my future pinatas straight from Mexico City.

After all the little ones took swats at it with a foam bat I broke out a wooden bat and let some of the bigger kids beat the crap out of it until a tiny crack formed in the back of it and candy started slowly leaking out of it.

Cooper had a great time and enjoyed having some of his friends over. The Escalade power wheel was a big player. Here's the Post kids (Zoe and Emma) experiencing the raw automotive power we have over in the United States. Their parents, Jason and Mandy are missionaries over in Ireland. They came all the way over just for Cooper's birthday party. We have such commited friends.

I asked Cooper what his favorite thing about turning one was and he said, "Da da." Awe. But he was pointing at the remnants of his Curious George pinata so I think he was insulting me.

Of Marathons and Softball

2008-04-14T08:50:00.001-07:00

Kiley ran a marathon! For real. She did it in 4 hours and 52 minutes. I rode with her on my bike for the last 11 miles and I was so impressed and proud of her. From my perspective she made it look easy. There were times when she was worn down but her concentration on her task and how she pushed thru when she got really tired amazed me. Way to go Kiley.

I love the attached picture. The last 50 yards is the part where they have fences on both sides and everyone is cheering you on. Jackson and Ellie and their cousins - Cade and Kennedy ran with her the that last part so you can see them behind her.

Thanks to everyone that came out and met her at different checkpoints. That meant the world to her and kept her going. She said after mile 15 things started getting hard but it seemed like there was someone along the path every few miles after that.

What else is going on? I'm on a softball team that stinks. We've played 4 games and have yet to win. In fact on the way to my fourth game I got pulled over for speeding and when the cop asked me if I was on my way to a softball game (i was right by the field and had on a uniform) and I told him yes so he asked how my team was doing so I told him, "Not only are we 0 and 3. We've been 10 run rulled every game." to which he responded, "I'm gonna let you off with a warning." Funny.

The last game we were up 10-7 in the 5th inning and the game went 7 innings. We lost 12-24.

The kids are good. Cooper is saying "uh oh" and Ellie has a dance recital coming up. Her pictures for dance are tonight and they want us to roll her hair and put make up and lipstick on her. Jackson scored his first soccer goal of the year this weekend. He was so excited that he started to pull her shirt off. He also had his first baseball game this weekend. I'm pitching to the kids and hit one of them with a pitch. He was crowding the plate though so I just threw him a little chin music. No biggie.

My sweet Ellie

2008-03-11T18:59:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share something sweet with you about Ellie. As you know Easter is approaching and the topic of Jesus dying on the cross is very much in discussion. It is amazing to hear a 5 year old share what she thinks it all means. So as I put her in bed and we began talking about her cuticle tearing, how it bleeds and makes her cry. From there she compared that to how Jesus had nails go into his hands and blood poured down his arms. She said that it was a sad day when he died on the cross. Then she went on to tell me how he had dinner with his friends the night before and told them his body was broken and that he would shed his blood. She continued to tell me that our hearts and souls would go to be with Jesus in heaven like her grammy and grandma honey (so sweet). I asked her why they got to go to heaven and she told me it was because they believed in Jesus. I told her that Jesus died for all the bad choices that we would all make and we just had to believe in him. She asked if he did it for Ms. Jacqui (her teacher), Ms Jennifer (her other teacher), Mollie Ann, Ella, and Isabelle (all friends at school). I told her yes. She then asked me about her kitty lamp (i told her probably not). She laughed. I asked her if she knew how to have Jesus in your heart. She told me yes, she did it at school. I said really. She told me to bow my head and she would pray....Dear Jesus, please come into my heart today, tomorrow, Friday & Saturday. Amen.

Man, don't you just love to see how it works through the eyes of a child. I am not sure that she has made the actual decision of understanding the sacrifice yet but boy she is getting it and how amazing that feels to get to watch her soak it in.

mmmmm mmmmm Good!

Snow Days in Dallas

2008-03-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

Snow days in Dallas are few and far between but we had 2 last week. The kids missed the first one since it came late in the night and then melted by the time they woke up the following morning. On Thursday afternoon the snow began to fall. Beautiful flakes. It stuck on the ground a bit so we got out Friday morning for a bit of playtime. Cooper wasn't sure what to think. He just stared at it and then he cried when his hands touched it.

Amazing Kids

2008-03-05T18:09:00.000-08:00

I decided it was about time for me to do a bit of blogging instead of pressuring Chad to get it done....This last week has been crazy. Jackson and Ellie had the flu since last Wednesday. Ellie started the fever on Wed and Jackson followed quickly on Thursday. I have never seen my kids have the life sucked out of them. They were taking 5-6hrs naps daily. CRAZY. Today they became a bit stir crazy (been in the house for 7 days) so I think it is time to let them back into the world tomorrow. Luckily so far Chad and I have escaped symptoms of the flu. Cooper has a little runny nose but we think that is all it is. Whew..glad that is over.

So back to the title of my blog...kids are amazing. My kids always amaze me. With Jackson and Ellie, it is what they say, or how they are learning to read or tie their shoes. They make us laugh at these personalities that they are developing. Lately I have been amazed over and over by our sweet Cooper. Not only is he the cutest kid around (come on you can admit it) but I forgot how neat it is to see them learn new things at his age. I am including a couple clips of his new learned trades. The below video is cooper showing us his pitching skills. You tell him to throw it to you and he does. Amazing!

The next video is of Cooper learning how to put the ball in the hole of the toy. I tried teaching him this a month or so ago and he just didn't get it. On Monday I was attempting to teach him the same task and he got it! it was so fun to see him grasp it and get excited. It isn't on tape but when he did it the first time he stopped and clapped. Oh so sweet.

I feel so blessed to have these 3 sweet amazing kids. I look forward to seeing what new things they will teach Chad and I about how to embrace and experience life. Enjoy.

Da-Da

2008-02-28T09:33:00.001-08:00

Da-Da!

Oh wait, did you think that meant "Daddy"? No, don't be silly. It means many things. For instance it can mean "baby" when Cooper is looking in the mirror or at a picture of himself. Or it can mean "Jackson" when he sees a picture of his brother. It can also mean "that electronic thing on the wall at mothers day out with numbers on it that alerts parents in church service that they need to come pick up their fussy kid." But it by no means means "Daddy". Ask Cooper where Da-Da is and he'll point at the picture of himself on the wall in the living room. Does it hurt my feelings? Maybe a little. Probably about as much as it hurt my mom's feeling when I called her a taco as a kid. I thought it meant something much worse and I got in big trouble for calling her a taco. Seems like there should be a loophole in there somewhere but my mom didn't deal in grey areas.

What else is new with the Haught crew? Jackson' back to playing soccer. If you reference the blog I posted when he started that last season you'll get an idea of what I'm going thru all over again - trying to teach him that he's not going to make a goal everytime he gets the ball and he can't cry and complain that everyone's trying to take the ball away from him. Maybe I should enter him into one of those leagues where everybody wins and gets trophies.

Anyhoo - he's starting coach pitch baseball soon. I'm the coach so I'll be buying a whistle soon. I can't wait to strike out all the kids. I'm pretty sure I still have a serviceable split-finger fastball.

Ellie is taking dance still. I asked her the other day what was the hardest thing she has learned in dance and she told me, "Umm, the step-ball-chain." I pictured them taking all the kids out back, fitting them with prison stripe uniforms and chaining all their feet together and giving them pick axes to fix the railroad. Her first recital is in May!

Kiley is still training for her marathon. It's only 5 weeks away. The other day I rode my bike 26.2 miles in exactly 2 hours. I win! But seriously I'm extremely amazed at what she can accomplish when she puts her mind to it. She's incredible.

And Cooper is officially walking...everywhere. And he's got to be the easiest kid to entertain ever. If everyone laughed at me as much as he did I'd never complain about anything. It wouldn't do my any good, Cooper would just think I was being hilarious. I'm currently working on some new material. The fake sneeze is a big player but I want to add some variety to my repertoire. Maybe I'll work in the ole remove your finger gag and see how that plays.

Jackson and Ellie are fantastic at entertaining him as well. When you're trying to cook dinner and your wife is off running for hours on end you can just tell them to keep him busy and they have him giggling up a storm.

And you just can't beat hearing a baby laugh.

I'm better at walking than Cooper

2008-02-05T19:03:00.001-08:00

Yes, Cooper is now walking. Big deal, I can walk so much farther than him. I'll get to that later. Meanwhile - look how much Ellie likes me.

We went to Austin to see my brother and his wife and kids. The cousins. Jackson and Ellie love going to see the cousins. We had a great time. Their new house is awesome - they have a creek right behind them with "lobsters" in it. That's what Cade calls them. They're really crawdads. That's Cade on the left in the tree.

Weird, Cooper is smiling. He rarely does that. Must be gas.

Okay, here's what we've been up to (other than going to Austin). Kiley has been training for her marathon all by herself (if Sarah reads this, insert guilt trip here). I kid! Her running buddy is getting married so is busy trying on dresses and stuff. Kiley ran 16 miles on Saturday. Go ahead and re-read that I'll wait... Yeah 16 miles.

Meanwhile I'm training for a bike race in May called the MS150. It's 150 miles over 2 days. I rode 40 miles this weekend. Only problem is I'm training on a mountain bike with road tires. If you know of anyone that has a spare road bike they don't mind lending to someone and wants to support my efforts have them email me :)

Oh we joined a gym too. I went in this morning after dropping the kids off and did a spin class. After an hour of that the hat I was wearing was completely soaked in sweat. The bill and everything. It was like I dunked it in the sea. Awesome. I was a disgusting sweaty mess after it was over. Then I ate some yogurt and cottage cheese. Gross.

Okay FINE! Here's the video of Cooper walking. He still needs something to pull himself up on before he gets going but he's all over the place. I could still smoke him in a foot race and look forward to challenge him in arm wrestling.

These Baby Shoes are Made for Walkin'

2008-01-02T07:02:00.000-08:00

Hey look what Cooper is trying to do. As soon as Spring gets here I'll just replace that baby walker thing with a lawnmower and I'll be set!

Meanwhile Jackson and Ellie got two things that they could probably never put down.

1. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for the playstation3. Seriously. NEVER PUT IT DOWN.
2. Nintendo DS. They each got one and love them.

They also got a basketball goal. But you have to put down a controller to shoot baskets. LAME!

Kiley got a pair of 7 jeans. Oooooo.

Chad got several things but the one thing he has used the most is his new omelet skillet. I'm thinking about working at a hotel breakfast bar on the weekends. Or maybe I should open my own omelet bar right in our own house...hmm. Kiley could wait tables in her sexy new jeans. The waiting area could be out back where you could shoot baskets while you wait. And Jackson and Ellie could walk around from table to table and tell you stories about how they unlocked Han Solo and Darth Vader and just need to play a few more levels to earn enough lego money to buy General Grievous.

Cooper Update

2007-11-21T20:55:00.000-08:00

Cooper is getting so big! He is now 7 months and doing so many fun things! He is still the happiest baby out there. This month he started eating food. It only took about a week for him to figure out that if he opened his mouth he would get something yummy. He learned to sit up really well and now is rocking on all fours (I keep telling him to slow it down)

I changed his messy diaper this afternoon while he laid on the dining room floor. I went to throw away the diaper and came back and he was sitting up. So fun that he has figured out how to sit up from laying down and rolling around.

Jackson and Ellie are seriously the best big sis and brother ever. They entertain him, sing to him, hold him, kiss him, etc. They tell me all the time that they just LOVVEEE cooper. So sweet.

I am just eating up every minute with him. Chad and I just adore him. Enjoy a couple fun pics of him....

A Haughty Halloween

2007-11-21T20:37:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Halloween. We decided to stick to the traditional door to door trick or treating. The girls across the street invited us to go with them and off we went. We were out for about 2.5 hours. My dogs were barking big time!

Jackson dressed up as a transformer. Ellie was Cinderella and Cooper was her little pumpkin. Ellie wore her high heel glass slippers the entire time. What a trooper. She is truly our little princess.

One funny story that came out of the evening was with Jackson. We were in the big homes of the neighborhood and as he is about to walk up to the home when he tells me he has to go to the bathroom. I tell him okay we will find a place for him. He walks up to the door to trick or treat and the next thing I know is the lady of the home yells over to me that my son has to go to the bathroom really bad. Yep, my son announced to a neighbor we don't know that he needed to use the restroom and could he use hers. Gotta love him. Jackson did indeed use her bathroom and I got to meet a neighbor I hadn't met yet. We were quickly on our way to finish out our evening. You have to love the honesty of a kid.

Jackson will be fine in prison

2007-11-02T12:17:00.001-07:00

Woah it's been a while. Apolgies and thanks to everyone demanding a new blog post. You honor me with your venomous demands.

So here's what you've missed. Every soccer game of Jackson's we go to is a new adventure. A few weeks back Jackson did something to a kid I've only seen happen in prison movies when inmates attack each other in "the yard" This one kid kept pushing Jackson down so when he'd had enough action was taken. The final time he got pushed down he got up with this look on his face like a severe injustice had been taken. Kind of like when Ellie sits in his seat at dinner. That's HIS seat! Jackson chases the kid down and pulls him down by the back of the jersey, that's when I started running onto the field to stop a potential murder. After pulling this poor kid to the ground, he started kicking him and then walked right over him. By then I had gotten to him and could see all these confused parents on the sideline b/c none of them saw what he had done. Thank goodness. I wanted to scream something like, "There's bees everywhere! Save your children!" but just hauled him to the sidelines and discussed proper ways of handling people who push us - by carving a shiv out of your toothbrush, or anything that will sharpen into a knife.

More soccer!

This was a pick of us before we took the kids to their first Aggie game! They have a blast. Only b/c they don't understand the concept that the Aggies aren't very good right now. Seriously Coach Fran, what's the deal?

This is at their birthday party at Pump it Up! They were so excited. I was the only dad there so I was in charge of entertaining the kids on the bounce houses...self appointed. I was sweating like a pig by the end of it. I wonder if they host adult birthday parties there.

And I came home one night to find that Kiley had created a photography studio in our formal dining room. She had a dark blanket draped over the table and Cooper was posing for Halloween pictures. Adorable.

No More Soccer Games for Kiley

2007-09-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

Jackson had a soccer game today. Kiley couldn't come b/c she had to go to a baby shower (booooooorrrring!) so it was just me and Jackson. They played another team of 4-5 year olds that just couldn't put an offensive scheme together and won 12-2. Jackson scored 3 goals and barely missed the 4th one. He had this one goal where someone threw the ball in and he kicked it up in the air over the heads of the other team, ran around them and then kicked the ball in the goal. Granted, I understand that he didn't really mean to do that but it's like my brother says when we're playing golf and he makes a lucky shot, "Lucky? I was aiming for the pin." Funny.

Jackson was so busy scoring goals that I finally went to their goal and pulled out my phone and snapped a pick. Luckily photography doesn't capture the sound of a sonic boom. You can't see the ball in the picture b/c it was ripping thru the back of the net. Notice how far in front of the other team he was. I'm so proud.

I know what you're thinking. Look at the quality of that picture, what kind of camera phone does Chad have anyway? Hey, it's like I always say, "It just cost a little bit more to go first class."

What's Your Kid Doing?

2007-09-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well well well, it seems my kids have been busy putting your kids to shame. First off all, a short story:

Jackson started soccer. At practice when they would scrimmage he would fall on the ball and put it between his knees or dive on the ball and hold it with his hands so no one could get it. Cut to a red-faced father who wanted to strangle his son for stopping down soccer practice. So the day before his first game we went out back for a little one-on-one soccer practice. The first lesson only lasted 3 minutes and ended with me spanking him. After that we worked on three things that I had him repeat to me moments before his game. But before that I sort of hoped he'd get sick and not be able to make it to the game. No such luck. My prayer request to all my friends was that Jackson would not shame the Haught name on the soccer field that week. Finally Saturday arrived and we headed to the game.

So before he ran out onto the field I said, "Jackson, what are we NOT going to do?" "Fall down, touch the ball with my hands and cry." Hmm, this kid has promise. I wonder if David Beckham repeats that before each of his games.

The whistle blew and an amoeba of kids surrounded the ball and then the heavens opened and a miracle occurred. Jackson broke away from the pack and in a fast break (that happened in slow motion) took the ball all the way to the goal and missed it by about a foot. Nevermind the missed goal, I was 99% sure he was going to start crying and fall on the ball. I seriously teared up. More proof that miracles happen and therefore the existence of God. Take THAT atheists!

Meanwhile, we took the training wheels off of Ellie's bike and she rides like Lance Armstrong on steroids. Which he never took during his career. Take THAT France!

And Ellie finally took the plunge in the pool and went under water. Sounds like nothing unless you've done everything you can think of to get her to do it for 2 summers straight aside from dunking her. Another feat tackled thanks to great parenting.

And double check the last blog post and you'll see how much Cooper has improved this pose. These kids are AMAZING!

Want more pictures? I created an album here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14792&l=d8d81&id=727129528

I'm in trouble

2007-09-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

Hi blog. Did you miss me? I'm sorry I've neglected you. Here's an update. Miss you, chad.

A few weeks back we went to the lake. Cooper enjoyed it.

Jackson loves "tube-riden". He told me brother (Uncle Bubba) a new signal for speed. Thumbs up means faster but now two thumbs up means super fast! Jeff couldn't go fast enough for him and all he wanted to do all weekend was go tube-riden.

We brought Lucas with us and for the first time in this dogs life we wore him out. After the first day he was too tired to eat. He would just swim in the water and fetch his ball all day long until he was about to drop dead.

This is what I did most of the weekend. You probably didn't know this but I'm a lumberjack by trade. This hairy chest didn't come from sitting around playing video games all day, right guys? The second picture must have taken mere seconds before that long exploded into a thousand toothpicks...weird.

KA BOOM!

Lightning owes me a DVD player

2007-08-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday when it was raining I was sitting in the living room playing some video games when there was a huge flash of light and a sound like a shotgun went off. Our house had been hit by lightning and as the kids came to me for that feeling that everything would be okay, I uncurled from the fetal position and acted like it was no big deal. All the power had gone off for a second or two then came back on. Then my sub woofer started making a really low-pitched noise. I thought it had blown it so i turned off my receiver then i looked down and my ps3 just had a blinking red light on it. uh oh. so i turned that off. my internet was dead and my cable wouldn't come back on. so i went to make a call and all my phones were dead. frrt. i went and checked out our new washer and dryer to make sure they were working but those were fine. shew.

So i turn my receiver back on and all seems well. Sweet. then i turn my ps3 back on and it works fine, just won't sign in - no biggie, the internet's down...right guys? i call verizon and they sent out a tech b/c our wireless router and DVR were both blown as well as the box and battery backup they install in the garage.

i email woot.com b/c that's who i bought the phones from and they email me back saying i'll probably have to go thru uniden to get my phone fixed b/c they sold them all out and all they have left is the main base unit. i email them back and say since i live in carrollton where their main office is i could come swap it out and they were cool with that. my phones were fixed.

over the next few days i started finding other stuff that no longer worked. the dvd player up in the kids playroom, the outlets in our bathroom and then i went to play some online video gameage and found that the network port on my ps3 was fried. i called sony and we walked thru them verifying it was my ps3 (including me pretending to take it over to my neighbors house to hook it up over there [wink]) then they told me that i needed my receipt or proof of purchase (i verified it was a year warranty and explained that these things came out in november to no avail) - i'd have to go to sam's and get them to print out my receipt (fingers crossed).

i replace the powered outlet in our bathroom that has the reset button on it and that fixed all those. i'm so handy. then i went to sam's and they printed out the receipt of everything we bought on Dec 4th including my ps3 so now i'm just waiting for a box from sony with a return shipping label and everything but the kid's dvd player will be good as new (in 5-10 business days).

so basically, lightning owes me a dvd player. [i'm giving lightning the stink-eye right now]

Caramel Lake, Skateboarding and Haircuts

2007-07-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

Lots of info this week. Going all the way back to the 4th of July (or the weekend following it)...We went to the lakehouse at Possum Kingdom when the water had a unique tinge to it. Most people love going to certain beaches b/c of how blue the water is. Possum Kingdom temps passers by with it's own siren call. For anyone that loves caramel, this lake is for you. With all of the recent downpours here in Texas, all of the orange sand has been washed down from the mountains into the lake turning it that silky hue. It didn't stop the kids from having a great time though. Dad took Jackson up to the lake the Monday before the 4th so we just had Ellie and Cooper and the lack of fighting between Ellie and Jackson made the house seem like a monk sanctuary. It was quite nice. And to follow-up from last week's posting, no eyes were shot out with the bb gun. I did bring it home and plan to thin out the "giant black bird" population in and around my backyard.

Hello cutie patootie! Ellie got the haircut she's been wanting for a very long time. In the picture above you can see her with her cousin and idol, Kennedy. Kennedy got her haircut short like this last year and Ellie has been asking us to get hers done like ever since. Now she has another reason to dress up, come downstairs and stand on her "stage" in front of the fireplace and do spins for us.

Meanwhile, Marmie and Pa-paw (Kiley's mom and step-dad for those out-of-town readers) came in town this weekend and they got Jackson a spiderman skateboard! Too cool. It took me back to my first two years of high school when I had long hair i draped over my eyes while riding around with my friends in neighborhoods being built looking for new pools with no water for us to thrash in. Independent trucks and Slimeball Wheels. No posers allowed!

Jackson put on the helmet, wrist pads, elbow pads and knee pads that came with the board then got on it only to have it shoot out from underneath him. He cried for a few moments then got up with a look on his face that a sheriff would get if he found out that Stink-Eye McGrall was back in town even though he told him to never show his face 'round these parts again. All the while Jackson was steaming off ripping pads off one by one leaving a trail of safety in his tracks. We finally got him back out there and riding it again and he enjoyed it. Even the falling part. I noticed that the wheels didn't turn very quickly so I broke out the WD-40 and gave the bearing a few squirts then noticed rust coming out of them. Hollis (pa-paw) pointed out that it was probably from the salt water it was exposed to while on the boat that came over from China where it was made. Then we chuckled at the expense of a bunch of chinamen in a small village that are paid very little to make cheap skateboards.

Also - for those keeping count, I've seen Transformers 3 times now.

Ellie is a Ninja

2007-07-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

So lately Ellie has been throwing fits that make you want to ring her neck. She tries to figure out how much she can get away with by saying, "but I really want to" when you tell her she can't do it (what ever "it" is) or when you make her go her room she'll release burts of screaming that make your toes curl.

Our reaction to this has been to try and figure out what it is that we can take away from her that will make her think twice about repeating these acts in the future. One of the things that she is addicted to we'd love to break her of is her blankie that she HAS to have. So we told her that we were going to take away her blanket next time she threw one of those fits.

Last night she was in full force. She was upset about butterflies not being pretty enough or something and burst into action. Kiley went up and talked to her and told her that if she went into her screaming fit that I was going to come up and take her blanket. Nice - not only do i have to be the bad guy, I have to climb the stairs too!

She starts in with the short bursts of screaming and finally I had to go up there and take the blanket. It went over real well [eye roll]. So I came back down and put the blanket on the back of the couch and we went back to watching our movie. She came back out of her room and said she wanted her blanket and we told her she would have to earn it back. Then all was silent. For a long time and I remember thinking, 'man, that was easy. this blanket taking action is the tops!" Then I got up to get something to drink and noticed that the blanket was gone so I asked Kiley if she put it up and she goes, "No, what did you do with it?"

Turns out, Ellie had snuck down the stairs and must have military crawled to the couch to get the thing. The chair I'm in has a pretty open view to the stairs but is blocked by the couch at waist level so she pull off quite a feat. I was half temped to let her keep it for going thru that much trouble then later we'd work on her ninja throwing stars technique but we determined that we'd have to take it back.

Kiley went back up there to get it, spanking spoon in hand and a big ruckus broke out that ended with the blanket in our possession and Ellie with a red mark on her fanny. Kiley really talked to sense into her b/c today she's been bent on earning that thing back. Even her teacher, Miss Karen told me when I picked them up that Ellie was really good today and wanted her to tell us that she's done a good job of earning her blanket back. Funny.

Hey Verizon Fios Customer Service...

2007-07-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

You stink!

Sorry about that, just had to meet my quota for telling people to avoid Verizon Fios. I'm done.

Since I last posted a blog, or "blause" as my dad calls it (he's not tech savy...hi dad!), I've been to Vegas and won $70. They hate me there! I'll have to put up some pics of the golf course that we played there b/c it was gorgeous. Until then you can search "Wolf Creek Golf Course Mesquite, Nevada" and see the scenery. Keep an eye out for a a bunch of my golf balls in the non-green parts of the course.

As for what's up lately, Cooper is working on his neck muscles. He'll do that for a few minutes then he'll drool all over the blanket. He kicks his feet and just when you think he's having a great time he'll start crying.

He's also sporting that sweet bald spot right in the center of the back of his head that he gets from laying on his back then looking right, center, left, center, right, lather, rinse, repeat.

Every morning when you wake him up he's all smiles. It makes getting early on the weekends much less of a problem. He'll coo at you and if you coo back he'll get a big grin on his face then curl up in a ball like you're tickling him. Adorable. I'm going to try it soon. Maybe that'll get me a bigger raise at work. "Chad, congrats it seems you've out performed all of your co-workers and passed up their ratings of Exceeds Expectations with you rating of Absolutely Adorable." We'll see.

This week Jackson went with his Paw Paw to the lake. We're meeting them up there on Friday afternoon. He called today and said they're having a great time and asked if I could pick up some more BB's. Huh? Yeah, he's taught him how to shoot the BB gun. So I went by WalMart today and picked up some BB's and an eye patch. It's yet to be determined who will be wearing said eye patch at the end of the weekend.

Oh and I saw Transformers last night. A few days before that I saw the new Die Hard flick. Talk about non-stop action between the two movies. Since then I've been walking around punching stuff.

Weekend at the Haughts

2007-06-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

Many have been asking for an update on the Haught Family; some have even asked if we hate our kids or something now...Ha! Sorry for the delay. Since Chad flew off to Vegas today I thought I would do the posting for the week. We survived our first time of dad being out of town last week (doing it again this week but for 4 nights...ahhhh) so that was good. It helps that Cooper is sleeping through the night for the most part (8-9 hrs). Most of our time has been consumed with finishing up the outside projects. Chad has successfully made our yard look great with the new playset, covered porch, groomed lawn, etc. I think he has sweated more than he ever thought possible. What a great husband he is! We swam this weekend and boy do I have to brag on Jackson. That boy can swim! He is a natural fish. He is learning to do dives and underwater flips. AMAZING!

I am attaching some fun new pics. J&E just adore Cooper and are so patient with me and and him! See the pic of them goofing around him while he lays on the floor. I love snuggling with Cooper (not sure I got to do that as much with J&E when they were little). He is such a GREAT baby. We could not have asked for a better kid (see the sweet baby cuddling up to me while snoozing).

Finally the last pic is really for all those girls that grew up putting sponge rollers in their hair on Saturday nights before church. Do you remember doing that ladies? I do. I am sure this brings back sweet memories to my mom! Ellie loved it and thought she was definitely a princess!

Enjoy!

It's getting Haught in here

2007-06-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

Feast your jealous eyes on that shirt. Oh yeah! This weekend we ventured out to West Texas to a town that turned 100 years old this weekend. Hamlin, home of the Pied Pipers. We had the Haught family reunion there this weekend (that's 2 family reunions we've been to this year for those keeping count). Saturday morning we had our own float in the Centennial parade with a big Haught banner on top and our 85 year old grandma sitting on a chair on the back of the float that said, "Hottest Haught" on the back. The main drag of Hamlin is so short that we went all the way down, did a U-turn and came all the way back. We had a bag of candy for the kids to throw to the crowd and Jackson nearly killed this one unsuspecting girl standing on the sidewalk. It was fun. Here's a few more pics from the weekend.

And here is the beast of a project that nearly bested me but I came out victorious this very day. We had our friend Marcus call over his crew to scoop out the grass in a 30 x 13 area of our yard then I lined it with 4x4's with 2 foot spikes. Coincidentally that's the length of the hair on my chest now. Then dad came over and we went to Sam's a bought this mother:

We worked on it for about 3 hours Wednesday night then from 8am to 7pm on Thursday. I came home from work at lunch on Friday and worked til dark. Then we went to Hamlin and came back on Sunday at 4pm-ish and I worked til dark again and finished everything but the slide. I finished that up today, bought 550 lbs of sand for the sandbox (your welcome, neighborhood cats!) and just need to fill in the rest with mulch.

I've re-routed 4 sprinklers and capped one, recharged my drill battery 7 times and filled 4 shirts completely with sweat. My hands are raw, I look like I just returned from a 2 week vacation from the beach and received the worlds finest golfers tan. The only thing is that I can't get enough sleep to feel 100%. Saturday I took a 3 hour nap and was dead tired by 10:00. And after all that I somehow have lost no weight. Whatever.

Ellie is stubborn

2007-06-03T15:07:00.001-07:00

First and update on the family then onto a story about how stubborn Ellie can be...

Kiley is reading some book about how to keep your baby on a schedule and I'm convinced that trying to do what they tell you is like trying to fix someone's computer over the phone. "Now just click the button that says, 'attach document' and you're all set. It's not there? It should be at the top of the page. Maybe it's a picture of a paperclip? It has to be there, keep looking. I KNOW IT"S THERE SOMEWHERE, STOP SAYING IT'S NOT THERE."

This afternoon she read that if the baby starts showing signs that it's tired, yawning for example, to lay them down for a nap. If baby cries, go in after a few minutes if they don't stop and pick them up and pat them then put them back down. I tried it. 4 times. Then I said, "it doesn't work, your book sucks." So the other day I was trying to show Ellie how to tell her right hand from her left hand. I told her that if she made a gun with her pointer finger and thumb and pointed them straight up, her left hand makes an L. She kept trying to tell me that her right hand was making the L. I kept telling her it wasn't. Once she says something she decides that it's right. (no comment on who she reminds me of, ZING!). Anyway, finally I told her to draw and L on a piece of paper and she drew the line straight down then looked at it for a second then drew the L backwards. I asked her if that's really how it went and with a squinched up face she gave me a short, "yes." Okay, the write your name. Do you draw your L's that way when you draw your name?

The above picture is a re-enactment of how that turned out. How do you argue with that? So spread the word - the letter L is now backwards. It'll be easier to change that then Ellie's mind.

Cooper's Memorial Day

2007-05-29T15:47:00.001-07:00

Cooper made his first trip out of the metroplex this past weekend. The Haught family of 5 made their way to Possum Kingom Lake for the long weekend. Cooper does great traveling but didn't do the greatest once we arrived. He was very fussy all weekend so that made it not the greatest trip but we made the best of it....Jackson and Ellie had a blast! They swam (the lake was soooo cold), fished (they both learned how to cast with a rodnreel), rode the jet ski, watched humming birds, threw water balloons, etc! Cooper got to meet his great grand Papaw. I am not sure Papaw loves the chaos although he says he does and just giggles at them. Right before we headed back home, Cooper fell asleep and was out until we got home (and then some). He was back to normal once we arrived back...I guess he is not the biggest fan of leaving home (must be related to his dad ;-) ) .
Enjoy the new pics I took of Cooper today. He is getting to be a bit of a chunker for a 5 week old.

PS - Can you tell Kiley wrote this posting vs Chad...not as funny.

I killed a snake last night

2007-05-23T17:58:00.001-07:00

While you were safe inside your cozy home last night eating milk and cookies, I was outside keeping the world safe from baby killing snakes. Next time you see a child playing at the park or kiss you kids at night say a little prayer thanking your lucky stars for Texas Chad, Snake Killer.

Last night we left to take the kids to the park and this snake was crawling across the alley into our neighbors yard so I *grabbed it with my bare hands and bit it’s head off. The neighbor thinks it was a rat snake. They must call T-Rex’s armadillos where he comes from, b/c I’m pretty sure it’s an anaconda.

Check out the gruesome pictures. I think I still have blood on my teeth.

*ran with my arms waving like a girl to the garage to get a shovel, closed my eyes and threw it at the back of the snake’s head.

Sweet Music

2007-05-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

Our house was broken into a few years back right before Christmas. It was the middle of the night and our dog, Lucas went crazy. When I finally woke up and got out of bed we found Kiley's laptop, phone and wallet missing. Lucas heard them when they went for the Christmas presents under the tree. They grabbed 3 of them but dropped them in the alley behind our house. The only joy I get out of it is imagining I'm breaking into someone's house when suddenly the ferocious barking of a large dog starts running towards me. I imagine they peed in their pants a little bit that night while still in my house.

Ever since then I hear every noise made in our house. The ice maker dropping ice then refilling, the water sprinkler starting in the middle of the night, Ellie sneaking into our bedroom trying to get into our bed...etc.

So Cooper has been sleeping in a cradle next to our bed. His bedroom is upstairs but until he sleeps through the night, he'll sleep in our room so Kiley can wake up in the middle of the night and feed him while I pretend to sleep soundly on my side of the bed [wink].

In the middle of the night I'll hear Cooper making noises and they have to be the most adorable sounds I've ever heard come out of a human. It's not the kind of noise that you hear and think, "Oh no, I'll never be able to sleep with that in the background." It's the kind of noise that you hear and smile and drift right back into a cozy slumber. The only way to describe it is like someone blowing very softly into a harmonica. It's a barely audible and very short sigh almost. He'll do it over and over again. Adorable.

Other nights I'll awaken to the sound of Lucas licking himself or Jackson screaming b/c he's somehow gotten his arm to go into the collar of his shirt and all the way out of the bottom without taking it out of the sleeve.

Amazing.

No pictures this week. I'll get Kiley to email me some cute ones so I can post them.

Family Reunion

2007-05-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

Look at that handsome kid. I only say that b/c someone told me he looked like my twin this weekend. Here's what you need to know about this past week:

We went to Kiley's family reunion where I was soundly defeated at horseshoes. Actually me and my teammate were defeated. He's since been removed from the family (if you catch my drift). Cooper slept the whole time. Everyone else wished the could have... ZING! Am I right, people? I kid, I kid - the casserole was delicious, Aunt Janan.

Jackson had another "teeball" game. Score was once again not kept and every kid went home a winner! There's bound to be a future president in that bunch!

Mother's day was spent over at my parents (Honey and PawPaw) where the kids swam in the frigid waters of their pool, caught butterflies and worked out on the rowing machine. I wish I had gotten a picture of that.

Today, Ellie got her other front tooth pulled. If you didn't catch the story there, about a year and a half ago I was awoken from a nap with blood-curling screams (always exciting!) and I got up and ran to the kitchen to find Ellie bleeding from the mouth. She was trying to get into the cabinet and feel, hitting her two front teeth on the stone counter-top. (pause for effect) Within a week one of her front teeth started turning grey so the dentist fixed the chip and recolored them but warned it would have to be pulled eventually. It was about 9 months ago and today they pulled the other one b/c it was discoloring. No worries - they should grow back in a few years!

I'll post a picture of her toothless mug soon.

Have a good week!

Tee Ball Lite

2007-05-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

Today was eventful. This morning Jackson had his first "Blast Ball" game. It's like teeball, only they use foam bats and balls and only run to first base. No points are awarded and nobody loses in blast ball. You just spend the rest of the day explaining to you kids that you don't actually live in Narnia and can't have a unicorn for a pet. Needless to say, we're ready for next year when actual tee ball is played and kids cry when they don't win.

Ellie wanted to be the cheerleader so she put on her outfit and took her pompoms to the game. She managed to cheer both teams into submissive mediocrity. Everybody wins!

Kiley took Cooper to the doctor on Friday. When we were still at the hospital he told us that he just wanted him to be at his birth weight but he had gained a full pound. So he's a monster now. Everything has gone great, he loves to sleep still and when he's awake it's only for a few hours at a time. He just looks around and goes to town on his pacifier.

Here's a picture of Cooper and Kiley. Note how skinny Kiley already looks :)

We're Home

2007-04-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

I've cursed the pull out couch at the hospital for the last time. Today we packed up Coopers belongings and put him in his car seat and headed for the house.

It was an active day. Cooper and I took naps from 2-4pm today. Actually he is still napping and it's 8:30pm, so advantage baby in the napping competition.

After that we showed him the layout of the house and explained to him his part of the chores and how trash day is Monday and laundry day is Tuesday. He opened one eye during that presentation. Now I know how the flight attendants feel while they show everyone how to buckle and tighten their seat belts at the top of every flight (even though everyone has already done both of those tasks).

So we're all settled in at home and ready for our first night of sleep deprivation. Lucas has even tried to give him his ball to see if Cooper will play fetch with him yet.

That does it for now. Tomorrow night we'll see how well he does at watching the Mavericks with me. I'll keep you posted.

Pictures!

2007-04-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the events at the hospital:

Baby Tripp (Cooper) is here!

2007-04-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

So for the past 9 months, we've had Cooper nicknamed Baby Tripp. Now we're weaning ourselves off of that and calling him by his actual name. Cooper Chase Haught. For those of you that don't know the back story to that here it is...

Kiley and I lost a pregnancy about 7 years ago - twin boys. She was 18 weeks along and we had some complications resulting in loosing our first two boys that we named Cooper Alan and Chase Michael. So we took the first two names and bundled it into one ball of joy.

So on April 20 at 12:21pm they sliced Kiley's womb open and pulled all 6 lbs 9oz, 20 and 1/4 inches out of her and we were parents again.

Jackson and Ellie were trilled!

I'll be posting updates here weekly on Cooper, Jackson and Ellie as well as Kiley and I so check back for that. See you here soon!