Hayes House Northwest Video Channel

It's Been Almost a Week?!

I can not believe that it has almost been a full week since our little boy was born. My last post was a really quick one, just to announce him, but it so is strange to look at the pics from that post, and compare them to the new pictures here... and see how different he really looks, in such a short amount of time!
We are settling in nicely, but next week is going to be a whole new ball game, as the grandparents are going to be gone, and we are going to have to get into a routine on our own. It is going to be rough, but we are optimistic, and love this little guy so much that we will do whatever it takes to make it work.
I could never comprehend just how much my outlook on what the important things in life are, would change with the addition of a new human being to our family. Family was so important to us before, but now, even more! We want our son to know his grandparents, and his aunts, and uncle. In the next few months we are going to be constructing a new plan for the next 5 years, that will enable us to see, and spend much more time with our families. It will most likely be some sort of vacation fund, or family gathering a couple times a year. Those details will come as we figure them out.
I havent talked much yet about our birthing experience in the hospital. Michelle did amazingly, and I am so proud of her. Im not going to lie, birth is anything but a beautiful experience. It is gory, and uncomfortable, and painful, and at the end of it you have this little human being who looks like a mishapen bag of potatoes, but the first time that little bag of potatoes let out his first cry, and looked at me, and begged to be held, everything else just melted away. Life is amazing, and this baby is a testament to that.
Next week is going to be absolutely terrifying. We are going to officially be on our own, raising our son. We are going to be completely responsible for the all nighters, all of the diaper changes, the dishes, dinner, work.... but Im excited about it. Liam still doesnt officially feel like he is "mine", I keep waiting for someone to come through the door to take him "home". It will be when I have actually had to sacrifice from my own life that I will feel that he is mine, and THAT I am really looking forward to.
So there you have it for now. Our little boy is growing up big and strong. At only 5 days old, he blew our minds by being placed on his stomach and being able to roll himself over to his back. He rolls himself onto his side and hold himself there, to get a better look at the toys that we put in his crib. The other day he grabbed my dads fingers, and if his head wasnt so wobbly, he would have pulled himself up into a full sitting position. Have a child, our son, Liam Christian Hayes, makes every day a mind blowing and life changing experience, and we look forward to sharing that with you.

Much love, and God bless,
-HHNW

Happy Halloween...Happy Birthday to Liam!

So it is official! Today, October 31, 2008, at 4:08 in the a.m. Liam Christian Hayes was born, weighing in at 9 pounds 6 ounces, and measuring at 22 inches long. He is incredibly healthy, and I can not even begin to describe just how excited we are to call him a part of our family.


Michelle did beautifully. From the time they told her to push, to the time Liam was born, only about an hour passed. I am so proud of her, and her perseverance and determination. Its amazing how a person who you never thought you could possibly love more than you all ready do, can do something, that shatters your perception of the capabilities of love, and makes you love them even more.


This is going to be a short post, since In the last 48 hours Michelle and I have had 8 hours of sleep combined. Thank you so much for all of your support, and your prayers. You can bet that there will be MANY more posts, with many more pictures to come!

Until next time,

-the ever growing HHNW

We're So Close!

Hello Everyone!

Wow, it has been WAY too long since the last time I posted! I figured it is definitely time to get back into the swing of this, since Chelle is due in 4-5 weeks! I can not believe that Liam is going to be joining our family in such a short amount of time! We couldnt be more excited!

So we have been living in our house for about 6 months now, and I noticed that I have yet to post new pictures after we moved in! Above is a video of our living area. Chelle picked out the colors for the decor and I think that she did a really good job!

The video is rather large, so I thought I would post some stills as well.

One thing I love about our house is how open and spacious the floor plan is. At least this way when Liam becomes mobile (and yes I know it will be quite a while before that, but I am always trying to think ahead... because Im just neurotic like that) we will still have a pretty good idea of where he is, making it more difficult for him to sneak off. He is a little boy with some of my genes after all, so it will only be a matter of time before he starts getting into mischief.

Eventually we are going to have to do some baby proofing, but fortunately (hopefully) our little man of the house wont be mobile anytime soon, so we have some time to worry about that!

(additional pictures are posted at the bottom of this post)

Now I know the thing that everyone is the most interested in seeing is the nursery, mostly because the word has gotten around that it is full of skulls, and most people cant wrap their heads around what this means.

As you can see from the pictures and

video, we dont have human heads

hanging from the walls or anything along those lines (ha ha) The skulls and pillows I made arent any scarier than anything that a child would see in "The Nightmare Before Christmas".

Chelle and I agree, it turned out pretty cute, and we can totally picture ourselves hanging out in there with Liam, reading to him, changing him, and rocking him to sleep.

We can not thank everyone enough for their contributions to his room, or for giving us so many great things for him to wear, or for giving us so much that will help make raising him so much easier. Thank you notes are in the works, but we are just so overwhelmed with gratitude that I really dont think that we can say thanks enough!

One of the most personal gifts that we received, was a painting by my sister Tessa. I have to say how cool it is to watch her grow into such an amazing artist (she is now down at Palm Beach Atlantic pursuing her art degree) and to have a piece of he art in my sons nursery, something that he will see every day, is a really special thing to me. She wrote a personal note on the back of the painting just for him... and I think I am going to leave it that way... personal ;)

As you can see, our blog has a little bit of a different look to it now. I figured since we are going to be posting here much more often, with the addition of Liam, I should dress it up a little. Plus, I'm an artist, and I just cant help myself (its a sickness really)

One of my favorite new additions is the slide show that is now present in the right hand column. I will be updating this slide show now and then with places we have been, or just with the activites we have been up to. If you click on an image, it will take you to our picasa photo repository, where you can view the full resolution version of the images, and save them to your own computer.

Currently the slideshow is displaying our first trip up Mount Baker, taken a couple weeks ago. Its about an hour and a half from our home, and it was some of the most gorgeous landscape I have ever seen. Little trips like this just confirm how much we love this area, right now, we couldnt think of anywhere we would rather be!

I cant wait to make the trip back up the mountain when there is snow on it, because it is one of the premier snowboarding spots in this area. Hmmm....I wonder when we will be able to get Liam on a snowboard?



This about wraps it up for this entry. Just incase you wanted to count down with us, Michelles official due date is October 14, 2008. I am sure that there are many exciting things on the way in the weeks to come, include my total and complete meltdown when Chelle goes into labor... Im also fairly certain I wont be posting photos of that!

Until next time,
Hayes House Northwest

Additional Photos:

Introdution to Chroi...and Chelles Birthday

So things have been really really busy around the Hayes house over the past couple weeks, but hey what else is new? I celebrated...or rather, tolerated, my 29th birthday. We got a new puppy so that Pogue has a buddy now, and Michelle turned 26.

Lets start with Chroi (pronounced "kree") He is our new little blast, and he is actually Pogues "step brother" for lack of a better association. He is from the same great breeder that we got Pogue from, so he has Pogues same mother, but a different father.


He is a total blast, and it is just ridiculous how he and Pogue have taken to each other. He is definitely the yin to her yang, which is great because they really balance each other out, and take a lot of work off our hands!


Now if we could just get the little bugger potty trained we would be all good.... stay tuned for the details on that.


This weekend, was not only Memorial Day weekend, but it was also Michelles birthday. The weather was spectacular, and it was also the annual ski to sea in Bellingham, which is a huge relay race they have every year, which starts in the mountains and ends at the bay. It was like a giant block party.... but for some reason I dont have any pictures of it.... guess you will have to tune in next year.

Anyways, the picture above is the view we had from our table that the Oyster Bar, which is where i took Chelle for her birthday. The food was absolutely incredible, and the view? Well I think the picture speaks for it self.
It was a perfect end to a great weekend. Tomorrow is the end of the long break from "real life", or maybe this weekend has been what real life is all about, and tomorrow through Friday are the days we have to get through to be able to experience "real life" again. Regardless, life no matter which way you look at it, is really really good.

Tomorrow we find out if were going to be having a son or daughter....
Until next time ;)

-H.H.N.W.

Baby Shower General Info Blog Posted

Hi everyone!

I have created a blog with general information about the upcoming baby showers for Michelle.

Details can be found at www.hhnwbabyshower.blogspot.com

Check it out!

-H.H.N.W.

Baby Pictures!

Michelle and I got to hear the heart beat of our baby today... and at this point in my life, it was undoubtedly the most amazing sound I have ever heard. I wanted to put up some pictures of this little guy or gal (we find out in 6 weeks which one it is going to be) to share with everyone.

Until next time...

Hayes House N.W.