Life is wonderful

and all the glory goes to God! Christmas is right around the corner and I am all in the holiday spirit this year! Thanksgiving was wonderful, as food and family is always a wonderful thing! I cannot wait to share the joy and peace of the holidays with my little Hayden. We have done really good this year with shopping and all. Almost done actually. Hayden is going to have a great Christmas! I can't wait to watch her eyes light up on Christmas morning. She may not quite understand yet but I know she will still feel the excitement. Justin has to work 1st shift on Christmas day so we are thinking that we may get her up before he goes to work so that he can be apart of her morning. He hates that he will not be able to watch her play all day but soon enough he will be on top of the ladder at work and he will not have to work Holidays like this. Soon enough! Hayden is really an amazing little girl. I need to put up pictures and give you her status... I will work on that shortly!

Catching Up

Catching up...

We celebrated Hayden's 1st birthday on Aug 29th 2009. She had many friends and family over. We had a slip n slide and baby pools. She had a blast and her friends did too! We had cake and Hayden dug into hers and made a beautiful mess. I have been waiting for that moment. :) And yes, she got a lot of toys which is now over-powering the living room! She barely plays with them... so then, "what does she do?" She walks from room to room over and over agian. Heehee. She just loves to walk. She is so funny and really building her own little personality. She is so smart too. She knows where her head is. She can squat when you say "down" and stand when you say "up". She can find her paci and milk. She tries to put the lids on all the tupperware when I am putting dishes away. She just cracks me up. I have been working a lot lately with my part time job and now the cleaning jobs have really picked up. It is very good but I hate it as well. I just don't like leaving before she is up, coming home just to get ready to leav for work again. Not all days are like that and it really makes me appreciate EVERY moment I am with her but those days that it does happen are no fun. I love what I do too so that makes it easier. Here is my vent: I really like my part time job and my boss has been asking me to get my license to sell Life Ins but I just don't think I am too motivated for that. I mean I want to if it is just to get it behind me to do it later but I don't know if I can devote myself to that right now. In a couple years I want to have another baby and be home for a while. I don't want to do this and it change my plans. I just don't know. I don't know that it is what I really wnat to do either. I would LOVE to be a lactation consultant. I would LOVE it! But you see that I have not done anything about that either. See, no motavation! But I have been motivated to do something... and that is to walk. I love walking and wish I could do it everyday. We try to get out and walk in the morning or if I am working we have been going that evening. It is wonderful and something I think Hayden enjoys too. I would really like to get back to the gym but hasn't happened yet. There is always an excuse.

My little sisters birthday is in an hour! WOW! I cannot believe she will be 20! Look out! I love my baby sister. She is my best friend. We are very different but so much alike. We always have a good time together and can always count on the other. I know that she would do anything for me and likewise. It is so good to have that best friend that you can go to for anything whether it is for a favor, a vent, or a good laugh. That is Sara. True friends are hard to find and should be treasured if found. I hope she knows that I treasure her friendship. I love all of my friends and I feel very blessed to have such great ones.

Life as we once knew it....

will never be the same again, no; it will only be better and better. As I sit and reminence over the past year I have come to realize that the small things in life are what mean the most. I look at things so differently, with a new approach. I cannot begin to describe what my life and the people in it mean to me. My family, friends, Church family... it is just so amazing. I am so glad that I am seeing these things now and not a few years down the road and regret not doing the little things. I love that I will look Hayden in the eyes and we will just admire each other. I love going in there after she has fallen asleep and picking her up just to cuddle for another minute. I love stopping everything around me and just focusing on a great hug from my husband, or the favorite toy Hayden is into, or having dinner with the family. Yeah, I may be exhausted, I may have my plate a little full and at times I may get frustrated but tomorrow is never guarenteed and yesterday has gone... today is a gift, which gives the name the present!

We are planning Hayden's first birthday party and I am getting so excited! We are having it here at the house with a little blow up pool and pizza and it will be a ladybug theme. The stuff is so cute. I can't believe she is almost 1 year old! Ya'll, if you don't already know, this little girl holds my heart. Her smile will light up any room. Even her cries are cute ;) She babbles all the time now and she eats everything, boy can she eat. lol. She loves playing with other kids. And she doesn't have seperation anxiety! I am so thankful for that! For the other people who watch her more so than for me... it is probably because we have been so okay with leaving her with others from the beginning. I am taking in every moment and milestone with her and not rushing to have another one anytime soon... one day, 3 years is good. Then she can be more self sufficient and "help" mommy out and I can put her in a 3 half day daycare so that I will have one on one time with the new baby. I think that is very important. I am kinda scared to have 2. I guess it would come to me just as it did with one, huh? One day, one day!

It is amazing

how quick this little girl is growing! All in the past week she has clapped her hands, finally, she has taken her first step (only one) and she puts her hand to her mouth and says "ah ah ah ah" heehee... I just love it! I enjoy everyday, every moment, every milestone! I can't get enough. She is such a great baby and such a joy. I went in her room the other night just to get her out and snuggle up with her for a little bit. I could talk for hours about my little ladybug!

First day of summer at the pool

We had a great day at the pool. Hayden enjoyed her blow up pool and toys that her Nanna got for her and eventually got in the big pool with mommy. She splashed and laughed and wore herself out! I will upload the pictures soon, they are too cute! It is so nice to have the in-laws and a pool right up the road from us! I am looking forward to this summer. Justin is working a lot so he missed out today, BUMMER! I am already getting excited about planning Hayden's 1st birthday! I cannot get over the fact that it is 3 months away! She just does not seem to be close to a year! I surely am taking in each and every day! We played together this evening and I would laugh and get her laughing so hard that she would snort. It was so cute, it would make me laugh harder which meant she would laugh even harder. I can't say it enough, I just love her so much! I just want to go get her out of her crib and cuddle. I don't do that a lot though because it is taking chances of her not going back to sleep AND the fact that I just do not sleep well with her beside me. Her schedule is so wonderful -- I think I am really getting the hang of this! (and that does NOT mean I am ready for another one, not yet!) I want to enjoy my Hayden time and then we will talk of another baby. Ideally, I would like them to be 3 years apart. I figure that Hayden would be a little more self sufficient, she would be out of diapers, understand that mommy is pregnant, and she would maybe be going to a pre-K of some sort so I would get 1 on 1 time with baby #2. That would be very important to me. Oh and I would like for the economy to be a little better off. Of course! Well just wanted to share our dayh of Fun in the Sun.... I will add the pictures later! Good Night!

Bittersweet Ending

I just wanted to share that today was the first day of the end of breastfeeding. It is such a bittersweet ending. We have made it 9 months and I could not be happier or more proud of myself for doing such a good job with it. It was a rough start and we made it through it. We have been slowly weaning for a month now and was down to 1 morning feeding. Well, Hayden stayed with my mom last night so I knew that I wouldn't bf her today which meant I was done. (we had been down to 1 morning feeding for a while and I just had not stopped yet, so it was time) I do not know why I am so emotional about it because I am excited to have my body back and a baby not being attached to my breasts but at the same time it almost feels like she "doesn't need me anymore." Not like that because I know she needs me but it is like I am not her source of survival for food anymore. I know that there will be another one in the future to breastfeed so I will be okay but I just wanted to share and say thank you to all who have supported me through this. I know that I did the best thing for my daughter (and for me) that I could have ever done!

My love bug is getting into everything now... She can pull up to standing just about anywhere and she crawls like a bear all over the place. We are weaning her now from breastfeeding and it is going well, slowly but surely. She is eating more finger foods, like bite size fruits and veggies. It is a good thing too because I do not have to spoon feed her every bite. We can eat at the same time and enjoy it. I just love this ball of joy! I realize now after all the playdates with babies of the same age that Hayden is VERY high strug... "noooo, you don't say!" haha Ryland and Will are both so layed back and easy going and Hayden is here and there and annoyed and bored... and it keeps on going. So yeah, I have to say my job with her is 24/7 and just because I am home, don't expect my house to look remotely clean! Speaking of a job, I am getting on... I need money - don't we all :P I am wanting something part time so that I am not always away from Hayden but something close by so it will be worth the money I would be making. It will all work out - I trust my God!