Summertime

I cannot believe I have not posted anything since April! Lots has happened since then-I went back to work to finish the school year and our lives got really hectic and crazy for those five weeks. Everyday seemed like a whirwind and a race against the clock-getting up super early to get ready, feed Hayes, work, then racing home to feed and play with her, washing bottles, cooking supper, staying up late to get ready for the next day, and then of course seeing Nathan-ahhh it seemed wild but I know all of you know what I'm talking about-now summer is here and it is a welcomed event at our house!

This summer has been so fun so far. We've had some lazy days and some busy days around here. Hayes and I had VBS last week and I worked in the nursery with the babies 1 year and younger. That was a nice glimpse to see how my little girl does in the nursery on Sundays. NO naps for her all morning while we were there and apparently this is why she sleeps ALL afternoon on her Sundays. She was definitely one of the loudest babies there who had to either be walked or strolled around-no mam-no napping, swinging, or rocking for her-the girl had to be up and about moving somewhere to wear a happy face. That is okay b/c her mama was taking care of her anyway!

She is 4 1/2 months now-time goes by too fast. We say everyday we cannot believe how fast she's growing. I'm sure we'll be saying that her entire life like every parent does. At her check up she weighed 12.1 lbs. and was 24 1/2 inches long. She has just started sleeping really good at night-I hope I'm not speaking too soon! Every night is anywhere from 10-12 hours-crazy I just wrote that-4 1/2 months ago I could have never imagined I would get more than a couple of hours of sleep at night-but wow how things change and really soooo fast. She is so fun too-smiling, laughing and so happy every time she wakes up. The rice cereal is fun and she loves it b/c it's mixed with yummy apple juice. She eats it all so fast and is sad when it's gone! We have spent most of our days swinging on the porch or out on walks in the stroller-both make her VERY happy and content.

This week our cousins from Dothan are coming in town! yea! We can't wait to see and hang out with them. My sister is bringing her 3 (Holley, Mary Hannah, and Carson) to play for a few days. If anyone knows of any free/inexpensive activities let me know (besides the zoo and mcwane) otherwise we will be hanging out in the front yard in either a baby pool or slip and slide!

We have Hayes' baby dedication coming up on Sunday and we're really excited about having all of our family there as we dedicate our little girl's life to the Lord,commit to raising her in a Christian home and teaching her about Jesus. Such a happy day and I cannot wait. Our family is coming over for lunch on Sunday so we have lots to do to get ready. Poor Nathan has been working so hard in our yard and I think the inside is my job?! We'll see how clean it gets this week with 4 kids here.

So sorry about the post with no pictures but I have to figure out how to download my pics on my camera without completely re-downloading ALL the pictures again from my camera. I've done it several times and so now I have multiple copies of the same pictures on our computer and some need deleting and they all need organizing. I need some tech support!

One last thing I will show you is the new little sun hat I ordered for Hayes-this is not her! But she does look sort of like this baby-or they are at least the same size! I think she'll be precious in this hat and then we'll be all set for some pool time-YEA!! I also have a recipe to share-if you like to eat I think you'll like it! Happy Monday!

Birthdays and Company

Today is Pop Pop's (my dad) birthday! Happy B'day to you Pop Pop. We are so thankful for you and we love you! We celebrated his birthday on Sunday with my family. It was fun to see everybody. I just wish we all lived in the same city. Wouldn't that be fun?!!!

Also, my precious little niece Mary Hannah turned FIVE years old this month. That is wild! Time really does fly by and I can't believe she will be starting kindergarten this fall. MH is so funny, sweet, smart, and so full of life. She looks just like her mommy when she was little. We love you little May-HAPPY B'DAY to you!! We cannot wait to see you again! (MH is the one actually looking at the camera:)

Other exciting news-we have my mom here staying with us for TWO whole weeks! She is helping out tremendously by taking care of Hayes during the day while I'm at school. I do not have to worry about her one bit. I know they're having lots of fun, quality bonding time and I'm just a little jealous! But since Nana lives in Dothan and doesn't get to see her every day like I do I'll try not to be too envious of their fun, lazy days for the next two weeks. Also, Nana is such a trooper because Hayes has decided she's not quite ready for sleeping 10-6 yet like I mentioned in my previous post. She did that 4 nights in a row but it's not quite her routine yet. So she has been waking us all up around 4 every morning. I just hope Nana doesn't decide to go home early!

Hope your week is off to a great start!

3 Months

Today is my sweet Hayes' 3 month birthday! She celebrated her b'day by sleeping from 10-6:45 last night! I could NOT believe it. I have prayed that she would be on a good sleeping schedule when I went back to school so I hope it will last. I'm so proud of her!  It has been a great first week back at school but quite an adjustment and I miss her so much during the day. But, I am on the countdown and only have 19 days to go-I think I will make it!

We just had some pictures made last weekend! I have no idea how to do the slideshow so I'm just posting them one at a time. Hope you enjoy!

Easter Weekend

Today was such a beautiful spring day! We stayed in Birmingham this year for Easter and it was so nice (and easy) to be at our own church for such a special day. We celebrated the day with my family and had a delicious lunch at our house. Everything was so good but I have to say the Edgar's lemon squares were my favorite. So yummy!

We stopped by to see the Easter bunny Friday night. You have to look closely at the picture to find Hayes though-she looks so little next to him! 

Can you tell Hayes is thrilled about her Easter basket?! She got some new pajamas, pacis, a baby Bible cd, and some new socks. The bunny knew just what she needed.

Hope you enjoyed this beautiful Easter weekend as much as we did!

Playing Catch-Up!

I had really good intentions when I started my blog of keeping it up and not letting lots of time pass in between posts. Mainly because I want to remember everything that we do and especially remember how Hayes is growing. Needless to say I have not been as good about it as I had hoped but I will try to remember all I can of the past few weeks!

Hayes turned 2 months old a couple of weeks ago! She went last week to get her shots. I was so happy she was going to finally get her shots so she could go to the nursery but was not looking forward to the actual appointment. We love our pediatrician and are so thankful that God led us to her. We think she is super smart and Hayes seems to love her too. Anyway, sweet Hayes did so good for the first part of her appt. (the fun part-getting weighed, measured, etc.). Then Dr. Gilbert left the room and said the nurse would be coming in soon to give the shots. My poor little Hayes had it all backwards and screamed her little head off before the nurse even came in the door. When she did finally get the shots she was all out of energy so that crying only lasted about a minute or two! At her appt. she had gained 1 pound and grown 1 whole inch. Way to go sweet girl! She is growing bigger and sweeter everyday. We look at her every day and cannot believe how much she's changed!

We had the best surprise visitor a couple of weeks ago! My sweet and fun sister Alyssa called us and asked what we were doing Monday night (this was Monday afternoon.) Then she said she was on the way to B'ham to visit us. So fun! Her 3 babies were on spring break that week and with their other grandparents so she decided she would have her own spring break trip. Mommies need a spring break too right?! Thanks for coming to visit Aunt Alyssa-you are the best sister/friend/aunt and we love you SO much!! Next time we might be surprising you!

(These are her 3 plus Hayes. Don't you think she needs just one more? It would be a perfect addition/timing to her 2, 4, and 6 year old clan. She just looks like that last one is hers!)

I just cannot believe how life has changed in the past 11 weeks for us. It has been a fun, exciting, whirlwind with this baby girl. This time at home with Hayes has been SO wonderful and I would not trade it for anything in the world. She has been smiling and laughing so much and it just melts my heart. She can be so upset and crying one minute and then laughing the next. She loves to look at books and gets so excited about the pictures! She just dies laughing at Humpty Dumpty in her mother goose book. There is something really funny about the egg dressed in a suit with legs. She can focus so much better on her on her toys on her playmat and will just stare and laugh at them. She is not loving the swing these days like she used to. We just tried to put her in her bumbo seat and she can almost sit up straight in it. It is really funny to watch! Oh and she loves her bathtime- that is definitely one of the best parts of our days!

Sadly, Hayes is not quite as fond of Puppy Puppy as her mommy is but hopefully this will change!

On the sleeping note, she is doing well. I had no idea before she was born that sleeping 4-5 hours was considered "sleeping through the night!" Well that is not exactly through the night for me! Some nights she'll only wake up once and other nights it may be 3 times. Although, last night she made it from 10 -5 a.m. without waking up to eat! Hallelujah! That was a miracle and I pray she can do it again tonight. That was the most sleep I think I have had since probably November. I keep hearing if they do something 3 nights in a row they become consistent. We will see about that!

I am now on the countdown until I go back to school. So next week will be my last week at home with Hayes for 4 1/2 weeks until I finish school. Thankfully we have some wonderful family members coming to stay with us to take care of this precious girl. We're so grateful they are choosing to do this for us!! I took Hayes to see my kindergartners on Friday. They had not met her yet and I have not seen them since the day before she was born! I miss them so much and although I definitely would rather be w/my own sweet child, I know my days will be fast and super busy when I am back at school my other 16 babies!

Hope you are enjoying Easter week! We are going to visit the Easter bunny tonight and then cooking, cleaning, and working in the yard tomorrow (or at least Nathan is:), hopefully getting a pedicure, and getting ready for some fun company on Sunday for lunch. Hope you have a wonderful Easter Sunday with your families as we celebrate our risen Savior!

Trip to Dothan

We had a great trip home last week. Hayes did great on the drive there and back. She slept almost the whole time both ways so I feel like she slept both of those days away! It took her a few nights of waking up many times for her to get back into her sleeping pattern when we got home. Is that normal?! We were able to see lots of our family and friends and it was so nice to be there for longer than a weekend. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Our sweet Dothan cousins-Holley (6), Mary Hannah (4), and Carson (2)!

Carson loves that he is not the baby anymore!

We got to see all of our great-grandparents in Montgomery,

Prattville, and Dothan...

We had a fun play date with some Dothan friends! My sweet and thoughtful sister, Alyssa, had us all over for a yummy breakfast so we could see each other.

Kelli and Elsie, me w/Hayes, and Suzanne and Emily (little Addison was there too but she didn't get in the picture!)

And the best part about my trip was getting to eat lunch with this sweet little 1st grader at her school!! Holley is my oldest niece, almost 7 years old! Seems like she was just born yesterday. Her little class was so cute and it reminded me of my 1st grade classroom when I was her age. She has some sweet little friends and I'm so thankful for her wonderful school and teachers. She loves it and that makes this kindergarten teacher happy!!

And this little cutie pie is her little sister Mary Hannah-I cannot leave her out!

Hope you all have a great week!

Last Week

Last week was a very fun and busy week! We had lots of visitors and some fun outings! On Monday, our friends Katie Gray, Amy McNeese, and her little girl Mary Carmen came to visit. MC is 3 months older than Hayes so they will be in the same class. Can't wait for lots of play dates with these two!

Amy w/Hayes and me w/Mary Carmen

Katie holding Hayes!

Have you ever been to Painted by U? It's a fun paint it yourself pottery place here in B'ham and on their website you can get a coupon for a FREE baby footprint tile. Hayes and I met my friend Dawn and her little baby boy Walker there on Wednesday. It turned out SO cute and I know it will be even cuter once they fire and glaze it. The coupon is good for babies under one year. If you have a little one at home take advantage-they will do it all for you. All you have to do is hold your screaming little one and then clean the cold, wet paint off their feet!!



Our friend, Shannon Hicks also came over to visit on Wednesday. We loved seeing and catching up with you Shannon. We can't wait for little Collier to be here in May!!

On Friday, our sweet friends Jenny Holbert and her little cutie pie baby boy Hamp came over to visit. Hamp is one of Hayes' little boy friends and they will be in the same class at church. He loved swinging in her swing. Hayes is screaming in this picture but she really does love her new little friend! They will hopefully have lots of fun times together!

Other exciting news...
I went to two great consignment sales last week and got LOTS of cute summer clothes-Mountain Chapel and Vestavia Methodist. I LOVE good deals and these sales are definitely the way to go! There are two more coming up at the end of this month that I can't wait to go to. Hopefully Nathan won't mind since I'm not buying these clothes new-it's consignment right? So it's okay to go overboard?! Thanks Hillary for your tips on the sales and for getting me so excited about them!! I'll try to post some pictures of my purchases.

Hayes turned 6 weeks old on Saturday and started sleeping in her own room. It was a little sad at first to look over in the cradle and not see her. I got up to check on her about 7 times because I guess I thought she was going to disappear if she wasn't right beside me. But she slept so good in her big girl crib and it really was nice to not hear all of her many noises throughout the night! Good thing for monitors!

Sunday was Hayes' first trip to church! We have been so excited about taking her and she did great. She went to our class with us since she can't go to her own class until she gets her shots. She looked adorable and as long as she had her paci in her mouth she was a happy girl.

One last thing, for lunch on Sunday we went to a new place someone told us about in Homewood, well new to us anyway! It was called Crepe Myrtle Cafe and it's in the back of Little Professor books in Homewood. You would never know it is there because it faces the back of the parking lot of the bookstore. They serve brunch on the weekends and it was SO delicious! Nathan got french toast and I got a grilled cheese w/tomato. They have yummy specials every day and are open for lunch and dinner-and you can sit outside-perfect for this nice spring weather we are having! We are always looking for new places for lunch on Sunday and we will definitely go back. If you live here in B'ham, you will have to try it!

This week we are going to Dothan to visit our families and some friends. We have some new babies that have been born that we need to meet! Hopefully I will have pictures to share when I get back. Please pray for a safe trip for us (it's just me and the little one!) and for good long naps for Hayes-it could be a very long ride if she is not happy! Have a great week!!