Vacation

We're on vacation! See you all on September 10th!

The Big Step

While I was on my bloggy break last week Hailey took her first steps. We've been trying to get her to do it for a little while. Brooke was really trying to help her to take those first steps and she finally did it! Hailey was quite proud of herself, although she fell over when we all started to cheer for her.

I was so excited to see Hailey enter this new stage but at the same time it made me a stop to think. Not that long ago we brought home this totally helpless little person from the hospital. We're watching her grow and develop. She wants to do things on her own and gets a little mad when someone tries to help her. She wants to be more independent. And that is what made me just a little sad.

We're teaching her to do things on her own so that she won't have to depend on us. So that she can grow up to be an adult who does not need her mommy to do stuff for her. I know it's a little ways off still. But, with each new step she takes towards her independence she takes a little piece of my heart with her.

Wordless Wednesday #19

Click here or here for more Wordless Wednesday.

Please visit my post here if you have any advice for flying with an 11-month old.

Where A Kid (Or A Dad) Can Be A Kid

Since I was on a bloggy break last week I have a little bit of updating to do!

One night last week we decided to take Hailey for her visit to Chuck-E-Cheese. Brooke was quite sure it would be babyish (her words) and that she was much too old for such a cheesy place (my words with the pun intended). I think she had fun in spite of herself.

Rich loves Chuck-E-Cheese and has been looking forward to the day that Hailey would be old enough to go. He was in quite a hurry to get there. As soon as we left our house he asked me which route of travel would be fastest given the time of day. Since Chuck-E-Cheese is in a commercial area, near some of my favorite shopping locations, I was able to tell him exactly which way to go. We got there pretty quickly. He waited impatiently at the last red light by Chuck-E-Cheese and as soon as the light turned green he took off "to get ahead of that other family." Once we reached the parking lot Rich quickly found a spot and told us to hurry and get out of the car because there were others getting inside ahead of us. We went at around 4pm on a Tuesday afternoon so I'm sure you can imagine the droves of people pushing in front of us because we did not run to the building fast enough.

Here are some pictures of the evening.

Hailey loved her dinner plate.

Hailey enjoys a ride with Chuck-E-Cheese.

Since there were not very many people there I let Hailey
crawl around explore in the toddler area.
She LOVED it! She seemed to really enjoy the school bus.
(I did not pose her for this picture.)
Brooke and Rich work on putting out a fire.

Brooke while racing against Rich.

Brooke and Rich played several rounds of basketball.
Brooke won every time! But, don't tell Rich I told you.

If you didn't see my post yesterday, please check it out and offer me some advice. Thanks!!

I'm Baaaack

Last week I decided to take a little bloggy break and it was wonderful and refreshing! I'll be blogging this week but probably not a lot because I will be getting things ready for our vacation. I have to try to do all the packing during Hailey's naps, which are growing increasingly shorter by the day. So, I am going to try to get a bit done each day this week.

We haven't decided for sure but we will leave either Friday evening or Saturday morning (it will depend on what time Rich can finish up at work on Friday) and drive to my parents house. We will spend some time on Saturday visiting with my parents and with Rich's family. Then Sunday morning we will fly to our vacation destination. (Rich thinks I'm crazy because I don't think I should tell on the blog where we are going. I've told him some kooky weirdo might try to follow us to our destination. What do you think? Would you tell where you were going?) We will be returning home the following Sunday (Sept 9th).

Anywho- I have digressed quite a bit because I said all of that to say this- I'll be around this week but I won't be back to my usual blogging until after our vacation. I may have to do a bit of recovering but I should be back in full blogging force by September 10th or 11th.

Please offer me some advice-
1- I'd appreciate any suggestions or ideas for flying with an 11 month old.
2- When we arrive at our destination we will not have a rental car as we are staying at an all inclusive resort of sorts. This means there will be no emergency trips to Target. So, please offer some advice of that one thing I must not forget to pack.

Bloggy Break

I'm taking a little bloggy break but I'll be back next week! Some days blogging feels like another item on my long list of things to do. So, I know it's time to step back and take a little vacation from blogging. I'll still be around to visit you and leave some comments, I just won't be posting for a little while. Here's some of my favorite posts for your reading pleasure while I take a little break.

Babies Don't Keep

Brooke In DC

I Am A Blogaholic

See you soon!!

Did I Say That? #6

I never thought I would hear myself say, "No, Hailey, no.

Yucky, we do not touch Dottie's bottom."

A Typical Day

A Typical Day at the Happy Happenings household (all times are approximate and subject to change at the request of "the boss.")

12:00am- I am sleeping or I am awake praying that Hailey will not wake up.

12:30am- Hailey calls to me from her crib. I go in and rock her back to sleep. I wait until she has been asleep for several minutes and then I gently lay her back down in her bed. Her eyes pop open and she stands up with her hands out for me to pick her back up. I pick her back up and we do the above over again. Again, she wakes up as soon as I lay her down. I bring her into my bedroom, lay her down on the bed next to me and nurse her back to sleep. I think about moving her back to her bed and decide I am much too tired to do that.

3:00am- Hailey is awake and wants to nurse again. I know she doesn't really need to, but if I also know that if I want to sleep I will have to nurse her again. I nurse her and we both fall back asleep.

4:30am- Rich's alarm clock goes off, he hits the snooze button. Hailey does not wake up. I lay awake worrying that the next time it goes off it will wake her up.

4:39am- Rich's alarm clock goes off, he hits the snooze button. Hailey is still asleep. I am still awake worrying she will wake up.

4:48am- Rich's alarm clock goes off and he gets up. Dottie gets up and scratches and shakes her head, causing the tags on her collar to jingle. Rich quickly ushers Dottie off to go outside. I pray that Hailey will not wake up.

5:15am- Rich comes in to tell me he's leaving for work and to give me a hug and kiss. I pray Hailey will not wake up.

6:00am- Hailey is awake and wants to nurse. I feed her and we both fall asleep.

7:30am- Hailey wakes up, sits up, looks around the room, claps her hands and starts babbling. We play for a few minutes and then get up.

7:45am- I change Hailey's diaper. I get on the computer and put up my post for the day (I write my posts the day before, so this takes only a few seconds to do). Then I get breakfast for myself, Hailey and Dottie. Hailey spits most of her fruit and cereal back into my face and feeds her toast to Dottie. She throws her cup onto the floor and giggles at Dottie who is waiting for more toast.

8:15am- After breakfast I clean up the mess while Hailey empties out the kitchen cabinets. Then I spend a few minutes checking my email.

8:30am- I change Hailey's diaper again (for some reason it is always soaked about an hour after she gets up), get her dressed and put on her sunscreen. Both of us hate the sunscreen part. We both brush our teeth and then I get dressed.

9:15am- We go on our daily 2 mile walk. I talk to Hailey about what we see on our walk and she babbles and yells "Da-Da" most of the time.

9:50am- We are home from our walk and go straight to the playroom. Hailey dumps all of her toys onto the floor and then plays with the door stopper (it makes a funny bonging noise that she just loves). We sing some songs, read some books, and play some toys.

10:30am- Hailey nurses and then I change her diaper.

10:45am- Time for a morning nap. I rock Hailey and she tries to keep her body completely stiff so that she does not fall asleep. Finally she gives in and goes to sleep.

11:00am- I take shower, start some laundry and do other quiet cleaning (clean bathrooms, dust, etc). If I finish my chores before Hailey wakes up I do my blog visiting.

12:00pm- Hailey is up from her nap and is playing with the toys I left at the end of her crib. She plays by herself, giggling contentedly so I do a bit more blogging.

12:15pm- We have lunch. Remember breakfast? Same thing- Hailey spits her food out or throws it on the floor.

12:45pm- I clean up from lunch while Hailey empties the kitchen cupboards. Once she finishes that she chases Dottie around trying to touch her paws. If she is able to get a paw or better yet, Dottie's tail- she screeches and giggles. Dottie has recently learned to hid behind the couch and although Hailey tries to follow her back there she gets distracted by the door on the end table and works on opening that up.

1:00pm- I change Hailey's diaper. If we have errands to run this is when we do it. Otherwise, we play for a while in the living room. I also vacuum the house and mop the kitchen at this time of day.

1:45pm- Time to go to the totally baby proofed playroom where I can sit down for a few minutes. If it's not rainy or too hot outside, we play outside for a while- otherwise we spend the next 45 minutes in the playroom.

2:30pm- Hailey wants to nurse. I fed her and change her diaper.

2:40pm- We read books.

3:00pm- Time for an afternoon nap. I rock Hailey and she tries to keep her body completely stiff so that she does not fall asleep. Finally she gives in and goes to sleep.

3:10pm- I blog! I write my post for the next day and comment back to everyone who has left me a comment. I try to visit all of the blogs I have listed on my sidebar.

4:15pm- Hailey is up from her nap and is playing with the toys I left at the end of her crib. She plays by herself, giggling contentedly so I do a bit more blogging.

4:30pm- Hailey plays in the living room (usually in her cage) while I start thinking about what to make for dinner.

5:00pm- Hailey wants to nurse, so I feed her and change her diaper.

5:30pm- Rich is usually home now and he entertains Hailey while I actually make dinner.

6:00pm- We eat dinner. Remember breakfast and lunch? Dinner is the same- food spit out at me or thrown onto the floor for Dottie.

6:30pm- Rich plays with Hailey while I clean the kitchen and sneak in a bit more blogging.

7:15pm- Back to the safety of the playroom.

8:00pm- I give Hailey her bath, get her ready for bed, nurse her, and brush her teeth. She spends a few minutes saying goodnight to Rich.

8:30pm- I read Hailey her Bible story, say her prayers with her, and sing her to sleep.

8:45pm- I straighten up the house and prepare to do the same things all over again tomorrow. I make Rich's lunch for the next day. Sometimes I sneak in a bit more blogging, although I really try to follow my "no blogging after 9pm" rule.

9:30pm- Rich and I watch some TV. Or if Rich is watching the boring old history channel, I read while he watches TV.

10:30pm- I get ready for bed.

10:35pm- I go into Hailey's room and watch her sleeping. She has usually rolled over onto her tummy with her little bottom sticking up in the air. I listen to make sure she is breathing. I look at her angelic face in the soft glow of her Winnie the Pooh nightlight. I am overwhelmed with emotions as I think about how much I love this little tiny person. My heart is so full of love for her and I wonder how a parent who loses a child is ever able to go on with their life. I thank God for this treasure He has given us to raise and I pray that she will grow up to serve Him and be healthy and happy. Hailey sighs in her sleep and I whisper "I love you more than you'll ever know" as I tiptoe out of her room.

Thankful Thursday #4

1. I am thankful for the homemade pizza that Rich makes for me. It is the most delicious pizza I have ever tasted. I ask him all the time to make it and he usually does without any complaining.

2. I am thankful for the nice time we had at Jon and Leah's wedding. It was a lovely wedding and it was wonderful to get to spend some time with our relatives.

3. I am thankful for how good Hailey was on our trip to and from Jon and Leah's wedding. I wasn't sure how the car ride would go and she did great. The day after we got back her two top teeth were finally through her gums. So, considering she probably didn't feel very good she did excellent!

4. I am thankful that we have finally planned our vacation. We've been discussing since forever where we are going to go and we finally decided. Now I am excited!!

5. I am thankful that we are going to visit some family members this weekend. I wish we could see all of them much more often and I've been looking forward to this visit.

6. I am thankful for some Target coupons I found via Pam's blog. I was able to get $98.45 worth of baby food for $37.45 thanks to those coupons! I'd share it with you all, but it expired yesterday.

For more Thankful Thursday visit Iris at Sting My Heart.

Nice Matters

I have been given another award! Sharon at Sit With Me Awhile and KC at Mindless Chatter of a Busy Mom have both given me the "Nice Matters Award."

This is what The Nice Matters Award is given for, "This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you've been awarded please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award."

Thank you so much ladies! I think you're both pretty nice too! So, now to pass it on to 7 others. I choose (in alphabetical order) Debbie, JennieBoo, La Bellina Mammina, Lorikate, Melanie, Pam and Shionge.

Wordless Wednesday #18

2001

Click here or here for more Wordless Wednesday.

High School Meme

I have seen this High School meme at It Coulda' Been Worse, Musings of a Housewife, and at Mindless Chatter of a Busy Mom. All three invited everyone to play along. It seems like fun, so I decided to go ahead and do it.

1. Who was your best friend? Patti- we still keep in touch today although neither of us writes as often as we should. I'm also responsible for getting Patti addicted to blogs. So far she only reads but I know one day I will convince her to start her own!

2. Did you play any sports? Ha! One time I joined the track team because you didn't have to try out. Funny thing was the coach actually expected me to run. So, eventually he told me it would be better if I were no longer on the team.

3. What kind of car did you drive? I didn't drive until I was out of high school. I had friends who could drive- what did I need to get my license for?

4. It’s Friday night. Where were you? Hanging out with friends. Bowling, skating, eating, football games, basketball games, or just at a friends house.

5. Were you a party animal? Nope

6. Were you considered a flirt? Yup

7. Were you in the band, orchestra or choir? Choir

8. Were you a nerd? Nope

9. Were you ever suspended or expelled? No, although I did have detention and in-school suspension.

10. Can you sing the fight song? What's a fight song? Apparently I can not sing it since I didn't even know there was such a thing as a fight song.

11. Favorite teacher? Probably my calculus teacher.

12. What was your school mascot? A golden bear

13. Did you go to the Prom? Yup and I ended up marrying my date!

14. If you could go back, would you? I love my life now, but I loved high school too. I loved being with my friends all the time. Now that I look back I realize I basically had no responsibilities and that was certainly nice. So, I would love to go back and have some more carefree days spent worrying about boys and what to wear!

15. What do you remember most about graduation? It was hot. The ceremony was long and boring. We smiled for lots of pictures and gave lots of hugs. I also remember one of my closest friends Renuka, who had moved far away after 11th grade, was able to come for the ceremony.

16. Where were you on Senior Skip Day? At school. Apparently word got out of the plans of our senior skip day. We were threatened that if we skipped our class trip would be canceled.

17. Did you have a job your senior year? One day a week I cleaned the home of a family friend. I also babysat.

18. Where did you go most often for lunch? A local pizza place or Subway.

19. Have you gained weight since then? Considering I barely weighed 100 pounds and wore a size zero in high school, I have to say that yes I have gained weight!

20. What did you do after graduation? That day? There were lots of fun parties afterwards. One funny memory took place at my friend Sheli's house where Rich threw Patti (totally clothed) into the pool. I'm sure Patti is smiling fondly at that memory! If the questions means- what did I do after that day was over- I spent a year working full time at a day care center and part time as a cashier at CVS. Then I went to college.

21. What year did you graduate? 1995.

22. Who was your Senior Prom Date? Rich

23. Are you going/did you go to your 10 year reunion? Nope. Maybe I'll go to the next one. We'll see!

If you haven't done this one yet, play along! Leave me a comment if you play along so I can read yours!

Fun Monday #2

This weeks fun Monday is being hosted by Beckie at Give It A Try. These were her instructions:
"I want to know a little bit more about you, not about your house. I want to know what your favorite treat is. Is it sweet or sour? Is it plain or salty? Is it candy or chocolate? Is it homemade or store bought? For instance, if your favorite is chocolate, tell us what kind specifically - sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes not so much. I have heard a lot of talk about Junior Mints, but is it your favorite or just a tasty treat? It can be anything, popcorn, peanuts, ice cream or chips, maybe you have more than one favorite - that is ok, just show us your favorite(s) and tell us why you like it so much. C’mon, what gets you all juiced up?"

Well, if you've been reading my blog for any length of time you probably know the treat I can not resist is Chocolate Chip cookies. Not the homemade kind. Although I love homemade chocolate chip cookies, I absolutely can not resist Chips Ahoy! But, not the soft ones- I do not like those.

Don't be fooled by the plate. I only did that for you all. Normally- I eat straight from the cookie container. The cookies just don't have time to make it to the plate when they are in such a rush to get to my mouth. And, also that way I don't have an extra plate to wash.

Now, I started out with only four cookies on the plate because I try to eat only four at a time. But, four cookies made the plate look so empty and sad. So, I added four more (I must always eat in fours, it's part of my OCD) and I think eight cookies looks much better than four. I had intended to take the picture, put four cookies back into the container and then eat the remaining four cookies. Well, I guess you know what happened. I ate all eight of them.

And, how can you have cookies without milk? I actually do not like milk, but add a little chocolate to it and I'll drink it right down.

And, now that I am posting this, looking at those cookies is making my mouth water and I am considering going and getting four eight more.

So, now I am off to Give It A Try so that I can visit the rest of the Fun Monday participants.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure that after checking out everyone's favorite treats today that I won't be weighing-in tomorrow at the May Day Weight Loss Challenge.

Thank You!

See what came in the mail for me?

Woo Hoo! It's my book that I won from

Angela at Angela Giles Klocke. Thank you

so much Angela. I love to read and I can't

wait to get started on this book. And, an added

bonus- the book is autographed. Yipee!!

Thanks again Angela.

Recommended Reading

I have three favorite blogs that I read everyday (I actually have many more favorites, but I am only mentioning these three today). If I miss a day I make sure to read the posts that I missed. One of those blogs is It Coulda' Been Worse, which is actually the first blog I ever started reading. Another one is Boo Mama and boy is she one funny lady. The third is Antique Mommy who is the reason that I am posting this entry. Back on July 30th she started a six part series called The Box. I highly recommend that you read it. Make sure you read it in order- Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, and The Conclusion. It might take you a little time to read all of that, but it will be well worth it.

If you haven't already, add these three ladies to your favorites!

Oh, and do be sure you have some tissues before you go and read The Box.

Jon & Leah's Wedding Part II

Yesterday I promised you that I would share some of the good pictures from Jon and Leah's wedding. If you didn't see my post yesterday, please look at the lovely (note my sarcastic tone) pictures that Rich took. When I went and looked back through my pictures I found that I actually had only one good picture of Jon and Leah. ONE. I had a few good pictures of some of the other people at the wedding, but only one of Jon and Leah. So, most of the pictures I am sharing with you were taken by my dad.

Hailey and Rich waiting for the wedding to start.
Of course, Hailey was nice and quiet right
up until the wedding actually started.

Groom Jon and groomsmen Matt, Uncle Dave, and Rodney.

(Best man Brad is missing from this picture.)

Here comes the bride.

The whole wedding party.

Father of the bride and the groom shaking hands.

Mother and father of the groom

(my Auntie Ruth & Uncle Ralph)The happy couple

My family

(I'm the one in the front row wearing blue)

My cousins, Ashely, Angela and Aimee.

(Believe it or not, Rich took this picture)

Hailey after a nap and a change into

some more comfortable clothes.

Leah, Jon and Brad (best man) during Brad's toast. Jon and Leah

(my one good picture)

Rich and Hailey- Hailey is trying

her first bite of cake here.
Jon and Leah

(I don't know who took this

picture- it was emailed to me, but

I think it's the best one so I had to

share it)

Jon and Leah's Wedding

Last weekend we traveled to go to Jon and Leah's wedding. We left on Friday afternoon. Hailey did really well in the car and we only had to stop a couple of times. Friday night Hailey got to stay in a hotel for the first time. She slept okay but was a bit tired when it was time for the wedding. I thought this would be a good thing and hoped she would sleep right through the wedding. She had other plans. When the preacher asked if anyone objected to the marriage of Jon and Leah, Hailey blew some raspberries, screeched and giggled. We tried to quiet her, but it was not going to happen. So, I took her to the nursery. The nursery was in the back of the church and had a two-way mirror so I could actually still see the ceremony. It was cool and dark in the nursery and Hailey promptly went to sleep. She continued to sleep after the ceremony had ended so I stayed in there with her. Rich had our camera and I had asked him to take pictures for me. So, imagine my surprise when later on I went to look at our pictures and found these:

A lovely close-up of my cousin Beka
A wonderful shot of cousin Bill's ear

A nice picture of cousin Vicki taking a picture of Rich.

A close-up of my dad.

A flattering picture of my sister-in-law Ellie.

At every event we go to where there is a cake,

Rich "leaves his mark" on the cake and takes

a picture of it. So, apparently this is a photo

of his handy work.

A bug on my brother Mike.

A lovely profile picture of my brother Matt.

A close-up of cousin Aimee's ear.

A nice shot of Uncle Bob trying to take a picture.

Rich also took a few other pictures and after Hailey's nap I took over the camera. So, come back tomorrow to see the few good pictures I did get.