Remnants of a Baby

I've noticed Haley is really growing up. Kids have a tendency to do that-whether we give them permission or not. (I've learned this with my older two.)
Despite some of her very grown-up behaviors, such as speaking in sentences-often with some cheekiness, being fully potty trained, and very definite (voacalized) opinions-about clothes, food and many other things...the other night I was sitting in the rocking chair in her room (long story, it's the way we've come up with to get her to sleep w/ the least amount of trauma for all involved) reading my book by booklight I realized that I smelled baby soap. Where is that coming from? Oh! My hands! I had bathed Haley just minutes before. I just sat in that chair and inhaled the baby-ness of that smell. I'm sure it would bring a more heartbreaking feeling if it weren't for the little one on the way.

So, I will take heart in these little evidences that there is still baby present in my baby. Even though she does know who "Hanna 'Tana" is (that is Hannah Montana).

Been a While...

Ok, so I know it's been a while. I don't know why, I just haven't felt in the blogging mood. So, this will be a quick overview of all of our news! (well, the stuff I can remember)

Haley is POTTY TRAINED! Woohoo!! I really thought it would be a real mess (pun intended) because she is so strong willed. Blessedly, the only "strong will" she gave us was that Lindsay had to do most of it. No skin off my neck. ;) I don't believe in pull-ups (other than sleepy times) so we went full on panties and it went great. Basically, it took one day! Other than that we've had maybe 4 "oopses"-and that's weeks we're talking about! Yay Haley! (and thank you Lindsay!)

Our newest addition is.......



a BOY!!!!!! We're so excited. We were all really hoping for a boy to round things out but didn't want to say it for fear that if it was a girl we'd feel bad. Now, we don't have to worry about that...it's definitely a boy! :)

Sadly, we lost a bunny. Saturday (July 25) Jared's bunny was having some "free time" in the back yard and he got a little panicked and in his panic and hurry to flee...he broke his leg. I called a vet who takes calls on the weekend (love this vet! hope to change to him all the time!) and he was kind but honest with me...the prognosis was not good. Apparently bunnies do not handle procedures well because they are just not easy to work on and often die with anesthesia. So, we took the bunny in on Sunday morning (after he assured us all would be okay overnight) where he met us while feeding the animals at his office...and the news was not good. I was loathe to do it but we put the bunny to sleep. A very sad moment for mommy and Jared but I know it was the right decision. Thankfully I had prepared him for this possibility and we know that he would very likely have ended up in severe pain (the way the break was it would've gotten caught on something and ended up making the bone come through the skin). We all miss Lightning...And we have our first animal grave in the backyard (well, aside from the hermit crab buried...another story). I hope there aren't too many of these. This is the hard stuff of parenting...not the all-nighters that I thought were hard.

A couple more little things:

My sister in law is trying to hold in two babies for at least a few more weeks, so my mom went to Florida to help ease the load of caring for their two year old while my brother works...

My school room is now started!!!! Yay! The framing was started yesterday and I'm so excited!


This was the best I could find in the way of photo ops so far (b/c it just looks like some boards in my garage--but boy does that wood smell good! Yay!)

July 4th Festivities!

So, normally we do NOTHING on the weekends. And that usually doesn't change much even for a holiday weekend. But, this past weekend we had a lot of fun and stayed very busy!
Friday (Harold was off of work) we went shoe shopping to get the girls some church shoes and then visited the in-laws-that's a full day! ;) then that night went to our pastor's house for fireworks and the kids swam. I got some ribbing because I don't do hot dogs when I'm pregnant. And there were some who thought that was amusing!? How is an unborn baby getting listeria funny? I used to take this lightly, but since I had Haley we met a woman who lost her baby because she ate a hotdog at a cookout that had that particular bacteria in it. He was born still. So, no hot dog for me. And no apologies to anyone for that choice. (I did bring my own food)

Saturday we were off to the beach with our friends (they're professionals, they go all the time!) and we had a blast. Haley thought it was great fun to ride in the 4-wheeler out to the spot they'd picked! Of course I spent most of the time either rubbing sunscreen on or huddling under the canopy. And we had very minimal sunburning (just a few missed spots-one being around Haley's eyes---hey, I didn't want to get it in her eyes!---so that she looked a little like the red-eyed bandit. I really tried. Really.








P.S. Thanks Stan and Shelly for the great day at the beach and all the food!!!!

That evening we got home JUST IN TIME to get ready for the HOOKs (minor league baseball) game that my dad treated us to. Hot dogs (not for me of course ;) ), Cracker Jacks, cotton candy, snow cones...After the game they had a nice fireworks display-set to some awesome patriotic music. (Can I just say I love what our country has stood for all these years? And I hope that we don't lose so much of what my grandpa fought for?) Then we fought the traffic and went home.

A good shot of the "red-eyed bandit"


Jared and Lindsay enjoying some Cracker Jacks! (The prizes just aren't what they used to be though)
And another shot of "the bandit"
The bombs bursting in air....

P.S. Thanks Dad for the fun at the HOOKS game!!!!

Sunday I had promised Harold we'd do....NOTHING! And that's what we did. It's funny how when you've been on the go so much "nothing" is so nice...but if nothing is all you do, it's "BORING"! :)

Oh, should say that Sunday morning church was awesome. Focused so much on the history of our nation and how it was founded on Biblical principles. We sang the National Anthem, as well as several other patriotic songs (we don't have hymnals, but if I remember correctly, many of these are in the hymnals!) I wish I had a "copy" of the video presentation that they put together. So much history...the stuff they left out in my public school education. Imagine that?