A new place for Hayden to play...

Yep...we discovered the fun the refrigerator can bring...and climbed up in it...and yelled at it...and tried to take out the milk...and juice...and pasta...

Little Miss Hayden is an adventurous one...

I'm baaaaack!!!!

SO...it has been forever and a day (actually about 7 months) since I last posted a blog! Sorry for being such a slacker, but now I really do plan on being better about blogging more frequently! Life has had a lot of ups and downs and twists and turns in the past few months. It has been a real test of Josh's and my patience, marriage, and household in general. In order to explain what has been going on...I will give my "Top 20 list" of things that have been going on:

1. I (Lauren) lost my teaching job. I was pink-slipped, and not offered a job back this year.

2. I have applied to many schools and have not yet received anything positive from anywhere I applied.

3. I am having to learn how to be a big more careful when it comes to spending $$$, which is something I have been blessed enough in my entire life I have never had to worry about. THIS has been hard.

4. I had to apply for unemployment...which was a VERY humbling experience. But let me tell you, I could not be more grateful for those checks every other week right now.

5. Josh has been working his butt off trying to keep business up and money coming in...up at about 4 am every morning and home at about 4 pm every afternoon. That's a 12 hour work day.

6. Josh had to sell his old truck (2005 red F250, diesel, FX4). It was either get rid of it or pay $13,000 to get it fixed. He is now driving a 2006 Lincoln Mark LT (truck). It's a very nice truck, but just not the same as his old red firetruck that he loved so much.

7. My car has been in the shop 3 times this summer with a new radiator, fan, serpentine belt, other belts, tires, and the list goes on.... Thankfully I have an extended warantee which has made things much cheaper than they could have been.

8. At one point in the middle of the summer our kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom were OVERRUN by ants. Ugh. It had to have been the most disgusting experience I have ever had.

9. My mom was on vacation in Iowa (Okoboji, to be specific) for about 2 months. It sucked having her gone for so long! Hayden missed her Grandma!

10. On Monday, Mom broke her toe. She is now wearing some stupid shoe and using a cane! Not fun!

(Now for some positive things that have been happening...)

11. Since I did lose my job, I am now a temporary stay-at-home-mom...which is the most amazingly wonderful feeling in the world. I couldn't be happier to be at home with Hayden. She has been going through so many changes this summer, that I am so excited to have been there to experience every second of it!

12. Hayden started crawling just after she turned 7 months old! She hasn't stopped GOING since!

13. My Sister-in-Law Jana had her little girl, Elizabeth Cathleen Ainilian, on May 23!

14. Hayden got to experience her first 4th of July!

15. Hayden and I went to Lake Okoboji to spend some time with our family. She had her first trip in the boat...and loved it!!

16. Hayden is now eating tons of finger foods. In fact, she's getting to the point where she would MUCH prefer finger foods over her baby food. Some of her favorites are tofu, avocado, and Purely-O's (organic Cheerios).

17. Hayden got to take her first trip to the OC Fair. She LOVED looking at the animals!!

18. Hayden is standing up on her own. Not walking yet, but we're sure its coming pretty soon!!

19. Hayden is just so curious and LOVES to play Peek-a-Boo!!!

20. Most recently, Auntie Jana had a birthday, so Hayden and her cousin Elizabeth got to spend some time together! (Hayden is almost 10 months, Elizabeth 3 1/2 months)

We have loved every second of this summer and time spent with Hayden. I am having a hard time grasping the fact that she is almost 10 months old....which means she will be 1 year old in just a couple of months! Despite all of the hard times we have gone through, we're a very blessed and happy family! And again, I promise to try harder to keep up with blog posts!

March!?!?!

Yeah...I'm having a hard time grasping the fact that it is March already! 2009 is going by VERY quickly! Here are the interesting things we have been up to for the past few weeks:

~Hayden has had some...well...to put it nicely....issues with dirty diapers. She went 2 weeks with only 2...yes 2...dirty diapers! After about 3 phone calls to the Dr.'s office, I finally gave in and used the old rectal thermometer trick to get things stimulated. It worked. Now we're having to give her equal parts prune juice and water to get things going every once in awhile. Poor thing. I think it is getting better now though...she's going on her own more often now!

~Hayden has been doing some cool new things: She is holding her head up at about a 90 degree angle when she's having tummy time, we think she weighs about 15.5 lbs....that will be comfirmed at her 4 month well-check on the 16th, she found her voice about 2 weeks ago...and NEVER stops using it, she's still not sleeping through the night....but isn't eating at night anymore, she is sitting in her Bumbo seat now for a little bit every day...she is just becoming such a big girl!

~We finally bought a video camera!! We really are in no place to be spending large amounts of money right now, but we decided that memories are more important than going broke. Right!?!?!

~I've been working. Trying to get everything done, and pump at recess/afterschool, and be a good/patient teacher, and get all of the assessments/report cards/conference stuff handled. I have come to realize that it is NOT easy to be a 1st grade teacher/Mom/Wife. Not easy at all.

~My job is SEVERELY in jeaopardy. I'm still considered "Temporary"....yes....after teaching for 3 years. That means I won't even get a pink slip. I will just be notified in May if I have a job or not. I'm guessing it will be the latter.

~Josh is working hard trying to keep business up. It's definitely more work for him being a Division Manager now and having to keep things going on his own. He's doing a great job though!

~We found out that my sister-in-law Jana (Josh's sister) is having a baby girl! She is due the 1st of June, but probably won't go that long due to complications. We're very excited that Hayden will have a little girl cousin only a few months younger than her!

~We've been enjoying watching all of the shows that are on TV right now....Lost, American Idol, Survivor, Amazing Race, House, Hell's Kitchen, America's Next Top Model, Celebrity Apprentice, etc. etc. etc....Here's the thing we've realized though...we just don't want to take the time to watch them! Josh says this makes him feel "old" since we used to come home and sit on the couch and get all excited about what shows were on TV that night. NOW, we come home and spend time with the baby. The TV is always on...with the shows we love to watch playing...but we're in the other room playing with Hayden and listening to the shows we used to love! Oh...how times have changed...

Hopefully everyone is doing well in these tough economic times. It is rough for us, so we know how rough it must be for everyone else! I'll continue to do my best keep this blog updated!

Hayden...3 1/2 months old!!

Happy Valentine's Day/Hayden's 3 Month Birthday!!!

Hayden is 3 months old today!

She is just the happiest, most fun baby I could ask for! Her personality is developing so much every day...her smiles get bigger, her actions get more intentional, and she is getting so much bigger and stronger! We love our little Hayden Jo so much...and are SO happy her 3 month birthday falls on Valentine's Day! This year, we decided that we didn't want to go out to dinner or anything special for Valentine's Day...we just want to spend time with Hayden.

Happy 3 months and Happy 1st Valentine's Day little girl!

Back to work I went...

Well...

This was my first week back to work. It seemed to go okay. I drop Hayden off at my neighbor Lori's house at about 6:30 am, and then head off to work. Josh has been getting home around 1:30-2:30 and I get home around 3:30...so at least she isn't there for too long. I'd say the most difficult thing is the look on Hayden's face when I hand her off to Lori in the morning. It's that look of..."Mommy...Where are you going???" I hate that part. But, it is very rewarding to come home and look in her face and say "Hi Baby Girl!" and I get a HUGE smile! I love that part. I cried every day I left her...most days at school...especially when people asked me about her. Oh well, it was a 4 day week, which was nice. This next week is a 4 day week as well. It's a good transition for me I think.

Anyway, here are some updated pictures from this past week. Enjoy!

I just got brave enough to pull out the Bumbo seat...she actually likes it!

She is now holding onto things, like her Lamby (as seen above)...and CHEWS on them!

Daddy and Hayden during story time. He's reading one of MY favorite books. SkippyJon Jones!

Look guys...I'm a big girl! I can hold my head up REALLY high!

One of my favorites...such an attitude look!

Another milestone for Hayden!

Yesterday, Hayden decided to FINALLY roll over from her belly to her back again! About 2 weeks ago, she randomly rolled over, but I wasn't able to get it on camera. Well, yesterday, while she was having some tummy time, I was smart enough to get the camera out and was able to take pictures and video her rolling over for me twice! I really wanted to post the video of her rolling over, but I can't figure out how to do it. Maybe if I can get Josh to show me how, I'll post it later! So, to tide you over, here are some pictures!

Happy little girl playing on the floor!


Bruin was overseeing playtime...


Hayden JUST about to roll over!


After I put her back on her belly...she was VERY proud of herself!


Look at how well she holds her head up!

The weekend...

Well, we had a somewhat busy weekend...

Saturday, Josh's cousin Katy and her friend Ashley came to meet Hayden. She absolutely loved her! Then, my mom came over to spend the night...we watched some crappy TV, ate Zito's Pizza (YUMMY!!!), and played with Hayden!

Sunday, Mom and I went and got Coffee Bean, spent too much $$$ at Target, then came home to watch The Super Bowl and eat wings! We were all quite happy that the Steelers won!

Needless to say, I also spent the day thinking about the fact that at this time next week, I will be going back to work. This is a very depressing and heartbreaking thought for me. I know there is just no way possible that we could afford me staying home, but I can't help feeling really sad. I have a horrible fear of missing all of her "firsts," coming home and Hayden not wanting to come to me, and simply not being the one to raise my daughter. Hopefully some day I will be able to stay home with at least one of our kids...

Anyway, here are some pictures from this weekend:

Katy, Hayden, Josh, and me

Hayden with her 2nd cuz, Katy

Hayden sleeping on her Grandma with her shirt strings tangled in her hand

Apparently this is the comfy way to nap on Grandma!

Hayden and Daddy...sleeping.

Hayden can't take her eyes off of the Super Bowl to smile at the camera...

she LOVES to watch TV!

And yes...this is what Hayden does while watching TV. Drink beer.