Ladybugs! Ladybugs! EVERYWHERE!!!

SO, I gave in and bought an adorable little tutu outfit from Etsy for Hayden's 1st Birthday (which is fast approaching!) We are doing a ladybug theme and am looking everywhere for anything "ladybug" that would be cute for her party! If you see anything (online or in the stores) please let me know!!! Oh, and to follow the theme...she is going to be a ladybug for Halloween also!!

Where did I get this ladybug obsession you might ask!?!? WELL, the Baby Shower that my amazing sister-in-law, Jana, threw for me when I was pregnant with Hayden was a ladybug theme also! She saw the pictures I had registered for at Pottery Barn Kids that had ladybugs on them, and decided to do a ladybug/bug theme! She had the most amazing decorations, cake/cupcakes, and food!! The color scheme was all pink and green ladybug/bug stuff, so I wanted to celebrate Hayden turning 1 by carrying on the ladybug theme! Here are some pics from the shower (which was on September 27, 2008)...

My sis-in-law Jana and I with the ladybug cake, cupcakes, and chocolate dipped strawberries!

Me in front of the food table. The stuffed ladybug next to me was part of the "inspiration"!

OMG! Look at how huge I was at just over 7 months!!

Food table and just a small section of the clothesline of baby clothes in the backyard!

The tables.

The gifts! TOO MANY!

PEEK-A-BOO!!!

Happy Girl!

Our little Miss Hayden is very determined, almost to the point of being what I would consider bullheaded. So, I am having to tell her "No" much more often than I would like. She has even taken to throwing her 10 month old version of a tantrum! She throws her head back whether she is standing, sitting, or lying down, and starts to cry. I didn't realize this all started so early!!

Anyway, today Hayden was not throwing tantrums, in a very good mood, and looking especially cute, so I took a few pictures!

10 months old!

So my little Hayden Jo is now 10 months old. I can't believe how quickly the last 10 months have flown by. It has been such an amazing adventure learning about everything it means to be a MOM and watching each of the new things Hayden learns and does every day! This has to be the best time of my life...being a Mommy and a wife!

Here are 10 things Hayden is doing at 10 months:

1. Eating tons of finger foods!

2. Saying "Dada" "Mama" and "Bubba" (for Bruin)!

3. Standing on her own for quite a while.

4. Pushing her high chair/stroller/a stool around the kitchen on her own.

5. Making adorable funny faces that totally warm my heart!

6. Picking out books she wants to read, handing them to me, and then crawling into my lap for me to read them to her.

7. Sleeping 10-11 hours a night! (YAY!)

8. LOVES swinging in the new little swing we bought for her!

9. Watches ENTIRE Baby Einstein videos from her bouncy and reaches out for the animals/characters on the TV and talks to them!

10. Manages to make our lives brighter and happier each and every day!

We love you Hayden Jo!

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!!