store/park run and videos...

Last night I needed to get a few cleaning supplies at the dollar store so I asked Justin if he wanted to go to the park and then stop by the store. So we loaded up the 'kids' and headed for the park. I knew we wouldn't stay long since there isn't much Hadlea can do these days, but she does LOVE to swing so I wanted to let her, even for a few minutes. Here she is just minutes after putting her in...

And less than 30 seconds later...these were all I could get! She LOVES kids. Loves watching them, smiling at them, squealing at them. She CANNOT stop watching their every move. So every other picture I took of her swinging looks like these...looking to her left or right or trying to look around me!

We tried to let her slide, but her feet just stuck to the slide! :)

And wouldn't you know we had so much fun at the park, that once we loaded up, we headed straight back home! We didn't even make it to the store! :) So we had to send daddy back....

And just a few short videos...

Hadlea giving 5s...

and more crawling...

lake with family and jake update...

We had a GREAT weekend!

I LOVE lake days, especially with family!

Grammie arrived on Thursday night after taking Jake back to Edmond to his own home. She got him stocked up on groceries and clean laundry and then headed our way. My mom is the greatest mom, EVER! I really could go on and on...maybe I should write a post about her, but I am pretty sure you all would vomit! Ha! She really is that amazing! She has been through a roller coaster of emotions over the past few weeks. She never once left Jake at the hospital other than to shower or sleep, which is EXACTLY what I think a mother should do! And although I feel like I am normally the rock of my family, I wasn't during Jake's injuries. My mom was my rock. She always assured me he would be okay, even on the days she might not have believed it herself. I am so proud of my mother. I am so proud to call her my mom. I just hope one day I am half the mother to Hadlea that she has been to my brothers and I! Thank you for all you do mom! {I will make a 'Jake Update' at the end!}

My mom had drove over on Thursday evening as we had Amanda's Aunt's funeral on Friday. It was a Creek Indian type funeral and it was so interesting. They sang several songs in Creek. Friday evening, my uncle Gary and his daughter/my cousin Kelsey and her husband, Kyle, arrived at our house. They are from Kansas and were staying the night so we could head to the lake bright and early Saturday morning! My cousin Tyler and his wife, Shawna, arrived at the house Saturday morning from Kansas as well, and we all made it to the lake.

Shawna and I

Kelsey and I

Tyler and I

Shawna and Justin

Shawna, Tyler and Justin

Kyle, Tyler and Kelsey

Tyler and Justin

Uncle Gary(my godfather) and I

{and shawna's awesome picture taking skills}

You might remember 'this' post...where I talked about the crazy kids jumping off of the cliffs and how I would have done it years ago, but I was somewhat making the assumption I would never do it now! Well..

I did it!

Kelsey, Shawna and I did it to be exact!

You can see the 3 of us on the right.

Kelsey

Me!

{If you have ever wondered about what you would think about as you fell off a building. I can tell you that you will not think of one single thing! It goes TOO fast! :) }

Shawna

The lake was such a great time! My dad has 11 brothers and sisters and I have a special relationship with each one! I am so thankful that my uncle and cousins want to spend time with us! And get to see our baby girl! It was just a great day on the lake!

Sunday...baby girl was ready for church!

And then a little play time before we headed with Grammie to BRU!

I am IN LOVE with her ruffle bottom shorts from Grammie!

Hadlea's new way to sit around! :)

Sunday evening, we got a few special visitors! Berkley's cousin, Avery...

and Hadlea's Uncle Alan and Aunt Amanda!

The more Hadlea is around Grammie, A&A, the more she knows them! She is staring to go to them more or not cry when they take her! I just love it!

And I know he LOVES her with everything he has!

And Hadlea LOVES Avery!

Avery loves to play fetch and Hadlea gets so excited to see Avery running back with the ball!

But she gets a little nervous when Avery comes running up to her to give her the ball! :)

Grammie left this morning to go to Oklahoma City to take Jake to 2 dr appointments. I had to work and had a lunch to go to. I took Hadlea with me! I just thought she looked too cute! :)

happy girl!

She looks TOO big in this picture!

i just love her to pieces!

Jake Update: Jake is improving daily! He had two dr appointments today. The first one, he had his staples removed. The surgeons thought it was healing nicely and were happy with everything! He had a second appointment this afternoon regarding his eyes. He has perfect vision in both eyes, but not when he looks at something using both. He has double vision. They are still hoping it will correct itself, but if it doesn't, he will have eye surgery to fix it! We do hope it fixes itself soon! Jake does not want any more surgeries, but he does need to see. The double vision also gives him headaches, which he doesn't need either! Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers! We will update as things change or for any future appointments!

play and kissing...

Every night when Justin and I get off work, we make sure we take time and play with Hadlea before doing anything else! She has normally just had a nap, so she is super funny and WIRED! These first two pictures are from the other day. Berkley is so excited to see Justin when he gets home from work so Justin has to take time to say hello to both of his 'babies'. When Justin drives in the driveway, Berkley starts barking and going crazy waiting on him to walk through the door. I think Hadlea has started to figure it out because the other day Berkley was barking at the door and Hadlea started crawling that way. Justin thought it was so funny that she met him at the door! :) He gave her a little love and then it was Berkley's turn, but Hadlea must not have been finished because she started trying to climb in the chair with them!

Last night, we were playing in the floor with her after work, and she headed for the doggy door. She is IN LOVE with it these days! But instead of playing with it, she pulled herself up to look outside. Berkley ran out the door and she stood and watched him and jabbered away! She thought it was so funny! I bet she spend every bit of 5 minutes just watching outside!

Justin and I just watched her and were lying in the floor talking. Next thing we know, she had managed to crawl underneath the dining table and was just hanging out...

and chewing on the chair! :)

Later on, we all got dressed and headed to dinner with friends! Hadlea is iffy when going out these days! As long as you continue to shove food in her face, she is great! But DO NOT STOP! She will let everyone in the restaurant know she is there and awaiting more food! :)

Once we got home, it was more play time and then the bath! She much prefers to stand these days and it doesn't change once she hits the water! We have to watch her very close so she doesn't slip!

Hadlea is into KISSING these days too! When you say, "give me a kiss", she starts making kissing noises with her lips and then she will give you the biggest, wettest kiss you have ever received! I have NEVER, in my life, loved a big open mouth kiss like this...but with her, I just cannot get enough!

And she will give you as many as you like!

After bath, it was bottle and rocking with momma time. This moment is the moment I look forward to all day. Not because she is going to bed, but she is calm and relaxed. She will just look at me with those big brown eyes and play with the ends of my hair while she eats. 95% of the time, she falls alseep while eating. And although I love that moment, I love this one too...the morning!

She is now standing up waiting on us to come get her. She normally gets up around 0830-0900. She is just as happy as can be. As soon as I walk in she is smiling ear to ear and then starts looking at the floor for Berkley! I get her and let Berk give her a little love and we are off to start our day and see the nanny...who is normally already there and waiting on her to wake up!

I know I read some blogs and often wonder if some of those people EVER have a bad day! Ha! Actually, my cousin, Michele, and I were having that conversation while in Florida. I often wonder if people think that about me because all of my post are positive. And while, I am like everyone else and I do have bad days, I have to say they are few and far between. I have an amazing husband, daughter, dog and family! Life is good. God is good, and He blesses me daily! I definitely want to share the best days of my life with all of you so I can look back on them later and remember just how perfect life was. I always seem to think that it cannot get any better, but He always proves me wrong!

wordless wednesday of videos

{..not really..}

My wordless wednesdays are never wordless...because I HAVE to explain! I just thought I would share a few videos that I just got uploaded. These are some of my favorites!

This first one is of Hadlea at her first Build-A-Bear. I told you the story about one of the bears being a Yorkie dog and how she about had a heart attack when she seen it. This video might have been the 100th time we showed it to her because we thought it was SO funny! You can see her start shaking after the first few seconds when she sees the dog. HILARIOUS!

I have been taking video of Hadlea crawling, and crying to get her newest crawl! She is crawling more now and doing the half walking thing...where she doesn't bend her knees...so her arms and legs are straight. She looks like....yep, a MONKEY! I did get this last night and thought it showed how mobile she was. She obviously was NOT going to look at me no matter how many times I called her name! :)

And this is Hadlea's newest 'trick'...and boy does she make her momma daddy proud! Ha! She grunts at you and thinks it is the funniest thing EVER! This is her daddy grunting at her the other night while eating. You have to listen a little closer to hear her, but she does grunt after him! Silly girl!

I think these are too funny!

I know the grandparents will love them!

Jake, prayers & iphone photos

Jake was released from the hospital last night...an answer to so many prayers! He is in Medford now staying with my parents. He will go back next week to get the staples out of his head, and then we should know more about future surgeries or checkups. Please continue to pray for his full recovery!

Please also say a prayer for my future SILs family. She lost her aunt to cancer early this morning. Her aunt fought so hard, and Amanda and her family never left her aunt's side! Many of you know I love Amanda to death, but if I didn't have respect for her before, I do today! She was amazing to her aunt during this process. She is one of the strongest people I have ever met! Now that her aunt has gone to be with the Lord and is pain free, I pray that Alan, Amanda and her family get rest and have peace in knowing she is in a much better place!

I was looking through my iPhone pictures last night and thought I would share a few! Since the last couple of weeks have been so crazy, I do not have a ton to share. I was cleaning the kitchen the other night and as I started unloading the dishwasher, Hadlea came a'crawling along! She thought it was so fun to stand and watch me! She just jabbered and squealed with excitement the entire time!

This picture is on our way to the hospital this past Saturday. I have said before that we do not call her Monkey for no reason....she is a little ape in the making! Ha! She does everything with her feet!

Wouldn't she make the cutest milk mustache baby!? :)

And this is from last Tuesday, 8/17. I was at the hospital waiting on Jake to come out of surgery and daddy sent me this picture of her in the bath! Nana was at the house helping that night too. I thought it was just too funny! Her hair is getting longer and thicker. It is SO straight, just like mine and is OUT OF CONTROL! :)

I haven't blogged much about our schedule at the hospital. Jake was in the hospital in Oklahoma City, which is about 1.5 hours from where we live. There were many days I would take off early from work and drive to spend a few hours with him and then drive back that evening. Justin would be home after work to get H from the nanny. He was so good just to jump in and help! I know he wanted to be with us at the hospital, but we didn't want Hadlea at the hospital 100% of the time. It was stressful enough without having her, and with her there, I stressed even more. I never wanted her to touch the floors, so when she was there, she was being held or hanging out in her stroller. When she was there, she was perfect! I know some people might wonder if she really is that good, and I have to say ABSOLUTELY! Everyone would take turns pushing her around or walking with her to see something different. There was a window with tons of pigeons and everyone loved to take her there because she would get so excited! So thanks to everyone that helped with her at the hospital, and thanks to my amazing husband for understanding that I needed to be with my brother too. I know my family and I are exhausted! Driving back and forth and living at the hospital for 2 weeks definitely takes a toll on your body! But we are happy to have Jake home and on his road to recovery!

catching up....

It feels like it has been forever since I have set down to write a post! I wrote the FL posts in a couple of days and then scheduled them to post on their given day. To say the last two weeks have been a roller coaster is a complete understatement! Today has been two weeks since we got the call that 'Jake broke his nose'. I have thought back to that phone call a million times and just wish it would have 'only' been a broken nose! I just wish that phone call would have been true! Although, at the time, I was completely sick knowing my baby brother was hurt, in pain and on his way to the hospital. At that time, I was wishing that the broke nose wasn't even true! With each phone call I got that night, the news was worse. For the first time, I had to make a choice...to stay with Hadlea or to go be with Jake. I felt torn, and I was a disaster. My family is unbelievably close. My brothers are my very best friends. We count on each other at all times. We know we can lean on each other, can call each other to listen and know we will set each other straight, even if we do not want to listen to it! I wanted to be with Jake, but I knew there wasn't much I could do at the time. My parents had made it to be with him, and my older brother was on his way to be there too. I knew Jake was well taken care of. I also knew that Justin and Hadlea would be fine, but for some reason that night, I just wanted to hold her and never let go. I cannot imagine the pain my parents were feeling knowing there was nothing they could do to take their child's pain away! I wanted to do the same...take ALL of his pain away! Although I felt a million miles away from Jake, I felt better being at home with Hadlea, knowing Jake was in great hands, and knowing the prayers I was sending up to God would be answered. I had faith knowing that God would wrap his arms around Jake and keep him safe, secure and pain free! Jake has had a very long two weeks. He has a long few weeks ahead of him, but I know he will pull through like always! God definitely has something good planned for Jake in the years ahead, but we tease him that his 9 lives are almost used up! Ha! For all of you that came to see Jake, called, sent cards, texts, facebook messages and/or said prayers, THANK YOU! I know God heard them. Jake's situation could have been worse in so many ways, but we are thanking Him today that Jake is on the road to recovery. He may be RELEASED today! He is having some vision problems, but they say those could work themselves out in the next 2-3 weeks. We will pray that they will and no additional surgeries are needed for his eyes. He will have another surgery down the road for his nose reconstruction, but we will continue to pray that it will be the only one and for everything else, he will be 100%!

And since I haven't posted any newer pics of little Ms in the last couple of weeks other than her 8 month post, here are a few! She is a crawling machine and we are constantly redirecting her...which only leads her into something else she should NOT be touching! :) But that's okay...it gives us laughs!

Here is the sweet girl in her new shoes from daddy! I am guessing that her daddy's shoe fetish will be passed down to her! This is the second pair he has bought her all on his own...I am guessing it will not be the last! :)

"see my new shoes!?"

Grammie got Hadlea this outfit in FL. It is TOO cute! Notice the matching ballet flats with the bow!

OMGoodness she is adorable! :)

 Justin and I were just talking about the doggy door the other night and wondering how long it would be before she found it!? Well, I guess only a few!!

 And here she is trying to stick her head out! Hopefully she doesn't figure out how to get her head, toys or body out of it anytime soon!

 on the go....ALWAYS!

happy girl!

 sweet face!

And she has also found Berkley's toy baskets! His toys seem to be ALOT more fun than her own these days! And by the way he watches her every move, he would probably like her to play with her own! :)

i LOVE when they play together!

Sweet girl, I love you more than life itself! :)