Moving In

We walked through our home Friday, November 14th around 9 am and then that afternoon we signed all the documents and closed on our house.  Paul's cousin Amie, was kind enough to watch the kids so that we didn't have to bring them to closing!  Our movers arrived that afternoon but we all decided to start unloading first thing the next morning.  Friday night Hayden was playing and fell and had her front tooth pierce her lower lip!  It looked painful and she was pretty somber all night.  Amie's husband, Zach is a pediatric dentist, so it was wonderful having him there to take a look at Hayden's mouth.  Reid was also on antibiotics because he had a double ear infection that I caught the day before we flew to Omaha.  The flight was NOT very fun with poor Reid.  Paul's mom Anne also arrived Saturday afternoon, so it was a crazy day!  The unloaded all day Saturday and Sunday.  They were really nice men, who did an excellent job!  It felt weird not having them around once they left.

Anne was so helpful in taking care of the kids while I unpacked for several hours each day.  We did lots of Christmas shopping and birthday shopping while she was here and she baked way too many goodies for us.  

We celebrated a bit for Reid's birthday and let him open Grandma Anne's gift: Little People Zoo

He loves playing with toys while laying down!

We sang happy birthday and everyone ate cupcakes including Reid!

It was great to have Anne here because she also helped us not feel so homesick for Atlanta. It took me about 2 weeks and I had the house unpacked and a lot of things hung up.  We've not been here over a month and we're pretty much done with everything but the garage!

Leaving Atlanta

I don't even like writing the title to this post.  It still makes me sad and lonely to think about that fact that we packed up our whole house and left Georgia.  We lived there for 4 years which is longer than we have lived anywhere since being married.  We've been gone over a month now and it's still hard some days.  We miss our friends a lot, especially the Heinholds.  We became great friends with them over the past few years, such good friends that we now consider them family. Hayden still cries because she misses her best friend Savannah.  Before we left Atlanta we got these best friend necklaces for the two of them.

Before we left, Stephanie Heinhold was nice enough to throw us a goodbye party.  Here are some pics of the food and festivities...

How cute are these two?  Michael and Reid

On November 8th our movers came and packed for 2 days, loaded for 2 days, drove for 3 days, and unloaded in Omaha for 2 days.  We had the same two men for the entire process and grew to really enjoy their company.  They were great men and very professional movers.  We liked them so much we told them we were definitely requesting them again next time we moved.  Jeff built Hayden a pirate ship to play in, drew pictures on the boxes in her room, let her see inside his big truck...Seriously went above and beyond.

After they loaded everything on Tuesday I began the cleaning process.  Paul and I got most of it done and then that night Stephanie went with me to finish up the last of it.  Here we are saying goodbye to our house.

Tuesday night and Wednesday were spent with our favorite family.  They were so kind to let us sleep at their house, eat their food, and enjoy their company.  On Thursday Stephanie took us to the airport and we said goodbye to Georgia.  Even typing this a month later and tears well up in my eyes.  We have moved 5 times since being married and it never gets any easier.  I get to attached to people and then it's so hard to say goodbye.  Thank goodness for phones!  

I know we will grow to love Omaha as well, but we are still mourning the loss of Georgia at the moment!

Halloween

Fall was super busy, with Hayden's birthday, house hunting, mastitis two times, Hayden's surgery and selling our house!  Halloween just flew right by.  But I managed to pull some costumes together.  We went to the Mendenhalls Halloween party where we all dressed up.  I also got creative and made this fun treat I saw on pinterest.

Snow White

Evil Stepmother, the poison apple and Snow White

and Doc

Here we are at the end of the party, we should have tried for a picture at the beginning, Hayden's hair was a mess and Reid was done!

Reid did NOT like pumpkins!  

This was Hayden's first year since she was a baby actually scooping out the guts

Ward Trunk or Treat, eating with the Heinholds

There were lots of Snow Whites!

AMAZING face painters!

Lizzie Heinhold sure loves Reid

The McLeod Children

Hayden and Savannah

Stephanie and Reid

I don't know where my pics are from the actual day of Halloween!  It was freezing cold and rained on us, so I didn't bring the camera while we trick or treated.  But we had dinner with the Heinholds and had a great time despite the weather.

Hayden's 3rd Surgery!

Hayden really loves her ENT doctor, Michael Vick!  She has had her adenoids, tonsils, and now a cyst removed all within the last 3 years.  Last summer one of Hayden's cousins noticed a bump on her throat, right where an adams apple would be.  She asked me what it was and I had no idea, so I brought it up at her 5 year check up.  The Dr. told me it looked like a thryoglossal duct cyst and sent me to the ENT.  After an ultrasound, Dr. Vick agreed with the diagnosis and we scheduled surgery.

Grandma Kathy felt so bad for Hayden having her 3rd surgery that she sent Hayden a Build-A-Bear gift card.  The day before the surgery Hayden and I went for our first time!

The next day we woke up really early and got her all checked in.  Hayden was brave as usual and an excellent patient.  All the nurses said she must be a special girl because they said Dr. Vick was especially sweet with her.  After the surgery the Dr. told me he wasn't so sure it was a thyroglossal cyst because it looked different, so they sent it in for testing and sure enough it was a regular cyst.  This was good because it was much less complicated to remove and there was no risk of messing up her thyroid gland.

She was a bit weepy after surgery which is normal the nurses said.  We got home and she got unlimited movies and cuddle time!  Her scar is healing well and hopefully it will fade with time.  She is one brave girl!

11 Months

November 5th was right before the moving process began and it was kind of nuts at our house.  You can tell by the lack of pictures I got how busy we were!  But here is our little man...

This kid has a full head of hair!  Oh what I could have done had Hayden's grown like this!  Paul is itching to cut it, but I'm just not ready.

I've been jotting down a list of things I don't want to forget about Reid at 11 months:

• He likes to try and feed dad, but only does this with dad
• LOVES eggs, the kids goes nuts for them
• Loves most all fruits
• Exploring everything, will crawl away from us and get to another room and then cry and wait for us to come get him instead of crawling back to us
• Attracted to any kind of wheel, but absolutely loves office chairs/dr. stools wheels
• Likes to play peek-a-boo
• Favorite way to play with toys is on his back using his feet more than his hands!  We like to call him little monkey