Grandma Anne Visits Georgia

Anne came out the first week of March to help while I had the majority of my daily doctors appointments and work conference.  It was such a relief to know that Hayden was taken care of, and I got to give my dear friends all a break from watching her!  We did a few fun things during the free time we had.  On Monday we drove up to North Georgia to the Cabbage Patch Babyland General Hospital!  This is outside of the hospital as we entered.

Inside they had all kinds of fun things for Hayden to sit on

At the hospital they have several live births that you can attend each day.  We got there just in time to watch mother cabbage deliver a baby girl.  They start off by giving mother cabbage an ultrasound.  Our screen went pink which indicated she was expecting a girl.  Then the Dr instructed us to help mother cabbage breath while he checked to see how far she had dilated.  He then gave her some green medicine that helped the labor along and she was ready to push.  The Dr told us it was lucky the baby was coming head first, otherwise it would have been a "branch" delivery!  It was pretty funny, watching and listening to the lingo the "doctor" used.  Once the baby was born he let the audience name her and then took her back to the nursery to conduct her first exam.  They weighed, measured, checked her breathing, and did an xray of her heart!  He then let each of the children hold her.

Here is Hayden and Grandma Anne in front of mother cabbage after giving birth

Hayden got to wonder through the cabbage patch and decide which baby she wanted to adopt.  She tried out lots of different ones but decided on this one.

We went to a nurse who helped us with the adoption paperwork.  Hayden named her baby Emma Anne Pratt.  Grandma Anne also made sure to get her a high chair, bib, and diaper bag full of all the essentials.  Hayden has played with Emma non stop since adopting her.  She feeds her each morning, changes her diaper, and lately she has even had to start disciplining Emma for hitting and saying bad words.  Sometimes I'll be walking around the house and find Emma in a corner in time-out.

After the Cabbage Patch Hospital we headed to Helen, GA where there is a German Town.  We walked around, had some lunch and treats of course, and headed home.  We met Paul at our new favorite restaurant, Taqueria Tsunami and enjoyed a yummy dinner.  Then Paul and I headed to Home Depot to buy a new stove since ours broke :(

Throughout the week Grandma Anne took Hayden to the park, played dress up, made play dough, went shopping.  They just had a great time together.  It was "Grandma's turn" to help Hayden with anything she needed help with, she didn't want help from me one bit!  Grandma also introduced Hayden to the movie Hocus Pocus.  Hayden is now on a witch kick and loves witch movies.  So Grandma Anne found Hocus Pocus and this is Hayden dressed up as the cute witch Sarah.  How funny is she!

The Saturday before Anne flew to Mississippi we went to Marietta Square to shop and go to the farmer's market.  Anne loves little downtown areas so I hope she had fun!

When Grandma Anne got out of the car, Hayden went nuts and was screaming and yelling for "my Grandma."  She just kept saying that over and over as she cried, "she's my grandma, she's my grandma."  Clearly they had a great time together.  Anne really knows how to play and show love to her grandchildren.  I'm so grateful she sacrificed a whole week of her life to come out and help us!

Valentine's Day

Paul has been on a roll since Christmas.  He is really good at being a thoughtful gift giver.  Valentines was so much for fun with our little Hayden.  All the holidays are. We went out to eat during our YMCA date night earlier in the month (Hayden goes to the Y from 5:30-9:30 for $5 and does all kinds of themed activities) so on Valentine's Paul brought home Five Guys and we exchanged some small gifts.  Paul put together a little jar and spray painted different colors on sticks to indicate different types of dates:  dates you can do at home, cheap dates, more expensive dates, dates that take planning, etc.  Then on each stick he wrote date night ideas.  How cute is he!  He then put together a cute date night bag to take turns filling.  It has been so fun having our monthly YMCA date night, we got lazy doing this after Hayden was born.

Hayden also had a Valentine's Day play group where they exchanged Valentine's Day Cards.  I decided to try something different and made play dough to exchange! (I don't know why but my picture won't rotate!)

Our whole family is obsessed with Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts, so we also celebrated by eating plenty of them!  They are sooooo good!

Big Girl Underwear!

Early in February I registered Hayden for preschool this fall.  Of course, one of the requirements is that she is fully potty trained.  Well I put my deposit in and started to freak out that she would NEVER be ready to potty train and that we would lose our money and she would not get to go to preschool.  All my experienced mother friends told me to wait until she was ready which I definitely agree is important, but then I started to read a potty training book and it said that if you have a stubborn child, this characteristic is not going away and if they are stubborn about potty training, they will never be ready.  So I began to ponder on what I did to help Hayden adjust in the past to things she resisted.  I started with the basics: food!  Hayden was never one of those babies who wanted to eat what I was eating, she was completely content with baby food and in fact ate most of the baby food vegetables until she was almost 2 years old!  To get Hayden to try "real" food, we literally had to force it down her throat.  Paul would pry her mouth open and I would shove it in so she could at least taste it.  It was crazy.

So I decided potty training would be about the same way.  I believe it was February 11th, I forced her into underwear with her kicking and screaming and trying to pull them off.  I held her arms down and let her thrash around for quite awhile as she begged to take them off.  We then began to talk about how the diaper fairy would be coming in a few days to take her diapers to babies who needed them and would leave her money in place.  She was devastated and begged for "my diapers."  She told me how diapers make her so happy over and over again.  It was sad.  But that day she had one accident and then didn't have an accident for about 4 straight days!  Overall she had about 4-5 accidents since February, so she did awesome.  I really wasn't thinking clearly when I began the whole process.  I had an appointment every day that week, so she potty trained while at several different houses and stores.  She didn't even get that time at home to figure it out!  The diaper fairy brought her money and she picked out a toy at the store.  She likes to tell everyone about the diaper fairy, so needless to say I have gotten some weird looks from people.  

I just can't believe how stubborn my little Hayden can be.  I feel like I am really going to have to push her to do the things I know she can do.  Clearly, she was ready to potty train with such few accidents.  Boy she is sure teaching me a lot :)  

Hayden and Dad the first day she potty trained.  Dad was so proud!

Hayden showing her Grandmas her big girl underwear on Facetime, she was so excited to show everyone!

I'm so excited for her to be able to go to preschool this fall.  She always says, "I go potty all by myself, so I go to preschool!"  She is beyond excited to start school.  She'll go 3 days a week from 9-1.  What will I do with all this time? 

Odds and Ends

Santa brought us a trampoline for Christmas this year and Paul and I finally set it up last weekend.  Hayden is in heaven but unfortunately will only go out with friends, mommy, or daddy, maybe once she gets used to it she'll go out on her own.  Maybe this will give me more motivation to go outside with her and begin to clean up our backyard to eventually lay sod this spring!

 Hayden's been playing at lots of friends houses lately as I've gone to doctors appointments weekly.  She loves to play with her friends and never wants to leave when I come to pick her up.  She is just a social butterfly and always greets her friends with a hug.  I can already tell her love language is physical touch.

Hayden is also obsessed with the movie Dolphin Tale right now. It's about an injured dolphin named Winter that loses her fin.  Here is Hayden mimicking the movie. She lays winter our on this and carries her around and treats her fin.

Hayden also said her 1st prayer in primary today.  I sadly had to go to another ward for my calling, but Paul went to help her and said she did great.  She wouldn't close her eyes, but he said that she said the prayer basically by herself and said it clearly.  I can't believe my little girl is saying prayers in primary, what next?

Happy Birthday To Me!

That's right, as of January 13th I am now 31 years old!  This was a much easier birthday than last year.  I have accepted that I am no longer in my 20's and I'm just trying to embrace the 30's and make them great. I had quite an amazing birthday celebration this year and felt very loved by all my friends and family.  Paul came up with a new tradition and that is that if your birthday falls on a Sunday then that means that you get to celebrate your birthday all weekend long.  So Friday Paul surprised me by first leaving me a note when I woke up that told me something special was going to happen and that I needed to be home at 1pm.  Then later in the morning he sent me a text to go and find an additional card he had written full of funny things.  Then at 1pm he came home and sent me on a little scavenger hunt.  The first stop was to get a pedicure which I haven't done since we lived in Cheyenne.  This was Hayden's gift to me.  Paul asked Hayden what she wanted to get me for my birthday and she immediately and without hesitation said, "toes, I want her to paint her toes!"  It was really nice to sit and relax and read while getting my toes done :)  After each stop I was suppose to call Paul and have him direct me to the next card (which were hidden throughout the car).  My last stop was Costco which was hilarious because I'd been telling him all week that I really needed to go and couldn't find the time, so he built that in as well.

Here's all my cards:

When I got home, Hayden was at our friends the Mendenhalls and Paul had made me dinner!  And not just any dinner, he went on pinterest and found 3 brand new recipes.  Seriously, look at his presentation too!

It tasted delicious!  I was so impressed with his dinner that I couldn't wait to see dessert.  He said, "are you ready to see dessert?" So I'm thinking it's going to be beautiful as well....

Poor Paul really struggles with our bundt pan.  I never seem to have any issues, but he is adamant that the pan needs to go!  Despite it's funny appearance, this was so moist and delicious.  A definite keeper.

After dinner we headed out to see Les Mis and had a great evening together.

Old age decided to remind me how old I was turning because the next morning I woke up at 5 am with excruciating back pain.  I've had some trouble on my upper right back the past year, but this was on my left side and I couldn't even get up.  After lots of IC Hot and heat, it started to get better after a few days, only to move to my right side.  The pain is still there and I actually had to start seeing a chiropractor.  I went 3 times last week and am finally starting to get some relief.  Apparently it is a lot of scar tissue from playing water polo and some other muscle issues.  Not fun, so much for trying to embrace the 30's.

So that night we headed out to celebrate by going to dinner at Henry's which is a Cajun restaurant that gets amazing reviews.  It was amazing as everyone said.  I got the Louisiana Oh La La which has been featured on many tv shows and Paul got the jambalaya.  I only got one picture of our night out and only really by default.  I went and bought some yellow paints and felt so self conscious in them, so I had Paul take a picture of me so I could see if I looked like a fool!    

I think the colored pants look cute on others, but I still feel pretty self conscious!  But I'm trying to branch out a bit :)  The shoes were my birthday present from Paul.  I love them!

The next day was my actual birthday and I got to open a few presents and then our dear friends the Heinholds had us over for dinner.  Seriously, 3 nights in a row not having to cook dinner.  It was awesome.  Paul got me an ice cream cake to share with our friends and we had a great birthday celebration.

Then the following Saturday, all my girlfriends and I went to Macaroni Grill to celebrate my birthday.  We had a great time chatting and catching up, while the dad's had their first Book Club and watched all the kids.  All my friends were so impressed with Paul's efforts to make my birthday special and said that their husbands were open to pointers :)  My friend Carolyn who organized the gathering decided to make me feel extra special and had each person tell me something they liked about me. While it was very embarrassing, it also made me feel very loved and special.

My free dessert!  I don't like being the center of attention, so I started to feel a bit uncomfortable at this point and Carolyn was trying to take a picture of me with my cake, but I wouldn't look at her!  I get a little overwhelmed!

2012 was a really rough year so I think my husband and friends banded together to make my birthday so special and to let me know they were there to support me. I received so many wonderful cards from friends who are far that touched me and was showered with love by all who live close.  Even as I write this I tear up at all the love and support I have received despite things not going the way I've wanted.  Thanks!

"Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam"

Hayden has been singing that song for about two years now, and today she actually became a Sunbeam!  I can't believe my little baby is now going to primary.  All my friends who serve in primary and her teacher said she was great the entire time.  They said she sang the songs she knew loud and sat with her arms folded in her seat the rest of the time.  I was so worried, but I am now relieved to know she knows how to act.  She got to make this crown and was pretty excited about it!

And speaking of "Sunbeams," I am truly blessed with amazing friends.  Throughout my life, highschool, college, grad school, the Air Force, and now, I have always made special bonds with people.  My friend Kim is one of my longest and most dear friends.  She herself has had a horrific year and yet she is still aware of me and the trials I am going through.  She sent me this package the other day and it couldn't have come at a better time.  Thanks again Kim!

New Years

While we are far from most family, we are lucky enough to be about 6 hours from Paul's oldest brothers family.  They live in Oxford, MS and we need to get out there more often.  We always have a great time and Hayden loves seeing her 4 boy cousins.  Their youngest Jett is now 2 1/2 and when Hayden and Jett weren't fighting over who got to ride the tricycle, they actually had a lot of fun together.  We left the Friday after Christmas and stayed until the New Year.  

Here is Paul, the kids always love playing with Paul wherever we go.  Quincy, Hayden and Cooper are piled on him!

Then I made Ozzie join in on another picture!

These 3 played so much together.  I was getting ready and came into the family room and found them like this, how cute are they?

 New Year's Eve we had an awesome dinner and opened those Holiday Crackers.  We have never done these before, but it may become a new tradition.  Hayden loved her crown and ring.  

Aunt Heidi and Quincy

Jett LOVED the sparkling apple cider, can you tell?

Hayden and I getting ready to toast to the New Year

I'm so glad we took a trip out to Mississippi to spend some time with Russ, Heidi, and their family.  They always make us feel so welcome and loved.  Hayden was so sad when we left and cried for quite awhile.  She talks about her cousins all the time and I always hear their names in her songs that she makes up as well as in her prayers.