Life With Lindsey: So, who's ready for an UPDATE?!?!

I had to look back to see where I left off and well, let's just say this is NOT going to be short. I will try to keep this as short as possible, and skip on most of the details, but to be honest, this will be the first time I've really had to think about what has happened over the last 11 months.

Last time I posted on here Haley was only 9 months old. Haley is now 18 months old. She weighs 24lbs and is 32inches tall. She is walking, saying about 35 or so words, sleeping VERY well, eating everything we eat, giving hugs and kisses, speaking in her alien language, enjoying being outside and everything else a normal 18 month old does :)

Then...

and now...

My father passed away on Saturday, November 28, 2009. If you remember he was suffering from Stage 4 Glioblastoma (brain cancer). My mother passed away on early Monday, December 1, 2009. She was admitted into the hospital three weeks prior with double pneumonia. Blood clots, surgeries, blood transfusions, internal bleeding, ventilators, sedatives, a few good days, and even more bad days later that was the end.

December was filled with funeral planning, funeral attending, cleaning, moving, lawyers, Christmas shopping, Christmas planning, and Christmas events. I was glad to stay busy!

January was filled with more cleaning, painting, moving, and remodeling. We had a big hoo-rah for my birthday and went to dinner at Bubba Gump followed by a night of bowling.

February is when Haley learned to crawl. Our lives changed dramatically. We spent most of the month discovering the joys of mobility, and working around the new house (we moved into my mom and dads house.)

March was busy. Haley "mastered" crawling. We went a little overboard with Haley's first birthday party, but it was a blast and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. We went to the Strawberry Festival with Brian's family; I'd never been before. Everyone had a great time and Haley rode her very first train ride and carousel. Haley also went to her first Easter egg hunt. Unfortunately, the weather was bad and the hunt was held inside.

In April I got a new DSL-R camera. I still haven't really had time to learn all about it yet, but it gives me something to do. We also went on a picnic at the playground on Easter for dinner. I think this may become a tradition.

May meant water, sunshine, and the beaches for us. We enjoyed lots of sunshine and got a lot of work done on the house...The house pictures are from May, I might have some newer ones somewhere down the line.

June: I don't remember much from June. Brian was working in Orlando so we had lots of mommy and baby time. Haley also took her first steps in June. It was out of nowhere. I remember getting up and walking to the kitchen, I look back just in time to see Haley go from leaning against the couch to taking about 10 steps to the middle of the living room...yeah, I cried a little.

July was more typical summer activities. After taking her first steps in June, by the end of July she was practically a pro :)

August: Being in Florida you have to expect the summers to be pretty uneventful because the weather is so painfully hot! Despite the heat we manage to spend the majority of our time outside...at the same time, there is always a day a two we don't see the light of day; we call them pajama days. Two interesting things that happened this month are that we got to go to Ft. Myers and meet a mommy friend of mine and VBS. We also "birthed" 3 new kittens...they are self-explanatory :-/

When I was pregnant I somehow came across a group of moms who were due during the same month as me. Quite a few of us really "cliqued." Anyways, one of the mamas only lives about 4 hours from here and we decided to meet up halfway and let the kids play. Everyone thought this was weird, which sure, meeting someone off the Internet is kind of weird, add in the fact the common factor in the equation is children = clearly a child abductor! But I was confident that one of my "best-friends" was in fact NOT.A.CHILD.ABDUCTOR! We went to a children's hands on museum in Ft. Myers and had a great time. After that we headed to McDonald's for lunch. It was so much fun seeing Haley playing and interacting with someone who is only 2 weeks older than her. It was a GREAT time. We actually met up with Courtney and Ada again in September when we went to Boca Raton with Brian for work.

VBS was a blast! This was Haley's first Vacation Bible School and I am sooo excited for the years to come. We started going to my Aunt's church in February. We go on Wednesday nights for Bible Study. There is usually only 1 or 2 other kids and they basically just sing songs, learn about the bible, do crafts, have snacks and play together. Haley isn't around other kids too often and I'm rarely around other adults, so we both look forward to Wednesday night Bible class.

exploring the jungle at VBS...

Haley and her friends at VBS...

Very Pregnant kitty...

Brand new kittens...

and some pictures of the house, as promised...

September: Things have really slowed down lately (probably why I finally have time to catch up on my blog.) At the beginning of the month we went with Brian to Boca Raton for work. Haley and I hung out with Courtney, Ada, and Akay most of the day. We were really only there for about a day and a half but it was still fun. We went to an indoor playground and a splash park. This was Haley's first time staying the night somewhere since she was about 6 months old. She is very picky about her crib (I can't even take the bumper out) and I was worried how she'd sleep. With good reason too, we left on a Monday evening, after a BBQ and swimming all day, she didn't get a nap, so I figured she would fall asleep on the 4 hour drive...did.not.happen...I figured once she had some food, a bath, pajamas and bottle, she'd be very willing to lay down and go to sleep...did.not.happen...finally, around 3am, I turned the lights off, tv off, and Haley laid down on a pillow that was on the floor and fell asleep! Luckily the hotel room was a suite, and the living room area was separate from the sleeping area, Brian had to work at 6am, since he wasn't on vacation. The rest of the trip was very smooth, Haley got a great nap the second day and was asleep by 11pm that night! I was even contemplating about coming back in a few weeks when Brian had to go back, BUT...

The next day...Brian was laid off!!! Booo! I don't know what's next for him, maybe school, or starting his own business. So far he's just been kinda hanging around the house (another reason I finally found time to blog), bonding with Haley, and trying to discover what he's interested in.