Our First Out of Town Trip

Haylie's "Nest Egg" Sooo Cute
Visiting with Grandmom Holl
With both Grandmom and Grandpop Holl
Riding on Daddy--one of her favorite activities
Such a happy girlie

We took Haylie for her longest car ride yet, and an overnight hotel trip this weekend. She did pretty well considering it got her totally off her normal schedule. The sweet folks Rich works with threw us a baby shower yesterday at the college in Jackson, KY. That had been planned for awhile, but last week the dean asked if we could come to a cookout she was having at her house on Sunday night. Her daughter would be in from out of town, and she is interested in adopting from Russia, so she wanted to meet Haylie. She wasn't able to stay for the shower. So, long story short we went up Sunday afternoon (after going to my neice Julia's 12th birthday party) from Lexington to Jackson. It's about a 2 hour trip which so far is the longest Haylie has had to sit in one spell in her car seat. We went to the cookout which was just lovely, then spent the night in a hotel in Jackson. We had taken the pack-and-play for Haylie which worked out really well. Only thing, she normally goes to bed around 8-8:30, but she would NOT go to sleep with us still up in the hotel room. We tried putting her in bed with us, but she would just play and try to jump off the bed!! We finally went to bed ourselves around 10:30 so she would go to sleep too. I figured she would be cranky the next day, but she was just a little angel for the shower. Of course she was the hit of the party, and everyone marveld how much she looks like Rich. We got lots of wonderful gifts--everyone has been sooooo generous. Haylie remains the best dressed little girl in town thanks to all of the wonderful gifts she has gotten. I forgot to take my camera to the shower, but somebody he works with was taking pictures and will forward them on. I'll try and post some when we get them.

Because I'm such a procrastinator, I forgot to post pictures of the shower that my friends at work gave us when I came back. They knew that our church shower had provided lots of clothes, so they had a great idea for the little girl who has everything. They got her the cutest little bank that says "My Nest Egg" and filled it with money!! Again, everyone was so generous. We are going to litterally save it for her for when she gets bigger--who knows maybe the start of her college fund!!

I'm also posting some recent pictures of when Rich's parents visited from Florida. It was their first time seeing Haylie, who is their only grandchild. So of course they had a big time and we had a really nice visit with them. She really rates, as this was only the 3rd time they have visited us in the 11 years we've been married.

Family Picture

I'm posting a picture of the entire family that was taken at church for our directory. It's one of the few of all 3 of us that we have, and even more rare of us all dressed up!! It's hard to get a group shot when I have to take the picture. I know, I know I could do the self-timer, but holding Haylie still long enough to get it set up would be a nightmare!! So, I didn't think this one turned out too badly. I intend to take Haylie to get some professional pictures done soon, and send them out to everybody. But seems like every weekend is taken up with other "must do's".

Our Booster is growing up and learning new things so fast. We don't go back to the doctor for an official weigh-in for another couple of weeks, but I'm sure she's gained weight and also length since she is quickly growing out of her 12 month size clothes. She's even starting to get a little belly on her!! She is now saying "hello, bye-bye, mama, dada, cracker, and thank you". She absolutely loves the telephone and to her everything is a telephone. Pens, toys, papers, you name it. Yesterday, she even picked up a sock and put it to her ear and said "ell-o".

We had 1st Steps evaluate her and started speech and occupational therapy, just because she was behind a little, and also because of the whole not eating solid foods issue. The big news is that just within the last week she has started eating goldfish, cheerios, and some stage 3 baby food--yahoo!! It was like she flipped a switch and just started sticking them in her mouth and swallowing. That was before ANY OT visits. The therapist was amazed and says she really doesn't need to work with her any more for that. The speech therapist also was amazed at how quickly she has started picking up words. Guess we'll continue that, but doesn't seem like we'll need to for long. She is just a little genius as my mother has predicted all along!!

Happy Easter--(a week late)

Here are some great pictures of my girl on Easter. She looked so adorable in her Easter dress my sister Lisa gave her. Unfortuneately, she didn't want to pose so there isn't a great picture of her where you can see the whole outfit, but you can get the idea. Then, after church we changed her into another adorable Easter outfit Aunt Lisa got her. She also loved her 2 Easter Baskets--one from Grandma and another from Mom & Dad via the Easter Bunny. Aunt Marcia and Julia got her a great beach wagon and sand bucket & shovel which she loved. It was such a nice Easter--it was so nice to have a little one to enjoy the fun with. We are so thankful to God who blessed us with such a precious little girl.