Happy 1st Birthday Hayden!

I can hardly believe it has been one year since Hayden entered our world. She has taught us so much about life and love. I had always heard of a mother's love, but you just don't get it fully until you have a child of your own - it is amazing! I never knew how much you could love another person, let alone one you just met moments prior, but that is the feeling I got the very first time I laid eyes on my sweet Hayden.

Here are bits and pieces of a letter that I wrote to Hayden when she was just a few weeks old. This is a letter that I will give to her when she is older, as you will see, it will make much more sense to her when she is an adult or at least maybe when she graduates High School. I honestly would not have thought to write this letter, but there was a spot in the back of her baby book that holds a "letter from mom" and a "letter from dad", so late one night, I took the liberty to write down some of my thoughts.

My dear sweet Hayden. Words can not describe the love I feel for you. The moment I found out I was pregnant with you I promised you that I would do whatever it took to protect you, honor you, and love you.

As I sit here now, watching you sleep, listening to your tiny little breaths I can't help but wonder what the future holds for you. This world that you live in, the one your Father and I brought you into, is a scary place. Things have changed so much from the childhood I had. I only hope you will find your place in it and thrive.

Things will not always make sense in your life, but always know that God has a plan for you and your future. As I was reading today I found a prayer that I will pray over you for years to come and I hope one day you will find comfort in these words, "God, please now my future see, make it clear where I should be. Open windows, close the doors, not my will, my God, but Yours."...

Family is so important and special. The family that God has placed you in is one of pure love and joy. Cherish all these moments growing up surrounded by your (possible future sibilings), Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins, because I promise you this, these days will pass by so quickly and before you know it, you will be starting a family of your own. It will be at that time that you will look back at the wonderful memories of your childhood and wonder where the time went, vanishing so quickly...

I am trying desperately to memorize the way your face looks right now, trying to take as many photographs of you to document this time in your life, not just for me, but for so you can see them one day as well...

I do want you to know you can do anything your heart desires, you have the future before you. God has given you special talents, talents that you may not even know yet, but He has a purpose for your life, one I hope you will find joy in. I have many dreams and hopes for you and your future, but this future is yours not mine, so always do what makes you happy, not just to please anyone else...

If I could make one suggestion it would be to read and travel, to learn as much as you can about this world that God created.

I grew up in a small town, but my heart had bigger dreams. I spent my childhood reading and dreaming of bigger places and as soon as I was able to start going I did. I hope one day I can show you the world!

Many parts were left out, reserved only for Hayden, but I did want to share part of my heart with you.

Here are a few pictures from the last 365 days...



















Happy 1st Birthday - we haved loved you every single moment for 365 days!!!

Hayden and Daddy

I don't really have much to say in this post, but would love to show you a few cute pictures from the last few days! I had to leave Sunday right after church to head to Mobile for the night, so Brian and I were in separate cars at church. He had Hadyen with him for that reason and because I had to keep nursery that morning and had to be there almost an hour before church started. He brought Hayden to nursery a little bit later so I could help before she arrived. When church was over, I got in my car and watched Brian and Hayden walk towards his truck, to me this was the sweetest picture so I stopped in the middle of the parking lot and grabbed my camera and zoomed in - I love Father/Daughter pictures!!



We have been working on her playroom the last week or so and Hayden loves to play in there. I had Hayden and we were playing, Brian was outside grilling shrimp and he walked over to the window to take a peek in, Hayden loved it and started tapping on the window at him and trying to climb out, too precious, as you can see! This child loves her Daddy.






Daddy bought Hayden a little play outfit during one of his father/daughter trips to Bass Pro Shops so I put her in it and started snapping fun pictures, I told you she was ready for the summer and the beach :)

Busy Weekend

I will try and post a few pictures either this weekend or next week, but our weekend is filling up! Actually we don't have anything that we have to do, but I like to plan some events to fill the days and expose Hayden to different activities, what can I say I am an event planner?

First today - I will be leaving work a little early this afternoon because I have to meet a lady from Perdido Beach Resort here in Montgomery, she is bringing me my signs that I left at her hotel in January, so after meeting her I will head home. I am hoping tonight we will either grill out and play outside and eat or we will go somewhere and grab a bite. I am leaning more to the side of grilling some shrimp out on the grill and eating together on our back patio. If we eat outside that means cleaning up the patio some, which I would like to do!

Saturday should be a good day and a hot one, so we are going to set up our new pool in the back yard and see what little Miss Priss thinks about this. There is also an event going on in Elmore that I have heard about for years, but never actually gone. I have always laughed at it, but it seems it might be some good, clean, family fun for us, if I can talk Brian into going - it is the Annual Antique Tractor Pull and Show. They have lots of kids activities, family fun, a bbq cook-out, etc. I thought it might be a good picture opportunity, but Brian doesn't seem up for it. So if we don't go, we will find something else to get into.

Sunday, I have to keep nursery at church that morning and I have to leave shortly after to head down to Mobile for a trade show that I am involved in. I don't like having to go out of town on weekends, but this will be a short trip, as I am coming back home late Monday! Next week doesn't seem to be any slower, quick line-up for my week:

Monday - Mobile
Tuesday - Golf Tournament at Lagoon
Wednesday - CDS Meeting in Birmingham
Thursday - finally back in the office for a day, should be pretty busy
Friday - Proclamation Signing Ceremony with the Governor
Saturday - Pre-wedding shower/party for a sweet couple that Brian went to school with
Sunday - Church (maybe we will be back on schedule, I have kept Hayden out of church since Easter Sunday, since she has been sick since then and it seems to be from church that she picks up everything)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Bags Are Packed!

We are so ready to go the beach! Brian and I refer to the beach at least once to each other every single day. We usually go to the beach a lot, but we haven't been yet this year and we are itching to go. So for weeks now I have been buying things for our family beach vacation and needless to say, if we got a call right now, we could leave at a moment's notice and have everything we need.

We have all our beach clothes, bathing suits, sun block, flotation devices for Hayden, swim diapers, swim suit cover-ups, sunglasses, beach/pool shoes, little and big chairs, sun visors, cute, adorable little beach outfits for Hayden, our camera, video camera, and beach toys! We are so ready to go!!

My parents have been doing this family vacation for years, almost as long as I can remember and we cherish this time together. I can't think of any other way I would want to spend a week than at the beach with my family. I can't wait for Hayden to have these memories with her grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles and Brian and I at the beach every summer!

We usually go once or twice more during the summer, so this won't be Hayden's only trip - I hope she learns to love the beach just as much as we do, think of the fun we will have. Now if we could just figure out a trip to the mountains every fall or winter, then we would be set :)

Thought I would leave you with this - see I told you our bags are packed, isn't this all we need???

Happy Mother's Day!

I am a Mother, really? It is so hard for me to believe that I am already a Mother, I mean I know I am 30 years old (will be 31 in a few months), but in my mind (not my body) I still feel like a 21 year old kid. I still roll out of bed, half expecting to look out my window and be back in Auburn, throw on some work-out clothes and walk to class or catch a baseball game on a beautiful Spring afternoon - where did the time go? As good as those days were, they don't hold a candle to my life now. I am a Mom and I couldn't ask for anything better in the entire world.

Being a Mother brings with it new worries and fears that I never knew were possible. I worry about Hayden all the time, when I am not with her she is ALWAYS on my mind. She consumes my thoughts, my prayers, and I want nothing more than to keep her safe and happy all the days of her life! I want to shelter her from some of the heartbreak that I know she will experience in life, most of these will be learning experinces and most are a necessary rite of passage. But being a girl is hard - girls are mean, boys are mean, the world is a mean place! But this is how we grow up, this is how we learn, so I know I can't shelter her from these events. But these are just a few of my worries. I am sure everyone that is a Mom, has had these fears at one time or another.

My very 1st Mother's Day was amazing! I couldn't have asked for a better day - Brian had a dozen roses delivered along with a dozen chocolate covered strawberries (seriously these were for Brian again). See the picture - aren't they beautiful??



Brian and Hayden took me out to lunch and we came back home and played and Brian set up her new playroom. It was so much fun - Hayden loves her new room and as soon as she woke up this morning she was off to her new playroom to play with her toys. These are the same toys that she didn't really want to play with all that much when they were in the den, but now that they are in her new room, they must feel like new toys. I know this will wear off in a day or so, but right now it is so much fun.

Happy Mother's Day out there to everyone who is a Mother, who dreams of being a Mother, or who still has their Mom here on earth. I couldn't ask for a better Mother myself. My Mother is amazing and has showed me how to love and how to hold back. Looking back I bet there were so many times when she wanted to grab me and be like really? Are you really about to do that? Are you really going to go out with that guy, again? But she didn't, she let me make my own mistakes and make them I did. But she was always there waiting for me on the other side. She really did know best - I suppose one day Hayden won't think I know what she is going through either, but I hope I have the restraint to let her make her own mistakes, just as my Mother did.

Here is Hayden at lunch, we love dining outside!!!

Did You Know We Got A Monkey?

Yep - It's offical we now have an 11-month old monkey! And we are so in love. Hayden climbs up and over EVERYTHING so I thought it was only appropriate to buy her some monkey pajamas! Her absolute favorite item is also her monkey rug in the floor. We can say "Hayden be sweet to the monkey" and she will walk over and lay her head down for a moment, too cute. Hayden also loves her Daddy - as you can see from one of the pictures below she is climbing over him. She does this frequently, she goes from one side to the other, head first! This child has no fear, scary really to think about what all the future will hold!