Catching Up

So much has happened in a month. With the house, the little boy and the little girl within. We traveled back to Kansas to visit family. We won't be visiting again until spring when we can introduce our newest little addition. So we had a lot of people to visit with Hayden. He'll have to share the spotlight from now on so I hope he enjoyed the singular attention.





















We (and by we I mean, A LOT Derrick, some work that we are grateful for by our parents, and me when I can secure someone to watch Hayden as a toddler in a construction zone is not the safest thing) have mostly been consumed with the house. This week should bring some great change to the house as cabinets will be installed. Derrick has masterfully tiled 2 bathrooms and a kitchen with a little more to go. He pretty much has a second job as my contractor at this point. The pictures capture some of what we have done. Its amazing how much prep work has to go into something before you can even begin the final rebuilding process. You don't just paint a wall. You have to repair holes, sometimes re-texture, then prime, then roll and trim a ceiling twice, then roll and trim the walls twice with paint. And that's just to paint. HGTV makes it look so much faster. But we're moving along.


The master bath-missing cabinetry and shower and toilet still. Will be one of the last things done completely.











Hall bath-missing cabinetry (this week) and toilet.










Family Room- trim and carpet








Kitchen - cabinets (this week) and countertops and appliances (the following week.) Also Derrick has completely tiled this area since I took these pictures a day ago.







As for Hayden, he is just a little parrot. He is picking up words left and right and stringing them together to make sentences. His language development is amazing to watch. He also loves to imitate movement (especially with his daddy and grandpa.) He comes into a room and Derrick is leaning against a post, Hayden will lean against the post. Grandpa (or Manka, as Hayden refers to him) thought it was especially funny to get him walking sideways while he was visiting here. Hayden LOVES anything with a motor and loves playing with cars and trucks. He has 2 Hot Wheels cars and one he refers to as his "fast car" and the other is his "cool car". He was amazed that a fire truck honked so loud the other day too that we keep bringing it up by saying "big truck honk" . Of course it is not as clear as you and I say it. Luckily, I speak toddler. It is more like "fa car" and "coo car" and "big guck onk." He is also doing a stellar job feeding himself with spoon and fork (no knives yet :) and he can know even handle small cups. Not that he's all that interested in eating because he'd rather play all the time. I also finally caved and bought some Sesame Street DVD's and he loves Elmo. All this time that voice has just grated on me. Its amazing what you can push through though when your little one gets so much joy from it. He loves to color (and always manages to find permanent markers laying around which I swiftly exchange for crayons and paper.) He loves to ride on his little cart, play in water (if a baby pool is not available, then a dog water bowl will suffice even if we just stand in it with our socks on.) He loves to be "outide" and gets very upset when the door is shut (as we are trying not to cool the still 90+ temperatures.) Anyway, he is at such a fun age and everyday he makes me laugh and amazes me is some way. It is amazing to watch someone develop from birth. Despite the effort that goes into child rearing, I can't imagine missing a second of it and am looking forward to doing everything from the start. I feel like I took my days for granted until Hayden. I was always looking forward to the next thing in life whether that was graduating, getting married, and then having kids. Watching someone change so fast makes you realize you are too and that you should savor every moment of it. Its really easy to get caught up in things that won't matter a bit to you 10 or 20 years down the road. I look at these pictures and can feel the joy I had in the moment and I am just so grateful to have had each and every moment of them. I hope you all enjoy every moment of every day too, even the rough days.