Meeting in the Middle

Our little sweetie pie- taken last week 

Mother's Day 2011 my gift from Allen and Hayleigh 

As Hayleigh's 1st birthday is rapidly approaching, I find myself reflecting back on the year we have had, along with years past, trying to make sense of it all. I have found that lately I have been telling Allen, "I just don't get it" about a lot of things that have happened or are currently underway right now. Growing up is tough...you are no longer allowed to be naive about things anymore- especially when you have someone else to worry about and protect. There are things from the past, I don't want to have happen to Hayleigh, that both Allen and I have experienced, and there are things that are going on now, that leave me scratching my head and saying whoa... People change, everything changes... Hayleigh is proof of this to me- 10 months old now- wow! We are trying to change as we grow older for the better, but it seems like almost everything I try to cling to around me wants to change in an opposite direction. Allen and I can both agree on one thing- that new baby smell has worn off for some people around us... I just hope that those people don't want to jump back and forth and dabble with Hayleigh and then be gone completely for months or years before deciding, if they even do, that they should have spent more time with her, or tried a little harder. We can't keep accommodating for everyone- they all know where we live, and we would like to spend some weekends at home. I just wish that some people would take the time to visit us, every once in a while, instead of complaining that we haven't been over in a while, or they haven't seen Hayleigh in a long time. Everyone close to us lives within 10 miles of us. We have been trying to also figure out what we want to do this year.. vacations at home sound soo great to us~ just to have a "normal" week at home with Hayleigh, eating supper together every night, taking walks every night, go to the pool, the zoo, and just RELAX! We don't get much of that time because we are either gone, or trying to get stuff done around the house, and Allen only gets 1 week of vacation.

Mothers Day this year was great- Allen and Hayleigh got me a gazebo that I helped assemble. We had a party on Sunday, with our neighbors, my sister-n-law, brother-n-law to be, niece, and Allen's grandparents. My mom had to work, and the rest of my family I guess had other plans. It was a really nice evening- weather was great. Allen cooked, and cleaned, did laundry, babysit while I mowed the yard, and let me take a 2 hour nap with Hayleigh so he could get stuff done. As usual we had entirely way too much food- Allen smoked a beef brisket, pork butt, beef ribs and pork spare ribs, and also made a cherry delight too. What a keeper huh?! After dinner we enjoyed playing with all of the kids, and then watched the guys partake in a snake killing- they killed 3 blue racer snakes that were tangled in netting behind our shed. Ughhhhhkkkk! We all hate snakes!

In other news, we are getting Hayleigh's ears pierced this weekend- something that I have managed to put off for too long now. Also, instead of getting Hayleigh's 9 month pictures taken, we are looking at getting 11 month pictures, and meeting in the middle, due to our photographer moving, and our schedules haven't jived. I am excited to have our 2nd photo shoot at our home for Hayleigh's next pictures- the last time we did this was for Hayleigh's newborn pictures and my maternity. We also just got Hayleigh her first pool today- small bubble gum pink plastic one, so we can put Hayleigh's two swim suits to use, and I can start working on my tan once again. Hayleigh's sleep issues are doing better. She did not fight me tonight, so far... I'm hoping it is all about her top two teeth trying to pop through, since she has been an excellent sleeper until now.