Changes

If anyone still reads this, I apologize! We've had so much going on lately that I just haven't been able to find time to sit down & blog! Seriously, I don't even know where to begin. I suppose we'll start with my dear, sweet Hannah's 1st birthday:

She had a great birthday & an even better birthday party! On her actual birthday, we just hung around the house & played. We got her a Little Tikes princess cozy coupe for her so she was pretty much in love with us pushing her all around the yard in it for most of the day. We were going to take her to the zoo, but it was so hot that day & the original plan of getting there early so we could somewhat beat the heat didn't really work out. We had a really nice day at home though & it was nice for Rick & I to just relax (and I use that term loosely since we have a one year old to chase around) and enjoy our little one.

Her party turned out great as well. She had a wonderful time & loved every minute of it. She's been a party girl from the get-go though, anytime there's a party, she has to be right up in the mix. It was super hot that day too, so hot in fact that I lost like 4 balloons to the heat just trying to put them in my car when I picked them up at the store! We made the best of it though & hung out inside for the most part. She was still scared of the cake, she loved it when I fed it to her, but had no desire to really dig into it, guess we really do have a little princess on our hands. She received so many wonderful gifts including a college fund from one of her many great grandma's. It was truly a great day to visit with family & friends & celebrate my little girl's 1st year of life, and what a year it has been!

Ok, onto other news... well, we did in fact get the house! We closed the last week in August & moved in Labor Day weekend. I didn't think we'd be able to get it all done in time to move in a week, but we made it work! We had to come in & tear down wallpaper & then paint. We ended up not getting to our bedroom, the spare bedroom or the bathroom, but I figure we have plenty of time for that. We were at least able to get the kitchen, dining area, living room and Hannah's room done so I'm happy with that for now. We're still getting settled in & we have boxes in the basement and the garage that I swear will be there until the end of time, but we did sign a 30 year mortgage so we'll see which comes 1st. Seriously though, I know we'll get through it all, we at least have the everyday things unpacked, now it's just a matter of organizing things. Disorganized or not though, it's so great to have a place to call our own as well as a home we can raise Hannah in and create a lifetime of memories.

Hannah has done wonderful with the move! As I mentioned in a previous post, I was super worried about her & how she would adjust, but I swear I worried for nothing. I think we were here for maybe 3 or 4 days & it was like this had always been her house & that she'd never lived anywhere else. *huge sigh of relief from this mama* She now spends her days crawling all over the place, chasing the cats. She loves Bubba the most & I think he loves her just as much. She loves to pet him & lay on him & he just lays there & lets her do it. They're so cute together & "Bubba" was actually her very first word! Guess I know where I stand =) She's getting closer to walking, in fact today she took 5 steps on her own! When she started pulling up, I really thought she'd be walking before her birthday, but I suppose she just wasn't ready, which is fine with me since I'd love for her to stay my little baby for as long as possible.

Last piece of news: I have decided to return to work full time. It took a lot for me to come to this decision, but it's really the best thing I can do for our family right now. Everything has just sort of fallen into place and I honestly feel that this is where the Lord wants me to be for now anyway. While I've loved being at home with Hannah for the past 13 almost 14 months, and I'm going to miss her like crazy, the numbers don't lie. We're going to see a significant increase in our household income even after paying for childcare. Don't get me wrong, we're making it on what we have right now, but it's kind of tight & there isn't a whole lot of wiggle room for unforeseen expenses, and let's face it people, owning a home comes with lots of those. It's actually working out really great, Hannah will go to my friend's house 2 1/2 days a week & will be home all day on the others. Like I said, I'm going to miss her like crazy being away from her for an extra 20 hours a week, but I think being around other kids her age will be good for her and it isn't a daycare which Rick & myself had already decided long ago wasn't for our family. It will definitely be a transition for all of us and I'm not saying that it will be easy, but I know that we'll make it work. Hannah is so resilient, I'm sure it will be harder on me than it is on her.

Well, that's it for now. Now that we have our wireless internet hooked up in the new house (I use the Macbook for blogging) I hope to not be away for so long again!