Back from Florida

We made it back from FL after 5 nights away from the girls. My coworker Michelle got married and we decided to have a little vacation as well.  Matt and I visited my good friend Stacey and her family for a day, went to the Tampa Bay Rays game, spent a couple days on the beach, ate great dinners and just relaxed.

Andrea, me and Michelle...we all work together

Ready for the beach wedding

Wedding reception

The girls were just wonderful for my parents while we were gone.  Even though the weather was too hot to play outside, they kept the girls busy and entertained by doing a variety of things.  My dad took Lyla to the small airport by their house to watch planes and she even got to sit in one, they took the girls to the Discovery Center, played in the play area in the mall and also had Lyla help by doing small chores around the house like watering plants, picking up sticks and doing dishes...her choice.  Hayden also decided she wanted to start walking everywhere instead of crawl!  She was walking 5+ steps at a time before we left but now she practically walks everywhere!

Just standing up like a pro!

 Eating ice cream

 Hayden just loves Lyla's rocking chair in her room.  Anytime I follow her upstairs, she jets to Lyla's room, takes off all of her stuffed animals on the chair and just sits and tries to rock in it.  This chair was my  Grandma Rex's when she was a little girl so it's very special to us!

Hayden thought it was hilarious putting things on her head one night.

Then Lyla had to follow suit and do the same!
Walking around like it's old news!

Hayden has also starting adding more words to her vocabulary.  She now says "baby" and "Ella" and I believe she has started to say "Lyla."  Dada will come some day!

We are getting ready for Hayden's 1st birthday party next weekend.  How can my little baby already be turning 1!  I just wish they would stay little forever!

Matt's new garage

Matt finally got his new garage a few weeks ago that he has wanted since we have moved in. Even though we had a 3 car garage, it wasn't enough with all of our toys and stuff that crowded it.  Now he has the chore to get everything moved in the new garage to straighten out and clean the old one!  I have a feeling this will become his "man cave" once the girls get a little older too!

Lyla's 3 year and Hayden's 10 month pictures!

We are here and some updates on Lyla

We have been keeping busy with the beginning of summer here at last!  I feel every weekend has been booked with something to do and it doesn't look like it will be ending anytime soon.  Not only have our weekends been busy, but Matt and I have been quite busy at work which seems like one of us is gone every week!  We have a few more weeks with that going on too!

The girls and I went back to IL a few weekends ago to see my cousin Jody and her 2 kids.  Lyla of course was shy right away but warmed up and then became best friends with Anne!  She didn't want her to go!

We have gotten the sprinkler out for Lyla since it has been so beautiful out.  She just loves it too!  I think we will either be swimming or using the sprinkler as much as we can this summer!

Lyla loves her new sunglasses I got her.  If you can also notice how long her hair is in this picture!  I haven't cut her hair in a while and decided that she needed one this weekend.  I think I did a decent job too!  At least I haven't seen any big mistakes yet!

New haircut!

We went to the lake today for Ella to go swimming and for Lyla to try out her new Buzz Lightyear fishing pole!  She caught 3 fish too (2 large mouth bass and a bluegill).  She even touched the worms and helped by putting the fish back in the water.  What a brave girl!  She loves spending time with her daddy!

Lyla and her bluegill

Lyla and her large mouth bass!

Keeping reading to gain updates on Hayden!

All About Hayden Jean

Hayden has been keeping us busy lately.  She has been walking around while holding onto the furniture, her shopping cart or anything she can get her hands on to for a few weeks now.  Also, she has been standing all by herself and continues to show us that she will be walking soon.  She took a couple steps in front of daddy and Grandma Brown last weekend so we know it's coming very soon!

She said her first word "mama" and continues to say it constantly.  I was excited (as with much practicing with her) that her first work was "mama" as Lyla said "dada" first!  She lately has been saying "dada" and "gaga" along with a lot of other "talking" which is fun to hear.

She loves going for walks in her stroller too.  She just laughs the whole time as she watches Ella and Lyla.  She seems like she is an outdoor girl just like Lyla too.  Whenever we have the front door open, she just stands there and looks outside.

Mother's Day picture!

We also had fun with Hayden catching the chickenpox a couple weeks ago!  On Friday May 18th, I noticed a few bumps on her head.  I ended up going out of town for a girls weekend that night and she woke up Saturday morning with bumps all over.  Matt took her to urgent care and ended up in the emergency room since she had a fever and was contagious.  She was pretty crabby all weekend for Matt but started to feel better on Sunday night.  Luckily, my mom came to watch her for 3 days so I didn't have to miss a whole week of work because Matt was out of town as well.  She was a lifesaver!  I took pictures of her everyday to see how she progressed.  She actually hardly scratched which was wonderful!  She still has a few bumps on her head but they are disappearing everyday.  We still have no idea how she caught this virus but I'm just glad that Lyla has not!  I have included a few pictures below on how she progressed through the week.

 When daddy came home on Friday, Hayden just wanted to cuddle with daddy.  Then 5 minutes later she just started bawling!  Maybe she was just upset with daddy leaving her for a week!

 Sister picture

Love my stroller!

Hayden in her pink kitty towel

Hayden also just figured out how to climb over the gate today!  She is a little monkey like Lyla!  Now we will have to think of something else to block her from the stairs!

That's it from the Brown's for now!