**Just a warning before you read this - there are 47 pictures in this blog update, therefore, for time sake and for my sanity, the quality of the photos have been reduced. If you want a copy of the picture, please email me and I will send the quality photo to you directly.
Last Tuesday we set off on our travels to the lovely Asheville, North Carolina. After a 2 hour drive, then a 2 hour flight delay, a 2 hour flight, then another 2 hour drive, we finally made it to Dad's house. Hayley helped me pack.
Dave and I really wanted to do nothing busy, difficult, tiring, or loud on this trip. We wanted to relax, visit, and enjoy our time away. Turns out, work wise, it was a very difficult time for Dave to go away, but after a day or so he was able to relax and get into the mood. On Thursday morning, we headed over to Asha and Jacob's after Hayley's nap to meet Josiah and visit with Asha and Nora. We had planned to go back out there later in the week, but in fact ended up not doing so, so I don't have any pictures of the AMAZING tree house Jacob built for Nora in the back. But just take my word for it, it's huge and fabulous and she can camp out in there with a sleeping bag and well, it is just perfect. I was very proud of my brother to see him do that! Here are a couple pics of the visit there. Nora was very into Hayley and wanted to show her everything and explain everything to her and hug her and walk her around and show her all her toys and...and...and...phew! Nora did eventually settle down, but it was very overwhelming at first, and absolutely adorable. She just was so excited to see us!
This was my first time holding JJ (as I so warmly like to call him). I didn't get to hold him much because you know who was very jealous. But when I did, I could feel the baby envy inside of me lighting up! I want another one!
She loved the rocking horse. Nora loved showing it to her.
After lunch we took Nora with us to Dad's and Asha went to Josiah's one month appointment and was going to meet up with us later for dinner. Nora is an amazing 4 year old. She is incredibly smart and funny. While Hayley and Dave napped, we went to the grocery store to get a couple things for dinner and the week. I stopped at the deli to get some turkey and cheese and I asked her what she was going to be for Halloween. She said she was going to be a loaf of bread. She said she was going to wrap herself up in brown paper! It was so cute! I asked Asha later and she said she had no idea where that came from, it was a new one to her, and she comes up with a new idea everyday. She is so creative, it's hilarious!
This week was awesome in so many ways, but the most awesome of all is that Hayley began to walk. Now, she has been taking steps here and there and gradually going between Dave and I or from the couch to the window, but never just walked to actually get somewhere. She finally discovered it's easier and faster to walk, and off she went. It is amazing how much she has changed just in one week. She is such a big girl now! I am so proud of her and just love watching her walk everywhere. I grab the video camera as much as I can, but so often I just find myself admiring her and forgetting, because I am such a proud Mama.
Of course, Hayley is a huge fan of dogs, and Otis was no exception. She chased him around everywhere and even climbed into his crate!
This became a very common place for Jacob. Josiah liked to be jostled on the sofa like this a lot. This picture had to be taken on the first night. When he came in, Hayley took one look at him and started bawling hysterical tears and clinging to Dave's neck for dear life. His beard was very scary and she just was terrified of him! So the next morning, he shaved his beard off. On Tuesday morning before we left, she finally let him hold her and gave him a hug, but that was it. It took a whole week for her to warm up to him. Poor Jacob, he was so bummed. But it's just her age. And what 13 month old wouldn't be scared of a hairy beast like that?
Ann was trying to get Hayley to keep her bib on, so she put one on too.
Dad hung a swing up for her in the backyard, a lot like the one we have here and of course she loved it and was in there everyday.
On Friday night we went to Marshall and had pizza and they had a "petting zoo", which turned out to be 2 horses, a bunny, and a couple of goats. Here is Nora holding the goat. Hayley loved the animals and was crying out and reaching for them all but when we brought her close, she would bury her head into us and act afraid. It was very difficult finding a happy medium with her.
On Saturday we went to the Nature Center. It is a really cool place that has wolves, coyotes, bobcats, bears, deer, all locally bread animals. It was very cool to see them all so close, especially the bears. They too had a petting zoo, which Nora loved, but Hayley was once again very afraid. She refused to pet the sheep. Here she is feeding the goat a leaf.
My gorgeous niece!!
Here is JJ asleep in his bouncy. He doesn't sleep nearly as much as Nora did when she was a baby, but looking at all my pictures now it sure seems that way. I hardly took any with his eyes open!
Hayley really loved him and wanted to express it so she was hugging and "kissing" (her kiss is more like a bite, but she doesn't meet to be mean, she really is trying to kiss) him. He wasn't much of a fan.
See, he shaved his beard, but in the same position as the day before.
Hayley also loved climbing into his bouncy seat. She is very into baby seats, baby swings, jumpers, not sure why, but she loves getting in them.
On Sunday we decided to just hang by the pool and go swimming. Unfortunately, the heater on the pool went kaputz when dad tried to turn it on so it was a refreshing 72 degrees. Only Nora and Dave were brave enough to go in.
Hayley sat on the float instead.
This is what Dad did while we were all out at the pool. I just love this picture so much! Even the coffee cup is still in his hand, but he and Josiah are both snoozing away. It was so sweet!
The hot tub was much warmer.
Typical Jacob, sticking his son in Dad's sneakers. He really looks like he's enjoying this torture, ehem, I mean adventure.
Big sister and little brother.
So the week went by and we did very little, almost nothing, but it was so great to visit. I can't believe it has been a year since we last saw Asha. We just fell right back into things like we saw each other yesterday. This is what I love about my relationship with my sister-in-law, we can be best friends and live 1,000 miles apart and the distance does nothing to our friendship. It was like I saw her yesterday. I really feel so lucky to be so close to Asha. We hit it off so quickly 10 years ago, and have been friends avar since. We are so different, but it doesn't even seem to matter. I think it fact it makes us closer. Hayley did not sleep well over the week, which I think is to be expected since she was away from home, but it certainly was exhausting for us being up in the middle of the night with her a lot. The last night Dave and I left her and went out to dinner just the two of us and she really warmed to the girls and Dad and Ann a lot more. Hindsight, we should have left her sooner her to break her in a bot, but oh well...Lesson learned. In the end, we had a wonderful visit. It was so great to see everyone. The best part is everyone is coming to Connecticut for Christmas this year, so we don't have to wait long to see each other again!
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