Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Wings and Things


So Spring Time in San Antonio is an absolutely wonderful thing..
Now Summer on the other hand... we won't talk about Summer in San Antonio..

But Spring.. the weather is beautiful and a perfect warm and there is so much to do..



Unfortunately Emery doesn't quite know when she is supposed to be having the time of her life yet..


And maybe she gets that from me..


But at least Blake was cute.. {and brave}


And eventually our little Emery baby started to realize that we don't actually see birds eating on our arms everyday after all and warmed up to them..


I kind of have a feeling that she tried to grab one of them in fact because if you see above picture this little birdy seems like he was putting her in her little curious grabby girl place..

 

And eventually I kind of got my act together too.. kind of..


 & I think we were all ready for a round two.. or ya know maybe for a trip to the rain forest.. if someone could just work that out for that would be great too.


I love the little stage Emery is at.. she is so much more aware of things and seems like can see things a lot better and it's been seriously just an absolute joy to watch her seeing the world for the first time..


I mean.. that face.
It kills me..
As much as we have read The Hungry Caterpillar book you would think she would not be quite so perplexed..
Maybe she was thinking "hmm.. so these DO exist"


But the little kid in ME was in heaven at the butterfly pavilion..



And it's hard to tell in all of the pictures but they were just everywhere around us!






I even tried to sneak a couple of them home with us.. or I mean.. I would have been all for trying if I would have known they were so sneakily trying to hitch a ride..




And they actually were a lot harder to get to stay on you than you would think.. so we were all kind of celebrating this accomplishment.
I love Emery's little excited face!


She is a little slow to warm up to things but once she gets used to what's going on she can be soo cute and involved. 
And this picture I love.. 
Not because you can tell that the worker behind us knows that we are probably about to run off with all of her butterflies as you would suspect.. 
But I love that you can see some of the blue and orange butterflies around us.. this I think captures how the experience felt more than other pictures.


Oh she kills me..
But I think we were all pretty satisfied with our spring time morning..

I'm so grateful for the beautiful things in the world that make the bad seem not as bad.

Spring Time please stay forever.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

The Great Gatsby Ball


 Welcome to our first date night out as parents..
{& even though it took some coaxing from Blake and pep talks from myself}
I'm so glad that we went, it was just a dream.
I love this sort of thing..

Blake's Optometry school puts on a big ball every year
{they refer to it as the "Eye Ball" ha.ha.. those eye doctors think they got jokes..}
& This year it was Great Gatsby themed.. and true to it's name it was quite the PARTY.



Although I have to be honest and say with our budget I was a little stressed about this event and finding outfits for it without spending.. oh.. anything.
So I feel like I have to share this part because what a blessing it was that everything seemed to fall into place and work out perfectly..
Would you believe it if I told you that my ensemble ended up costing 8 dollars!? I found a dress at Goodwill and bought some fabric and I sewed {yes HAND sewed.. who have I become..} the sleeves and bottom part of the dress! It definitely wasn't the most beautiful piece of work at the party but Blake was sweet and told me I was beautiful and they let us through the door.
So I don't think I could have asked for anything more..

I also just want to add this little bit for my memory.. I had this thought the other day as I was making Emery's skirt and headband for Easter..
{seriously I do not sew clothes-or really would even say I sewed hardly before this last summer when I wanted to make Emery a cute nursery}
That some how I honestly feel so grateful for this stage of our life where we are having to live on hardly anything, although it can be stressful and don't get me wrong I will be grateful when it's over-
 I feel like we have developed {slightly by force..but nevertheless} so many new talents.

But anyway bringing it back to the party.. voila my MIRACLE of a creation of a ruffled dress..
:)


 This was pretty much the only picture I got that wasn't of us and that you can kind of see some of our friends (how beautiful are they) and this extravagant party.
 I hadn't been to a dance in YEARS and I have to say that I was kind of in awe at just how CLASSY everything was.. that is definitely not a word that I would have used to describe all of my previous dance experiences.
But they fed us one high class meal complete with a silverware lesson from this good guy at the edge of this picture on what to do when they give you two million forks and spoons.
{someone that likes doing dishes much more than I do must have come up with this rule of etiquette}
And then after large amounts of awards, expensive prizes, and scholarships to some lucky souls.. 
We had the most fun dancing experience.

I know I have said something about Blake's phenomenal dance moves before.. but anyone who hasn't seen this man of mine dance before should probably put it on their bucket list.
I wasn't quite sure if he was going to bust them out at this fancy ball or not.. but I guess he knew that the public would be the better for it.
I think we all left that night with sore ribs from laughing so hard.



And maybe by next years ball we will get lucky and I will be able to figure out how to work a photo booth and better impress my date..
who can really say.


P.S In case you were wondering what Emery did on her big night out..



Blake's perfect cousin Missy ((luckily)) moved to San Antonio around the same time we did and was so sweet to love on our baby girl for a night! 
Even though Emery looks really amused that we left her to go party.. I think they had a lot of fun.
Thanks Missy for making our night possible, you are the greatest and we love you!

Saturday, April 11, 2015

hi, I'm hailey and my baby hates to nap..


I've been saying that I need to join a support group for parents who have babies that hate taking naps..

The unfortunate thing is that it seems like a very small population and those in said population are probably so exhausted that if they get a moment to themselves they would rather nap then begin/attend my support group...

The thing is though even though I hardly have a moment to myself and being a mom to my sweet girl takes so much more of my time, mind, heart {me} than I thought that it would, I think that it's a very blissful exhaustion.
Don't get me wrong I definitely feel like I've been going through an adjustment, everything that I've experiences in the last few years [College, Full Time Job, Graduate School] has been a lot more structured and gave a lot more feedback {even praise} for how I was doing..

Oh and get this! It ended. If I stayed up to do homework at night it was a choice and I could sleep after that assignment was due and never did my job call me at 3 in the morning and require that I work.

But I have also never worked for something that I feel so strongly about..
I had this thought the other day when I was just thinking about hobbies and making time for me.. 
that being a mom is my passion.

And even though it can be really hard and unrecognized by the world..
I believe that raising another human being to be a virtuous, loving,skilled, passionate person is the greatest things you can do in life.. and can give the world.

I do wish that more people felt that way... 


But when I have moments like this where we got lots done and had lots of fun and giggles and my sweet girl is taking a nap and cuddling me and I feel like queen of the world...

Everything [all of the exhaustion and days that feel like I worked really hard and didn't have very much to show from it] are just all worth it..


And although clearly we have some rough nights {and really good hair days} 
I'm grateful for this sweet un napping baby that made me a mom and teaches me about being selfless and unconditional love..
&& smiling in the morning when we are running off of just a few hours of sleep..

However.. if anyone wants to cast a magical sleeping spell on my baby for a couple of hours in the afternoon.. you are a welcome guest.

Friday, April 10, 2015

The World Beneath Our Feet




So a couple of weeks ago we had been planning on making a trip to Austin.. 
{who knows what's actually in Austin- it's just close ish & sounded like a good idea- so that was "the plan"}

But I ended up with quite the head cold and the night before came and we sat down and realized that we had not planned for this trip at all.. but since Blake was out of school..
This is a big deal over here
[& since I wasn't about to let that terrible head cold conquer a  wonderful day that Blake actually had off]

We decided to take a shorter trip and go cave adventuring here in San Antonio...



And oh how I wish I were a photographer.. because my pictures just don't do this beautiful underground palace justice.. can you believe that this is just existing underneath our feet everyday & we don't even know it?


Well I definitely was pretty in awe.. I really think this was one of the most spectacular naturally made caves I've ever seen. The things that you can find in San Antonio are still just blowing me away.
I do have to say that I miss living in a town where you know everyone.. but being able to see something like this in a day {probably even half a day} trip is wonderful to me..


And even though these caves with walk ways aren't Blake's first choice of caves.. 
He is more the spelunking on dangerously high cave walls and cliffs that have never been explored before and drop to your imminent doom kind of guy..

It was fun to have a family outing that we could bring Emery to {because she so clearly thought that it was a very interesting place to be- ha she really was very cute at first though and looking around checking everything out-please see exhibit: a couple of photos below} and where I didn't feel like crying a little as we went through and I was trying to keep up with Blake and his adventurousness. 




Fun Fact though.. the first place that Blake and I held hands was actually inside of a cave.
He convinced me to stay behind so that we could crawl through the shadows and scare our friends but somehow we just got really far behind and it was dark and so he held me hand so I didn't trip and we didn't lose each other as we tried to find our way back out..

Was that his plan all along? 

We have different opinions on the matter.. but since he is not the author of this blog.. I believe so.
 Somehow though his trickery worked out for us and he has been bringing me to old volcanic caves and ice filled caves and all kinds of caves ever since so it was probably about time we found a Texas one.



I wish that this is what we could spend all of our days doing..
I really love this little family of mine.

I think that starting our relationship and even marriage where we were both going to school together and could meet for lunch and in the library in between classes and even take classes together has ruined me a forever because man do miss this man like crazy through out the day.

We probably should have become farmers and created a job where we could just all work together at home as a family all day.
But for now since we already have a couple too many Optometry School loans for that option at this point..
{& hope that someday this will turn into a good family job and I will see my husband again}

I'm just grateful for days off and little adventures like these.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Oh Happy Easter!


I love Spring.. It always was my favorite season growing up. I think that it's a time of year that everything feels so fresh and clean..

& Partly because of that I think Easter is the best.


I think it's wonderful to have an opportunity to remember and celebrate our Savior and the most important event in history.
Because He Lives.. I have everything that matters in my life.


But I will be the first to admit that it's hard to find a good balance between the true reason we celebrate Easter & all of the yummy reeses eggs and candy.. and hiding and finding of easter eggs.. and the
 Easter Bunny.

Because don't get me wrong I love traditions and I love any opportunity we have to celebrate and have fun.


So of course we dyed Easter eggs too and we taught Emery the unfortunate thing about childhood- 
That your parents make you wear Easter Bunny Ears and Santa hats and as fun as it is to everyone but you.. it just is a hard fact of life, right?
Poor Baby.
{But she was so darling.. I really did love every second of it. We will see just how long I can get away with this!}



But I was so grateful that this year Conference Weekend fell on Easter!

[twice a year our church leaders get together and give wonderful talks and it's broadcasted- so not only is it completely spiritually uplifting but we can watch cuddling in our pajamas at home- best weekend ever]
It seemed like our whole weekend was able to revolve around Jesus and helped me reflect on the person that I want to be.

[Also please note Emery's poor Easter basket.. someone was a huge procrastinator and foolishly thought that the night before Easter there would still be at least ONE Easter basket still for sale.. 
I don't know what the world does with so many Easter baskets but Emery ended up with a cute new laundry basket and I ended up with a new resolve to get my act together before my children are old enough to know that laundry baskets are not real Easter baskets!]


And this was kind of what our weekend looked like..
Can you tell how dang much we miss this man while he is gone for 12 plus hours a day during the week?!

I'm so torn between wanting these next few years to fly by so that our Optometry School days will be done.. and wanting them to drag on so that I can savor every baby moment with this wonderful girl of ours.


CLEARLY though there are beautiful things about every phase of life..
I know it might just be because I am the mom of this lovely human but this picture makes my heart skip a beat.

Lately.. even though she has so much energy and emotion and can be a lot more work than I anticipated and she definitely keeps me on my toes and I crawl into bed at night absolutely exhausted..
I seriously can't help but thank my Heavenly Father and constantly think that I must be the luckiest girl in the world getting to kiss this perfect face all day.

[Even though I'd be lying if I didn't say I was grateful for the help this weekend.. Blake check eyes from home and stay with us forever. ]

& Back to the purpose of this post- thank goodness for celebrating NEW LIFE!
I hope everyone's Easter was filled happiness and hope and [[all the chocolate Resees eggs your heart desired]]