Found

Awhile back I was definitely lost. Now, I finally feel like I've been found.

I'm still physically in Key West, Florida. But I think my mind and my heart have finally come around. It just took a lot longer than I thought it would. I still don't love where we are, but I have come to terms with the fact that it's not where we used to be. We don't have the same luxuries here as we did there. I can't wander into a Target whenever I want or even stroll around the mall to pass the time. We can't just drive around town to see the sites. Well, we could, it just wouldn't take very long.

But I have accepted this. Now we walk to the park and play. Or take a bike ride. We have music class, story time at the library, and now, swim lessons. Trips to the pool and sometimes the beach. Haley has friends to play with and I have friends to talk to.

It feels like life has begun again and I might have even found a new me in the process. I still miss my old self- the one who had lots of friends, was usually pretty busy, worked, and felt like she contributed to the family. But now there is a new me. The one who has a few really good friends, is sometimes pretty busy, working from home, and contributing to the family in a whole new way.

It has taken a while to accept this new me, but I am now ok with who I have changed into and the life that we have on this southernmost island.

Cooking

Since we've moved to Key West I have had a little more time on my hands to play around in the kitchen. I've always enjoyed cooking, although according to some of my past co-workers, it's not really cooking when you rely on pre-made goods to make a dish. So with all this extra time I have, I have started to expand my horizons and start cooking and baking more from scratch and I have to say that I am really enjoying it.

When we first got here, I started slow and made my first pork loin. Then I used the leftovers from that and made my first chinese lo mein. Both, by the way, were delicious. My mom then got me a great cookbook for Christmas and I had been making recipes out of that (like pizza spaghetti and chocolate mint cake) until my wonderful mother in law got me my next awesome cookbook. The Pioneer Woman has brought me my next round of delicious meals. So far I have made meatloaf (with bacon wrapped around it), chicken pot pie, peach cobbler, french pastry puffs, and tomorrow I venture off into biscuits. I even managed to make fresh strawberry muffins the other day!

It may sound silly that I have never made a pork loin or a meatloaf before, but I just never found the time or the energy to do it. Now I am fortunate enough to have a little extra time to make such wonderful home made meals. It will probably only last another 14 weeks and then I will be on hiatus for a while. But I do hope to get back to cooking again after our little girl gets here. I've enjoyed putting a little more love in to our family meals. And I know that Zach is really enjoying it too :)

Big Girl Bed

I can't believe it. Haley has been in her big girl bed for a week now. She has officially given her crib to her little sister.

Zach worked very hard to put together Haley's new bed and even read the instructions :)

I was definitely more than a little nervous about getting Haley into a toddler bed at 18 months, but we needed her to get used to it so that the crib would be ready for our newest family member. I worried about her falling out of the bed (because she does move around quite a bit when she sleeps) and crawling out of bed and coming into Mommy and Daddy's room. I just wasn't sure how she was going to handle it all. But she LOVES her bed! As soon as we showed it to her for the very first time, she immediately crawled up there, sat on it, and then laid down pretending to go "night night".

Sometimes she can't get herself back to sleep at night, so there have been a few times that she has gotten up and come into our room. We are working on getting her to stay in her room the whole night. It's a work in progress, but she has handled the transition like a champ and proved to us that she is indeed a big girl.

Easter

We just enjoyed celebrating Haley's second Easter and it was wonderful!

Everything kicked off on Saturday when we were invited to a friend's church for an Easter egg hunt. When we got there there were lots of games for all the kids to play and Haley really enjoyed the ducks. Towards the end, all she wanted to do was splash in the water and wasn't all that interested in grabbing a duck.

After the games, it was time for the egg hunt! This was Haley's first Easter egg hunt, so we weren't sure if she was going to understand the concept or not since we hadn't "prepped" her for it. We gave her her basket and she was off! She did a great job of finding eggs and putting them in her basket. She didn't need our help at all! A few times she did get side-tracked by trying to open the eggs to see what was in them. I think she will enjoy all the egg hunts to come :)

After all the fun Easter activities, Haley crashed out for a quick nap. Since it was a gorgeous day out, I thought it would be fun to let her play in her little swimming pool. We also invited over two of her friends (Jacob and Hannah), so it turned into an impromptu pool party in the front yard. Everyone had so much fun, including all the parents. The kids all had fun splish-splashing in the pool and sprinkle mat. Hard to believe that it's warm enough to have a pool party at Easter!

Sunday morning was pretty early for us. Haley decided to wake up about an hour before normal. Even though it was early, the Easter Bunny still managed to make it to our house before she got up. This was Haley's first Easter basket. It had bunny ears (which were not a hit), a soft purple lamb, and a Little People Easter set. I think she enjoyed all her goodies for a little while, but Haley really enjoyed just carrying around her empty basket.

Finally it was about time to head off to church. We dropped Haley off at the nursery and it felt like dropping her off at daycare for the first time. I do not enjoy that feeling. When we picked her up after the service, she had just fallen asleep. I guess she just wore herself out playing and having a good time, which made me feel better.

That pretty much wraps up our Easter holiday. We had a wonderful time celebrating with friends and our family. And next year, we'll be celebrating with two little girls! What a blessing!

Fearless

My daughter is fearless. I know I touched on this here, but she just re-affirmed it again today.

A friend invited us to come out on their boat for a little while, so we happily accepted. Just like last time, Haley was up at the front of the boat with Zach, leaning over the edge to see what was down there as we were zooming along. Every time we would hit a bump, she would look at Zach or I and just grin from ear to ear and laugh! She thought it was exciting! A few times she even stood there and danced as we moved along. Once we stopped, Zach even sat on the back ledge of the boat with Haley and dipped her in the water a few times. The water was pretty cool, but again, she just grinned from ear to ear and laughed! She just wanted to stay in the water forever.

The thought of Haley being so fearless fills me with pride and fear all at the same time. I am so happy that she is one of those girls who isn't afraid to do things. She is going to be able to experience so much in life because she isn't afraid. But at the same time, I am petrified of all the things that she is going to do that might give me a heart attack! I realize that this is all a part of letting her experience life, but sometimes I get a little nervous. I guess that is how a parent is supposed to feel. Is this what we put our parents through?? :)

I just wonder, where did Haley get this sense of fearlessness from???