Busy busy busy **UPDATED W/ PICTURES!!**

We've had a LOT going on lately...where to begin?? First off, part of why I've avoided posting is I haven't been in the best of moods. We've hit a pretty major financial crisis and aren't really sure how to dig ourselves out. I had a meeting with a credit counselor Friday which did not go well. Basically we can't live on just my income alone. It's just not working. But D can't work more than 1/2 time, which is stretching it as it is. After the meeting I sat in the parking lot at work, crying to my sister in law on the phone. They've been through rough times as well. The rest of the day at work was pretty cruddy, and that night was even worse. D and I had a huge blowup over the phone...well mostly me talking calmly trying to explain everything to him to where he could understand it (finances are beyond him for some reason) and him yelling at me that he doesn't care about any of it. That night was a very low point in my life unfortunately. As of right now, we're taking my mother in law's advice and applying for a student loan through MOHELA. We started the process last night by getting D's credit pre-approved online. Now we just have to actually print off the application and go from there. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers(if you're the praying type)!

I pulled it together and got up the next morning to pack. We got everything together and got out of the house an hour late, but for once it didn't matter what time we got to where we were going! The car ride was un-eventful. We arrived at the Grandparents' house in St. Louis about 2:00. Hailey had a blast looking at the "skirls!" in the backyard. We got settled in, had a bite to eat(we were so hungry!--see paragraph above about financial crisis--that equals a lack of funds for quick take out) and began getting all purdied up.


We took some nice family shots in the very pretty backyard then we were on our way. We actually found the Cathedral with pretty much no problem, which is saying something for us small town folk not used to driving in downtown St. Louis! The wedding was absolutely beautiful. And surprisingly laid back/short! Everyone was dressed VERY nicely, tuxes and fancy dresses/outfits, but it wasn't snooty like I'd expected! Hailey was an absolute doll the whole time, sitting on my lap, not wanting to be down running around, talking quietly(no screaming!) and she even fell asleep for part of it!(So un-Haileylike!)



Afterwards we made our way to the City Museum to the Vault Room for the reception. If you ever get a chance to go to this place, please do! It is very neat, and they've got tons of stuff for the kiddos to play on! Here's an outside shot, showing all the stuff they have hanging off the side of the building(including a fire truck and airplane!) for the kids to play in! Sorry the pic is blurry...

And here's part of the play area inside, next to the Vault Room we were in...Hailey kept saying they were "stuck!":

We were worried the reception was going to be uncomfortable but we had a blast! They had waiters walking around with trays of hor deuvres(ok how do you spell that???) that were OH.SO.GOOD! Lobster rangoon, caramelized bacon, grilled shrimp, grilled shrimp cocktail, mini-quiches, chicken quesadillas, chicken skewers, ginger/sesame beef skewers, fruit skewers, crustini w/ mozzarella and tomato, pita toast w/ some sort of cream cheese spread...I know I'm forgetting something. We were stuffed! They also had open bar, which means I drank about 4 cokes (I did have 1 little glass of champagne, which they carded me for--I'm just not a big drinker) and 2 cups of coffee.
Centerpiece:

Favor(Very neat idea!):


She also tied me to the chair:


And hid under the table:


Hailey got down and boogied on the dance floor, which was a huge shocker...she dances at the sitter's but I've never see her get down like that before! It was so cute. She wanted me to dance with her (I'm SO not a dancer). Dan took her over into the museum part and took her down the ginormous slide a few times, which she LOVED. The favors at the reception were very neat! Our family friends, whose daughter was the one that got married, hung out and talked to us all night...we were pretty surprised they didn't mingle with all the other people! All in all, it was a great night!

After the wedding we went back to the Grandparents'. I read a few books lying next to Hailey in bed and turned out the light. She fell right to sleep. I, on the other hand, lie awake for hours w/ my mind running non stop. Mostly about our financial issues...partly because we were in a different place, partly from all the caffeine from the reception(not a good idea Erin!), partly because my pillow was incredibly lumpy(note to self: never go on a trip w/out my own pillow again!), partly because they don't use the air conditioning much so the cold fresh air blowing in the window right above my head was killing my sinuses...oh and my daughter decided to head butt me a couple times right in the nose, and kick me repeatedly...when D came to bed we talked for about an hour about what to do on the whole financial issue. I maybe got 2 hrs. of sleep that night tops. Seriously. I woke up the next day at 8:00 to Hailey staring me in the face saying something about up and papa and skirls. My face was puffy, my eyes were insanely dry...but I was so glad to be where I was at. Papa hopped up right away and started making us breakfast. My mom got up about 9:00 and joined us. We had yummy coffee, pancakes, turkey bacon, and orange juice. D snoozed away while the rest of us ate. I was in such a fog, all I remember then was crawling back in bed with D and sleeping for another 2 hours until I got up at noon. I knew Hailey was in good hands and didn't need me, and I took advantage. I woke up feeling a bit better and we had lunch(roast beef w/ veggies, fresh fruit salad, iced tea and my yummy brownies I brought w/ some cookies and cream ice cream!). Then we all got ready and headed to the Zoo. Hailey was a CRAB.APPLE oh my...hitting people in the face that would try to talk to her, not wanting to look at the animals, sometimes not even wanting ME! I was so embarrassed. Eventually she loosened up a bit. I could tell something was off, since she wasn't eating much and wasn't napping well. But it turned out ok. I did have a mini-crisis though...as we were walking into the giant bird cage I noticed my nose was running like crazy all of a sudden. I couldn't grab a tissue fast enough so I put my hand to my nose(I know, ew) and was shocked to pull it back and see blood. Huge amounts of blood. I have never had a bloody nose in my life!! Papa took Hailey off to see the birds while I freaked out and soaked tons of tissues. FINALLY it stopped and we were able to have a good time. Hailey rode the train for the first time and loved it. "My train! Toot toot!!" She fell asleep on the way back to the Grandparents'. We packed up the car and headed home. Hailey woke up as we were just pulling into our town and started crying for her Memaw. She didn't get to say goodbye :o( None of us, my mom included, wanted to come home!

Unfortunately we couldn't get Hailey to settle down that night. She still refused to eat, and would not fall asleep while I rocked her. Finally about 12:30 am I gave in and put her in our bed. She fell right to sleep. D put her in her crib at 2:30. I called work yesterday morning and told them she wasn't feeling well so I was letting her sleep in and I'd be in when I could. I ended up being home all day. It was a day of HUGE tantrums, refusing to wear any clothes even though it was freezing, diarea leaking all over my living room/dining room/hallway and bathroom floors...oh, and all over me! Yea, that was great... then last night she refused to let me rock her again. I had to lay her in our bed, where she fell asleep immediately. She woke up when D tried to put her in her crib at 1:30. Which leads us to another thing going on in our lives at the moment...the transition to a regular bed. I knew it was coming. And now it's become an absolute necessity. She's getting so big, and I'm so small, that it's hard to rock her comfortably anymore. She wants to lay down. But she doesn't want to lay in her crib by herself. My mom is giving us her twin daybed. Now I just have to come up with enough money to buy one of those rails that folds down so I can lie in bed with her at night and read to her. She absolutely CANNOT sleep with us from now on. We get NO sleep. And she didn't even sleep very well last night either. It's just not good for any of us. My mother in law (bless her!) is taking me out to lunch today and she's supposed to buy us some ink for our printer at home. I'm going to see if I can either trade in the ink for a set of bed rails for Hailey, or maybe ask for an advance on Christmas! LOL We'll see. I am VERY excited about lunch though. I've only had lunch with her one other time and it was so much fun! She's picking me up even...she knows I HATE driving. She really can be such a sweet woman! So, wish me luck on this issue...and babyproofing her room. Any advice on what to look out for/what they like to get into/any safety issues I need to watch out for????????? Seriously I need the advice, and fast! :o)

In other news, Hailey is learning her colors. She's doing pretty well so far. Also, she used to "count" to ten with out help...we'd say "one" and she'd say "two"...we'd say "two" and she'd say "tee"...but now, if you ask her to count to ten she does it on her own! Not fully yet, but she's getting the idea! She'll say "one, two, tee, six, nine, yay!!!" It's too cute.

I'm getting very excited about the up-coming holidays! Hailey has her first ever Halloween party at school this year! I'm taking off early to go. Also, we're having a huge family Thanksgiving with my in-laws in KC this year! We've never been to their house, and haven't seen them in ages! We're really excited about that. I'm also excited because we get more time off from work here than I did at the other place! 3 days for Christmas, which will mean a 5 day break w/ the weekend! Awesome!! Speaking of awesome, we taught Hailey to say it and she sounds so darn cute saying "awesome!"