Sweet Baby Lily, and other news

Lily Michelle Hale is here! Josh and I went to visit our friends Stephen and Amy yesterday at the hospital and got to meet their little girl. She is so precious! She was born May 27th and was 7 lbs 6 oz. It was so funny holding a baby that tiny again. I know it has only five months ago but it's hard to remember Cameryn that small! She was a whopping 15 lbs 11 oz at her 4 month check up so who knows how big she is now. And to think she started out at 7lbs 4 oz it just mind boggling.

Stephen and Amy are on cloud nine. They are understandably exhausted from the birth, visitors, and the hospital but they are so happy. I know they'll be great parents and show Lily the best the world has to offer. I'm so excited for Camy to have another playmate so close to her age!

In other news, our trip to South Carolina was a lot of fun. I'll post some pics soon, but goofy me forgot our Cameryn so I have to get copies of Deb's. It took us about 8 hours to get down there including stopping for lunch. Cameryn was so good during the drive! We just kept her entertained with toys, Veggie Tales, Mum Mum cookies, and whatever else we could think of. She is such a joy to have! I don't know many babies that would have taken being in the car that long as well as she did (If I do say so myself!) When we got there we got to see Uncle Bob, Aunt Tina and the girls and had a great dinner. Our cousin Ashley is quite the cook! We just all talked and played with the baby. The men of course retreated to the basement to act goofy and do Lord only knows what else! On Sunday the guys headed to Charlotte for the NASCAR race, which sadly was rained out. Poor little Josh's heart was broken. They did get in a full day of tail gating so it wasn't a total loss. Us girls stayed home and went to Aubree's softball game, to lunch, and then downtown to see the sites. They have the most gorgeous park! I will definitely post those pics. We walked around the park, went to dinner, and of course got ice cream. It was a great day with the girls, and a great weekend spending time with family. Cameryn was so good the entire time, I think she could get used to the warm weather down south! We are so blessed to have such a special little girl. Each day she amazes me and I just fall deeper and deeper in love with her. You walk around your whole life thinking you know "love", but until you have a child you just don't know what your missing. Before I start to cry, I better go and work on the other 100 million things on my to do list! . . . .Or I could put it all off for just one more day and Camy and I can go outside and enjoy this gorgeous weather! Hmmmmm what a tough decision: )

The Poor, Abandoned Blog!

Cameryn in her Dedication dress

Cameryn and Papaw on his birthday

Baby bunny in our yard

Stephen and Josh after the Mini Marathon

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Cameryn and Grandma at the Balloon Glow

I have completely neglected out blog over the last few weeks! We have been so busy that any down time I have I've been working on other things that have been put on the back burner. So much has happened since my last posting; my dad's birthday, my mom's birthday, Mother's Day, Cameryn's baby dedication at church, we went to Logansport, Josh ran the mini marathon, the Balloon Glow, there was a nest of baby bunnies in our back yard, etc. So since I couldn't possibly remember the details to all those things I'll just post a few pics and move on to what's happening now.

Camy is still asleep and Josh is at work so I have a few minutes. Right now we are getting all packed up for our trip this weekend. We're going to South Carolina with Josh's mom and dad to visit his Uncle Bob and his family. The guys are headed to the NASCAR race on Sunday so they are beyond excited. Josh has been talking about it for months! Last year when they went, they were all deaf for two days afterwards from listening to the loud race cars all day, pretty much every man's dream! I'm excited to get out of town for a little while and have a change of scenery. Life has been a little stressful for us lately so hopefully this trip will help get us recharged and refocused on our goals and the many many blessings we already have. I'm not really looking forward to riding in the car with my 4 month old for seven hours, but at least we'll have Grandma and Grandpa to help us keep her entertained. That's about all for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend. God Bless!

Today

Today Cameryn and I had lunch with my good friend Lindsey. We haven't gotten to see each other since Camy was born so it was so nice to catch up. Lindsey and I have been friends since we were 5 years old! It's so funny to think that this August we will have know each other for 20 years. . . that makes me sound old!

She is just one of those friends that it doesn't matter how long you go between conversations, we just pick up were we left off. We talked for 2 hours at McCalister's this afternoon and Cameryn was good all the way until the very end. I think she likes being part of the girl talk. The pictures above are a couple Lindsey got on her i Phone. The lighting is kind of weird on the first one but I had to post Cameryn making the saddest face ever (that was at the end of our 2 hour lunch). The other one is when she gave Lindsey the biggest, cutest grin. The bottom picture was from tonight at dinner. We got Camy a space saver high chair so right now we just use it for her to sit in while I feed her cereal. Well tonight at dinner we decided to have her join us. She was so relaxed and had her little feet up on the table, it was hilarious. She sat through the whole meal and didn't make a peep. I just can't believe how big she's getting and how I grow to love her more and more every day. Here's to old friends and wonderful babies!

Home Alone

Well, Cameryn and I spent our first night at home without Josh last night. He went to northern Ohio to hang out with a bunch of his friends from college. I just got off the phone with him and he's headed home now, but he said they had a really good time. There were about eight guys that all met up at Phil's house to give him a big send off. Phil played baseball at Dayton too, but after getting his degree he enlisted in the Marines, so he'll be going to Afghanistan soon. We'll be praying that he comes home safe and that God watches over him everyday as he serves our country. It's difficult to see someone go over to a war torn country and fight not only for America but for their own lives. I'm not from a military family at all so I guess, to me, putting yourself in so much danger seems very hard. But I am so thankful to God for people like Phil, and all of the soldiers out there that do have the courage and calling on their life to protect our nation. I'm so glad Josh got to go and see his old teammates and have a true "guys night". Heaven only knows what they did, but I'm sure I'll hear the stories when he gets home. If it's anything like what they all did together in college I know I'm in for a few laughs.

Camy and I were on our own and I must admit it was a little lonely. I mean I am the only person here that can talk! We drove over to my dad's and visited with him and Chris, Jessie, and her friend Chelsey. Right now my dad is working on taking a pool down at my cousin's house and then putting it up at his farm for the kids this summer. He stays so busy and always has some little project going on. It was nice to hang out over there and talk and watch the girls act goofy. On our way home from there we stopped at Chucky's new trailer. He put a down payment down a few weeks ago so he is getting all settled in. It's really nice too. He has a little yard, three bedrooms, two baths, fire place, and new carpet. His girlfriend recently moved out so he's trying to work on decorating a little, but that will all come in time. Other than going around visiting Camy and I had a pretty typical night. I can't wait to get out in the beautiful weather today with her! Happy Thunder to everyone going!

Easter

I know this is a little late but I wanted to share our Easter with everyone. It was a great day! Camy got her very first Easter basket, which is so cute. Then we got up and got everyone ready in their Easter clothes and I must say, we have the cutest baby in the world! She looks pretty surprised in these pictures but still adorable. Our first stop was church and the service was amazing! Camy went to the nursery for the first time other than during my bible study so needless to say it was much more crowded and I was a little nervous. She did fine though, and thank goodness our number did not pop up on the screen! The service itself was excellent. We are so blessed to have such creative and talented people in our church. They put so much into every service, but this particular one was even above and beyond their ususal. Pastor Bob did a great job at telling the Easter story in a unique way too.

After church we headed home where I began to cook a few things to take to my aunt Bee's for Easter dinner. The picture below is of Camy, Aunt Bee, and Uncle Jim. Every year my aunt Bee has Easter dinner for our whole family so we had about 25 people over there, and enough food to feed about 50! Aunt Bee's health is not the best but every year she goes out of her way to make sure our family is together on the holidays. It was a lot of fun cooking, talking, and eating with everyone and catching up on what is going on in their lives.
We didn't have an egg hunt this year because all of the kids are too old and Camy is too young but next year we'll definitely hide a few for her to find.

Anyway I better go get a few other things done while she's napping! Have a great day!

This is amazing!

I saw this today on the 700 Club and down loaded it immediately. Today is Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified for Our sins. Give Him Praise!

This Past Week. . .

We've done a lot since the last time I got the opportunity to blog so let's catch up. Deb came down to visit us and babysit Cameryn last Friday so we could go to the Achiever's Club dinner with Cintas. Each quarter the company honors the sales reps that perform well, so we got to have dinner and celebrate Josh's achievements. It was nice to go out and be with adults for the evening (even though, much of the conversation was about kids!) We also got to celebrate Deb's birthday while she was down visiting so that was nice too. Cameryn got her a special Grandma card, and we topped off our time together with chocolate cake! She brought Camy an Easter basket and a cool toy to play with on the floor. We had some "tummy time" and boy is Cameryn holding her head up well. I'm so proud of our little muscle woman.

Saturday I helped my mom finish moving because. . . .She SOLD her house! It is such a burden off of her so I'm so glad she can move on from there. It was a lot of work but it was neat to go through all the old stuff. I brought home some of my junk like; old report cards, trophy's, notes I saved from my friends in middle and high school, etc. I also got to keep my mom and dad's wedding album, which is sad, but I still like having that piece of their history together.

Later Saturday evening Abbey and Bruce got home from Florida so Cameryn and I went over to see the ring, and believe me, it's gorgeous! Abbey's mom Debbie came over while I was there and held Camy and really got her laughing, it was so cute. Abbey and Bruce also recently got a puppy named Tyson so there is a picture of Bella and him on here too, aren't they cute! They seem to be good buddies.

Sunday afternoon Josh's cousin Ashley came to visit us from South Carolina. She was on spring break so we got to spend a few days hanging out with her. We weren't really able to give her a wild and crazy spring break, but I hope she had fun. We watched movies/TV, went to both the Oxmore and St. Matthew's mall, got ice cream, and talked a lot. We also got Camy's picture taken with the Easter Bunny while at the mall and it turned out so cute. We couldn't really get her to smile but I still love it.

Aside from all this Josh started going to a men's bible study Tuesday morning at 6 am (what a trooper!) with Clint and I started going to a Mom's bible study on Thursday mornings. We both are loving them so far! Josh likes having someone to go to the study with and I am so excited to meet some other moms and get connected at our church. I'm so proud of our efforts to grow and be closer to God and be good examples for Cameryn. We have a lot of work to do, and we'll never be perfect, but that's what makes us so thankful to Jesus for erasing our sins. With Easter coming this weekend it is a great time to stop and reflect and know that He is everything and without Him, we are nothing.