Last Saturday morning we were visiting my parents house.  We got up bright and early to head off to my cousins wedding.  We were traveling with my parents and my brothers and my sister-in-law.  Hailey did really well in the car and slept for the first half of the trip.  When she woke up she realized that my dad was riding in a different car than she was and had a bit of a fit because she sure does love her “Pa.”  So, we had to stop so he could ride with us.  Other than that little incident Hailey did great.

We checked in to our hotel and got a quick bite to eat then went back to the hotel.  Since Hailey had slept in the car that morning I knew it was going to be a long evening for her at the wedding.  I tried to get her to take a quick nap but she wasn’t having any of that.  She usually only takes one nap a day, so apparently she thought sleeping that morning in the car was her nap.

So we got ready for the wedding.  While Rich and I were getting dressed Hailey decided to help out by getting some shoes on:

Working on filling Daddy’s shoes.

And then we were off to the wedding.

Hailey finally got to meet her cousin Anika.  Anika’s mom- Beka and I used to have an awful lot of fun together when we were teenagers.  We’re hoping that Hailey and Anika will be close too- but we’ll always be  one step ahead of them.  I think that Beka’s hubby Bill got a cute picture of Hailey giving Anika a hug.

The beautiful bride, Melissa, and her dad.

I wasn’t able to get any good pictures during the wedding since we sat near the back just in case Hailey needed to be taken out.  So, here’s a picture of my cousin Brad and his lovely new wife Melissa on their way out of the church just after being pronounced husband and wife.

The first dance at the reception.

World wide web- meet my family.  In the front row is me, my mom and my sister-in-law Ellie.  In the back row is Rich holding Hailey, my dad, my brother Mike and my brother Matt.

Hailey dancing with Rich.  She had that serious look on her face all night long.  She smiled a few times.  But, I think for the most part she was just really tired from not having a nap and a little worried about all of the relatives she didn’t know who kept saying, “I get to see your picture on the computer everyday!”  She did really well though and didn’t have any fits.  She was just much quieter than usual.  But I’ll certainly take that over tantrums any day!

Brad singing to Melissa

Apparently someone bought Brad and Melissa a rake so Rich thought this would be a fun pose to get a picture of.  Rich is quite proud of this picture that he took and insisted that I post it.

Here’s the happy couple.  Who are on their honeymoon in Italy. 
(I stole this picture from the mother of the groom.  Hope it’s okay Aunt Ruth!)

Last week we had planned to leave on Wednesday to stay with my parents for a few days. Then we planned to be off to a wedding over the weekend followed by another day spent at my parents house before heading home. So, of course last Monday Hailey came down with a cough followed by a fever and runny nose on Tuesday. Wednesday she wasn’t feeling well at all so we decided to wait until Thursday to leave. She acted much better on Thursday, although still not quite herself, and we headed off to my parents house. Her cold seemed to have cleared up but her cough remained. Hailey had been pretty sick back in December after a cold that had a cough that wouldn’t go away and ended up having some bad wheezing, so I was very worried that the same thing would happen.

Anyhoo, I have to share a few pictures of some of the weekend fun. Some of these are pictures from my dad’s camera, but since he hasn’t updated his blog since July of 2007 (gasp… can you imagine?) I don’t think he’ll mind if I post them.

 Hailey and my dad relaxing by the pool.

On Friday night we went to a nearby park with my parents, brothers, sister-in-law and aunt to have a picnic to celebrate my dad’s birthday. They have a great toddler playground there which Hailey loved.

On Saturday and Sunday we went out of town to go to my cousins wedding. Saturday was a really long day for Hailey but she did great. By Sunday morning Hailey’s cough was worse, so we had to start giving her breathing treatments. I hate it so much when she has an awful cough like this, it’s just so scary. We still had a wonderful time and I’m going to post pictures from that in a separate post since I have several that I want to share.

On Sunday night when we got back from the wedding we went to pick up Dottie (our dog) and Murray (my parent’s dog). The dogs get to be spoiled rotten at a farm that we take them to, owned by a friend of my moms, whenever we go away. Since it is a farm they stay at Hailey got to see some horses when we went to pick up the dogs.

Hailey wasn’t exactly sure what to think of the horses at first. We’ve looked at plenty of pictures of horses and looked at horses on DVD’s, but to see one in real life is a little different.

She warmed up to the horses after a few minutes and even had a few smiles for the horses. Although she kept calling them cows

On Monday Hailey enjoyed a nice swim. I could not get a picture of her smiling. Every time I put the camera away she would smile, but she would not smile for the camera at all.

We had a wonderful time! I always love spending time with family and appreciate all of the time we get to spend with them. I’ll be posting pictures from my cousins wedding too, so be sure to check back for those.

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Everyday when the mail comes Hailey is thrilled.  She watches the mailman go by and then wants to go outside to get the mail.  She is always hoping that there will be something for her.

In the last couple of weeks there have been some nice surprises in the mail for Hailey and she was so happy.

First she got this adorable dress from Aunt Ruth and Uncle Ralph.  Hailey was so excited when we put it on on Sunday for church.  She came out of her room and went right to the kitchen where Rich was to show him her dress.  And then she stopped for a quick pose before we went to church.

Aren’t I beautiful?

Then she received a package from Aunt Winnie and she was so excited to open it up to see what it was.

It was a new DVD called Toddler Songs.  Hailey loves her new DVD and doesn’t want to watch her Veggie Tales DVD’s anymore.  She gets to watch one DVD before bed while she eats her snack and as soon as we start getting ready for bed Hailey starts asking to watch the DVD by saying ”Jesus! Jesus! Peeezzzz (please) Jesus!”

Hailey working on her thank you notes for her nice surprises.

Thank you Aunt Ruth & Uncle Ralph and Aunt Winnie!

I’ve been putting off taking Dottie to the vet for her yearly exam because it is always so expensive.  I knew she had to go because she has to get her vaccines.  But, I’ve had “call the vet” on my to-do list for about two months.

Over the weekend Dottie started shaking her head, signaling a possible ear infection.  She is a beagle/basset hound with long floppy adorable ears.  But, those adorable ears are very prone to infections.  So I knew it was time to stop putting off taking her to the vet.

So Tuesday afternoon we went to the vet.  As soon as we walked in Dottie started her barking/howling.  If you’ve ever heard a hound dog sounding howl- that is what Dottie sounds like.  And she did that for 10 minutes straight while we waited.  At one point there was a man checking out with his dog and between howls I heard the receptionist tell him his total was $191.  And I thought to myself, “Oh that poor man.  My total won’t be that much.”

Well, it turned out that Dottie did have an ear infection.  She also had to get two vaccines as well as her “senior” exam, which seemed an awful lot like her exam used to be when she was younger.  Then she had to have blood work to test for heart-worms.  Oh- and that’s not all.  Dottie had a large lump on her side, so that had to be tested as well.  The vet removed some fluid to test it to find out if it was just fatty cells or could possibly be cancer or pre-cancerous cells.

So, imagine my check out experience.  The receptionist went through all of those things plus a prescription for the ear infection and medication for Dottie’s allergies (yes, my dog has allergies).  And my total- $195 and some change.  It turned out that I had also pre-paid for a future stool sample- for my convenience- so that I could drop off at any time.  That was refunded, bring my total down by about $17.

We did get a phone call later that evening to let us know that Dottie does not have cancer, just a large spot of fatty cells on her side.  So, that was certainly a relief.

Even with all of the poking and sticking and so on, I actually think Dottie enjoyed her break from Hailey even if it was because she had to go to the vet.  So, she had a little break that cost me almost $200.  And when you add on the price of gas…