“Yay!  The warm weather is here at last!!”

In case you haven’t noticed I haven’t been doing  a lot of posting lately.  I don’t know why.  Most days I just don’t want to.  And I can’t think of anything to say.  I know I used to post every single day- what in the world did I talk about?  For some reason these days when I have few minutes free I want to get on Facebook rather than my blog.  But I thought it was time for an update.

A few weeks ago when we went to look at houses again we didn’t find anything we wanted.  So since it had been a few weeks since we put an offer on the first house we liked, and that house was still available, we decided to put in another offer.  We went a little higher than we did the first time- and the sellers came down a little from the price they were stuck at before and we found an amount we agreed on.

Since we are closing on our house that we currently own weeks before we’ll be able to move into the new house we are going to be staying with my parents for a couple of weeks and storing our stuff in their garage.  So, 2 weeks ago when we went back to have the inspection done we decided to rent a medium sized truck and move part of our stuff to get some of the move done ahead of time.

Hailey was thrilled to see “the big lellow truck” in the driveway.  And even more thrilled when she got to jump around in the back of the truck.

Here is Rich with his lovely big blue dog that he won several years ago at an amusement park.  I was really hoping the dog would not be making the move with us- so imagine my surprise when I saw where the dog was riding.

The inspection went well- the house is in good condition.  Now we are just waiting for everything else to go through smoothly.  This weekend we will be moving out of our house and staying with my parents while we wait for the closing on the new house.

So I am busy this week working on packing up the rest of our house.  And also busy worrying about the swine flu.  What have you been up to?

Remember when I posted about Hailey’s trigger thumbs here and here?

Here’s a quick explanation in case you didn’t read the other posts.  In February of 2008 Hailey was diagnosed with trigger thumb in her right hand and we were told she needed surgery.  This is basically what trigger thumb looks like:

Trigger thumb is where the thumb is stuck in this bent position and can not be straightened because of a swollen tendon that can not glide like it is supposed to.

We decided to wait on the surgery because sometimes trigger thumb will correct itself.  Then last fall her left thumb became stuck as well.  So, we went back in January of 2009 to see the surgeon again and to decide on doing the surgery.  He said it had to be done because it was unlikely her thumbs would correct themselves given the length of time they had been stuck.  Usually once they have been stuck for a year they stay that way unless surgery is done.

I put off scheduling the surgery again and finally scheduled it for March 31st.  About a week before we found out we were not going to be able to make that appointment and I had to reschedule her surgery for April 14th.  On March 31st Rich and I were talking about Hailey’s thumbs and he was looking at them and noticed they were both straight.  Sometimes she “pops” them and they go straight for a little while but always return to being stuck in the bent position.  But later that day she was still able to straighten them.  Later that week she was still able to straighten them.  And today?  She is still able to straighten them.

Woo Hoo!!!!!

We were able to cancel her surgery and her thumbs seem to be just fine.  So- thank you to everyone who prayed for Hailey and her trigger thumb.  God answers prayer!!

Hailey with Tigger at 2 1/2.

For comparison, here is Hailey at 2 years old with Tigger.  I think the difference I can see the most is that at age 2 Hailey still looked like a toddler.  Now at 2 1/2 she doesn’t really look like a toddler anymore

Hailey actually turned 2 1/2 a little over a week ago.  I’m a little late with this post since we are in the process of moving.  Anyhoo- at age 2 1/2 Hailey is doing just great.  She is so much fun and has such a great personality.  As always, I am absolutely loving this stage.

Here are a few pictures of Hailey doing her favorite things:

Hailey still loves books.  She always has books to read and will sit and listen to stories as long as someone is willing to read to her.

Another one of Hailey’s favorite things to do is to line up all of her little people.

Physically at 2 1/2- Hailey weighs 33 1/2 pounds and is 35 3/4 inches tall.  She looks so much older than 2 1/2 and people are always surprised that she is only 2.

Developmentally- Hailey is doing great.  She talks and talks and carries on fun conversations.  She uses some pretty big words for a 2 year old- the other day she said, “I’m confused Mommy.”  She is such a little smarty- she can count to 13, recognizes most of her letters and knows her colors and shapes.  She understands one to one correspondence- she can count four items and say, “I have four.”

Hailey had to have an appointment with a neurologist this last month for some headaches she had been having.  She is totally fine.  After a very, very thorough checkup the neurologist told us how impressed she was with how smart Hailey is.  She said that Hailey acts like a much older child in the way that she talks and understands what people are saying to her.  (Of course, she hasn’t seen the very age appropriate tantrums that we see at home.)  Anyways the neurologist said that the reason Hailey probably gets occasional headaches is because she is extremely bright and children who are very advanced tend to get headaches because they are so very observant and kind of go into overload.

Hailey knows soooo many songs that I can’t even start to list them.  But, a few of her favorites, that she knows all of the words to, include:  “The ABC’s,” “Twinkle, Twinkle,” “Jesus Loves Me,” “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” “He’s Still Workin’ On Me,” “I Am a Promise,” “The Butterfly song,” “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” “This Little Light of Mine” and sooooo many more.

I absolutely love this stage- and I know I’ve said it before about other ages- but 2 1/2 is my favorite age so far!  I am so blessed and so thankful for this amazing little girl God has given us.  I pray every day that we are making the right choices for her life.