Andi – Page 13 – ANDI HAYS

Christmas 2014

Posted on December 27, 2014December 27, 2014 by Andi

This year Christmas was a little different. We celebrated with our families a bit early since we moved before Christmas. And since we were moving, I didn't want to move presents, so I had Amazon ship some gifts to our place in Washington. This worked out great! We needed to make a trip to Target to get basic stuff and Maddie asked for a little tree. So for $8, we made a little girl very happy! Maddie was worried Santa wouldn't find us when we moved, so having a tree made her confident we could be found. Chuck got some lights and Maddie decorated it with toys. 🙂 It's definitely a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but we love it!

Maddie also asked for a gingerbread house. (She's kind of demanding this year!) So Chuck sweetly went on a hunt for one. Not only did he procure a gingerbread house (and lots of yummy toppings), but he also got Maddie a big bear. My dad had bought Maddie a huge bear one year and she plays with it all the time and loves sleeping on it. The other day she told us how much she missed her bear. (No worries, it's just packed with all our furniture; she will have it before too long.) So we wrapped it with a note from Santa saying he knew she missed her bear, so he sent bear's little sister to keep her company. She loved it and now bear is well loved here.

We even baked some cookies for Santa. Gotta have cookies!

In the morning, the girls opened gifts and spent the morning (mostly) playing nicely together! Chuck made us a big breakfast and we hung out playing with toys and relaxing. It was a perfect, low-key Christmas. The most important part was that the girls had a great day and we got to spend time together. I sure love my little family!

The Adventure Begins

Posted on December 26, 2014December 26, 2014 by Andi

Last weekend, we packed everything we would want for the next couple months, packed up the kids, and headed to the airport to start our journey. We took Chuck's step-mom, Jean, with us to help with the kids and all our luggage. I'm not sure we could have done it without her!

We arrived at the airport and made our way through security and then had some lunch. The kids were really good and had fun looking at everything at the airport.

The girls did really well on the flight and played on the iPads through most of the trip. Maddie said it was fun and liked the bumps (turbulence). Dannie was really good until the last 10 minutes or so. She didn't want to be in her seat, didn't want to be held, and screamed through most of landing. But she's two, hadn't had a nap, was really tired and overall did great!

Alex was great! I fed him on takeoff and landing. He cried for a minute when I changed him, but slept through most of the flight. He's been to both sides of the country since I was pregnant when I went to New York! What a well-traveled 5-week old!

After a long day, we made it to Seattle. We were all tired and hungry, so we grabbed some food and made our way to our temporary housing. Then we put the girls to bed and fell asleep shortly after them. Alex even let me get a bunch of sleep that night. I was so thankful!

Stay tuned…there's more to come on our adventure!

Family Necklace

Posted on December 19, 2014December 17, 2014 by Andi

Last year, Chuck picked out a necklace for me. This year I added a new stone to it for Alex. I love how it turned out!

We didn't go with birthstone colors. I love that Chuck picked darker colors for us and lighter ones for the kids. It's one of my favorite and most special pieces of jewelry! I highly recommend getting one.

Robot Blanket

Posted on December 19, 2014December 17, 2014 by Andi

Chuck's mom has made lovely blankets for each of our kids when they are born. Maddie's blanket had a duck on it, Dannie's blanket is an owl, and I picked a robot for Alex's blanket. She puts their name, birth date and info and signs it.

I gave her this image as a guide for the robot.

And here's the blanket!

She did such a wonderful job! I just love it and I can't wait for him to use it and love it like the girls love theirs!

Holiday Concert

Posted on December 18, 2014December 18, 2014 by Andi

Maddie had her Holiday concert at school last week. It was so cute. They sang about three songs. As you can imagine, it was a bunch of three year olds yelling, singing off-key and flailing their limbs around wildly. But oh so adorable!

She was so proud. She waved to us from stage and sang her little heart out!

This ended up being her last event for school. She was supposed to go one more day before they took a break until the new year, but with our upcoming trip and everyone in our house being under the weather, I couldn't risk Maddie catching and bringing home some new illness from school and kept her home.

Alex * 1 Month Old

Posted on December 17, 2014December 18, 2014 by Andi

I’m not sure how this blog post is here already. My baby boy is 1 month old!

It’s been quite a transition to three kids. I’m actually glad we are moving because Chuck has been home to help out with the kids. I’ve really been trying to take it easy as much as possible so I can be in top-top shape for our move. The girls get along most of the time, but whining and fighting has been a frequent thing. We have so much going on and haven’t spent as much time with them as we would like (and that they need). But they both love their brother…maybe too much at times. 🙂 They are so helpful with him and so gentle. I love when they want to hug him and say good night. Dannie waves and says “nigh nigh, brudder”. Melts my heart!

As of the other day, Alex weighs 8 pounds, 9 ounces. He’s had a big weight gain (over a pound in two weeks). But I’m not surprised by that because he’s been an around-the-clock, eating machine!

For the most part, he sleeps really well. Last week he got a cold and slightly elevated temp (which we are still dealing with.) It has made him wake up more at night. But he’s only 4 weeks old. I can’t complain because I am getting some sleep at night. I also try to take naps when I can.

Alex is such a sweet, happy baby…except when you strap him into his car seat. He very much dislikes it! 🙂

He is spending more time awake during the day. I just love his big (I think blue) eyes. He gets such a serious look on his face. I love how wise (annoyed?) he looks when he gets so serious!

Alex has definitely completed our family and we all love him to pieces. Happy 1 month birthday little man!

See You In Seattle

Posted on December 16, 2014December 18, 2014 by Andi

It's actually happening. We are moving to Seattle! We have our flights booked and we couldn't be more excited.

Back in September, Chuck was laid off from Microsoft. They were closing all their remote locations and it was such a bummer for everyone there to lose their jobs!

After taking a little time off, Chuck got searching for a new job. Being the go-getter and amazing person that he is, he started looking at the big companies (Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft again). The catch is that all the jobs would be in Seattle. We briefly considered San Francisco, but knew we didn't want to live there. So the daunting, grueling, stressful task of interviewing began.

At the end of one of his trips, I made a short trip to Seattle to look around at neighborhoods and just loved it there! The pacific NW is so gorgeous…it's hard not to love it there. After finding a Target, it felt more like home and I knew I could live there!

So Chuck continued his interviews and we hoped for the best. He got a couple offers, but ultimately took a job with Google. And I couldn't be more proud of him! Not everyone gets to say they worked for Microsoft and Google! I'm in awe of him and all he can do.

At this point, we talked more and really had to decide if moving was something that was right for us and our family. It was an incredibly hard decision, but we knew if we didn't take this opportunity, he might not get one like this again. We have wondered what it would be like to live somewhere else and we would have wondered “what if” and had regrets if we didn't try this. So we held our breath, pressed the “send” button, and accepted the offer!

After accepting the position, it was time to start the moving ball rolling. Life has been a complete whirlwind. Really, since September, we have been taking one day at a time. We got our house on the market (are you in need of a new house, we'd love for you to buy ours!?) and started the process of getting ready to move across the country with children. On top of it all, we threw in having another baby. I mean, why not!? 🙂

Now just a few days away from our move, it's finally starting to feel more real. We are so excited to get out there, get settled and get back into a routine. We've been looking at houses online, but the serious looking will begin when we get there. I'm 90% sure I found a preschool for Maddie. That will be good for her. And I'm hoping to find a couple groups for me when I get there. Next up will be a pediatrician. There are so many things to think about with a move across the country!

I'm really looking forward to sightseeing and finding some new things for the kids and I to scope out. And milder winters. That makes me so happy!

Alex’s Visitors

Posted on December 5, 2014December 16, 2014 by Andi

We are so lucky to have such great family and friends that have come to visit us! Here are some pictures from the hospital and at home.

Posted with Blogsy

Alexander Charles

Posted on December 2, 2014April 5, 2016 by Andi

The newest little addition to our family arrived on November 17, 2014 at 10:30AM. He weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces and was 19 3/4″ long. I had another scheduled c-section and everything went as planned. I am recovering well (maybe too well since I sometimes overdo it) and the girls love him!

We had a bunch of visitors at the hospital. It was so nice of everyone to take the time to come by to see us. I will have to put together another whole post of visitors! We have had many visitors at home as well, and I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of friends and family with food, gifts and sweet notes. (Now I need to get my act together and send out my thank you cards!)

He's been such a good baby and so happy. The only time he really gets upset is if he's decided he is starving and once in a while he just hates his car seat. 🙂

Maddie and Dannie love to snuggle him and are so sweet and cautious around him. They need to say goodnight to him and love to help me with him. They are such good big sisters!

We couldn't be more happy with our little Alex and our wonderful family of FIVE!

Posted with Blogsy

Annibirthary 2014

Posted on November 12, 2014November 13, 2014 by Andi

Last week, Chuck and I celebrated our 10th anniversary! And on the same day, I turned 34. It was a big day last week. We spent our day in a pretty unconventional way for an anniversary…packing/decluttering our house. (But we did take our early anniversary trip a couple months ago to NYC.)

We did have a few visitors. My friend, Nicole, and her daughter came by in the morning to play. The girls love her daughter and they play really well together. Her daughter is the same age as Dannie and she is due with a boy a few weeks after our boy is born. Nicole brought some pizza for lunch. My dad also stopped by to bring me my birthday potatoes. Yep. That’s what I wanted….twice baked potatoes. He gave me lots of them and they are delicious! He also brought a fruit bouquet. It was a yummy lunch!

And my mom came by to bring some lovely flowers, dinner (Chinese food), a couple cards and then stayed through nap time to help us clean out some things and helped Chuck move some furniture around the house that I can’t help with. It was such a helpful and wonderful gift.

I was also a super spoiled girl! My sweet hubby got me a new iPad. I got an iPad right after Maddie was born and the girls have pretty much taken it over. So as a birthday/anniversary/new baby is coming gift, he surprised me with a new one! I was so excited. My case came for it yesterday, so now I feel like I can use it more without the fear of breaking it every time I touch it. Smile

I was also lucky enough to have two birthday dinners with some girlfriends. I have some wonderful people in my life and I am so thankful for all of them!

It was a wonderful year and I am so excited for all the big things that are to come for our family this year!