It's our Anniversary...

Matt and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on Wednesday (Tax Day)! Matt surprised me with dinner at Ruth's Chris. We had a great time and enjoyed having a "grown-up" dinner on a school night! Matt ate a big steak while I enjoyed the grilled portabello mushrooms (I know, there's probably a law against eating mushrooms at a famous steakhouse). We have had three WONDERFUL years of marriage, and I pray we have many, many more. Each year just gets better and better, and I would gladly marry him again! I am a very lucky girl!

Spring Update

Well it has been a little while since my last post but a lot has happened. First, Aydan had her first Easter and was so cute. We had a wonderful Easter day, and the Easter bunny came to see Aydan three times...our house, MiMi and Granddaddy's (aka Hogger), and Nuni and Papa's. She certainly has no shortage of love and attention!


We started the day by going to church and Aydan finally stayed in the nursery for the first time. We immediately found out she would be moved from the squirrell class to the rabbit class due to her advanced skills. After church, we had Easter lunch (and Ashley's birthday celebration) at Nuni and Papa's house where the easter bunny left Aydan a big bunny of her own. Aydan immediately took to the bunny and continued to wrestle with it for about 1o minutes. She was beyond adorable with her new friend and proceeded to show her love by covering the rabbit in slobber.

Secondly, my little daughter wore her first pair of booty shorts while enjoying the spring weather. While she was cute...she better enjoy it now while no boys are chasing her.

Happy Birthday to Aunt Ashley!!

Movin' and shakin'

We are officially crawling! It all "c licked" yesterday. It was so funny how one day she was still trying to get the hang of it and the next day she was crawling like a pro! She also pulled herself up to standing all by herself (see above pic) and said "da da." It was a big day!

Here is Aydan in her model pose...she does this all the time and it's hilarious!

I have spring break next week, so I am so excited about spending all day with Aydan each day! We are going to go visit Dad at work and who knows what other exciting adventures we'll find!

The playroom, which has officially been named the "Kid Cave" is coming along. Matt, Taylor and I worked last weekend and almost finished the built-ins. I'm sure Matt and I will work more this weekend. It is coming along nicely and will be a great room for Aydan and her friends and future siblings! We just love home projects! We'll post more pictures soon!

Legs

I guess I should explain what happened to my legs. I have stress fractures in both ankles. I'm not completely sure how it happened, but I think it was from running. It happened the first week in February. I had been running for a few days and noticed I was a little sore around my ankles, but thought it was due to the new sneakers I was wearing and it would go away when I got used to them. I kept running even though the pain got worse. The next morning I almost fell down when my feet hit the floor out of bed. It was really sore, but I still thought nothing of it. I thought it was tendonitis and just tried to rest them. They eventually started swelling and were throbbing even when propped up. Fast forward to two weeks later when I could barely walk. Thankfully, Matt finally made me go to the orthopedist, and an after-hours visit, x-rays, bloodwork, and an MRI later, we discovered I have stress fractures in both legs. He said between pregnancy, nursing, and not eating dairy for 6 months (made Aydan's colic worse), I am in temporary osteoporosis. Who knew?!

I am staying off my feet as much as you can when you teach and have a baby at home. Hopefully they'll heal soon! I have started incorporating dairy back into my diet and taking more calcium. It's not a cool story, but there it is. I told my students I was trying a new snowboarding trick...and they believed me! Hehe!

7 Month's Old

Not much to report other than Aydan reaching the 7 month mark yesterday. She is now saying bah-bah-bah all day long and continues to learn how to wave. She is also very close to crawling and while we are all excited for her to get moving...watch out when she does. As soon as she can crawl, she will be a non stop terror (in a good way of course).

In addition, we have started another project at the Vaughn house. My former man-cave (I have a newer and bigger one now) is getting turned into Aydan's (and any future baby Vaughn's) playroom. We are planning on tearing up the carpet and putting down some new floors, building some built-ins with a toy box, shelves and cabinets. We are also going to paint and make one wall a huge chalkboard. I will take some before pictures and post the progress as we move along.

In everything give thanks...

I am trying hard to live out 1 Thessalonians 5:18--"In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." This kind of goes along with a lesson from Cindi Wood's "The Frazzled Female" Bible study I did a few months ago that challenged me to take a 24 hour fast from negative thinking. I was shocked at how many negative thoughts run through my head all day! Each time I caught myself thinking negatively, I would try to replace it with something positive. Applying this to 1 Thes. 5:18 just takes it a step further. Not only should I think positively about everything, I should praise the Lord for it! So, I should thank God that I have two casts on my legs? I should praise God that I have the flu? I should thank God for middle school students who drive me crazy all day? YES, YES, and YES!

I decided last night that thankful living will be my new endeavor. I'm sure I failed much earlier than this, but the first time I realized my failure was on the way to work this morning when I made a comment about not wanting to go to work. I immediately recognized my thankless attitude and followed-up my statement with "I'm just kidding...I'm so thankful to have a job." Sure, it was forced, but it's a start!

I don't know how long I can keep this up, but here are some things for which I am truly thankful!

• Thank you, Lord, for these casts on my legs--I can't drive, so Matt has to take me to work, and it offers us 15 minutes of good quality time together. I am going to miss it when I am able to drive again! He makes me laugh! : )
• Thank you, Lord, that Aydan was up twice last night. It gives me the chance to snuggle and spend time with her.
• Thank you, Lord, for my job that keeps food on the table and a roof over our heads.
• Thank you, Lord, that I have a wonderful family that I can't wait to go home to at night!
• Thank you, Lord, that I have co-workers who care about me, lift me up, and make me laugh!
• And for the tough one...thank you, Lord, for giving me the flu. It allowed me to rest my mind, body, and legs!
• Thank you, Lord, for pollen, because it means spring and beautiful weather!! : )

It's My Turn

Well since Lindsay has been out of commission with some sort of Flu like bug the past 3 days, I decided to give blogging a shot. There is not much to report from the Vaughn household other than the sickness, but there still seems to never be a quiet moment. Aydan is learning to wave and it is so freakin' cute. She is so amazing at how quickly she learns new things and changes from day to day and even more amazing is the fact that she will be 7 months old on Sunday. I have added one of the images from our 6 month photo shoot so that you can see the cute little booger. I am sure that as soon as Lindsay is feeling better she will continue to blog, but until then, you will probably have to starve yourself of the "captivating" moments from the Vaughn family.