Insanity! That actually about sums up my life anymore. Time is something I just don't have, but I manage to get by day to day. So let's see, what's been going on over the last ten days since I posted something....

Well, last Saturday we went to the Cover Bridge Festival in Cherry Valley near where I went to high school. I wasn't overly impressed with it (I didn't really wanna go but Grandma Beatrice did). It was kind of a wasted trip since it pretty much sucked! I love festivals, but between the Indian (Cecil - this weekend - we're going - weather dependent), Apple (Hickory - Next Weekend), and Pumpkin (Oct 10-12) - they are all pretty much the same vendors in a different location honoring something... I usually pick/choose depending on my schedule.... Usually it's the Indian and the Pumpkin for the most part, but apparently Grandma Beatrice wants to go to all of them this year. UGH! I knew I wasn't getting out of the Pumpkin with the costume contest .... it just wasn't happening! Ah well, such is life!

Moving on, Sunday We all went to Oktoberfest in Canonsburg (I like this festival a lot) but this year was really disappointing! I did win a basket in the Chinese Auction though - go figure I couldn't use most of it ..... It was mostly for Matt since it had a big case of beer! He'll be happy for a while.

Our little girl is growing by leaps and bounds now. We've been flying through new foods - she's on Green Beans now. Our menu choices at this point include: Carrots, Green Beans, Sweet Potatoes, Squash, and Bananas. I think Tomorrow I'll start her on some Applesauce.

Yesterday at Grandma Martins, Aerie apparently took her first couple of steps at crawling getting both her arms and legs moving for a moment before crashing to the floor. Grandma Martin was quite impressed!

Yesterday, Aerie officially started Kindermusik in McMurray! She absolutely loved it. While at Kindermusik she took another stab at crawling and actually made it a few feed before having her strength give out. She's going to be completely mobile before we know it.... Time to hunt out the baby proofing stuff!

Kindermusik was wonderful last night. Aerie absolutely loved everything. She gets so happy and excited when we're there. She seems to really enjoy interacting with other babies her age too. For the most part, all the children are close in age. There's another girl about a week younger and two a month older and a few older/younger as well. It's nice being able to socialize her like that every week (plus I'm making cool friends). I think that's actually what's helped her figure out the crawling last night. She was watching two of the other children intently and then she did it. I was so happy!

Aerie's 2nd set of Brownlee photos are this week. I finally found her the perfect outfit at Toys R Us last weekend.... but I'm not telling just yet.... he he.... :)

Well that's about it for now. Perhaps I'll write something soon (hopefully).

Where to begin???

Where on earth do I begin?? I know it's been a while since my last post and your all probably wondering what in the world is going on in our little world. Well here's the brief (and I mean brief because I could type for hours on what's been going on) recap of the last few weeks.

Both parents have since been released from AGH. I didn't have time to post that though (I'm sorry). Mom's doing great and Dad is slowly recovering... he has a very long road to go before he's back on track with his health. Thankfully, there are enough people ready to put a foot up his rear end right now to keep him in line! I think it's safe to say he got one hell of a wake up call over the last month! Hopefully now it will stick in his damn brain that he needs to take better care of himself and not let it get to this point again, because then we'll all be ready to kick his butt!

Two weeks ago I started back at Waynesburg for my MBA (Yes, I know.... I'm nuts to add this lovely chore on top of working, parenting, and having some form of a life). I really enjoy it so far, my class rocks, the teacher rocks, and it's just really great to be back in the swing of learning again because it's such a wonderful experience.

This morning I finally set up Arabella's savings account (That I've been trying to set up since mid-August) at our credit union. A few weeks ago we emptied out her piggy bank and my parents rolled up the change while we were at work. She had a nice chunk going for her so I put it all into a savings account for her to use later in life when it will be useful (like for college or some awesome trip to Europe or something worthwhile).

Arabella's 6 month check up is coming in the next few weeks. It's hard to believe my little girl is going to be six months old next Saturday! Where on earth did the time go? Before I know it, I'll be making the preparations for her first birthday..... Yikes!

While we're thinking ahead, Arabella's six month photos at Brownlee are also coming up (October 2nd to be exact). Brownlee's is doing autumn photos outside (so cross your fingers for great weather!)

Since the 2nd is a Thursday, I plan on taking the whole day off to spend it with Aerie. After her photos, we might head into Pittsburgh since it's Radical days and certain museums are offering free admission. On Oct 2, it's Phipps and the butterfly garden is still going on so I thought it would be nice to take her out to the garden and see the flowers and the butterflies (or more like... me see the butterflies).... Then Thursday evening is our Kindermusik class so it'll be a great day for the two of us.

If you haven't checked them out yet, there's tons of new photos posted on the website of Aerie. I'm so addicted to taking pictures of her. She's such a beautiful little girl, how can I not take pictures???

So in the works, my mother is working on Arabella's Halloween costume (She started bugging me about it months ago with what I wanted to make her). I personally didn't care... so I just kinda let her roll with whatever she wanted to make....

... but we're not telling! :P At least, I'm not telling anyways..... You'll all just have to wait and see what we're going to make her (and no it's not the princess she already is!).

Well that's about all for today. I've got a million things to do, a sick boyfriend, and a desire to go home and play with my baby. I'm off!

Updates on my parents

Ok so for those that don't know yet.... life has been anything but normal! Let's go back a week....


Sunday - mom went into AGH to be regulated (blood) for surgery on Wednesday.

Wednesday - mom had surgery... went fantastic! Immediatly following she was up and moving around like she didn't even have any kind of operation!!!

Also Wednesday, my father's health (as most of you know) has gotten progressivly worse and worse and worse. Wednesday he looked horrible (partially contributed from stress from surgery on mom).

Thursday - after much yelling and screaming from a variety of family members, we finally convinced him to go to the hospital. He went to Canonsburg, was admitted and told he'd be seeing pulmonary doctors in the morning.

Friday - I went to work... mom was anticipating release so I figured I'd be closer to going to get her (seeing as how I was half way there). In the morning, Dad was moved to ICU... I stalled for about an hour at work waiting to see if mom was going to be released - she wasn't. So I went to Canonsburg.

Shortly after arriving, we were informed he was being moved to AGH because they couldn't do anything more for him there.

Basically, to make a long story short - where we stand now.......

He is in Allegheny General Hospital in MICU. Because of his size, they can not do some of the tests to determine what all is really going on. The doctors are treating it as if he has a blood clot and possibly Pneumonia. His size is also a factor in making any problem worse. He is sedated and on a respirator (sedation so he won't pull out the tubes). As of this morning, he was responsible when doctors were in - squeezing their hands in answer to questions. They also took him off sedation briefly this morning, gave him some water and then put him back under.

From what doctors have told us, this is going to be along healing process. Against our wishes, he let his health get progressivly worse and worse and now we're left trying to solve one problem at a time. We're certain he will be hospitalized for quite some time and from there who knows. There is no estimated time of recovery... it's just one day at a time. We're learning more and more each day.

Yesterday was a very long and emotional day. I haven't gone back to the hospital as of yet. They've been running tests and what not all morning so there wasn't much to be done. We're heading in shortly.

I tried to call as many people as I could to inform them of the situation but obviously our family is huge and I don't have everyone's number (and probably forgot a few people along the way). If I didn't call you, I'm sorry. I'll try to update the site as much as I can with information. Feel free to contact me anytime and I'll let you know what I know. I'll also post updates here so I can get info to the masses rather than calling a million people.

Currently, mom's still hospitalized on the 9th floor in AGH and Dad is on the 4th (I'm getting a lot of exercise, trust me). Hopefully, she will be coming home tomorrow.... I'm betting on it because then I have to contend with traffic from the Steeler game and that's my kind of luck.

Surprisingly, we're handling the situation ok. Keep us in your thoughts though and email me any time if you want a personal update (I'd post my phone number but I don't want some wacko accidently finding the website and calling me). But if you email me directly, I'll gladly give it to you. My email is hayleybykens@gmail.com and email anytime!

Thanks.