Moving Day!

We made it! We are in Colorado, and have finally settled in.

Settled into my parents basement, that is :)
We really are happy to be living here, and are so grateful that they are letting us bombard them for the next little while.
Bridger is going to be in heaven having so much attention from so many different people, once he's adjusted and used to everything again. He's been having a rough time these past couple days. Just super fussy, which isn't like him at all. Plus, he's sick again. Ugh.

THIS is how my boy usually is.

Packing up our little apartment was quite the task! But, we did it! I think we have become expert shrink wrappers, bubble wrappers, and paper wrappers since we started this whole thing. We kept thinking, as we were packing, oh, we are going to have soooo many boxes left over. Or, oh, we got waaay to much packing tape, and paper. Nope. Pretty much used it all up. I was shocked to say the least. Do I seriously have that much stuff???

Working at an interior design store was both a blessing and a curse. I think we had about 10-15 big boxes of JUST decor. Not including large pictures, and furniture. The plus side of it all is that we won't have to buy much when we move into a house. I keep reminding Steve of that little detail, and it seems to calm him a bit.

We got everything loaded on the storage boxes in a just a couple days, thanks to Elders Quorum helpers, and then we had to cram the rest of our stuff in our cars to take to my parents house. And after all that, it was so weird walking through our place, totally empty. This is where Steve and I first started out. This is where we brought Bridger home from the hospital. This is where we've lived for almost 3 years now. This was home to me. And I kinda miss that old place! I never thought I would say it, but I do. I kinda miss it.

But, I am pretty excited for our new adventure here in Colorado. I'm excited to see where we buy a house. I'm excited to have my OWN house to do whatever I want to! I am excited to make new friends. I am excited to live near my parents and other cousins that I haven't been around much since high school. I'm excited for Steve's new job, because he seems to be really really excited about it. I think there is going to be a lot of opportunity there, and that makes me so proud of him.

Before we left, we were able to cram in a lot with our friends and family. These past three weeks have been some of the busiest yet, and still were so fun! We were able to get together with just about everyone we planned on, and of course hit up some of our favorite places together. J Dawgs was at the top of the list, and we even got a bottle of the Special Sauce to hold us over til the next time we are over...about 2 weeks. We are going to miss our friends and family in Utah! But, it's nice to know that we will be back fairly often. I have a sister over there that I have to see! I'll just hop in the car with my mom when she comes over for the weekend!

Steve had his first day of work yesterday. Yep, my love, your vacation is officially over! It was a fun 3 months; it was so nice having him around to hang out with and to help take care of B. It's a little strange waking up in the morning and him being gone. He leaves pretty early in the morning, but hopefully that means that he'll just get to come home earlier. Traffic here is kind of a beast. It will definitely take some getting used to. Yesterday, because of an accident, it took him over an hour to get to work. Today, it was only 35 minutes. Much more doable. He's already feeling better about everything today! This job is really flexible too, so he'll be able to work from home sometimes, too. He's pretty excited about everything and the direction his career is going.

Bridger and I are just settling in to life here in Colorado. We are going to have fun going to the pool, going on walks/hikes, playing in the yard and on the swings, going to the park, and hopefully making lots of friends along the way :)

Ok, that's a pretty good update for now. Whew!

Guess what?!

Our little family is moving to Denver in 2 WEEKS!

After quite the decision-making process, we have decided that Colorado is the place our family needs to be. Steve was offered a unique position with a smaller engineering firm where he'll have a lot of room to grow and learn. He's pretty excited about it, which makes me pretty excited too! We are off on a new adventure, and although we will miss all our good friends and family out here in Utah, we are looking forward to this new chapter in our lives.

We'll be living my my mom and dad while we look for a house out there. Hopefully we'll all get some things accomplished during these coming months, and our time isn't completely monopolized by our little munchkin. Seriously, he really is THAT fun to play with.

And, once we get a house....VISITORS ARE WELCOME!

And I mean it!

Just a day late...

That's right guys, my baby is growing up!

And he's getting chunkier with each passing month too, if you can believe it.

It seems like each stage of his little life couldn't possibly be more fun than the next, but he finds a way to make us love all these new and exciting stages.

Bridger, you are the apple of our eye, and such a handsome boy!

We love you!

Happy Half Birthday!

Paige asked me yesterday if we were doing anything fun for his half birthday. To be honest, I didn't even think of it! I was busy preparing my Relief Society lesson, and getting organized before our move (more on that later). So, during dinner, I decided to get a little festive.

Don't get too excited, now. It wasn't that exciting.

Bridger was in the middle of eating his delicious Apple/Carrot Combo, and not loving it as much as I expected he would. I told Steve that I wished I had made him a little cake, or at least a little cupcake, for crying out loud! Bad mom! Steve reminded me that he can't eat frosting or cake, and then I reminded him that it didn't stop him from eating it on vacation.

Anyway, Steve appeased my need to make everything a bigger deal than it needs to be, and grabbed a little blue candle from the cupboard, stuck it in the baby food jar, and grabbed the video camera, since of course this was worthy of a good video. We lit the candle and sang a pretty sad verion of Happy Birthday to the little one, while he looked on, totally confused as to why we interruped his feeding . Needless to say, it was memorable. And even if it wasn't, we have video of the whole thing.

Anyway.

A whole 6 months?! Are you kidding me?!

Look at all the fun things you are up to these days my boy!

-sitting and rocking on his bum

-LOVES the little red Discovery Toys teething toy

-sleeps from 8:30 to 7:30

-sleeps SO much better in his crib

-puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, and I mean EVERYTHING

-learned to stick his tongue out, and chews on it too

-rolls from back to front, and from front to back

-just discovered that he loves stuffed animals (uh oh)

-loves rice cereal w/ apples, sweet potatoes, squash, peach cobbler (thanks Dad), green beans, and bananas

-loves ice 

-loves watermelon still

-getting too big for the bumbo--his chunky monkey thighs get stuck!

-likes to drink water from a cup sometimes, even though it dribbles all down his chest

-still loves the bath, and even moreso now that he can sit up in the water and play with the faucet

-loves little dogs, especially Hurley (but this doesn't mean he's getting one) 

-ticklish on his shoulders, chest, and tummy

-gets super figetty when changing his diaper

-falls asleep all by himself

-started to grab at my face while feeding

-has his dark blue eyes still

aaaaaand...

His hair is growing finally!

Can you see it???

Bridger, you are getting sooo big!

At 5 months, our boy:

Can sit up all by himself!

Sleeps about 10-11 hours at night.

Coos and hums when he's tired.

Loves rice cereal (and watermelon)

...and popcicles...shhh!

Can roll over from back to tummy all by himself.

(Still working on tummy to back though)

Takes great naps during the day.

Is starting to get more hair...finally!

Loves his little teething rings, and drools ALL OVER them!

Uses the pacifier as a chew toy now.

Is a great traveler. He loves car rides and still falls asleep instantly.

Is sleeping in his crib now.

Loves the bumbo.

Loves the bath and the pool.

Does NOT like being held like a baby (cradling him) unless you have a bottle ready to feed him.

Laughs and smiles A LOT.

Is ticklish on his shoulders, under his chin, and under his arms.

Loves to be outside. He stops crying almost instantly when we step outside.

Has the cutest, chunkiest little rolls all over his little body!

Is a little dream baby!

We are so in love with this little one, and are grateful, every day, that he is a part of our family. 

Cereal

So about a month or so ago, Bridger broke his nice little habit of sleeping like 9 hours straight at night, and started waking up at 3 am. Hungry! And since I'm not nursing anymore, it was kind of a rude awakening for me too, because I needed to go into the kitchen and make a bottle, instead of just pulling him into bed with me to nurse. Ugh. He kept up this nasty little habit for a few weeks.

But, it all changed when we went to Denver. 

Here's the part where you can't judge!

While we were out there, I started to put CEREAL in his bottle. Shhh!

I know, I know. The doctors say that you shouldn't do that because it will confuse the baby, and then they won't want to drink a normal bottle. Yadda, yadda. They said the same kind of thing about waiting to introduce a bottle until he was like a month old, but I broke the rule on that one too. He's been a bottle drinker from the time he was like 2 weeks.

I'll tell you what. Putting cereal in his bottle was the best choice ever (for me). It filled him up, and he slept! He did wake up at 3 am that first night, because of habit, but he only cried for a little bit, and fell right back asleep and slept until 7:30. Perfect!

The next night, and the night after that, and the one after that, just got better and better. Bridger is sleeping at least 10 hours straight now!

Hallelujah!

While we were at my parent's house, we also fed him cereal (with a spoon) for the first time! 

He liked it! 

(Not quite as much as the watermelon we let him suck on though! Hah!)

I have been feeding him a little bit of cereal at night, before his bath and bottle. He's so cute, sitting there in his bumbo in nothing but his diaper. We love this little rollie pollie.

 

And then it was bath time in the kitchen sink.

The walls, floors, countertops, my clothes...pretty much everthing in a 5 foot radius...was SOAKED.

This boy loved to sit up in the sink and splash like crazy.

And we didn't mind the mess one bit, because he was having the time of his life!

 See? He LOVES watermelon.

  

Don't Go!

It's a sad day here in the Hakes home.

I can't hear Hailey upstairs when she wakes up!

And Marianne doesn't come downstairs anymore to visit!

The Denison's moved to Austin, the same day that we left for Colorado, and it didn't really hit me that they were gone until we came back from our trip.

Our house is so quiet, and it's kinda strange. We've always had someone upstairs, and for the majority of the time that we've been here, it was Brian, Marianne and Hailey.

We are definitely going to miss them!

Before they left, we had a little party in our backyard with some friends from our ward.

We have some really great families in our ward and we are going to miss them too when we end up moving!

Good luck in Austin, Denison family!

See you in a couple weeks!

Lots of changes here in the Hakes home!

Steve has been looking for a new job!

Unfortunately, as of about a month or so ago, Steve was laid off.

We know that things happen for a reason, though, so we have been looking at the bright side of things. And there have been many bright sides to this seemingly unfortunate situation we have found ourselves in.

We have always wanted to end up in Colorado, and now seems like the best time to make our way out that direction. We can't help but feel guided by our Heavenly Father as we've made decisions along our way. Before we were even married, Steve and I looked at buying a house. We even put an offer on a couple. One offer was even accepted. But it never felt right. We thought about maybe even starting to look again last fall, but again, it just didn't feel right. So, here we've stayed, in our cozy little basement apartment, patiently waiting.

We are so grateful, at this time especially, that we don't have a house to worry about. And we are free to go pretty much wherever, whenever. Our Heavenly Father is watching over us! This we know.

So, we had always planned on going to Denver to see my family over Memorial Day weekend, but our new circumstances made it so we could stay a little longer so that Steve could interview and meet with all the big firms in the Denver area.

It was a success!! Steve was pretty much busy every day that we were there (about 2 weeks), meeting with all kinds of people. Steve is a rockstar when it comes to networking! Holy moly! He kept rattling off names and companies, and I just nodded my head like I knew what it the world he was talking about. I couldn't keep up with his busy schedule. He made some really great contacts and had some successful interviews. Now we just wait and see! He wants to have chosen a company by the time we leave for Delaware, the end of next week. I am so proud of Steve. He works so hard and is so determined when it comes to his career. I am lucky to have him!

Lovely Colorado.

Bridger did great in the car again! He didn't cry or get super fussy until we were driving into my parent's neighborhood. And we only had to stop once! I'm glad he's such a great traveler, because we've got some trips ahead of us that I would be DREADING if he wasn't.

Being in Denver, for me and Bridger, was a little more relaxing, than it was for Steve. Poor Steve!

It's always nice being home. My mom always asks what I would like to do while I'm there, because I think she feels bad that we don't really do much, but I'm just fine staying home, just hanging out. It's kinda what I enjoy most about going to my house.

We did do some fun things while we were there, though.

Bridger Boy's first baseball game!

It was a little rainy and cold for the first few innings, but we hung in there, and stayed until the top of the 8th inning. Of course. That's when we always leave. I don't think I've ever stayed for an entire baseball game when I've gone with my dad! hah! But, on the bright side, we always get home without any run-ins with traffic!

Love you Dad!

But seriously, one of these times, we HAVE to stay til the end! 

Bridger Boy loves his Big Fella.

And his Honey.

Auntie M and Auntie Tay with the boy.

We missed you Uncle Jeff and Auntie Paige!

My mom and I re-accessorized her house! It was a little overwhelming. Actaully, a lot overwhelming! But still fun. It took FOREVER, as in ALL DAY LONG to get everything done, and by the end of the day, I think we were just throwing things places to get them off the dining room table. I think everything turned out great though, and now I'm just looking forward to all the new furniture to get here that my mom ordered back in March. It's going to look great!

We had a pile of old accessories that needed to go to Goodwill or something, but we saved ourselves a trip, and let the McRae kids go to town. Brook wasn't as thrilled as the kids were, obviously. Look at those faces though! It was like Christmas for them! Hah! I think Connor was most excited about the fancy lamp that he gets to put in his room.

Mom and I took at Chalk & Clay Paint class at the Rusty Nail in Downtown Littleton.

It was really fun, and we got to paint an old piece of furniture that needed a facelift.

Swimming at Grandma Nola's pool.

Bridger did great! He loves the water.

We are excited to go to the beach in a couple weeks, and stick his little toes in the ocean water.

And we're excited to go to Montana, to float around in the lake with him!

We've got some fun trips ahead of us this summer, and we can't wait to see all our family!

Just because. 

I cannot resist.