A Beautiful Experience

Over this past weekend we have had a very beautiful and spiritual experience. Devin's maternal Grandma was diagnosed with cancer several months ago. Last week she fell into a coma and lay waiting to return to Heaven. During the week there were several moments we thought we lost her, but she continued to hold on. By Friday afternoon she was still hanging on and Devin suggested that we go and see her. As we entered her room, Adalyn immediately reached out for her. We were quite surprised but attempted to get her closer. Adalyn continued to reach, and even became frustrated when we tried to hold her back. Finally we allowed Adalyn to touch her hand and for a moment she just laid down beside her. It was all I could do to keep from crying. This continued up until the time that we left. As we were leaving Adalyn reached out to each person in the room and gave them a hug. This completely shocked us because generally she has to warm up to people first. On our drive home (not 20 minutes into it) we received the call that Grandma Hancock had passed. At that point, we knew that Adalyn was aware that the gates of Heaven were opened. Grandma was being called home and our angel knew it. She was connected to both worlds and was able to show us how close the two worlds actually are. She then reached out to each person as if to tell them, "All is well."















The next days that followed were very reassuring. On Sunday evening a Family Viewing was held. Grandma was so beautiful and at peace. The funeral was a beautiful memorial to her life and reminder of what a loving, giving, and charitable person she was.




























We are so grateful for the opportunity we had to know this wonderful woman and for the beautiful experience we were able to share with her this last week. We love you Grandma!

Not Ready For This...

Yesterday Adalyn turned 11 months old. We are only 1 month away from our baby turning a year old and I don't think that I am quite ready for this. Time has gone by way too quickly, giving both Devin and I a mixture of feelings. On the one hand, it has been so much fun watching Adalyn grow and learn new things every day. But on the other hand, our little baby who depended on us for everything, is getting so big and independent. Addie used to look to us make sure if something was okay, and now she decides for herself. We were in Barnes and Noble the other day and decided to let her roam in the kid's section... she was everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. I was pretty grateful that I wasn't the one who had to clean that store...(this may be a new activity for us!) She found several kids to play with...some who didn't want to play with her, but she had no qualms about that, she just continued doing what she was doing. Because she just keeps getting more and more fun to watch, I guess we will just have to deal with the fact that she isn't our little baby anymore. Here are some things she has been up to lately...





Adalyn has been getting all of her hair back... her little fohawk looks so cute on her!




















Adalyn enjoys sliding anything and everything across the floor... it's so funny to watch.


Adalyn definitely keeps us on our toes these days, but we really love it. She has the cutest personality that we get to enjoy day by day.

Pay It Forward!

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift/treat from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or be lazy and copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift!Yeah, for homemade things!

KID TAG!!

Spot light your kids, then tag friends.

1. Full name: Adalyn Anne Payne

2. Birth: April 22, 2008

3. Stats: 8lbs. 2oz. and 21.5 in. long

4. Nicknames: Addie, Addie Lu, LuLu, Princess, Chica

5. Favorite foods: Anything Mom and Dad are eating, Mac and Cheese, Pasta

6. Least favorite foods: Really strong or sweet fruits, Juice

7. Favorite Toys: Blocks, Books, A take-along music box, Lucy the Lamb

8. Favorite Color: Since she can't really tell me what her favorite color is I will just assume that it's pink.

9. Favorite animal: She loves looking at dogs. Her favorite stuffed animal is a lamb.

10. Favorite Game: Adalyn loves to hide behind things and waits for us to say, "Where is Addie?" Then she will come out and we say, "There she is!" She gets so excited. (This game began with our niece Eleanor playing it with her and has just stuck!)

11. Favorite movie: She doesn't quite have the attention span for movies yet but her favorite show is Little Einsteins. She gets so excited when it comes on.

12. Loves: Being outside. Climbing on, in, over, and under things. Music. When Daddy makes her laugh. Dancing with mom.

13. Hates: Naptime. Being laid down for anything.

We now tag: Shannon, Angie, Sara, Becky, and Leah.

All You Need Is Love... and Logic

So I thought I would keep everyone up to date on our staircase/gate situation. Devin and I talked about it and decided that since we have been unable to find a gate that works for our situation, we would figure out how to teach Adalyn about the stairs. So the next problem... How do you teach a 10 month old that the stairs are dangerous? Love and Logic to the rescue! We discovered this book after questioning the parents of a practically perfect little girl(our niece Eleanor) and I immediately fell in love with it. In the very beginning it talks about the "stair" situation and although the story was about a 2 year old, I thought that I would give the technique a try. Here is the end result...

I only used the technique for a couple of days and have not had to use it since!
And here is something else we decided to teach her early on. When a boy asks for a kiss respond in this way...


Sorry that the video is sideways!

Our First Fort

Today we built the first of what I hope to be many forts. Lately Adalyn loves crawling under, through, over, and in things. So today I thought that I would help her with that. Although it is quite amateur, and she was a bit skeptical at first, she ended up really liking the whole idea. We crawled through it, and over it, and played inside it... I felt like a kid again! (I might have been just a little more excited about it than she was!) Here are some pictures of our eventful afternoon...
Then at lunch this is what happened...
So I had intended to share some of my roll with Adalyn by breaking off small peices to give to her. However, she had a different idea... she decided she wanted to do it on her own and in the process made a huge mess. (Thank heavens for vaccuums!) Gotta love our curious kids!