Well, a year and 4 months later...

I really suck at updating this blog! Geez!!! I will do much better now that I've got more time on my hands. A LOT has gone on since the previous blog entry. I'll try to go in order from past to present!

We had a great holiday season 2008/beginning of 2009. There were a lot of parties, family gatherings, presents, and smiles to be had by all. We brought in 2009 with John & Michelle at Mr. Anderson's house - he threw a fantastic party & we are so grateful they added us in on the fun! January was pretty tame - Sug turned 50! February was a decently busy month for Jared & I - we went to San Antonio to celebrate Michelle's birthday with John, Michelle, Kyle & Lynelle. Overall, a super fun weekend and so fun to hang out in my old hometown (well, Jared's too). Later in Feb, Jared & I went up to Kansas to surprise Dustin for his 30th birthday party and had WAY too much fun at the fabulous party Pat planned! Haleigh stayed at home so mommy & daddy could party the weekend away with daddy's family. On Feb 12, we celebrated the one year mark of Haleigh's surgery! She got her own special little cake to enjoy for the occasion! Dad took Haleigh to the petting zoo at the Rodeo and had her picture taken on the Longhorn! Super cute Pods & Haleigh date - it's their new tradition. :-)

March & April 2009 were crazy busy months for us. We had Rodeo Houston CookOff, Taylor Swift, UCP Crawfish Boil, Guitar Hero marathon with John, Michelle & Michelle's little brother, and a crawfish boil at my aunt & uncle's house with us, John & Michelle, Kyle, Derek, Dani & Adam, Nia, Ida & Will.

May was pretty calm - we ventured to Austin for Mother's Day and were able to swing by Johnny Finn's for my friend Heather's birthday. I hadn't seen her in a while & she had never met Jared so it was a long time coming! Dad & Aimee took us to a Rocket's playoff game where dad wore an obnoxious red pimp suit & hat and we met Chamillionaire (the rapper).

June 2009 was another busy month for us - Dad turned 50! His surprise party was a MASSIVE success & he and Aimee left for LA the next morning for the final game of the Rockets/Lakers series. Shortly after, we met Jared's parents and brother & sister in law and kids in Lakeway for a week long vacation! Jared's parents rented a house so we spent the weekend lounging by the pool, drinking and catching up. We had the Ramirez and Cervantes families over for lunch one day & it was so great to catch up with everyone. Haleigh got to throw out the first pitch at the Astros game with my Dad on his actual 50th birthday - cutest little girl to ever throw out a first pitch! She even had on her Astros cheerleading outfit on!

July/August 2009. Mom rented a house on Lake Travis for a week so Mom, Jared, Haleigh, myself, Kimmie and Josh headed out for a week of fun...or a week of a house with a broken AC! While we made lemons out of lemonade, it was hot as sin in that house! We played at the pool a lot, grilled, and partied white trash style (blow up pool, cigars, ice chest full of beer next to the pool). So much fun though! Back at home in The Woodlands, summer nights were full of us sitting outside with our neighbors drinking & catching up on the latest cul de sac gossip! H fell in love with playing in the blow up pool - she'll be crushed when she can't play with one this year :-( Mom bought a lakehouse on Lake Travis that we're all in love with! Mid August, we had a fun cousins night out to celebrate Lynelle's birthday in the front of The Woodlands. Craziness ensued, but it was most definitely a great night!

September - BEST month ever (my birthday month!!!!). Lots of time at the lakehouse - pool time, getting the house all set up, learning whats around Lakeway, etc. For my 26th (ugh am I REALLY that old!?!??) birthday, we went to the Texas/ Texas Tech football game in Austin with Kyle. We met up with Derek, Marc, and David at the tailgate & all had a lil too much fun. Such a fun night!

October - We went upto Austin for a night to hang out with our friends, Dani & Adam, who were in town from San Francisco for the UT/Colorado football game. We had a great dinner at Trudy's (home of my most favorite drink in the world, THE Mexican Martini) and were joined by an old friend, Casey. After dinner, we did the old school 6th St. deal and were joined by Leslie (long lost friend) - forgot how much fun 6th was with that group! Came home the next night to celebrate Haleigh's 2nd birthday but small fry was sick. We had the standard fondue dinner for Jared's birthday. My cousin, Jack, got married to Kate and we were able to go celebrate with them! Jared had to leave town for a family emergency for Halloween, so Uncle Johnny & Aunt Shelly were really the only people to see H in her Halloween outfit - she was a punk rock princess and a super cute one at that! They gave her pretty much half of their candy stock! Later in the evening, Will & Ida came over to keep H & I company!

November - we celebrated "Thanksmas" with Jared's family when we went up in late November. H had an awesome time playing with her cousins, Evey & Lex, and the parental units had a great time catching up , toddys in hand, while the grandparents watched the kids! Evey went on her first Harley ride with Grandad (which is a SUPER big deal in the Streeter/Griffith family) and had a huge smile on her face the entire time, from what I'm told! We were able to spend some time with Grandma & Grandpa Shaw as well as Leo, Janie & Matt.

December - KIMMIE ROO GRADUATED COLLEGE!!!!! My little sis graduated from LCU in December and had a big girl job lined up BEFORE graduation (a huge deal w/the economy these days). We all trucked it up to Lubbock to see Roo graduate. Christmas was spent at the lakehouse with Mom, Kimmie, Josh & the 3 of us. H got a super cool pink push tricycle that she's obsessed with! We had a belated Christmas with Dad & Aimee when we got back from Austin at their house - def a nice & relaxing night!

January 2010 - welp, we started out this year by going to visit Dani & Adam in LA for the 2010 National Championship game. We won't talk about the game, but we had a fantastic trip out to LA - Dani & Adam are always such amazing hosts! We met up with Mrs. Best and one of her friends as well as my friends Justin & Ryan and Ryan's brother in law Mark. Haleigh started school late January :-( Little girl all grown up... She had a rough first few days but over all she did very well adjusting. I started working for my dad & uncle the same time H started school. Late Jan consisted of a super fun cousins night at our house - got out of hand, but those are some of the most fun nights!

February - Haleigh was sick most of February with the "crud". Aimee turned 40!!! We had Rodeo CookOff, and that's about it.

March - Haleigh & Dad had their annual trip to the Rodeo Petting Zoo. H was a little pissy when I left but she was with Pods so it was all good. She came home with a super cute puppy pillow that's her new obsession & new member of her entourage! We went to Austin and had a "family" day at the zoo followed by lunch at Carlos & Charlies - INSANE how much difference a year can make when it comes to the lake levels. The lake looks amazing & I cannot wait for summer!

April - Grandma & Grandpa Shaw celebrated 50 years of marriage on Apr 1!!! So happy for them :-) Evey's birthday was Monday and today is Kimmie Roo's birthday! Busy month for us here! Tomorrow is H's last day of school & I'm honestly torn on our decision to pull her out so early. We will be spending a lot of time in Austin this summer and super busy with getting everything ready for Kimmie's wedding so we're pulling her. I feel terrible because she's just now adjusted to the class, her teacher, her friends in her class and the schedule. And I'm now taking that away from her. She loves her teacher, Ms. April, and the teacher who she sometimes has, Ms. Thomas. The school has been amazingly accomidating to us and has been so great to Haleigh. We were lucky to get this for H's first school experience! I'm starting to regret pulling her so early...who knows. Maybe I'll cave and keep her in for a few more weeks so I can get more things done around the house. In other news....we're about to put our house on the market! This house has been a good (well, decent) first house for us but it's time to move on. Who knows where we'll go or how long it'll take for us to sell, but we want to move on from this place.

The next few months are crazy busy for us...Kimmie has wedding showers and a bachelorette party and then a WEDDING!!!! Jared is going to Kansas alone next weekend. Morgan & Jeffrey are getting married in July. Aquapalooza in July as well.

I'm off to run errands but will update the snapfish account tonight and post the link tonight or tomorrow!

xoxo,
jess

An AWESOME Update

Well, today was our follow up appointment with Dr. Jea, Haleigh's neurologist. We had an MRI on December 2, and got our results today. We got the "all clear" for now, and even better news...Dr. Jea is so impressed with Haleigh's progress that he has decided to move our MRI's from every 4 months to every 6 months. That is awesome news for us because Jared and I hate having to put Haleigh through the torture of getting an IV - it's hell for her.

Someone upstairs must really love us because she has been doing so well lately. She's walking (almost running now), talking, and loving life. Haleigh is an amazing child and we truly are blessed. I don't think we could be any luckier.

I'll post pictures on Sunday. There are a lot I need to update so check back Monday.
much love,
jess

A Belated Update...

Again, so much has gone on since the last post.

We had Haleigh's first birthday party, and it was so much fun. The weather was perfect, we had her friends and family over, and the day was just great. Haleigh got lots of amazing toys, clothes, books, and is still getting used to all of the new things around the house.

Jared had his 26th birthday, and we celebrated with a big family dinner at Melting Pot. Great food and conversation was had by all! He really is an old man ;-)

We met some more of our neighbors, and hopefully we'll meet more during the holidays.

On a sad note, my Mimi passed away this past Sunday. It's been a rough few days. Haleigh and Jared have been such troopers - we are staying with my dad & Aimee and their house, and they are doing everything they can to help Mommy get through this.

We are looking forward to the holidays, but they are going to be insanely busy. I will update the website with more pictures this weekend.

love to all,
jess

So much has happened....

Since the last time I updated this.

We had Hurricane Ike roll through here...My 25th birthday, Haleigh's first birthday, Jared & I went to Dallas for the UT/OU football game, and this week we have Jared's 26th birthday and Haleigh's party.

Hurricane Ike was awful. We stated here at home in The Woodlands, and decided to wait out the storm. The rain started about midnight, then came the howling winds, and then came a big dose of my anxiety! About 4:30am, Jared, Haleigh and I came downstairs and camped out in our little closet in the living room. Haleigh thought it was playtime, so she was playing with the radio antenna and flash lights. She finally fell asleep after lots of rocking, but it was not very comfortable in there. We came out of the storm perfectly. Some branches fell off of the trees in the back, we need to replace some roof shingles and fence posts, but other than that, we are golden. We were without power for two weeks, and we are so grateful for the Weber family for letting us camp out at their house while waiting for power.

Haleigh had her One Year check-up today with her primary care doctor. Dr. Hill is quite impressed with Miss Priss, and we'll go back in three months from now. She is doing well on her height and weight, and we are off of formula :-) Haleigh has three teeth - two on the bottom and one up top. She looks pretty silly with just one up top, but we still love her. She's eating so much "big girl food" now, and she's a great eater. Haleigh is willing to try most anything, as long as it's on a spoon being served to her.

We have pictures uploaded, so email me at jessandjared@gmail.com if you want the link to our picture website.

Happy Monday!
love
jess

New pictures!

Well, once again I've slacked off and not posted for a while. I'm attaching new pictures of Haleigh, the last ones were updated today.

Haleigh had her 2nd post-op MRI on August 1st. We had to go in and meet with her oncologist, Dr. Okcu, and we got the all clear. Dr. Okcu is pleased with Haleigh's progress, and we even get to move her MRI's from every 3 months to every 4 months. Little victories like this are awesome!

Haleigh is pulling up on everything in sight, crawling so fast, and very curious about everything around her. She loves to read books and is obsessed with looking at trees. We've been enjoying the gymnastics part of the Olympics, so maybe one day she'll be a gymnast!

No new teeth yet...still just 2. Hopefully we'll have some soon :-)

more later.
love
jess, jared & haleigh

http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=210161218931475127/l=420264056/g=33526050/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Adding to yesterday's post...

Haleigh is growing like a weed, and her personality is developing so very quickly. She is quite sassy, and has increadibly expressive eyes.

We're almost done with her room decorating, so I will be uploading pictures of that when it's done.

that's about it. everyone here is great, haleigh is perfect, and our life is pretty easy!
take care
love
jess

We have a crawler!!! AND teeth!!!

Big news from the Griffith household...Haleigh has started crawling and popped out 2 teeth for us :-) She's been practicing her crawling like crazy, and is going to be speedy gonzales before we know it!

Her middle bottom two teeth have broken the surface, and you can see them coming in!

Here are some pictures from Father's Day at the Weber house, Haleigh crawling, and just other randoms! Small Fry just woke up so I promise I will update more later tonight or tomorrow!

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=224685114/a=33526050/t_=33526050

love
jess