In case you hadn't heard...

Life has been a little crazy around the Gardner house! I just realized today that I haven't updated this blog since February and I'm sorry. My excuse is that I'm keeping facebook up to date with pictures and videos, but I thought it might be time to let ya know what's actually been going on. We have been traveling and spending as much family time together as we can because John is about to leave. His leave date was supposed to be tomorrow, but thankfully it got pushed out until Wednesday. As we speak, he is packing his bag so I'm happy for this distraction so I don't have to watch. The reality has started to hit and even though I know that he (and we) will be ok, I'm still nervous about it. I feel like I have a good routine down with the girls and can handle them by myself. The hardest part for me is thinking about trying to explain to Haylee why daddy is gone. But we will have some kind of countdown to help her understand and make the days go by a little faster.
What I'm looking forward to most is taking my first trip back to the States in a year and a half!! I am waiting on Jadyn's birth certificate to come back so we can get her passport. As soon as that comes back-hopefully by the end of June- I am hoping to get a military hop to Washington. I'll spend a week with each set of grandparents and from there, head down to Az for a couple weeks. Then I'll head to Texas for a week or two before hopefully getting a hop back to England. I know everyone is dying to see the girls (I'm just the chauffeur :) ) and I'm excited to see family and SHOP!!!!
So in the last few months, we have taken a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, Northern Wales, London twice, and Great Yarmouth (the beach!). It has been great to get away as a family and explore different parts of this gorgeous country. Haylee is finally old enough to really enjoy traveling and not need a stroller anymore and Jadyn just loves watching her big sissy wherever we go. The two of them are quite the pair! Yesterday was our beach trip and we took the girls to the Sea Life Center. I knew Haylee would love it but I didn't expect Jadyn to get as into it as she did! I carried her around the whole time and she giggled and squirmed and smiled at all the fish. I loved watching their excitement as we saw everything. We spent the afternoon building sandcastles, burying John and Haylee in the sand and trying to keep Jadyn from eating the sand. It was wonderful!!!
I can't believe how fast these girls are growing! Haylee is, as usual, talking a mile a minute and asking about a million questions a day. I think I'm gonna start working on memory verses with her this summer. She's definitely ready! She loves playing outside so I'm really glad the weather is finally warming up! And Jadyn couldn't ask for a better big sis.
Jadyn seems to have gone in to overdrive with all of her "firsts". She sat up at 5 months, started crawling at 6 months, cut her first 2 teeth, started on baby food and started pulling herself up in the last month or so. If she doesn't slow down, she will be walking by the time we get to the states! Yikes!
I will try to keep everyone updated this summer about our trip and can't wait to see you all!!!

GO HAYLEE!!!!

I am very proud to announce....Haylee is potty trained!!!! We started a couple of months ago when I ran out of diapers and and Haylee has done amazing. We got down to just putting her in a pull-up at bedtime but the last 4 nights she has worn her big girl Tinkerbell underwear and stayed dry through the night! I'm really praying that she will want to potty train Jadyn and make my life a whole lot easier =)

Jadyn is 3 months old now and has the sweetest personality. I can't get enough of her smiles and laughs! She rolled over for the first time at 10 weeks but just in the last week or so she has decided that her on her belly is the place to be. So as soon as I put her on her back she rolls over, gets stuck and gets MAD! She absolutely loves when I put her in the bath and not in her little seat that sits in the bath. I lay her back and she kicks and wiggles and I have to really fight to hold on to her! I put a video of it on youtube for everyone to see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo_aw-zzppo . She is 12lbs 7oz and getting to be quite the little chunk!

Haylee talks a mile a minute and I am amazed at the things she can say. She will hold a full conversation with you (if she lets you get a word in...) and is the sweetest little girl. She absolutely loves her baby sister and wants to help mommy do everything with her. She is quite the little helper! She is 24lbs now and really starting to shoot up!

John is doing great at work. He's working swing shift which is 3-11pm and we love it! It's wonderful having him home in the morning to help with the girls and it feels like we get a whole lot more time with him. We are still trying to figure out the next step in our lives, whether he is going to re-enlist after the 6 years or not. We would really like to stay overseas for a little while longer and that may mean that he has to re-enlist, but who knows?! We're just taking it one day at a time.

I feel like I am finally getting the hang of having 2 kids. It was rough for a while but I'm learning to manage my time and finding that it really is possible to juggle taking care of my husband, 2 kids, the house and myself. We started taking a circuit training class twice a week at the gym and that has been amazing for me. It is the most intense workout I have ever done and I love how hard it pushes me. And it's working! I have lost 17lbs since Jadyn was born and my jeans are fitting me again =)

Life is good! We have an amazing family, great friends and the opportunities we never thought we would ever have! Love you all and miss you!