Hangin with Grammy & Pops

My parents flew in for Hayden's birthday party and were able to stay for 6 days. It was so nice to have them around and Hayden enjoyed all of the attention. We did lots of playing, shopping, and made a trip to the zoo. We had lots of fun! Thanks for coming Grammy and Pops! Here are some photos from the zoo....

Grammy & Pops with Hayden















The Vaillant Family















Hayden watching the animals



















I love my daddy

Hayden's 1st Birthday!

Hayden's 1st Birthday party was on Saturday, March 13th. Grammy and Pops flew in for the occasion and we had lots of Eric's family and local friends come to celebrate the little man's big day. We had the party at our apartment complex's outside porch area. It was a little cooler than we expected but we still cooked out and had a great time. Hayden was not too interested in his cake but we got some cute photos anyway. Hayden received so many nice gifts including a cozy coup from Nana and Papu and a Radio Flyer wagon from Grammy and Pops which he loves to ride in. Here are some photos from the party and a slideshow I made of my favorite pics from over the last year.





























Getting ready for my cake!















Cake on the face















Happy to be 1!















Playin with my new toys






































Be sure to pause the blog background music. Slideshow is 8 min long.

We're going to Baltimore!

After much waiting and anticipation we finally found out yesterday that Eric was selected for an Orthopedic Residency at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, MD. We found out on Monday that he definitely matched with a program but had to wait until Thursday to find out where. Eric really liked their program and will also get to spend time at University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins. We are very excited to be moving back to Maryland for 6 years! We plan to move around June 1st so we have started the home search. We are looking to live south of the city in Anne Arundel or Howard county. We are hoping to just make one trip up in April to house hunt. We are looking forward to living closer to family and friends so soon.

First Hair Cut

We finally took Hayden to get his haircut last week. I have been wanting to for the last couple months but Eric was not on board until recently when I showed him a couple photos of Hayden having not such a good hairday. I was a little worried about how he would do but he sat in Daddy's lap the whole time just looking perplexed by the whole event. I didn't realize how emotional it would make me! In just a few minutes he was transformed into a big boy. Here are before, during, and after photos.

Before-Crazy Wild Man



















During



















After - Such a big boy!

Guantanamo Bay

Eric was recently sent on a short mission to Guantanamo Bay. We found out only four days before that he would be leaving. We were surprised that he was going since he was the secondary flight surgeon for these missions. In the beginning we were unsure of how long he would be gone but knew it could be up to two weeks. He drove to Charleston, SC where he spent a few days training for the trip. From there they flew to Guantanamo Bay for a short stay and pickup of four detainees. The detainees were flown to Albania and Spain for drop-off. They were able to rest for a day in Rota, Spain which Eric said was very beautiful. He was able to enjoy the warm weather there and some of the local fare. He also brought back a couple really good bottles of Spanish wine! They flew back to Guantanamo for a drop-off of supplies and then back to Charleston where he stayed one more night to catch up on sleep. All together he was only gone 10 days so we were grateful for another short deployment. Hayden and I were very happy to have him home! We hope this will be his last trip before leaving Montgomery.....then we will not have to worry about deployments for at least another 5 years.