3 months.

dear haley,

as you know, it has now been three months since you came to live with us -- one quarter of the year!

here's a little bit about you this month:

• your conversations with the boys crack me up.  you are so funny with oliver and conor.  sometimes i wish i could turn on my recorder while you're telling me about your afternoons with them and the things the three of you "say" to each other.  a girl after my own heart in your love for our boys.  
• being home without us while travis was in the hospital was hard for you -- you spent a lot of time with oli and conor comforting you.
• aunt brenda brought your dad's ashes to you one day after school and shocked you when she said, "your dad is in the sack in the back."  i am so sorry we weren't home with you to help you go through this event.  you had been asking and asking, but when the time came, you weren't quite ready.  i hate that you had to go through this experience alone (for a few hours until i could get home).  we decided it would be best for me to hold onto the ashes until a little later date.
• we talked about the plan of action for your last six weeks of school and you wanted to show your teachers just how capable you are. 
• we've started calling you "little wart" {as a term of endearment}.  you worry about everything these days.  you had a bump on the bottom of your tongue and you were certain it was mouth cancer.  you realized you took too many claritin and decided to google the importance of your liver.  that time you were certain you were going to need a liver transplants -- and of course they won't have a liver for you and you'll sit and sit on the list.  you were certain you were going to die without your liver.  i think you and mister c. little would be great friends these days.  ;)
• you laugh so much and are slowly opening up again.
• i heard you sing for the first time this month.  you've expressed an interest in singing, but i've never heard you.  on the car ride home from the hospital one night you started singing.  {softly, but singing nonetheless}. it was wonderful.
• after our talk, you whipped out a plan for tackling all your work, and we started tracking it on a dry-erase board.  you knocked everything out in a week -- even with me encouraging you to slow down and take your time, if necessary.  you got 100s on just about everything you turned in
• we saw your grades take HUGE leaps
• jake's storage building burned and you suffered another loss as many of your dad's things were in storage there
• you filled out your first job application.  it's for cinemark broken arrow.  one of travis's favorite jobs was when he was working at the theater.  you told caitlyn this and she was able to get a job at the theater in claremore.  you decided to go for it as well.
• you think about your dad a lot right now {of course you do!} and there are certain things you wish you could put out of your mind.  we wish we could take that away for you.
• you didn't have any of your electronics for five days. you weren't sure you were going to make it.  on the night travis gave you your phone, you only had it for about five minutes before coming in and saying, "i'm already bored with facebook.  nothing significant happened. [friends] are just complaining and i don't really want to read that."  i couldn't believe the sky didn't fall.  ;)
• you learned the oklahoma laws for getting your driver's license may have changed, and you are on cloud nine.  you may be able to immediately get your license instead o fwaitin g
• you and rhiannon did your first day of the 30 day shred.  according to your facebook post, you're "feeling determined." we can do this!
• today you headed off for your first road trip and weekend in edmond with travis's mom and his aunt sue.  we can't wait to hear about how the trip goes {and think you'll love learning to make aunt sue's cinnamon rolls}.

we know this hasn't been easy for you.  you keep "trying to get over it quickly," and we have to remind you that something like this isn't easily forgotten.  aunt deniese still tries to pick up the phone and call her mom sometimes.  you feel like your brain is slowly but surely opening up and is a little better prepared to think about this loss, but most of the time it still doesn't feel real.  keep that chin up, buttercup.  it's going to take a while, but as we've reminded you before, you have a whole, great big family of people who love and care about you -- and a new family who loves you just as much and is so happy to have you as a part of their own.

we're here for you anytime.  you feel more comfortable opening up, and we want  you to continue to do that.  you made rhiannon a promise this month -- please remember it anytime you are sad and know that you should never feel like you're inconveniencing us, even if we are at work.

we love you,
rhiannon, travis, conor, and oliver