The lovely arboretum

again, more arboretum pictures!!! but can you really blame me? it is absolutely gorgeous out there right now!!! and we didn't even make it all around the arboretum since it's much easier to set up camp and stay there. here are my attempts to get a picture of bailey smiling all by myself. since my mom is coming today (woo-hoo!!!) i expect to have some better pictures of my precious little angel to post since, 1) my mom has an awesome camera and 2) it's easier when there is one person to take the pictures and another to make the boo smile and look in the direction of the camera.




after several photo shoots, bailey spent the rest of her time relaxing and playing with her toys on our cool striped blanket. she even showed off her new rockin' moves :)

here is a picture of why it's so hard to get bailey to look at the camera. she finds the grass completely fascinating. bailey loves to run her tiny fingers and toes through the soft, intense green grass at the arboretum!

Bailey boo and Miss P

yes, another set of pictures from the arboretum!!! i had no idea how hard it can be to take a decent picture of a baby (as demonstrated in this entire blog), but here's what i got of bailey with her cute little friend penelope! i'm tired, so i can't think of anything fun or cool to add to this entry. so, sorry, you'll just have to make up your own captions.
oh, here's an interesting fact: a bird pooped on my arm while we were there. gross gross gross, it was warm.

All rock and no roll

my girls is a rocker!!!! bailey's newest trick involves positioning herself on her hands and knees and rocking front to back. it's so cute and, needless to say, we're so proud!!! we think she's getting ready to crawl, which is really exciting! until it's time to baby-proof the house.....


and i realize you can't see her cute little face, but this new rocking stuff takes intense concentration!


okay, i also know that these aren't the greatest pictures, but it was the best i can do. you have to see this in person to get the complete effect. it really is amazing :) (again, i know, i know, we think everything she does is really amazing).





bailey showed off her rockin' new skills at her 6 month check-up! it's sort of funny (yet frustrating, especially at night) that bailey can perform this spec-tacular trick, but she still can't roll over from her back to her tummy.

and i know i've been a bloggin' fool lately, but there has just been so much going on!!! our sweet bailey boo keeps on impressing us with all of her new skills! i still have a few more posts to make, so bear with me and keep checking :)

It's not snot

alas, bailey has been given the okay by her doctor to venture into the tasty world of veggies! we started with some delicious green beans. it took some getting used to, but i think she's catching the hang of it (today is day 3).



she was obviously more that a little confused when this strange new flaver entered her mouth. if it makes you feel any better, bailey boo, i made that same face when i tasted your green beans too! very interesting flavor with a strong aftertaste.

i kept trying to get her to enjoy this fun new experience and made up some song about greenie beanies, greenie beanies they aren't meanie beanies (i know, very creative). she wasn't too impressed with the food and even less impressed with my "song." (if you really know me, you are already very well aware of the fact that i can't sing....at all). this is another face i'm pretty sure i made too after the tasting.
at the end, bailey decided that if she was grown up enough to eat this strange new stuff, then it's high time she starts feeding herself.

all in all, the green beans were okay. not a hit, but she didn't refuse to eat them either. this mid-day veggie meal sure is a messy new activity to add to our daily routine. no matter how thourougly i wiped her face, she still had some green bean particles on random parts of her face. so all day, the poor thing looked like she had some nasty snot of her face (hence the title). so, it's not snot, it's just greenie beanies (not meanie beanies).

Can I get a WOO-WOO!!

since so many of you have asked how bailey has been sleeping lately, i've decided to go ahead and tell the whole world.
she slept great last night!!!!

the nights of endless crying, guilty feelings, monitor watching and stair walking have finally started to pay off. bailey slept from 8:45 last night until about 6:00 this morning!!! i thought she might still go back to sleep since, man, 6 o'clock came a lot earlier than i expected it to after staying up to watch lost with billy until midnight, but i caved in at 6:15 for a quick feeding and was back in bed by 6:40. just as i expected, guess who was ready to start her day at 7:30-ish? little miss bailey boo. however, that sweet husband of mine took care of her while i snoozed on until about 8:30 when my friend and guest melanie told me it was time for her to hit the road. so, woo-hoo, i've got my sleeper back :) now, all we need to work on are those daily naps.....

and, since this isn't the first time i've bragged to anyone who would listen (and some who wouldn't) that my beautiful child was gracing me with some real sleep and that my life can now officially return to some new state of "normal", i am scared to death that this entry will completely jinx the whole good sleep thing. so, say a little prayer for us that this time, it's for real and we can all enjoy a more rested, happier, less emotional mommy who can actually speak in complete sentences again!! and who wouldn't want that?!

and i'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of my supportive friends and family who listened to my pitiful whining with loving, sympathetic ears these past few weeks (who am i kidding, since i was big and huge and pregnant). thank you for kindly pretending that i made sense and somewhat maintained my sanity through all of these challenges. god has really blessed me and thank him for you every night!! i love you all!!

Anything but average

bailey had her 6 month check up today and here are her current stats:
weight: 15 lbs 3 oz. (50th percentile)
height: 26 3/8 inches (50th percentile)
head: 14 inches (75th percentile)
so, although she is exactly average for height and weight, she still has her daddy's big ole' head!!
bailey and mommy suffered through another painful round of immunizations. bailey seemed to be especially upset this go round which was just too sad for mommy and daddy. the real tears and cries of pain lasted a lot longer than the previous shots :(
overall, she is in good health and has been given the okay to eat 2 meals of solid food including veggies (which mommy fed her the day before anyway because the cute little jars have been sitting in the pantry calling to her since they were purchased several weeks ago).
last bit of news to report is that it looks as if bailey's lower teeth may make their grand appearance soon!! there are no visible teeth yet, but her little gums are a touch swollen. you know i'll keep you posted!!!!!!!

and i can't post this picture without commenting on her diaper. we know it's halfway up her back and stomach but the size 2's just don't cut it anymore. she looks like such a grandma ;) (sorry mom, but i know you know what i mean)

What do you think of Bailey in the sink!!

when dad and vicki were here, they gave bailey boo her first bath in the sink!!! we gave it another try the next night since i missed out on all the fun. here she is studying her feet and wondering what bathtub fresh feet might taste like. i'm thinking perhaps raisens since her little toes get all shrivled up!


she looks a bit confused here and is still unsure of this whole bath in the sink idea.
mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmmm......tastes like chicken!!



overall, the bath in the sink is a lot like the bath in the big girl tub. fun for the most part but full of it's own difficulties (such as how to get bailey to tilt her head back when we are rinsing her hair). but, hey, every baby deserves a picture of themselves bathing in the sink!!!

Oh mommy

dear mommy,

okay, help me out, mommy, i'm a bit confused. we have a great time during the day. you laugh, i smile, you sing, i kick, you kiss my face, i pull your hair, we tell each other i love you all the time........ so, what happened last night? you do love me, right? if so, then why did you not come when i was crying? i know you heard me (yes, i realize i am extrememly loud, it's a gift). i was screaming up there mommy!! listen to me today, can't you tell my voice is all scratchy? you usually come upstairs and help me get back to sleep, but nooooooooo, not last night. there i was, in the dark, on my back, without my paci. it was quite traumatizing, you know. i kept looking up at that new little green light trying to look as pitiful as i could and i had a strange feeling you could somehow see me. yet, you didn't come up. at all. all night. i love you very much mommy, but this i didn't appreciate at all. i expect to see you promptly at 11:16 p.m., 2:37 a.m. and 5:39 a.m. tonight. i'll be the one screaming my head off upstairs.

much love,
bailey boo

Grandpa and MiMi

bailey and i enjoyed a wonderful weekend with grandpa and mimi (dad and vicki to me)!!! they took over monitor duty both nights, which was AWESOME!!!!!! grandpa had to best time just holding and playing with bailey. she gave him tons of sweet smiles and showed off all of her new tricks. and look how cute she looks with her little head tilted like that :)

bailey also experienced her first bad hair day during dad and vicki's visit. a little tuff of hair on the left side of her head stuck up all day. too bad i didn't get any shots of that.

bailey was still a little sleepy from her nap in this picture and just wouldn't share her smiles with us. oh well, she still looks cute as always!!


we had such a great weekend relaxing with my dad and vicki! it seriously was a god send that they came this particular weekend since billy was so sick he stayed in bed all weekend. i probably would have died for real if i didn't have dad and vicki to help me out. well, maybe i wouldn't have died, but i would have lost my freaking mind for sure. we can't wait for our wonderful family to come back again soon!!! we love you!

Toe-rific

ahhhhhhhh.....delicious toes!!! bailey has been reaching for her feet for quite some time now but she has just recently discovered that she can pull her toes into her mouth.

doesn't she look like she's about to explode with joy?! bailey is just so pleased with her new flexibility and fun new toys. ha ha mommy, you can't take these toys away!!! ha ha bailey, you can't drop these toys on the floor and cry until i pick them up! what a win-win situation!

Movin'

bailey started out in the middle of her animal mat (gymini). when i realized how well she was movin', i grabbed the camera






upclose shot of bailey in her newest position. she can lift up a lot higher, but capturing that moment with a somewhat slow camera and a sick, cranky baby just wasn't going to happen. all she needs to do to crawl is lift up onto her knees (nikki). i also need to mention that she can do a 180 while on her stomach.




look how well she is scooting back!!! right into the fireplace, woo-hoo safety!! all of this movin' took place in about 2 minutes or less. now, if only we can master the forward scoot.



and now it looks as if i need to vacuum a lot more often. wow, how, ummmm, exciting......

Sick (but oh so cute) pics

although bailey is still very sick (this is actually her worst day yet), i had to snap a few shots of her in this cute little romper! we got this at the just between friends sale and i think it's just adorable!! i'm definitely lovin her in blue and am happy to have some non-boyish blue outfits for her to wear this summer. i'm thinking that she will be switching her signature shade from pink to blue (aka, from amber to tara) pretty soon since blue really brings out her eyes :)


on a completely different note (and for those of you who still care about me, tara, the mommy) i was blessed with two great work-outs this week!!! i got good and sweaty and for the first time in forever, i actually didn't dread working out. i think i may have even liked it (well.....i liked it when it was over and i was stretching). i plan on going to the gym at least 3 times a week and working on my everlasting, undying love of anything sweet (mmmmmmmmm.......cupcakes). i even ran some (only 6 minutes cumulative, but that's better than 0 minutes). so, we'll see, maybe i'll wear a swimsuit afterall this year instead of a king-sized sheet.

A weak week

okay, it's been a loooooooooonnnnnnnnnngggggggg week. so much has been going on, yet nothing new and exciting to report (you other moms know exactly what i mean). bailey was better for, oh, about 2 days before catching something again. this time, an awful sounding cough complete with wheezing sounds plus some pleasant diarrhea!!! lovely!! needless to say, i haven't had more than 3 consecutive hours of sleep all week, the worst night being last night. thus, the lack of updating the blog has occurred. again, not that there is too much to report other than bailey's sleeping, eating, pooping and moving (well, moving her arms and legs that is, not her entire body).

here are some lessons i sadly learned the hard way this week:
1) bibs covered with clumps of baby oatmeal don't get very clean in the wash. some of the oatmeal rinses off while the rest make pretty little clumps in the fibers and hardens. lesson learned: rinse the big bits of oatmeal out immediately following the eating experience.
2) yea, bailey can sit up for extended periods of time without falling (like 30 minutes)!!!! what a big strong girl!! however, this does not apply to the bathtub. in the time it took for the one hand that was helping to support her to grab the bottle of baby wash just inches away, she fell face first into the one inch of water in the real person tub while reaching for her rubber ducky. i grabbed her, but her sweet little face still entered the water because wet babies are so slippery (how do doctors do it?)! very traumatizing experience for us both. lesson learned: everyone is so right (duh) when they say don't leave a baby alone in the tub for even a second. i didn't even leave her, i just let go for a second and look what happened. although it was terrible and made me feel like a complete failure of a mom, i'm somewhat glad it happened since she was fine, just scared a bit, because now i will NEVER EVER EVER let go of her for even the slightest fraction of a second in the tub.
3) bailey has been coughing ton and it sounds so painful, yet she has no idea what to do with what she coughs up. i thought that i'd help her a bit by removing whatever it was with my finger. this made her incredibly mad. i mean eye squeezed shut, bright red tomato face, screaming until she couldn't breath mad. lesson learned: don't stick my finger into her mouth, it just makes it worse.
4) have i told you lately that i haven't been sleeping very much?!? i know i learned other important lessons this week, but can't remember the rest. lesson still yet to be learned: write things down

Worn Out!

bailey is so worn out by all of her arboretum fun! she is actually still sleeping in her carseat (hooray for a successful car to house without waking up transfer)! here she is sleeping on my chest. she looks so precious!!! can you even believe this sweet precious baby cries sometimes or causes her mother to lose sleep? noooooo......not this little angel. just look at those cheeks!!!!


she looks comfy, doesn't she? bailey definitely takes after her mommy when it comes to what is considered a suitable sleeping position. and, yes, another successful transfer of a sleeping baby from mommy (who was laying on the ground) to her carseat/stroller. she was slightly upset when i had to readjust her position and buckle her in, but she was back off in dreamland in less than a minute.

seriously, i can't believe she's still asleep. it's been, like, 2 hours.

ah-ha, guess who just woke up!!! i think she can read my mind sometimes.

The Arboretum part 3

ahhhhhhh, it was another absolutely gorgeous day at the arboretum!!! have i mentioned that i love that place? we met up with several of our new mommy and baby friends and had an awesome time. after bailey, ahem, spit up oatmeal on one of her "new" blue dresses, i decided that this look was pretty darn cute and took some pictures.

RHS

have you heard those commercials about the drug that is supposed to help with a very serious (ha) condition called restless leg syndrome (rls)? the symptoms include having an intense desire to move your legs when you are all relaxed and ready to go to sleep. well, i'm afraid that bailey suffers from rls' sister condition, restless hand syndrome (rhs). it is basically the same thing as rls, just involving the hands. rhs causes bailey to have a strong desire to move her hands around and grab at things, particularly her paci, while she is trying to go to sleep. she will be laying in her crib with her eyes closed and grab frantically at her paci. since her arm movements have become more accurate these days, she usually succeeds in removing the paci, tossing it in an unreachable place in the crib, and begins to cry when she realizes that it isn't her in mouth anymore. her loving parents then trod upstairs and simply pop the paci back into her mouth. sometimes, when a severe case develops, they have to stand by the crib and gently place their hands on hers until she falls asleep. this has occurred now twice since i've started writing this entry. warning, rhs is a serious condition that may cause restless nights of sleep for baby and parents alike, resulting in severe foul moods the following day. proceed with caution if you have contact with others who suffer from rhs.
sorry, there are no rhs pictures of bailey. i'm sure you already understand why.

Oh, what a beautiful day!!

did i mention that i love the arboretum? really, i do, i love that place!!! i was so disappointed that i wasn't able to go with a huge group of new mommy friends on wednesday since bailey was still so congested. but, thankfully, sarah called and said that she was going again on thursday and we met up with her, laura and their cute baby boys.

we couldn't have picked a better day to go!!! can you believe that it was in the 90's....in march?!? crazy. actually, it was a bit on the hot side but we stayed comfortable under the shade of a big tree most of the time. poor little bailey has a touch of sunburn on her sweet little face today :( i thought that you couldn't put sunscreen on babies until they are 6 months old, but my friend chrys just looked it up and you can basically since sunburn is worse than chemicals on baby's delicate skin.

and, sorry daddy, but i think we need a better camera. i just can't get good pictures in the bright sun, even in our house during the day. they always come out looking blue-ish. she's still adorable anyway!!!!


and have you noticed that i can't for the life of me get my beautiful child to smile for pictures? she either totally ignores me or stares intensely at the camera. yesterday, she was way more interested in the grass that was between her little toes than whatever i was trying to do with that big gray thing that i always cover up my face with.


we got there early and had about an hour just to ourselves. we were both sitting on a big blanket under the tree in a picture perfect setting. we were enjoying the sights and sounds of nature. bailey entertained us both by kicking, grabbing at my face, smiling, talking and even blessed me with a little giggle or two!! i know that these times with her will be the ones i cherish forever and look back on with tears in my eyes. now, this is what i expected motherhood to be! what a complete blessing she is!! i love you so much bailey boo!!!

Fine dining with Bailey

ahhhh, the joys of rice cereal!!!! these were all taken yesterday when bailey was feeling pretty bad. yes, another stuffy nose. will it ever end? can i go anywhere and leave her with someone and her not get sick?


i learned a few new tricks to encourage bailey to actually eat her rice cereal. first, i let her play with the spoon and the food. notice it is all over her face. i think she's a bit confused....
second, i modeled how exciting it can be to eat. i mean, look at that face....can't you just feel the excitement?! i scooped big spoonfuls of yogurt into my mouth with a spoon while mmmmm-ing and telling bailey how scrumptrulecent it was. she watched me for a while and when i tried to feed her some more, she didn't even spit it out! success!!

and the final trick was to get out the camera. every time bailey started to cry with her mouth full of cereal, i took her picture. strangley enough, she would stop crying and swallow the bite. i now have about 10 pictures of her making this face. plus a few of her crying when the camera trick lost it's magic. but hey, that's 10 bites of food that would have just run down her face. who knew that feeding a baby would require such a bag of tricks?

also, we discovered tonight that bailey prefers mixed grains cereal over plain ole rice cereal. i know it's a fascinating fact, but it is great to know!!!