The Bailey after bath

bailey has really been crawling around lately. her favorite time to practice is right after her bath. i just couldn't help myself and took a tons of pictures. i'm feeling pretty uncreative tonight, so sorry about just stating the facts. bailey is working on another tooth and it apparently has been very painful. no one got much sleep last night. bailey's newest trick...... sitting in her bed and screaming, refusing to lay down even though it's 1:15 a.m., she's been fed, rocked, is clean and is super tired. just lovely. i know, i know, it will get better. like my mom used to say when referring to my brother, it's a good thing (s)he's so cute!

Payoff

alas, the day has finally come. the day when all of the struggles that accompany bringing home a new baby have finally paid off. and, i must say, it's been worth it. worth the physical and emotional neglect, the demotation of me in the family, the sleepless nights, the jealous feelings, the lack of sufficient playing time and the need to poop and pee in the house and suffer the obvious reprocutions just to remind them i'm here. yes, my friends, we are talking about cheerios. glorious cheerios!!! people food!!! bailey has just started eating (and dropping) cheerios and boy have i hit the jackpot! this is a win-win situation for everyone. the little girl gets to practice her fine motor skills while enjoying a delicious, healthy treat, the mommy gets time to tidy up the kitchen while the baby is entertained and i, the bossman, get to eat about 75% of the cheerios that start on bailey's tray! i have been waiting for this day since they brought that screaming, attention starved thing home! this is up there with zooming around the house and playing with my girlfriend next door. i think i'm starting to love bailey!!! awesome!

mommy's former life

back row left-right: freida and monica...front row left-right: robin, mommy and bailey, kathy, and pam

ohhhhhh, so this is what you used to do before i was born. you got to play in this awesome place all day? sweet! wait, no, i remember you saying something about this being work. hmmmmm, so you were in charge of all of those kids? how did you do it without getting frustrated out of your mind mommy? well, it was probably all of the hugs....... i bet those helped out a lot.
hey......wait a minute......i think i remember this place a little. all of the little voices talking at the same time.....the not so little voices...the patting on my former home.....the interesting cafeteria food.....the songs about abc's and months of the year.....the continuous stream of goldfish crackers we enjoyed....and that distinct smell of whatever this place is.....ahhhhh, yes, it's all coming back to me now. i think i like this place called cool or shool or school or something like that.
and i loved your friends mommy!!! they are all so nice! i hope i impressed them with my crawling and talking. at first, i didn't quite know what to do. they were all just, you know, staring at me. you know how i get in new places and with new people. but after i realized that they were all smiley and excited to see me, i felt better. i also really liked seeing all of those smaller mommies and daddies, but i wish they didn't all try to grab my hands. ewwww, germs, mommy, get them off of me!!! i can't wait until we go back there, that place was awesome!!
love,
miss bailey boo

Aquarium

bailey, billy and i met up with two friends of mine from high school, angie and rhea, this saturday at the aquarium. it was so good to catch up especially since it has been a couple of years since i've seen either of them!

bailey loved looking at the different marine life, especially the fish!

i lugged an empty stroller all around the narrow paths in the aquarium while bailey was super happy with her daddy in the baby bjorn. lesson learned, leave the stroller in the car.

i just love this shot!!! like father, like daughter!! they are staring at some tiny monkeys (one had a little baby on her back). apparently, the aquarium is also home to a lot of different rainforest animals, such as monkeys, various birds, snakes and other creepy crawlies.

Movin' on up

bailey has graduated from her infant carrier to her fancy new, cushy and super safe big girl carseat!!!! it is a britax marathon and she can use it until she is 65 pounds, which is a looooonnng ways from now. the thing is just so gianormous in my car and i'm so looking forward to the day when miss bailey boo can face the front. it's all hot and boring facing the back. and i'm a little concerned that when baby #2 comes (no, we aren't planning this for a few years, but we don't exactly get to call all of the shots), i won't be able to squeeze them both in the backseat. really, though, all i care about now is that she is safe, happy and comfortable, which she is. i have to admit that i kind of wish i had something this comfortable to ride in!


and with the big girl carseat comes the need for the shopping cart cover. and, lucky for us, my sweet grandma and her sister just made this one for us!!! the timing was perfect! bailey enjoyed this new shopping experience where she was able to see all of the cool items on the shelves. the only part she didn't like was when her mommy, who has been unable to workout since the babysitter had to quit, tried on swimsuits. that's when the fussing began and she lost her patience, which i don't blame her, i was losing my patience as well. then bailey's very nice mommy took her out and carried her around the store. that's one way to cut the shopping trip short, my girl is getting heavy!!! hey.....i wonder if that counts as working out?

New news

first of all, i have some exciting news to share! miss bailey boo is officially crawling!!! woo-hoo!!! now, it's not fast and it's not 100% accurate and she does fall a lot, but the girl is now mobile. and can you believe i actually got the first crawl on film?! awesome! i'm extra happy that we made bailey her own space in the waste of space we know as the formal living room. this is her superyard and i hope it helps to keep her safe. not that i'm going to just throw her in it all the time and disappear into various parts of the house, but it is nice to know that i can enjoy a worry free bathroom experience (a concept is very foreign to my husband).

featured inside her superyard is her....her...toy she got for christmas from grandpa and mimi that i forgot the name of. it's really cool too! she loves the little hanging ball and the wheel that plays music. there are tons of little toys and gadgets on this thing. and check out her cute little feet!!! i've noticed that they spend a majority of their time crossed. so dainty and lady-like!!! i love it!




ahhhhhhh, my favorite new plaything of all!!!!! the video monitor! oh, how i love the!!!! i totally wish i had this from the very very beginning. it is just so cool. as you can see, it's a hand held device that is lightweight and portable, so i can take it everywhere i go (that sounded just like an infomercial). the picture is super clear and it has night vision. worth every penny grandpa and mimi spent (thanks so so so so so so so so so much for this portable piece of mind, i love it)!!!

Easter afternoon

after a stressful nap (aka, bailey was extremely tired, refused to sleep and screamed for 45 minutes straight even after i went up there three times and billy did once), we made it to granna and poppy's house fashionably almost 2 hours late. everyone was there and we all enjoyed a very tasty lunch prepared with love by granna (who rolled enchiladas with one hand since the other was hurt).

bailey with her cousins wylie and everson!

bailey with her uncle duke and aunt erin. notice duke's snappy man-purse strap!!
we all walked to the pond for an easter egg hunt after lunch. and boy, was it H-O-T HOT!!!! bailey chilled in her stroller and her sweet daddy stroller her backwards to keep the sun out of her eyes!

Easter morning

bailey had a wonderful first easter!!!! she looked so adorable in her little pretty pink dress, fancy panties (embroidered with her initials and saved for only the most special of occasions) and bow. at first, she didn't quite know what to do with her easter baskets.




then......she realized that there was not one, but FIVE beautiful new pacifiers inside her easter eggs. bailey boo didn't look up at us after that. she just kept picking different ones up, turning them over and over in her hands, inspecting them very carefully and switching out the one in her mouth. she especially liked the silicone one with pink dots on it. you would have thought she had died and gone to pacifier heaven!!! bailey was so entertained!! she also got a book with tons of tags all over it (since she is just fascinated with tags), a new colorful teether and 2 snack traps. that easter bunny sure knows what miss bailey likes!!


even before the pacifier excitement wore off, it was time to go to church. although extremely crowded (billy and i were lucky to get to sit by each other), the message was awesome and i was really happy we were able to make it!! easter sure did mean a lot more to us this year!!

I am a dork

no, no, it's okay. i can admit it. i'm not ashamed. i am a complete dork these days (and no comments about how i've always been a dork, ha ha, very funny and yeah, well, you're....uhhhh.... stupid. oooooooo, burn). i have turned into one of those people i used to make fun of in high school and college (probably jr. high and even elementary school too). i'm cool with it. hey, i'm even embracing my dorkyness, hence the pictures forever capturing my current state of extreme uncoolness.

alright, onto the story. well, it's just beautiful weather out here, so bailey and i decided to walk to pick up a prescription from the store and say hi to the parent of a precious former student of mine. before we walked out of the door, i caught a glimse of how cute bailey looked strapped in her baby bjorn with her pink hat and pink outfit kicking her cute little chubby legs and waving her arms up and down and up and down. just plain adorable. and i though, hey, i want a picture of that!!! so i tried the whole take a picture of yourself and your baby in the mirror thing. yeah, apparently i'm not very good at this. well, remember how bailey hates to smile for the camera? so i tried using my usual exaggerated smiles and high-pitched mommy voice to coax out one of her heart melting smiles. obviously, i totally forgot that I would be in the picture as well. so, here is what i look like about 50% of the time these days (and i had no idea i've been doing this, how lame). yes, me, tara, a total dork. and see how thrilled she was with all of this....


it got a little better as we moved into the glamorous bathroom to cut down on the too bright sunlight. i still have some work to do, but at least i'm sort of looking at the camera, the camera not in the picture and i don't look certifiabley insane!!! anyone want to be our personal photographer!!!! come on, it'll be awesome! remember, i'm really cool!!! oh, and another thing that adds to my dork-o-meter (besides that new word i just made up), my extreme blogging. have you noticed how much updating i've been doing lately? ahhhhhhh, stop the insanity!!


and i know the last picture has nothing to do with this entry, but it was just too cute not to include somewhere.

Baby Yoga

thank you melanie! after reading my previous post about bailey's latest developments, my friend informed me that bailey was just practicing some yoga. bailey is apparently in the downward facing dog position (which sounds pretty strange if you ask me). and check out her cute outfit!!! so stylin'! we all know that most of her genes come from her daddy, but even i can't deny those toes!! my little monkey girl!!

i keep forgetting to mention that anyone can now make a comment on this blog. i'm sure it's pretty self explanitory, but to start, go to comments and choose post a comment and you can probably figure it out from there. if not, then i guess you don't deserve to comment (just kidding.....kind of). oh, and, uummmm, hi, i love comments :)

Keepin' the doctor away

bailey was intensely watching me eat an apple yesterday. she would just stare at me when i would take bites. since she seemed so interested, i thought she might want to touch the apple. well, one thing led to another and bailey got to taste her first real food. i just love her expressions!! and, hey, i'll do anything to keep bailey from getting sick :)




when there wasn't much apple left, bailey was a bit disappointed. she kept opening her mouth and looking at me as if to say "more, please, mommy, that was so good." she does this all the time during dinner (and i love it)!

Greatness

i tell you what, bailey is one lucky little girl! she saw five of her great grandparents during our trip. bailey has met all 11 of her great grandparents (we have some step great grandparents). here she is with mary, charlie's mother. they had a nice little visit and bailey especially loved mary's pretty necklace!

i am so sorry that i didn't get any pictures with my camera of bailey with my parents' parents (both sets of my grandparents). my mom's parents came over a few times during the week to help out and spend some time with miss bailey. we also made the trip over to see my dad's parents last tuesday. everyone was impressed with how bailey has grown and all of the cool new things she can do! i wouldn't be surprised if my grandma has placed a bet on when bailey will officially start crawling! there was also a lot of talk about how pretty bailey is (i hope this doesn't go to her head)! we had such a wonderful time visiting with all of bailey's greats and we realize how incredibly blessed we are to have them all as a part of our lives!!

Developments

Here is a list of some of the new things bailey is doing now. i know most of you will skim over this since there are no pictures:
1) the day has finally come! bailey can roll over both ways!!!!!! this is BIG and helps out a lot when she wakes up in the middle of the night!
2) bailey can get up on her hands and toes in an upside down "v" position. she is doing this more and more and i expect her to figure out the whole crawling thing any day now. all she's lacking is the arms. (i just realized that i need a picture of this, sorry.)
3) on that note, guess what, bailey has arms and hands, that's what!! i know, this is far from new and exciting to us, but to bailey it's completely amazing. it's like finding a new toy. she likes to raise her arm up and down and up and down over her head several times in a row. sometimes with a toy, sometimes solo. she is also grabbing a lot more and splashing with her arms and hands in the tub.
4) bailey can slide onto her tummy from a sitting position. i don't know if this is on purpose or not, but she doesn't cry or anything and it's all a very smooth, gentle motion.
5) we've had to lower her crib since she prefers to practice her rolling and crawling movements rather than sleep during nap time. no, she's not pulling up yet, we just don't want to find out she can do that too late.
6) bailey has started to reach for people, mostly me. i think we are just on the cusp of stranger anxiety which will be cute the first time and terrible until it's over.
7) as i mentioned in a previous entry, my girl likes to eat!! i have no idea what a typical serving should be for a 6 1/2 month old, but i doubt it's as much as she tries to eat sometimes. it's pretty cute. even after we've fed her a combined 4 or more oz. of baby food, she'll sit there with her mouth open for a while until we open up something else for her.
8) bailey can scream louder than any child i've ever met. wait....no, that's not new.

okay, now i can't think of anything else since the soothing sound of bailey screaming is all i hear. once again, naps are extremely uncool and bailey, although currently exhausted and barely awake moments ago, will have no part of those.
i promise to take pictures this week and to put the pics from my camera onto the computer soon. this is as good as it gets for now.

Here comes bailey cottontail

bailey is still loving her new food!! on the menu for this feeding was carrots (i guess a little inspired by easter). despite how cute and happy she looks in these pictures, i think carrots are down there with green beans at the bottom of the favorite veggies list.

she has been opening her mouth waaaaaaaaaaay big lately in anticipation for her next bite. bailey boo now loves eating, which makes her daddy and i pretty happy. she actually gets a little frusterated with us when we don't have the spoonful of food ready in time (by in time, i mean .2 seconds after she has quickly swallowed her previous bite).
i realize she looks quite messy in these pictures, but she has become more lady like lately and we hardly have to wipe her face at all anymore (amazing what a week can do). oh, and have i told you yet how bailey hates to have her face wiped or touched? she cries and fusses as if we are wiping her face with a fistfull of prickley sticker bush leaves. my little drama queen.

Baby shower

last weekend, i helped to host a shower for a wonderful friend of mine, courtney! she is expecting a sweet baby boy this may. my mom and i made her this delicious cake and painted her two pictures to match her nursery (we used her bumper pad for inspiration). we worked really hard but it was fun and worth it to give these special gifts to my dear friend!

welllllllll.......okay, i guess i'm throwing around the "we" a little too freely. it was more like my mom did most of the work and i tried to help. kind of like how a five year old helps her mom make dinner (it's shake and bake, and i hailped). sure, i mixed a few things here and squirted a little icing there and painted the big parts of the fire truck, but it's not like it was a 50/50 deal or anything. i'm thinking more like 80/20, me definitely being the latter. okay, i'll give myself a little more credit. for the paintings, it was probably more like 65/35. at least i stressed the whole 100% about them both. oh well, who cares! all in all, the pictures and cake turned out great and courtney approved, so i'm happy!

the other projects my mom and i had fun with during her visit included organizing our pantry (surprisingly not terribly boring) and giving our front flower beds a complete overhaul. i'm talking pulling weeds, using the claw to get all the extra grass out, adding 6 bags of dirt to cover our exposed roots, topping it off with 20 bags of pine bark and planting a few pretty flowers. needless to say, it looks a ton better!! see, told you i've been busy!!!!

Rhymes with booth

first, did you catch the hint?
ready for some exciting news?!?!?!?!?! i'll just go ahead and tell you first and then give out the details (which are actually a bit boring if you aren't a mom, my good friend or family.......which i realize are the only people who read this blog anyway) so you will actually read them instead of just skimming to the cool stuff. it's official, bailey is cutting her first tooth!!!! (men, you are dismissed) although i have a really hard time seeing it, i can feel her little hard, pointy bottom tooth poking through!!! way exciting! (delayed warning, this post will have tons of excessive exclamation points, sorry, i'm just super excited) here's the story (aka, the long girl version as we call it at my house). first of all, did you see the pictures of our most recent visit to the arboretum? well, then you noticed how bailey has 1) been super grouchy and 2) has spent a significant part of her day sucking on her bottom lip. this has just continued and actually gotten worse. she would even cry with her bottom lip sucked it (which is hard to do, try it sometime, really, all the cool kids are doing it). so, last night during her bath, my mom decided to reach in her mouth with her clean hand and see if she could feel anything. fyi, bailey hates it when people mess with the things on her face, so we don't do this that often although we suspected teething. and, gasp, there was her little tooth! i swelled with pride when i felt that tiny little thing. i wanted to stick my finger back into her mouth every minute or so to make sure i could really feel it (kirsten, it was as fun as taking your temperature) but knew that it would just make my little angel mad mad mad. we tried to hold her under the lamp after her bath while she was already screaming and i'm pretty sure i saw it. awhhhh, my tiny little baby girl is growing up so fast!!
also last night, she pooped right before getting into the tub and left a smear of poo on charlie's side of the bed :) feel free to make up any nicknames for him you want
and, pics and weekend update to come. i've been busy

Bailey is the fairest of them all!!

although still looking quite serious, bailey does really enjoy intensely staring at that beautiful baby she sees in the mirror. she is usually talking, smiling or laughing at that pretty baby. however, today, more of the same serious face or the sucking in my bottom lip face. we have realized that we have been blessed with these faces thanks to the teething princess who has used her magic to turn my sweet little girl into a drooly, cranky, fussy machine who just won't smile very much. at least we know why she is so cranky.
also, i had these grand, clever intentions of making this my april fool's post saying something about finding bailey's twin or something much cooler than that, but completely ran out of time!!! oh well, they are still super cute pictures!!

Typical

here is how bailey was the entire way home from the arboretum. apparently, grandma was extremely funny and bailey laughed for a record 7 minutes straight.

maybe one day i will get an awesome picture of my beautiful baby girl at the arboretum. until then, the picturesque carseat background will have to do.

Great expectations

ah, the day finally came!!! the day when my mom and i were going to capture the perfect picture of bailey at the arboretum! the weather was perfect and the flowers were beautiful. we brought half of her wardrobe. so, what happened? my child would not smile. at all. for any picture. even when my mom and i both sang to her (which would cause anyone to laugh). here are the only faces she would make.