Little Stink Found Raisins

Filed Under Into Everything, Sixteen Months | 4 Comments

Just to prove what a little stink Bailey can be- she got these raisins down off the kitchen countertop. By standing on a box. I was in the other room doing something and I found her like this when I came back to the living room.

(Don’t you love her ridiculous bed-head? It’s like this all the time before I fight it to lay down nicely. This was obviously before I cut her hair though! It has gotten a little less flyaway.)

And she realizes she’s been caught!

Halloween Plans

Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments

I bought Bailey’s costume but I’m not going to tell you yet what she’s dressing up as! I probably will get too excited at some point and end up telling, but for now it’s a secret. I was looking online for Halloween treats and other stuff like that and it just got me excited about it Also I was looking for card ideas and came across some cute Halloween invitations. I wish she was old enough for Halloween parties! We will have to find something to do so that she can get more than one wear out of her costume. Also, I got her a cute Halloween shirt. It’s orange with a spider on it.

16 Months

Filed Under Into Everything, Milestones, Sixteen Months, Talking | 5 Comments

I have been getting bad about doing the monthly posts on time. Our lives are so busy and Bailey keeps us on our toes. She really is a little monkey. Anyway I just wanted to try to write down all of the things she is doing right now. I want to be able to look back and remember because I know a few years from now, someone will ask us when Bailey did something and I won’t remember. At least if the memories fade in my mind I can have them on my blog.

Her Fifteen Month Pictures, a little late as we still haven’t sent them out… oops…

She has figured out how to open all the cabinets/drawers etc so we had to install latches on EVERYTHING, which is annoying. Also, she turns the television on by herself, puts a dvd in the dvd player, turns it on, and sits down to watch a movie. Not even kidding. And if there’s already a tv on show instead, she actually knows how to press the source button (she found it on the back of the tv) and switch it to dvd. Gah. So now we have to keep the whole thing turned off in the back with a surge protector on-off switch.

One of the other things she really likes to get into is my makeup drawer. It has a latch but if she is in there with me while I’m doing my makeup, she likes to get the blush brush and pretend to put makeup on herself. It’s the only thing I’ll let her touch out of there. She figured out how to open my jewelry box (I used to keep it on the nightstand) and I caught her putting my good rings on all her fingers so that also got moved up higher. She also likes to stand on Mommy’s scale and it looks like she’s almost 23 pounds. Oh, and she likes to take her diaper off and pee on the floor. Which is lovely.

As far as physical stuff- she is running pretty fast and her feet swing out to the sides almost like a penguin. It’s the cutest. She also walks backwards and is working on jumping. On rare occasions she can get both feet off the ground at the same time for just a split second, but mostly it looks like she’s just bending her knees and picking one foot up. She can climb onto chairs and couches, and slide down off our bed. Her new thing is going up and down stairs “like a big girl” holding on the railing. She can do it herself but I have to be right next to her because sometimes she gets distracted and lets go to look around. She also is kicking a lot. If you put a ball on the ground she will run up to it and kick it while she runs. Our Parents as Teachers educator said she’s really coordinated. Jonathon wants her to play soccer

She knows most of her body parts and can point to them when asked- head, hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue (sticks it out), teeth (chomps them to show you), fingers, tummy, belly button or be-bo, she will point to my neck but can’t find it on herself, foot, toes/pigs. The only body parts she actually says is “Eyyyyyyye” and “no” for nose.

Animals she can point out- bird, monkey, tiger, zebra, horse/nay nay, cow, duck, dog, cat, fish, frog, koala, giraffe, elephant, snake.

Makes noises for cow, horse, dog, cat, and snake. Oh and zebra, she has decided it also says “nay nay” which I think might be right…

Words she says regularly-
mama
dada
gah or mama-dada-mama (Grammy)
eye
no (nose)
no no no
nana (banana or Nana, her great grandma)
apple
cheesh (cheese)
fish
more
puh puh ssss (please)
book
baw (ball)
bird
buh!! (balloon, always said emphatically)
shoosh (shoes)
duh duh (Dora)
Mo (Elmo)
mm-vah (movie)
woo woo, or gee (doggy)
hi
rah rah rah (rock rock rock)
inkeeee (Pinky, her lovey)
up
buhbuh (bubbles)

She still signs occasionally for “more” or “I want that” or “all done” and she also will put her hands up and shrug her shoulders if you ask her where something is.

She loves putting together puzzles. She has several of those wooden puzzles where the pieces have the little knobs to hold them. She can dump them out and put them right back together. She has also recently started playing with legos and other blocks. She knows how to stick them together and loves to put them together and then take them apart again. We put away her Little People Zoo for a while so that she would play with something different for a while. Her favorite books right now are Goodnight Moon, Personal Penguin, The Little People Board Books, Where’s Elmo’s Blanket, and Baby’s First Words.

Here are the hair pictures, finally

Filed Under Books, Hair, Sixteen Months | 7 Comments

Today I managed to get Bailey to sit still long enough to take a few pictures of her haircut. And I couldn’t believe it- I even got her to look at the camera a few times too Most pictures I take end up being of the back of her head as she runs away. I don’t think it’s that she hates the camera, she’s just too busy to hold still for it. I envy those moms who say their kids love it when they get the camera out, and start smiling and cheesing.

I think her bangs turned out decent. I like bangs on little girls, especially little girls like mine who don’t have small foreheads

And the back. Much better than the shagginess that was becoming a mullet.

And one of her actually looking at the camera, even though she’s fake smiling. I think she’s just tolerating me for a minute so that I’ll let her go back to reading. She’s lifting all the flaps looking for Elmo’s Blanket. This kid sure does love to read. If you’ve been around her for any amount of time at all you know it’s her absolute favorite thing to do.

Works For Me Wednesday- Toddler Haircuts

Filed Under Hair, Sixteen Months, Works For Me Wednesday | 8 Comments

I have now given Bailey her second haircut. The first time was just her bangs; this last time I did her bangs and about an inch off the back. People have been asking me how I got a one year old to hold still while I did her hair. So I am going to share with you the brilliant tip I was given by one of my Avon customers.

When you need your busy, squirmy child to hold still for something, wrap a small bandaid around each fingertip on their left hand. Then they will sit and pick those bandaids off one by one. By the time they are done, you’re finished with their haircut!

I haven’t gotten a good picture of her hair yet- I just got my camera back tonight- so I will work on getting a picture tomorrow. I think it turned out pretty good. I mean, it’s even and there aren’t any chunks missing. What else can you expect from a novice haircutter and a one year old?

For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, check out Rocks In My Dryer.

And just because I’m excited to have my camera back, here are the first pictures we took tonight at home!

Flutteries in my Tummy

Filed Under Difficult Stuff, Disney Vacation | 4 Comments

As our vacation gets closer I am thinking more and more about the planning I need to do. My mom is going to be staying at our house so part of me is freaking out about cleaning. Organizing cabinets, hiding stuff I don’t want her to see, scrubbing the kitchen floor. I also have to shop and make sure there is plenty of easy food for Bailey and also some fresh fruit and stuff cut up in the fridge and all that. Dishes clean, laundry clean etc before we go.

I am working on a schedule for my mom- not like I am forcing her to do a certain schedule but more like so she knows when Bailey has classes and stuff like that and when a friend of mine is going to come pick her up for the evening. Notes about Tylenol doses and where to find loveys and teethers and the special diaper cream. All the little things that Mommy does every day and I want to make sure someone else does the same thing. It is beyond me how people can leave their kid at daycare, I think I would fall apart. I know Bailey could not possibly be in better hands than with my mom. It’s not that. It’s that it won’t be ME doing these things for her, for almost a full week.

Will she miss me? Will she care? Will she wonder if I’m not coming back? Will I miss her so much I can’t stand it? I think JOnathon and I will have a great time but I am worried that when we’re not busy my heart will just be so sad. My little Buggy and I will be apart for the longest time ever. I hope Grammy gives her so many kisses and tells her I love her and shows her my pictures and tells her I am coming back. And when I get back? I hope Bailey is as happy as I am.

How can I leave this little face?

It will be okay. I know it will be, deep down. I just can’t think for too long about Bailey, I have to think about Jonathon. And all the fun stuff we will be doing.

So Sweepy

Filed Under Sixteen Months, Sleep | 2 Comments

Thanks to Bailey, who woke up SEVEN times during the night last night, and four the night before. The first time, we fell for it. She sounded panicked and wanted to rock. Then we realized that every time she turned over she wanted us to come back in and rock her back to sleep. Not gonna happen. I hate letting her cry but there is NO WAY we are falling into this trap. I also think her teeth are bugging her but she has had Tylenol. Please cross your fingers that she sleeps better tonight!

If you don’t know about our camera…

Filed Under Random | 1 Comment

Jan asked, so I thought I’d bring the rest of you up to date as well on what is going on with our camera. Because, you know, it’s as exciting as like world peace or something. LOL

Our camera is about three years old. We have had continuous problems with it, like blurry pics, flash not working, delays, wanting to erase the card, etc. Thank goodness it’s the one thing we bought a Best Buy service plan on. This is the third time we’ve had it in to get worked on. The guy said if they can’t fix it this time they will probably replace it. I am nervous that we won’t have it back in time for our trip even though we are supposed to.

Not having a camera, well it sucks

Filed Under Fifteen Months, Food, Grandparents, Outings, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

I am so used to photographing everything Bailey does. When she makes a new cute face, or does something funny, or gets a new outfit or new toy… last weekend I cut her hair in the back (about an inch off the bottom) and I didn’t have my camera. On Thursday, my parents watched her for the day. They took her to Build a Bear and she made a stuffed bunny. Now I am waiting to take a picture of her with her new bunny, whose name is Floppy. This is the best I can do at the moment.

I feel like I am letting these moments fly by, uncaptured. I want to remember every smile, laugh, hug, every moment. We were at my parents house last night for my mom’s birthday and I took a bunch of pictures with their camera so hopefully they will loan me the card soon so I can dump them on my computer. Here are some pictures from hanging out with my parents a few weeks ago. I didn’t even realize I had these because I saved them into the wrong folder and discovered them last night when I was uploading to Snapfish.

We took Bailey to a local kids museum and she loved it. We will probably get a membership this fall. She had a great time exploring and learning. They also offer toddler and preschool classes so we might sign up for some of those after we get our membership.

In this picture Grammy is showing Bailey how to fish. After the fish are caught (magnets on the end of strings) they can walk them upstream and drop them into a small pool, then watch them go back downstream through glass in the floor, all the way back to the fishing pond. It’s really cool!

All sweaty after playing outside

Eating her favorite food ever- fries!

“I Love Your Blog” Award

Filed Under Blogging | 7 Comments

Thank you to Beth and to Dawn for this award. You both rock, and you are so sweet to think of me. I love your blogs, too. They are part of my daily reading.

Now, I get to share the love by distributing the award to others. But first the rules are:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate up to 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated

Here are the people I am nominating. I love their blogs.

1. Baby Makes Three- my friend Sarah’s blog about her life and her little miracle baby Claire. Never a shortage of cute baby pictures, and I can relate to her in-law stories.

2. Will There Be Cake? She recently “moved” blogs and this is her new one. She’s just getting started there, but I love her writing and it’s worth checking out!

3. My Charming Kids- I’m sure MckMama doesn’t even know I exist, but I am amazed by her. She has three kids under three and is pregnant with the fourth; a little boy. He has a heart condition, and she doesn’t know what the future holds for him. But she trusts God completely for the health and life of her son, and she is an inspiration.

4. Adventures in Adamland- Beth and I have been reading each other’s blogs for a while now. Her son, Adam is close in age to Bailey. It is so fun to watch them grow and to see how similar and also how different they are!

5. Chasing Groundhogs- Also a good friend of mine IRL. She is in the process of moving to Alaska with her new (married this spring) husband. Her writing is honest and sarcastic and fun to read. She might not update for a few days right now because she is, literally, traveling across Alaska as I type this.

6. “>The Laughlins- Kasey is the wife of one of Jonathon’s old roommates. She is a teacher and I like hearing about her job and I always love seeing pictures of her decorating ideas. They are TTCing and could use your thoughts and prayers.

Seriously, go check out these blogs. Good reading material. I always love finding new stuff to add to my reader. You know, because then I can spend even more time on the Internet…

Never Mind

Filed Under In-Laws, Random | 1 Comment

I forgot what I was going to say.

EDITED TO SAY: Jonathon parents are complete pains sometimes. They are difficult houseguests as I know I have said before. His mom is one of those people who will follow you through the house and just keep talking. Into the bedroom, walk into the bathroom while you’re peeing, etc. So it finally came to be that they cannot stay at our house anymore. Jonathon directed them toward a couple cheap hotels near our house and it had made a huge difference. Our visits are almost pleasant now.

Our new luggage

Filed Under Avon, Travel | 4 Comments

Jonathon and I never had nice luggage. When we got married, we kind of didn’t even think about the fact that we would need a luggage set for our honeymoon. He had a suitcase and a garment bag, and I had a suitcase. So my parents gave us their old luggage. And I mean OLD. It was like that tweedy-brown stuff that was popular in the mid to late 90s. Also, it had a strap you could pull it with but when you pulled it, it tipped over. Which is apparently why my parents replaced it.

Anyway, each vacation we’ve gone on, we said we would get new stuff. I finally put it on a garage sale we had a while back and got like $15 for it. I was glad to be rid of it… then we realized that once again we were about to go on vacation and we didn’t have luggage. And I refuse to use Jonathon’s big green monster suitcase. So I shopped for luggage online and figured out Kohl’s had the best prices. I waited until it was on sale and we got a nice charcoal gray set for a good price. It’s not super quality or brand name, but we only take vacation like once a year anyway.

Here is our new set:

I didn’t want to get black because EVERYONE has black luggage. I also got some new luggage tags from Avon because I thought they’d make our stuff easier to spot… and cuz they’re cute…

Exploring another park with Grandpa

Filed Under Fifteen Months, Grandparents, Outings, Play | 2 Comments

These are from last week at the park with my dad. Our camera is currently being repaired or replaced, so I will have to entertain you with some older pictures in the meantime. Hope you like them anyway. LOL… if you’re local and you want to know what park this is, leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you. It’s one of our favorites, and it’s NOT the Fountain Park.

Bailey HATES swings. I keep trying them every so often, hoping that she will change her mind. She is a pretty brave kid with most things. But I don’t blame her with the anti-swing thing. I liked them as a kid and now it makes me queasy to even watch other people swinging.

Walking through the tunnel- one of her current favorite things to do at any park.

Donations for Juvenile Diabetes Research

Filed Under Friends | 3 Comments

My friend Kris has a beautiful daughter named Hayleigh who has Juvenile Diabetes. You can check out her YouTube video by clicking HERE.

They are participating in a fundraising walk to raise money for research. If you know anyone with Diabetes or would like to help them out, please consider making a donation. Clicking on the picture below will take you to their fundraising page. Thank you for your help!

Shawn Johnson

Filed Under Sports, TV | 1 Comment

I love this girl. She is so amazingly talented and the thing is, she also looks like just a kid having fun. I was cheering for her so hard tonight during the balance beam competition. I am so glad she beat Nastia. Their styles are just so different but after Nastia went after her on floor and snatched the gold out from under her, I didn’t want the same thing to happen on beam. And it didn’t.

Well I have a cute photo of Shawn but WordPress is being a pain and not wanting to load any photos. Click here to see a few. Maybe I’ll get it to work later. It would also be nice if I could load a few new pics of my little girl, but apparently that’s not going to happen tonight.

I am still loving the Olympics and that’s also one of the many reasons I haven’t been blogging as much this week. IT’s cutting into my evening computer time.