Taylor’s Dedication

Filed Under Big Sister, Church, Family, Four Months Old- Taylor, Three Years Old | 2 Comments

I have tons of pictures for this one. Taylor was dedicated at our church back in July. Basically what that means is that as parents we committed to raising him in the church, teaching him about Jesus, etc and the church promised to support our family with that. It’s not the same as infant baptism because we don’t believe that it actually “saves” the child. Anyway we did the same thing for Bailey when she was about four months old. So there was a ceremony at church (which we have videos of, but I am not going to post because there are also other families in the video and first/last names are used for everyone).

We did take a few pictures beforehand at church. Taylor was a doll during the service. Bailey had a last minute panic about going on stage- shocking if you know her- and kept her face hidden in Daddy’s neck.

We had a lunch at my parents house. I felt guilty not doing a party for him like we did with Bailey… but then I realized that it would be more for me since he wouldn’t care what was going on, as long as there was milk! We had dessert and ice cream after lunch- Bailey’s favorite part.

And played more hockeyball!

But Taylor just watched…

And then we opened some gifts. Of course Bailey offered to help! She was so sweet with Taylor. She showed him each present and told him about them.

Awwww, one last shot of me with my babies…

Taylor is 5 Months Old

Filed Under Church, Five Months Old- Taylor, Milestones, Sleep | 1 Comment

To my little Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Bear,

Oh I love you more each day. I think you are the cutest baby boy in the entire world. Your hair is starting to come in thicker (and it’s getting a lot lighter- you might be a blondie after all!) I love to run my hands through your fuzz, and kiss your sweet little head. You still sleep with Mommy every night. I am no longer stressed out about when I will get you out of my bed. I am just accepting it and enjoying it at this point. You will be all grown up soon enough, and I will miss these days. I love the way you stretch out next to me and make your little piglet sounds while you eat. Sometimes you dig your toes into my thigh though and that’s not my favorite. Right now you are laying on the boppy eating and clutching your little hands together. It looks like you are praying.

Speaking of hands- you are getting better at using them. You still can’t transfer objects from one hand to the other, but you can pick up toys more easily and of course you pop them right in your mouth. We have to be so careful with all the little pieces to Bailey’s toys! You also just started rolling from back to front three days ago. Then you get stuck on your tummy and do the frantic “swimming” on the floor until someone rescues you. You still can’t figure out how to flip back over. You are starting to sit up though, if we lean you forward on your hands for balance. You also enjoy your exersaucer for a little longer now. We just borrowed the Bumbo from Kelli but so far you are not a fan. I have a feeling you will like it better once we start feeding you in it!

A few of your 3-6 month outfits just fit now. You were small for so long and now you are growing like crazy it seems. You have gotten chubby and I love squeezing your legs. This is the only time in your life when it will be cute to have fat feet, so enjoy it. They are adorable! You are just over 15 pounds, so you’ve gained a little over a pound within the past month.

You also had your dedication ceremony at our church on your five month birthday, but that will get its own post. Just know that so many people love you and are praying for you and looking out for you. You are a very loved little boy. I can’t believe next time I write to you, you will be a half a year old.

xoxo

Mommy

Easter 2010

Filed Under Church, Easter, Family, Holidays, One Month- Taylor, Sick, Two and a half years old | Leave a Comment

I will admit that going into Easter this year, it was hard for me to stay focused on the real reason we celebrate Easter. It’s so easy to get excited about the egg hunts, chocolate bunnies, kids dressing up for church, opening their baskets, etc. I didn’t have this problem before I had children. But sometimes, I get more excited about my kids than about God. I admitted it. I was hoping for a touching, joyful Easter service at church to help me keep my heart in the right place. But we arrived about ten minutes late, and then got paged to pick Bailey up from the nursery after about 20 minutes.

She felt warm and just kept asking me to hold her. She looked miserable, and fell asleep in the car on the way home. We carried her to bed and she slept for about an hour, My parents insisted that they still wanted to come over so once she woke up, the whole family came over. Which was especially awesome when she ended up puking after lunch. They made a quick exit. We got a few pictures before church though:

Here are a few after the family came over…

And here you can tell she’s really starting to not feel good-

My parents let me bring Taylor over to their house and hang out the rest of the day/evening so that hopefully he wouldn’t get sick. It worked! Plus the coolest thing- my parents have a big jacuzzi tub and my mom was like “bring your bath stuff and I’ll watch Taylor while you relax” so I got to read for an hour in the bath. I haven’t relaxed like that since before he was born. Just a few shots of my mom with him

Taylor’s First Church Service

Filed Under Big Sister, Church, Firsts, One Month- Taylor, Posing for Pictures, Two and a half years old | 1 Comment

We decided to brave it and take both kids to church on Sunday, March 21st. We had some fun family snuggle time before we had to get ready. Taylor LOVES sleeping on this beanbag chair- too funny, considering all the money people spend on swings, bouncy seats etc. And he likes this beanbag chair better than anything else.

They both cooperated with getting ready. Usually Bailey has a fit about putting on tights but she did well. The problem came when we tried to take a family picture. Got a good one of Daddy and Taylor…

But check out what happened when we asked Bailey to join them!

She managed to pull it together (but still refused to take a picture). When we got to church she was so proud to push the stroller around and show off her baby brother. She went to her class and we took Taylor to the service with us. He made it, oh, about fifteen minutes before he decided he was hungry. I went to the nursing room where they have the sermon on a speaker to listen to. Unfortunately this woman came in to nurse her child and could.not.stop.talking to me. I thought I was going to lose my mind, and I didn’t hear a word of the sermon. I think next time if that happens I will actually say something. Or else get up and turn the speaker up to a deafening volume!

Anyway, we survived. We didn’t make it today (because Taylor decided not to sleep AT ALL last night) but now we know we can do it!

Christmas Eve

Filed Under Christmas, Church, Gifts, Holidays, Toys, Traditions, Two and a half years old | 1 Comment

We had a really nice Christmas Eve. Nothing exciting or huge but just nice to be together as a family. I had been working a lot of hours at my mall job and really missing time with Jonathon and Bailey. So I was glad just to spend this night together. We spent the afternoon getting some last minute Christmas things ready and wrapping done during her nap. Then we got dressed up and went to church together. I was able to get a few pictures of her at church (in the nursery) when I remembered to get my camera out.

Afterwards we didn’t get to have the Jesus Birthday Party because my parents decided to go to the late service instead. We came home and ate snacks and let Bailey open a few presents. We decided that as a tradition our kids will get a new ornament and pajamas on Christmas Eve, and that we will get a “family gift” like a game or something we can all do together.

This year she opened the Mr. Potato Head (one of her favorite gifts) that our neighbors brought over for her. She became almost irrationally obsessed with him, wanted to keep talking to him and hugging him and bring him to bed.

Her ornament was a princess castle, all pink and sparkly, with her name and the year on it. I thought that would be a good representation of this year and this Christmas, since she has been asking for “A castle with a princess and a princess and a princess and a princess and a king and a dragon and a dinosaur!” She has also recently gotten really interested in her Beauty and the Beast book, her new Tinkerbell room decor, and playing dress up in general. I have been looking forward to this stage!

She got a Disney Princess Memory game which we attempted to play. Really she just wanted to keep stacking and organizing the cards- but at least it was something we could do together! I know one of my friends got her daughter (who is a few months younger than Bailey) the Candyland game for Christmas. I’m wondering if they had any luck with that.

These are her new snowman jammies that she got to open and wear to bed. I don’t know that I am going to do any sort of matching jammies for the kids in the future, since we’ll have one boy and one girl. I might just try to get ones they will each like. I knew Bailey would love the snowmen and I was happy to avoid “character” pajamas this time. She has one pair of Dora jammies and they are enough for now!

The one regret I have about Christmas Eve is that I completely forgot to read the Christmas story to her! I was going to read it from her Jesus Storybook Bible and then we got all busy at bedtime and she was so wound up and kept running around her room and jumping from her bed to the beanbag chair. It completely slipped my mind. I am going to have to be more intentional about that next year because I don’t want this to just be a “gift holiday” and nothing else. We have been talking about the Christmas story and Jesus’ birthday etc but I was just disappointed.

Swine Flu- no, we don’t have it!

Filed Under Asthma, Church, Second Pregnancy, Sick | 3 Comments

I have to admit that I am keeping Bailey home a lot more in hopes of not getting the swine flu. Normally I am NOT one of “those” paranoid moms who doesn’t go to public places for fear of germs. But I feel like we have two strikes against us already with Bailey having asthma and me being pregnant. I am still not sure whether we will get the vaccination if/when it becomes available. I am leaning toward NO but I am not 100% decided. Please don’t turn this into a vaccine debate, thanks. But so far we have kept her out of church nursery and just stayed home the past two Sundays, and we plan to stay home again this week. Also my mom has been watching her on Tuesday mornings so that she doesn’t have to go to church childcare. I love our nursery and I can’t say enough about how clean and well-run it is, but two year olds are just so stinkin germy. I am hoping that if we can avoid this for another week or two it will have run its course in our area and our church. Please pray for us that we stay well!

Church Staff

Filed Under Church, Friends, Two Years Old | 3 Comments

Last week (or I guess two weeks ago now) Bailey and her friend Elle were sitting in the chairs at the nursery registration desk. They are there ALL THE TIME anyway since Kelli and I both work in the nursery. They both just climbed up and sat and talked together and ate donuts. Kelli sent me this picture that I took that day.

Maybe they’ll be doing this together in 15-20 years? Crazy to think about!

Randomness in Picture Form

Filed Under Avon, Church, Clothes, Gifts, Grandparents, Random, Toys, Two Years Old | 1 Comment

This was the first warmer-weather outfit I put on Bailey this spring. I can tell the difference in her looks even from just a few weeks ago when this was taken!

Bailey got some cool new stuff for her birthday. One of her favorite gifts was the monkey play-dough set from her friend Mackenzie. She got a little obsessed so we (I) made a rule that she only got to do play-dough with Daddy!

Speaking of her friend Mackenzie- here they are at church. They see each other every week in the hallway outside the nursery and get so excited! They were rolling around on the floor and laughing.

Then I decided I should try to get a picture of her with Grampa, but she wasn’t really into it.

And at home watching Barney after church, wearing her sunglasses, OF COURSE. Because she likes to wear them ALL THE TIME.

This is a Dora nightgown that Grammy gave Bailey for her birthday (or Easter, maybe). She loves to wear it around the house but she WILL NOT sleep in it. She thinks it’s a dress and I haven’t been able to convince her otherwise. But it works well for a comfy play-around-the-house outfit.

I don’t remember if I posted this one before but she was putting puzzle pieces all over Jonathon. He let her do it for a long time… that man has much more patience than I do! It was pretty cute though.

And just one last one of her playing… if you look on the table you can see some Weebles stuff. I found it at a yard sale in our neighborhood and she was with me at the time. She thought it was Little People and started yelling “Peeeeepole!” One of the best $3 purchases I have made lately- she can interchange a lot of it (size-wise) with Little People and she just adores any type of little guys/cars/houses/animals like that right now. This set came with a house, swing, about five guys including Santa and a snowman, a motorcycle, and a car. Hours of fun.

As for me- I am winning a new prize for my Avon recruiting. We are getting two new gold iPod mp3 players in a few weeks! Jonathon was SO excited about this. I will have to figure out how to use it now…

Tuesday is Snooze-day

Filed Under Church, Cloth Diapering, Diapers/Potty, Twenty-two Months | Leave a Comment

I have been noticing a trend. Every Tuesday afternoon Bailey and I take a LONG nap. Not together, but at the same time. I work at church doing childcare on Tuesday mornings and she is in the “Big Girl 2′s Class” so we both have a busy morning. I am in the infant (six weeks to crawling) room with my friend Casey. I enjoy getting to spend the time with her every week. It gives us a good chance to talk while we hold the babies and play with them. We have been blessed with some really cute babies! This one little guy, well it’s good that he’s so cute because he seriously has stinky grown man gas. Constantly. But he is just so cute that we manage to put up with it

On the flip side: My daughter is most definitely not a baby anymore. She is funny and sneaky and loves to be mommy’s helper. She also likes to sit on the potty. She is successful maybe 1/2 the time but we don’t push it.

Another thing that she loves to do is line up her Little People animals. She likes them all to face her. She knows an astonishing amount of animal names now. Even things like lizard, seahorse, hippo… I can’t wait to take her to the zoo this summer. We talk about the zoo A LOT and talk about what animals we want to see. I love that she can have conversations with me now.

And just because I love her fluffy cloth diapers (this one is a Blueberry Minky), and because this one just happens to match her pajama shirt, I had to snap one more.

Christmas Eve

Filed Under Christmas, Church, Twenty Months | 3 Comments

We are trying to make sure that Bailey knows why we celebrate Christmas- that it’s Jesus’ birthday- and not just a Santa Claus holiday. We also want to do all the fun Santa stuff, too. So we are kind of trying to find the happy medium in all of it.

Every year, we go to Christmas Eve service at church. This year, we went to the 5:00 service. I wanted Bailey to join us for part of the service. I brought crayons and puzzles and other quiet activities for her. She would have done really well if she could have seen her toys. However, they decided to have the whole service in the dark so there was no way for any of the kids to stay busy. There were a lot of antsy kids during the service. They offered nursery for kids under 3, so I took B to the nursery partway through but it was full and we couldn’t leave her. I was really frustrated, we probably would have just stayed home if I had known that she couldn’t go to childcare.

After church, we went over to my parents house. It was just the five of us. In the past, we used to open our stockings on Christmas Eve and then play games and eat lots of snacks. Obviously it’s not the same anymore, but it’s so much more fun with a little one around than with just a bunch of adults.

We decided to make a tradition of doing a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas Eve after church. Bailey got to open one gift (a coloring book) and when she is older we will probably play a game or something. Also the kids might get Christmas jammies! This year, we just did a cake. Note the Little People Jesus on top He had to take a break from sledding down the roof of the nativity in order to appear on the cake. (If you haven’t heard, Bailey thinks Jesus likes to sled and/or slide down the roof of the stable. She says “Wheee, swide!” and then when he lands on the floor, she says, “Cwash!”

Thanks for the new coloring book! It’s time to go to sleep so Santa can come bring more toys!

Thoughts on Finances

Filed Under Church, Money | 3 Comments

Jonathon and I (along with some other people) watched a really good sermon online about finances. It was from Church of the Highlands. It focused on dealing with debt and why people get into financial difficulty, and then also how to get out. Here are some quick highlights.

Understanding how you got into debt:
-Being consumed with “more”
-Instant gratification
-Self-destructive behavior
-Spending everything you have
-Being unprepared for storms

*I think the main reason Americans have such problems is because they feel like if they “qualify” for it, or if someone else has it, they should be able to get it. Not to say that some people haven’t had unforeseen hardships. But just because a car dealer approves you for a $30,000 car, doesn’t mean that is the smartest purchase you could make. But now people expect a “bail out” instead of just being responsible. I also think we are set up for failure. Just about every few months, I get a letter that the bank has raised our credit card limit. They want us to spend more than we can pay back. We also could have gotten approved for a house that would cost about 60% of our monthly income, but that’s not smart either.

I am paraphrasing, but Proverbs says something like “riches disappear in the blink of an eye… wealth sprouts wings and flies off.” It can all be gone so quickly. If you base your life on money and your material possessions, you are setting yourself up for unhappiness in my opinion.

Then he talked about developing a plan to get out of debt. He suggested keeping track of expenses for three months to create a budget. He said to do it NOW, and to ask God for help.

The last thing he discussed was tithe. I always have had an issue with God “needing” 10% of your income. I know that’s not what it is really supposed to be. The way this pastor said it, really made sense to me. He said, “God isn’t broke. He doesn’t need your money… but wherever you put your money, your heart will follow.” It is a reflection of the attitude that God is first.

Anyway, I have just been thinking about finances a lot lately. I know everyone has. I thought this message was really interesting and wanted to share.

If you want to check out this sermon here is the link. It is about 30 minutes but seemed much shorter because it was, honestly, really interesting.

Little Bits From Today

Filed Under Church, Clothes, Home Sweet Home, Sixteen Months | 7 Comments

This morning we got up and went to the Tuesday morning childcare program at my church. My grandma and I had a class, and Bailey went to the nursery. The kids in the nursery were all different ages (just for today) but it never seems to phase Bailey. I watched her as an older kid tried to take her book, and she pushed her away and said, “No no no!” I’m glad she sticks up for herself. Also, she doesn’t cry when I drop her off, at least 90% of the time. I think it’s because she has always gone to the nursery or some type of morning childcare at least once a week. Also, we leave her with my mom and a few other people from time to time.

I thought she looked so grown up this morning so I took a few pictures of her before we left. I can’t believe my big girl will be in the Toddlers class this fall!

And finally, she cooperates!

Tonight after Jonathan got home from work, he was working on fixing some of our outdoor lighting and I was working on dinner. Don’t worry, it was just spaghetti and garlic bread. You should know by now that I don’t do anything too complicated. Anyway, I had the oven mitt out to get the bread, and Bailey found it and ran off with it. I just managed to find the camera and get a quick picture before she lost interest.

Then later this evening, I was working on cleaning my office. The endless project that never gets all the way finished. Although, someday it will, and I will show pictures! Bailey was wandering in and out while I was cleaning, and she found a Sigma Kappa hat from when I was in college. She had fun modeling it and ended up wearing it for quite a while. She announced “hat” and pointed to it every time she saw one of us. Just in case we weren’t sure.

I’m probably paranoid

Filed Under Church, Sick | 5 Comments

We all know I’m a little bit of a germophobe- but today someone came to the church nursery to drop their kid off (in Bailey’s class) for second hour. Kelli was making conversation and asked the older sister if she was going to her class downstairs. The grandma said no, that the sister had been up throwing up all night. Um, that means the other kid could have germs too. I took Bailey out of her class and my mom and I ended up playing with her during the service while we listened (kind of) to the sermon on the intercom. Bailey also found a fabulous set of pretend keys in the nursery that we are borrowing for the week. (Thanks Kelli!)

I know people probably thought “Oh there goes another crazy overprotective first-time mom…” But if anyone knows me with Bailey, I am really not overprotective at all. I think I am pretty laid back about most things. Floor dirt? Won’t kill her. Fell down? She’ll be fine. But throwing up? That’s one thing I really can’t handle. And I guess I felt like if I left her there and she ended up getting sick, it would have been something I could have prevented. It’s my job to keep her safe and to look out for her. At this age, the kids put toys in their mouths and grab each others sippy cups. The teachers do a great job looking out and santizing and everything, but it’s impossible to keep it 100% germ free when there are 10 or so toddlers in one room!

In defense of our nursery- we have a really good Well Child Policy. However, this does not extend to family members, etc being sick. I told Kelli and Heather that we need to add a little thing at the bottom saying something like, “If someone else in your house is sick or has had these symptoms within the last 48 hours, please keep in mind that your child could spread germs/infection to other children. Be respectful of other families and their health!” And the person who dropped the sick kid’s sibling off? Totally should have known better. That is all I’m saying.

In regards to my post about the pop up trailer: Canape- OMG I did not even think about it being parked in our driveway! I was thinking they would have to pay money to park it somewhere. I would not let them put it in the driveway. Gah. I bet that’s what they were thinking. Jonathon told me they would be allowed to park in our driveway if they bought us an XBox 360 but I’m not convinced. Besides then they would think they could always park there.

Organization

Filed Under Baby Gear, Bailey's Birthday, Church, Daddy, classes | 1 Comment

Friday night I went to a ladies night thing at my church. I know, you are thinking “Exciting Friday night, Tara!” It turned out to be a lot better than I expected. I mainly signed up because my mom and grandma wanted to go. They had snacks and then we got to pick three classes we wanted to take. The first one I chose was about organizing your busy life. Scheduling everything- including a cleaning schedule. I know some people think this sounds neurotic, but it’s the kind of organization I need if I am going to get anything done. We also talked about communicating better with your spouse to divide up responsibility/time with kids/etc. The second class I did was card making. They had a Stampin Up! rep help us make three cards and a gift tag. They are really cute. The last class was a cooking one. The lady kind of drove me nuts who taught it. She was one of those people, who wants you to know that she has money. Like she kept talking about “having the girls over after golf and just putting together a little lunch” and “I try to buy from the Smokehouse and keep them in business” but it was the way she made her comments. It was just kind of funny. But the recipes were good. She made a chicken dish, salad, bread, and banana dessert. Also we got a recipe for a fish soup that I am going to make for Jonathon.

Sat morning Jonathon got up and took some stuff to the bank for me, then went and bought me flowers! Then I got our bedroom a lot more organized and sorted through our closet to pull stuff out for Goodwill. I ended up with two boxes and two big bags! Yay! I need to do a lot of work on the rest of the house and purge every room, but I’m glad I started. Then in the  afternoon, Jonathon went to Lowe’s and got a board to fix our ghetto baby gate setup and bought more lightbulbs for all the burnt out lights in our house. I am glad he finally did this because it was starting to drive me crazy. But I am working on not bugging him/nagging him about stuff that needs to be done. He also picked up Bailey’s big birthday present while he was out!

Saturday night we had an event for Jonathon’s work. My parents watched Bailey and of course they all had a great time It was nice for us to dress up and get out together too.

Church Nursery

Filed Under Church, Firsts, Nine Months | 6 Comments

Okay, so normally I am very happy with our church nursery. Well, not that I’m NOT happy today, but there’s a story here. I work in the nursery every other Sunday morning, as I have for four years now. I also do paid childcare at church on Tuesday mornings and on Wednesday evenings. So I’m there a lot. I know how things work, or how they are supposed to work. Once in a while, things don’t go according to plan, but it’s usually not a big deal.

Today Bailey was in her little classroom and did surprisingly well when I dropped her off. She has been having her separation anxiety issues at home when I am not near her, but she seems to do better when we are somewhere else. She is much more independent away from home, most likely because there are new things to explore. Which is funny, because my friend Amy‘s little girl is the opposite. We were discussing that the other day. But anyway, I dropped her off and she seemed okay. I was working in another classroom during the first service but poked my head in at the end and she was still okay. I wondered if she would last through Sunday School because it would be her naptime, and last week she was fussy then. I kind of expected to be paged.

So I am sitting listening to announcements and my pager starts vibrating. These things really get your attention, but like I said I wasn’t surprised. I picked up my purse (so I could show ID) and walked to the nursery. As I passed the front desk I asked if she was having a hard time. They said no, that she had gotten hurt! What? My baby got hurt in her classroom?

When I got to the door of her classroom, she was sobbing and one of the ladies was carrying her around and trying to distract her with a book. She had a big cut spot on her forehead and it was already starting to bruise. Of course she wouldn’t let them put ice on it. Her nose was snotting all over her face and mixing in with the tears. My poor girl. What happened was that she fell somehow (Jan, my guess is that she was trying to pull up or cruise along the cabinets but I guess I never asked)… anyway she bumped her forehead on the ONE thing in the room that could have possibly hurt her. I have never questioned whether the classrooms were safe, but there is a small hinge on the edge of the cabinet and of course her head collided with like that half inch spot in the entire classroom that could have hurt her.

I ended up taking her to the nursing room and sitting with her a while, letting her eat and calm down. We went back to the desk and talked to Kelli, and I decided to keep her with me for a little while. She was over it, but I wasn’t. This was her first actual injury, I mean one that left a visible mark at least. And of course she has pictures scheduled for tomorrow morning. Time to break out the concealer. After walking around with her for a bit and then trying to sit with her in church, I gave up and took her back to the nursery after all for like the last fifteen minutes.

My mom picked her up afterwards and asked why she got hurt, if the teachers weren’t watching or if there were too many kids in there. I told her no, that it could have happened at home. Those things happen so fast. Even when you think the area is totally safe, the kids will find the one spot that can hurt them. It’s just bad luck and part of being a kid to have those bumps and bruises… but it did really make me sad. I almost cried, and I know Bailey forgot about it hours ago but here I am blogging about it. I’m really not mad at all or upset with the nursery. She’s a busy girl and pulling up and getting into everything, so I’m surprised it didn’t happen before now. But this also means she is getting bigger and becoming more of a kid and less of a baby.

Anyway, if you made it this far I am impressed. Sometimes it just helps for me to get my thoughts written out. You should see how many posts I have that never made it out of the draft stage.

This picture was taken in Bailey’s old nursery classroom just before Christmas.