2008 IN REVIEW

Filed Under Bailey's Birthday, Christmas, Cloth Diapering, Daddy, Disney Vacation, Eighteen Months, Eleven Months, Fifteen Months, Firsts, Fourteen Months, Hair, Halloween, Nineteen Months, Play, Professional Pictures, Seventeen Months, Sixteen Months, Ten Months, Thirteen Months, Twelve Months, Twenty Months | 4 Comments

We were so blessed with a wonderful year. No major catastrophes, no deaths in our families, a daughter who has stayed healthy (with the exception of a few colds) and continued to grow and learn and amaze us… Here are the highlights of our year.

January- please note her lack of hair, compared to now

February- and Bailey is walking!

March

April- happy first birthday, Bailey!

May

June

July

August

September- Jonathon and I went to Disney World

October

November

December

Happy New Year!

Not Me Monday- Crazy Crazy

Filed Under Eighteen Months, Not Me Monday, Professional Pictures | 9 Comments

Crazy Crazy, that’s how our life has been lately. Some of it’s good, and some of it is just annoying. The good part is that we have gotten Bailey’s Christmas pictures done, and I am going to give you a sneak peek. This is NOT the picture that will appear on our Christmas cards.

But they did an amazing job, and we could not choose just a few so we ended up buying a giant package of way too many pictures. If you need to get pictures done, check out Portrait Innovations. Their prices are really reasonable, and their backgrounds and scenery stuff is great!

I did not let my child watch Barney on repeat for two hours so that I could get my Avon order put in this morning. (Edited to add: I DO NOT LIKE BARNEY. My mom got Bailey a Barney video once from the library and she fell in love. She would choose Barney over anything else at this point. We have two videos, Shake Your Dino Tail and Barney’s Birthday Party. But it keeps her busy.)

I did not stay up until 1 a.m. the other night to watch episodes of Kitchen Nightmares online.

I did not buy five more sets of hairbows at Gymboree. I am not addicted to curly hairbows.

I did not drive fifteen minutes through traffic and pass about 30 other restaurants only to get to another IHOP when the first one was closed. No, I am not that into pancakes. And Bailey was not in the backseat yelling “Cakey! Cakey!” the whole time.

I did not have my mom iron the dress for Bailey’s Christmas pictures.

I did not spend way too long looking at a website with cheap t-shirts that have funny and tacky sayings on them. Who would do that??

I did not get a bunch of Avon orders during the middle of the night so that I could win some states for my Avon contest before other people woke up to start working on it! I am actually doing GREAT, but I still need quite a few states. If you want to help me out, check out that link or read the post immediately below this one.

I did not feed Bailey the mini peanut butter cups out of my ice cream last night. Because I was not overwhelmed by the disgusting amount of chocolate. (Really, I rarely get tired of chocolate, but it was BAD.)

To read what other people did not do this week, check out My Charming Kids.

When the ponytails come out…

Filed Under Daddy, Eighteen Months, Hair | 1 Comment

Bailey has Jonathon’s hair- don’t need to do any DNA testing to know that he’s her dad!- it just stays in whatever position it gets pressed into. He can lay on the couch for five minutes and his hair sticks up. Even if he wets it down and combs it, it doesn’t help. He has to wash and start over. Hers is totally the same way. These pictures were about an hour after her ponytails were taken out.

Things I Love Thursday- Dry Macaroni

Filed Under Eighteen Months, Things I Love Thursday, Toys | 12 Comments

Yes, this is a thing I love. The reason I love it? It can entertain my child for much longer than most typical toys. I know it’s not a brand-name item that I can show you a picture of online, or link to the website. But it has been a lifesaver for me since Sunday when we made this tub.

We call it “The Roni Tub.” It’s a shallow Rubbermaid tub (that links to the exact one we have- the size is perfect) filled with 8 boxes of dry, uncooked macaroni noodles. We bought the cheapy 93-cents-a-box kind. At some point I am going to color them with food coloring but I was just in a hurry to get it set up. Right now there are just a few scoops and cups and plastic animals in the tub. I plan to change out the items every so often. Bailey really likes to fill the containers and dump them out, and bury the animals. She also pretends that they are eating the macaroni.

This is a great toy for when I am on the phone, or making dinner, or working on Avon orders or something like that. (Speaking of Avon- I would love it if you can help me out with this contest I am in! I need orders from as many states as possible.) We don’t leave the tub out all the time- we just get it out as a special thing so that it stays fun and exciting! Also, it fits under our bed so it’s easy to store.

Don’t you love this startled look? I had been trying to get her attention and she finally noticed me and looked up. She is so good at tuning me out. And that bright yellow spot on her forehead? It’s a bruise. Lovely, isn’t it.

Video of Bailey Talking

Filed Under Eighteen Months, Talking, Video | 2 Comments

Finally! Here is a video of Bailey talking and playing around. This was about a week ago, and since then I swear her vocabulary has doubled. I can’t believe how much she is talking now. Such a girl. You’ll have to excuse the messy background. And those hairy legs are Jonathon’s, not mine!

TV Junkie

Filed Under Eighteen Months, TV | 5 Comments

Bailey is obsessed. Her TV time is really limited, and she only gets to watch “educational” or toddler shows. So any time I get her out of bed in the morning or after nap? Or when we walk into the living room, or come home from a playdate or class or errands? Here is our conversation:

Bailey: Barnehhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: No, we’re not going to watch Barney.
Bailey: Ernie?
Me: No, we’re not going to watch Ernie.
Bailey: Emmo?
Me: No, WE ARE NOT GOING TO WATCH TV RIGHT NOW!
Bailey: Oh no!

* * * * * * * * *

A few minutes later…
Bailey: Mama? Barneh?
*And the whole cycle starts again.

Wordless Wednesday- I love winter clothes!

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High five to Daddy!

Happy Halloween!

Filed Under Eighteen Months, Halloween, Holidays | 5 Comments

I hope you appreciate the effort that I put into posting this picture. I could not get my scanner to turn on today and my computer genius husband is at work… so I took a picture of Bailey’s Halloween pics that we had done a few weeks ago.

We also had some adventures this morning. We went to see Nana and Papa (my grandparents) and this was the first time they saw her in her costume.

Then we went to the grocery store and a lot of people were trying to talk to her/touch her/give her candy… So we figured out that she does much better in this little grocery cart car, because people can’t get so close. She was getting a little overwhelmed.

After that, we went to see Daddy at work. He works at a school and all the students just loved Bailey. Some of the oldest kids kind of intimidated her because they were all screeching and crowding around her. But she loved the preschoolers and younger kids. Here is a preschool class who stopped in the middle of the hallway to see her. I just had to take this picture because all the kids were crazy about Bailey, and she was loving it.

Anyway, she is napping now so that we can trick or treat tonight! I hope you have a happy Halloween, and we’ll post pictures again this weekend!

18 Month Checkup

Filed Under Eighteen Months, Pediatrician, Talking | 6 Comments

Today Bailey had her 18 month visit to the pediatrician. I am so glad that we see her doctor on a regular basis. I think people who don’t go regularly are missing out. We have a wonderful doctor and she is always so supportive, encouraging, etc. I guess it depends on how much you like your doctor.

Here are the stats:
24 lbs 4 oz
31 1/4 in
head 18 in I think… 80th percentile, I remember that.

She asked about her speech and said she should have at least ten words by now. Bailey has over 80 last time I counted. I think I have officially lost track. Some of her new words are car, cow, (she just learned how to make the c/k sound), geeta (grammy), cacker (cracker), ehnie (ernie), keech (cheek), bow, mail, she now says “c0ck” for clock, which is just wonderful, especially because she loves to point them out everywhere we go… I have noticed that within the last few days she is picking up at least five or so new words each day. She is really starting to sound things out on her own. She also calls us Mommy and Daddy now, which I love.

Her doctor asked whether she was starting to go up/down stairs. I said, “Yeah, but she still has to hold the handle unless its just one or two steps.” She was like- what? She’s going up stairs upright? Apparently she meant crawling up and down the stairs, but Bailey has been walking up and down on her own for at least a month or so. She’s good enough now that I can leave her downstairs and tell her to come up when she’s done playing. It’s kind of nice. We still leave the gate upstairs closed though, just so there aren’t any accidents! She was also impressed by her jumping off the ground, and climbing. She said her motor skills are very advanced and ahead of most two year olds. She suggested getting her involved in activities where she can use her gross motor skills.

We talked about how she doesn’t like to get her hands dirty- which her teacher at one of her classes implied could be a sensory problem- but since it doesn’t carry over into any other parts of her life like eating, clothing choices, etc she thinks that she just likes to be clean and is picky about it. She has always been a neat eater, too, and will wipe her mouth if food gets on her lips or face. I guess that is just part of her personality. She has started to get braver about touching messy things but then tries to wipe her hands off right away.

She also watched her do a puzzle on the floor while we talked, and asked about her reading and comprehension when we talk, and stuff like that. She did a screening for autism that they do with all their patients. She said that Bailey is currently ahead of where she needs to be by her two year checkup, in all the areas except speech. She has enough words, but she said by two years old they will be putting two or three words together. So she said that she expects her to still be ahead of the “charts” at her two year checkup and that she is doing great and is a smart little girl. Aw, mommy just loved hearing that. I just don’t want to push Bailey to do things she doesn’t want to do.

Boo at the Zoo

Filed Under Eighteen Months, Halloween, Outings | 6 Comments

I know I talk a lot about how much I love our zoo. It’s free, seriously free. You can park for free (not in the lot but on all the streets around the zoo). The children’s zoo is free for the first hour the zoo is open. I love living in a city (okay, near a city) that has so many great things to do with kids!

This past Saturday, Jonathon and I took Bailey to Boo at the Zoo’s Spooky Saturday. They had free trick or treating, so we knew it would be crowded. We were lucky and got a close parking space, but we should have arrived earlier. We got there almost an hour after it started. I have to say, there were some hoosiers there who had their kids trick or treating without costumes. Also some adults were trying to get candy. At least bring a kid to hold the basket like we did! Bailey seriously got a lot of candy, so Jonathon and I have been snacking a lot lately

Bailey got to wear her frog costume. She loves it, and gets so excited to put it on. We need to do some work on her pumpkin because it’s cloth and has her name on it, but it hangs down and drags on the ground when she holds it. And of course, no one else is allowed to hold it.

The weather ended up being really nice. We got to see a few animals. My favorite is always the giraffes. Today they were close to the fence because people were feeding them leaves.

By the end of our time at the zoo, Bailey was worn out. She had eaten pretzels all morning (she got them in her pumpkin and it was better than feeding her candy that whole time!) and we had seen animals and she was ready for a snooze. But she was the cutest tired frog I have ever seen.

Pumpkinland at Thies Farm

Filed Under Eighteen Months, Outings, St. Louis | 3 Comments

We went to the Pumpkinland last week with my friend Amy and her daughter Kaitlynn. It was at Thies Farm, which I had never been to before. I was really impressed! We got there around 10:30 in the morning and I think if the girls didn’t need naps and we didn’t get tired of chasing them, they could have played there all day. There was so much to do. They had a huge corn maze, a bunch of those hay maze/tunnels (which were so dark you needed a flashlight), a wagon ride, a pirate ship with a treasure chest, zip lines, things to climb on, a big slide, swings, pretend horses, real goats, giant pumpkins, a big swing, and a farmers market. I know that we will definitely take Bailey there again next year. I wish he could have gone this year to see how much she loved it.

My camera crapped out on me again while we were there. You know my camera issues if you have been a reader of this blog for longer than a month. I think this time when we take it in to get repaired it will get replaced. You know, since it’s the fourth time and all. It is really starting to make me angry, and the warranty runs out this December. But that’s a topic for another day.

Here we are when we first got to the pumpkin patch. I convinced Bailey to sit down with me for a picture, until I made the mistake of saying we were sitting on a swing, and then she wanted nothing to do with it. She hates swings!

She also loved riding on this little play tractor. There were three of them, and she had to sit on each one before she was satisfied. Sometimes she gets a little picky about things being done a certain way

Bailey loves wagons and was going crazy because there were so many wagons at the pumpkin patch. They had them for people to pull their pumpkins in. She wanted to climb in them all but they were kind of dirty inside.

Playing in the treasure chest with Kaitlynn. It was full of mardi gras type beads and fake gold coins. They thought it was the greatest.

These are the tunnels through the hay. I guess they were kind of like mazes. They looked so fun, but once you got about five feet inside or went around a corner, it got pitch black. You couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face. People were buying flashlights to go through them. Bailey kept wanting to do it and then backing out when it got too dark.

And last of all, a picture of me with my sweet little girl on the hay ride. Except that there was no hay, so it was really a wagon ride. I thought it was funny that there was no hay. I guess for allergies, but- THE ENTIRE PLACE WAS COVERED IN HAY. The ground had hay at least three inches thick through the entire pumpkin patch. Every play structure was either made of, or covered in hay. So I don’t think that people with serious hay allergies would be there anyway. But. Bailey really liked the wagon ride and I prepared her by talking about how it was a rule that we had to sit on her bottom the whole time. To my surprise, she didn’t even try to stand up. She is starting to understand and obey more. When she’s in the mood.

Friends in a box

Filed Under Eighteen Months, Friends, Playdates | 5 Comments

Bailey and I had a playdate yesterday with her friends Mackenzie and Addison. Bailey can said “Addie” but won’t even try to say Mackenzie or Kenzie or anything else I suggest. Anyway, my friend Kim is one of those really sweet hospitable people. Kind of like I am NOT. She had drinks and made us lunch and she just loves to take care of people when they come over.

I think the girls all had a great time. There was very minimal scuffling over toys. The best things about playdates? Getting to talk to the other mommies, and the kids playing with “new” toys! Someone else’s toys are always so much more exciting. I remember that from when I was a kid- even as an older kid, someone else’s Barbies or whatever were better than my own… looking back I probably had more Barbies and all that stuff but they were the same ones I looked at every day.

Getting off track, though. Kim emailed me this picture she took yesterday. The girls kept getting in the toy box. They didn’t seem to mind that half the time one of them was on top of another one. From left to right, Addison, Mackenzie, and Bailey.

Two Words Together

Filed Under Eighteen Months, Talking | 3 Comments

Bailey has started putting two words together on occasion. Her most common ones-

more Emmo! (more Elmo- she wants to watch her video again for the hundredth time)
oh no
ah duh (all done)
ah guh (all gone)
no __________ (describing anything she does not like or does not want to do)

Also more new words:

people
purple
happy happy happy happy (she says this when she really IS happy and it’s so cute!)
dar (star)
Neena (she is now saying this for her Grammy)
bye bye

I guess I should also tell you that Bailey pooped on the potty on Monday!

She is also very diligent about warning everyone when things are hot. Or when they look hot, like neon signs in store windows. She always points out the toaster oven and regular oven to our guests, and tells them, “Hot. Hot.” If we tell her to “foof” something, she will blow on it.

Wordless Wednesday- Footie Pajamas

Filed Under Clothes, Eighteen Months, Wordless Wednesday | 7 Comments