My Dad’s 63rd Birthday

Filed Under Birthdays, Fourteen Months | 1 Comment

My dad’s birthday was actually like two weeks ago and I am just now getting around to posting pictures. I can’t believe my daddy is 63. I know that’s not old but sometimes when I look at him I really notice how much older his face looks than it used to. And for me, an only child and daddy’s girl, it’s hard to see your hero getting older. We had our crazy fights when I was in junior high/high school but he is still a great dad and just a good person all around. I can’t imagine life without him and now birthdays are not only a celebration of life but also a reminder that we won’t be here forever.

Enough of that. It’s late and I’m sentimental and I just wanted to post some birthday pictures! We had a fun celebration for him at our house. It was just family and we opened a few presents (Bailey helped) and we ate cake (she still doesn’t really like it). He got some golf stuff and Cardinals stuff, which is the usual for him. Bailey is really starting to understand bringing presents to someone and then helping them to open. She is also figuring out that cards are boring and the presents are the good stuff! Now, I appreciate cards. As a kid? The boring thing you had to get through before you got your toy/clothes/cd/etc.

Here are a few pics from that day. You can click to enlarge them. I trimmed Bailey’s bangs the day before, so if you look closely you can kind of tell that they are less scraggly.

Wordless Wednesday- Kisses

Filed Under Fourteen Months, Hair, Wordless Wednesday | 15 Comments

Bailey likes to stand in front of the oven and kiss her reflection. I finally got a picture of it!

And I just have to share this one so you can see her bangs- yes, I cut them. They were getting so shaggy.

Fourth of July

Filed Under Fourteen Months, Grandparents, Holidays | Leave a Comment

We spent the fourth at my parents house. The night before, we went to see fireworks at Sarah’s house. Bailey didn’t cry, but she did not like them. They were shooting them up from a nearby park and we had a great view- but I didn’t realize they would be as loud as they were- so we decided to skip going to a fireworks display on the fourth and just hang out at my parents. It was just us and my grandparents over there. We barbecued and hung out and that’s about it. I decided I wanted to go see fireworks but by then it was too late and I couldn’t get anyone to go with me. My mom kept yelling at me that I was tired and needed to go home and go to bed. Yes, almost 30 years old and my mom still tries to tell me what to do.

“Hey, I wonder what’s under here…”

Raisins are her favorite snack. She likes having the “Fun Size” boxes because she can eat them all by herself. I think half the fun is digging them out of the box.

Helping Grammy get dinner ready

Outside while Grampa grilled our dinner

Apparently at that point I quit taking pictures. But I promise you aren’t missing anything exciting. I wish we had more family in town to get together with. It’s always the same people. But I guess it’s better than not having any family around at all.

Glistening In the Sun

Filed Under Fourteen Months, Milestones | 6 Comments

A few weeks ago Bailey and I were in the car, stopped at a light. I don’t remember if she was taking to me or what but I turned around and looked at her, and noticed- she had little leg hairs glistening in the sunlight! Leg hairs! She was not born with leg hair but I guess she is getting to be less baby now and more toddler because sure enough, they are growing. She doesn’t have arm hair yet at all though.

UPDATED to add: I paint Bailey’s toenails in her highchair during dinner. I use OPI polish (not linking to their website because they have virus issues). The polish doesn’t chip, it just kind of wears off after a while. Sometimes it tickles and she wiggles her feet, but she can’t grab them until after they are dry. I usually do just one coat. Even if the polish gets on her skin, it washes off in the tub. (That’s why I do it during dinner, lol)… I keep her toenails painted most of the time now

I can’t believe how hot it is today

Filed Under Fourteen Months, Outings, St. Louis | 5 Comments

We were crazy enough to go to Grant’s Farm today right at noon, during the hottest part of the day. I don’t know what I was thinking. The company was great, but I just hate the heat. First we sat in the shade in the guinea pig area… then we sat in the shade near the sprayers and the bridge… then we sat in the shade at the gazebo. Yeah, the kids really only saw goats and guinea pigs but they were just as happy to see their friends and eat snacks. They love stealing each others cups and snacks and stuff. Also in the guinea pig and chicken area, you can buy corn out of machines for a quarter. Bailey kept picking corn out of the woodchips on the ground and trying to eat it. You would think I don’t feed her by the way she acts.

Here is Bailey before she got all dirty and snotty and wet. She started the day looking really cute and clean. Although we did get yelled at on the tram for talking too much by this crabby trashy lady in front of us. She asked if we could be quiet (only she was really rude when she asked) so I told her no. I hate when people try to talk to me like I’m a little kid. Seriously, nobody sits silently on the tram listening to the tour guide. It’s like a 20 minute ride, full of kids. Get over it, or don’t go to a kid friendly park if you want silence. Or I could tell you where to find some of the best headphones so you can tune us out.

There is a bridge that you walk across and there are sprayers overhead. Around the edges it’s just kind of misty but when you’re right under it you can get pretty wet. You can either go across the bridge or take another way around on a path. This is the first time I think I have taken Bailey on the bridge. First we kind of sat over to the side so she could check it out, and we could stay cool in the spray. She watched for just a few seconds…

And then she started running back and forth across the bridge and loved it! The only problem was she wasn’t looking at all where she was going and just running at top speed. I kept thinking she was going to plow right into someone and fall over but she didn’t. I am glad that she likes water so much because I have always loved swimming, sprinklers, waterslides, etc and I hate the heat so that is really all I want to do outside during the summer!

She came back to the strollers to see if Kaitlynn and Ella were interested in going in the water with her. Not so much, although Kaitlynn did step in the mud puddle a few times with Bailey. Of course, there is one mud puddle in all of Grant’s Farm and they find it and want to stomp in it. If you look at the front of B’s shirt you can see how soaked she is. I thought she would dry fast because it was literally 100 degrees or so but it was just too humid and the poor kid stayed damp the rest of the time we were there. I ended up taking off her skirt because I felt bad.

And the sippy cup battle begins- Kaitlynn and Bailey always want the other one’s stuff, whether it’s a cup, toy, teething thing… I always feel bad because I will turn around and B is just drinking out of Kaitlynn’s cup. I feel like my kid is such a mooch sometimes.

Even if I got sweaty and Bailey got sweaty and wet and dirty, I think we had a fun day. She passed out about five minutes into the car ride home, but then woke up when we got home and just sat in bed talking to herself for about 40 minutes… I think she is FINALLY asleep again. Oh and my bad parenting moment of the day- because I feel like I have a lot of them- Bailey kept wanting to go in the mud puddle and she had her good Stride Rite sandals on so I took them off and let her go barefoot. There was nothing anywhere around except wet concrete… except she ran out of the wet area and into the sun and I didn’t even think about it until she started screaming and as I sat there trying to figure out what was going on I realized she was stepping up and down and figured out her feet were burning. So I am kind of an idiot and I felt horrible, but she calmed down once I fed her Cheezits. Sometimes I suck.

Wordless Wednesday- Enthralled

Filed Under Books, Fourteen Months, TV, Wordless Wednesday | 6 Comments

Here Bailey is watching a Baby Einstein video AND reading- her two favorite things!

Bailey is just like her daddy when it comes to tv. She would watch anything that was in front of her, I think. I have caught him watching late night infomercials for stuff like pet supplements, or 2 a.m. documentaries on Korea in the 1940s… right now she likes Baby Einstein a little bit still, but it has to be the “older kid” videos. She is starting to enjoy Dora but only for about five minutes at a time. We try not to watch tv more than once a day but it’s usually either while I’m still waking up in the morning or while I’m getting ready. Okay this is getting not so wordless. I suck at being quiet.

Baby Beehinds Cover

Filed Under Cloth Diapering, Fourteen Months | 3 Comments

Here is Bailey in her new Baby Beehinds diaper cover. I like the fit a little better than the Bummis covers. It just doesn’t have the little “pocket” thing at the top of the front, where you stick the top of the prefold in. Do you know what I mean? Like so the pee doesn’t spread upward and get the clothes damp? That hasn’t happened yet anyway, I’m just sayin… I got this from my friend Unkempt Mommy and I think I might have to buy another one. This one is a medium and there is plenty of room left. I have also been using mostly infant size prefolds lately. They still hold enough pee but they aren’t as ridiculously bulky. The fit is a lot more trim, in fact probably slimmer than the Bum Genius diapers that we have.

Little Red Wagonhood

Filed Under Fourteen Months, Grandparents | 3 Comments

Bailey’s Grammy and Grampa bought her a red Radio Flyer wagon last week. I told them that I didn’t really want one because I thought it would be annoying to pull around. I can’t really see taking it to the zoo, and they don’t let you bring wagons into GF, so I told them if they wanted a wagon they could keep it at their house. Sure enough, the next day they went out and got one

Bailey likes her new wagon a lot. And my parents love taking her for rides in it. These pictures are from a walk last week. They brought the wagon over one night when they came for dinner, and we went for a walk while we waited for Jonathon to get home.

Here Bailey is pointing to a bird and saying “Bir! Bir!” She loves showing us ALL the birds now

I know her eye is watering but I like this one anyway.

Can you believe how long her hair is getting? I don’t want to get it cut yet because it is FINALLY getting long enough to actually do something with… but it’s a little bit shaggy and sometime soon I will probably just get it trimmed to even it up, and so that it doesn’t hang in her eyes in the front.

Getting better with using her words

Filed Under Fourteen Months, Talking | 5 Comments

Some days I get really frustrated because B refuses to talk. Like if I tell her to repeat something, she just laughs at me. She is capable of saying quite a few words, but she would rather point to something and yell “Deedle deedle deedle deedle!” Finally today, I have not been telling her what anything is. I ask her, “What’s that?” It seems to make a difference.

So far today she has said a few new things- or at least things she hasn’t said in a long time-
“bir” (bird)
“baw” (ball)
“booh” (book)
“duh” (duck)

For some reason I thought she would be an early talker, I guess because she has always jabbered so much. But she was an early crawler and walker and then I read blogs of other babies her age who are still not walking, but have extensive vocabularies. I have to remind myself that they are each good at different things.

She absolutely refuses to say “more” now and will only sign it, though. Which is why I didn’t want her to learn signs to begin with, but someone else taught them to her, and I guess that’s just how it goes.

She has also learned to hug, and I can ask her for a hug and she comes and leans on me and rests her head on my shoulder or against my face. She doesn’t put her arms around me, but she lets me hug her, and doesn’t push me away.

The Fountain Park

Filed Under Clothes, Fourteen Months, Outings, Play | 7 Comments

This past week, my mom and I took Bailey to our favorite park to play. She gets so excited to climb on the equipment now. It seems like not too long ago that she refused to climb on anything at all! She absolutely hates swings, though. If we sit her in one she looks a little nervous. If someone pushes it, she gets an absolutely terrified look on her face and starts shaking. It’s so sad I don’t really like swings either, in fact it kind of makes me sick to watch kids swinging, but I liked them as a kid! She didn’t like her baby swing either, but a few times last fall she went in a swing at the park and seemed to enjoy it. I hope she grows out of the terrified phase and that it’s not making her feel motion sick or anything.

Her favorite thing to do at this park (or any park for that matter) is to go up and down the steps, over and over and over and over and over… it gives Mommy’s back and arms quite a workout!

In the tunnel with Grammy

This park also has a great fountain area. You can turn it on with a timer and it just sprays out of one pole. It’s in a nice sunny spot and we planned ahead and brought Bailey’s swimsuit so she could get really wet. Last time we went, she was in a hot pink diaper and looked really classy… so we thought we should be more prepared for playing in the water.

I had to include this last one because I just love the back of this suit. It’s from Janie and Jack, and it was a gift- a lot more than I would have spent ($38-ish) but I have to remind myself that she might as well wear it everywhere or she will just outgrow it anyway.

Crabby Tooth Girl Pics and Other Randomness

Filed Under Complaining, Fourteen Months, Second Pregnancy, Teething | 7 Comments

Now that I say Bailey’s crabby teething spell is over, she is having a random crabby day today. Hopefully once she wakes up from her morning nap, she will be in a better mood. Not to mention that I just started my period (which I am sure you all want to know, but that means I’m not pregnant!) and I am crampy and feel blah. Drinking a Diet Coke helped the situation a little bit, as did a flour tortilla rolled up with butter and sugar and cinnamon in it. If you haven’t tried it, you should. It sounds nasty but it’s so, so good.

By the way, if we got pregnant this month, our kids would officially be two years apart. Not that we have any plans for that, but we always said we would NOT want them any closer than two years. I know people do it, but I also know my child and I know myself. And being pregnant again doesn’t sound at all appealing to me yet. I’m sure that someday it will sound fun and exciting and I really will want a new baby. For now, Bailey is enough. We want more than one child eventually, but not now. So stop speculating on when I am going to get pregnant, those of you who have been asking since Bailey turned one!

Here are some pics I took the other day while Bailey was being Crabby Tooth Girl. Doesn’t she just look pitiful?

I am also curious if anyone knows anything about authorize.net or other similar services. They set you up so that you can take credit cards as a merchant. I was wondering if I could use something like that instead of Paypal, when people buy stuff from me online like greeting cards or when I do calligraphy.

It seems like the teething is over

Filed Under Fourteen Months, Random, Teething | 1 Comment

For now, anyway. Bailey is back to her usual cheerful self. Thank goodness, because I was about at the end of my rope.

And I am looking forward to the weekend. We are going to a carnival, a birthday barbecue, and I am having dinner with a friend. So it should be fun and hopefully relaxing. Jonathon tends to freak out if he thinks we have too much planned.

Also I have mosquito bites all over my legs today. Which is odd because we weren’t outside last night. Maybe a delayed reaction from playing outside with the neighbors on Tuesday night.

My house is clean too except for my office. That darn office.

Wordless Wednesday- Multi-tasking

Filed Under Books, Fourteen Months, Wordless Wednesday | 8 Comments

Here are those playdate pictures…

Filed Under Fourteen Months, Playdates | 5 Comments

Last week I hosted a pool/outside playdate at our house for some friends. It was so great to hang out with everyone and just relax and watch the kids play. And drink margaritas. I love having fun stuff to do with Bailey and her friends. I feel like I am usually the one trying to think of things to do though- I wish someone else would plan something more often. I am always afraid my ideas are going to suck or not turn out well. But this one was okay.

Here are a few pictures from that day. There were six babies, a two year old, and a six year old. I think it worked out well despite the random group of kids and moms who didn’t all know each other. Here is Bailey in the pool with Shaloma.

Bailey really likes Pringles- not that they are the healthiest choice but I feel better about her eating those than other crunchier chips that she could choke on.

Kaitlynn, Bailey, and Adele

“Welcome to my house!”

“You can come in if you want, but then we close the door.”

“Seriously, guys, the door MUST be closed. If you don’t listen, I will just squish you in the door.”

Oh, and after the playdate? Bailey discovered that she could put her finger up her nose.

Not so much

Filed Under Fourteen Months, Teething | 4 Comments

Having issues posting pics. I was going to share some cute ones from a playdate last week. I guess I’ll do that later.

Bailey is teething again and crabby and fever-y. I actually took her to the doctor this morning. They suckered me into it, to check her ears, even though I knew she was fine. Darn $20 copay I should have just listened to my gut and not gone, but then I would have felt guilty if there was something wrong and I didn’t go- it’s just so hard to know what it is when they can’t tell you where it hurts. After the doctor we had grilled cheese sandwiches at my mom’s house and then the Tylenol started wearing off and her temp started going up again so we headed home. We weren’t even two streets away from my mom’s house (in her neighborhood, not like big streets) and Bailey was already asleep. After having a 2 1/2 hour nap this morning. Now she has been sleeping in her room for about an hour so we’ll see how long this lasts.

I think Jonathon is working late tonight so hopefully she’s not too crabby. We might get the sprinkler out and play outside if she’s in a decent mood when she gets up.