Not having a camera, well it sucks

Filed Under Fifteen Months, Food, Grandparents, Outings, Uncategorized | 2 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!

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.

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.

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.

Kiddie Pool

Filed Under Grandparents, Play, Thirteen Months | 5 Comments

The other day, my parents invited us to come over after Bailey’s nap and swim in the kiddie pool that they got for her. We should have filled it up early and put it in the sun, because the water was really cold. She wasn’t too sure about sitting down in it but we finally convinced her to. She really liked playing with the rubber duckies and running around in the driveway more than anything else. I love her swimsuit (from Aunt Faith), and I think these pictures turned out nice with the sunlight and bright colors. So here are a whole bunch of pictures!

Yum, rubber duck….

Here she is while we were trying to convince her to sit down

And once she finally sat, she realized it wasn’t too bad!

Bailey’s Birthday Party

Filed Under Bailey's Birthday, Family, Food, Friends, Gifts, Grandparents, Twelve Months | 3 Comments

I guess it is time that I post pictures from Bailey’s party. I really feel okay about it. We had a good turnout with lots of friends there. The food was decent (just stuff I put together like a fruit bowl, veggie tray, watergate salad, chips and dip, etc). Her cake turned out cute even though she wouldn’t eat it. There weren’t any disasters, just a clingy, teething baby.

Bailey with my mom and our neighbor Jeannette

Friends Amy and Kaitlynn

Opening presents

See the little flower thing she has in her hand? She’s obsessed with it and takes it everywhere with her. That and the wand for the bubbles that Kelli gave her.

Bailey loves balloons. She has started trying to say “balloon.” She points to them and says “Buv!”

Sharing her toys with AJ, my friend Jen’s little boy

With my college roommate, Sarah

Birthday cake

We stripped her down to her diaper just in case she decided to eat her cake…

But she didn’t! She wanted nothing to do with it and cried until I got her out of her high chair.

Here she’s signing that she wants out

She’s glad all that nonsense is over so she can sit by herself and play her xylophone!

Happy birthday, sweetheart. We’ll try the cake again someday. If you’re anything like your mama, you will love cake with buttercream icing!

First Trip to the Zoo

Filed Under Firsts, Grandparents, Outings | 7 Comments

We (my parents and I) took Bailey to the zoo for the first time yesterday. She loved it! Here she is in the car stopping by to pick up her grandparents.

I really thought she wouldn’t notice many of the animals, so I was counting on hanging out mostly in the Children’s Zoo area. Well, it was closed- warning to anyone who is planning on going to the St. Louis zoo anytime soon. They had listed on the website that the train wasn’t opening until March 20th but they neglected to mention the closed Children’s Zoo. So you might want to call ahead. Anyway, I was really bummed because that would have been where Bailey could have seen the animals really close, and touched lots of things.

Instead we went to the Insect House first, since it’s now either free, or free during the first hour the zoo is open. There are really gross bugs and spiders in there- including giant things with pinchers and hair. It made me keep getting the chills and feeling like something was on my neck. Bailey liked looking in the holes in the fake rock wall there. Here she is with her grandma, sitting on the wall.
There is also a butterfly area as you exit the Insect House. Bailey noticed a few butterflies and seemed to like watching them, if they were close enough.

Her favorite part of the whole visit was the penguin and puffin exhibit. It is really neat, I wish I had taken more pictures while we were in there. They just built it a few years ago and there you can get within inches of the penguins! We stayed in there as long as we could stand it- it’s really cold and stinky, though.

She also had her first ride on the carousel. At first she wasn’t really sure what to think. We were the last ones to get on, or I would have let her look around longer before the ride started. We sat on a leopard/cheetah (Um, so I never learned my Big Cats, lol) and she just looked around everywhere and waved at people. She also patted the leopard/cheetah’s back a lot. By the time the ride ended she was wiggling and trying to get off, but she wasn’t upset. I think she just lost interest.

My mom’s favorite thing to see is the giraffes, so we went up to what I call the “dusty animal” section.


There was also this guy walking back and forth in front of the wall, and all you could see was his fuzzy head bobbing up and down. I think that was my favorite animal to watch!

Our visit ended with a picnic lunch. Where Bailey ate her first lunch meat sandwich (courtesy of my mother). Sometimes she does really well with table food and other times, not so much. But I know that ham and cheese sandwiches with extra mayo are a favorite! Yuck

She also loved the iced oatmeal cookie… I wonder if all grandparents spoil kids like this…

Some good, some bad

Filed Under Being a Mom, Friends, Grandparents, Thoughts, classes | 2 Comments

Today Jonathon didn’t want to get up for church so I took Bailey and let him stay home, since I had to work in the nursery first hour anyway. While I was gone, he cleaned, vacuumed, and… rearranged our bedroom. Some of you know that he has a history of doing random things like this. Sometimes, it’s really annoying. However I actually LIKE what he did with our room. He also let me rest for a while this afternoon since he had the morning “off.”

I am realizing that we have a very high maintenance kid. Not like her attitude, but just her energy level. She always has to be doing something. She’s been like this since she was tiny. She has a good attention span, she just needs to be occupied or she gets herself into trouble. Take yesterday- we had to move the old entertainment center so we closed her in her bedroom door for about five minutes. In that time she emptied her toy box, book box, and every drawer and cabinet in her dresser. She loves to make messes. She goes, at top speed, all day long. I think this is why it’s so exhausting to take care of her.

Tonight we met with our small group. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that… my feelings were kind of hurt tonight and I don’t want to get into it here, but it might be time for us to find a new group or not be in a group at all. At this point, either of those options would be fine with me. But we have a while to think about it. My parents watched Bailey and she did great. They used to always want her to come to their house, but they are starting to realize it’s easier to watch her here, where they have everything she could possibly need. I understand on nights when we’re out late, they like to be at their house so they can go to bed or work on the computer or whatever… but for early nights, it’s nice for us not to have to take her home and put her to bed all over again. Because, once she wakes up she thinks it’s party time and we have to re-do her bedtime routine. Also I have discovered that it will be easier to lure them over here now that we have our new tv

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to getting together with my friend Sarah and her little boy Andrew for a playdate. It’s been a few weeks since we’ve hung out together and now that Bailey is better, I am excited for her to get to play with a friend again. And, I am even more excited to get to hang out with Sarah :)  Also, tomorrow evening Bailey has a music class that Jonathon gets to go to with us! He hasn’t been to any classes with us that I can think of, so this should be fun. he will get to see what a wild woman she is in a room full of other babies! She is always the busiest, noisiest one who won’t stay by their mom. It will be interesting for him to see her in that situation.

Anyway, I’m going to bed. To catch my 7 hours. I need to be getting more sleep I think, but my only “me time” is after Bailey goes to bed.

Belated Christmas Pics

Filed Under Eight Months, Family, Gifts, Grandparents, Holidays | 2 Comments

Here are our pictures from Christmas in Oklahoma City with Jonathon’s parents. They are pretty blurry because they were taken with our video camera (so no flash) because we (I) forgot the memory card for our digital camera. I tend to do that. So here are the memories from the horrible week. Apparently we ONLY took pictures on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I guess we didn’t even want to remember anything else. LOL

Taking a bath in Grandma’s sink on Christmas Eve. Let me tell you we had to seriously scrub that sink before putting her in it. Their kitchen makes me want to vomit.


Checking out what Santa brought- Christmas morning- this was her first gift (from Mom and Dad obviously).



Yay, Mommy!

Opening our presents on Christmas Day




Stopping to check out the Christmas tree

Opening more Christmas presents


We spent Christmas afternoon/evening with Jonathon’s cousins and aunts and uncles. They are all much more normal than his parents. In fact his parents are really the only weirdos in the family. I don’t quite understand. Anyway here is Bailey’s cousin Grace and great uncle Marvin.

Bailey with cousin Isaac, who was one in November.

Bailey’s First Christmas

Filed Under Eight Months, Family, Gifts, Grandparents, Holidays | 7 Comments

Here is a whole slew of pictures from Christmas today at my parents house. Bailey got a ton of stuff. Well, we all did! I got a really cool keychain that you can load up to 60 digital photos into and it has like a two inch screen to view them. Perfect for showing off new pictures of my Bug I also got a gift certificate for a manicure/pedicure and some new OPI polish in dark colors! I had been wanting that. Bailey got a ride on lion. That and her Fridge Farm were probably her favorites.

My big gift to Jonathon was a new hard drive… how terribly exciting. But it was a good surprise for him because he had been bugging me for one and didn’t think he would get it because I said that was a boring Christmas present.

It was a very long day. I think everyone had a good time. My dad and grandpa got into a little tiff at the end of the day but overall, there wasn’t any major bickering or anything which is kind of rare with my family! Anyway, here are a bunch of the pictures in no particular order. I am tired and this is the best I can do.

Great Grandma’s 82nd Birthday

Filed Under Birthdays, Grandparents, Seven Months | 1 Comment

I have some pictures from my grandma’s birthday a few weeks ago that I wanted to post. They aren’t the greatest pictures of anyone, but it was a fun night and so they represent great memories

Great Grandpa with Bailey- he just gets such a kick out of her. I haven’t seen him that happy in a long time. I need to make an effort to stop by more often with her so that they can play with her.

Bailey is crazy in love with Mylar balloons. We had a Care Bear one at our house for like two months that she would play with all the time. She likes to pull the string and watch it float up and down, or pat/slap it with her little hands.


Gram with her cake- I don’t know if I have mentioned this before, but her nickname is Babe. In fact, most people don’t even know her real name. It’s always funny to introduce my grandma and say, “And this is Babe…”

Four generations of women in our family- my grandma, my mom, me, and Bailey… of course we finally take the “four generations” picture and we are all a mess that day!

Last Week- in Pictures

Filed Under Friends, Grandparents, Outings, Six Months, St. Louis | 1 Comment

I realized I am (once again) totally behind in posting pictures, so here are some from last week. One day I went to the Botanical Gardens with my mom and grandma (click here for a cool video made by a friend of mine) and Bailey seems to enjoy just riding around in her stroller there. plenty to see, and good exercise for her chunky Mommy!


Bailey and her Grammy- great grandma was there as well but we didn’t manage to get any pictures of her. She (MY grandma, Bailey’s great grandma) was in a wheelchair that day (my mom insisted that she push her in one because she knew she wouldn’t be able to walk very far) but anyway, I think she didn’t want it to be caught on film.

I wish this picture turned out better. It was in the Japanese garden area where there are giant koi fish that you can feed. I bet they are at least 25 pounds each.

After the Botanical Gardens, we took Bailey by to see my grandpa. He always gets such joy from holding her and playing with her. Which is funny, because apparently he wasn’t really “into” his own kids at all when they were little. I guess age and perspective can change things!

Last Friday, my mom and I went to the mall, and Bailey is a very good baby and likes to ride in the stroller, but we try to give her a break and let her out to play every so often. She liked the little cars and stuff that you pay 50 cents to ride on. This was her first driving experience.


Normally we strip her down for dinner. This is one of the rare occasions where she got to eat wearing more than a diaper

At night we went to a barbecue/sit around the fire evening with some friends. We had Bailey with us because we didn’t plan on staying very late. But it got cold fast, and we had her wrapped in a fleece blanket. She kind of looks a little KKK-ish in this picture, but that wasn’t our intent.

Bailey with my friend Renee (whose wedding I was in a few (three– already!) months ago.

I really enjoy dressing Bailey up. One of the perks of having a girl, I guess. I wish I could figure out where those eBay people and such get their wholesale clothing because then I would become a huge eBay seller, and keep the stuff I liked for me!

Actually, there are a lot of things I would do if I had the time and if I could figure them out. I would learn a lot of cool crafty things to do. I would host estate sales. I would volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters again. (Okay, so that’s really more of a time issue than know-how). Yeah, someday I will have time and I can research all these things I want to try. Right now I feel like I do well to make it through the day and have the house somewhat in one piece when Jonathon gets home!

Weekend Visit With the In-Laws

Filed Under Four Months, Grandparents, In-Laws, Outings | 1 Comment

Jonathon’s parents visited this past weekend for the first time since May! We took lots of pictures of them and of our little cutie! They kinda made me crazy, but I suppose things could have been worse. Well, maybe not…

On Saturday, Jonathon and I took his parents to Grant’s Farm. It was the first time they had been there, and they seemed to enjoy it. The morning was overcast, but just muggy enough for me not to be happy

Visiting Uncle Bill and Aunt Shirley in Greenville on Saturday night

At the church picnic on Sunday

Bailey got her beautiful blue eyes from her daddy!

Tons of New Pictures- and Rice Cereal!!

Filed Under Food, Four Months, Grandparents | 6 Comments

I know I have been seriously slacking on posting pictures lately. Hopefully this is enough baby cuteness to make up for my laziness



Bailey with her Grampa. This was taken at my mom’s birthday dinner at our house- unfortunately this was the only picture I managed to take all evening. Oops.

We started Bailey on rice cereal a few days ago. She has just seemed really interested in watching us eat, and she seems to be hungrier now than she used to be. The pediatrician said we were fine to start it at our four month appt but honestly, we planned on waiting until like five or six months. But she seems to be doing fairly well with it. The first time, it all just keep running back out of her mouth. She has had it three times now and she is swallowing at least half of it now. The biggest problem is that she likes to stick her fingers in her mouth to feel the cereal

These pictures are from her first time trying cereal!

At Red Robin with Miss Bailey- she is fascinated by “people food” and loves to watch us eat. She moves her lips when she watches us chew… but we want to wait until she has really mastered eating cereal until we move her on to jar food. Definitely not before at least five months, probably longer. We have a bunch of the Gerber First Foods for when she’s ready.

The other day I thought Bailey’s outfit was cute so we had a little impromptu photo shoot on the couch… and then she got tired of that so she got to sit in her saucer for a while and play before we left for our nursing group.

New Pics- 3 1/2 months old

Filed Under Daddy, Grandparents, Milestones, Three Months | 1 Comment

Bottle feeding with daddy- he loves to snuggle with his little girl!

Bailey started reaching for toys within the last week. She doesn’t have much luck grabbing them but she can hit them and make them move. She likes to grab her shirt or dress and pull it into her mouth to chew on, though… these pictures were taken on her Baby Einstein mat the first day she reached for the toys hanging from it.



Bailey’s favorite thing in life right now (well, perhaps second only to eating) is sucking on her hands.

This is Bailey’s new friend Mackenzie, who was almost three weeks old in this picture. She’s my friend Kim’s baby.

With Great Grandma (G-Gram) at Maggiano’s for lunch. The girls love to go out to lunch together at least once a week

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