Swimming at Bluebird Pool

Filed Under Five Months Old- Taylor, Outings, Outside, This Rocks, Three Years Old | 2 Comments

Finally remembered to take my camera to one of the last toddler/preschool swimming events of the summer. This is at Bluebird Park’s splash pad- lots of fountains and a wading pool at one end. The kids had a blast and we were joined by several friends that day. Taylor had fun trying to catch the water!

At three years and three months old…

Filed Under Are you kidding me?, Attitude, Talking, Three Years Old | 2 Comments

Bailey said, “Mom, you messed up my very whole life!”

You want to know how? I wouldn’t let her sit and watch tv instead of taking a nap. I can hardly wait to see what the tween/teen years have in store for us.

But she is still the most wonderful little girl in the world and always will be, no matter what she says or does. And THAT is spoken with a mother’s love. God gives us blind love for our children, I really believe this.

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…

My Dad’s Birthday

Filed Under Birthdays, Four Months Old- Taylor, Grandparents, Three Years Old, Video | Leave a Comment

We celebrated my dad’s birthday a few weeks ago… Taylor wore his sharks outfit since my dad is a shark junkie. My dad actually used to scuba dive and my mom even joined him a few times. I think their honeymoon was to Grand Cayman. Oh and Shark Week was a big deal at our house growing up.

Great Grandpa got a chance to love on Taylor, too.

Bailey was so excited to give her Grandpa his gift. As we walked in, she said, “Grandpa I hope you like your movie! I didn’t mean to drop it. It was a accident!” She isn’t so smooth with the surprises at this point but I love her excitement.

She got a new set of golf clubs to play with her Grandpa. She knows he loves golf, but she insisted on calling in hockeyball. I was cracking up because my dad got more and more irritated that she wouldn’t call it golf.

Taylor watched with wide eyes. We had to cover his head a few times because of his sister’s wild swinging.

Happy birthday, Daddy! You’re the best father I could ever ask for.

Wordless Wednesday- Rub a Dub Dub, Two Kids in the Tub

Filed Under Four Months Old- Taylor, Siblings, Three Years Old, Wordless Wednesday | 3 Comments

Bailey LOVES to have her brother in the bathtub with her. Usually we use his baby tub inside the big bathtub, but this was a bubble bath day!

Kenzie’s birthday party

Filed Under Four Months Old- Taylor, Friends, Parties, Three Years Old, Toys | Leave a Comment

Trying to get all updated here… have quite a few pictures from Bailey’s friend Mackenzie’s birthday party back in July! It was a really fun party and made me wish I could plan an outdoor party for my kids. (But with February-cold and April-rainy birthdays it probably won’t ever happen). They had a swimming party and got one of those huge Bonzai waterslides (I think this link is the actual slide they had, it was really cool). Obviously a big expense but you can partially write it off as a birthday party expense, right? And then have a super cool toy afterward. I have been looking for those to go on end of summer clearance but haven’t seen anything. It would be one of the cheaper ones but still…

Anyway about the party. The kids had a lot of fun and it was great for a really wide age range of kids. Instead of serving cake, the kids got their choice of ice cream sandwiches or popsicles. Bailey won’t eat ANYTHING even close to a sandwich so we told her it was an ice cream cookie treat. She loved it. She still talks about it and it makes me so happy to see her try new things. They also had hamburgers and brats and typical barbecue food, and two big tubs of water balloons, and a small kiddie pool. Everything was really well done but just laid back and casual. One of the best parties we went to this summer.

And of course, pictures-

As the evening went on, she got better at climbing up this ladder. At first it really took her a while and some of the older boys were just climbing over her.

Splash! I love this one… caught the moment perfectly.

Eating the beloved “ice cream cookie treat” with Daddy.

(Did I mention Taylor was there too?)

Okay so I just saw this picture and it occurred to me… the kids were supposed to choose either ice cream sandwich or a popsicle. I guess Bailey decided to have one of each and it didn’t even register with me at the time. Oops!

Tiny Turtles

Filed Under Clothes, Fashion, Four Months Old- Taylor, Three Years Old | Leave a Comment

The kids wore their matching turtles outfits to church. I tried my best to get a good picture of them together, but it was just not going to happen. Mainly because of a pouting three year old. This was the best out of about ten shots.

Check out the bracelet she is wearing on her upper arm. This is her style. She insists that her bracelets look cool when she wears them “up high” like that. This is at age three… can hardly wait til thirteen…

I managed to get halfway decent individual pictures of them after church when we were out to lunch, though.

Big Girl Undies Here!

Filed Under Diapers/Potty, Potty Training, This Rocks, Three Years Old | 2 Comments

I never thought I would be typing these words…. Bailey is potty trained!!! It started on June 26th, in the afternoon. My mother offered to keep Bailey overnight so Jonathon and I could go out, and then the next day we could prepare for a friend’s baby shower at our house. As I was getting ready that afternoon, my mom called and said, “Why don’t you bring Bailey’s little potty and some extra underwear with you?” My child has attempted to potty train several times, each of which has been a disaster, so I agreed but assumed it would be a waste of time.

My mom said that Bailey had ONE accident on Saturday evening, and then a second one on her way to the bathroom. That’s all it took for her to figure it out. On Sunday morning she had one accident on the way to the bathroom again. Then my mom took her to Chuck E Cheese in underwear, and she stayed dry. At this point I will also admit that MY MOTHER TOOK HER TO CHUCK E CHEESE IN PAJAMA SHORTS. And she KNEW they were pajama shorts. Groan. SHe thought they would be comfortable and easy to pull down.

Bailey was accident free for four days after that, until she “dripped” on the way to the potty one night. Since then, she has had one accident at gymnastics camp and one at her preschool. Both were situations where she was dropped off for several hours and I wasn’t there. She has even started pooping on the potty in the last few days, instead of waiting for her nighttime diaper. She does wear a diaper at nap and bedtime. She is almost always dry after nap but usually a little wet in the morning. First thing she does in the morning is sit on the potty though, which is her choice.

We discovered FINALLY that the key to her potty training is that we could not ask her to go potty. That was what was making her freak out. We had to just let her go on her own and not even ask her to try. Now, if we are leaving somewhere I still don’t have much luck asking her to try. I have to be pretty firm and say something like, “You need to go make pee before we leave. It’s not a choice right now.” But thank God, she is potty trained. At 38 months- we always joked she’d be reading before she was going potty but I guess not. And thank you, mother. Now she can actually go to preschool this fall… which is a whole ‘nother topic.

Another Little Gym Party

Filed Under Parties, Three Years Old, Video | Leave a Comment

Bailey went to a birthday party at The Little Gym for her friend Piper. It was definitely more relaxing to be on the “guest” side of things. I am not a fan of throwing home birthday parties because I don’t like the cleaning/preparation/hostessing side of it. But even at a location, you still have to make the rounds, talk to everyone, take photos, and still try to have fun with your birthday child. So it’s not relaxing either way!

In fact, I got a little crazy about two months before Bailey’s birthday and started talking about having a princess party for her at our house. I am sooo glad I didn’t! Her party was tons of fun and I didn’t have to clean a thing. Remind me that I am never having another birthday party at our house… with the possible exception of Taylor’s first birthday.

Anyway- on to the party pictures. Bailey kept telling Piper what was supposed to happen next. My child has a freaky memory and always remembers the order in which every single thing should happen. Not sure yet if that’s a blessing or a curse. But throughout the party she was like “Piper, now it’s time to do xyz… Now it’s time to go open presents…” etc.

She loves the bars- here’s a quick video-

And they also got to do the air track, which is her absolute favorite thing. And I figure she might as well enjoy it at gymnastics, because I don’t plan on ever owning a trampoline!

When it was time to go in the party room, Bailey said, “Come on Piper! It’s time to open presents… you can open the Barbie and the Barbie car I got for you!” Clearly, she doesn’t understand the whole surprise thing yet!

Ella’s Wiggles Party

Filed Under Four Months Old- Taylor, Friends, Parties, Three Years Old, Weather | Leave a Comment

Bailey’s friend Ella had her third birthday a few weeks ago. They celebrated with a Wiggles-themed party in the backyard. Unfortunately it was dreadfully hot that day, but the kids had a great time despite the heat. They put out a splash pool and some water toys for the kids to cool off. There were also some really cute Wiggles cutout/standup props that Emily made. You can see them in the background of the pictures. I am a huge baby about the heat so I think I spent most of the time whining or sitting inside feeding Taylor!

Trying to keep cool… I think I changed Taylor into his swimsuit about five minutes after we arrived!

Bailey thought she was really cool getting to drink lemonade with a twisty straw!

And the last picture I took was Taylor checking out the exersaucer/walker inside!

After that most people started leaving. We did stick around to see Ella open her presents. Bailey insisted on sitting IN the chair with Ella. She really has no concept of personal space. I am glad we were able to be there for Ella’s party and that the kids had so much fun though!

Vacation Bible School

Filed Under Singing, Three Months Old- Taylor, Three Years Old, VBS, Video | Leave a Comment

Bailey went to Vacation Bible School this summer at another church. It was actually a great experience for her. The theme was something like “Bee a Believer” with bumblebees. Every day they learned new Bible stories and memory verses. They did a craft and ate snack and sang songs and played outside. And of course each day when I asked her what the story was about, she said, “Jesus.” Duhhh. She did learn the phrase “God does BIG THINGS!” and it was so cute to hear her say that. I’m not sure how much of it she really understands yet, though.

The last night of VBS they had a celebration service for all the families to attend. On the way there, she kept telling me she was not going to sing the songs. This video is so “typical Bailey.” She is fake smiling for the camera and talking through clenched teeth. She is also trying to get me to turn around and face forward. That child- the world is her stage. Click on the link to watch the video, it’s funny-
On_the_way_to_VBS_Cele_Jun30_905pm

One of the highlights of the evening was meeting the puppets. The pastor took her backstage and let her see them up close. She had been obsessing about those puppets all week. It was the first thing she talked about every day when I picked her up. And apparently she asked her teacher all.the.time. when it would be time for the puppet show.

The classes took turns going out in the aisle to sing their songs for everyone. Obviously she went back on what she said and totally ended up participating. Bailey did a great job and it was so cute to watch her do all the hand motions she had learned that week. And the really bad singing voice is NOT mine. Mine is bad but I know better than to sing while holding a video camera.

Can’t leave out Taylor. He slept through about half of the celebration service, and it was LOUD. I wish I could sleep like a baby. That phrase makes so much sense. Once he woke up he was fascinated by all the kids running around. He keeps his eye on his sister. I think he knows she’s sneaky.

They also had popsicles and popcorn and stuff afterward. Bailey was twirling and somehow flung her pushpop up and it popped out of the wrapper and basically rained down all over her head. Oh what a sticky mess. I think this picture was taken about a minute before that happened.

Also bear with me as I attempt to add more video clips to this blog. We got a Flip video camera and I love it but lots to learn. I must be stupid because these are supposed to be easy!!

Happy Father’s Day to Dad and Jonathon

Filed Under Clothes, Daddy, Four Months Old- Taylor, Three Years Old | Leave a Comment

I am very blessed to have a wonderful father, and to be married to a man who is a wonderful father. I know that Jonathon would do just about anything for his kids. He loves to play with them and I know he is much more fun than I am. He reads to Bailey even though he doesn’t like to read. He does play-doh, and markers, and painting. He even puts on his swimsuit to play in a bubble bath with her! More importantly, he teaches her, loves her, prays with her, and keeps her safe. I am so thankful for him. We got a few great pictures on Father’s Day before church. (Note: Taylor DID have on a different outfit but right before I snapped the first picture he had a giant… incident.)

Yes, I know this is a sunhat. Once I changed Taylor into this outfit, Jonathon insisted on the hat. And Bailey is wearing a Cinderella slap bracelet. I give up…

Got a few after church too!

Gymnastics Grad

Filed Under Being a Mom, Firsts, Gymnastics, Three Years Old | 3 Comments

Bailey “graduated” from the Mommy and Me level of gymnastics classes. It was surprisingly emotional for me. This is the first class that she will go on to do without me, while I watch through a window.

While I look after her younger brother (who all too soon will be crawling away from me, eating random fuzz from the floor, pulling up to peek in the doors to the gym like the other babies in the waiting room) she runs off to play with her friends and climb and swing and jump. She follows after her beloved Mr. Mark and Miss Izzy and does warmups all on her own, and waits in line, and cups her hands to her ears to show that she is listening. She is just beautiful to watch.

And I am so, so aware that her babyness is completely gone now and she is a preschooler now. Not even a toddler anymore. Part of me is so proud, and the other part wants to just stop time for a while and squeeze her and close my eyes and think of her as my little baby again. This parenting stuff is hard.

I did take quite a few pictures on her graduation day. Since it was my last class to actually attend with her.

My camera wasn’t fast enough for her as she ran circles on the red mat during warm-ups!

I got lots of pictures of her showing off her skills-

Getting her medal… so proud!

Wordless Wednesday- Ice Cream with Daddy

Filed Under Daddy, Food, Three Years Old, Wordless Wednesday | 4 Comments

Purina Farms

Filed Under Outings, St. Louis, Three Months Old- Taylor, Three Years Old | Leave a Comment

We found another great place to go in St. Louis- Purina Farms! I can’t say that it’s something I would want to do more than once a year or so, but it was nice for something different. It’s basically a small farm and they specialize in dog and cat stuff so there’s a dog show, a building where you can see different dogs and cats etc. There is a big barn where you can watch a cow being milked, see chickens, sheep, goats, and other farm animals. Outside there are some fountains and picnic tables with umbrellas where you can get ice cream and other snacks. And there is an indoor part with learning exhibits and a gift shop. We did everything (at three year old speed) and it took about 2 1/2 hours. I’m sure you could make it last longer, but that was enough for us and we were ready for lunch by that time!

One thing I do need to point out- strollers are NOT convenient at this place. There are several big hills where the rams are really out of the way, or can’t bring the stroller to where we are sitting at the dog show, etc. We should have just done the Baby Bjorn or sling.

Bailey was a little skeptical of this cow. It was HUGE. Seriously- I forget how big cows are until I see one up close. This was the closest she would let us get for a picture.

Here we are at the cow milking place, waiting for it to start. We got a spot up front so that Bailey could actually see.

I tried to help Bailey milk the cow. She got scared but wanted me to do it. All I have to say is, it felt like a furry boob. Who would have known that udders are furry? I was so grossed out after touching it (so I’m NOT a farm girl, lol) and Jonathon snapped this picture right as I turned around. Nice, isn’t it?

I am NOT a dog person, but this show was really cool. They did lots of tricks, caught frisbees, ran an obstacle course, and had long jump contests into the pool.