The car ride was fairly uneventful. There was a light rain for about the first two hours of the drive which always sets me on edge. Thank goodness Jonathon loves to drive because I hate it. About the last hour of the six hour drive, Bailey started yelling, “Help! I’m trapped in this chair! Somebody let me out!” we were trying so hard not to laugh!

She was beyond excited about staying in a hotel room. It was the first time that she was really old enough to enjoy it, and there was an indoor pool so we got to swim several times. We had a suite with a separate area where we put her bed (we brought her toddler mattress from home). It worked out really well and she was much more comfortable sleeping in her own bed/mattress on the floor. She ran around the room like a crazy girl for about the first half hour after we arrived.

The first night we were in town, I went to the bachelorette party/lingerie shower. It was a fun and relaxing girls night at her house. I was glad to be able to just put my (extremely swollen) feet up and hang out and catch up. Faith is the type of person who blushes and gets embarrassed easily so it was fun to watch her open the gifts.

She got a really cool set of products from her sister in law. There were all different bars of soap and bath oils and fizzies and stuff. Apparently everything was natural and preservative free. Her sister in law was telling us all about the company and I might have to go check them out. They even have something with top fat burners in it.

On Friday morning, we got up and went to the church to help decorate and set up. Bailey met the other little flower girl who was NOT friendly at all. There were a few other kids there for her to play with, though and she stayed pretty busy with the toys she got from the nursery.

Bailey also got to see Faith for the first time in about two months. She was so excited. On the drive there, she told us, “I can’t wait to see Aunt Faith! And Uncle Bryan! He’s her cousin!” More like fiance, but anyway…

Friday night we had the rehearsal at the church. We all sat and introduced ourselves. I was getting ready to introduce Bailey when it was her turn but she spoke up and said, “Hi, my name is Bailey. I’m a flower girl!” She always surprises me- I mean she’s really outgoing, but I didn’t know she was capable of making an introduction like that to a group of people!

Bailey cooperated for the most part. She took her job of walking down the aisle very seriously and practiced twice. The other little girl started crying, so Bailey walked down by herself. At first her flower basket just contained some Little People…

She was given a Dora house for her flower girl gift. She carried it around with her all weekend and then ended up losing Dora. So we are currently looking for a small (like two inch tall) replacement Dora figurine, if anyone has one or knows where to get one. She’s about the height of Little People, but thinner. You know, to fit through the narrow doorway in her house…

I’ll try to get the pictures from the actual wedding posted soon! Need to go make some Avon phone calls now.

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.

She also loves to make a “beard” on her face with the bubbles. And swim in the water, and pretend to lose toys under the bubbles and search for them. She’s really turning into a kid…

Okay but we’re supposed to be talking about Grandpa. He turned 88. I am so proud of him and my grandma. They live on their own in a condo nearby and they do pretty well, most of the time. Bailey loves to go over and visit them! Here she is giving her Papa his birthday present.

My mom gave Bailey her new tricycle that evening. She had so much fun riding around the house with it. It is the pink and purple version of this Kettler tricycle and I seriously recommend it. My mom got it used and the price was really reasonable. It is much more sturdy/stable than Radio Flyer or any of the ones we saw at the toy store. The base is wide, the wheels are wide, and it’s heavy. Bailey is getting a helmet before she takes it outside because we want her to learn early that she has to wear a helmet to ride a bike. We have a family member who had a head injury from a bike accident so I take it pretty seriously!

Happy birthday, Grandpa!

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…

I got up early to go to a baby consignment sale today. I scored one pair of Gymboree capris for Bailey (which now I am searching to find a top for on eBay) and a dress. But the exciting things I got-

Little People house with all the pieces, looks new, $8

Little People Minivan, $3

My daughter has been sitting on the kitchen floor playing with her new toys for over an hour now. She has always liked her Little People zoo animals. But in the past few weeks she has gotten into a lot of the LP stuff (my mom has a huge collection at her house). So even though I didn’t get much in the way of clothes, I guess it was worth it for the toys

If you live in the St. Louis area, there will be a baby sale next Saturday (April 4th) at Lafayette Church of Christ on New Ballwin Rd. It starts at 7:30 or 8. Then on April 25th there is a big sale at John Burroughs School, and the first Saturday in May is the Baby Mania sale. If anyone wants to go shopping with me I would love some company!

It’s the Step 2 Lifestyle Partytime Kitchen. Try saying that five times fast. Originally, I was going to get her a much smaller kitchen. But we decided that it made more sense to get something she could use for a long time instead of having to replace it in a year or two. This one is a little too big for her now (she can’t really reach the microwave, etc) but there is plenty for her to do anyway. Also it’s big enough to have a friend play too. It’s so sturdy that I think it will hold up well, and it got good reviews. We got it on sale and it seemed like the best kitchen for the price.

Bailey’s favorite things to do with the kitchen are to cook her Little People and to cook an ice cream cone. We just got her a small set of food for it. She also likes to warm up her baby’s bottle- my mom showed her how to do that. The burners even light up and make different bubbling/sizzling noises depending on what pot you put on them. The microwave makes noise and you can press a popcorn button to hear popcorn popping.

No kitchen is complete without a phone! It has more realistic ringtones and stuff than some of her other play phones. She will only call Grammy (Geenay), Grampa (Popock) or Santa Claus (Kee Claush). Her conversations usually go, “Hallo. Hi. Good. Toys. Bye!” She also paces while she talks- it’s funny the stuff you learn about yourself from watching your kids!

She also loves to explore all the cabinets and drawers and stuff. There are little slots for the plates inside the top cabinets. I tried to show her how to put the silverware in the drawer but she thinks it is for “binks” (a.k.a. her binkies, which she would NEVER use as a baby but is now obsessed with playing with them).

Thank you, Santa Claus!

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.

I know sometimes as moms we can be hesitant to buy more toys, when our kids already have too much of everything. You wonder if it will really get played with, or if you just like it because it looks educational, or if your kid just liked it in the store because it was something new. We have a toy at our house that I think was a great investment- Fisher Price Pop-Onz Twirl Table. Bailey absolutely loves them. I don’t think they are available new in stores anymore (we got hers at a garage sale) but this is hands down the toy that she can play with literally for an hour at a time. Nothing else competes, not even her books or puzzles right now. She loves building on this table. It is so fun to see what she makes. I think it is easier for her than Legos because on a lot of the pieces, there is just one spot to connect instead of having to line up two spots.

A quick search on Amazon showed tons of results for this, so it would be easy to get if you are interested. It’s also nice because all the blocks store in a net under the table. One side of the table lifts up to drop them in. Bailey can clean it up herself when she’s done!

Bailey has gotten a few new toys, including some wooden puzzles from Jonathon’s parents, a new Elmo video and stuffed Elmo from Mommy, and some new books. I have also been making more of an effort to rotate her toys so that she doesn’t get tired of the same ones. Her absolute favorite thing is her Little People Zoo. She doesn’t really care about the zoo part, but she loves the animals. Her new thing is lining them up on the couch or the coffee table. I have also noticed that sometimes she will get only the birds out (there are like six different kinds of birds in the set). For some reason, she really likes birds. Maybe because my parents make a big deal out of looking at the birds at the feeders on their deck.

Here she is lining up her animals. Yes, I know my coffee table needs to be cleaned. Glass top tables are constantly gross, especially with kids around. Of course that’s what we bought, before having a kid!

Whining at Mommy… this happens more than it used to. But my reason for including this picture- you can see her “haircut” because her bangs are actually laying nicely in this shot. I can’t believe this was just a month ago and already they are down to her eyebrows again. I think her hair grows fast like mine!

Playing with her baby and her Fuzzy bear. She loves to carry them around and hug them and pat their backs.

This is about as messy as she gets when she eats… weird, I know. Only maybe three times that I can think of has she gotten messier than this or gotten food in her hair.

Let me out of here, Mom! I’m sick of being at home!

Then my Avon order came and I couldn’t sort it downstairs because of the carpet cleaning, so I completely trashed my office trying to find room to do stuff… but at least I can deliver things tomorrow and get some money!! Bailey did a great job playing by herself in the living room and watching her Elmo video.

Tonight I had to go get my eyes examined at my old eye doctor. Apparently the crazy woman I saw last time at the cheapie place was right, and I really do have an astigmatism. So my contacts are now like $65 a box. I am just waiting to go back for my “recheck” of my new contacts and then once they give me the prescription I will go get it filled online.

After that I ran a few errands- stopped by the grocery store and stopped by Best Buy to get a new Elmo dvd for Muffie. She is absolutely in love with “Mo” right now. Then we had a late dinner and let Bailey go outside and play in her new Cozy Coupe for a little bit. She can get in and out on her own and then picks up her feet so you can push her around. I’ll have to get some pictures of her in there!

Here’s Bailey checking out her Dora sprinkler.

We noticed that the water wasn’t coming up very high out of the sprinkler as it had in the past. Upon further inspection, Jonathon found a split on one of the seams. Of course it is from stupid Target and we will have quite the run around trying to return it, just like I wrote about here. That is so frustrating. I’m going to have to start searching for that receipt.

We ended up getting out the regular sprinkler for Bailey, and she was just as happy with that. Proof that kids don’t need cute sprinklers that don’t end up working. I have lots of pictures from last night but there were just so many that I felt like really captured her personality and her silliness, so here you go!

This is what she does when we tell her to smile…

Snacktime (which seems like about every half hour all day long!)

Our neighbor Will came over and confessed that he and his wife had been watching Bailey play out their window for a while. He is such a nice guy and Bailey just loves him! Plus, he helps us out with all kinds of house/yard/car stuff and has taught Jonathon a lot.

You know how when you have a box of crayons, it is hard for the kids to get just one crayon out of the box, or put them back in the box? My parents as teachers lady showed us a good trick. Not to be outdone by Nicole and her snack trick, my Works for Me Wednesday tip also involves a Parmesan cheese canister. (And I had a little laugh because I had already planned on doing this post today before reading Nicole’s blog).

We are using a Parmesan cheese canister for storing crayons. If you wash it out and peel the label, it’s the perfect size. Also, as the kids get better with fine motor skills, then can try putting the crayons back in through the smaller round holes. We put Bailey’s crayons in there a few weeks ago and it seems to work well for her. And the plus side is that at least right now, she can’t get it open on her own

For more tips to make your life easier, check out Rocks in My Dryer.

I delivered Mae’s Avon order and she gave Bailey her birthday present since they couldn’t make it to the party. Remember the really cute pink shoes with bells on them? She got them for Bailey in a bigger size! I love them so much and I had planned on cramming her squished toes into them until she turned thirteen, so she is very thankful to have some bigger ones.

Here is a shot where I actually managed to get all three of the babies. That’s Avalon on the left, crying Juna is in the middle, and Bailey is on the right.

She also got a Disney Princess cell phone. Just what every toddler diva needs, right? She’s busy texting in this picture.

My pregnant friend Sarah- she is right at 15 or 16 weeks in this picture. Just starting to get that little baby bump and I think she looks beautiful! She is my BFF from high school (we were seriously inseparable for a while) so I was thrilled to find out she was pregnant. I know she is still a good friend and nothing will ever be like high school again (thank God, right?) but I hope we can become closer again.

Bailey in a Christmas shirt that I got for her last year at an after Christmas sale and almost forgot about! She is really more concerned with chewing on the chapstick I got from my friend Jen.

Playing with her toy pig that she got for Christmas from Alison (the little girl I watch sometimes on Fridays). It vibrates and shakes and plays music, and she thinks it’s pretty funn

It has been almost two weeks now, that Bailey has been sleeping through the night. The first night was a Friday. She went down like normal around 8:30 pm. I tried to give her that supplemental bottle at bedtime and make sure she was really full so that I would KNOW it wasn’t hunger when she woke up crying. The ped said that she didn’t physically need to eat during the night anymore. She woke up around 2:30 or 3, like normal. She cried louder when I didn’t go running in there. So I went in after like 10 minutes and just patted her and shushed at her. She wasn’t a big fan of that and yelled louder. About ten or fifteen minutes after that, it was Jonathon’s turn only he just stepped into her room and talked to her from near the doorway, I think. She yelled for about a half hour or so after that, and then fell asleep and slept until 8:30 a.m.

The next night, she woke up around the same time and fussed for about ten minutes. That is what she did for the next few nights, only at random different times and only for two or three minutes each time. Since then, I think she has only woken up during the night once in the past week. She doesn’t really cry- like mad cry- during the night when she wakes up. It’s more like she’s rolling around and fussing trying to get herself comfy again. I love that she can get herself back to sleep.

What’s it like getting a full, uninterrupted night’s sleep? I kind of take it for granted again. It already seems like so long ago that I was up four times a night. Sometimes I think I miss it. The other night before I went to bed, I went in her room and picked her up and held her in the rocking chair forever while she slept. It’s just about the only time I can get some serious snuggles from her now that she is so busy The only thing that sucks now, is that my boobs leak in the morning. I have been trying to pump before I go to bed around midnight, but the pump just doesn’t get ANYTHING anymore. My body never responded super well to pumping, so I think now that I am doing it only once every day or two it is even worse. I get like a half ounce, total, after about fifteen minutes. So most nights now I don’t even bother.

Bailey is now going to bed between 8 and 9 pm and waking up between 8 and 8:45 a.m. Except for this morning, she woke up at 7:30 screaming. I think that Jonathon went in her room to empty the diaper pail before he left for work, because today was trash day. I am going to question him about that when he gets home tonight. He is really obsessive about “collecting” all the trash on Thursday mornings. But he needs to stay out of her room, especially within the half hour or hour before she gets up, because she’s in a really light stage of sleep. I needed those extra few minutes I brought her into my bed and nursed her back to sleep for maybe a half hour.

Oooh, then my mom and I went to the toystore and I bought Bailey this for Christmas:

Here are some pictures of Bailey after she got into the toy bin in her bedroom. She finally decided on this vibrating frog teether and then spent quite a while retrieving him and chewing on him. She is so much better at keeping herself busy these days.




Why do you keep taking my picture?