My Little Flower Girl

Filed Under Congratulations, Firsts, Friends, Posing for Pictures, This Rocks, Travel, Two and a half years old, Weddings | 3 Comments

Yes, she was the best flower girl ever. I was so, so proud of her. I was laughing AND had tears in my eyes as she walked down the aisle. These first few were taken before the ceremony. I will be ordering some of the professional pics from during the ceremony so that I can remember the way she looked forever!

Getting Ready

Reception

(Clapping as the bride and groom are introduced)

Can you tell she was getting really tired?

Here she was about two minutes into the car ride home and already falling asleep!

We enjoyed a Wendy’s stop on the way home. I miss Wendy’s since all of them around here closed

Congratulations and Best Wishes to Faith and Bryan. It was so good to see you guys. And Bailey has been playing “wedding” since we got home, with my bouquet and her flower basket. It usually starts out, “Mom, let’s play wedding! You’re Uncle Bryan and I’m Aunt Faith!”

Faith’s Wedding Weekend

Filed Under Friends, Gifts, Toys, Travel, Two and a half years old, Weddings | Leave a Comment

This weekend we went to Iowa for my friend Faith’s wedding. I was the matron of honor (doesn’t that sound really old?) and Bailey was one of the flower girls. Actually, Bailey was the ONLY flower girl who actually went down the aisle. She did a fantastic job!

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.

Wedding this Weekend

Filed Under Input Needed, Second Pregnancy, Two and a half years old, Weddings | 1 Comment

This weekend I will be a bridesmaid in my friend Faith’s wedding. Haven’t you always dreamed of being a bridesmaid at 34 weeks pregnant? What? You haven’t?

I will be glad to stand up with her and I am looking forward to taking part in all the wedding stuff. But honestly I am terrified to wear my (maternity) bridesmaid dress and heels with my beginning-to-swell ankles. My little daughter is the flower girl and I’m sure she will either charm everyone or be a disaster. Here she is trying on her dress a few months ago (with a onesie under it).

I am just doing her hair myself since I know she won’t put up with anyone else trying anything crazy on her hair. At least I can threaten bribe her while I fix it myself. My husband is the only family member who is not “in” the wedding. (Hey, at least we don’t have to rent a tuxedo!) He will be helping to get Bailey ready to walk down the aisle since I will already be at the front of the church. We are planning to tell her to walk to mommy to get her new present and a lollipop. Hopefully one of those will sound appealing at that moment and she won’t have a two year old stubborn fit. Then once he is seated he will be videoing the rest of the ceremony.

If you have had your two year old/younger three year old in a wedding please tell me what you did to help it go smoothly!

Sarah’s Wedding

Filed Under Friends, St. Louis, Two Years Old, Weddings | 2 Comments

I have a lot on my mind right now but don’t feel like typing it all out… so just the pictures from Sarah’s wedding last weekend. She was my sorority sister/roommate in college. She had a beautiful outdoor wedding at Laumeier Sculpture Park and her reception was at the City Museum in one of the banquet rooms upstairs.

Didn’t Sarah look beautiful in her wedding dress? She is in super great shape because she has been training to do a marathon with her new hubby. She hasn’t done anything like weight loss pills, just lots of exercise and healthy eating. I should look to her for some motivation…. ha ha…

This is my favorite one from the whole day-

Bouquet toss… Single Ladies started playing and Bailey ran out on the dance floor. She lined right up with the other girls and really tried to get the bouquet. That’s my girl!

My little Dancing Queen… she stayed on the dance floor all. night. long. until we dragged her off around 10:15! The photographer took a lot of pictures of her too. Her socks were so nasty from that floor.

Sarah’s Wedding Reception

Filed Under Friends, Nineteen Months, Weddings | 4 Comments

Last weekend, Jonathon and I drove down past Rolla to a small town for my good friend’s wedding reception. She actually got married over the summer in Virginia and this is the day her wedding was originally supposed to be. So instead, her parents had a dinner reception for her. I was glad we were able to go celebrate with her. Since she is living in Alaska now, we aren’t going to get to see her very often. It was so good getting to visit and hug at the reception. My friend Paige was there, too, and we sat with her and her boyfriend. I forgot that he has two kids, so he really didn’t seem to mind having dinner with a one year old. Bailey was behaving fairly well, but you just never know how people are going to react- especially an unmarried 20-something guy!

Here are the three girls. We used to be inseparable. Time and life and location has changed that, but I still love both of these girls! (Sarah is the one in the black dress and pearls. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of her new husband).

Jonathon and Bailey, I think this was in the hallway outside the reception

Family picture- Bailey was actually almost cooperating! Ha. Sarah gave Bailey her bride teddy bear that was on the head table. She was too busy to pay attention to it that night, but since then she has decided she loves it!

Oh and here’s the part where Jonathon decided it was a good idea to keep Bailey quiet by letting her eat Hershey’s Kisses off the table where they were scattered for decoration. She was bouncing off the walls even more than usual after that.

Once Sarah was done with her required mingling, we started getting goofy. She got the idea to start eating the center of the wedding cake because it was just a little underbaked. It was SOOOO good. So here we are shoving our fingers into the cake and eating bites of it out of our hands. I’m sure we looked so classy.

I love this baby.

The Wedding- last weekend

Filed Under Eleven Months, Family, Travel, Weddings | 3 Comments

Here are some pictures from the wedding we went to in Nashville last weekend. The drive was about six hours, so it was much better than the drive to Oklahoma but it still had its moments. Thankfully, on the way home Bailey slept most of the way, except for maybe an hour or so.

When we got into Nashville we went straight to the rehearsal dinner, which was at Buca di Beppo (which I guess is a chain of Italian restaurants but I hadn’t heard of it before). The food was all served family style so that was kind of fun. We sat at a table with Jonathon’s parents and his Aunt Grace and Uncle Marvin. We had a nice time at the dinner and then afterwards we went to the church for the rehearsal. I had never been to a rehearsal where the dinner was before the church part. But Bailey had a great time running up and down the aisles as fast as possible. They slanted downward toward the front of the church so she would get going faster and faster and then crash. She also liked chasing after the two flower girls, who were amused by her at first and then I think they got annoyed.

Saturday morning, Jonathon drove me around Nashville to show me where he used to work and live and stuff like that. We let Bailey take her morning nap in the car since we weren’t sure how it would work at the hotel. Also we found Cadbury eggs on clearance for 12 cents each at Walgreens! Then we went back and got ready for the wedding (and I had to iron all our clothes!) and headed to the church. It was raining and the parking lot was so full by the time we got there, so Jonathon dropped us off and then met us inside later. Bailey made it through the wedding long enough to see the bride come in and then for about three minutes after that. I spent the rest of the time wandering the church with her and then I found the nursery and took her in there to play.

The reception was at the church right after the ceremony. It was really the first “cake and punch” reception I had ever been to. They had all kinds of hors d’oeuvres and desserts and stuff too. Here are some pictures of the bride and groom, and then everyone at our table (Jonathon’s parents, aunt, uncle, cousins).

Once again, Bailey had a great time running around. She helped rearrange some chairs and also tried to get everyone’s attention. She got lots of compliments. She was a very good baby all day and I was so impressed. Especially since she completely missed her afternoon nap!

That night met up in the groom’s parents hotel room for leftovers (from the rehearsal dinner) and to visit with Jonathon’s family. They are all so normal, except for his parents. They really sat there and didn’t say much the whole time. I wonder if they feel like they don’t fit in, or if they just don’t have anything to say. Sunday morning we were going to spend more time at Opryland but we were just kind of anxious to get on the road and get home. Plus we thought that way Bailey would take her morning nap in the car instead of at The Grand Ole Opry!

Aaron and Mo’s Wedding

Filed Under Daddy, Five Months, St. Louis, Weddings | 1 Comment

A@ron and M@ureen’s wedding, October 2007
-Jonathon was a groomsman. Bailey stayed with Jen during the ceremony and then came to the reception with us. The reception was at the City Museum, which turned out to be a really cool place for a reception.

Faith and I went to Starbucks to kill time between the wedding and reception, while Jonathon was off doing groomsman things. Bailey “tried” her first Starbucks drink

Big girl at the dinner table!

Jonathon did a great job entertaining Bailey at dinner. Somehow we got stuck at the “groomsmen with kids” table instead of at the table where all of our friends were seated. That was a big bummer. We didn’t know the other people we were sitting with because they were all from New York. Sometimes you really get screwed for having a kid.


Jonathon and the groom, Aaron

I thought the back of her dress was really cool. It was SO sparkly during the ceremony!

Maureen and Me- ug, this is NOT a good picture of me but I couldn’t leave out the picture of the bride, so here it is…