Christmas and the 9 month check up

Well the shirt says it all. She is the best gift ever. She's waving now a lot and it's something that I taught her! She's also babbling all the time. "La la la la la" and "mama" and "nana" and lots of different combinations of ah sounds. It's great. She also weights 18 pounds and "looks great" according to the pediatrician at the 9 month well baby visit. She's 26 inches and in the 25th-50th% in both height and weight.
We had a great Christmas with our family. It was wonderful. But it was also exciting to be done with it because now the biggest holiday of the deployment is OVER! So exciting. And now only 5 more paychecks until Mike is home for Bailey's birthday. That's how he's counting down, apparently. Whatever works for ya babe! Bailey really loved all of her presents and thanks to all that gave us gifts. She's got enough for the rest of the year now! And all the cute clothes... ahh, I was in heaven!
This is her my first Christmas shirt that Grandma Tina sent her. She actually wore it Christmas morning as she opened presents but I don't have a single shot of that because I had dad record it all so I have no still pics of it. But she was very cute in it.

Christmas presents and more teeth. She's too big!

Here she is, I told you she was pulling up. She's up. She's so close to being up without any help.
Bailey opening the present from Uncle Justin. We had so much fun opening all the presents Grandma and Uncle Justin sent.

This is another Christmas present that she got. It's her very own Winnie the Pooh rocker from Aunt Sheila and Uncle Lewis. It's just her size and I think she's going to love it once she starts using it for something other than a tool to help her pull up.

Today I just found out from Debbie (yeah, I hadn't even noticed myself!) that she has two more teeth! She now has four top teeth, the two middle ones and one on each side of both of them, as well as the two bottom teeth. I can't believe it. She's such an easy teether. I had no idea she was even teething!

She is also definitely into food these days. I just this week dropped her down to 3 nursing sessions a day and she has three meals and now is starting to get snacks. But now she wants food whenever she sees it! She's getting so good at feeding herself finger foods too. We went to Mongolian Grill Monday night with Heather and David and she got her usual plate of tofu, zucchini and broccoli. But this time she was feeding herself and eating the food as fast as I could cut it up. I'm so proud of my big girl! I weighed her this morning and it looks like she's 19 pounds. All that extra food is packing into her cheeks!

In other big news, she had been waking up every night for about a month and I'd just been letting her sleep in my bed after about 4am. Well then last week it turned into waking up twice a night. That's when I decided it was time to stop this mess. So Sunday night she woke up at 11:45 and whined (not even crying! until 1:30am. That wasn't fun, I will admit. But Monday night it paid off. She woke up at 4 am and only whined for 20 minutes before falling back asleep. Then last night she slept the whole night from 7:15 until 6:30am! Woohoo! That's the little girl I want!

Christmas dress preview and my new hair

This is just the little preview of her Christmas outfit. I LOVE the tights that look like shoes. In fact, I'm IN LOVE with them. She's just too precious. Although this isn't the cutest picture of her because she looks a little drunk, lol. But she is sitting in the little swing that my granddad made for me when I was about her age.
This week Bailey started three new things. She's starting to learn to wave, which I am teaching her, hehe. She pulled up this morning on the stairs at my parent's house. Not too happy about this one... I'm aware that walking is next and I'm not excited about it, lol. And she cut her fourth tooth. Not sure if I wrote about her cutting the third tooth but now she has two top and two bottom teeth, both up in the very front. She's growing up too fast for my taste :(
In other news, this is my new hair cut! It doesn't look too good there because I didn't get to blow dry it this morning so I just straightened it a little bit with my brand new CHI! Woohoo! I love it. I got rid of 10 inches and am donating it to locks of love. The hairdresser gave me layers and straightened it and it looked great. I'm so excited that it's not long anymore. I can still get it into a tiny pony tail but it's so much easier now.
I also got to talk to Mike this morning. I hadn't talked to him for a week because they're moving and he was busy but it made my whole week to talk to him. I love that boy of mine and miss him so much!

clapping, popping, sick and a messy eater

I made her some soup and she loved it but it was super messy! It was vegetable broth with lentils, pastina (tiny pasta stars), zucchini, spinach, garlic, and parsley. She's so messy though!
She woke up with crazy hair and I had to share it, too cute. She sleeps some kinda funny way.
Nana went and got us starbucks and when hers was gone she gave it to Bailey. Bailey acted like that cup was gold. Instead of coffee, she had orange juice this morning for the first time to try to boost her immune system so she doesn't get this yucky sickness that I've had.
Last weekend we (yes, Bailey helped because I wore her in the sling while I decorated) decorated the little tiny tree. I wrapped all the presents and put them under the tree. It was great.
New things with Bailey. She claps ALWAYS. You say "good girl"; she claps. You clap; she claps. People on tv clap; she claps. She gets a piece of food in her mouth by herself; she claps. It's too cute.
I also had to start popping her hand this weekend. She isn't phased by it though! She gets more upset by a stern "No" than anything. She is starting to listen more and more though but she is definitely still learning.
I've been sick this week. Monday night I started to come down with something and by Tuesday I had a fever. So I was out of work for three days and mom came yesterday morning to help with Bailey. I couldn't have done it without her. It was terrible! Not the flu because I didn't have aches or anything but it was definitely not fun. Bailey hasn't gotten it and I pray that she doesn't!
We're going to my parent's house this weekend to celebrate my dad's birthday and to shop! Fun, Fun!! I'm glad I'm feeling better, thanks to all for the prayers!

I forgot two things

Due to Nana working with her the whole four days that we were there, Bailey can now clap her hands! She claps after you have clapped for her and is very proud of herself for being able to do it. Also, I forgot to mention that she's doing well with finger foods. Tonight I gave her puffs (little pieces of food that dissolve in your mouth) for the first time and she was able to get quite a few into her mouth. Then we clapped about it and repeated the whole process. I'm about to post a video of it on facebook if anyone wants to see. I'm so proud of my little girl!

Happy Thanksgiving

Bailey tried to grab Chalice's pumpkin pecan cheesecake (that I made, yum!!) when she wasn't looking. Haha, she was on a mission. Of course she couldn't have any. Her dinner consisted of mashed sweet and white potatoes.
I have pictures of myself on this same little bench that my grandfather built many years ago. Mom uses it now for teddy bears during Christmas but soon we'll get a picture of Bailey on it. I'm sure she'll love to play on it in the years to come. She looks so big on it though!

I love this picture. She just leaned into me and smiled. It was taken Thanksgiving day. We have a lot to be thankful for! We went to my parent's house and had an amazing time just relaxing and eating too much food. Chalice and Neil were there and they loved hanging out with Bailey. Bailey liked all the entertainment too. She's doing so much right now. She can play alone for like half an hour! She is crawling all over the place and is very close to pulling up. She can get up on her knees. I jokingly told mom to push her down any time she saw her trying to pull up. I'm so not ready for it! She's also starting to understand "no." She has bitten me a couple times and I always say no. This weekend she did it and I gave her a stern no and her little bottom lip began to quiver. She's getting it! She doesn't always listen but she's trying.
In other news, this deployment is about 25% done! That's great news to us all. Only about 9 months more to go. We've gotten some news that they're already scheduled for an October 2011 deployment but hopefully Mike will be able to get out of this unit before it happens. Ahh, such is army life. We miss him very much and can't wait to see him for some much needed R&R in March!

Not only does she crawl, she also speaks!

I saw these reindeer ears at Target and just couldn't resist. Her shirt says Best Gift Ever, which is so true. She is God's gift to us! In my mind I like to think she's thinking, "PRESENTS!"
We had an extra special photo shoot this weekend and I had to get this cute pic of her butt. My college roommate, Allison, sent us these bloomers and a lot of other great Carolina stuff for her. So cute! She was actually screaming during this picture because she wanted to see me, not have me taking a picture of her butt.
Last weekend was Heather's baby shower so I made Bailey this shirt for the occasion. Heather's little boy's name will be Pilot, for all that don't know, and she is due in January. It was a big hit at the party. She was wonderful too because she slept for a good part of it. And mom/Nana went with me so that she could help with Bailey. What a huge help! While we were at the shower, dad was installing a new ceiling fan in our living room. I have the best parents!

Nothing too much new has happened with our girl. She is crawling more and more now. I got a superyard play yard to take to Debbie's house (where she goes when I'm working) and for now it's in our living room and I LOVE it! I call it her baby cage. She just plays and plays now. She can sit and play by herself with toys for a long time these days, it's very nice because I can get things done.

She's been saying something that sounds like "mama" for the last couple months but last night she very clearly said the real thing. She was in her exersaucer and Heather and I were making dinner when we just heard this little voice say "mama." So sweet! I can't wait to teach her to say daddy.

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving and hope you all have a very safe and happy holiday!

She crawls.... ugh =)

This is the birthday picture we made for Daddy.

Well everyone, it happened. She crawled on Monday, November 9th. At first, when she was at the babysitter's, she just did it on her elbows like an army crawl kind of. Then when we got home and she went for the real thing. I even caught it on video! I posted it on facebook but videos don't load well on here so go check it out if you want to see it. She has already gotten herself into many precarious situations including the one above. She was stuck under the bouncer and yelled at me to get her out, it was funny! She also pulled the trashcan over onto herself and was swimming in diapers and tissues for a couple seconds. I'm having a much rougher time in the house now. Baby gates aren't really an option because our house isn't really set up in a way that works for them so I'm just going to have to be careful. Pray for me please!

Bailey says "Hi Daddy!! I miss you!"

Hugs and slobbery kisses

Here, I was trying to get a picture of her shirt because it's very cute and says "Best Gift Ever" but she had other plans and really wanted to show off her new best friend, the remote. She always was taking the remote to my TV and changing channels or turning it off so I santized an old remote and gave it to her. And now I'm her hero because it's like Christmas day when she sees that remote, lol.
This child can make some strange faces. Not all of them are cute, lol, this being one of them. She is beautiful but she sure does make some weirdo faces. Just wanted to let all that were wondering know that no, she is not cute *all* the time, sometimes she looks strange.
I love this picture. I was just taking some pics of her with the "daddy dog" that Mike made for her before he left with his voice saying "I love you sweetpea" when you press his paw. She loves this dog and was hugging and kissing it. This picture is sweet though because she looks in amazement like, "oh man, look at this wonderful specimen of a stuffed animal."

I came to a conclusion this week. It was an epiphany of sorts. I realized that I am NEVER bored. There is always something that needs to be done. Dishes to be washed, baby food to be taken out to thaw, clothes to be folded, shopping to be done, baby food to be made, a baby to be played with... you all get the point. Before I had Bailey, these things would sometimes get put off. Now that she's here, they can't/don't get put off because then things pile up and if I don't do them then they simply don't get done. I'm not complaining at all, I have a blessed life. I just sometimes miss being bored, haha, who would have thought? So my conclusion is that having a baby means you're never bored. Good, bad, or ugly, that's the long and short of it.

Now to the real reason you all come here every week: Bailey =) This week she's making more sounds. She began eating apples and kiwi this week and loves them, of course. She'll be trying broccoli this afternoon for lunch. She's gonna love it just like her mama does. I have also discovered this week that she now gives hugs and "kisses." She puts her little arms out and squeezes ever so gently just for a second. Her kisses are a drooly, slobbery mess. She opens her mouth and puts on you and just furiously shakes her head back and forth until her "kiss" is complete. It's the sweetest thing and I'm more in love with her every day.

We miss Daddy bunches and we've been able to talk to him lots of times this week. We're very thankful for that. He even got to see us on the webcam last week. He's in a place he doesn't like very much (but it's safe for the most part, so I'm abundantly happy about that) and he's bored (I wish Bailey could take up some of HIS time so he wouldn't be bored and I'm sure he does too, haha). But bored (to me, not him) beats getting shot at so we'll take it.

Bailey learns a new trick

Hey Daddy, we miss you! Two months down, only ten more to go!! Woohoo!

Well I have quite a few things to report. Not the least of which: daylight savings time is not our friend. Bailey (and I) were up at 5 am to start the day because of this dumb change in time. That wouldn't have been so bad if she had napped any length of time for the rest of the day but she didn't. She took 3 25-30 minute naps in the last 14 hours. She better sleep darn good tonight!

But the big news is this!!!! Drum roll please... Bailey sat up by herself for the first time today. Ok, so maybe it isn't huge news to everyone but it's certainly big news to me. I laid her in her crib to (not) nap and I went in there to check on her and she was sitting up! So big surprise, I didn't see it the first time she sat up. Just like no one saw her roll over the first time. I'm over it, whatever. The next time she did it, I saw her. Then tonight while she was watching Daddy on tv, she tried really hard to sit up and I tried to video it but she needs some support still to kinda push up on. I'm scared because this means next she'll be crawling and walking! Ahhh, I'm so not ready for that!

This is her new, strange looking "Grandpa smile." We dubbed it that because she looks like a little old grandpa smiling with her mouth closed.

Ahh yes, yesterday was her first Halloween. She was going to dress up as a cow in a cute little play outfit someone gave me a while ago but it was so hot here (83 degrees) that she couldn't wear it. We didn't do much for Halloween anyway. Heather and I got a lot of stuff done and the above picture is us eating at Jason's Deli and she's at least wearing her Baby's first Halloween bib that grandpa got her. She's so big now sitting in the highchairs at restaurants. Friday night we went to one of my favorite places, Mongolian Grill and she even had her own plate of food, consisting of tofu and zucchini. What a big girl.

This is a little strange but I just wanted to show Mike and anyone else who remembers how bald her bald spot used to be. It's getting to be a very hairy spot now. And her hair is growing over her ears. It looks like a mess most of the time because it's too short to do anything with but long enough to stick up every which way. Oh well, we love it!

Still loving the bottle and bouncy seat

"See my awesome bottle?"

"Mmmmm I love chewing on my bottle."

Look how much bigger she has gotten in her bouncy seat! She still enjoys it. I'm dreading the day she can't/doesn't want to go in it anymore.

She's changing so much these days. She eats three meals a day and still there's nothing she doesn't like. Last night she had barley for the first time, which smells gross, but she enjoyed it. Soon she'll be trying green peas. She loves banging on stuff, specifically computers. I hope to get her a baby piano and also a baby laptop for Christmas. I just know she'll love them although they may be annoying to me, hehe. We're just plugging away at this dumb old deployment. It's been almost two months, which means we're 1/6th done, which is good! Mike probably gets to come home in March for Bailey's first birthday so we're looking forward to that!

Girls weekend 2009

This weekend was our girls weekend to the mountains. We went to the Orchard at Altapass in Spruce Pines, NC first. The orchard was fun but the ride up there was precarious, adventurous, treacherous and some other "ous" words I don't even know. The GPS took us up the mountain via a one lane, dirt, winding, NARROW "road." The GPS called it a "highway," a very loose term for highway. It was so scary. Thank God Heather was driving because I would not have done well driving the 5 miles up the mountain where at any time we could have slipped right off the side of the mountain! Anyway, it was fun. We went on a hayride, sampled some delicious dips, listened to a live bluegrass band, and bought some cider.
Then we went to our hotel, ate a delicious dinner at an organic vegetarian Caribbean/Mexican type place. I had a tofu quesadilla with chipotle cream cheese and coconut rice. We had plantanos for an appetizer too. It was different and wonderful. We also went shopping because what girls weekend would be complete without shopping? Although shopping has changed a lot for both of us because we were both mostly buying things for our little ones. I got Bailey some really cute clothes from Gap and Osh Kosh and we even bought Pilot (Heather's baby that's due in January) and Bailey matching outfits!
This morning we got up and headed back to Monroe to pick up Bailey. She had a great time with Nana and Poppy. And mommy had a great time being away from her but I definitely missed her! She was so happy to see me when I got back.
These days she's doing a lot more cool stuff. She's making more sounds, still trying to crawl but not quite there, eating three meals a day (including pumpkin, zucchini, yellow squash, tofu, etc), and enjoying her exersaucer like crazy.

Vapor bubble bath to the rescue!

It was a rough week here at our house. Bailey got the cold that had be going around our little circle. She seemed fine but her sleep was terrible. She ended up in my bed four nights in a row and was up for 2+ hours for a couple of those nights. I was at my wits end and praying hard that she would sleep and then last night, she did! God is a prayer answerer, for sure! I discovered soothing vapor bath (thanks to my good friend, Melissa!) and also vick's baby vapor rub. It definitely helped us get through the night, I think.
We've been able to talk to Mike a lot this week, which we're very thankful for. He reenlisted for three more years and got a nice bonus, two years stabilization here at Bragg (means they can't move us for 2 years), and a whole semester off to go to school. It's an amazing blessing. Since he won't be home until September of 2010, he hopes to take classes the spring semester. I can't wait to have him home more. The bonus is nice and the two years is great but the thing I most look forward to is the school time. Sure, it will be different but he'll definitely be home more than when he's at work. We'll get spoiled. I can't think of a better way to make up for being gone for a whole year than to basically be off for a few months! Woohoo!

Bailey after her bath with crazy hair

She wasn't sure how to take the bubbles situation at first but she liked it after a minute

Big week of firsts

We had a couple nights last week where Bailey didn't sleep well and in the middle of the night ended up in my bed. I took a picture to show where and how exactly she sleeps when she's in my bed. Only a few people will know that she is ON MY SIDE! She basically ends up cuddled next to me in my arm pit, which doesn't make for a very well-rested mommy but it's better than nothing and nice to wake up to that sweet smile.
This weekend we went to UNC to see the Tar Heels play GA Southern. Mom, Dad, Bailey and I all loaded up into the Jeep and went to the happiest place on earth, which has often been mistaken for Disney world, but is in fact Chapel Hill, NC! Our heels played a great game (for a change) and Bailey did a great job at her first game. We were all a bit concerned at how she'd do without a nap but, as usual, she was a rock star. She fell asleep in the 2nd quarter and even the fireworks that went off during touchdowns didn't phase that child. She definitely sleeps like her daddy. We got her a cute little Jock in the Box (like a jack in the box but has a Carolina basketball player pop out instead) that plays the Carolina fight song. Awesome! All in all, it was a great day.
We ended the night at Ham's (one of my favorite restaurants) in Sanford, where Bailey sat in a highchair at a restaurant for the first time ever! Heather and I had gone to Olive Garden for dinner the night before and noticed she was definitely ready for a highchair rather than sitting in the carseat at dinner. So we put her in it on Saturday night and she loved it. She played with toys while we ate and even ate her own dinner while we were sitting there.
This week was a big week of firsts. She also sat in a shopping cart for the first time this week. She was so funny because she looked at me like something crazy was going on. I could imagine her saying, "Mom, I'm sitting up and moving... at the same TIME!" Too cute. This week she ate some "table food" too. While we were at Olive Garden Friday night, she was getting hungry so I gave her some of my cheese from my manicotti and she loved it, of course. She also got some dessert in the form of whipped cream and caramel from the top of our pumpkin cheesecake. Yum!
Sorry it took me so long to update, I'll try and keep it updated more often!

First babble and other fun stuff

Heather and I were supposed to be studying today (we actually DID study a great deal, we were taking a break) and I was folding laundry. I decided to throw them on her and see what she did and the following is what she did. She did CUTE! This is what we do when we're here0 bored, haha. Everyone needs a study break to throw laundry on a baby! She didn't mind, obviously!

Maybe she even liked it a little!

We also went to the beach yesterday for a day trip to see Laura and Lawrence while they were in NC visiting her family. We had a lot of fun. Laura held her most of the time and she was soooooo good! She was a little champ. She literally slept only an hour from 6:30am until 7:00 pm. There was just too much fun stuff going on around for her to sleep. We just hung out with them and had a great time. Laura got some much better pictures of her, including one where you can see her teeth! So hopefully soon I'll be able to post that.

Playing with a new rattle

Lawrence finally held her right before we left when she was in a terrible mood but she did enjoy looking at his cards as they played spades. She also loved Laura's brother, Matthew. I think she misses Mike because when Matthew and Lawrence were holding her it seemed like she just ate it up.
Laura informed me that Bailey always has her arms out like she's flying and this picture seems to prove her point. I hadn't noticed it but I suppose she is right about it, lol.

Bailey made her first official "babble" today! She was watching Heather eat a pumpkin cream cheese muffin and licking her lips about it and she just made this sound we've never heard before. It was very exciting because it was a real sound with letter sounds and everything! She's getting so big!

Mike is doing a little better and we've talked to him on the phone recently, which was very nice. It was great to hear his voice. They had the memorial services for both of the fallen soldiers this weekend and he took that rough but I think he's coping and healing. We're still very much praying for him and would appreciate any and all prayers!

6 month check up

Yesterday was Bailey's 6 month check up. She is now 15 pounds, 7 ounces and 26 inches long. She jumped from 25th percentile in height to 50th! I think that's a first for our family, lol. She also went from 75th percentile to 90th percentile in her head circumference so they said they're "watching that," whatever that means. Hopefully she doesn't develop exploding head syndrome from it getting too big too fast, hehe.
Our pediatrician started off by asking me "how do you feel about the flu shot?" to which I replied, "she hasn't been vaccinated at all so no flu shot for her." She seemed surprised so I just went all the way and told her that we are delaying until a year old. She didn't try to talk me out of it and asked why. I told her because of personal preferences and she said "does it have anything to do with the autism link?" DING DING DING! Of course that isn't the only concern, but it's interesting that she brought it up. I told her that we had done the research and that the "autism link" does have something to do with it and we just feel more comfortable having her not vaccinated until a year and even then it would be selective. You could tell she didn't like it and she did suggest getting vaccinations at her next appointment (9 months) but she did not argue with me at all. So I feel very good about our new pediatrician and am happy to have her. Thanks Ashley for recommending her!
In other news, we talked to Mike this morning via AIM. Yesterday we found out that two soldiers had been killed, both from Mike's unit, one from his company. I was really afraid that he knew them and was sad to hear today that he did. One of them was a friend of his and he's highly upset. Apparently they weren't killed in action, it was an accident with the truck they were in that could have been prevented. It's still very sad and Mike is really angry at the people who made the decision to use the faulty truck. He and the other soldiers there need our prayers now more than ever.

Three weeks down, only approximately 49 more to go! Take that, deployment! Haha, to some that may not seem very hopeful but somehow to me it seems alright. Nothing much to report here. Bailey's doing awesome.
Tomorrow is her 6 month well baby visit. Hopefully they won't give us any trouble about waiting until a year to vaccinate. Thus far, we've been blessed with little to no problems about it. The cold and flu season makes me nervous but she's not exposed as much as she would be if she was in daycare so she should be fine.
She's happily eating her two meals a day and nursing about four times a day now. Naps are still a sore spot with all of us that have to be around her but sleeping through the night *almost* makes dealing with naps worth it. All in all, she's great to have around.

She's growing toooooooo fast

First time eating yogurt

Us at the beach

Well it's only been a week since I've written and so much has happened. She's too big! It's happening too fast! We went to the beach with my parents over the weekend and had a great time. She didn't much like the water, or the way Poppy threw her in the sand face down, because it was kind of chilly but she enjoyed just walking around on the beach. Being carried around on the beach, I should say. Last week we had all noticed that she had some white places on her gums that looked like she might cut a tooth any time. Then over the weekend she had actual little bubbles where you could see that two little bottom teeth were about to pop through. Then last night Heather and I were feeling in her mouth and there they were! Two bottom teeth, just popping right out of my baby's gums! Ahhh! It's exciting but makes me realize how fast she's growing up. I can't believe she's six months already. And you may all be wondering if she gave us a fit as she was cutting teeth. The answer is of course not, she's perfect! No, really, she's perfect. She's an angel and hardly has been fussy about it at all. I'm so blessed to have this baby that barely cries, especially since Mike is gone. She's just wonderful.

Other big news, she's started eating a second meal. Her second meal is really the first meal of the day, breakfast. We started with banana yogurt. It's organic and whole fat and looks disgusting. But it's good for her, I guess. She loves it, of course. As always. It's been a while since she's eaten rice cereal or anything like that because I just realized it's just a filler that serves no real purpose to her as far as nutrition goes. So I just decided not to give it to her anymore. But since she's 6 months old now, she's ready for real brown rice. I ground it into a fine powder in my blender (since that stupid Magic Bullet kicked the bucket, grrr) and cooked it on the stove and it's in my fridge ready to give to her tomorrow morning. It seems kind of gross to give her rice for breakfast but lots of people do it so whatever. It actually has the consistency of grits. I'll be sure to update on how she likes it. Anyone care to guess how that's going to go?

She's just about gotten the hang of sitting up now and is well on her way to crawling. She can go forward on all fours once before she falls down. And she can go backward like a champ, haha, but that won't get her very far. I'm sure she'll get the hang of it quickly. Oh, we're all about to be in trouble!

She's almost sitting up!

Well the weekend was very good. I was productive. We got sooooooooo much baby food made, Heather was a HUGE help to me! I also did some school work for my online class. Heather and I also went bargain shopping on Saturday and got a portable high chair for Debbie's house (where Bailey stays while I'm at work) and a little umbrella stroller. Sunday we went to church and my quest to have a clean house started. It is now Tuesday and I can say that it is successfully clean! I am so glad it's done. Now I can just maintain it because Mike isn't here to dirty it all up (sorry babe, I love you but you're sloppy! ;))
Bailey has tried butternut squash, which is new for her and she enjoys it. My parents asked, "what doesn't she enjoy??" to which I had to reply, "well, nothing." She's just gaining a lot of weight in her face, lol. It goes straight to her cheeks, which is my fault since my cheeks are the same way. She's also beginning to sit up all by herself. I clap and praise her and she just smiles so big. What a blessing she is to us.

New foods for the weekend

A sweet picture of Mike rocking Bailey to sleep on a fussy night

The first weekend is here without Mike. It's gonna take some getting used to but we'll manage. Tonight Heather is coming over so we can make some baby food. I'm nearly all out of her veggies. I have to make some sweet potatoes, prunes, avocados, bananas, and newest additions butternut squash and nectarines. I'll also probably start giving her a second meal this weekend. Until now she's really only had one meal a day at dinner time. I've decided to give her yogurt for breakfast. I didn't really want to do cereal or those foods because they're not really that nutritious and serve no real benefit to her but yogurt will be good for her. I've tried to find plain, whole fat yogurt but can't seem to find any so I had to buy the yobaby kind, which is ok but it's got more sugar in it than is necessary so if anyone knows where to get plain, whole fat yogurt, let me know please! I was sure Harris Teeter would have some but they didn't.
Nothing else going on this weekend, really. I have to finish (as well as start) watching my videos for my online class but that's not fun. I will probably hang out with Heather for much of the weekend and hopefully be productive. My house needs to be cleaned, I have to mow the grass (ick!), and baby food must get made. Then church on Sunday. We'll see how it goes. Next weekend Bailey and I are going to the beach with mom and dad so I'm looking forward to that big time since we didn't get much of a beach trip this summer!

The D word

Bailey and Daddy before he left

Our family pic in the neighbors front yard because they have a tree and we don't, lol!

Well Mike's gone. We're ready to start this deployment though and it's not going to be all bad. A lot of things have transpired since I last wrote. I withdrew from grad school because I realized how much work it was going to be and how little time I was going to have with Bailey. Isn't wasn't what God wanted for me at this time. I just wasn't listening. But I'm listening now, God! I'm so much happier now that I made that decision. I want to be there double for Bailey while Mike is gone and this allows me to be able to do so. I'm still working doing ABA and I have no idea what the next step is but I'm confident that God will lead us where he wants us.
We also got Bailey dedicated last Sunday at church. Heather recorded it for us but I couldn't get it to load. It's basically us getting up in front of the church and the preacher prays over us to raise her right and prays that she will become a good Christian little girl. It was so sweet because there was another baby being dedicated too and he was just laughing and flirting with her and she was smiling and cooing at him too!
Bailey and I are getting into a routine with Daddy gone. Bedtime now has a couple new steps. First we eat dinner, then she gets a bath (depending on the night), we watch Daddy on TV (he made her a dvd of him reading a bunch of different books), play a little, we read our own story, say prayers, get a goodnight kiss and an "I love you sweetpea" from the Daddy Dog (stuffed animal Mike made for her at Build-A-Bear with his voice) and then we say goodnight. She also has been sleeping with one of his t-shirts and his woobie (an army blanket we had made into a baby blanket). I always find her on top of or near his t-shirt. She likes that stinky daddy! hehe

Just another video where I look dumb and she looks cute

She loves me!

She rolls all over the crib before bed and sometimes she falls asleep in random positions like this.

She's sleeping with a gloworm now and she loves it. It calms her in the middle of the night too.

She's been giving us so much love lately, so sweet! I just realized how much we look alike.

She is now rolling like nobody's business. She rolls all over the house and Mike said today that she even was scooting. I'm giving the swing to Melissa, a friend of mine from home who is having a little girl in October, and in it's place is going the pack n play in our living room. Why, you ask? Because she's not safe to be laid down under her floor gym or just on a blanket in the living room! She rolls everywhere and gets into things! It's the beginning of the end! I need a place to contain her when I have to do things like use the bathroom or grab something from the kitchen. She's such a handful already.

This weekend we went to the beach for a day so that Mike could see Bailey's first time at the beach. We'll get pics and video of that uploaded soon. But while we were in the hotel room Monday morning, right before I was about to leave, I was trying to put her down for a nap. Usually she goes into her crib and soothes herself to sleep. Since we were at a hotel, though, there was no crib so I was rocking her to sleep. So I laid her down as she was falling asleep and she grabbed my neck and held me so tight! Ohhh it melted my heart. She's just the sweetest baby. I was like "oh I'll just stay here with you forever! Whatever you want!" That was the first time she'd ever done anything like that and then she proceeded to do it twice more. So sweet!