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!