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!