Before vs. After

A day at the beach before Bailey went something like this:

Toni: Hey, let's go to the beach today.

Me: Okay, let me put on my suit and grab a towel, chair, and book.

15 minutes later we'd be there laying out and reading in peace on the sandy shores of Oceanside.

A day at the beach this summer:

Toni: Let's go to the beach today.

Me: Okay, let me get ready and I'll meet you there.

First, get Bailey dressed in beach gear and grab a back up outfit in case of extreme spit up. Find her sun hat because she doesn't like the sun in her face (but where is that dumb hat; I'm always misplacing it). Oh yeah, I should bring a bib because that saves outfits lately from spit up; and I need to bring a back up spit up rag--again in case of extreme spit up (are you sensing a theme here yet?). Okay, now I need to have at least two blankets. Now to work on the bag. I need to get her formula filled for the day and at least two bottles ready with water. Oh, no clean bottles? let me clean them. Do I have diapers? yes, but I need more wipes. I should pack that diaper rash cream just in case. I have her back up pacifier in case one is lost. Let's see what else... I need to get dressed and find a book to bring! Should I try to eat something before we go? I think we're ready to go pack up the car. Car seat, jogger stroller, my chair, umbrella, beach blanket, towel, and water. Good thing I'm meeting Toni at the beach because my car is full. Let me run through my mental list again to make sure that we are totally set.

I have that routine down and set in about 20-30 minutes these days. I'm not complaining, just amazed at the difference in my life. We have been going to the beach a lot this summer because that's what I think the summer is all about. When we're at the beach Bailey is pretty good about either sleeping or being happy. I have been able to do a lot of reading under the umbrella while holding a sleeping baby this summer, so it's been a good summer.

Here is a picture of Bailey sleeping peacefully at the beach last week. I had been holding her for a while, but I wanted to set her down. It was a rookie mistake on my part because as soon as I took this picture, the next picture happened.

Wide awake and ready to eat her whole hand!

Life has been really good this summer! We've had tons of mommy and me time and good relaxing days at the beach. This is a funny picture of how much fun Bailey can be sometimes:

In case you ran't read the irony in her shirt, it says Huggable. Doesn't she just look huggable? She is in the slobber zone lately. Brian keeps asking what can be done about the amount of slobber, but I keep telling him it's just part of being a baby. I really did try to get this picture taken while she was smiling, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera.

To get her in a good mood, all I have to do is give her a bath. She loves it! I love how she looks when I get her out of the bath.

Fun Stuff

Okay, so I'm not the best blogger, but I truly do love the idea. So here is a synopsis of the highlights from the past few weeks:

1. On July 17th, Bailey slept for 12 hours!! This was a major event in our lives. I just wrapped her up and put her in her crib and waited, and waited, and waited for her to wake up to feed her. I didn't end up feeding her until 9:ooam the next morning. Now I didn't sleep that well that night, but I did the next night. She hasn't been as consistent with 12 hours everyday, but we've been averaging 9-10 hours a night. It is quite wonderful!

2. Bailey has this toy that hangs on the side of her crib. It's like a jungle scene with a monkey, bird, fish and waterfall. It has cool lights, jungle noises, and soothing music. Bailey loves it! She lays there and makes noises, kicks her feet, and if she watches it long enough, she falls asleep to it. It gives me enough time to get something done while she's entertained. I thank the Kramer family every time I see them for giving it to us! (I tried posting a video of Bailey watching it, but I can't get it to load.)

3. Brian and I went and saw Phantom of the Opera with our friends Jared and Lenora. I was a great show, but all I wanted to do was sing along with the actors. I had to restrain myself because I didn't think that the people sitting next to us would appreciate it.

4. My sister-in-law Sam, her two sisters Ashley and Cali, and their 8 kids--Kate, Owen, Tyson, Jack, Carolina, Grace, Oliver, and Rob--came to down to California for the week. I was totally crazy with that many kids around my parents' house, but so much fun! We went to the beach three days and to the San Diego Zoo. It was really fun at the zoo to see how much all of the kids loved seeing the animals. My mom and dad loved it too being around the kids; I think it gave them a glimpse into the future of being grandparents. I loved hanging out with Sam and her sisters because the more sisters around the merrier! I hope that they make it an annual summer event. This was Bailey's day at the zoo--she just happily hung out in her carseat while I pushed her around. She is a good baby.

Here's Kate and Owen looking at the pandas at the z00.
Here's a picture of the panda. Pandas have always kind of freaked me out because they're big enough that they look like a human wearing a panda suit.

5. I bought Bailey a Bumbo to sit in; she loves it! She also really loves watching tv. While I get ready in the morning, she watches a Baby Einstein video. She is absolutely facsinated by those videos. Once she realizes what tv actually is and what she's watching, we'll definitely have to make sure she doesn't turn into a tv addict.

6. On Saturday, August 2 the new Stephenie Meyer's book--Breaking Dawn--was released. It's the latest addition to the Twilight series. My sisters and my mom have all read these books and love them. So my sister Toni and I went to a midnight release party for the book at Barnes & Noble. We picked up our wristbands earlier in the day on our way home from the beach. We were numbers 187 and 188. At the time we didn't know if that was good or bad.

We went down to the store around 10:30 and the store was packed. We saw people who had wristbands in the 400's, so we felt good. It was funny to see all of the different types of people there. It was mostly young girls who were in love with Edward or Jacob. We saw some total weirdos--one dressed like a Pikachu and another dressed like the Joker from The Dark Knight. There were some guys; one guy was wearing a shirt that said "My girlfriend made me read it." Around 11:45 they started getting everyone lined up to buy the book. The store started a countdown during the last minute, so we all counted down from 60. The store erupted with cheers at 12:01 when the first books were bought. We had our books by 12:15 and were reading the first page at 12:16. Here's a picture of Toni buying her copy of Breaking Dawn; the both of us happy with our new books; me reading my book outside the store (I'm really just posing for a picture).Saturday morning, Toni and I met at the beach for a serious reading session. The beach was cold so we brought sweatshirts, blankets, and chairs. We read for a couple of hours before we had to leave. We both finished the book yesterday and loved it! I was very happy with the ending, but I won't ruin the surprise for those who haven't read it yet.

Here's a fun picture of what happens when I ask Brian to keep an eye on Bailey for me: