Cameras are for Singing Songs

Bailey has been sick for almost the past week.  Tonight, in fact, marked our third trip to the doctor's office since Friday.  Today's new ailment is ear infection.  I tell you this, not for sympathy, but to preface this funny video.  Last week when she woke up with a fever, coughing, and just sounding sick, Brian decided to record her while they were downstairs heading out to the car.  I don't know what prompted this video, I just know that it makes me smile.  I need to keep this video continually playing, so I will always smile when I feel so frustrated/tired at the end of the day. 

Bailey loves to sing.  She will often make up songs as she goes about her day or just sing to herself while she plays.  Lately, she's been singing a song about how she loves to take care of her dog while we take Doby potty.  We sing all the time in my car.  She's crazy good at memorizing lyrics and often surprises me with the lyrics that she does know.  Disney songs, primary songs, and nursery rhyme songs are all in her repertoire.  She's so good at memorizing songs that she will sometimes get the words down only after one listen, which is why she knows about Lady Gaga and other lovely pop artists.  Whenever she wants to be funny or mischevious, she'll mention Lady Gaga or sing Poker Face.  She thinks the song is "Poke Her Face" instead of "Poker Face", so it always makes me laugh.

One of her favorite primary songs is "I Love to See the Temple."  She loves watching the children's choir sing it on Brian's phone and I know that this song is what prompts her facsination with the temple.  I love listening to her sing it because she's so sincere about it and sings with all of her heart.  I also love it because there are some uncommon words for an almost three year old to know, but she knows them because of this song.  So this version of the song is Bailey's own remix and I love it.  Without further delay, here's the video:

A Milestone...of sorts

Friday was a milestone in my pregnancy.  If I were pregnant with Bailey, I would have had her on Friday!!  That's a super crazy thought too me!  I had Bailey at 30 weeks and 2 days; that deadline has come and gone with this one.  So now I am technically more pregnant than I've ever been.

It's been an interesting week, as far as pregnancy things go.  I had an ultrasound on Wednesday to check to growth of the baby.  I love ultrasounds!  I've had so many this time because I'm seeing a specialist and he has an ultrasound machine right in his office.  Wednesday's ultrasound was different because it was with a big one.  The guy was really nice and explained every question that we asked.  As he was measuring her, he got quiet for a while.  My experience with being pregnant has taught me that silence is never a good thing.  So after a few minutes he asked how many weeks I was.  I told him that I was 30 weeks on that day.  He looked a little longer and then noted that was interesting because the baby was measuring closer to 32 weeks!  At first, I didn't know if this was good or bad, but decided on good.  He said that everything--her head, abdomen, and femur--was measuring around 31 1/2 to 32 weeks in size.  This could mean two things: one, my pregnancy was magically pushed two weeks ahead!!  two, I was having a ginormous baby.  He said that she was almost 4 pounds!  That's more than Bailey weighed when she was born.

After the ultrasound, I tried not to think too much about the fact that I could be two weeks further along...but I couldn't help it.  I had already looked at the new due date and my mind was planning away.  I kept trying to stay calm and wait until my doctor's appointment the next day.  I went into the appointment hoping that maybe my doctor would bump it ahead at least one week.  (I have begun to notice that these last 10 weeks of pregnancy can be rather uncomfortable.)  When Dr. Block looked at all the measurements, he decided that it was all great news--she was growing, my blood pressure was still low, everything looked awesome, but he wasn't going to move my due date.  He said that the ultrasound guy ended up putting that she was closer to 31 weeks and that a one week difference is pretty normal.  So I'm still 30 weeks pregnant, until Wednesday, when I turn 31 weeks!

I'm really trying to be a happy and cheerful pregnant person, but it's just so hard!!  I feel huge, but everyone keeps telling me that big is good for me.  I may actually grant my mom's wish of just a normal grandbaby who spends no time in the NICU and is big and fat!  If it will make my mom happy, then I guess it's all worth it.  So if you see me and notice a slight look of exhaustion, awkwardness, or being uncomfortable, just realize that I am trying to look pleasant, glowing, and radiant (at least that's what all the movies and books say that I should be).  Just some days are harder to fake than others.  I just think, thank goodness I was not a pioneer woman!  I'd like to think I'm pretty tough, but I guess I'm just tough in different ways than the pioneer women were.

So here's to another 9 1/2 weeks of being pregnant!!  I'm planning on closer to 9 weeks since I can schedule this one, hopefully, at the most convenient time possible--if that even exists.  To reward you for reading this extremely long post, here are some fun pics of Bailey during our past two weeks of wedding (which will all be posted this week):

These pictures remind me of back in the day when I used to dress up my little sisters and have photo sessions with them. 

Here's she's flying high with Brian at the San Diego temple at Toni's wedding.

And a bonus tid bit of information:  we're naming baby girl #2...

Brooklynn!

Lights, Cookies, Action!

When my Christmas break begins, I feel the need to cram as many Christmas oriented activities into my time off.  The past few years we've been able to take all of the kids to this crazy house in San Marcos that has a million lights.  We took them again this year, but we missed Santa and they were all kind of tired.

 

Kate and Owen already were dressed in their jammies and ready for bed.  Bailey was in her warm up suit and ready for a jog :)

Kate and Bailey always ready for a pose.

Bailey got used to having her cousins down almost every weekend since Thanksgiving.  We watched Kate and Owen a couple of weekends while Kyle and Sam went to scope out some other practices.  This morning she even asked me if Kate and Owen were at Grammy's house.  So when all the kids are together, what a better activity than to make some cookies.  My mom was brave enough to have them make cookies that can actually get messy...and messy they did get.

Here's the three of them--Owen, Kate, and Bailey--clean, cute, and looking innocent enough.

It wasn't until later in the day when their true colors came out.  All three of them were pretty messy, but I think Bailey enjoyed it the most.

On Christmas Eve, I got the kids these gingerbread kits to decorate.  This style of cookie making seemed a little more manageable for me.  Here are the three little bakers ready to decorate their gigantic cookies.

Owen got started right away and spared no time.  He knew when they were done, they could eat their handiwork.

Cute Kate was very meticulous and took the longest in her decorating.  You'll see at the end that her cookie was the most decorated one.

Here's my sweet, sugar obessesed Bailey.  She started out needing some help, but then jumped right in.  She also quickly learned that her decorations were deliciously edible.

Look at her extreme concentration, but how quickly it changes...

 

You really have to look closely at this picture to see the hilarious placement of her M&Ms.  This was with no help.  At this point Bailey was putting one on her cookie and asking to eat the next one.  After several of them, she just turned to me and asked if she could eat them all!  Her sole purpose in life is to seek out and consume sugar.

Kate and Sam are such the twins :)

  

Look at how detailed Kate's turned out.



We made them wait a while to actually eat their beautiful cookies.  I told them they could each eat one part of their cookie and they are all very smart; they chose the largest part--the head.  They had a cookie picnic by the Christmas tree.  Here they are posing with their gingerbread man cookie heads.

Kate and Owen both had a few bites and realized they weren't too delicious.

Bailey on the other hand, ate almost her entire thing.

I think it was a very succesful and not very messy, activity for the three of them.  I bought the kits at Trader Joes for .99 cents!  It filled almost the entire afternoon on Christmas Eve, so it was a hit!

A Coronado Christmas

Brian's family tradition is to go down to Coronado and visit the Hotel Del. They always have a beautiful Christmas tree on display and we can usually eat a yummy picnic on the beach in December. I just think it's fun to be able to eat lunch on the beach in December! All of the rain threw a wrench into our picnic plans this year, but we carried on with the Christmas tree pics and some warm hot chocolate.

Here's Roxann with Bailey and Emma--picture perfect!

The whole crew

This is about as good as the family pictures got that day, which is why I didn't send out any Christmas cards this year.  I just couldn't quite pick one where my face didn't look huge and pregnant.

Adam & Teryn

We tried a beach shot, but Bailey was definitely done with pictures by that point.

One big snuggly family on the cold beach.  My favorite shot of the day was the one right before this where the guy taking the picture cut Dan completely out.  I'm not quite sure why he did that, but he did manage to take one with everyone.

After the Hotel Del, we headed back up to home base to open our Christmas gift exchange gifts.  This was the one day that everyone could be together, so we celebrated Christmas a week early.  One person who did not mind that decision was Bailey.  She really understood opening presents this year.

She did make the best face I've ever seen for opening a package of socks.  This look of surprise and amazement is sincere; we did not practice how to look happy at home to open up socks :)

This is my favorite pic of the night.  She was truly this excited to open up every present.  This is a face of pure Christmas joy!

Here's cousin Emma posing with her baby doll.

One of Bailey's favorite things is to have tea parties, so she was in love with this tea party set from Aunt Nancy.



Miller Family Christmas Kickoff Party

The first weekend of December, we had our second annual Miller Family Christmas Kickoff Party.  Last year we had a gift exchange before Christmas, since we couldn't all be together on Christmas.  It was such a hit, that we decided to do it again this year.  Keri and CJ won't be with us on Christmas day, but they were able to come down at the beginning of December. 

We crammed a lot into the few days were here to maximize the amount of fun had by all.  On Saturday we had Toni's bridal shower.  It was tons of fun and Toni got a lot of great gifts. 

Here's all the girls in the family, plus Owen, at Toni's brial shower.

Sunday was the day of our family party.  Brian cooked us all a fabulous feast including--crab dip, lamb, scallops, shrimp, some fancy salad, and yummy vegetables.  After dinner we had the gift exchange.  For the gift exchange, everyone brings a $30 gift that can be for a boy or a girl--a serious gift.  My family is slightly competitive, so the pressure is on to get a good gift to impress all with such a tiny budget.  It's really fun to see how much bang for your buck you can get for the exchange.  I think that everyone was super happy with what they chose, but the most awesome gift of the night was the Shake Weight.  We all had to try it out to prove our strenth.  Two years in a row now, the original gift that I select--warm, cozy blanket and something else--was stolen from me by my sisters!  All I have to say is that next year, I better get to keep the warm and cozy blanket!!

After all the presents were opened, we played some fun Minute to Win It games.  Here are some pictures of just a couple of the games we played.  Our family is a little competitive and intense, so game time brings out the best in all of us--really it does.

Here is the beautiful dinner table.

Thanks to Chef Boy R. B (rian) for cooking such a delicious feast.

Ty, Brittany, Keri, and CJ all displaying their extreme devotion to DC.

The kids waiting to open their presents and with their crazy Christmas glasses.

Party goers just taking a break in between the presents.

CJ and Keri AKA the blanket thief.

Toni--the master game planner who thought of our fun Christmas Minute to Win It games to end the night.  She was so organized and even bought yummy prizes for the winners.

I love this action shot of Bailey in mid jump trying to get her red Rudolph nose to attach to hers.

These are some lovely action shots of the cookie face game.  We had to get the gingerbread man into our mouth from our forehead, without using our hands.  It made for some beautiful pictures !

I'm not quite sure what to call this game, but it was really fun to watch.  You had to get one ornament ball from the string on one side of the room to the string on the other side only using your super powered suction.

It was a wonderful party and I'm already planning for next year!!