I Have a Problem

I guess the first step to fixing a problem is to admit that you have one...right? My problem is that I can't resist buying clothes for Bailey. I just can't help myself, but I think you'll agree that I made the right decision when you see some of these outfits. I realized that Bailey probably has more clothes than the average baby a couple of months ago. As I was boxing up her clothes that didn't fit her, so I went to Target to buy a new bin. I bought my usual sized bin to match the other ones because who wants to have unmatching bins in your garage? When I got home, I began to pack up her small clothes. Once the bin was full, I still had more clothes to pack. The even more startling fact is that I already have another basketful ready to be packed away today! My addiction is dressing up my daughter like the cutest little doll you've ever seen. My only hope is that our next one (not that there's another one anytime soon) is a girl so I can get some good use out of these clothes.

Last week we went to the mall to spend our thrilling Friday evening. I had a coupon and I wanted a corndog, so off the the mall we went. We did some shopping first and when we were finished I wasn't sure what had happened. There were some amazing deals at Children's Place--dresses that I was drooling over two months ago for $30 were now only $10. I can't pass on a deal like that! Then I just had to use my coupon at Gymboree because that was the point of the trip. After being scammed into spending enough money to get some Gymbucks, I realized that I had probably spent more than I had planned. But I'm planning ahead with my purchases and buying big sizes, so really I'm saving money in the long run :)

So here is one of the most adorable outfits I bought. I bought it in honor of the Kentucky Derby and all of the ladies and their big hats. It's so cute! I know that some of the pictures look like it's an old lady/farmer hat, but really it's quite stylish.

If you look closely at this picture, you can see her fang that's coming in on her upper left side. We always knew she was part vampire; I guess that's what happens when your mom reads too many Twilight books when you're little.

It looks like she's walking in this one, but she's not. She just stands up all day and takes one, maybe two tiny steps and then sits down.

This is a classic Bailey pose: the mini smile! I'm also in love with making the "Minnie Mouse" style bow that sits right up on top of her head.

This picture is nothing fabulous, but Toni says I need to put more pictures of Bailey and somebody else up. So this one's for my sister!

So Close!

Bailey's favorite game to play right now is stand up and see who notices. She's so close to walking. The other night she took two mini steps in a row and then collapsed; we have the camera ready to go so we can get her first real steps recorded. Right now she's just so proud of herself that she can stand up. She'll stand up anywhere and just look around and smile. In this picture, she was standing up and then showing her Herculean strength and picking up her rocking horse. This girl is kind of freakishly strong! She has great balance because she can stand and bend over and pick stuff up and still be standing. I know when she realizes that she can actually walk, she's going to just start running all over the place. It's exciting, but I know our whole world is going to change once she takes those first steps.

Look at how happy she is! She'll stand and smile and laugh all day long.

Here she is being a cool chick with sunglasses on her head like mommy!

Happy Super Late Easter

Yes, I know that Easter was about three weeks ago, but I'm just getting around to it. I had to post these cute pictures of her "first" Easter. I put it in quotes because her real first Easter was last year when she was still in the hospital. It was a rather traumatic day because we went up to LA to hear my aunt and uncle speak at their homecoming from their mission in Russia. On the way home, two people came down with the flu. I really wanted to go see Bailey on Easter, but I didn't want to bring the flu germs in with me to the hospital. So we drove down to the hospital, put on masks, and went in and hung out with her for about 30 minutes. So since her first Easter was nothing I'd like to remember, this was her FIRST one.

On Saturday before Easter, we went up to Grandma & Grandpa's house. We ate yummy food, hung out with cousins, and had our traditional hunt for the golden egg. Bailey only had eyes though for the pretty turquoise egg. After she found that one egg, she was happy. It's always fun to be up there with family. So here are some pics of the event:

Here's the only egg Bailey wanted.
Eventually, she picked up a pink one too, so she had one for each hand.She totally crashed with Great Grandma Mosher.
And at this moment, she wanted to crawl around freely (it was right before she feel asleep)
She even read a book with cousin Wesley.

Then on Sunday, Easter morning, she got her basket which was filled with all sorts of bubbles. After church that day, we went over to my mom and dad's house and ate more delicious food and just played. Here's her first easter basket filled with bubbles, bath toys, and eggs from the day before. The cute bunny is from Grandma Mosher.

She's Bringing Sexy Back

This morning was my first dreaded day back to school after spring break. I woke up feeling sad, tired, and depressed, but my little Bailey definitely knows how to put a smile on my face. When Brian went to get Bailey this morning, he noticed that she had made a slight modification to her pajamas during the night

She's definitely bringing sexy back! She just wanted to make her pjs a little bit more modern and stylish for an almost 14 month old girl. She's growing up so quickly! I just love the look on her face--like look what I did and how funny I am. So once I saw that Bailey was in a good mood, I proceeded with the rest of my day with a smile on my face. I love my Bailey girl!!

Aside from being a fashion designer, she can also now empty her toy basket and crawl into it. It's a slightly dangerous maneuver, but as good parents we were there to video the event.

This is Bailey getting in the basket. If you get motion sickness, Brian's video taping skills may make you a little sick.

Here's the dangerous part--getting out of the basket!

Feeling the Beat

I was just sitting at the computer while Bailey crawled around the kitchen and played with everything. She's fascinated with straps, so she stood up and played with her high chair. I was checking on everybody's blog, and I went to my sister Keri's blog. Her blog has the music playlist that automatically starts playing when you enter the site. When the music started playing, Bailey started dancing to the beat. It's really funny if you watch this video about half way through I switch to a different song--"What's My Name" or something like that. About the time that the drums start beating, Bailey started doing some jazzy knee pop to go along with the music. I'm sure it's coincidental, but I'd like to think that she just has great rythym! I do apologize that I'm always so loud on the videos, but I can't help talking to Bailey, singing along, and laughing with her! Just another fun day of spring break.

A Dancing Machine

Bailey has started to dance. She does it when she gets really excited or hears music. It's mostly just a lot of bouncing and some arm waving, but every now and then she gets really creative and throws some ballet moves in there. I got a video of her doing some ballet leg lifting during a dancing session. I too am bouncing a lot so this video may cause sea sickness. It's not too exciting, but it makes me laugh.

Also check out her cute outfit that grandma bought for her. I love babies in dresses and leggings. I want to go out and buy leggings in every color, but it's kind of the end of legging season so I'm having a hard time. Maybe it's a sign that I really don't need to buy leggings in every color.

I Did Want a Clean House

Here's Brian, our fire fighting hero!

I am on week two of my fabulous spring break!! I may not always love all of the 7th graders that I teach, but I do always love the schedule of a teacher. I will always be able to enjoy the things that every child cherished--summer time, spring breaks, and Christmas vacation! I had three main goals this break:
1. hang out with Bailey every day and be a mom
2. finally finish decorating Bailey's room
3. clean my house

There are days when I can barely stand my house because it's dirty--not scary/gross dirty, but just little cluttered stuff that I don't always have time to take care of while I work. I told Brian that I was going to clean two major things a day on my break, so by the end my house would be clean. On the first day I did great because Bailey was a super napper that day--3 1/2 hours (that's a world record for her). I cleaned the downstairs bathroom--every single inch--all baseboards, and kitchen. I also put all of Bailey's clothes away and packed up her ones that didn't fit her anymore. So last Monday, I was feeling off to a good start. Tuesday wasn't as successful cleaning, but I went running with Toni and ran lots of errands with Bailey. Tuesday night was when IT happened.

We (meaning Brian) cooking a delicious recipe that I found in a magazine: chicken tortilla pie. It called for roasted tomatillos in the oven. As I was sitting on the couch I noticed that the cookie sheet was tilted up toward the top of the oven. I asked Brian about it, but he said it was normal, so Toni and I continued watching tv. One minute later, I looked back at the oven only to see a rolling fire in the oven! These were real flames, not just a little spark, but big flames. So I told Brian and he jumped into action grabbing the fire extinguisher which we luckily had close by. Flames and smoke were now streaming out of the top of the oven and smoke was quickly filling the room. Brian had the fire extinguisher and opened the oven and totally went ghost busters! Let me explain the phrase: you remember in the movie when the guys were killing the giant marshmellow guy? Well, that's what Brian looked like! He had his neutron blaster/fire extinguisher in hand and a very intense look on his face. He continued to fire his weapon until it was entirely empty. At that point smoke and fire extinguisher dust rapidly spread throughout the room. We grabbed Bailey, high chair included, and ran out to the balcony. We all could not believe what had just happened--Brian had put out a real fire! Ty also joined us on the balcony after crawling army style up the stairs because he's a Eagle Scout and knew to drop below the smoke :) We then went downstairs outside for a while to try to sort this out. When we finally came back upstairs, the house was completely covered in this thick layer of chemical dust.

Now, I am very glad that our house didn't burn down, but this threw my cleaning plan out the window. I now had to clean my entire house to rid it of this dust. Wednesday we had the carpets and couches cleaned; Thursday we had the tile cleaned because I could not figure out how to get rid of the stuff. So by Thursday afternoon, Bailey was finally able to crawl around the house again. Every spare moment since the fire has been spent cleaning things that I haven't cleaned in a really long time--top of the fridge, plate hanging racks, inside light fixtures, all cupboards cleaned and dusted. My list could go on and on! I like to quiz Brian each day he comes home to see if he can notice the obscure items that I cleaned that day. My quizzing has come to an end because I think I've finished this floor of the house--yeah!!

I don't have any fun pictures of the event, but I do have a couple of suggestions:
1. do keep a fire extinguisher in your kitchen
2. keep a small one in your kitchen
3. use fire extinguishers sparingly