Newton News

My baby is 5!

2011-05-27T20:46:00.006-05:00

Bailey turned five this month, on May 11. He was SO excited to be five! He had a great birthday with several little celebrations. The night before his birthday, his Mimi and Mark took us to dinner and he got to open presents. On his birthday he got a cake and got to open presents. Plus, he got to wear a crown the entire day at school and I brought special snacks for his class. That weekend, he had his birthday party. One of his presents was a new wooden swing set with a fort and a rock wall. He was super excited about it. He and Blake have loved playing on it and I think it will get a lot of use in the years to come.

I have to mention that the balloon you see in this picture, is unfortunately still clinging to life so I haven't be allowed to remove it yet.

Now that school is out for the summer we have big plans to have FUN. It's my last summer before Bailey starts "real" school and I want to savor every second. We purchased pool passes to the local pool and between that, My Gym camp, play dates, our museum and zoo passes I think we will be busy having fun. No sleeping late for this family. As most of you know we are a "go,go,go" family. The kids and I are happiest that way (Daddy, not so much:) ). We like to get up about 7am and get going. In the summer we like to hit the gym first and then go out on our daily adventure. Bailey is really looking forward to the pool opening and I hope to walk away with a good tan!

Last week was the tornado here in DFW. We lost our fence (which Jay is out fixing as we speak), but thankfully that was all. Bailey was so worried about the swing set and our dog (who was in the garage). While the kids were taking cover in their bathtub, Jay and I were taking turns looking out the window. We actually saw a tornado! It was crazy to actually see one. Surreal. It soon passed and we were able to leave our shelter, but the kids were so wound up afterwards that it was 10:00pm before they went to bed.

Blake is turning into such a big boy. I know I say that every time, but it's amazing how much he grows each week. He is putting sentences together and really communicating well. I was worried he would never learn because Bailey wouldn't give him the chance to speak for himself, but he has found his voice. The other day he was throwing a temper tantrum and I told him I was going to spank him if he didn't calm down. His response was "NO, ME SPANK YOU!" Mmmmm, that didn't go over too well with Mommy.

He is a wonderful little boy, though and I have no doubt he has a sweet spirit and more than anything, he idolizes his big brother!

April Fun

2011-05-04T21:38:00.007-05:00

Our April was filled with fun, fun, fun!

The boys had their annual check up and it went great! Bailey is still only in the 25%, but he had gained 2 pounds since his tonsillectomy in February so I considered that a huge success! Blake weighs 30 lbs, which means he is back on the charts. If you remember, at his 1 year check up he was 10% overweight, though I still call shenanigans on that. He is in the 60% for weight at 50% for height.

We hosted Easter at our house this year and it turned out so well, I may have to do it every year. It was very nice not to travel anywhere (even though we only go 45 minutes), but got to come back to our house after church and have a fun and relaxing afternoon with family and friends. The kids really enjoyed the Easter egg hunt and Grammy brought fun presents for all 8 kids which were a big hit.

We also went to Sea World this month! We went 2 years ago and it has expanded so much! They just opened Sesame Street Bay of Play and it was really cool. They expanded the water area, have a playground and more rides for the kids. We spent all day Friday there and decided we needed to go back Sunday morning to see the stuff we didn't get a chance to on Friday. Saturday we spend the day in Downtown San Antonio doing all the touristy stuff. We met our good friends from Jay's law school days, Chris and Theresa and their two boys. Everyone knows you have to be careful when choosing friends to vacation with. The Ruckers are the perfect vacation friends! We get along perfectly, their boys are the same exact age as ours, we discipline similarly and our kids love each other. It really makes for the perfect combination. We rented this wonderful 4 bedroom house just minutes from downtown and it was great! We made breakfast each morning, but other than that, Theresa and I were on a cooking strike.

We got the biggest kick out of watching the boys read their Sea World maps!

This is how we spent a good part of our evenings. Don't judge us.

Ready, set, surgery

2011-02-08T19:41:00.003-06:00

Last Friday, Bailey had his tonsils and adenoids out. The surgery went well and Bailey has been busy recovering.

He was so brave the day of his surgery and only got teary eyed right before they wheeled him back. We got to the hospital at 8:30am and he was very excited to check in and get his ID bracelet. He got to wear his pj's and bring a blanket and stuffed animal to keep with him during surgery. Once we were checked in, they took us upstairs where he had his blood pressure, temperature and oxygen levels checked. After that a nurse came to talk with us and the child life specialist came and visited with Bailey and brought him some legos. We then had a visit with the anesthesiologist who explained the sedation and breathing tube procedures. We then spent over 2 hours in the playroom. They were running late because of the weather. The playroom was fun, but by this time it is noon and Bailey is starving. Once they get us into a room they bring Bailey the "giggle juice." This helps them feel relaxed so they aren't anxious about leaving their parents. This is when Bailey started crying. He was upset for only 5 minutes or so, just until the medicine kicked in.

After the surgery, we were taken to recovery where Bailey was eating popcicles and charming the nurses...no surprise there! Let me say that Cooks Children's is AMAZING! They make it a priority to make sure the kids feel safe and not scared. They are great to the parent's too! On our way home, he fell asleep and was basically in a coma until 7 the next morning. Saturday, he did amazingly well and even ate a little. Starting Sunday though, he stopped eating and is still eating very little. Maybe a few bites of macaroni for the entire day. We are keeping him full of fluids though. Apparantly, it is a full 7 day recovery, so we will see how that goes.

Some friends of ours said something really sweet about Bailey the other day and I had to share (isn't it a mom's job to brag:) ). They were over for the superbowl with their 4 kids (4 year old triplets and a 2 year old) and I was complaining about how grumpy Bailey had been that day. They said Bailey is the kind of kid everyone wishes their kid was like. I thought that was so nice, and it made me very proud of Bailey. Now, let me just say that their kids are wonderful kids! My kids are crazy about them! How they get 4 kids to behave so well is beyond me!

While Bailey was drugged up on pain meds, Blake got some much needed one on one time with Mommy and Daddy. Rarely, if ever, does he get both of our full attention at the same time. Needless to say, he loved it! Blake will be turning two in just a few short weeks! It's hard to believe! It has gone by too quickly! He is my headstrong, amazingly athletic little boy with the cutest smile and we are so lucky to have him!

2011-01-26T19:55:00.003-06:00

So far, January has been a good month for us here at the Newton house. We are staying as busy as ever!

Two weeks ago, my sister went back to work teaching to finish out the school year. A wonderful group of friends and family will be watching her twin girls through May. I am lucky enough to have Wednesdays as my day with the twins. Today was my second day to keep them. They are such little angels! This morning, they were dropped off right before 7:00am...then things turned into high gear as they usually do around here. I had to feed both girls, feed both boys, get the boys dressed and Bailey's lunch made, drop him off at school and then head back to the house. We pick Bailey up from school at 2:00 and then the best part of the day...playing on the playground at school for 2.5 hours. A few of my friends and their kids always stay, so the boys have plenty of playmates. I lay the girls out on a blanket and they soak up the sun for a few hours. They love it! Once we get home (around 4:45) they both get a bath and get ready for their daddy to pick them up. I like to think the girls have fun here:)
Bailey and Blake are doing great! Bailey is reading! He is sounding out words and reading books. He even read a book to his class for show and tell this week. I am so proud of him! Blake is learning new words every day. I am proud of him for getting the confidence to attempt new words.

Last weekend , some dear friends of ours from Jay's (& Chris') law school days came to visit. They have two boys who are almost the exact age as Bailey and Blake. The kids (and adults) had a great time together. It had been two years since we had gotten together and after a wonderful weekend and a vow to never let it be that long again, we have a Sea World trip in the works for this summer. We always have so much fun together. We took the kids to the museum, went out to eat and played Yatzee. In law school a group of 6-8 of us used to have game nights and potlucks all the time. Sometimes I miss those days!

Christmas

2010-12-27T20:30:00.008-06:00

Well, it's been a fun and busy few months around here! The kids are staying busy with school and are loving every minute of it! They really keep me on my toes. Bailey is such a little man. His teachers tell me he will be on the debate team one day. He has a logical reason for everything he does-good or bad. Blake is my high spirited child. He is very strong willed which I know will serve him well one day.He has been working a little on expanding his vocabulary. He says shoe, hat, back, backpack, no, yes, mamma, dadda. I am sure there are others I can't think of right now. He seems shy about trying to say new words so we are trying to build his confidence in this area. Poor kid doesn't get much of a vocal chance living in the same house as Bailey. I weighed the boys the other day and Bailey was 32.5 lbs and Blake was 27.5 lbs! Blake loves sports and we see it more each day. The boys love, love, love to play together! They are the best of friends and the worst of enemies:)

Last month, my sister had her twin girls. They are very sweet and adorable! I feel very fortunate to spend so much time with them. Jill and the girls even had a sleep over one night while the guys were hunting. It's been a while since I have had to do midnight feedings, but I was happy to be able to help out!
When my sister goes back to work in a few weeks I will start keeping the girls one day each week. I am sure it will be challenging with four kids here, but I am excited to spend time with the girls and for the boys to spend time with them. Bailey is CRAZY about them! Blake is still thinking about it.

Our Christmas was a little different this year. Half of my mom's side of the family started throwing up Christmas Eve night, so plans were up in the air. In the end, we ended up postpoing Christmas with them until this weekend. We still wanted to see the twins on Christmas, so we went over to Jill and Jarod's house with my mom, Mark and Grandmother. Thankfully, Jarod's parents and sister were in town at their Weatherford house and had made a huge feast. They were gracious enough to bring it over and share. It ended up being a great evening. It was also Jay's 31st birthday. I think he had a great day and best of all, the four of us were together! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and have a fun, safe New Year's 2010 has been a great year and I can't wait to see what 2011 brings!

October

2010-10-27T21:11:00.003-05:00

Well, I am pretty sure no one reads this blog anymore since I have gotten so bad at updating. I have gotten worse at taking pictures too. At least if I keep up the blogging, I will have a record of what the kids are doing at each stage.

Tonight, Bailey was in our room watching a TV show and Jay and I were watching the Rangers. Bailey didn't realize that Blake had woken up and was out of bed. Bailey came into the living room and said "Mommy, Daddy, actually, there's a baby on the loose" We started cracking up! Bailey has also become quite the negotiator! If I get on to him for trying to discipline Blake, his answer is always the same. "Mommy, I'm just trying to learn how to be a daddy." His teacher tells me he's highly intelligent. And she should know, she was a public school teacher and after that was a school librarian for 20 years. So, I guess it's true, he's a genius:)

He really loves school this year and is learning so much. So far, they have learned the pledge of allegiance, the Texas pledge, all about senses, Christopher Columbus, about Authors, Illustrators, Titles, front covers & back covers of books. They have even learned not to 'dog ear' the page, but to use a book mark. He even looks forward to his weekly homework. I hope he always likes school this much!

Blake is doing well too, but I think he may be a carjacker when he gets older. Any time we walk by a parked car he tries to open the door. He will walk right up to it and pull on the handle. He is also still Mr. Independent. He is the only one at gymnastics that doesn't want his mommy's help during circle time. So, I am the only mommy in the circle doing the songs and motions without a kid on her lap! Blake and I just sit side by side. But, he is very happy that way and I enjoy seeing him having fun doing it by himself.

He is starting to talk a little more. His newest word is shoe. He says, ball, more, bubble, no, uh oh and I am sure there are more I can't think of right now. He is going to start attending school twice a week instead of his current one day. Starting next week, he will add Tuesdays to his school week. The reason for this is I was offered the job of music teacher at their school. They wanted someone with a music and education background and they thought of me. I think it will be a fun experience. I will teach on Thursdays, so I would be losing my one day to myself which is why Blake will start adding Tuesdays. I was just not willing to give up my day. It's my most productive day of the week!

We have so many Halloween activities to attend (we've already had two), so I will post pictures once they are all done with.

Happy Halloween!

Is Summer Really Over?

2010-09-06T21:11:00.006-05:00

It's so hard to believe that the boys start school this week! Bailey will be going to Pre-K three days a week and Blake will be in the toddler class one day a week. Bailey is so excited to be back at school with all of his friends. Tomorrow is his first day. He has two wonderful teachers that I am so excited about! I know Bailey will learn so much from them! One of his teachers was a librarian for 20 years so she obviously has a passion for books and literacy! How perfect for a Pre-K teacher!

We have been super busy doing I have NO IDEA what the past two months! Where does the time go? We are still loving the house and feel all settled in. The kids love, love, love, the backyard and the playroom. I am so excited that they get to grow up in this house.

Last week we had something interesting happen to us. I was buckling the kids in their carseats at about 8:30am and didn't realize that Blake was playing with my keyless entry remote. I got them both strapped in and closed their doors and suddenly realized that the car was locked! I felt terrible! I was on the phone with my mom at the time and I think I just kept saying "oh no! oh no!" She snapped me back into reality and said "hang up, call 911"...thanks mom! The fire department came and it took them about 30 minutes to get the car unlocked (apparantly on the newer model Tahoes if you lock with the keyless it's very difficult to unlock). The boys were DRENCHED in sweat and Blake was screaming by about 15 minutes into it. They had said if it had been any hotter they would have only tried for about 5 minutes before breaking the window. Even though the boys were very hot and sweaty, it was still cool enough outside for them to take their time and try to avoid breaking the window. They (all four of them) arrived very quickly! We are very lucky that about a month ago a brand new fire station opened about 1/4 a mile from our house. After they got the boys out I took Blake inside to get water and cool off and they took Bailey for a ride around the neighborhood in the fire truck. He was so excited! You can see how sweaty he is if you look closely:)

They invited us down to the station house for a tour! So later that day we baked brownies and brought them to the firemen. Both boys loved the stations house and didn't want to leave. I have to admit, it was really nice! Not a bad place to work. They let Bailey spray the hose and the boys got to try their hats on.
Blake really took to that particular fireman! He didn't want him to put him down. Luckily, the guy didn't seem to mind.

We spent Labor day weekend in Lubbock for the first Tech game of the season. It was also Alumni Band Day. The boys had a great time and Bailey was really into getting to yell "go tech" and learn all about where Mommy and Daddy went to college. The brain washing has officially begun! Before the game we were able to tailgate with a Tri Delt friend of mine and her husband. It was great to get to see people we went to college with!
I love Tech! It is such a beautiful campus. Gorgeous flowers everywhere, fountains, trees, so much land in between the buildings. Makes for a long, speedy walk when you are rushing between classes, but it's so pretty it's impossible not to enjoy the view!

Home Sweet Home

2010-08-06T20:38:00.004-05:00

We are home!! We have been here 6 wonderful weeks! Until tonight, without TV or internet, but they have still been 6 wonderful weeks! We are loving everything about our new house. Today we got neighbors! They moved in across the street. They also sold the lot next to ours (the other side of our house will not be built on-it's greenbelt and a beautiful view) and should start building soon.

We have been busy little bees the past several weeks. We are completely moved in. Let me tell you, without tv you can get A LOT of work done! By the second week I was parking in the garage. I love that we have had all of our boxes unpacked and everything organized for 4 weeks! It has made living here even nicer. The kids have adjusted well. They love the house and love their play room!

My life is almost normal again!

2010-06-20T19:59:00.005-05:00

I will have to post pictures later (hopefully tomorrow), but we are on the countown for our move! We are scheduled to close on June 28th and move on July 2nd! It's hard to believe we are almost in our new house! Part of us will miss being in Weatherford-I have gotten to see my sister a lot more, my mother-in-law has been a big help with the boys, etc., but I am ready to kiss that LONG drive goodbye!

In other news- VBS is over! It went great! We had over 275 kids and 150 volunteers and I have been stopped by numerous parents to tell me how much their child(ren) loved the week! That certainly makes the months of hard work worth it! I had a great time last week too! I loved every second of VBS-walking around and experiencing what the kids were experiencing. Seeing the smiles on their faces in recreation and their excitement in music. They also had science, arts and crafts, storytelling and snack. Every aspect came together to create a meaningful week. Or, as our curriculum said: "A cosmic adventure of praising God!" The space theme was a big hit and I think we all enjoyed ourselves. It was rejuvinating to say the least! I can't wait to post some pictures from the week.

I'm A Horrible Blogger!

2010-05-29T20:02:00.003-05:00

But I have a good excuse! Well, several actually. It's been so long I am not sure I have any readers anymore! My first excuse begins with our living situation. At Jay's parent's house the computer is in the office in the very back of the house. When I am in this room I can't see or hear the kids. This leaves me very few opportunities to come back here. When I do, it's usually to run in and check my email very quickly.

My second excuse is that we are hardly ever home! With all of the boys' activities taking place an hour away we spend most of our "free" time in the car. I would like to say this will change now that school is over, but it won't. And that brings me to my third excuse.

I am the director for VBS this year. A HUGE undertaking at a church of 3,000+ members! Now all our time for the next 2 1/2 weeks will be spent at the church preparing. I had been using their school time to be at church working, but now things are in high gear with VBS around the corner. Begining June 2 we have many work days running 6 hours a day. Of course, I will need to be there to oversee/answer questions/WORK! I fully anticipate once we move getting back into a regular blogging routine!

Now that I am done with excuses I will catch you up. Bailey turned 4 on the 11th! It's hard to believe he is so old. In 15 months he will be starting kindergarten. I don't know what to think of that! I am going to send him to preschool 3 days a week next year to hopefully make the transition easier. He has been going 2 days, but seems excited to get to go even more. Blake is...well, all over the place! He is our little destructor. He is not scared of anything and thinks he is as old as his big brother! He will stand up and fight for what he wants! He is very strong-willed and has quite the temper! He only has a handful of words, so I am hoping once his vocabulary increases his temper will settle down. He is so sweet though! Not the cuddler Bailey is, but has the greatest smile and loves to laugh!

I Can't Believe It's March!

2010-03-10T08:31:00.003-06:00

I can't believe it's March and that it's been almost 2 months since I have posted. So much has happened! We sold our house at the beginning of February. We are building a new house very close to our old one. It will not be ready until July so we have moved in with Jay's parents in Weatherford. It is a long drive to Hurst everyday, but we are making it work. We are very happy that we sold our house so quickly (22 days) especially since there were at least 15 other houses in our neighborhood for sale. Because of that we expected to have to come down on our asking price, but the first offer we got was for our asking price! We took it and ran:)!

On February 20 Blake turned one! We had a nice family party and Blake ate almost his ENTIRE cake! It was shocking! I will post pictures when I can, but I am on my in-laws computer and all the pictures are on my computer so I have to figure that out. Blake is 30.5 inches and 23lbs. He is walking very well and at times tries to run! He tries to say "cat" and "dog". He is not as interested in talking as Bailey was at this age. Probably because even if we wanted to talk, Bailey doesn't stop talking long enough for anyone else to say anything.

Bailey is my little academic! At school, when they quiz the kids with flash cards the teachers told me that before they show the card they say "Bailey, don't answer" They said if no one else knows the answer they will tell Bailey "okay, you can answer". Every day, on the way to school Bailey wants to talk about what the letter will be that day, what the month, season and weather will be. After school he tells me all about it. He also loves chapel time. He loves to tell me the story that they learned.

I will try to figure out how to get my pictures uploaded on here.

First Haircut

2010-01-15T14:31:00.008-06:00

Blake had his first haircut this week. I was surprised at how well he sat still since he isn't even 11 months! It was a much needed haircut. His hair was in his eyes and longer than his ears! He looks like such a little boy now. Baby days are over! I think this picture does a good job of showing how crazy his hair was! His hair looks so much better now!

The boys are both doing great! They love to horseplay and wrestle! I can only imagine what life will be like in a few years! Luckily, our new house will have a big playroom where they can roll around 'till their hearts content.

On the house front, it's been on the market since Tuesday. A realtor came by today and wants to show the house to her clients tomorrow. Hopefully all will go well!

Bailey is doing some stretches here. He is still loving his classes at the My Gym. In fact, he has long ago decided that's where he wants his birthday party this year!

I'm Back

2010-01-11T15:05:00.002-06:00

I feel like I have fallen off the blogger planet. Things have stayed so busy here the past several weeks! The kids started back at school last week and I think we were all happy about that!

I think most everyone has heard that we are putting our house on the market. Tomorrow if fact. This is my first time to sell a house and I really hope it's my last. We haven't even put the sign in the front yard and I am super stressed and cleaning non stop! I am not sure how long I can keep that up! Between picking up after the kids, laundry, cooking and trying to keep the house spotless I am halfway to crazy. Jay says the house isn't even on the market yet so don't worry about it, but I think it's good to start practicing. We are going to do it by appt. only, so hopefully that will help. If anyone has any house selling advice, send it my way!

We met with the architect for the new house last night and it was a bit overwhelming. So many decisions and we have barely gotten started. I guess our next step will be to approve the plans the architect designs and then we have to pick our brick and rock immediately so they can start building. Later, we will meet with the interior designer to select our tile, hardwood floor, appliances, and so much more. My brain can't even wrap itself around all of the decisions. Luckily, Jill and Jarod have built 2 houses so they let us pick their brains and offer us lots of suggestions and tells us which questions to ask.

Main thing...SELL THIS HOUSE!! Say a really big prayer please!

I will post pictures of the kids later. I haven't uploaded them to the computer yet.

Our busy December

2009-12-21T20:34:00.008-06:00

We have been so busy this past month! I have been horrible about blogging the past several weeks. I honestly don't know where the time has gone! Here are a few things we have been up to.

We had breakfast with Santa at the beginning of the month. This is an event held at the Fort Worth club every year that Jay's parents treat us to. It is always so much fun and we are so lucky to get to go every December.

The boys are on vacation from school until January.

They both LOVE school! Bailey loves learning what letter each word in the english language starts with. He loves learning about the seasons, months of the year and has been practicing writing his letters. He also loves chapel time and Spanish class at school. Now days, any time I tell him something he informs me that he will need to check with his teachers and see if it's right. What happened to the days when he didn't question Mommy?!

Blake also really enjoys school. They say his favorite part of the day is outside time and art. I am glad that he is so happy while he is there. His one day a week away from me has been good for both of us. He is definitely not the mommy's boy that Bailey is. This kid is a Daddy's boy. Now, don't get me wrong, he has many moments where all he wants is mommy, but there is a big difference between the boys!

Blake has two teeth now and can stand independantly. He is still eating anything and everything! He turned 10 months on Sunday. He has been wearing some clothes that are for a 12 month old

because he is so long. His 6-12 month pants are like highwaters on him and some of his shirts are now 3/4 sleeves on him. He went to the doctor the other day and is 29 inches and 21 lbs. He is really good at walking while holding your hand. He can go pretty fast.

The Fort Worth Museum reopened recently and we bought a membership. The kids had a great time there. They had so much stuff for Bailey to do! We didn't get the chance to see the planetarium, but will do that soon. We saw the Polar Express at the Omni while we were there. We have done this the past two years and Baley really enjoys it. We are definitely getting into the Christmas spirit around here. Bailey is SO ready for Jesus' birthday and Daddy's birthday. Plus, he is very excited about Santa this year and knows exactly what he would like Santa to bring him.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

8 1/2 months!

2009-11-04T13:30:00.008-06:00

It's hard to believe that Blake is 8 1/2 months! Time has really flown and I think it goes by faster with the second child. He is such a joy! He has a sweet personality and is such a cuddler. The only time he really gets mad is when you are cleaning him up after a meal or when you are changing his clothes. He hates to be restricted. In some ways he is like Bailey and in other ways he is the complete opposite.

Blake started officially crawling tonight! I had posted early that he can certainly get around where he wants to go, but isn't doing a "traditional" crawl. He will move each knee one time, but then he decides to scoot both knees at the same time or to just roll. By the time Bailey was this age he had been crawling for 3 weeks! I guess Blake hasn't felt the need as strongly because big brother hands him anything he wants. He is waving, clapping, occasionally doing the sign for "more" and says "mama" and "dada". However, I have to update that he IS crawling!!

Also, Blake is still toothless. Bailey cut teeth at 7 months. However, it doesn't keep Blake from eating literally everything in sight! Among his favorties, french toast, graham crackers, avacados and anything chocolate. He also loves his veggies...already so different from Bailey.

Bailey is still such an amazing big brother. He is always telling Blake how much he loves him. Anytime Blake cries he says "I will calm him down" and sings him a song. It is so sweet.

Bailey is loving school! I like to call him my "what's next" child. Always wanting to know what's next. "Where are we going after this?", "What's the letter going to be after this?", "What month is after November?" His teachers say he is a sponge! They tell me that he loves to learn and is the only child that answers all of the questions correctly! Talk about being a proud momma!

Halloween was great! Bailey went as venom (black spiderman) and Blake was a glo worm. They looked so cute!

Monday was the 1 year anniversary of Jay's accident. In some ways it feels like a lifetime ago and in other ways it seems like just yesterday. The emotions aren't quite as raw, but it is still very easy to get choked up when thinking/talking about that day. We still keep in touch with Eric and Colleen. Eric is making great progress. Monday night we had dinner with them and Mary. She is feeling better than ever and even walked in the DRC Half on Sunday! Jay had a Dr. appt. last week and he is "healed" so to speak. He can try his hand at running if he would like. The pain Jay feels is likely to be with him for the long haul, but he may see minimal improvements over a long period of time. It's hard for me to think about Jay, not yet 30 and knowing he may have pain every day for the rest of his life. It's a hard pill to swallow. I try to stay positive about it because Jay has said that he can accept that this is his life now, but I feel so bad for him! We still agree, we are very lucky people. Jay is with us, we have each other and 2 incredible kids! Enough of my rambling, have a great week!

Our San Diego Vacation

2009-10-27T11:01:00.005-05:00

We got back last night from our wonderful vacation! The weather was perfect! about 70degrees the entire time! Most of you know that I surprised Jay with a vacation to San Diego as an early birthday present! I told him about 1.5 weeks ago so that he could have time to look forward to it. He was shocked and super excited! We had a great time! We ate a lot and really splurged on the restaurants! We ate at 3 very nice restaurants for dinner and even ordered drinks each night! If you ever go to San Diego you must eat at the Oceanaire, Osetra and Flemmings! You will spend a minimun of $100, but TOTALLY worth it! On Saturday we took a trolley tour over to Coronado Island. We rented bikes to tour the island. We went over the the Hotel Del Coronado. While there, a strange thing happened. I was sitting outside on the beautiful lounge area at the hotel. An asian man came up and took a picture of me. After that, he went up and sat by another man while his friends took a picture of them. Then he got a picture of he and the man shaking hands. Maybe he thought we were locals and he wanted pictures of locals. I am not sure, it was really strange!

The trolley picked us back up a few hours later and continued on to Old Town where Jay's cousin got married last year. I was able to show Jay the church were she was married and where the reception was. We drove through many other areas but didn't get off the trolley. Our last stop was the USS Midway. We took the self guided audio tour. It was so interesting! On Sunday we went to the zoo. It was huge and the animals were so close to us! We could practically reach out and touch them!

Look how beautiful this Panda is! We were told to go there first before the line got long. We were the only people at the Pandas when we got there, but they had lots of ropes for a makeshift line. It was obvious that it get really crowded. Jay and I thought that Panda looked like Blake. Laid back and enjoying a snack! Afterwards we went to Balboa park, walked around Seaport Village and sat out by our hotel pool.

With our hotel stay we got complimentary breakfast buffet all 3 mornings. We thought that sounded like a good deal. Then we got there and saw the wonderful buffet! Not only that, but it cost $24/person! What a great deal!!

I am not sure if you can tell from this picture, but this is a beautiful ring! It is a square blue topaz stone with diamonds (16 to be exact) around it! I have had my eye on this ring for months. Not expecting to really get it, but I had our jeweler in Lubbock put it on my wish list a while back. Anyway, apparantly, after I told Jay about our trip, he called the jewelry store and had them fed ex him the ring. He brought it on our trip and surprised me with it! How sweet was that?! It is my birthday present, but he wanted me to get it early. I LOVE this ring! I wish the picture would have turned out better, but this was the best I could do.

So, as you can see, our trip was amazing!!!

My mom's wedding

2009-10-09T14:16:00.004-05:00

Last weekend, my mother got married! We are so excited for her! Despite rain up until 1 hour before the outdoor ceremony, it was perfect! The rain let up and we were able to have the wedding at the Japanese Gardens. The reception was moved indoors, but it was still beautiful! My mother looked gorgeous and was so happy! Bailey was the ring bearer and he did perfect!!! I couldn't have been prouder! My intent was to take a ton of pictures, but being a matron of honor and having to be in charge of 2 children in tuxes (Jay was an usher so he helped when he could) I wasn't able to take but a few pictures. Bummer! Fortunately, my cousin, Chandry was there and she helped out a ton with Blake! She helped me dress him in his tux and held him while the bridal party had pictures taken. She was a total lifesaver!!!

Depite the look on my mom's face, she is extreemly happy-probably stressed about the weather in this pic. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of her in her dress.

My mother and Mark (the groom) planned every detail perfectly! From the bridesmaid brunch (can anyone say mimosa), to the rehersal dinner at Los Voqueros (self serve queso, beer and margaritas were my favorites- my friends know I love good queso and margaritas) to the reception with excellent food, drinks and cake! The newleyweds are honeymooning in the Dominican Republic and so far are having a great time!

Catching Up

2009-09-15T19:13:00.004-05:00

I have been without my computer for the last several days, so I haven't had the chance to update. I want to post about Blake's first day of school & pictures of the kids those days, but I first wanted to mention that Jay's grandfather died last week.

He passed away on Friday morning. We were so fortunate to spend some time with him Thursday night. He was able to hold Bailey's hand, tell him what a good handshake he had & hear him talk all about his day at school. He was also able to see Blake. Jay & I were able to sit with him, hold his hand & visit a little bit. JW was a wonderful man! He was so kind and a true family man. He and Madeline were married for 61 years! How often does that happen?! We have taken a lot of pictures over the past 3 years & this is one I really like. It's a picture of JW holding Bailey after he was born. We were not ready to lose him, but we are happy he is no longer suffering.

The boys have really enjoyed school! Bailey runs right in and is all smiles when I pick him up. Blake had his first day last Thursday & they said he did really well. They did ask me to send more food next time! What?! He is only there 5 hours! I feed him before we leave the house, they provide a snack and he had 2 jars of baby food & a 4 oz bottle! My kid is an eater!!!

The picture on the right is of Bailey's first day of school & the picture on the left is of Blake's first day. Aren't they cute?

Did you notice my blog got a much needed makeover? My friend, Theresa, recommended a friend of hers & I think she did an amazing job! Thanks, Amy! Her link is down on the right had side if you want to look at her website.

Conversations with a 3 year old

2009-09-08T20:58:00.002-05:00

Mommy: Bailey, I really like your orange shirt. You're wearing your favorite color to school today. Look Bailey, I'm wearing your favorite color too.

Bailey: Mommy, your shirt is light orange and my favorite color is dark orange.

-Good thing his shirt was dark orange.

Today was Bailey's first day of school and he LOVED it! I tried to get a picture of him going into his classroom, but he was too fast. I snapped one anyway and sort of got a smile. I will post pics on Thursday after Blake's first day. He goes to music, spanish, chapel, recess twice, centers, reading, etc. This year, since he is in pre-k he doesn't take a nap. He was E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D, when he got home, but didn't nap. We left for the gym at 5pm and we got home at 7pm. He fell asleep during dinner, after only eating about 2 bites. I let him sleep on the couch until 7:45 in case he woke up wanting to eat, but he was dead to the world. Even though he has gone MANY days this summer without a nap, I now know he will need one every Tues. and Thurs. when he gets home from school!

Success is Sweet

2009-09-01T09:51:00.004-05:00

We did it! On Saturday, Jay, Eric, Colleen & myself rode in the Hotter n' Hell bike rally. We rode the 100K (62 miles). There were over 14,000 riders there. It was crazy! We all felt pretty good the entire time and had a riding time of 4 hours 41 minutes. Not bad for 3 first timers and 1 seasoned rider hanging back with us:). Our total time was 6 hours. There were so many people there that from the time the cannon went off signaling the start to the time our bikes crossed the start was 20 minutes! We stopped at several of the rest stops to re-fuel on snacks. At about mile 12 Colleen started having break problems so we stopped for mechanical support and got it fixed. We also stopped at the air force base and took pictures in front of the planes. 3 miles before the finish Jay got a flat tire. Luckily, he's an old pro at fixing those! We really had a great time! We had so much fun spending the day with the Nelson's and we might even shoot for the full 100 mile next year. We did pick a team name. Based on the name of the ride and what the 4 of us have been through the past year we named our team "To Hell and Back" We thought it was clever:). There was even a mention of Tattoos, but it was quickly ruled out :)

Another milestone is that Eric's Law goes into effect today requiring stricter penalties for drivers without insurance & a valid license who injure someone. We are very happy about the new law and very proud of Eric for representing himself, Jay & Mary at the hearings. Eric is a big reason this law was passed.

On a different note, my last post I promised pictures of Bailey at his gym class.

When little brother sleeps....

2009-08-26T13:28:00.005-05:00

I try to structure the kids naps so that I get some alone time with each of them. Bailey and I usually play in his room or sword fight. Today, we decided to do something different. We got out our leftover ice cream and filled our containers with hot fudge, caramel and whipped cream, sat on the floor and ate! It was fun!! It was a special treat and I am sure I will pay for it on the scale:)

Bailey is doing great! He still loves being a big brother and loves being around Blake as much as he can. He is very protective of him. Bailey starts Day School on September 8th and he is already talking about being ready to go to school. Next week he will get to meet his teacher.

Blake will be going to school one day a week. I have mixed feelings about it, but I registered him before he was born. I think he will have a great time because he is such a people watcher. He is sitting up by himself for short periods of time and still loves to eat! I honestly cannot think of anything that he has tried and hasn't liked. He wants to eat everything anyone else has. I think once he gets teeth the sky's the limit for this kid! I am ready for the kids to start school because I know they will have so much fun, but I have really enjoyed having them to myself every day for the past 3 months! We have decided to keep Bailey in his my gym class during the school year because he loves it so much. I am planning to take my camera to class this week so I will post some pictures of him there.

Jay and I, along with Eric and Colleen are riding in the Hotter n' Hell this Saturday. We are signed up to ride the 50 mile, but apparantly (based on an email forward I recieved this morning) we are now going to attempt the 62 mile. Yikes! I hope I can do it! Jay has done the 100 mile before and Eric and Colleen are both fitness machines. Let's hope I can keep up with them! I will let you know how it goes....

New Toy

2009-08-06T16:09:00.003-05:00

Well, Bailey has a new toy. It's a stroller.For some reason the other day he pulled out his baby doll that I got him before Blake was born-one that he has had absolutely no interest in might I add. Anyway, he asked me to go get the stroller out of the garage so he could take his baby on a walk. He walked around pushing that baby in the umbrella stroller. So, today we went to Toys R Us and he picked out a small stroller. He also wanted to pick out a new doll with a pacifire, but I thought one baby doll for a little boy was enough. He loves pushing his baby around. He has named her Lisa. When he pushes her around he does buckle her up so that she can "hold on tight". That is because he likes to push the stroller as hard and as far as he can and make it go really fast. I think he "manning up" the stroller thing.

Bailey had his 3 year check up this week and things went great. He weighs 30lbs and is 37 inches tall. Blake was a little behind for his 4 month check up so he had a 5 1/2 month check up. He weighs 17lbs 4oz and is 27 inches long. My big boy!

Blake is doing great! He is still laid back and a great eater! He is eating
baby food, gerber puffs and some table food...pancakes, mashed bananas & popcycles. He loves to eat! He is starting to sit up on his own and is very mobile. He will scoot or roll, anyway he can get to what he's after.

This Saturday, Jay and I are riding in the Melon Patch Tour. It's a 29 mile bike ride. We are getting geared up for it. I hope I survive:)!

Peach Pedal

2009-07-15T15:12:00.005-05:00

Last weekend, Jay rode his bike in the Weatherford Peach Pedal. This was a goal Jay had and he encouraged Eric Nelson (the other guy that was in the accident with Jay) to do it with him. So, Jay, Eric, his wife, Colleen, our neighbor, Miah and my mom's fiance, Mark all did the ride. I was so proud of Jay & Eric. They did great! We were able to spend a good part of the weekend with Eric & Colleen and really had a good time visiting with them. It seems like we have known them longer than 8 months! And even though they are several years older than us (Colleen is 35 and Eric turns 40 in January), you would never know it. We just enjoy hanging out together.

So, over the weekend, Jay, Eric & Colleen convince me that I too need a road bike. I have to admit, I was jealous that the 3 of them got to do something fun together & I had to sit out. Well, no more! Jay bought me a road bike on Sunday. I will try & post a picture of it sometime. We have a few training rides scheduled already! Jay & Eric really want us all to do the Hotter n' Hell bike ride. Last year Jay did the 100 mile ride! He won't be up to that this year, but the guys would like us all to try & do the 50 mile ride. I know Jay will be able to do it, but I am not sure about myself. I am no stranger to working out, but have never done a bike race. Jay is going to be my trainer. As my running partner for the past 5+ years, he has always been a great motivator, so I am sure he will be the same on the bike.

The kids are keeping me very busy this summer! Bailey has been swimming quite a bit and swim lessons start next week. He is in a phonics class & soccer starts Friday. He is also in a My Gym class each week. He loves it! He has done the zip line, high bar, balance beam & trapeze

Blake is changing every day! He is still primarily breastfead, but is also eating rice cereal, baby oatmeal and sometimes I mix some baby food into the rice cereal. This kid LOVES to eat. He hasn't had his 4 month check-up yet (even though he is almost 5 months) because his doctor has been out of town, but my guess is that he weighs around 16lbs!!! He has been trying really hard to crawl! It may be a while before it happens, but he will lay on his tummy & pull his knees up under him then push off with his feet, propelling himself forwards. He can certainly get around that way! I lay him on his blanket with toys & turn my head & he's gone

We're Home

2009-07-01T09:42:00.004-05:00

We had a great vacation! It was so nice to get away and just relax. We left last Monday afternoon and drove to San Antonio, ariving around 10:30pm. Jay's family had arrived several hours earlier and had warned us our motel was a little scary, but that they had cancelled our reservation for the second night and would be moving to Holiday Inn Express. Thank goodness! It was fine for one night (we were only there 9 hours), but our room had one king bed and one twin bed, so all four of us slept in the king bed. We even barracaded the door shut because it was a sketchy neighborhood. As you might expect, there was no hot water. Jay's parents room was the old maintence room. It had a funny smell and the beds were horrible! Julie, Jeff and the kids lucked out. Their room was VERY smokey and they had no more available rooms, so they were able to go to the Holiday Inn that night. Anyway, at 8 am the next morning we were checking into our new hotel, (which was so nice-a suite- with 2 queen beds in one room, a hallway with a mini kitchen, and a living room. plenty of room for the 4 of us to spread out) ate breakfast and headed to SeaWorld. (this pic is of the first motel)
The kids loved SeaWorld! They have so much there! Blake was a trooper! Bailey loved Shamu and the dolphin show. He also loved the big aqarium with the fish and sharks. Anyone who knows me, knows I love Dr. Pepper, well they only had Pepsi there (which was fine, because anything tasted good in that heat!), but you could buy a refillable cup for $8 and then it was only $1 to refill it each time. Great deal! We got one and me, Jay and Bailey shared it. I would highly recommend it because you can refill with tea or soft drinks and the price for one drink was $3, so this was definitely the way to go.

The next day we toured San Antonio riverwalk for a while then headed on to Port Aransas. We spent 3 1/2 days swimming in the pool, playing in the ocean, fishing off the pier, eating great seafood and enjoying being with family. I really think Bailey loved having his daddy with him for 6 straight days and I loved having help 24/7. I think I only change 2 diapers! Bailey was not scared of the ocean at all! He ran right in, jumped the waves and kept wanting to go further out. Daddy took him, mommy likes to stay close to the beach. He became an expert at jumping just at the right time and spitting salt water out of his mouth! He also loved destroying the sandcastles daddy built.

I am planning to take Blake to get his 4 month shots on Friday. Jay is off work and I think it's only fair that he sees at least one of our children get shots. He never had to see Bailey and I don't think he realizes how hard it is for mommy to see her child in pain. He hasn't had his 4 month check up yet and Bailey hasn't had his 3 yr. yet, but I am planning to do that in the next week or so.

Ihope everyone has a wonderul 4th of July!

Happy Father's Day/Vacation at last!

2009-06-21T19:09:00.004-05:00

I want to start by saying Happy Father's Day to a wonderful daddy! Bailey & Blake are so lucky to have such a loving, involved daddy who loves spending time with them! They are crazy about their daddy!! ...Mommy thinks he's pretty great too:)

We leave tomorrow for our vacation, and we are SOOO ready!! We will head to San Antonio tomorrow afternoon and spend Tuesday at Sea World. Then on Wednesday morning we will head to Port Aransas where we will stay until Sunday morning.

My little Blake is changing so quickly! He turned 4 months on Saturday and started eating rice cereal (I say that loosely). He started rolling over about 2 weeks ago. Now, he wants to sleep on his tummy and there is no stopping him! He is getting quite the little personality! he "talks" all the time, is totally in love with his daddy and clearly is amused by his big brother! Bailey is equally amused by Blake. He loves to congratulate him when he rolls over. Whenever Blake poops Bailey is sure to tell me "it was an acciden." I am constantly laughing!

I know we will have a great vacation and can't wait to blog about it when we get back!

What do you think?

2009-06-03T21:35:00.005-05:00

I have been looking through old pictures lately. Jay & I have always thought that Blake looks like a chubby version of Bailey when he was a baby. What do you think?

Bailey

Blake

Bailey
Blake

Potty Training Update

2009-05-26T19:06:00.002-05:00

Potty training is going GREAT! Bailey has been doing such a great job! We have been able to leave the house every day. Gym, grocery store, church. We have not adjusted our schedule at all. We went cold turkey. I don't even let him wear pull-ups at night (if he were wetting the bed he would be wearing them, but he has stayed dry). I thought it would be weeks before he would come to us saying he had to go potty, but he started doign that on Friday! There have even been a couple of times when we have walked by his bathroom and seen him in there sitting on the potty-guess he doesn't need us anymore:). Actually, today he told him not to come in. To stand out in the hallway, he could do it by himself.

We have had a little problem with pooping and I am in need of suggestions. He has only pooped in the potty once and 3 times in his underwear. I am not sure what the problem is. Someone suggested taking him right before and after each meal to see if he can poop. He hasn't had any tee-tee accidents since Thursday, so I am very happy with that! 5 days dry! I had purchased him lots of fun big boy underwear, but Sunday I took him to the store to pick out his own. He really like doing that! He picked out a pack of 7 pairs and each pair had a different disney movie represented on it...WALL-E, Cars, Toy Story, etc. He loves getting to pick which ones to wear each morning.

I really appreciate all of the advice I was given and it was very helpful. It was great to get a lot of different advice and kind of shape it to fit with my parenting style. I think I took a little bit from everyone. We chose mini marshmellows as his reward. 1 for sitting on the potty, 2 for tee-tee, 3 for poop and 5 for staying dry at bedtime and naptime. He is getting to where sometimes he forgets to ask for his marshmellows. I am happy about because I didn't want to be giving him marshmellows for the next 2 years every time he went to the potty and I wasn't sure how to stop it once I started. I will post pics of him in his big boy underwear soon.

Eric's Law

2009-05-22T21:32:00.004-05:00

Well, House Bill 2012 has passed the House and was heard by the Transportation Committee in the Senate today. Eric was there to respresent him, Jay and Mary. I have attached the link below if you would like to hear his testimony. I think it's about 11 minutes into the hearing, so you can fast forward.

http://www.senate.state.tx.us/avarchive/

click on committess on the left side of the page. Then click on Transportation committe. Then on the date, May 22. That will take you to the video.

On that note, the accident has been on my mind lately. Admittedly, it is never far from my mind. I always think about that day and how grateful I am for my family and friends who were there. I just want to say that I have not forgotten what everyone did for me. I will not forget that my sister stayed with Jay until the ambulance took him. I will not forget that my cousin, Marty walked out of work to come to the hospital and be with me. I will not forget that my aunt, Donna stayed on the phone with me giving me directions to the hospital. I will not forget that my friend, Desty left her 3 month old son to bring me snacks and toiletries, knowing that I would not leave the hospital. I will not forget that our minister dropped what he was doing and came to the hospital and stayed until Jay went into surgery 4 hours later. I will not forget the Youngs, who made sure I ate dinner and picked up Jay's truck from the accident site. I will not forget that my entire family and Jay's family stayed with me at the hospital until Jay was out of surgery. I will not forget that my mother and her fiance spent the night at a hotel near the hospital to be close to me and took the next day off work. Please know that I will NEVER forget.

Potty Training

2009-05-18T21:29:00.005-05:00

Well, the time has come. Now that Bailey is 3 we are about to sart potty training. Thursday is Bailey's last day of school & we don't have a lot going on the two weeks following, so we are going to buckle down & do it. I have talked to several mommy friends of mine who have potty trained boys & gotten a lot of advice. I have pretty much heard the same things from each of the moms. Cold turkey seems to be the way to go. Including bedtime. I have purchased a lot of underwear & am going to get a sheet protector for Bailey to sleep on. I have been told not to get upset or punish him when he has an accident. I've also been told that if we need to leave the house during potty training then I should put him in underwear & put a pull up on over that so that he can still feel that he is wet, but that it won't be a big mess. This way, I can still go to the gym & the grocery store. My mom friends have told me this will most likely be a 2 week process. I am open to as many suggestions & as much advice as I can get, so feel free to give me your opinion. I will update next week & let you know how things are going.

Bailey had a great birthday & received lots of wonderful presents that he is having a blast with! Blake is 3 months old now (or will be on Wednesday), so he can go to the gym. I was able to go both Saturday & today & look forward to being back in my regular routine of Monday thru Saturday. Even though I have lost all of my weight & am back into all of my clothes, all of you moms out there know that things still don't hang right at this point. I wish I had more time before swimsuit season, but I guess I will just have to work hard the next month & hope for the best. Blake is doing great! He weighs 13 lbs 6oz & is 24 inches long. He is very laid back & is smiling & "talking" all of the time! He is a great nurser too. Totally different from Bailey. I was only able to breastfead Bailey for 3 months. I hope to breastfead Blake for 6 months. At this point I am playing it by ear & will nurse him as long as it seems like the best option for the both of us. He has been drooling a lot, so he will probably start teething in the next month or so & I am not sure what it's like to breastfeed a child with teeth!

So now, we are gearing up for summer. Bailey has VBS (which I am volunteering at), he is signed up for soccer, a phonics class & 2 sets of swim lessons. I am also going to enroll him in a my gym class. My mom's group will meet twice a month, the movie theaters show free kids movies on Wednesdays, there is a spray park nearby & apparantly, Granbury has a man-made beach. Bailey got a trampoline for his birthday so we will have lots of friends over to play on it. We plan to be very busy this summer. Little boys who are busy & play hard...nap hard!!!

This is our Mother's Day picture. I had a great time with my boys. They sent me flowers & got me a digital picture keychain that holds 40 pictures. Now I will always have pictures of the kids whenever someone asks to see them.

Discretion Advised

2009-04-22T14:33:00.003-05:00

If you have a weak stomach, don't read this post.

Bailey has pinworms. If you don't know what that is, it's a female worm that apparantly travels through your intestine and lays eggs in your "hiney". DISGUSTING! After 3 weeks of hearing Bailey cry all night (this is the time of day that the female worm lays her eggs & it can cause pain or intense itching), but not being able to see any pinworms using a flashlight at night, we went to the Dr. He went ahead and gave Bailey a prescription. In the case of pinworms, the whole family has to be treated, so we all got a dose. According to his Dr., some common causes are cats, dogs and sandboxes. If the child scratches their hiney and the (brace yourself) fecal oil gets under their nails and then touch something, bedding, food, etc. and someone else injests it, then they can get pinworms. Thankfully, neither Jay or I have had any symptoms. And to be honest, I couldn't get that pill down fast enough! Unfortunately, the infected child can be reinfected a week or two after they take the medication. So, our Dr. prescribed a refill. We will really focus on lots of handwashing! Apparantly all kids get this at some point, but it's still gross! Symptoms are itching, pain and flinching.

On a less discusting note, Blake had his first round of shots today and his 2 month well baby check-up. He did great at his shots, only cried for a few seconds and Bailey held his hand the whole time. Blake has slept for most of the day though. His check-up went great. He smiled for his Dr. and was holding his head up. He weighs 12 lbs. 5 oz. I know that seems like a lot (75th percentile), but he is 24 inches long (also 75th percentile). The Dr. said that since he is so long his weight is perfect.

Hope this post wasn't too graphic for anyone, but I wish I had known earlier what the symptoms were!

Sorry it's been so long!

2009-04-16T20:40:00.003-05:00

I can't believe it's been nearly 1 month since I have last blogged. A lot has happend & I will try to catch you up.

On Sunday Blake started smiling. It is so cute to see him smile. When Bailey saw him smile for the first time he said "Blake's smiling. He's a big boy now". That was a great start to a great Easter. We went over to the Newton's that afternoon & watched the kids play & hunt easter eggs. Bailey really "got it" this year. He knew exactly what to do-he had already had a hunt at school & one easter morning at home, so he was an old pro by the afternoon.

You know that saying "kids say the darndest things"? That describes Bailey perfectly! Let me start this story by saying that when Bailey gets in trouble he calls it grouching (mommy grouched at me). So, yesterday, Bailey & I were planting flowers and I had jsut planted a white one & Bailey yanked it right out of the flower bed. I said "Bailey! Don't do that" Well, of course, for the next hour he repeats "I pulled the white flower & mommy grouched at me" Then he decides to add "& mommy said she didn't love me" Now, where he got that I have no idea! I have NEVER told him that. He continued to insist that I had said that. What's a mommy to do? Later, when he got tired of helping me plant flowers he threw up his hands & said "I quit!"

Then there is Blake, my laid back child (for now anyway). He is doing great. He sleeps pretty well at night & usually only wakes up twice. Any of you other mom's out there with newborns feel like you spend your days breastfeading in the car? On Tuesdays & Thursdays Bailey is at school so Blake & I run a lot of errands. Who has time to go home and nurse every time he's hungry? I have pulled into countless numbers of parking lots to feed him. Whatever works, right? I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

One month

2009-03-20T20:23:00.006-05:00

**UPDATE**
I'm told the story is on the Dallas Morning News website if you can't get the paper

My baby boy (or as Bailey likes to call him, Blakey boy) is one month old today! I can't believe it! I know that in the blink of an eye he will be Bailey's age and Bailey will be in kindergarten. Time, please stand still!

Things have been going great here! We are moving along and everyone is adjusting. Today, I got my FIRST nap since Blake was born. It was a glorious 45 minutes! Blake is such a laid back baby. So laid back that when he fusses I start to panic...what's wrong with him? He never cries! I'm sure it's just that he is starting to spend more time awake and would like a little attention please! At night he sleeps for 2-3 hour stretches, which is great. Bailey woke every 1.5 hours for the first 2 months! This kid is going to spoil me!

Bailey is AMAZING with him! He has only gotten jealous 2-3 times and love Blake like you wouldn't believe. He is so protective of him and always wants to know exactly where Blake is. Anyone that comes around us will hear Bailey say "come look at my baby brother"

Have I mentioned that I LOVE having 2 boys? It's so great! I am not sure why there were people that felt sorry for me that I was having another boy (someone actally said to me "oh, that's okay"). I couldn't imagine it any other way.

We had Blake's newborn pics taken last week. They turned out well. If you want to look at them go to http://www.alexanderportraitdesigners.com/ then click on the online proofing and the login is Julie

Bailey had a minor injury this week. His arm apparantly got stuck in a chair at Nordstroms and when he pulled it out he got a nurse maids elbow (previously known as supermarket elbow). My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I could tell he was really hurt because he cried off and on for 1 hour and he held his arm extreemly still for 2 hours. After talking to Jay, we made the decision to take him to a clinic (of course my father-in-law was out of town, so couldn't help). They did x-rays, which were very painful for Bailey because he literally couldn't turn his arm into the position they needed. After determining that it was nurse maid's elbow, which I think is similar to a dislocated elbow, the Doctor had to set it back in place. It took 2 tries and a lot of crying, but he got it. Almost immediately, Bailey was fine. He was so excited that his arm didn't hurt anymore. The first thing he said was that he wanted to call daddy and tell him his arm was all better. Whew! That was a rough afternoon. Luckily, Jay's mom was able to go with me and the boys to the clinic so I had reinforcements. Of course, a strawberry milkshake was a must when we left.

On a side note, the article about Jay and the 2 others hit after the DRC marathon is running in this Sunday's edition of the Dallas Morning News. We previewed the article a couple of weeks ago and were really pleased with how it turned out. So, if you live in the area, grab a copy.

The Perfect Life

2009-03-05T20:02:00.003-06:00

I really do have the perfect life! Let me tell you why...

I have a husband that loves me, 2 amazing little boys, a supportive family, the most generous friends you could ask for and a church that truly cares about my family.

Honestly, does it get any better than this? I have been blessed so much more than I ever could have imagined. God is good! Sometimes I think about my life and I can't believe how great it is, how fortunate we are and how much I love being a mother and wife. I have found my purpose in life.

That's not to say that Bailey doesn't drive me nuts sometimes, but I enjoy trying to teach him how to use his listening ears and good manners, even when I want to beat my head against the wall because he is more stubborn than a mule.

He is a great kid! He has such a tenderheart. And he really loves his brother (regardless of what he might tell you when you ask him). It has been such a joy to watch the two of them together. My cousin Dallas, told me when I was pregnant, that that would be one of the best parts of having two kids. She was right! Bailey is always asking to hold Blake (then a few minutes later says "I want him off of me"), he loves to give him kisses. The other day Blake was in his crib listening to his mobile and I saw something on the video monitor. Bailey had brought his stool up to the crib, was standing on it, reaching into the crib, holding Blake's hand and singing Rock A Bye Baby. It was so sweet. The other day Bailey told Blake, "I love you Blake and God loves you too" Those are the moments I live for. It's a perfect life!

Blake is here!

2009-02-20T21:46:00.003-06:00

Blake was born today at 3:03pm. He weighed 8lbs 3oz and is 22 inches long! I cannot believe he is so big! He is a full pound bigger than Bailey was. Even my doctor was shocked. He looks so much like Bailey did when Bailey was born. The only real difference (except for the fact that Blake is "solid") is the hair color. Bailey's was dark brown and Blake's is a sandy blond color.

The delivery was so much better than I could have imagined. I was started on IV at about 9:30 and got my epidural around 11:30am. By 2:55 I was pushing. 5 pushes and less than 10 minutes later he was here! I only got to hold him for a second because his body temperature was a little low. About 97 degrees. After about 1 hour, I got to feed him and then by 4:30 they had to take him to the nursery to try and get him warm. They weren't able to bring him back until about 8:15. His temp is now where it needs to be and he is doing great.

My blood pressure has been a bit of an issue, but it seems to have stabalized. With Bailey I had to have my IV until I was discharged, but this time, my BP stabalized a lot faster and by 5pm I had it out.

I have already changed an incredibly dirty diaper and so far he is a great eater (note his large size). Already a big difference between my two boys :)

Unfortunately, Jay has some sort of virus and feels terrible. So, he has been sleeping most of the evening and I have had to fend for myself (the ice machine was further away then I remembered)...and take care of Jay. Not exactly what I had in mind, especially, since the pain of childbirth has started to set in. That's life, I guess.

I hope everyone enjoys the pictures! I hope to get more tomorrow when Blake can be in the room more. Look closely at the last two pictures. He is the spitting image of Bailey at that age.

Big Changes Coming

2009-02-04T11:11:00.003-06:00

As you know, very soon we will have a new addition here at the Newton house. Blake is scheduled to arrive in a little over 2 weeks; on the 20th. We are getting ready, but in some ways are no where near ready! There is still so much I want to do first, clean the carpets, organize kitchen cabinets, etc. Of course, these things aren't at all neccessary, but I am feeling a little compulsive about it.

Those who know me well, know I am a planner. Because of that, our birth annoucements are ready to order. Of course, I still have to input the time of birth, weight and of course a picture. But the announcement is picked out and what I can do on it has been done. My goal is to order these the day we get home from the hospital. I don't want Blake to be 2 months old before people get their announcements!

Bailey seems to be getting ready for his little brother. He talks about Blake more and more. He is ready for his baby brother to get here. Hopefully, once Blake is here he will feel the same way :).

This will probably be the last post until the baby comes so I will leave you with some recent pictures of Bailey. Also, I am thinking about having someone re-design my blog once Blake is here. So, if you know a good person, be sure and tell me. I don't want to spend a fortune though.

Playing Catch-up

2009-01-15T13:39:00.007-06:00

It's been a while since I have blogged, so there are several things to post about.

Bailey is as cute as ever. He is such a big boy! I still can't believe how quickly time flies. He loves to ask me "Mommy, what are you doing?"

He also has learned some stall tactics. If I ask him to do something (pick up his toys, get in the car, etc.) he usually replies with "In just a minute" or "Okay, I'm doing it" He loves to tell me little bits of info, such as, the sun's awake or Daddy's at work and ends all of these sentences with "do you know that?"

I love this picture of Bailey. Don't worry, I took the goggles off right after I snapped this picture.

Last weekend, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and 2 close friends gave me a great baby shower! Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera. Otherwise, you would see pictures of beautiful table decorations, delicious food and lots of gifts! I had a great time! Here are two pictures of Baby Blake's room.

Thanks to my mom for helping me finish it!

Speaking of Blake, Bailey is SO ready to be a big brother. He talks about Blake all of the time. He thinks Blake can see if I lift up my shirt, so he always has me go into Blake's room and lift up my shirt while he shows Blake all of the toys that are waiting for him. He does not think that I am Blake's mommy. He says he is Blake's brother, Blake will live with us, but, NO! You are not Blake's mommy. We can work on that later :)

I had a Dr.'s appointment today & we have scheduled me to be induced on February 20th. It's hard to believe that it's only 5 weeks away! The nursery is ready, the clothes are washed & I am tired of being pregnant! I think all of the requirements have been met.

Christmas

2008-12-28T19:50:00.004-06:00

We had another wonderful Christmas! This year, Bailey understood the concept of opening presents and he waited very patiently for weeks to open his. He was equally excited about giving us presents to open. In fact, there were several days he would bring Jay his present and say "daddy, I brought a present for you".

Christmas Eve Jay worked, but we picked him up in time to get to church &

then we came home & opened our presents, made pizzas & decorated our cookies for Santa. Bailey was much more interested in eating the icing than actually decorating. I think Bailey's favorite gift of the night was his Mr. Potato head.

Christmas morning he was so sweet. He came into our room & I said "do you know what today is? It's Christmas!" And Bailey said "and it's Daddy's birthday!" He really liked all the things that Santa brought him, and surprisingly, didn't want to eat any of his stocking candy. The rule in our house in Christmas morning & Easter morning are the 2 days each year where you get to eat candy for breakfast! Instead, he ate Christmas cookies. I it's guess pretty much the same thing.

Jay's favorite present was getting rock band for our Wii . His dad gave him a GPS system which he was also really excited about! He got several other great Christmas & birthday gifts. Needless to say, he makes out like a bandit every year! So, no one needs to feel sorry for him that his b-day is on Christmas!

We had a great time at Jay's parent's house & my aunt's house. We had several Christmas celebrations on Thursday & had a lot of fun. We were exhausted by the time we got home, but it was all worth it.

Too Cute!

2008-12-10T14:21:00.002-06:00

Okay, I know I am partial, but this really was cute!

Yesterday we were at the bank and were walking towards the elevator to head to the parking garage. There were 2 women already there. Bailey runs up to one of them and says "hey, wait for me!" She very sweetly says "I'll wait for you". It is 5:30 pm, so a small crowd of people ready to leave work have gathered. Bailey then tells the woman "my name is Bailey. My name is Bailey Andrew Newton. want my number?" I am very surprised to say the least because I have never heard him say this. The woman laughs and says "do I want your number?" Bailey then says "I'm 2" It then dawned on me that what he was trying to do was get her to ask him how old he was (probably because he is very used to people asking him this wherever we go...and may I add, they usually say, wow, you can really understand what he's saying) and instead it came out "want my number". He then continues on with his conversation with this very indulgent woman. He starts jumping up and down and tells her he likes to jump. She says she wishes she could jump too. He replies with his famous "yeah, it sure does" (which means, yeah, you sure do-this is something he can't quite get in the correct context yet).

Needless to say, mommy, this woman and the small crowd all thought he was pretty cute. I am excited that he is starting to come out of the shy phase he has been in for the past 6 months. Although, occasionally he says "I'm being shy"- which I know he gets from a Backyardigans episode:)

A great Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T14:39:00.004-06:00

I know that Thanksgiving isn't here yet, but I was thinking about everything I have to be thankful for this year. Of course, Jay, Bailey & baby Blake! However, this year is extra special. This year I am thankful that a near tragedy missed our family.

Here is a list of all the reasons why I am so thankful:
-I am thankful that Jay got one more great run in before his accident
-I am thankful that my sister found Jay and was able to provide him some comfort. Without her there, I would have had no idea what hospital to go to
-I am thankful that the ER doctor said "it wasn't his day to die"
-I am thankful that our sweet son still has his daddy
-I am thankful that through this ordeal, Jay & Bailey have had some amazing bonding time while Jay has been home so much. That is, by far, the silver lining!
-I am thankful for the reminder that life is precious & can change in an instant
-I am thankful for all of our friends & family that have shown us so much love & support the past 3 weeks
-I am thankful that Jay's work has been amazingly supportive through all of this
-I am thankful that Eric got released from the hospital today

I hope your Thanksgiving is equally filled with thanks!

Halloween

2008-11-10T21:50:00.003-06:00

Sorry I am just now posting Halloween pictures, things have been crazy around here :)

Bailey had a lot of Halloween parties to attend; Boo at the Zoo, my mom's group party, Ft. Worth Club Carnival and then trick or treating, of course. He had a great time and never got tired of wearing his spiderman costume.

We're home!

2008-11-08T17:12:00.002-06:00

We got home around 7:00 last night. It is nice to be home and sleeping in our own bed. Bailey will be home tomorrow and we are looking foward to him being back with us!

Jay is doing pretty good. He is still in a lot of pain, but has been doing his physical therapy and walking around a little bit. He had a shower today and it was quite the ordeal. We may not be doing that every day:)

Car Accident

2008-11-02T22:30:00.003-06:00

**UPDATE**
Jay is still in the hospital, but is making progress. He has had 2 physical therapy sessions and will have 2 more today. He even took a few steps using a walker and help from the therapists. He is still in a lot of pain, but it seems bearable now. We still don't know when he will be released. I heard a murmer of Thursday, but they seem reluctant to look past today. It all depends on how his therapy goes. To be honest, Jay is not sure when he will feel ready to go home. Your continued prayers are appreciated.

Today, Jay ran a half marathon in Dallas. As he and a large group of others were crossing the street, at the crosswalk, with the walk sign flashing, he and 2 other people were hit by a car. Jay was thrown 15 yards and broke both legs. He also has many staple, stitches, cuts and scrapes. He has surgery earlier today to put a steel rod in his right let where 2 bones were broken. His left leg only had one broken bone.
Jay is in a lot of pain and has a slow recovery ahead of him. We are so grateful that he is otherwise okay. As his doctor told me, today was not his day to die. Praise the Lord for that!
We have no idea how long Jay will be here. Right now his legs are wrapped in a fabric wrap and we have not been told if they will put a hard cast on his legs. I will try and update on his status as often as I can.

Backyardigans, where have you gone?

2008-10-29T21:20:00.002-05:00

Yes, I admit, my child watches t.v.. Not a ton of t.v., but he does get to watch a little each day. His favorite thing to watch is the Backyardigans. For those who don't know, it comes on Nickalodian and is about neighbors who use their imaginations to go on adventures. They always end the show by going to one of their houses for a snack. This is Bailey's favorite show. He can sing the theme song and everything. Up until Monday, Backyardigans came on at 8am each morning. Bailey would get to watch it (& then if we were not running out the door as it was ending he would get to watch Diego, which he also loves). He gets to watch these two shows and then after nap time he gets to watch super readers-which I consider educational since they learn about their letters:) Anyway, Backyardigans has stopped coming on at 8am! It has been devestating- for both of us! It now shows only at noon, and we don't have the t.v. on at that time and I refuse to adjust our schedule to be home at noon or be stationed in front of the t.v. at that time. Grammy did let us borrow the Backyardigans DVD, but I am hoping they will return to their regular schedule soon.

In other news, Bailey came up to me today and said "my name is princess" I said, "oh really" he then said that daddy's name was princess too. Later, once Jay got home he told Jay "my name is saucy". Exactly what are they teaching him at this school of his? :)

We are gearing up for Halloween. Tomorrow night we have a Halloween carnival at the Ft. Worth club and then Friday we have a morning Halloween party and then of course, trick or treating. I will post pictures from those things and Boo at the Zoo from last week.

Our Week

2008-10-20T13:59:00.005-05:00

We haven't had too much going on lately. We have been taking it easy and getting ready for Halloween. Bailey is super excited to wear his spiderman costume! I wanted him to be mickey mouse or donald duck, something really cutsie. I figured it would be my last year to wrangle him into a cosutme like that. No such luck! He barely knows who spiderman is, but insisted on going as him. He does know the song "spiderman, spiderman, does whatever a spider can"- thanks to daddy and he can also pretend to shoot a web. I know regardless of what he wears he will be cute! I will be sure to post pictures after Halloween.

Bailey has started singing songs lately. Not just humming along or throwing in a word here and there, but full songs! He knows twinkle, twinkle little star, rock a bye baby & row, row, row your boat. He loves to sing these songs over & over. His other 3 songs that he likes to sing and has almost gotten all of the words down are Jesus Love the Little Children, Jesus Loves Me & the ABC song. I did get the first 3 songs on video, but have no idea how to upload that to blogger, sorry.

Jay & I had our high school reunion this past weekend & we had a lot of fun seeing old friends. We stayed in Weatherford to make things easier, so we got some cute pictures of Bailey playing at the Newton house

As Promised

2008-10-14T15:41:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures from the pumpkin patch over the weekend. We had a good time, although Bailey's alter ego came out a few times. It took quite a while to select the perfect pumpkin. Overall, we had a great weekend hanging out as a family. We went to brunch at Mimi's Cafe, then to the pumpkin patch, home for naps, then out again for a few errands and dinner out. It was a relaxing weekend and it was nice to hang out just the three of us.

I think we have finally selected a name for our new baby boy. We had narrowed it down to 2, but just couldn't seem to committ to one. We have decided on Blake Jay Newton. Both my boys will have their daddy's name-I'm excited about that!

Jay & I have our 10 year high school reunion this weekend. We are looking forward to seeing old friends & showing Bailey off. I will let you know how it turns out.

It's a ......

2008-10-09T15:30:00.002-05:00

Well, it's a healthy baby! Everything measured great. We were able to get great pictures, saw both legs, arms, hands and feet. Every organ looks good and we are thrilled!

And in case you're wondering, it's a BOY! We are so excited for Bailey to have a brother. We hope they will be the best of friends. Clearly, I will be out numbered here- especially during the day! We have not yet decided on a name, but will let you know when we do.

Flu Shots

2008-10-08T13:41:00.004-05:00

Unfortunately, it's that time of year again. Today I took Bailey to get his flu shot. Since he is almost 2 1/2 I thought it would be mean not to prepare him for what was about to happen. So, I told him he would get a shot and that it would hurt, but just for a minute. That mommy would be holding him and after his shot he would get a sucker, which luckily, I had remembered to bring.

So, I sit down with Bailey in my lap and when the nurse holds down his legs he starts saying "don't hurt me!", "don't hurt me!" He gets the shot and from the second the needle goes in his leg he starts yelling "OW! OW! OW!" "that hurt!" It was sad and funny at the same time. He said this during the shot, while he is picking out a sticker and when I give him his sucker. Tears are rolling down his face and he is crying "OW! That hurt" out of the office, through the waiting room and to the car.

Happily, afterwards we went to his haircut, where he received another sucker and then we went to play at the park. Somehow suckers and parks fix everything! So far, I haven't even had to give him tylenol. Hopefully his constant movement today will keep his leg from getting sore.

Here are some random pictures of Bailey. We are going to the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday, so hopefully I will have some cute pictures to post.

A great book

2008-09-25T15:34:00.004-05:00

I just finished reading a book for my mom's group book club. It's called Reconstructing Natalie by Laura Jensen Walker. It is about a 28 year old woman who is diagnosed with breast cancer and follows her through the decisions she has to make. It is a very quick read and it tackles the subject of breast cancer with lighthearted humor; although, it does have some very serious moments too. I both cried and laughed while reading this book.

If you are looking for your next book to read, I highly recommend this one. It was Women of Faith's 2006 novel of the year, so you know it's a good one! If you get the chance to read it, let me know what you thought! Have a great Thursday!

Bailey has an announcement...

2008-09-13T20:31:00.003-05:00

Yup, we're expecting! As you can tell, Bailey is very excited:) Actually, he has no idea what's going on & we aren't really talking about it with him. His world will change soon enough. For now, we want him to be blissfully ignorant to this life altering event that's just around the corner.

We are 16 weeks along & the due date is February 28th. If the baby cooperates, we should know the sex on October 9th. We have not yet decided when/if we will be sharing this news. :)

So far, everything is going well & my doctor is very pleased. As most of you know, I have a history of ectopic pregnancy. So, my first visit was at 6 weeks & things looked good. At my 7 week appt. we had a little scare, but at my 8 week appt. my doctor was confident that things looked "better than perfect". We are very blessed! Please keep us in your prayers as we go through the next 5 months.

First Day of School

2008-09-03T15:52:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was Bailey's first day of school. This year he is going twice a week. He had a great time on Tuesday! He got to paint and learned how to walk down the hallway (at his school the 2 year old class walks with one finger on the wall and sing a cute song while they do it). I'm sure he did much more, but those were the two things he told me about. Next week they will start going to chapel. I am excited for him and all of the fun things he will get to do!

We had to get Bailey 2 new pairs of tennis shoes for school because he went through a growth spurt. 3 months ago I bought him 3 pairs of summer shoes in a size 5 1/2 and his toes had started to hang over the sandles and were squished in the others. We went back to the mall and had them measure his foot again. 6 1/2! I could not believe that he had grown an entire size in 3 short months. I am hoping these shoes will last the entire school year. He also got a new haircut for school and he looks so grown up!

Getting So Smart

2008-08-27T20:09:00.003-05:00

Bailey is always telling me stuff. What he did that day (when really it was last week), who he had fun playing with, etc. Sometimes he says stuff that never even happened. I am sure all of you with 2 year olds have experienced this.

However, Monday night we were in the car on our way home from the gym and out of the blue Bailey says: I hurt my knee at the gym. Bailey cried.

Mommy: You did? Did they kiss it and make it better?

Bailey: Yes. All Better. Bailey's ok.

I wasn't sure if this had really happened, so I looked at his knee and sure enough, it was skinned! When did he get old enough to tell me about real things that happened to him? I am glad he can tell me about things that happen when I am not there. Especially, since he is about to start back to school.

Missing his cousin

2008-08-16T22:03:00.001-05:00

Conversation with Bailey

Mommy: Bailey, are you playing with your Legos?
Bailey: Yes, Bailey's Legos. Nora's Legos too.
Mommy: Oh, those are Nora's Legos too?
Bailey: Yes. I want to go to Nora's house.

Bailey is going through Nora detox. At least he was willing to share his Legos:)

Summer Vacation

2008-08-10T21:04:00.005-05:00

***UPDATE***

Here are the pictures I promised.

I know it has been FOREVER since I have posted (thank you, Dallas for the reminder). We have been so busy (of course I couldn't tell you what we've been doing), and it's just slipped my mind.
I don't have time to upload pictures tonight, but I will add them tomorrow.

Last night we got back from a week long family vacation in Florida. Now, when I say family vacation, I mean it. We're talking 16 people. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, parents, siblings. You name them, they were there. We had a great time! We went to the beach & the pool every day, ate at some great restaraunts, took naps, and hung out. We all had a wonderful time. Bailey got to play with his cousin, Nora (who is 11 weeks older) from sun up to sun down and could not get enough of her. They got along so well and really enjoyed being together. Even though they don't see each other much, I talk frequently to Bailey about Nora and Nora's mom, Dallas, talks to Nora about Bailey, so when they are together, it's like no time has passed.

While we were in Florida my cousins informed me that I am the only person on the planet not on Facebook. Therefore, they signed me up. I am still trying to figure out how everything works, but I like being "in the loop". I didn't realize how many people I knew where on Facebook. I have only been on it about 5 days, but already I am catching up with highschool friends I haven't talked to in 10 years! It's been cool. Thanks cousins!

We survived the 15 hour drive home and even made it to church this morning. Unfortunately, our air conditioner froze up while we were trying to cool the house off last night (quite a task after being off for 8 days) & the temp. never got below 80. We turned the heat on & defrosted the unit, so hopefully that will take care of it.This afternoon, we took Bailey to our neighbor's house to swim. We had a nice little 45 minute swim and when we got out of the pool, Jay realized that he had his phone in his pocket the entire time. His $500 dollar phone! Think it's ruined? Luckily, we were smart enough to purchase the insurance on it, so for a mere $50 they are sending him a new one.

I have not even begun to unpack or do laundry, but I did get a pedicure today, so I have my priorites in order:) I promise, tomorrow I will post pictures, so be sure to check back.

Deceptively Delicious

2008-07-14T11:26:00.003-05:00

I had heard about & seen this cookbook, but was reminded of it on Oprah the other day. So, yesterday, I went to the store & got a butternut squash. Cubed it, steamed it & pureed it. I was a little nervous about putting it in his mac & cheese at lunch today, but figured it was worth a try. I added a tablespoon to his individual serving and stirred it in where it promptly melted into the hot mac & cheese. He had NO CLUE there was squash in his lunch! I am thrilled! I know she has a brownie recipe that uses spinich that I can't wait to try. Hpefully, we can get back on track with a well rounded diet. I will let you know how it works!

Over the weekend Bailey had a little accident. He was jumping on a bed at Jay's parents house and kin of bit the headboard. He bit a pretty good hole in his lip & knocked his front tooth back a little. He was very swollen & the underneath side of his lip was purple. His little gums were bruised & swollen too. Luckily, almost all of the swelling is gone & his tooth has started to shift back into place a little. I have never seen Bailey cry so much & there was quite a bit of blood. The first night he woke up every hour crying. I felt so bad for him! Luckily, mouth wounds heal quickly & he's back to his old self.

I also wanted to mention that on July 6th, Jay & I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! The past six years have been the best! Thanks, Jay for being such a great husband & daddy!

Happy 4th!

2008-07-04T08:52:00.005-05:00

Happy 4th of July!

We are taking it easy today. We turned down a couple of holiday parties and instead have decided to spend the day as a family. Just the three of us. It should be fun! Tomorrow we have the annual Newton family reunion in Dublin, Texas. We have not been able to go for the past several years, so we are anxious to show Bailey off and eat all of that good home cooking!

We have been so busy since summer began. Bailey had his music and gymnastics classes, which he loved. And the week after next he starts swim lessons. We have been getting together with friends for spray park visits and lunches at Chick-Fil-A. Last week was VBS and I taught 5th grade storytelling, so Bailey was able to attend VBS (it is officially for kids starting kindergarten and up, unless your parent is working it). As you can imagine, Bailey is still recovering!

Last weekend we went to my dad's with our neighbors and went water skiing. Everyone had a great time! We spent all day Saturday out on the boat and Bailey loved every minute of it. He loves to feel the wind on his face. If the boat would stop moving he would say "more boat".

Each day I am amazed at how much he is learning. He is really able to express himself (for example, he just said "mommy, what are you doing?").

Unfortunately, my grandmother has been in the hospital for 11 days. She fainted in her front yard and it seems to have gone downhill from there. They think it was caused by a medication combination that affected her sodium level, but it seems more problems keep popping up. We are all ready for her to be well enough to go home. My aunt has been with her practically 24/7 and when my mom isn't at work she is up at the hospital. Everyone is exhausted! Please keep her in your prayers.

Here are a few recent pictures of Bailey

Summer Fun

2008-06-05T18:16:00.007-05:00

This week, my cousin, Dallas & her family were in town. Bailey got to play with his cousin, Nora, who is just 3 months older than he is. They had a great time together. Even though they don't get to see each other often, when they do, they pick right up where they left off.
Monday we took the kids to the zoo. It was hot, but we packed a picnic lunch & the whole family came for the fun. The kids had a blast watching the animals. Dallas got some great pictures of Bailey & Nora, but I forgot my camera. She is going to email them to me, so maybe I can upload them later.
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, my Aunt (Dallas' mom) invited us to her country club for fun filled days of swimming, lunch & lots of ice cream. Let me tell you, that is the life! Both Bailey & Nora had swim lessons this week. The first day they did great! They were jumping off the edge of the pool & going under the water! We were so impressed! Today; however, they both cried for most of their lesson. Oh, well. Maybe they will progress as the summer goes on.

We were sad to see them leave today, but look forward to August when we will all be meeting in Florida. 19 of my family members will be going for a week & all staying together under one roof (a very large roof). It will be a great week!

Well, we have moved Bailey into his full sized bed. So far, he seems to love it. He really likes laying on his pillows & snuggling up under the covers. Not to mention, all of the stuffed animals you can fit in that great big bed! He loves being able to easily get in & out of his bed. And he loves showing his new bed off. Whenever someone new comes over he takes them into his room & shows them how to get on & off his bed.

This summer Bailey is taking music class & gymnastics class. Both classes have met once so far, & I think he is going to enjoy it. If it goes well, I might try to continue at least one of them throughout the school year. In July he will take swimming lessons again, so I hope to have him in the water frequently between now & then so that he can get comfortable with the water. If the past week is any indication of how our summer will be, then we are off to a great start!

Mother's Day & Bailey's Birthday

2008-05-13T14:32:00.005-05:00

This was my 3rd mother's day & it was the best one yet. This year Bailey's birthday fell on mother's day & I can't think of a better mother's day gift than my son's birthday! I can't believe Bailey is 2! The time has just flown by so quickly!

The day before we had Bailey's birthday party. It was a hot day, but breezy, so it wasn't too bad. The kids had fun playing at the park & eating cake. Bailey got some great gifts, including a little car, a tricycle, a picnic table & a swingset! They are all big hits, but Bailey could swing & ride his "I-iycle" all day long!

Yesterday we had Bailey's 2 year check up & everything looks great. The doctor even said it is time to begin potty training (I was actually thinking about waiting 6 months before we started... oh, well), so I guess I'd better start reading up on how to potty train. We don't even have a potty chair. I have heard that boys are harder to train than girls, so it should be fun. However, considering I recently purchased a large box of diapers from Sam's, I intend to get my money's worth & wait until we use all of the diapers.

Here is a short list of Bailey's accomplishments at 2 years of age:

-can count to 14

-knows all 26 letters

-can spell his name (I will ask him which letter comes first, what's next, etc. & he knows!)

-knows all primary colors

-knows the following shapes: triangle, circle, oval, square

-talks in very short sentences (mommy, come here. no bed. no mommy)

-has FINALLY, after a year of rejection started eating meat again. Yay! A major accomplishment!

Our trip to Washington D.C.

2008-04-29T14:03:00.004-05:00

We have been so busy lately! Between birthday parties, church events & our recent vacation, we are rarely home!

We left on Thursday afternoon to fly to Baltimore where our friends, Justin & Amy picked us up & we headed to their home in D.C. Justin is a Captin (soon to be Major) in the Airforce JAG & they are currently stationed in D.C. (quite a change from their last location of Italy). Jay, Justin & Amy were in law school together
We jam-packed a ton of stuff into 2 1/2 days. Justin & Amy did a great job of being our tour guides. We saw all of the monuments, the Museum of natural history, the archives, the Capital, the White House, Holocaust museum, pentagon, arlington national cemetary, the zoo, the National Cathedral, & Mt. Vernon.

Bailey was such a trooper! He was in a great mood overall, with very few breakdowns. He caught a few cat naps in his stroller, but basically missed his nap for 3 days. Justin & Amy were life savers! They were so hands on with Bailey & he absolutely loved them! They took turns carrying him, pushing his stroller, etc. Justin & Amy made it possible for Jay & I not to miss out on anything. For example, you have to be silent for both the changing of the guard & the JFK eternal flame at the cemetary. They volunteered to sit back with Bailey so Jay & I could see both of those things. Those are just 2 examples. They did so so so much to help. It was like Bailey had 4 parents that weekend! They only thing we couldn't get them to help with was diaper changes:)

We had such a great time & really enjoyed getting to see our friends. Hopefully, their next assignment will be a great vacation spot too!

Prayers Needed

2008-04-11T12:55:00.003-05:00

My sister-in-law, Julie, has asked me to post a blog on my website. The woman's name is Taylor Stapleton & Julie works with her mother-in-law. Taylor is pregnant & her baby has a genetic defect. The little boy will either be stillborn or may live a short time. It is a very sad situation & at this time they are trying to decide their birth plan & what/if any medical intervention to take, should their son be born alive.

On Taylor's blog (which is to the right of my blog under "blogs of peopel i think are cool") is another website titled http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/ . I really recommend visiting this site. They were on the Today show also.

Please take the time to visit these sites. I know all prayers are appreciated.

Scary!

2008-03-27T11:22:00.004-05:00

Did anyone see the Today show this morning? Apparently, a new study shows the cost of raising a child from birth -17 years is $204,000 per child! Although, if you have 1 child you spend 23% more than that & if you have 3 children you spend 23% less. Keep in mind, they said this only covers the basics. It does not include college. They said by the time our kids reach college age it will cost $124,000 to send your child to a public college (Go Tech!) &; $294,000 to send your child to private school. 2 is sounding like a nice round number:)

I did not do an Easter post because I just now downloaded the pictures off my camera. We had a fun-filled & BUSY day. Here are a few cute pics of Bailey.

22 Months!

2008-03-11T14:08:00.005-05:00

Today Bailey is 22 months old. It's hard to believe he will turn 2 in just a few weeks!

A funny thing happened yesterday that I had to post about. Bailey hit Jay in the face, so he had to go to time out until he was ready to tell Daddy "sorry". So, he sat in time out, screaming at the top of his lungs....after about 1 minute I asked him if he was ready to tell Daddy "sorry". He gets up, walks right up to Jay, looks at him...then, promptly turns around & goes back to sit in time out. Talk about stubborn!!! I'll admit, we were tempted to laugh, but stuck to our guns. Even though we were due at our neighbor's house for dinner, we made Bailey stay in time out until he was ready to apologize. Usually, Bailey is quick to say "sorry", but last night he wanted nothing to do with it. I think he was in time out nearly 5 minutes before he decided he was tired of being there.

I shared this story with the nursery workers at our church this morning & they were shocked. They said Bailey is so laid back & never would have characterized him as strong willed. I am thrilled he is so well behaved at church, but would love for that to overlap into our home life.

I got a new camera over the weekend. My cousin, Dallas got this camera recently & loves it. My sister-in-law got the same camera after reading about it on Dallas' blog. So, we got it too. I am loving it! We were really starting to miss some great photo opportunities because of the delay on our camera & "hey, Bailey, do that again" wasn't really working. He is so active & I really want to capture all of that.
.We have converted Bailey's crib to the toddler bed. The first week went well, come to find out he was using the time to plan his escape. It sarted with naptime today. He pushed on his bed protecter thing so hard that it, Bailey & half of his mattress ended up onthe floor. It scared him bad enough that I was pretty sure he wouldn't try that again. I was right. He soon decided he needed a new plan. He has somehow managed to sqeeze himself through the 6 inch space between the headboard and the protector. And boy, is he quick! One one hand, it could be a good thing, he can learn to stay in his bed & that will help later on. That being said, I am open to suggestions on how to keep him in his bed.

The good thing, is that his changing table has been converted to a dresser, so there is more room for cute stuff:)

February Update

2008-02-20T10:51:00.003-06:00

I feel like I say this a lot, but I am constantly amazed by how much Bailey is learning every day! His newest acheivment is counting to 10. It is so cute. He has also been working on his shapes. He knows circle & oval really well & can recognize square & triangle, but can't pronounce them.

We are definitely into the "terrible two's". Even though officially, he has 3 months to go, we are seeing very clear signs! He loves to throw temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way. All he wants to eat are cheetos, fruit loops & cupcakes. I can not tell you how many nights he has gone to bed without dinner because he could not have these items. Time out is what we are using as our main type of punishment. It seems to work well. He has a "time out" spot & will actually sit there until he stops crying or is ready to comply with our request.

Here are some cute pictures that I took of Bailey.

God is Good

2008-02-03T14:36:00.000-06:00

Jay has a new job! It is at a firm in Ft. Worth. The interview process moved very quickly (3 weeks. Which is very fast in the legal world). He had a phone interview, an in person interview, then on Friday, 4 of the partners took Jay & I to dinner at the Reata, after I was given a tour of the offices. We had a really nice time & spent about 4 hours with them. We were able to get to know them on a personal level & they made a point to ask me if I had any questions for them. I thought that was nice (especially, since I had a few). They called Jay Saturday morning to offer him the job. We are very excited. For many reasons, this is the perfect fit for us. They are, by their own admission a "family first" firm. They treat their employees excellent, & rarely lose them. This firm has everything we've been looking for, plus SO much more.He will begin at his new firm in 2 weeks.

Bailey is doing great! He is still throwing temper tantrums, but for the most part, they aren't too bad. He has to go to time out whenever he throws a tantrum, which he hates. He knows where his time out area is, & knows to stay there until he quits crying. He follows the rule pretty well. He has a major love of books. He loves to look at books & has us read to him many, many times each day. He is working really hard on his colors, letters, & starting to show an interest in numbers. He just soaks up information like a sponge! He has a few songs that he likes to sing a long to. It's cute to see him sing the words he knows. His vocabulary is really expanding. It seems like every day he learns a new word!

We're Back

2008-01-18T21:46:00.000-06:00

We made it home from our cruise! We had a wonderful time, had perfect weather, ate WAY TOO MUCH food and got nice tans. I definitely think 7 days away was too long. I think my limit for being away from Bailey is about 4 days. One thing that made it hard was not being able to call each day. Also, he got sick while we were gone. He got the bad cold that's been going around. The very congested cough, stuffy nose, runny nose, etc. He is on the mend, thank goodness.

While we were gone Bailey got accustomed to some things he is not allowed often at home....watching t.v., drinking coke, & sleeping with the adults. It has been major baby boot camp around here the past 5 days. That being said, I'm sure you can imagine all of the temper tantrums that have gone on. Now, I know he is not feeling his best, but Jay & I firmly believe being sick is no excuse for bad behavior! Today, Bailey did not get his way & threw a pudding cup across the living room, hitting the wall. He was promptly rewarded with a spanking. After his spanking he marched to the wall & stood facing it crying for 5 minutes. He thinks we can't see him if he faces the wall.

He has been very ugly to Jay this week. He doesn't want Jay even looking at him. When Jay comes near him he quickly turns & faces the nearest wall, stands there crying "no"

Right now, he is in his bed where he has been crying for 51 minutes. This has become our new routine. I am very ready for things to go back to normal! He wins, he has punished me for leaving him!

There have also been some posititve things this week. We are back to working on our letters (he is up to 14) and today for the first time he showed some interest in colors. Today we learned red, green, yellow, blue, & orange. I was very impressed with this new found knowledge. Also, he can count to 3 (my sister has heard him count to 4, but I have not, yet). He is learning new words every day & makes a real effort to try new ones.

...okay, we are up to 58 minutes of crying.....

Even though this has been a very tiring, trying and frustrating week, we are so glad to be home!

Christmas

2008-01-02T12:18:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! Bailey really enjoyed ripping the paper off the presents and he loves all of his new toys. Santa was good to him this year!

My cousin Dallas and her family came to Ft. Worth for a week, so Bailey was able to play with his cousin, Nora several times. She is 3 months older than him, so they make good playmates. He also got to see the "baby" (Nora's little sister, Elyn). We are still working on sharing, so that was a challenge. He is more than happy to share his "old" toys, but doesn't want anyone playing with his new Christmas toys.

Last week we had our Sunday School class over for dinner. Any child who sat in his new table and chair set did not go over well. Jay said that Bailey would try and pull their chair out from under them. I am sure we will be working on sharing for several years to come.

Bailey is learning more everyday! He can now say "please" and we are working on saying "help" and "yes ma'am". He knows 11 of his letters. He can pick them out and say what they are and make their sound. I am constantly amazed by his ability to pick things up so quickly! He has this shape bucket and he can put the blocks into the appropriate shape slot. He really is a genius:)

On Saturday, Jay and I are leaving on a cruise with 5 other couples. We are excited, but feel very sad about leaving Bailey. I can only imagine all of the things he will learn during the 8 days we are gone. He will turn 20 months while we are away. The hardest part will be the limited calls home we will be able to make. Last time we went out of town he got sick, so I think I am a little paranoid. I know he will have a great time with his Mimi, Grammy & Pop and Aunt Jill & Uncle Jarod.

Here are some pictures of the past 2 weeks.

A crazy few weeks

2007-12-09T21:16:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it has been almost 1 month since I last updated. Things have been pretty busy around here the past few weeks. I am enjoying all of the holiday hustling and bustling, but am also looking forward to things settling down.

Bailey's newest thing is being obsessed with Elmo, or Nelmo, as he likes to call him. He has already begun playing with his Hokey Pokey Elmo doll, which is supposed to be a Christmas present. He found out that I had hid him in the guest room, so he would constantly go to the door, knock and whine, "Nelmo, Nelmo". I admit, I have given in a few times and let him play with it. I found a temporary replacement and it seems to help. It is a small Elmo beanie babie that goes with him most places. Tonight I was rocking Bailey and he was calling out in his sleep "Mama, Nelmo", "Mama, Nelmo" It was really cute!

We also got Bailey this Mickey Mouse stuffed animal that is as big as he is. He really loves it! He calls it "hot dog" (for any of you whose child watches the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, you are familiar with the hot dog song at the end of each episode).

Saturday, we went to brunch with Santa at the Fort Worth club. We had a great time (thanks Jim and Barbie!), but the kids were not crazy about Santa. It was pretty funny!

18 Months!

2007-11-13T19:43:00.000-06:00

Sunday was Bailey's 18 month birthday, so I thought I would list some of the things he is doing. This post is mainly for the grandparents and aunts/uncles. So, if you are a friend, thanks for bearing with me through this brag fest!

Of course, he is incredibly active! He can follow simple commands (ie. go get mommy a diaper and lie down or bring mommy your shoes). He loves to have tasks to do! He is such a helper! He is really good at helping to load/unload the silverware out of the dishwasher (usually, I am not wanting him to do this:))

He loves to build with legos and blocks and is really good at it! He likes to pull his stuffed animals around in his little wagon. He love to play on his swingset and in his sandbox.

He knows sign language for "more", "ball", "finished", "elephant", & "zebra"

I could go on and on, but I will end with a list of words that Bailey is saying.

Mama

Dada

Shoe

Sock

Outside

Inside

Water

No (surprisinly, he RARELY says this)

Uh oh

Bye Bye

I love you

Mmm good

Ouch
Hot
Cold

Car

Bath

Cool

Cheese (smile for the camera)

Ooh doggy (thanks granddaddy)

Bailey (which sounds like Bay)

Pop (what he calls Jay's dad)

Jack (a friend of his)

Trick or Treat (sounds nothing like trick or treat, but he carries around his halloween bucket, knocks on the door and says deek o deek)

night night

Here you go

Trick or Treat

2007-10-27T14:48:00.000-05:00

Even though it is not officially Halloween, we have already attended 3 Halloween events. We are going to get our money's worth from Bailey's monkey costume!

We went to Boo at the Zoo (a fun trick or treating event at the Fort Worth Zoo that included cool pumpkin carvings, seeing the animals and more!), a party at our church and THE MOST AMAZING Halloween carnvial you could imagine (at the Ft. Worth Club, where my in-laws are members)! The carnival had a bounce house, craft stations, picture taking, caricature drawings, snakes from the zoo, a juggler, a balloon animal maker and several children's games. Then there was the food....from funnel cakes and mini corn dogs to mac and cheese and roast beef sandwiches (and that's just to name a few)! A desert table and even better, an ice cream bar!! They even had Halloween margaritas! They also had a D.J. and a dance floor for the kids to get their groove on!

Believe it or not, we still have more parties to attend! Our social calendar hasn't been this busy since Bailey was born! I am excited that this year Bailey will be able to go trick or treating on Halloween. He is really good at knocking on doors, so I think he will have fun.

September at the Newton house

2007-10-05T13:31:00.000-05:00

We have been so busy lately! Time is just flying by and Christmas will be here before we know it! Our weekends seem to fill up before I realize what's happened! Jay and I ran our second half marathon (well, technically it was a 20k, which is about a 1/2 mile shorter than a half marathon). We had a great time and got our workout in before 10 am!

Bailey is getting cuter by the day, if I do say so myself. He is learning so much, so fast. At Sunday school they have taught him something pretty cute. They say "Bailey, show me your pretty eyes" and he bats those long eyelashes at them. He knows it's cute and really gets a kick out of it.

He has these new houseshoes that his Mimi got him that he loves to wear! He LOVES wearing shoes. Every day he bring me his shoes and says "Shoes" and sits down ready for me to put them on. He also loves trying to wear mommy and daddy's shoes. We put my tennis shoes on him the other day and he walked around in them FOREVER!

Right now we are learning about Noah and the Ark. He loves to make the animal sounds as he puts them in his toy Ark. I am not sure how much of the story he is grasping, but I figure if I keep telling it at some point things will start to sink in. At any rate, he loves playing with the Ark and the animals that go in it.

First Day of School

2007-09-12T13:22:00.000-05:00

Well, the first day of school was a SUCCESS!! He did cry when I left, but was in a great mood when I picked him up. His teachers said he did great! Ate well, napped well, and played well. They say he was very easygoing and laid back! Today was his second day and when I dropped him off, I was prepared for crying, but he stretched out his arms to his teacher and was ready to play! What a relief!!

I know this is a short post, but I have to leave to pick up Bailey. Enjoy the pictures

I Wuv Ooh!

2007-08-27T14:13:00.000-05:00

This is Bailey's first sentence! It is so adorable to hear him say "I love you." Even though he can't say his "L's" or "Y's", it is very obvious what he is saying. I tear up every time he tells me his new sentence. He is doing some very cute things these days! Today, I put him in his crib for nap time. Clearly, he wasn't tired because I checked on him 30 minutes later and he was laying quietly on his back reading a book! He was flipping the pages and studying each one carefully. It was unbelievably cute! He played very quietly in his crib for 1 hour before falling asleep. WOW!

This weekend we went to my Dad's and took Bailey out on the lake. He really loves being on the boat. It is so calming to him. We also went to Chuck E Cheese's for the first time. Suprisingly, he was not scared of Chuck E. Me, Jay and my dad won lots of tickets playing games, so I think it was a fun evening for everyone.

Next week Bailey starts mother's day out, so I will be sure to write about how it went!

Going To School

2007-08-13T14:36:00.000-05:00

Bailey will be starting day school (mother's day out) next month. I am a little nervous for him to be away from me all day, but I know it will be good for him. He is going one day a week and I will be able to get some errands done and maybe even get the house cleaned!

I am in a group at church called CCM (caring christian mothers). Our fundraiser for the year is actually something very practical and useful and I encourage you all to buy it :) They are labels from http://www.stuckonyou.biz/ I ordered some to label Bailey's sippy cups for school. You can also get ones that iron on to your child's clothes. They have permanent and removable labels. They also have address labels if you don't need any for your child (If you do order some, put FUMC Hurst in the fundraiser box).

Bailey is 15 months old and has 12 teeth! Four of them are molars, so we had a few rough nights while they were cutting through. He can run now, so that makes life interesting! We are keeping busy and trying to stay out of this heat. We have been swimming several times this summer and Bailey does pretty good. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their August!

Movin' & Groovin'

2007-07-16T12:57:00.000-05:00

Since last I have posted several things have happened:

1. We celebrated the 4th of July with family
2. Bailey has become an expert walker
3. Bailey went to his friend, Aidan's birthday party
4. Two of Bailey's top molars have broken through
5. Bailey's cousins have moved into our neighborhood

On the fouth we went to the Concert in the Gardens and it was really great! My Aunt Donna took everyone. Bailey's second cousin, Nora was in town, so Bailey had another baby to hang out with. Don't they look cute?

Dallas and Nora were in town for a week, so the kids had several opportunities to play together. I think they had a great time!

Bailey is walking with no trouble now. He can even walk well with shoes on. I think he will be running soon because he tries to go so fast! He is really enjoying this new level of mobility! He also just got his first two molars. I am very excited about this because meat will be easier for him to eat. It takes him so long to chew meat (especially chicken) so I am hoping this will speed up the chewing process for him.

Our family went to Houston over the weekend to visit Chris, Theresa and Aidan. It was Aidan's first birthday party. It was great to see them and their new house! We really enjoyed getting to visit and watch the boys play. One of the toys Aidan got was a motorized ATV for children. Aidan was not too interested in it, but Bailey thought it was the BEST thing EVER!

Jay's sister, Julie and her family bought a house one street behind us! We are so excited! Now, Bailey and Andrew are getting to play together all the time! Also, it's great for last minute babysitting! So, as you can see, it's been a very busy month and it's only half over!

Our Beach Vacation

2007-07-01T16:28:00.000-05:00

Wow, I didn't realize it had been almost 1 month since I last posted! We got back from our vacation last week. We had a wonderful time! It was so relaxing! Me, Jay, Bailey, Julie, Ava, Andrew, Jim & Barbie drove down to Port Aransas and spent 3 days just hanging out at the beach, the pool and the condo. It rained on Saturday, but we really enjoyed being lazy in the condo. It was a large, 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo so there was more than enough room for all of us. It had a full kitchen so we were able to cook some of our meals.

The kids had a great time too! Andrew was scared of the ocean, but loved the sand. Bailey did not like the sand at first, but quickly warmed up to it. He was very cautious of the ocean at first, but ended up enjoying it. Both boys LOVED the pool and Ava was unaware of both:)

Bailey is walking like crazy now. He has been for a few weeks. He will revert back to crawling when speed is his main concern! Enjoy the slideshow!

First Haircut

2007-06-09T17:37:00.000-05:00

Although Bailey does not have alot of hair, the hair he does have has gotten long and unruly. I have included a "before" photo so you can adequately see his "rat tail"

He was extreemly well behaved during his haicut. He sat very still and quiet and enjoyed looking at himself in the mirror. He looks like a "real" boy now. He had SO much hair cut off his little head.

We're Walking...Sort of

2007-05-30T09:47:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, May 20th Bailey took his first steps alone. He took 2 steps 2 different times. Of course, as soon as we grabbed the video camera he stopped. Since then he has walked 3 or 4 times, just a couple of steps each time. He will not walk on command, he has his daddy's stubborn streak :). He stands alone all the time and if he is standing and wants to get to something he will try to walk to it, but usually sits down (then claps for himself) before he reaches his intended target. I have a feeling it will still be a few weeks before he is walking routinely.

We spent the weekend at my dad's skiing with some friends. We had a great time and Bailey loved being on the boat. Luckily, this trip Jay did not break any bones (Last time Jay cracked a rib while skiing, but it didn't slow him down any). Bailey even got to ride on the intertube and Yes, I realize Bailey is wearing pink sunglasses. We forgot his and a little girl had left these in my Dad's boat.

Yesterday Bailey got his 12 month shots. 5 of them! It was not fun. Afterwards, mommy and Aunt Jill took Bailey to get ice cream at Chick-Fil-A. He seemed to feel pretty good yesterday, but today has been running a fever and has been very whinny, wanting to be held. He really wants to go outside, but it's raining, so that is not helping his mood. Luckily, no more shots for 6 months.

Birthday Boy

2007-05-14T13:03:00.000-05:00

Friday was Bailey's first birthday. He had a great day! He had lunch with his daddy and then cake at daddy's work. Saturday was Bailey's party and we had quite the turnout! Almost 50 friends and family. It was hot, but fun. Bailey had his very own cake and ate half of it! I am NOT exaggerating!

He even fell asleep while eating it. But that didn't stop him! He was literally eating in his sleep. It was very cute!

We had a geat mother's day too. Bailey was such a sweetie all weekend!Our friends came down form Houston for Bailey's party and he had fun playing with their little boy. Enjoy the slideshow.

My kid eats poop!

2007-05-03T13:24:00.000-05:00

We were over at our neighbors for a cookout the other night and Bailey is happily playing in the grass. I see him chewing something and assume it is leaves or grass because he is obsessed with eating both. Occasionally he gets a piece of bark in there, so I have to keep a close eye on him. So, I go over to him and stick my finger in his mouth to see what he is chewing on and ....I pulled out dog poop! I was disgusted!! Our neighbors have 2 dogs, but are always sweet enought to pooper scoop before Bailey plays outside. Clearly, they missed a piece, and out of the entire back yard, my child finds the poop.

Bailey is doing great! He is not yet walking by himself, but loves to do it if I am guiding him. He has also begun to stand alone for a few seconds at a time. He has added another word to his vocabulary. "Bye-Bye" Accompanied with a wave. Any time we go into the garage he waves and says "bye-bye".

Unfortunately, Bailey has had some wheezing problems. He has had to use a nebulizer twice since December. We are monitoring it closely and hoping it's not asthma, but will be a while before we know that.

The next time I post, Bailey will be 1 year! His birthday is Friday, the 11th. The past year has gone by so quickly, I can't even describe it! It has been a wonderful year, the best year of my life! Bailey is such an amazing blessing and I am so fortunate to be a SAHM.

"Uh-Oh"

2007-04-21T18:31:00.000-05:00

These are the words Bailey uttered last week! He has been saying "mama" and "dada", but this is his first "real" word. He even knows when to use it. He will throw something and then say "uh-oh" and sometimes he says it and then throws something. It is so cute (unless he is throwing his spaghetti on the wall!).

Last week he got pink eye for the first time. It was not fun! He didn't feel bad, but did not like having his eyes cleaned! Unfortunately, a gross nose came along with it. Below is a picture of him right after he woke up. You can tell his little eye is matted shut. I couldn't resist!

We also went to Bailey's great granddad's brithday party.It was at Jay's parents farm, so it was very relaxing! I got some pictures of him with his cousins and swinging, which he loves! The biggest news of all is that our little niece, Ava Grace was born on Friday. She is so beautiful!! She's so tiny and sweet! My sister-in-law, Julie, is doing great and they are already back at home.

(The slide show moves kind of slow, click the plus sign on the bottom left to speed it up).

Play Dates

2007-04-13T14:24:00.000-05:00

Lately Bailey has had several play dates which he has really enjoyed! Below is a slide show.

Some of you have asked about Bailey's Easter pictures. Somehow, I managned NOT to get any pictures of Bailey in his Easter outfit, but did get a few after he changed clothes. Oops!

I Survived!

2007-04-01T14:42:00.000-05:00

This morning, Jay and I competed in a HALF MARATHON (Impressed? Me too!)! The best part is, I am alive to write about it:) Actually, it wasn't that bad. We had a great time and we finished in 2 hours 23 minutes. We ran the entire 13 miles without stopping to rest! I have to say, I am a little amazed that we were able to run the whole way. As many of you know, my form of exercise is running; however, I only do 3 miles, 5 times per week. Other than that, I occassionally run 5-6 miles and have ran in a 10k. So, this was, by far, the furthest I have gone. I am very proud of myself. I could not have done it without Jay. He was my cheerleader/coach (slow down, lengthen your stride, you can do it, almost there). These words of encouragement were very helpful and much needed once we hit mile 11. My body started to fight me once we got that far. Everything hurt! But there was NO WAY I was going to walk after having made it 11 miles!! I know tomorrow morning I will be in a lot of pain, but it's worth it!

On the Bailey front, everything is going great! He is growing so fast and getting into everything! We are having so much fun. We have joined a mom's group and really like it and are planning on joining a play group through our church. That would make 2 play groups, music class and CCM (caring christian mothers). We are staying busy and I love getting Bailey together with other children and I enjoy getting to spend time with other mothers. It is so fun for Bailey and I to get to do these things together. I want to spend as much time with him as I possibly can. Time is going by way too fast!

Pajama Day

2007-03-16T17:31:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while Bailey and I have pajama day. We stay home the entire day and just play in our p.j.'s. Today was one of those lazy days and I got some cute pictures of Bailey.

Prayers Needed

2007-03-10T11:05:00.000-06:00

I have attached a blog that I would like for all of you to read. This family definitely needs our prayers. The McCall Family was in Lubbock the same time Jay and I were and we got to know them through my sister-in-law, Julie. Julie and Jordan taught school together in Lubbock and were very good friends and have remained in touch. Jordan just gave birth to her second child one week ago, and yesterday underwent surgery to remove a tumor. There are still two tumors, one in her lungs and one in her liver. Please pray for Jordan and her family.

www.themccallfamilytx.blogspot.com

Good Friends

2007-03-06T21:32:00.000-06:00

Tonight was a great night. We had the rare treat of getting together with some friends from law school, Justin and Amy. They are currently stationed in Italy, so we have only seen them one time in the past 14 months. Me, Jay, and our other friend from law school, Jennifer, met them for dinner (where Justin and Amy paid...thanks again guys!). (We went to Joe T.'s where my beautiful cousin Marty was working) It was so great to see them and hear about everything they have been up to. Last time we saw them I was pregnant, so this was their first time to meet Bailey. Of course, they thought he was cute:) It was so fun to catch up on everthing! They have had the opportunity to do a lot of traveling and have experienced so much! Including skiing in Austria! (if you want to see pictures of the places they have visited, their blog is linked to mine) They got to hear all about Bailey, Jay's job and Jennifer's upcoming wedding. You know people are good friends when you get together and it seems like no time has passed even though it's been a year. Unfortunately, it will probably be 1 1/2 years before they are back in the states. Thank goodness for the internet! The only thing that would have made the evening better is if Chris & Theresa and Job & Ashley had been there. Who knows when/if we will all be in the same place at the same time.

Bailey is doing great! He has 2 teeth on top and 2 more coming in. He will walk while holding onto furniture or while pushing he little bike. He is really into mimicking right now and it is very cute. It's hard to believe that he will be 10 months in less than 1 week. And, for those of you who don't know, my birthday is next week. I will be 27. Not exactly an exciting birthday. Certainly not like the big 18 or 21'st birthdays. I guess the next big one will be 30. We are going to the Mavericks game for my birthday and I am very excited. My sister and her husband are going too. GO MAVS!

Hickery Dickery Dock

2007-02-23T16:11:00.000-06:00

Yup, that's right, Hickery Dickery Dock. Bailey and I have joined a music class! When I tell people this, I get strange looks. I know Bailey is only 9 months, but music is important and fun. Even at such a young age (I have a degree in Human Development, so don't argue with me)! There is this class at our church for mommy's (or daddy's) and babies. It meets once a week and we have so much fun! We clap our hands, dance around, ring jingle bells, sing and tons of other cool things. Bailey really likes it and is very mesmerized by everything going on around him during the class. The other week when the jingle bell bucket went around, Bailey reached in and grabbed one and started shaking it! He is SO smart (and I'm not just saying that because I am his mother:))!

He is slowing starting to eat less baby food and more table food. Still no meat, but everything else. He loves chewing (or gumming) food! He has two bottom teeth, two top teeth and two more about to break through on top. He is still cruising around furniture like crazy and I am hoping he will take his time in the walking department.

Today, Bailey's second cousin, Nora turned one! AND, my mother's birthday is today too. Almost one week ago our good friends from college, LeeAnn and Rhett had their first child. A daughter named Riley! New babies are so exciting! Congratulations Newberry Family!

Blessed!

2007-02-07T14:37:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to take a few minutes to say how grateful I am to have Bailey and how blessed we are that he is healthy. I have been reading some other blogs, ones I have found through friends. I have been reading some updates on some sick babies. One was just diagnosed with cancer, one is having seizures, and one past away recently. As a mother, I cannot imagine experiencing any of these things. It is such a good reminder of how much I have to be thankful for. As I am typing this, I am watching Bailey pull the soil out of my plant and onto the floor and I am so glad that he is able to do that! Even though he is making a huge mess and will most definitely throw a fit when I make him stop, I am so grateful that he is healthy enough to destroy my house! So, everyone who has a healthy child, please take a moment to thank God!

Bailey is doing wonderfully! Here is a list of his latest accomplishments:

His second tooth has broken through
He is nearing the end of "his crying through the night" phase
He had spaghetti for the first time last night and LOVED it!
He had a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch and loved it as well!
Squash is still his favorite vegetable (he can't get enough) and still loves anything banana
His hair is long enough to comb (into a style) everyday
He is cautiously starting to cruise
Fearlessly still pulling up on everything in sight!
He "only wants his mommy"...poor Jay, it's breaking his heart!

Need A Good Laugh?

2007-01-26T14:32:00.000-06:00

My cousin posted this on her blog and I had to share it with you. It is hillarious! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF-rGQUni6A

Dare Devil

2007-01-20T17:15:00.000-06:00

Bailey is quite the dare devil. Since he has begun crawling and pulling up, he is not afraid of anything! He looks for everything he can to pull up on; making me very nervous. I try not to run around behind him saying "no" or "be careful". I know he has to learn and I don't want to make him scared to try new things. I posted a picture of his injuries...look closely and you can see a bloody lip, bumps and scrapes. I know there are more to come.

This weekend we went to Bailey's great great grandmother's (Grandmother Johnson) 100th birthday party. What a milestone! We were so excited to go because she had never met Bailey before. As many of you know Bailey's name is a family name on Jay's side. Grandmother Johnson's husband was the first Bailey and it has been used every generation since. We are proud to carry on the tradition and Grandmother Johnson was thrilled that we used her husband's name.

Crawling!

2007-01-09T17:48:00.000-06:00

Well, he has finally done it! On January 3rd Bailey started crawling. He does not crawl all the time, only when he has a purpose. I know soon he will be crawling all the time, for no particular reason.

We went on our ski trip over the weekend and had a great time. The snow was perfect! Bailey wasn't quite sure what to think of the snow. I think he thought it was too cold:) He looked so cute in his snow suit. My sister got pictures of him, so once I get them from her I will upload them.

It was so nice to get to ride in a motor home. It really made the trip a lot nicer! Unfortunately, on the way home Sunday it was clear that Bailey was not feeling well. Turns out that he has an ear infection. It is obvious that it is extreemly painful. He has not been sleeping at night and cries all the time. I feel so bad for him. He started antibiotics today, so hopefully he will feel better soon.Poor kid just can't get well.

I will try and post some pictures with this, but for some reason it never uplaoded the pics from my last post.

Christmas

2006-12-31T08:28:00.000-06:00

We had wonderful Christmas! Christmas Eve, we spent time with both families and had a great day! We woke up at our house Christmas morning and watched Bailey play with the toys that Santa got him. It was very cute. Then we went to Jay's parent's house and celebrated Jay's birthday and Christmas. We then went to my Grandmother's house and celebrated.

That evening we left Bailey with my mother because we had to get up very early the next morning. Me, Jay, my sister, Jill and her husband, Jarod all went to Vegas. We had a great time, but it was very hard to leave Bailey. The trip was fun and pretty uneventful until the last day. On Friday, I find out that Bailey has the croup and was put on breathing treatments. As you can imagine, on hearing this news I was VERY ready to get home to my baby! That afternoon we head to the airport for our flight home. Everything is going smoothly, we get there plenty early, get our tickets, get through security with no problem and head to find our gate. Only to discover our flight has been cancelled due to the tornados at DFW airport! So, we go back to the ticket line (which by this point has increased in size and there are only 2 attendants working). Get on the standby list for the 8 o'clock flight and get reservations for the 11 0'clock red eye, on a different airline just in case. We go back through security, ride the tram to our new gate only to discover that this flight has also been cancelled. So, we RUN back to the ticket line to get our tickets for the 11 o'clock flight that we had reserved earlier. The ticket line was unbelieveable. We waited for over 1 1/2 hours and maybe moved 20 feet. People were being told the earliest they could fly out was Sunday! We weren't worried because we had reservations...however, we start hearing a rumor that our red eye was in the process of being cancelled! Luckily, it did take off. It was 12:30 vegas time, but at least we left! We got to Weatherford to get Bailey at 6:00 am Saturday morning! Needless to say, it was a very long journey home!

Bailey is doing much better and is tolerating the breating treatments like a champ. He has a bottom tooth and can pull himself to a sitting position from laying down! He is not crawling yet, but I keep thinking any day he will. We are having so much fun! We leave for our ski trip on Thursay. It is a 12 hour drive, but we are going in a motor home, so I think it will be nice. Bailey got a portable dvd system for Christmas, so we will be taking it!

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's!

7 Months Old

2006-12-11T10:08:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it, Bailey is 7 months old toay! I know I have said it a million times, but, TIME FLIES! He is doing so many new things! Here is a list:

the beginings of a tooth is visible (barely)
he can eat small pieces of table food
he is sitting up unassisted and barely ever falls over
he is starting to try and pull up
he gets up on his hand and knees and rocks back and forth...crawling is just around the corner

We had family pictures taken over then weekend and they went great! As you can see from the above picture, Bailey is so easy to please and was such a ham for the camera! I will upload more later, but these are Chrsitmas gifts, so I don't want anyone to see the picture they are getting.

Our computer is on the fritz...again! It is constantly freezing up on me! Getting the hard drive repaced did not fix all of the problems, apparantly. Luckily, my dad is getting us a new one for Christmas. It is a much needed and much appreciated gift!

Hope everyone is enjoying the days leading up to Christmas. I know we are. We just love going to the malls on the weekends and push Bailey around in his stroller. It is one of his favorite things to do and it is so fun to watch him enjoy himself so much!

Exciting News!

2006-11-28T20:19:00.001-06:00

As many of you know, my sister-in-law is expecting another baby in April. Well,...it's a GIRL!! We can't wait for our niece to arrive! We would have been thrilled with another boy (we are partial to boys:) ), but are SO EXCITED to welcome a little girl and I can tell that Bailey is excited to have another cousin. It is great having the boys grow up together and a little girl will add a great dynamic. It will be fun to see the difference between the boys and a little girl. I wonder if she will be roudy like the boys or a little miss priss. I can't wait to find out!

Also, wanted to let everyone know that we had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Bailey enjoyed himself and the mashed potatoes. He got to play with his second cousin, Nora. They played really well together. She is 9 months old, so they are very close in age.

We took Bailey to see Santa at the Galleria. At first he liked him, he was playing with his beard and everything. Then, all of the sudden, he started crying. It was cute. Bailey loved being at the mall. He is such a people watcher. He even reached out and tried to grab a kid that was walking by! What a cutie!

Helpful Hint

2006-11-08T14:10:00.000-06:00

As a single income family, I am always looking for ways to save money...using cupons, buying in bulk, etc. One of the luxery's I afford myself is having all of Jay's work clothes washed at the dry cleaners. Spending my days ironing his dress shirts is not my idea of fun. Trust me, it is an expense worth every penny! However, with sweater weather upon us, I am again looking to save some money. All of my sweaters are dry clean only, as are Jay's. So, I decided to look for another option so that I can continue my luxery of not ironing Jay's clothes. I have recently invested in Dryel...the dry clean at home product. I wanted to let y'all know how I feel it works (for those of you who may be interested in saving some money).

I would vote "no" on this product. One of the inserts said you could throw other items into your dryer while your dryel bag is in there. Another insert said not to put anything else in the dryer with it. You are suppose to be able to put up to 4 items into the bag each time. So, I put in a sweater, a shirt and a cardigan...all in the brown color family. Well, the sweater came out fine, the shirt came out very wrinkled and the cardigan had dye from one of the other items on it...it was ruined! Maybe someone has had different luck with Dryel. If so, let me know. Right now I am scared to try it again. As far as saving money goes; after I pay to replace my expensive cardigan, I could have over 20 garments dry cleaned professionally. ...Just my luck, Banana Republic no longer makes this cardigan. So, if anyone has the cream colored 3/4 sleeve one (...Jill) and would like to give it to me:).....

Rolly Polly

2006-11-03T13:27:00.000-06:00

At what age should parents stop sending out naked pictures of their children? Is there a cut-off age? I have no clue; therefore, I have included the cutest naked picture of Bailey (who is 6 months now). When we get him out of the bath, we swaddle him in one of his huge towels (Neiman's and Pottery Barn sell the best baby towels) and he loves to roll around on the floor in his towel and attempt to free himself. He laughs and squeels and just loves it! Well, I finally got a picture and just HAD to share. Isn't he cute?

Bailey has started saying "Mama" (sounds more like Baba). Of course he has no clue what he is saying, but it still makes my day every time he does it....although, he usually says it when I am trying to strap him in his car seat. He struggles to free himself, looks at me with very sad eyes and whines "Mama". He has also started scooting himself around on the floor. He no longer stays on his blanket full of toys. He always manages to scoot his little self off the blanket and plays wherever he ends up. He usually scoots backwards and I have been told that is the first step towards crawling! Noooo! I am NOT ready for that! Hopefully we still have a couple of months before we have to worry about that.

When Bailey was younger he use to enjoy hearing the sound of the vaccuum running. Not any more! He has recently become petrified of the vaccuum. This has proven to be quite the inconvenience. The other day I was so desperate to vaccuum, I actually took him over to our neighboor's house so she could watch him and I could vaccuum. We are slowly working on it though. I have found that if I smile at him the entire time I am vaccuuming he will give me this shaky smile back (as if to say "I don't know about this, Mom").

Our Little Pumpkin

2006-11-01T13:57:00.000-06:00

Well, Bailey had his first Halloween and he was a pumpkin. We did not take him trick-or-treating, but did dress him up and passed out candy. We got a lot of oohs and aahs. As expected :)

Bailey will be six months in a few days. He is eating baby food like a champ! The desert ones are his favorite! He also likes rice cereal mixed with fruit. He is working hard on sitting up. When he is propped up in front of his boppy he can sit up and play for about 5 minutes.

I think Bailey is teething. Of course, I have a lack of experience in this area, but I have been reading my parenting book and he seems to fit the symptoms. He is a very happy baby...as many of you know first hand. However, the past two days he has just laid around whining (and he IS NOT a whiner). He has had little interest in playing. He just wants to whimper. It is very sad. I have been trying many tricks (teething tablets, biting on a frozen washcloth, drinking ice water). These have helped some, but if anyone has any more suggestions, I am all ears.

Pumpkin Patch

2006-10-22T20:03:00.000-05:00

This weekend two of our closest friends, Chris & Theresa came to visit, along with their 3 month old son, Aidan. We had such a great time! We took the boys to the pumpkin patch and got a lot of cute pictures (check out our kodak gallery for all of the pics). As you can see from the picture, Bailey was more interested in licking the pumpkins than anything else. It was great to see them and to meet their little boy. They had only gotten to see Bailey one time before, so we had fun playing with the babies. Bailey was very interested in Aidan, grabbing for him, talking to him, etc. Aidan, being a few months younger, was not as interested in Bailey. He did enjoy watching him though.

A few weeks ago I wrote that Bailey had learned to roll over onto his tummy. Well, now he can roll over from his tummy to his back. He won't do it every time, but he can when he wants to. Also, we have set up his exersaucer and he really loves it. We have also set up his high chair which he really likes. He has slowly begun to tolerate some baby food. His favorite is bananas.

I will write more next weeks with pictures of Bailey in his Halloween costume!

Bailey's Baptism

2006-10-09T10:01:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, Bailey was baptized. He looked so cute in his shirt and tie (his Great Aunt Donna gave him the tie). It was a very special event, and many of our family members were able to come.

On Wednesday Bailey will be 5 months old. It is so hard to believe! As you can see from the picture, he is trying to sit up. However, it is more like propping up, I guess. He is so cute!

Ok, I have to tell a funny story (sorry, Mom). On Friday night, my mother babysat Bailey while Jay and I went out for a couple of hours. We came home and my mom tells me that she lathered up Bailey's body with lotion and he really loved it. I was surprised that she knew where I kept his lotion. Well, as it turns out, she didn't. She showed me what she had put on him....it was diaper rash cream! She thought it was just a really thick lotion. It was very funny and Bailey smelled interesting!

Little Red Raider

2006-09-24T19:56:00.000-05:00

Saturday we took Bailey to his first Texas Tech game. We all had a great time. As you know, Jay was in the Goin' Band from Raiderland and Saturday was Alumni Band Day. Some of Jay's college band friends got to see Bailey for the first time. Bailey and I got to march down to the stadium with Jay and the band. Bailey loved all the music! It was a long day for him, but he did wonderfully!

Bailey is doing new things all the time. He can push up while on his tummy and is so proud of himself when he does it. He can also roll over from his back onto his tummy. Almost every time I lay him on his blanket to play, he immediately rolls onto his tummy (then after a few minutes cries because he can't get back to his back).

He had his 4 month appointment last week and his doctor said he is doing great. He is in the 70% for both weight and height (15 lbs and 26 inches). Jay and I are having such a great time with Bailey, he is such a wonderful baby with such a cheerful personality. We are so blessed!

Four Months Old

2006-09-14T21:12:00.000-05:00

Another busy week is coming to an end! We have had so much going on lately, I have been bad about posting. Our computer is at the repair shop, so I will not be posting pictures on this blog. I am hoping to hear something tomorrow about our computer and am keeping my fingers crossed that it will not cost a fortune to fix.

Jay is on a "guy trip" this weekend with Jarod and our neighbor. They went down to Corpus to dove hunt and fish. He was excited about going, but sad to leave Bailey. He left today and will be back Sunday, so it's the longest he has been away since Bailey was born.

Bailey is doing new things all of the time. He can push up now, and really enjoys being on his tummy surrounded by his toys. He can almost roll over. He is working hard, and only lacks getting one arm out from under him. We have been trying a little baby food the past week (he's not completely ready, so we just give him a few bites every now and then). Not a huge fan of the rice cereal. He acts like he is having convulsions (VERY DRAMATIC). He really likes bananas, but the peaches seem a little tart. Those are the only 3 things we have tried...aside from chocolate, whipped cream (thank you, Jim Newton) and popsicles (Jay gets credit for that), of course. Next week Bailey goes for his 4 month shots. I am hoping it is less tragic than last time. I am not sure either of us could go through that again!

Oh, for any of you reading Dallas' blog, she has the link to baby Max. I have included that link too. Please go to it if you have never read it before. Scroll down to the bottom and read from the begining. He is making little improvements each day and could certainly use continued prayers! http://julian-family.blogspot.com/

Our First Family Vacation

2006-08-31T18:40:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know it has been a long time since I have updated our blog. Our computer is sick with a virus and we haven't taken it in yet (I am using Jay's work computer and will have to upload pictures later).

I am sitting at the airport in Corpus and for those of you who have never been here, it is awful! There is one magazine stand and one little sandwhich shop. Needless to say, like good passengers we arrived 2 1/2 hours early. What a mistake! But, to the good part of our vacation...

Jay had 3 depositons over the past two days in Corpus, so he brought us along (because he flies so much for work, he had earned a free flight, which I got to use). Bailey was terrific on the flights. It can be very stressful to fly with an infant..my cousin Dallas can sympathize.

Surprisingly, each deposition only lasted 1 hour, so we had a lot of fun family time! Yesterday we went to the hotel pool (we got to stay at a very nice hotel because that was where the depos. were at) and went to lunch at a local place called Waterstreet. After Jay's afternoon depo. we drove our rental car to Port Aransas and took Bailey to the beach. He really liked the water. We only stayed 1 hour because we thought that was enough sun for Bailey (of course, only a small part of that hour was spent in the water. By the time we laid out the towels, put on Bailey's swimsuit and lathered him with sunscreen, etc. it had been 30 minutes. Oh, did I mention he needed to eat as soon as we got all settled :) ). Then we ate at the Crazy Cajun..they dump the food right on the table! cab legs, shrimp. corn and potatoes. It was great! We were all 3 exhausted by the time we got back to corpus, but had a great time. We took some pictures that I will upload at some point.

Since it has been so long since I have updated, I am sure there is more to write, but I can barely remember yesterday (hazard of being a new mom). Have a great Friday!