March 2012 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEY!!!

On March 4, 2012, we celebrated Bailey's first birthday. We can't believe how quickly this year has gone by. We are grateful for Bailey and can't picture our family without her. She is a little bundle of joy and is more and more like Ryan each day. More of that sappy stuff at the end. Let's check our Bailey's first birthday.

Good morning birthday girl!

I had a painting project to work on so we enjoyed breakfast outside. Bailey had her first pear and I think she enjoyed it.

Bailey is very curious and enjoys exploring. She likes to look out windows and see what's going on outside.

Bailey's birthday was on a Sunday, so we went to church and just hung out at home afterwards.

Bailey has watched Andrew and Ryan tickle each other (and tickle her too) and finally figured out that she can do it back to them.

 After dinner we had some of our friends come over to celebrate with us. 

We put her in her high chair and she was very confused when we started singing to her.

Then she saw the cupcake and the candle.

Ohhhh, what's that?

Make a wish.

Neither Andrew or Bailey got super excited about their first cupcake. She ate a little and then was "all done".

Happy Birthday Bailey

Andrew gave Bailey his special zebra, Sausy. It's rare that he shares him, so Bailey was pretty excited. That was his gift to her I guess.

Mama and the birthday girl.

My journal entry for Bailey:

                2/4 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEY! You are now one year old! I can’t believe how quickly this year went by. You are such an important part of our family. I can’t imagine life without you. You are a sweet darling baby girl who is growing up all too fast! You are mostly happy (except for when Andrew tackles you or pulls you down, but he’s getting better). You have been able to walk for a month now and can walk pretty well. You occasionally fall down when the ground is slanted a bit, but you don’t get frustrated and just get right back up. You LOVE your brother. You follow him around all day and just want to play with him. He’s a little stubborn and has a hard time sharing, but he’s getting better at that too. You love when he plays with you though and he makes you laugh more than either me or your dad make you laugh. (which, honestly is great, but I get a little jealous).  You also love your daddy so much. When he comes home from work you follow him into our room or wherever he goes. You point to anything and everything. If you want something, you point to it and stare so intently at it. You must think that if by staring at it, you will somehow get it. (which you usually do because we get it for you). You love phones. You put almost anything up to your face and tilt your head as if you’re “talking” on the phone. The funny thing is that you usually have the thing past your head and you are leaning on your arm so you’re really talking on your arm. Super cute. You can say, “mama” “dada” Andrew “Adew” ball “bah” shoe “shew” food “foooo” banana “nana”. When we wiggle our toes we say wiggle wiggle and you start to wiggle your toes too. You try to say “wiggle wiggle” but comes out weeeooo weeooo or something like that. Sometimes you will grab your toes (or our toes) and make them wiggle and say “wiggle wiggle”. You point to things and day “sha” maybe you’re saying that? I’m not really sure.

                You share pretty well with Andrew and other kids. You put up with a lot being a second child. Andrew can be pretty rough on you sometimes and you are usually a good sport about it. When you’re older and more mature than him, you can get back at him for it J You are patient and just usually happy. You like to wave at people and started to blow kisses really well! You even make the “mwah” sound and blow the kiss. It’s so cute! You are at a really fun age right now. I love how excited you get about things. You go “nigh night” on a pillow when we say it. If there is a pillow on the floor and we say “Bailey, go nigh night” you’ll walk over to the pillow and plop down and suck your thumb. When it really is bed time we will tell you it’s time for nigh night and you’ll walk down the hall to your room and to your crib. You are such a good girl. You also fall asleep pretty well. You have 4 teeth on top and 4 teeth on bottom. You also just had the chicken pox and unfortunately got to a couple scars so when you read this, know that I put Band-Aids over them so you wouldn’t scratch them and make them scar. You still did. Silly girl.

                We call you “Bailey Boo” “Princess” “Bay” and it’s really cute when Andrew calls you “princess”. “No, Princess, that’s my toy” or something like that.

                You are usually a pretty good eater although you do let us know when you’re done by throwing your food on the floor. You can sign “more” and “milk”. You like to eat most foods, but don’t love vegetables (like your daddy). Sometimes if I ask you if you need a new diaper you will walk over to our diaper changing area and pull out a diaper for me and sit down. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. You still squirm a lot when I’m trying to change your diaper though. If we tell you to get something “go get the ball!” you usually go happily and get it and play with it. You try to write on paper with crayons or markers. You point the remote to the TV and push the buttons (and successfully change channels sometimes).

 I can’t even tell you how many times we say “look how cute she is” during the day. You just walk cute, you have a cute smile and a cute look on your face all the time. You just started wearing pig tails and it is ADROABLE! You are just the stinking cutest kid ever! We are so luck to be your parents. We are grateful for you every day. (even when you wake up at night, which is more often than we’d like right now). You are worth every minute of it. We love you so much Bailey boo.

Happy Birthday Bailey Rose Kalea Kearns!

February 2012 - Kids updates & Video

Andrew (almost 3.5)

2-1-12 – Andrew wrote an email to my parents and included the alphabet both forwards and backwards and then the alphabet backwards skipping letters. (zxvt etc). He is ridiculously smart.

2-20-12 – Andrew looked at the photos of his learning time cards and typed out the following words on the computer by himself:

BED       SNOW       CAT       AND       DOG       BABY       SOCKS       HAT       BAT       NOSE       MILK       BOX       APPLE       CAR       TREE       RAIN       TRAIN       SPOON       MOUSE  CRAYON       AIRPLANE       HOUSE       COMPUTER       SOAP       ICE CREAM

2/25 – Andrew and I had the following conversation. I was getting ready to leave and we were saying goodbye:

A: I love you Mommy

S: I love you more

A: I love you a hundred

S: I love you to the moon and back times a million

A: I love you a million dollars!

(Sarah's journal entry:)

2/26 – I just wanted to take a moment and write about my little bubba. I’m super emotional right now so this will probably be sappy. I love my little boy. He is really a good kid. Sometimes I expect too much from him. A lot of the time actually. I think I’m trying to make him grow up too fast or something. I have a hard time sitting back and just playing on the floor. I feel my to-do list will never be completed and it hangs over my head when I do try to play. I am trying to declutter a bit right now so that I have less to invade my space and time with my kids. Andrew is so smart and funny and sweet (when he wants to be). I need to remember he is three, not ten. He’s a boy. He will test me and push me. He is EXACTLY like me so he knows what drives me bonkers. But he also loves me times a million dollars and there is no price tag for that. I need to journal more and catch up on the blog so I can record these sweet memories. I just need to make it a priority to not let my kid’s life pass before me. I KNOW I will look back in just a few short years and say, “I wish….” To so many things. I want to be a better mom. I want to be more involved, more fun. I want Andrew to be so excited to play with me. How do I do that and have time for myself too? I’m still figuring that out. Andrew is a love. He loves doing puzzles and is becoming very good at them. He continues to learn the states and probably knows more than I do at this point to be completely honest. He is up and down with Bailey. He likes to push her over with his head and she really doesn’t like that. He’s trying to play with her but we need to figure out a better way for him to play big brother. He does love Bailey though and is getting better. Again, he’s only three. I just hope Andrew knows how much I love him. I hope he knows that sometimes I get frustrated but I still love him. I might not be the most fun mom, but I still love him. I love him to the moon and back with all my heart.

Bailey (11months)

Bailey says food, "foooooooo" and shoe, "shu". She loves both and asks for them often. 

Bailey can stand up by herself without holding on to anything and start walking.

She can sign, "more" "food" and "all done"

She calls bananas "nanas!!" She never says it calmly. It's "if I don't get that "NANA" in my mouth this very second, I think I might die!"

Bailey loves music. If she hears music she will almost immediately stop what she is doing and dance. I love it! If she's really sad sometimes we put on some music and just dance around the house. She will even dance to commercials, or the intro music on some TV shows. She is so fun to be around!

Bailey started blowing kisses! Super cute.

Here is an example of what we do for "learning time" with Andrew.

Bailey loves her Daddy so much...(perfect for posting on Father's day!)

Bailey started to walk this month! This video is funny because she goes from walking and being happy to having a tantrum to standing on her head in less than a minute. (The sweater she is wearing was mine when I was her age)

This is just an evening playing with Bailey. Nothing particularly fascinating, just our daily life. :)

 

My FAVORITE video of February is of Bailey dancing. It was too long to upload on the blog, so check it out on YouTube Dance Bailey Dance!. Make sure you check that one out too! It's a bit longer, but it makes me smile :)   (if the link isn't working, copy and paste  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjUxAF8b8Bs)



The End! :)

February 2012 - part 2

Later in February, we went to a private preschool called, Children of the Woodlands. We took a tour and learned about their program. It is a good school (preschool - 2nd grade) and is hard to get into. We have a few friends who have kids that go there and they all love it. We thought it would be a good idea to get Andrew into something like this since he is a sponge for academics right now. We also thought it would be good for him to have more interaction with other kids outside of church and our homes. Andrew is incredibly smart when it comes to reading, writing, math, puzzles, patterns etc, but he's not at the same level emotionally or socially. We think he needs to be around other kids to learn how to interact and grow socially. As I said, the school is hard to get into and they held a "lottery" in February where they draw tickets to fill the empty spaces. Once you are in at Children of the Woodlands, you're in for good. So, if Andrew got in one year, he could get in any following year without having to be on a wait list or anything. Also, Bailey is automatically in. This is great, if you can get in. Unfortunately, we did not make it in the class for 3 year olds, but we were first in line on the wait list. Our chances are good!

Andrew decided he was done with his yogurt and gave the rest of it to Bailey. She has not fed herself yet with a spoon. She seemed to figure it out quite quickly.

(she claps when she does something good)

Not the best picture, but look at her super cute outfit with sparkly red shoes!!!!

She looks like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders.

I made this necklace! I LOVE it! A new favorite!!

Bailey's first pigtails! I was a proud Mama this day!

Daddy was proud of his little girl's first pigtails too.

The end :)

February 2012 - Part 1

Since I'm so far behind in our posts, I can't remember too well what actually happened in February. We might have had a super bowl party, but I can't be sure. A lot of our friends and family members had birthdays in February and little things throughout the month. Let's just move on to photos.

Bailey is 11 months old, Andrew is almost 2 and a half.

This makes me happy (but it also makes my shoulder hurt).

Bailey LOVES shoes.

Bailey also LOVES hats.

Although my outfit is unusual, it is quite common to see Andrew at his learning time table working on his writing, or doing a work book. He loves to learn.

I'm a proud Mama! He works hard and does very well.

Ohhhh yes. Now I remember February. Bailey got the CHICKENPOX! Maybe I have blocked out this month from memory because of that. Here is her first real yucky one. We thought it was an ant bite when we first saw it, which looks similar and is common here in Texas, so we didn't do anything about it. Then we noticed more and more and more.

She actually didn't have it that bad. She had a few big ones, but most were pretty little and didn't get to be big blistery ones. She could reach the ones on her legs and would pull up her pants to scratch them. She also had one on her neck so we had to put her in turtlenecks and long sleeves as much as possible. Sometimes we would just leave her in her jammies since they covered her so well and she couldn't get to her legs. She was a good sport about it. We gave her two (oatmeal) baths a day and used lots a calamine lotion (which is very thin and hard to put on a wiggly baby). She luckily didn't get any on her face. I have a lovely scar on my cheek from when I had the chickenpox. She was quarantined for almost two weeks and then was fine. The saddest part was she was scheduled to go see the doctor 3 weeks after her outbreak to get the chickenpox vaccine. Talk about bad timing! So she didn't get the vaccine but will get something (like a booster???) when she is older.

Some days were better than others. :(

Where did that cracker go?

Andrew likes to sit next to Bailey when they eat so he can share with her and she can share with him.

Hey Mom, I found a book! I'm going to read it. Look I'm reading it! Reading is hard, I need to rest.
(Side note: the shirt Bailey is wearing was one of mine when I was little)

He dressed himself. (He gets his fashion advice from Ryan)

The End :)