The Bailey Chronicles

May 2009: 6 months old

As a store manager for Best Buy, John works pretty long hours, usually 10+ a day 5+ days a week. Even though he is a busy guy he still finds a way to have one on one time with Bailey most days out of the week (the exception is when he is working one of those mid day shifts where he leaves right before she wakes up and gets home right after she has gone to bed for the night). On the days that he is scheduled to close the store and won't be arriving home until close to midnight he makes sure to wake up with her and spend the whole morning with her and even allows me to sleep in a little like a sweet husband and a good Daddy would do. We love him for all the little things that he does! I am not sure what all the two of them get into in the mornings except for what I over hear on the baby monitor when he surprises her at the crib, which she responds with a fit of laughter. I do know that part of their special morning routine involves jumping in the car to go get breakfast and I am pretty sure the other part of the morning involves Guitar Hero LOL. They are cute together, and I am so happy that she has a Daddy who tries so hard to stay involved in her day.

On a Very Serious Breakfast Mission with Daddy

May 2009: Six months old

Our big girl hit month six on Monday so John and I made a trip to the baby store to pick up her very own exersaucer! It's very cool. I never thought I would get so excited about my daughter's toys LOL. This particular model has a very unique feature to it. It has a built in walker, but a much safer version than a typical walker. It is stationary in the center and backside has wheels so when she is bigger she will have the ability to walk around the circumference of the exersaucer, but she will not actually have free range of the house. Down side is it is a little big, but it is so cool. The toys are bright and interactive, and the most important part is it is Bailey approved. She squealed with laughter when I put her in it and refused to nap for the rest of the day because she wanted to explore it some more.

This last pic is a result of an overstimulated very tired little baby, like I said she refused naps for the rest of the day so she could play

And another reason why I love this age so much...

It has been a LONG time since I have had 6 or more consecutive hours of sleep. I had more rest while I was pregnant, but I was ALWAYS sooo tired and was up and down all night and all day because I was either sick or I had a baby pressing on my bladder. Then my bouncing baby girl entered the world. My previous reason for feeling sleep deprived and tired had vanished and been replaced with a whole new set of reasons for the bags and dark circles under my eyes. Miss Bailey has a hard time staying awake while nursing so she wakes up every 2-3 hours to eat, but not this month! She sleeps through the night now about 50% of the time and I feel like a whole new Mommy! It is amazing what a little sleep can do for a person! Her afternoon naps have pretty much turned from plural to singular, but I don't mind if it means I get a full night of sleep. At the end of last month I started her on a bedtime routine and I think that helped the change in her sleep patterns. The nights that she seems to have trouble sleeping seem to be the nights John is closing, too bad he doesn't work a set schedule!

Our bed time routine:

First I turn on a space heater in her bedroom and set her lotion in front of it so both the bedroom and the lotion will be nice and warm for a cold, wet, naked baby

Then I give her a bath which is her FAVORITE part of the day

She spends lot of time splashing and catching ducks as I wash her with yummy lavender scented baby wash to help her sleep better, which works out well because it's one of my favorite scents

About this time John comes home from work and rescues her out of the tub (unless of course he's closing then I would be doing all of the night ritual)

She is always delighted to see him so he gives her her warm lotion baby massage

and puts her feety pj's on her (she has started a new thing when she get excited she pants like a puppy LOL... that's the face she makes, so cute!)

and then it's story time, we trade off with this one, but some times she is too tired & hungry by this point for a story so we skip it and I wrap up the evening by swaddling her and nursing her to sleep

May 2009: 5 months old

Play time has become much more interactive for little B now that her eye sight and hand eye coordination have improved. She spends a great deal of time playing with her toys, "talking" to them and blowing raspberries at them. I love this age!

May 2009: 5 months old

As the weeks go by I have noticed Bailey's coordination improving rapidly. I remember just a few months ago how determined she looked to try and swing her arms just somewhere near the object she was looking at, and now she can pick up most items, bring them to her mouth to chew on them, pass it back and forth between hands, and to me the most impressive sight is to see her catching the floating rubber duckies in the bath tub as they pass by her. I never realized how tricky catching a floating object could be until I observed her trying to grab at her bath toys as they slip between her little fingers and float to the other side of the tub, but she seems determined by them and is getting better and better at trapping them so she can try to eat them. I don't have any pics of her in the tub yet, I'll have to get John to snap a few of those and see if we can get any of her catching ducks, but I do have several of her chewing on one of her favorite bath toys and her feet. She loves catching those feet! In the mornings if she wakes up and is playing in her crib I let her hang out in there as long as she wants to and listen to her talk to her mobile and crib toys. Usually by the time I get her the feety parts of her sleepers are always wet from a happy morning of feet chewing.

The flexibility of babies blows my mind!

I had some of these when I was an infant

(which were also my favorite at bath time)

May 2009: 5 months old

Bailey has created her first series of masterpieces, Mother's Day cards, with the help of Mommy and Daddy. She made her first card for her favorite Aunt Candi with Mommy's help since the Carminatti's were coming over for dinner, then she told me that she wanted to make one for Nanny and me too. So I let Daddy know she wanted help with that and they went to work on mine first thing Mother's Day morning, bright and very early. Did I mention she was so excited to wish me a Happy Mommy's Day that instead of waking at ten like normal she got up at 6:45 am... awe motherhood hehe Daddy took over for me after she ate and let me get some rest. John and Bailey made me a very sweet card with an original poem written on the inside. Very cute. Bailey wanted to make foot prints on the front of the card, but Daddy was afraid of the mess so he asked me to help her with that part LOL. Messy indeed! Bailey is very fond of grabbing and eating her feet so it was not easy containing the mess, but still fun! The paint we used was a non toxic craft paint, so no Bailey's were harmed in the making of these cards.

Bailey was pleased with the results of her first craft project, and so was I. As far as Mother's Day went it was pretty special. Originally John was scheduled to work all day and I was a little bummed about that, but Candi said she would come over with the kids and keep me company. I had planned on making a yummy seafood dinner all week, and then last minute John's boss had to redo the schedule because the other manager who lost her position at his store got a new job and had to start right away. His boss ended up giving him Sunday off after all! I already had the menu planned so I ended up cooking all day while he got to play video games BOO! but it turned out very yummy and I was pleased to have the entire Carminatti family over partaking in Mother's Day fun. I made some yummy shrimp stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer, for dinner I made zesty lime and honey marinated tuna steaks with a veggie and lemon shrimp pasta, and for dessert a pistachio pudding cheesecake pie. This dinner project took way longer than anticipated because I made everything from scratch, including the marinade, but it was all so good! My favorites were the mushrooms by far! Next year I vote going out LOL!

Bailey kicking back after a long morning of crafts

YAY John got his annual bonus which means all lines of credit have been officially paid off (except some medical bills and a little left on John's car). We can start house hunting in 30-45 days, and hopefully have our first home this year!! He also decided to spoil me by buying me the digital SLR I wanted so badly as a first anniversary and first Mother's Day gift. So sweet!! I was so excited I immediately started photographing our messy apartment LOL. Johnny also got himself a couple new video games, so no worries he wasn't left out, and miss Bailey will be getting her very own exersaucer and a much needed stroller this month.

These are my practice shots from test driving my camera... I love it already!!! Still trying to figure out the lenses though. It's that Canon rebel camera which came with an 18-55mm lens and then Best Buy was doing some special promotion for Mother's Day so we got an extra one that is 55-250 mm lens. I don't exactly know what the mm means yet as far as picture taking goes. Jennifer?

One of John's new games: Guitar Hero Metallica

When Bailey woke up this morning. She's such a morning baby :)

May 2009: five months old

Candi discovered artist Julia Watkins on facebook who so happened to be having an art show in Dallas this weekend. She has created a new form of art called energy art. The inspiration from her revolutionary energy art came from a dream where all the energies of the land and living things swirled into each other showing an interconnection between the two. Her art was definitely a lot of fun with all the colors and textures. Made me think of Van Gogh's Starry Night sky with all of the swirls.

The artist and her painting... can you see the dolphin images?

My favorite pic... the Coi Pond, very cool up close

The event was actually an out door arts festival at Cottonwood Park in Richardson. I have been to a lot of parks and festivals in Austin, but for some reason never in Dallas. Maybe they aren't as advertised or as big of a deal, but it was refreshing. This is Bailey's second big art show to attend and she loved it. It had rained all weekend so it was shady and breezy and perfect to be outdoors to enjoy each booth. Sooo much cool photography, painting, glass pieces, and sculptures it was awesome! And did I mention totally free? What a great way to spend a day!

Bailey enjoying a day of visually stimulating art