The Bailey Chronicles

The other day John misplaced his keys and he was running around frantic trying to find them so that he wouldn't be late to work.  He kept rushing back and forth talking about his keys and asking where they were.  Right behind him Bailey would be trying to keep up with his pace as she waved her toy keys at him.  LOL such a good little helper :D

I have also noticed that she uses her hand signs to sing along with songs like Patty Cake, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, and she claps in the right parts for if You're Happy and you Know It.... I am not sure if that is considered sign language but it sure is cute!     

My sister Juli, passed away April 6, 2005 from a brain cancer called Nueroblastoma. Juli battled this cancer most of her life, but she always kept a smile on her face and her witty sense of humor about life. So many things in life remind me of her humor that it makes it easy to smile whenever my mind wanders off and finds her. Certain songs, tons of movies... especially Wayne's World, and all things pig related. Juli adored pigs sooooo much, and every Christmas or birthday we were always able to find at least one random pig item to gift her. I can only imagine what her collection must have looked like! When she passed in April, my sister Candi along with some of her sewing friends, created a line of custom pig clothing in memory of her. My Mom's boss purchased a pair of overalls for her little girl made by Candi's friend Candi (confusing I know LOL), and then once she outgrew them sent them back our way for Bailey. This April marks the five year anniversary of her passing and it only seemed fitting to dress Bailey in her piggy overalls as much as possible this April. I find it so incredibly special that they made their way back to us.

This was the first year Bailey has been big enough to enjoy Easter. We got to host Easter at our house this year so I stayed up late the night before cleaning the house, stuffing eggs, and making Easter goody baskets for everyone. My mom brought over our traditional Easter breakfast casserole, fruit and dip, coffee cake and deviled eggs. mmmm yummy! Bailey slept through everyone arriving, and when she finally woke up she was totally shocked to see everyone here to greet her and give her prizes.

My sister brought her an egg that shouts "I'm over here!" "Come find me" and all sorts of cuteness, and when you open it up there is a little animal inside that says "you found me!!!!" Bailey carried that thing around with her most of the morning. When the Easter bunny hid the eggs for her and her cousins to find he made some Bailey friendly eggs filled with gummy snacks and animal cookies that he hid on our patio so she wouldn't have to walk on that scary grass. The rest were filled with all sorts of yummies and strewn across our quarter acre lot for

Bella and Skylar to race after.

Bailey didn't so much hunt the eggs and put them in her basket. She opened the first couple and ate the snacks inside and then started to throw them off the patio into the grass. She likes to throw things these days. Oh well, whatever makes her happy. She may get the concept a little more next year maybe. All in all it was a good day with the family. After everyone left it was nap time, so we all just kinda kicked back and relaxed the rest of the day, and planned our trip for the Arboretum the following day.

I love having a backyard. I forgot how great they can be. I think I took them for granted as a kid, and now that it's been 10 years since I last lived some where that offered me a backyard, I have grown a whole new appreciation for them. Ours is huge. We don't have any playground equipment, or a pool, or even trees, but it is big full of grass and fenced and that is awesome when you have a tot. I hope that some day we will have the opportunity to do more with what we have, but for now and at her age this is perfect. Bailey's best friend Ian came over to play today, along with his mommy, my bf. We took the kids outside to run around in back and play ball. Normally Bailey doesn't want anything to do with the grass, but she saw Ian running around and needed to be near him so she overcame her fears. And at this moment it made me fully appreciate what a yard has to offer. It's a safe place. A place that offers total peace of mind. No cars to worry about. No strange animals or dogs w/o leashes. No strangers to keep my eye on. Just me and my baby, and whoever else comes to play. And John loves to spend time tossing the football with his nephew, Skylar, or his buddies that come over, looks like he'll have two new little football buddies ;P

I will post Easter pics later. I've got to do things a little backwards because my camera was not charged up for some reason on Easter morning. I left the photography up to my sister, which will probably be better than the pics that I would have taken anyway. Waiting for her to make edits and post them, and then I can blog about our wonderful Easter Sunday hosted at our house.

Today, being Monday, John was off so we took this opportunity to go to the Spring Flower Festival at the Dallas Arboretum. This was the place that my friend, Holly, and her son, Ian, took Bailey and I to in Fall for the pumpkin Fest. It was absolutely beautiful! And though Fall holds the biggest place in my heart, the Arboretum this time of year makes Spring a close contender.

Six months ago when we took Bailey to see the pumpkins she was still just cruising. But now she is walking, so it made it even more entertaining, and at times slightly challenging. She loved the flowers and the waterscapes. She refuses to walk in grass, but tried it out a little at the Arboretum because it is soft and green and beautiful. I would say she tolerated the grass, I didn't see the usual fear come across her face, but I also didn't see delight about it. I wish we could have made it out there a little earlier in the morning because they had photos with live bunnies, and a petting zoo that we missed out on. Oh well, maybe next time.

We did Easter photos today. I have been dying to take her to see the Easter bunny, because Bailey is REALLY outgoing like her Daddy. I was curious to see what her reaction would be to a 10 foot tall bunny rabbit. Would he be traumatizing, exciting, unsure??? Well, she LOVED him. We sat in line for what felt like forever because the photographers had to spend about 15 minutes per kid to try and get them to crack a smile for the camera. People in line kept talking to her and smiling at her and for whatever reason, possibly nap time, she acted shy. I thought that this was a sign that Mr. Bunny would be scary, but once we set her in his big furry lap she lit up from head to toe. She explored his buttons and bow tie, clapped for him and smiled from ear to ear. Oh my gosh she was just so darn cute. Within 2 minutes they had their shot and were shocked at her reaction towards him LOL. We all were I think. It was like he was a giant Mr. Kitty that was welcoming her into his arms. Love at first sight. Totally worth the wait in line, and $20 for two 5x7.

Happy sweet 16 munchkin... 16 months that is ;oP not quite ready for keys to a car yet thank God! One of my favorite new Bailey feature is her Happy Feet! Have you seen that movie with the little penguin that shuffles his feet around all silly and happy, that is exactly what Bailey does. It cracks me up with her cute little munchkin body and diapered butt dancing around on her happy feet. Happy feet can happen at any given moment, snack time, Yo Gabba time, new diaper time, bath time, you name it. The more I cheer her on the happier the feet get LOL. It kills me! She's just so darn cute! I also find it funny when she blows raspberries on my arm or tummy or cheek. She's so silly and adorable, it's great! She's still on the small side, wears 6-12 month clothes. People are always shocked when I tell them how old she is, because of her size. This adds to the funniness... making up words now... to the Happy feet.

At this point she can say: Ut-ohhh, yeah, bye bye, Dada, Mama, ball, hi, Bella, and OH!