New Toy

We have had the toy with the rings that goes on the big cone since before Lydia was born, but it was for 6months and older so we never really got it out. So the other day Kelvin broke it out and we have had a ball with it. Lydia really likes it and it's been a great toy for her sitting up too. She always grabs for it and likes to take the rings off so she can hit them on practically everything she sees. *sigh* The joys of being a mom huh?



"Look at me mom!"


Oh dear! This was the other morning. We were playing on her mat and she has now figured out that she can get places by rolling and was curious as to what was on the bookcase. I guess this is one thing I am going to have to deal with when the crawling and walking starts. Sorry Kelvin, the movies might not always be in alphabetical order for a while.


She knows she got caught!


"But mom, I was just looking!"

Women's Conference

Saturday night was Women's Conference and I was a little reluctant to go. I was completely exhausted from 2 weeks of no sleep and just didn't feel very good. Kelvin was very supportive though and told me that he really thought I needed to go. He went so far as to set up a guy's game night so they all could "watch the baby". (Yeah! Because that's what they were going to do.) I reluctantly agreed and got the baby all ready except her last bottle and left for conference. I didn't think too much about bringing paper for notes or tissues for tears, but a few minutes before it started I grabbed some paper from a flier that was on a table at the church. Then the first song started and I was instantly in tears. I had been struggling for a while with being a mom because Lydia was so upset and it seemed like nothing I did made her happy. This song put it all into perspective for me. It just got better and better and I was spiritually filled which I was sorely needing. We don't get to sit for long at church with a baby and I was definitely needing a spiritual uplift. It was a blessing for me to be able to attend and I am so glad that I did. I went home feeling that I wasn't a bad mom, I was just tired and struggling and every mom goes through that phase. It was nice to come home and have the baby asleep and Kelvin entertained so I could just go to bed.

Boy's Game night! Great shiner on Kelvin huh? He had a little "disagreement" with a guy on the train the other day. Just Kidding.....I was getting rid of the red eye and it discolored his face and for some reason wouldn't let me fix it.

IT'S FINALLY HERE!!

I know I haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks. Things have been a little crazy!!! Lydia has been teething and not sleeping during the night which meant that I obviously didn't sleep. I didn't know what was going on at first when she was waking up 4-5 times in the middle of the night crying but she wasn't awake. Then she would wake up at 5am and want to eat. At first I thought it was just a growth spurt and increased her solids throughout the day. For 2 weeks I got no sleep and walked around like a zombie! But it is finally over and we now know the reason. SHE HAS HER FIRST TOOTH!!! That's right folks, it's finally here. She started to feel the pain of her teeth at 2 months old and now she is sportin' a great lookin' tooth. It broke through two days ago and she has been doing great ever since. She is back to sleeping about 12 hours a night which is great for me because now I am catching up on my sleep and MUCH happier.

She is becoming more independent by the day and can now sit up by herself for a while. Things happen so fast with babies. One day they can't do something and then the next they can. I am looking forward to the day when she can crawl. I say that because she has been so fussy and throwing tantrum because she want's to be going places she want's to go and doesn't like that she can't get there easily. I really feel like she will calm down when she is a little more independent and be a lot happier. In fact one mom at church was telling me that her son who is 7 1/2 months old was doing the same thing that Lydia is (throwing tantrums and getting fussy) and calmed down a ton when he started to crawl. I love talking with other moms. It's so nice to get a different perspective and try other things. Sorry there are no pictures of the tooth. She hides it pretty well with her tongue but we will get a shot soon. So here are some other pictures of her.



She LOVES tags. Any toy she gets she will turn all around looking to see if it has a tag that she can play with. In fact when I put her down at night, I tuck her blanket in with the tag by her hand and she plays with it until she falls asleep. She really likes the smooth and silky feel.


Again with the tag. Even her favorite stuffed animal she turn upside down first thing and plays with the tag. So silly!

For Nana

To Lydia's Grandma in Texas who is missing her tons! We love you and miss you too Nana!!

Chilean Independence Day

Saturday just happened to coincide with Lydia's 6 month birthday and the Chilean Independence Day. While we haven't done a photo shoot for her 6 month birthday yet we did have a party for Chile! We went to the Montanares on Sunday for a big Chilean dinner and had all sorts of fun. I was in charge of dessert and thought long and hard about what it is I could do that would be Chilean. Well, I finally came up with the idea to make sugar cookies and frost the Chilean flag on them. I think they turned out pretty well and everyone was so amazed with them. it was fun to see everyone's reactions as I brought them out. The outlining was the hardest but once I got past that part, it was smooth sailing from there. Plus they tasted really really good! Unfortunately I didn't get anymore pictures from the party but believe me when I say it was a blast!

All It Takes Is A Second

I was changing Lydia the other day and when i was done I left the room for 2 seconds to wash my hands and when I came back in I found this.....





She somehow managed to pick up a full package of diapers then successfully take all of them out of the package (which is hard to do as an adult when it's full) by swinging it around. Then laughed when she got caught.

Birthday Cupcakes

I saw an idea for cupcakes on a food blog and thought it would be fun to try them out. So when the September birthday's rolled around I offered to do the dessert. I think they turned out pretty good. What do you think?

Hamburger and Fries anyone??? I used brownies for the "meat" and cut a vanilla cupcake in half for the "bun". Then with my frosting I added the "ketchup", "mustard", and "lettuce". They turned out pretty cool I think. I also thought that since hamburgers usually always come with fries I would make some of those too. I cooked a yellow cake in 2 bread pans and then cut them up into "fries" and put "ketchup" on top. The cool thing is that they totally looked real. Sammie actually didn't want to eat them because she "didn't want a hamburger"! She couldn't quite grasp the fact that it was cake. All the other kids thought that they were really cool.


Braden was pretty excited about his cupcake.


The assembling in the works.


They look pretty yummy!


Who could forget present time!


Of course I have to add in a picture of my two favorite people in the whole world!

Love for Daddy

For the most part Lydia is a BIG momma's girl but occasionally she has some special love for her daddy! Such was the case last night. I caught these too having fun together and had to catch it on camera.

Playing around with daddy!


Gregory started laughing because when I would say "smile" Lydia would get this huge grin on her face! It was quite adorable.


Lots of love and kisses for daddy!

Road to Recovery

Yesterday started out just fine for both Gregory and I. Heidi came up to see us with Ellie and Sienna about 11:15am and we were having a good time playing and talking. We ate lunch about 12:30 and I started not feeling so well. I only ate 2 bites of my sandwich and thought I was going to throw up the whole time. When 1:30 hit and Heidi went home, I was really feeling pretty awful. My stomach was cramping so bad I felt like I was going to literally die. After a while I got so sick that I actually threw up, something that my body just doesn't do. While I felt better after that I was very pale and very weak (Somehow though when you are a mom, you still find energy to take care of your child.) When the night finally came around I was starting to do a little better, I could at least lie down without wanting to die. After I put Lydia down for bed I was able to go to sleep at about 10:30. I woke up at 3am when Gregory was in and out of the bathroom with the same thing that I had. Neither of us got any sleep after that.

Luckily I had called my mom the night before and asked if she could come and help me out with the baby today while Gregory was at school and work. While we were talking I told her how I was feeling and she suggested that it might be food poisoning. After thinking about that it seemed that she was right. She was such a life saver today. We were both able to get some sleep and rest for most of the day. When she left that afternoon we were feeling a bit better and I was able to take care of the baby. It was funny today because while I was taking care of Gregory he was telling me about how awful he felt and I said I knew what he was feeling because I had just experienced it and still was to a degree. He apologized to me for not taking me as seriously yesterday. He knew I was sick but had no idea just how sick until he experienced it for himself. Today has been a better day which was good because I needed to take care of him while trying to get some rest myself.

While we are not totally sure of how we got food poisoning, we think it might be from our chicken nuggets. We have been cursing them all day and Gregory has sworn that he will never eat Chicken Nuggets again. So, while we are on the upswing, neither of us is 100%. I am doing a little better than Gregory but that's probably because I got it sooner than he did and been sick longer. Here's to a quick recovery and hope for a better day tomorrow. I'm just happy that this is not something that I have to see my sweet baby go through. It's been such an awful experience. Definitely something that you cannot appreciate until you have had it. Recovery is a sweet road and we have never appreciated our health more.

Thanks Heidi...

For getting this song stuck in my head and making me want to watch it over and over again!!! It's a must see.

One More Thing...

I forgot to add a video of Lydia and Sienna from Monday. Here you go.

Labor Day

We had a lot of fun on Labor Day even though we were running around like crazy! We started it out by taking Lydia to the zoo for the very first time. Despite it being pretty cold, we had a good time with our good friend Matt who invited us to go.

First time at the zoo.


"Seriously dad?"


They had wild turkeys freely roaming the grounds and Lydia loved them.


She's as big as a baby gorilla!


The baby Elephant Zuri who was born in the summer. Quite the little personality she had too. Lydia liked watching her.


We decided to see if Lydia would like the carousel.


She didn't freak out so I guess she enjoyed it at least.


All tuckered out! We decided to go home after she fell asleep. It had been a couple hours in the cold and seeing lots of new things. While she really enjoyed being there, she was done at the end.


That night we went to my parents for a barbeque. My best friend Heidi came over with her little girl Sienna and we were able to chat for a while. The two girls were so darling together that we couldn't resist pictures.

"More Pictures?" They obviously got bored really quickly which lead to...


their own little interaction.....






...but they still became quick friends again.


Talking while being trapped in their car seats yet again.


Look at what she is starting to do already!!!! The little stinker won't stay on her tummy to crawl but will stand with the furniture.


After we got home we had a friend and his date come over for a fun night of dessert and games. It was a long day, but really good. Today however, has left us all sick. Lydia has been congested and not feeling well for a few days but last night was not a good night and today has left us all inside with some chicken soup cooking on the stove. Hopefully we will get better quickly because being sick with a sick husband and sick baby is a little exhausting.

She's Eatin' Like a Pro

Lydia has picked up on this "eating food like mommy and daddy" thing pretty well. The first few times were a little interesting but after her check up at the Dr's office, he said she could eat whatever level 1 foods thy have or I could make my own. Either way i was anxious to get her to try other things as the rice cereal was not such a big hit. So far she has had green beans, bananas, squash, pears, and sweet potatoes. She didn't care much for the pears but can't seem to get enough of the sweet potatoes. Everything else she seems to like.

She sits in her little booster seat really well and looks so big in it!


She is starting to learn that the food goes on top of the tongue and not under it. Such a big girl. I swear that she has grown an inch or two in the last week.

New Apartment

Needless to say, we have been VERY busy moving in which has left our poor blog a little neglected. Now I know that all of you are hanging on every moment just waiting and wishing for the Bailey's to post another story of their super cool lives! Well friend, wait no longer!

We have loved our new apartment so far. The office staff has been extremely friendly and accommodating, the maintenance staff has been very fast and efficient, and the apartment is very clean with brand new carpet and a new fridge. It is a very quiet neighborhood and it sure delivers a good walk. It's also great to have a separate bedroom for the little squeaker. While Lydia is still getting used to a new place yet again, she seems to be adjusting fine. She has certainly had to do her fair share of adjusting to new places and now just gives a look that says "OK mom. Whatever."

Despite our challenges of getting everything put away with a baby, I think doing it all in 3 days is quite an accomplishment. There are still a few pictures to hang and one box of winter clothes which we probably won't unpack until it's winter, but other than that it is all done. We are very comfortable with our new place that it's almost sad to think that we will be leaving in 9 months. (Although I do confess that every box I unpacked I looked with disdain at the shelves thinking that I will just have to pack it all up again in 9 months. It was a fleeting moment brought on by exhaustion that has obviously passed!)

Our office.


I know it's a dark picture but for what it's worth, this is the living room.


The dining area. Forgive the mess on the table and the milk jugs needing to be taken out, we did just move in. Also there are going to be more pictures on the wall. I am in the process of staining them and as soon as they are dry will go up. I will post more pictures of that when it happens.


I LOVE LOVE LOVE my kitchen. I feel like it is a kitchen and not a small walk way like our last apt. It could use a few more cupboards, but I am making do until I can get my ginormous kitchen when we buy a house!


The baby's room. Once again the walls are still a little bare, pictures are soon to be hung.


The tiny bathroom area. I don't mind it being so small, after all, it's only for 9 months right?


The bedroom equipped with our own keyboard which I am now using.


YAY for the washer and dryer!!!! They are so small that it takes 3 loads on this washer to do the equivalent of 1 load in a normal washer but I will not complain about that. I am just counting my blessings that we even have one in our apartment! I can do 5 loads of laundry a day if I need to.


The bumper and bed skirt for the crib that I made! It was my sewing project that I got done over the summer and am very excited to have it in use. My next project is the quilt that I already have the fabric for, just need to find the time to complete.


Digging the new carpet and her new pad!


"Hey mom! This place is kinda cool!"