Say What?

The girls said some really cute things today:

Age 4:
Kylee: "Mommy every time I take a drink it goes down my stroke."
Me: "What you didn't have a stroke?"
Kylee: "You know it goes down my stroke and into my tummy."
Me: "Oh you mean your throat?"
Kylee: "Yeah that's what I said, my stroke!

We are keeping my sister's dogs for a week. Bailey often follows them around and repeats what she hears us saying to them. She loves to throw the ball and have Wallace bring it back. When she throws it she says, "catch!" I have never heard her say that before. She also hears us tell the dogs to hush when they start barking so now she goes around and tells them to "ush." Too cute

Too long!

I feel bad that I have made only a handful of posts in Bailey's life. So I need to update about her. She is 21 month old now and has such a sweet personality. She still like to snuggle every morning when she gets up and lots of times throughout the day. She is definitely a Mama's girl. She probably says Mama and Mommy about a thousand times a day. While I know it drives me crazy now, I will long for her sweet little voice in days to come.

Bailey likes to do everything that her older sister does. She loves to play with markers, paints and anything else that you wouldn't normally let a 21 month old play with. But it is hard when you have an older sister that is doing so many fun activities. She has only drawn on the couch twice :)

She is talking a lot. Her favorite words are no, uh-huh, juice (which is odd since she doesn't drink any juice), dister, dog-dog, pat-pat (movie), mine, and banket. She can say a lot more and we are amazed at the things she comes up with everyday. She always has a blanket in her hands, but isn't particular to a certain one. It just has to have a soft and silky side.

She likes to impress us with her tricks and say "ta-da." She has always been a great sleeper and we are so thankful. She goes to bed at 7 every night and sleeps until 6:45. She only wakes up if she is teething or has an ear infection. She is just starting to notice that others stay up later than her and she might miss something. But if we take her in the other room and read her a couple of books and sing some songs she is usually okay.

Bailey is still very small. She is in the 5th percentile in height and weight. We still give her formula once a day because she just doesn't eat very many different things. She loves her formula and cries when you give her plain milk. She has a big belly so we don't fear that she isn't getting enough calories. I do feel that I treat her a little bit more like a baby than an almost 2 year old because she is so tiny.

She also has the sweetest disposition. It is really hard to get upset with her because you know that her intentions are sweet. Well most of the time...she likes to run in the street, color on anything except paper, pull Mommy's earrings, and scream when she doesn't get her way.

Bailey likes to entertain us with such games as peek-a-book, pronounced "peek-boo," run away from Mommy and Daddy and giggle and act like she doesn't want to be tickled, but always comes back for more.

I am still waiting for her hair to grow out. I can only put it in a whale spout on top of her head. Bryan calls it a pole lol! She has started telling us when she has pooped. Sometimes she tells us that she pooped when she has peed, but at least she knows that there is something going on down there. Today I ignored her and paid for it! She told me she pooped and then I got distracted and forgot all about it. The next thing I knew there was poop on the floor that had come through her pants. It was GROSS! Lots of wipes and a bath later we were better.

Kylee will be 4 in just a couple of weeks and I must say that 3 has been very difficult. She is still trying to figure out what she can get away with, but is so sensitive that any kind of scolding really sends her into a mess. She always thinks that we are mad at her if she gets in trouble and is constantly apologizing. We of course assure her that we are not mad, but that it is our job to make sure that she learns how to behave etc. I think she gets her sensitivity from her Daddy and that is something that I love about both of them.

She is really into cutting everything up. I know that it is good for her fine motor skills to practice this skill, but I get really tired of picking up all of the pieces. Plus she thinks that everything that she cuts is very special! Luckily when she gets up in the morning she doesn't remember these special pieces and doesn't notice that I have thrown them away.

Kylee is really into cooking with me. She loves to pull a chair up next to me when I am doing anything in the kitchen. Her favorite is washing the dishes, but now that we got new floors that don't do really well with lots of water, I have to watch her carefully. She really loves anything with water. She would take 4 baths a day if I would let her. Sometimes I let her take a bath so that I can get stuff done :)

Kylee is very protective of me. If Jonathan and I get in a disagreement she quickly tells Daddy to leave me alone. It is cute, but can get on Daddy's nerves fast. She is protective of her sister too. Sometimes she will randomly knock her down, but she won't let anyone else do it to her.

She comes up with some really cute sayings. Her most recent one is, "You're breaking my heart!" She recently said this to Nonny and Papa when they decided to go home instead of spending the night with us. She also likes to tell us how crazy we are.

I love both of my girls and they are growing up way too fast. I am scared to have a third because I am afraid the days will go by even quicker.

Third Time's a Charm!

I just got done with one of the busiest weeks that I have had in a long time! I am starting my third year as the director of the Belton Christian Preschool. We had our teacher inservice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday morning was meet the teacher and that night I had a new parent orientation. 

The orientation started at 6:30 and I was a little nervous when no one was there at 6:20, but we ended up having about 20-25 families there. It was pretty informal and I didn't have to use the microphone. I was so nervous about it, but I thought it went pretty well. 

I have been working such long hours this week that I have hardly seen my kids. When I ran home Thursday to eat some dinner before the meeting, both Kylee and Bailey ate dinner in my lap. It was really sweet actually. We have done pretty much nothing today. All of us took a 2 1/2 hour nap! It was very awesome. We also ventured out to Chick-fil-a for lunch and I let them play a little. It was nice to spend a whole day with them. This week makes me very thankful that I don't have to work full-time. 

I never saw myself becoming a preschool director, but God always has his own plans for me. I am very thankful that he plans my life and not me. This is my third year and I feel like I know a little bit about what I am doing this year. My kiddos did get to meet their teachers, but I didn't get pictures. I will get some on the first day of school.

The Mess

I took the girls with me to get my van inspected the other day and we were sitting in the lobby. A lady came in and saw Bailey and was talking to her. Kylee ran over (to make sure she got some attention too) and said to the lady, "This is my sister Bailey, she is a mess." The lady and I laughed and I remembered how kids always quote you.

Bailey is very busy all of the time. She is always getting into something. We have most of our cabinets child proofed, but we are going to have to go back and do our drawers for Bailey. Her favorite drawer is the one in the end table by the couch. I have found all kinds of treasure in there: apples, bannanas, crackers just to name a few.

She also loves to throw things in the trash. The other day Jonathan went out to the garage to get another corn dog from the freezer. Bailey followed him out there and he asked her to bring the corn dog to me in the kitchen. I was washing dishes and didn't even notice that she came in. When he got back from the garage he asked me if I had his corn dog. I said no and we went and found Bailey, no corn dog with her either. We searched the house. Guess where it was: the trash can. Luckily it was one that was individually packaged and salvageable. I have to check the trash a couple of times a day to get bowls, spoons and cups out of it.

Bailey is saying a few more things, but they are pretty random and she might say them one day and not the next. I have heard her say sister, backpack, pancake, mama, dada, daddy, help, shoe and pease. She doesn't really say no yet, but she loves to shake her head no even if her real answer is yes.

She is starting to care if Kylee takes her toys so I am doing a lot more refereeing. My girls are not cuddly with each other. I have to make Kylee give Bailey a kiss when she goes to bed. But I think it is just because they are so busy. They are only snuggly with me after they get hurt, do something wrong or are tired. I am a loving mom, but they are independent kiddos I guess.

Here is a sweet video of Bailey rocking her babies. I know it is a long one, but I don't know how to edit them.

Goodnight Moon

Tonight I read an oldy but goody to Kylee, Goodnight Moon. We read this every single night until she was about 2 years old. I can't remember exactly when we let go of the tradition, but Jonathan and I still have it memorized. I remember reading it and asking Kylee to point to the different pictures that we mentioned. She would get excited about the colored pages and looked a little bored when we read the black and white ones.

Tonight I read the same book to my 3 1/2 year old. Boy was it a different experience. I recently purchased a night light that is a moon when it is time to sleep and a sun shine when it is time to get up. The idea is that it will teach your child to sleep later (or really just stay in her bed/room). Kylee has been getting up about 6 every morning and coming in our room. She lays on the floor, but never goes back to sleep. She sucks her fingers very loudly, sings and talks. I can doze, but I don't get to go back to sleep. On days that I have to go to work I am up and getting ready when she comes in and it messes with my schedule.

Anyway, back to the book. I thought it would be a good idea to read this book to her to go along with the discussion of the new nightlight. The website offered a book to read with the nightlight, but I opted to save my money on that purchase. While we were reading tonight instead of pointing and naming the pictures, Kylee was asking questions. Why is there a little house, does it belong to the mouse? What is the little old lady making? These are just small examples of how my baby is growing up. I ask her every day to stay little for me. She says, "I can't Mom I have to grow, but I love you."

Goodnight stars.
Goodnight air.
Goodnight noises everywhere.

Today was the day...

Kylee is three and a half. I have found that three is much more challenging than two! Now she is opinionated and can also voice it. So today it happened...we were in church and one of the elders was doing the communion devo (imagine an auditorium full of people who are intently listening to this devo). Kylee was not responding to me when I asked her to stop singing at the top of her lungs. I gave her a warning and asked if I needed to take her out to give her a spank. Of course she said no, but didn't stop the behavior. I stepped out to the aisle and snapped my fingers and told her that she needed to come with me. This is when it happened. At the top of her lungs this is what she said.

"No Mommy I don't want a spank."
"I won't talk anymore!"
"I promise I will listen."
"Mommy I just love you."
"Can't we just talk about this??"

As I was walking to the back of the auditorium I was laughing and everyone that I walked by was also laughing. So we went into the bathroom and I did spank her and we talked about her behavior. Then as I was walking back to our seat everyone was still snickering as I walked past. Just in case that wasn't bad enough. As the preacher was leaving after his sermon, he stopped by our pew to find out who it was that was protesting. I had to admit it was my Kylee. Needless to say I have heard all about it all day from everyone.

Kylee does have a sweet side as you know :) We have been working very hard to get her to not carry around her silky 24/7. In case you don't know what "silky" is...it is a former silky robe that went with a night gown. It is purple and her absolute favorite part about it is this little bitty belt loop. She puts that pointy part right under her nose while she sucks her fingers. Silky has gotten her through a lot of tough times.

Well we are hoping to break her of sucking her fingers when she turns four so it starts by breaking her of silky. So for the last week or so we have told her that she has to leave it in her bed. We saw her doctor the other day and he told her how big girls leave their silkies in their beds. She does whatever Dr. Burke says, so that was a good start. Plus now I can blame it on Dr. Burke when she gets upset. The first couple of days I wanted to pull my hair out, but it is better now. I have to remind her to go put it back on her bed, but there is very little protesting. Little Bailey knows that purple silky belongs to Kylee and brought it out of her room the other day and handed it to Kylee. It was the sweetest thing ever. I let Kylee keep it for about 10 minutes.

Here are some much needed updated pics of Kylee

 At the zoo

 This ice cream is so good, it takes me to another place!

 She only thought she was going to get out of a picture with her mommy!

 Playing at the Salado creek

 Sisters watching Busytown Mysteries. Notice silky in hand and sister has her silky blanket too

 Playing pretty pretty princess with her daddy

Where has the time gone?

So Bailey is 16 months old and I think I have only blogged about her a handful of times. So this post is for you, miniature! She is getting so big and has such a great personality. We really got to see her personality come out when big sister went to spend a couple of days with Grandma and Bailey stayed home with us. She actually has a great sense of humor and loves to interact with us!!

At her 15 month appt we found out that she was in the 5 percentile for height (no surprise), but only the 25 for weight. The doctor didn't seem concerned, but I explained how Bailey just doesn't eat. She has always been picky. She NEVER at any baby food to speak of.  I tried everything, homemade, mixed with other things, cold, hot, you name it. Here are the few things that she will eat: oatmeal, cereal, apple slices (she just started those), yogurt puffs, yogurt covered raisins, gogurt if she is in the mood (won't go near regular yogurt bc she can't hold it), soft pretzels, rolls, corn, green beans (if she is in the mood), gerber spaghettio rings, mac and cheese and sweets. That may sound like a lot, but you have to remember that she might eat one of these foods one night and not touch it for another week. For a while she loved hot dogs. Every time I made her one she would eat it. Now she won't touch them.So hardly any fruit or vegetables. I put our dinner in front of her every night and she shakes her head no!

She will not come anywhere close to juice. This doesn't really bother me since I don't see the point in giving your kids juice if they will drink water. And I have to warm her milk in the microwave for 30 seconds before she will drink it. I now put half pediasure and milk in her bottle/sippy cup in the morning and at night to give her some extra vitamins. But man is that stuff expensive. I think I would rather give her formula!

Bailey absolutely adores her big sister, except when she wants something that Kylee doesn't want to give her. The sometimes play in Kylee's room for minutes at a time, its very sweet. Bailey talks a lot, but we don't always understand it. She can say more and please in sign language and sometimes it breaks your heart because she will say please for something that she can't have. She often comes and says please to me and starts walking towards the kitchen. She gets me to follow her and open the pantry where she will hand me pediasure! lol! You want to give it to her just because she is so cute. Here are the words that you can understand: shoe, Daddy, no-no, mama, well and that's about it. LIke I said, she talks a lot but you just have no clue what she is saying. She says pat pat a lot. We aren't sure if that is for patty cake or to watch tv. She seems to say it and point to the ipod in the car. But then she also does it while clapping and rolling her hands. Who knows?

 Sister in the bath!

 Some time for reflection at the zoo!

 Do I have to be on here?

 One of the few pictures where I am in it!

 Silly Daddy

 Playing in the Salado creek. I don't think she likes how dirty the water is

 My own serving of ice cream!

 See Mommy I can drive!!

Happy 4th of July!

Fun in the Sun!

My children all love to swim. Bryan is here this weekend and we have gotten to swim the last two nights. We do not have a pool in our neighborhood, but we have one that is really close and some great friends that will let us borrow their keys. There is a baby pool and a big pool. The first time that we took Bailey she loved the baby pool b/c she can actually stand up. But she fell over very easily  if there were any "waves." We had a floaty for her, but she didn't like it at all.

The next time we went we brought a little round donut floaty for her and she could easily walk in the baby pool and not fall over. It was perfect until she decided that she would rather climb in and out of the pool than actually swim. This presented quite a challenge with her donut. It would not let her climb out of the pool.

On one of her trips from the big pool to the little pool tonight she was wearing her floaty and Daddy was right behind her. She got to the pool faster than Daddy and tripped over her floaty donut thing. So she fell into the baby pool head first. Needless to say IT TERRIFIED HER. We quickly scooped her up and she didn't even seem to have swallowed any water. All was well except for the tears of fear. Jonathan suggested that we try to get her to get back in the water so that she wouldn't be scared next time. I told him that I thought it might be a good idea for her to be a little more scared than she was this time at the pool. One time she was trying to back into the big pool. I had to jump in front of her so that I could catch her before she jumped in!

Kylee loved the pool too. She is at such a fun age, but I haven't really gotten to play with her much because I am having to wrangle Bailey. She enjoys jumping in from the side and trying to swim while kicking her legs. I would love to enroll her in swimming lessons, but I think we will have to wait until next summer. We were having some swimming time together and her conversation made me quickly realize how much I have been working on VBS. She said, "Come on Mommy let's swim to VBS." I said, "Where is VBS." Kylee: "Oh its over here by the steps." Me: "What are you going to learn about at VBS?" Kylee: "Swimming lessons!" I guess we still have a ways to go LOL!

Hope all of you are doing well!

Pajama Day

We were out of town for almost a week and we just got back yesterday afternoon. We got to go down to Austin and visit Jonathan's sister and parents and then we got to see one of my nieces graduate from High School! Way to go Kim! After the graduation we loaded back up in the car and headed north to go visit my sister and her husband in DFW area.

Since Jonathan is still without a job, he happened to have some time off at the same time as me. Karen's husband Scott also had the week off, so they quickly got started on a manly project. They built a new floor for their shed and Jonathan constructed a pretty cool ramp. I always love to see my man in his tool belt :)

One of the girls favorite things about Karen and Scott's house are their dogs. They have two and also have to kennels. The girls loved to climb in those things. Kylee was trying to lock Bailey in and I looked up to find both of them in the kennel together. So cute. Please don't call CPS, they were only in there for a minute.

It was nice to get away and think about something other than the fact that Jonathan lost his job. Coming back to reality was not fun, but I thought we would just have a pajama day to catch up on our energy. We ended up meeting my mom and dad for breakfast/lunch at IHop and then we headed over to a little water park here in Temple. The kids had a blast and Kylee threw a fit when it was time to leave. I literally had to carry her out. Of course I took no pictures, you know how I am, but I will record some memories. Kylee was very scared to go under the mushroom that poured water on your head, but she kept calling it the cupcake. Bailey enjoyed the lazy river in her little hippo floaty. She nearly fell asleep while floating!

Kylee has always loved to watch tv. She is truly her daddy's daughter. She loved to watch shows like Imagination Movers, Little Einstein's (Pat Pat) and other various 20 minute kids shows. Needless to say I got really tired of these. We tried watching movies with her, but she would have have nothing to do with it. She would watch for about two minutes and then beg to watch a "show." But I finally found a movie that she loved, the Barbie Fairy Princess Movie. I don't honestly know what it is actually called, but that is what she calls it. JOnathan and I aren't really into the ideas that Barbie puts out, but the movies are pretty cute. The first day that we had the movie, she watched it 3 times!

So we now have a handful of movies that she will sit through. One of which is Tangled. Cute movie. Today Jonathan and I were quoting some lines from the movie while riding in the van. Kylee piped up from the backseat and said, "You broke my smolder!" She is so witty.

Bailey is quite active now and wants to do everything sister does. She steals her silkies from her and now she throws a fit when Kylee takes them back. She also wants to play with all of the same toys that Kylee is playing with when Kylee is playing with them. The cutest thing happened today while we were waiting to pay at IHop. Kylee grabbed Bailey's hands and played Ring Around the Rosies with her. It was so P R E C I O U S!! Those are the kind so of moments that  I hope I can remember forever bc of course I didn't get it on tape.

Our Other Life

The girls have been down in Austin with the Grandparents for the last two days and Jonathan and I have gotten to remember what it was like to have a life outside of the kids. We went out to dinner on Thursday night at Deadfish Grill next to the lake. It was a lot of fun. We splurged since we have been very frugal since he lost his job. We thought we deserved it! We were going to see a movie after wards, but we decided to head home and rent a movie instead. We ended up watching the last few episodes of Glee and going to bed early (I know we are so old!)

Yesterday we took J to the doctor to get an rx refill before our insurance runs out and then ran a bunch of errands. One of which was to go by and sign our application for private health insurance. It turns out that they can still deny you health insurance for preexisting conditions until 2014. Hopefully they will take us. It is looking like the kids will qualify for chip since we had a huge slash in our income. That will help until Jonathan finds a job. I really want them to have insurance more than us!

We are going to head down to Austin this morning to rescue our moms! Then we are going to my niece's graduation on Sunday so we will just stay in Austin land. I think we are going to head up to Dallas to see my sister and her husband after that. He happens to have the week off and Karen is done with school. We will probably never all be off like this again so we are going to get some major hanging out time in. Jonathan is really enjoying being without the kids bc he said we should head to Dallas without them. I had to remind him that they are our kids and don't belong to our mamas!

I do miss them a lot. But it was nice to remember that we are Jonathan and Rebecca and not just a Mommy and Daddy!

Guilt

So I know that it has been forever since I have posted. I laughed a little when I checked just now and saw that the last time I posted was in December! I feel a little guilty b/c I have not documented Bailey in the same detail that I have Kylee. But it is never too late to start, right?

Bailey is 14 months old tomorrow. I can't believe how fast it has gone. She is such a joy to all of us. She is definietly independent. We went to the splash pad the other day and she just took off like she lives there. When Kylee was her age I had to hold her hand to get her to even try it out. I tried to go out and hold Bailey's hand and play with her, but she didn't want it. She wanted to do everything on her own.

That is just the kind of kid that she is. She doesn't want to be rocked to sleep, she cries for you to put her in her bed. She doesn't want you to feed her, she has to put the food in her own mouth. She doesn't care if sister wants her company, she is going to provide it! I am looking forward to this independent little darling turning into a sweet and independent little girl. I can't wait to see what lies ahead!

She is basically done nursing. This is my second day to wear a regular bra. She still wanted to nurse this morning, but only on one side and then I followed it up with a bottle. I don't think I have much milk left, but I guess I'm not quite ready to give it up even if she is.

Bailey loves to go to school and play with all of the toys. Her favorite part of the day is when she takes a walk with the other sweeties in her class. She usually gets to come by my office and I get a hug. Then she cries to get back in her stroller.

Bailey doesn't hardly eat. I usually still give her bottles of formula instead of milk b/c I am afraid she isn't getting everything she needs. She loves bottles! As soon as she sees one, she starts screeching to have it and cries the whole time that I make it. I know I am going to have to wean her to a cup some time, but she only wants her milk in a bottle. She will drink water out of a cup, but isn't interested in juice of any kind. Oh well, she doesn't need the sugar right?

Kylee is all 3! I definitely agree with everyone that says that 3 is harder than 2. She now has an opinion and can voice it. She really loves to play with friends now. In fact every morning when she wakes up she asks who is coming over today. If no one is coming over, she asks why!

Kylee loves her sister. She wants her to play in her room with her, take a bath with her and sit at her table with her. But sometimes she wants Bailey out of mommy's lap so that she can have it to herself. Sometimes she wants Daddy to only hold her when he gets home.

She also loves to eat! She will eat just about anything and everything. She immediately want breakfast when she gets up and wants a snack before bed. If I let her she would eat all day. She weighs in at about 37 lbs and is about 3 feet tall. She is trying to find ways to outsmart mom and dad everyday. She uses every excuse in the book when it is time to go to bed and loves hugs and kisses more than anything.