Big Girl Bailey

Tonight Bailey finally joined us as a big girl at the dinner table. I put together her highchair seat and she sat with us as we ate dinner! I fed her her first sweet potatoes and she loved them! But anything is better than that nasty rice cereal, right? She has had butternut squash and sweet potatoes and is finally getting the hang of this eating from a spoon thing! It seemed like she would never get the majority of the bowl into her tummy but she finally is. I am trying to make all her baby food homemade this time around and with great mommies that have gone before me, I can ask questions and muddle through while I learn how to prepare all of these different foods for a baby! It's actually very easy and I'm mad at myself for not doing it with Avery. I don't know why I didn't.

Anyway here's a couple of cute photos of Bailey in her big girl high chair sitting at the table with the family!

July 4th

We spent the 4th of July with Craig's parents. All of the other brothers/families were doing other things so it was just the four of us and Grandma and Grandpa. We had fun relaxing and did a lot of eating! We went to the fireworks show here in town at the end of the day but were sorely disappointed when it ended halfway through because of some set-up falling over and ruining the rest of the fireworks. Oh well. The ones we saw were pretty and Avery enjoyed them which was the point anyway! Fireworks definitely are at the bottom of my favorites list, but they are at the top of Craig's! So he was probably the most disappointed and almost refused to leave in hopes that they were going to fix what was wrong! We didn't find out what had happened until we watched the news later. Maybe next year, Daddy.

LET ME OPEN WITH THIS: MY FAVORITE PICTURE FROM THE DAY!!

Look how big she looks!! And ahhh, the ever open mouth! :)

Grandpa got a watermelon (Avery's favorite) and she was choosing her "side"

Oh Bailey will love me one day for this shot! I didn't realize Craig was getting this angle! If the watermelon was all eaten but the rind, she could've fit right into one half of it!

One of Craig's father's day gifts was a horseshoe set. He just recently played and really liked it so we got him his own set. Too bad it's plastic and he says you have to put the stakes really close together to even allow the horseshoes to reach the other! Avery still liked it and it was quality time with Daddy.

Grandma has a set of dress up clothes at her house and Avery has really been into them lately. There are several coordinated outfits in there, but Avery apparently like to mix and match!

Swim Day

Daddy took this past Thursday off and was also off Friday for the 4th so we had a long 4 day weekend with him! These weekends always spoil me rotten and I miss him so much come Monday when he has to go back to the real world. Too bad one of us has to work to earn a living! I would love for us to be able to play with our kids all day every day and run errands together!

Anyway, so Thursday we went over to Craig's aunt and uncle's pool and Bailey had her first time in the water. It was pretty cold but she didn't seem to mind. She couldn't really sit up in the floatie thing so we mostly held her. Avery of course didn't mind the cold at all and is getting really good at doing things by herself. (Of course we are still watching her, and yes, she has her floaties on!)

Random Cuteness

Bear with me while I lazily put a lot of random cuteness all in one post!

Budding Fashionista:

Avery got into her jewelry box tonight and had on every accessory: sunglasses, necklace, bracelet, watch, ring, etc. It was really cute but in standard Avery-fashion, it only lasted about 5 minutes. :)



Laundry Basket Ladies:

Why are laundry baskets so fun for kids? Avery has always loved ours and now Bailey is joining in on the fun! Check out Avery's side ponytail! :)

Avery always wants to make a silly face for the camera.

How much sweeter could she get? Look closely at the glistening corners of this babe's mouth. This child's face and neck are ALWAYS wet!!! And I realize we are nowhere near the end of drool and spit up!! We use 5-8 burpcloths a day!

Pack 'n Play Princesses:

Am I a bad mom that I put Avery in the pack 'n play to entertain Bailey if she is crying and I am busy? Does it make it better that Avery WANTS to get in there? OK, good. Look how happy Avery is!

Bailey is doing great in her exersaucer. How could I live without this thing? I have often thought: Where did moms way back on the prairie lay their little babies to play when they couldn't crawl or walk and they needed to get things done? There were no exersaucers, no bouncy seats. If anyone knows the answer, please respond...I love information about prairie times and I love to read fiction set in prairie times...and yes, Little House on the Prairie was one of my favorite childhood shows. Don't make fun...it's totally the truth.

Avery and I had a lot of fun with playdough one day. She likes to sit on a tall bar stool and play with playdough at the island rather than the table. It's more fun somehow. And while I realize that she is a child genius (well close) she did not do her name below...Mommy did. :)

Boy we have our stressful times around here, but going through all these cute pictures of the good times reminds me that we really do have some great times around here. I wouldn't trade these precious moments with my children for ANYTHING! I hope I am building a foundation of memories for them even though they may not remember these particular events, they will hopefully remember that Mommy was always around and loved them like crazy and tried her best to do fun things with them when she could!