ISU Homecoming 2009

Illinois State's Homecoming was a couple of weeks ago. Every year the festivities get bigger and better. As an employee, I get to participate in a few events during the week, but this year we went to the parade for the first time as a family and I competed in the Great Urban Race with my friend, Amanda.

Great Urban Race

For those of you that don't know what this is, the race is a local, one-day version of The Amazing Race. The Amazing Race is one of my favorite shows and I've always wanted to go on it. The day of the race was in the lower 40's with light rain at times. As cold as it was, it actually felt good since we were on the move the whole time. The race consisted of two-person teams that had to dress alike, preferably in costume and each team had to completed 11/12 tasks in any order. The kicker is that you can only move from one task by foot or by bus. The tasks took us anywhere from taking a picture with Reggie at the ISU Rec Center, completing a murder-mystery riddle at Often Running, piggy-backing at McDonald's, line dancing in downtown Bloomington, finding a misspelled poster at US Cellular Coliseum, and lots of other fun tasks at locations in downtown Bloomington and Normal. We ended up running the majority of the race, with exception of a bus from downtown Bloomington back to Normal! We literally ran from the starting line in North Normal at the ISU Alumni Center, around Normal, and then all the way into Bloomington. We probably ran 5-6 miles in total!! That's a lot of running! We had so much fun competing in the race and I can't wait to do it again next year.

Piggybacking under the McD's sign as one of the tasks

Posing with a "Lincoln"

Finish line!

Homecoming Parade

The next day we took the kids to the parade and had a great time. We stayed an hour-and-a-half and the parade was still going when we left. This was Jacob's first parade and he had a blast. We gave him his Halloween pumpkin to collect candy and he quickly understood what to do! He got so much candy it was ridiculous. One lady came by and tried to put some candy in his pumpkin and he said "noooo!" and pushed her hand away because he didn't want anyone near his candy! It should be even more fun next year when Bailey can get into the action :)

Before the parade

Picking up candy

Reggie float

Jacob's loot!!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to one of the local pumpkin patches a couple of weekends ago and had a good time. We went on the first non-rainy day in a while, so it was pretty muddy, but I'm glad we went. Jacob had fun with all of the activities available for kids - endless pumpkins and gourds, climbing hay structure, farm animals, etc.... It was pretty cold so he didn't get to do as much if it was warmer, but he still enjoyed himself. I tried to get as many pictures of the kids as I could, but with all of the distractions and muddy conditions, the kids weren't as cooperative. As we were leaving I saw a family of four take a picture with their two kids (upper grade school age) and they took the picture in one shot! I usually take about ten picture per shot to get one decent one. Thank goodness for digital cameras!

Jacob picking out pumpkins

Bailey sitting on one of the pumpkin wagons

Jacob and Daddy

Jacob crawling through the tunnel in the hay structure

Bailey and I

Me with the kids

Bailey in the fall display

Jacob insisted on pushing Bailey, which turned into quite the temper tantrum when we wouldn't let him sometimes because he was running into people

Jacob probably go excited to see the farm animals more than anything else

Sea of mums

Bailey is 6 Months Old!!

How did my little girl already turn six months old!?! I'm a few weeks behind on this, but I was waiting on her stats from her appointment this week before posting. She is really developing her personality now. This is the age I have been waiting for. She can sit up on her own now and play contently for periods of time. I love that she can entertain herself. It's great to see her playing with toys and developing her coordination as well. She is still quite entertained by her brother and watches everything that he does. He also loves to be my big helper and get her things when she needs something and is always letting me know when she is crying (like I didn't already know!). He'll say "Bayee cryin" or "Bayee sad". He also likes to keep track of where she is and watch me feed her food. I love how interested he has become in her!

We are still waiting on her to consistently sleep through the night. She has done it a few times, but other nights she might be up five times. It can really be exhausting sometimes. She definitely is not a heavy sleeper like Jacob is. You can barely tip-toe into her room without her waking up. She is still working on her vegetables, but I gave her a break from food for awhile because she developed eczema pretty quickly during the first week of introducing the yellow vegetables to her. It was all over her face and bottom and really irritated her. She now has a prescription-strength cortisone cream which has done wonders. She really likes the vegetables so far, which is encouraging.

It is sad to begin putting away some of her baby things like her bouncy seat and play gym. It will be weird to store these things for good this time instead of stuffing them in a closet knowing that another one is on the way. On the other hand, it is great to free up more space and I now see why people are so eager to have a garage sale to get rid of these things!


Here is a run-down of Bailey at six months:

*Sitting up for long periods of time

*Rolling and scooting backwards on her tummy

*Taking about three naps a day

*Loves to play in the water during bath time

*Has great hand-eye coordination and loves to steal things around her

*Lunges forward to grab things

*Is very observant and watches everything around her

*Removed her sleep positioner and now she likes to sleep on her side or tummy

*Is still very happy (well unless she is tired or hungry)

*Is still pretty petite - 15 pounds (23%) and 25 inches (18%)

*No sign of teeth yet


Fell asleep during dinner one night

Jacob loading Bailey with toys (he did this all on his own)

This is how she sleeps sometimes

Fascinated with each other!

Posing forward at the same time - very rare!!

Black Eye

Jacob got his first black eye a couple of weeks ago. He was fighting over a toy with his "friend" at daycare and got pushed down and landed on a toy. He has gotten a lot of attention over this and it is now two weeks later and I'm so used to seeing it, that I was caught off-guard when someone asked me about it today in church. The funny thing about this incident is that he was wearing a Colts jersey the day it happened and I joke that a Bears fan wasn't happy about it :)

Darker on day 2

Here again on day 5

While Dan was Away

This is my second attempt at doing this blog. As I was uploading my final picture, the blog crashed and apparently never autosaved. All of you fellow bloggers will understand how frustrating this is, especially uploading pictures!!

Dan was gone a lot during the first few weeks in September for both work and fun reasons. I'm used to being by myself with the kids a day every now and then and usually 1-2 nights a week, but to have several days in a row from wake-up to bedtime intimidated me. I'm happy to say it went well and we all survived! Honestly, it was exhausting, but I feel stronger and more confident in myself. I definitely have more respect for single mothers now, wow!!

In order to help pass the time, I did take a couple of day-trips to Decatur to visit family and Sharla came down for one of the weekends to visit/help. I also have to thank Libby for giving me some relief one of the nights. Bathtime by myself is definitely daunting. If Bailey doesn't fall asleep before Jacob's bath, then I have a VERY unhappy baby on my hands which I can't do anything about.

Here is what one of my nights was like while Dan was gone. Bailey was getting fussy towards Jacob's bathtime, but refused to go to sleep, so I had to put her in her jumperoo to play while I took care of Jacob. She was not having that and cried the whole time, didn't even want her pacifer. After a quick bath, I put Jacob sans diaper in his room while I tried to rock Bailey to sleep. Didn't work. I went back to Jacob's room to put his diaper on and then go back to Bailey. What I found was Jacob squatting and pooping on the floor! He then stepped in it and ran across his room. I chose to address this situation before getting back to Bailey since I figured unsanitary conditions ruled over crying. Poor Bailey sobbed so hard and got the short end of the stick that night. It literally breaks my heart!


Here are some pictures of visiting family while Dan was away.

Jacob shooting pool with Grandpa

Great-Grandma with Bailey

Grandpa giving Jacob a wagon ride

Jacob picking tomatoes with Aunt Kathy

Sharla with the kids

Enjoying a nice afternoon on the deck with family

Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa with the kids

Three generations

Sharla pushing Jacob on the swing at the park

Sibling Love

Jacob and Bailey are finally having fun together. Jacob is definitely Bailey's idol and completely lights up whenever he is around and comes near her. Jacob loves to play with her and try and make her laugh. He brings her toys to her, which is sweet, but we do have to watch him closely. His play can be kind of rough. He'll shake a toy in her face and then wallop her with it! He also likes to pull on her playfully. She mostly takes it pretty well and just laughs but we know we need to set some boundaries before she gets hurt. In order to be more efficient, I try and do diaper changes at the same time and put them side-by-side on the floor together. They love this! It's so cute because they will turn into each other and play and talk.

It's not all good times, though. A couple of weeks ago during a dual-diaper change, Bailey put her hand near his mouth and Jacob chomped down on it. I know he wasn't trying to hurt her, but he still got a time-out. She cried the hardest I've seen her, poor thing! Jacob is also having a hard time seeing Bailey play with his old toys. He sometimes takes them away from her and says "Jacob's fill-in-the-blank". We cannot take our eyes off them for one second out of safety for Bailey. Jacob will sometimes sit on her, which she thinks is hilarious, but he needs to know that this is not okay. It's also always a challenge when she is sleeping in the swing because he will go over to her stop the swing and try and play with her, which means no more nap.

I'm really anxious for the two of them to play together more in the next few months. I'm optimistic that they won't fight and will be the best of friends (yeah right!).

Jacob giving Bailey a hug (this was all on his own and I was lucky to catch it on camera)

Jacob and Bailey



This video was shot several weeks ago when I was trying to capture Bailey talking. The video turned into a Jacob show, he really turns on the silliness sometimes when he is being filmed!





This video was after Bailey had her rice cereal and Jacob was eating a snack after dinner. You'll also see our crazy dog who has to stay in the crate during mealtimes because he jumps up and takes food out of Jacob's hands.

5 Months

Little Miss Bailey turned five months this past Tuesday. How time flies! I am trying to savor every possible moment with her because she is growing and changing too fast. At night I feed her before I put her down and she often falls asleep on my chest while burping her. Although I have a million things to do once she is in bed, I hesitate moving her because I know that it won't be too long that she won't do this anymore.

I don't know how we lucked out, but she is an even happier baby than Jacob was. She smiles all the time and really only cries when she is either really hungry or tired.

Here is what she is up to:

*She has been sleeping in her crib the past couple of weeks and has started sleeping through the night. She does stir a couple of times and needs a pacifier, but we can't complain! I love that her bedtime now coincides with Jacob's. The only problem is when I'm by myself at bedtime and have to choose which one to go down first.

*She is starting to sit up on her own when placed in a sitting position. I don't know how she goes from not holding her head up very well a month ago to sitting up in such a short time, but I'll take it! This is the last trick I want her to learn because it's so much easier to entertain when they sit up, but once she starts crawling, life will get even crazier and I'm not ready for that.

*I gave her her first taste of cereal last Sunday. Not much got digested, but I'll try again this weekend (I honestly forget to give it to her at night, so bad!).

*I mentioned in her four-month post that she started rolling over. Well she now rolls back-and-forth and rarely stays on her back anymore, she's got places to go!

*She is taking everything around her in. She rarely takes her eyes off of Jacob and thinks he is a superstar (more later on this in a future post).

*She grabs everything within reach. The other day Jacob was working on a wooden puzzle with me on the floor and looked at me with his hands up in the air and asked "where piece go?". Turns out that Miss Bailey who was on my lap found it somehow and was knawing on it.