Easter

I'm a bit behind on this, but wanted to share some pictures from Easter. Since we saw lots of family the weekend before at Bailey's party, we stayed home and had a quiet day of church and then quality time at home with the kids. It was nice.

While Bailey took a nap after church, Jacob had his Easter egg hunt. Bailey was anti-grass at this point so it worked out for the best.

Posing with his eggs


With Daddy


With Mommy

Bailey woke up and wanted to play with the eggs

Best pose I could get in her Easter dress


The kids with their Easter baskets

I wanted to get a pose with the two kids together and instead of a nice pose, they decided to play wrestle

I thought it would be cute to have Bailey take a picture next to the Easter basket she sat in last year at Easter to see how big she has gotten!

Bailey carrying her basket around

I liked this pose

Aunt Sharla giving the kids their Easter baskets the weekend before

Sharla gave Bailey this adorable headband and Bailey loves it

Bailey's Milestones at One

Bailey hit a number of milestones around her first birthday. I also took some pictures of her at one, but she is too busy to sit still, let alone look and smile at the camera. I want to take her to get her pictures taken, but just haven't had the opportunity yet.

Here are her milestones:

*She is a tiny, little thing. Weight 17 lbs 11 oz (6th percentile) - Height - 28 3/4 inches (39th percentile)

*Her first tooth finally poked through the bottom the Sunday before birthday (3/28). It literally came out of nowhere and just when I was thinking that her teething was going to be easy, she proved us wrong! Her drooling is out of control right now and she has had fevers on and off for two weeks now. It could also be from her shots, so who knows. She is also a bit more fussy at times and I think that she is just hurting. I'm just glad that her teeth finally decided to make an appearance!

*She is trying to talk more. Although I can't prove that she is saying actual words, she is pointing to a lot of things now and making some appropriate sounds, like "da" for daddy, "mama" for mommy, "dah" for dog, and "meh" for milk.

*We had been trying to get her to drink her milk out of sippy cups for some time now with failure, but she has come around. She refused her formula in a sippy cup, but she has absolutely no problem with cold, whole milk in a cup. Yay!! The transition cups I used with Jacob did not work for her, but she is partial to the harder nipple kinds, which is fine with me! I'm still giving her a bottle of formula at bedtime, mainly because I want to make sure she is taking in enough fluids and getting some extra calories to beef up.

*She is a great walker now, but is not a fan of the grass. She just stands there and cries. Occasionally, she will walk while holding my hand, but that's it.

*She is getting more assertive with Jacob and has tried to push him away a few times. However other times she will initiate a wrestling match with him. It's cute, but the main problem is Jacob doesn't understand that he's bigger and will lay on top of her and crush her.

Here are some of the pictures I took of her around her birthday.





New ride-on toy from Aunt Sharla

First time walking outside

Fun swinging

Bailey's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Bailey's birthday with family last weekend (check out the blog below) and had a low-key celebration with just the four of us on her actual birthday. Our new oven was a day late getting delivered, so I couldn't make our traditional cupcakes or even a real dinner, but the kids didn't know the difference! It was so nice outside, that the kids got some quality time outside after work and then we opened presents after a quick dinner.

We got Bailey a new chair in hopes that the kids stop wrestling over the other one Jacob got last year. We also got her a stroller to push her dolls in and a couple of books. So far, Jacob is the one enjoying all the presents. He loves the new books, likes to run through the house pushing/ramming the stroller, and prefers the hot pink chair to his tan one. One the other hand, Bailey likes the tool box and tools that Jacob got on her birthday (actually a regift from Christmas that I hid from him until now).

Enjoy the pictures.

Before work in case her outfit got ruined during the day!

Sitting in her new chair getting ready to open gifts

Doll stroller

Me and Bailey

Dan's the fun parent

Father/daughter pose

Wrestling over the new chair

In the correct chairs

Bailey's Birthday Party

We celebrated Bailey's 1st birthday last weekend with family. We were blessed with a nice day and lots of family to celebrate with. Below is a slideshow of the party and a video of her eating cake.

Bailey's 1st Birthday Party

Eating cake (she was a little sleepy!)

Little Girl Walking!

Bailey has been taking steps for weeks now, but she officially started walking a couple of weeks ago (March 6th). It was a Saturday morning and she just kept going and going and going!

Here is a video!

Seeing Family

Here are a few random pictures of family visits over the last month or so.

Jacob making brownies with Grandma and Grandpa

Getting every last drop of brownie and ice cream

Grandpa and Bailey

Grandma walking with Bailey


Uncle Dallas

Jacob "playing" the Wii with Daddy and Uncle Dallas

Aunt Sharla, Jacob, and George

Jacob Update

Jacob is growing up so fast. He talks incessantly, which is cute most days! He constantly amazes me on what he knows and says. He doesn't miss a beat, there is no more talking in secret around him because he hears it and isn't stupid. We're working on code words. He is starting to point out letters he sees in books and signs. He has known the whole alphabet for awhile now and can count to 15 or so. I would say that we understand about 95 percent of what he says. That five percent can be a real source of frustration for him though because he doesn't understand why we don't get what he is saying.

He just loves life. He is pretty smart, although I'm a bit biased I think. He loves to do whatever we're doing. It's so funny when we're on the phone, because he will run and go get his Tigger cellphone and then mimic everything we are saying. Very cute. He watches us very closely and will ask questions so he understands what we're doing. He is starting to get out and experience the world more and more. Check out the blog below to see what he has been up to lately.

The terrible twos are definitely here, although they aren't too frequent and we can usually get him out of it with a good distraction. He loves snacks and knows where they are so when we tell him "no" it usually results in a mini temper tantrum.

Jacob is turning into a picture lover. He loves to pose and then look at what it looks like on the camera. He wants his picture taken all the time as well as videos of himself.

Jacob is drinking out of regular cups now most of the time. With this comes spills but we're working on it. Eating is never really an issue with him. When there are times he doesn't want something, we can usually bribe him with a small snack if he finishes his food. This usually works, anything for a snack!

Songs are a big part of his life. He LOVES to sing and be sung to. I love that preschool does this for him because I'm not the best singer to teach him songs, but I try!! We usually have a good children's song going in the car on the way home each night. Wait until the windows are open again, look out Bloomington/Normal!! He also loves to dance and seems to be teaching his sister some moves. We still play the "Cha Cha" frequently and both kids really get into it.

Jacob is slowly figuring out the potty. He begged to go the other night and I thought it was just to play (we were in the middle of a bath). I reluctantly let him out and he actually peed.... a lot!! So proud of him and he was super proud too. I know training is just around the corner and I'm very nervous about working with him on this. I hate messes and I can only imagine what is in store for us!

Jacob loves his routine. He knows when we get home at night he gets to go downstairs while Daddy works out before dinner. His bedtime is really where his need for routine comes through. Dan is in charge of this most nights post-bath and has really turned this into a playtime for him. It originally began as one-on-one time for him and a safe place where Bailey wouldn't get into his toys. They put together blocks, puzzles, and read books. He goes through a series of books (in a certain order) and rotates which books he likes. Right now Dr. Seuss is a favorite. We need to scale back this routine to just books because bedtime really needs to be just that and not playtime (in my opinion). This will be a habit that will take time to break. He really gets upset if something is left out.

Jacob is such a joy and is really a sweetheart. Minus the tantrums, I really can't get enough of him!!!

Jacob trying to take his clothes off


Jacob's new interest in his stuffed animals

Sample of his OCD

On the flip side, here is him taking apart the toy storage shelving unit