Happy Birthday

As the days dwindle, I've been extremely busy in Santa's workshop (which happens to be located downstairs). Last week was Kate's birthday party & I can't tell you how great it is for that to be enjoyed & done with. I think next year I'll have to move the party to the week before her birthday. Maybe. Thankfully, her birthday present had been finished for some time, so I wasn't staying up incredibly late with THAT, however, I did stay up late making her slideshow. And, her cake was another crafty project. Josh said after he saw the work I was doing, "Now we know why people pay party places to do birthday parties." Yea. But, it's so much more FUN to do it all at home! :-)


These pics are from her birthDAY, and you can see one of her favorite gifts -- her watch. She's holding it in both of the above pictures. She even wore it to sleep that first night. Remember getting that excited about things?

I was totally planning on having a Curious George birthday, but Kate, a few weeks ago, started talking about wanting a red cake, with a Winnie the Pooh candle, Eeyore candle, Piglet candle, Tigger candle (and who else, mom?). Well, in the face of such firm ideas, I couldn't say no. Although, they instead of buying candles, I bought a balloon weight that can be reused. :-) It sounds so simple, right? Wrong -- that red icing is one of the HARDEST colors to make. It just takes so much food coloring. Remember Elmo last year? Well, as I was decorating it, Kate looked at it and said, "There's grass, mom." Ahh, recognition of where I was going w/ the green icing. Excellent. I think she enjoyed her red cake with balloons.

We're so grateful for our little girl, who is not so little anymore. I'll post her slide show on FB eventually.

this made my day

I walked into Rachel's room to see this sight. This is why I'm so glad to be raising a family with this man!!

some things that made me laugh

For some reason, Kate has a hard time hearing "l" sounds. So, when we were in Texas, I heard her say Auntie "TheRain" & today I told her about a special book that my Grandma gave me -- from Kate's lips Grandma "TheWeez."

Last month, Rachel must have whispered da-da to Josh once, but hadn't repeated it again. When she said Pa-pa last night at church, Josh couldn't believe he was getting so far behind ma-ma & ba-ba. Well, today she started with da-da again. Once for me in the morning, and then at night, she said right as we were all saying goodnight to her. I think it made Josh's day (which had been a bit rough!). She even does a little wave when she says ba-ba sometimes. Soooo cute!

Rachel grabbed the pom pom on her winter hat & pulled it down, then it popped out of her hand & flew back up. It was hilarious! (maybe you had to be there).

When I leave Rach in a room on the floor, I never know where I'll find her when I return. Once she was under Kate's bed, one time she was heading towards the door in her room (and was really close!). I think she was coming to find me. Slightly more dangerous is when big sis is involved. I found her being the "horsey" to Kate's "cowgirl." Uh, shouldn't it be the other way around. Rach isn't crawling, she just rolls & wiggles around.

Kate pronounces a few words in a completely southern manner. My current favorite, Thanksgivin'. I don't think she gets it from me.

And, in one week and a half, I'll have both a 7 month old & a 3 yr old. I can't believe it!

road trip!!!

Last week the Bailey family took a crazy car trip to Texas to visit my mom & dad. They had planned on being in my home town visiting family for Thanksgiving. Since we weren't going to see them for Christmas or until next summer possibly, we thought it would be great to meet them in the middle. Well, perhaps not the exact middle.

So, we took three days to drive down south, and we stayed with family & friends along the way. It took Kate awhile to get used to the fact that we weren't going home every night. By the seventh night she was wanting to know why we weren't going to anyone's home??

We spent three days in McAllen, and got to visit not only with my parents but with my great girlfriends Jamie & Imee as well as all of our extended family. We stayed with my great aunt Clara, and the girls had a real ball getting to know her.

Over the past years, I have seen my usage of the word "home" in reference to south Texas gradually be replaced by "home" referring to Georgia. This transition was made more concrete as I drove around my home town & didn't recognize streets, shops, and restaurants. Of course, all of my major landmarks were there, my home, my elementary school, middle, and high school. My grocery store. My park. But there was a disconnect that made me a trifle sad. I even thought that I've been driving around Georgia longer than I drove around Texas. Weird!

It was wonderful to be with our family for Thanksgiving. We ate (a lot), and apparently, Josh thought the food to be right up to par with a Bailey Thanksgiving.

Kate, o shy one, did pretty well meeting all the various groups of people. She did best in small groups, so Thanksgiving Day, when she met most of her cousins, was a crazy day! She was quiet as a mouse, but they wanted to please her so they kept bringing her toys and really took great care of her. As people gradually trickled out, she became more friendly & talkative. It was a little bit hilarious. When she took her afternoon nap, all of the little cousins kept coming up to me asking, "When will Kate wake up?" Elizabeth, the 10 year old, did a great job being the "babysitter." Kate really liked meeting with Jamie & Imee since they were able to give her undivided attention. Her favorite! She did very well on the road with mom's special stash of books, coloring books, cds and dvds. Elmo DVD was high on the list of favorites. The DVD highlights parts of the body, and she kept showing me different moves from the movie. The one she actually learned how to do was hop on one leg. We also had a few potty adventures, too.
Rachel was so wonderful! She did great on the road. Unbelievable, in fact, when you think about the fact that she can't really entertain herself. So, she sat next to Kate and pulled off Kate's blanky, played with her toys, and took cat naps. She did great with all of the new people. She's just the right age for that. She also started scrunching up her nose when she smiles. I love when she discovers these new things about her body. Ah the joy of being six months new.

Day 1: Met cousin Ethan for the first time! Stayed with Jana & Ethan for a night. We had a lot of fun. These are two Johnson cousins of eight to be born within 12 months. Talk about a baby boom!

Day #2: We stayed with Imee & Phillip one night. Kate really warmed up to Imee very quickly & even did some reading in Spanish with her.

Yum!

Thanksgiving Day photo shoot. (Rachel had just been woken up)

This picture just makes me laugh. Cousin Elizabeth & Kate -- this is Kate's fake smile. I think I promised her an olive if she smiled.

Another day at the park with Jamie! Woohoo! Jamie taught Kate how to play I Spy!

Would I do it again? Not tomorrow! But, it was the golden time for traveling. To have this golden time again, we'll have to wait until these two are 2 and 4 yrs.

fun in the bathtub

Anchors away, my friend!

We got inspired by reading Curious George Rides a Bike, and decided to fold our own newspaper boat. It wasn't as easy as I remembered it being as a child. I think my newspaper is the wrong size! Once I got it all folded, Kate wanted to see if it would float, so we sailed our boat in the bathtub!

The book highlights various ducks, insects, and wildlife hitching a ride on Curious George's boats, so Kate's first question, once I told her we could float it in the bathtub, was, "Who can ride in the boat??"

Running out of real estate

Kate loves to squish inside our baby bathtub with lil' sis. Since Rachel is REALLY into kicking & splashing with her feet, this can't be too comfortable for Kate, but it's worth it just to be close to sister.

A bonus: Kate favorite game to play in the tub (when she's not sharing with her sister) is scuba dizer! She fell in loves with scuba dizers when we took our trip to the aquarium this summer. How to play scuba dizer? Lay on your belly in the bathtub & kick your legs while blowing bubbles in the water. The other pretty amazing thing she does in the bath is lay down on her back so that her hair & ears are submerged in the water but her "face" is still out of the water. Pretty brave, I think.

Rachel loves bath time. If she has any evening fussies, a bath takes care of that quickly. She splashes & kicks & giggles & coos. She even practices her newest accomplishment, saying "mamamamamamamama." Kate can't believe that her little sister is saying a word! And, of course, nothing thrills a mom's heart more! Josh's view, "What about dad??? Da-da-da-da-da."

dress-up

Look who's wearing the cowstume this year??? This golden oldie has been worn by Lydia, Lauren, and then little Rach.

My beautiful ballerina & the cutest cow on the block!

What is it about costumes that are soooooooo irresistible for parents? I don't care two licks for the candy at Halloween & trick-or-treating would be Kate's worst nightmare (having to smile at strangers?????), but I just can't resist a little kid in a costume! We went to the Fall Festival at our local mega church, and Kate had a lot of fun. Although they also have typical games like ring toss & fishing & cake walks, we spent most of our time in the inflatable games area. Sometimes, I get little glimpses into how much Kate is really growing up. We don't go to places like Monkey J oe's very often (a play place with loads of inflatable jumpers & slides), so the changes in Kate are pretty obvious. She used to be too small to go on most of them; she also used to be too shy to just play in front of so many strangers. Last night, my shy Kate was bouncing a long with the best of them, and clambering up using hand holds & sliding down big old slides. She still had a moment of anxiety when she saw a guy dressed up in a full body gorilla suit. He was a little scary even to me! Not to mention that when we happened to catch a glance of him, he was shoving another adult. Probably a very friendly shove, but nevertheless, a bit frightening for the little girl staring up, up, up at a big, hairy, black gorilla!