Our little baker

Last night, I made some cookies for Rob's office for the holiday and I let Bailey help me.  She LOVES to help, and believe it or not, sometimes, she actually succeeds.  I let her help put in the flour into the cookie dough.  Tablespoon by tablespoon, the child poured it in.  She was having such a grand time. 

 

Well, today, we realized we didn't save enough cookies for ourselves (only one) so Bailey thought we should make some more and she was right!  Bailey helped pour in the flour and then all of a sudden, she thought a 1/2 tsp scoop would work better.  Wow, now that took a while.  After all of this baking, I'm thinking Bailey needs her own apron.  YAY FOR EBAY!

 

Also note: Hide the chocolate chips from any toddlers named Bailey.  They think they should get to eat them all.

Bubble Girl.

Bailey has been around her Grandpa way too much because this afternoon,  I got out the bubble stuff and I have never done this for her before and she knew what the stuff was and said, "BUBBLE!"  I took her out on the deck to blow bubbles and she practiced the word over and over and spoke to Kaitlin.

Mommy will have to do this more often so Bailey has one less thing to miss about Grandpa since Grandpa and Grandma are now in Phoenix for their yearly hibernation.

I never post when I should

I forget to post so many things.  I never told about how Bailey's Grandpa Hudson dressed up like Santa because neither of the two attempts taking her went exactly as planned.  So Grandpa dressed up, she sat still long enough for one semi-decent photo and then she was off to take on the world.

She also went sledding that day, which was the 19th, if anyone's curious, and she did incredibly well. 

The child really is fearless.

The Best Godparents

We forgot our camera yesterday, but it was a fabulous day anyhow.  We went over to Bailey's Godparents Mike and Julie's house.  Bailey adores their dog Biscuit, and she's kind of crazy about them too.  We had chili, the boys watched football, Bailey hugged the dog, chased the dog, tortured the dog, drank egg nog, and had marvelous conversation.  They gave her the cutest presents.  They were his and hers presents to Bailey.  Mike gave her a John Deere tractor toy and a John Deere book and thanks to him, I now have the phrase "happy tractoring" fully embedded into my head.  Julie gave her The Velveteen Rabbit book and her very own rabbit like in the story, a bunny that Biscuit was quite willing to take off of Bailey's hands if she needed.  Biscuit actually helped Bailey unwrap it!

Bailey does the most adorable thing when she gives hugs to people, dogs, cats, stuffed bunnies, she goes "ohhhhhh" or "awwwww."  She must hear this a lot during hugs, because for a couple months now, she does it and it just makes the hugs even more memorable and cozy and amazing.

She's amazing.

Pardon her French

Bailey turned seventeen months old today.  I'm pretty excited about that.  She's just so amazing too.  Today, we had lunch with Rob since Tuesdays are his late nights.  Then Bailey and I went and ran some errands.

Right this moment, Bailey's watching her French DVD.  Lately, it's her favorite when it used to be something she'd beg for me to turn off.  Just  a bit ago, she was trying to mimic everything that they were saying.  It was pretty funny listening to her pretend to speak French.

Not everyone gets a baby genius, luckily, we did.

Moments Like These

Friday, Bailey and I got out of the house after a week of recovery and cabin fever.  It was must deserved and much needed.  We headed to the mall, had a very late lunch at McDonalds' where Bailey insisted upon dipping her fries into ketchup (and she doesn't even like the taste) and then off to Kohl's to take advantage of their weekend sale.  While at Kohl's, Bailey shocked me by doing something out of her character.  She sat down in the toy section and played with the pop-up pals toys.  You know those things?  You push a button or pull a lever and the things pop up out of a door?  Anyway, she played with two different versions and then would say, "it's UP!"  She knows the concept of up!!!!
She's a genius.  A brilliant genius.
Anyhow, she sat there for the LONGEST time playing with these.  It was amazing.  She's never been like this in toy aisles before.  I was so excited, I ended up buying her one of them for Christmas.  Luckily, she's forgotten about it, so it'll be a surprise all over again.

Saturday, we had to go do some shopping for our neighbor Quinton's birthday present.  Bailey did it again!  She sought out the toy aisle and played!  Daddy was just as excited as Mommy was.  She was loving every button and touched everything she possibly could.  She's never been this interested in toys before until now...
Just in the knick of time.
Our Christmas shopping has just suddenly gotten a lot more interesting.

Yesterday evening, Bailey spent some time with her wonderful grandparents.  How lucky are we for them, honestly?  Daddy had a work Christmas party to go to, so they watched her at the last minute (we waited that long to make sure she was healthy enough).  Sure, it was kind of odd driving all the way to Independence from Ottawa, and to Bonner Springs for the party, and back to Independence and then home to Ottawa all for an hour at a party, but hey...we don't have a lot of access to babysitters, or at least we never ask anyone besides her grandparents.  She sure does love them.  Grandpa Hudson is possibly her most favorite person in the whole wide world.  He blows bubbles indoors with her and lets her beat him up with an inflatable sword.  What's not to love?

It was humorous because she hadn't slept anything longer than fifteen minutes yesterday, stayed awake the whole drive to Independence, so we expected her to nap for at least part of her visit with them since we'd be back late.  So we show up past ten and has she slept?  No, at least nothing longer than a thirty second tease to make Grandma and Grandpa think maybe they'd get a break.  They must have worn her out though because slept the entire drive home without a fight. 
She definitely loves her visits with them though, and as she should.  They leave right after Christmas for Arizona for their yearly hibernation.  Luckily, she gets to see them next Sunday too so Mommy and Daddy can see Chronicles of Narnia.  Until recently, Mommy and Daddy never really left Bailey much, but they realized they better take their chance now before Grandma and Grandpa are away in the desert sun.  She's going to miss them so much...


We finally bought our Christmas tree today.  This Mommy has been getting antsy.  In fact, she was getting down right nasty about it.  We were in search of a tree with the best bristles for a Bailey, ones that wouldn't prick her like the spindle in Sleeping Beauty.  Although, sometimes we wouldn't mind her getting some sleep...

So we got our tree and tonight we started decorating it and the child is just truly intrigued by this thing.  She'd do her fake sneezes and then we put on the lights and now she just glows when she looks at it.  She actually glows.  She was trying to help us hang up ornaments too.  She's really loving the Madame Alexander ones.

Ask us in a week just how much we hate this thing, because it's pretty new right now.

The things a Mommy gets to witness

On Sunday, while Bailey's Daddy was at the Chiefs game, Mommy and Bailey hung out at home contemplating Christmas decorations.  Then, Mommy got to see the cutest thing ever, Bailey was walking around in Mommy's shoes!  She hadn't done this before, but maybe that's because Mommy used to just wear flip flops or her Crocs.  I still haven't checked to see if the photos turned out.

Sunday was the same day Daddy had them meet him in Olathe at 5 so Mommy could have some away-from-home-time with Jamie.  It wasn't even raining at home, but soon after Mommy and Bailey were on the highway, but far enough where it was too late to turn around, the rain came down, very, very hard.  It was scary.  It'd ease up, and it'd get worse again, and just as Mommy thought it was bad enough, it got so much worse once they got on their exit.  At the stoplight, the rain was coming down so hard on the car, it shook and sounded like the car was being beaten up brutally.  Instead of being scared or crying though, Bailey giggled.  Yeah, she giggled.  She found the experience amusing, rather than traumatizing. 

I admire how fearless she is.  But I must admit, it worries me a lot too.

Anyway, after Mommy panicked just a bit and then unfogged her windows when she realized that was half the problem (but two other people had the same problem, so don't laugh) they made it safely to their designated meet-up point.  I have to wonder how many people meet in that same location to swap things.  Drugs, divorce documents, children.

Then Monday, she sneezed a real sneeze (as opposed to her typical fake ones) and she actually covered her nose and mouth when she did so.  It was precious, even though it may be such a tiny thing to most people.  She's amazing.

Yesterday, Bailey had her first non-vaccination-related-fever.  She still has it today too and it just keeps getting higher, even with the baby Tylenol.  She won't eat either and she just continuously sleeps, which isn't like her at all.  The sleeping part that is.  But she even passed up good stuff to eat yesterday.  She moans a lot and whines and it's quite heartbreaking.  As soon as her doctor's office opens, I'm calling.

Weighing In

There are so many things I keep meaning to write about in Bailey's blog, and then I never do.  Last Monday, Bailey and her Mommy were both sick and went to their doctors.  Bailey weighed 20 pounds and 2 ounces, but that was with her clothes on, coat, diaper, shoes, and drinking a nearly full bottle, so we're lucky if she actually weighs 19 pounds.

I'm adding more entries simultaneously.

Harry Potter and the lost shoe

Bailey's father and mother finally were able to see the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the theater today.  Their last attempt failed miserably when everyone in the theater, well, even the whole casino, were evacuated due to reasons unknown.  So, we tried this all over again today and this time, it was a success.  The movie was seen and enjoyed, and Bailey got to spend some quality time with her grandparents.

She keeps them busy too, just like she does for her fortunate parental duo.  Grandpa had a mildly amusing story to share.  While outside playing with one Miss Bailey, he suddenly noticed she was missing a shoe.  The search was on and was producing no results.  He learned that it's almost impossible to find a tan suede shoe among the brown grass and leaves.  He had to call for reinforcements, so Grandma aided in the search mission.  Luckily, two detectives are indeed better than one and Bailey has given everyone yet another story to share with the world and later laugh about.  She's quite sweet.

Picture Perfect

  This Mommy was a basketcase for no reason concerning the family portraits, which is obvious by looking at them.  These were our first professional family shots and we have nothing but pride.

 

 

The lady also took some of Bailey by herself and she was just so well-behaved, even while tearing the lady's photo set apart.

 

More of these can be found on her website.  But they're fabulous, yeah?

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all, soon a good night.  Bailey and Mommy have been sick this past week, so we stayed at home instead of going to Grandma and Grandpa Hudson's as originally intended. 

She also hasn't really acted ill.  She coughs, but over all, she's handled this sick bit a lot better than her mother has. 

It was NOT a total loss of a day though.  We made our own dinner at home, complete with turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes, stuffing and yucky cranberry sauce.  The yucky stuff?  Yeah, of course that was Bailey's favorite part.  She'd never had it before, but she sure ate it like she had!

Giving thanks finally means something now that there's a Bailey.  Everything is so much better.  Always.

Movie Critic

Bailey and her father are in the living room right now and she's already done with yet another DVD.  The last few days have entailed Bailey's finicky tastes regarding her DVD collection.  She'll watch four minutes of one movie, and then be ready for another one.  She even helps pick them out.

About fifteen minutes ago, she was helping pick out another one, two choices ago, and while doing so, inspected one of them thoroughly, both front and back.  It was hilarious because she was checking out the cover, and then flipped it to the back of the case.  It appeared as though she was reading the back for the synopsis.  Heck, she probably was.

Breaking and Entering

I wanted to take a moment to brag about how my daughter just managed to break off the entertainment center door.  Luckily, she wasn't injured, only the door was.  I guess we no longer have to get after her for opening it and then slamming it shut...

There's always a bright side. :)

One more thing-

Oh, and yeah, the picture thing didn't work out.  For either us or Target.  Their camera broke and things were just crazy here.  Luckily we're rescheduled for tomorrow, so we get to try this stress of getting ready all over again.  YAY.

But I have the most photogenic child on the planet on my side, so I shouldn't worry about a thing.  She's there to make us look good.

Bailey...earlier

This was the little darling...

 

 

Isn't that just too cute?!

 

 

Cats, lost shoes, and other mommy disasters

Today was an interesting day.  I try to have Wednesdays as calm as humanly possible because Wednesdays are trash day which always end up exhausting this mommy.  So, I'm messing with the trash, emptying the diaper genie, spraying Lysol, emptying more trash cans, and then get to the ever-beloved litter box.  Oh joy, I know that's what you're thinking.  You're completely envying me right about now.  So I start emptying it, my guard up because I'm in the kitty bathroom which is down the stairs, an area allegedly off limits to Bailey so I'm listening for her to make sure she's not doing any funny business, spray more Lysol, let it dry, and I go to pour in the litter.  Wait...it's hard to pour in something you're OUT OF.  So it's 11 o'clock and I'm out of kitty litter.  Glorious.

 

I then realize I have to hurry and get Bailey dressed and head out to Walmart before a certain opinionated feline notices.  Yeah, not as easy as it sounds.  Getting Bailey ready and out the door is the single most frustrating thing I have ever had to face in my life.  This takes anywhere from thirty-five minutes to two hours and I'm seriously not exaggerating.  So after chasing her around the house and chasing her some more I finally get her dressed.  I then go to finish up the trash because the trash men always come right at noon and I wanted my stinky garbage out.  So she's finally ready and I can finally dispose of the nastiness which was now in my dining room and as I'm grabbing the last sack what do I hear?  No, not the sound of eight tiny reindeer.  The garbage truck exactly twenty minutes early.  They're NEVER early.  But of course today, just to be extra-courteous, they were early. 

 

The midget and I finally get out to Walmart, get what we need and return home.  She fell asleep on the way home so at least I got some time to relax after all of that and the cat has a litter box she can use again.  Whew.

 

So, I've been super excited about having family portraits taken.  We don't have any yet, so this is a huge milestone for me.  Yesterday, I finally got through to Target's studio (it was always ringing busy) and I had to settle for a 5:20 appointment for next Monday and that was WITH them penciling us in.  This worried me slightly.  I hate feeling rushed for photos and that we're an inconvenience, because then the pictures won't be any good, as though that's possible with a Bailey in them.  I then got this brilliant idea today about setting up a time at the Target closer to Rob's office during his lunch hour.  Luckily, he took the baited idea and even luckier, they had an 11:40 opening for tomorrow. 

 

I'm then jumping up and down and all around and then it hits me.  I still don't have matching shoes for Bailey's dress, nor a pair of khakis for myself.  Fabulous.  At least I still had time for a Lawrence run though, right?  (We live near there.)  First, I took the little miss BACK out to Walmart to look over their selection, just in case.  After all, it could potentially save me a longer trip.  And viola, I found a pair of burgundy shoes, just as I needed and feared I'd never find and they were ON CLEARANCE. 

 

Bailey of course wasn't very enthused.  She was much more interested in the sports section, specifically the balls.  Who's idea was it to put the shoes next to sporting equipment?  Didn't they figure 16-month-old-girls-obsessed-with-soccer-balls into the equation?  She fought me most of the time we spent in there and we had one moment where she was hidden in a shelf behind the car seats in the baby section and didn't want to come out.  I even had to use the middle name.  Frustrated beyond comprehension, I just went in and retrieved her myself and carried her out of the area with her kicking. 

 

Well, we finally made it to the cashier line and the shoes rang up wrong.  That was a good thing though because I grabbed the wrong size during the struggle.  So we cancel our order and march back there to get the right pair.  Then I remembered the khakis, so I grabbed some of those, which were on clearance, (YAY) and back to the checkout we went.  While checking out, a lady passing through tells me my daughter's shoe was at the dressing room desk.  I hadn't even noticed.  So, after we paid, we went to rescue the lost shoe and headed home.

 

Once home, I noticed once again the shoes rang up at the wrong price.  Fortunately, that's easily fixed.  And as for lost shoes? Well, we've had that happen entirely too many times.  And hats.  And socks.  And my mind.  We're becoming quite used to it.

The Delay

I typed up a longwinded entry the other day and then AOL ruined it.  In a blink of an eye after all that energy and a rare time Bailey was napping, it was gone.  And since the layout looks a bit different, I must have caught AOL in the middle of an update. I hold grudges, so I have yet to trust enough to start anew.  Maybe tomorrow.

Starting Out.

      Blogs seem to be "the thing."  How silly.  I've been making fun of everyone who does these things calling them conformists, yet at the same time, I always think about how much fun it'd be to be able to note all these fun things Bailey does almost each and every day.  I write articles on her website, but it's not the same.  I don't want 365,656,546 articles on there.  I don't think anyone reads them anyhow.  Okay, so two people do.  Woohoo.

      If you don't know who Bailey is, you need to learn.  She's only the prettiest, smartest almost-16-months-old little girl that I know.  Okay, so maybe I don't know a lot of almost-16-months-old-little girls, but even if I did, she's still prettier and smarter than all of them.  Hands down, or hands up.  It doesn't matter.  The fact is: she's prettier and smarter than all of them.  Of course, I AM a bit partial.  Just a bit.  But the fact remains, she's the best.

     If you haven't seen Bailey, you'll wish you had.  And so here she is:

 

See.  I told you.  The prettiest.  AND she's a redhead, so that makes her a trillion times even more spectacular.