Well That Worked Well, Didn't It

I believe it was the last post (Nov. 16th) in which I stated my resolve to post something new "every Saturday." I believe I kept that resolve for...oh, one week.

Let me catch you up...

• Bailey had her first Thanksgiving (yeah!);
• Bailey had her first Christmas (yeah!);
• Bailey had her first urinary tract infection (yeah???)

The week before Bailey's first Christmas (yeah!), on Wednesday, I had stayed at home with Bailey because she had woken up early with a low grade fever and just didn't feel well. We followed the assumption from everyone that Bailey was having trouble with her teeth. She did have FIVE coming in at the same time (and the gap between her two front teeth is MASSIVE! Dear god, I can already see the orthodontist bills...) so Tammie and I assumed as well.

Stupid, stoopid, assumptions!!!

Never, in the entire 11 months that Bailey has been on this earth, has she ever had a definite problem with cutting teeth (when will we ever learn...). The first time she had "trouble" teething, it turned out to be a major case of diarrhea (with a very red bottom to accompany it). The second time she had "trouble" with teething, her fever topped out at 104-105 degrees, prompting a midnight run to the emergency room (actually it was 11:30 pm...but it soon became midnight).

Three hours later, two massive shots of antibiotics, a prescription and lots (and LOTS) of crying, Bailey finally started to feel better. We went home and soon got Bailey back on her schedule, welcomed once again with a happy baby in the mornings.

Then Christmas (yeah!), which Bailey truly enjoyed (probably not as much as mom and dad, but then again WE knew what exactly was going on...Bailey just loved ripping paper and playing with each new toy she was handed). It was extremely cute to watch as we handed her each new toy that was unwrapped. She would look at it, look at the toy already in her hand, quickly discard the "old" toy, and (with gap-toothed smile spreading across her face) joyously accept the newest offering.

Then California...

I miss my baby...

Because of the rigors of traveling, Bailey's schedule is toast...

She screams every night when we put her down to go to sleep...

I miss my baby girl...

Tomorrow we head back to work; Miss Ruby will get Bailey during the day...

May God have mercy upon  her soul...
(and pray that she truly is the miracle worker Tammie and I believe her to be)

(otherwise, we're screwed...) 

Happier note...Bailey's newest (and cutest) tricks:

1. We can sit up by ourselves;
2. We can crawl (army man style, but boy can she move);
3. We can wave (mostly to herself, but who's counting);
4. We can clap (and use appropriate sound effects like "yeah");
5. We can say "Hi" (and she knows the appropriate time to use it...);
6. We can say "Shhh" (but she doesn't always stay "shhh"...);
7. We can pet the doggies...without smacking them:
8. We can kiss (usually she just licks you, but it's still a kiss in my book...); and
9. We can blow kisses.

Even with the difficult times, it is good to relax and remember all of the great things that take place as well. We get caught up in what is wrong instead of what is right, and it causes us undue stress and emotional drain. It tears me apart when I hear Bailey crying and even screaming at night, but I remind myself that she is safe, she is not in pain, and that this is a temper tantrum caused by conditions which were out of her hands. Everything will be okay...we've just got to give it time, patience, and lots of love.

Take care everyone. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May all of your wishes come true. 

Noses and Hands and Butts...Oh My!

Okay, here we go.

Noses - another cold, more runny noses and lots of snot (eewww...).
Hands - Bailey has learned to clap (yeah...and we say yeah with the clapping. It's all very confusing, especially for Bailey). She claps her hands with the most serious expression and sometimes one of confusion. I don't think that she has figured out "why" we clap.
Butts - that butt is still waggling in the air, trying to crawl (sooo close). It is very cute to watch, but now I'm worried that I'll have to keep up with her zooming around the house (hey, isn't that what dog runs are for???).
 
Tammie and I got a much needed "Baby-Free Day" yesterday. We went to the Texas Renaissance Festival with Brad and Katie. (You have no idea what I had to go through to get that picture. I got a "stern talking-to" from the owners of the shop we were in about the "courtesy" of asking to take pictures within their shop. Mind you, I never took pictures of their artwork or jewelry they were selling, nor was this sign even for sale...It was just a sign...a stupid, yet clever sign that I wanted to share with my friends and family...go figure.) Aside from the anaphylactic shock and the "stern talking-to", it was a great day. And in reality, the anaphylactic shock (once we were sure Brad would survive) made for some pretty interesting conversations as well. Brad is allergic to nuts, and without thinking (without ANY of us thinking...we all know he's allergic) Brad bought baklava at the Greek market and we let him eat it. Needless to say, we quickly made our way to the First Aid station soon after. 

Three Benadryls later, Brad was drunk without ever having a drink. He survived (else the story wouldn't be humorous) and proceeded to hold entire conversations in a very sleepy, slurring kind of way. He even stayed awake on the way home (which is more than I can say for either of the ladies...) and we retired to our seperate abodes to get some rest after a great trip (yes...we went and got Bailey from her Grandparents. It was a "Baby-Free Day," not a baby-free weekend. Oh stop complaining...we missed her all day. We bought her presents and talked about having her with us next year, so stop thinking we were bad parents. All of you out there with kids should remember what it is like, and how happy you were when you too had a "Baby-Free Day." 

Sorry for the rant...)

More good news as well. I've finished updating our Picasa Photo Albums. I am still working on pulling the backlog of videos off of the camera, but I have now arranged the photos by the months in which they were taken. I'll try to post the previous months photos on the first weekend of every month (if not every couple of weeks) and I've set myself a schedule of updating this blog every Saturday (or Sunday if I happen to be at the RenFest...or marching competition...or Region Band auditions...or a birthday party...or hungover...). Check back often and please share your comments both here and in the photo album. One day I would like to share these with Bailey so that she can get to know everyone who has watched her grow up.

Take care everyone.

So Close, and Yet So Far

With school in full swing (and my coworker out on maternity leave...yeah), things have been a little busy around here. My apologies for not updating on a regular basis. I am going to try and set up a specific day of the week that I update blogs and photos (but please don't bug me about when...I'll get it when I get it. You'll be the first to know).

Bailey has been growing like a weed and developing a personality that is just too much. We are almost crawling (almost, but not yet. I've made the mistake of "helping" her along...she face planted into the floor...started crying...made me feel bad...). For a baby that hated being on her stomach, Bailey now rolls herself onto her belly and pushes herself up to look over the rails of her crib. She actually sleeps on her stomach most nights, and has developed a habit of sticking her butt up into the air (you would never guess that Eeyore was her favorite toy, would you). We've even had a few times of being up on her hands and knees at the same time, but only briefly.

Solid foods are going well, but are very, VERY messy. We are going to have to start stripping her down naked before we feed her. At least then we can just hose her down (calm down...we're not going to hose down Bailey. We only do that to the dogs...and Max LOVES  it).

Daycare is going well, but I still hate dropping her off in the morning. Bailey does love going to Miss Ruby's, mainly because she now has a best friend. Bailey and Miss Ruby's granddaughter, Alexandra, love to play and talk together. Alex will be 12 months next week, but Bailey is still bigger than her. The two of them are fun to watch together. They talk and smile at one another. The other morning, Alex was in the back room napping with her grandfather. I had picked Bailey up out of her car seat, and it was all I could do to hold onto her. She was wiggling and squirming to look over my shoulder to see if Alex was in her Pack-and-Play. When she wasn't, she looked at Miss Ruby with a "Well, where is she?" look on her face.

The holidays are fast approaching and we hope to see everyone soon. Please keep in touch and I will try to be better about updates.  

Oops...forgot about Halloween!!! 

The Saga of Bathing Eeyore

Old parents and new parents will be able to empathize with this scenario...a favorite stuffed animal, a dirty floor, lots of slobber.

Bailey's favorite toy is her stuffed doll Eeyore, and after almost 9 months he was filthy. The ears and tail were crusty with slobber and goo, Eeyore's nose was turning gray (even more gray than normal), and things were looking rather gross. It was time to wash the doll...the doll that says "DO NOT WASH."  What on earth were we going to do?

Well, we washed her...

And everything was just fine. There really was no "saga" of Eeyore, I just needed a dramatic title since I had not posted in a while. Bailey, mom and dad are all doing fine. Mom and dad are very busy with school so it has been difficult to keep up with the blog entries. Bailey has learned how to roll over and it is now her favorite passtime (pretty amazing for a baby that HATED to be on her stomach just a couple of months ago). She is learning how to get her knees under herself and starting to push herself up into a "crawling" posture (it's only a matter of time now until she driving...Lord help us!). 

Bailey has become a good eater of solid foods (if you can count mashed and mushed fruits and veggies "solid") and she still enjoys going to Miss Rubies for the day. I still hate to leave her in the mornings, but at least I know that she is happy at daycare and is having a good time (except when she gets bit by other kids...only happened once, but that was enough). We are very close to "dada" now...she is saying the word (usually as "dadadadadada," but it's good enough for me), but I don't think that she has associated the word with the person. Soon enough...

More later. I'll try to keep up a little better with the posts. Marching season is almost over, so I should be getting a bit of my life back then. Oh, and we bought her a Halloween costume. You are going to LOVE it!!! 

Long Time, No Post

Wow! It's been a long time since I've been here to post. Lots of things have been happening and there hasn't been hardly any time to update you. So, instead of an uber long post, I'll give you the condensed, "I don't have time to read a long post" version...

Brent:
School has started and the first game is over with. Too many kids and not enough teachers (literally... Hutto was even considering closing the 2nd middle school and combining the two to fix the problem), schedule is a freakin' mess (but will hopefully be fixed soon... I might even get a break this time around) and I'm exhausted.

Tammie:
School has started and she's swamped with learning how to be a middle school teacher. So far, so good! Crazy parents, crazy kids... you know how it goes. Good news: she likes her coworkers and principals (and her classroom ROCKS!).

And now who you're really here for...Bailey:
Bailey met her Great Grandma and Grandpa Burke a couple of weeks ago and took her first trip to California (and the wine country, and San Fransisco... hey, we needed a vacation too). She did very well traveling, aside from the flight over in which a very rude individual in front of her decided he needed to recline his seat right in Bailey's face (bastard!). The flight back was way better, and during our short layover in Phoenix, we discovered that Bailey was getting her first tooth (yeah tooth!).

Shortly after returning home, Bailey started cutting her second tooth (yeah teeth!) and started back to daycare with Miss Rubie. She has been doing great at daycare and getting lots of praise for her good behavior.

Now the rest (in rapid succession...):

1. Bailey got a cold (again...);
2. Mommy and Daddy changed her formula;
3. Bailey gets cranky and constipated;
4. Mommy and Daddy get cranky (but not constipated...);
5. Labor Day weekend approaches;
6. Bailey goes berserk;
• cries at 3 or 4am and can't be consolled;
• cries all day and can't be consolled;
• cries when trying to poop;
• cries when she does poop;
• cries when she goes down for a nap;
• cries when she wakes up from a nap;
• keeps Mom and Dad awake until 1:45am crying;
• doesn't want to be put down in her crib;
• has to cry herself to sleep, because nothing (absolutely nothing) will make her happy;
• wakes up several times during the night to cry for no apparent reason;
7. Labor Day morning, Bailey wakes up unhappy;
8. Has a full bottle and makes a poop (without crying!);
9. Mom and Dad realize that Bailey was probably hungry last night (hence the reason that she was soooooo unhappy);
10. Bailey goes down for a nap (in her crib) without crying once;
11. Mom and Dad feel like a tool (Google it if you don't know what a tool is... it's bad!).

Damn I wish we knew what we were doing...