Ordinary

This past week has been great.  Not crazy, over the top, bells and whistles  kind of great….just ordinary, full of love, blessed kind of great.

We enjoyed dinner with my mom and Arthur one night. It was beautiful out, so we sat by the fountain for a while.

One day Ashlynn and I baked cookies while B napped.

Playing in our backyard…what a blessing it is to have one this spring!

We had to get in our Rangers gear. We are a baseball loving family!

Ashlynn was "driving" mom's car while sister slept in the back

Ashlynn climbed up behind us and requested "cheese!"

Target dates=short and sweet these days!

We spruced up our patio this weekend. Bailey was upset that she had to stay inside. 

After naps yesterday, the girls were playing on our bed. B scoooted back so that she could sit on A's lap. Big sister was NOT happy about that!

Happy 10 Months Bailey!

Bay-Bay,

You rarely get called Bailey in our house, and you have plenty of nicknames! BayBay, BayBoo, Bailey-Boo, and Bailey-Boop are frequently heard names.  You are 10 months old, and growing TOO fast.  You have a smile that is beyond precious, and are such a cuddler!  

We won't go back to the doctor until 12 months, so I am not sure your stats. You have definitely grown, though! You are wearing size 3 diapers, size 3 shoes, and a variety of clothing sizes. 9 month clothes now fit as capris and 3/4 length shirts, 12 months fit pretty great, but sometimes you need 18 month for the length.  You still hate socks and shoes, and only wear bows for a few minutes.

You are currently taking 6-7 oz bottles every 3-4 hours.  You eat 3 meals a day, plus a snack in the afternoon. You do not want anything to do with baby food or being fed, so you are rocking the "baby led weaning" and eating whatever we eat.  Your favorite foods seem to be carrots, bread, blueberries and cheerios. You also love yogurt and oatmeal. You now have EIGHT teeth, and love to chew on things.

You are sleeping through the night! Yippee!!! After 3 nights of some crying, you have now slept through the night for a month. We will lay you down around 8:30, and you sleep for 11 hours straight.  You are a tummy sleeper, and do not like blankets.

You are on the move. You can get anywhere you want to go.  You crawl kinda funny, because some of our floors are slick.  You have rough patches on your toes/feet because of this.  You can walk around furniture, and last night you let go and tried to take a step towards me.  You still love the exersaucer, but are not a fan of staying contained too long.

You can say "Mama", "Dada", "hi", "bye", and "Mo" (More). You also wave hi and bye, and know the sign for "more".  When some says "yay!" you will start clapping. You have also started to mimic words that we say.

You have become a little more clingy this month. You got really sad when mommy and daddy left for the weekend.  You are also not a fan of the childcare at the gym.  Your sister never had this phase, so it is a little hard on mama :( We know it will get easier for you with time.

You LOVE:

Your sister

Zeus

Mama and Daddy

Your reflection

The wind

Bath time

Dancing/Music

Praise

Being carried in the Ergo

Sweet girl, your personality is precious. You are a sweet, soft-hearted, smiley girl.  In the next few months, you will start changing from our little baby girl into a toddler. We pray that you will continue to grow into a healthy, happy girl, and most of all that the Lord would capture your heart.

We love you Bailey girl,

Mama and Daddy

A week of love!

 About a month ago, I came out of what I like to call "the newborn fog". And since I got pregnant with Bailey when Ashlynn was 8 months old, I have basically been in that fog for 2.5 years. 

I say that to preface this post, so that in 20 years I won't read back and wonder why I went crazy, when basically I just have 2.5 years of suppressed Teacher/Children's Minister that exploded this holiday :) 

I wanted the focus of our week to be on God's love.  I picked a verse for Mon-Fri and each day we had a craft and activity to go along with the verse.  I did shorten the verses for Ashlynn.

Day 1:

Mondays verse was "Love one another…" 1 John 4:7

We started the day off talking about serving while I painted the girls toenails! I was inly planning to paint A's toes,but she insisted that B joined in the fun!

Next up, we used our new dot markers to color a heart. B tried to eat hers, so she got some puffs instead :)

Day 2:

Our verse was "For God so loved the world…" John 3:16

We talked about God's love, and baby Jesus' birth (since it was still fresh on her mind from Christmas) while we painted the globe. 

We then jumped on paper hearts down the hallway!

Day 3:

Wednesdays verse was "Love the Lord…" Deut. 6:5.  We painted and talked about ways to show God love.

We went to the children's museum that afternoon!

Day 4:

The verse we talked about on Thursday was "Love is…" from 1 Corinthians 13. We focused particularly on kind and patient.

We spent a lot of time playing together.

Which led to some reinforcement of being kind to each other and time out..

We wrapped up the day making valentines for friends and family, as well as having a few treats delivered!

Day 5:

On Friday, we had a Valentines breakfast of heart shaped toast and jam!

We then met up with friends for a Chickfila play date! They had ice cream, crafts, balloons and the cow!

"Coooooow!"

A was not to sure about being close to the cow haha!

That night, daddy brought home roses for all if us girls! We are blessed to have him.

We got take out for dinner, and cuddled up with our girls. It was such a great night!

Helping me pick up dinner!

5 years!

This past Friday, Mark and I celebrated 5 years of marriage (12 years since our 1st date!). To say that this past year of marriage has been the best would be a huge understatement. God has been beyond good to our family always, but His grace and love have poured out on us in big ways in the past year.

For Christmas, my dad gifted us with a weekend in Fredericksburg. We figured our anniversary would be a great time to take our trip. The girlies stayed with their Papa & Nonnie for the weekend, and had a great time!

On Friday afternoon, we drove down. We arrived at our cabin (about 10 miles outside of town), and were so excited about staying there. The view was great, and there were so many sweet, personal touches. We even had a fireplace and a stocked kitchen!

For dinner, we went to a cute little restaurant in town to celebrate! We had some great drinks, and a delicious German appetizer. We enjoyed steak and duck as well.  For dessert, we hit up the local HEB for some Blue Bell & Ben & Jerrys to enjoy by a fire.

On Saturday morning, we headed out to the airpot to eat brunch. (We definitely slept in that day!) There is a hotel and diner at the airport.

We were able to eat while we watched planes land and take off.

We enjoyed walking around town and just enjoying the beautiful day.  We found a gem of a bistro (Vaudville) for lunch, where we enjoyed homemade lasagna and a venison Reuben.

We spent the afternoon driving around to local wineries, doing some wine tastings, and people watching/listening to music.

I told Mark this box of chocolates could count as my Valentine's present :)

This man is just as crazy as he was the day I met him….

We spent the rest of Saturday napping and eating take-out Chinese while watching the Olympics!

On Sunday, we were able to meet up with our besties for lunch!! It was great to catch up with them before heading home.

Speaking of heading home….these 2 sweet girls were beyond excited to see their mama and daddy when we got back! They are such a joy!!

While we were gone, they got plenty of attention.

 They played and played,

enjoyed a fun trip to Cabelas,

and slept and ate pretty good too :)

Thanks again for the trip, Dad & Lianna, and for watching our sweet babes while we were gone!!