Playtime!

Today Bailey's friend Evan came over to play. The girls have grown up together and play pretty well together...although today they seem to share toys, but play separately. I did get some cute photos of them together though.

Enjoy!

Playtime!

Both girls in the play garden

A sweet moment....holding hands

Bailey decided she was "done' holding hands

Ba-Ba all gone?

That's what my baby girl asked me this last week. We're working to say goodbye to the bottle, or the "ba-ba". Bailey will be two in one week and my goal was to actually keep the bottle around until then (because with two bottles a day, she gets 16 oz of milk which has some good fat, protein and calcium for her growing body); on top of which, it's one of the only times that she'll sit still and cuddle with me. Bailey does really well drinking water from her cup but milk does not go over that well. That may change the longer she's off the bottle, or I may just have to supplement her diet with more cheese and yogurt, I guess we'll have to wait and see. Now that her 2 year birthday is just days away, I decided to cut back from two bottles to one; so instead of an evening bottle, she now sits with me and eats some yogurt. Having said that, the second night into her new routine, Bailey asked for her "Ba-Ba" and I told her not right now; to which she asked, "Ba-Ba all gone?". Brought me to tears. I immediately wanted to say, "no baby girl, you may have your ba-ba...let mommy go get it for you", but I stood strong and cried to Tom instead.

"Growing up is hard to do"...isn't that a song? I can remember my mom quoting me this when I was a teenager but, now that I'm a mom, I've decided that the song was written by a mommy who was sad to see her babies grow so quickly. It's a hard thing to do, the curse of motherhood that no one tells you about....loving them enough to watch them grow, because (eventually) that means they'll grow into their own person and won't need you the way they do when they're little. So...the ba-ba's almost gone, big girl underwear is now part of the daily routine...I'm pretty sure that school and dating is next week. I'm locking the doors and stocking up on ba-ba's.

Yep...growing up is hard to do.

Mommy and Bailey, out for a walk 1.24.09

This is her "ready, set, GO" stance :)

Our beautiful girl....

ABC's.....

Bailey was anxious to show YiaYia and Popo her ABC's....so I thought I'd share this with all of you. Again, the camera screen is turned about so Bailey can see herself which makes it harder for me to film, but she seems to react better with it this way (if I can see the screen, she usually just stares at me with this silly blank expression :). Sorry if the video looks a little grainy, it happened when I uploaded the film onto the blog and I'm not really sure how to fix it.

Hope you've all had a wonderful week!

Big girl ponytails....

Today Tom, Bailey and I met YiaYia and Popo in Columbus, Ga. There's a mall there and it's about half way (of the 3.5 hour drive) for each of us, so it's a nice spot to meet. I dressed Bailey in a cute pink shirt that I bought her a couple of weeks ago, 100% girl it says...and that she is :) Along with her new shirt, was a new hairdo: big girl ponytails. I have to be honest and say that I got a little teary-eyed when I finished putting her hair up today, and I almost took them back out but I knew the rubber bands would pull at Boo's hair and it would have been uncomfortable for her. She looked like such a big girl in her ponytails and, I know, she is (almost) a big girl...she'll be 2 years old three weeks from tomorrow. Time just keeps speeding by....slow down the clock I say.

At the mall, Bailey pushed around a baby stroller that YiaYia and Popo bought her, along with a bear from their home. She loves the mall! Her favorite store is Gymboree. You may ask if she can really tell which store is which and I can tell you, a very strong, Yes! As a matter of fact, Popo and Daddy were walking with her when she remembered that the store was coming up (she has an amazing memory) and Popo explains that she started running (with her stroller) down the mall towards the store. Bailey is definitely a shopper; she will go into a store and tell you what she thinks is cute :)


Bailey also got to ride the little toys in the food court area. Typically you use quarters to make them move but right now, Popo shaking them does the trick. She thinks they're wonderful! She can spend 20 minutes playing on them. Actually....she could probably spend longer but the adults with her are pretty tired of the "fun" by that time :) Bailey also had another first today, a ride on Popo's shoulders.
By the time we left the mall, Bailey was completely exhausted. She barely made it to the car, before the thumb went in her mouth (the final sign you get before she falls asleep). She was out before we hit the interstate (less than 5 minutes from the parking lot). It was a great day....

Potty Training

That's been our week...potty training :) I tried this with Bailey about 5 months ago when she showed an interest but, it didn't take. This time around, it's going much better. Today is the second dry day (day not night, I don't know that she'll have a dry night for a few months yet). It means taking her to the potty about every 45 minutes and reminding her every 5 that she has "big girl underwear" on (really potty training diapers that you pull up and down like undies). She's a trooper :). We went to YiaYia and Popo's this weekend; that's normally a 3.5 hr drive each way....potty training adds an hour as we stopped 3-4 times to go potty but, it was worth it. As I said, she's doing wonderful :) This picture is from when we tried last time...like I explained, it did not go that well...she was trying to run away!

Hugs to you all!

Gator Pride!

This video is of Bailey doing the "Gator Chomp" (University of Florida, college team). Tom made sure to teach her this nice and early, she's actually been able to do this for a few months...but we finally thought to get it on video. In her cute little girl voice, what she's saying is "Go Gators!". I turned the camera towards Bailey (so she could see herself on camera), which is why this is not the best camera work :)

Enjoy!