Tucker and McKenna

Tucker has a “girl”friend, McKenna Harris (she just turned 5). She is the daughter of our really good friends Erin and Travis. They also have a little boy who shares a birthday with Bailey, and he will be turning 2. We have so much fun doing things with the Harris’s because the kids have so much fun and we really enjoy Erin and Travis. The other day I took a few pictures of the kids in front of the gym with my phone. They turned so cute I had to share them. As soon as I took the picture, I told Erin that it was definitely going in their wedding video. Funny enough, David said the same thing when I showed him the pictures.  

Bailey’s Future Husband, Graysen

Tucker and McKenna

I feel awful…

I feel like the worst Mom ever! I was looking through our blog from when Tucker was a baby, and every month I did a GREAT job of documenting all of the fun things that he did and learned. But with Bailey… I haven’t done so well. So, from now on I am going to try and be better at documenting everything for both of the kids. Especially since tucker is starting pre-school at the high school this year. So crazy!

But, I do still have time to write about Bailey being 11-months old. So, here goes…

First, I can’t believe that Bailey is already 11-months old! She is definitely quite a light to our family. So, here goes…

* She loves to smile to anyone and everyone. She can definitely turn on the charm.

* Her Bubba is her world. She loves when he comes in to her first thing in the morning. They really are best friends.

* She loves to blow raspberries. Not necessarily ON anyone, but to everyone. It is her way of kisses. She would do a great kissy face for awhile, but has now decided to do raspberries.

* She is starting to get the idea of blowing kisses, and it is pretty dang cute.

* She is a CHAMP at going to bed and taking naps… as long as we are at our own house. We change her diaper, give her a bottle, lots of kisses and lay her in her crib and she passes out. It is so nice.

* We took her off of formula when she turned 11-months. I decided that I was tired of buying formula, and she took it like a champ. No major issues.

* We discovered that she does just fine with Walmart diapers. Between the dirt cheap Walmart diapers and no longer having to buy formula, I feel like we are going to be RICH-ish, off of those two things alone.

* She isn’t quite walking on her own yet, but she is definitely cruising along the furniture. She loves being able to get to where she is going easier.

* She has 6 teeth now. 4 on the bottom and 2 on top. She does what I all her Sloth (from Goonies) face. She will do a Cheesy smile and show her top 2 teeth. David calls her Sloth face when she gets her cross bite going on as she grinds her teeth.

Overall, Bailey is just the sweetest baby girl. She smiles at anyone and everyone, and she is so sincere with it. She only cries if something is really wrong, which is rare. We absolutely love our family and we are so grateful for the wonderful children that we have been blessed with.

I took these pictures of the kids in front of the gym the other day. I couldn’t have been more happy with how they turned out.

Happy 4th of July

Alright, I know it is kind of late. But… better late than never!  

The Saturday before the 4th of July we went up to the Outlets in Woodburn to do some shopping. We didn’t head out until later in the afternoon early evening, so we were there pretty late. We didn’t know, but apparently there is a firework show there the Saturday before 4th of July at 9:30. We weren’t sure of the kids would last, but they did. Bailey was really scared when the big booms would happen, but as long as one of us was holding her, she was ok. Tucker was exactly as you would picture a kid to be, and definitely made 4th of July fireworks magical!

Every year for 4th of July our ward does a breakfast over at the chapel in the parking lot. This year they had the kids do a parade of all of the 50 states. I signed Tucker up for Washington (California and Oregon were already taken). In true fashion, I didn’t get anything together for his costume until the night before… at 10:30. So, we had to settle for a t-shirt with Apples puffy painted onto it…as shown below!

If you know me well at all, then you know that this is actually really crafty for me!

Of course Tucker wanted NOTHING to do with this parade, so I got one picture of him and I had to walk with him the whole time!

Even though Bailey wasn’t in the parade, she was of course dressed for the holiday. I found a SUPER cute shirt to make on Pinterest. I was SO proud of myself when I finished the final product. It actually turned out how I had pictured it in my head. Here she is kind of modeling it!

In true Bailey fashion, about 2-seconds after taking this picture, Bailey ripped the bow off of her head!  

After the breakfast we went back to the Outlets in Woodburn because I had sold my Coach Diaper bag and needed a new bag. Also, David and I were still in need of some new clothes. I got a REALLY cute new bag with a matching wallet!     

Later that evening we went to a BBQ at our friends house. I made a delicious Avocado Salsa dip, and some miniature cupcakes. I didn’t take a picture of the dip, but the cupcakes turned out. As you can see in the picture… There’s nothing like baby blue, pink and white cupcakes to celebrate the 4th of July.

Tucker and Bailey had so much fun at the BBQ. He so enjoyed the sparklers and the kids. Bailey (the one I should have taken a picture of) got FILTHY having fun. She was crawling through all of the chalk art, the bubbles and anything else in her way. She was FILTHY, but I didn’t even care because she had SO much fun. By the time the fireworks started Bailey was EXHAUSTED! We got to see the majority of the fireworks, but left before the finale because Bailey was D.O.N.E. But, we had a great time, with great friends. We got a chance to get to know some other people that were there better too. I love BBQ’s and getting to spend time with lots of friends. Which makes 4th of July one of the best holidays!

Bed Rest…

Was where I was at this time a year ago! As I have been sitting back and reflecting on the last year, it amazes me… AMAZES ME what can happen in a year. I can remember the look on David’s face when HE made the decision that it was time for me to go on bed rest. My parents were in town for my shower which was on June 16, 2011. The day of my shower My Mom and I had gone to a couple of garage sales, and Target. By the time we were getting ready to leave for my shower, my feet had swollen beyond the point of return. Up until this point, mostly when I was working, my feet would be swollen by the end of the evening, but after putting them up for a few minutes, the swelling would go down. But, this time it was not happening. I went to my shower, and literally sat on the couch with my feet up the whole night. I felt like such a slug but everyone that came was awesome and so understanding. I was certain that by the time I woke up the next morning, that my feet would be back to “pregnant normal”. Ummm… NOPE! They were still insanely swollen. So David made the executive decision of me going on bed rest. You can read more about it here…BED REST – 2011

It is amazing how so true the phrase “Hind Site is 20/20” is! At the time I thought David was being ridiculous. I was sure that he was overreacting and that I was going to be fine. But, my amazing husband was so concerned about me that he even took the following 3 days off of work so that I could be on pretty strict bed rest. He was amazing the whole time, and Tucker was such a trooper as well.

I know that Heavenly Father was with me the whole time. It was just a start (little did I know at the time), to what was the most difficult time of my life so far. However, as difficult as it may have been, Heavenly Father most definitely carried me through it. I can remember the difficulties of being on bed rest, but honestly, when I look back I remember the good things. I remember the great time that I was able to spend with just Tucker and I while David was at work after that first week of bed rest. I remember what an amazing husband David was (and still is), by not only going to work every day, but also coming home and cleaning the house and making dinner. I remember how much closer it brought Tucker, David and I together. It actually set a really great ground work for Bailey to join our family.

I didn’t think that reflecting on everything as I blog about it now would be so therapeutic. But dang, it is actually really good for me. Sorry that there aren’t a lot of pictures to go with these posts. These are most definitely for my journaling purposes, but I hope that maybe my experiences can help someone somehow. I  also enjoy anyone and everyone’s thoughts! So SHARE THEM!

Super Swimmer!

That’s right, Tucker started swimming lessons tonight. He LOVED it… and that is putting it mildly. He is taking lessons at the Courthouse (the club that I work out at), and he is in the same class as his friend McKenna. He absolutely loves the water, and I am so glad that he did so well in the class. There are only 4-kids in his class, and usually they have 2 teachers. So there is a great teacher to student ratio. He spent the whole hour in the water, and did a lot of good practicing with putting his face in the water, swimming on his back and blowing bubbles. I normally would be taking a dance class during his swim lesson, but tonight I spent a little bit of time down by the pool since it was Tucker’s first time. The timing couldn’t be better though, being that we are always at the gym on Monday nights anyway. I snapped a few pictures of him in the pool.

Waiting for his class to start

Having Fun in Class

I QUIT!

That is what I said to my job working in the Kids Court at the gym, 1 year ago today. At the time I was really sad to do it because I had every intention of working there even after I had Bailey. Looking back, I am SO glad that things worked out the way they did.

It was interesting because when I quit, I was thinking as though I still had 6 or 7 weeks left. Little did I know that our little Princess was going to come in 3 short weeks.

So, there is a story behind my quitting. On Thursday July 7, 2011 I had a pre-natal appointment. At the appointment my blood pressure was elevated and I had traces of protein. So, I had called a co-worker and asked her to cover for me that night. David and I both decided that I wasn’t going to be able to work up until Bailey was born like I had originally thought, but I thought I could handle it until a few weeks before she was born. Well, David had his annual review on July 11, 2011, and we were pleasantly surprised with a decent raise. So, David called to tell me about it, and my response was, “I am going to go into the gym and quit. If we don’t need the money, there is no sense in me working if I am getting sick.” He agreed…quickly! So, I headed down to the gym and talked with my boss, Jen, and explained the situation with my blood pressure and simply explained that I don’t want to take any chances of getting anymore sick. She was very understanding, which made it much easier. I have never been good at quitting a job. But, in the true sense of hindsight being 20/20, I am so glad that I quit when I did. And little did I know… this was just the beginning of our adventure!

Watch out…

… I am finally armed and loaded with a laptop again. This is going to definitely revive my blog. For some reason it was so difficult to find time to sit down at the desk and update the blog. Mostly because whenever I was in there, the kids wanted to be there too. So now, I can just be where the kids are. And eve better, I can sit in my bed in the evenings and update my blog whenever I want! YAY! I still have SO much catching up to do. So, I am hoping that over the next few days I can get caught up to now, and then go from there!

The next 6 weeks are some interesting weeks for me personally. This laptop could not have come at a better time. I have been through a lot this last year. To be fair actually, I should say our family has been through a lot this last year. I have been struggling a lot with it recently, and I think it will help me to really sit down and put it into words how I feel now and how I felt the. Interestingly enough, it all starts tomorrow, July 11th. So, you’ll have to wait until then to get the scoop on what was only the beginning of a long adventure.