Ain't no babe anymore...

 

Where did my baby go? Who is this small child with a pig tail on top of her head? Why won't she cuddle with me? Where did she learn to throw temper tantrums? What?!?!?! Bailey is a year and a half now, and she ain't no babe anymore. She climbs furniture, repeatedly yells, "no!" or "doe!" whe she doesn't want to do something. We prefer shirts over onesies, and have started building forts under the dining room table. Last night, she threw her banana across the dining room table. Who is this child? What did she do to my baby?

And then, I remember that we all grow up, even us adults. I am not the same person I was when I had Bailey. What I know now could not be contained in the Dana of 19 months ago. My waistline has grown, yes, but so has my heart and mind...still selfish sometimes, but forced to focus on the needs of that little kid that hugs my leg and wipes out from running to fast. Soon, she'll be riding the dog like a horse. I better get a saddle...

The crappy carpet caper

 

This is what happens when you have a small leak in your washing machine for over 2 months (and you don't know about it). Grrrrrrrr. We discovered a puddle of water on the floor one Saturday morning. It was in our hallway, and in the dining room was a pile of vomit from our dog. So, we put two and two together and thought that Max we simply sick and had peed in the hallway. No prob, right? We used our handy-dandy pet cleaner stuff and called it good. Nope. The puddle wouldn't go away. For anything. Fans, heat, scrubbing. A week later, Jeff discovered that we had the leak in the laundry room, right next to the hallway. He also discovered that all the MDF trim in the laundry room was soaked and starting to mold. We also noticed that we were starting to do a bit of coughing around this time...hmmmm....

Well, Jeff convinced me that we needed to pull up the carpet and pad in the hallway and living room, where we discovered more wet carpet, wet floors and black mold. Ugh. Well, boarded up our daughter in her room (actually we just closed the door while she took a nap) and Jeff attacked the mold and started drying out the carpet. About 6 hours later and an afternoon nap for Bailey at Scott and Megan's house, we went back home to find that we had fixed the problem. Two days later, the carpet was relaid with perfection by my husband and all we have to do is have the cut in the carpet between the hallway and bedroom professionally reseamed. I love having a handy dandy, right-on-top-of-it husband like Jeff.

Last night, he discovered a small leak in the kitchen sink...wonder how long that was going on. I love owning a home!

The Dance and the Dress

The other night, Jeff taught Bailey a little diddy in the kitchen. I wish I had gotten pictures and video of him too, but he wouldn't have been too happy about that. So you will see some pictures, and then see a brief video of Bailey and her little dance routine. I apologize for the lack of sound or music, but this particular camera didn't have sound capabilities, and I am having a hard time uploading music to this video making program. Oh well, you get the picture.

Kudos also goes to Auntie Karen Ortwig, who you know (if you have been following since last Easter) made this great little dress for her. It now fits her perfectly!

The Tub

 

Bailey has taken a new and improved liking to the bathtub, especially since we got her some new toys for bathtime. She calls taking a bath, "ubbles". She can play for nearly an hour without getting bored, and when I finally take her out of the bath, she stats crying "Ubbles! Ubbles!" and kicks her wrinkle-toed feet in angst. But, her new love in the bathtub is her two new toothbrushes. For $1.00 at the Dollar Tree, we now have loads of entertainment that also specializes in tooth care.

So here are a few pictures from her fun in the tub. Again, I apologize for the fact that they are quite blurry...our good camera is broke and we need to wait a bit before we fix it.

Due to crazy weather around Christmas, we decided to stay home this year and have a little Christmas for three. Well, four, if you want to count the dog. We were invited to friends, Tom and Eileen Hall's house for homemade apple dumplings on Christmas morning. YUM! Way to go Tom! And, thanks Eileen for your wonderful hospitality. We felt especially loved and taken care of. Then, we ventured back home for presents with Bailey. We had a nice time...Bailey got a potty chair, which she affectionately calls her "poo poo". She also scored a few outfits from Grandma Sally and Grandpa Tom, as well as a few toys from them and from us. You will see in some of the pictures her new stuff (potty chair, baby doll stroller, baby doll from Casey, her babysitter, clothes, etc). We spent the rest of the day at home, playing, napping, eating Christmas goodies, and talking to family on the phone. I made a small Christmas dinner for 3 with ham, mashed potatoes and ice cream sundaes.

I think that many people celebrated a much smaller Christmas this year, and we were blessed by our simple one as well. Why do we spend so much money on ribbon, wrapping paper, gifts galore and gas when Christmas is about Jesus? We are pleased to say that we didn't go into debt for Christmas, and we have no post-Christmas depression to report. No buyers remorse. Only lots of pictures and memories of Bailey's 2nd Christmas where we were "snowed in" and thankful for it.

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas with your family and that you were able to see the true meaning of it all through the ribbons, wrapping, gifts and gas.