Adventures in Parenting and Other Nonsense

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

Gabby was able to participate in two Easter egg hunts this year. The first was at the church on Saturday. The second was in our front yard on Easter afternoon. The Easter Bunny brought Easter eggs for Gabby and Sasha to find. The hard-t0-find eggs were for Gabby and the easy-to-find eggs were for Sasha. Gabby had lots of fun looking for the eggs and was very successful at finding them.

Sasha, on the other hand, was not so interested in finding the Easter eggs. She was outside for almost five minutes before she realized that there were Easter eggs to be had. Who cares about candy when there are bugs and leaves and dandilions and bark chips and grass to eat?

Sasha, do you see the egg there?

Well, now it's right behind you. What are you eating?

In search of that egg. Where could it be?

Yeah! I found one! I'm good at this Easter egg hunting stuff.

Hmmm....what's inside here? Candy? Let's check this out.

The Easter Bunny did not think she would be able to open the eggs and put some chocolate candies inside. Well, Sasha is smarter than the Easter Bunny. She likes chocolate candies, apparantly. Like mother, like daughter. Happy Easter.

Easter at the Baird's

2009-04-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Well, the Easter Bunny did us proud this year. Gabby and Sasha were really spoiled and Gabby loves the Easter Bunny now because he brought her some fun things. Actually, the Easter Bunny had some help from Santa Claus with her presents. Santa saw how much Gabby got for Christmas and decided to leave one of her presents for the Easter Bunny to bring. How nice of him. :) Anyway, this was the first year that the Easter Bunny really came to our house, and it was fun to see how excited Gabby was with all the candy/presents. It makes holidays more fun when you can see them through your children's eyes.

Our Easter morning spoils.

Gabby unwrapping the first present.

Sleeping Beauty dress ups! Yeah! Now Gabby can be the princess she always knew she is. :)

What's more? Snow White dress ups! Gabby is in heaven.

Beautiful. They are a little big, but that's good. Then they will last longer, hopefully. :)

Snow White beauty. Gabby wore these dress ups for 3 days straight. We even had to go to the post office and grocery store with her wearing them. I guess this present is a hit. Good job Easter Bunny!

Sasha got this push toy from the Easter Bunny. It makes music. She loves it. Anything she can push around is a toy to her, so having something her size is even better. The handle adjusts lengths too so as she gets taller she can still use it. Our almost walker. She can only take about 3 steps unassisted. Someday she will get brave and just do it. But for now...

Also, Sasha started saying 'no' on Easter Sunday. It is her favorite word now. All day long, "No, no, no." Oh boy. That's Mommy's fault though for not finding other words to use besides the dreaded No. Fortunately she doesn't know how to use it yet, so it is still cute.

Laughlin Vacation

2009-04-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

March 28-31 found us in Laughlin, Nevada. My mom and grandpa came down to see my mom's cousin Shirley, and so we drove over so we could visit as well. We had a great time, and as always, were so excited to see our Nana. Gabby was happy to go to "Nana's Hotel" and swim in the swimming pool. However, the pool wasn't heated and we ended up "swimming" in the hot tub instead. Whatever works. We also went to a town in Arizona called Oatman, which is about 13 miles east of Laughlin. There are donkeys wandering the streets and you can feed them carrots from your hand. Gabby loved seeing them. She was not shy to go right up to them and pet them or feed them. It really suprized Jay and me. Historically, she has been shy and skiddish around all animals, so to see her go right up to the donkeys was a pleasant surprize. Here are a few pics from the trip:

Gabby and the donkeys.

Nana and Sasha with a donkey. Sasha seems so uninterested. I think she was just trying to not get licked.

Oatman used to be a big vacation spot, I guess. This hotel is not an operating hotel but it used to be. I guess Clark Gable came here on his honeymoon. Or his wedding night. I can't remember which.

Gabby feeding the donkeys. They love carrots!

An Old West cowboy show. They were shooting their guns at each other. It was quite loud. Sasha didn't like it much. They didn't have mics on though, and it was hard to hear them at times. Gabby could not make out what they were saying. She was sitting on my grandpa's lap during the show. She turned to him and said, "What are they talking about?" "Oh, just cowboy stuff" was his reply. He thought that was funny.

Another funny note on this show...the premise of the show is that these outlaw cowboys are fighting over some stolen money. It starts with these to men and an outlaw woman. The men were trying to get the woman to give them the money. She wouldn't, so they shot at her. Then she dropped the bag of money and ran off. Once she was off stage, a little boy from the audience ran to where the woman had dropped the bag of money, picked it up, and ran back to his mom. The actors were totally taken off guard by this and started laughing. Obviously not part of the act. You could tell the mom was kind of embarrassed. I thought it was funny, and brave of the boy. Either trying to help the woman or just wanted the money. ha ha :) It was fun.

By the Colorado river, which runs past the casino/hotel where we stayed.

Sasha's Birthday Cake

2009-04-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

So here is a photo diary of the consumption of Sasha's 1st birthday cake. It starts out as such a beautiful, clean situation. A nice, free (from Albertson's) cake, just waiting to be eaten. And then Sasha comes on the scene...

Big Sister blowing out the candles. What a great helper! :)

The first bite.

Yum! I think she likes it!

Yes! She does like it!

Ahhhh! That was a great birthday cake! Thanks Mommy and Daddy! Let's have some more!

AI recap, a la Kelly

2009-03-31T23:50:00.000-07:00

I just watched last week's American Idol and tonight's episode back-to-back, and I have to say that Kris is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. I love "Ain't No Sunshine" anyway and I think that Bill Withers is an amazing artist, so any of his songs would be awesome to hear. But this was AWESOME! I watched it twice! (Thank you DVR.) The kid knows what works for him and doesn't back down. I think if he keeps this up he could be in the top 4. I was a big Danny fan coming into this season, but he is falling down on my scale. My sister is right, he kind of sounds the same week to week. His performance this week was good....I'm just liking some others better. So here's my breakdown on my top three:

1. Adam. Motown week: WOW. Amazing. His range....huge! This week was back to his rock edge, which I love too. He is my favorite and I am hoping for him to win, so I guess I'll play favorites here. He knows what he wants to do with each song and he doesn't back down. He knows who he is as an artist and what kind of song he needs to choose to keep in that area, unlike several other contestants who are struggling to find this balance.

2. Kris. His Motown week performance was great, I loved the way he changed the song. It didn't sound anything like other versions, which I loved. And this week...well, we already discussed that. He is in his own zone, like Adam, so I think as long as he keeps it up he will be sailing to the end. And I think he will.

3. Allison. She is the best female contestant, in my opinion. She could definately be in the top 3, if not the finals. Her voice is amazing, hard to believe she is only 16. I definately liked her Motown performance better, but I love No Doubt, so this week was cool for me too. I liked her outfit too. Maybe in person it was too over-the-top, but it didn't come across that way to me. Plus she's 16. Give her a break. She looked 16 tonight. Aren't they always criticizing the younger contestants about not looking/sounding their age? This show drives me insane sometimes!

It's fun to watch the shows together because it's easier to see who is standing out and who is falling behind. It will be interesting to see what happens. I hope Megan stays around. I love her voice, if she can figure it out in time I think she could be a contender. She is still struggling a bit though. And I like Matt too. But he is a bit inconsistent. Which is a shame because when he is on, he is ON. This year makes me tempted to vote, but I don't want to fall into the depths of AI obsession, or whatever it was that Holly calls voting. I can't remember. :) I did try to vote one week but I couldn't get through. So there's another reason to not try. ha ha

Sasha's 1 Year Old Today!

2009-03-19T21:44:00.000-07:00

My baby is one year old today. My how time flies! I cannot believe that it has been a year already. And what a joyous one at that. Sasha has brought so much joy, happiness, laughter, and love into our home. She has such a sweet spirit and is so loving to everyone around her. She thinks the world of her big sister and thinks that Gabby can do no wrong. Her smile and fun-loving personality have brought me and Jay so much joy and we are so happy to have her in our family. Happy Birthday lovely daughter of mine. I love you so much! :)

Sasha and her classic finger-pointing. This is her favorite thing to do as of late. That and making a fishy face.

Cheese!

Tired baby. Taking a rest on the couch from a busy play day. I love this pose.

Pay It Forward

2009-03-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

PAY IT FORWARD.

It may look like a 4th grader, but I'm in. Read on for more....

PAY IT FORWARD

The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice--for you! This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It WILL be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it’s going to be … it may be cards, a bookmark, something delicious or a complete surprise to you (and me!) … who knows?
5. Most importantly, you must offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog get something made by YOU!

And the AI losers are....

2009-03-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

What! What!! Jorge!! I CANNOT believe that Anoop is saved from elimination tonight! I was convinced that he was leaving and I wasn't sure who the other person would be. I didn't suspect Jorge though. I liked him, thought his voice was great. I even thought his performance was good, definately better than Anoop. Don't get me wrong, I am an Anoop fan. He has a lot of energy, pizazz if you will, on stage and he is fun to watch. But WOW!!! That one caught me with my mouth wide open. Jasmine, not so much. I was surprized that the judges put her through actually. I would have chosen that Alicia Keys sing-alike (Felicity? I can't remember her name) over Jasmine.

Since I'm here...My favorite this season is Adam. I think he's awesome and I think he will probably win. His voice is amazing! However, there are several strong voices here and I think there are about 4 top contenders that this whole deal could go to: Adam, Lil, Danny, or Allison. I think that the girl with the pink hair (what's her name again?) is running right behing them, the third strongest girl. Any thoughts? I have to seek out Idol fans since my husband could care less.

Sasha's new toy

2009-02-20T18:55:00.000-08:00

At least someone is using it! Ha ha! I can't keep her off of it. I guess she sees Gabby doing her "exercises" and has to try it out for herself.

AI reactions

2009-02-17T22:56:00.000-08:00

Hey all, I just watched American Idol tonight and I have to post. The girls really bombed! I liked the girl with the pink hair, but that's it. Tatiana is driving me crazy. I can't stand her. Drama Queen! Simon hit it on the head. I actually am trying to vote tonight to help make sure she doesn't get through. A first for me since I watch American Idol but I don't vote. The guys were alright too, not up to what I was expecting from this group. I like Danny (is that his name? The last guy who's wife died), and the musician guy with the crazy hair. I guess I should learn their names. Tough competition, the odds are really against everyone since only 3 people get through. I personally think it will be one girl and two guys. We'll see.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

In my husband's family, holidays are a big deal. Jay's mom always made holidays special by having a nice breakfast and nice holiday decorations. This includes birthdays, where the whole family gets up to make the birthday person breakfast before work/school. On Valentine's Day, this tradition also included some small present for each of the kids. Jay always talks about these memories and so I thought it would be fun to carry them on in our family. Gabby is now at the age where she can start to understand and care about holidays and presents, so I thought I'd start this year to make these events special occastions for her. Here is our Valentine's Day breakfast that we had this morning. In case you can't see: scrambled eggs with cheese on top, bacon, pancakes, milk or chocolate milk (as preference demanded), cantalope, and yummy Costco cinnamon rolls. Each of the girls got a present and Gabby made her Daddy a homemade Valentine card. Jay gave me some flowers a couple days ago, which you can kind of see in the picture. They are very beautiful. I got some paper plates and cups decorated with red and pink hearts, and red napkins for us to use with our meals today.

This is my one Valentine decoration, besides our dinnerware. So here we are as a family, with our Happy Valentine's Day presents. Gabby got a figurine of Belle and Ariel, and a Jasmine book. Sasha got a stuffed animal and a book about shapes. They were happy with their presents. They also got Valentine's Day cards from grandparents and Ggpa. Thanks for the great cards! We love them, and love you too! Thanks for thinking of us.

I'm glad I have this day to celebrate how much I love my family. My children are a joy to me and I feel so blessed that they are such sweethearts. Jay is the love of my life and my best friend. I am so so blessed and lucky to have found him and I love him so much. I hope you all have as much love and joy in your lives as I have in mine.

Gingerbread House mania

2009-01-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, huh? When we were in Utah for Christmas, my mom bought a gingerbread house kit for us to do with Gabby while we were staying at her house. But there was so much going on that we never did it. So she told us to take it home. We finally got around to putting it together on Friday (Jan 16th).

I did the icing and Jay and Gabby put on the candy and helped put the house and tree together. We had a good time. By the end Gabby was more interested in eating the candy than putting it on the house. Of course. :) It turned out cute, but I think we should have made the time to do it with my mom. She is a lot better at things like this and has a more steady hand and a craftier eye than I do, I'm sure it would have turned out looking professional with her help. Oh well. Maybe next year we can make sure to have time for it, now that we know how much fun it can be.

Front View

Back View

The creators, and our cheerleader Sasha! :O)

A Christmas picture for you

2009-01-14T22:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the tips on where to find that David Cook version of "Billie Jean". AWESOME! I got chills watching it and I think my jaw was open the whole time. I hope my husband didn't see me drooling! :) ha ha...

We got family pictures taken the day after Christmas, so I am excited to see them. I should be getting the disk this week, hopefully there is something good to post. Sasha was being such a cheeseball, so I am hoping that there are at least one or two good ones of her. Gabby....well hopefully she is just looking at the camera. We tried to take a family Christmas pic at the LA temple, but we didn't get one that was great of all 4 of us. Gabby was pulling her look-to-the-side face. But by the time we got this pic (see below), we had already tried about 10 other times and I was just tired of it. Plus it was 9:00 p.m. and I had a stomach ache. Who wants to walk around with a pain in her side? Not me. On a more positive note, how awesome is it to be walking around with only a fleece jacket on at 9:00 at night on December 5th? Beautiful weather. I don't miss the snow, I have to say. And the lights at the temple were very beautiful. There is always such a peaceful feeling at the temple and on the grounds. I love being there.

And just never mind about how aweful my hair looks. Wow, I can't believe I was walking around looking this bad for so long. I guess it just goes to show how easy it is to fool yourself. Because when I looked in the mirror, I didn't look like this. Thumbs down. :( Glad Jay still keeps me around. :) (My hair looks much better now...will get pics up soon). P.S. Thanks, Aunt Cami, for the cute hat and socks! Sasha looks adorable and is so warm and comfy! :)

Idol's Back, Baby!

2009-01-13T23:07:00.000-08:00

So I guess I have to admit now that I am an American Idol watcher. Slightly embarrassing since my husband thinks it is totally stupid/staged. Yeah, the tryout footage probably is staged and it is a bit silly, but I suppose it's the silly in me that drags me to the T.V. I don't usually watch the tryout parts, but I heard there were tryouts in Salt Lake this time, so I have to watch. Oh well. We'll see how it turns out.

And BTW, David Cook's CD is great. If there is anyone out there wondering if it is worth the listen, don't. Just know that it is. My personal fav is "Bar-ba-sol", but there are many more to pleasure the ears. I wish I knew how to link it up to this message. I guess I'll just have to install one of those music list things on the blog. Anyway, hope this year can produce as well as last year did.

Also, does anyone have a copy of his (David Cook) rendition of Billy Jean that he sang on Idol last season? I have heard so much good, but I missed it. Would love to take a listen if anyone can share or point me in the right direction. XO

Photo Tag

2008-11-10T00:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is kind of fun. Cami tagged me to do this game, so I'll play along. Here's how it works: Go to your photos, pick the 6th folder and the 6th picture in the folder, and then explain the story behind it.

Here's my 6th of 6th. A picture of Gabby at around 6 months. We were living in Minnesota and we made a trip to Utah in April of 2006. This picture was taken right before we went on that trip. Gabby had learned how to roll and she was always getting caught up in this blanket. It was so cute and always made me laugh, so I took this picture. Looking back I have several pictures of this nature. Thanks for the laughs Gabby. :)

I tag: Mel, Miranda, Janus, Janee, Cortnie, and Anne.

Halloween '08

2008-11-09T23:50:00.000-08:00

So here are some pics of my cuties on Halloween. Jay found this cute onesie for Sasha at KMart (our only choice for shopping up here. Yeah for us). So she wore that during the day and then we put her in a fuzzy pajama that looks like a Piglet costume for the ward Halloween party. It was a fun evening, although I was dreading going. It just didn't sound fun. It was raining all day, the first day of cold that we had this fall so far. We had 70 degree weather all week before that, so I was kind of bummed that it got cold on Halloween. But it made the holiday feel more like Halloween, so that was good. And the ward thing was good too, turned out fun. That seems to be how things always go for me...something I'm unexcited about turns out to be fun and exciting. And Gabby was so excited to wear her costume and be Cinderella, since she thinks she is a princess anyway.

Hillbilly Mommy and Piglet Sasha on Halloween. I forgot to take a picture of Daddy, who was a nerd for Halloween. His costume turned out awesome too. I was bummed when I realized that I didn't take one. Especially since he doesn't dress up for Halloween very often. I have to capture those rare moments. Oh well. Next time.

Pretty Princess Gabby. So funny story about this dress. On Tuesday after Halloween, election day I guess, Gabby's friend Lauren was over playing. They were watching a Disney Princess sing-along DVD that we have. The last song on the DVD shows all the princesses dancing to a song. I was in Sasha's room and I was listening to Gabby and Lauren talk about the princesses. Lauren was telling Gabby that she was Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, and that Gabby was Belle and Snow White. "Gabby, I'm the princesses with yellow hair because I have yellow hair and you're the princesses with black hair because you have black hair." Gabby was getting so upset that she couldn't be Cinderella. I heard her tell Lauren that she was Cinderella and they were going back and forth on this. Then Gabby was getting upset and she said "No Lauren, I'm Cinderella. Come on, I'm gonna show ya." Then she started walking back to Sasha's room where I was. I knew what she was up to. She wanted to show Lauren her Cinderella dress costume because she had been Cinderella for Halloween. That would prove that she is Cinderella. Lauren didn't come with her though. She was pretty upset by the whole thing. But I thought it was cute that she is so connected to that Cinderella dress. And that she said "I'm gonna show ya." She says that to me all the time. It's cuter if you can hear her say it, but you get the idea.

Those two are cute playmates, love to spend time together. They have found all kinds of things to do together, including drawing. They like to draw with markers. However, I have had to limit this activity because Lauren has taught Gabby how much fun it is to draw on yourself with the markers. The ones I have are not washable, so it takes a day or so to get it all off. Here's a sample of some of thier artwork:

That's what I get for not supervising the art project. Oh well. Lauren's mom Lisa told me that Lauren still had some blue on her face the next day when she went to preschool. Luckily it's not permanent. It's hard not to laugh at this, we were all laughing at them. (This was taken on Nov 2nd, we were having a get together at our house with some friends when the artists got to work). There was one other little girl, Payton, who had done the same thing, but she was not interested in being in the picture. Well, next time. :)

Upgrade in my Personal Technology

2008-11-09T23:33:00.001-08:00

It seems that the only time I get on here is to put up pictures. I want to be more involved with my blog, but it is so time consuming for me. I can't keep my dishes washed...how can I justify getting online to send out my nonsense to the world? Oh well, guess I'll just have to lose some sleep and get back to it. I feel too disconnected from friends and I want to email and say "What's new?" But then I realize that I would know what's new if I read anyone's blog. Shame on me. I was even supposed to do some 'about me' blog that I was tagged on in August (is it too late?), but I can't even get to that. Well, better late than never, I guess.

So I got a new phone for my birthday. It's the LG Decoy, comes with a built in Bluetooth and has MP3 capabilities, so I can listen to my music. Thing is, I have a MP3 player and I never use it (although I am using it right now. Colbie Caillat is helping me write this. Thank you Colbie). So we'll see what happens there. But it will be nice to have a head piece again. I've been 2 years without one and it will be nice to talk hands-free again.

Ha ha!! Look at the picture I found of the phone. Get out your magnifying glasses everyone! I thought it was bigger. Sorry about that. Technically unsavvy over here. Well, anyway, I like it so far (my phone, not the picture). Still figuring out all the details and everything it can do. But I do know how to answer it now, which is a step in the right direction. Hopefully I won't hang up on people anymore (sorry Holly). I feel like I'm more hip now with the new phone. Crazy what technology can do to you.

Gabby's Birthday Party

2008-10-10T00:14:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is growing up! She will be 3 on Sunday. I can't believe how fast the time flies. Turning three, and I'm happy to report that she is now potty trained! Yeah! It only took about 2 1/2 days for her to get the hang of it. She is doing great. But this blog is not about that. On Wednesday, October 8th, we had a small party to celebrate her birthday. Since we are leaving on Saturday to go to Connecticut for a week to visit Uncle Phil, we decided to do the party before her birthday. Gabby wanted a princess party. It wasn't super princessy, but we did have a princess cake and we made prince and princess crowns. That was the extent of the theme. I had all these great ideas about how to make it fun, but I didn't start planning enough in advance, and my ideas didn't happen. Also, most of my ideas were a little to old for a 3 year old party. I have a 3 year old, you would think that I would know what is on their interest level. Anyway, we just made the princess crowns, played a few games outside, blew bubbles, drew with sidewalk chalk, ate cake and ice cream, and opened presents. Here are a few pics from the blessed event:

The crown and wand Gabby is holding came on her cake. Of course she had to put them on as soon as she saw them. This makes princess crown #3 for Gabby. Princesses can never have too many crowns.

Gabby's friends Lauren and Cole were so excited about the present they gave her that they decided to help her unwrap it. Here is Cole pulling it out of the bag to show Gabby. It's a puppy dog in a bag. Gabby loves it.

Happy Birthday Gabby! Daddy and I love you so much. You are such a joy to us and make us laugh every day. We are so happy at all your accomplishments and know that you will be successful at whatever you do. Thank you for being such a good and loving daughter. May that never change. I'm so grateful to know that I can be with you forever. I love you!

Sasha's First Cereal

2008-10-10T00:09:00.001-07:00

October 6th was the big day. Sasha's first taste of rice cereal. I'm happy to report that she loves it. She anxiously laps it up. Now, only 4 days later, she has already learned to open her mouth in anticipation and she is eager to eat it. Looks like I have another good eater on my hands.

Our Family Funtime

2008-10-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

A few pics from our recent trip to Utah. Adorable girly girls and their Nana, Great Grandparents (affectionately known as Ggpa and Ggma), and two crazy aunties.

Cute cousins, or as Gabby would say "Friends Together!" Gunnar is only a couple months younger than Sasha, so it is fun to have them together and see how much they love to be with other babies. Babies really do love each other. Sasha is doing her signature lip biting here. Could Gunnar get any cuter?

Sasha, zoning out. Earth to Sasha! Maybe my alien implant is effecting her brain too! (See April '08 dental entry for more details). Darn that breast milk. :)

Two cuties lovin' their Ggpa! I know he loves them too. Just look at the sparkle in his eye! Oh, well, you can't see his eyes. Well, it's there, believe me.

This has got to be one of my favorite pictures of Sasha. Look how cute she is! Of course, I'm not biased or anything (wink, wink). I'm so glad that we have been able to visit with my grandparents when we are in Utah. I know having the girls there just perks my grandma up and makes her have a better day. She is always so happy to see them and play with them. They love her too. Gabby has developed her special games that she plays with Ggma, and she loves to give hugs and kiss her hand.

Remind me again what's so funny? I took the picture so I could remember why Holly is laughing and now I don't. Oh well, it doesn't matter. Good times. These two will just laugh just to laugh. Somehow they can communicate through laughter. It's their special language. I'm a little jealous.

Thanks Auntie Cami for the beanie. I love it. Look how cute I am with it on! :) I will be styling this winter thanks to you. :) I'll be taking orders from all my baby friends, so get your knitting needles ready!

Fun Summer Pics

2008-09-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

So here are my two cuties. Can't believe how fast they grow. Cheezers.

Every year in Tehachapi there is something called The Freedom Festival. It happens each August and it's like a town fair, including parade, booths, and carnival rides. We went to the parade with our friends Lisa and Lauren Price. Gabby and Lauren have gotten to be good friends and they like to play together often. Here is a picture of them together at the parade.

We went to the carnival rides, only for about an hour, but Gabby had fun going on the carousel and a bug ride. Daddy helped her win her very own generic Whinnie the Pooh! Good thing Daddy is fast at shooting a water gun. :) They won on the first try! Gabby sure loves her daddy. :)

Share the Memories! :)

2008-09-17T15:05:00.001-07:00

Here is a fun little game... Leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time, or a long time, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark...get set...blog your memories!!

Cami and Miranda, I posted memories on your blogs, if you want to go back and read. :)

Back to the Blog

2008-09-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

Yikes! July 29th. Sorry fans for ignoring you for so long. I'm going in cycles. Loving the blog and then dragging myself to it. Truly I love it. If I wasn't interrupted every second I'm on the computer I would love it more. Who wants to sit down to share the most interesting and thought provoking ideas and experiences (can you sense the sarcasm here?), only to be interrupted by your almost-3-year-old begging for the princess game, the Mickey game, the Elmo game, or the George game? Not me. It's just annoying and I find myself avoiding having to go through that as much as possible. I do not like being annoyed with my toddler. Makes me feel too guilty.

Anyway, nothing too exciting going on with me right now. Just got back from Utah, visitng family and attending a Modbe fashion consultant conference. That was awesome. The fall line is so cute, lots of things to want. The main focus of the launch was the Modbe Move line, which features workout clothes. They are all made of great materials and so cute on. If you want to check it out just go to www.modbeclothing.com/kellybaird or you can click on the Modbe link to the right. Here are a couple of my favs:

Oh, if we could all be as beautiful as these models! Oh wait! We can! And we are. :) Modbe looks great on everyone.

Harry Potter Fettish

2008-07-29T15:39:00.001-07:00

Ok, well it's not really a fettish, but I have been obsessed with the Harry Potter series lately. Believe it or not, I have had the last 2 books of the series for quite some time (bought both books when they first came out), and I had not read either one. I think I got disillusioned after reading the 5th book the first time around. The 4th book is such a page turner and I got bogged down in some parts of the 5th book. Anyway, I waited so long that I thought I would need to read the 5th book again to make any sense of the 6th and 7th. Then the movie (for the 5th book) came out and I saw that. I guess I could have just gone off the movie, but...

After I had Sasha I was doing a lot of sitting around with a tiny mouth suction-cuped to me and I had some time on my hands. So I decided to re-read the 5th book and finally get to the 6th and 7th, find out what happens in this great saga. Well, I really liked the 5th book the second time around (I think the movie helped some). But I have to say, I have been CRAZY to wait so long to find out the end...I could not put the books down!!! Every spare minute I was reading. I think I read the 6th one in about 3 days, and it took me that long only because my kids were distracting me all the time. (If you can believe that!) :) I was nervous to pick up the 7th because I knew it would be the same way (become a bad mommy for a few days) and I waited about a month or so before I started reading. But then it was just calling to me from my bookshelf and I had to take it down.

I finished it last night. Triumph! Ha ha :) No, I really liked the books, loved how the 7th one is so packed with info, and I have to say that I really like what we learn about Severus Snape. (I'm guessing that I could just say so here, but surely there are other Potter fans out there who have not read the end of the saga....I would hate to spoil it for them.) Anyway, I have just been thinking about Harry all day today and all the crazy things that he went through during that 7th year, so many ups and downs. How in the world will they make the 7th book into a movie and not make it an R rating? I thought there were some fairly scary parts there. Dementors, grave yards, snakes, Lord Voldemort (well, he's just plain scary). It will definately have to be PG-13. I guess I can now say that I truely am a Harry Potter fan, since I have read all the books.

On a completely different note, I am feeling a bit frustrated about my lack of courage when it comes to selling Modbe. For those of you who don't know, I am a fashion consultant for a clothing company called Modbe who sells shirts, skirts, pants, dresses, outerwear, swimwear, and kid clothes (girl's stuff) through their website and their fashion consultants. I have my own website, which was just updated, and it's pretty great. I really like it, especially compared to the last one which was hard to use. I just wish I was a better salesperson. That is something that is not in my nature and I feel so pushy when I am trying to sell it. But I need to get pushy, or else I won't be able to afford to sell it much longer. Boo-hoo, that would be a sad day.

Right now there is a great sale going on online at www.modbeclothing.com/kellybaird, where several items are on sale starting at 25% off up to 75 % off, including the current line of swimwear. It's pretty awesome, actually. I got a shirt for $5, a Motley Crew in Baja Blue. Yeah! I was so excited that they had my size, because the Motley Crew is one of my favorite shirts that Modbe has ever put out and I missed out on getting a blue one last fall (I have a white and a pink and I wish that I had bought all the colors). It's the softest, most comfortable shirt I have ever worn. Anyway, I am thinking about how much I love this company and how much I believe in their product and yet I am not getting that love back from my customer base. All the feedback I ever get is complaints. I am trying to not take it personally because I know that the complaints are about things that are mostly out of my control, but it is hard to hear nonetheless. Why can't everyone see how great it is like I do? Too bad for them, I guess. I'll just have to try and push forward and not worry about those who I leave behind.

Potty Training Help

2008-07-18T14:31:00.001-07:00

I need help. Gabby is ready to start potty training but I am at a loss for how to proceed. My M.O. in raising my children has been to find parenting books and/or magazines with advice on how to do something and then try it out. When Gabby was a baby I did nothing without consulting my trusty baby book. Now I am looking at a new hurtle to cross, one I have never looked forward to, and I am in search of a good book to help me along the way. Does anyone have any advice on a good book (for me, not for Gabby) that I could read to help me get the job done? I like things with step-by-step instructions. :)

I saw something online and was also wondering if anyone had heard of this program and how good or bad it is: 3 Day Potty Training (dot com). The reviews I saw online really were positive, but the website asks for all this personal information. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that kind of a commitment. I just thought I'd ask cyberspace what ya'll thought before I dive into it.

I've heard the Elmo Potty Time DVD is good too. I thought about getting that. There is a long wait list at my library for that one. Must be good. Who doesn't love Elmo, right?

Running to exhaustion

2008-07-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post this picture because I thought it was so funny. I got my hair cut and colored on June 11th, right before our Utah trip. The appointment went a little long and I got home right around Gabby's bedtime. When I came in the house she was crashed out on the couch. I just started laughing. Little kids can sleep anywhere if they are tired enough! Ha ha! I picked her up and took her to her bed. She slept the whole night. She must have run herself into the ground to be that tired. As memory serves, I believe she did not take a nap that day either, so that would add to the exhaustion. She's a cute kid.

Sasha's New Milestone

2008-07-09T14:34:00.001-07:00

Sasha and I were having some tummy time today and she rolled over from her tummy to her back! Yeah! Proud Mommy here has to share it with the world. :) Sometimes I feel like I am not paying enough attention to her or helping her along in her development, so to see something as cool as this makes me feel a little better. Glad to know that kids can still grow and develop like they should without my 100% attention to their every detail. I still feel like I am only raising Gabby some days, as she is now so verbal and demanding of my attention. Sasha will be there soon enough, I'm sure.

A 4th of July Ventura Weekend

2008-07-07T23:19:00.000-07:00

We went to Ventura for the weekend while my mom was in town. Here are a few pics of our outings:

Gabby and Nana in front of some pretty flowers at the old mission in Ventura. There was a mass in progress at the time so we didn't go in. Gabby and her silly poses. Already working the camera!

The mission again, with the three pretty ladies! :O)

We walked out on the Ventura Pier. It was built in 1872 and used to be a wharf, where goods were shipped to and from Ventura. Now people just fish from it and walk out for the view. Again, Gabby exercising her right at goofy poses.

Happy Family!

At the end of the pier we saw a guy catch a little shark. It was cool to see for a minute, but I couldn't stand there and watch too long. They were debating about whether or not they should keep it or throw it back.

When we were walking back we saw the guy gutting it at the fish washing station. At least it wasn't for nothing. Being there made me realize that I really don't have the stomach for fishing.

My mom took this picture of Sasha in the car. Precious little one! She is such a good traveler. We have been blessed with two really good babies who are great to travel with! Good thing. They wouldn't make it in this family otherwise! :)

The Post-Vacation Let-Down

2008-07-07T22:39:00.000-07:00

We've all experienced it. You go on an exciting vacation. Something new and different. Exciting new experiences awaiting you and you have a great time. Sometimes you make new friends. Sometimes you see old friends. Whatever the situation you are always excited to go. And then you have to come home. Home seems so boring after you have been away and you inevitably feel a huge disappointment once there. I'm pretty sure that my 2-year-old was experiencing that post-vacay let-down today, as she was driving me CRAZY!!! All day long demanding my attention, crying, being the drama queen that she is (thanks Aunt Cami for that inherited trait!).

Gabby had her first time-out today. I gave Sasha a bath this morning and when I was getting her dressed and putting on the lotion Gabby informed me that she would like some lotion too. I asked her if it was for her or for Sasha, as she likes to smear it all over her sister and I was not in the mood to deal with that today. But she said that she wanted it for herself. So I gave her a little dab on her right hand. Normally I give her a small dab on each hand, but this time I didn't. Well, she immediately began to complain. I told her to use what I had given her and I would give her some more in a minute, as I was temporarily occupied smearing lotion all over her sister. The words had barely left my lips when Gabby's tears sprang to life. I asked her to stop crying and told her I would give her some more (crying has become her tatic for asking for things, I am trying to not give in to this as I am sure it will just encourage more crying). Please stop crying. More crying. Crying turned into screaming. Screaming turned into screaming and crying. "I want it! It's mines! I want lotions!" Talking to her was not working. By this time we were in the living room so I took her to the kitchen, put her on a kitchen chair and set a timer for 2 minutes. Told her to stay on the chair until the buzzer rang. She immediately got off and went to the living room, still crying. I carried her back to the kitchen chair and started the timer over. Don't get off the chair! She got off again, with only about 30 seconds left. Back on the chair. One more minute on the timer. Less crying. Now she's watching the timer, watching me, trying to put her feet on the floor, see how much she can get away with. The timer rings. No more crying. Now the talk.

Me: "How do we ask for things? Crying is not a good way to ask for things. How do you ask for lotion?"

Gabby: "Please!"

Me: "Good. Give me a hug. I love you. Please don't cry when you want something."

Well, that was the jist of it anyway. Then we went on, as if the incident had never happened. But then she only took a 40 minute nap (at least she took one. I shouldn't complain). We had to go to Bakersfield this afternoon. The whole way there I hear this:

"Mommy I hungry. Mommy I want my movie. Mommy look at me! Mommy watch this! Mommy, look Jasmine!"

UGGH!!! Just watch your movie and leave me alone for a minute! She finally settles down. We go to the bank. We are meeting with bank personelle (is that how you spell it? well you know what I mean). She sits on Daddy's lap. She sits on my lap. She plays with the pin keypad. She plays with everything on the desk. She is crawling all over me, all over Daddy. She finds a new fast-food straw in the diaper bag. Paper everywhere. She is on the floor, under the chair, behind the cubicle shouting "Mommy, look at me! Mommy I see you! Daddy I see you!"

Finally it's time to leave. Yeah. We're hungry. Go to a restaurant. "Mommy I want pizza (pronounced pizta)." This retaurant doesn't have pizza (that wasn't annoying, just so cute so I thought I'd throw it in there). We order our food, Gabby is coloring on the kid's menu. Thank goodness for crayons. A moment's rest. Then Gabby starts to stand up and look over the partition at all the other patrons. One family in particular has captured her attention and she seems to not be able to sit down for anything. We have to tell her to sit down. Repeatedly.

Nana calls just as our salads are coming. During the course of our conversation I am reminded of something that I was annoyed with the day before. After I hang up I start complaining about it to Jay when Sasha wakes up and demands her dinner. So I am trying to eat and feed her at the same time in a skinny booth with not much room between me and the table. Gabby is eating off of our salads and having some bread. Still standing up to stare at the neighboring family. However, now she has added the crawling under the table routine. Over to my side, back over to her side, back under to sit by my legs and peer across the aisle, back to her side to eat her dinner. Spilling her dinner all over the seat because she is being silly with her utinsels. Crawling on Daddy. Announcing that she is done when we have just started eating. Back under the table again. Now she has switched sides and is sitting next to me eating her dinner. Wiping her hands on my clothes (or trying to). Back under the table to go look at Sasha. Back under to sit next to me. "I'm done!" Taking her shoes off. Back under the table. UGGHH!! Can we leave?!?! Sasha is crying now because she didn't get enough to eat. I'm going to the car.

Finally we are able to leave that horrible restaurant experience. We get on the road, our 45 minute drive home. Five minutes into it I hear from the back seat "Mommy, I hungry." Too bad!! You should have eaten more than 5 bites of your dinner. Thirty seconds later "Mommy I hungry." I just ignore her. Twenty seconds later "Daddy I hungry." Wow, this is going to be a long car ride. But then she gets distracted by her movie and suddenly we are home. I am anxious to get her in bed as she is really driving me crazy.

It doesn't stop. All up to bedtime she is jumping on both of us or demanding our attention. I am sure that this is just her way of dealing with a deplorable lack of attention after almost a solid month of people paying attention to her all the time. (Three week vacation in Utah with relatives and then Nana came and stayed at our house for about 5 days). Maybe all toddlers are like this, but mine has not been up until now. Today I needed Sasha to be a toddler too so I could have a moment's peace.

Excited for our vacation

2008-06-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while. I have a dentist office post ruminating somewhere, but still has yet to post. I suppose I should finish before our trip to Utah. We are going to Utah on Thursday, June 12, and I am staying with the girls until July 1st, when we will fly back to CA with my mom. We are blessing Sasha next Sunday, Father's Day, in my parent's ward (start's at 11 a.m. if you want to come!). It will be great to see all the family. I'm actually really excited about it, looking forward to hanging out with family for a while. It will be fun to meet my new nephew Gunnar too.

Things have been busy, but good. I finally got my house cleaned up, for the most part, which was becoming a huge source of stress for me. My sister-in-law Jamie and her family came to stay with us for a couple of days this weekend, so that was great motivation for me to get my dishes done and my bathroom cleaned (well, at least the bathroom that they used). We loved having them here. Gabby especially loved hanging out with her cousins, what fun! Too bad we don't live in Utah...Gabby and Sammy would be best friends, I'm sure.

Here are some recent pics of my 2 beauties. Sasha is now 2 months old, growing so fast.

Visit to the Twilight Zone....

2008-04-30T23:34:00.000-07:00

Actually, it was the dentist, but it was the most bizarre dental appointment that it almost felt like a Twilight Zone or X-Files episode. An experience that is definately blog-worthy.

Finding a new dentist can be a scary experience. You are giving your mouth over to complete strangers to poke and prod as they please, only to tell you that you have tarter or, heaven forbid, a cavity! As long as I don't hear the words 'root canal', I should be able to survive. This time around, however, I left the office wondering if I would find myself being beamed up to another realm in the middle of the night or receiving secret coded messages through my fillings in the coming weeks.

I arrived at the dentist office a little before 3:30 p.m. and filled out all the new patient paperwork that was required. I then waited for an hour before they called me into the back. To pass the time I read the most brain-frying magazine in existance. It's called Lucky (I think) and it is all about famous people and what they do and speculation about why they do it. DUMB! I will admit that I don't mind perusing an issue of People every now and then, but this was just a serious waste of time. However, it was either read that or watch the 1976 version of King Kong that was on the waiting room T.V. Take your pick.

They finally called me back around 4:30 p.m. I went into the X-Ray room and the assistant took pictures of my teeth. Nothing too weird so far. I was then lead to a cubicle with a dental chair in it and asked to sit down. The assistant told me she would get my X-rays and be right back. I sat there for about 10 minutes, texting Jay all the while to make sure Sasha was okay, since she was crying when I left her with him. (She was fine, btw). The room was unusually sterile. I was thinking, 'Where am I? This is unlike any dentist office I have ever seen.' It looked more like a wherehouse that had been sectioned off into tiny "offices". The only thing on the wall was a framed print-out of the California codes and proceedures on what I should do if I recieve unacceptable treatment. Good to know. How about a picture of a flower or a pretty landscape? Something to put my anxious mind at ease. What if the dentist finds something undesireable? I'd like to have something nice to look at while my mouth is being torn apart.

Suddently a man comes into the cubicle and asks me a few questions. He is young, possibly in college, and I assume that he is another dental assistent or a hygenist. He is asking me about my fillings and the reason why I am there. Then he leaves. He comes back with X-ray girl and my X-rays. He starts talking to me about how my fillings need to be replaced and that the X-ray shows that my teeth look good overall. During this conversation I figure out that he is not a dental hygenist, he is the dentist. How about an introduction? "Hi, my name is Dr. No Manners. How are you today? This is my assistant, Miss No Name." Duh! Did it ever occur to them that I cannot read their minds? Well, obviously not.

After the brief and confusing consultation with the dentist I was informed that my tarter would be removed and my teeth would be cleaned. Every dentist I have ever gone to has had the dental hygenist clean the teeth and scrap the tarter. So this was what I was expecting. I was not expecting a visit from alien teeth surgeons. Yikes! The dentist left and then returned with the assistant. They both had surgical face masks on and rubber gloves. The doctor reclined my chair and turned on the annoying light meant for your mouth but is almost always pointed toward your eyes (as it was in this case). I begin to wonder what's going on and why the dentist is still in the room. Then I hear a hig-pitched drill-like sound. There is some kind of metal gizmo moving toward my mouth. Here is my thought process at this point:

'OUCH! What are they doing? Teeth cleaning doesn't feel like this. Aren't they going to scrape my tarter first? What kind of machine is this? I didn't think that the cleaning machine vibrated so much.'

The drill-like machine turned off and the polish and tooth cleaning machine came out. What did they just do? The dentist began cleaning my teeth. Hmmm. They must have been scraping my tarter with that drill. Either that or they have imbedded some kind of homing device into my gums. Maybe I'll be able to get 101.9 The End through my fillings now. Chunga and Mister, here I come!

Oww! Could you slow down with that exuberant cleaning? My teeth aren't that dirty, are they? All I could see during this process was the bright teeth light and 4 gloved hands drilling, sucking, and squirting my teeth. Who are these masked avengers? Have I been beamed up to another dimention? Are Mulder and Scully going to come rescue me? I hope I can go home soon, I think my milk is letting down.

The light is turned off and the dentist removes his mask. "All done. See you in six months." Yeah right. Not unless I want green ooze inserted into my veins next time. Or worse. At least I'll have clean teeth.

Update on Baby

2008-04-30T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hi fellow bloggers. Yes, I have been ignoring my blog for the last 6 weeks and feeling horribly guilty about it. It seems next to impossible to get on the computer now that there are two kids in the Baird household. I will figure this out soon, I hope!

So here is the rest of the delivery story:

We went to the hospital on Wednesday, March 19th, got there about 1 p.m. We were taken to a room and I got settled there. The doctor came in and did an ultrasound, and we saw that the baby was in the traverse position. I was suspecting that she had not turned to the correct position and I was right. So the doctor said that he would attempt the version. I was then hooked up to an IV and filled out some paperwork and about a half hour later the doctor returned with the nurse and the proceedure began. I was bracing myself for the worst, as I had heard that version hurts pretty bad. It was quite uncomfortable and it was a bit painful at the end, but it wasn't anything like what I thought it would be and it's nothing next to the labor pains, so....

Anyway, back to the story. So the doctor came in and got out the ultrasound machine again. He looked to see what was going on with the baby and saw that in the 30 minutes it took to get my IV going the baby had moved again and was now in the full breech position. He put a lot of that jelly stuff on my belly, felt for they baby's head and bum, and started pushing. The nurse held the ultrasound wand-thing on my belly so the doctor could see the baby. The doctor was talking to the baby the whole time, "Sasha, we need you to move. Please move around Sasha. Mommy wants you to be a good little girl and put your head down please." Things like this. It helped ease some of the tension, which was good. After about 5 pushes and tugs on the baby, she was finally in position. When the doctor had declared that the version was sucessful, I had to blink several times to keep myself from crying. I was so greatful. The nurses in the room started claping and cheering. They were as excited as I was. Immediately after the doctor was finished the nurse started me on pitocin. The doctor decided to wait a few minutes before breaking my water, as the sack was still quite high up inside and he wanted to see if the contractions would help bring it down a bit. After about 30 more minutes or so he came back in and checked again, decided it was low enough, and broke the water. That was quite painful, I have to admit. Didn't like that so much. Once he was done though I was gushing. The nurse said that she hadn't seen that much fluid come out of one person for some time. I guess I had almost twice the amount of fluid that most women have. The doctor thought that was part of the reason why the baby was moving around so much, she had a lot of fluid to help her get around. That and she was small (well, smaller than Gabby was).

So that was at about 4 p.m. The contractions started to pick up and by 7 p.m. or so I was asking for the epidural. So I got that at 8 p.m., when I was dialated to about a 4, then took a bit of a rest before it was time to start pushing. The doctor came back in a little before 10 p.m., checked me and said it was time to start pushing. The nurse coached me for about 30 minutes, and at 10:36 p.m. Sasha Marie Baird was born. The whole experience was pretty good, went much faster than with Gabby and I was so so grateful that I was able to have a vaginal delivery and that everything went so well. And I only had one small tear. It made my recovery so much easier. I guess once you stretch everything out one time then it is easier the next time around. Being induced took the guess work out of when the baby would come. It was kind of nice, actually. :)

So here is our little one, born March 19th, 6 lbs 9 oz, 19 1/2 inces long

The baby's coming?!? Yikes!

2008-03-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

So things have been kind of a whirlwind the last couple of days, not really sure that I am totally prepared to become a mommy for the second time, but there's not much I can do about it now. Yikes! Looks like the day is here. I'm feeling a bit nervous and here's why.

I am 38 weeks pregnant this week. At my 36 week check up the nurse did an ultrasound and we saw that the baby was laying sideways, or breech, with her head on my left side and her legs on my right side instead of with her head down like she was supposed to be. After a consult with the doctor, the nurse said that it was still early and we would see if the baby turns in the right direction over the next couple of weeks. The day after that appointment I felt the baby move quite drastically and I was feeling confident that her head was now down where it was supposed to be.

At my 37th week appointment the doctor did another ultrasound and the baby's head was indeed down where it was supposed to be, facing the right direction. Locked and loaded. The legs were kicking my all over on the right side, poking my rib cage all the time, but the doctor said that as long as the head is down then we don't have anything to worry about.

Last Saturday I felt the baby moving around again. I could tell that she had moved up, but I kind of assumed that her head was still in the downward postion. I went to the doctor on Monday, March 17th, for my 38 week check-up, expecting a normal visit. The doctor came in and felt my stomach and said, "It feels like the baby's head is up by your ribs. Let's get the ultrasound machine." Sure enough, the baby had totally flipped and the head is now on my right side, up by my ribs and the feet are down where the head is supposed to be. What a gymnist I am producing! The doctor left for a moment and when he returned he said that he is concerned about the amount of movement from this baby, that she should not be moving this much after the 37th week of pregnancy. He said that he doesn't want to wait another week and see if she will turn back on her own, as the risk of her smashing the umbillical cord is greater now with the limited amount of space in the uterus. So we are scheduled to go in to the hospital today. Here are our options: 1) If the baby turns back on her own before we go to the hospital and everything looks normal then they will send us home. 2) If the baby is still in the breech position then the doctor will try a technique called external version, which is a procedure where the doctor attempts to turn the baby by pushing on my stomach. (I hear this is very painful.) If that is successful, then he will induce me today. 3) If the external version doesn't work, he will do a C-section today.

Jay and I left the doctor's office on Monday pretty much in shock. Niether of us were expecting this and we were both thinking that we would have a couple more weeks to get everything ready. I didn't have any baby clothes out, our car seat was still packed, no diapers for an infant, no bag packed for the hospital or anything arranged for Gabby, etc. But just the idea that we would have another baby this week took almost all day to sink in. We came home and Jay gave me a blessing and I felt better. But then all day yesterday I was getting nervous again, mainly because I'm not sure what is going to happen and I'm not sure what to plan for. I really don't want to have a C-section because I hear the recovery is hard. But there is a lot of pain associated with having a baby the other way, which I am well aware of, so I guess it's a trade off, huh?

To top it off, I have been developing a cold and cough, so between that and the baby I have not been sleeping that well the last couple of nights. Not the best time to get a cold, huh? Anyway, we are pretty much planning to come home with a baby by the end of this week. It doesn't feel like the baby has moved back to the right position, but then again, what do I know? I thought she was in the mostly right position and I was totally wrong. So we'll see what happens today.

Silly Gabby

2008-03-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

These pictures were taken around Feb 20th. Gabby knows where her Baby Sister is and likes to give her hugs and kisses. Daddy was trying to get a picture of her actually kissing my stomach, but with the delay our camera has we never quite captured it. Anyway, here are a few of us goofing around.

These last 2 I call Gabby doing her "Baby Gangster" face. She's trying to be all 'cool dude', so funny. Jay and I were just laughing at her, so funny. What a personality.

Trying to stay afloat

2008-03-06T13:47:00.001-08:00

Wow, things are getting crazy. Only 3 1/2 more weeks to the due date! I have so much to get done, and I am not working on any of it. I will be doing a Modbe party at my friend's house next Thursday, so I am trying to get everything organized. It takes so much longer when you are not doing it consistently. Tagged all the clothes, ordered the new swim samples, getting the paperwork updated. It makes things harder when you have a curious 2 year old who wants to get on the computer every time you sit down to work on something. Favorite websites? sesameworkshop.org, disney.go.com/characters (especially loves the Princesses and Mickey Mouse and his friends), and pbskids.org. It's hard to sit through it all, especially when I have a million things to do. But she loves it so much that it's hard to say no too. Especially when she asks in her cute voice, "Mommy, I want Mickey computer" or "I want Sleeping Beauty computer" (This one sounds like "see-bee-dee" when she says it).

Jay is getting ready for his licensing test, so I hardly see him. He comes home and studies for most of the night, except for dinner and a little time to see Gabby. He takes the test in 3 weeks, so hopefully he does well. I am praying so!

Then there's all the baby stuff to get ready, clothes to get out and washed, toys, carseat, etc. and see what I need to buy. My friend here in Tehachapi offered to throw me a baby shower. Is this kosher for a second pregnancy? I feel kind of weird saying yes. It would be fun just to have a party, but I don't know. Any suggestions/ideas on what is proper protocol on this?

Mommy's Big Helper

2008-02-18T15:41:00.000-08:00

I just had to put this picture on the blog too, nothing really special about it except that it's just so cute of my little sweetie pie and it captures her cuteness so well. She has blossomed so much in her personality over the last 6 months. It is amazing how much you can see her personality come out now that she is talking better. The more she can say the cuter she is, I guess because what she says is cute/funny and she is still learning to put sentences together so sometimes it comes out funny. One game that she loves to do right now is to ask me "Where's Mommy?" or "Where's Daddy?" when we are sitting right there. Then I'll say "I don't know. Where's Mommy/Daddy?" And then she'll point to whoever she is talking about and say "Right there!" So cute. She identifies both of us and herself, and she can point to where "Baby Sister" is, although I'm not sure if she understands what that means. We are trying to prepare her for having a baby in our house. She will love it, I'm sure, as she loves babies and is very good at giving hugs and kisses. "Baby Sister" will not be at a loss when it comes to getting loves from her Big Sister. Speaking of "Baby Sister", anyone have any name suggestions? See our baby name poll for more.....

So this picture...I was folding laundry one day and Gabby was "helping" me (which means taking all the clothes out of the clothes basket and throwing them all over the floor, then hiding in them and yelling "Mommy, watch!"). She found a pair of Daddy's socks and she wanted to put them on. It was so funny, I was laughing at how cute she looked and was being so I had to take a picture. I have to admit, being a blogger has made me more picture-conscious. I am more often than not looking for opportunities to take pictures to post. It makes the blog more fun. But I should just write on it more too.

Day at the park

2008-02-18T15:32:00.001-08:00

Here we are at the park on February 9th. We actually went to the park today too, it's been so nice out lately. Gabby loves to go to the park and go on the slides and swings. She always seems to make friends when we go over there, just playing with anyone who happens to be there. Little kids are so unassuming and friendly, I think we can all learn something from them. It's crazy to go to the park in February though. The ice cream man always drives by when we are there. Ice cream man in February! Ha! Or child snatchers, as my friend Rachael calls them. It's a rip-off, anyway.

So here's our pics from our Feb 9th trip.

Disneyland Trip

2008-02-15T11:24:00.000-08:00

Here are our pics of our Disneyland trip. We went Feb 1st and 2nd. Jay's cousin Roger came and hung out with us there the second day. We had a blast. I'm only sad about the fact that I didn't get a picture of Gabby's favorite part, feeding the ducks with Roger during lunch! She just loved it, didn't want to leave. I didn't think about taking their picture until the next day, but that would have been the best one, since Gabby was just loving the ducks.

We didn't really do all the traditional Disneyland things. Mostly just went around meeting the characters. That was Gabby's favorite part. We went on a few rides, the Whinnie the Pooh ride and Pirates of the Carribean. Gabby fell asleep during the Pirates ride, but I thought it was cool. They've updated it to reflect the movies and have a Captian Jack character who looks just like Johnny Depp. Pretty cool. We rode the train around the Disneyland park, something else we've never done, so that was fun. We spent most of our time on the Disneyland side, only going to California Adventure for the Electric Light parade the first night and then again on the second night to check out the Muppet Show 3-D (Gabby didn't like it) and the Crush interactive show, which was really cool and Gabby really liked that. We have one more day left on our three day pass to use by March 1st, so we'll try to go down one more time to take advantage of that. I'd like to go see more of the California Adventure side.

Snow Day, anyone?

2008-02-05T14:09:00.000-08:00

This is a lot of snow for Tehachapi. There was actually more, but it has been melting all day. Should have taken some pics yesterday. This is from my back porch.

This view is from my front porch, looking left. School was cancelled yesterday and was delayed for a couple of hours this morning. Most of the neighborhood roads are unplowed, the major roads have been plowed and sanded. I went out this morning to do some errands and to take Gabby to Tiny Tots (which I found out was cancelled), and the roads were a bit icy.

Here we are looking from my front porch straight down the walk. You can see Jay's footprints from this morning when he went to work. We park the Tribute in the driveway that's in the picture above, the Chevy stays in the garage (nice for me!). So not too much snow, you can kind of see how deep it is from Jay's footprints. This is the kind of snow that stops school from happening. At least in my town. :) The first real snow we had was on Wednesday, January 23, 2008. The young women in our ward were doing a babysitting service project so we took Gabby over to the church so she could play with some friends and we tried to go get some ice cream, but Coldstone was closed because of the snow. So we just went to KMart instead to return something. We bought our Christmas cards for next year. Twenty-nine cents for a box of 18. Score! Anyway, when we came home Jay was teaching Gabby how to throw snowballs. She is timid in the snow, anything wet really. She didn't want to step in it or scoop it up herself, but if Jay handed her a snowball then she was more than willing to throw it. Here's how she did:

Checking it all out. Not sure if she wants to step in it or not, but she seems interested!

Getting the hang of it! Mommy's too slow on the trigger finger to get the snowball in the picture.

There we go! Mommy got it right this time. Do we have a little athlete in the making? Possibly! Where are your snow pants?!? Boots? Who needs snow pants and boots in California? ha ha

Tagged

2008-02-05T13:53:00.000-08:00

Just goes to show you how often I blog, and how even less often I look at other people's blogs....Holly tagged me on Jan 18th, and I just noticed today! Duh. So here we goooo!!!!

Four jobs I've had:
1. Flower shop clean-up girl (and some occasional errands)
2. Social worker for the State of Hawaii
3. USU Merrill Library, Special Collections student worker
4. Modbe Fashion Consultant (currently, in addition to full-time Mommy), www.kellybaird.mymodbe.com

Four movies I could watch over and over:
1. Pride and Prejudice (the one with Kiera Knightly)
2. You've Got Mail
3. Miss Congeniality
4. Ten Things I Hate About You

Four places I have lived:
1. Riverton, Utah
2. Honolulu, Hawaii
3. Rochester, Minnesota
4. Katy, Texas

Four T.V. shows I love:
1. Prison Break
2. Lost
3. The Office
4. What Not to Wear

Four places I have vacationed:
1. New York City
2. Cancun, Mexico
3. Island of Kauai, Hawaii
4. Boston, Massachusets

Four of my favorite dishes/foods:
1. Roast beef and mashed potatoes
2. Ice cream
3. Most pasta
4. Cafe Rio

Four sites I visit daily:
1. gmail.com
2. msn.com (homepage)
3. yahoo.com (weekly here)
4. Modbe-related websites

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Utah, visiting family
2. Hawaii, on the beach getting warm (Waimea would be nice, but I'll take Ala Moana at this point)
3. Out shopping for whatever I want (and money is not an issue!)
4. At the movies

Four bloggers I am tagging:
1. Miranda
2. Cami
3. Jaclyn
4. Liz
If you've been tagged on this before then sorry, just ignore. Thanks for playing along. :)

American Gladiator Junkie

2008-01-24T15:11:00.001-08:00

Who would have thought? My 2-year-old daughter is an American Gladiator Junkie! When we saw that they were remaking the old classic we decided to watch it, just to see how it compares with the old version. (We like it, by the way). Gabby was totally enthralled with it from the get-go. She saw the gladiators and just thought they were the coolest and something about all the events just makes her mezmerised to the T.V. Gladiators and Mickey Mouse just do it for her, I guess. :) So here we are, watching a bit before bed. Maybe that's why she doesn't want to go to bed alone! ha ha

As a side note, we are trying a new technique of just putting her in the bed and leaving and then going back in and doing it again for as many times as it takes. Last night was only about 3 times, so I think we are making improvements. Jay has taken the reigns on this one too, I think it has helped, in some way that I can't really describe or comprehend. Hopefully we can figure this one out! :)

Gabby has something that she wants to say: pofllll knk (I guess it says "GO TITAN and TOA!!") from Gladiators.....I think she just likes the sound the keys make when you type since she was running her fingers on the keys but not really typing.

Laguna Beach vacation

2008-01-24T14:24:00.000-08:00

So we took a little jaunt down to Laguna Beach to visit Roger for Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend (I know it's called Human Rights Day now, but come on! It seems so wrong to have changed the name). It was so relaxing, fun, warm (not that we're terribly cold here, but the 40s can get to you after a while). We went down Friday Jan 18th after Jay got off work and came home on Monday Jan 21st. We mainly just hung out at this posh pad where Roger is staying, played with the dogs who live there. Gabby didn't really like playing with the dogs so much. They are bigger than she is so I can understand some of her hesitation. But they were the nicest dogs around, so gentle. I should have taken a picture of them, but I didn't think about it until after we left. Anyway, Gabby just couldn't get used to them. She finally relaxed a little on Sunday night and was able to play with Dali a little; Salvador is a lick-monster so she was more wary of him.

Gabby has taken to wearing my sunglasses every time we are outside. They are of course too big for her, but she cannot resist, and it's so cute that I cannot resist either. :O) I took a picture of her wearing them in the car, it turned out a bit blurry, but I'll post it anyway. She is a jem. :)

So we went down to the beach, which Gabby was also complaining about, but it wasn't really her fault since we decided to go before lunch and she was really hungry. She doesn't do well on an empty stomach. Anyway, so we didn't get any good pictures at the beach but we did take one by a fish mural. We went over to the Newport Beach Temple on Sunday and walked around a bit there and ate at a yummy New York style deli. That's about it as far as activities go, but it was nice to be able to sit around and not have to be anywhere or have any activities that we had to be doing. Just chill and spend time together, that's a great vacation! :) Next up...Phoenix, or Disneyland, or St. George. Any votes?

Sleepy-time headaches

2008-01-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, so what's going on with my daughter? We moved her from her crib to a twin bed the Monday after Thanksgiving. I was mentally preparing for the worst, and it actually went very smoothly. She went to bed just fine, stayed in bed until she fell asleep, didn't make a fuss. We didn't have to stay in there with her for any amount of time, and the bedtime routine was fairly short: put her in bed, pull up the covers, sometimes put on a CD of quiet music, made sure she had her binky (yes, we are still dealing with that at 27 months, stay tuned for bloggin woes...) and her snuggly (a birp cloth with a special tag, she has adopted this as her 'lovey'), and said "Good night! Love you!" She would stay in bed and go right to sleep. Then we went to Utah for Christmas. Eight nights of sleeping in the same room as either Mom and Dad or Grandma. We get home and she won't go to sleep in her bed without someone right there. At first I just thought that she needed a couple nights to transition back. That and she was totally sleep deprived. But we are working on almost 2 weeks and she will not stay in bed unless Jay or I are right next to her bed until she falls asleep. This goes for naps too. She was not doing this at naptime either. When will this stop? What am I doing wrong? I don't know what else to do besides stay in there with her because she will not stay in bed. Usually she comes out of her room within the first 5 minutes of getting into bed. One night I stayed right outside the door and when she came to the door and saw me there she just started playing with her toys. She won't get back in bed when I tell her to, just stands there looking at me. I feel like I'm indulging her too much, but how do you make a 2-year-old understand 'Stay in bed'.

Then last night she came into my room at 1:00 a.m. This is not an unusual thing, I just took her back to her room, put her in her bed. However, this routine went on for quite a while. I would stay in her room with her for 20 or 30 minutes, until I was freezing to death and longing for my own bed. Then I would sneak back to bed, only to find that 10 minutes later Gabby was next to my bed trying to get under my covers. By 4:00 I just let her in the bed, figured it was the only way to get her to go back to sleep. Where did we all wake up this morning? Jay on his side of the bed, Gabby on my side, me in Gabby's bed (not a very comfortable twin, mind you). I was so tired when she came in her room at 8 a.m., playing with toys and wide awake, happy as could be. I could barely open my eyes as she attempted to engage me in her play. Unfortunately I had to get up so that we could go to her Tiny Tots play group, so I hurried and showered and we were off. What is going on? Awake for 4 hours in the middle of the night? This is not like my daughter. I hope this doesn't become a life-long pattern (unfortunately it has already become a pattern). Am I missing something? Parenting experts of the world, advise!!

On a side note, Jay went to bed at 7:30 p.m. tonight. 7:30! What's going on?!? I guess all that kicking and poking that Gabby subjected him to last night didn't help him get any rest. (Me either, but at least I can take naps). Anyway, who goes to bed before their 2-year-old? I'm sure I had a look of total disbelief on my face. Even when I'm tired it just doesn't seem right to go to bed before 8:00 p.m. Oh well, when the sheets are calling......

Christmas Fun 2007

2007-12-31T08:52:00.000-08:00

We are back home from a whirlwind trip to Utah for Christmas. It was great to see family and friends, it seems like there is never enough time to do everything. We were lucky to miss the Sunday snow storm yesterday and had dry roads all the way home. Gabby is a great little traveler, hardly complaining and loving her movies. She watched Cars twice in a row (among others). When we got home we found a pipe on the back of the house had burst and water was squirting all over the back yard. It was so foggy last night it was really hard to see how much water was out there. Jay was guessing that it was about an inch and a half or so. Anyway, we had to get it turned off and so we just turned off the water to the whole house. Yuck. It stressed me out. Well, still has me stressed a bit since it's not fixed yet. We called the landlord and she told us that the city would fix it, but of course they said no because the pipe is attached to the house so it is the owner's responsibility. So I call her at 8:30 this morning, but I woke her up. Whoops. Maybe she doesn't have kids. If that is the case then calling before 10 a.m. would really be a no-no, I suppose. I've forgotten what it's like to sleep past 8 a.m. (when I'm at home at least. I slept until 11 one day at my in-law's house this past week). She is trying to find someone to fix it. The pipe is attached to the sprinkling system in the back yard, which is attached to the main water line in the house. I hope someone can fix it today, otherwise we have to go without water until Wednesday. I really wanted to take a shower today. :( At least we can get the water fixed and it's not our responsibility to pay. One of the benefits of renting. :)

We spent the whole week with our family and I only took two pictures the whole week! What's wrong with me? Oh well, we got one picture documenting Gabby's third Christmas. That's something I suppose. Gabby was fun to watch this Christmas, really getting into the unwrapping action. Every present she unwrapped was accompanied with a set of OOOH!s; I think the removal of the paper was almost more exciting than the actual present. I am sure that each Christmas will be more and more fun as she discovers the excitement and wonder of the Christmas season.

Gabby opening presents. OOOOH!

Gabby, Nana, and Auntie Holly putting a puzzle together. A Cook family tradition.

Waiting for Daddy

2007-12-08T11:23:00.000-08:00

Gabby loves it when her daddy comes home from work. Invariably, he has to make a pit stop as soon as he comes in. Last Wednesday, Nov 28th (I think, anyway) Gabby was especially excited to see him when he came home. As he was in the bathroom, Gabby came out to the kitchen where I was fixing dinner and asked me to come open the door for her. I told her that she would just have to wait. So she took off down the hall again. I didn't hear her for a minute, so I snuck down the hall to see what she was doing. I almost laughed out loud when I saw her here on the floor, just waiting for Daddy to finish. "What's taking so long!!", I could almost hear her saying. I crept in quietly to get this shot, what cute anticipation! This must be documented! Once she heard the camera go off she was distracted enough to get off the floor. She even took a picture with the camera all by herself. Am I stupid for showing her which button to push? Yes, probably. But what an accomplishment for a 2-year-old. Do I dare to post the picture, since it is of me looking crappy? Well, I guess so, since everyone should see Gabby's first attempt at photography. Maybe she'll be famous some day and everyone will want to pay money to see it! Ha!

Boy, what a looker! I must be crazy.

Here we go!

2007-12-08T10:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm jumping on the blogger bandwagon. Maybe I will be more motivated to take pictures on a regualr basis of our little one. Gabby does and says so many cute things every day, but I see it as her mom, and don't always think about documenting it. Hopefully this will help me be motivated to take pictures for everyone to see. Maybe we can even upload some video. :)