First Haircut

Bailey's hair was getting long and wispy after not being cut for almost the first two years of her life. It definitely needed a trim. Bailey went with Mom and Nana to their haircuts and after watching us get our haircut, she was ready to get up there in the chair. No fussing, no crying. She did absolutely wonderful. Afterwards, she got a Dum-Dum sucker for being so good!

72 Hours of Binki Withdrawal

We decided to get rid of the binki, rather abruptly this week. Last week she had a fever and had been sick, so we were a little more lax on letting her have the binki more often than just nap/bedtime. I found this Bronco Binki in the drawer and for some reason, she got really attached to it. She would cry for it, saying "Bronchi Binki!" anytime she wasn't happy. Bailey was addicted.

Bailey had been real good at brushing her teeth at night, but lately, due to the Bronco Binki, she wouldn't even want to brush. TJ took Bronco Binki and the two others out of the crib that night on the First and that was it. She wailed for about 20 minutes that first night. It was torture to listen to her as she tried to fall asleep without the comfort she has only known in her life of 23 months. We quickly told her that Bronco Binki was broken and left it at that. The next morning, she was up at 5:15am. She had probably woken up and after not finding her binki to pop back in her mouth, she freaked.

The second night was tough, but a little better. She only cried for about 15 minutes. And she slept until 6:30. The third night was only 5 minutes before she realized that Bronco Binki was still gone. The next few days, she asked for it only occasionally and each day has gotten better. She now sleeps to her normal average wake-up time of 8am.

The binki had to go and it had to be done at some point, and some point soon. With moving into our new house in 10 days and already preparing Bailey to switch from the crib to the "big girl bed," the timing ended up being perfect. We didn't want to conquer both of those transitions at the same time.

All in all, it was one long week that we'll look back on and say, "that wasn't so bad!"

Nana and Bailey's Merry-Go-Round Disaster

Nana picked Bailey up from school today. TJ is in Philadelphia for a Foot & Ankle conference and Friday's are my late day. We had decided to go over to Scott's after work and gather for pizza. Nana was there early so she and Bailey went down the street to Borah Park, where they have a wonderful playground. They have a merry-go-rounds similar to the one pictured. No grass around it though, just a nice hearty layer of those bark chips. After checking out a few slides and the swings, Bailey wanted to go on the merry-go-round. She has been on it before and enjoyed standing in the center and holding onto the bars. Nana held Bailey facing her, while she got on and kneeled down, facing the center, and not holding onto to anything. In addition to Nana and B, there were three Mom's pushing it while their kids were riding. The Mom's asked Nana if Bailey was ok and started pushing slowly. Suddenly, and without warning, they sped up very quickly. Within milliseconds and one revolution, Nana tried to grab onto a bar, but it was too late. She instantly knew she and Bailey were going to fly off this thing, and her first thought was of getting Bailey away from the merry-go-round so she wouldn't end up underneath it. As she was in flight, she pushed Bailey out and away from the spinning disc. After the tumble, Nana lay flat on her back and wondered if any bones were broken, as Bailey began to wail. The Mom's who were pushing the merry-go-round were mortified at what had just happened. They apologized, but Nana wondered if they would have just given her the opportunity to get off or hold on if they were going to speed up. Nana and B got up and went over to a park bench to take a breather. Turns out B was ok, since she really can't tell us too much, and Nana feels like she got whiplashed in a car. Her lower back, neck, arms, shoulders, and knees are all sore. She will be medicating with some anti-inflammatories tonight! Thanks Nana for thinking of Bailey first! It certainly was instinct as she had no time to react.

In a Funk

Bailey's in a funk! She had a low-grade fever last week for about a day and a half, then woke up the next morning with a fever of 103.5! I took her into the doctor (as she had suggested from last week's appt) and they looked her over. Her lungs were clear, even though she had a cough. Her one ear had a lot of fluid inside, but it was not red and inflamed. Her throat, however, was bright red and "juicy," as they described it. Dr. O definitely thought it was a bacterial infection and that antibiotics would be needed. She said it was a sinus infection! We got her started on antibiotics that morning and 5 days later she still seems to be in a funk. Only eating a few bites per meal and happy one night, and the next morning whining about anything and everything. It has been quite taxing for TJ and me. Perhaps her teeth are still coming in too. Alas, it is only a phase, and will soon pass.

Bailey's 18-month-old checkup

Well...she actually was 19 months, by the time we got in.

Bailey came into her checkup with a runny nose and little cough for the previous week. Even so, she had a great checkup today. She did have some fluid in one of her ears, but didn't seem to bother her. She weighs 22 pounds (15th percentile) and is 32 and 1/4 inches tall (70th percentile). Tall and skinny! The doctor and the nurse practitioner-in-training were amazed at all the words she was saying. Not so much jabbering on her own, but repeating a lot of words that an adult would say. She would say Doctor, outside, light, teeth, hair, belly, etc. She was a good girl and stayed very calm while the doctor felt her head, pushed on her belly, and listened to her heart and lungs.

X-Country Skiing

Today we took Bailey up to the mountains-Bogus Basin- to do some cross-country skiing. It was her first trip to Bogus, and Nana and Papa met us at the Nordic Lodge. We rented skis from REI and a Chariot with skis for Bailey to ride in. We were quite bundled up as it was cold and windy when got out of the car. We got our boots on and got Bailey situated in the Chariot. Bogus Basin has a great new Nordic Center lodge, and we departed on the Nordic Expressway. It is the main trail and the one where others branch off from. We skied about 2 miles out--with a couple of downhill parts-- and stopped at the bottom of Chair 3, the Superior Chair. We got Bailey out and let her walk around. She didn't venture too far. Only to the side of the trail to say "uh-oh," where Nana took a tumble, and to the other side of the track to get some fresh snow to eat. We took a group picture and decided to head back. We got her bundled back up, and she just wasn't too happy. She had some snacks and water, but those didn't interest her. She pretty much cried and whined off and on the whole way back. TJ was pulling her--with two uphill sections-- and racing as fast as he could to get back to the lodge to get her out of the Chariot. We brought lunches and ate upstairs in the lodge and warmed up. Bailey was hopefully going to nap on the car ride down. Luckily, she fell asleep about 15 minutes in, and TJ got her up to her crib once we arrived home and she slept all afternoon!

Overall it was a great day, but in hindsight, we should have gone a shorter distance out-and-back with it being Bailey's first time cross country skiing. Thanks Nana and Papa for joining us to and to TJ for dealing with my packing heavily. :)

By: Susie

Christmas 2009

17 & 1/2-month-old Bailey celebrated her second Christmas in Boise this year. It was a busy 2 days. We had Christmas Eve at our house with my parents, the Kelso's, and Bob and Jason. It was a full house in our little condo--we can't wait to have a bigger house to entertain family a little easier. This translates directly into "having a basement or bonus room full of toys for the kids to play with." I had to work until 5 (but got to leave early at 4) so Nana and Julie did all the preparations for cooking. We had a spiral-cut ham, scalloped potatoes, homemade bread and salad. Unfortunately both TJ and I had started to get sick. TJ caught a cold from work, and I had some type of stomach bug. We made it through dinner, and after everyone left, we started watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. However, we both fell asleep on the couch and went to bed just as Aunt Bethany arrived.

Bailey was up early on Christmas- 6 o'clock- but not because she knew Santa had delivered presents. She was just up and ready to go, which was great, because we had three Christmas's to attend. We opened our gifts first thing, then on to Brit's for the Kemp's, then to the Bell's for the rest of the day. By the time we arrived at Nana and Papa's, Bailey needed a nap, so we had a delayed Christmas that began in the afternoon. Bailey actually helped open gifts this year, but she still didn't understand the reason we were giving gifts.

Even though we were sick, we had a great time hanging out with the family and seeing all the kids get so excited about their new toys. The day after we were still not 100% so we vegged on the couch and debated who's turn it was to change Bailey's diaper. Parenting is even tougher when both parties are sick!

New Ski's!

TJ gave me one of my Christmas presents about a week early as we were headed up to Bogus Basin the next day--new K2 One Luv skis and Marker bindings! They are last years model-discounted big on eBay. Sold out of Colorado and he didn't even have to pay for shipping! TJ's colleague Chris was going to Boulder for Thanksgiving so he offered to pick them up! He sure fooled me into thinking he was going to fix an older pair of skis that we had picked up. He even bought the $5 part and had it mailed here from Vermont! Pretty sneaky! Thank you so much TJ! I can't wait to test them out tomorrow!

Surprise!

What a great Christmas surprise this year. Papa arranged for Julie, Aiden and Mackenzie to drive up to Boise from Colorado for 10 days over Christmas break, and for Brian to fly in for the long weekend. TJ also knew, as he was to intercept the box of gifts I was going to ship to the Kelso family. A couple of weeks ago, TJ offered to ship the box for me. "Oh great!" I thought. One less thing I have to do--going to the post office with Bailey and waiting in a long line could be tough. So he took the box and brought it to my parents' house and hid it in the shed.

We had gone out to dinner last night with the Coughlin's and the Hirose's at the Arid Club for Christmas/Celebratory dinner, so Bailey stayed the night at Nana and Papa's. TJ and I went over Saturday morning to pick up Bailey and as I walk in, I hear kids' voices--kids that are not Magnus and Max. I thought, "who kids are those?" And then I realized it was Aiden and Kenzie! I couldn't believe it! I was shocked! I started to get tears in my eyes as I gave the kids' hugs. Bailey happened to be sleeping on Julie's chest, so she didn't jump up to say hi. I was in shock: "How did you guys get here?! Where is Brian?!" Julie and the kids had driven all day on Friday and showed up about 5pm and walked in and shocked Nana, who was cooking dinner. She just stood there, holding some butter, speechless.

It was a fabulous surprise and made our Christmas so wonderful to have everyone all together again. Our last family picture with everyone together was September of 2007.

Breakfast

Bailey and I enjoyed a nice bowl of Cheerios on Saturday morning. She wasn't interested in eating her own. She wanted mine. I was more than happy to share with her.