Hot Air Balloons

Bailey woke up at 5:10 AM this morning. We were up already, so we took Bailey to Ann Morrison Park to see the hot air balloons at 7:15 AM. This weekend is the balloon festival. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw all of those balloons fill with hot air and float away. Her reactions were, "Fire!," "That's tall!," "There goes 'nother one!" "That's B's balloon," "That's Momma's balloon," "That's Daddy's balloon." She had a great time and couldn't stop talking about it the rest of the day.

I am glad she woke up so early!

Cute Pictures

I just really like these two pictures of Bailey. In the first one, Bailey had gotten ahold of her "butt cream" (Vitamin A & D ointment) and rubbed it in her hair. Greasy!! In the second one, she is sitting in her chair opening a soccer ball gift for her 2-year-old birthday. Mama took lots of pictures to get this cute one.

Will Bailey ski this year?

Fall is in the air and Winter is just around the corner. Susie and I are excited for another great ski season at Bogus Basin. Is this the year that Bailey will strap on some sticks and swoosh down the mountain? If her excitement over trying on ski boots is any indication, then it will be. She saw me pick them up off the shelf and couldn't get out of her crocks quick enough to try the boots on. She was able to stumble around pretty well in them. I hope we can get her on skis toward the end of the ski season.

Two Year Checkup

Today we went to the doctor for Bailey's 2-year-old checkup. She happened to be the first patient of the day, and the first patient of the office using the electronic medical records. She had her blood pressure taken for the first time, but did great as the cuff was put on tightly. She weighed 25 pounds (25 percentile) and was 33 inches (23 percentile) tall. She checked out perfect and got a good bill of health.

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