Thursday, December 6, 2007

Mikaela 365: Day 16


Mikaela 365: Day 16, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

I remember reading somewhere that if you chill spoons in the fridge that they offer relief to babies who are teething.... so I tried it.... and what do you know! It works! Mikaela loves the feel of "chewing" on the spoons! This is the happiest she has been in a couple of days!

Aeddon 365: Day 16


Aeddon 365: Day 16, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Aeddon doesnt read. He is not even two yet...... (Actually day 16 is exactly one month until his 2nd birthday!) But boy o boy does he love books. They don't even have to be picture books! I have caught him flipping through Peirs Anthony novels..... He loves to stare at the written word! I think I am gonna spend a fortune in Barnes and Noble with this kid!

Alexander 365: Day 16


Alexander 365: Day 16, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

One of these days Alexander will quit sucking his thumb. Whenever he is bored or tired or sad he sticks his thumb in his mouth. I wish he had gotten hooked on a pacifier! At least then if all else failed I could have taken them away! But I cant take away his thumb! What am I gonna do! He is gonna ruin his teeth like that and I really dont want him to need braces when he is older!

Mikaela 365: Day 15


Mikaela 365: Day 15, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Day 15.... Mikaela's turn to be sick. She spent all day crying... She threw up about 6 or 7 times. Of course to make matters worse she is teething... My poor baby.... Teething is bad enough.... but she is doing it with no meds cause every time I give her anything she throws up! She isnt even keeping down teething tablets! Poor baby!

Aeddon 365: Day 15


Aeddon 365: Day 15, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Aeddon loves his rocketship. It is his favorite non-monkey toy. He takes it with him everywhere! He dropped it at the commisarry once and a worker came up to us as we were about to leave and told us that he had just found it in the cat food isle and recognized it and remembered that it belonged to Aeddon and had hurried to catch us before we left. That means either that man has a photographic memory for other peoples things..... or Aeddon is inseperable from his rocket!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Alexander 365: Day 15


Alexander 365: Day 15, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Alexander loves to play with hangers! Once I took away all of Alexanders toys for a day.... I found him in his room playing with his hangers! I think it is because when he was little Owen taught him to swordfight using hangers!

Mikaela 365: Day 14


Mikaela 365: Day 14, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Mikaela asleep as seen through the bars of her crib.... I had spent all day dealing with a sick Alexander..... and it sint occur to me that I never took a picture of her until she was asleep for the night.... So I snuck into her pitchblack room and snapped this shot! I am glad that it came out ok.... cause I dont think I could have taken another one without waking her up!

Aeddon 365: Day 14


Aeddon 365: Day 14, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Sometimes while I am busy I will realize that Aeddon is missing.... So I will stop what I am doing and go look for him.... you know what they say about kids who are too quiet...... Half of the time when he is being too quiet I find him here..... sitting in the bath playing with the bath toys. There is no water in the bath.... he is just sitting there waiting for me to give him a bath. Usually he is quietly singing Bath bath bath to himself. I think he might be pretending he is taking a bath! My friend Stephanie says that Aeddon is cuter than any one child should be able to be.... Times like this I really agree with her!

Alexander 365: Day 14


Alexander 365: Day 14, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Alexander had already gone to bed for the night. Right before he went to bed he had thrown up all over the living room twice and once in his toilet.... Then about half and hour after he went to bed I had a strange feeling that he needed me.... so I went running into his room. He was lying in his bed wearing only his underwear. His jammies were behind him in a puddle of sick..... He was whispering "Mommy I need you" so softly that I barely even heard him when I was in the room with him. Thank God for mothers intuition!

So of course we got him up and took him in to take a bath. Alexander loves baths when his stomach is sick! He will sit there in the warm water with his hand under the running water for hours if I let him! Before he got over his cold he threw up 4 more times.... each of those times he managed to throw up in the toilet. I dont remember teaching him to do that.... he must have learned it watching me be sick while I was pregnant with Mikaela.....

Mikaela 365: Day 13


Mikaela 365: Day 13, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Mikaela is starting to get a tooth. You can see the bulge of it below her gums. It is on the bottom on the right side of her mouth. I think within a week or two my baby will have her first tooth! I just hope that she doesnt use that tooth to bite the chi-chi!

We got this teething duck for Aeddon. He hated it.... so I saved it and Mikaela loves it! But she only likes it if it is room temperature!

Aeddon 365 Day 13


Aeddon 365 Day 13, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Poor Aeddon! He felt sick all day. He barely ate anything all day! His tummy was bothering him! He never even ate that lollypop! He just sat there for an hour holding it till I finally took it away cause it got dirty. He just laid there pretty much all day. He didnt even want to move to eat any meals.... I only managed to get him to drink about 4 sippy cups full of 1/2 juice and 1/2 pedialyte....

Alexander 365: Day 13


Alexander 365: Day 13, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Alexander just got a haircut. Actually I should say I just cut Alexanders hair.... It was getting long enough that it was pulling out his curls.... so I trimmed about an inch off and now it looks nice again. I asked Alexander if he wanted his hair shorter.... He looked at me with absolute horror and said he didnt want to loose his curls cause they made him special! I told him he is special with or without his curls.... but I didnt cut them off! This was him showing off his haircut for me! Silly boy!

Mikaela 365: Day 12


Mikaela 365: Day 12, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Baby Bundles! Owen started doing this with Alexander..... He grabs the baby by their hands and feet.... one hand and one foot per one of his hands.... Then he counts to three and lifts them up over his head and says "WEEEE BABY BUNDLES! BUNDLES OF BABY!!!" It is so cute! He has never run into a baby yet that doesnt like it! As a matter of fact Alexander and Aeddon still want him to do baby bundles and they are way to big for Owen to be able to do it!!!

Aeddon 365: Day 12


Aeddon 365: Day 12, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Aeddon loves to drink out of "big cups". I dont let him use them very often though.... he refuses to accept that he doesnt have to tip them up like a sippy cup if they have a straw! It is kinda cute.... but it is also a pain in the butt! He always ends up a soaking wet mess when he does get ahold of a cup! Owen says I shouldn't let him use one if he is just going to make a mess..... but I dissagree! How else is he going to learn?

Alexander 365: Day 12


Alexander 365: Day 12, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Alexander loves slides! Especially this slide. It is hard to tell from the photo.... but the yellow section of this slide is actually a really steep drop! Alexander actually catches a little bit of air when he goes down it! On this particular day it was right before payday and we were out of money. Alexander wanted to play at Mc Donalds so bad that he told us we could take the pennies out of his piggybank! We werent that broke! We went through our personal change stash and took the kids to play. Alexander played for nearly 2 straight hours before he was ready to take a break to eat his food! Oh to have the stamina of youth!

Mikaela 365: Day 11


Mikaela 365: Day 11, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Owen took a shower with Mikaela. She prefers to take a shower.... She really is not a big fan of the bath. I dont know that she will ever like the bath.... but we are gonna wait to try it until she can successfully sit up in the bath on her own.... She kept chewing on that towel.... I didnt understand why at the time.....

Aeddon 365: Day 11


Aeddon 365: Day 11, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Aeddon is such a polar opposite from his brother when it comes to playing! Alexander runs around like a crazy person and jumps off of high surfaces.... Aeddon is so cautious that he even takes his time going over small steps! I love this particular outfit on Aeddon.... it is so him.... my laidback little hippy baby!

Alexander 365: Day 11


Alexander 365: Day 11, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

My little acrobat! He loves to do things like "practice walking a tightrope" I dont even worry about him doing it anymore! He hasnt fallen off a wall in so long..... This is a playarea at The Outlet Shops here in El Paso.... All these kids were running around unsupervised! I think some of the parents honestly put their kids in the playarea and resumed their shopping.... It was great though to watch Alexander try to concentrate with all the chaos around him! I sometimes think that he might run off one day and join the circus!

Mikaela 365: Day 10


Mikaela 365: Day 10, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

One of Mikaela's favorite places to be is up on Owen's shoulders. She loves to lick his hair. I think that the Army haircut tickles her tounge... she also loves to tug on his ears... once she pulled to hard and he cried out.... she immediately burst into tears and started rubbing his hair in an apology.... it was so cute. I have no idea what she is looking at in this picture.... but whatever it is it must be interesting to be distracting her from her daddy's hair...

Aeddon 365: Day 10


Aeddon 365: Day 10, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Aeddon loves trying to jump in the sand. He has a terrible time not falling over when he jumps and the sand makes it not hurt when he falls down. I am not sure why but he always holds his legs when he jumps.... Maybe he thinks it will make him jump higher?

Alexander 365: Day 10


Alexander 365: Day 10, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Alexander is coming up the ramp of the largest playset at Kelly Park. I believe that this ramp is supposed to make this playset handicap accessable... it extends all the way to the sidewalk..... Alexander was having a great time rolling the ball down the ramp and then chasing it..... when he got tired of that game he started trying to race it down the slide....

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Mikaela 365: Day 9


IMG_3814, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Mikaela is to little to eat tuna salad egg & cheese sandwiches.... but she loves bread! As a matter of fact bread and bananas are her two favorite foods! Not together that I know of..... but still her favorites! She will eat 3 or 4 peices of bread in a sitting if we let her!

Aeddon 365: Day 9


Aeddon 365: Day 9, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Aeddon eats his sandwiches funny.... He eats them layer by layer.... first the top peice of bread.... then the fillings..... Then the bottom peice of bread.... which is what he is eatting here...... I dont know why I continue making him sandwiches..... I would be better off putting a scoop of filling and two peices of bread on a plate for him!

Alexander 365: Day 9


Alexander 365: Day 9, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Alexander is eating a very odd sandwich I made everyone for lunch.... It is a tuna salad with egg and cheese sandwich. Everyone loved it.... I have never seen sandwiches disappear so quickly! Alexander had his eatten in less than 5 minutes! It was a record for him!

Mikaela 365: Day 8


Mikaela 365: Day 8, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

MIkaela loves Daddy's patches. He was home for lunch and fell asleep spending some time with Mikaela.... so she took advantage of it and tried to steal his patches! When he woke up he noticed that all the patches on his left side were missing! I almost peed myself I was laughing so hard!

Aeddon 365: Day 8


Aeddon 365: Day 8, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

In this picture Aeddon is singing "itsy bitsy spider" to Riley. Itsy Bitsy Spider is the first song that Aeddon learned to sing from start to finish all by himself. I love it when he sings it! It cheers me up! As a matter of fact if I am crying for some reason.... Aeddon will come and either sing me this song or "You are my Sunshine" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" He thought the puppy was sad.... so he sang to him!

Alexander 365: Day 8


Alexander 365: Day 8, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Owen's parents, Don and Carole, gave this to Alexander for his first birthday.... He loved it then and still loves it now.... even though he is obviously to big for it! I told him he should stop using it and give it to Aeddon.... and he burst into tears. He will share it with Aeddon.... but it is still his car!

Mikaela 365: Day 7


Mikaela 365: Day 7, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

This is Mikaela in her baptism gown. My friend Kelly gave it to me. It is a cotton renaissance dress.... all white. It is techinically a 24 month size dress.... but it has ties on the sides to tighten it down at the waist.... and she doesn't need to be able to walk in it at this point.... so it is ok that it is to long.... We will be having her baptized when we go home for Christmas this year! As with the boys Orion and Afton will be the Godparents.... (For those who don't know.... Orion is my brother and Afton is the love of his life that he will someday marry!)

Aeddon 365: Day 7


Aeddon 365: Day 7, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

You never know what randomly cute thing Aeddon is going to do next.... Is he waiting for you to round the corner so he can say "surprise!" when you do? Who knows! This is one of the things that makes me just want to scoop him up and kiss him to peices every time I see him! He is a very silly boy!

Alexander 365: Day 7


Alexander 365: Day 7, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

The best way to get Alexander to cooperate with bedtime is to read him a story. He has a very vivid imagination.... and you can tell that he really tries to understand everything that is read to him. He will ask questions about what he has heard. Then, sometimes several months later he will tell you a story that was read to him only once! Of course it is not absolutely verbatum..... but it is pretty darn good!

Mikaela 365: Day 6


Mikaela 365: Day 6, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Mikaela loves her Daddy! It doesn't matter how cranky she is.... he can always cheer her up! She will even pass on her beloved chi-chi's if she can spend time with Daddy! I am happy that he has a Daddy's girl. I think every Daddy needs a baby girl to think he hung the moon and the stars just for her! It helps them to see that they are a wonderful parent! Definately calms the self-doubt!

Aeddon 365: Day 6


Aeddon 365: Day 6, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Aeddon is generally very cheerful when he wakes up for the morning or from a nap.... but every once in a while he is groggy and snuggly. I live for these times. He just wants to sit still and be held. I know that as he grows these times are going to disappear! I am determined to enjoy them for every second that he still has them!

Alexander 365: Day 6


Alexander 365: Day 6, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

This is what Alexander looks like when he first gets out of bed.... either for the morning or after a nap (if he actually takes one!). It is about the only time that I can get a face shot where he is not hamming it up for the camera! I dont mind all that much.... but it is good to know that sometimes he can do something that isnt crazy and chaotic!

Mikaela 365: Day 5


Mikaela 365: Day 5, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

As far as I know, this is Mikaela's first time in a swing. She didn't like it at first.... until I gave her a little push. Then she was in heaven! She was more than happy to swing back and forth for almost a half an hour! She even started to try to pump her legs to keep moving.... SO CUTE!

Aeddon 365: Day 5


Aeddon 365: Day 5, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Aeddon loves to swing. It is funny cause he hates to do anything where he feels out of control.... He even hesitates when he transitions from cement to grass or carpet to linoleum..... but he loves to swing. He usually spends the whole time watching the ground move beneath him..... I dont think he realizes he is the one moving.....

Alexander 365: Day 5


Alexander 365: Day 5, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

One of the things that Alexander enjoys the most is to play on playgrounds. He calls this one thorn park. It is right by our house and is in the middle of a feild covered in thorny weeds..... Not little thorns.... Really big ones that can poke holes through bike tires and 1 gallon bubble containers...... But he doesnt care! He is willing to brave the thorns to slide and swing! At this point he is pulling Aeddon down the slide.... Aeddon is not a big fan of twisty slides..... they are Alexanders favorite kind! So of course Aeddon will love them to if Alexander has to spend years teaching him to.......

I wonder what percentage of this project will be done on playgrounds?

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Mikaela 365: Day 4


Mikaela 365: Day 4, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Mikaela loves to give kisses! She kissed Kelly's twins about 10 times each that day.... I believe at this point she is kissing Cole. But I could be wrong, it is hard to tell without being able to see faces. While I am looking forward to our impending move to Washington (in July) I am really going to miss the amazing people that I have met her in El Paso.

Aeddon 365: Day 4


Aeddon 365: Day 4, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Aeddon spent a majority of Claire's birthday party trying to get Kelly's daughter Olivia to "give him love" which is his term for getting and giving hugs and kisses. It is ridiculously cute and really exemplifies the sweet nature of Aeddon. I think he could spend his whole life just giving people love!

Alexander 365: Day 4


Alexander 365: Day 4, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

While this is not the best picture it really does capture the essence of Alexander. He is always on the move. I think he would never stop running if it wasn't for his asthma. In this picture are his friends Caleb and Austin. They were all playing red light green light.... which was Owen's brilliant idea! He wore the boys out while the rest of us enjoyed the birthday party for Claire.

Mikaela 365: Day 3


Mikaela 365: Day 3, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

As with her brothers Mikaela's day 3 picture was taken at the Las Cruces Renaissance Faire. It was slightly chilly that day... but since she is little she got bundled up. She is the only one of my children who is willing to wear a hat for any length of time. The only time that hat left her head was when I was feeding her! She loved watching the Sword Fighting (which is what she is doing in this picture) and she swayed back and forth while we watched the belly dancing. Now we have proof that all of our kids inherited my natural rhythm and our shared love of music! She spent most of her day in the lovely Mai Tei that Stephanie made me.

Aeddon 365: Day 3


Aeddon 365: Day 3, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Aeddon day 3 is also Aeddon's first Renaissance Faire. He enjoyed the sword fighting, although not as much as Alexander did... His favorite part of the day was when we let him out of the stroller and let him play on the various playgrounds around Young Park ( which is in Las Cruces New Mexico...). This particular playground had a round central platform and Aeddon ran around and around that circle about 100 times as fast as he could! This is him jumping from one level to the next as he ran.

Alexander 365: Day 3


Alexander 365: Day 3, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

This was day 3. It was also Alexanders first day at a Renaissance Faire. One of the first things we did when we got there was watch some heavy weapons combat. For those who don't know heavy weapons are things like swords and pole arms. Heavy weapons fighters wear armor.... usually either hard leather or metal.... Alexander was in complete awe! He asked at one point if he could play with the knights. This is one little boy who is just obsessed with anything sword fighting related!

Mikaela 365: Day 2


Mikaela 365: Day 2, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Mikaela 365 day 2.... We were at Walmart looking at the Christmas decorations for the kitchen and dinning room when she started shrieking! I was holding these two sets of cup cause they are my favorite kind of cups to use and I seem to break the ones from the season before just as Walmart gets the new seasons set.... So I handed them to her thinking that it was a long shot for them to stop the noise..... Not as much of a long shot as I thought! She spent the next 30 minutes playing with and hugging the cups! She is such a silly girl!

Aeddon 365: Day 2


Aeddon 365: Day 2, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Aeddon day two.... we were watching Yo Gabba Gabba on Nick Jr. Aeddon started dancing along... so I took a picture. This is what I refer to as Aeddon's spaced out dance.... Something else has his attention ( in this case the TV) and he is still trying to dance.... what ends up happening is he just swings his arms side to side, until eventually the cup he is holding will go flying out of his hand.... which is what will finally snap him out of his spaced out dancing...

As a side note.... I wonder how many of these photographs will end up having his pacifier ( or Ra-Ra as he calls it...) in them. I keep thinking that he is going to give it up cause he wont want it for a week and then the next thing I know he wont go anywhere or do anything without one!

Alexander 365: Day 2


Alexander 365: Day 2, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

Alexander day two. We had to go to Walmart to pick up some essentials.... Whenever we go there Alexander wants to stop and look at the Monsters.... which is what he calls lobsters. He would stand there for hours watching them move around in their tank.... but we never let him stay for to long.... We actually use this to keep him behaving himself while we are there! If he misbehaves... no lobsters that trip!

Mikaela 365: Day 1


Mikaela 365: Day 1, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

This is Mikaela on day one of our 365 adventure. She is relatively new to crawling.... which makes sense seeing as she is only was just a week over 6 months when this was originally taken (November 1st...) She is showing a lot of the same qualities that I do.... she is stubborn. She has a sense of determination around her and she wants things done her way or else all heck will break loose! I have to admit that she is a little bit spoiled, since she is my first girl after two boys....

Aeddon 365: Day 1


Aeddon 365: Day 1, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

This is Aeddon on his first day of his Project 365 adventure. He had cleverly avoided the camera all day and I finally had to sneak out to the backyard when he wasnt paying attention to take his picture! If I let him he would just sit in the backyard all day moving the dirt around and burying small things like sticks and Hotwheels cars. He is such a quiet calm boy so much of the time!

Alexander 365: Day 1


Alexander 365: Day 1, originally uploaded by jaclynbailey.

This is Alexander on day one of our flickr adventure. He is standing in Mikaela's crib. I am laying on the floor.... which for the record is linoleum and very cold! Alexander is a big ham for a camera and I have a feeling that my biggest problem in this challenge is going to be to not get 365 pictures just like this.... with him smiling right at the camera...

Kids 365

So a friend of mine got me stared on this group on Flickr. It is called Project 365 Kids. I have been absolutely loving it! I cant imagine not doing it now! I am not that far in.... only on day 15 today.... but that will change. I am determined to do this for our kids. They may not enjoy it now, but I think that some day they will thank me. The only problem that I have is that I dont want to put too much in the comments for the picture so I have to edit my thoughts... so I thought that maybe I could do the journaling for each picture here the way that I dont feel comfortable with on Flickr! I think that I will start with day one.