The Other Bailey's Circus

And the Winners are:

2011-09-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

Jen Maddron, Michelle Pavasars and Dianne Tiberg.

Here is the problem. I put the names in a hat. I asked Aeddon to pull three. He pulled three right away, not one at a time. However I figured that they were still the first three pulled. I also figured we are all adults and can decide amongst ourselves who gets what prize.

I personally am leaning towards Dianne getting the Grand Prize since she has a little one on the way... and letting Michelle and Jen decide which of the other two prizes they are most interested in.

Ladies do you have any preference?

250 blog posts.

2011-08-29T19:14:00.001-07:00

Well technically this is my 251st... but close enough! So in honor of this momentous occasion I am going to have a contest. Anyone may enter. All you have to do to enter is comment on this post. If you are reading this post from facebook follow the link and comment on the actual blog post on blogger. Here is the link: http://jaclynbailey.blogspot.com/ I will leave the contest open until the 7th of September, at which time I will put all the names in a hat and have Owen pull out three names.

The Runner up will win this hat:

It is a beautiful pink wool Cloche style hat. It is adult sized, although it is fitted on an adult head and would probably fit a teen as well. The flower is detachable.

They will also win a scarf like this one (that I have yet to make as scarves really need to be made in a length that fits their owner) out of the same yarn as the hat.

The first prize winner will receive a hat and fingerless gloves all made out of my own hand dyed yarn, also wool. They will be able to choose between a hat like the one above and this one (which is made out of the exact same yarn I will be using for this prize)

The fingerless gloves will be just like these:

or like these if you opt to have me make this set for a child:

(but the same yarn as shown for this prize.)

The grand prize winner will be able to pick their yarn (up to $30 worth), color and up to three hand made crocheted accessories. They will be able to decided what size they are as well. Love my work, but would rather be sure that your 3 young cousins that live in Fargo have warm hats? Sure I can make them the hats! Have a friend or family member who is going through Chemo? I would love you to use your grand prize winning to have me make them three hats of different styles! Having a baby and want me to make a pair of (small) longies, a sweater and a hat? Sure! This one is up to you. (within reason. I cant afford to make you three Quivit accessories. That stuff is CRAZY EXPENSIVE!)

All winners will have their prizes shipped between September 15th and October 15th. Want extra entries? Share this post on your facebook page, blog or twitter and for each one (one each per person) you will get an entry. If your friend comes and enters and tells me that you sent them I will give you an extra entry for that as well! That is 5 ways to enter!

Good Luck!

So that happened...

2011-08-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

So we went to California for three weeks in July and August. We had a ton of fun and the kids took swim lessons. I took tons of pictures... but my laptop is having issues so I am not able to post the pictures yet.

My phone disappeared while we were in California so I have been waiting to have the money to replace it and get our phones turned back on.

The boys are in school.

Alexander is a second grader and is doing amazingly. He is taking third grade math cause he was to smart for second grade math. He got a 116% on his first spelling test.

Aeddon is officially a kindergartener. He is in afternoon kindergarten and he loves it, but is unsure about his teacher. She is a bit overwhelmed cause she has 26 kids and so she never says please or thank you and that really upsets him. I like her. I think she will be a great teacher for him.

Alexander has started cub scouts. He is in Wolf Den 12 Pack 264. Owen and I are his den leaders. It is a fun adventure! Saturday we did a "spike it" even where we all earned the Volleyball belt loop.

My "seventh year" in the Harry Potter Knit Crochet House cup is about to start on September first. I am crazy excited. I plan to make as many projects as humanly possible this term. I really want to make gifts for all those closest to me. I also want to make Cindy's commissioned peices she paid me to make her a year ago now! Her stuff will actually be my first priority come September!

Ok so now that we are all caught up to the present I wanted to share something with you all. This post, the one you are reading right now is my 250th blog post. To celebrate this milestone I am going to have a contest. Post 251 will be the contest post with all the details.

In which I explain myself...

2011-06-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

So you may have noticed that I have not posted anything since April. That is because I had something crazy going on in the RL world and I was actually afraid that posting on here would put my family in danger. Enough time has passed now that I am relatively certain the crazy has been handled and I can safely come back to the blog I love so much and have missed so very much!

You ready to do a very VERY fast catch up?

The week after my last post I turned 29. We also got our own house on post.
Then it was Easter, Which this year fell on Mikaela's birthday! We worked very hard to separate the two activities and make it fun for her.

She turned 4.
The next weekend we celebrated Liam's 2nd birthday.

Then it was May.

In May Alexanders class did a special mothers day tea and poetry reading. The kids wrote the poetry! They also made us moms these cute little magnetic flowers!

Have I mentioned that Alexander has entered the "I dont like to have my picture taken and if you are going to insist on pointing that thing at me I am going to make a yucky face" stage of his life. Please dear God let him outgrow this phase quickly! I love taking his picture!

On the 10th Alexander went on his first real school field trip. He begged me to go... so I did. The downside was that it was at a nature center and most of the trip was a hike around looking at different environments and it rained/hailed the whole time. Thank goodness for warm handknits. I was the only adult that wasnt cold!

That is not his whole class. This is just the small group we hiked around with!

School got out for the summer on May 23rd. My sister also turned 17 that day.... but I digress. His teacher hosted a breakfast for the whole class and their families. Owen's chain of command actually let him have the morning to come too!

On the 28th I got to go to Denver and meet some of the locals from the HPKCHC. This was my second house cup meet up and it was fun! It was just the 4 of us and I really feel like we all got to know each other!

Next thing we knew it was June.

On the 4th we went to a birthday party up in Denver. I met Ila and her family in El Paso and now they live here too! So she invited us to her son's party and we went! I ended up as the unofficial photographer of the event (I offered.) and took a ton of pictures.

It has finally warmed up here and my body is not tolerating the heat in the thinner air. This means that we have spent a lot of time indoors this summer... which is the total opposite of what I wanted... but it is what it is.

The good thing about lots of time inside is moments like this:

On the 11th I got to go to the Estes Park Wool Market. It was amazing. I wish I had had some money to spend... Maybe next year!

For the record I look like crap in that picture! I think I had the worst posture in that picture ever!

Owen decided he wanted to go to the zoo this year for his fathers day activity. We have a zoo membership so it was free...

All of these pictures were taken on a tree at the zoo.

I had the shakes bad that day so none of those is perfectly in focus... but I have a feeling that when I get to California my MIL will still want to copy and frame those for her house!

And that is pretty much it! I have also been crafting a lot lately and will post a big update of that soon!

Garden of the Gods

2011-04-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

The weather here is slowly warming up. Some days it is kinda warm... in the 70's. Then the next morning we wake up to a dusting of snow and a day that never warms up over 45. So when we get a warm day paired up with a weekend we have a tendancy to use that to go do something fun! Yesterday we decided to go hiking/rock climbing at Garden of the Gods.

We had to go to the Visitor's Center to get permits to be allowed on the rocks, so while we were there I took some pictures from the balcony of the park.

This rock is called Kissing Camels.

Can you see it? If not, don't feel bad. It took me a while to see it too.

Once we had our permits we went into the park, parked our van and had a little picnic. When we were done eating we headed for the rocks.

The kids and Owen had a great time climbing around on the rock formations. I didn't climb much cause by the time I took pictures they were moving on to the next place. Such is the life of the family photographer.

After climbing around on the rocks we started our hike. We walked from Turn off 11 to the Trading Post in the park. Along the way we walked through and around some beautiful scenery.

A few times Liam decided he was done walking and would just sit down or lay down in the middle of the path.

For the most part though the kids did great and had a lot of fun! There are more pictures that I can reasonably share on here, but if you want you can click through to the set from the day and check out the rest of the pictures of our adventure! http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaclynbailey/sets/72157626470058360/with/5607289274/

So much for that...

2011-03-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

So I was thinking to myself "I will post more in Colorado cause it will be a new adventure for our family." And then our entire house got the plague. Ok, not the plague... but still. First it was the flu for everyone. (with the notable exception of Owen and myself.) Now a stomach virus is sweeping through the kids. 4 of the 6 have already had it/have it now. We are pretty sure that at least half if not more of the four adults have had it but that we didn't puke... we went the other direction if you catch my drift.

You guys know that I prefer to focus on happier things here though so I wanted to share something great with you.

As you may know I am a photo junkie and I had a really sweet camera. A Canon EOS 40D. Well the kids assassinated it right before we left Washington and as soon as we got here to Colorado I took it in to the Geek Squad to let them work their magic. Well they took one good look at it and decided to junk it. So since I have the UBER extended warranty (I am not dumb. I have crazy kids. That warranty is worth every penny!) they told me to come in and get a new camera. The camera they gave me is a Canon EOS 60D! It has all kinds of new cool features and is even a little bit lighter than my old camera. Pretty much as soon as I had the battery charged I started snapping pictures.

I thought you guys might like to see some of the awesome pictures I have taken with my new camera.

In order that is Aeddon, Liam, Alexander, Aryn (one of Anna's kids), Gypsy (our cat), Owen and Riley (our dog), Morgie (one of the Moore's cats), Mikaela and finally Spaz (another one of the Moore's cats)

Not to shabby for a camera on point and shoot setting! lol!

Hopefully there is more to come!

We Moved.

2011-02-14T08:31:00.000-08:00

The Army decided it was time for us to live in a new place.

So we packed up our stuff and loaded it all into a uhaul truck and drove from Washington to Colorado. We went the long way since the long way is safer and is less likely to have pass closures.

As we left the Pacific Northwest the sky itself seemed to bid us a farewell.

Along the road there where many beautiful things to see.

In California I was reminded of why California is so beautiful year round:

As we left California I was smitten with the colors of the sunset. I had to pull over and take a picture. (with my phones camera no less!)

We passed through Nevada in the northern part of the state. We spent the night in Reno and drove through the state on I80. I was amazed to see the sky so blue. I had only ever really been in Vegas and there is smog there so.... yeah.

We drove through the state until night fell. As we came to the end of our travels for the day I was excited to see the colors of sunset through a winter storm forming over the mountains.

Our "hotel" stay in West Wendover (just inside the Nevada border)was horrific to say the least. In the morning when I was checking under things to be sure nothing was lost I found a used condom under the bed. EWWWWWWWW.

When we left Nevada the following morning it was snowing and overcast. Even before the sign I knew when we had passed into Utah. Look at the sky! So beautiful!

When we drove through Utah we swung by to see the LDS Temple in Salt Lake. I had heard that it was a beautiful structure and I am a sucker for beautiful architecture. It was an interesting building but I was unable to snap any pictures of it as it was rush hour traffic in downtown Salt Lake by the time we found it. We continued on through Utah and found a scenic viewpoint pull off right as the sun finally dropped below the mountains. I snapped a few pictures with my phone because the saturated purples of nightfall in the mountains is just so beautiful!

Shortly after passing out of Utah into Wyoming we stopped at a Mc Donalds with a playplace. It was the first time in days the kids had gotten a chance to really run around and play. When we stopped it was only 1 degree outside so we left the van running and locked so our pets didn't freeze to death. It worked pretty well actually!

After dinner we continued on to Rawlings. It was super icy there. In the morning we continued on. We were going to make it to Colorado Springs if it killed us!

It was so cold in Wyoming that we felt like it almost did kill us.

I was very glad to be a knitter as I had very warm accessories.

Owen seemed unphazed. Crazy person.

As we drove into Colorado we saw Bison! (sorry for the picture quality. I was doing 60mph and didnt wanna focus on the picture!

Just as we were running out of steam a small miracle occurred.

Oh Hi Denver! We knew we were close and managed to press on to Colorado Springs. As soon as we got here we were warmly greeted and fed tasty food. I am very glad we already knew people in Colorado Springs! We have been staying in their house while we try (pretty much entirely in vain) to find a house or apartment that is big enough for us but can be entirely paid for with BAH.

I have to admit being able to stay with them has been super fun and a serious blessing. As I type this Owen and Jessie are moving our "nonessentials" into a storage unit.

That is all I have for now! More later on our adventures in our new home!

A day at the Seattle Aquarium

2011-01-18T10:40:00.001-08:00

So we are moving. We have known for a while now that we were probably getting moved... but it wasn't really FINAL until about two weeks ago.

Of course shortly before we found out we were probably moving we bought a year pass to the Seattle Aquarium. We figured that in three trips it would completely pay for itself. What we do is this:

1. Drive to Bus Depot. Leave van in parking structure.
2. Put 4 kids on back of bus. Sit in the row in front of them to give them room to be kids without pissing off other passengers.
3. Get off bus with sanity barely intact.
4. Cut through Pikes Market to get to Aquarium, which is located on a pier.
5. Enjoy day at Aquarium. Loose at least one kid for at least 2 minutes at least twice.
6. Drag (sometimes literally) 4 exhausted children back to bus stop. Listen to them whine about having to take the much-less-expensive-than-driving-and-having-to-pay-to-park-the-van bus.
7. Count to 100. By then at least 2 if not more of kids (and possibly husband) will be asleep on bus. Read fairytale to whoever is still awake, including other bus passengers who will pretend they are not listening.
8. Wake up kids at bus station
9. Drag (sometimes literally) 4 tired kids to van as they complain about the bus not just taking them all the way home like Aeddon's school bus.
10. Go home and go about evening like we weren't just out all darned day.

So that is an Aquarium trip for us. Now for the pictures (which are all from my cell phone since Liam pulled my camera off my desk and broke it again and I dont have time to get it fixed again before we move....)

I am gonna miss the Aquarium when we move...

New Years Resolutions, Part One.

2011-01-03T08:48:00.000-08:00

This time of year most people make resolutions. I am very rarely most people.... but this year I felt compelled to make several resolutions of my own.

My first resolution this year is that I plan to read one classic literature novel (that I have not read before) a month.

For my first book I have chosen Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I don't know why I have never read this book before... but there you go! I started the book last night and I am already on chapter 15!

I do not know what next months classic novel will be yet. Please share your suggestions!

2011-01-02T15:17:00.001-08:00

Testing...

Down

2010-12-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

My life is spiraling out of control and I don't know what to do about it or what to write about. I have so much I want to say, but I don't know if this is the forum to air out all my dirty laundry and that is what I want to do cause the release would feel good. However if I were to do that I think it would blow up in my face and make all of this worse.

I am lost.

Rough.

2010-11-12T11:12:00.000-08:00

The past three weeks have been rough for me. I got called suddenly down to Southern California to testify in a triple murder trial. I did my best to make the trip feel like a vacation for the kids, and in that vein I have some cool pictures to share with you..... but not right now.

Then we get back here an Owen is sick. Big nasty cold sick.

This weekend will be filled with trying to get Alexander caught up in school and getting Owen well enough to work next week.

I will do my best to tell you about the good stuff that has happened in the last three weeks over the next few days.

Saturday at the Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-22T00:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we rounded up the kidlets, shoved them into the van and headed out to the annual Madigan FRG trip to the Schilter Family Farm Pumpkin Patch. We have gone to this event in the past and loved it then so we HAD to go this year seeing as this will be our last fall here in Washington.

The day itself was crisp, but not cold. The sun was out and the sky was a fantastic shade of blue that I have only really ever seen here in the crisp months of mid-fall and mid-spring here in the Pacific Northwest.

The Schilter farm is a great all day activity. They have:
A fantastic pumpkin selection,

A petting zoo,

A hay bale maze,

A Giant corn maze(Owen says that is redundant.) a corn launcher, a kids play area with fun activities,

A kiddie train pulled by a small tractor that is strong enough to pull Owen holding Liam and a kid in every "car",

A hay bale ride pulled by a really big tractor,

Plenty of places for parents to take cute photos of their kids,

A picnic area to eat at, (they had a slightly pricey, but very tasty place to buy food at if you did not think to bring your own....)

(ps. That is Owen's First Sergeant.)

A pyramid of hay bales to climb on,

And of course a shop to buy your pumpkins and all sorts of other farmers market type things from.

We came home with a pumpkin (26lbs for 29 cents a pound!) Apple Butter, Blackberry preserves, Carmel Corn Nuggets, a baby tiger pumpkin, two bags of cotton candy and something else.... oh yeah! Ring pops!

It was a day well spent.

Stop Begging me!

2010-10-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

I dont know where he got the idea... but Aeddon has been begging me for a pair of mittens lately. Like every day, five times a day begging. Well I couldn't start a project I wouldn't finish in time to get full class points in the HPKCHC.... so I waited till new "classes" were posted and cast on the mittens for Aeddon.

I actually finished the knitting in about 2 days (what I have kids... plus I actually knit 3 gloves... Just because a pattern says it is the right size doesn't mean your kid fits the size designated for their age! oops.) but was unable to finish them since my darning needle went missing! (yeah I know. What kind of knitter owns one darning needle!)

I think he loves them!

A quick hello

2010-10-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

Not much going on around here. Our van is out of commission. A piece fell off! A piece of the brakes... which I have been told is super important and therefore makes the van unsafe to be driven.

Also my Camera is in the shop. Again. See the last time I had it fixed I told them that I thought the focus ring crack was a problem and that I was pretty darned sure it was sticking a bit when I tried to zoom in on stuff. The guy basically told me I was being dumb and that of course it was sticking a bit... they had just worked on it!

Thanks idiot. You were wrong! Hours after getting my camera home a bracket inside the lens came loose! It moved around in there and I tried to pretend it didn't happen... but it became impossible to take a decent picture... so back to the shop it goes!

In all the time I am spending not going anywhere or taking pictures of stuff I have been knitting... and playing WoW a little. This is a shawl that will be a Christmas present, but I am not telling who it is for. I know she probably wont see it, but still.

Pretty right? The shawl is the Traveling Woman shawl and I love the pattern! I will probably knit more of these at some point! Maybe even one more will find its way into my Christmas knitting pile.

That is all I have for now... Oh yeah! I started a Twitter account today. Look me up. JaclynBailey13.

I want to do this!

2010-09-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a lot of soul searching lately. Owen and I have been going through a rough patch financially (who isn't right?) and I am finally admitting to myself that I need to do something to help bring in income. However with my health being what it is, I can not at this time work a "job".

So I would like to craft for money. I am looking to open an etsy store... but I lack the funding you buy the yarn to get started or the money to open the etsy store itself. So this is my thought:

I would like to craft for you. Please look through my pictures and tell me what you would like me to make for you. Then we can figure out what yarn to buy and I will craft for you for money. Then I will take that money and use it to begin the process of getting the stock I need to have my own online shop. In that way you can support this woman's goal of having her own shop without me asking for something for nothing!

Take a look at things I have made in the last three years. If you see something you like, let me know and we will talk.

Hope to talk to you soon!

How cool is this?

2010-09-13T06:41:00.000-07:00

Every time Owen gets a craving for soda I feel bad about all the cans. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they all ended up in the recycling can when he was done with them.... but I end up picking up at least 5 of his empties off the couch (and honestly 1 or 2 of mine off my desk!) I also worry since we both really have to loose some weight. See if he got a craving and bought a 2 liter bottle we would be fine... but he doesn't. He buys a 24 pack and we polish it off by the end of the weekend!

Then my friend and OCAC reporter Jenn Vincent sent me a link to an article.... It was for a contest to win a counter top soda fountain.

I have to admit that my interest was immediate. A counter top soda fountain with the versatility to make soda drinks... sparkling water and sparkling juice drinks and it has a footprint smaller than a coffee maker! Of course I immediately entered the contest and now here I am blogging about it to get a second entry! Right now the entry pool is small so I have a decent shot at winning! Normally I would tell you to head on over and enter... but I dont want the competition!

Ok. I can't be that selfish! If your interest is piqued... go and read Jenn's article... then read all her articles! I love that girl!

A new year begins

2010-09-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

Today is Alexander's first day in the first grade. He walked all by himself. In the rain.

I am so proud and sad all at the same time!

Enjoying the last few days of Summer

2010-09-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

This fall most of the children will be in school at least part of the time so we have been doing our best to enjoy the last days of summer. As a side note most of our yearly passes to places will be expiring as the summer does. Of course that means our days off (Owen works you know!) are spent like this:

and this:

and this:

With the return of fall I expect to find the return to regular blogging and a more regular sleep cycle. I also find that I am more creative when I feel time constraints. I have heard it said that that would make me a good professional crafter. I would love that....

I know you have said it before...

2010-07-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

I know that you all have told me before that I dont owe you an explanation when I drop off the face of the world... but I still want to give you one.

I have been having a very hard time lately. Alexander has been gone in California with both his sets of grandparents since the 5th of July. I miss him terribly.

That is of course just the tip of the iceberg. Now add that to the fact that my marriage has been in serious danger of ending (I made plans to move out with the kids and go on without him!) which seems to have been resolved... but I have been fooled before...

Then add to that the fact that the Dr. told me that there is no medical reason that he can find that I should still be able to walk... and that that ability could change at any time if I am not careful...

Then add to that the fact that we are a family of 6 on one income and when Owen gets depressed he spends money we dont have on stuff we dont need... putting us around $1700 in the hole behind on our bills....

And what you get is a woman who wants to crawl into a hole and disappear for forever. I dont wanna die. I just want to disolve into the earth... Do you know what I mean or are you debating calling 911 for the safety of my children? (who I assure you are the one thing going really right for me! I get out of bed each day to care for them and make them as happy as possible!)

I am gonna try to be better for you guys though... You all got me through my PPD... and I am willing to bet that you could get me through this too, if I let you! Much love to all of you!

p.s. I have most of the rest of my trip to Utah written up and just havent posted it yet. I feel like a slacker!

Then there was a Saturday...

2010-06-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday ended up as a day of rest... sort of. We sat around most of the day and then Poppa decided to take me out to see Tuacahn.... Which is a theater that shows everything from small productions to traveling Broadway plays. It is an outdoor venue, which I suppose could cause some issues... but I thought it was really awesome.

This is the view from the back of the theater.

This is the view of the whole theater.

While we were walking around we found two of those boards that have the holes cut out for you to put your head through.

If you are thinking that I look a bit strained in the second picture... that is because I am holding Liam down at the bottom and trying to keep my head in the hole!

As we were leaving we noticed some people struggling with a table. Poppa offered to help and then when he was done a lady asked him if we would like to go to the nights show of the BYU International Dance group and Band thingy... We took the tickets to be nice. Then we went and checked and realized that the seats were actually in a really awesome place. SO we headed out to head home and get ready to go back out there that evening.

If you know me at all you know how much this picture of Devon reminds me of me. It is awesome to know that even though we just met and have spent our whole lives apart Devon and I share a lot of traits. Like the need to walk on the edges of water fountains...

The view as you are driving away from the theater is really amazing too.

We raced back home and had a light snack. We got dressed a little nicer and somehow managed to convince Chase to come along.

I would love to show you pictures of the dancing itself.... but I wasn't allowed to use my camera at all once I walked into the theater. Not even to take a picture of us all before the show!

At intermission we realized that the rest of the show was pretty much going to be the story of Mormonism in dance and some folk dancing from countries that I had no real knowledge of other than to know that they exist. We decided to leave at that point since it looked like Liam might be getting a little sleepy. Of course we couldn't help but take one more picture of the three siblings (maybe one day I will figure out how to get one of all four of us!)

We ended our night by going and having a burger at this place that was really good... but just not the same as In 'n Out.... I am not complaining... Just pointing it out...

Then it was off to the house and sleep.

A message from Liam.

2010-05-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

cxcb jhbg bb uyuuu0-6-0cdo4 6l HJ(*87lcpo90p----------------------------------------------------sdwer222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222223anJ"fgvbrrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttttttttttttt

So then....

2010-05-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

The plane ride was mostly uneventful. We took off almost a half an hour early. Liam didn't fuss or anything! So, of course, right as I was settling into the flight being uneventful Liam threw up all over me. In all my planing to be sure I had plenty of diapers for the trip it had never occurred to me to be sure we each had a change of clothes in the carry on bags! The person sitting next to me (in first class!) slept through the whole thing, which I suppose is good. The flight attendant did her best to help me get Liam and myself cleaned up. Then as soon as the mess was cleaned Liam fell asleep and remained asleep until it was time to land.

The plane landed and we rode a tram to the baggage claim area. As we got to the bottom the escalator going to baggage claim I saw someone I thought I recognized from behind. And I was right. Poppa turned around and it was smiles and hugs all around. We grabbed my bags and Liam's carseat and headed out to the truck.

The two hour drive from the Vegas airport to St. George was mellow. We chatted and Liam slept.

When we got to the house I met Sandy, Lisa's mom, Lisa and Tink.

Tink HATED Liam and barked at him the entire weekend. By the time we left she had tried to bite him!

Anyways. After dropping off my stuff and changing Liam we went out to buy a pack n play for Liam to sleep in and some tennis shoes for me to wear while there. ( I only brought flip flops.)

When we were done with the shopping we headed back to the house and were excited to find that Devon, my 10 year old half sister, and Chase , my 19 year old half brother, were home from school. More hugging and smiling ensued.

That afternoon there was a carnival at Devon's school that Lisa had been in charge of. We all went to the carnival and had lots of fun.

Devon took Liam down a bouncy slide.

We went and had his hair sprayed green like the other kids.

Liam spent time bonding with his new Grandma Lisa.

Chase and Devon had a silly string fight.

Liam spent the rest of the time we were there switching off between his Grandpa and his Uncle Chase.

Then we all headed back to the house and just kinda hung out till it was time to go to dinner. We went to an burger place and I gotta say their burgers were good. Not In-n-Out good.... but good.

After dinner Chase went and hung out with his friends and the rest of us relaxed watching some tv and then headed to bed.

The Most Important Flight.

2010-05-10T06:56:00.001-07:00

I did it again. I dropped a bomb and then forgot to come back and do damage control.

So here are the details. On January 6th my brother, Orion, called me and said "you are never going to believe this. I just got a friend request from a kid named Chase St. Thomas who claimed to be our half brother and a message from Richard stating that Chase is in fact our brother and that they will not push contact on us, but that things were not as they seemed and Chase had been waiting his whole life to meet us."

As soon as I stopped freaking out a little I hopped right on to facebook and looked them up. I sent both of them a message asking if they had sent my brother a message, cause if they had... I was the sister of Orion and that made me the daughter/sister they were looking for.

About a half an hour later I was chatting with both Chase in Utah and Richard on the island he was on for work.

Over the course of the next few months I spent every available waking moment talking to Richard. By the end of January I was calling him Poppa like I had when I was a little girl.

I had everything a girl could wish for. I had more family. Family that had always wanted me. Family that, when told I was going to be moving in with them cause my mom couldn't handle living with me anymore, moved things around in their house as fast as they could so I would have a room ready and waiting for me when I got there. Family that waited and waited for me to show up.

I never came.

Now that has changed. I don't know if you know this about me but I have an amazing ability to accept, forgive and adapt. I don't hold grudges. I can't. I have lived through to much. So I decided that whether or not Poppa's story was true (and as it turns out large chucks of it are...) or my moms story she had always told us was true (as it turns out large chunks of it were incorrect.) I was going to let it all go and just love the people God had put in my life to love me.

As the time drew closer and closer for Poppa to come home from the job he was working overseas, he and I began to plan a way that I would be able to come down to Utah to meet my new family face to face. Several attempted plans fell through. Finally it was decided that I would come down the weekend after Easter first thing friday morning and that I would return that Monday. Plans were finalized. Plane tickets were purchased.

This was it. I was going to meet the Step-mom I had a vague idea about. I was going to meet the brother and sister I had no idea existed until January 6th. (yes technically they are half brother and sister, but so is Rachel and that has never mattered so why should this?)

Now all I had to do was get on a plane with Liam (who had to come since he is still nursing). Our bag was packed. We were ready. Owen and the kids dropped me off at Sea-Tac and helped us check in our luggage. We went through the security checkpoint and rode the tram out to the plane. When we got to the terminal the plane was already boarding, so we quickly got on board. I sent out a picture message letting everyone know that we were on the plane and that the doors were closing. Poppa sent back that he was hopping in his vehicle and heading south to get me.

I was committed. No going back now...

So you remember when I said....

2010-04-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

So do you remember when I said that something life changing had happened to me and I didn't tell you what it was? If you said no, here. Go ahead and look. I'll wait.

Ok. So I told you that something life changing had happened and then guess what? I never told you!

And then I finally realized I never told you and stated the obvious. Go me.

Well now I am ready to tell you what happened. You ready? Really? Are you sure??????

This is what happened. I gained an entire family. Want to know the best part? I am related to them by blood... that man not in the cap and gown??? Yeah. He is my biological father. The one I thought abandoned me.

I think I will let you chew on that for just a minute while I prepare the post about going to visit them right after Easter.

Oh! Hello!

2010-04-19T22:53:00.000-07:00

I have missed you all. We had to shut our internet down for a while. It was that or our phones. We decided I could live without the internet for a month. But now I am back and have stuff to share!

First I will share Easter.

As is standard to our life in the military, Owen missed the majority of yet another Easter!. This time he had training all weekend. He was supposed to be home by noon.... but as is almost always the case with the Army some bonehead ruined the fun for everyone else!

Just as we decided we couldn't wait to start the fun any longer, Owen called and said it was time to come get him. We waited till the first set of eggs was ready to come out of the dye.

Mikaela's favorite colors were the "girly ones" and green.

Alexander stuck to what I like to call the "midnight colors" Deep purple, deep blue and the dark turquoise blue.

Aeddon wanted the bright colors. The orange, yellow and cyan blue.

Liam was a little to young to dye eggs and just sat there happily watching the whole affair!

As soon as the eggs were all dyed Owen went very quickly out and hid half of them for the kids to find. 6 each for the older kids. We had to work fast and look fast for two reasons. Reason number 1 is that it was about to be dark. Reason number 2 is that it was about to start pouring with rain!

After the hunt we did baskets. We don't do the Easter bunny here. We told the kids it is because the Easter bunny cant get on post cause he doesn't have the security clearance!

After that we did a relatively normal dinner followed by some strawberry shortcake made with angel food cake.

Liam LOVED the angel food cake!

That was pretty much the adventure that was our Easter!

I never thought I would

2010-03-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

I never though I would spend so much on diapers... but I did anyways. I just dropped exactly $199.00 on "old style" Kissaluvs size 2 diapers for Liam.

See the problem was that we were having nothing but issues with Liam and prefolds with Snappis. If I didn't stretch the Snappi as hard as I could he would leak poop all over his longies. If I did stretch it as far as I could he would "stick" to the fabric of the prefold and when I would remove his diaper I would also take enough skin to cause him to bleed.

It was almost enough for us to give up... if it wasn't for the fact that he cant wear disposables cause of skin sensitivity.

So since they were on sale cause they are being discontinued in this style (nothing wrong with them, they just redid them a little) I got them for a lot less money. This size fits from a 20lbs child to a 40lbs child... so we should be good now.

I bought 20.

Owen liked them. He was the most excited I have ever seen him about diapers... which is to say that he asked if I was happy and I said I was so he said he like them.

Liam liked them too.....

And then it happened...

First I hugged them.

Then I threw them.

Then we had a diaper fight with them.

Even Liam tried to throw one!

And that was that. A few minutes later we lost the light so we scooped up the new diapers and I washed them. We have been using them since last night and I have already noticed the difference. They are far more absorbent and not once has my little Liam bled.

Money well spent.

Bailey Calendar

2010-02-26T09:21:00.000-08:00

So last year I made a calendar to go with all the pictures I took of my kids for Kids 365 the year before... I loved that we were the pictures of the calendar! I thought I blogged about it... but I apparently did not. So here is a link to that first set of calendar pages.

This year I wanted to do the same... but I wanted to be sure that unlike the first time, my kids were the youngest at the beginning of the calendar and the oldest at the end.

Well I succeeded. Wanna see the finished mosaics for the calendar that is currently hanging on my kitchen wall?

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

I foresee that I will be making one of these every year for forever!

Calling it as I see it.

2010-02-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

So lets face facts. I am not gonna finish blogging Christmas... cause there really isn't much to tell. We spent New Years recovering from Owen's birthday party. We watched the Rose Parade, which I love!

Then on the 2nd we packed up all day and then we left.

On the way out we went and visited Anthony and Katherine and their beautiful new baby girl.

Aren't they cute?

And just look at her little face!

Then we drove home. It took us 24 hours of pretty much straight driving. There were a lot of bathroom breaks.

That was it. I cant believe that I spent several weeks trying to figure out how to make that more interesting! Now on to what else has been going on around here... but that is another post!

Owen's Birthday

2010-02-07T07:16:00.000-08:00

Ok... Seriously. Why am I having such a hard time finishing this?

Thursday was Owen's 32rd birthday. His parents planned a big party for him. We spent the morning prepping for the festivities. Owen went out and spent birthday money to buy an external hard drive for mp3's and a thumb drive for me cause we were running out of room on my memory cards!

Then he spent the day running around with his dad picking up things like the food for the party and his birthday cake. I went over to my parents and loaded the pictures onto the thumb drive and set up the external hard drive to download.

Then it was time for the fun.

First we all just hung out in the sun room and chatted. It was kind of nice.

Then it was time for the cake!

Notice that there are two cakes? That is because Mario and Melaney's daughter, Violet, shares a birthday with Owen. They had a cake for her so we told them that if they wanted to bring her cake to Owen's party we could have them blow out their candles together.

After the cakes most of the family guests started to head out. First to go was Owens uncle and aunt, John and Carole.

Don't they look like they are so happy together?

Then my dad and sister filtered out. Mom couldn't come cause she was felling really sick and didn't want to take the chance of spreading the cold she was coming down with.

Around the time family members started filtering out, Friends started coming.

First to arrive was my friend, Ginny. Owen invited her to his party without telling me cause he knew I wouldn't make a scene and ruin his birthday party and he wanted us to make up. That is a long story involving her having a not so nice reaction when I announced to the internet that I was pregnant with Liam. If you just joined us here at my blog... the post explaining that is here.

Anyways, the point is that she came and we were able to hang out and be nice to each other. I am not sure that the relationship is repaired... but at least we can be civil for now.

As people were coming and going the kids decided that it would be fun to play in the huge backyard in the dark!

Owen's Aunt Marguerite read a book to the kids...

Owen's cousin, Chris, showed up for a bit. His twin wasnt able to come cause he and his wife had another party to go to.

Then the parade of friends Owen hadn't seen in years started.

First we had Ramses.

Then Iris and her boyfriend. I am pretty sure his name is Alex.... I could be wrong though.

Then Sam and his daughter showed up. Eventually Sam went home and changed and put his baby girl to bed. He rejoined us later.... he lives two doors down from Owen's parents and he and Owen have been friends for pretty much forever.

Finally Owen's friend Arthur showed up. Owen was super excited to see Arthur cause they had lost track of each other several years ago when Arthur's mom decided to sell the house they lived in. Arthur and Owen had been next door neighbors their entire lives before that.

Eventually the only guests that were left were Mario& Melaney and Arthur. We got the kids to sleep and started getting ready for the big countdown to the New Year.

In this picture are 6 of the Bailey/Ramirez kids. (Liam was sleeping in the bedroom!) Can you find all 6? It is like a Where's Waldo page! Remember those?

Eventually the festivities ended. Then we realized that Arthur wasn't safe to head home and Owen wasn't tired anyways... so they called Sam and the three of them hung out like in the old days.

Eventually I fell asleep and Sam went home... Arthur stayed until about 6 am... then he headed home and Owen finally got to get some sleep.

This ends the festivities of Owen's birthday/ New Years Eve party.

The second week of our Christmas Vacation...

2010-01-28T22:25:00.000-08:00

Well sort of... I am gonna start with the Sunday of Liam's baptism, just after the festivities.

After Liam's baptism at the church we headed over to my mom's house for some sandwiches and presents for the newest little member of God's family.

Liam, however, thought he would be better off taking a nap with his Oma...

So I opened his presents.

Then we left my families house and headed over to Owen's parents house. Shortly after we got there we all headed out to Clark Park again.

For a little while we all just stood there...

Then we got down to business and started feeding the ducks!

After we went through the 4 loaves of cheap white bread from the 99 cent store we got to the business of playing.

Eventually it got to dark to see the playground equipment. It was time for the park to close, so we loaded up into the van's and headed out. The Ramirez family headed home... The Bailey Families headed out to dinner.

The next day we headed out to Exhibition Park in Los Angeles.

We first went to the Natural History Museum. We expected it to cost a small fortune cause our group was so big... we were wrong! Turns out Active Duty Military and their group gets in for FREE!

We saw Dino bones...

We did arts and crafts...

We saw some truly quality taxidermy...

We got to see some real paleontologists at work in the "Dino Lab"

And we got to see some Mayan treasures.

Then we headed out of the Natural history museum and enjoyed some corn on a stick and ice cream!

Liam, whom by this time had finally recovered from the flu, enjoyed the heck out of being able to crawl around in the grass...

On a completely sidetracked note...

Isn't it beautiful how much Owen's parents still love each other after more than 35 years?!

Next we headed over to the Science Museum.

This is our whole group!

The Science Museum is technically free... but they do recommend that you make a donation... but nobody will give you a hard time if you don't!

In the Science Museum we all enjoyed learning about how stone arches work...

The kids played under the arches for a little while...

Then Dadzilla struck!

Finally we went outside to see how many kids it would take to pull up a truck off the floor using leverage...

Turns out it takes more kids than The Ramirez's and we have!

After all that we headed back to the Bailey house and called it a night.

On Tuesday we went to my parents house again.

Mom gave the kids their stocking, since for some reason that had never happened on Christmas Eve.

Liam finally got to open his presents since he was no longer sick...

He thought ripping off all that paper was awesome!

Then it was decided that it was time to eat the gingerbread house that Mom and Alexander had made together.

The next day was the 30th... Annie came out again and while we waited for my cousin Rachel to drive up from Chula Vista, Carole told the kids the story of the Blue Willow Plate.

Once Rachel got there we went out to lunch at a restaurant called Life Plaza. They serve primarily Asian cuisine.

Mikaela tried desperately hard to use chopsticks like the adults.

Rachel thought that that was so awesome that she had to Facebook it from right there! (She also Facebooked when Alexander sang all the lyrics to La Vie Boheme too!)

After lunch we had the most awesome shaved ice and ice cream sundae ever! You don't believe me?

I told you.

After lunch and dessert we headed over to hang out and have a Monty Python night with Jan Williams, Neal's mom...

While the guys and Annie watched Flying Circus episodes I attempted to teach my cousin to crochet. I am sad that there are no pictures of that...

The next day was Owen's birthday.... which I guess really does deserve it's own post... so I guess I will have to continue this later!

Liam's Baptism

2010-01-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

The next thing we did on our trip was to have Liam Baptised on the 27th. Pastor Dannenbring baptized my sister, He married my parents, He confirmed Me, Orion and Rachel and now he has baptized all 4 of my children.

Orion and Rachel were the God Parents. Orion is all 4 of the kids Godfather... Rachel is Mikaela and Liam's Godmother. Orion's ex is technically Alexander and Aeddons Godmother... but I don't think she really wants the job anymore.....

So there you have it. Liam is a baptized Member of God's family, via the Lutheran Church.

I left you hanging.

2010-01-19T09:18:00.000-08:00

I left you hanging right in the middle of our Christmas trip back home to California. I am sorry. Something kind of life changing happened since the last time I posted. I will finish up Christmas vacation.... then I will tell you why I disappeared. I am still trying to wrap my head around it!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

2010-01-08T06:25:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was fun filled. My mom hosted the evening at her house again.(She does every year that we go home.)

She was in constant motion all night and in all honesty this is the best picture that I got of her...

As always she cooked a fantastic meal with turkey and gravy and potatoes and all the other holiday fixings. Of course I missed eating with everyone cause I was outside finishing up my last Christmas present.

That is Carole's Hemlock Ring Blanket. I didn't give it to her till Christmas.

Speaking of Carole, both Don and Carole attended my mom's Christmas Eve dinner. I always feel a little bad about that because they always accept my parents invitation... but NEVER once have they come to Don and Caroles on Christmas.... Although they do come whenever they have a birthday party for Owen... So maybe that evens out.

Anyways.

After dinner there was presents.

The Nellesens and Orion gave us their presents. Orions were some of the coolest.... Well ok. The present he gave Aeddon was Aeddons coolest present.

And the one he gave Mikaela was her favorite...

A baby stroller for all her babies to take walks in. Of course her big brothers broke her new stroller before it even made it home... so we will be replacing it asap.

My mom and dad gave Alexander his favorite gift of the night...

A talking Bumblebee from the Transformers movies. He loves it SO MUCH. His next favorite gift is totally the Magnetix that his dad and I gave him for Christmas though...

If you are noticing a lack of Liam again, that is because during all of the festivities he slept off the worst day of his flu. Starting Christmas morning he began to recover. It was a Christmas Miracle for sure!

Back to Christmas Eve!

After the kids had opened most of their presents Don and Carole announced that they had brought my presents with them. They pretended to bring them because they knew that I was planning on attending church with my parents on Christmas morning, but the truth of it was that I had spent the night before sleeping in the van cause I refused to go back into the house until someone apologized for the attack Jaclyn fest that happened two nights before. So they brought my presents to my parents house where they knew that I would open them.

Of course my favorite gift of the night was from Alexander.

He and Papa spent all week out in the garage making me that cross from scratch. They made it, shaped it, sanded it, and decorated it together. They even put a coat of stain on it. I love it and as soon as I actually finish unloading the van, it will be getting hung up in the front entryway.

The funniest gift of the night was given to me by Owen. Why was it funny you ask?

I giggled too.

Owen also received many fine gifts. He got several movies he wanted and Under the Dome, the Latest Stephen King novel.

After presents we wrapped up the festivities. Owens parents headed home and the rest of us got dressed up and went to the candle light Christmas Eve service at Christ Lutheran. It was beautiful as always.

Then we headed back to Owen's parents house for the evening. Every one went inside and went to bed. Except for me. I slept in the van again. Let it be stated for the record that I am incredibly stubborn.

Christmas Morning arrived. It was chill outside, but overall it was another beautiful Southern California Christmas. That of course means that it was sunny.

First thing in the morning Owen brought out Liam so that I could nurse him. After I gave him back to Owen I headed out for Christmas morning service. It was beautiful. I hadn't been to a Christmas morning service since Alexander was born.

I thought that while I was gone that Owen and the kids would be opening Christmas presents. I was wrong. They waited for me thinking that I would come into the house to watch them. They were wrong. I stayed in the van in front of the neighbors house and read the book Owen had just given me for Christmas from cover to cover!

Then I dozed off. The next thing I knew it was evening. Owen was standing next to the van with Kester in tow. They climbed into the van and Kester and I talked about what had happened. Then he apologized for the way things were handled (which was all I wanted.) and asked me to come in for dinner. He assured me that his whole family wanted me to come in. So I got out of the car and went in for Christmas dinner. After that the night was pretty calm.

The next day we were supposed to go to Disneyland. That didn't end up happening since the money we were going to use on tickets ended up buying us 4 new tires a week before we were supposed to head south. The tires literally split open on the van!

Anyways. So we didn't go to Disneyland after all. Instead we spent the day hanging out with Malea and her daughter Emma. We even took Emma to the park with us so that the other grown-ups could clean up the mess from Christmas. It was a fun and relaxed day (which Liam slept through most of, although this was the last day he spent most of asleep on the trip!)

Until bedtime. We had gotten so wrapped up in hanging out that we completely forgot to put the kids to bed at a reasonable hour. This caused Mikaela to have a raging fit which ended like this:

Yes, she is in fact sleeping standing up with her face rested in my cleavage. It was to funny to not take pictures!

This is how Aeddon crashed out on the couch after refusing to go to bed at all. It was awesome.

Alexander of course didn't go to bed till we did. Which caused pictures like this one to be taken:

Overall the Christmas festivities were a huge success and the day of rest was much needed before the excitement that occurred over the next few days...

A Chronological look at what I have been up to since the last time I blogged...

2010-01-06T15:40:00.000-08:00

At the advice of several people.... most of whom read my blog via facebook, not here on blogger..... I am going to start at the beginning of where I last blogged and work my way through. This might get broken up into more than one post if I start to realize that it is going to be crazy long.....

The last thing I blogged was that Aeddon had turned 4....

Around that same time Owen did something that just about ripped my heart in two. See he was feeding Liam (or the Moose to most...) and his phone got a text. I thought I would be nice since he was elbow deep in baby food and read it to him. It was from an ex-girlfriend that I have spent the last several months begging him to stop all contact with. At the end of her text was the phrase "I Love You."

I Love You? That is not something you text to just a friend. Love you or love ya or luv ya, Maybe.... but fully typing out I love you made me curious. So I read his text inbox and then his text outbox. In those two things I found that they were full on Sexting.... and that he had asked her to take three days off of work and hang out with him on a work related trip he was going to have to take for three days.

Yeah. I about died. I made him call her on speakerphone and tell her that he would never speak to her again. Then I made him delete her from our lives.

So vacation for us started off on a rough foot. It is hard to act happy and excited to see everyone when you are dying inside..... Of course I could have just acted how I felt, but that wouldnt have been fair to my parents or to his.

Then we left for California on the 18th. As we usually do we drove straight through in one big go. No stopping to sleep. 1100 miles in one big trip of insanity.

We are hard core like that.

While we were there we stayed at Owens parents house. The one room they had for us was way to small to fit all 6 of us, so Liam and I slept in that room and Owen slept in the living room on air mattresses with the rest of the kids.

That picture has Owen, Mikaela, Aeddon and Alexander in it. Can you find them all?

Anyways. While we were there we packed in as much fun as we could.

Owen's dad, Don, was silly...

Owen's mom, Carole, tried to contain her mirth...

Owen's brother, Kester, made silly faces while cooking obscene amounts of various types of dessert breads.

That was just the first day!

The next day we went to see my parents.

Dad worked in the garage/workshop with Alexander making me a christmas present.

My mom prepared for the youth groups progressive dinner.

Mikaela got to put the Angel on the family tree.

She also got to play dress-up with all of my sister, Rachel's, pink stuff.

Rachel was constantly fussing with her make-up. I think she was nervous about all her friends being at the house with "the other Bailey's Circus".

My brother wisely hid from the teen invasion...

Aeddon, who was still wiped from the trip, sucked on the countertop and watched the chaos unfold. Later that night he set a napkin on fire and set it on the kitchen table to see what happened. My dad was not amused, but handled himself beautifully. It was our fault really for leaving the candles lit after dinner....

Have you noticed the lack of Liam in the post so far? Well that is because the first few days we were there he slept constantly cause he was cutting his top two front teeth at one time. Then the third day we were there he started having flu like symptoms. He then spent the rest of the time until Christmas Day pretty much sleeping through the flu. I got him his flu shot. He still got the flu. Thank God Owen is a Medic and knew what to look for to keep Liam safe. Otherwise we probably would have spent most of the trip in the ER with Liam!

The third day that we were there Don and Carole took us to the hsi lai buddest temple near there home.

They liked my children so much there that they let them into one of the sacred gardens so that I could take their pictures. I didnt even ask! They offered!

After our visit at the temple Owen, Kester, Annie and I went to Rose Hills to see Neal and the boys. We cleaned up their headstones cause the recent rain had made them muddy. Owen played "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. We all took some time to contemplate what christmas would have been like if they were still here.

The biggest miracle of that part of the day was that Kester let me take his picture. Voluntarily.

This might be my favorite picture from the whole trip.

The fourth day (or third whole day) of our trip was spent with my parents. Rachel and my dad took Owen and Mikaela and Aeddon shopping. They bought my moms christmas presents.

My mom and Alexander made a gingerbread house.

I think it turned out great.

The next day was Wednesday and should have been spent with Owen's family. That didnt happen though because of a SERIOUS MISUNDERSTANDING that got way out of hand.

Instead we went to Clark Park with my sister.

The next day was christmas Eve. I think that I will give christmas Eve and Christmas their own post as this one has gotten quite long.

I dont know where to start.

2010-01-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in a while. I have so much to say, but don't know where to start. Should I go chronologically or should I do a good then a bad then more good? I don't know. Until I figure it out I cant blog. What do you think??

Aeddon turned 4.

2009-12-17T12:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Aeddon turned 4. In typical Aeddon fashion he spent most of the day oscillating between not wanting his birthday due to panic and being super excited. We forgot to tell Alexander that he couldn't remind Aeddon of his birthday until right before we busted out the cake. It makes me a little sad to have to do that just so he doesn't panic.... but then I see this:

This year his cake and the happy birthday song actually made him happy!

His dad is a butthead though and bought the kid who has panic attacks "magic" candles. You know the ones that keep relighting by "magic" until you douse them in water? Yeah. Jerk.

See that look on his face? That look told me that he was done and we were about to have a cake related birthday disaster that would probably involve the cake hitting me or the ground. So Owen took the candles and threw them in a cup of water....

Aeddon wanted the piece of cake that had his name on it. So I cut him that piece.

We all ate cake.

Then we came to the most important part. THE PRESENTS:

First the super cool Rocket toy that Owens parents bought him. They looked everywhere for it and finally ended up buying it off of Disney.com. It came gift wrapped in very classy mickey paper with a personalized gift tag. Way to go Don and Carole!

Then April's present, a Buzz Lightyear toy with karate chop action. He likes it!

Then our presents. The first one was a Little Einsteins Pyramid play set to go with his new Rocket.

Then two "gravity bots" Transformers toys. One is Optimus Prime, the other is Bumblebee. They are easy to convert, which is good cause Aeddon gets frustrated and then has a tendency to break whatever it is that is ticking him off. You stand them on there "feet and the automatically transform to robots put them down on their wheels and they automatically convert to car form. He loves them and I am pretty sure that he slept with them in his bed last night.....

Want to see what my parents got him??? Nothing. Not even a gift card. In their defense, Mom normally does the gift shopping and she has been busting her butt to finish her last semester of college! So she gets a free pass since Aeddon didn't seem to notice that their gift was missing.....

And that was Aeddon's birthday celebration.

I meant to say something earlier.....

2009-12-11T22:41:00.000-08:00

So I meant to say something about this a while ago..... but I got one of my pictures published.... sort of. See I have almost all of my pictures on flickr available for everyone to see. Well one of them was picked by Schmap. Schmap is an app/widget guidebook thingy..... That is why I have the new element on the sidebar.

What? You want to see the picture they used? Ok.

Cool huh? Mine is listed with pictures of Mount Tabor Park.

Static

2009-12-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

Seriously, I have no idea how our house got so staticy..... but pants are sticking to legs, shirts to bellies...

And then Mikaela's hair. I have no idea how that happened.... but what kind of mom would I be if I didn't take a picture of it?

I mean seriously? Some day that little girl is gonna be big and she is gonna say "Mom, I was going through all of the pictures from my childhood..... you know, the approximately 1 billion photos you took? And yeah, I just want to THANK YOU SO MUCH for documenting every embarrassing moment in my life! Now I have an excuse to go to therapy like all my friends! You totally rock!"

That conversation is totally gonna happen one day.

Just you wait.

Fall's Beauties

2009-12-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

Love them!

Alexander's first school birthday

2009-11-23T06:48:00.000-08:00

First I would like to start this post with a HUGE THANK YOU to Karen P. She read my last post on facebook (I have my blog upload to my notes there...) and gifted me a year of pro-account on flickr! So I am back, with pictures!

Friday was the day before Alexanders 6th birthday. Since it was the first year that he was in school near his birthday, I decided that he HAD to take cupcakes to school. First I checked with his teacher to be sure that it was ok and that none of the kids had serious allergies to anything that might be in cupcakes.

He wanted funfetti cupcakes with green wrappers (hooray Christmas cupcake wrappers!) and green frosting and "Spiderman Sprinkles" which are of course just regular red, white and blue sprinkles. Of course I made him exactly what he asked for!

Then his teacher, Ms Jackson gave him birthday crown and the whole class sang him happy birthday!

School Birthday success!

Just Because

2009-11-20T17:33:00.000-08:00

I got my camera back from the Geek Squad.... just in time for my Pro Account on Flickr to run out. It is only $25 to renew it... but it is birthday/ holiday season at the Bailey house and I am tapped out till goodness knows when. What does that mean? It means that I can't upload new pictures to Flicker till at least December first....BOOO

Also, Blogger doesn't wanna let me upload directly to my blog.

So yeah. On the bright side, I have some super cool stuff to share once I can use pictures again! Including Alexander's first time taking birthday cupcakes to school!

Bummed but cheerful.

2009-11-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

How's that for a contradiction for you? I am bummed cause my Pro Account on Flickr is about to run out. That really stinks! Hopefully I will be able to renew it before I get my camera back from THE GEEK SQUAD. The kids broke the lens! Lucky for me I was smart enough to buy the extended service warranty! So it isn't costing me a penny to fix it! YAY!

I am cheerful cause I am almost done with the first fingerless glove for the pair I am making for the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup!

For those of you not on Ravelry.... They will look like this.... Cozy Cable Mitts Except a little different. My cables twist the other way... cause it matched the hat I am gonna knit to match and the scarf I also hope to knit.

This is the yarn I am using:

Doesn't that look amazing. It is soft and warm and not at all itchy! I love Alpaca with a Twist!

OK. That is enough schizophrenic blogging for one day..... More later!

Pay it forward....

2009-11-09T08:23:00.000-08:00

I picked this up from Katidids , who makes some of the cutest longies sets that I have ever seen!

OK, Here’s the deal

I will make a handmade gift for the first 3 interested people who comment on this post. I have 365 days to do it in. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise!

The catch is that you must participate as well: you must have a blog and before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Just cut and paste this one if you like, which I did. *Change the From "here" link above to now link to my blog on your new post. You can email me via the link above your name and address, just let me know its Pay-It-forward!

I’ve seen these around the net before & those that have participated have had a lot of fun. Just a fun little something appropriate for the person your gifting!

I am back! Let the blogging recommence!

2009-11-03T09:10:00.001-08:00

I am back. My computer works. My internet works. My happy little world is coming back together. YAY! That is Liam in is Halloween costume. SO cute! You wanna see the others in their costumes too?

Mikaela

Alexander

Aeddon

Owen.

Guess who Owen is dressed as! I am not telling till someone guesses!

Yet again I didn't wear a costume this year. Owen told people I was dressed as a homicidal maniac. Thanks honey.

While we are experiencing technical difficulties.....

2009-10-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Please enjoy this picture of the Seattle Space Needle that either my mother or I took. I don't know for sure which one of us took it. We kept passing my camera back and forth that day as we passed the Liam Moose back and forth!

In case you are wondering what the technical difficulties are: I finally got my computer fixed. For those of you who are tech savvy, It blew a video card. Once that was replaced it was up and running. All the memory was able to be saved. All is well in computer land.... except that I no longer have the Internet at my house. As with many homes across the nation, we are experiencing financial difficulties and we decided that food was more important that the Internet or our cell phones. We are hoping to be fully up and running by the end of November. I have missed you all dearly and thank you all for sticking by me in this barren wasteland that this blog has been lately. I promise awesomeness once we are back! Oh the cuteness that has been happening at the Bailey Household since my departure!

More as soon as I can!

Mmmm. Tastey floor bagel!

2009-10-13T13:56:00.001-07:00

I am not sure where he found the stale cinnamon raisin bagel on the floor, but I let him have it for a minute, snapped a pic with my phone and promptly took it away from him. After all it was 1. Covered in dog fur (I need to vacuum!) And 2. Filled with raisins, which he is to little to eat safely.

It made for a cute post though!

My new purse.

2009-10-02T17:38:00.001-07:00

Isn't it cute? Plus it is totally functional for me. It carries all my regular purse stuff, plus a knitting project in progress! Love it!

It's beggining to look a lot like...

2009-10-02T07:23:00.001-07:00

Christmas?

Hmm that is strange.

Seriously though, it is starting to look like it might be snowing on my couch. I am, of course, aware of the fact that Christmas isn't for a couple of months. I have this plan though.

See my thought is that crocheted snowflakes take almost no time at all. I can easily make one a day and still have plenty of time for other knitting projects. Like knitting Liams size LARGE longies. Seriously. He is wearing a size 12month shirt already.

Did I mention he started crawling? Yeah. He did. Crazy, right?

Well I am off to go get some crafting done!

Do you know what that is???

2009-09-18T13:41:00.001-07:00

It is the happy face of a little girl who gets to go home today!!!

A good sign

2009-09-18T07:13:00.001-07:00

Mikaela wanted piggy tails this morning. I think she is on the mend!!!

Admitted

2009-09-16T15:13:00.001-07:00

Mikaela is being admitted to the hospital. She has a raging kidney infection. It is possible she also has kidney stones or something worse.

I am scared to death. Pray! Please!

End of the first day

2009-09-09T15:49:00.001-07:00

Alexander's first day of Kindergarten was today. He says he had a great time. He was a little disappointed though. It seems that they don't get recess or a meal. He is bummed. He was looking forward to bringing his lunch box and playing tag.

Worth it.

2009-09-07T16:04:00.001-07:00

These are the moments that make parenting so very worth it. I wouldn't trade it for all the gold in the world!

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Correction.

2009-09-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

That last post should have said yesterday. I sent it yesterday. For reasons unknown to me, my phone didn't actually send/deliver the message till today!

Oops!

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Eating.

2009-09-07T09:56:00.001-07:00

Liam ate his first solid food today. Bananas and oatmeal. As you can see, he loved it!

Today Owen...

2009-09-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

Took us all out to westport to go crabbing. When the wind pulled Mikaela's handknit hat off her head, Owen jumped in to save it. It is only about 60 degrees fahrenheit today, plus it is overcast.

When asked why he would jump into yucky cold Marina water to save a hat he reponded with " do you know how much my daughter loves that hat and how much love my wife knit into every stitch? You have to understand that to understand why I jumped in."

Comfort

2009-08-31T12:47:00.001-07:00

Sometimes life means keeping Aeddon comfortable without compromising on the good of the rest of the family. C.O. Bigelow's Spearmint Mentha Lip Shine usually does the trick. That boy can't stand chapped lips...

Super Extra Pretty

2009-08-31T12:41:00.001-07:00

Mikaela said she wanted to be super extra pretty. I asked her what she meant... Turns out she wanted make-up and piggy tails.

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Being a Princess

2009-08-26T13:32:00.001-07:00

Being a Princess is hard work, but someone has got to do it!

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Woolbur

2009-08-20T21:00:00.001-07:00

This is a book called Woolbur. It was written by Leslie Helakoski and illustrated by Lee Harper.

Woolbur doesn't act like the other sheep. He doesn't want to get sheared, he cards his own wool to get the tangles out, he rides the spinning wheel and dyes himself blue with some indigo. All the while he tries to get his parents to see how great it is.

This is possibly one of the cutest childrens books I have seen in quite some time! I think it is especially great for children who have a knitter, spinner or weaver in the family!

Even if you don't have a yarn artist in the house, this book is still fantastic because it highlights the wonder of being yourself.

Go buy it!

A little distraction

2009-08-18T08:11:00.001-07:00

I SHOULD be knitting longies. Or I should be finishing my sisters entrelac scarf. Or my Clapotis. Or the dress for Katie's little Olivia, who was born on Saturday at 1:30am-ish.

So what am I actually doing? Knitting a sock. This is a "Rick" sock from Cookie A's book, Sock Innovation. The yarn is a yarn from "Dye for Glory" it is by Shalimar Yarns and is on their Zoe Sock base. The colorway is Stargazer. My cruddy cellphone picture doesn't do the rich jeweltones justice! It is a beautiful deep purple, turquoise/teal, and grey/black color. I love it!

Still no computer here! I miss all my blogs!

What?

2009-08-18T07:55:00.001-07:00

You act like you have never seen a fat baby with no shirt before!

;)

A little preoccupied

2009-08-12T06:41:00.001-07:00

Not only is my computer still Very dead, but my family is here!!! That person in the trunk with Alexander is my sister, Rachel!

I may get a chance to use one of their laptops and post a good post with quality pictures! We shall see on that one!

Oh if I normally comment on your blog and you notice that I haven't in a while, that is because my blackberry won't let me! Sorry! I still love you guys though!

Later!

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IMG00363.jpg

2009-08-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

It is a beautiful day here in Ft. Lewis. The sun is shining, and the kids couldn't be happier that we finally got them a little pool. Just another day here in sunshine-y Washington!

Glad to be home!

2009-08-03T07:18:00.001-07:00

We are home from Arkansas. We have been home since friday. Nanna's funeral was beautiful. Mom had me sing Amazing Grace, which was a favorite of Nanna's.

Liam was an angel on the flights in both directions, which is good cause the flight home was particularly difficult. See it was raining in Arkansas when we got to the airport and I was carrying a huge backpack full of our clothes and extra cloth diapers and the dirties from the trip, Liam in his Mei tai, Liam's carseat, the diaperbag and my purse. I stepped wrong in a particulary wet place and down I went. I didn't want Liam to get hurt, so I took the whole impact. I really injured the left side of my body! I am doing better now, but boy was I miserable for a couple of days now.

Liam of course missed his family and was happiest in the arms of his daddy or biggest brother all weekend.

There is more I could say, but I am having to write from my phone, since my computer is currently in melt down mode and I can't use it at all!

I am here

2009-07-28T16:02:00.001-07:00

Apparently here is the middle of nowhere.

Vegas Baby!

2009-07-28T08:39:00.001-07:00

We have a 2 hour layover in Vegas. I asked Liam if he felt lucky... This was his response.

Today....

2009-07-27T21:55:00.001-07:00

I am packing my bags to fly to Arkansas. This morning my Nana (My mom's mother) passed away. I will miss her dearly.

To Cute for words!

2009-07-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

That is all.

A first

2009-07-21T00:10:00.001-07:00

Up until today, Liam didn't even have a crib. Tonight he is sleeping in it! I wonder if he will sleep through the night?! I will let you know!

Yes I read her blog, Why do you ask?

2009-07-20T23:54:00.000-07:00

So tonight I was reading Crazy Aunt Purl's blog and I realised that she and I are working on the exact same knitting project right now!

Except that I am slightly farther along on my scarf than she is.(I know it doesn't look like I am, but I have almost doubled the length of my scarf since I took this picture!) Also she is using Noro's Silk Garden and I am using regular old Noro Kureyon.

I love that I am knitting the same thing as a famous knitting blogger, completely by accident. Does that make me a geeky fangirl? SWEET!

I made pants!

2009-07-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

OK. I know that I have made lots of longies for Liam, but these ones are special!

How cute are those!

Love that face!

I will post a picture of Liam in his monster butt longies.

Choices.

2009-07-15T23:40:00.001-07:00

One of the many symptoms of PPD for me is an inability to make a choice. For the few of you reading this who know me in person, I am a very decisive person under normal circumstances.

Lately, not so much.

Example: I want to come write a blog post and tell you what is going on here at Bailey's Circus. ( Maybe I should change the name of my blog to Bailey's Circus.... it fits my life! Think I would get sued?) But what to write about.

Should I write about my kids and how Alexander is bored sitting at home all day and so has been acting up alot more than usual? And about how both Mikaela and Aeddon are potty training and spend most of their time naked and I keep having to ask them to stop playing with their bits, or at least go where I don't have to see them?

Eh. That might seem whiny or bore the people who are probably here for what little crafting content I have.

Should I tell you about my knitting? Alot is going on in Knitting Land! For example Alexander took a pair of scissors to a pair of longies I have been working on for Liam today. I had to cut the leg off the rest of the way, reknit most of the stripe and then Kitchner stitch the leg back on. Fun times.

Eh. Knitting talk might bore the few people who are here to read about my family.

Should I write a post about the package I just received in the mail from Paige?

Eh. That might seem like I am bragging!

So I put forth the question to you, my blog reading audience! What of those topics is of interest to you? Ask, and I shall blog about it! If you want a post about something I didn't mention above, tell me! Maybe I will write a post about that!

This enquiring mind wants to know!

Our Fourth of July Weekend

2009-07-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I love about the Army is that Owen tends to get 4 day weekends when a holiday falls near the weekend. This weekend was no exception. He had Friday through Monday off.

On Friday we went crabbing. Owen had just gotten his licence for the year and was itching to use it. So we packed up the gear and off we went to the pier at Point Defiance.

We ran into some friends from last years crabbing season. The kids had a great time playing on the pier.

We even had a decent sized haul!

Then on the 4th:

Fort Lewis had a pretty cool carnival and fireworks show. We went and had a picnic of pork and corn and fries and walnut brownies! I had cooked the food and packed it up earlier that day.

We played in the grass until it got dark and the fireworks started...

This is what Liam did through the fireworks:

This is what the other kids did:

Well except for Mikaela who kept getting scared by the fireworks and running off to try to hide.

Over all the show was beautiful and a good time was had by all...

The rest of the weekend was spent recovering from the Fourth. Now it is back to business as usual.

While I was away....

2009-06-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

So you might not have noticed, but our internet was down for a week. It is back on now. And now for the reason that I am writing this post...

On June 7th Liam learned a new trick. I didn't mention it right away cause I hadn't been able to catch it with my camera.

This is how it starts:

Then this:

Is it gonna happen?

Magic.

I mean really,

Stick a fork in me, cause I am done!

Starting him early!

2009-06-27T19:21:00.001-07:00

Fathers Day 2009

2009-06-22T09:12:00.001-07:00

The best bouquet ever!

2009-06-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

Mikaela and Alexander picked me flowers from outside.

A REALLY COOL GIVEAWAY!

2009-06-15T07:33:00.001-07:00

Ok. I don't do this often, but Jill over at Homemade by Jill is having a wickedly cool giveaway!

She is giving away one of these really awesome EZ Veiw Desktops. They are made by The Original Scrapbox, which is a product I have been eyeballing for years! How cool would it be to have an cabinet that opened up into a full on craft space! How perfect would that be for those of us who don't have a spare room to dedicate to crafting!

Head on over to Jill's Blog and enter to win!!! Good Luck!

Guess what the Tooth Fairy left him....

2009-06-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

Could he have been more excited?

Probably not.

But he's just a baby!!!!!!!!

2009-06-10T22:46:00.001-07:00

I know Alexander is not, in fact, a baby.

That doesn't mean I was ready for him to start loosing his baby teeth!

Just about two weeks ago Alexander complained that his front teeth hurt. I looked in his mouth to see if he had a sore on his gums. He didn't. He had a permanent tooth coming in. On the down side, his baby tooth was still occupying the place the big tooth needed. So I helped him learn to wiggle the tooth. It still wasn't coming loose though. I was beginning to worry that he was gonna have to have the baby tooth pulled.

Then he and Aeddon were rough housing three days ago. Aeddon accidentally elbowed Alexander right in the mouth. His barely loose tooth became VERY LOOSE.

Yesterday on the way home from school Alexander made a funny noise. I looked back and saw that his tooth was barely hanging on by a thread. So Owen and I told him he should grab it with his fingers and just give it a little tug. He did and it totally worked. Out came his tooth.

Wanna see the place where his tooth used to be?

It just looks so ouchy to me! But Alexander is putting on a tough face.

His tooth is waiting under his pillow for a visit from the tooth fairy as I type. I predict that the tooth fairy will leave him a dollar.

Poor baby!

2009-06-08T15:09:00.001-07:00

Poor Mikaela! She has been feeling under the weather for two days now. She spent all day yesterday throwing up. (I have never been so glad that we own a small rug cleaner!) Today she has been to afraid of throwing up to eat or drink anything.

It just isn't fair that little kids get sick!

When I am having a hard time

2009-06-06T07:19:00.000-07:00

I have been really fighting PPD with Liam's birth.

I look happier than I feel most of the time. The logical part of my brain keeps trying to tell me to get a grip. I have a pretty great life. I have a fantastic husband who treats me pretty fantastic most of the time (nobody is perfect!). I have 4 beautiful, healthy children who would do just about anything to make me smile. We have a good home, an a stable income. I have friends who care about me, heck, I have relative strangers who check in to see how my life is going! I have more cool stuff than I have room to store it in. I have a really rocking camera that I can use to capture as many of the moments of my children's lives as I want.

But nothing feels shiny. Do you know what I mean. It is like those Claratin commercials. I feel like there is a film across every thing. Dingy, like a white sock that has been washed with a load of all black clothes.

A few days ago I was feeling like I just wanted my kids to go away. Their cheerfulness was just getting on my nerves. So instead of taking out my irrational irritation on them, I broke out my camera and took pictures of them. I don't know why, but something about looking at pictures of my babies photographed in natural light just makes me want to cuddle them and cover them in kisses, no matter how ready I am to sell them to the highest bidder!

Yes, the picture is out of focus. My hands were shaking. Alexander looks so serious. I have seen a lot of this face lately. Alexander knows something is not right with me and he is worried about me.

I see a lot of this too. The more sad I become, the more withdrawn Aeddon becomes. He has also become a lot more violent. He has been doing a lot of biting and hitting lately. I worry that my little storm cloud is contagious, and that Aeddon has caught it. So I hug him a lot.

Mikaela has wanted a pacifier more and more lately. I know it is normal for kids to regress slightly when a new baby is born, so I am not to worried. Plus there is something so cute about watching her suck on a tiny little pacifier that used to look so HUGE in her little mouth!

Then there is Liam. How could that face not make a person want to smile. He can be crying and I will put my cheek against his and he instantly cheers up. Part of that is cause he now knows his next meal is at hand. (boy oh boy does Liam nurse a lot. Oh the weight I am loosing!) I am sure that most of it is just cause he loves me so much. He started cracking little half smiles. I have yet to do a good job of getting a picture of one, but once I do, I will post it.

I look at these pictures and I realise how much my depression is affecting my children. That is enough for me. I will be talking to my doctor about getting some help when I go in for my 6 week check up on Thursday.

Aeddon goes to "School".

2009-05-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

I posted some time ago that we suspected that Aeddon has Aspergers Syndrome. They still wont give us a straight answer on that, but on April 16th he was approved to go to special education classes twice a week so that he might stand a chance of surviving in a regular school environment later.

On Monday May 4th we met with the teacher of the class that Aeddon would be joining. I wanna say her name is Rachel, but honestly I have NO IDEA what her name is. (THAT IS SO TERRIBLE! I am gonna have to find out when I take him to school on Friday!)I just told her the truth! Turns out her name is Rebecca! The only reason I can think of that I thought her name was Rachel is that she reminds me of my mom, which makes me think of my sister, who is named Rachel, which made a R name Rachel instead of Rebecca. There you go!
Anyhoo! So we met with (insert teachers name here!) and she said that she wanted Aeddon to start as soon as possible. So we decided that he would join the class on Mondays and Fridays.

On Friday May 9, 2009 Aeddon started "School" which is not really school so much as special ed meets social therapy.

We dressed him up in cute clothes and packed him a lunch in a small toy backpack we had handy. (Thank you Carole for giving us the backpacks those blocks came in! They have come in handy several times now!)

He was so proud that he was getting to go to school like a big boy even though he is only a "medium boy". Yep. Aeddon calls himself a medium boy cause he can do all the things a big boy can do, except go potty.

He proudly walked to the car wearing his little lunch filled backpack.

Then we took him to school.

I walked him into class. He wanted to hold my hand. He was so excited, I thought for sure he was gonna explode! When we got inside it was time for lunch. (That is the first thing they do when they get to class everyday. Eat lunch.) So I set up his lunch for him on the tray that they had for him and I gave him a kiss. I told him it was time for me to go. I thought for sure he was gonna have a fit, but he didn't. He just looked at me and smiled and said "OK Mommy! I love you! See you later, after SCHOOL!!!!!!!!"

And that was it. I turned around and walked out and left my sweet little guy at school. And he loves it. He talks about school all the time! That first day he brought me home a plant. It was the Friday before Mothers Day, so they had potted little plants (flower plants actually. It is in bloom now. I will take a picture soon and post it!) and decorated the pots with little foam stickers. Aeddon was so proud of his present for Mommy and he loves that I love it so much.

So that is the story of Aeddon going to School.

PPD Strikes the Blog!!!!

2009-05-28T05:56:00.000-07:00

Ok. So those of you who are my friend on Facebook know that I have been really struggling with PPD since Liam's birth. Of course none of you know just how bad it has been, and I am not going to bring you all down by telling you. Unless you want me to. If you wanna hear all about my struggles with PPD (postpartum depression for those who may not know.) then I can share that with you all, but I don't wanna loose what readers I have cause I got sad.

Anyways. The point that I originally came to make was that due to suffering from PPD, I have not been giving this blog the attention that it deserves! Some great stuff (other than Liam getting seriously cuter every day!) has been happening and I have shared NONE of it with you! I am sorry for that. So now the plan is to catch up on all of that over the course of the day. So there may be several posts today since I think that most of what I am gonna share deserves it's own post.

Smitten.

2009-05-22T17:37:00.001-07:00

I am completely in love. Can you really blame me? Look at that face!

I can't believe that he has been out of my body for three and a half weeks already. Time flies!

The Privilege of being Military...

2009-05-19T00:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes there are privileges to being in the Military. Sneak Peek Previews of blockbuster movies is one of those perks.

On Sunday, Owen and I went on a date. We went and saw the new Terminator movie, Terminator Salvation for free. I have to tell you though, I would have paid to see this movie!

I am not a fan of gory movies that lack plot and count on the gross out or fear factor to get butts in the seats of the theater. This movie had a plot that didn't need gore or fear to make it rock. The special effects were well done, with the exception of one effect that was obviously CGI. That particular effect involved the Governor of my Home State.

Also, the movie featured some Fantastic EYE CANDY! I love Christian Bale, and have yet to see a movie that I didn't LOVE his performance in, even if I didn't enjoy the movie itself! There is eye candy for those out there that aren't into men too! Moon Bloodgood is BEAUTIFUL!

If you liked the first two Terminator movies, you will love this one. If you love high action movies like the Transformers movie, You will enjoy this movie.

My only critique? It was loud. My ears still hurt a little!

GO SEE THIS AS SOON AS IT COMES OUT. I doubt you will regret it, unless Fried Green Tomatoes (Which I also enjoyed for the record!) is more your thing. Then just stay home.

6 Years ago yesterday

2009-05-16T10:33:00.001-07:00

Six years ago, yesterday, I became Mrs. Jaclyn Aurianna Bailey. It was a small wedding in a chapel in Vegas called The Wee Kirk O'the Heathers.

From Left to Right, Our entire guest list:

Nanny Joan, Don Bailey, Carole Bailey, Owen, Me, Holly Nellesen, Gary Nellesen.

We had such a small wedding cause the plan was to have a big wedding the next year. That never happened. Now we are hoping to go big for our 10th anniversary (Probably gonna happen at 15 though!)

We were still pretty happy though. One of these days I will type out all the details of our crazy wedding. Maybe next year.

A family legacy

2009-05-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

Alexander's great great grandfather was an acrobat who was so skilled that he was asked to do a royal crown performance. (On Owen's side) My mom was a gymnast. Alexander seems to have inherited the gene for acrobatics. His dismount after he crossed the beam? A front roll. Nice.

Liam's birth story

2009-05-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

Liam's birth story starts at about 10pm on Monday April 27th. That was the time that we finally got the kids to bed. As soon as they were in bed Owen, Chelsea and I started going through boxes to find the 0-3 month boy clothes. We dug through every misc box of clothes we could find. In the end we only found about 1/3 of what I am relatively certain we had. Oh well. We washed what we found and called it good. Then I packed my bag for the hospital while Owen and Chelsea played Magic. Once the load of Liam's newborn clothes and a few things for myself was in the dryer, I got into the shower and scrubbed my belly with the special soap that they had given me earlier that day during pre-op.

Once I got out of the shower I had Chelsea use my camera to take a few pictures of Me and Owen together holding my belly. I will not be posting those here, cause I find them to be awful, but Owen loves them and thinks they are beautiful.

Then I sat there for a little while and watched them play Magic. I finally went to bed at around 2:30am. Owen never went to bed. He stayed up all night with Chelsea.

At 5:00 my alarm went off and I got up to wash my belly with the special soap again. At 5:30am I called L&D and asked if they wanted me to come in yet. They said to come on in between 6:00 and 6:15. We packed the van, and off to Madigan Army Medical Center we went. Chelsea stayed with the kids.

When we got to MAMC we were triaged in and put in a gorgeous birthing suite. Once again I was struck with jealousy as I came to the realization that I was denied the experience of giving birth the way God intended by a gross betrayal of my own body. They monitored me for a while and asked me if I knew I was having contractions. Nope. I had no idea. Thanks for the info.

One nurse came in and tried to place an IV line. She missed twice. (They left two wicked bruises for the record!) Then we waited around doing nothing for almost an hour while the "changing of the guard" took place (shift change). Once that took place the nurse from the day shift came in and placed two IV lines, one on the inner edge of each wrist. For those of you who don't know, IV's placed in the wrist hurt like a son of a gun! Then the Anesthesiologist came in and talked to me about what to expect. I wanted to remind him that this was not my first rodeo... but his name was Gary, and since my step dad is the coolest dad ever, well I just didn't have the heart to be rude to him in any way. He asked me if I wanted music playing during my c-section. I asked if he had anything by The Beatles. Owen is a huge Beatles fan and I knew it would be really awesome for him if our baby came into the world to The Beatles.

A little while later I was wheeled into the O.R. I was scared to death and all I could think about was that I wanted Owen and I was really mad at my mom for not being there.

Gary the Anesthesiologist turned on The Beatles and started prepping me to place my spinal. I have to give the man credit. It was the first spinal that didn't hurt so bad that I couldn't help but twitch and cry. I managed to sit still all by myself and not shed a single tear!

After I got my spinal, they layed me out and prepped me for my c-section. They used tape and other stuff to hold my belly up and in an out of the way position. Twice during the set-up they called a "time out" and did a verbal check-in to record that all was going well so far. Every time they did I would crack a joke about approving the time-out, in the same manner of a political candidate approving a commercial placed by there camp during an election. Eventually I was numb enough and all prepped. They brought Owen in and started cutting.

The weird thing about c-sections is that you can kind of feel what they are doing. It doesn't hurt in the way that getting cut normally hurts, but you can feel the pressure of what they are doing, so if you pay a little bit of attention, you have a pretty good idea of what is going on, even with the giant sheet in front of your face. You are supposed to tell them if it starts to hurt more that just the pressure.

Now normally c-sections go like this: (just an example using made up times)

10:00- place spinal
10:10- prep for c-section, including fully sanitizing the area of surgery (which kinda tickles for the record.)
10:20- bring in spouse
10:05- begin cutting
10:09- baby is out and cries for the first time. Dad is asked if he wants to move across room to where baby is.
10:10- Dad makes comment about Mom's guts (if he could stomach looking or things that it will not panic Mom)
10:20- Dad brings baby over to see Mom so that she will not start to get anxious. Mom kisses babies head and says something that is really more to calm herself that to calm the baby.
10:30- Uterus is back in place and sewn up. Everything else is being squished back into place so they can close mom up.
10:35- Mom feels something weird. If Dad is still in the room, he peeks over sheet to see that the doctor is using something that resembles a staple gun to close up the outer incision.
10:40- Mom is pretty much cleaned up. This part takes various amounts of time depending on things like how much mom bled.
11:00- Mom and baby are back in Labor room, bonding and waiting to be transferred to post-partum room.

That is generally how a c-section goes, barring anything called "complications". I had complications. See, I have fibromyalgia, and pretty severe adhesions. They are relatively common in people who have multiple c-sections. Mine were so bad that my timeline was more like this: ( I am estimating the times. I have no way of knowing the exact times that every thing took, just the estimations based on what the doctors were saying.)

8:00am: Taken back to OR to place spinal
8:10am: Spinal placed
8:20am: Owen brought in as they were beginning to cut
8:25am: Heard mumbled request asking for a tool that was in the room but had not originally been placed in the sterile field.
8:30am: Smell something that makes me think of burning hair. Ask Owen if he smells anything. He does. So he stands and looks over the sheet. Informs me that they are having to cut out and cauterize large adhesions. Says they kind of resemble ... "nevermind" find out later that he was gonna say strips of bacon. Thanks honey.
8:55am: Hear doctor say quietly that my uterus is freed.
9:07am: Hear cry. Liam is out and HUGE! 10lbs 8oz and 21 inches long! Owen goes across room to help with Liam. He got to cut the cord, sort of.
9:10am: OMG! I HURT!!!!!!!
9:15am: Gary starts slamming medication after medication alternately into my two IV's. He tells me what they are for as he goes, but I am to far gone in pain to hear much more than the fact that he is talking to me.
9:30am: I am screaming. Dear God in HEAVEN! Why does this hurt so bad? It has never hurt like this before! I think I am gonna be sick......
9:35am: Owen brings Liam over to see me. I am mostly incoherent. I remember Liam and Owen being there..... I have no idea what is going on or how much time has passed. The world is carved in red and purple and black and green. There is only pain and the need to throw up. I am holding the two IV poles to keep from flailing and having to be bound down for my own safety.
10:00am: The world starts to blur. I don't think I am gonna puke anymore. I am not even sure I can still breath if I cant focus on someone, any one's eyes, just to keep me anchored.
10:30am: I can feel them staple me closed. Feels just the way it always does. Kind of like getting your ears pierced, but only the pressure of it on one side. Like the earring goes in but doesn't exit.
10:34am: I am basically cleaned up. Where is my mom. I thought she was here.... Where did she go? Where is Owen? Where is Liam, Hell, Where am I?
10:45am: Back in the Labor room. I know that over the next hour people came in. I have the pictures to prove it. I vaguely remember Gary and his assistant coming in to check on me. I remember Sgt. Fredrickson coming in to visit. He was at the hospital for something else and thought he would come up and check on me.

Eventually (about 11:30am I think) Owen left. He went home to rest a little, and get the kids ready to come and visit me once I have been moved to post-partum. I slip in and out of being awake and nurse Liam. He was born pro! I had no problems getting him to latch on. Rachel the Midwife, whom I met one day while in incredible pain (the day they thought I might have had a blood clot in my leg) comes to check on me. While she was there, they decided it was time to move me. She helped move me. I held Liam, a nurse pulled the foot of the bed and Rachel pushed the head of the bed. On the way down the hall I was struck with a funny though. I really wanted my mom there, but for reasons never explained to me, she couldn't be there. I had a man named Gary there (my step dad's name) and a woman named Rachel (my sisters name) there was even a nurse named Rion on the hall (my brothers name is Orion and I think that is pretty close!) but at no point did I get any help from someone with my mom's name.

Once I was settled I called Owen to let him know that I had been moved and that he could come anytime he was ready. He said that the kids were tired and that he was gonna put them down for a nap. They would come when they woke up. It was only 1:30pm so I knew that they would be there around 4. At about 3 a new nurse came in. She was just starting her shift. She came to check and see if I had started bleeding yet. I had. She changed out my padding and started checking my vitals and Liam's vitals. She was just about to leave the room when I felt it. I had had this happen with Mikaela. I said a quick prayer that it wouldn't be so bad this time and then told the nurse (whose name I cant remember for the life of me....) that I was pretty sure that I had just passed a blood clot and had a large gush of blood. She lifted the sheet and check. She looked at me and I could see the concern in her face. Everyone who had looked at my chart knew that I had hemorrhaged with my last c-section and it looked like it was gonna happen again. She called in another nurse. This one was named Kim. I only remember her name cause I remember thinking that she didn't look like a Kim to me. Kim removed my sheet and started massaging my belly. Then I felt it. Like a levee breaking in a flood, her relatively gentle massaging had broken whatever was keeping the bleeding at bay. I was hemorrhaging, and badly. The next thing I knew, I had a room full of doctors and nurses. A doctor from the NICU came in and asked me if she could take Liam with her while they were trying to help me. I panicked. I didn't want Liam to leave the room. I needed him with me. I started crying hard and begged her not to take my baby, please don't take my baby away from me. If you take him away I will just die, I know it. I was bleeding bad enough that she took me seriously when I said I would die without him. She stayed in the room and looked after him for the next two hours as I hemorrhaged. Every time they thought they had gotten enough medication into my system to stop the bleeding they would all start to leave the room. My doctor, Dr. Heitmann never even made it past the nursing station. Every 10 minutes my hemorrhage would start to bleed again and for the next 20 minutes everyone would be holding me and trying to extract blood clots and giving me injections of coagulants to try to control the bleeding. Finally someone said "the OR is free. We can take her back in now if we need to. And just like that, it stopped. I had one more small gush of blood, but that was it. Just as they were preparing to take me back to surgery, God and the medication intervened and I was spared from what would have probably resulted in me having to have a partial Hysterectomy.

Now when I had started hemorrhaging, I had a moment of clarity and sent Owen a text to let him know I was hemorrhaging and that he shouldn't come with the kids till I told him that I was OK and it was safe to bring the kids. Once everything settled, sent him a text. It was 5:00pm. He got the kids ready and was there by about 6:00pm. The kids were instantly in love with Liam. They just couldn't get enough of him! They were very careful not to hurt me, but they climbed all over me and gave me lots of love. At about 7:30 Owen took them home. By 8:00 my I was clear of all the tubes and monitors except the IV in one wrist. I was able to get out of bed and go "potty". That night was calm and peaceful. Liam slept for 3 to 4 hours at a time and then would wake up to nurse for about an hour and a half straight, then would go back to sleep.

The next day was calm too. Dr Heitmann came to check on me in the morning. Some blood work was drawn. My red blood cell count was low but he wasn't worried cause I felt fine and it was to be expected given the circumstances. Liam and I spent the day bonding and cuddling and nursing. Owen brought Mikaela and Aeddon by in the morning after dropping Alexander off at school. Then he took them to the zoo. When Alexander got out of school for the day, he picked him up and took them all back to the zoo. I went for a walk around the hall. Owen brought the kids back in the evening and we all hung out for about an hour. Some friends we had made two weeks before came to see me at almost the same time. It was nice to have visitors. I was bored and lonely.

Thursday morning when I woke up I felt kind of off. Dr. Heitmann came in and said that as long as all was well, I would be going home in the afternoon. The lab tech had already come in and drawn up blood for labs. Breakfast came. The pediatrician came in and asked if I wanted to have Liam circumcised. Then he took him off to have that done. I got halfway though my food when I started to feel really bad. My head was swimming and I was seriously dizzy. I told the nurse how I felt and she went to go let the doctor know. I took a shower and tried to relax. Then my labs came back. My red blood cell count was low. Dangerously low. I had come in with 35 parts red blood cells per "unit measured" I was down to 19 parts per "unit measured". The relative frenzy started again. People started swarming in and out. The next thing I knew I was being given a blood transfusion. I had to get two units of blood. During the transfusion a Chaplain came to visit me. He took a very sweet picture of Liam and me cuddling in the bed, all snuggled up together. He thought I was a hoot. He looked up and realised that he had spent almost a full hour with me. He had only meant to come in and say hi. I had distracted him and he had stayed 45 minutes longer than he had intended!

As I was finishing up my transfusion,at almost 5:00pm, Owen showed up with the kids. It was so nice to see them. They were very concerned about the bag of blood going into my arm. I explained what was going on, and they were very mellow while the nurse took the iv out of my arm (she left the hep-lock in) Then we all hung out, went for a walk and hung out in the "day room". The kids drew pictures. I was tired and overly emotional. I loved having my kids there, but when they left I burst into tears. I didn't want to be alone in the hospital anymore. I wanted to go home.

I got lucky. My blood work results for that evening came in improved. That meant that as long as my morning results were good, I wouldn't need a ct, and I could probably go home!

I couldn't sleep all night. I was to anxious. What would be the results in the morning. That nights results were 25 per unit measured. It was the minimum number that the doctor said he would be "comfortable" with. If my count went down to much they would need to do a ct scan to look for a possible bleed. I was done. I was spent. I couldn't stand the emotional roller coaster any more. I just wanted to go home and be with my family. I didn't care what my red blood cell count was!

In the morning the lab results showed that my blood cell count had dropped again. It was down to 23... but since I was not "symptomatic" I could go home if I wanted to... or I could stay till the next day. I wanted to go home. Dr Heitmann came in and removed the drain that they had in my incision, and the ball got rolling for me to come home. I let Owen know that I would be home by 3:00 that afternoon. He thought I meant that I was going home AT 3:00. He showed up to visit unprepared. He didn't have the car seat. April was with him and she volunteered to stay with me and help me get ready to go home. I showered and changed out of my jammies and into my going home outfit. I started packing up my stuff. Then Owen and the kids showed up again and things really got moving. He got Liam dressed in his going home outfit and then finished packing up my stuff while I nursed Liam and filled out paperwork. Then the nurse inspected our car seat and we were off. Sort of.

We got halfway out of the parking lot when Owen asked me if I had the temporary birth certificate. I did not. He needed it for his leave paperwork, so we parked and April and I stayed in the car with the kids while he ran in and got the paperwork he needed from the records office. Then we left.... and went to his work. He dropped of a copy of the paperwork and then we headed off..... to Burger King. He had promised Aeddon BK before he realised that I was gonna be released before lunchtime. So we went. I figured it was no big deal since I could just sit the whole time..... Then we left BK.... and went grocery shopping. I sat in one of those motorized carts and helped as much as I could. Owen and April did most of the work. Finally we went home. I was tired but happy.

I was home. Home with my family.

We are on our way home!

2009-05-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

All is well! More later!

Good Morning!

2009-05-01T09:01:00.001-07:00

Good morning! Mommy wanted me to tell you that she is doing much better today! So much better, in fact that we will probably be going home today!

Today was a bad day.

2009-04-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today was a bad day for me. Some good happened, but I think that I will bum you out a little first.

On tuesday, after delivery, I had a smallish hemorrage. They got the bleeding to stop, but I lost a lot of blood. Yesterday (wednesday) when they ran labs my reds blood cell count was low, but not more than was to be expected, all things considered. Well today when they ran my labs, it was worse. My red blood cell count was low enough that I had to have a 2 unit transfusion. I would like to thank the two O- people who donated to the American Red Cross. Whoever you are, you saved my life today.

Anyways. I am felling better now, but bthey will be re-running my labs at 9:30 tonight. If there is not a vast improvement, I will have a ct scan in the morning to look for a possible bleed.

On the bright side of my life, Liam is doing fantastic. He is a pro breastfeeder. He is as happy and as healthy as can be. Also, on the bright side, my milk came in today, so at least that part of my body is working properly!

I will update as I find things out. Love you!

For Paige

2009-04-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

I will get you a better action shot as soon as I can. The staff all love the ogre hat!

IMG00125.jpg

2009-04-28T20:09:00.001-07:00

Owen was finally able to give him his first bath... Look at all that blond hair!!!

Fw: Liam's beautiful face

2009-04-28T13:26:00.001-07:00

Isn't this just about the most beautiful little boy face that you have ever seen???

Fw: IMG00121.jpg

2009-04-28T10:17:00.001-07:00

Liam Rhys has arrived! 10lbs 8oz, 21 inches!

OK EVERYONE!!!!

2009-04-28T05:33:00.000-07:00

It is 5:30 and we are on our way to Madigan Army Medical Center. The next time anybody hears from me, I will have given birth. Till then!

This is just a test...

2009-04-26T18:51:00.001-07:00

This is just a test to check to see if I can use mobile blogging to let everyone know when baby Liam has arrived!