MmmMmm Good....

When Bailey isn't busy eating peas or rice cereal, she is usually busy eating bears...

the perfect sized bear for a Bailey Booper mouth
Next on the list for things to learn?
How to keep the bear in her mouth through a smile, a laugh...
and other toy distractions...
Nothing that can't be fixed with a little bit of practice!

Eating Peas...

Dinner time comes around once every evening, which makes someone in this house very happy.

Food of the week: Peas
In the beginning the first few bites got reactions like this:
and this:
but peas have grown on us all and now we are huge fans...
and nothing says "happy baby" like a full stomach and not being constipated anymore.
Three cheers for peas!

Show me sassy

As the various facial expressions start to emerge we can't help but guess at what is going on inside that little head of hers.
Aaahh! Don't take my picture! I am so embarrassed.

You look familiar...have we met?Oh how I wonder who will get that last rose?

Dad, I know that you are keeping your distance because of the inordinate amount of saliva escaping my mouth.

My hand lotion smells sooooo good.

Oh modern family, you slay me!

So what if I itch my wrist with my feet? My toe nails are just long enough to get up inside my wrist-crease.

Mom, seriously. Put that camera down and hold me.

Honestly we know we are way off. It is probably more like, "oh that's shiny", "hmmm, I will eat that" or " I can't believe she wore that."

Hello Again, Uncle Quinn

Sometimes Uncle Quinn visits and there is a little bit of initial crying.

But then we remember he is nice and we love him, and from then on its all smiles.

Six Months

Length: 26" - 50%
Weight: 18 lbs 4 oz - 75%
Head Circumference: 44.2 cm - 90%

-Thinks it is hilarious when our two year old neighbor runs around the recliner barking like a dog. I think it is even funnier when Daddy Sam takes over after the two year old goes back home.
-Getting stranger anxiety to the extreme. And so it begins...
-Finally rolled over from back to tummy and tummy to back. She was quite proud of herself. The fact that I can count on one hand the number of times she has done this to date is irrelevant.
-Is becoming quite the champ at sitting up. She will cry and cry if she topples over until you sit her back up, and then the ginormous smile instantly returns.
-After all the tylenol/benadryl/antibiotics/pedialyte she has been on the past week and a half it is blatantly obvious she received my sweet tooth. We better get some vegetables in her diet soon before it is too late.
-Still loves her bath.
-Loves any "toy" she can get her chubby little fingers on. My cell phone, any plastic kitchen utensil, halloween candy (especially if the wrapper crinkles). Will only take her toys/stuffed animals as a last resort.
-Turned into a terrible sleeper that will not stay on a schedule. I am still bitter. It was wrong of her to sleep for ten or eleven hour stretches and then resort back to three or four.
-The best little block tower crusher ever.
-Loves to stretch her arms out and flap her wrists. Daddy Sam thinks this is very funny. Boopers also thinks it is quite hilarious when Dad tries to mimic her actions.
-Makes lots of noises. Some of them low grumbles. Others high pitched squeaks that almost sound like an asthma attack. All of them are quite interesting and will get a smile if repeated.
-Loves to give Daddy Sam a big huge smile when he finally gets home from work.
-Hates being cooped up in the house all the time. She loves to see the world.
(She kept her hands in her pocket for the whole walk. It was so cute.)
-Is still the jumpiest baby ever. Everything startles her. Usually she will smile or just stare after. Every once in awhile it will make her frown and whimper. Too bad her frown is the cutest thing and we usually want her to do it again. Yes, we are mean parents.
-Loves neck tickles/massages. She will stop crying and lay in a trance as soon as you start.
-Still no teeth, and no complaints about this from me.

Flu, Flu, Go Away...

The last time I got sick with the flu and threw up? I can't remember, but I was definitely young enough to be still living at home with Mom and Dad, barfing in their toilet, and having them take care of me.

The last time I got a flu shot? Never, well until last Tuesday.

We had a fun, fake Halloween here in Utah. Saturday was spent at the store purchasing candy for our little trick or treaters, dressing Bails up as a chicken, going to the mall to collect candy (super crowded=not fun), attending parties, playing games, and hanging out with friends.
Sunday, early morning, I woke up and spent the remainder of the day in bed or by the toilet, expelling every ounce of food/liquid from my body. I attributed this to food poisoning because I never got a temperature or had any other symptoms.

Monday night came. Bails went to bed like normal. Three hours later she awoke with a bed full of vomit (sour milk? Possibly one of the worst smells ever). She spent the remainder of the night puking up stomach bile, acting super lethargic, refusing to nurse, and breathing weird. Naturally we freaked and rushed her to the ER at 1:00 am. After a zofran, tylenol, a nasty shot of antibiotic, a urine analysis, and finally convincing her to nurse we were discharged without having to hook her up to an IV.

We returned home with a nice welcoming vomit all over the front entry way, including the bowl of leftover Halloween candy (which Sam ate anyway. Apparently he has a policy: No Twix or Kit Kat left behind). And thus proceeded our night and following two days.
We definitely got a tough trooper. She barely cried after she threw up, and as soon as we put her in the bath to clean her up she was all smiles. She slept pretty much all day and handled feeling icky better than I did. She definitely takes after my Mom and not Sam or I. We are the biggest whiners when we don't feel good.
She is now eating a little better which will hopefully help her gain back the pound she lost and her saliva has returned.

Hears to hoping the diarrhea goes away, her ability to pee comes back soon, and that we never get a flu shot again.

Chic-or-tweet

For Halloween we decided that it was important to dress Bailey up in a costume that neither of us would ever wear and then to parade her around to as many places as possible. One of our favorites was the Vineyard Nursery pumpkin patch. To avoid the long line we decided to enter through "the back way" and soon found ourselves passing by a row of crowded chicken pens.
Usually running into the real life version of what you're dressed up like makes for an awkward moment, but Bailey pulled it off like a champ! She even forgave the rooster when it jumped at her and tried to claw her threw the fence.(I went back later and snapped its neck, that's what it gets for messing with my Boopers)

After that detour we made our way over to the corn maize. I don't know if it was the frequent dead ends or the "laffy taffyesque" Halloween jokes posted at each one of them that ticked me off more, but finally I 'd had enough! You may be thinking to yourself, "Is he really sneaking under the rope to cut to the end of the corn maize? What kind of lesson does that teach his child?" The answer is yes, and the lesson is that corn maizes are dumb and the church chili cook off was starting in ten minutes.

At one point Terri thought if she said a prayer we could find our way out but it didn't work, probably because Bailey had her eyes open during it...busted!

We finally decided corn is meant to be popped and lightly salted-not aimlessy wandered through- and headed for the main attraction, lots and lots of pumpkins!

Luckily the vineyard pumpkin patch had pumpkins for trick-or-treaters of all sizes and Bailey was thrilled to be able to pick on one her own size.

It was a lot of excitement for one outing. I am pretty sure we both ran out of energy before Bailey, it turns out she's a little party animal.

Happy Halloween!