Rainy Day Lunch

As a special treat Ainsley and I met George for a rainy day lunch. You would have thought we never let Ainsley out of the house, she was so excited. And we all had yummy warm soup which was exactly what the weather has called for lately! So fun! Thanks for making time for us in your busy day George!!

Ballerina Show

Today we took Ainsley to see Hansel and Gretle, her first ballet - or ballerina show as she called it! Notice the tickets in her hand in the picture above. She has been over the moon with excitement for the past week or so and was so thrilled to get to see the ballerinas dance this afternoon. Here she is before the show with a two of her sweet friends - Charlotte and Emma O.


I have to admit that I was a little nervous to see how she was going to do with sitting still for a little over an hour but she was absolutely memorized with the dancers even though there weren't that many fancy costumes or props. She spent the first half of the show sitting in her own seat holding my hand and the second half in George's lap. She was so delighted and whined in the car when we were leaving. I guess I see more of these in our future.


Here are the girls after the show - Emma O, Claire, Charlotte, and Ainsley.


Out takes... We took the first picture before the ballet so we could remember Ainsley's special mommy/daddy date and poor Bailey just couldn't figure out what was going on and why he wasn't a part of it all. He just kept wandering into the picture. Ha! Sweet boy!


And guilty! In the anticipation of the show we had more tutus laying around than normal and I couldn't resist putting one on Bailey. At first he thought it was pretty fun and then he ignored it all together. He walked around for about 10 minutes before George made me take it off. Sorry lil buddy - it comes with the territory of being a little brother. :)

Bailey's Tenth Month

Ok, ok, I know this post is a few weeks belated but I just couldn't bear to make him pose for pics while he was sick. But most of this is written from notes that I've kept all month so its all still good. :)

Anyway, Bailey at 10 months is an active lil monkey! After several failed attempts at holding him down, the growth shot above was the the best we could get before he rolled over and ran the other direction. He spends most of his day walking around the house nonstop, usually with some random item in one hand or running and toppling over head first because he gets going too fast. He is literally always on the move! When he's not running, he is often looking through books or bringing them to us to read, dancing to music or the TV by bending his knees and making a half squat and bouncing, or wrestling with big sister. He is such a joy to watch and I just can't help but say how cute he is a thousand times a day.


This month he mastered saying the 'm' and 'b' sound and mutters 'mamama' or 'bababa' as he speeds around. Also, all four of his top teeth are poking through his gums, which are going to make him look and seem so much older when they come all the way in.


But his greatest milestone - and our favorite - is that he is finally consistently sleeping through the night again!! Early this month he transitioned into a less picky solid and finger food eater and so as soon as George and I felt like he was getting adequate calories during the day we did a little sleep training. I prepared myself for the worse but he was ready for it and even the first night cried for less than 5 min each time he woke up. We gradually extended him longer and longer by pushing back his am feeding until he was sleeping all night! Yay! And like I said, he was really just ready for it - we all were - because he really barely cried during the transition. He still dream-feeds at 10pm but we'll work on breaking that next.


Another transition this month in terms of eating is that Bailey quit nursing a week before he turned 10 months old. :( I kind of saw the signs that this was coming as he has always been so distracted and started dropping a few nursings but there were tears on my end at how abrupt of an ending it was. I nursed Ainsley until she was just over a year old (and I found out I was pregnant) and Bailey's sudden rejection just made me feel like my baby boy was gone. That said, I was kind of ready to have my body back to myself (for the first time since 2008!!!) and I was glad it was his decision rather than me making him quit. And even in my post sadness and pain, I have to admit that it is pretty nice to be able to share the responsibility of his feedings with daddy! :)



Other things about this lil guy that I want to be sure to remember are:

• How Ainsley and him play off of each other going back and forth chattering, making noises, laughing, or screaming and yelling. This especially happens when they are sitting across from each other during meals and is both incredibly cute and annoying at the same time.
• That when he wants to, he is getting the little brother act down pretty good and will cry out for our attention even if Ainsley is just the slightest bit in his way.
• He loves cooking appliances, specifically the oven and the microwave which are both at his eye-level. He is mesmerized by whatever is cooking although we try to keep him away, especially with the microwave! Yikes!
• How he slouches in his high chair like a teenager when he eats.
• His fear of missing out and how he cries and pouts anytime anyone goes outside without him.
  
• How incredibly wiggly he is during diaper changes. It is ridiculously impossible to keep him still every time! Ainsley even mimics us when she's changing her babies diapers by saying things like, "No move baby! You really need to stay still! You are making me grumpy!"
• He is a big fan of the song "The wheels on the Bus" and it usually does the trick when we need to calm him down. He just watches us so contently when we sing.
  
• He becomes a stumbling danger to his own well-being when he gets sleepy before bed. We have often said put that boy to bed before he hurts himself!
• He always sleeps on his belly and as soon as we lie him down he immediately rolls over on his belly and grabs a paci and rubs the sheet. This is so sweet to watch and I cherish these moments and his snuggly body.
• He doesn't love his loveys the way Ainsley did although he is pretty curious about her loveys.
  
• When we go into his room to wake him up or get him out of his crib he excitedly crawls into all corners of his crib "hiding" from us! I love these lil games.

Saying that we love this little guy doesn't even begin to cover it. We just love him to pieces and I want to spend all day snuggling him and kissing all his soft baby parts. He has gotten quite a bit more snugly lately but usually when I try to snuggle him too much he just fusses and wiggles out of my arms. And I love that too. All his energy and busyness is just who he is right now. And we cherish it!!

"I'm done with the photo shoot Mom!"

Ripping off the 10 month sticker.

And crumpling it up. Ha!

Sweet Story Time Moment

Literally just a moment of sweet sibling sharing before an eruption of "Mine, mine, mine! Baby's bothering me!". Still I'll take these moments when I can get them. I'm just glad they are learning to share something other than germs!

The Things She Says

I'm trying hard to capture all the cuteness/funniness/orneriness of this age but I know that there are so many that I just think of or remember. I just love her to pieces and all her lil sayings!

• Long, drawn out, and high pitched "Oooohhhh my goodness, that's aaadddoooorable!" in response to things Bailey is doing or wearing or to random stuff like George checking the news on his phone.
• "Drive really carefully mommy. Don't bump into any cars. Make a big crash-crash." She saw a crash once and now says this all the time.
• "Let's go! Vamanos! Let's go!"
• "Come on Baby Booooyyyyyy!"
• "Sure I will."
• "That not really loving and kind." while scrunching up her nose and shaking her head. We always tell her that the Lord calls her to be loving and kind to her brother and friends so she likes to point out when people aren't doing that. She says this when people aren't being nice in her books or on tv or when mommy and daddy are grumpy at each other and then at random stuff like when the squirrels are eating our acorns. :)
  
• "That's so nice for you to put me night-night/give me a bath/make me lunch"
• Anytime Ainsley sees George and I hugging she yells "Family Hug!" and squirms her way between us. :)
• "I can do it. This is not a problem."
• "Come on. Let's figure it out." Usually when she's imagining she's on a tiger hunt and looking for footprints with her magnifying glass or binoculars - this is pretty cute.
• "You used it all/ate it all - good job!! I'm so proud of you!"
• "What are you talking about?" whenever she isn't included in the conversation.
  
• "I love you in the whole world!" I'm now included in this. :)
  

Sick

The Peyton family has been quarantined from society - with the exception of the drs office, where we've been three times in the past week. It all started when our nanny/helper/lifesaver, Lucy, tested positive for mono. Then that night Bailey woke up with a high fever, crying almost inconsolably. His fever spiked up to 103 and wasn't responding to medicine last Wednesday morning and a trip to the dr led to a diagnosis in either Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease (HFMD) or mono. Babies typically don't get mono but he had symptoms for both diseases with big blisters in this throat, swollen lymph nodes, upset tummy, and high fever but no sores on his feet or hands. We decided not to do a blood test to find out for certain if he had mono because its a virus so even if we knew that's what it was, there isn't anything else we could do for it. But the poor lil guy was and has been so so miserable the rest of the week and weekend. It has been especially hard having him so sick because he understandably wants to be held all the time which is just something I can't do with my back still injured. With Lucy out of the picture help wise, I have been so grateful for my sweet husband who has stepped up in a huge way and helped do all the things I can't. We were both up so much Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights with Bailey being in so much pain but I am unable to lay Bailey down in his crib, so it was George who spent most of the night rocking and comforting him back to sleep. It makes me teary eyed thinking about both how frustrating and helpless it makes me feel to not be able to do my job as a mommy but also how lucky I am to have such an amazing, loving man be my partner in life and the best daddy.

But I digress... Then Friday evening, Ainsley started running a high fever and acting miserable. We gave her some meds and sent her off to bed and we honestly a little comforted by the fact that the other shoe had dropped. We knew she would get sick, it was just a matter of when. Friday night I ended up sleeping with her in her bed trying to soothe her back to sleep - something that has only ever happened once or twice. The poor girl was just a wreck spending most of the time just crying and whining with small spurts of pretend play. The days are kind of a blur of exhaustion now, but she has been fighting fever and tummy ache all weekend and not eating because her "teeth" hurt. Since Ainsley is such a Daddy's girl, George has been so helpful here too. For some reason, snuggling with him is just more calming to her than me. Not sure why, but in times like this - I'll take any comfort we can give. We took her to the dr this morning and she has several big blisters in her throat too. Ugh. Sickness is awful. And with the stomach bug that went through our home for 2-3 weeks a few weeks and with George and I still not 100% from our injuries this fall, I just feel like we have gotten a bit more than our share lately. But Bailey has been acting more like himself yesterday and today and the dr said his mouth sores are gone so hopefully we are on the downhill side of all of this. I know we have a few more days of sickness with Ainsley but then our prayer is that we are back to normal. We are just praying for normal. :)

Just Because...

...that smile melts my heart.