3 months old

She is growing up a little too fast for me!  Bailey is three months in a couple of days. 

  I hope that I am embracing every moment I can...

She has quite the little (or big sometimes) attitude and she let's us know when something is not right!!

Or sometimes she is just flat out serious... and not in the mood for Mom and Dad's nonsense...

She is sitting up now, wants to explore the world, and god forbid you try to cradle hold her, she can not see anything that way!!

She likes to pull tantrums, if you do not get to her fast enough (and I am taking a picture of this, bad mom!!)

She is now interested in other kids and is always smiling at them (this is her little boyfriend, Nathan!)

She is learning to play and has started to be interested in toys!

She is not a huge fan of tummy time, but we do it anyhow!!

She loves her dog, and her dog loves her back.  Roxy is excellent with her!

She is an excellent sleeper, I am hoping this does not change.  She is not much into naps at all though, so we just play all day (maybe she gets 30 minutes here and there).  Mommy gets nothing completed but that is okay, we have a happy baby!

Most of the time, she loves to smile and look at the world...

Bailey you make our life complete, We love you!  You will always be our little baby.

Cloth Diapers

We decided when I was pregnant to cloth diaper.  Not knowing really anything about cloth diapering at 2 months pregnant we started to do some mad researching.  We were both very committed to cloth diapering for many reasons.  First we started adding up how much disposables cost, we factored in about how many diapers Bailey would go through at each stadge, we also factored in the approximate cost of water and electricity (we used a higher amount because we line dry most of the time).  Our reasons for choosing cloth diapers were as follows:

Environmental Reasons:

• Disposable diapers use 2x as much water as cotton diapers.
• Disposable diapers use 3x as much energy as cotton diapers.
• Disposable diapers generate 60x more solid waste than cotton diapers, Disposable diapers are the third most common consumer product in landfills today
• Disposable diapers use 20x as much raw materials as cotton diapers
• 1 billion trees per year are destroyed to make disposable diapers---approximately 4.5 for each baby who uses them
•  It takes between 200-500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose.
• Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent 30% of non-biodegradable waste
• 1 ton of garbage is created for each baby who uses disposable diapers
• 1 cup of crude oil is used for the plastic in 1 disposable diaper
• 18 billion disposalbe diapers are used in the U.S. each year  enough to stretch to the moon and back 9 times

Other Reasons:

• Disposables are laden with chemicals which have been associated with many physical problems. Diaper rash also increases with disposable diaper use due to allergies to chemicals, poor air flow and longer time spent in wet diapers which feel dry when wet.  The chemicals in disposables are linked to many problems (asthma).  
• Disposable diapers also contain chemicals that should cause parents concern. One chemical used in manufacturing disposables is dioxin, “which in various forms has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, liver damage, and skin diseases”. The absorbent material in the diapers contain sodium polyacrylate, which can cause severe skin infections and is the “same substance that was removed from tampons in 1985 because of its link to toxic shock syndrome” .
• Money, we are saving money, and even with the investment of the cloth diapers, within 3-6 months they will pay for themselves, and keep saving us through Bailey and another child.  
• Using cloth diapers will help facilitate quicker potty training. During potty training time children who have been in cloth will recognize sooner when they are wet vs a baby in disposable diapers.
• Cloth Diapers are surprisingly easy to use.
• Not to mention they are totally cute.

We have been using bumGenius ( http://www.bumgenius.com/), so far we are really happy with these diapers.  We are also using Grobaby (http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com/), these are really awesome also (you can use a safe disposable insert), you also can reuse the shell all day (which reduces laundry).  We wash Bailey's diapers every 2 days and dry them on the line or in the dryer (when the weather is bad).  I think that assembling them for the next use takes the longest.  

Tony and I are very happy with our choice to cloth diaper.  If anyone ever is interest and needs advice, I can tell you what I have learned.  I do not think CDing is for everyone (you have to want to do some work) but I really think once you have a system it is very easy.  

Starting 2010...

This last year has been full of fun and excitement for Tony and I.  In February we found out we were pregnant (yeah!); Bailey Kate was born in October; we had our first Thanksgiving and Christmas as a family and many other adventures.  There were also many hard things about last  year, losing our Bella was at the top for both of us.  When the New Year rolled in I began to think (as I do every year) about what I want to focus on this year.  Last year it was starting a family, going through a healthy pregnancy with little weight gain and several other things, Check check check.  This year I have many things on my list.  Maybe because now I have two of us to think about (oh yes and my husband :)! )  I do not really believe in resolutions per say, just goals all the time (which should change and evolve)  Here are my goals in no particular order...

• Love my daughter and husband as much as possible
• Continue exclusively cloth diapering!  (we have been doing it for about 2 months now- only using disposable diapers on vacation but other than that only Cloth Diapers)
• Start being better about meal planning (this includes the shopping list and COUPONS and planning healthy meals.)
• Spending time training Roxy everyday (and getting her out for walks...)
• Exercising (getting moving every day-whether inside on the treadmill, a video, or walking outside, with friends or by myself).  
• Keeping up on photos and the photo books (I keep the computer photos organized perfectly but printing them and putting them in books is another deal).
• Blogging-not just keeping up on our family but writing about my thoughts, aspirations, and topics I am interested in...
• Having a date night with my husband once a month
• Organizing my house, getting rid of clutter (via Craigslist, Ebay, etc...)
• Spending quality time with Bailey (we play everyday and I make sure she has my full attention- but not letting anything come before that!)
• Joining a Mom's Group (so Bailey can meet other children and I can meet other mommies)
• Working on practicing taking photos, I love to do this but I would like to be better at this, and I will add making sure I get videos of Bailey!
• Making Bailey's baby food (or at least MOST of it).  Yes, I know many people will say oh yeah right, but they said that about cloth diapering and we feel it is the best choice we have made.  We will see.  

I can not begin to describe how in love I am with Bailey.  She makes me soo happy.  I thank my husband for allowing me to stay home with her, I can not imagine not being with her (okay so I do take breaks) :), she is amazing.  We have decided that we will make whatever sacrifices it takes.  We will probably not own a home anytime soon, or go on any far away vacations, be dressed in fancy clothing, and many other things, but those are not our priorities right now.  

2010 is sure to bring many firsts for us and new adventures.  We are excited to watch Bailey grow and grow.  There are so many milestones in 2010, first holidays, crawling, walking, talking and many other things!!  Cheers to 2010!

Lake Tahoe...

We decided to pack up the car and head to Lake Tahoe for our first vacation as a family!  We decided to leave Wednesday morning FIRST thing after Bailey's morning feeding (which is usually at 5:00 am).  Well, she decided to wake up at 3:30, so I just went back to bed and we got up at 5 ish and by the time we finished packing everything, the dog, the baby and ourselves we were finally off on our road adventure!!  It usually takes Tony and I about 8.5 hours to get to my parent's condo, this time though it was quite the trip!  12 hours later we arrived.  Between stopping so I could nurse the baby, change her diapers, and let the dog out (not counting if we needed to use a restroom it was a loooonnngg ride!  I have to say though, that Bailey was awesome, she did not cry once on the trip (she slept and contently looked around).  Roxy accompanied her in the backseat, Roxy was also very good.  

We spent till Sunday relaxing, hanging out, and enjoying the snow!  Bailey did not much like the cold weather yet, she was a bit fussy even when she was bundled up.   Roxy was in love with all the new smells. Of course we visited Buffalo Wild Wings one day:   Bailey did not get to enjoy the buffalo wings with us!  

The weather was a little foggy, but we still enjoyed being up at the condo.  It is very peaceful up there.  Vacation was different for us this time.  One ALOT of packing to get ready (although I did not forget ANYTHING-yay!). Two, I think from now on vacation does not mean rest and relaxation with a baby (which I knew).  Three, we love showing Bailey the world, the trees, the lake, and beautiful places even though she is too young to fully appreciate it, she did have her eyes wide open and looking around.  We were very excited to have our first family vacation, we loved showing Bailey Tahoe and the lake.  We had a great time just playing around with Bailey!  We always hate to leave...Thank goodness the trip home did not take us 12 hours (only 10, so a little better!!)- would we do it again, yep in a heartbeat!! 

Here are some photos from our adventure:

Bailey's Birth Announcement...

Bailey's Photo Shoot

Okay, so I forgot to post these photos...Bailey had her first photo shoot with our Wedding Photographer Kimberlee Miller.  She is an excellent photographer and we appreciate her taking these photos for us.  Her website is: http://www.kimberleemiller.com/ for anyone who would like to check out her work!  Bailey was about 4 weeks old in these photos.  It was funny, I started getting ready about 2 hours before the time we needed to leave.  I was gathering all her outfits, nursing her to guarantee she was happy, changing her diaper, and giving her a bath.  When we got there it was perfect, Bailey was quietly asleep and continued that way through the photo shoot!!  I think the photos turned out BEAUTIFUL, but of course I think that, she is my daughter!! Enjoy!