The Bailey Family: 2012

Last day as a family of 3

We have been a busy bunch the past few weeks. We have been doing a lot of work around the house and playing twice as much. We are all very excited for the arrival of Fish Fish and Dylan is already proving what a great big brother he is going to be. Captain Jack Sparrow stopped by while Dylan and I were at gymnastics class and set up a grand adventure for us.

He left instructions on the pirate ship to follow for the adventure. He even included a pirate hat, eye patch, bling ring.

We went fishing with pretzel rods (pretzels, peanut butter, and goldfish)

We did a few fireworks...I didn't quite get pictures of that part of the adventure.

We read a very cool pirate book.

We dug for sea shell treasure in the sandbox. Yup that is the Fish Fish bump. See Stephen, I can balance things on my belly too.

And the first mate was there for the s'mores at the end of the adventure.

We are all ready to meet our new little blessing! We can't wait to meet you! We love you already.

Welcome baby!!!

Summer is here!!

I love my front yard this time of year. That is until it becomes a deer buffet or soccer goal. But for now...these are the lovely flowers that are blooming. It is really beautiful.

Summer time also means more time with our friends, The Etchisons. The boys are best buds. We have a feeling that we'll have 4 little boys running around together very soon.

And what summer is complete without the Bailey Beach?? It is in full swing!

18 months pregnant

So not really but it feels like it. With Dylan, we had no idea that we were expecting until I was about 7 weeks along. That really helped move things along. This one has been known from the start and has been a bit of a stinker all the way through. I'm just hopeful for a healthy baby and a happy little family of 4. Any guesses on the sex of the baby???

Water temp 48 degrees...

We went for our first trip to the beach and chose to go to the dog beach at the end of Sherman in Muskegon so all members of the family could join in the fun. It was packed. I made us sandwiches, thinking that would be a nice place to play and to have lunch...I won't do that again...dogs can smell peanut butter from a mile away, and they come running. I shoo'ed one away and it peed on Dylan's sand toys...arg!

The water felt amazing. Dylan and I played in it for quite a while. The next day I found out that the water was a balmy 48 degrees. Must be my personal furnace at work. It really did feel good...and helped my swelling out a whole bunch! I can't wait for the warm Lake Michigan water this summer.

Ellington loved the beach...although it is funny to watch how he has slowed down. He used to run non-stop at the beach and this time he waddled out into the water if I was out there (my protector) and laid in the sand keeping the other dogs away from Dylan and I.

Our own superhero!

Dylan is a superhero. It is the truth and there is no denying it. With the impending launch of The Avengers and the Disney marketing machine, Dylan is truly convinced that he is the Incredible Hulk (depending on the day there are various other superheros that make an appearance). I'm doing more laundry than ever because he has a couple of Avenger's shirts that he likes to wear...and that is pretty much it. Well at least we are getting laundry done, right?!

I'll admit he isn't the best eater so we have to be a little creative. This morning he was very much resisting pancakes (but prego mama wanted some so...), so we made superhero pancakes...voila pancakes gone! The green one is for the incredible hulk, the blue for superman, and the red for iron man or spiderman depending on the day.

Iron man sporting the well worn Avengers t-shirt, and yes, that is a blow-up dolphin in the background...I have no idea why... Ellie is back there too...keeping his distance.

I don't know if Transformers are considered superheros but they are pretty cool so these are the jammies that Dylan wears just about every night.

Tony Chestnut...

What is a superhero without some mad upside down skills...?

When you take all of the superhero away, he is still just our sweet, caring, adorable, and very personable little Dylan.

School program

Adorable. That is all that I can say to describe the end of the year program at Dylan's school, Good Shepherd. His teachers were amazing this year and the program was fantastic. I'll admit that I cried...it was so adorable. Dylan was a little embarrassed of me, he said, "Mom, what are you doing?" He'll learn soon enough that I cry at most everything. :) We are just so proud of him and all that he has accomplished this year!

One of the songs that they sang, "Tony Chestnut" runs through my head all day long...and if you catch me doing any silly moves...that is the dance that goes along with it. Thanks, Mrs. Grimm, for getting me hooked. You can take a preschool teacher out of the classroom but you can take the preschool heart out of the teacher.

Weesies

I feel so lucky that I was able to go with Dylan's class on their field trip to Weesie's Greenhouses. With my new interest in trying to make things in my yard grow, it was really cool to be able to see the behind the scenes view of what happens at a greenhouse.

They explained everything! It was really cool to see how automated things are.

The kids were in awe!

They even had a chance to plant the seedlings.

It was a really fun trip with really great kids.

Easter

The Easter Bunny came to Grandma and Grandpa L's house to hide all of our eggs this year.

Dylan didn't take much time to be able to find all of them. That silly bunny put the eggs all over the place!

Annual Easter egg hunt in Rothbury

Dylan and Isaac after the hunt.

Easter morning...the eggs were everywhere.

Some were a little challenging to get to.

After church we found out that the bunny also hid eggs outside!

They were EVERYWHERE!

Trace and Dylan had lots of fun with their Easter baskets.

This was from the Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa B's house.

That silly bunny!

Dividing up the loot :)

It was also Grandma's birthday.

Candy and cake in one day = 2 happy boys!

The Easter Bunny also hid eggs at Grandma and Grandpa B's house, for all of the grand kids. It was a ton of fun to watch Dylan run from egg to egg.

Trip to Indy

Uncle Stephen moved to Indianapolis last March and we haven't had a chance to go see him until this spring. It has been a very busy year. Our trip was a ton of fun...he certainly showed us the city! I was really impressed with Rolls Royce, I had no idea how large their facility would be! I guess it makes sense when you are designing, building, testing, and selling jet engines that it would have to be a big place but it was HUGE!! I was so in awe...I didn't take a single picture...but I did capture the rest of our trip :)

Probably one of the coolest children's museums we have ever been to. We really needed 2-3 days to see it all. It was awesome!

There was a gigantic Bumblebee there. For a kid that is obsessed with superheros...this was amazing.

Found a space suit. Not sure if that is what it is actually called but it was cool!

I'm pretty sure that Uncle Stephen was jealous that they didn't have his size.

Of course they had an ice cream shop to work in...and we did. :)

Back to see Bumblebee. It was really cool!

I'm glad to not be the victim of Uncle Stephen's face manipulating this time, although I did feel a little sorry for Dylan because I know how it feels. LOL!!