Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend and as promised before I took alot of pictures. Having spent last Easter with my family and getting to experience our traditions as a parent, it was fun to spend the weekend with Franny and experience her traditions. We decided to have the egg hunt a day early as it was suppossed to rain on Sunday. From the pictures you can see that we dyed some eggs and had some plastic eggs in our egg hunt. Bailey chose to eat both- the hard boiled eggs and the cheerios inside the plastic eggs. Her style of hunting was very cute and was mainly motivated by the food and exploring the backyard. At first she went only for the hard boiled eggs. She would fit as many of them in her hands as possible and then she would put them in her basket. Well that worked until the basket was so heavy that she kept tripping. She would not allow me to take any of the eggs out while she was watching, so I snuck about half the eggs out while she was not looking. However, at this point she changed strategies and wanted the eggs with cheerios in them and didn't necessarily care if the eggs were in her basket.

Sunday morning we enjoyed the church service at United Methodist of Clifton. We kept Bailey with us during the first part of the service which was mostly singing. This was her first time to be in big church with us and she did pretty good. By the end she was dancing to He's Alive. The weather turned out to be cool and overcast in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. Perfect for pictures! The last picture shows just some of Franny's Easter decortations. She had bunnies, and baskets spread all over the house for Bailey to find and play with!!!

Happy Easter

Two Trips

Luke and I both just celebrated our 29th birthdays. To celebrate we took a trip to Washington DC to catch up with Luke’ s college roommates. And on that note…

2-4-6-8 Who Do We Appreciate? The FOSHEAS AND FRANNY.

We left Bailey behind with Joel and Katie for 3 days and Franny for 1. At some point I knew I would leave her behind on a trip, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon. I was more preparing for this summer, but we jumped at the chance when Joel and Katie offered to keep her. As a parent I can’t believe how hard it was to leave her behind. Anyways we had a really good time seeing all the sights and catching up with old friends. Also, I didn't had to change a diaper in 4 days and got to eat all meals uninterrupted! From what I hear Bailey had fun with Emmy and even got to go to the zoo. Franny reported that she really got to see her granddaughters personality and they had a perfect day together.

Luke and I in front of the White House.

Arriving back at our house we were excited to see how our garden looked. Visible are the tomatoes, green peppers, and squash.

Right before left we had her 18 month old appointment. It was just for a check up, but we walked out with 2 prescriptions. I guess it was good timing because I didn't really know about either issue. I did learn that if your kiddo doesn't like you messing with their ears and also doesn't like to lie flat on their backs that it is probably an ear infection. Also, she is now 20lbs, 10 ozs (5th percentile) and 32 inches long (50th percentile).

About a week before the DC trip, Bailey and I took a quick trip to the DFW area and we got to spend some time with both the grandmas Gigi and Nana Franny, and also her great grandmother who is Nana Mary. Nana Mary has the perfect toddler sized cups and Bailey learned all about the fact that water can come out of the fridge and would stand there and want more. Nana Mary was so sweet to get her an Elmo doll that has been a hit!

Bailey with Nana Mary.

Bailey is quite the care taker and has even had a few tea parties for Elmo.

At my parent’s house Bailey had a blast exploring, and just getting dirty. She loves being in the country. My parents have cows and she loves to go look at them. The four wheeler is another fun activity to get a really close look at the cows.

My mom also pulled out some of Tori's old clips and we just barely got Bailey's hair into pigtails.

The final stop was Nana Franny’s where she got all remaining energy out. She would explore the front yard and then the back yard, and repeat. Franny had fun having Bailey at her house and using Luke’s old high chair and silverware. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures, but I will get some when we are back there in two weeks for Easter.

The Magic Carpet

Let me introduce you to the Mezger Model of the Magic Carpet. We were first told of the Magic Carpet and the hours of fun you could have with it while using the Foshea Model. Yes, Joel and Katie just happened to mention the other night their secret and how much Emmy loved it. We didn't wait a day before we put ours to use.

As you can see in the picture below even an 18 month old can use the Magic Carpet to pull his or her toys.

Today Katie, Chelsie, and I had a playdate that was around Bailey's naptime and I needed the help of the magic carpet as Bailey was getting cranky. Its powers went right to work and soon all three girls wanted on at once.

I can't believe I didn't think of this before. Get your own model today!!!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. I've enjoyed reading her Not Me Mondays so much, I have decided to join in the fun. You can head over to her blog to read what she and others are not doing.

This means that I get to post all of the things I did *NOT* (wink, wink) do this week. Keeping it real and living to tell about it....Let's see what I didn't do! I'm thrilled and relieved to tell you that I did NOT have a single embarrassing or less-than-perfect parenting moment.

Which means this weekend, I did NOT jump at the chance at going out to eat twice this weekend. I could NOT need a break from cooking and doing the dishes. The first time we went out to eat we did NOT let our daughter steal some, okay most of her friend's food. And the second time we did NOT watch our daughter leave the floor littered with sugar packets, straws, utensils, a shredded paper napkin, gooey chunks of pears, and Cheerios that he took to flinging far and wide when she realized that she was bored. NOPE! I was NOT embarrased of the mess.

This morning, I did NOT sit down and watch the full episode of Sesame Street. NOT ME because I only use Sesame Street while I get ready in the morning and because I've got things to do...like laundry, cleaning, letting the dog outside, getting groceries. I also did NOT sing along with Elmo as he sang the Sleep Song because that would be ridiculous. And, I do NOT DVR Sesame Street every morning and make it part of our routine.

Speaking of Sesame Street, I did NOT give in and buy Elmo Easter eggs at about $.70 an egg and another Elmo book just because it was on sale. I would NOT give into to such marketing schemes. I have NEVER gotten onto Luke for doing the same thing. NO WAY, NOT ME!

Right now Bailey and I are NOT still in our pajamas because we always get up and change into our day clothes especially before noon. I always comb Bailey's hair and put a bow in it. I NEVER let her run around with crazy morning hair that still has some of her breakfast in it. OH NO, NOT ME!

I am NOT excited about this spring weather today. Furthermore, I DO NOT want to spend some time outside with Bailey. She would NOT love exploring the yard collecting rocks and sticks. I would NOT like seeing all the spring blooms and get some sunshine. She has NOT been standing at the window while I type this blog. I am NOT going to stop blogging right now, so we can go outside.

18 Months Old

We thought that in honor of Bailey's 18 months on this earth we would reflect on 18 things we love about Bailey. What a wonderful creator we have!

1. How she blows kisses and waves to us after we have put her in her crib at night

2. That she knows where to look for da-da so that she can get one more peek at him as he is driving down the driveway

3. How much she smiles and laughs when we play chase

4. How little it takes for her to be entertained

5. Finding stuff that she has hidden and we didn't even know it was gone or that she even knew that place existed

6. Going to the playground and watching her go down the slide over and over again- usually backwards or on the tummy

7. Her dance moves

8. Watching Bailey run- she is actually quite clumbsy and usually ends up falling down or running into something.

9. Watching her sleep with Mr. Beans the elephant in one arm and Alfonso the lion in the other

10. The rock and stick collections

11. Bathtime- Bailey loves the water and has recently learned to slide back and forth. Splashing is another favorite!

12. How she points out things when she recognizes them

13. How hard she hits her head to signify that she wants a bow. Also the fact that she has decided that the vacuum needs to have a bow when it's out. She is insistent about it.

13. The sweet sounds of Bailey playing in her crib as she is waking up or going to sleep

14. That she calls us ma-ma and da-da

15. Watching her do things for herself like using a fork and brushing her teeth

16. How much she loves the outdoors- I think she would like to spend the whole day outside

17. How she always has room for just a little more food even though just a minute ago she was all done

18. Her unconditional love for us and because of that we can only begin to understand how much Christ loved us and sent his son for us.

Thank You Elmo!!!

Today's blog is dedicated to Elmo or Mamo as Bailey's calls him. Bailey's new t.v. friend. Usually I just let Bailey hang out with me in the bathroom as I get ready and she tears the place apart. I was desperate the other day to keep the house clean, so I decided to try letting her watch Sesame Street and she loves it. I can't believe Bailey likes the same show I used to watch although it has had some small changes. Thank you Elmo and all other Sesame Street characters for giving me 15 minutes to get ready in the morning!

So of course Bailey's favorite bedtime book right now is an Elmo book.

The Austin Kite Festival

Today was the annual kite festival in Austin. This is one of the many reasons why I love Austin and it has become a yearly family tradition. Events like this remind us of how lucky we are to have such good friends to share good times with. This year was even more special because of the fact that Luke's friend Sean was in town from Chicago looking at UT law school. We really hopes he picks UT so that he and his wife will move to Austin. (SEAN OR HARMONY- IF YOU ARE READING THIS: PICK UT! This is one of the few times I will openly support someone going to UT.)

A very happy Bailey around lunch time. She was not happy for long because she wan't free to explore and it was naptime. You should have seen the look on her face when Emmy showed up. All things were better again!


The free kite scene.

One of the bigger kites.

The Mezger/Foshea family picture. By this point Bailey was up way past her nap time and this was the best picture we could get. Emmy couldn't help anymore.


A look back at last year and how much the girls have grown up. We totally tried to recreate this picture.

Mike, Sean, Luke and Bailey.

One funny story from this weekend is that in trying to teach Bailey Mike's name she somehow started calling him by the last syllable of his name "k", which then turned to "guck". The weird thing is she consistently calls him this. No luck in getting Bailey to say anything close to Sean.