Woo hoo....Bailey is 2!

It's hard to believe, but our sweet Bailey-boo is already 2 years old! Since Andy is only home every once in a while, our time together to celebrate Bailey was extra special! And Bailey was definitely anticipating every moment of it. The whole week prior to her birthday, Bailey would mention her birthday party at least 3 times a day.

The day of Bailey's birthday (August 27th), we started with a special breakfast...birthday cake yogurt!!! Then Andy and I took her for a morning out at the MN Zoo. This is one of B's favorite places to be. Her favorite exhibits are the monkeys (there were some baby monkeys this trip), penguins, fish and the DOLPHIN SHOW! The next day we had Bailey's "Minnie Mouse" birthday party. She had lots of fun in her new bounce house that she got from Ga & Papa, playing with all her friends, opening presents, and eating her birthday cupcake! I absolutely loved getting everything ready for her Minnie Mouse party. Thanks to my friend Taya for letting me use her fancy Cricut machine - without it I wouldn't have been able to make all the decorations and invitations.
Bailey's birthday celebration ended on Monday, two days after her birthday (seriously -I want a 3 day birthday celebration!). We took a trip with my sister, mom and niece Abby, to the American Girl store at the Mall of America. Bailey and Abby got to pick out their new Bitty Baby dolls and have lunch in the America Girl Cafe. Bailey enjoyed walking through the store and gathering all the Bitty Baby bears to play with them on the floor. I almost thought she was going to like the bear more than her baby...until the sales woman took her baby out of the box and handed it to her. Lunch was fun, although for the first 15 minutes or so, Bailey was more interested in looking out the windows to watch the rides in Nickelodeon Universe. Abby and Bailey got to have their new Bitty Babies right next to them and shared their lunch and ice cream desserts with them! We ended our trip at the mall with a ride on the carousal, which might have ended up being the highlight of Bailey's day! Even though I know that in 10 years Bailey will not remember all the celebrating we did for her second birthday, it was definitely memorable for Andy and me. And I think when she looks back at the pictures, she'll know that she was greatly celebrated!

Not the best post, but at least it's something!

It has almost been 2 months since my last post. I've been putting it off for a few days now, thinking that I have WAY too much to catch up on, but not enough time. Tonight I realized that I just need to sit down and try to talk about the last 2 months of summer without a bunch of details.

I'll start with me. I finished my grad school research and wrote my proposal for my Action Research Project. I turned it into the board the end of July. By mid-August, when I was asked what my topic was, I couldn't remember. I mean, I knew what I was going to do, but couldn't remember the educational term. I wasn't sure if this was a bad thing (since I should know after all the time and effort I put into it) or a good thing (since research was my life all of June and July and now I was finally able to forget about school so I could relax and enjoy what was left of summer). Good news - the board fully approved my research!(Bailey "helping" me work on my paper)

Bailey and I were able to take a long weekend trip to see Andy at his "new house" in Elkhorn, WI. The trip was wonderful because it was really the only time this summer that the 3 of us were all alone. The highlight of the weekend was taking Bailey to an Open Gym at a local gymnastics center. She loved the in-floor trampolines and jumping into the foam pit. She also enjoyed our Sunday morning by Lake Geneva, watching dogs, the water, and boats.
We went camping with my family to Firefly Lake for 6 days this summer. Unfortunately, Andy was only there for 2 1/2 days, but it was better than not at all. Bailey had a blast with her cousins Jake and Abby, and 2nd cousins Luke and Eva. Just about every morning, Bailey would wake up and the first thing she wanted to do was go swimmin'. This girls is an absolute water bug....and I love it! She totally reminds me of myself...I was always the first and last one in the lake.
Bailey got her first haircut! Not that it was extremely long, but more because she was getting quite the little mullet. I wouldn't say she necessarily loved the experience, but once they started blowing bubbles, she was more tolerable. We had our last photo session with my favorite local photographer, who has now moved to California. We took some family pictures as well as B's 2 year photos at St. Kate's in St. Paul. Bailey started out well, but towards the end of the hour long shoot, her independence began to take over as she seemed to have better things to do than pose or smile for the camera. As always, the summer flew by faster than the previous year. Why I am always so surprised at how quickly it goes, I don't know. But I'm thankful for the time I was able to spend at home with Bailey, my family and friends. And as always, I'm already looking forward to next summer!