The Death of Owl

Bailey's pet Beta Fish 'Owl' died this week. Bailey picked him out about 8 months ago and named him, gave him 'fishy-kisses', and fed him regularly. We felt like we were good to the little guy but this was his third attempt at suicide and was successful this last time.

The first attempt was a jump out of the bowl but we were all in the kitchen to witness it and Brandon quickly swept him back into the bowl to safety. Bailey retold that story for about a week.

The second time, Brandon was cleaning out his bowl over the sink and Owl again made a flying leap out but managed to land in the garbage disposal. Brandon thought he was a goner but reached in and pulled him out by his tail. Owl was a bit disoriented and his tail was shredded but he bounced back.

Then this week I went to get some water before bed and saw a still Owl on the table. I gasped and told Brandon to come get him. His gills were moving very slightly so Brandon put him back in his bowl. Owl swam around a bit but kept floating to the top and then swimming a little more; it was a sad scene. Brandon even tried playing the guitar for him to motivate life but Owl was not looking good. So, we decided to give him through the night to see if he made a miraculous recovery.

However, in the morning when I woke up I came across this:

Although, I was deeply sad for our fish, I got at good laugh out of this. So, here is to Owl and the memories he gave us, and for us to explain to Bailey when she notices that Owl is in heaven now with all his fishy friends and Jesus.

Birthday Video

Bailey's 2nd Birthday

It was a beautiful warm day today for Bailey's birthday with a couple hours of extra sunshine. Bailey is two years old today and we are winding down from a weekend long of festivities. Saturday we celebrated her birthday at Irvine Park with some members of the Bair family and today we went to disneyland with the girls; Nanna, Auntie Jenni, and Auntie Brie.

It is amazing to me to look at our little girl who is now running, talking, having an opinion, her own unique personality, all with her own beautiful original facial features that have a hint of Brandon and I in them. God truly is incredible in how He creates life and trusts us to love and mold His little children. We are such blessed parent's to have Bailey in our lives and we are daily grateful for the gift of a child and now a second on the way.

We have been loving this stage of Bailey's life. She is still our sweet cuddly baby when she is tired or wants some love but she is also tons of fun to run around with, explore news things, dance, and play games. She makes me laugh and smile all day and fills Brandon and I's lives with so much joy. Our most precious time of the day with her is at bed time when we are in her room and we pray as a family. She folds her little hands and sits real quiet as we pray. She will then list off people or animals that she wants to pray for. Then Brandon or I rock Bailey to sleep and she snuggles up, rubs our face with her hands and gives kisses and hugs while retelling her day of activities until she is tired enough to lay in her crib. She is so enduring and sweet when falling asleep and it is during these times that I never want her to grow up.

Bailey as a two year old has accomplished many things and definitely knows what she likes and does not like. She is weened off of the bottle, which to my surprise was no problem and she never once protested! Bailey is very socially conscientious and often interrupts conversations when she knows what we are talking about and will attempt to give her input. Most of her language is one or two word "sentences" but she gets her point across without the use of many pronouns and filler words.

She has also made up some of her own words for things such as calling Frani (our dog) "Ruff" and calling all babies "Rock" and that is because she used to do the rocking motion with her arms when talking about babies and that has turned into using the word "rock." She does an adorable fishy-face for fish and calls butterflies "flies" while flapping her arms.

Bailey continues to enjoy the outdoors and loves butterflies and ladybugs. Her favorite color currently is yellow, her favorite movie of the month is Peter Pan and she loves Carousals. She has become an excellent climber and climbs everything in sight to our fear. She has mastered many a park's climbing features and will attempt to climb anything in sight that seems possible. She really wants to climb trees but beyond a reachable sitting branch where we can hold her, we aren't ready for that one yet. Bailey also can climb out of her pack n' play now which we discovered over at the Johnson's house recently. Bailey was thought to be sleeping upstairs in their house when we heard a door shut. Brandon went upstairs and found Bailey smiling outside of the crib. We then set up their video monitor and watched her tricks from down stairs- quit entertaining.

Bailey repeats the alphabet one letter at a time with us and counts everything that is at least a double. She has also mastered taking off all of her clothes. When she was thought to be sleeping, we heard her saying "uh oh" and when we went in to check on her she had achieved taking off her pj's and diaper and was very proud of herself as she giggled and jumped up and down in her crib.

We are so proud of our little girl and we look forward to the two's and meeting her little brother soon! There is a new story every day and I want to remember as much as I can. There is always something new and entertaining when a toddler is in the home.

Our next goal is potty training!

Happy Birthday Lovies!

**More to come: A birthday video will be up soon**

To the Snow

Last Monday we were in 80 degree weather at the beach and by Friday, after an hour and a half drive, we were in 35 degree weather playing in the snow! Is this the reason California is so popular?

We went up to the San Bernardino Mountains to Brandon's home town Twin Peaks. The first day we took Bailey sledding and to play in the snow. She loved sliding down the hills backwards on her belly and throwing snowballs at daddy.

Saturday morning Bailey was excited to wake up and be reminded that there was still snow outside.

Brandon and his younger brother Kenny went snowboarding while Bailey and I went to the Village at Lake Arrowhead. I loved driving in the mountains because I rarely get to since Brandon dominates the area when we are up there. It was so beautiful and peaceful and I only got a little lost, once. Bailey and I walked around the lake, fed the ducks and played in the little patches of snow. It was a really fun day with Bailey and I loved having that special time with her and watching her experience snow for the first time.

Brandon and Kenny had a really fun day snowboarding and Brandon especially enjoyed it since he has not been in 2 years! Bailey loved spending time with her Uncle Kenny. She has a special bond with Kenny and is ecstatic to be around him and never leaves him alone. She has been talking about him this whole week too.

Saturday evening we drove to Redlands and met up with Brandon's grandparent's (Mammer and Papa), Hollee, Tim, Tank, Brandon's Mom (Mammer Lee), Step-dad (Papa Mike) and Kenny for a birthday celebration at Red Robin for Hollee and Mammer Lee.

It was a nice to spend time with everyone since we do not get to see them that often.

So Silly

Last Minute Beach Trip

Monday morning Natalie called me with a last minute plan of going down to the beach. It was great because Brandon and I were trying to figure out something fun to do and the Johnson's had a plan.

We left within 2o minutes and I realized Bailey has no shorts or bathing suit she fits in and her sun hat is too small. I was a little unprepared for 80 degree whether in February but I already placed an Old Navy order for spring clothes for Bailey so we will be beach ready!

We had no problem parking or finding a comfortable place on the sand and the weather was gorgeous. Bailey has a blast jumping in the waves and running away from them.

Bailey and Emily played in the sand and watered each other's toes.

Eric and Natalie were successful in bringing their new little one Evan and a toddler to the beach without seeming tired and over-packed. A big encouragement! Natalie and I enjoyed sitting with little Evan and watching the dad's play with the girls. A perfect holiday.

Valentine's Date

Brandon and I love any excuse for a date so we look forward to Valentine's Day. We decided to make a day and night of it so on Friday we took Bailey to my parent's house before her nap and headed down to Newport Beach.

Brandon used a gift card he had to Spa Gregory's to get a massage and I went and got a manicure. After we walked around Crystal Cove and got dinner at Javier's. That was our first time there and we really enjoyed the ambiance and food. We ate at 5:30 so it was not crowded yet and we got a beautiful window table next to the fireplace and were able to watch the sun set.

We headed over to Big Newport and watched the movie Valentine's Day. Cute and very appropriate for the holiday. It was fun to go out to a movie because that is definitely one thing we rarely do anymore.

But our favorite part of our day was going home alone. It's a weird feeling having no little one around the house but it is so relaxing! We made homemade gifts for each other and Brandon really impressed me with his creativity. He had noticed that I hang my necklaces on some frames in our room because I don't have a place to put them. So he made me a necklace rack out of a tree branch. He cut a small branch, made a base out of corn starch, sprayed the branch with a sealer and used green paint to highlight the ends of the branches.

What a creative and thoughtful man I have! I also got a very sweet homemade card and red tulips.

For my gift I edited our honeymoon video. We have had some technical difficulties with our video camera at this time so it was pretty messy and we have been procrastinating on doing this tedious project. However, I achieved a clean edited movie of our honeymoon and we enjoyed watching it together. I also made Brandon a crossword puzzle with questions about our relationship. I discovered this website where you can create any type of puzzle you want and they do all the work for you and you just come up with the questions. It was super fun and I think we might start incorporating this as a tradition.

We slept in until 9 am, got a breakfast burrito and french toast from Mini Cafe (one of our favorites) and went to the park for a picnic.

Our Valentine's could not have been better!