Since We've Spoken Last...

• Judah and Micah turned one! (April 2)
  

• Judah and Micah started walking (at almost 13 months)
• Luke has not spent a single moment at home out of his Spiderman PJ's. (This is only a slight exaggeration.)
• Joseph finished his regular semester of school and is now teaching May Term
• Joseph and Crista each turned 32.

Here are some pictures!





Micah above. Judah below.

All three boys playing in the water and getting muddy! (left to right: J,L,M)

Proof that Luke LOOOOOOOOOOOVEs his Spiderman PJs

Micah above. He is always making this face. It's hilarious! Below is a picture from a few days after he was born making the same face. Ahhh flashback.



In other news, the Bailey house has taken a huge turn for the "funner" as the babies are getting older, more independent, and more interactive. We are playing, getting our chores done and starting to feel a little more normal. There is still a lot that i would define as chaos, but I'm having a great time!

Joseph and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary in 9 days. Who could ever guess where we'd be? I wouldn't have missed a minute of it.

Until we see ya later gator,

Crista

Lock-In!

We loaded up the Tahoe a week ago and headed down to College Station for our annual "Lock-In". What started 5 ish years ago with 4 couples who would meet and spend quiet days together doing whatever we wanted (!) has now grown to a loud (and immensely fun!) weekend of 8 adults and 9 children (age 4 and under) living for 36 hours under one roof, sharing a tiny slice of life together. Unfortunately, of those 17 people, 10 of us punctuated our time together with a stomach bug. Not so fun, especially since Micah's made its debut IN THE CAR ON THE WAY HOME. Repeatedly. Let it not overshadow the wonderful time we had, though!

The adults ditched the kids got a baby sitter on Friday night and had dinner and conversation. And we stayed out late! Whew. I felt 29 again! ha ha. Unfortunately, my dear Elizabeth had to leave us for the weekend because she was sick. We missed you EB! Then the rest of the weekend, we took time to laugh, have deep conversation, play with the kids etc. It was nice to not have an agenda, just to enjoy each other. Good times. Then Sunday we cleaned up, packed up and hopped around town to see the other College Stationians (?) that we love. It was so good to see Jess, Josh and the Alfords. Thank you for spending time with us! Luke especially loved playing with the turtles and cats with J/J and asked repeatedly for "Mr. Rick" to run him around the house and play swords together. We loved it!



In the picture above : Davis (2), Sam (3), Luke (3), Murphy (3), Greyson (4). Not pictured: Eli (17 months?), Lily (7 months), Judah and Micah (10 months).

LOVE LOVE LOVE these kids and the sweet friendship they already have. We are blessed by that same kind of friendship with their parents. DeVores, Stricklands, Moffitts, you are all such a deep well of sweet, sweet blessing for our family. There are friendships that you just can't explain why, but your heart is in it for life and we consider that to be true with you guys. What a source of encouragement, fun, community and genuine friendship you guys are! We love you!
Does anyone have a picture of the adults?

Let's see how many kids we can have this time next year! Ready, set, GO! Kidding. A lot of kidding.

Luke is always, ALWAYS in costume these days. His repertoire includes, Buzz Lightyear (which is already tattered and torn from just 3 months ago), Batman (a Christmas must-have) Superman, Larry Boy, a frog, and a slew of masks I picked up at the party store (as above).

I LOVE his imagination and how he is eager to use it. He tells stories of his adventures with such enthusiasm. Get that kid an acting contract! No, scratch that. I'm not a good stage mom-- and its all about me, right?

We all know who's kidding, I hope.

Luke and Joseph have been reading through the Chronicles of Narnia. They finished "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and are half way through "Prince Caspian". I'm so surprised how much LB is retaining. He's really getting it! JB will read a little, summarize, then rinse and repeat. I'm so thankful for such a sweet and engaging Daddy for my boys.

Let's check in on "Brothers" as they are affectionately called around here:

Judah on the left, Micah on the right.

This photo is about 2 months old, but it's the best i can do right now:)

Truly, just put a tiny bit more hair on them in your mind and its really accurate for today.
They will be 11 months next week! HARD. to. believe. It is still so busy and we still stay up until 11pm doing chores (because its impossible to get much done during the day) but I am having so much fun.

Judah is intent on learning how to walk. He's very focused. Also, he is experimenting with words such as "all done", "down", "dada", "mama", "bubba", "dat" (that), "ba" (bath) and a rare "pup pup" for dog. He also got his very first tooth last week!

Micah is enthralled with books and words. He even said "gook" the other day (for book) He also says "all done", "dada", "mama", "bubba", "dat" (that), "ba" (bath) "pup pup" for dog, and "did it". He is also trying to walk and likes to point out all the lights in a room. (judah does the light think too, just not as often) Micah got his first tooth 2 weeks ago and his second this week.

A side note: what a blessing that we have not gone through teething until now! I CANNOT imagine the discomfort and fussing of teething on the babies (and us!) during the previous months that were so labor intensive, and (for lack of a better word) hard. Don't misread "hard". "Hard" can be wonderful, it can be rewarding, it can really be priceless and precious and that is how I mean it in this case. Three small children (with twins in the mix) has been hard but WONDERFUL. I got a glimpse recently of how all too soon this stage of life will be over and I am clinging to the day-to-day with all I've got. I love this time of life!

I always pictured this stage of life a little cleaner and more organized. And my hair was always done and I never had my PJs on until 4 pm. But, though reality is much different than the "picture", i wouldn't change a thing. I revise, if Alice from the Brady Bunch could move in, I could deal with that change.

Well, that's all I've got for today. I've already broken the family rule of "blog brevity" so I must sign off for now.

LB has been knocking it out of the park with funny things to say lately and we just took a fun trip to College Station to see friends last week, so I'll try to write that up soon.

Just wanted to pop in and say hello!

Until we meet again...

Luke Bailey is 3!!!

Luke Bailey! You're 3!

What a fun 3 years it has been. You add so much laughter, insight, fun, excitement and overall greatness to our life and our family. I love you so much!

We celebrated today with a Toy Story themed birthday party. Luke attended the party as Buzz Lightyear, as you can see in the picture. We gave him this costume for his birthday this morning at 9 am, and except for nap, it has been in place!

It was so precious. All day, he was in character. For example:

Luke asked "Mommy, where is Daddy?"
Me: "He's at church"
Luke: "No, you say 'Buzz Lightyear, daddy's at church'"

Or, if anyone called him Luke, he would be quick to remind them "you can call me Buzz Lightyear"

He had way too much birthday cake, played with every toy he owns with all of the kids who came over and finally fell asleep after singing songs and talking to himself for an hour. I guess he was worked up and had a good day and didn't want to sleep. That's fun. That was my goal.

I asked Luke if he could stay little for a while longer and he said "Naw, silly. I need to be as big as daddy"

FTR, yesterday he announced that when he grow up he wants to be a "green daddy". I think that is a very big deal, as green is his favorite color and that adds to the compliment that daddy is his favorite person.

I love you little man. If you must grow up will you please still always say "Oh! I most-tagot!" (I almost forgot) and call masks "mask-ez"?

Check out my little men!
Now tell me if you can believe THIS! Luke will be 3 this month and Judah and Micah are 7 months old.

We are having fun at our house. Luke is such a big boy. He talks in very grown up language using phrases such as "actually, mommy, its called a jeep" and "as a matter of fact, I enjoyed it", but he still includes his little cute things like "Mommy, did you know that the airplanes go to the airporch? They do."

Luke, you make us laugh every single day and you are so much fun. You are so observant and clever that we've taught you what those words mean because we use them so often when we talk about you.

Judah and Micah are growing up! This is the month that they began waving and sitting up. Micah is very good at using the sign for "all done!" and Micah is also cocking his head to the side just to make us laugh. Already a jokester. Judah's wave is so intentional and charming. He is happiest just sitting in someone's lap. Both boys will giggle for apparently no reason, and think that Luke is the funniest thing. I have to agree with that.

Judah, you are so quick to smile. I love when you scream for no reason and then laugh like you are telling a good joke. You love to cuddle. You are also very impressively saying "hey" while you wave. I think that counts as a first word, don't you?

Micah, you love a good game. Peek-a-boo and tickling get you every time. You are quick to laugh and especially think Luke is funny.

Joseph is working on a little trick:
No need to call the authorities. Joseph is skilled in baby holding, yes, but he is also skilled in Photoshop.

Important Statistics

This is so funny to me.

Update

How about a new picture of my THREE boys!

Of course, though this was taken just a few weeks ago, it is already outdated as they change so quickly. The babies are 12 weeks old today. VERY hard to believe. Luke is now 2 1/2 and he'll tell you so. Its so cute. I need to post all the cute things he is saying these days. He is a TALKER! and a funny one at that. LOOOOOOVE that kid. Well, heck, I love all THREE. I keep putting THREE in capital letters because I can hardly believe I have THREE kids. Whew. crazy.

Well here's the picture. For your informational pleasure, I have included a key:

top- Judah
middle- Luke
bottom- Micah

A New Friend

Sonic has a fun toy this week for the kids meal. A Bug Dome! Joseph took Luke to the park for an afternoon of play and when they came back home, a new resident had moved into the Bug Dome. It is a fire ant. Luke named him Joe Bob.


It's 3 days later and poor Joe Bob is already forgotten, but he sure was loved for a few hours! Speaking of...I should probably go set him free. FAR from my house of course. His friends are NOT invited.

Before and After

"Before"
The close up at 12 weeks:


AFTER:
fully cooked!


We are having a blast with our new baby boys. They are SUCH good babies and so sweet. I can't believe they will be 9 weeks old on Thursday. Where does the time go? ( I think it goes somewhere involving the middle of the night and no sleep..the dimension of reality I've been in for a while now!)
I would like to give props though, to the boys who let me sleep quite a bit last night. Holla! (is that still cool? I thought not.)

This was fun. we should meet here again.

My 25 things

So the thing on Facebook right now is to write 25 random things about yourself and tag your friends to write their own. You know, you've all done it before. So, I finally complied and thought it could double as a blog entry, as I am always behind on those! So here goes...

The RULES: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I get in breakfast-ruts for weeks to months. This is where I eat the exact same thing everyday, never wavering until the next rut begins.

2. my current breakfast rut is a fried egg on toast with I can't believe its not butter Spray.

3. I'm like an addict with Diet Dr Pepper. I haven't had any since I became prego, but come april 2010, its on.

4. I have loose ligaments in my joints. for example, I twist my ankle pretty severely on a regular basis and have never been injured.

5. I LOVE to take really long showers and use all the hot water.

6. The only must see daytime TV for me is 2:45- 3 when Rachael Ray does her cooking segment.

7. I don't have cable

8. I've never really cared if my car is cool. As long as it works fine, I'm great!

9. I was the terrible student that my husband the professor complains about.

10. I've never left the North American continent.

11. I dislike air travel, but appreciate its convenience.

12. I despise being cold.

13. I love to sing.

14. On the first day of spring, I always want to go get a sonic drink and wash my car at a do it yourself place.

15. I actually like living in Abilene.

16. I'm running out of things to say.

17. Are you still reading this?

18. I have a foot in my rib at this very moment

19. I'm about to be the only woman in the house with 4 boys and a boy dog.

20. I love to hike. easy trails--lets not get crazy here people. you now know about my loose ligaments.

21. I LOOOOOOVE Jesus and how personally He loves us.

22. Ok... this is cheesy..I love to read christian fiction novels, and if they are set in the 1800's, even better.

23. I also love cheesy Christian movies.

24. Almost every single time I watch Deal or not Deal, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, or Private practice, I ball like a baby.

25. I love to read blogs. I'm inspired my other people's stories.



And for your early Christmas present, I haven't tagged anyone, because that puts expectation on you and I want ours to be a relationship of freedom. :)

Where are My Standards?

Isn't this a perfectly acceptable lunch?

I do what I can.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving found the Baileys at Grandma Lucy's house in Perryton, Tx. We talked a lot, laughed a lot, shopped a lot and Joseph rabbit hunted A LOT.

We love it at Grandma Lucy's. She is the hostest with the mostest, and a lot of fun to boot. She lives on a bunch of land outside a neat little town and visits are always relaxing and enjoyable.

One of the many funny things that happened was towards the end of our trip. Luke kept playing in the ice chest with sodas in it, so his grandma (my mother) decided to make it a productive thing. She had him take sodas to everyone that wanted one. He obliged and did a great job at remembering names. Finally my mom said "take a coke to Aunt Peggy." This is what he did:

I love that kid.

What is This?

I peeled an onion today to prepare to chop it and this is what I found:

There were 2 separate onions housed in the same skin. They are not connected at all at that line. What is it? Maybe....twin onions?

Now that's just funny.

I agree with the comments on the last post. I think God is telling me He is mindful of us. Of this I am SOOOOOOOOOO grateful. He takes the time to show us He cares for us. Oh how He loves us!!

I also think He has a sense of humor.

Cute, God. Cute.

My Life in a Mixing Bowl?

So I was baking last Tuesday. I was making brownies for our dear friends the Moores who just had their sweet baby Niah.

The recipe called for 2 eggs. I cracked the first egg in the bowl. Then the second. But this one was different. It was a twin egg! A perfectly separated nucleus. Staring into that mixing bowl, I laughed to myself and said "Well there's my life in a mixing bowl!" Referring, of course, to having a singleton (Luke) first and then surprise twins next.

I thought it was cute so I took a picture.




Well then Wednesday I was baking again. Banana bread this time. Luke's favorite! The recipe called for one egg. I cracked it open and this is what I found:

Another perfectly split twin egg!!



And then I fainted.

Well, not physically, but, holy cow! Have you ever seen a twin egg? Not me! What are the odds of seeing two in a row? Perhaps the odds of having sets of twins two in a row?

Is this my life in a mixing bowl? It should be fun to ride this one out.

I've quit using eggs for the time being.

Surprise!

Confession: I can never remember how to spell "surprise".

But that's not the point of this blog entry. This is:

YES! It's TWINS! They are due April 24, 2009. My doctor doesn't expect them to make it much passed 37 or 38 weeks though, so we are looking at early to mid-April to welcome these babies!

I think the great philosopher, Popeye captured my thoughts best when he said "Well blow me down!".

So here is the story.

Monday, September 8, Joseph and I went for the routine 8-week ultrasound. Glancing at the screen, I saw the blinking light of the baby's heart beat! So exciting! Then the wand moved a little and I saw an identical blinking light just to the left of the first one.
I asked "What is that? Is that my artery or something?" I knew perfectly well what it was, but I was unable to imagine it was true. The technician kept her poker face and invited an additional person in to get a second opinion. The second technician confirmed what we thought but could not believe. We are having twins!

Tears in my eyes, joyful of course, I turned to look at Joseph. His mouth was wide open, his head shaking slowly from side to side. We were in SHOCK!
The next several days were a haze of calling and rejoicing with friends and family. My dad, who is an identical twin, was giddy! He had called it! My mom had also been pulling for twins so, of course, she was thrilled.
I think we are still walking around shaking our heads, unable to fathom what we are in for, but what a blessing!

WOW.

Well then, of course, an ugly little bug called Fear immediately tried to sneak in, as it does often in attempt to spoil wonderful things. My thoughts flitted between a friend who had miscarried a twin, to the story of a twin mom who was on bed rest for weeks, to my own father who was born 6 weeks early and faced medical issues as a baby. Thankfully, my doctor gave me great advice in the midst of this. He said "Let's not borrow from tomorrow. I'll worry about the 'what-ifs' and in the moments like this one where everything looks great, you rejoice!"
I thank God everyday for doctors who love Him!

In a quieter moment, my thoughts also brought me back to April, 2008. We had a conference at church that taught about how God uses words of encouragement given to his saints to lift up the Body of Christ. The "freaky-Jesus" term is prophecy. Well, at this conference we learned that anyone can be used to encourage the Body, so we were instructed to "pair off" with someone we didn't know at all and pray that God would reveal some sort of specific encouragement for that person.

The lady who was my partner got a "word" almost immediately. She told me "I see a full womb! A womb that is irrevocably full". I was not pregnant at the time, but knew that we wanted to expand our family soon, so I thanked her for sharing and just "stuck it in my pocket" as the saying goes.

I think of the significance of it now. A FULL womb. Whew, she wasn't kidding! And "irrevocably full" nonetheless. I have no choice in that "word" but to dismiss the fear the Enemy tries to insert! My God encouraged me 4 months before I knew I was pregnant for a time that he knew full well about. Oh how He loves us!

And one more thing. The encouraging word was given to me in April the very same month the babies are due. What a promise! I am claiming it in the Name of the LORD!

So, surprise! Here's to the next 18 years. I think I need a nap!

New Parking Spot

I have a new parking spot at the Grovcery Store:


That's right! A new Bailey Baby coming your way April 2009!

Ok, Let me see if I can see through these blurry tears to imbed this video I just watched.



I've seen this story several times, about a father who trained for triathlons all because his disabled son had a dream to complete them. But I'm not sure if I've ever seen it as a parent.

Lord, when all is said and done, let it be said of me that I loved my family this selflessly. I'm an imperfect parent without your Grace. Love them through me!

Camp Bonita- June 15th-20th

For the 3rd year in a row all the Baileys (Joseph, Crista, and Luke) Joined the ranks of volunteers for Kids Camp at Camp Bonita north of Ruidoso, NM. This was Joseph’s 4th year actually. He’s the one that got the Baileys on the Kids camp train.

Camp Bonita is a week in the mountains, praising the Lord and loving on kids. It is always TONS of work, but oh so worth it. I love it! I’m already doing the math so I can time it just right to have a baby around the camp schedule. Maybe I’m kidding, if only a little.

Even though Luke is 1 ½, this is how he counts for 3 years:
Year 1 2006: Luke in utero (I was 4 months prego), Year 2- 2007” Luke 7 months, Year 3-2008 Luke 19 months.

You may feel that the prego year didn’t count for Luke attendance. On the contrary! Hiking up mountains, carrying all the camp nurse supplies and wearing myself out taking care of 300 kids--it counts. I was very aware that Luke was there with me.

But, I digress.

This year was especially fun for all of us because Luke really got into playing with the other kids and was very aware of all of the fun. He was a champ! He missed a lot of sleep, but was a real trooper!

He went to Band practice while Mom and Dad rehearsed:


Ate Plenty of dessert:


And rekindled old friendships with Carol who works in the cafeteria. Sweet Carol. She remembered us!
2007- 7 months old (Luke, not Carol)
2008: Luke is 19 months

God did some amazing things in the lives of the kids and counselors.
For instance, in my previous camp nurse experience, there was a slew of illness and injury, to the point where I was overwhelmed and a few ER visits transpired. This year, as all of the onslaught started on the first night, Pastor Randy prayed for healing and wellness over the entire camp. And, would you know it, medically speaking I was pretty bored (compared to previous years)! PRAISE THE LORD! That’s how we nurses like it!

Also, Ruidoso is in the middle of a pretty bad drought. The kids had compassion on Ruidoso and even though it would affect camp activities, they prayed for rain to come. The weather report showed 0% chance of Rain and God was merciful and it rained that day!!


Testify!

That’s my new "Jesus form" of “Holla!” Think it will catch on?

Me neither.

No Longer Scared of the "Big Boy Tub"

May

So, hey, Crista. How's that "documenting your family" going?

Fine, thank you. I've written several blogs in my head. You haven't read them?

Oh. Ok here's the Cliffs Notes.

May 7th: The Baileys packed up and headed to Burleson for my mom's retirement reception. Mom is an elementary school teacher in the public school system. She's served 24+ years to molding young minds and she is fabulous at it! The time has come to leave the public school system behind to embrace the private school sector. We're so proud of you Mom!

On a funny note, the reception honored several teachers that were retiring and the emcee asked for each retiree to introduce their family who had come to celebrate with them. It was really great for my mom to be able to introduce all of us as we were all able to make it, even my dad who had to work extra hard to fly in from Chicago. Well, it came around to one precious lady who stood and said "No one is here with me today, I'm alone." Quickly the emcee repiled "you're not alone, we are your family!" This was met by the crowd responding with affectionate versions of "yeah! yeah, we're your family!" The room soon quieted and from my arms I heard Luke's sweet little voice respond "Yeah!"

May 10th: My Sweet friend Jennifer threw a Mother's Day brunch for her friends. Very sweet!

May 12th. (Deep breath. *gulp*) I turned 30.

There it is. I said it. That's taken a lot of positive self talk to admit openly! Really it didn't hurt that bad. It does sting a little each time I answer the "how old are you?" question or when I check the age 30-39 demographic on questionnaires. I'm sure this pain will dull with time.

I awoke to the smell of Bacon. Awesome, right? JB had gotten up early to make very yummy breakfast burritos and took me and Luke on a breakfast picnic. It was so fun and thoughtful! We fed ducks, played on the playground. Good times.

That night, the same sweet Jennifer as above helped JB throw a birthday party for me. It was a good night of friends, Sam's pizza and cake. Does it get better? I submit that it does not!

May 16th: Joseph's sister Keri and her husband Chad gave us an overnight date! It was complete with childcare, Outback gift card and a local hotel room. It was fun to go to a movie and a late dinner and linger over coffee and have adult conversation. This was a present for both of our 30th birthdays and we are so grateful. Such generosity!

The rest of the month was a fun mix of dinner with friends, baby birthday parties and a few photo shoots with JB.

And who could forget Memorial Day slip-n-slides with the Hoes family?


It was a good May.

There are the Cliff's Notes. Pop Quiz on Monday.