I'm thinking of...

Kaitlin and I always play this game before bed. This is how it goes... Kaitlin thinks of something and I guess what it is in as few guesses as possible. Then I go. The comical part comes in that Kaitlin's clues are always, well, somewhat obscure. She relishes in the fact that it takes me 49 guesses to find the answer, and it's worth it to see her satisfaction on her face. This was last night's game:

Kaitlin : I'm thinking of something old.

Mommy: Is it alive?

Kaitlin: Yes

Mom: Is it a person?

Kaitlin: No, it's an animal

Mommy: Is it a dog, horse, bird, owl (a series of guesses of course)

Kaitlin: Mom, it's an animal from Texas

Mommy: Is it a snake?

Kaitlin: No, mom, it's an armadillo (You've gotta imagine that "know-it-all" ness in her voice by now).

Mommy: Oh, hey, what does that have to do with something old?

Kaitlin: Mom, armadillos get old.

I just laughed. She's right, armadillos do get old. Why didn't I think of that?

2010 Christmas Letter

Hello to Everyone from the Baileys! December 5, 2010

This has been an eventful year, so here’s the skinny:

After years of wondering what he wants to do when he grows us, Michael is now fully self-employed in running his own law practice. He now enjoys helping disabled veterans pay for their care through VA benefits – his main practice area. His attempt to become a Special Agent in the FBI came to a halt when he was unable to pass the Physical Fitness test. Apparently he is still able to do physical activity – he referees high school basketball, but he is happy running his own law practice.

Brittney continues to juggle as many activities as humanly possible. She is a stay at home Mom, taking care of both Kaitlin and Allison – which constitutes two full life jobs – and works part time for KPMG, preparing tax returns for people who make entirely too much money. She also works with Michael as a notary public, enabling Michael’s law practice to actually complete the work he does. Brittney also had the most exciting adventure of any of us this year. She was on a walk this summer, when she was suddenly, and without provocation, attached by a vicious creature. In the end, she fought off the ferocious attacking bee, avoided being stung, and only dislocated her left knee and broke her left wrist in the process. She is healed up, with only scars to show for it, but she did triumph in the end, so we are very proud of her.

Kaitlin has had a great year as well. She entered preschool this fall, and absolutely loves it. Kaitlin is no longer obsessed with Care Bears, but that has been replaced by Zhu Zhu Pets, Littlest Pet Shop Guys, and Little People…never a dull moment. She is a wonderful little girl who always wants to play, work on crafts, sing, dance, watch a movie, or generally do anything that strikes her fancy. She is smart, way too smart for her (or our) own good - we think, but she is a happy and witty little girl. She is very helpful with her younger sister and puppy dog.

Allison is a little joy as well. It seems like only yesterday that she was our little baby, but now she is a little girl, and not a baby any more. Since we live near the airport, she loves to see the airplanes that fly overhead. She often calls out “Arpom” (her word for Airplane) and we have to look carefully to find the plane she had already spotted. She also loves ice cream, also pronounced “Arpom” in her vocabulary. She is also a wonderful, joyful little girl, who loves her sister. When Kaitlin is in time out, Allison often goes to join her in a show of solidarity and to make sure her sister is OK. After the bee incident, Allison sat in her stroller, saying, “Momma,” until help arrived and Brittney and Allison were saved.

Obviously there is more detail to all of these stories, but you need to call us if you want to hear more, or email, or write, or check Facebook, or Brittney’s blog: brittneyandmichael.blogspot.com, or, well, you get the idea.

Love,

Michael, Brittney, Katilin, Allison, and Scylla

Kaitlin's Take on Dinner

We were walking from the gym to the car the other night, and I said "hey girls, dad's at a basketball game tonight, do you want to go grab dinner?" I asked if they wanted to go to Chick-Fil-E, and Kaitlin chimes in with this:

"Mommy, we have to go to Wendy's tonight."

Mommy: Oh, why is that?

Kaitlin: Because they said on TV that Wendy's has their hamburgers on sale for 99.

She's noticed toy commercials before and she is starting to get a grasp on money, but she's never made any comments like this before. I kinda choked on my bottle of water and then just started laughing. Wendy's hamburgers for 99 it was!

Family Pictures

Allison aka "Alligator"

Once upon a time there was a mom who just couldn't get enough of her little red headed baby. She kissed her about a million times a day, she let her off the hook when she clearly did something bad just because she looked too cute to be guilty, and couldn't help but smile when this baby smiled at her first. It was a love story, pure and simple. Then one day this baby grew into a toddler (an 18 month old toddler to be exact). This adorable baby started doing less adorable things, like emptying the silverware drawer, nose diving off the kitchen table, fighting with her 4 year old sister at every opportunity, and many other acts of naughtiness that made the parents question their sanity at least once daily. And through it all, the toddler kept those pretty blue eyes, that fun red hair, that devious yet endearing smile...and her parents decided to keep her. And they all lived happily ever after.

Sorry, I had to tell this in fairy tale fashion to appease the 4-year-old. In all seriousness, I can't believe that Allison is already 18 months old. She's started nursery, she still hates any and all daycare activities except for Rebecca Taylor's house, she measures in the 95th percentile for height and 81st for weight, and she is speaking up a storm. My favorite Allison-ism is something like "I-uh-u" which translated means I love you. She's the cutest and we're so happy to have her in our home - alive and well so far:)

Here are a few fun new pictures and one video of her sweeping my new kitchen floor.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Our grand plans of visiting the north pole with the kids fell short when we found ourselves in a great big empty parking lot. We opted instead to go check out the Cheyenne Mountain zoo, and it was awesome. Our favorite part was feeding the giraffes, seeing the Grizzly bears REALLY close up, and being outside in the mountains on the most gorgeous day in Colorado history - or so it felt like:)

First Day of Preschool

The day has come - after years of watching the school bus come and go, it's finally her turn. Well, almost. I still drive her to preschool, but she is loving it! She's going to the TLC preschool, and we had fun taking pictures of Kaitlin with her friends. Most of these kids Kaitlin has been playing with for 2 years, so it was nice for her and I to see some familiar faces. She did great! When we went out to Dairy Queen afterward to celebrate, I asked her what her favorite part was. she said she liked that her teacher had worn the necklace Kaitlin made for her, and sent her a thank you card. What a nice teacher!

Estes Park

We met up with my parents and Austin (along with his new girlfriend) in Estes Park on a sunday afternoon. We saw live Elk wandering around the park, we had a nice picnic by the river, and we just overall enjoyed Estes this time of year. It is a beautiful place! Oh, and incidentally I was happy about the chance to wear my new hat. I've never been a hat wearer, and I think I like it!

Fun with Cousins

I know I blog about these guys all the time, but my sister in law and her two little girls (almost exactly my girls ages) are such fun people to have in our lives. They came out to visit, and we had fun taking pictures on my mom's colorful new chairs.

Sunflower Farm

It's in Longmont, and if you haven't visited it - you need to. Between the massive clubhouse, the huge swings, the zipline, the pony rides, the hay maze, the hot dogs, and of course, the feeding of the animals...my kids had the best time.

My favorite moment was when Allison unwillingly shared her rice krispy treat with the rooster - classic face!

Painting with Frosting

I had some leftover frosting from Kaitlin's 4th birthday, so I pulled it out and we spent the morning decorating white paper plates. We all had fun - and man did we have tummy aches when we were done. What, we had to taste our fingers as we went:)

Helping in the yard

What good helpers they are.

Oopsie!

So as if burning myself on the muffler wasn't ridiculous enough, I had to outdo myself this week. Here's the story. Friday morning - Michael had gotten home super late the night before and Kaitlin had spent most of the night in our bed because she was apparently being harassed by bugs in her room. Allison woke up at 6:30 am, and I had the brilliant idea to take her out for a walk and let the others sleep. I got on the walking path and was attacked by a bee...well, an annoying little bee landed on allison and wouldn't leave her alone. I used her yogurt melts bag to wave it off her, but then it landed on my head, then my arm. I guess my true fear of bees came through and I was "dancing" arounf the stroller trying to get it off. I tripped, went down on my knee hard, and apparently caught myself with my wrist.

I felt no pain, but when I reached down to touch my knee, I realized the kneecap was totally in the wrong place. I couldn't get up and I just started screaming for help. A very nice (and thank goodness close) neighbor heard me and ran over. He took one look at my knee and agreed we needed to call Michael. Meanwhile Allison just looking at me curiously from the stroller. Luckily no tears from her.

Michael drove right over (onto the walking path and all) with Kaitlin and it was about two minutes before we decided to call the paramedics. I was starting to feel way more pain by the time they arrived, and man did I welcome those lovely pain meds. Michael drove the girls over to the Taylors, who are the most wonderful people in the world! I got to the ER, had my leg reset, had my wrist set and casted, and was released that afternoon.

So, now the fun begins. Being a mom with two disabled limbs is interesting. My parents told us to come "home", so I've mostly spent the last 4 days at their house sleeping, watching movies, and watching and my mom and Michael take care of my sweet girls. I've gone from laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole thing (I mean a bee, seriously?) to crying to just biding my time until the split and cast can come off. I've learned that the "what if" game is a great means of self torture, I've learned that my sweet husband is truly a strength to me, and I'm learning that it's good to have to learn to be taken care of, as we moms of little kids so often feel like we have to do it all...and so we go on. I'm on a weekly schedule to re X-ray my wrist and make sure surgery is not necessary. I've mastered the art of one crutch and thankgoodness can get myself around the main level now...if all else fails, at least I have the dignity of taking myself to the bathroom:)

Just to entertain myself and document my adventure, I'll probably continue to blog about my mishaps and adventures as a one handed individual. This week, the biggest annoyance is not being able to pull my hair back at will. Try it one handed, it's harder than you might think:)

Two of my favorite people tie the knot

Two of my bestest buds in the whole world got married on back to back days. I can't say enough how wonderful it was to see them both happy and just plain beaming in the temple. I loved it!! It was also so incredibly fun to see old roommates, companions, and friends who came into town for the occasions. Here are a few pictures of the beautiful brides!

Lake Loveland

My parents live less than 5 minutes away from a very fun lake with a very kid friendly beach, and sadly enough this was my first time to visit it. We all got very sunburned and I think we slept the whole next day, but it was so fun! I was truly amazed how a sandy beach could entertain me, Kaitlin, and Allison for hours on end...all for different reasons.

The highlight of the day was burying my niece Corina in the sand, and then of course getting buried myself.

Allison is walking

Allison took her first step over two months ago, but it's taken her this long to actually decide to go for it. Her babysitter commented that she just didn't like falling (it does make her throw a royal tantrum when she falls) and there is probably some truth to that. I had forgotten how sweet it is to watch those little ones taking those first uncertain strolls. Every day her balance gets better, and now a week into it, she's walking way more than she's crawling. Go Allison!

Here's a few recent pictures of our little Alligator. We just can't get enough of her.

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Kaitlin comes into the kitchen yesterday and asks for a piece of paper. She comes back a few minutes later and asks me to help her draw a baby - she's having a "hard time doing it by herself." We go through the body parts - drawing the head, neck, body, arms, and legs together. I'm thinking, wow, this is fun drawing with her. She takes the picture, and comes back a few seconds later. She asks me to draw a circle around the baby, and she's very specific about where the circle should go. We draw a circle, then she takes the picture and leaves. She comes back 5 minutes later, and she's drawn a read slash through the circle. I say "Kaitlin, it looks like your picture is trying to say 'no babies'...did you mean to do that?"

"Exactly", she says, and runs to put the picture on her bedroom door.

Wow, I totally just got conned by my four-year-old. You go girl!

Kaitlin: "Mommy, I have to apologize to you."

Mommy: "Okay, Kaitlin, let's hear it."

Kaitlin: "Mommy, what does apologize mean anyway?"

Mommy: "It means you want to tell me that you're sorry."

Kaitlin: "Nevermind, I don't want to do that."

Wake Up!

Kaitlin's been doing a great job with her letters and numbers - finally! Thank you Kylie for introducing us to the leapfrog DVDs. She's in that cool phase where she suddenly is trying to read signs everywhere and asks the significance of numbers she sees. This week we've started discussing telling time, and we explained to her that she's not allowed to wake us up until the clock ways "7". It worked great, until this week when we wake up to a startling "WAKE UP GUYS!" shriek. I sit up an look at the clock...it's 5:27. Project for this week - discuss the order of numbers.

Spring time girls

We were in Seattle for Easter, so we took the girls out a few days before to get pictures in their spring dresses. Kaitlin got the new buggy at a twins sale and has had more fun pushing her babies and carebears around ever since.