Playing with our new iPoo'd

Baby J's Great Aunt Linda found THE CUTEST outfit ever! There's really not much more comedy that I can add because the onesie is so stinkin' funny! Hit the link for the video of us playing with our smiling, laughing, giggling iPoo'd.

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Scrapbooking Online

So I'm trying out some virtual scrapbooking. I read about them in my August Parents magazine. Please leave comments and let me know which one you like better...

SmileBox

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Scrapblog


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Had to post these...

When the garage sale gets boring, have Eric try on the things you're trying to sell. Nevermind, I don't think that works. The bra and mustache never sold. Eric decided to take them home. hehe ... Full Post...

Garage sale, sicky boys, but lots of sleep!

This weekend flew by. We had a garage sale this weekend which totally rocked. Well actually, Karen and Uriel had a garage sale and we piggy-backed in with our stuff. We spent all day Saturday at their house and made some pretty good money. Not just that but we cleaned out some of the junk we have laying around the house. Eric worked so hard (signs, schmoozing people, and carrying heave stuff) that he actually got sick that afternoon. As soon as the sale was over he started to shut down. He fell asleep for a little bit and then started to feel really bad. He had a small fever that evening but felt completely wiped out. We missed Niki’s graduation party since Eric and Jarem both weren’t doing so good. Sorry we missed it Niki!!

On Sunday Eric didn’t even leave the house he felt so miserable. I brought Jarem with me to the garage sale on Sunday and hung out. We didn’t really sell anything on Sunday so we shut down early and spent the rest of the day at the house. I felt so bad that Eric worked so hard and now feels so miserable. He’s a good hubby and an extremely hard worker!!

So as we talked about last week,

we started Jarem in his own room again in his crib to sleep at night. He is such an amazing baby!!! Friday night we put him to bed around 8:30pm. He didn’t wake up until 7:15am Saturday morning. He didn’t cry once or stir at all during the night. He is so good!! He did the same on Saturday evening and last night, too. He has this sleep thing down. We love it! Jarem started showing signs of a cold on Friday and was pretty sick looking on Saturday. But after getting so much sleep he seemed much better today. The Baileys are all enjoying getting so much sleep. Woo Hoo!!

In other Jarem news, he officially sucks his thumb. It’s the cutest thing! It’s how he falls asleep at night. It doesn’t last the entire night but it’s soothing enough to get him to fall asleep. It’s really cute to watch how he does it. He’s really getting the hang of it which is a little scary. But as we’ve mentioned before, we won’t worry too much unless he’s in school and sucking his thumb. It might not be as cute then.

He also LOVES his bath time. Eric gets him undressed and lets him stand on the bathroom counter and look at himself in the mirror. He loves being naked and really enjoys looking at himself. He smiles and kicks his feet. It’s so funny to watch him. Then in the bath Eric sings to him and he tried to sing back. He is really good at imitating the noises we make. When we make monkey noises he does. When we sing, so does he. We love him so much and love all his new and fun talents. He is definitely loved by his parents.
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Behind Bars

Well we finally decided to do it... After a week of being sick and sleeping in our bed, we decided to let Jarem go back to his crib. If you noticed any bags under our eyes today... we appreciate you telling us we, "look great today".

It was a lot harder this time around, because we're working on Jarem's "Self Soothing". Basically what this means is that we've mastered Mommy soothing (calming him at night with milk) and Daddy soothing (bouncing and doing laps around the kitchen and dining room in the middle of the night when Mommy soothing doesn't work). Now we've graduated and are working toward mastering self-soothing. Basically we start the bedtime routine: bath, singing, and a good dinner then when he's doped up on the warm milk but still awake, we put him in his crib and say goodnight. We put him in awake so that he knows where he is, and associates the crib with sleeping. Before, we would get him to sleep in our arms and then place him somewhere. When he wakes up he's like, "What the heck!? Every time I shut my eyes the whole world changes!" (I have an audio recording of him saying that... I'll work on posting it online.)

Then after 5 minutes of talking, sleeping or crying, we go back in to his room and calm him if necessary. We let him know that we're still there for him and can hear his crys. Then we say goodnight again and wait 7 minutes... then again at 10 minutes and up to 15 minutes. If he's still crying after 15 minutes, we pick him up, calm him down, fix whatever is wrong (hunger, diaper etc.) and start the cycle over again.

Last night was a little rough, we had to go through the cycle 1.5 times before he would drift off to sleep, and then I had to get up a few times through the night and assure him that everything was okay... the funny thing is that between me getting out of bed and getting to his room... he was already back asleep... I think he was just trying to test me.

The wonderful news is that I started typing this post while starting the first cycle tonight... and he's asleep! Jamie and I only had to go into his room once! What a wonderful baby. Wish us a good night!


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Jarem "Steve Irwin" Bailey

There's not much to say about this post, the photos speak for themselves... I'll just do my best to give some color commentary on what was happening when I started snapping the photos... Basically last night, while Baby J was lying in his crib staring at his safari mobile, he grabbed his pet crocodile and started munching on his face and hands.

Now, I don't know much about crocs, but I wouldn't advise chewing on one's hand! Hit the jump to see the carnage that ensued.

You know that your child is hungry, when he risks life and limb just to get a bite to eat!



As Jarem goes in for the second bite, it appears as if the croc is on to him. You can see it in his beady little eyes.



Oh, and look the crocodile has broken free of Jarem's jaws and is about to make a move!



Oh my goodness, just like that he's struck. This isn't going to be pretty folks, if you're squeamish, you should probably change the channel.



Oh, and it appears as if the angry croc has bit Jarem around his abdomen. That looks like it hurts.



And here the crocodile has begun smooshing his prey. Smooshing is a way for crocodiles to compress their meals so that they can swallow them in one gulp.



Oh, look at this! Jarem has slipped from the croc's death smoosh and appears to be fighting for survival by biting the croc's hand! What a reversal! (cue triumphant Disney (TM) music)


Jarem is displaying extreme courage in the face of certain doom. He has used brute strength to force the crocodile off of him, and appears to be throwing it around like it's nothing but a doll!



Jarem has a strong hold of the crocodile's snout with his bare hands! He's keeping it shut to avoid being bitten again! It looks as though Jarem is in control of the situation now



OH MY GOODNESS! I've never seen anything like this in my life! Jarem has done it, he's bested the beast! He's taken down Goliath! He is triumphant! Nothing can stop him.

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Great Apes *Funny*

Warning this post is REALLY FUNNY! Do not read it if you have recently chugged a pint of milk, coffee or any sort of slushy. Surprisingly they all burn really bad when they come out of your nose. Plus if you're at work, requesting a new keyboard due to spitting is difficult to explain and rather embarrassing.
There's some interestingly geeky science stuff within... but if you can make it through, the payoff is well worth it! ENJOY!



Did you know that our nearest genetic relative is the Bonobo, the smallest of the Great Apes? (pictured is a baby) Bonobo's are part of the Hominidae biological family along with Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Orangutans and (get ready) Homo Sapiens - That's humans for the less geeky. Yeah, we're family members... Now how much DNA do we share with the Bonobo and the other great apes? Enough for the international group, the "Great Ape Project" to advocate to the United Nations that all great apes should be allowed basic human rights. Rights such as the right to life, the protection of individual liberty, and the prohibition of torture.

Interesting huh?

Anyway... Taxonomy studies have shown that we share 98% of our DNA with Bonobos! Considering, I only ate 90% of my dinner last night and can only follow the speed limit 80% of the time, 98% is a LOT!

"Okay Okay Eric, you said that this was going to be a funny post... where are you going with all of this Monkey Business?"

I'm glad that you asked. First off, I must correct you... it's not Monkey Business, as we are discussing apes... secondly, Jamie and I have been doing some independent research of my own to discover the relationship between our Baby J and the other great apes... Check out the video below and make your own determination.

If you got a chuckle out of this, please leave a comment!

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In the name of the Father, my son has the Holy Spririt!

Jarem got baptized this weekend!!! On the 16th of August, 2008 Jarem Xavier Bailey became a member of the Catholic Christian community! Along with 10 other babies, ranging from a few weeks to 4 years, Jarem was so excited about his baptism, he could hardly contain himself!



Yes, he is completely passed out. My mom (who drove 1.5 hours from Olympia Washington to Portland Oregon to catch a 2.5 hour flight down this weekend) says that there's something magical in the milk we feed him. You know, that might be the case, because the milk comes from Jamie, and, given the opportunity, she'll sleep for a full day!

His Godparents are Joanna Usher, Dale Santos and Niki Dailey. Unfortunately there are only 2 lines on the baptism certificate and therefore we could only list Joanna and Dale as the "official" Godparents... But I don't think that God will mind Jarem having a little extra spiritual guidance in his life.





We feel so blessed to have had so many wonderful people there to share in the celebration. Even the people who couldn't attend the ceremony, were praying for Baby J all weekend. Thank you for caring so much about us, and thank God that you are in our lives.

Enjoy the pictures (and video). Thank you Uriel, Mom and Grammy for these wonderful shots of Jarem's biggest of days.

After the ceremony Jamie planned a WONDERFUL party for friends and family. You know, she is really good at throwing parties. I think that she could do it full time, she's that good. I mean to have almost 40 people happy in that kind of heat takes a REALLY fun party. From defective rock-hard water balloons to squirt-gun ambushes, BBQ hamburgers to salsa music, it was a blast, and I can't recall anyone without a smile on their face. Thank you for throwing Jarem such a wonderful first party babe.

Let's check out some of the pictures.















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Happy boy

Jarem is getting better! He's starting to play more and act normal again. We've been getting more sleep at night which is definitely nice. He still wakes up to eat pretty frequently so hopefully we can get him back into sleeping through the night soon enough. The bed sure is crammed with all three of us in there. It's so different now that he's getting so big. When we took him to the doctor on Monday he weighed 16-11. Insanity! He's back on the road to being healthy and happy.

Yesterday Eric and I caught him sucking his thumb! It's the first time I have ever seen him doing it. It was so cute! Eric sucked his thumb for a long time so hopefully Jarem won't get too hooked on it. He already sucks his hands constantly and we think it's cause he's teething. He isn't cutting a tooth yet but I think his gums are getting ready. He drools all over and always has his hands in his mouth. It was really cute to see his little thumb in there. I guess it helps soothe his gums so I'm okay with it. But 16 and sucking his thumb, not quite as cute. We have time though. Enjoy the pics of our happy and healthier boy.

Type rest of the post here
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Best Daddy EVER!

I mean to brag, my husband is amazing! Jarem has been so sick for the past couple days and has really been fussy and cranky. He has been running a fever and still trying to kick his cold. His sleep schedule is way off, so basically there is no schedule. Jarem sleeps during the early evening (5pm-9pm) and early morning (4am-8am) and that’s about it. He wants to be held and cuddled because he’s so uncomfortable. Our poor little guy is really struggling with this whole sick thing. It’s so hard to watch him be uncomfortable and grouchy since that’s really not his personality. But last night was probably one of our hardest nights ever with him. He was awake from 11pm until 4am. I was exhausted and so was Eric. My amazing hubby decided to get up with Jarem and stayed up with him the entire night. And I mean, the ENTIRE night.

I don’t really have that much sick time so Eric used a sick day yesterday and today so he could stay home with Jarem. He’s really struggling to get better so he’s lucky to have such an amazing daddy that is patient with him. Eric just holds him, sings to him, rocks him, pats him, cuddles him, and never once loses his patience. He’s so amazing! I find myself so easily frustrated and seeing how Eric deals with things is very inspiring. I want so badly to be able to just stay up all night and be happy and loving still. I’m working on it.

Not only is Eric staying home and taking care of our sicky boy, he’s also straightening up the madhouse we call home. The few times during the day that Jarem is playful and Eric is able to put him down he does. He puts Jarem in his bouncer and Jarem loves it! (This is usually right after a dose of Tylenol when Jarem is feeling his best.) Instead of Eric laying down and resting and trying to get some time to himself, he has been doing dishes, cleaning our bedroom and stuff like that. He’s incredible! I don’t know where he gets the energy to work so hard and keep smiling.

I love my hubby so much and can’t say enough how loved he makes me feel. He hugs and kisses me everyday. He holds Jarem and displays the most amount of patience I have ever seen. He truly is the love of my life and makes me feel like the luckiest woman alive. Thank you, babe. You’re the best!

Notice anything different in these pictures? My hubby has a goatee and looks so handsome!He's so silly! It was fun taking these pictures of him. We were cracking up!! Another thing I love, he can still laugh with me at the end of a long hard day.
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