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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Poor baby Jarem

Well, it's been a long weekend with lots of cuddles and family time. Yesterday morning we were hanging out at the house and getting ready to go take Jarem to the snow for the first time. Our Target out here was having snow shipped in and we were going to take him to play in it. But as we were getting ready Eric was holding him and mentioned that he thought Jarem felt warm. He said he thought Jarem had a fever. We took his temperature and it was a whopping 101.6! WHOA! Jarem's first fever, and boy was it a fever!

We put him in the bath because I called Brittney and she mentioned that we should wait 20-30 minutes from when he woke up to take his temperature to make sure it's accurate. (Since your body temperature is higher when you're sleeping.) We put him in the bath and I went online to start doing research. We found that above 100.4 is considered a moderate fever for infants. After his bath we fed him and waited about ten minutes so he could regulate his temperature a little and found that it was still 101.5. We called our pediatrician to see what she recommended we do.

She called us back within ten minutes (Saturday, mind you - Dr. Sudha is AMAZING!) and told us to give him 1.5 droppers of Tylenol and wait it out. We gave him meds, took a nap, and cuddled. We took his temperature again four hours later and it had dropped a little. We gave him more Tylenol 4 hours later and that was basically the way our day went. He had a fever all day and either slept, ate or played with mommy and daddy. We gave him another bath before bed and decided to stay home rather than going to the Urgent Care.

He slept pretty well last night even with a fever the entire night. He's such a good boy, even when he's sick! He was somewhat fussy yesterday morning but the rest of the day he was smiles and super cuddly with us. It was kind of nice staying home the entire day as a family and just giving Jarem lots of love. We sang to him and played and he was in a pretty good mood despite his fever.

This morning his fever was down to 99.1. We're continuing with lots of cuddles and Tylenol every four hours. As long as it doesn't go up anymore we're hoping we can stay home again today and have him all better by tonight.

We missed Grammy's birthday dinner, sorry Grammy! But she brought us some of Aunt Stef's yummy brownies last night and they were amazing! Thanks Aunt Stef and Grammy! Please send some love and prayers for Jarem to make a speedy recovery.
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22

Well, when getting portraits taken for grammy's birthday present, we decided to get individual portraits taken of Jarem. This was his first time getting official portraits taken. He was mostly smiles and did great with the whole experience. He's such a happy baby that he makes life so easy. He definitely has daddy's personality---laid back. He is very relaxed and just goes with the environment. He goes through mass without usually making a peep. When at home he shrieks and squeals and loves to play and go wild. He really is the best baby boy and the biggest blessing. We love him so much and really love these portraits of him.

For those who may not know, when Eric and I met I was stunned by our similarities. I even thought that when Eric was trying to win me over by telling me we had similarities he was lying. I would say, "I'm Catholic" and he would say, "Me too!" Then I would say that I went to private high school, his response, "Me too!" So when I told him my number in basketball was 22 and he replied his typical, "Me too!" I knew he must have been lying. There was no possible way that his football number and my basketball number were the same. I thought for sure that he was lying and that he was silly for thinking I would believe all his lies.

Well, he wasn't lying. When I went to his house for the first time I saw his #22 football jersey hung on the wall of his bedroom. I was shocked! If you'll notice Jarem's shirt in these portraits it may help explain a little more about this number that is very special to both mommy and daddy. Mommy wouldn't have minded if he was holding a basketball, too. But he can choose whatever sport or instrument that he wants to play. We'll support any decision and encourage him along the way.
I do have to say though, he does look pretty happy with a football.
Then again, maybe not so happy. Oh wait, I forgot. Daddy has been working on his game face! Do you want to see the face of intimidation?!? hehe Mommy still thinks he's pretty cute.
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Happy Birthday, Grammy!

Grammy celebrated her birthday yesterday and said she had an awesome day. She's so loving and sweet and generous. She always hugs and kisses Jarem. She's so good with all of her grand kids. She always buys him little things and is very thoughtful. She cooks the best food and we are lucky enough to get to eat together a couple times a week usually. She is such a happy person with a real sense of humor. Her jokes and pranks are hilarious and she always makes us smile. We love our grammy!
Yesterday we had dinner at grammy's house. Jen, Bradley and the kids also came over for dinner. Jen had the best idea for grammy's present. We got portraits taken of the kids together for grammy's wall. Jen painted an old frame from my mom's garage and even painted the mat to match my mom's walls. She did an awesome job and the picture is so cute!! We had mom go in the other room while we quickly switched out my mom's existing picture that was hanging on the wall with the new and improved picture of her grand kids. She absolutely flipped when she noticed it hanging on the wall. All in all, we feel very lucky to have such a loving momma and grammy. Here are a few other pictures of grammy with Jarem. We love you!! ... Full Post...

Bad Monday and Tuesday? Maybe not...

Well both of my boys are sick which has made for a rough start to the week. Monday we all stayed home sick as a family. Eric was running a fever and felt horrible. Jarem woke up what seemed like every hour on Sunday evening and kept me up with him. He has been fighting a cold and had trouble sleeping Sunday night. He wanted to be latched on to me most of the night for comfort but I couldn't get good sleep with him latched. He won. He was latched from 9:30 until 1:15am. WOW! He wasn't eating most of the time but he still wanted to be latched for comfort. Poor guy. When my alarm went off at 3:30am to get ready for work I decided that since I had just fallen asleep two hours ago there was no way I was able to go to work.

Eric stayed home to take care of himself and I stayed home to take Jarem to the pediatrician and get some rest. We had a quiet day and took a family nap for about two hours in the afternoon. Jarem still isn't sleeping like he used to but he seems to be feeling a little better. The pediatrician said he just has a cold so that's good. I'm happy he doesn't have an ear infection or anything worse.

Tuesday morning went well and we actually left the house on time. We got to daycare on time and left Jarem sleeping in his classroom. The morning seemed to be going flawlessly until I got to work. Eric was so sweet in getting all of our bags ready that morning. (Diaper bag, bottle bag, pump bag, lunch bags, etc.) I had started to get my pump bag packed when Eric said he would do it. We didn't really talk about where I had left off so he just picked up the rest of the stuff he saw on the counter and packed my bag. When I get to work in the morning I pump right away. It's usually been a couple hours since I last fed Jarem so I'm ready to pump first thing. Well I went into my room to go pump when I realized that we both forgot to put in the power cord. Oops!

Because I had gotten myself emotionally ready to pump, I had already started flowing. My shirt had two huge wet cirles on the front of it. Talk about embarrassing! Luckily I get in so early that no one was in yet. I went over to my desk and grabbed my sweater and threw it on. Thank goodness!!! But, to fix the problem I had to have Eric bring the car back to my work, I had to drive him back to the zoo and drop him off, and then head all the way back to Queen Creek to get the cord. We thought about trying to go buy one at the store but no stores were open yet. Radio Shack didn't open until 9am and I could have been home and back on my way to work by that time. I spent two hours driving home and back to work. Not fun. But in the long run, I got to work and was able to pump all day which is most important. Jarem needs his food so we needed to get that pump going one way or another.

Although it was a stressful morning where everything seemed to be going wrong, I can't help but remind myself that I was in the car for three hours and didn't get into an accident. My bosses are flexible enough to let me go home and do what I need to do without any problems so that I can take care of my son and feed him. I have to remind myself of these blessings and the silver lining that can always be found in every situation. At the end of the day, I got to lay in bed with my boys on either side of me and listen to an amazing rain storm outside as I said my prayers and fell asleep. I have nothing to complain about...
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Fun weekend

This weekend was awesome! We hung out with Jen and the kids on Friday evening. We went to the zoo together in the evening and watched the kids cool down. They went down the water slide and with Emma's scream she even convinced Jen to go with them. She's an awesome mommy to take the brave plunge! hehe They all were soaked but incredibly happy.

Joanna was in town this weekend which made for some great fun! We did a little Baptism prep on Saturday afternoon and then partied hard that night. It was Jenny and Kiko's engagement party. SOO FUN! They definitely know how to throw a party.

Kiko is Cuban so Jenny surprised him with an incredible Cuban band that came and played for a couple hours. We had so much fun dancing! We haven't heard live Cuban music that good before. They were AMAZING! It was loud and our amazing son Jarem slept through almost the entire thing. We finally decided to wake him so he could enjoy the music with us. We danced as a family and had the best time.
Kiko in return surprised Jenny (who is Samoan) with Samoan dancers and a flame eater/twirler. Another awesome addition to the party! We all went into the backyard after the Cuban music was done and watched a private show. Eric and I even got up and joined the dancers with a little lesson in Samoan dancing. I know, shocking! Eric and I were dancing. :)

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