Soccer

Once again, soccer season has come and gone. It really zipped by this year as the season was a little shorter than usual. Matthew had a fantastic time playing and we had a super time watching him. They were a great team!




One thing we can always count on during soccer season in Utah is crazy weather. The kids played some games in the freezing cold. Some games were played in pouring rain or even a little snow. A few games even required sunscreen. :)



The girls enjoyed watching and cheering for their big brother. They even scored some new Disney Princess chairs with the deal.



We're always a little sad to see the soccer season end. Matt's team had a great season and it's always fun watching the kids play hard. We've been really fortunate the last few years and Matt's been on good teams with great coaches and fun teammates -- with fun parents. It's been a good ride, and we'll look forward to next year!

Disneyland

Last month we went to Disneyland! We so seldom take vacations and are in love with all things Disney, so we had a fantastic trip. We completely broke tradition and had a perfect vacation where everything went smoothly and perfectly.



The kids all chose their own "Mickey ears" hat. Bailey even wore hers more than a few times. Rachel would have slept in hers if she'd had the chance.







We had an autograph book which the kids really enjoyed filling with characters' signatures. They loved the characters -- okay, Matt and Rachel loved them. Bailey loved them from afar. Matthew, however, was the only one who would get close enough to Cruella DeVille to pose for a picture.








One afternoon we stopped in at a great little cafe in Orleans square to try some beignets. Rachel adores Princess and the Frog and wanted to try some real beignets like Tiana makes. They were shaped like Mickey Mouse heads and tasted delicious so Rachel was one happy gal.








Rachel LOVED the princesses - and Bailey actually really liked them, too. She did better with them than the other characters, I think because they look like real people. (Notice the big wad of food in Rachey's mouth. Nice.)






Steve with his favorite princess.



Okay, Steve really does like Belle, but these are really his very favorite princesses.














We had the best week! I could have really filled pages and pages with pictures and stories. We really do adore all things Disney, but just as amazing as being at the "Happiest Place on Earth" was the fact that we had time -- just time with each other. We had no deadlines, no agendas, no real life stress. We just had each other, time, and tons of wonderful things to do and see.

Happy Birthday, Bailey!

On the 3rd of April my baby turned 2! I seriously don't know where the time went - I just blinked and it happened. We had a fantastic weekend celebrating our little princess!
It was the first Easter weekend in 3 years that Steve had off work, so we really just enjoyed being together. We started the day with a little Easter egg hunt with some friends. We then came home for birthday presents. Rachel gave Bailey her first pair of princess shoes and Matt gave her a bubble machine. Bailey loved both gifts! We put the unearthly amount of batteries in the bubble machine, fired her up, and the girls spent seriously like the next hour dancing, playing, and popping bubbles.



Our gift to Bailey was a Radio Flyer wagon. We put it together (but not fast enough for Bailey's liking), and took the gals out for a walk. Notice the girls' hair in this picture. It was sticky and nappy - covered in bubble solution from our bubble dance party.




That evening we had my sister, her husband, and their boys over for ice cream and cake.



On Sunday afternoon, we went to my brother's house in Ogden for an Easter/B-day party. Bailey had a ball -- she adores her aunts, uncles,cousins, and grandparents. She received some of her very favorite things as gifts; a baby doll, baby accessories, and bubbles. She got some darling clothes and lots and lots of attention. :)










I can hardly believe that my baby girl is two! She is such a sweet and fun little gal. She has experienced so many weird health issues in her short little life, and has proven herself a fighter. She is a strong little girl with such a big personality. Bailey is such a blessing to our little family and we are so grateful for her. Happy Birthday, Bailey! We love you!

Date to the Ballet

We have some wonderful friends who have children who dance with the Cache Valley Ballet. They gave us some tickets to see Firebird in which two of their children were dancing. I had planned to take Rachel to the Saturday matinee. I'm still not really sure how plans changed and how Steve agreed to it, but it was decided that Steve would take Rachel on a date to the ballet instead.



Rachel felt so special getting all dressed up to go out with her Daddy. They had a great time. Rachel LOVED the ballet and Steve said that he enjoyed it also. It just goes to show that this Daddy would do anything for his girls.

Progress

Today is a bitter-sweet day for us here at the Foster home. This morning we have a meeting with some people from the Up to Three program at Utah State University to sign Bailey out of their program. For the past 10 months or so, an occupational therapist from the program has been coming out to work with our little gal. Let me back up a little. Most of the two people who read this blog already know this, but to re-cap, Bailey has had eating issues. She just wouldn't eat any solid foods. When it came time to introduce solids to her, she wouldn't do it. That's an understatement; she'd gag, heave, cry, choke, etc. She had a huge aversion to anything coming even close to her mouth. She would only nurse, which was becoming a problem as time went on because she was always hungry and wasn't getting all the nutrients she needed. She was anemic for quite a while and, of course, wouldn't take the iron supplement that was prescribed -- if I forced it in, she'd promptly vomit.
Thanks to a great doctor, we got connected with this fantastic program at the university. They came out, visited with us, observed, and tested her. She was right where she needed to be or above in every area, but eating. A theory is that Little Bailey spent so much of her first year sick, that it caused some sensory issues. She had so many respiratory problems and struggled to much to just breathe, Poor Baby. So, Amy, an occupational therapist, started coming and working with us. She is amazing! She gave us so much support and so many great ideas. We just adore her.
It's been a bit of a long road, but Bailey is now doing so amazingly well. It's kind of funny to look back now and realize how much I took for granted with my other kids. They just ate. They just drank. Sure, it was messy, they had picky days, but they did it. Bailey was 19 months old when she drank out of a cup for the first time. (It was a sacrament cup at church and on my birthday. Happy birthday to me!)
Fast forward to today. Bailey is eating like a champ. When compared to most kids her age, she's still got a little way to go, but she's doing awesome! She has met and exceeded all the goals we made for her with the Up to Three program, and she did so well in follow up evaluations, that today we are meeting to sign her out of the program. It's been so good and such a valuable support to us. We are so grateful for them and so thrilled that Bailey is doing so great, but we will sure miss our Amy. I guess our consolation is that we will still have the Mii that Rachel made of her on the Wii. :)


We went to Angies last month and the kids enjoyed a free ice cream cone with their meals.



The noteworthy thing here is that Bailey was actually eating ice cream. She's actually become quite the fan. For the longest time she wouldn't touch anything of that texture or anything cold. Yay, Bailey! Hooray for progress!

Out with the old...

I'm getting a real hankering for some spring cleaning. All I need is spring. Really, though, I have a ton of projects that I'm actually anxious to do. Okay, so not so much that I'm super-thrilled and dying to do the work, but I'm excited for the finished product. One of those projects is purging and cleaning the garage. That's where the spring thing comes in. I do need a little bit of warmth and dryness to unload that abomination and organize it.


In an effort to at least start de-cluttering, I made a deal with the kids. We have some big toys that are too big to live full time in the house. They mainly stay in the garage and we rotate them in and out. I told the kids that if we sell (or get rid of) several of the old big things, that we'd buy them one new thing to replace all of the old. After careful thought and deliberation, they chose a new play kitchen. Okay, really it was a very fast, very unanimous decision. They are very excited for a new kitchen - so excited that they were okay as we sold a number of their other old things.



We got this Little Tikes kitchen back when Matt was about 3. It's been a favorite of all the kids. It was almost a little sad to see it go, but hey, new kitchen. :)

So at about this same time, we all went shopping for real furniture. Steve and I bought some very inexpensive couches in our first year of marriage which have lived in our living room (not the garage) since then. After so many years, they have seen a lot of life and are looking (and feeling) not so new. They're not in horrible shape, but it was time for new ones. Thanks to tax return 2009, this is the year for new couches.



We were amusingly and pleasantly surprised that the kids enjoyed furniture shopping so much. Sweet Matthew was helping keep an eye on the girls while Steve and I deliberated. At one point, we turned and they were gone. (We weren't worried as we new that Matt was with the gals). We rounded the corner and this found them enjoying a little entertainment.







It's been a really fun month as we've anticipated new furniture and done a little refreshening of our living room. It's also been kind of nostalgic. It's amazing how many memories are tied to furniture. I mean, as we're preparing to get rid of the old couches (anyone know anybody who needs new old couches?), we've taken quite a few strolls down memory lane. These couches were some of the first "big" purchases we made as newlyweds. We brought home each of our new babies and took the very first pictures holding those sweet little bundles on this furniture. We've sat for hours talking, laughing, crying, scheming, watching movies, visiting with friends and family... It's been a good ride. Thanks, Old Green Plaid Couch and Loveseat, thanks.

Bailey

It's been a very eventful week for our sweet little girl. Last week she started acting like she was coming down with a cold. She was a little stuffy and started with a little cough. Within less than a day, it became apparent that this was way more than a "little bug." After a very long and difficult night, we took her to the doctor who sent us straight to the hospital. Bailey got RSV when she was only 2 months old, and it was back with a vengeance. We picked Matt up from school, called my sister with an SOS to come get Matthew and Rachel, and then found ourselves in the hospital for the next 4 days.



The little sweetie felt miserable! Generally this gal doesn't hold still for anything. The fact that she spent days just lying in bed and wanting to be held, told all. We were treated wonderfully by the hospital staff, but poor Bailey didn't trust any of them and hid her head every time anyone walked in the door.

One evening Steve brought Matt and Rachel to see Bailey for a few minutes. He called from the parking lot to tell me they were on their way up. I expected that she'd be so excited to see them and maybe even perk up a bit. They walked in the door and when Bailey saw them she just burst into tears. She immediately reached for them.



Rachel was very sweet and gave up her beloved VSmile pocket (hand-held game) so that Bailey could have something to play with while in the hospital.




Bailey was finally starting to feel better, but wasn't doing too well at eating like the nurses wanted her to. Dad came one morning with donuts. This was one of the first smiles we saw while she was there.



On Saturday she finally started showing real progress - so much that by that night we were able to come home. She is doing so amazingly well and is, thankfully, back to her sweet, happy, silly self. We are so grateful for fantastic doctors, nurses, and hospital staff. We are also so thankful for dear friends and family who supported our little family with thoughts, prayers, and kind acts. My "big" kids did such a wonderful job rolling with the punches and we are so proud of them! It was a rough week, but it sure made us rememeber what is most important and how blessed we are.


So, we'd been home for a few days and were feeling a little cooped up. We decided to go for a ride and get some cokes (mmm..Mooches) just to get out of the house for a few minutes. While at the gas station, Steve decided to run the van through the car wash. Rachel thought it was great. Bailey - not so much.



It went from bad to worse.



Then even worse.



Poor Bailey!! And what a great mom I am! Instead of comforting her, I was snapping pictures. Ok, for the record, I was comforting and snapping. (That picture makes me giggle quite uncontrollably every time I see it.)





Rachel was literally laughing her little can off! Who knew a $5 car wash could elicit such entertainment and trauma?



Poor Babers was just plumb tuckered out after all the excitement.