The Baylor Family Blog

On Saturday, the day after Abi’s 1st birthday, we welcomed somewhere around 40 people into our home to celebrate! We are so grateful to the friends and family members who have walked beside us through Abi’s first year!

Matt and I carefully crafted a butterfly cake, with Matt as the head cake-icer! We enjoyed using some fun neon-food coloring to add some fun colors to the cake and some fun candies we found at a local candy store.

We served breakfast burrittos for the party-attenders to enjoy for lunch. Though Abi usually enjoys lots of the foods we put into burritos, I think she was a little overwhelmed during lunch and didn’t eat much. Or maybe she was saving plenty of room for cake!

Abi wasn’t too sure when we initially gave her the birthday cupcake.

Eli was quick to come to Abi’s side for encouragement!

Abi wasn’t too sure about the gummy butterfly at first, but she quickly grew fond of the taste and managed to gum down the whole thing!

Abi worked at eating her cupcake for about 45 minutes. I think the smile proves she thoroughly enjoyed it!

With her daddy’s help, Abi opened lots of presents, some bigger than she was! Of course, she had plenty of help from Eli and her cousin, Nathan, too! Abi was spoiled with many things, all which are being well-enjoyed by both Eli and Abi!

Abi snuggled right into her new heart pillow!

And Abi proudly posed for the camera in her movie-star sunglasses, which came in her brand new pink purse!

Of course, the kids soaked up attention from lots of people, including their Gran-B and Poppy.

To our delight, Abi seemed to be in a great mood and enjoyed having lots of people around to celebrate her first birthday! Thanks for all who made her first year so special!

…and I’ll CRY IF I WANT TO!!

One year ago, on January 22 at 5:17 p.m., we welcomed sweet Abi into the world. If I thought Eli’s first year went fast, Abi’s sped by even faster! My prayers were answered after delivery, and I got to experience holding and cuddling my new baby girl right after birth. Little did I know, hours later, Abi would land herself in the NICU with trouble breathing from an infection. The NICU was all-too-familiar for Matt and I, as we were greeted by many of the same staff we met during Eli’s stay. Those seven days felt eternally long as our family was divided, Abi and I at the hospital and Matt and Eli at home. Seven days of antibiotics later, complete with bili lights, a spinal tap, and oxygen, we were able to take Abi home. We survived two months of dragging an oxygen tank everywhere with us and numerous overnight oxygen tests. Abi overcame reflux, a milk allergy, pneumonia, a very long lasting GI bug, and plenty of other GI issues. Though small, she somehow managed to keep her weight barely on the charts, keeping the doctors from worrying to much! She has babbled and crawled her way right into our heart. Her calm demeanor and independence has been a pleasant addition to our family.

One year has come and gone. Little did I know that on Abi’s first birthday, I would be over halfway through the pregnancy of her little brother. Little did I know one year ago, that Abi would be extra special in my heart as my one and only girl.

Though I had big dreams of somehow making her actual 1st birthday extra special, Abi had other ideas. To fit with the rest of the week, she spent plenty of the day on her birthday crying and screaming, desparately clutching her blankie for comfort. She didn’t know what she wanted. She just knew she wasn’t happy. Perhaps her first birthday was having a bigger emotional toll on her than I realized. But we survived the day, much of it filled with preparing for her big party the next day.

We ended the day with a trip to our favorite local ice cream shop, Rizzutos. It was as much a little celebration of Abi’s birthday as it was a treat for Matt and I for surviving yet another day with a very fussy little girl. Abi had her first tastes of ice cream. It was amazing how the ice cream fizzled her tears away and her face instead filled with glee. That was more the face I was hoping to see on my little girl on her birthday. But I’ll take whatever I can get!

Happy First Birthday, Abigail Joy!
We are so thankful that you are part of our family!!

Last night we got a light dusting of snow, but enough for an excuse for Matt and Eli to go out this morning and shovel and play! Eli got to sport his new snowsuit. I think it looks like he should be hitting the slopes instead of the sledding hills! Eli’s favorite part is eating the snow!

You know how some day seem to flow, and well, others don’t? Well, this week hasn’t really felt like its been flowing so well in this house. I started the week with a stomach bug, and though I’m recovered, it seems like the pregnancy version of my nausea and tiredness has returned (I’m still hoping temporarily). Abi’s sleep is all off and she is throwing plenty of temper tantrums over everything and nothing. I don’t think she is teething. She isn’t sick. Everything seems fine, except for her tantrums. Despite my best attempts to let it slide off, its really hard for the screaming not to get under my skin. And I don’t know if its been ongoing or I had a sudden revelation, but Eli is completely convinced that the world revolves around him. His words and actions are completely self-centered, and something has to change. So the combination on dealing with Abi’s screaming and Eli’s attitude is leaving me feeling physically and emotionally exhausted. I know its a season. This, too, shall pass. Eventually, I will see the fruit of my labor. But right now, it just feels hard. And the days seems long.

Eli got a bike helmet for Christmas. He thinks its really cool.

Who says bike helmets can only be used when riding a bike?

And just so you know, this boy doesn’t only use his snow shovel in the winter!

I’d say he has pretty good technique for a two-year old, though. His daddy has taught him well!

Thank you, Aunt Andee, for my new hat.

Mommy has to hold my hands to keep me from taking my pretty new hat off.

Legos are good distractions for my hands, too.

Even if I will only wear it for a few moments, I really like my new hat.
But maybe not as much as my mommy does.

I’m realizing that it is getting harder and harder for me to keep up with the blog. While the blog is a way to communicate what is happening in our life with friends and family, it is mostly a way for me to record the happenings of our family. I haven’t been faithful in keeping up with baby books, so this is my best way to “remember.”

A LOT has happened in our life in the past month, so I will do another THIS & THAT post as a refresher. Many of these details may not matter to anyone but me. But then again, its my blog to help my memory

Abi

• Abi is 11 months and quickly approaching her 1 year birthday on January 22!
• At the beginning of December, when Abi was 10.5 months old,  we switched her from Elecare to cow’s milk formula. She did great, so it appears she outgrew her cow’s milk allergy at the same time as her older brother…yea!
• After returning home from our trip to Wisconsin, we switched Abi from cow’s milk formula to whole milk. Once again, she did great with the change. The still doesn’t drink her milk as well cold, but we’ll work on that.
• Abi is holding her bottle, most of the time. She gets lazy sometimes, and we’ll hold it for her. We can now lay her on her back and she can feed herself. It is so nice!
• Abi is starting to drink small amounts from a sippy cup. She gets frustrated when she is hungry, so we haven’t switched over from the bottle yet. It is encouraging she can suck a little already, though!
• Just before Christmas, Abi started refusing baby food. So she is now eating table food. She enjoys bananas, canned peaches and oranges, soft veggies, cheese, and lunch meat. We give her samples of other foods, too. She has a sensitive gag reflex and only two bottom teeth.
• Abi is saying a few words/sounds: Dada, mama, baba, hi, ni-ni, and na-na.
• Abi is walking holding onto things, but doesn’t quite have the balance to stand for more than a few seconds.
• Abi is a climber. She can easily climb up the stairs and onto the ledge in front of the fireplace. However, she hasn’t mastered the coming down part, yet!
• The best way to stretch Abi to her bedtime, which is between 7-8 p.m. is to stick her in the bathtub. She goes from fussy baby to happy baby the instant she hears the water running!
• Abi is mostly sleeping through the night. She still wakes up around 4-6 a.m. to eat. Then she’ll sleep until 7-8 a.m. Otherwise, she wants to wake up and play between 4-6 a.m., which doesn’t excite us!

Eli

• Eli had his re-assessment for Early Intervention, which is the program that was providing us with in-home speech therapy. This assessment was to determine if he would qualify for free public preschool next year. Well, Eli did absolutely amazing during the assessment, scoring in most areas between the age of 3 and 4. He’ll be 3 in March. Eli did not qualify for preschool, but we are so thrilled with how far he has come in the last year. His speech is well above average now. He’ll have a couple more visits from the speech therapist and will graduate from the program just before turning three.
• Since Eli didn’t qualify for public preschool (which is a good thing…meaning he’s come so far!), we will start investigating our options for private preschool. We will need to decide whether or not we will start preschool next year before the school year ends. I think Eli would benefit from the social aspects of preschool, but I don’t think it is absolutely necessary, either. And its not cheap!
• Eli has a new and growing love for trains. And he thinks Thomas the train is very cool.
• After returning home from Wisconsin, we started potty training Eli. He wore underwear for two days, except during the night. We rewarded him with an M&M for sitting on the potty when we asked (every 30-45 minutes). He did well with following directions, but never managed to leave anything in the potty. He could tell us after his underwear was wet, but never before. It didn’t take long before he started acting out a lot. We realized he was getting really stressed with the change and not having much success. So we decided to stop and try again later. We aren’t discouraged, but we are learning lots!
• Eli is teething…again! Ugh! I thought we would have years of relief after all the teeth that he got between 1 and 2. After talking to some friends, it appears he is getting his two-year molars a little late. I initially thought he might be getting three-year molars. But I learned that three-year molars don’t exist.
• Eli is loving having table time during Abi’s nap. We play with play doh, color, work on puzzles, play games, and so much more. He loves the one-on-one time. I enjoy doing these activities so much more when I don’t have to keep Abi entertained doing something else.
• Eli really enjoys puzzles right now. I can hardly believe how much he has improved at putting the pieces together in only a week’s time. He still needs a lot of help, so we mostly work on puzzles when Abi is sleeping.
• Eli is suddenly very interested in what makes Jesus happy and what makes Jesus sad. He categorizes many of his behaviors in those two categories. Matt and I have not stressed how his actions make Jesus happy or sad, so its been interesting helping guide him through this.
• Eli is very incentive oriented. He still loves getting Elmo stamps for good behavior, but now he asks for candy, too. Our compromise is he gets a piece of candy when he fills his paper up with Elmo stamps. He often gets a cookie or a piece of candy if he has good behavior when we are at a store. The moment we get in the car to go almost anywhere, he proudly announces, “Me being good. Me get a cookie/piece of candy.” We hear those sentences repeated several times while shopping as well.

Matt

• At the very end of December, Matt had his last day at Focus on the Family.
• Matt opened his own business, called Impossible Solutions, and has been very busy setting up business bank accounts, a business mailbox, meeting with an accountant, working on a website, and so much more. He has a great office setting in our basement.
• Matt has been very busy networking. God has blessed him with several clients and business right from the start. We obviously don’t know what the future holds, but we feel very encouraged that God’s hand is in our situation.
• God is providing. He is providing encouragement from many people. God is providing financially from business in the first month of opening. God is providing wisdom from many people. God is providing open doors. And God is providing peace.

Kimi

• I am now 18 weeks pregnant and still feeling well. I’ve started having some backaches, but otherwise am doing great.
• My appetite is much better (or should I say much bigger) than any other pregnancy.
• I things my days of avoiding maternity clothes this pregnancy might be limited. My jeans are getting a bit tight, so I’ll probably give in soon.
• I have been feeling the baby move for several weeks. The kicks, however, haven’t been strong enough for Matt to feel, yet.
• Matt gave me the title of “Book-keeper” when he opened his new business. After a few days, I told him I didn’t like my title. So he promoted me to “Office Manager.” I’m much happier with my promotion and new title

There were lots of posed shots taken that I wanted to include from our time in Wisconsin, too.

Here are my parents with all five of their grandkids:
Andrew (11 months), Grandma, Tycen (1.5 years), Callie (3.5 years), Grandpa, Abi (11 months), Eli (2.5 years)

We took a few pictures of Abi in her Christmas dress, which she wore to the Christmas Eve service. I bought her this dress while I was still pregnant with her, and she finally got to wear it. She looked so pretty Eli had a Christmas suit on, but he wasn’t up for picture since he just busted his lip open.

Here is Abi and her cousin, Andrew, both born on the same day. It was hard getting both of them to sit still long enough for a picture!

Eli with his cousin, Andrew:

Me with my nephews, Andrew and Tycen. Eli popped in the second shot!

On December 22, we loaded up and flew to Wisconsin to spend a week with my family to celebrate Christmas. Since my siblings, parents, and I all live in different states, it is always precious when we can all get together. We all arrived within a day and a half of each other. My parents got to enjoy the busyness of five mobile grandchildren ages three and under. It was fun watching the cousins play together and entertain each other. We had lots of cold weather, but that also included plenty of snow for the kids to enjoy, as well. It was fun watching the personalities of my niece and nephews come out more and more, too.

The first evening with all of us together, we had little birthday celebration for Kevin (whose birthday was in December), Andrew and Abi (whose birthdays are both January 22). I’m not sure Andrew had much of an opportunity to play with his new toy, but the other kids sure enjoyed it

There was plenty of snow, so many went outside to play and shovel or un-shovel, and sled. My parents have a great, long hill in their backyard for sledding. My brother somehow managed to sled down the hill standing up, but Callie and Eli were very compliant sitting in the sled all the way down! Eli enjoyed showing Callie how to eat the snow, too. The weather was quite cold, so the kids didn’t spend too much time outside before needing to get warmed up inside, too. Andrew braved a sled ride, but we didn’t even try and bring Abi out since she his a good history of throwing tantrums when getting bundled up.

Despite the snow, we managed to make it to the candlelight Christmas Eve service. Just before we left home, Eli fell off a bathroom stool and busted his lip open. It hurt for him to eat and drink, so he was a little out of sorts. Poor kid. Neither of our kids lasted the whole service (we weren’t shocked). I brought Eli back in after the sermon. The church gave glow sticks to the kids instead of candles, which was a special treat that was played with all evening.

Somehow, we all managed to wait until Christmas morning to exchange gifts. We were all spoiled with LOTS of gifts. There were presents stacked half as tall as the Christmas tree, several feet out. The little kids did better than us big kids leaving the presents alone Eli scored some new games, matchbox cars, puzzles, and so much more. Abi is enjoying new dolls, a stroller, shopping cart, vacuum, lots of food for her kitchenette and more. Matt enjoyed some Wii chargers, tools, and lots of athletic clothes. I walked away with a new DVD player, garlic press, silicone whisk, muffin pan (okay, I’m feeling all grown up now!) and more! We packed all our suitcases to the maximum weight limit and still shipped a large box home.

After Christmas, Matt and I got a much needed escape from kids and headed out for a date one afternoon. We haven’t gotten out nearly enough for dates since Abi’s birth. We visited the highlights of Monroe and simply enjoyed the freedom of just being us! We were thankful to my parents and siblings for watching the kids!

My brothers and their families had to maneuver through some very icy and snowy weather on their way home. Despite the fact they went south and we headed north to the airport, we somehow had much better roads. We found out after checking in at our gate that our flight was overbooked by 10 seats. With Matt’s job done at Focus, there was no reason for us to be home that day. So we voluntarily gave up our seats. In return, the airline put us up in a nice hotel, provided us with meals, confirmed us on a flight the next day, and gave us three round-trip airline tickets. Score! It was a bit tricky doing this with small kids, but it was definitely worth it in the long run. It was an adventure, for sure!

(Eli showing Tycen how to drive Grandma’s scooter. I think Eli will have no problem helping Tycen get in trouble during future visits)