Baby to Toddler

Bailey is 2 years and 4 months only and the toil decor for her baby room is not working anymore. I got rid of everything piece by piece as she grew out of it and now the only thing left is the curtains. Her room colors are pink and black which all started from a lamp I found at Ross when I was 6 months pregnant. We were going to put a black chair rail in her room and paint the trim in black but to save on costs we taped two stripes around the room which turned out even cuter! I know we want to put black long curtains in her room to block the sun, but I didn't want all black...so I am going to make zebra print curtains! I already have it all planned out and my parents bought me this adorable white shelf with hooks on the bottom in white but I haven't used it yet because white wasn't the main color. I start my sewing classes September 10th (6 week course) but I may get around to making them before with the instruction manual. When I was growing up my mom didn't do a lot of decorating like painting the walls or hanging a lot of pictures because she didn't know how long we would live in the house (military) - so growing up whatever house we moved into was the color of my room and it stayed that way. I had a yellow room with blue blinds from 1st grade - 5th grade and I HATED it. My sister had a pink room and when she started college I moved in there and was pleased for the most part. Anyway, ever since I was pregnant I have vowed to keep Bailey's room as cute as possible and when she gets older I will change it to what she likes...and something I approve of...after all I will be the one paying for it. I will post pictures as soon as I get around to changing her room from baby to toddler.

This past weekend one of my sorority sisters saw Bailey and said, "She is getting so big, she isn't a baby anymore." I replied, "Yes she is a baby!" For those who don't know...Blake and I are probably only going to have one child due to my health after having her so Bailey will ALWAYS be my baby.

Birthday Cake

This past Saturday I made a cake for my best friend's birthday. It turned out so cute. I used a 6 inch pan but they are 3 inches high (around 7 inches tall with both layers and icing in middle)- it turned out so good. I did chocolate cake with chocolate icing. The monogram and design on bottom are chocolate as well but the decorating kind of icing. I think I will make these cakes more often than the 9 inch pans because they look dainty and girly...just add a ribbon and you have a fancy cake. This was also practice for the cake I am making for her bridal shower. This is the size I am making for the top tier of her cake. I'm getting better! Almost done with this hobby...ready for the sewing classes to start!

Trip to Beach

We went with friends to Perdito Key, FL (outside Orange Beach, AL). The condo was the nicest place I've ever stayed on vacation - thanks to LA for inviting us to your family's place. We went to these restaurants: Tacky Jack's, Live Bait, and Lu Lu's. I've been to Tacky Jacks before but not the other two. Lu Lu's was really good - Blake and I split the huge basket for two and ate until our stomachs couldn't take it anymore. I did go shopping at the outlets and I got a Coach wristlet as well as a Christmas gift for Blake's little sister - she will love it! I love it and if you see me with a new Coach purse it's because she made me mad or I decided that I need to treat myself to something new :) Until then it is staying wrapped up until Christmas. Bailey still had pneumonia while we were gone and the Monday after we got back I took her to the doctor again and it was only half way cleared up so they put her on another antibiotic as well as a steroid. She is fine now and went back to school on Thursday this week - I have paying for daycare even on days she doesn't go. Gotta love it!

Cake for Work

I know looking at this picture it doesn't look special but it took FOREVER to make. It is 2 sheet cakes stacked on top of each other along with filling in the middle about 1 inch thick. I used around 8 cups of decorating icing to make this cake and it ALMOST was not enough. It took around 6 cups to do the white cream cheese on the bottom and top layers and around 2 cups for the blue/green icing to do the bottom border and lettering. I was going to be really fancy and put the logo on the top but after I spent hours on it I did not want to spend another hour figuring out how to portion everything and make it look good. I also wanted to do a border on top but I ran out of icing. I was really proud of myself because I made it look so white and very smooth plus it did taste really good. I made this for our work party - it gave me a reason to practice. Anytime I find a reason to bring a cake I get excited so that I can try to do something new. I bought Wilton's Course 2 book this week so I will start trying all the new stuff from that book too. My next step is practicing with chocolate icing and making it taste out of this world. Wow I sound like a fatty! Blake said, "This isn't such a good hobby for someone trying to loose weight." ha! ha! I know...it really isn't, but I don't care much about the cake...I do test the icing quite a bit which probably isn't good on the thighs...but I only do it once a week and this week we didn't practice because of our schedules.

Pneumonia

Bailey has been sick for a few days but nothing major and since our insurance isn't the best I hesitated taking her but yesterday morning (Wednesday) she was in tears pointing to her neck (throat hurting) so I took her to the PriMed in Prattville so my mom could meet me and take her for the rest of the day. I told the doctor about her throat and that I noticed a little wheezing and she was congested so they did and x-ray and she has pneumonia in her right lung. Her throat is just sore but no strep throat. You would have never known she was that sick because she was playing around in the waiting room, but then when she coughs she starts to cry from the pain. They gave her a shot and she is on antibiotics and some decongestive medicine. Please pray that Bailey will be healed and that the pneumonia will not have any damage on her right lung.

When I get sick it isn't ever something small...I'm hoping she isn't like me, but this definitely isn't small.

Beach Bound

We are going to the beach this weekend and I am so excited. Blake and I haven't gone anywhere without Bailey since he got home over a month ago. Best part...it's free because our friend's family has a condo on the beach in Destin. I'm so pumped about it and then today when I went to email her about making plans I had a coupon in my inbox from the Coach outlet for an additional 20% off everything on the weekend we will be there! WOW! So now I think I am more excited about going to the Coach store than the beach...not really but Coach does make me happy :) If you want something hit me up and I will send you photos and prices through text.

Big Girl Bed

EXCITING NEWS...Even the grandparents don't know yet!

Last night Bailey Carson McArdle slept in her BIG GIRL BED!!!

She woke up from her nap on Sunday around 4:30 PM and Blake and I decided that today would be a good night to try out sleeping in a toddler bed (her crib turns into a toddler bed and then a full size bed). Since we have been potty training for over 3 weeks sometimes I do not get her up in time to go potty so now she can get down and go when she wakes up. I've been hesitant of the toddler bed because she is so squirmy and starts on one end and ends up in the opposite direction. I got up three times last night and turned her around so she wouldn't plop out the end without the railing. Here are pictures of my sweet baby girl going "night night".

July 4th

We didn't have big plans this year other than going to the pool for BBQ at Blake's parents house. Bailey loves the pool so she was super excited about spending the day in it with us. Meiko loves the pool more than anyone though - he gets so excited about jumping in the pool for the ball. He must have jumped in over 70 times in the past two days. He is a hyper jack russel so he can go on and on without getting tired, but after two days of going to the pool he was completely run down. I had to pick him up to put him in the car and take him out. He needed help jumping onto the bed to sleep/nap. He spent the entire day Sunday in practically the same spot without moving. Here are a few pictures of us from the 3 day weekend. I did have cute green glasses that matched her bathing suit but she wanted to wear the red star ones...at least it was July 4th and went with the theme.

Bailey has the ball Meiko went after 70+ times.