Keepsake question of the day - Roman & Bailey

What makes being Roman & Bailey's parent special?

It is such a blessing to be entrusted with the lives of these precious children! I am comforted in knowing that their lives are ultimately in God's hands, and God gives me the grace and strength every moment of every day to care for them.  What makes being their parent particularly special is knowing that both Roman and Bailey are MIRACLES of God.  I pray that I would not take these blessings for granted in the moments of frustration and exasperation.

Keepsake question of the day - Bailey

What is Bailey especially good at?

• Climbing up onto the step-stool (and low chairs, as well)
• Taking care of Dolly
• Knocking down towers that Roman so carefully built
• Making messes
• Standing next to furniture and holding on with only ONE hand

Keepsake question of the day - Roman

What is Roman especially good at?

• Delaying bedtime
• Taking care of baby sister
• Being a "helper"
• Making muffins
• Getting the mail
• Carrying things for Mommy
• Feeding Bailey
• Entertaining baby sister
• Playing pretend and imaginative play
• Fireman
• Train conductor
• Handyman
• Giving compliments
• Roman is always the first to say, "You look so pretty, Mommy!" Melts my heart every time!
• He also tells Bailey how pretty she looks when she has her bow on
• "I love your necklace," is another favorite compliment
• Being thankful
• "Thank you for making dinner, Mommy!" He says this almost every night
• "Thank you for putting strawberries in my lunch!" This was today 😊

AND...

• Just today, Roman figured out how to use his pinwheel to reach and open the chain lock on our front door. Eek! We installed that chain lock specifically to make sure kids do not "escape" the house, and now it is useless. Ha!

Bailey Update

Bailey has developed the cutest little personality in the past couple of months! She loves to play with big brother, care for Dolly, and drink milk!

Bailey's favorite foods:

• blueberries
• beans of all kinds (she loved the chili & beans sample they had at Sam's Club yesterday!)
• bananas
• avocado
• chicken (she likes nuggets or breaded chicken best)
• sausage (just like big brother!)
• black olives
• hot dogs (and if you give her a corn dog, she will only eat the inside "meat" part!)
• whole milk (she sometimes fills up on this one, losing her appetite for any solid foods!)

Bailey's words:

• Dada: Daddy
• Mama: Mommy
• Da͜ɪda͜ɪ: Dolly
• docks: socks
• uh-ohs: Uh-oh (she just recently started adding the "s" to the end)
• ease: please (but sometimes she skips the word and just uses her sign)
• hi: Hi! (this was probably her first word)
• dat: that (another first word...she likes to point to everything and say, "dat, dat, dat!")
• nigh-nigh: night-night
• opes: oops!
• ba: book, ball

Favorites:

• Dancing to the music on the "Sit 'N Spin" and attempting to sit on it (albeit backwards!)
• Sitting pretty much in any small (or unique) space she can find

• playing with big brother
• going on rides in the laundry basket

• feeding and carrying around dolly

Bailey's not a big fan of swings yet, even though we managed to capture this moment of her NOT crying in a swing!

• building towers on her pegboard
• rocking in mini rocking chairs
• pulling up to standing and holding on with just one hand!
• playing peek-a-boo by pulling up her shirt during diaper changes
• sitting on the dishwasher
• playing with the robotic vacuum (and turning it on/off)
• turning on/off the lights with the light switch
• Bailey can point to all of the parts of her body (nose, ears, mouth, belly, hands, etc.)
• going on walks (she gets so relaxed she falls asleep sometimes)

Celebrating Roman's #4

We celebrated Roman's 4th birthday today! Hard to believe he is already four! This is the first year he specifically asked to have friends at his birthday. He loved seeing so many friends and family there to celebrate with him.  We celebrated BIG with lots of pizza and cookie cake. Roman made sure we knew he wanted an "M&M cake" in the days leading up to his party. We didn't have an M&M cake (mostly because you can't order it from Sam's Club!), but we did let Roman add as many M&M's as he wanted to the top of his cookie cake. Roman loved all of his gifts:

• Train conductor dress-up set
• Crayola window cling maker, balloon, and M&M's
• Remote control car (Daddy may like this more than Roman!)
• Bubbles!
• Children's Theology book
• Walkie Talkies, Contigo insulated cup, ambulance, table & chair set, college fund
• Toad & Frog book, Superman car, opposites card match game
• Pop-up card & spending money

Roman: "These are the things I like," as he heads to his room to keep them close by during naptime.

Papa G and Bailey there to celebrate with Roman