Bales walking some more

This is a short video of Bales. Enjoy! I have finally learned how to compress some of the videos so I will be able to post more.

Don't work too hard!

Happy Monday everyone! Just wanted to say don't work too hard.....be like me and play!

My friend Madelyn

I watched Madelyn for a few hours last night so her parents could go on a date. I love watching Bailey's friends. They are always so funny together. They both did very well and slept later then normal in the morning.

Bales with the camera case doing her rounds around the ottoman.
Bailey eyeing Madelyn's Paci. Madelyn is 10 weeks older then Bales and a proficient walker!

Garage Sale Saturday

Bailey and I have been trying to hit garage sales on Saturday morning for a couple of reasons. 1. you can get awesome stuff for pennies. 2. We are up by 7am anyway (uggggghhHH!!!) 3. It is fun!

We are still learning what neighborhoods yield the best deals, but we got all of this (2 toys, one Old Navey sweatsuit, one black turtleneck and a cute white sweater) for $2 even! Not bad. The clothes should all fit her for fall/winter. She already loves her new toys.

Olive Garden

Tonight there was a wife get together for 2nd Radio BN. We all met at Olive Garden and it was oh so delicious. Allison and I had a babysitter watch Jace and Bales at my house, so we were baby free for like the first time in a couple of weeks!!!! It was nice to have some adult conversation and a full meal uninterrupted. I ordered the tour of Italy, ate 1/3 of it and took home 2/3 of my meal, 3 breadsticks and a thing full of salad (we had a large group with lots of leftover salad/bread)....so, that should feed me for like 3 meals!! How awesome is that? No cooking, more Olive Garden and 4 meals for $15. I am in love.

My favorite things

My brain has been swirling around with ideas of new posts. One idea i had was to post our favorite things. So, here we go!

Bailey's Top 5 favorite things (besides mama and dada):
1. Kitty Cat- always an entertainment
2. Puffs finger food
3. walking while holding her Desitin diaper cream tube around ottoman over and over and over
4. watching daddy read to me on the TV
5. unloading the dishwasher with Mommy

Blair's Top 5 (well, what Sara thinks anyway)
1. Buying gear on Ebay
2. Working out
3. Playing with Bales
4. Dark chocolate and whipped cream
5. Military history books

Sara's Top 5 (besides blair and bailey)
1. Clothes shopping for Bailey and me
2. Reading christian fiction
3. walking
4. hanging out with friends
5. sleeping :)

Date night

Two good friends, Cecilia and Allison, came over with their boys for dinner. We have been getting together at least once/week so far to eat and talk. The kids play well together too, which is nice.

Cecilia's son, Gabe (2 yo) and Bales

Bales not wanting her pic taken
Gabe hammin it up. His daddy is deployed with Blair
It was past Jace's bedtime, he wasn't interested in getting his picture taken either.

Walking with my Gator

I put the Gator on the seat and Bales just started pushing it around! She would even take the Gator off and put him back on. So cute. (Who needs a doll when you have Albert?)

Pretty girl....don't I look big?

Table lickin' good!

Bailey is finally eating more like a normal baby. At around 10 1/2 months, her food intolerances/allergies seem to have basically disappeared. She hasn't had ecsema on her face for over a month now. Thank God! She is now expanding her diet in leaps and bounds. We are currently eating: pears, prunes, peach, apricot, carrots, sweet potatoes, avocado, rice, oatmeal, turkey, chicken, green beans, squash, apple (small amounts only), cinnamon, raisin, white potato, and......WHEAT!!!!!! Yes people, wheat. Oh my...I can so deal with Milk and Egg allergy (which she has), as long as we can have bread. Yipee for Bales.
Bales first bites of chicken
Notice the lines on her face? She slept on the teething ring of her "lovey" during naptime and this was the result!


Hilarious video of Bales...she though the chicken/sweet potato mixture was so good she needed to eat up every bite :) Must See to believe!! Also pay attention to snickers in the background and her saying "cat cat"

Bailey walking

Bailey has been walking for about a week now. Today she walked about 12 steps in a row. She is getting better every day. Stay tuned for more video. I am so proud of her!

Bailey is WALKING!!!

Bailey has been taking a step or two by herself for a few days now. Today she consistently would take 3, 4 or even 5 steps to get somewhere. So exciting!!!! She looks like such a big girl walking. She really hardly ever crawls any more. She will walk alongside a wall and then walk alone the few steps to get to something else. I am so proud of her and would love to have a photo or video to share, but Bailey was unwilling to do it in front of the camera :).

On a side note, Blair has made it safely to Fallujah. He has email (blaircellon@yahoo.com) and his deployment address is a few posts below. Thank you all for praying for his safe travels. Please continue to send notes/packages when you can. He already misses home!

Off to watch the OLYMPICS. I LOVE THE OLYMPICS :)

Bailey's new moves and toys

Bales has been walking all over the place with her car. She pushes it with the yellow handle all the way down till she hits the wall, then moves to the front and pushes it back. She loves it! Thanks Grandma P. She has taken a few steps on her own, but nothing too consistent yet.


Daddy's birthday toys for Bailey.
Bailey loves her new Penquin toy. Thanks Dad!
Here is her Elmo ball. She does a very good job of pushing it back to me when I roll it to her. Future basketball player?

Blair receives Medal

I am so pround of him!
(make sure and read below)

Right before his unit left for Iraq, Blair was presented with the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. He earned this during his last deployment. Here is what the certificate says:

Department of the Navy has awarded teh Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal to First LT Blair Cellon FOR professional achievement in the superior performance of duties while serving as the Intelligence Advisor, Military Transitition team and 2nd BN, 1st Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division, from Aug 2007 to March 2008 in support of OIF. His leadership and mentoring capabilities greatly improved the Iraqi Battalion's intelligence section. His aggressive tr

aining enhanced the scout platoon's lateral communications, documentation, and observation during night surveillance missions. Under his guidance during Operation Lion's Pounce, while living in the degraded living conditions in an outpost within the city of Diwaniyah, he coached the Iraqi S-2 and operating elements in developing a target responsible for the murder of a Polish soldier by an improvise explosive device. under 1st LT Cellon's tutelage as the sole coalition suport, the Iraqi battalion planned and executed the mission and captured the high value target. 1st LT Cellon's initiative, perseverance, and total dedication to duty reflected credit upon him and were in keeping with the highest tradittions of the Marine Corps and the US Naval Service. Given May 1st, 2008.

Blair made it on the bus

Daddy and Bales soaking up every minute. It was very hot this afternoon and Bailey was upset we woke her from her nap...she did ok though!
One last family photo. It is so strange that for 7 months photos will not have Blair in them. I am going to have to get a "daddy-doll" so we can have Blair in our pictures still :). He got on the bus without a hitch. I am going to try and stay busy, as I already have something planned for the next 7 days :)! The hardest thing so far has been Bailey saying "dadadada" all the time. It never bothered me before, but now it makes me so sad!

Last lazy morning with Daddy for awhile.

Blair and Daddy enjoyed some extra snuggle time. Blair leaves tomorrow early afternoon for Iraq. It is hard to believe it is happening 24 hours from now, as I am still pretty much in denial at this point. We have planned a day of errands, going out to lunch and just hanging out as a family. We hope to go to church in the morning and then it will be off to the battalion to say good-bye. Pray for us as we enjoy the day and prepare for good-bye.

Homemeade Pizza Night

Here is another attempt at cooking more "homemade". We had turkey sausage leftover from the night before, one tomato and 1/2 onion. What better to make then pizza? It was fairly easy to make. I have never used yeast before and that was an interesting experience trying to get it dissolved in warm water. It ended up turning out very well as we ate over 1/2 of the pizza! I love pizza and normally we eat a frozen pizza every few weeks on those nights that we crave it. This might replace that sometimes now! It was very light tasting....I hate that greasy pizza aftertaste.

Our dinner (pizza with veggie sticks). Bailey's dinner was avocado puree and sweet potato chunks. Mmmmm
Daddy feeding Bales the avocado. She LOVES avocado. I am going to buy some more today so she can "self feed".

Yumm-O Blueberry Pie

What better to do with all those summer blueberries? Homemade blueberry pie. This was my first attempt ever making a homemade fruit pie. I still took help from the store for the crust (though next time I will make it homemade too-the store just doesn't do that good of a job!). It turned out very well. Next time I will let the sauce thicken slightly more, but overall it was delicious. This was Blair's one last dessert request. He of course, loaded it up with tons of spray whip cream. Sorry don't have a pic of that. It is almost embarrassing how much he puts on! I made it topless (sounds scandolous!) to make it slightly more healthy. Interesting tidbit: who knew what cornstarch did? Maybe I am the only one left that did not know, but I thought that was for baby powder! Who knew it thickened pie filling for you? How cool is that! OK- this so shows my ignorance for homemade cooking :).

We love our baby girl

Daddy and Bales enjoying some good snuggle time.


Look how big she is getting!Daddy's pretty girls
Bales and I enjoying playing together. We are going to miss Daddy so very, very, very much.

Deployment time...again!

Blair is set to deploy this Sunday (Aug. 3rd). He will take at least a few days to travel overseas and then be in Iraq sometime that week. While we are fully ready and prepared for him to be gone, we are already mourning the loss of his physical presence.

I want to thank all of you that sent an email, encouraged Blair with a package/letter, and just generally prayed hard for our family last deployment. It is time to do it again! We could not have gotten through the first without all of your love an prayers. Below will be his address in Iraq (it will change around Christmas time so be sure to check back) and if you do want to send a care package, some helpful items.

This deployment will be vastly different then the last. This time he will be at a base with access to a chow hall (food buffet), PX (store) and a gym/internet center. Hopefully he will have good (cheap!) phone access as well. While excited that he has some of the "comforts" from home over there this time, his job will be very stressful and busy while there.
Please pray for Blair:
Good sleep
Safety
Time to go to the gym (stress reliever for him!)
Phone/Internet contact to keep in touch
Job stress

Care Package info: You can get a flat rate box at your local post office for free. It is 8.95 to ship. Things that would be good for Blair:
Pictures!
Local News (especially UF football for those in Gainesville!)
Homemade snacks/goodies - (said chocolate made it ok last year, I would wait till Oct. to send it though)
Magazines (Sports, Outdoor, News, Men's Fitness/Heath)
Books (Military, History, Classics)
Batteries (AA and AAA)
Nuts
Shave cream
Toothpaste
Body wash
Fusion Razor blade refills
Old Spice deoderant
Pulsar toothbrush (These brands are his fav. and he can't get in Iraq!) Things that he has access too that he does not need:
CDs/DVDs (overabundance of these already in Iraq)
Gum/Gatorade/Crystal Light (free in chow hall)
Sunscreen (given out where he is)
Chapstick
Clothing items

ADDRESS:
1st LT Blair Cellon
2nd Radio BN Det C
Unit 73488
FPO AE 09509-3488

At the beach!

We have nearly checked everything off the "What we need/want to do before Blair leaves" checklist. Going to the beach was an important one to Blair.....(although I tried to prepare him that going to the beach with baby is not quite the relaxing experience we remember as going as a couple). All told, we had a great time. Bailey loved the sand and of course, tried to eat it! Mommy is much more of a stickler then daddy on that one. She wasn't a huge fan of going into the ocean, but liked to sit where the tide would come over her a bit. We walked down the beach together for longer then I thought she would do...it was so CUTE!!!! She held one of each of our hands and just toddled like a big girl. She is really close to walking....we are hoping she will do it before Blair leaves. If not, that is ok too though.

Bales patiently waiting as Mommy and Daddy set everything up.
Daddy and Bales
Daddy and Bales in the ocean
Why is it when you take a "self-potrait" they always turn out this bad? At least Bailey is looking though!
Bales crawling away-she had so much fun!

I've got 3 teeth!

While Bailey was a late joiner in the teeth world (9 1/2 months she cut her bottom two at the same time), she is catching up quick! Below is a pic of her newest one. It is our left, her right front tooth. Looks like the other one won't be too far along.

My bottom two!
Shirt my Grandma P gave me: Having a great time in Mayberry.

Exploring Bales

Bailey wasn't quite sure what to do with this box. She eventually started exploring though!




CAN WE SAY MULLET HEAD?!?!?!?! Poor girl. It curls more when it is really humid and looks a little better....

On the road home...A quick visit with my cousin!

We were super excited to stop in Charlotte and visit with my cousin (Leslie), her husband Rob and their daughter's Morgan (7) and Madision (9). They live in Indianapolis, IN (where my mom grew up). They had spent all week visiting Philly and DC. It was wonderful to catch up as "adults". Leslie is my mom's brother's daughter.

2nd cousins. They were a little unsure of Bales at first!
Leslie and I. Growing up in a military family, I am not really close to my relatives (shocking to most of you "southerners" I know! It has been wonderful to get to know everyone as an adult. My mom being the youngest of 5 (4older brothers!!!), Travis and I are younger then most of our cousins. Thanks again guys!
Blair and Rob. Yes, he is that tall. First time I have ever felt Blair was the "small" one!