Here are some pictures from my birthday and Baylee's birthday! This post is my birthday, I will do another one of just Baylee's. There are a lot of cute ones, so I will try not to post too many! It's just so hard to choose!
So, I am now the parent of a cute one year old (or at least I think she is cute)! Baylee's birthday was on Thursday, July 19th. We have pictures, but I will have to put them on later.
So, Thursday was Baylee's big day, and unfortunately Ben had work and school and didn't get home until almost 9. So, Baylee and I had a pretty relaxing day. We took Ben to Bart in the morning, and Baylee slept a lot during the morning. Then in the afternoon we had a gourmet lunch of a homemade burrito with applesauce and juice and some cookie for dessert (aren't you all jealous?). We got all ready to go out, and Grandma Hall stopped by with a birthday balloon and star-shaped Happy Birthday cookie for Baylee. Then Baylee and I went out shopping. We only made it to one store, though, since Baylee decided to stink up the dressing room. So, we headed home, and Baylee fell asleep and slept through her diaper change. We hung out at home and talked to my parents on the phone a little. Once Ben came home the three of us went out to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Baylee's birthday (compliments of the gift card Mike and Laura gave me for my bday). It wasn't the best service or food we've had there, but it was still fun to take Baylee out for her birthday. When we got home Baylee opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa Higgins and Annie and also from Uncle Jim and Aunt Katie and kids.
Friday Ben stayed home from work. In the morning Baylee had her 12 month checkup and shots. I hate when she has to get shots. :( I hate needles and I hate that it makes her cry. She was good though, and only cried for a minute or two. After her dr.'s appointment we ran some errands to get things ready for Baylee's birthday bbq. We had Baylee's party at Ben's parent's house. It was us (of course), Ben's parents, Ben's brother Ryan and his wife Anna and their 3 kids, Ben's twin Mike and his wife Laura, our friends Brooke and Evan and their little girl McKenzie and Liz and Cammie (who are also Brooke's mom and sister). Ben made turkey burgers and we had a Nemo pinata (which was a big hit) and then Baylee opened presents. She got some really great stuff. She made out well. We weren't really expecting her to get anything from anyone, so that was really nice! After her presents we stripped her down and had cake. It was a really cute Nemo cake from Coldstone (she loves cold things). Then we just kinda hung out until the party died down and Ben got his homework done (since he needed to do it online and our internet was down). So, it was a fun little day! By the end of it Baylee was pretty pooped! She had a few cranky moments due to her shots (and a fever from getting them).
Baylee had a great little first birthday. It was a lot of fun, but it's kinda sad how fast she's growing. :( It's going by too fast, but it's good for her to grow. We have some cute pictures and videos from her bday that I will get put on here soon, so check back!
Unfortunately our internet isn't working at home right now, so let me see if I can get caught up on what we've been up to. I will try to get pictures later.So, July 13th was my birthday. That day Ben took Baylee and I to Monterey! We had a ton of fun. On the way we stopped at a chocolate factory I had found. They have a chocolate bar with tons of different flavors of chocolates (my favorite is a watermelon flavored). So, we got a pound of different chocolates. Then, we were hungry so we went and got lunch at a place called Hula's. The food was very good! We had a pulled pork sandwich with sweet potatoe fries and a pineapply coconuty drink. Yum yum! So, after that we went to the Monterey Aquaruim. Baylee really liked it. They even had a little area for kids 3 and under to play in. She loved it! So, after that we were ready for an early dinner, so we went over to Bubba Gump's and had a bbq chicken salad and bread. By the time we were done with dinner, I was tired, so we decided to head to our hotel (compliments of Ben's parents for my bday), and drove around a little in downtown Monterey and Fisherman's Wharf. The next day, we took our time getting ready, and then went down to Carmel. We just drove around a little and then decided to buy some lunch and take it to the beach and have a little picnic. We found a good spot on the rocks to sit, until some kids decided to come and try to take over. We tried to get Baylee to experience sand, but she didn't like it at all! After that we decided to head back to Pleasanton, with a stop at the outlets in Gilroy. Ben had given me some money for my birthday, and I found a couple of shirts and a skirt I liked. Once we got back to Pleasanton we stopped at Ben's parents and had dinner. Ben's cousin and his wife and kids were in town. We didn't get to stay too long because Ben had to go into Oakland for work and Baylee and I went with him. He had to turn everything off at his work because the power was getting turned off for a little bit. Sunday we got to go back and turn everything back on. So, that's basically what we did for my bday! Monday night Ben's parents took us out to dinner with Ben's brothers and their families for my birthday. We had Thai food and then came home for cake and pie and ice cream and presents. So, that was my birthday weekend celebration. It started on Wednesday with Ben's parents giving me a bunch of those cookies that come on a stick (I can't think of the word) at work, and then Ben bringing me a bday pie home on Thursday and singing to me, and then ended on Monday with dinner and presents. So, it was a good time! I will write about Baylee's 1st bday soon! But, I think Ben's having a hard time with her right now, so I better go help.
Britt failed to mention in her last post that she has a birthday 6 days before Baylee's. She is 25 today (July 13, 2007). She is trying to catch up to me in age but we all know that since I am much older than her I am also wiser. But she is wonderful and I Love her. We are going to Monterey from Friday to Saturday to celebrate. We plan to go to a chocolate factory down there tomorrow. We heard they had tours. So we are excited to eat a lot of chocolate and fatten me up. Other than that we don't have any set plans. I think we are going to try to take Baylee swimming tomorrow night. We will see. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRITT!!!!! Baylee and I love you.
So, next Thursday is a big day- Baylee turns one! This year has just flown by and I can't believe that she has already been alive for almost a whole year! It just doesn't seem like it's been that long, but it's been a blast!So, I wanted to do something really fun for Baylee's first birthday, even though I know she won't remember it. The bummer about her birthday is that Ben has class until 8 that night, which means that he won't even get home until almost 9 and so he misses her whole first birthday. He can't miss class because he has some tests and quizzes that day. I'm pretty bummed about it, but I know it's not his fault. I just wish the tests could have been a different day, or her birthday was on a different day this year. But, what can you do? Anyway, I guess we will just have to celebrate on Friday. She won't know the difference, but it still seems kinda wrong to me and like I said, bums me out a little. I don't know what to do for her birthday though. We will have the dinner and cake and ice cream bit. I want to get her a Coldstone cake, but they are a little pricey. I probably will get her one anyway. She loves to eat cold things, and those cakes are so cute and taste so good. I also want to do something else fun for her birthday, but I don't know what. Any suggestions?
So, today was not too eventful of a day. Baylee and I took Ben to Bart at about 7:45 this morning, and she surprising stayed alseep! She even slept until 10, which was great, but would have been better if I had been able to go back to sleep. Later, we went to work, and she was pretty good until about the last 1/2 hour. She was ready to go home, was mad nobody was around to give her attention, and even bit me to see if that would get me to stop and play with her. I tried my best to keep her happy, but it's hard to do that and work on the computer at the same time. She wanted to sit on my lap, but then she decides that she wants to use the computer, and she ends up pressing all the buttons on the keyboard and moving the mouse everywhere. So, it just doesn't quite work.After work, we came home and there were two packages on the porch. One was for Ben, and the other was some makeup I had ordered. Ben's sister, Jenny, had emailed me a site that sells makeup for about $1, and then if you put in a code you got 50% off your order. The shipping was $5. So, I ordered eye shadow and eye liner (that's the only makeup I wear) and then found a cute makeup orgarnizer that was $10. After the discount and shipping it was all only $15. I thought it was worth the try. Well, they didn't send the bag or the eyeshadow color I wanted the most, which was half my cost. They were out of them, and said that I could keep checking online for them. They are supposed to refund the money back into my account, but that means that if I want to reorder them I have to pay the shipping cost again. I think this is dumb since I already ordered it and paid a shipping. I know I got a great deal, but still... Plus, one of my eyeliners melted. :( But, I'll still give the company a try. Hopefully the stuff will be good. Enough about makeup though (sorry-kinda boring).So, Baylee and I picked Ben up at Bart, and then we went to sushi! It was soo good. Probably the best we've had in awhile, if not ever. We got a California roll, a spicy tempura California, an avocado roll, and then a New York roll. The New York is sooo good. It's got crab, cream cheese, cucumber and avocado. I'm not too big of a sushi fan, especially since I don't like fish, but Ben loves it. I will eat the crab ones, or veggie ones, but that's it. Tonight I was surprised that it was so good. After sushi we got some Thrifty ice cream. I don't know why, but after sushi and sometimes Thai, I always want ice cream. I got Chocolate Malted Crunch. I loved it as a kid. Baylee seemed to like it too, but I think she liked it on her face more.So, then we just stopped over at Ben's parents. He's trying to fix an ipod. Then we came home and now I get to go get Baylee to bed and watch our dvr shows. Fun fun!
So, my cousin Brooke asked me if I would get a blog, so I did. I don't know how interesting this will be, but it's worth a try, right? Today we wanted to beat the heat, so we scored free tickets to the All-Star Baseball Fan Fest in San Francisco. It was pretty fun to walk around and see all the cool baseball stuff. Nothing too exciting happened to us, but we did end up with some free washcloths and baseballs, and Ben even won a t-shirt! Then, we went to eat at Chevy's and got lost trying to get out of San Francisco. I think they were trying to keep us hostage because we got stuck on a one-way road that wouldn't let us turn left or right, and it was going more into the city instead of out. If the crazy limo driver had let us turn onto the right street to get to the freeway we wouldn't have had to trun left to turn around and we wouldn't have gotten stuck on that road. But, that's okay, it was still fun, and we were in cold weather instead of our 90 degree house. So, that was definetly a plus! And, Baylee even got in some good sleeping time in the car when she wasn't busy singing to us. So, it's now 9:15, and it's time to get Baylee to bed.
On Baylee's birthday Ben got home late so we went to dinner and then let Baylee open presents from my family. Grandma and Grandpa Higgins and Annie gave her this Pooh bear that plays the trumpet (just like my dad) and she loved it!
We had a pinata and Baylee was so cute hitting it! After the kids broke it and all the candy was on the ground, Baylee decided she wanted it and started picking up her own candy. 
Baylee's first brithday cake. She had a lot of fun eating it! Yum yum!
