Bits O' Bertoch

So this smorgasbord of a blog post has so many fun memories in it! San Antonio We went to San Antonio to visit my Aunt Leslie, Uncle Mike and cousins Lily, Lydia, and Laura…and my Mema and Pepa were there too from Florida! We basically just did an overnight trip because it is 3 hours from Houston, but it was packed full of good quality time. Bailey was the prized possession and she was entertained! She zonked out for a good nap after spending some cousin time haha. Plus it was awesome seeing my Mema and Pepa hold their first great granddaughter. 🙂 So many good laughs and talks and funny parenting stories. We skyped with Yves and Annie from France so they could see little Bailey Bug as well. Nothing beats family I tell ya! I feel so blessed to have such awesome relationships with my family and that my daughter can be so loved 🙂 Bailey was very taken to Laura too, I’ve never seen her go up and hug someone she hadn’t met before! It was so adorable 🙂 Christmas 2014 This was Bailey’s first Christmas! Haha she didn’t quite understand the concept. She was overwhelmed by the gifts and that she had to unwrap them, so she preferred sitting in my lap and touching things instead haha. In fact she ended up taking a nap halfway through her gifts and finished them after! She is so fun 🙂 Ally and John were visiting John’s family for Christmas, so it was just us until that evening. I cannot wait until she starts the understand the concept of Christmas and the magic of it all. 🙂 We also went to see the Christmas lights in a neighborhood that goes all out for it. Each street had a different theme, so one was Rudolf, another would be Frosty the Snowman etc. My favorites were the ones that talked about the true meaning of Christmas. One street had the whole bible story of Christ’s birth and another had the real meaning behind candy canes. It was really awesome and really got us in the Christmas spirit. With Christmas also comes baking! Stacey made some yummy goodies! And we were her sugar cookie helpers! She made over 100 sugar cookies and we frosted and decorated each one! We had an assembly line going haha. I also made my mom’s famous peanut butter fudge, which is always a hit because it is ahhhhmazing. Bailey has loved hanging with her cousins. She crawls all over them haha but she loves them! Between her crawling over Jefferson, Jefferson trying to take her binky, and Bailey being enthralled with anything Brayden does….it has been hilarious watching them interact. Throw in Bailey’s curiosity with Maggie their schnauzer and it’s been so fun. We have gone to parks, taken walks, swam in the hot tub, etc. She has perfected her crawling and pulling herself up on things. I know that walking is next! Once she can figure out her balance, she will be running pretty much haha. Plus her curiosity with everything is only going to increase as she realizes that by being taller she can access so much more lol. We have also been giving her more and more real food to eat and it has been awesome. So far the only thing she isn’t a fan of is green apples haha because of the tart. The texture is still weird for her; she will gag on avocados and bananas, but once she gets it in her mouth long enough, she loves the taste! She’s pro at feeding herself puffs and different little snacks. It only gets better from here 🙂 New Years 2014 For New Years we got some fireworks at the stand down the street and we mainly bought fun things that don’t make a whole lot of sound. We got some smoke bombs and sparklers and roman candles and bright fountains that shoot sparks. Adam and I lit most of ours during the day so Bailey would be awake to see it and she was mesmerized lol. It was actually pretty cold too so she was all bundled up. 🙂 Later that night we lit some with John and his stash. There were lady bug ones that whistle, we had a rocket that whistled, roman candles that popped, and flower ones that shot up in the sky. We didn’t do all of them because the babies were sleeping, but it was a lot of fun. Haha although we did end up having one of them hit a car after shooting up in the sky…..and called it a night pretty much. Bailey actually didn’t really wake up with all the loud fireworks from others in the neighborhood going off! Or Jefferson! Ally and I were so shocked haha. Adam and I were pooped before midnight, so we did a count down and a kiss in bed pretty much lol. The joys of being parents 😉 It was a fun night though and one I will def remember 🙂 One of the Christmas presents I got was a homemade gift from my dad of a card game that he made up with some of his buddies during one of his deployments in the military. It is called Unofuoco. It is basically Uno, but with some super cards that can do some awesome things. My dad made the super cards with pictures of Adam, Bailey, and I. (The original ones have pictures of me and my family when I was younger). Well…..I think Stacey, Ally, Adam, and I must have played like 30 games of it haha and they got pretty intense! It was so fun playing card games with people who get really into it like I do 😉 Although they pretty much rock if you count points….I learned that the hard way haha. I also made my first sewing project! Stacey taught me how to make a t shirt quilt! It was so fun and frustrating at the same time haha. I did it in two days because we were leaving so soon so it was intense. She taught me how to do it along the way and let me pretty much do it all, it was an amazing experience. Ive now been bitten by the sewing bug and am going to try to learn more and get a sewing machine at some point haha. But I am so grateful for Stacey for teaching me 🙂 We also did some cute crafts with the kids fingers into snowmen. So adorable.   Overall, the time we spent in Houston with family and friends was amazing. A much needed break before Adam starts his next semester filled with giving therapy, doing homework, and working in the clinic. However, we had one last adventure. On the way home yesterday it was a bit rough because Bailey wasn’t feeling that great, so the 8 hour drive was hard 🙁 We stopped a few times and it hurt my heart to hear her cry so much. We left a day later because the weather was so bad, and thankfully the roads were clear! That was a huge answer to prayers! Although we did hit a high traffic jam for about an hour around Putnam Texas….not fun! Then we get home to our freezing house (we had turned the heat off, and then Lubbock gets a huge cold front of course) and Bailey has a huge poop bomb! Like we need to give her a bath immediately type bomb. She kept rolling around in it and stepping in it in the tub as we were trying to wash her off. Quite the bath I must say. Then we notice that our bathroom has water on the floor and our walk in closet has a damp rug that smells like mildew and we are like great. Someone upstairs must have had a leak while we were gone. We made a mental note to call the apt manager on Monday…..and then we hear a huge pop and a gush. Our sprinkler pipe burst right outside our patio and a waterfall of water was coming in our patio door. We put every towel we had against the bottom edge of the door to help slow the water down, but it was coming in and soaking under our rug and it was terrifying. The office was closed so we didn’t have anyone to call, but then I remember the company that owns the complex, googled their hotline, was dispatched to the right person to report to, and they came. The entire time this was happening, the fire alarms were going off and the fire fighters came with an ax in hand ready haha. Bailey is wondering what the crap is going on, I am freaking out because I have no idea what to do, and Adam is trying to keep a level head. We said a prayer together in the kitchen because I am on the brink of tears, and then everything was taken care of. They were able to turn the water off before there was substantial damage done, and a carpet company came and sucked out the water from the carpet and we were okay. The power of prayer is real I tell ya 🙂 The door frame and ceiling has some water damage that they will have to fix at some point, but overall I was glad that we got it so quickly!!! They were also so glad it didn’t get much worse. Apparently they said that because lubbock got a rare cold front, that there were many apartments having pipes burst, and luckily we were home when this one did! Whew what a first night home right??? haha. It is good to be home though, and we are ready to take on our 2015 adventure!!!! These are our Bits O’ Bertoch. Cassie Bertoch