Just Another Day In the Life of a Baby....

Trying to get to Kale and his banana yogurt..........

Pausing to smile at mom..........

Lifting knees off the ground to avoid carpet-burn.

Giving up (at least for now).

Brother wins!!

Rock Chalk, We Love the 'Hawks!

Kale and Bailey watching the Jayhawks on TV, and Miss Bailey enjoying the view from her high chair.

It's Official

I've always kind of thought that Kale might be the cutest little boy in the world (or at least in the top 10), but last Friday I actually got confirmation. Let me explain........

Friday was pajama day at Kale's daycare because they had been learning about hibernation and were going to "hibernate" in their pj's like bears. When Friday morning came, I asked Kale what he wanted to wear, totally expecting him to say he wanted his "basketball" shorts and white shirt (or "jersey" as he calls it). I was slightly taken off-guard when he announced that he wanted to wear his Superman pj's Grandma and Grandpa Ballard had gotten for him. That being said, it is best NOT to question a three year old at this time of the morning, (then you risk a giant meltdown) so I got the pj's and soon enough we were out the door.

When we reached his daycare, he PROUDLY walked inside, SLOWLY unzipped his coat, and NONCHALANTLY stuck his chest out and said to his daycare buddies, "I'm wearing Superman pj's." He then turned around, put his hand on his hip and said (while looking over his shoulder), "With a cape." This got an immediate "oooooooooo" from the preschool crowd that had Kale beaming from ear to ear.

I really wish I had DVR or a magic device to rewind that moment and play it over and over again. I mean, let's be honest. How many times in your life can you be the coolest kid in the room because you're wearing Superman pajamas? Not much!

One of the mornings I'll get out the camera so you can see the true glory of the Superman pj's. Until then, remember that true "coolness" is in the eye of the beholder :)

Wrapping Up 2008

It's really hard to get both kids smiling and looking good in one picture, so I'm settling for 2--that way each kid gets a "good" picture! This was taken as we rushed out the door for church on Christmas Eve. Miss Bailey looked adorable (as you can see) in her Christmas dress, and Kale looked very handsome as well. You will not be surprised that there was a slight battle as to why he could not wear his basketball jersey to church. I pointed out that the sweater was red and blue (Jayhawk colors), so he finally conceded and agreed to wear it.

Christmas morning was so exciting because this is the first year Kale really got it. He ran into the living room and saw the empty plate of cookies and shouted, "Santa was here!" I don't think he had even noticed his presents at that point, but that didn't last for long.

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite quotes from my son over the past month or so:

(Just before going to see Santa) "I think I'm gunna ask him to see his reindeer." "Kaden can come too, but his mom might have to take him 'cuz he'll be scared 'cuz hims a baby."

"Daaaad!" "Do you want to play basketball with me?"

(Christmas Eve) "Don't turn on the fireplace!" "Santa will get burnded!" (and yes, burnded is a word when you are three).......

"Daaaaad!" "Do you want to play basketball with me?"

(While I was attempting to make a train track) "Mom, you're really not as good at this as Dad."

"Daaaad!" "Do you want to play basketball with me?"

(While looking in the magnifying mirror in my bathroom) "Mom, I think this mirror makes me look four years old."

Happy New Years!

8 Things You Were Wondering About Me

I was tagged by my sis-in-law, Kelly.........

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Hereford House
2. Ken's Pizza in Hutch
3. Bogey's in Hutch
4. Taco Hut in Hutch
5. Carlos O' Kelly's
6. Old Chicago
7. Gambino's Pizza
8. Baskin Robbins (I guess this isn't a restaurant, but it's yummy)

8 Things that Happened Today
1. Slept in until 8:30!!! That's late in our household!!!!
2. Made coffee, but didn't get to drink it before it got cold because Miss Bailey woke up and I...
3. Fed her pears and rice cereal, fed her a bottle, changed her diaper
4. Played basketball in the living room with Kale
5. Took a nap with Miss Bailey
6. Checked Facebook (it's a ridiculous obsession)
7. Shopped online for an entertainment center for the living room
8. Rocked my babies and put them to bed!

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Seeing my family
2. Seeing my kids grow
3. Quiet moments to myself
4. New episodes of "Jon and Kate Plus Eight"
5. Dain getting home (especially during football season)
6. Bailey's smiling face first thing in the morning
7. Last Friday's of the month at work when there are birthday treats
8. Going on a family vacation

8 Things I'm Scared Of
1. Being stuck in an elevator by myself
2. Being stuck in an elevator by myself
3. Being stuck in an elevator by myself (seriously, it freaks me out!)
4. Losing Dain and/or the kids and/or my family
I can't really think of anything else, but I'm sure there's more :)

8 Things I Wish For
1. For my kids grow up to be healthy, kind hearted, hard working, and fulfilled people
2. For my my husband to REALLY know how much I appreciate him
3. For my brother to become the head coach of a division I basketball program
4. For the kids in my class to grow up to do great things
5. For my ESL kiddos to get the recognition they deserve for how much they accomplish everyday despite the obstacles they have to overcome
6. A bigger paycheck :)
7. New furniture
8. A vacation to a tropical island

8 Things I watch on TV
1. The Hills
2. Jon and Kate Plus Eight
3. College basketball and football
4. Oprah (the re-plays at night)
5. Designed to Sell
6. The Office
7. The Today Show (in the summer!)
8. Little Einsteins, Backyardigans, Blues Clues, and on, and on, and on...

It's beginning to look a lot like Chrstmas.......

Well, I was looking at my blog and realized that the my last entry had to do with Halloween. I must be a little behind, so I'll try to get caught up without boring you.



First of all, I love Christmas time!!! It's about the only thing that gets me through cold winter months :) I do not believe that kids need to wake up to piles of presents under the tree to have a Merry Christmas (there is so much more to the season), but it breaks my heart that there are children who will wake up to nothing. With that in mind, I am so thankful that at least one little boy will wake up on Christmas day to presents, clothes, and even new pj's! I want to send out a big thank you to my family who pitched in to help even though they'd never met him--that means more to me then you know!



The Hammerschmidt household is a bit sickly these days. Miss Bailey has bronchiolitis and an ear infection, and Kale has pneumonia, conjunctivitis, and and ear infection. Talk about germ city. When I am not giving breathing treatments I am disinfecting my house :) We have a nice variety of antibiotics, ointments, drops, and even a nebulizer. Since Miss Bailey is the official princess of the house, I told her that the breathing treatments were mini-facials, and thus she sits through them nicely. Kale was not so easily convinced, but after we pointed out that firemen and football players wear masks he is doing a better job.



Kale wrote Santa a letter last week asking him for a #4 Sherron Collins jersey. He also wanted to ask for Santa to bring Daddy one, but I told him Daddy was on his own. He then decided to ask for a Jayhawk mouth piece (like football and basketball players wear). I am happy to report that Santa will be bringing both, although I drew the line when he said he wanted tattoos like the basketball players. With his gigantic obsession with KU athletics, I'm a little nervous about his next hair cut since Sherron Collins is now sporting a large star on the side of his head........



Miss Bailey is officially a roller, and working on crawling despite our best attempts to slow her down. She is officially a daddy's girl. When Dain enters the room, Bailey will stare him down until he acknowledges her, at which point she beams from ear to ear. I'm still waiting to get that kind of response :)

Dain and I are good as well. Dain traveled to Manhattan (yes, home of the Wildcats) to give a seminar a few weeks ago. He was under the impression it was for a class; it wasn't until he got there that he found out he would be speaking to an auditorium full of people! Being the fantastic public speaker he is, he did wonderful and got invited back to speak a second time. Brett told him that speaking in front of 400+ people was cool, but he would be really impressed if he did it while dressed in head to toe KU gear.



Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season........and if you see my son and he has a giant star shaved into the side of his head, please know it was not choice :) Merry Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween was filled with candy, candy, and more candy! I guess that's the way it's supposed to be. As the pictures show, Kale was a KU basketball player and Bailey was a skunk. I really got off easy this year because we had all of Kale's outfit (except the sweatbands), and the skunk costume was a hand-me-down from Kale. I glued a pink bow to the top so that people would know she was a girl skunk :) Cousin Kaden was an adorable Jayhawk. We met him at Uncle Neal's and he proudly announced, "I'm a Ju Ju (Jayhawk)!"

Prior to stopping by Uncle Neal's, we trick-or-treated around the neighborhood. Kale made it most of the way around our "block" before announcing that he had enough candy and wanted to go home so that he didn't get a tummy ache. Dain and I both agreed that was just fine by us. Hope your Halloween was as candy-filled as ours :)