Baby Bates

My mom (Grandma to the kids) is not doing well over the last week or so. She has been sleeping a lot more lately, and when she’s awake, she is maybe 10% coherent. I don’t know if this is something that will continue to progress, or if she’ll improve, or if she’ll just be in this state for a while. In any case, here are some recent photos of her, from my birthday and some previous activities with the kids.

Here are a few pictures of Trevor and Molly: the two of them on their new trampoline, Trevor from New Year’s Eve, and Molly from her day doing makeup and hair with Grandma.

Ah, another glorious Christmas! Here are some quick photo highlights from this season’s festivities. Trevor and Molly enjoyed the candy and the presents, and Molly especially liked her new dress, her numerous dress-up shoes, and her rolling suitcase. Oh, and she also got more dress-up clothes, including a feather boa and sunglasses. Trevor and Molly enjoyed a visit from their cousin Olivia. After the presents, we all went out looking at Christmas lights, Trevor found an inflatable Grinch, and I got a picture with my brother Mark and our two daughters.

Halloween has come and gone, and after several parties and trick-or-treating events, we have a few pictures of the kids in their costumes. This year, Trevor decided to be Spider-Man, and Marcy and Molly followed the bug theme as a bee and a ladybug, respectively. I, however, ended up as a building (along with a miniature Doctor Octopus), to serve as a backdrop (and a nemesis) for Trevor’s character. All in all, it was a reasonably successful holiday, if a bit tiring.

We put up the new swimming pool today! Our previous pool was a basic inflatable model, while the new one is a luxurious 12-foot beauty. The new one will stay up for the summer, and the kids love it!

While taking Trevor to get his hair cut today, Marcy decided to get Molly her first haircut at the same time! While she didn’t remember to bring a camera along, we did get a certificate, along with a souvenir lock of hair. Here are some reference shots of her previous hairstyle, along with a couple of shots of the new ’do.

Molly and Trevor woke up this morning, we had a little Easter egg hunt around the house, then they got dressed in their new Sunday clothes and went to church. Later in the afternoon, we went over to see Grandma and Auntie April, where the kids spent more time looking for Easter eggs. They both had a terrific time finding the eggs, and Trevor even got to hide them for everyone else!

Trevor’s birthday was on March 31, but we had the party on the previous Saturday. The theme was The Lion King, and Trevor really liked his cake which Grandma made. Molly had a great time playing with the other kids, and Trevor enjoyed seeing his grandparents, getting presents, and hitting the piñata.

Here are a few recent pictures of Trevor and Molly from around the house.

Welcome to the new Baby Bates 3.0 website! As you can see, we have a new look, and the entire site has been redone from scratch. The new layout serves several purposes:

1) It is easier to navigate around and find the entry you are looking for;

2) Posting new entries is greatly simplified;

3) Numerous additional features are available, such as commenting on entries, email notification of site changes, global searching, categories, and more!

So, in short, the new site structure makes it simple, almost trivial, to post a new entry. The goal of this revamp is to make it easier to post new pictures as they become available, and to much previous pictures much easier to find and view. I think you will be happy with the changes.

If you’re feeling nostalgic, the old site is available here, or under the Links heading on the right-hand side of the main page. As part of moving to the new site layout, I will periodically be converting each of the old entries into the new format, so you will be able to access them from the Archives menu. Each entry will be back-dated so it will show up in the same month and day it was originally posted. Don’t worry, it will make more sense once I start moving the entries over.

As always, you can email any suggestions to me at andy@babybates.com. Or better yet, just post your comments directly to this entry.