Who does that?

Charles and I had NO IDEA what we were in for, travelling with a 1 year old. We thought between the two of us, we'd be okay. We had the DVD player, lots of snacks, the carseat, her blanket, and we really thought she'd sleep. It started with the security check. Since we haven't flown for a year, I didn't realize just how strict they were about liquids (lip gloss, hand sanitizer, mascara, shoe insoles). It took them a good 15 minutes to dig through my purse. Got to the gate just as they started boarding, but of course, no preboards. Why???? Not only that, but we were at the back of the plane, and in seating group 2, as in groups 1, 2 and 3. Doesn't make sense to me. Let's push past all the people getting on, with our child, car seat and bags. Lugging all the stuff on board the tiny plane was fun, but the flight attendant at the back did not help. At all. Whatever, we struggled alone to get situated, along with the man and his two young children behind us. When we were finally done, I turned to the flight attendant and said, "Is there a bathroom back here?" She ROLLED HER EYES at me. ?????? Then moved and said really snottily, "are you gonna use it?" What the hell?

We get settled, Charles sitting next to Paisley since there were only 2 seats on each side. Between Paisley and the two year old boy behind her, it was pretty loud, but she really did quite well. It was a 2.5 hours flight, it was nap time, and I'm sure it was all over whelming. She cried a little, but really was okay. Towards the end of the flight it got worse, and I watch helplessly as Charles did EVERYTHING in his power to make her happy. Sometimes it just doesn't work. The lady in front of me turned to Charles and said "could you make her be quiet? She's cried the whole flight." And Charles, being the nice and polite guy he is, only said "no, she hasn't." I don't know if she didn't realize there were other kids, but I didn't care, I was furious. "She is ONE. How do you expect us to MAKE her stop crying? Do you have any suggestions?" She didn't bother to turn around and answer me though, which was probably a good thing because I was so angry I was shaking. I don't get that mad very often, but I was pissed. Charles told me later that if she could ask us to make P stop crying, then he wanted to ask her to stop being so fat. He tried to console me by saying she probably didn't have family and lived alone with 15 cats and a house that smells like piss.

And, the mature people we are, laughed at Charles' revenge. He was waiting to get the luggage, and the woman was waiting as well and asked for someone to get her bag off of the belt for her. Charles just ignored her and turned away. Okay, probably a little immature, but we felt justified.

And now I could go on and on about how could people expect a small child to be quiet, but I'm assuming that everyone that reads this blog will understand our frustration. Now I feel better to get that off of my chest. We're here in Utah, and I'm waiting for everyone to get back from dinner. I stayed back so P could go to bed, and I'm just so tired, I didn't really feel up to going out. Besides, I feel like all I've done over the past week has been eating!

Merry Belated Christmas

We're back-for a few days. We go back to KC tomorrow, and then fly to Utah on Saturday. I'm a little apprehensive about flying with a 14 month old. I don't want to be "those people" that everyone glares at because they can't get their child to shut up. I'm excited to go for a few reasons. I miss my family and friends, but I also am glad to be away from the pounding and building across the street. Charles got up with Paisley this morning so I could sleep in, but I was still woken up at 7:30 with banging.

I wanted to get a bunch of really cute pictures of my family this Christmas, and I filled my 2 memory cards up really quickly. But...when I went to download last night, I realized that the movies of P walking took up most of the room, and I really didn't get any good pics.

P is getting really good at walking, and almost never crawls unless she wants to get somewhere really quickly. It was just so odd to bring her home yesterday and watch her walk around the house, whereas before we'd only seen her crawl. I wonder if it's strange for her as well, since she can now see everything from a different angle.

I'm trying to get her to take a nap before we run some errands, but with all the noise, I'm thinking I may just have to take the really long route into town so that she can sleep in the car.



This isn't necessarily a good picture, but I really like Charles and my disappearing arms.


Papa and his babes. These kids ADORE their Papa, and would usually rather be with him than their own parents. They'd cry if he walked away, or if he was holding a different baby. Next year will be even more of a challenge, since there will be 3 babies to fight for his attention.

Paisley and Janice, my friend from high school. It's taken with my phone in front of a window, so it's not the best, but still cute. She's getting married in June, in MIAMI. Why Janice, why? So, the Miami fund is open if anyone wants to donate!!!

And we're off!

We're walking!!!!!! I KNEW she'd be walking by Christmas. We're at my dad's house, so I can't upload photos or videos of just how cute she is toddling around. This morning she was walking between my brother and me, and all of the sudden she just took off. She walked all around the house, and when she'd fall, she's stand right back up and keep at it. Hopefully she'll sleep really well tonight.

Santa and Little People

I dragged Charles to the mall tonight so we could do the cheesy American ritual of forcing our kids to sit on some scary man's lap. I honestly thought Paisley would freak and not want anything to do with Santa, but she LOVED him. Loved touching his beard, his costume, his voice. Loved looking at him so much that we had a hard time getting her to look at the camera. When she did, she was all smiles. Santa even said he didn't want her to leave, she was so sweet to him. Awww. I don't think this picture could be any more perfect. Daddy and Paisley wasting time while waiting for our turn.
We let P open a few presents tonight. She doesn't quite get the concept. It's much more fun to sit on the box than open it.
So cool! It's a little people dollhouse. After she went to bed, Charles and I fought over who got to put the stickers on it.

Merry Christmas from the dog

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Maggie

I love Thursdays

Thursdays are the best. I get so excited, The Office AND Scrubs is on. Life just doesn't get much better. And the OC, but I'm a little hesitant to admit that. I guess I shouldn't be too embarrassed, Charles watches it with me. I made quiche for dinner tonight (I know, me! I actually cooked something besides a frozen weight watchers meal), and Paisley played ALL BY HERSELF. THE WHOLE TIME. It was awesome. No fussing, no whining. Her newest thing is climbing. We've already gated off the couch for that reason, stuck the ottoman behind the gate as well, since she'd stand on it and rock back and forth. Now she's figured out how to get on the rocking chair, and literally crawls as fast as possible to get to it as soon as her father or I stand up. She gets in that, and also her bouncer/toddler seat. I think (???) it makes her feel like a big person, sitting in the chair like mom and dad.

Yes, I know this is blurry, but it's still so cute.

This is her "hi" face. She does this while saying hi, twisting her face up and sticking out her tongue.

Oh look at me, I rock. I loaded a video. Rock on. It's not an especially interesting video, but still, it's Paisley. What else do you need? I also realize that my house is a disaster, but I blame that on the kid.

Wanna lose 5 pounds?

I lost 5 pounds this week. I'm not that excited about it though, because it happened over the course of 12 hours, leaning over a toilet. Fun!!! It looks like P passed off her illness to me, which I had Friday night and Saturday, and Charles started getting sick last night. At least we all spaced it out so we could take care of each other. I was super lucky too, Charles had the entire weekend off (I can't remember the last time this happened) so he had a daddy-daughter day on Saturday. I don't really know what I would have done if he had to have worked. Pawned Paisley off on a neighbor, perhaps. This is why the grandparents are too far away. Anyway, I think P is still not feeling well. Her appetite is barely there, where she used to eat and eat and eat. She looks so skinny, and all she wants to do is cuddle.

Here's a trip down memory lane. I can't get her to sit still for pics, so it's either this or pictures of her hair. Last year this time:

Okay, I lied. I forgot I'd taken some pics this morning. This is basically the mood P has been in for the past 5 days.

The next Pollock

Paisley was sick yesterday. Throwing up, not playing, lethargic. Probably the saddest thing I've ever seen. I got her up and noticed that her pants were wet, but since I didn't have my contacts in I couldn't really see more than blurs, I just figured her diaper had leaked. I changed her, put new pajama pants on her, took her to bed and nursed her. She only ate for a few minutes, which isn't like her but I didn't think much of it. Charles got up with her, and came back a little while later saying she was puking. It was all over her crib and him. I felt SO bad that my little baby had been puking in the night and I didn't know it. That's why her pants were wet. Charles was holding her as I watched her projectile vomit (sorry gross I know) all over him, and of course I start crying because she looks so sad and upset and there's nothing I can do for her. She slept A LOT yesterday, but didn't throw up anymore. She also wouldn't eat. She kept asking for food, but everything I offered her, all of it stuff she loves, she would just push away. Today was better, but she still didn't eat much. I made her mac n'cheese for dinner which she ate a little bit of, but not the whole bowl like usual. I really want her to be an independant eater, but once I noticed the "art" on the wall, I started feeding her. Sigh. I don't think my laughing helps her to realize that she shouldn't throw food.

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The return of the single digit pant size

This is the newest reason why Paisley thinks she can get out of taking naps. It's also the problem with living in a new development. This is looking from our porch. Not only is it loud, but once the house is done, I won't be able to spy on the people up the street anymore.
I made chocolate goodies last week and let P lick the spatula. She seemed to enjoy it.

I wasn't paying much attention to her while she was eating, until I noticed the noodle on her head. I took it off, but she put it right back on.
First braids! She looked so stinkin cute.

I went to Costco this weekend while we were in KC, because I had to have this chair that Ava told us about. P seems to like it, but has a hard time getting on it.

Socks mean bye bye

This is why I don't post as many pictures anymore. I think I've got a great shot, big smile, but by the time the camera takes the damn picture, Paisley is gone. Cute pjs though, right?
Today was lazy of all lazy days. Winter finally hit, with winter advisories and highs of 27 degrees, I did not want to go outside. Or change out of pajamas. So we didn't, and it was great. We bathed, but then put the pjs right back on. We also put away Paisley's laundry, or at least I tried, while she threw clothes in toy bins, pulled wipes out of the wipe warmer, dug through the trash can, pulled diapers out of the holder, threw cds around the room...she finally had to play in her crib so I could actually get stuff put away. She found one of her socks while we were doing this, and stuck it under her chin. I'm not sure why, I think she thinks she's getting "dressed." She puts all clothes under her chin. Smart girl she is, she knows that when we get socks/shoes on, that usually means were leaving, so she sticks the sock under her chin and starts waving "bye-bye."

disappointed

Ok, I have to say that I am REALLY disappointed that Paisley didn't make the cut for the Gap baby contest. I had somehow gotten it into my head that of course she would win. I guess I should've known better, that moms always think their kid is the cutest. The first thing I did this morning was get online, but she wasn't there. Sigh. I really wanted all those clothes.

Charles and I (ok, just me) made up a little ditty for Paisley this morning.

There once was a girl named Paisley,

who was 'bout to drive her parents crazy.

She fussed and she cried

All day and all night

and I can't think of a last line.

So yeah, it's really dumb, but she WOULD NOT STOP SCREAMING. She wanted food, but everything we gave her she'd spit out. Then scream. Finally she ate half of my weight watchers lasagna and seemed happy after that. I don't want her to be a picky eater, but I can't force her to eat.

Biting is starting to be another issue. Frustration biting. She's bitten both Charles and myself, she bites toys, shoes, blankets, whatever is handy. It's interesting to see how many people will admit to actually biting their children back during this stage. I found 2 just last night.

Ponytails. So stinkin' cute.

Dad, you are wierd!
But funny.
She and Charles were competing in a screaming contest. Gee, I wonder why she screams in public?

Gettin' our party on

Paisley and mommy getting ready for a birthday party. She's kind of a wall flower, not wanting to play with the other kids, but rather clings to me the entire time.

twisted

The result of daddy getting Paisley ready for bed.



I must say again, I LOVE MY SATTELITE INTERNET!

But not Paisley

I was reading Paisley a bedtime story tonight (or 9), and as we were reading one of my favorites, But Not the Hippopotamus, I noticed this dedication from the author.

How random is that? (sorry it's sideways. I don't know why it's doing that.)

We had a good turkey day. Papa came out for the day, and Paisley was in heaven because he held her the entire day. I made oven fried chicken, corn casserole, green bean casserole, crescent rolls and pumpkin pie. Paisley really enjoyed the pie.

We ventured out today, even though it's black friday. Got all of our wrapping paper from Hobby Lobby, as everything was 50% off. Then decided to brave Wal-Mart, which actually wasn't too bad. I got P's Christmas present, the Little People Farm. She has the bus, which she LOVES, so I figured we'd add to her collection.

We also got our satelite internet hooked up. I LOVE it. It's fast, of course, but I really love how quickly it uploads pictures. These 2 took about 10 seconds, where before it would have taken at least 10 minutes. So worth it, Emma! Maybe now I'll actually start posting more, if I can get pics of the babe that aren't blurry.

Is it bad...

that I got so frustrated with my child tonight that I put her to bed an hour early? Screaming and whining all day, wanting to be held, but then wiggling off of my lap to the floor, then screaming because she's back on the floor. Over and over. And over. I finally stuck her in her stroller and took a long walk (since it's 70 degrees outside-it's not really Thanksgiving, is it?) which she seemed to enjoy. Fed her some of my ice cream sandwich, and watched her face turn bright red when it was all gone and I had nothing else to give her. I now understand why parents buy treats for their kids just to get them to shut up. But the kid does love her sweets. So when I finally had had enough screaming, I put her down at 6:30, and of course she felt right asleep.

It's not all bad though, even though I make it sound that way. She's really a pleasure to be with, so funny and curious and adorable. She loves to come crawl into my lap when I'm on the floor and just sit on my lap, which still blows me away, I mean, isn't she a tiny baby? How do I have a toddler? That is sort of walking and talking and letting us know EXACTLY what she wants. She loves to be cuddled, and especially loves to fall asleep on daddy's lap. She lives for shutting doors, and gets a big grin when she hears it slam, but then gets really upset if she realizes that mom is NOT in the room with her. Buttons are a new passion as well. She always has to go to her diaper warmer and push the button that makes it light up. Over and over and over. Then the buttons on her cd player. And the buttons on the remote, the phone, my cell phone...I apologize if anyone has gotten a crank call from me. Not intentional. She likes to "talk" on the phone, putting it somewhere by her head like mom does, but she also puts the remote on her head, so she hasn't quite differentiated the two. She knows exactly which bar on the kitchen chair turns, and she'll stand and turn that bar around and around. She loves loves loves to climb. I already mentioned that the couch is cordoned off, but when we're outside she climbs the one porch step up and down, up and down, and anything else inside that is in anyway climbable.

Wow, reading this I realize that this is ALL ABOUT PAISLEY and rather dull to those who don't care about the life of a 13 month old. But, I guess that was the point...

Sick AGAIN

Daddy plays all the fun games.

How is it possible that Paisley was sick last week, got over it, and is now sick again? That just doesn't seem fair. I can hear her coughing all night, she has snot dripping all day, but she doesn't seem too effected. No fever, and she's still eating like a horse. Ugh, I can hear her now in the next room, she sounds miserable. Luckily she doesn't wake up when she coughs. I guess 13 months is a pretty good stretch of time to not be sick. All of her little friends in the neighborhood have snot noses, so I can't be too surprised that it finally caught up with her. I just didn't think it would happen twice! She's gotten to like the tylenol so much that when I get it out of the drawer she very eagerly starts signing for "more."



We signed up for satalite internet, which will hopefully be better than the dial-up we currently have, and I can post pictures more frequently. She's got so much personality for such a little person. She's definitely a mama's girl, although she adores her daddy. I think she's just more used to him being gone, so she's afraid I'll leave her. She often waves bye bye to daddy, even if he's not leaving. She loves going to the store, since she sits in the cart and flirts and jabbers at everyone we walk by. She even had one little girl (around 8?) following us around the baby department for awhile, picking up her dropped (thrown) toys and snacks. It's amazing how a little baby can get any person to smile, man or woman, young or old. I've never seen anyone NOT smile back at her.



We've had to gate off our living room area because P has figured out how to climb onto the couch, and would jump off the back of it if we'd let her. Charles caught her the other day about to do just that and grabbed her by the foot before she landed on her head. She's just fearless at this stage, and it can be quite scary. She's been trying to go down the stairs, even though we have a gate to block them. There's just enough room below the gate for the cats to slip down, and she's figured out she can get her body down too, just not her head. I thank my father for teaching her how to go down stairs.

She's also very 'helpful' at this stage. Helping with laundry, helping to decorate the house, feeding the dog. Here she is folding my underwear. I missed the shots where she got it around her neck.



We made our reservations to go see Charles' family in Utah for New Years. We ended up getting P a seat, because I can't imagine trying to hold a 15 month old in our laps for 2.5 hours. I figure if she's strapped into her car seat she won't fight as much. Plus, she got a portable dvd player for her birthday, so hopefully that'll keep her attention. But, if anyone has suggestions on travelling with a toddler, please feel free to let me know.

Snot and stuff

Paisley is sick. For the first time in her entire 13 months. She woke up yesterday with a nose full of snot, and has been coughing and sneezing. She even threw up today. She doesn't really seem to feel all that bad, although she did fall asleep while nursing today, which she hasn't done for at least 4 months. I've been giving her Tylenol every few hours, and she carries the bottle around with her the rest of the time. She even brought it to me yesterday and signed for more, then screamed when I wouldn't give her any. Hopefully this isn't a look into our future of drug-dependant children.

She's still taking about 4 steps at a time, although she can stand for quite awhile before falling over. She gets SO excited when she walks, but then flings herself onto me and falls over. I think she could walk further if she tried. She also says "DOGGO!!" quite often. I'm not really sure if it means anything, but it sure sounds like it. And since the thing that most often comes out of my mouth during the day is "MAGGIE GO!!" I wouldn't be at all surprised if she really was mimicking me. We were talking to Grandma on the phone the other day, so I held it up for P, who usually backs away from it or tries to push buttons, but this time she just said "HI!" She also crawls around and jabbers to herself all day, but lately I've noticed that she'll randomly stop and put her hands up in the air in the "I don't know" pose. Asking and answering her own questions. Like why doesn't mama give me halloween candy like daddy does? Why do the cats always run away from me?

Pulling out all the cds is our newest favorite game.

Boo. Again.

I had more pictures to post, but since my computer is soooooooo slooooow, I'm not wasting ANOTHER hour waiting for these to upload.

So Halloween is over. I can't believe I've had Paisley for 2 halloweens now, and she still couldn't care less about it. We had a handful of trick-or-treaters this year, not nearly as many as last. Last year we ran out of candy so I started handing out fruit snacks and whatever else I could dig out of the pantry. So this year I bought two huge costco bags, thinking it'd all be gone by the time the night was over. Nope. Didn't even make it through one bag. Not at all good for mama's diet.

In Paisley news, SHE TOOK HER FIRST STEPS TODAY!!!! 3 or 4, I believe. The past few days she's been practicing standing alone, which she loves and finds really entertaining. Falls on her butt and gets right back up again. Over and over and over. Today she put some steps with it. I didn't think she'd really care, seeing as crawling takes her everywhere she wants to be, and then some. Maybe this determination will stick with her through the school years...

Her other thing is finding socks, and setting them on her feet. She knows that's where they go, she just doesn't understand how to get them on. She does this with her socks, daddy's socks, our neighbor's baby's socks...We're also doing "So Big!" which I would've posted a picture of, but since our computer won't upload pics, I guess I'll have to try again tomorrow.

Here's the sock thing. And her frog outfit. Unfortunately she was so grumpy that I took her out of her costume by about 6. I think she's getting sick (first time!), she had a runny nose today and would not let me put her down from 6 on. Rocked her to sleep. Huh, kinda like last Halloween.

Boo.

I just spent a precious 30 minutes of Paisley's naptime uploading 4 pics, and now I can't find them. So frustrating. Because now she's awake. I'll try again later tonight (hopefully) after she goes to bed. Maybe even some pics of P in her costume. Perhaps since she's too little to take trick-or-treating, people will feel sorry for us and bring us candy.

It's all a game

Does anyone have any ideas on how to discipline a one year old? Paisley
just doesn't listen. She gets into stuff she knows she's not supposed to,
and when I tell her no, she laughs. Even if I'm really stern, that's really
funny to her. Help! Her big thing is screaming. And she's usually extremely happy when she screams, but it's SO LOUD! It actually hurts my ears it's so
loud and high. Yesterday we were at the store and she started up, and it's
rather embarrassing, since people probably think I'm harming her in some
way. So I put my hand over her mouth and tell her no. She just laughs and
laughs, and screams some more. This happened probably a dozen times.
I just gave up. Any ideas?

Also, this whole new beta blogger thing has me quite confused. I can't figure out
how to use Hello to upload pictures, as it won't let me log on. Does anyone
know anything about that?

This picture is from today, last year. She was soooooooooo cute. She's still so cute,
but in a different way.

She needs to learn how to talk

I decided to go with picture number 1. It received
just a few more votes than number 4. It seems
like I've really slowed down on taking pictures
lately, maybe because this kiddo never sits
still, so getting one that isn't blurry can be a challenge.
Turning 1 has been a real turning point for P.
She's really changed just in the past 2 weeks.
She loves to cuddle now, which she would
never do before. She hugs toys, cups, whatever,
but also will periodically come over to Charles
or myself and lay her cute little head on our leg
and sit there for a minute before returning to
play. She also signs for "more," which she has
done for awhile, but I now think it also means
"hungry" or "feed me!" I always ask her where
something is, and put my hands up in the "I
don't know" position. Elbows bent, palms up.
It's hard to describe. Anyway, this morning
I started asking her where things were and
she would make that gesture. She also found
her way into the bathtub (on daddy's watch),
where she seemed to be having a grand old
time playing with her toys. She must have
fallen in, but didn't get hurt. Pretty scary,
as we always keep the doors closed, but our
crazy cat reopens them if we don't lock them.
We have to be even more careful now to
watch where she is. I also found her eating
an earring this morning. Lovely.