It's all about Paisley

Funny funny kid

2009-03-26T11:53:00.003-05:00

I never imagined how great a 3 year old could be. Yes, she can be totally irritating, but so funny. I have to start writing down the things she says so I don't forget them. Because I will. Promptly. She's obsessed with bubble gum. OBSESSED. She is not allowed to have it until she's 4 (6 months! How did that happen?), and she can't wait. I honestly think she talks about it a couple of times a day. Sometimes on our 25 minutes to and from school, she'll talk about it. The entire time. "When I get 4, I get bubble gum. When I get big like you, I get bubble gum." She'll pull a pack out of my bag and say, "mommy, when I get 4 I can have bubble gum. You'll buy some for me. You have to share with me." So I guess she'll be getting lots of bubble gum for her birthday.

Lately she's been doing a lot of role playing, which has to be about the cutest thing I've ever seen. She plays mommy a lot, gets in my heels and demands that I say "bye mommy." "You're Ashwey and I'm mommy. Now you cry." Then she gets in her little tykes car and drives around. Then she'll come up to me really quietly and say "mommy's here!! I have a present for you!" I guess I'm a really nice mommy. :) She comes up to me quietly because I always do that to her when I pick her up from daycare. I love watching her play, and the look on her face when she sees me. Priceless, and unfortunately it won't last forever. The other kids in her class piss me off though, because I'll walk in and they start yelling "Paisley! Your mom is here!"

Last night she was playing with her princess dolls (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Ariel. She's obsessed). She'd put them to sleep in her bed, then turn out the light and come tell me to be quiet, the baby is sleeping. Then she has this dialogue with herself, mimicking our bedtime routine at night. She'll say "Mommy, I want a kleenex! Mommy, I want some books!" etc. And she makes them talk in the exact whiny voice she uses when she yells that stuff at me (which drives me insane). Pretend conversation:
Doll: "Mommy, I want a kleenex!"
Paisley: "Okay, I'll get you one."
Doll: "Mommy, I want some books!"
Paisley: Okay, I'll get them for you!"
Doll: Mommy, I don't want books!"
Paisley: "Okay, I'll put them away."

She has lots of high expectations of me at bedtime, which drives me up the wall. She's lost many privileges because of this. She also have to have her blankets PERFECT. Covering up the entire bed so the sheet is not showing. Then she'll say no, she wants this blanket UNDER the blanket she's got on. I'll do that and then she'll say no, she doesn't want that blanket. Same with slippers. I'll ask if she wants slippers or socks, and if she says socks, I go to put them on, and she'll say no, I want slippers. So I go to put them on and she says no, I want socks! We've had many an argument about this, with me not being a very nice mommy.

My favorite thing she said though was we were driving home the other day, and told me that "when I'm tall, I'm going to clean the chitchen (kitchen). I'll cook you food." Loved it. Then when she's playing at bringing me food, she'll bring me a cappuccino. LOVE the way she says that word, absolutely adorable.

Oh blogger, how I miss thee.

2009-02-24T12:29:00.003-06:00

Yes. We are here. And for some reason I can't get this type not blue or underlined. So life has been one big blur these past few months. I'm going to school full time and working, and Paisley is going to daycare. It's a lot of work! That seems to be the extent of our existence right now. She loves daycare though, so that's a huge relief. I feel like a bad mother though because I let her watch more tv than I should (it's only old Disney movies) because I need time to myself to do homework, etc. I also have no patience it seems, or she's just always in my way.

She is getting so funny, she's constantly making me laugh, unless she's making me yell. Which happens more than I like to admit. Now it's typing normally...huh. The other day we were driving home and there was a bag of catfood in the seat next to her. She asked me, "mom, when I'm a cat, can I eat catfood?" "I guess so, when you're a cat you can eat catfood." "They'll have to take off my eyes, and nose, and chin and arms and butt." "Won't you also need to grow a tail?" "It'll hurt when they take off my butt." Where does this stuff come from? She's so funny to talk to, and I can't believe that we hold normal conversations now.

We've been working a lot on listening ears, because Paisley doesn't seem to have any. I've tried many different tactics, and the one we're doing right now is marbles in a cup. One in for listening, one out for not. I'm not sure yet what the magic number will be, but she doesn't need to know that. We've also got a jar for no accidents. She's been potty trained since the beginning of October, but will go through times where she has an accident everyday. So we counted 7 days that she didn't have accidents, and she was able to go to the store and pick a prize. It only took her 8 days, so she definitely understood this concept. She picked a Barbie movie, and oh hell it's awful. She likes it though. The next prize will not be so fancy or pricey, perhaps a candy bar or a trip to the dollar store. At least it's an incentive she understands, because she's had a tangible reward.

These are some old Christmas pictures. This is P with her favorite little cousin, Emmett.

With another cousin, Miles. She was a little unsure of him, as he tended to take toys away from her.

All the cousins at Christmas. This is probably the best shot of the group.
With her Aunt Jenny.
"Take my picture!"

Belated Birthday Photos

2008-11-09T20:12:00.006-06:00

I really believe that Paisley is the most spoiled 3 year old ever. She had 2 birthday parties, her grandparents flew in from Utah just for the occasion, and she got way too many presents. Unfortunately many of those presents came from me. I told her grandmother that the only present I wanted her to give Paisley was the potty training lesson. Which she did. Such a relief having a potty trained kid. If I had known how easy this was I would have done it a looooong time ago. Paisley's first party was at my dad's house with her cousins and a few family/friends. Nothing special, just pizza and cake. Her second party was on her actual birthday at our house with grandma and grandpa and some of her girlfriends. Pizza and cake, once again. And way too many presents.

Grandma loves dolls, and really wanted Pais to have an American Girl Doll. They came out with the toddler edition, since before they only had big girls and babies. It comes with all sorts of accessories, a potty!, and Grandma even sewed some adorable outfits.

I'm having problems with the pictures and such, so I'm giving up for now. I'll try to add more pics as soon as possible.
Birthday morning. She was so excited to wear this princess nightgown, as she is obsessed with everything princess. Her hair is especially nice, since she slept in french braids.
The costco cake at Capa's.

I really wanted to

Trucks and Cinderella

2008-09-07T09:21:00.002-05:00

Paisley is sick. Of course. Second week of school, and her entire daycare has runny noses. I work there a few hours a week in 2 different classes, and I swear all I do all day is wipe noses. It's gross. And now P has it. I thought she would have all her immunities built up from last winter, when she got sick EVERY MONTH for 8 months. It may be the weather, I suppose. Stoopid hurricanes. Usually Kansas is hot hot hot in September, but it's been rainy and cold. I hate it. I am so not ready for the winter, and especially not prepared if we have the same kind of awful ice storm as we did last year. Also with school I absolutely CANNOT miss school. All of my classes have policies that missing more than 1 class docks your grade by an entire grade! Ridiculous. I thought that's what college was all about, being able to choose going to class and choosing to do the work.

Lately I've been trying to keep track of all the Paisley's been doing lately, because she is so freaking funny. She must pick up a lot at school because she doesn't at home! Now of course I can't find it. My house is a DISASTER.

-P is a follower. She got written up at daycare because she was part of a small group that rather than listening to her teachers, she ran after some kids that were heading right for the street. Argh. There's a little boy in her class that is a troublemaker. She also doesn't listen when it's naptime at school. They sleep on little cots, and they have a hard time getting her to stay in bed. This is one reason I am not tempted to put her in a big girl's bed.

-We decided to try gymnastics again for the fall. I was worried because last spring was difficult for her. She didn't want to listen to the teacher and I had to sit in there with her. She did GREAT yesterday. I was so relieved. Her friend Mackenna is in the class with her so that may have helped.

-The other day we were teasing each other in the car, her saying "no!" and I was saying "yes." I tried to change it up by saying no, and she got pissed. "No! My no!"

-She told me that Caesar, our cat, is her best friend. Best friend? Where did that come from?

-The whining. Oh. My.Hell. Does it stop????????

-Kay. Found the list.

-She's getting really good at playing pretend. Her favorite is to play mommy and I'm "Pasey." She'll get her purse and put on her Cinderella heels, and telling me to get my shoes on because we're going to the store. Or we're going to go see Emmett, India, Adam and Cassie. My bro and his family.

-She has a toothbrush with a car on it, and she didn't want to use it because it was a "boys" toothbrush. A boy's? I didn't teach her that.

-Playing with the dolls in her playhouse, the mommy kisses "Pasey" goodbye. Or once a conversation that sounds like this:

-Paisley: I want candy

-Mommy: No candy

-Paisley: I want cheese

-Mommy: Just a minute

-She loves to play birthday party. She'll sing me a condensed version of Happy Birthday, then give me a present. It may be a pretend present, or a basket wrapped in a kitchen towel containing fake food. I think she'll love having a bday party (in 3 weeks! That' so wrong.)

-We were driving to school the other day and passed an ice cream place that is being built. It has a huge ice cream cone on the front, and she said "wow! It's beautiful!"

-Right now she is obsessed with trucks (and cinderella, but whatever). The entire drive to and from town (25 miles each way) she points out EVERY SINGLE TRUCK. We live in a very...agricultural region...so that means there are many many trucks. "Look mommy! A truck!" And if I don't say that I see it, she gets mad. Argh. Get's just a little annoying.

1st Day recap

2008-08-25T18:40:00.002-05:00

Just as I finished writing that last post, I got a call from the daycare (P's) where I'm going to be working, informing me that I was to have been at work at 8. Huh? I was never told this, I haven't even been through orientation yet. The girl said that they've sent out many emails over the past month, but come to find out that I'm not on the email list because I haven't been through orientation. Ooo-kay. Then talked to the main girl in charge and she informed me that we had set up my schedule back at the interview. Umm, no. We talked about my hours, but nothing was ever set in stone, and I assumed I'd find out after orientation. She basically told me that since I couldn't make the hours she had put me down for, the only thing I could do was be a sub. No steady hours. So, before I even go to class, I'm crying.

First class, I'm not on the roster. Go to the Eled office, and they couldn't find me on the list either. My schedule showed me enrolled in the course, but no one else could find it. Sigh. I then met with my advisor and we tried to work out some different options. I was able to drop the morning dodgeball class, leaving the mornings free to work. Now I'm dropping a few and adding some ESL ones, as long as no one signs up by Thursday morning, blah blah blah.

Had a few hours to kill (that process took awhile), then went to my geography of KS class. The teacher seems interesting, very amiable and excited, so hopefully it should be an interesting class. Then on to Entomology, where we were given a "killing jar," some vials of alchohol, a very large net, and some posting boards. Now I get to collect 200 bugs. Woohoo. I love bugs...Did catch my first one in the garage. For some reason the garage attracts TONS of bugs. Think I could get away with using previously dead bugs? There's a huge spider by my deck at night, not sure if I'm brave enough to go for him though.

Oh, and something fell off of my car when we got home. Some large metal disk which is probably important. It's been a great day.

A new day

2008-08-25T08:09:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting at the library at KSU, getting ready for my first class. I haven't been a full time student since 2002. I'm a little nervous. I miss my job already, and am jealous that someone else is there! My first class today is Health and Movement for children. I don't really have any idea what that entails, I just hope we don't have to play dodgeball. Brings back some awful childhood memories. I have never really been the athletic type...I also have some huge gaps between classes today, like 4 hours. I can't go home, since I live 30 minutes away. Eventually it will be good because I'll have study time, or work time (I'll be working a few hours at Paisley's daycare). I do have a lot to get taken care of on campus, so that should bide my time. And I brought my book, which I'm having a hard time to put down. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephanie Meyer. Girl from Florida mentioned more about it on her blog.

Should say some stuff about Paisley, as she's so darn cute (and wild-she doesn't get that from me). I'll think about it. I have to get to class now.

I want some guns

2008-08-15T08:10:00.003-05:00

Every day I hear the phrase "I want some guns," and "I want vitamins!" Guns=Gum. I think she's just messing with me since I repeatedly over pronunciate gum, but to no avail. Vitamins is pretty obvious, and she loves them because they taste like gummy bears. I was eating them too for awhile, but then realized how quickly we were going through them. It's a good thing she can't get into them yet, as I can remember getting out the Flinstone vitamins as a kid and eating quite a few of those.

Next week is my last week of work. I'm pretty sad about it, and also apprehensive about starting school again. Especially at my age, so I'm going to try to convince people I'm only 23. I've also applied for a few small jobs here and there. Student worker, helper at P's daycare, and possibly a waitress at this hole in the wall. We'll see how that works out.

Paisley and I spent some time in Utah the end of July. It always goes by way too quickly. I slept in a lot which was a-maz-ing. Gotta love that. One day we drove out to my ex-cousin-in-law(?)'s house to hang out and let the kids play. She's got 5, my sis-in-law has 2, and my Paisley. I think P was super overwhelmed at first, but then got into it. They've got this massive pool slide in their yard which I desperately wanted to go on. I finally convinced P to go with me, but one we got to the top she freaked. I was surprised because this kid has no fear whatsoever when it comes to slides and heights. Instead of letting her go back down, I grabbed her and went head first down the slide. I thought it was fun, but I don't think she did as much.

Oh well.

Unbelievable

2008-08-07T12:39:00.004-05:00

I got this over at www.dooce.com. All I can say is what.the.fuck. Sorry to anyone with tender eyes, as this is a 'family' blog, but oh well. That's how I feel. And I'm sure Paisley would too. Don't read this article if you get sick easily. I'm sitting here at work trying to keep myself from bawling at my desk. http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article750838.ece. Make sure to read the comments at the bottom of the article. Some of the commenters? Should be drawn and quartered. What is wrong with people???

Dinosaurs are scary

2008-08-07T09:39:00.004-05:00

Paisley woke up screaming bloody murder last night about 1am. I finally dragged myself into her room, and she was crying and told me that a dinosaur and spider were biting her. I tried to reassure her that there was nothing that was going to hurt her, held her for awhile, then put her back to bed. Fell back on my bed, and woke up a few minutes later to the same scenario. Went back in and she was totally freaking out, slapping her arms because she thought there was a spider biting her. I must have subconsciously passed my irrational fear of arachnids onto her. I can still remember a dream I had as a child where I was being chased by an ENORMOUS spider in my front yard, enormous like elephant enormous. And of course I couldn’t move. Why IS that? Anyway, P didn’t want to get back into her bed, since that’s where the spiders were, so we lay down on the floor, which was oh so comfortable, with me trying to reassure her that she was fine and that nothing would happen to her. Of course my dumbass cat that can open doors kept trying to get in, startling her out of her relaxation. He finally got shoved and locked in the bathroom. Dumbass. P loves all of her animals, but really freaks if they come in her room at night. We both fell asleep on the floor, I woke up at 2:30 and went back to my room, to get 2.5 more hours of sleep. Paisley slept on the floor all night.

We’re headed to KC tonight, as my brothers and their wives/kids are all in town. I’m excited as we usually see each other twice a year, and I love to show Pais off. Although with my luck she’ll be grumpy and out of control, because isn’t that the way it always goes? Anyway, the point of me mentioning this is because my bro and his wife are expecting a little girl this winter, hopefully with red hair, and whom I believe they should name Ashley. I’m going through Paisley’s clothes to separate them between baby Ashley and my brother in law and sis in law on the other side of the family. They just adopted a baby girl named Isabela. It’s freaking hard to part with these clothes. I was looking through them last night, they’re so small! And some are so hard to part with. But some aren’t. I think I’m keeping the outfit P came home from the hospital in, because how cool would it be to give that to her when she has a baby (uh…huh? She’ll never be old enough to do that). Though this showed the outfit better. Guess not.

Paisley has a monster friend. Actually two, but one is not nice, because it’s big and bites toes. The other one though is nice. I haven’t seen it yet, but P tells me it’s little, yellow, has only 2 eyes (rather than 4), likes to dance, smells like kitties, eats cat food, does NOT bite toes, (sounding a little like big bird to me) and seems like there is something else, but se me olvido.

Pictures coming soon. Really, they are.

Working on it

2008-07-24T21:59:00.002-05:00

I'm getting there. I'm slowly trying to figure out this new blog stuff. I can't get flickr/youtube to work, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

On to Miss P. She is in Utah right now with her Grandma and Grandpa. She left on Sunday and I sobbed like an idiot saying goodbye to her at the airport. I get to go get her on Saturday, so I'm getting very antsy. This is the longest I've ever been away from her, and dammit, it's hard. She seems to be having a really good time, as she is spoiled like the princess she thinks she is. It'll be an adjustment to come home to her wicked witch of a mother. I call her everyday and our conversations consist of this:

P: Hi Mommy!

Me: Hi Sweetie!!!!!

P: I'm with Grandma and Grandpa.

Me: What are you doing?

P: Bye mommy.

Me: Wait! Don't go!

P: Bye!

Me: I love you!

P: I love you too.

Me: I miss you!

P: Gone.

At least she's enjoying herself and I know she's in great hands. I'm hoping she'll be potty trained when I get there, but doubt it. Anyone have any tips on potty training? Why is it so hard????

I'll post some new pics as soon as possible. My new gorgeous Macbook doesn't have a place for my camera card so can't do it yet. I'm finding it hard to get pics of her anymore because she just won't hold still!

Flickr

2008-07-24T21:58:00.001-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

No more daycare drama. Hopefully.

2008-07-16T10:21:00.003-05:00

Miss Tina quit (the other teacher), almost as soon as I wrote that post. Something about how she wanted the 7:30-2:30 schedule, but instead they gave her the 9:30-5:30 schedule and she was pissed. So she quit, and is starting a daycare in her home, which she told me I could take P to. Umm...no. She'd probably walk around in her underwear. Today when I dropped P off, Tina was wearing very short shorts, and very revealing top. I know all too well about the tattoo she has on her chest, right above her bra line. So needless to say, I'm not too upset about her leaving. I actually applied there to be a student worker, just to get a few hours here and there while in school. It doesn't pay nearly as well as this job, but at least it would pay for gas. Plus, the experience will be good for my resume. I'm just worried about being around P, and making it harder for her if she sees me a lot, because she'll want to stay attached to me. I just got a call for an interview Friday, so maybe I can express interest in a different age group. Nursery perhaps?

Recap

2008-07-09T08:18:00.003-05:00

I quit my job yesterday. This was both a relief and a sad day. I have the best boss and supervisor ever. Never had anyone like them, and I've had lots of jobs. I've decided that I need to really focus on school so that I can finish in 2 years. Fat lot of good an English degree did. Especially since I can't remember how to write or spell anymore. Advice to anyone going to school: DO WELL! If I had really focused then I could be getting a Master's right now. Sigh...
Instead I'm doing Elementary Ed, which is what I started out with (8 years ago!). It's hard to go to school with a bunch of youngins, I feel old. Especially with my 10 year high school reunion sometime this summer. Seriously? How the hell did that happen? I'm working until right when school starts, so it's still about 6 weeks.

Paisley finally got into the child development center here on campus. She was on the waiting list for 8 months, but it is a great place, the best in the entire city. The only thing that bugs me is that P started out with an amazing teacher, Miss Melody. The student employee what also great, Miss Molly. P LOVED them. They always gave me feedback everyday on how P did. The center ended up switching classes around to make them more age oriented. P was in a room with all ages, up to 4. Now she's in a class with 2-3 year olds. This is all fine and dandy, but I'm not pleased with the new teacher. She's nice enough, but I never see her. When I do, she's always dressed rather skankily. Lots of cleavage and short shorts. This in fine for spare time, but teaching 2 year olds? I find in unprofessional. Then to top it off, they hired a new teacher, Kim. I know Kim. She's from my town, and I have not heard good things about her. Her son used to be babysat by my neighbor, and she didn't really like him. Then Kim opened a daycare in her home, but obviously not doing that anymore. Now when I go to get P, Kim seems to be so frazzled that I can't even talk to her. I'm glad to get her out of her old daycare anyway. It was an older lady, with no kids, who started a daycare in her home. She did all the classes and was licenced, but I had issues with her. First of all, she would make comments about other kids to me and other parents. Talk about unprofessional. Every time I went to pick P up, the kids were sitting at the front door with their coats on, ready to go. Seriously? That's ridiculous. It's sad because for the longest time P would say "No Jean!" everytime we'd get into the car. Even now if we even drive in that neighborhood she freaks out and says "No Jean!"

I need help

2008-06-25T16:14:00.000-05:00

I've noticed that all my blog buddies have darling layouts. I used to be able to change mine, but as it's been such a long time, I can't remember how to do it. Would someone be willing to help me???

Time to rewind

2008-06-20T11:38:00.005-05:00

Life is not really slowing down, but getting to the point that I don't feel constantly stressed and out of time. Ok, maybe that's not entirely true, but if I keep chanting it over and over perhaps it will be true.

We've had a pretty crazy few weeks here lately. Last week we had a huge hail storm, then 3 days later we had a tornado. I've lived in Kansas for 21 years, I'm used to going to the basement once or twice a year, but I have never actually been IN a tornado. I guess I really wasn't, as I live 25 miles away from school, but the tornado came right through Manhattan. It damaged the building I work in, many other buildings on campus, and many many buildings and houses. Paisley was with her dad that night, and he lives in kind of a dumpy old building. When I went to pick her up the next day, the path the storm had taken was about 10 yards from his apartment!!!! They had some concrete stairs to hide under, but he said that it went right over his building. He thought Paisley was asleep, but when he shined the flashlight her eyes were really big and she said "woo woo all aboard!" I guess that proves that tornadoes really do sound like trains.

Paisley makes me laugh. Everyday. Some things I shouldn't laugh at, but it's so hard not to. She's lately gotten into a bandaid fix. I was hoping we could skip that, but someone (grandma) had to give her one. She got a blister on her foot yesterday from her shoes, and since that I think I've heard about her owies oh maybe 100 times. She is obsessed with her owies, and is constantly telling me about each tiny scrape or bruise, repeatedly.

Another area I've wanted to stay away from for sake of my sanity is Dora and/or Barney. My sis-in-law got P a Dora doll a year or so ago, and I was not too pleased with that. This one is plastic, and she holds her hand out and then asks you to give her something, like "do you want to give me my orange butterfly?" Then when it's put in her hand she says thank you and rambles some other stuff. There are about 4 sentences she says. This week I've noticed though that Paisley will press Dora's hand and when she asks a question, "can you help me find the animal that sings?" Paisley just says no. Then presses the hand again, "can you help me find the thing that twinkles?" No.

Our poor solar car. The team worked so hard on this.

My building.
My building, again.
This is in Chapman, KS, the town that was destroyed the same night we had our huge storm.
The frat across the street from work.
This is about 100 yards from where Paisley was.

A church in Chapman.

2 and a half

2008-04-11T13:30:00.003-05:00

I've been so slack in posting, obviously. I have so many pictures downloaded, easter, grandma, cousins, random, but just haven't quite gotten around to posting them, again, obviously. Paisley has just changed SO MUCH. Everyday she surprises me with the new things she says and does. I always think that I'll remember everything, but obviously I don't and desperately need to be writing these things down.

-Paisley is SUCH a girlie girl. There are all sorts of debates out there about whether or not having girl/boy tendencies are innate or not, and I know for a fact that they are. Paisley will choose baby dolls over blocks, playing kitchen over playing cars, putting on shoes, etc. She absolutely loves her babies. Pushes them around in a stroller, feeds them, puts them to bed. Loves her pretend kitchen which is right by mommy's kitchen. She cooks and pretends to fill up cups from the pretend tap with "juice." She'll bring it to me with a spoon and tell me that it's "hot." Then she'll ask "want more?" while nodding her head vigorously up and down. She also takes a cup of juice along with a spoon to each of our (4) cats and places it in front of them.
-She's gone from saying "ok" to everything to saying "yes." Not necessarily a big deal, but the way she says yes is too adorable. It's pronounced yee-es.
-Someone taught her about being scared (mostly of cars). I personally want to find this person and strangle them. Anyway, if we're by a car (in a driveway, parking lot) she says "don't get run over!" Over and over again. It's gotten to the point where she won't move because she's afraid of getting run over. Seriously. IN THE GARAGE she won't walk from the car to the door. She used to love running around outside, now she won't move off of the porch. Screamed hysterically until I carried her from the porch to the garage. All of 10 feet. Even at my dad's house she sat and watched her 2 cousins run around Papa's yard playing while she just sat on the porch and watched. Yeah, so, whoever taught her that? Thanks a bunch.
-On the scared realm, she also uses it towards people. Her great-uncle who is great with kids was making faces at her from across the room. She'd giggle, then get serious and say "scared." She even did it to me last night while I was teasing her. I don't know if she's trying to say we're being scary or if she's scared. We were playing with this littlest pet shop carnival last night, and she put the "mommy" dog on a ride, and it was too big of a dog and it fell off. She exclaimed "oh my gosh!" "Scared" Then she would pet this little tiny dog, wipe away it's tears and then kiss it, cuddle it, then sing "rock a bye doggy" while cradling it in her arms. I've never ever seen anything cuter in my entire life. She repeated this a bunch of times, so I ran to get the camera so I could take a video of it so everyone else could die from cuteness, but of course she wouldn't perform.
-She loves to watch "shows." She has a rotation of Dumbo, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and 101 Dalmations. Also know as "elfents, cinderwella, wunland, and doggies.
-She has to do EVERYTHING and screams if I do it. From opening the door to let the dog in and out, opening the fridge door and getting out the juice bottle (she's brought the juice bottle to me a number of times that I wasn't expecting, my bedroom, on the toilet...) to having to take off clothes by herself. She doesn't say "I do it," instead she says "My help you." She's pretty good about getting dressed, if she wants to do it. My biggest struggle is trying to get out the door in the morning, and she's taking forever getting her shoes on, and screams at me when I try to do it.
-She doesn't like me to read her books. This makes me very, very sad. I would be very happy to do nothing but read all the time. Seriously. She'll get some and we'll sit on the couch next to each other, she'll give me one, then about 2 seconds take it from me, take it back to the bookshelf and get another one.
-She's usually a very obedient child (is the right word?). She (usually) does what I say, picks up her toys before getting out another, etc. When she's really tired or hungry she's more difficult to deal with. I think she learns a lot of this at the babysitter, which is helpful.
-She's a cuddlebug. She loves to be held or carried. She kisses me a lot, and there is absolutely no better feeling than when she squeezes those little arms around my next and gives me a kiss. Last night we were playing night-night (I'll get to that) and so we were laying next to each other on the floor and I put my arm under her head, and she moved so I thought she was going to push my arm out of the way, but instead she slid her arm under my neck and then gave me a huge hug and kiss. I remember laying there and thinking, "I never want this moment to end." Yikes, I'm a cheeseball.
-She likes to play "night-night." This consists of her making me lie on the floor, then she'll give me one of her baby's pillow, and then she'll cover me with one of her baby's blankets, say "close eyes mommy! Night night mommy! Wuv you! See ya later!" Then she turns out the light and leaves the room, shutting the door. Then I yell "Paisley, all done!" (that's what she says when she wakes up, although she says mommy rather that paisley, duh) and I hear her saying "all done? okay." And she comes back and then we do it all over again. Sometimes she doesn't even leave the room, but as soon as she puts the blanket (very carefully, by the way, arranging it very nicely to cover some random part of my body) on me, she says, "all done mommy? all done night-night? Okay."
-She loves pancakes, mac and cheese, pizza, grapes and m&ms and cheese and most processed meats. Mmm. Sometimes for dinner she'll eat a piece of bologna and about 6 thick slices of cheese. I'm the same way though, give me a chunk of cheese and call me happy.

Maybe I'll keep writing little tidbits about her activities until I finally get off my lazy ass and post pics.

Sick sick sickity sick

2008-02-08T06:32:00.000-06:00

Paisley and I got the week off! Unfortunately it wasn't a planned vacation. P is sick with RSV, Pneumonia, fever and ear infection. Those are the joys of day care I guess. She's been coughing so hard that she makes herself puke. I HATE seeing her puke, it makes me cry. She is loaded up on meds though, and once those kick in she's much happier. We've been home since Tuesday afternoon. I'm lucky that I have the exact number of vacation hours to cover this, although it sucks that I have to use them all up. Hopefully by Monday she'll be well enough to go back to the sitters. It has been nice for me to be able to do homework. And watch Cinderella over and over.

So let's get back to the pictures. It's so nice to hear from my friends again! My next goal is to catch up on everyone's blogs...that should only take about 6 hours or so. Paisley is finally at the stage where she'll play by herself and not insist to sit in my lap while I am on the computer. Two questions though from my comments, who is Manicmommy? And Emma in Canada, you cracked me up! Oh, by the way, I have a facebook page if anyone wants to add yourself to my friend list. Lots of you are already there, and I use that a lot so I could keep up that way.

This is Chip. Chip totally rocks. We went to a character dinner where all the characters come around and say hi. Chip fell in love with Paisley and played with her for about an hour, playing on the floor, throwing her Minnie back and forth, and he kept putting his hands over his heart. The restaurant had closed but he still just sat and played with her.

A little girl came over to Paisley one night and gave her this frog. It was so sweet! But I think she probably won a bunch at some game and didn't want 5 of them.At the airport, waiting to leave.

A February Thanksgiving

2008-02-04T19:44:00.000-06:00

Umm...so it's been so long since I've posted that I forgot my password. Oops. But before y'all go and get upset about the lack of posts, I have good reason!! School started back up in January. I'm taking 7 hours along with working full time. Paisley is shuttled between 2 babysitters, but she seems to do really well with them. It makes me sad because I feel like I don't get to see her. Saw her while she was awake this morning in the car for about 30 minutes, and she slept the whole way home tonight, and she went straight to bed when we got home. So between all that jazz I try to shove a little food in myself and get some sleep. That's why it's now February and am just posting about Thanksgiving. And btw, wtf? How is it February???? Although I don't feel too bad about being late, we're finally having our work Christmas (HOLIDAY) party on the 22nd.

So now I'm just plain tired and need to do some homework before I pass out. Here are a few teasers. Trust me, I've got PLENTY pics to post, but I'll leave you with these. Disneyland was amazing. I had never been and had never had desire to go, but I had a blast! I think I enjoyed it way more than P did.

How mean am I? We took her on all these little rides but didn't realize how scary they'd be to a 2 year old.
This is probably my favorite memory from the entire trip; Paisley shopping. We walked in and I think she just got so overwhelmed she didn't know what to do and started grabbing handfulls. If one of these toys is good, then wouldn't 5 be better?

She of course went home with one, a little minnie mouse which she still loves and insists on taking to bed with her.

Ice Storm

2007-12-16T18:38:00.001-06:00

Holy hell it's been a long time. I've really been meaning to post about our fabulous trip to Disneyland, but just have not had a spare moment to do it. More like having a spare second that I wanted to spend blogging rather than bathing or sleeping. But seeing as right now the most pertinent thing in our lives has been the disastrous ice storm, I think I'll save Thanksgiving pics until the new year. Good news though, I love my job and Paisley loves her babysitter. It's so nice to get out of the house, I just couldn't handle being a stay at home mom. I need adult interaction! Paisley is learning a ton as well, is getting really good about going potty, and she always says please and thank you. She is such a sweetie!

I also want to say congrats to Girl Florida for getting her PhD. That's kick ass, and she's going to nursing school, and she's got a darling little girl, and she's younger than me. Such an inspiration. Also congrats to Emma and the birth of her beautiful little boy. And that's about as far as I've gotten by way of catching up on my blogs.

So I'm sure most of you have heard, or experienced this ice storm that hit the midwest. We lost power early Tuesday morning, and EVERYTHING was cancelled. Even the university shut down, during finals and all. My neighbors got ahold of a generator so P and I stayed there Tuesday night. Wednesday I didn't go to work, and the generator was being taken away so I was at a loss as to what to do. Decided to pack up and head to KC as my dad didn't lose power. Luckily, my friend from a town about 15 miles south of us called me just as I was heading out and said I could stay with her and her 2 boys. I am forever grateful to her, letting us invade her house and being so generous! I went back to work Thursday, Friday evening the power came back, and finally went home yesterday. I've spent my time taking really hot baths, doing laundry and sleeping. We definitely take for granted all the amenities that we have, and I really realized that this past week. I didn't want to have to go to a shelter, or miss more work. Thousands of people are still without power, and I'm incredibly lucky to be back in my warm home.

I know it's really sad what has happened to all these trees, losing limbs and such, but at the same time they are incredibly beautiful. I drove around a bit in the country today, and with the sun shining and every tree coated in ice, it was all really beautiful.
My freezer before the blackout.
Freezer after the blackout.
4 garbage bags full of food all going in the trash. It made me ill just thinking of all the food that was literally going down the drain. Hundred of dollars, if not more thrown away. That's hard to see, especially when the budget is so tight anyway.

The Bangs

2007-11-11T07:44:00.000-06:00

I decided to cut Paisley some bangs last night, as she's constantly brushing hair out of her eyes. And...I don't like them. They change her face somehow. And they're crooked. That's to be expected though, as it's difficult to cut a 2 year old's hair without poking her in the eye.

One morning while I was getting ready for work, she decided she needed to put makeup on too.

We love Halloween candy

2007-11-03T09:49:00.000-05:00

A month. Time goes so quickly sometimes. Where did October go? Why is there Christmas stuff in the stores? Weren't we just going to the pool? It's crazy to wake up to freezing weather, but at least it warms up to almost 70 degrees everyday.

We've been intensely busy this past month. I started a new job, which I love, and Paisley started going to a babysitter, which she loves. I think. It's great for her to be around other kids, and it's great for me to be around other adults. I didn't realize how deprived I was of adult conversation. It's like that commercial where the woman is at home all day with her kids, then goes to the opera in the evening and she starts speaking in baby talk to her husband.

Between the job, taking care of P and commuting (about 35 minutes each day), we're exhausted when we get home. That should explain the lack of blogging. P is doing great. She's amazing. And please go to gap.com and vote for her in the cutest kid contest. Her talking is so cute, everyday her words multiply, her sentences are longer and she can have a conversation with me.

Some halloween pics. She doesn't really understand the concept of trick-or-treating. She understands the concept of stuffing candy in her mouth. We only went to a few houses, then came home. I put her to bed and turned out all the lights so I could wash my hair. And wash and wash and wash. Took at least an hour and at least half a bottle of shampoo. 3 days later and it's still slightly pink. Oops. I'm planning on sticking to wigs.

But...wait! She's what???

2007-10-01T21:53:00.000-05:00

Two. I think somewhere in the back of my mind I really thought she'd stay a baby forever. I look at her baby photos and really can't even remember what she was like. She's such a funny, sweet little stinker. I don't know where to begin to describe her personality and all she does. She passed the 2 year doctor's test with flying colors, because of course she is the smartest child ever. Grandma and grandpa came to town, and P got to spend her birthday weekend in a hotel, with a pool and fruit loops and a very funny maid who sang happy birthday. Grandma organized a very cute little party for her, and somehow the room was FILLED with presents. I've never seen such a spoiled child, yet I still love to get stuff for her. Maybe it's the expression on her face when she sees something new and wondrous, or hearing her exclaim "wow! doggies" when she rips off the paper.

I really really really wish I could figure out how this happened so that I could recreate it for Halloween.

Grandma found the most adorable little cake that was shaped like a Maltese puppy. Which of course she wouldn't eat. Her birthday cake was m&ms. See this look below? It's called her crusty look and she's almost got it perfected. I'm assuming by the time she is 12 she'll have it just right.

Cows. Or moos as P calls them. They were in our backyard. This is not a normal occurance, even though we live in farm country. I'm still a city girl so this was disturbingly fascinating to me.

See the wood on the left? That's my deck. And the trees in my backyard. And the cows in the trees.

I got this funny dog costume for our dog, but it was too small for her.

Paisley's "asses."

Whiny days

2007-09-11T09:32:00.000-05:00

Happy anniversary to my in-laws, Karen and Calvin. They've been married for a crazy amount of time, like 42 years. And they're not even old. My MIL has been visiting for the last week, and she's driving me crazy! Just kidding, she's amazing, and is really like another mother to me, but also like my best friend. I wish she didn't live all the way in Utah, I'd rather she just moved in with me. She doesn't get frustrated with Paisley the way I do, she has a lot more patience, and because it's not her child she finds her antics hysterical. I actually usually do too, unless it's the constant whining and pleading to go outside.swing.slide.cobey.pool.show.blankie.juice.walk.byebye. I guess it doesn't help that I can see her two top eyeteeth under her gums. That can't feel good. Anyway, here are the absolutely gorgeous roses that Calvin ~~begged me to go to town to get~~ so sweetly ordered from a flower delivery service and had sent to my house.

Karen also spoils this child rotten. Here's Paisley's birthday present, although I'm sure it won't be the only one. Must say though that buying a swingset at the end of the season is a great idea. And? I put it together ALL BY MYSELF. Well, Karen read the instructions but I did all the grunt work. I only had to take it apart maybe 6 times, so it was a success. The empty spot now has a baby swing hanging, so I know we'll be living in the back yard for the next 2 months. I was surprised at how much my ass was sore the day after we did this! I should put these together all the time, it's a good workout.

Here's my budding gymnast. She's seriously a monkey.

Paisley loves to attack me and use me as her jungle gym.

I went to get her from her nap the other day, and found this. She was able to open the drawers on her crib and threw all of her tights across the room. I never realized how many tights she had. Guess we'll be wearing skirts all winter.

This is one of my favorites. I love watching her pretend play, and I guess the baby needed to go potty. We've been working on Paisley going potty, but haven't gotten very far. I'm just trying to get her used to the idea first. She does enjoy sitting on it, and asks frequently to sit on it without her diaper. Maybe one of these days something will actually happen.

Terrible almost twos

2007-09-07T09:49:00.000-05:00

Paisley is almost 2. She definitely acts like it. I always thought the phrase "terrible twos" was just a saying. It's not. She's a little hellion. I'm thinking they act like this because they understand most things, but they can't communicate what they want or how they feel, so they get frustrated easily. I just try to take that into consideration when I'm so frustrated with her, and it usually helps me stay calm and patient. Usually. I can't seem to get anything done with her around, because she is either constantly begging for my attention or getting into something she couldn't. This morning she opened the front door and was headed for the street! So if anyone ever comes to my house, that's why it's a mess. It's so nice to have P to take the blame.

This was way back in June, but I love how she manages to get M&Ms all over her face. And hands. And clothes.

Her other favorite food: chips. Any kind, anywhere.

These colorwonder things are awesome. The markers and fingerpaints are great because they are clear and only work on a certain paper. No messy fingerprints on the wall! The paints do get a little goopy, but when you stick your whole finger in I guess that's what happens. It's a little hard to clean off too. And Paisley? So proud of her, she only tried to eat it once.

Her obsession with shoes has reached a whole new level. She's conned her grandmother into helping her take her shoes off and on. And off. And on. Over and over and over...at least 20 times a day. Same shoes on and off, my shoes, her other shoes. It's a little ridiculous. She takes her sandals off in the car, then gets mad at me because I can't put them on while I'm driving. She picked these tennis shoes out, I would not normally pair a cute dress with tennies.

Long time gone

2007-08-27T13:20:00.000-05:00

Two weeks and no pics. Bad Ashley. I seriously have the hardest time getting pics of P. She's a little whirlwind and I have lots of pics of her hair. We went to KC a few weeks back for a family reunion and a birthday party for my dad. How cute is my niece? She just started kindergarten, I cannot believe she's old enough for that!

Every morning Paisley would help Papa water his flowers, and she'd come in with these darling daisies in her hair. These kids love their Papa, and between P and her 2 year old cousin, his lap is always full. It got to the point where she wouldn't even come to me, which she had never done before.

I think I've posted pics of this before, one of Paisley's favorite activities. At least going up and down the stairs is a good workout for me, right? I think I bore her, because she does this, or constantly asks to go "bye bye." Not really sure where bye bye is, but it's not home. We often go down the street to her best friend Cobey's house. They tend to get along really well (as well as 2 year olds do) and she asks about him all day. The way she says his name sounds like Boppy, so I hear a lot of "Boppy? Go bye bye? Boppy?"

some favorites

2007-08-14T14:52:00.000-05:00

3 years ago today...

2007-08-13T20:29:00.001-05:00

I know I have more photos than this of our rehearsal dinner, but I can't find them on the computer. Here are a few pages from our scrapbook...

Loving the dog and counting to 10

2007-07-30T21:21:00.001-05:00

This reminds me of that painting of a child hugging a dog. I thought it was Normal Rockwell, but doesn't seem to be. Anyone know? It's going to drive me nuts now, trying to figure out who the artist is. Anyways, Paisley's really been into the animals this week, either tormenting them or trying to cuddle. She forever chases Maggie the dog, putting sunglasses on her, necklaces, her blankie, and luckily Maggie is just so sweet she tolerates Paisley. She does give me the "why the hell did you bring this monkey into the house" look while she's being tormented. The cats are different. They don't do tolerance. Paisley was laying on one of the cats today, while he growled. She found a cat toy we have, that's a stick with a string attached and some furry concoction on the end of it. Paisley doesn't realize that the cats go for the furry part, instead she just chases them around and hits them with the stick.

I didn't know she could do this until a few days ago. My kid is the smartest kid EVER.

don't ever complain about not seeing pics of paisley

2007-07-26T22:49:00.001-05:00

I don't really feel like writing much, but I'll try to explain why I chose these particular pictures. This one (first of all, we have a couch cover, it's not usually THIS nasty) is Paisley watching "a show." Usually when she asks for a show, she says "a show!" with lots of vigorous affirmative head nodding, like she's trying to let us know what a great idea it would be to watch "a show." Which is really odd to me, because she does this all day, but yet hardly glances at the tv when it's on. I think in this picture she sat there for all of 2 minutes, but the 2 minutes with the 2 babies was pretty damn cute.

I was able to go to town BY MYSELF the other day. Totally rocked. So I stopped at this little used children's store, and found P this darling coat. She didn't have one yet, and this was Gap, perfect condition, and really really cheap. Doesn't get much better than that.

I also found this Little Tykes playground, which I'd never seen before. And it was cheap, so I got it for her. She is obsessed with swings, that's all she wants to do at parks, and even tried to scoot her little booty onto this swing. Oh, guess you can't really see it, but it's about the size of a silver dollar. She didn't fit. And she tried to go down the tiny slide.
These are the cats she tortures on a daily basis. This is Maddox. He bites her, yet she still comes back for more. And no, he did not choose to cuddle the bunny on his own.
Caesar. He yells at Paisley. A lot. But he's too stupid to realize that he can run away when she's hitting him with a broom. Said broom is now hidden in a closet.

Petunia. She's the sweetie. She'll even let Paisley lay her head on her, for a second or two.
I tried taking some close ups, but she kept running around to see the image on the camera. I got a lot of blurry pics that day.

The rest are pretty self-explanatory.

Daddy has been working really hard to get her to speak like a surfer. I think "radical" is next on the list.

Fat kids

2007-07-17T20:15:00.001-05:00

Paisley and I went to the pool today. We just wanted to hang out in the kiddie pool, dump cups of water, and relax. Mind our own business. Our pool has an "adult swim," Basically meaning that the 16 year old lifeguards go inside and smoke pot for 25 minutes while all the little kids get bored and come into the kiddie pool. 25 minutes!!! I was a lifeguard (long long long time ago) once, and our adult swims were 10 minutes, and there was still a guard on duty to corral errant children. Reminds me of the time that I had to approach a little boy's mother because she was paying no attention to him, he was going down the big tunnel slide and I'd have to fish him out every time (and he was too small to be going down alone anyway), or when he wouldn't get out of the wading pool at break, and his mother yelled at me in the office because I was picking on her and her child because he had "special needs." No, she just wasn't paying any damn attention to her child and he was trying to drown himself. Another story, another time. 10 years later and that STILL makes me angry. Anyways, so yeah, 25 freaking minutes. These kids were getting bored. So a bunch came into the kiddie pool, and I (either from previous guard experience or just being a mother) asked them to get out. That it wasn't fair to the small children, or to everyone else at this pool. I had to say that at least 4 different times. The last time was to about 4 boys about 8 or 9ish. They were SO rude, I couldn't believe it. Rolling there eyes and back talking to me. Now, I wasn't being rude to them or yelling or anything, just told them politely that the kiddie pool is meant for children under the age of 6. Backtalking, faces, I couldn't couldn't couldn't believe how unbelievably rude these kids were. If I was like that when I was their age? I would've been knocked into the next year. Even 10 years ago when I guarded, kids weren't like that. Just incredible to me.

The other thing I noticed at the pool, besides the 16 year old high life guards, I was probably the skinniest person there. That's especially scary when almost everyone there is under the age of 10. Seriously. And I'm not teeny at all, just average. Kids weren't this fat when I was that age, because I remember picking on the fat kid. We don't even have a fast food restaurant within 15 miles, how do these kids get so fat? It definitely scares me, and makes me rethink our eating habits, especially because Paisley LOVES fries.

I don't have any new pics, so I'll put up some from a year ago.
She still loves to annoy the cats, and laugh hysterically.

She's certifiable

2007-07-14T17:28:00.000-05:00

I don't understand how a child can be terrified of some things, (bugs, alligators, hills, swimming pools) yet be so fearless about other things.

It's getting hot in heeeeeerrrrrrreeee

2007-07-10T20:24:00.000-05:00

I'm amazed that people are still reading this blog. Thank you. I still read all my blogs, I just have been so lazy at commenting. Commenting involves moving, and moving involves sweating, which I've been trying really unsuccessfully not to do. Some people are a little naive about Kansas/the midwest, so I'll set you straight. It's effing hot here. Humid. You just have to walk outside to instantly be wet. It's an all around horrible feeling.

Besides not moving, we have gotten up enough courage to venture to the pool. That's a nice break, although P tolerates it for only short periods of time. Then she tries to climb in other people's baby carriers, steal other little pink shoes, until we have to go home. There is a nice baby pool, surprisingly enough, and it's free as long as we promise not to go into the big pool.

We had a good fourth...there was a block party (is that just a small town thing) which was really quite fun. Paisley held out until just after 10, (remember, this is the child that goes down every night at 7:30) but I'd had enough fireworks and mosquitoes at that point. The next night there was another party on a neighbor's driveway. That seems to be the trend around here, gathering all your friends and all your lawn chairs and drinking on your driveway and watch people drive by. I'm hoping that when my family comes to town that we can do that as well so that we'll start to fit in.

Back to Paisley, she is most definitely a Bartholomew, or maybe it's just Lee. She loves all things tiny. When we were in Utah she loved the tiny chair, she loved her cousin's tiny cars (which I still can't find anywhere. Does anyone know anything about those micro mini cars?), the tiny tea set. At home she's got quite a few tike sized chairs, a doll stroller that she insists in getting in, and now a tiny picnic set and baking set. Anyway, she insists on eating off of the tiny plates and with the silverware, putting jelly bellys on various plates. My favorite though (and the reason for this paragraph) is when she ate her peaches and cream with a tiny tiny spoon. And scooped out every last drop.

My friend thinks I'm evil for putting my kid on a leash. It works. And now she'll go find it and bring it to me, asking to wear "the bear." So it can't be evil if she asks for it, right? She's also at the stage where she mimicks everything. See last post. For example, whenever I sweep the floor, she has to run and find her broom and help. It's really cute and sweet and all, but kind of annoying because she ends up sweeping dirt everywhere. Also when I scrub the floor, she has to have her own rag. Love that part. Tons of new and cute stuff she's doing and saying lately, but I'm a bad mom and don't write down (remember) what it is she's doing. She's pretty damn cute though. She also ASKED me to paint her toenails black. Okay, not for the color, but she found this bottle, so I figured what the hell. She'll be the only girl on the block with black toenails.

Oh shit

2007-07-01T20:03:00.000-05:00

How is it July already? It's all going too quickly, my baby will be 2 in only 3 months. That seems impossible to me. I've realized over the past few years that I detest fireworks. They're pretty and all (although a waste of money) but on ONE NIGHT ONLY. What is it with people doing fireworks every night for the entire week before and after the fourth? They're loud. They're obnoxious. Worst of all, they wake up my baby and that really ticks me off.

I would have posted last night, but someone sent me home with 2500 pictures to put on our computer, causing it to choke, while I tried desperately to give it mechanical CPR. It's still coughing.

Paisley and I are glad to be home, although being here makes me realize how much I do miss Utah and that side of the family and our friends. We were able to catch up with quite a few people and I enjoyed myself. I'm not sure P enjoyed herself, but she's 1. It's still about me for awhile. Charles is definitely glad to have us home, and I love being able to make him change poops and give baths. He's got a lot of time to make up for. He also likes having a little monkey around the house, a monkey that will mimick everything. The other morning while we were lazying on the couch, he told P to say 'shit.' "Sit!" she says. So I playfully smack him on the arm. What does Paisley do? Yells "sit" while smacking us. Over and over and over.

Paisley only got one full day with her grampa in Utah, so we tried to make the best of it. We went to Thanksgiving Point, ate lunch, rode the ponies, petted the animals, got really hot. Someone was getting married that day, which would have been beautiful, but I felt really bad for the bride because it was just sweltering.

She's clinging to my arm for dear life, while I try to keep up with the ponies in my heels.

Another day we went to Olive Garden for lunch, and P learned to put olives on her fingers. See? See the olive mom?
My MIL has some crazy obsession with pigs. They are all over her house, although I don't believe she really buys herself that many. Paisley loved them, sat with them, fed them fruit cups, played the piano with them. There is a picture floating around somewhere of P playing the piano with a pig in a chair on the piano bench next to her. I can't find it though.

trip from hell

2007-06-22T20:32:00.000-05:00

Sorry, N, but you know what I mean!!! Anyways, we're back from CA. Finally. I'm not really sure why I thought driving from Utah to California with a 1 year old was a good idea. Because it's really not. Paisley had just gotten over her stomach bug when we threw her in the car and drove to Vegas. As we were leaving I could tell she was getting a cold, but she was still in good spirits.

My friend N and her daughter A and P and myself drove to Vegas, saw my aunt and uncle, stayed the night there, then got up the next day and drove to Hesperia, where my friend's parents live. Stayed there for a night, then headed on to Carpenteria and the beach. We weren't sure if we wanted to camp, and I didn't know if P would do it or not, so we looked into getting a motel for the night (we already had access to one for the other nights) and got one for a good deal. The motel we were already staying at, Motel 6, had good rates so we just stayed there, but I had to take a picture of the bedspread and it's wonderful tackiness. They made these specifically for the hotel, because the sign is on the spread. I hope they fired that designer.

I have never been more thankful for anything in my life than that hotel room. Well, except for the epidural. Why? Because I woke up that night around 12:30 and puked and pooed for the next 12 hours or so. And if we had been camping? I don't even want to think about it. So as I lay ill in bed that first morning at the beach, N took Paisley with her to the campsite. Besides throwing up, I cried and cried and cried that I wouldn't be there to see my baby's first time on sand, or the first time to go in the ocean. Luckily, they ended up not going to the water and I was still able to experience that with her. Which she HATED. Not disliked, but HATED. Would not touch the sand, screamed when I put her in the water. See her face? That's pure terror.

By the last day, she finally decided the sand wasn't so bad and walked around on it, but still wouldn't go near the water.

The whole trip she seemed a little grumpier than usual, but I thought it was just being out of her element, new places, too much McDonalds, but I noticed today that both of her bottom eyeteeth have broken through. That probably explains why she was up for 2 hours in the middle of the night last night, and a few nights ago.

We still have a few days before we go home, and I've got more to update on, but I wanted N to know that we had a great time on this trip, thank you SO MUCH, and I apologize for the grumpy/whininess/crying. From P too. We're really excited to get home to Charles and our animals and our house and our beds and our car and all those little things that get so taken for granted but that we miss so so much.

Land of the odd

2007-06-15T15:38:00.000-05:00

Having been away from Utah for over two years now, I've ~~repressed~~ forgotten just how strange of a place this is. Number one thing that I'd forgotten and noticed immediately? The overabundance of Hummers. One Hummer is an abundance, but these monsters are everywhere. Really? Because if you lived on top of a mountain then maybe, but only maybe, would a hummer be doable. But really? In the city? That block to church just won't do in a sedan.

I laughed out loud when I saw this yesterday. For those who aren't familiar with why there is a giant man in a suit holding a black book, it's a mormon missionary. Not at all uncommon in this area. Even funnier to me was when Karen (granmamama) told me he had been stolen awhile back.

This really has nothing to do with Utah, but was amusing nonetheless. Is that one word? We were driving along a fairly busy street, right by a senior activity center when this group of older folks started walking across the street. The woman in the black bermudas just kinda charged out. No crosswalk, no looking for cars, they just went. And they were SO. SLOW. Everyone saw them and stopped so there weren't any crushed wheel chairs, but I felt really bad because my first response was to laugh, but I didn't feel so bad when Karen started laughing at the exact moment I did.
And the best part...HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to Charles, Grandpa and Papa. There should be cards for the grandpa's, but honestly? I can't remember if they were mailed or not. No card for Charles. Maybe when I get a birthday card he'll get a Father's Day card. Love you anyway Charles. We miss you tons and hope that you getting to sleep to your heart's content for 3 weeks is a good present.
We're headed out tonight to Vegas, about 5 hours or so, and I'm not sure if I'll have computer access for the next week or so. Keep toes crossed that we're all safe and healthy. I can't wait to get to the beach! I'm sure I'll have tons and tons of pics when we get back.

You've got to be kidding

2007-06-14T14:32:00.000-05:00

Last night I made plans to go out with an old friend of mine, and when I say out, I mean like no kids, to a bar, have some drinks and just have a good time. We decided to go to the Owl Bar at
Sundance, which unless you live in your ass everyone should have at least heard of. Anyway, it's GORGEOUS up this canyon, I just absolutely love it. It's probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. So we drive up to the Owl Bar (if you click on the link and look at the picture, that's totally where I sat. I'm so cool.) which is really cool and cabinny and homey, with lots of wood and a fireplace. And we had fun. I got to catch up with an old friend and talk to a tatoo artist about piercings (since I have 11-sorry dad, just ignore that part). There was no cell phone service though, but I figured it wasn't a huge deal, I'd put P to bed before I left, and I could just call Charles once I was in service. We left a little before 12 and I called Charles and the first thing he tells me is that he talked to his mom and Paisley was throwing up. Then I checked my messages, 2 of them about P throwing up. Luckily it's only about a 15 minute drive home, so I ran inside to see my daughter white as a sheet, and then proceeded to watch her dry heave for the next few hours. That has got to be the worst feeling in the world, not only to watch your children miserable, but to feel so incredibly guilty to not have known, to not have been there. Anyway, long story short, we have a rocky night. P finally fell asleep around 1:30ish, but I was awake at every sound she made, so I slept like crap, not to mention I was already not feeling hunky dory from my night out. P seems better today, but has a fever and won't eat. She's napping now. What I'm worried about is we were supposed to leave for CA tomorrow. Luckily my friend that I'm going with is completely flexible and we could leave Saturday if needed. There's my drama. Oh, and I was supposed to go to IKEA today. Oh well. I just can't believe that she's sick again, because she JUST DID THIS!!!!

Summer Vacation

2007-06-12T16:07:00.000-05:00

Paisley and I decided last minute to take a trip to Utah/California (I decided and I'm the mom) to see family and crash another family's reunion. They're camping on the beach in CA, why not?

Anyway, we had to leave KC at 5:50 am (the shuttle came at 4:10!) and fly to Denver, switch planes, then fly into SLC, then drive from SLC to Orem, about 50 minutes away. We were soooo tired (we as in Paisley and me. Charles didn't come. He wasn't invited), but P did really really really well. I was so proud of her. No melt downs. I did buy her a harness, which when I was younger thought was evil and said I would never do that to MY child. There's a lot of things I used to say I wouldn't do as a parent and now find myself doing. Anyways, so she was harnessed and I had to carry a backpack of entertainment for her, a huge purse of food and diapers (for P as well) and the carseat. No way in hell would she stay on my lap. But people are really nice and someone ALWAYS offered to help me. Which I really appreciated. Now we're here, actually in another part of UT visiting Charles' sis Janet and children. I think we're going to Walmart soon (since I don't get enough walmart in podunk Kansas), then to dinner. We played outside for awhile, as Janet has a nice swingset and we all know how much P loves to swing. My 6 year old nephew kept telling me to take his picture while he batted, and he also "showed" me how to use his Wii, although he was a little stingy about letting me actually play and we had a little fight about it. I totally won.

Forgot to mention that I celebrated a bday last Saturday. I'm now the ripe old age of 24. Believe me? Charles slaved over a cake for me (nasty cake from Walmart. sorry Charles, it really was gross), and put lots and lots of candles on it. He did let me sleep in though, and brought me breakfast in bed. Our tiny little town had a parade and carnival for me (ok not really for me) where we watched random pickup trucks drive down the street and throw candy (which P and I loved) and we got cotton candy (which P and I also loved) and Charles spent a good $7 trying to win P a really cheap stuffed seal. It was fun, but hot, so we left before the tractor pull started. Then we went to the really classy steakhouse called Ramblers. Did I mention how classy it is? It's actually pretty good food though. What I'm really mad about though? Charles didn't get me anything. Well, I take that back. I got my hair done and that was my present, but he didn't give me a card. All I wanted was a card. When I asked him why not? He said he lost it. The truth, or a good cover up?

Paisley and cousin Leif

Ready for the drive thru, she's got her money out. Large diet coke, please!
This is why I KS is not my favorite place. It's missing mountains.

Toys

2007-06-05T19:58:00.000-05:00

Has anyone been hearing about this girl that disappeared from Overland Park, KS? It's especially creepy because this girl just graduated from the same high school I attended, the same school that my dad still teaches at. She was abducted at the Target that was just built by my dad, by the mall that I grew up going to all the time. The same mall I was planning to take my friend tomorrow. The same Target my sister-in-law shops at because there was a shooting at the Target by her house. I NEVER would have imagined something happening there.

In Paisley news, she's been having some fun in the sun, as cheesy as that sounds. I painted her toes for the first time, which was a very proud moment for me. And I know that her shoes are too small, we got some bigger ones for her to wear.

I got a new toy, a little lion head bunny, whom I've named Rodrigo. I'm not sure yet if it's a boy or girl, but Roddy suits it just fine. We actually just call it bunny anyway. Or as P says, "Buh-ee."

Paisley also got a new toy this week. Remember when I made a silly little joke that her grandparents should get her a Little Tykes slide because she envied her neighbor's slide? Well, I opened the front door yesterday to this!! I think I actually screamed, I was so surprised.

And I set it up myself. Okay, I had a little help, but not much.

I also tried to teach P how to drink from a cup.
Didn't work so well.

Random pictures of Paisley getting more use out of the step than me, and the reason why she can't watch "shows" all day.

Orbitz SUCKS ASS

2007-06-03T22:13:00.000-05:00

I booked a flight tonight to Utah for Paisley and myself through Orbitz. It was a decent price, although we have to leave at the buttcrack of dawn (5:50), so I went ahead and got it. Got an email confirmation (at least I THOUGHT it was), then I checked my email just now, hours later, to find this. Pissed off doesn't quite do me justice. Luckily, through www.Expedia.com I found the same flight, for $30 less. So there, Orbitz.

Dear Valued Orbitz Customer,
We regret to inform you that, due to limited availability, the airline was not able to confirm theflights you requested. Therefore, no tickets have been issued for this trip and your credit card hasnot been charged.Situations like this are rare; however, when they do occur we attempt to contact our customersimmediately as to avoid missing out on advance purchase opportunities.To help you understand how this situation could occur:Orbitz is a full service travel agency. Our advanced search engine searches two billion fareswithin seconds from over 450 airlines. Our secure on-line booking system accesses fares andavailability from the same central reservation systems that other travel agents and airlinereservation agents are booking from worldwide. As you can imagine, with the extensive volume ofagents booking flights at any given time, availability for a particular flight can be gone in aninstant. Therefore, when your ticketing request reached the airline, availability for the flight(s) youselected was no longer available.The confirmation e-mail that you may have received is only an acknowledgement that the flightsyou selected for purchase have been sent to the airline for approval prior to ticketing and doesnot guarantee ticket issuance.We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for your understanding.We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you in the near future.Please click on the following link to make your new reservation
Sincerely,Orbitz
Ticket Advisory Department !

20 months

2007-06-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

Happy 20 months Paisley! That's so close to being (dum dum dum) 2 it's unbelievable. She's completely better, back to eating massive amounts of food and being totally into everything. She gets bored. How can she get bored? She has SO MANY TOYS, yet she still acts as if she's bored out of her gourd. Constantly asking for a show.

Paisley: "show?"

Mommy: "no"

Paisley: "peees?"

Mommy: "damn you're cute. ok."

If I say no to a show, she then goes to the door and asks "side?" "pees?" If I say no to that, she goes to the pantry and asks for "nack?" I can tell she'll be one of those people who eat when they're bored. She constantly makes me laugh, even when she's driving me crazy. She's so smart (of course) and is able to communicate most of her wants so that we understand. She's OBSESSED with stickers and coloring, although she'll draw a few squiggles and move on. Stickers? Oh, those can provide hours and hours of entertainment, because they stick. Everywhere. The very first thing she asked for this morning was "ticka?" She'll very proudly display them on her shirt and pants (and nose) without taking them off. Unless it's to put them on her friend Cobey.

Sorry about the thigh shot Charles. I can't figure out how to upload photos that I've cropped.

P's other obsession: shoes. If I leave mine out, she follows me around with them telling me. "Shoes! shoes!" She actually walked all the way from the kitchen to living room yesterday in these heels. I was quite proud.

A light at the end

2007-05-29T20:41:00.000-05:00

Paisley is better. Finally. It was a pretty crappy weekend of us all lying around watching crappy BabyFirst TV. We don't actually have that channel, we just had it once for a preview so I recorded some episodes, and we watch them over and over and over and over...so far P doesn't care for anything besides those and BabyEinstein. It's all a little monotonous. Anyway, besides sitting around, Paisley threw up a lot, had lots of diahrrea (I've never known how to spell that), eaten hardly anything, slept a lot, whined a lot, but today I actually see light at the end of the tunnel. She played and ate and was happy. Such a relief. Especially when they can't really tell you what's wrong. Yesterday she kept pointing to her tummy and saying 'poo poo.' Then she'd have diahrrea. I would have done anything I could've to be sick rather than watching her be sick. But now it seems that we have our funky lil' munky back.

By the way, I'm still collecting points from coke products. If you have any and don't want them, send them my way!!!

Sick babies

2007-05-27T17:18:00.000-05:00

I could tell Paisley hadn't been feeling good for a few days. She was grumpy, not eating, just not herself. I thought maybe a growing spurt, or teething, until yesterday when she started puking. Yuck. She just cuddled on Charles and me all day, watching "shows," taking lots of naps, etc. Towards the middle of the afternoon she seemed better, ate a few things, was playing, until 6 when she got really grumpy again. I asked her if she wanted to go night-night and she got her blanky and went and stood by her bed. All right, 6 o'clock, I figured she'd be up in either a few hours or at 4am. She woke at 7:40, the next morning. Covered in more puke. Gave her some juice and she threw that up. She's so picky and won't drink pedialite or pediasure, so it's just watered down juice. I wouldn't give her anything, but she cries and whines for her "joo." Then my friend calls, the mother of P's friend Cobey. He'd woken up today throwing up. It breaks my heart to see them so sick! Today P doesn't want to cuddle as much, gets annoyed when she's touched, but will still come to me and hold up her arms and say "down." I've got to teach her the difference, but it's pretty funny. She's now down for her third nap today. I figure if she's still throwing up tomorrow, I'll call her dr, but right now I'm sure they'd say there's nothing they can do. She ate a little bit of applesauce and chicken for dinner. Keep your fingers crossed that she keeps it down and feels better!

No photos today

2007-05-22T21:54:00.001-05:00

Happy freakin' birthday Charles. But not really, since we don't "celebrate" your birthday anymore. Not for the past 2 years, at least. Last year wasn't really a birthday either, but a good excuse for me to make a cake. Which I did again this year. And had to run to the store on two separate occasions because I messed up. The cake turned out great though, and the icing? Oh my gosh the icing is to die for. A pound of butter, a pound of shortening, 2 pounds powdered sugar...I actually had a ton left over so I ended up making cupcakes and delivering to some neighbors.

I've been trying for 2 days now to upload the photos of the cake and Charles' present, but I can't get them to load. Here's a video though of P trying to blow out the candle, and getting a little concerned about the smoke.

Blow on the hot Paisley! Blow on the hot!

In other news, Charles' sister Kate is in DC, where she was chosen as one of two delegates from Utah to attend the Livestrong conference(?). I'm not really sure what they did there, but the organization means a lot to me, and probably most people can relate somehow. Read these, they're interesting, and about Kate.

Article 1
Article 2

Summer time...and the livins' easy

2007-05-20T21:34:00.000-05:00

It's definitely summer now, and we're all making the most of it. It's funny to start seeing the neighbors after not having seen most of them for about 6 months. Now everyone is outside playing, gardening, etc. P and I try to get out as much as possible. She's tan already, of course. I'm still just mostly pink. She LOVES playing in the little pool, could stay in there for hours.

I could go on and on about all the new stuff she's saying and doing, but that would take a few hours, cuz she's so darn cute. Our favorite thing now is probably "get down." She's been saying this for quite awhile now, usually yelling it while standing on a chair that she knows she shouldn't be on, but lately she's learned to say it when she actually wants to get down, like from her high chair. She also says it when she wants up, which is very cute. Charles and I will say, "do you mean up?" and she'll pause a second, then say "up!" I love seeing her little mind working and making those connections. I was gardening this afternoon, pulling some weeds, she'd pick them up, bring them to me and say "uh oh," then very gingerly would place them back in the garden. She also loves flowers, but knows they're not to touch, so she'll point to each. individual. flower. and say "what's dis?" Flower flower flower flower flower! Today we turned away for a second and she had gotten all of my gardening tools out and scattered them across the driveway. She also managed to escape into our neighbors backyard where they have a cool Little Tikes slide, which our neighbor says we can use at any time, but I still want Paisley to learn manners and to ask before she just plays on someone's stuff. She was highly disappointed that both her father and I had to chase her down on separate occasions and tell her no. So grandparents...hint hint, if you feel like getting P a present!

She's just such a funny little girl with such a big personality. I don't think I ever realized how interesting small children are, she continuously has me amazed and laughing. She eats like a horse, sleeps really well, and can be really grumpy. Sounds like her mama. The other day for example she ate:

1/2 pancake

fruit

yogurt

yogos

2 hotdogs

7 chicken nuggets

cooked carrots

1 slice pizza

potato chips

Juice/water

I admit this day was a bit unusual, but not really. She's put on at least 4 pounds since her birthday in October, which I don't think is normal, but she seems perfectly healthy. And no, I didn't give her the potato chips, that's all her dad's doing. He's kind of a push over when it comes to Paisley, I can see him giving into her a lot as she gets older!

Forgot to say that P's other new thing is saying "tank ooh." I LOVE it. Instead of throwing her food on the floor when she's finished, she hands it to me saying "tank ooh!" When she gives anyone anything, she says it. It's so cute, and it makes her seem like a polite little girl instead of the wild heathen she really is.

Sunburns don't hurt that bad

2007-05-14T20:33:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine down the street bought one of those cheapo blow up pools, and we've been sticking our kids in there while it's been so hot. Paisley and her BFF Cobey love it. Until they fight for toys. Lucky for us her deck is pretty private so no one has to see us in our swimsuits. P definitely got her daddy's skin. She's nice and brown, while I'm super white except for the big red spots on my shoulders and legs.

I'm not sure if this is inappropriate or not, but it's pretty damn cute. We had finished our day of swimming, got the kids back in diapers and clothes, and we went to sit on the deck. I look over and Paisley has gotten back in the pool fully clothed. Figured naked was better than a saggy diaper.

She's given up kissing me. I suppose she's embarrassed by me, but she'll still kiss Cobey. I hope they know each other in aboug 10 years so I can use this as blackmail.

Ears

2007-05-14T16:54:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know...when a 19 month old continuously sticks her fingers in her ears, does that mean she has an ear infection?

We ARE in Kansas

2007-05-06T19:25:00.000-05:00

This has been the most exciting week in the two years that we've lived in middle of nowhere KS. Storms, floods, tornados. It started with lots and lots of rain Monday or Tuesday, 6 inches in just a few hours. Enough rain to flood one of our main roads of out town and almost evacuate an itty bitty town, and wash out the other main road to town. We were stuck, sorta. Then it rained most of the week, tornados here and there (and if anyone is not familiar with the recent KS tornado-please pull your head out of your ass), we had to go to our hidey hole with Charles' mom, the cats, had to wake Paisley up to take her down there. Very exciting overall. It's finally sunny here, although I think it's still rained at least once everyday. Lots of our neighbors had flooded basements, but we somehow lucked out. The storm did blow out part of our computer, a part we had just replaced LAST WEEK. Luckily the computer place let us replace it for free, but we've been without internet for a few days.

Paisley is now sick, runny nose, sneezing, coughing, not eating, rubbing her ears. She finally ate some dinner, and afterwards started whining and pointing to her tummy. Poor kiddo, it's so hard to know what to do for them when they're not feeling well.

Maddie

2007-05-01T23:22:00.000-05:00

Laura- PLEASE DO NOT THINK WE'RE MEAN (we as in Karen and myself) for doing this to Maddie. It's just one of those late night spur of the moment ideas. Her hair is not perfect, obviously, but look at how much older she looks! And she looks EXACTLY like Benjamin. Maybe invest in a wig? Just kidding.

Also, we noticed if you took the 2 pictures of Ethan and Brandon and covered up their eyes and foreheads, they'd be identical. I'm sure you probably already knew that and all, but we thought it was cool.

Wanna see pictures of my kid?

2007-05-01T21:22:00.000-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa are here visiting, well, Grandpa left, but Grandma is still here. It's so nice that she came ~~so that I can take long naps every morning~~ to hang out with us and see Paisley. Paisley really seems to enjoy the company, but it also seems to make her clingier to me. I can't hardly go to the bathroom without P crying and screaming in terror that I'm leaving her. Grandma has taught P to say "right back" when I leave, and she'll chant that over and over until I reappear. I really hope this is a stage. In one sense it's nice to feel so needed, but I would like to pee in relative peace one day.

Baked cheetos. A wonderful snack for most people, but they're Paisley's main staple. At least they're baked. Cheetos and Yogos. I think she'd be hard pressed to choose between the two.

She's not really asleep in this picture. I can't remember the last time she fell asleep on someone or someplace besides her bed.
Mommy (I've progressed from Mama to Mommy) trying to get a kiss. She used to give them to me all the time, but now she pushes my face away. She'll kiss her little boyfriend Cobey (or BOPPY! to her, whom she yells for all day), Dora the doll, but not me. I think the next picture was her pushing me away.

I got her some of those bathtub crayons. She LOVES them. I don't, because that means the tub has to be scrubbed after every use.

We took Grandma and Grandma to the local park (15 miles away), and they all had a grand time.
There are 4 baby swings, and Paisley insisted on getting in every single one.

Yesterday, Grandma and I took P to the zoo. She liked the animals, but seemed wary of the really ugly pig that she could get really close to. This is the same enclosure where I got attacked by goats. Ok, not exactly, but I had one jump up on me and get my shorts dirty. Close enough.

The reading chair. I love that she'll grab a book and then sit here.

Chocolate and tv daze. What could be better?

Blogging friends rock

2007-04-27T15:41:00.000-05:00

How cool is this new design? For some reason the picture of the baby feet stopped showing up, and I guess the fact that I never fixed it irritated Angie and Ava enough that she designed a new blog for me! How awesome is that (for the record, I don't really say 'cool' and 'awesome' that much, but it seems to come out when I write)? Thank you Angie!!!!
I know I haven't posted in over a week and I'm sure everyone is having major Paisley withdrawal, and I apologize. The warm weather has been keeping us outside lately and I have a really hard time posting/taking decent pictures.

Charles parents are in town, came in yesterday from Utah. I have to say, it's so incredibly nice to have them here. I can hand Paisley off whenever I need to, go take a nap, POST, have someone else change a stinky diaper. I love it. My MIL also brought her fancy new digital camera, so I actually was able to get some decent pictures of P. She's exhausted from all the excitement, she took a 3 hour nap this morning (as did I), and now she's working on her second one. I think I may as well. Sometimes it's really hard to be a stay at home mom.

I think this kid may need a few more toys. It's a little ridiculous.

It's about time

2007-04-18T21:40:00.000-05:00

He's gone! He's gone! Sinjaya's gone! Can you picture me doing a little jig in front of the tv? It's about freakin time. I just can't believe he was actually sad. I mean come on, he knew his luck would run eventually.

I let Paisley play alone in her room today while I was in the kitchen, as there's not a whole lot she can get into in there, and I'm starting to feel she's old enough that she can have (a tiy bit) some independence. I came in to find her crib filled with toys, and I just had to laugh, a lot. Paisley smiled because I was laughing, but I could tell it was her, "I'm smiling although I'm not really sure why" face.

She also emptied her wipes from the warmer, and stuffed them back in as soon as she saw me coming. And she very carefully took all of her lotions out of the basket and stood them on the shelf, then placed them cautiously back in the basket, then put them back on the shelf, then back in the basket...

Bad picture day

2007-04-15T18:51:00.000-05:00

I think winter may finally be over here. We never got the 3-6 inches of snow that was predicted, but tons of rain and coldness. It's finally back into the 60's today and Paisley and I ran around outside for a bit. She thinks it's hilarious to run away from me, and when she sees me coming she laughs and laughs.

Paisley's vocab has really taken off in the past few weeks. She can point out most pictures on a page when you ask her "where's the sun? Where's the hat?" etc. I tried to get a video of it, but it didn't work so well. I was going to say that she's the smartest kid ever, even smarter than that odd baby on that tv commercial that can name all of the dead presidents which is actually really creepy, but as I write this she has shut herself out of the room and turning the door handle furiously and screaming because she can't figure out how to turn and push at the same time. She also just got mad at me because I wouldn't give her any ibuprofin. She tries to copy most of what we ask her to say, but her words usually start with b's, no matter what. She does say "I love you," or rather "i-loh-ooh!" Melmo is a new one that I think is really cute, but of course they're all cute. Of course.

Ok, this first picture is one of my favorites. P LOVES books. LOVES them. She'll grab one, and then back herself up into our laps.

The rest of the pictures? Well, it should be evident why I don't post very often. I can't get a decent picture of the child, she's always all over the place. The last one is the ONLY decent one out of 50 or so.

My kid is cuter than your kid

2007-04-13T09:25:00.000-05:00

There is a WINTER WEATHER advisory today. That means snow. 3-6 inches of snow. Isn't it April? Isn't it enough that ALL my plants and pretty tulips are dead? Now there has to be snow to make it even that much more hurtful?

In happier news, Paisley's new trick is to hit her bottom and say "buh!" It's great.

Happy Hunting

2007-04-08T21:15:00.000-05:00

Easter is a good day for Paisley. I guess any day where she's given baskets full of books and candy is a good day for Paisley. Her Papa (my dad) came out for the day, and we let her find her eggs (because they were hidden so very well) after her morning nap. Once she realized what was inside the egg, the hunt was over and she wanted to put as much in her mouth as possible. Including wrappers. She's not picky.

See. Bet you can't spot the eggs.

Paisley's cute basket, STUFFED. Both of her grandparents got her books and other goodies to fill her basket. Lucky duck.
I've had this outfit for her for over a year, and we finally put it on today. Unfortunately it wasn't a day to have an outdoor hunt, and she should have been wearing sweats and a coat. Oh well, she looks cute even if her lips are blue. Actually, they're brown...mmm, chocolate. This might a pose a problem down the road because of how much this kid likes sweets. She doesn't get them very often, but we made an exception today and let her have a bunch. All of my pictures of her face covered in chocolate and jelly bean goop are blurry, but I'm sure it's not that hard to imagine.

Have I mentioned how much this kid likes accessories? Shoes, hats, coats, glasses. I think these glasses are especially charming. I can't believe I actually used to wear them...

She looks like she's about 3

2007-04-06T19:53:00.000-05:00

Remember? Member when I had a baby? Like just the other day? What happened to her? There's no baby anymore, just a very opinionated, fun little girl. A girl who loves shoes, climbing onto things she shouldn't, chasing cats, coats, sweets, juice, new people, going bye-bye, her daddy, and tons more. This is the baby I expect to see every morning when I get her from her crib...
But instead I see this big girl. This child who constantly makes me laugh, like having to sit next to Dora, and getting really violently angry when Dora doesn't cooperate. I believe Dora got tossed over the gate not too long after this picture was taken.
We got Paisley's shoes in the mail today. I didn't think the 6's would fit her yet, but they seemed to do okay. Paisley LOVED THEM, of course. I tried to take pictures, but she was so excited she started running up and down the hallway. Those pink blurs? Those are her cool new shoes that make her go so very fast.

P is not very polite when it comes to food. She loves it, and eats it constantly. She had already eaten lunch when I sat down with a bowl of chili and some chips. She asked for a chip, I gave it to her, and then she stuck her little hand in my bowl and stole some chili. And then some more. I finally gave up and put her in her seat with the rest of the bowl. So she could have a second lunch.

Pink shoes rock

2007-04-03T16:31:00.000-05:00

I finally got to my 1000 points with the coke tops and cashed out for a $50 Adidas online gift card. I had to get these shoes for Paisley, they're just so cute! I was able to get 2 pairs, so she'll have some to grow into. They actually look like some hot pink shoes that I own, but Charles won't let me wear because he says they're too ugly. I took Paisley to the park yesterday, and as she was swinging, we saw a little girl of about 3 running down the sidewalk and completely wipe out. She started crying of course, and her mom came and got her, hugged her, etc. Paisley got out of the swing a few minutes later, went to the same spot on the sidewalk, lay down, and started fake crying. I think we have an oscar winner in our future.

Charles is gonna be mad I told...

2007-04-01T19:53:00.000-05:00

Congrats to Beca and Andy on the birth of their 3rd baby girl! She's beautiful.

I've been really lax about posting lately, but Paisley has been incredibly cranky all week. It's taken all of my power to not find some gypsies for her to live with. I'm not sure if it's an age thing, or if it's a sickness thing as she's had a runny nose, or if she's just bored with me. Probably some of each. This is the day I let her do her own hair. She's really good. She took the brush and brushed it all forward, rather violently.
Same day. Please don't judge my abilities as a mother on what she's wearing. This child throws tantrums to wear shoes, so I just grabbed some socks without trying to match them. Because her feet smell SO BAD if she doesn't wear socks. I thought that didn't happen until they got older? Same with bad breath, but obviously my theory was completely wrong.
I took the weekend off from mothering and left P with Charles while I went to a bridal shower/bachelorette party in KC. There's nothing to make you feel old like REALLY wanting to go to bed at 10, although the limo wouldn't be taking us home until 2. Anyway, I was really nervous about leaving P, not that I didn't trust Charles, I've just never left her that long. I was away from her for 44 hours!!! Sure enough, about an hour after I left on Friday, she fell down our neighbor's concrete steps onto her head. The pic is blurry, but see the bump and bruise? My poor baby. And tonight? She was in our big rocking chair and rocked it so violently that she tipped it over and ended up across the room. Really. We're not doing this to her.

Picture overload

2007-03-25T18:36:00.000-05:00

music and babies

2007-03-19T11:42:00.000-05:00

Is it bad that I put on Baby Einstein for Paisley so that I can get a few minutes alone on the computer? I guess I shouldn't ask, because I'd do it anyway. Everybody needs 5 minutes of sanity.

Since I was tagged by Kristin, I'll go ahead and do this for both Paisley and myself. Especially considering that P listens to whatever I listen to. And she likes it, dammit.

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what they are. They must be songs you are presently enjoying. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

I'm going to change it just slightly, because I've been listening to entire albums. We have a 5 disc CD changer (definitely not as cool as my dad's. His is a 700 disc changer, or something crazy like that), so I put in 5 that I like, then hit random. Our random doesn't work so well though, and it tends to play the same 5 songs over and over and over. The first 5 here are what are in the cd player, so here goes:

1)Dixie Chicks Home. I will say that I especially like #12. I'm not at all into country, but LOVE them. I think Natalie Maines has an amazing voice.

2)Modest Mouse Good News for People who Love Bad News

3)Modest Mouse Moon and Antartica-Saw them in concert when I was pregnant. Concerts are NOT FUN pregnant.

4)The Shins Chutes too Narrow

5)Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand

6)Fergie-I am almost ashamed to admit this. But sometimes I still wish I was in high school, so it's suitable. I made a few mixed cd's for the car (I usually listen to books on CD), and she's prominent on them, and I usually skip to her songs.

7)Lily Allen Smile-This sounds like it's a sweet little ditty until you listen to the words.

Now I'm supposed to tag 7 people. I don't think 7 people even read this blog, but here goes. Erin, Laura, Angie, Beca, Kate, Emma, and Emma.

We don't have any new pics of Paisley, so I'll put this one up of her and my brother Alex, from this time last year. He and his lovely wife Jenny had their first baby last Friday, and named him Miles. We're so excited for them, and they will be amazing parents. I hope they don't mind that I'm posting these pictures, since I didn't get permission, but they probably don't look at this anyway.

in-laws and death to dora

2007-03-16T15:08:00.000-05:00

Who has the best in-laws ever? I do! I do! I got this in the mail today from my sister-in-law, Janet. I'm so excited, I've always wanted one but never wanted to shell out the $200+ for it. Thank you Janet! This is also for Janet, sorta. Remember when I mentioned that Paisley likes to kill Dora? This is where she is currently resting. I haven't gone to check on her yet.
Paisley very generously dumped her lunch on the floor for the cats. I don't blame her. The chicken in those toddler meals is NASTY. Unfortunately, everything that P doesn't like or want to eat ends up on the floor, and I'm not really sure how to stop that. She won't really let me feed her anymore, she wants to be a big girl and use utensils and all that good stuff.

I had forgotten about pat-a-cake until I watched Ava's video the other day, so I tried it with Paisley. I LOVE her rolling abilities and make her do it whenever I need a good laugh.

Let's try this again

2007-03-14T20:03:00.000-05:00

This all should have been posted, but for some reason when I hit 'publish,' it all went kapoot. I had decided to take Paisley to the zoo because the weather was 80 degrees and gorgeous, and she's not all that into parks yet. I don't like them much either because I have to follow her up the equipment because I'm afraid she'll fall off the edge. She's pretty adventurous and doesn't realize how easily she could fall. I mean, she falls all the time in our house, just walking around. Imagine if she was looking over an 8 foot drop? And yes, I'm really paranoid about that. Here's P in her darling summer dress. For any Gilmore Girls fans out there, doesn't she look like Rory in this picture?
The sound for this picture would include a lot of growling and hissing. She teases these poor cats, and the result is that she has bite marks all over her arm. She doesn't care. At all. Obviously.
Getting ready to head into the zoo and rockin' the glasses. She'll wear them around the house, then walk around the house with her arms out in front of her, as would a blind person.

Wallaby. I'm not sure how much P enjoyed the zoo, or how much she could see from her stroller. This zoo doesn't contain all of it's animals, just merely puts up a few wood slats to indicate where people go versus where animals go. I know that if I had let P out of the stroller, she would have immediately been under that fence and chasing the wallaby and ostriches, thinking they were really big cats. For instance, at the park today someone had a little puppy and she zoomed in on that, ran over to it, knelt down and very excitedly said "hi! hi! hi! hi!"
There are about 2 dozen peacocks that just wander around. They're absolutely gorgeous. Paisley DID try to chase them.

Ginormous anteater. I think he was my favorite.
On the way home. She had eaten all of her goldfish, and then fell asleep. Don't worry, I was stopped when I took the picture.

It's been a bad day.

2007-03-13T19:25:00.000-05:00

Oh man, I just wrote a HUGE post and it got erased. That just adds to the day. So...screw the post, I'll just put up pictures. Nah, I'll redo it tomorrow. Here's a video to hold you over til then. I gave her a piece of chocolate to get her to stop crying/whining/clinging to my legs, and Charles was trying to unwrap it for her. Hey, I never claimed to be mom of the year. Sorry about my obnoxious laugh in the background.

Coke tops

2007-03-12T19:49:00.000-05:00

I'm still in need of coke lids/coke box ends (from the 12 packs). You find them on all coke products, and maybe some sports drinks? Instead of throwing them away, why don't you just email me the code at polishsmashly@yahoo.com. I would be very appreciative, as would Paisley, since we're aiming to get her some shoes, and the points will keep her from going barefoot! Like I said, the red lids, or the ends of the 12 packs. Thanks!!!

Stickers and hats

2007-03-08T20:59:00.000-06:00

I got out some stickers today, thinking the P might enjoy sticking them on paper. Not especially, since she couldn't figure out how to get them off of her fingers. She did like them on her shirt, which surprised me because whenever we go to Walmart they always give her a sticker and she immediately takes it off of her shirt. Like the cool can next to her? I totally made it. I decoupaged it, which is pretty awesome. Then we decorated some oj can lids that she can drop through the slit at the top. Our parents as teacher lady brought one a few months back that P loved, so I finally got around to making P her own can.
She has a strange obsession with carrying things around under her chin.
Hats were another way of entertaining ourselves today. I swear I had nothing to do with these, she did them all her own. She even put a carrot slice on her head, but you know, discipline and all, I couldn't run and get the camera.
This is actually a dress for a teddy bear. It works as a hat though.
One year ago. What a cute baby! This is the same day she was rolling over for the first time. She definitely doesn't have those thighs anymore.

This video is in honor of Ava, although Paisley doesn't have quite the rythym that Ava does. I apologize if it's a little long, I did cut some off, but I was trying to get all of her dancing moves there, but she tends to get sidetracked.

It's all about the cheese

2007-03-07T18:04:00.000-06:00

Just so you can all get a feel for what's going on in our house. Paisley is pulling out kleenexes from a box, one at a time, and growling. Then pretending to blow her nose, making really loud, odd, snotty noises.

Off to the park

2007-03-06T22:03:00.000-06:00

It's finally getting decent here, enough so that I can take P outside and let her run around. Today I loaded her up and took her to the park about 15 miles from here, although I don't know why I bother. I do it because the only park here in town is about 25 years old and has some of the scariest equipment I've ever seen. The one 15 miles away is really nice, with about 6 different sections and one just for toddlers. But of course Miss Paisley could care less, all she did was walk up and down the sidewalks. Greeting other kids with a very enthusiastic "hi." If mama sits on a bench though to watch, P has to sit on the bench with me. I think it's more of the novelty of sitting on the bench than being afraid to play. Strange kid.

P hasn't been taking her afternoon naps lately. Last night she slept from about 7 to 7, then took her morning nap from 9:30 to 11:30, then wouldn't take an afternoon nap. I don't mind, I just think it's strange that she'll sleep in the morning, not long after she's just slept for 12 hours, but won't in the pm. Any ideas?

This is how she was today. Very clingy. That's (one) reason that I wanted to get out of the house. We also took a long walk before dinner, and I let her get out and walk awhile (with the intention of wearing her out). I have to say though, I don't really mind her hugging my legs, because I like knowing that she needs me. Charles and I were discussing the other day why she never says "mama," yet she says "daddy" all the time. I think it's because she takes me for granted. I'm always with her, whereas daddy comes and goes.

Her dolly, Dora. It's hard to tell but P is feeding Dora a chip. Someone stumbling on this blog might think this is the most asinine thing ever, but I love it, she put Dora in her highchair, fed her, and also gave her the sippy cup (which I didn't get on film). I especially love that Dora gets carried around by her hair.
This is how small our town is; my friend and I were walking today, we walked through the cemetary and we were leaving as two older women were coming in. They commented on P's hair (of course), then one said, "oh, this must be Paisley!" Huh? I had never seen either of these women before, yet they knew who my daughter was. Maybe they'd heard about her hair? I'm still trying to figure that one out.

it's not my party, but I'll still cry if I want to

2007-03-03T18:38:00.000-06:00

Paisley and I attended a birthday party for my friend's two sons. They're 4 & 7, so not really a great place for P. Lots of 7 years olds and adults. She desperately wanted to fit in, going out in the garage and running around, making me really nervous that she was going to get run over. She did pretty well at first, but started to lose it after awhile, especially when mama wouldn't let her play with the big kids.

This little girl is SUCH a monkey. Her motto is definitely "no fear." Well, except for car washes and her little toy train. She climbs on anything and everything, as evidenced below. And she's a stinker. She stands on the bed or a chair and says "git dow!" She finds this great fun. I guess I should be proud because it's her first 2 word combination, but still.
This is her "I dropped something" face. Anything falls, and this is what you'll get.

17 months old

2007-03-01T21:31:00.000-06:00

Unbelievable that my baby is 17 months old today. Not really a baby at all...sniff sniff. Honestly though? This stage rocks. I LOVE seeing her develop into a person more and more each day. I love laughing at all of her crazy antics, playing all day long, and especially the love she can now return to us through hugs and kisses.

One year ago today. She's wearing a tank top, was it that warm? We woke up to snow today, schools cancelled, tornadoes in the area.
I've been trying (rather unsuccessfully) to get all of P's hair in a ponytail. She has a lot, but it's thin and patchy, therefore it looks odd. Hopefully it'll come in thicker. If she's anything like her father and me it will, and she'll help to clog all the drains in the house.

Oh how we love the nuggets. I'm having a really strong sense of deja vu. Have I posted pictures before of how P stuffs her mouth? It's really pretty gross.
Yes, it's the middle of the day and we're still in pajamas. Give us a break, we're all sick and we're snowed in. Why bother getting dressed? At least we bathed her and put her in clean pajamas. Mama wasn't around to see this picture being taken, because I was NOT happy to learn that P was sitting in the one nice bowl I own.

Finally! A post without videos.

2007-02-26T15:10:00.000-06:00

Paisley is no longer a baby. Not at all. How'd that happen? She's such a little girl now, I cannot believe how quickly she's grown up. I never thought I'd forget what she was like as a baby, but I don't really remember much about it. I guess that happens so that women will want more than 1?

Paisley understands so much now, it continually blows me away. And the mimicking. Oh my gosh the mimicking. Charles and I need to be really careful what we say and do. As seen with the eyelash curler, I had no clue she was watching me. She finds kleenexes and blows her nose. In the bathtub she grabbed her washcloth and very meticulously scrubbed her arm. Then blew her nose in it. Then washed her arm. Eww.

She's learned a lot about her face, and calls noses "dues." She points to my nose and says "DUE!" Then to daddy's, then to the cats, and to her little people, etc. You get the picture. Then we move on to the ears, mouth, etc. My favorite is still the belly button because she'll pull up whatever she's wearing, even if it's a dress. One of these days we'll teach her it's not polite to flash people, but not yet.

EEI EEI EEI O! Is also often heard in our house. I'm not really sure where she learned it because Charles and I don't sing to her that often. Probably off of Baby Einstein. I know, we're horrible parents. We do sing that now with her, and she chimes in at the EEI O part, but includes an extra EEI. Love it.

She understands when it's bedtime, bathtime or time to change her diaper. If I ask her to go get her diaper changed, she walks to her bedroom. If Charles asks her, she lies on the floor wherever she is. That shows you our styles? Bedtime, she grabs her blanky and heads for her room. Bathtime she RUNS to the tub, and is so impatient that she tries to climb in while it's filling. She loves to hold her hand under the stream of water.

NO! is another new thing for her. She says it very defiantly, with a big head shake and often a hand pushing away whatever the offending thing is. It's scary because it's a little like "talk to the hand." Umm, she's 16 months, not 16 years.

She still pesters the cats to no avail. Being bitten doesn't deter her at all.

Pushing mama's buttons is also a new one. At least pushing them on purpose. She knows that I hate it when she stands on things (her rocking chair, my rocking chair, the rocking ottoman, etc), and they are usually put away so she can't get on them. When she is allowed, she gets one warning from me, but she doesn't seem to care. She just watches me watch her stand, and as soon as I come near her she sits down as quickly as she can. Then she loses privileges. She doesn't even cry anymore when they get taken away.

Kisses are fun too. I LOVE getting kisses from her. I tell her to kiss other things and she will, like her rubber duckies in the tub, her little people, husbands of my friends, the dog. She tried to kiss the dog today, but the dog just wasn't having it.

The funniest though is her relationship with her Dora doll. She got this doll from her Aunt Janet and Uncle Erik for Christmas, but has only recently taken an interest in her. She walks her around (by the hair), sits Dora in her highchair, the rocking chair, the dining room chairs, on her rocking horse. Paisley gets frustrated pretty easily though, because Dora tends to fall off of things as well. She brushes Dora's hair, gives her kisses, all of it very sweet, and gives me hope that she'll like dolls as she gets older. Her temper does kick in though when Dora just isn't cooperating, and Paisley responds by killing her (charles' term), which is launching her down the stairs. I promise, she did NOT learn that one from us.

But it's SO cute

2007-02-25T12:25:00.000-06:00

I know I know. ANOTHER video. But it's just so cute!

Feeding time is SO FUN with a toddler.

2007-02-24T23:02:00.000-06:00

Paisley's favorite game; see how much we can stuff in our mouths at one time.
I'd write more about all the darling and not so darling things she does, but I'm exhausted. Maybe tomorrow...

This seems to be turning into a purely video blog. I guess I should also note that she did NOT hurt herself with the fork. She only got sour cream in her eyelashes.

It's a cranky day

2007-02-22T17:12:00.000-06:00

I love that my blog is advertising for adult diapers.

Here's ANOTHER video of my cute girl. She stole my eyelash curlers and demonstrated that she indeed knew how to use them, so I made her perform for the camera.

I like toddlers

2007-02-19T18:30:00.000-06:00

I LOVE this stage Paisley is in. She constantly has me laughing, while she looks at me like, "what the hell woman?" She's always jibber-jabbering about something, and I would love to know what's going through her little head. Full on conversations on her phone (things used as a phone: remote, alarm clock, ball), getting into EVERYTHING, testing mama and daddy constantly. Right now she's leaving the room ( I can hear her little footsteps up and down the hall), then she'll burst in and yell at me. Over and over. She gets me to leave the computer to fill her cup, and while I'm doing that she run as fast as possible (which is still pretty slow) to the computer so she can pound on the keyboard. She's really into learning about her face, and has been able to point out her nose, eyes, mouth, ear, head, hair and bellybutton for awhile now, and lately she's realized that mama has a bellybutton too! And daddy has a nose! She points to everything on our face over and over while we tell her nose! mouth! ear! nose! head! nose! She tries to poke the cat's noses, but they've been rather unhappy with the child lately. Unfortunately, growling, hissing and biting don't deter Paisley and she still chases and pokes and pulls hair. I think they'll all just have to have it out one of these days and make their peace.

Paisley is like mama and gets really annoyed at inanimate objects. I'm sure when she really starts to talk some unlady-like things may come out of her mouth when the piano trips her or she steps on a really spiky toy. Her latest frustration was with an old ice cream bucket that she wanted on her head. Her head was just too big for the bucket to stay on, so daddy got out her really cool pink winter hat, and she wore that for a few days. The days that it actually got above freezing. The picture quality progressively gets worse, but show me someone with a 16 month old and good pictures!!

Isn't this mess impressive? That's just one small corner of the house.

Here's proof that it's impossible to take her picture. Everytime I try she attacks me. I'm literally on my back, trying to get away from her, but she just chased me around.

It's been a bad bad day

2007-02-16T22:10:00.000-06:00

Maybe it's the fact that it's STILL snowing, or the fact that mama and dada just don't do what she wants when she wants, but Miss Priss was in a foul mood tonight. I think she screamed for, oh, an hour and a half? Finally I said, "let's get your pj's on," and she ran straight for her room. Screamed the entire time I dressed her, so I put her in bed directly from the changing table, an hour early (6:30!), and she hasn't made a peep since.

It's -1 degree outside!!!!!!

2007-02-15T21:34:00.000-06:00

I finally let Paisley try to feed herself with a spoon. She actually did a pretty good job. I'll spare you all the video of the actual meal, although it was really cute! Maddox also is happy that she's feeding herself because that means lots of goodies for him.

Remnants of the chocolate cake we made for daddy for Valentine's Day. Even though we didn't get a card or chocolates from him. But we're not bitter.
His punishment was that he had to go grocery shopping with us tonight, and he got stuck with the screaming child. It's typically a bad idea to skip dinner, and then let her diaper leak through to top it off. This kid GUZZLES water and juice, so she soaks her diapers and often leaks through. I've taken to putting her in larger diapers, and I have to really make sure I change her every few hours so she doesn't leak, but I guess we went just a little too long today.

Please! Make it stop!

2007-02-12T21:08:00.000-06:00

I. AM. SO. TIRED. OF. WINTER.

Weekend update

2007-02-11T18:31:00.000-06:00

I just deleted an entire post. Dammit.Anyway, here's pics and video of Paisley hijacking the rocking chair and remote. Is it sad that she knows how to change the channel? Just like it's sad that when we go through a drive thru, she immediately starts whining for fries? Sorry if you guys are getting bored with videos, but I think they're pretty dang cute (as I'm usually laughing in the background), and I don't think the grandparents mind seeing her.

Papa came to visit this weekend, and babysat last night so we could go out. Thai food, mmm. So much better than frozen meals. Paisley found his shoes this morning and screamed and fussed until we put them on her, then Papa walked her around and around as she laughed and laughed.

Farts and Kisses

2007-02-09T14:36:00.000-06:00

Paisley and I were practicing giving kisses. It was all very sweet and cute, then she farted loudly and laughed. She's so much like her father it's scary.

Cracker!

2007-02-07T22:26:00.001-06:00

OH. MY. HELL.

2007-02-05T20:44:00.000-06:00

Has anyone seen this? Why haven't I seen it until today? It honestly made me want to cry and throw up at the same time.

Into everything

2007-02-05T13:40:00.000-06:00

Paisley is into EVERYTHING. She's learned how to open our doors. Open and shut. Open and shut. Luckily the lock from the outside, and we've been keeping them locked anyway because of the cat. She has also learned about drawers, and regularly empties them or rearranges their contents. As I was typing this, I heard my music turn off and the tv start talking. Oh crap, I forgot to put her big hippo chair in the rocking chair. I ran out there, and sure enough she's sitting in the chair with her drink and the remote. We don't like her to be in the chair because she stands on it. And rocks. It scares the crap out of me. She's fearless, standing on anything, climbing on anything.

We went to our neighbors for a superbowl party, although it consisted of the men sitting downstairs watching the game, and the women upstairs talking about kids. Is that how it works now? Paisley was a menace, of course. Somehow she managed to get the bag of cheetos off of the table, dumped a bunch out, and shared them with her 9 month old friend. This was before she dumped a glass of wine all over herself. Okay, I don't mean to sound like she drives me nuts, I actually find most of this stuff amusing, but when we're at someone else's house, I feel bad.

Reading her books is a new obsession. That and tormenting the cats and feeding the dog. She brings us books and then climbs into our lap so we can read to her. Love that. Maybe she'll be a reader like me.

Does this house seem a little, oh I don't know, BIG? Out of place? This is now our view out the front window.

Kisses

2007-02-04T13:06:00.000-06:00

Thanks for all your concern over my hair. It doesn't look much different, just took away the highlights. It was supposed to be blond. Not so much. The part that didn't get dyed was a big highlight, so now I've just got a big blond chunk. Cuz' I'm cool like that yo.

Here's Paisley's first attempt at drawing. Those color wonder markers are fabulous. I tried to give them to her a few months ago, and all she'd do was try to eat them. Now she understands the concept of putting them on paper, although she'll pretend to put it in her mouth and then look at me for a reaction. She's a stinker.

Kisses are her newest thing. We'll say, "give us a kiss" and she'll make this funny face where she sucks her lips in, trying to imitate us, I guess. Or she'll make fish lips. I tried to get pictures, but usually she's lunging for me so they didn't turn out so well.

No no no!

2007-02-03T19:38:00.001-06:00

I just tried dying my hair. And ran out of dye. Now what????

What the hell?

2007-01-31T16:42:00.000-06:00

Charles told me about this today when he got home. Did anyone else hear about it? It makes me sick...

Police ignored woman’s pleas
Tape shows two officers dismissed repeated calls for help. Department plans an investigation.
By CHRISTINE VENDEL
The Kansas City Star

Police tape of the arrest of Sofia Salva video
Two Kansas City police officers repeatedly ignored a pregnant woman’s claims that she was bleeding and needed medical help, a police videotape released Tuesday shows.
Sofia Salva told officers nine times during the first five minutes of the stop that she was bleeding or wanted to go to a hospital. After the ninth request, a female officer asked: “How is that my problem?”
Salva requested help at least 12 more times during the 30-minute encounter nearly a year ago. The officers arrested her for traffic violations, including a fake temporary license tag, and outstanding city warrants.
The next morning, after being released, she delivered a premature baby boy who lived one minute, according to a lawsuit Salva filed Friday.

Read the rest of the story and see the police video here.

Laziness

2007-01-30T21:15:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted for a week, and really have no excuse. It's too cold? I haven't been taking a whole lot of pictures either, as my child doesn't pose anymore. She runs away instead. This month has flown by for us, and I can't really name anything we've done. Charles is back in school, but he's also finished wiring our basement!!!! That means one step closer to having a finished basement, and place for P to put all her toys, a place for mom to actually do some scrapbooking, and a place to lock up the cats and their stinky litter.

Does anyone do an entire load of laundry before realizing they forgot to put soap in, or is it just me that does this?

I dressed P in this cute plaid skirt the other day (thanks Beca!), along with some cute tights, when we noticed this. I'm not sure where we got them, but I can safely assume they've seen some good use prior to P wearing them.
It's hard to tell in this pic, but I found an old pink plastic bracelet and put it on P's right arm. Not the cute, swarovski crystal one (my friend Bridgit made that for her), but the other one. She LOVED it and was so proud to wear it. She walked around very carefully, with her arm straight out ahead of her so that it wouldn't fall off.

Oh happy day!

2007-01-23T13:41:00.000-06:00

A little reminder for everyone to go get the SHINS new album today! I've been waiting for this one for awhile, so that makes for one happy Tuesday. Also, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars are -finally- back on tonight with new episodes. It's all about the little things in life, right?

I never woulda thunk it...

2007-01-21T22:30:00.000-06:00

Totally random, I know, but thought it was too odd to not share. In all my fears of dying (I'm a little too much of a wuss), I never would have imagined that I'd get eaten.

You scored as Eaten. Your death will be death by wild animals. You will probably get eaten by a bear or shark something because you don't know the natural safety precautions and are ignorant.

Eaten

100%

Bomb

67%

Suicide

60%

Natural Causes

53%

Cut Throat

53%

Disappear

47%

Disease

47%

Gunshot

40%

Accident

33%

Poison

33%

Suffocated

20%

Drowning

13%

Stabbed

13%

How Will You Die??
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Snow sucks

2007-01-20T18:39:00.000-06:00

It's snowing...again. We took Paisley out for her first real experience, since we were all sick last weekend. She didn't like it. It was cold, and the first thing she did was fall on her face, which I luckily got on video. We laughed our asses off at her, which we probably shouldn't have, but it was just too funny. Here she is first bundled up. She was like that kid in the Christmas story. She waddled instead of walked. Outside she'd only walk if we held her hand.

Officially a toddler

2007-01-17T21:45:00.000-06:00

Have I mentioned how much Paisley has changed? She's like a whole different kid. She's definitely not a baby anymore, which is both good and bad. Good, because she's more independent, but bad because she was such a cute baby! Her language has exploded over the past few weeks, which is funny because I was so worried about her not talking. She's always been a babbler, but now she has actual words to say as well. She's said "dada" forever, which drove me nuts, but now she says "mama," but usually only when she's upset. That's okay. She says "hi" all the time, but she always has to stick her tongue out of the side of her mouth when she does. I need to try to get it on video, it's pretty goofy. She also meows and barks (at the correct animal) when she sees them, or if you ask her what a dog or cat says, she can tell you. She also says "go" (as loudly as possible while pointing to the dog-oops), "wow," "boo, "ball," "grampa," "papa," and "kitty." She's only said boo, ball and kitty two or three times, but it was definitely a repeat of what we had said. She ADORES her grampas, which is why I think she says both grampa and papa so well. Sorry Grandma.

She understands so much too, it blows me away. Lately she's been OBSESSED with her coat. I thought it was just a Utah thing, a comfort, where she always wanted to wear it, but no, she's doing it here as well. Wants to wear her coat, her shoes, and carry around her blanket. If she gets upset, she'll go find her blanket, THEN come back and snuggle me. At least it's not a pacifier. This morning we were getting ready to go somewhere, and I told her we needed to put her coat on. She walked out of our bedroom, giggling, down the hall and to the front closet where we hang the coats. Then she pounded on the door until I got out her coat. Then she goes and stands by the front door, which is funny to me because we never use the front door. We always go out the garage.

She can point to her nose, mouth, head and bellybutton. We're working on her ears. When you ask where her bellybutton is, she has to pull up her shirt to find it. That's difficult in onesie pajamas, and she gets a little frustrated. We used to ask her all the time where something was, and she'd hold out her hands in a question (arms out in an upside down V; palms up), but lately she walks around doing that and saying "dago?" I believe this means "where'd dad go?" because she does it usually when he's gone or sleeping. She'll go to his side of the bed or to the bedroom door and ask. It's freaking cute. She's a smart little bugger.

She had her 15 month doctors appointment today. She's 31.5 inches tall, and 20 pounds. That's 75th and 6th percentiles, respectively. 6th percentile! Charles and I couldn't believe it. I knew she was skinny, but still. She eats ALL THE TIME. And she eats a lot. All of her 18 month pants are too big, but then 12 month pants are too short. Very frustrating, because obviously not all babies are the same size. I'd put her in dresses, but it's been so cold lately that I want her bundled up.

Here she is being just like mom and dad. Charles was watching her the other morning while he ran to garbage to the curb, and when he came back, she was lounging in the rocker with her sippy cup in one hand and the remote in the other. We usually have the couch gated off because she likes to stand and jump on it, and lately we've been having issues with her standing on the big rocking chair and her small one. They get taken away from her on a daily basis.

This one is for grandma. Maggie is very thankful for her shirt. Can't you tell?

Temper tantrum

2007-01-14T14:20:00.000-06:00

I think she got the Walker temper.

Sick sick sick

2007-01-13T18:24:00.000-06:00

Why is it that every time Charles has the weekend off, we're all deathly ill? I was rereading the last post, and realized that in our competition to see who could drink the most cough syrup, my grammar was a little off. Oops. In other news, it's finally winter here. It's 12 degrees, the wind chill is 2 degrees, and 100% humidity. Boy, that's fun.

Here we are at the SL airport waiting to go home. Paisley is eating her favorite meal, fries, and learned the inevitable toddler trick of eating ketchup. It may be boring, but we thought it was dang cute.

Back from Happy Valley

2007-01-12T13:18:00.000-06:00

We're back from Utah, but now we're all sick. Paisley started coughing as soon as we touched down in KS, and has since spread it to Charles and myself. I guess it's good that we weren't sick on vacation. We had a great time in Utah, although it went to quickly, and we weren't able to see all the people we had intended. You'd think in 10 days that we could get everything accomplished, but

no, we didn't. I wanted to post sooner and more info, but I've just felt so crappy. Plus, she's in bed so I want to go lie down as well! Once things settle down, I'll put up some cute videos. Paisley has learned SO much over the past 2 weeks, it's just incredible. She's like an entirely different child.

She loves the piano. Every piano she saw, she had to pound on the keys. She especially enjoyed playing duets.

She is now OBSESSED with chairs. She went for her cousin's chairs immediately, and now that we're home, she'll climbs into the two small chairs she has. She'll also climb into our big glider, then watch me as she stands in it. She has started to figure out which buttons to push to get mama mad. Well, not mad exactly, but she knows she gets attention that way.

She is also obsessed with shoes and coats. The whole time we were in Utah, she would bring me her shoes and ask to put them on. Ask as in whine and cry until I did it. She would also find her coat and make whoever was around put it on her. I thought this would end once we got home, but no, it hasn't. Charles got up with her this morning, and when I got up, she was wearing her coat over her pjs.

We found her the cutest, coolest shoes ever. She loved them the moment she saw them and wore them around the store. Charles and I loved them too, so we got them for her. They're just too dang cute to pass up. They also came in pink and orange, but Charles insisted on the green. We paid more than I would normally feel comfortable paying for a pair of baby shoes (more than $10), but how rockin are they?

I'd post more, but I'm going to take a nap.

Who does that?

2006-12-30T21:03:00.000-06:00

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

2006-12-28T13:43:00.000-06:00

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!

2006-12-23T21:01:00.000-06:00

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

2006-12-18T22:08:00.000-06:00

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

2006-12-16T21:08:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Maggie

I love Thursdays

2006-12-14T20:50:00.000-06:00

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?

2006-12-11T22:12:00.000-06:00

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

2006-12-08T19:49:00.000-06:00

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.