But not Paisley

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

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

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

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

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

Is it bad...

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

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

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

Sick AGAIN

Daddy plays all the fun games.

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



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



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

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



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

Snot and stuff

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

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

Pulling out all the cds is our newest favorite game.

Boo. Again.

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

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

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

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

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

Boo.

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

It's all a game

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

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

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

She needs to learn how to talk

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

Picture contest

Ok, I need all y'alls help again. Another baby
contest, and I don't know which pic to
enter. Please give me your opinions!

1

2

3

4

Being 1 is hard, I guess

It's been a hard few days for little miss Paisley.
She had her 1 year doctor's appt on Monday, where
she had to have 3 shots and blood drawn. I've
never seen her so pissed. Usually if she gets hurt,
she'll cry and then forget about it, but not with
these shots. She'd cry, calm down, remember,
scream some more, calm down, scream. We
finally got her calm and then took her to get blood
taken. They couldn't find her vein, so they were
poking a needle around under her arm, which
I know from experience that it doesn't feel
that great. They were finally able to get some
blood from the other arm, and then she
screamed and screamed and screamed some
more. At least I don't cry anymore when she
cries.

This morning she decided that Elmo needed
a new hairstyle. It's very serious business.



Elmo is also the first thing I've ever seen her
kiss. She puts her cute little face right up to him
and just barely touches him with her nose or
mouth.

P used to be such a good eater, but the past few
days she won't eat anything. And it drives me INSANE.
I'll put food in her mouth and she just spits it
right out, or throws it on the floor. Food she
has had before and liked. I don't know what
the deal is with that, but I sure hope it's a phase
that passes quickly.

You've had a birthday, shout hurray...

My baby is no longer a baby. She is
a full-fledged one year old. Boo. We
took her to KC this weekend, where
we met up with Charles' parents who
flew in from Utah. How cool is that,
to have grandparents that fly all
the way just to see their grandbaby
turn the big 1? We had a cute little
party with family and friends, which
turned out to be lots of fun.

P had her first encounter with
balloons-which is both fun and
frustrating. They fly away, so we
finally put them out of her sight so
she wouldn't get upset that she couldn't
get them from going up in the air.

Her darling cake that Aunt Bev got
especially for her.

Waiting for cake.

It started out innocently enough...she very
delicately picked up icing with her fingers and
tasted it. First the blue, then the red, then the
yellow. Had to make sure they're all the same,
of course.

Just a little messy. She didn't smash it, or even
get to the actual cake. When she was finished
she started flinging it on the floor (which is what
she usually does when she doesn't want anymore),
getting pretty blue icing all over Papa's white
walls. She also got lots of cool toys and gifts,
and grandma is here for a week to play (and keep
mama company!).

It doesn't get much better than this

Early birthday presents

Paisley received this great big box of presents
last week from her grandparents. She's not
spoiled. At all. We've opened some of them,
some fun books and CD's. She seemed more
interested in the paper than finding out what
was inside.





Her Papa also gave her an early birthday present.
I love the idea of having an area where I know
she's safe if I have to do something else. She,
however, does not like the idea so much. Instead,
she generously allows the cats to hang out in it.

Cuddlemonkey

Aack! Another week without posting! This kid
keeps me so busy!

Paisley's newest (one of the many) trick is trying to
cuddle with the animals, especially Maggie the
dog. Maggie the dog still is a little wary of this
tiny person that screams at her and hits her.
Paisley will crawl over to Maggie the dog's bed
and try to lie down next to MTD, but MTD
always jumps up like she's been bit and moves
away.



Sometime Maggie the Dog doesn't want to
move, after all, it is HER bed, but her
discomfort is very apparent at having
the screaming small thing so close
to her.

Running away from the cuddlemonkey.

Little monster alert!!

Since it's been so long since I've posted, I
will now put way too many pictures of
our tiny (yet very adorable) monster.
I always heard that babies are more difficult (they
get into more) when they are mobile, but
I had no idea just what this tiny person
can do.





I gave her some green beans for lunch today.
She eagerly stuck one in her mouth, then
spit it out just as quickly. Then, she grabbed
as big of handfuls as she could and threw all
the green beans on the floor. I guess there is
a good reason to have a dog. She cleans up for
me after every meal.

Paisley finally learned to do the sign for "more"
today. It's pretty darn cute. Much better than
hearing her screaming when she wants more.



The destruction.



P loves cheese. She would eat a whole brick
of it if I let her. Instead I cut up one slice at a
time, and she has all the pieces stuffed in her
mouth in less than 10 seconds. It scares me
because I worry she'll choke, but it makes
me laugh as well.

Time flies when you're chasing a baby around

It seems like my posts are getting fewer and
farther between, but it's been really hard to
find the time to sit in here and work on the
computer. Paisley HATES it when I'm on the
computer, hates as in screams and cries if I'm
doing this and not paying attention to her. So
I don't get on a whole lot.

I do have time to take loads of blurry pictures
of gross spiders on our house. This picture is
for you Janice, if you read this. Charles and I
stood outside the other night, just fascinated
as we watched this spider track his prey, then
wrap and wrap and wrap it into a cocoon.
Yeah, I don't get out much. Charles gets home,
we watch some tv, some stupid show with
stupid jokes, something I never would have
laughed at before, but now I find myself
rolling on the ground at the hilarity of it all.
And Charles just sits there, wondering where
his once normal wife went.




I haven't taken many pics of P lately, so I
thought I'd reminisce about this time last
year, and my ginormous belly. I sent out
invitations to Paisley's 1st birthday party
yesterday. I just can't fathom that she will
be 1 in just a few weeks. This year has
absolutely flown by. I know she doesn't NEED
a party, and as my dad said, it's more for the
adults anyway, but I need to do this for her. I
need to watch her eat her own cake, and
wear a dumb party hat, and cry because
everyone is looking at her. It's a milestone,
right?

Sometimes I miss having her as a little
baby and can't believe she's not really
a baby anymore, but on the other hand,
it's so much better now. I'm not so tired,
we're not getting up at all hours of the night.
She has a schedule. I know exactly when she'll
eat, sleep, poop and play. She's interactive.
She plays games with us, she's funny and
entertaining. She's become a little person,
something I never could have imagined
a year ago, or even 6 months ago. I love
being with her, love showing her off because
she's just so damn cute, miss her when she's
asleep. She's just perfect.

No longer the lazy parent

My life as a lazy parent is now over,
now that Paisley has learned to crawl.
Yep, she figured it out this morning,
and is now into everything. She's still
pretty slow, but she's getting places.
Now I can't just plop her on the floor
with toys, because she won't stay there!

Last night I found an old credit card
and gave it to P to play with. Forgot
about it, and went to get her ready
for her bath. I think she was hiding
it to try to use later.