Picture overload

music and babies

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.