Eventful Trip to McDonald's

I took a vacation day yesterday and was so excited for what I had planned. I was planning on taking Paisley to Grandma Lola's for a few hours so I could spend time with just Emery. I had planned on going to Cottonwood Heights pool since we haven't been able to go much this year. Luckily, I texted my mom in the morning to see if she wanted to join us and she informed me that the pool didn't open until 3:30p. I was so bummed! I was trying to find something for us to do .. Raging Waters was closed until 4p. It was too stinking hot for the zoo. So, I did laundry and just played with the girls until Paisley woke up from her nap.

We ended up going to McDonald's for lunch and to play in the play area. Before we go anywhere, I make Emery go potty so we don't have to go through the hassle of going in public places. She said she had gone potty already so off we went.

As soon as we got our food and sat down, Emery says, "I have to pee". Ugh! Great! And, to top it off, I was STARVING! Like ready to faint starving. I will admit I was a little frustrated to have to wait to eat. I tried to get her to hold it, but she knows how to get to us so she said a a little louder, "I'm going to pee my undies mama". Off we go to the bathroom.

I'm holding Paisley and my purse. I'm trying to help Emery get toilet paper out of the roll. It's one of those rolls that is tucked in so tight with the roll over it that it doesn't want to move. It's also 1 ply toilet paper so it's just a pain. Finally, Emery is done. Then, she can't reach the sink. I'm still holding my purse and Paisley and I hold Emery up with my other arm. She's heavy!

We get back to the table and I eat half of my cheeseburger. Then Emery looks at me funny. I say, "what is wrong". Emery says, "I have to poop". Are you kidding me! We go to the bathroom and go through the hassle of the toilet paper and washing hands all over again.

Back to the table to finish eating. We all finish and Emery takes her shoes off to go in the playground area. I look over to Paisley and she's doing "the look". She then starts pooping. After she is done, we make a 3rd trip to the bathroom. We were at McDonald's for almost 2 hours and went to the bathroom 3 times. I was exhausted by the time I left. I still wish the pool had been open and I could have relaxed a little and got some sun. At least I still got to spend the day with my girls ..

Red Lobster?

Ivan absolutely loves Red Lobster. He loves sea food. Me, not so much. I also don't care for Red Lobster because they have very few non-sea food items, and it's very expensive. I am not a fan of spending $50+ on a dinner that I don't enjoy at all.

Well, Emery has taken after Ivan and loves fish. She brings up going to Red Lobster all of the time. I just asked her what she wanted for dinner and she said Red Lobster. I quickly responded with "no" and this is what she went on to tell me...

"Mama, don't hate Red Lobster, it's good"

"Papa likes Red Lobster. You like red (the color) so you like Red Lobster"

"Mama, you can eat here at home and Papa and I will go to Red Lobster"

"You can have cheese bread, beans and chicken" (what we had for dinner a few nights ago)

She's pretty convincing, but I will avoid Red Lobster if at all possible. Or, I will let Ivan take the girls to Red Lobster on his own and I will have a burrito from Lonestar. Or McDonald's - or anything other than Red Lobster.

Bath Time!

Sippy Time

It's about that time where we need to ditch the bottles and formula for Paisley. I'm not necessarily in a huge hurry, but I know it needs to be done in the next few months. Paisley loves drinking from Emery's sippy's. As soon as she spots a sippy, she speed crawls to it and drinks from it.

So tonight, I decided to try giving Paisley her formula before bed in a sippy. It was a total flop! She play with it for a few minutes but wouldn't drink it. As soon as I poured the formula back into the bottle, the huge smile we all love came across Paisley's face. I guess I will try again in a few weeks.

The Baby Monster!

Ivan and I are still amazed at how different Paisley is from Emery. To us, the way Emery was as a baby is normal since we didn't know any different, well, until Paisley came along. To others, Emery was the exception and Paisley is more like a normal baby.

A few months ago, I started calling Paisley "the baby monster" and it's just stuck. So, that is her nickname. Here are just a few examples of things she's done to prove she really is "the baby monster". I must note, we really are good parents, but I feel like Paisley is so crazy sometimes, she just has to learn things the hard way.

• I put an empty Huggies diaper box from Costco on the floor of Paisley's room and was putting new diapers in her closet. Before I could even turn around (we are talking seconds here) Paisley climbed ONTO the middle of the box. Being the great mom that I am, I left her in the middle of the empty box to try to find the camera. Before I could find it, I heard a big "thud" - Paisley fell off of the box as she was trying to crawl off. She cried for 5 seconds and then was as happy as could be.

• Paisley fell INTO the bathtub last night. I had just gotten her and Emery out of the tub, dried off and dressed. It was my turn to wash my face/brush my teeth to get ready for bed. Paisley had her eye on a bath toy still in the tub. As I was watching her through the mirror and saying "no, no Paisley" she leans into the bathtub and falls IN! Now, there were a ton of soft padded toys in the bottom so she didn't get hurt. She didn't even cry at all. She was just happy that she finally got the toy she had her eye on. I ran over, pulled her out of the tub, and she was as happy as could be - wet clothes and all!

Ok, at the risk of making us sound like absolutely horrible parents, I will stop there. There just may or may not be more stories to support Paisley being nicknamed "the baby monster".

Camping!

Emery and I went camping for 24 hours with my Mom and some of her friends. I'm not so much of a camper, but Emery was really excited to go camping so I decided to go for it. Ivan couldn't go because of school, so I decided it would be easier to leave Paisley at home too. So, Emery and I went up to Little Cottonwood to camp for the night.

We ate so good the 24 hours we were up there. I can feel my tummy grumbling for some more camp food as I type this.

Hanging out by the camp fire ..
This was on the walking trail of our campsite. It was so beautiful and the weather couldn't have been better.
Emery and Duncan collecting rocks to throw in the stream
Emery could not wait to sleep in the tent. As soon as we got there and put up the tent, she wanted to play in it. Then, she couldn't wait to make s'mores. As soon as we were done eating dinner, we did s'mores. Emery ate maybe 1/2 of her s'more (I ate the other half and another whole one and I don't even like s'mores - it's something about camping that you have to eat them I think).

As soon as she was done with her s'more she was asking to go to bed. It was 10p. She usually goes to bed around 10p at home, I never figured she would go to sleep that early when we were camping. I kept explaining to Emery that if we got in the tent, it would be time to go to sleep and we would not get up again until morning. She insisted, so off to bed we went. She talked for maybe 10 minutes and then went to sleep. We both slept until 10a! It was one of the best nights of sleep I've had in a long time.
I have to admit, I was really anxious and nervous about going camping. I think it is just because camping isn't "my thing" and Ivan wasn't going with us. It's amazing how you start to depend on your husband after being married for 5 years, especially since I consider myself to be such an independent person. But, Emery and I survived and had a great time. I will admit, at the 24 hour mark, I could not wait to go home and take a hot shower, but we had a great experience.

Paisley @ 10 Months

• 2 bottom teeth
• pulling herself up on everything
• starting to walk as long as she can hold onto something
• becoming way more vocal - saying "dada"
• holding her own bottle
• total Papa's girl!
• eats like crazy and likes everything except for nectarines
• getting curious about Carter
• sleeping well and as happy as could be
• still getting into everything that she can possibly get into
• nickname - "The Baby Monster"