Emery Turns 4!

I have no idea where the time has gone. I'm also in shock that I'm the mom of a 4 year old! Wow! Emery is growing up to be the most amazing little girl and I'm so proud to be her mom. She's so smart and has really come out of her shell over the last year. She is a great helper (most of the time) and is a great big sister to Paisley (most of the time). She definitely has opinions about most things - what she wants to eat, what she wants to wear. The other morning, we were getting her dressed and she said she wanted to wear a dress - she has also turned into a girly-girl over the last year. Anyway, I was going through her closet showing her the dresses she had to choose from. First she said, "no, that one is too red. No, not that one, it's too shiny. OK, that one will the pockets will do". She really has opinions!

As always, we had a great turn out for Emery's birthday party - I am grateful everyday for our support system and for everything coming out to make the day special for Emery.

Blowing out her candle ..

During the party, I kept making comments about how everyone was going to sing Happy Birthday to Emery. With every comment I made, Emery would respond with, "I don't want to sing Happy Birthday". I kind of blew it off and just said, "you don't have to sing, we will sing to you". Well, once it came time to sing to Emery, she ran from the table, went to her room and shut the door until we were done singing. I never realized it before, but she really doesn't like to be the center of attention. Here she is dashing from the table into her room..
Emery was showered with great gifts from her party guests ... a sleeping bag that she has slept in every night since her party
She loves scarves and all accessories
Oh, and snow globes - the girl loves snow globes
Just a few cute pics of Miss Paisley ..

Trip to CA

We made a quick weekend trip out to CA earlier in the month. The girls both did really well on the flight. We had to buy Emery her own seat and just had Paisley fly as a "lap baby". The funny thing is that Emery preferred to sit on our laps and Paisley wanted her own seat.

Paisley loved looking out the window while we were flying..

Since we were already in CA, I convinced Ivan to go to Disneyland one day - and it so happened that we got to go on Emery's birthday. She is one lucky girl!
Paisley was amazing at Disneyland. We were there for 8 hours and once the sun went down, it got really cold. Of course, she refused to wear the beanie or gloves I had for her, but she was still a happy baby.
Just as Paisley adores Emery, Emery adores Makayla and wants to be just like her. The girls had a blast hanging out for the few days we were together. At Disneyland, Emery's favorite rides were Star Wars, The Matterhorn and Big Thunder Mountain. I stayed back with Paisley for all of the big rides but I did go on Big Thunder Mountain once with the girls. They had already been on it 3-4 times with Ivan. Emery was so cute - while we were waiting in line, she kept making comments like, "Mama, don't be scared, I will protect you." "There is one part where you put your arms up and go "wee". She is the cutest little girl ever!
We spend an afternoon at Grandma Marge's - Paisley loved being pulled around in this little shopping cart!
The entire weekend, we ran the girls ragged. We were on the go from 830a until 10p every single day. Paisley was lucky to get in one, 1-hour nap each day while we were driving. By the time we got back to the hotel each night, she was D-O-N-E!
My cousin Nick took to the girls immediately. He had such a great time playing with him and they did too. I think the three of them ran around Grandma Ruth's house for 3 hours straight. I sure wish Nick lived closer so I could use him as a babysitter :)
My sister, Makayla, the girls and I with my Grandpa Don
The girls and Nick playing

Paisley @ 12 Months

Okay, I'm only 2 months behind on this one. But, I did take her 12 month picture much closer to when she was 12 months old. Anyway ...

Paisley is still the best little girl around. We still call her the "Baby Monster" and feel like she is into everything. She totally admires Emery and wants to do everything just like Emery does.

As soon as Paisley gets up in the morning, she runs into Emery's room to get Emery's sippy of water from the night before. Then Paisley runs through the house as proud as can be. Paisley loves taking baths with Emery and wearing/carrying around bags and purses. She's definitely a dare-devil and is not concerned with getting hurt and isn't fearful of anything.

12 Month Stats:

Height: 29 inches

Weight: 21.4 lbs

I want to say she was in the 75th percentile in both height/weight, but the appt was 2 months ago so I am not 100% sure

This is what Paisley does to entertain herself while I am trying to bake ..

Halloween Fun - Cornbelly's and Pumpkin Carving

We had a great Halloween season again this year. Since having Emery, I've really tried to make the holiday's a big deal - especially since there are so many fun activities that take place for each holiday.

As usual, the pictures loaded backwards and I'm not going to fix them. So, from the end of the festivities to the beginning, here we go:

At the end of the night of carving pumpkins, Emery went to bed like any other princess would - crown and all.

We carved pumpkins with Grandma Lola and Uncle D this year. This is actually the first year we have carved pumpkins since Emery was born. I thought she would be into it this year but it was still tough for her to be able to carve them. She also refused to put her hands in the pumpkin to help clean it out - surprise, surprise! I didn't think about it until after the fact, but next year, I think I will have the girls paint their pumpkins vs carving. Then they both will be able to participate and have their pumpkins decorated. Emery did get to choose the design of her pumpkin and then I carved it for her.
We also decorated a Haunted House ..
I took Emery to Cornbelly's with my Mom, Elan and the kids. I decided to leave Paisley with Grandma Lola - I think she will be able to enjoy Cornbelly's next year.

We enjoyed a tractor ride - doesn't Emery look thrilled - ha!
After 4 hours, we were relaxing by the fire pit. Emery and all of the kids had a blast. I think they could have played for another 2 hours but by this time, it was dark, late and getting pretty cold.
My mom and Collin rode on the very manual bikes
We went through the Corn Maze - we did much better this year

Mommy Guilt

I'm sure every Mom out there goes through this. I know I've gone through this phase a few times in the 4 years I have been a Mom. But I still haven't figured out how to deal with the Mommy guilt I have going on right now.

I love being a Mom and I love spending time with my girls. I also love the fact that I work. I know that I am a better Mom because I work. I like the challenge of my job and the satisfaction that I get from being good at what I do at work. I like the adult interaction and stimulation that I get at work (most days haha).

The downside is that I have a hard time balancing everything in my life. I have a huge sense of guilt that comes over me if I am not with my girls 100% of the time that I am not at work. I work 45 hours+/week and it seems like I am always rushing and on the go. I stay up late at night to play on the internet - most of the time is planning my next baking adventure. But I can't seem to balance my time to have "me" time - to go shopping, get pedicures or even to go to the doctor.

I spent 2 hours on Monday between driving to and from and sitting, waiting for my doctor just to have to reschedule the appointment. I was completely devastated because that was 2 hours away from my girls, not logging time at work and I have to do it all over again sometime to actually see the doctor.

Any tips on how to get over the Mommy guilt so I can have a good balance in my life?

Emery's 2nd Dentist Visit

I took Emery to the dentist for the 2nd time this morning. I am in awe of how much she has changed and grown up in the last 6 months or so. The 1st time I took her, she wouldn't sit in the chair or let the dentist really even get near her. She eventually let him take a quick count and look of her teeth and that's it.

Flash forward about 6 months - she jumped right into the chair, let them take x-ray's, examine, clean, floss and "paint" her teeth with a special sealant. She was amazing and so grown up! It makes me happy, proud and sad all at the same time. I am happy to announce too that her teeth look perfect - she did have just a tiny bit of tartar behind her bottom teeth but no biggie - we just need to brush the back of those teeth better.

Paisley's 1st Birthday Bash - September 2011

I cannot believe my little baby turned 1 already. Where, oh where does the time go? We decided to have a "Monster" themed party since we call Paisley "The Baby Monster". It's something I started when she first started crawling and moving around and it's just kind of stuck with her.

My intentions were to create monsters on cupcakes out of candy and such. Well, time got the best of me and about 5 days before the party, I realized I wasn't going to be able to follow through with plan. Luckily, Halloween stuff was out everywhere and I found these cute monster suckers for sale. The bad news is that I had to pay more in shipping than I did for the actual suckers since I procrastinated so much. Oh well!

Paisley wasn't quite walking yet by the time she turned 1. She was getting her self into a standing position, but hadn't dared to take her first steps.
She loved opening her gifts, with the help of Emery.
I just love this little girl so much!!
Auntie Betty bought this cool game for Emery too. Betty is always so good to the girls and comes up with the best gifts ever!
Paisley tried to sleep through her entire party. She was just exhausted that day. She actually went to sleep during her party and I had to wake her up to sing Happy Birthday to her. She wasn't all that thrilled that I woke her up, stuck her in her highchair and had a bunch of people singing to her and watching her.
We totally thought Paisley would dig right into her cupcake. She LOVES all food! She wants food all of the time and she normally feeds herself all of her food. I'm not sure if it was because she was tired or what, but she wasn't really into it.
We gave her a spoon to see if maybe she just didn't want to get her hands dirty .. But, she just wasn't into it
Cute little Atticus sure enjoyed his cupcake though
All in all, we had a great party. I am so grateful for all of our friends and family that come support us and our girls. We are very blessed to have such a great support group.