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"

Draper Days

My mom and I took the girls to Draper Days last weekend. Ivan is in his last few weeks of school (thank god!) so he needed some time to study. It was mighty hot, but we still had a really good time.

The both enjoyed their times on the swings.

Paisley LOVED the lemon Grandma Phyllis fed to her ...
Emery rode the ponies twice and had a blast
They also had about 10 different bouncy houses and Emery was in heaven. She literally jumped on them for 2 hours straight. She was happy, I was happy and she slept great that night.

Just a few miscellaneous pictures. We have nicknamed Paisley "The Baby Monster". Ok, I gave her the nickname. It might sound a little mean at first, but she totally lives up to the nickname. She loves to play on/in/around the dishwasher.

Emery has started to act like a baby from time to time. Nothing too bad, but she has her moments. Below, she decided she wanted to eat her food in the high chair. It actually worked out really good because she couldn't escape until I let her out.

4th of July

We had a little BBQ and firework show at our house this year to celebrate the 4th of July. We had a great time and I love being able to create great memories for my girls on holiday's. Thanks to all who came out to have a good time.

Our friends, the Dymock's came over to see the fireworks show. At one point, Atticus and Emery were both cuddled up in my moms lap drinking their milk. Too cute!

The kids playing with sparklers
Uncle D feeding Paisley a cupcake. This child will eat anything and everything you put in front of her. And, if you don't put it in front of her but she thinks it is food, she will find a way to get it.
Emery is a pro at making cupcakes. She can tell you from memory exactly how to make them - down to the amount of water, # of eggs, amount of oil and how long to bake them. Then, as any baker knows, she will tell you that you have to let them cool before you frost them. This time, she even became a waitress and delivered the cupcakes to her guests.
Grandma Lola and the girls ..
Precious!

Mini Golf

We pass by a driving range everyday on the way to Grandma Lola's. For weeks, Emery was asking to go golfing. We finally took her a few weeks ago. We paid for Emery, Ivan and myself to golf. After the first hole, we learned that we were a little too optimistic and just one person other than Emery, at best, was going to golf.

At the first hole, Ivan attempted to teach Emery how to hold the golf club. She instantly put her hands up to stop him and said, "no, no, I do by myself". OK, then, we let her try without any help. That didn't last long. Finally, Emery gave in and let Ivan give her a little direction.

Then, once we were done at the first hole, she didn't understand that we were going to golf at multiple holes and got upset when we were leaving the first one. Luckily, she picked up on the fact that you get to play over and over again quickly. It ended up being a great family night out.

San Diego / Travels

After this post, I will finally be caught up with our trip to CA. What a relief! It's been hard keeping up with the blog with both girls, work and my attempt to get out of the house to enjoy the nice weather.

As usual, the pictures are in the reverse order, but since it is turning into the norm, we are all used to it right?

The drive home from CA was good, but a little tougher than the drive to CA. We left CA around 8a and didn't get home until close to 7p. Emery was tired and antsy, but finally, she took a good 3 hour nap. I'm not sure how we would have gotten her through the drive if it weren't for her nap. Paisley slept basically the whole drive home and along with that, came that she was up until 3a that night. A little rough considering I went to work the next morning.

At one of our stops along the way. Emery really wants to be able to sit in a seat without her car seat. Too bad for her, I'm all about using the 5 pt harness for as long as I can (probably until she's 5!).
Ivan loves the beach. He can't get enough of the beach. Me, not so much. I would rather be at a pool. There is just something about salt water and sand. Blah! Anyway, while we were in San Diego, we did finally head to the beach one day. We lasted maybe 2 hours. Luckily, the non-beach lovers survived and kept a smile on their face, and the beach lovers got enough of a fix in that 2 hour time period.

Emery loved playing in the sand ..

The only proof that I actually was there ..

Emery loved the water too .. except for when it got her face wet
Paisley was happy at the beach as well..
Later that evening, we went on a boat ride that our hotel offered. It was only a 1 hour boat ride but it was fun and we got a good view of San Diego.
Makayla has the same look on her face in most pictures .. maybe it is a pre-teen thing?
So, I have to admit that I don't wash my hair everyday. For one, it's just too much work and, it's not good for your hair. So, on non-wash days, I've been known to use a little baby powder in my roots to make it look more like a wash day. So, of course, now Emery is obsessed with baby powder. One day at the hotel, she got into the baby powder and went a little wild with it ..
There was a little amusement park in San Diego within walking distance of our hotel. We walked there and enjoyed a few hours of rides and treats ..
Ivan took Emery on the "Tilt o' Whirl". I remember going on this ride as a kid and being scared. As you can see by the pictures, Emery was scared too. She was tough and didn't cry though.
Then a nice boat ride .. a little more of Emery's style. Makayla did willingly get on the ride, however, you would never know it by these pictures
I LOVE churro's. I've always loved churro's. As soon as we got to the park, I got myself a $3.50 churro. Emery took one bite and it became HER churro. She refused to get out of the stroller to ride rides until the churro was gone. Looks like we will be fighting over the churros ..
The entrance of the amusement park
Just my 2 cute girls ..

San Diego / Sea World

After spending a few days in Anaheim, we drove down to San Diego for the week. The order of these pictures are a mess once again, but we will just deal with them ..

We spent some time at the pool ... Makayla even taught Emery how to swim ..

Ms Photogenic ..
Paisley's first time in the pool - she loved it!
These are the faces I get when I say "smile pretty" ..
Family picture at Sea World I hadn't been to Sea World in 15+ years. We went to most of the shows but by far, the best was the dog/cat show. I didn't get any pictures during the show, but it was so cute. The animals did a ton of tricks and we all enjoyed it.
The one and only picture that I took of an animal the entire day we were at Sea World
Poor Makayla had to share a bed with Emery the entire trip. I was surprised to see how crazy Emery is when she sleeps, but after seeing it, we may have to make different sleeping arrangements for poor Makayla for our next trip.
Views of San Diego
Back at Sea World. Emery loves to see characters and such - but from afar. Whenever she gets up close, she turns into a very shy girl again.

Mid-day at Sea World, we went to an Elmo & Friends show that was inside a theater. It was Paisley's nap time and every time she would fall asleep during the show, we would get sprinkled with water and it would wake her up. She was not a happy camper. Emery didn't care for the show either because the water got her face wet. She is a little like me and doesn't like getting her face wet at all. Anyway, on the way out of the show, Ivan had Paisley on his shoulders. She must have been past the point of exhaustion because she fell asleep right there ..