Wordless Wednesday

Checking out the bears in the new "Teton Trek"

She loved every minute of the zoo

Cutest baby EVER!

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September 2008 - our last trip to the Memphis Zoo

We had a FANTASTIC time and were thrilled that it didnt end like our last trip! And now we are members so we will be back many more times!

The 4-1-1 on AZ

In case I havent told you yet, one of the MANY nicknames for Ainslee is "AZ." Kaylee is actually the one who came up with it, because in the beginning she could not pronounce her name correctly. And I guess it just stuck!

I thought I would take a few minutes out and get you up-to-date on what is going on with the happiest baby in the world!

• First of all, I cant believe she is 9 1/2 months old! HOL-E-COW!
• She crawls at the speed of light......seriously! I try and watch to see how she moves so fast, and cant figure out how she does it.
• She has had an ear infection for "at least" 9 weeks now. It could be longer! I thought she might be better, but then again, today she was showing signs that she isnt. She has had 2 rounds of antibiotics and 2 shots of antibiotics. I just dont know what to do about those DARN ears. I am terrified that she will follow in Kaylee's footsteps. And I hate hate HATE giving her those antibiotics. I know that is not the best thing for her, they dont even help, and I fell like they are doing more harm than good. I get sick to my stomach everytime I give her those meds, there has got to be a better (more natural) way. I have tried researching online (but dont have too much time to really read what I want to read). If anyone out there has ANY ideas, I am ALL EARS!!! no pun intended
• I took them both to see a chiropractor today! You might have just reread that a few times, but you read correctly the first time. I didnt just wake up and say "I'm going to take the girls to see a chiropractor today." This is what happened. Like I said I have been SICK about giving Ainslee meds lately, and I was texting with my mom about it, she just so happened to be at the chiropractor. She mentioned it to him and he suggested that I bring them in for a consultation. I used to see this practicular chiropractor when I was in high school. So I brought them in today and learned A LOT! Marcus and I are in the process of discussing their future in regards to the chiropractor. I would really like to give it a shot, he says that he can definitely help with the ear infections.
• She is pooping/ peeing more and more on the potty. She is telling me when she has to go, as opposed to me just taking her or me "knowing" she has to go. She loves to sit on the potty and even tells me when she is all done.
• STILL NO TEETH! And not quite sure there are any in the making. All those times I thought she was teething, it was really her ears. I am such a horrible mom for not knowing!
• No signs of walking either
• She eats SO much! She is like the enegizer bunny when it comes to eating......it's C.R.A.Z.Y!!!
• Despite all of her cuteness she was told by an old lady today, and I quote, "you sure are cute, but not as cute as my puppy!"
• I can hear her snoring THROUGH THE WALL!
• She is a little sociallite like her sister, wants to be the center of attention, have everyone notice her, and ga-ga over her. And if you don't she will FIND a way to get your attention.
• She is seriously the happiest baby, despite all the pain she must be in, she is still so happy. We have seen 3 doctors about those darn ears, and they all say how bad (especially the right) it looks. I just want to take her pain away.
• She is still a HUGE mommas girl
• Drama Queen! She can get the tears flowing even before she starts crying. And they just pour out of her. It melts my heart!
• When she doing something she knows she shouldnt be, she laughs! She is going to be a handful!
• She is down to 1 nap a day, well for the most part. There is still a random day here and there where she will take 2 shorter naps. But she usually just takes 1 good long nap.

I'm sure there was more things I wanted to tell you about her, but they have left my ever shrinking brain for now.

Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

In case I dont get around to blogging again before then

I know I havent been the best blogger lately, in fact this isnt the only area of my life that I have neglected recently. I feel like something has happened, there are no longer 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week. My days are more like 10 hours long and there are only like 4 of them; I have to CRAM in 24 hours worth of stuff into each one of them. Most days I find it hard to find time to go to the bathroom, let alone get the things done that are on my list. So I apologize, mostly to my friends, who I have been DYING to get together with....but havent.

Story Time at the Fire Station

Every Friday, well almost every Friday, Kaylee goes to gymnastics and then to story time on the square. Yesterdays story time was special, it wasnt held at the usual coffee shop, it was at the fire station. Kaylee was so excited about getting to go to the fire house and see the fire trucks, but we got much more than we were hoping for during our visit.
Once a month at story time one of the shops on the square, Village Toy Maker, does a drawing for a toy; the children who turn in a coloring page get entered for this drawing. Well back up, let me just start from the beginning. We started packing up and getting dressed after gymnastics about 15 minutes early, we wanted to make sure not to be too late for story time, and when lugging around 2 kiddos you dont get anywhere fast. As we were walking up to the fire station Ms. Kelly was telling us to hurry, they were about to start without us (good thing I gave myself a little extra time by leaving gymnastics early). Kaylee turned in her coloring page and wouldnt you know that was the 1st thing on the agenda. The name was drawn and it was KAYLEE's. She won a Melissa and Doug fire puzzle, I didnt get a picture of her with her prize, but here's what the puzzle looks like, I swear she has her father's luck!After the fire fighter read the story we got to TOUR the fire station. Kaylee was thrilled with this, and what she loved even more was that there was a fire fighter that was answering all 100 questions she had to ask. What's that? Why this? What's that for? What in there? Can I have something to eat? She even asked if she could use their bathroom. Kaylee has a weird obsession with using the bathroom EVERYWHERE she goes.

She was scared to sit in the fire truck at first, but then she REFUSED to get down.

Her picture was in the Collierville paper from one of the story times last month, I am STILL trying to get my hands on that photo. And yesterday they took a picture of all of us in front of one of the fire engines, and Im hoping to get a copy of it as well. Such a fun (FREE!) little activity for a Friday morning. If any readers out there are in the Collierville area and want to join us for gymnastics and story time (there is also a craft and snack time after the story, but we dont stay for that), contact me and I can give you all the details.

Boston

warning another LOOOONGG post ahead........

Here is a compilation of some of the pictures we took on our last trip to Boston. Some are from the camera, and some are from our phones (AKA crappy quality). This trip was short......VERY short! We barely had time to adjust, before we had to come home again. note to self: make trips with 2 small children, longer than 5 days. We actually didnt take any pictures with our big camera, except at the game, and after 600+ pictures that day, I guess we felt the camera needed a break. I'm not kidding when I said we have more than 600 pictures of a FOOTBALL game and NONE of our beautiful children! Oh well, at least we have the game FULLY documented! Ha! I wont bore you with all 600+ pictures (no thanks required), but I did pick a handful to show. As you know Marcus' birthday was just the other day, and this was his present from his big sis. She and Harry got ON THE FIELD PASSES for pregame. But the beauty of it was not only that we had access to the field during warm-up, it was that they choose the game where THEIR favorite team (Patriots) and our favorite team (Dolphins) were playing each other. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?! So this was my first NFL experience, and let me tell you it was pretty awesome. We wont talk about what the outcome of the game was, but it was a darn good game, and we had a BLAST!

The weather was beautiful, I mean unseasonable warm and not a cloud in the sky. We were actually warm in our long sleeves. It was quite funny that friends' of mine (from here) went up for a game a few weeks ago and they got caught in a freak blizzard snow stormy thing at that game. So the picture above is us on the field (obviously) before the game started. Marcus was so excited that he actually smiled for pictures. ha!

Where's Crista you might ask?

OHHH there she is. I have no idea why she was never in the "group pictures"



I caught this shot on my phone......Jason Taylor......I just love this guy! He is my favorite, and is much more fun to watch in person than on TV.

Marcus snapped this great shot of Jason

and here we are in our seats, Marcus decided to show some respect while we were on the field and save his Dolphins attire til we were in our seats

We had such a fantastic time at the game!

Thanks HARRY and CRISTA!!!

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Here are a few of the pictures we took during the rest of our trip. Like I said before we didnt do much this trip. We made it to an outlet mall for some shopping, the Children's Museum (AKA germ fest), and to my new favorite restaurant for some delicious GF food. Besides that we pretty much just chilled at home, Crista had a friend from home come into town for work so she joined us for dinner one night, and then they invited one of the "cousins" and his family over for another night. It was a really really nice visit!

Ainslee was chillin' in an Adirondack chair, but she doesnt sit still for long anymore, even if mommy wants to snap a picture

Kaylee playing in the water at the Children's Museum, she LOVES that place. She talks about it ALL.THE.TIME!

Ainslee had WAY more fun in the infant area this time. She was much more mobile, and the PERFECT age for it. Kaylee was almost the exact same age when we brought her. I should dig up some of those pictures.

Marcus just couldnt resist joining in on the fun!

Here is Kaylee at LLBean, she found her soul mate. She was asking him to buy her some shoes.

Kaylee was prepared for hours of shopping at the outlet mall.

Here are a few of the videos....

She sort of got distracted by that darn baby in the mirror, but once she got back on track she made it over the bumps and down the ramp with grace.

I couldve stayed there all day watching this baby play. She LOVED it, and I LOVED watching her explore. Im just amazed at how well she gets around now, there's no slowing her down now oh boy!

We made it to a park on our last day, and it man was it chilly. I wasnt quite prepared for the weather after all the beautiful days we had before that. This video might make those who get motion sick a little queasy, sorry about that. She had so much fun in that swing.

And I had to share this one with you. This is an area in the Children's Museum where you can paint with water. After a few seconds the water disappears. Such a GREAT idea, no cleanup involved, I gotta figure out how to get one of those at home. I asked Kaylee to draw a "K" for Kaylee, when she messed up and drew a "T" she told me it was Jesus. I'm not exactly sure what the circles are that she drew but she assured me that the cross was Jesus.

M&M's

When I got home yesterday, I was greeted by Kaylee at the door. She was holding a bowl of M&M's. She said "look mommy, I have M&M's." I said "I see that, why do you have M&M's?" Kaylee said "I cried so daddy gave me M&M's!" I looked at Marcus for some sort of explanation, his side of the story is that Kaylee was crying because she wanted to give Tahoe the oil we pour over his food, and Marcus wouldnt let her (because he only gets it in the mornings). So she started to cry and the M&M's came after that. Who do you believe?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday Babe!

I LOVE YOU BABE! Sorry I didnt make such a hype about your birthday this year, it sorta snuck up on me.......well there are no excuses, I'm just sorry! Hope you like you birthday song, I tried all day to figure out how to load it onto this post, but finally resorted to taking a video, so you could hear it. There is NOT a problem with the video, it was meant to only have the audio (no picture).

From the Mouth of Kaylee

I know you guys are all wondering why I'm not posting about our recent trip to Boston, but rest assured those posts are coming, I'm just not at MY computer, so I dont have the pictures for the posts. Plus I wanted to get this one written before I forget all the things i want to write about.

Lately Kaylee has been cracking us up with all the sayings/ expressions she comes up with. Here are just a few of the ones that have made us laugh...

Let me preface this 1st one by saying we still have Kaylee on a GF diet. When we were at lunch one day in Boston Marcus asked to try a bite of Kaylee's noodles, she replied "No daddy these arent YOUR kind of noodles." We always tell her something isnt "her kind" if she isnt allowed to eat it.

Today she asked for some chips and I said no, she replied "Oh those have gluten in them mommy."

When sitting at our kitchen table she can look out and see her reflection in the window, last night I caught her talking to herself in the window, "You cant have a bite, you wont like it anyways, its too spicy."

In the bathtub I told her it was time to get out and she replied "I'm not quite finished playing yet mommy."

When you ask her if she wants something particular (like an apple or which shirt to wear that day) she will respond "SURE, that will be fine."

On the airplane, in restaurants, walking down the street, in stores while shopping, the worker men that are roofing my parents house, and everywhere else she is, she asks perfect strangers "What name? What doin'?" She will carry on conversations with ANYONE!

Her most FAVORITE conversation goes like this, "what eatin'?" The other person tells her what they are eating. Kaylee asks "can I have some?" the person will either answer YES or NO and no matter what the answer is 5 seconds later she asks the same question again, and again, and again.

The biggest thing we are working on is her use of the words "he" and "she". She knows that "she" is a girl, and she knows the difference between girls and boys, but when it comes to using those little pronouns correctly she always uses "HE" instead of "she". Our conversations go like this.
Kaylee is trying to tell me something that Ainslee is doing.
Kaylee: "He is biting her shoe, mommy"
Me: "SHE, Kaylee"
Kaylee: "she is a girl, he is biting"
Me: "SHE Kaylee! Say SHE!"
Kaylee: "she is a girl, he is biting her shoe"
Me: "Kaylee, say she. She is biting her shoe."
Kaylee: "she is a girl, she is biting her shoe."
The point is that she will say "she is a girl", and then when it comes time to using the word correctly she doesnt. It is quite funny. This conversation has gone on more times than I can count.

While reading her a book for nap today, this particular book had Minnie Mouse dressed up in different costumes. On each page I would ask her what Minnie's costume was, she made me laugh when she would say "she's a hippie!" She would say that for every page. I guess she thinks that all costumes are hippies.

I just love watching her as she learns the language and figures out how to use it. She has such a great grasp of it.....we think she is advanced, but then again we are biased.

There is one more saying that I wanted to share with you, but it requires a video, so as soon as I am able to get it, I will post it.

I'm seeing dots

I'm FINISHED!!!

It didnt quite turn out how I had envisioned it, but it is done, and it is staying the way it is, because this momma ain't paintin' NO more dots!

Not only do I think I went a little OVER board on the amount, but I think I made plenty of mistakes on the "color disbursement." Oh well......live and learn! Kaylee likes it and that's all that counts!

I have to just say that PAINTING IS HARD WORK! I have no idea how Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, I nearly died completing my wall of dots! I have so much respect for painters and artists after this! I never thought that it would take that much effort to paint some dots on a wall! The blood ran out of my hands, at some points I couldnt even feel my hands, my legs cramped, my back cramped, my neck cramped, I nearly fell of the ladder a dozen times, I was seeing dots even when I wasnt in her room, I felt like I needed to be checked into a mental hospital when the dots started talking to me (jk that didnt happen), but I thought I was going to have to be admitted into some sort of hospital before it was over. I know I am a whiny baby, but it really was hard/ detailed work. And I did it ALL by myself, Marcus didnt even know that I had started this little project until I was a week into it (I started the day that he was stuck at work for 36 hours straight). I picked the colors, I picked the sizes of the circles (3", 5", and 8"), I picked the placement of them, I picked the color of each circle, and painted them ALL! Can you tell I'm proud? I usually dont make this many decisions without consulting him first, so it was a new thing for me.

From start to finish

I could only do a few dots at a time, while trying to keep 2 rug rats occupied and out of trouble

The real painting started when I was able to get rid of Kaylee for the night and paint after Ainslee went to sleep

See what I mean about "too many?"

We will be getting rid of the crib soon......very soon! As in after we get back from Boston, hopefully! I bought the rails (I'm kinda scared to death that she will fall out of her bed, so I'm playing it safe and putting rails on). We need to buy her a mattress, the one you see in the pictures is actually an air mattress, we want her on a REAL mattress. She has already had a few trial runs in a big bed at my moms house for nap. I'd be lying if i said the transition has been smooth so far. She didnt sleep the 1st day, took a good nap the 2nd go around, refused to even stay in the bed the 3rd time, and barely slept on the 4th try. I wonder how she will do when she is in the bed the whole night? I'll keep you posted.

We leave for Boston in the morning.......hope we dont freeze to death

Halloween Pics (better late than never)

My Little Hippies

Looks like she has been smokin' something in this pic, doesnt it?

I caught a 1/2 decent smile this time

And for the "sisterly love." Kaylee is whispering

"give peace a chance." I think she should listen to her own words.
~~ Groovy! ~~

Hippie and Strawberry Shortcake

they held hands the whole night.......too cute!

PEACE DUDE!

Wordless Wednesday (almost)

I'm so sick of people calling her a boy, so I gathered the 10 hairs she has and tried to make a little clip look decent. It lasted about 20 minutes, until it fell out somewhere and was lost.

Is this considered child labor?

...........she asks to do it, by herfulf