Weekend visitors

We had a few visitors last weekend.  Nolan, Jodi, and Oliver came over Saturday evening.  Oliver and Ainsley played okay together at first, but it quickly started going downhill.  Either Oliver wanted the toy that Ainsley was playing with, or Ainsley wanted the toy that Oliver was playing with.  Ainsley would try to climb in her chair with Oliver, but that didn't go over well either.  That chair just wasn't big enough for both of them!

Oliver says: "I'll just get off so she'll quit sitting on me!"

Ainsley loves getting and giving kisses, and Oliver was giving Ainsley a few kisses....at first, anyway.  After a few kisses, Ainsley would scream when Oliver tried to "kiss" her.  I just figured it was because he was pulling her hair, but we soon realized it was because he was biting her!  Needless to say, there were no more kisses after that.  I know Ainsley will have plenty of opportunities over the coming years to get him back!

Kisses.....or some love bites?!?

Fight over Jodi's bracelet

We had a pretty lazy Sunday until later that afternoon when our house turned into a mad house.  Jennifer and Drake came over, so Jennifer could get the last Fifty Shades of Grey book.  Dad and Tanner also showed up around the same time, so we had a full house.  Drake reminded Jennifer numerous times not to forget the Fifty Shades of Grey book, and he even thought they should get those books for his Dad when Jennifer asked him what he wanted to get him for Father's Day!  Drake knows way too much for a 3 year old!!!

Tanner went into Ainsley's closet to find her shoes so they could go outside and came back out asking what the "Chinese outfit" was hanging in her closet!  Aunt Doris got Ainsley a little Chinese outfit when her and Shane went to a Chinese exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  I thought it would be a little big on Ainsley, so I hadn't tried it on her yet.  I told Tanner to go get it and we would put it on Drake to see if it fit.  We all got a kick out of it!

Drake doesn't know what to think about his outfit!

Taking Howdy for a bounce around the kitchen

Ainsley's wondering what in the world these crazy people are doing!

Drake couldn't quit laughing!

Once Drake was done with it, I decided to go ahead and try it on Ainsley.  It was a little big, but not much.  She walked around in it for quite a while and even left the hat on for a little bit.  I wasn't able to get a good picture, though, because she was too busy running around chasing Drake.

Of course...she didn't like the hat!

The hat has a "hair braid" attached to the back!

I think Dad and Tanner got a kick out of Drake.  He's definately entertaining!



Kisses!

Uncle Tanner and Ainsleybug

Climbing up in the chair has become a favorite thing to do.  Not only can she climb up in it by herself, but she also flings herself backwards so she almost jumps up in it and then lands on her butt.  She also started banging her head off of the back of the chair while Dad and Tanner was here.  She's just a little nuts!!!

Just hanging out in my Chinese shirt and diaper cover from my dress!

Jumping in the chair is so much fun...

Ainsley's found her eyelashes and has been pulling on them quite a bit in the last few days.  While rocking her, she's even played with her eyelashes a few times rather than her hair.  I've noticed that she hasn't been playing with my hair as much as she did when falling asleep or taking a bottle/sippy cup.

Sunday afternoon, Joel and I both had enough with Little Einstein's.  Ainsley constantly asked to watch it by patting her legs (which is what the Little Einstein's do when taking off in rocket).  She could easily watch that show for six hours a day.  She would wake up in the middle of the night and ask for it, and as soon as she would wake up in the morning, she would want to watch it.  I googled "Little Einstein's addiction" to see what would come up, and there were numerous results.  I read a few results where other parent's said their child was addicted to Little Einstein's.  I don't know what is so great about the show, but when it was on tv, Ainsley wouldn't want to do anything else.  I had heard that Baby Einstein's was like baby crack, but we never let Ainsley watch that.  Needless to say, Joel ended up deleting all Little Einstein's episodes from the DVR Sunday afternoon and Ainsley quit watching Little Einstein's.  Cold turkey.  The last few days haven't been too bad.  Whenever she asks for it (which is less often now), we tell her it's all gone and she can watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  I know that we didn't help the situation by turning Little Einstein's on any time she would ask for it.  I mean, it was so easy to go to the DVR and find an episode and have 20 minutes of peace and quiet while Ainlsey was entertained.  We had over 30 episodes recorded and I bet we had seen all 30 episodes at least 10-15 times each.  I have to admit that I don't miss that show one bit!

Ainsley's been home with me most of the week.  Some days are better than others, but Tuesday morning was terrible.  There are times when changing Ainsley's diaper is a piece of cake and other times it's an all out war between Ainsley and Mommy to get it changed.  Let's just say it was World War 3 in the Freeman house Tuesday morning while trying to change her diaper.  She had pooped, so I put her on her changing table to change her diaper.  She immediately started fighting me, trying to roll over, flinging her butt in the air, screaming, etc.  I tried holding her down with one arm while opening her diaper with the other hand.  It didn't go very well.  With her flinging around, we ended up getting poop on her changing pad cover, and getting a diaper back on her at that point was out of the question.  She was throwing a huge fit and wouldn't lay still for a second.  I decided to put her in her crib and let her calm down (without a diaper on, of course).  That only made her even more mad.  She screamed, cried, tried to climb out of her crib, threw herself down, and because she was so worked up at this point, started coughing and gagging.  I knew it was coming, but there's nothing you can do to stop it.  She threw up all over her crib.  Not only did she throw up, but as soon as I had put her in her crib, she peed all over too.  I finally had to walk out of her room and call Joel.  I was so frustrated and upset because she wouldn't calm down.  Her fit lasted a good 15-20 minutes before she finally calmed down and I ended up having to lay her on the floor to put a diaper on her.  Her changing pad had poop on it and her crib had been peed in and had throw up all over it, so I was out of options at that point! 

I don't understand why she fights me while changing her diaper.  I even try bribing her with toys, my cell phone, singing, or anything else I can come up with for the minute I need to get a new diaper on her.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to change a diaper without a fight, please feel free to let me know.  I'm sure it's just a stage we're going to go through, but this is one of the stages I can't wait to get through.

After the war that took place that morning, Ainsley crashed.  She pulled envelopes, note cards, and everything else out of one of my desk drawers, and the next thing I knew, she was sound asleep.  I guess she had a hard day at the office with Mommy!

Ainsley's said a few new words in the last week.  You can tell that the wheels are spinning and she's tried to say a few more words, but "all gone" and "truck" are the only ones she's been able to get out.  I think she said "yum" tonight, but it could have been a coincidence.   

Daddy took Ainsley on her first lawnmower ride a few weeks ago.  She loved it!

Ainsley's first babysitter

We had a visitation to go to last night and had Joel's cousin, Meghan, come over to watch Ainsley for a few hours.  It was Ainsley's first "babysitter" other than a Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle, or Lisa.  I'm so glad it was Meghan, who knows how Joel is, and not someone else that came to watch her.  As soon as Meghan got to the house, Joel started in on her and told her not to be going through our drawers and cabinets and how he knew where all the loose change and cash was in the house and how much there was.  If there was any missing, he told her he would know.  (Which, of course, isn't true!)  Meghan just laughed at him.  I would have been so embarrassed if it would have been anyone other than family he said that to.  I'm so scared for Ainsley's sake what he's going to say to future boyfriends when they come to the house. 

We were gone for a couple of hours and even went to eat and Walmart while we had the opportunity.  When we got home, Meghan said Ainsley was good and even slept an hour for her.  Ainsley didn't cry when we left, and was a a little excited when we got home, but didn't run to us and try to get away from Meghan when we got home, so I think she had fun with Meghan.

Ainsley and Meghan

I'm hoping we didn't scare Meghan too much and we can keep her on our list of babysitter's in the future. 

Ainsley's first trip to the zoo

We took Ainsley to the Henson Robinson Zoo in Springfield on Saturday morning.  We got there right as it opened.  It was still nice outside (wasn't too hot yet) and there were only a few other people there, so it made it a pretty nice experience.  Ainsley wasn't very interested in the animals, and I think she enjoyed the walk and being outside the most.  She did smile a few times at some of the animals, but we didn't get much out of her.

Watching the bear

She didn't like the goats.  The one kept poking its head out of the fence, looking for food, and Ainsley would try to get away from it in her stroller.  The goat kept trying to eat her stroller, and she didn't like it very much.

Where's the goat??

I don't think I like it, Mom....

Make sure that thing stays away from me!

Enough already Mom....let's get out of here!

We finally let her out of the stroller so she could run around and she seemed to like that better.  She liked running on the paths and being able to put her face up to the windows to look at the animals.

On the go

There was a little playground at the end, and Ainsley enjoyed that more than the animals.  There was another little boy about her age playing and she played with him for a little bit.  She liked the piano toy that was on the side of the play gym. 

She wasn't into getting her picture taken that morning.

It took us under an hour to get through the zoo, and it was the perfect size for Ainsley.  I'm glad we didn't go down to St. Louis, because it would have been too big for her and too many people.  I think we may try the Springfield zoo again in the fall, and maybe she'll be a little more into the animals then.

Happy Friday!

I absolutely love when I get up to go find Ainsley because I haven't heard her in a few minutes to find her in her room reading a book in her rocking chair. 

Such a stinker!

She's become quite the independent baby and likes to do things herself, but she still needs her Mommy to cuddle and rock her when she starts to get tired.  She's been trying really hard to reach up for the door handle, but can't quite reach it.  She'll stand on her tip toes and grunt while trying to reach it, but once she realizes she's still too short, she gives up.

If you mention going outside, she'll find your shoes for you and bring them to you and then get her own.  She's started trying to put her own shoes on, but she's far from successful with that task. 

She likes to take her baby on walks all around the house.  She's not very nurturing toward her baby and will grab it by its head to yank it out of the stroller when she's done.  The baby will then go flying a few feet as Ainsley throws it behind her.

I love this one with the combine and farmer in the background.

Not only does she throw her baby around, but she also throws her toys as she cleans out her toy box looking for the perfect toy to play with.  The perfect toy is, of course, always at the bottom of the toy box, which means every toy has to come out.

Nope, don't want that one...

Ainsley can show you where her tongue is if you ask.  See?

Another new trick is climbing by herself (with no Mickey car as a step stool) onto the chair in the living room.  I put the mail and newspaper in the chair this morning.  I ran to the other room for a minute and came back in to find her in the chair going through the bank statement and hitting herself in the head with the newspaper, and giggling while doing it.

Yep, looking at this bank statement, I can see that I used up a lot of Mommy and Daddy's money!

Joel and I have got a kick out of Ainsley answering questions.  If you ask her if she wants to do something, she'll reply with a "ya", while shaking her head no.  Sometimes she just shakes her head no and doesn't say anything.  She's a little confused!  When she shakes her head no, she actually means yes. 

I've laughed a few times over the last week because Ainsley can crack herself up.  She's done it on numerous occasions lately.  Last night while trying to get her to go to sleep, we were all laying in our bed and I was laying on my pillow.  Ainsley didn't want me to lay on my pillow for some reason and kept trying to push my head off.  I stood my ground and kept laying on it while reading and she finally got a big fist full of my hair and pulled as hard as she could.  That got Mommy off the pillow real fast!  As she did it, she was laughing.  No joke.  She knew what she was doing and laughed.  Of course, Daddy's reaction of laughing after realizing what she was doing didn't help the situation.

Speaking of bed time, Ainsley has discovered how to "jump" on our bed.  Her feet don't actually leave the mattress, but she thinks it's pretty fun.

Any time Ainsley hears any type of music, she has to dance.  She'll bend her little legs and squat up and down, or swing her arms back and forth.  It could be a short commercial on tv, a song from one of her toys, or even me singing the ABC's to her and she has to get up and dance.  The other night, a song came on the Disney channel about a train and she started dancing immediately.  When the line for "choo-choo" came on, she even hit the choo-choo part on the head saying it exactly as the song lyrics came.  Joel and I both looked at each other in amazement.  I think it was a coincidence, because we replayed the song to see if she would sing it again, and she didn't the second time.  Here's a video of her dancing and "jumping" to the song.

I took Ainsley out on a walk this morning in her pink car and we had a first.  She fell asleep a few blocks from home.  She was sitting straight up in it and her head just slumped over and every little bump I hit her head would jerk back up and then go limp again.  I felt so bad for her and there was no way I was going to be able to carry her back home, so I kept stopping to wake her up every few feet.

Asleep behind the wheel

You would have thought I would have learned my lesson this morning, and use the stroller for longer walks, but Joel and I went for a pretty good walk this evening and took her pink car again.  Sure enough, she fell asleep around the same spot she fell asleep this morning.  There was no waking her up tonight, though.  I'm glad Joel was with me and he carried her the rest of the way home.  His arm was a little sore by the time we got home!

Asleep behind the wheel again

Before our walk, the neighbor's dog, Puma, came over to visit Ainsley.  Ainsley loved chasing him around the yard. 

She came home from Lisa's yesterday afternoon and was wore out!  She didn't even budge when the flash of the camera went off while I took the picture.  I just love my little Sleeping Beauty!

I've been meaning to mention this for awhile now, and actually forgot about it until I asked Mom if she had the same experience when Ainsley stayed with her last week.  For the past few months now, actually it's been this way for as long as I can remember, Ainsley doesn't want a blanket covering her while sleeping.  Maybe she's never liked it.  I can't remember her ever leaving one on.  But, now that she's been sleeping with us at night (bad habit, I know), we notice it more.  She sleeps in between me and Joel, and we both have the blanket on top of us.  As soon as we try to cover Ainsley with it, she starts whining and kicking it off.  I mean, she can be dead asleep and she still knows when we try to cover her up.  It's crazy!  Mom said she didn't leave a blanket on while she stayed with her either.  I'll reach over sometimes in the middle of the night to feel Ainsley and she'll be freezing (to the touch at least) and try to cover her up, and get kicked.  I guess she isn't too cold, otherwise she'd let me cover her up.

Below are some random pictures from the past week.

Popsicle time!

Coloring with Daddy



She had a hard day

Ready to go to Lisa's