Fun filled weekend

The pictures below sum up our weekend perfectly.

Ainsley was pooped after our weekend!  She was walking around the house whining last night not really wanting to fall asleep.  I was in the living room and Joel was in the bedroom and she would walk down the hallway going back and forth between the two of us.  She finally came walking down the hallway and into the living room where she leaned over the arm of her little chair and put her head down in the seat.  Her feet were dangling back and forth for a few seconds and then they stopped.  She fell asleep!  I went back to the bedroom to get Joel so he could see it for himself before I took a picture of her.  She didn't wake up when the flash of the camera went off or when I moved her to bed.

This post is going to have a lot of pictures, because Mommy was a little camera-happy this weekend.  Friday night, we went to Carlinville to visit with Lauren and Grayson.  Grayson is only two months younger than Ainsley, and it was fun to watch them play together.  Ainsley loved all of his toys, but Grayson wasn't so sure about sharing his toys. 

Grayson's already picking up chicks in his truck....kissing on my little girl!

Ainsley just checking to make sure he's in.

Yay!!!

Grayson was actually able to pull the wagon a little with Ainsley in it, who is at least one and a half of little Grayson!

Saturday was the Clark reunion, so we headed down to Hettick.  We were able to see a lot of family, even if Ainsley wouldn't go to most of them.  She did enjoy playing with Nathan and Augie and being able to run around the big pavilion.

Nathan pushing Ainsley

It's someone else's turn for a ride....

Nathan's turn!

Augie didn't like that it was Nathan's turn, so they both got a turn!!!

Ainsley could actually push Nathan.

Such a ham!

Better check the engine to make sure it's not going to break down...

Yep, this is as good as it gets for a family picture!

Intense conversation about the sippy cup

Someone ran off again....

Ainsley went couponing with Mommy Sunday morning while Joel got the baler out of the shed (or something like that).  She was really good, and enjoyed riding in the car cart at CVS.

When we got home, we headed over to the Hallock's for lunch and a little swimming with Hadlee.  We hadn't seen Hadlee in a long time, and she has really gotten big and is crawling around.  At one point, Ainsley had Hadlee pinned on the ground with Ainsley laying on top of her trying to give her a kiss and Hadlee was just giggling underneath.  It was pretty cute!

Ready to go swimming!

Hadlee loved splashing!

Such a happy girl!

Alaina's pretty funny!

Hadlee wanted Ainsley out of her pool!!!

Ainsley getting out AGAIN (and I think Hadlee is pushing her!)

Ride on the golf cart (which Ainsley LOVED)

I'm going to be in Dallas all week, and I think Ainsley wanted to join me.  As soon as she saw the suitcase on the floor, she jumped on it and had fun playing on top of it.

I'm in love with the faces she has started making.  She's always had her scrunched up nose face, but in the last few weeks, she's started making the "Oooo" face.  

Ainsley dancing while looking at herself in the mirror

I hope there are enough pictures to last everyone through the week!

Just another week with the Freeman's

I just spent the last hour putting the car seat cover back on Ainsley's car seat only to realize I forgot to put the foam for under her butt down first, so I'm going to have to take it all off again to get that under the pad and then repeat all my steps.  It's bad enough that I had to look up on YouTube how to put the cover back on in the first place.  I hope I never have to wash the car seat cover again, because taking it off and getting it back on is something else.

I took Ainsley to Lisa's yesterday morning, which was out of our routine to begin with.  Joel usually takes Ainsley in the mornings and then I pick her up.  Ainsley got up around 5:45 yesterday morning and I fixed her a cup of milk with her antibiotic in it and let her lay in our bed and watch Little Einsteins while she got all her milk down.  We both got up and brushed our teeth and got dressed and she acted fine.  I gave her a sippy cup with juice (and applesauce to thicken) in the car and she coughed on it a little about half way to Lisa's.  About a mile before Lisa's, I looked back and she was about asleep so I figured she would take a nap once she got there.  As I turned into Lisa's driveway, Ainsley started coughing again and as I look back, she starts throwing up.  Not just a little spit up, either.  I'm talking about everything that was in her belly was now all over her and in her carseat.  I hurried and got the car parked and ran around to get her out and as I opened her door, she threw up more.  She was covered in it.  I ran her into Lisa's and stripped her down, while trying to not throw up myself because the smell was horrendous.  There was throw up all down the inside and outside of her shirt, which then got in her hair as I pulled  her shirt off.  As soon as I got her clothes off, Ainsley wanted to play and ran off to find the toys, so I let her stay in the house while I ran back out to the car to clean her carseat as good as I could. 

Lisa had her dressed by the time I got back into the house, and after saying bye, we headed back home.  Both of us smelled like throw up and needed a bath at this point.  Ainsley fell asleep on the way home, so I laid her down on the floor once we got home and she slept for five minutes or so.  I started running her bath water after she woke up and started undressing her.  She was standing up by the bathtub ready to get in when I took her diaper off.  As soon as I un-fastened the velcro straps of her diaper, some poop fell out of it and onto the floor.  REALLY?!?  When did she poop?  At this point, all hell broke loose.  I started yelling at her to stand still, and she started running out of the bathroom with little turds falling off her butt every step she took.  I'm crawling on my hands and knees behind her with toilet paper picking up the poop and yelling at her to get back into the bathroom.  She decides to finally listen to me and starts running back down the hallway into the bathroom and almost steps on her poop as she goes.  Could my morning really get any worse???  I got her in the tub and the floors cleaned and we finally started our "normal" day. 

I brought the carseat in to get the cover off and washed and Ainsley wouldn't stay out of her carseat.  She played with it so much in the dining room that I finally brought it into my office so she could play with it while I got some work done. 

I wish she was this happy to get in it when it is actually in the car....

She acted fine the rest of the day yesterday and took a pretty good nap yesterday afternoon.  I don't know what caused her to throw up, but I hope she never does it again, or at least waits a very long time before doing it. 

I'm still trying to get her to say names and words, but she doesn't have any desire.  She is still learning animal sounds and is getting pretty good at them.  Joel taught her to say cock-a-doodle-doo the other day, so she likes telling you what a rooster says now.

One thing that she's started doing that I absolutely love is she'll back herself up and plop down on your lap if you're sitting on the floor.  She loves to sit on anyone's lap, especially if you read a book to her. 

We bought a little plastic swimming pool for Ainsley over the weekend and filled it up the other night.  She loved leaning over it and splashing the water, so I got her swimsuit on her and put her in it.  I think she liked being on the outside more than actually sitting in the water, but it didn't take her long to start having fun in the pool. 

She loved to splash the water and would have a huge grin on her face while doing it!

She didn't last very long (20 minutes or so) in the pool, but I think she had fun.  I'm hoping to get her back in it this weekend when it warms up a little more.

Ready to get out

Jennifer and Drake came over one night this week and it was so nice to watch Drake and Ainsley play together.  Drake kept Ainsley entertained and she didn't ask to watch Little Einsteins at all while they were here.  That's a huge accomplishment!  Ainsley liked to follow Drake around and would try to do whatever he did.  I'm sure this is what she does at Lisa's also with the other kids, but I never get to see her interact with them.  If Drake would laugh, Ainsley would laugh.  Drake chased her around the house while riding her Mickey car and she thought that was funny! 

I gave Ainsley a bath and Drake decided he would take one too.  They had a lot of fun in the bathtub.  Drake even "helped" pour water over Ainsley's hair so it wasn't so crazy and sticking up all over.  He didn't quite get the water on top of her head, rather it went directly into her face and she drank some water, but it was all good.

I love the picture where Ainsley is looking up at Drake when they're wearing her hats.  I just hope she doesn't want to do everything he does as she gets older, because that kid is ONERY!

 The two of them get along really well (right now, anyway) and I think it would be good for both of them to have a little brother or sister in the future.  They both need a little playmate!  (No, neither Jennifer nor I are pregnant, in case you're wondering!!!!) 

Drake showing something to Ainsley....

Dirt ring

You know it's been a good day when after draining the bath water from the bathrub, a dirt ring remains.  That's exactly what was left in the bathtub Sunday night after Ainsley's bath.  She played and played outside all afternoon. 

We went to Home Depot Saturday night to get flowers and she liked riding in the "car" cart.  She hung her arm out the side like a champ!

It was also lots of fun to run around the garden center while Mommy shopped.

We planted the flowers Saturday night and then we started putting the landscaping rock around the house on Sunday.  I was able to finally talk Tanner into coming up to help Joel after numerous texts and phone calls.  He needed his beauty sleep, but he finally got to the house early afternoon.  Mom brought him up and played with Ainsley while the boys worked.

She had to touch each rock.  It was pretty funny!

Come on, Grandma....over here!

Stop standing around and Let's Go!

Joel and Tanner ended up getting all the rock spread around the house (it only took a couple hours) and then I was able to get the windows washed that evening.  It feels good to get a couple of things crossed off my never-ending to-do list.

Our house is done!

The guys finished the house late Friday morning and I couldn't be happier to have it done.  It's been a long three weeks.  The old siding was taken off, old columns taken down, roof patched, new siding put on, new columns installed, and all kinds of other odds and ends done.  Below is the only "before" picture I could find from last year, followed by the "after" pictures.

Before

After

After

After

All we have left to do is replace the flooring in the basement from the sewage ejection pump flooding it.  Hopefully we can get that done in the next few months and be back to a normal house again!

Another ear infection

Thank goodness for Mom!  I was talking to her on the phone tonight and telling her how Ainsley has been horrible since she came home from Lisa's.  I thought it was because she was up most of the night last night and hadn't been to Lisa's in a week and probably didn't get much sleep there and was tired.  She fell asleep right after pulling out of Lisa's driveway on the way home and slept for another hour once we were home.  She woke up when Joel got home.

He took her outside while he was grilling, and she seemed to be okay then, even coming over to the sunroom door to give me kisses through the screen!

Once we brought  her inside, it all went downhill.  She screamed, fought us, cried, and was just down right terrible.  Again, I thought she was tired and it was going to be an early night for us.  She refused to sit in her high chair or eat anything.  As I was telling Mom some of this (and as Ainsley was throwing a fit in the background for Mom to hear), she asked if it was possible that she could have an ear infection.  I wondered about that earlier this week, but didn't end up taking her in to see the doctor because she wasn't running a fever or anything.  Her nose has been running for the last week, but she was getting one of her molars in last week and I just figured it was still lingering.  I decided to hang up with Mom and run Ainsley into Prompt Care before they closed at 8 so they could check her ears and I would at least know if it was or wasn't an ear infection.

Sure enough, it was an ear infection.  I feel terrible that I didn't know, but the only symptoms have been her running nose, not eating and crankiness.  She hasn't pulled at her ears or ran a fever.  She didn't pull at her ears when she had her last ear infection either.   We got our prescription and was out the door fairly quickly.  I have to say I love Prompt Care!  I've never waited more than 10-15 minutes and you can walk right in and get out in no time.

She fell asleep on the way home, and we woke her up so we could try to get her first dose of Amoxicillin in her.  I tried giving it to her with a syringe, but that didn't work at all and she spit it out.  I tried giving it to her with a spoon and she didn't want anything to do with it either.  I ran into the kitchen and got the cool whip and put some of it on the spoon on top of her medicine and she took a little that way, but quickly figured out my trick.  What else could I try?  How about some marshmallows....I acted like I was going to put one in her mouth and would instead sneak the spoon in with a little medicine.  That didn't last very long either.

I finally decided the only option left was to try to put it in a sippy cup with some milk and see if she would drink it all.  Luckily, she did!  When she finished it, she wanted more milk, so I put her down on the living room floor, and grabbed her sippy cup and the remote from the living room before heading to the kitchen to fill up her cup.  I didn't think about grabbing the tub of Cool Whip or bag of marshmallows.  I mean, Little Einsteins was on t.v. and she was watching it when I left the room.  As I was walking back into the living room from filling up her sippy cup, I heard the rustle of the bag and then heard a lot of little things hitting the floor.  I walk around the corner to find Ainsley standing holding the bag of marshmallows upside down with half of the bag on the floor!  I started laughing (what else can you do, right?!) and when she saw me, she lost it and started crying.  Poor thing!  I wasn't mad.  How could I be?  I was the one that left the opened bag of marshmallows on the end table. 

I'm sure it's going to be a long night, and one where our little girl will be sleeping between us because I think she just needs to cuddle with Mommy and Daddy and hopefully she feels a little better in the morning.