Easter weekend

This last weekend was hectic, to say the least!  I was suppose to have Friday off, but ended up having to work a few hours in the morning.  Jennifer took Lani to get her nails and toes done for her birthday and I met them at Applebee's for lunch for Lani's birthday.  Lani sure had quite a girl's day out.  Nails done, toes done, lunch at Applebee's, hot fudge sundae, and a trip to Walmart for some new clothes and swimsuit.  I stole the pictures below from Jennifer....

Pedicure for her 6th birthday!

Aunt Jen and Lani

Aunt Trista and Lani

I went to get Ainsley from Lisa's after lunch and Ainsley fell asleep before we got home.  I planned on going down to stay the night at Mom's Friday night, so I ran in and packed our bags while Ainsley slept in the car.  I got packed and all the bags in the car and we were off to Mom's.  She slept the entire ride to Mom's also.  She was one tired girl! 

Jamie and Thomas ended up coming "home" Friday afternoon also, so Jamie and Jodie (Jamie's sister) brought Avery over to Mom and Mark's to visit.  I never did figure it out, but I was holding Ainsley when Jamie and Jodie walked in and Ainsley wanted down (which is very un-like her right now, as she wants me to hold her constantly).  I put her down and she crawled right over to Jodie and started pulling on her pant leg and wanted Jodie to pick her up.  Jodie must have something that kids are drawn to!

Ainsley didn't really care that Avery was there, and Avery didn't pay much attention to Ainsley either.  Avery did want Ainsley to always have her sippy cup, though.  She would take Ainsley her sippy cup every time Ainsley would lay it down and move on to play with a different toy.  Avery kept calling her "baby".  I told Ainsley she needed to take lessons from Avery, who was walking around and talking a lot more than Ainsley.

Avery and Ainsley

I wouldn't put my finger in Ainsley's mouth....she may bite it!!!!

Avery feeding Ainsley some Goldfish crackers

I met Jamie and her sisters at the movie theater later that night to watch The Hunger Games movie.  It was pretty good.  I finished the books earlier in the week and had been wanting to go see the movie, but Joel's in the fields and couldn't go with me.

Saturday morning, Grandma Shelly gave Ainsley her Easter basket and new beach chair.  Ainsley ripped her new outfits out of the basket and played with the grass. 

Look Mom-grass!

Playing with the Easter grass

This chair is pretty cool!

Grandma gave her a huge marshmallow that was shaped like an Easter Egg and she loved it.  She actually had two of them before 10 that morning.   I told Ainsley that only would happen at Grandma's and not to expect it at home. 

She was one sticky, messy baby after marshmallows and toast with jelly

I think I'll untie Grandpa Mark's shoes while Mom irons my dress!

Aunt Roycelyn had Easter Saturday for lunch.  Joel wasn't able to go since they were trying to get the rest of the corn planted.  Ainsley wouldn't leave my side or let anyone hold her.  Aunt Royce got her a squakin' egg layin' Hen, and the kids all enjoyed it. 

Joelle and Ainsley playing with her new Hen

Taze and Ainsley playing while Tanner supervises.

We did the annual Easter 'candy' hunt after lunch and as usual, all the kids got more than enough candy.  Ainsley let Grandma Shelly carry her outside and we found a few things she could have along the way.

The kids are ready to get candy!

Uncle Thom found bubbles for Ainsley

Ainsley giving the "stink-eye"

Maddax spilled some of his candy....or maybe it was because his bag was overflowing with candy!!!!

This little bunny was pooped and fell asleep during the Easter egg hunt!

Maddax, Bailey and Joelle looking through their candy stash

The Hettick Easter Egg hunt was also Saturday, and the Easter Bunny (Kathy Arnett) stopped at our hunt on her way home.   Ainsley didn't like this Easter Bunny any more than she did the one in the mall a few weekends ago.

I think this is the first time I haven't heard a complaint out of one of them when I wanted to get a picture with them.  I think my brothers have finally figured out just how cool their sister really is!

Tanner, me, Thomas, and Jamie...just missing Joel

Ainsley took a pretty good nap outside and then after we got in, but woke up before we left.  She actually got down and played with her Easter basket from Uncle Thomas and Aunt Jamie!

Someone (Thomas) untied her dress.  Uncle Tanner needs to stand up for his niece and not let people pick on her!

We stopped at Nanny and Papa's before heading home and she was a different baby there.  I think there was too many people at Aunt Royce's and she was overwhelmed.  She sat and played with Nanny and even gave Papa a kiss before we left.  (Which I couldn't believe because of the beard.  I thought for sure she would be scared, but wasn't).

Monkey see...monkey do

It's amazing how quickly everything is starting to come together for her.  She's been putting two and two together on quite a few things recently.  Every time the phone rings, and I mean every time, she immediately puts her hand up to her ear and acts like she's talking on the phone.  It only takes half of a ring for her to do it, too.  The other day, I got a text message and my phone made a noise to let me know I'd received one, and she put her hand up to her ear then also. 

If you ask her if she's hungry, she'll either smack her lips, say "Mmmm", or start crawling toward the kitchen.  If you ask her if it's time for night-night, she'll stop whatever she's doing and lay her head down.  She's also started giving kisses.  If you ask her for a kiss, she'll lean in toward you with her mouth wide open and plant a big wet one on you.  Occasionally, she'll pucker up, but it's usually just a wide-open-mouthed kiss.

She also knows what it means when you ask her if she wants to go to Lisa's.  All you have to do is say Lisa's name, and she's waving bye-bye and heading toward the garage door. 

She really watches everything I do now, and she imitates a lot of things.  My favorite is when I'm getting ready to put a new trash bag in the trash can.  As soon as I come back in the kitchen from putting the trash in the garage and reach up to get a trash bag out of the cabinet, she starts waving her hands in the air as if she's opening up the trash bag.  Once I get the trash bag out and start shaking it out to put it in the trash can, she starts laughing and will shake and wave her arms in the air like she's doing it too.

We have a picnic basket that has plates with a spot for a circle, square, and triangle and there is food in those shapes to go on the plate.  She's started putting the shapes on the plate in the correct spots.  She does get frustrated with it rather quickly if she can't figure it out, but she likes being praised after she gets them all right.  Check out the video here of her putting the shapes on the plate.  You can also see her at the end showing you how she brushes her teeth and brushes her hair.  She's one smart cookie!!!  At the end, she shows you where her nose is.....she still puts her fingers in her mouth when you ask her where her nose is.

Her little kitchen also has shapes on the refrigerator door that you can put food in.  The egg is a circle and she's learned how to put the egg in the refrigerator.  She thinks she's pretty big stuff now that she's learned all theses new tricks.  Here's a video of her putting the egg in the refrigerator.  

We spent quite a while outside yesterday afternoon.  She played in her Cozy Coupe car that Grandma Shelly got her for her birthday for the first time and liked honking the horn and playing with the steering wheel.  She didn't want to get out of it to go for our walk.  We walked up town and then around town for a while and when we got home, we played in her swing for a while.  It was so hot and the gnats were terrible, so we finally came in.

Another new thing that's just come on in the last month or so, is she's started to become shy. I mean burying her face in my shoulder-shy. Last weekend in Walmart, an older lady tried talking to her while she was riding in the cart and she put her head down on the cart handle and reached both arms out for me. She wouldn't even look at her. If we're around people she doesn't know and someone tries to talk to her, she'll bury her face in your shoulder and clench your shirt with her fists.

Goodbye Bottles!!!

There's no turning back now.  I packed all the bottles up last night and put them away in a tote.  Not to be seen again....until the next baby, that is.  I'm a little sad, but a lot excited!  No more bottle drying rack on our counter, no more washing fifty million pieces of a bottle (ok, maybe it was only 7 pieces to each bottle, but that quickly adds up), and no more putting fifty million pieces of a bottle together when Ainsley wanted a drink.  She's gone over a week without a day time bottle and she hasn't had a bottle to fall asleep at night since Thursday.  Yay, Ainsley!!!! 

This also means that it's just another step to losing my "baby".  She's been doing really good with the sippy cups and will still let me rock her sometimes while she drinks from her sippy cup.  That makes me feel a little better, but it still makes me sad that there are no more bottles. 

Into everything....

Our adorable baby girl is officially into everything!  Not kidding.  As I type this, she's cleaning out the tv cabinet in the living room.  There are dvds, blankets, owners manuals, camera batteries, and a random toy that I shoved in there a few days ago laying all over the living room floor.  She's not tearing anything up, and it's keeping her busy, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

She cleaned out the hamper the other night while I was busy getting all the dirty clothes from our bedroom.

She loves to get into every drawer in the house and clean it out.  The end table drawers in the living room, cabinet drawer in the kitchen that holds the dish towels, dresser drawers in her bedroom where she pulls every piece of clothing out possible, and her absolute favorite that can occupy her for a good half hour or so are the drawers in the bathroom.  The drawer that has all my makeup and the drawer that holds feminine products are the best.  She can sit in the bathroom floor and play with a box of tampons while I take a shower or get ready.  She'll pull all of them out of the box and then put them all back in, and repeat.  As long as it keeps her occupied and busy while I get something done, it's all good!

Keeping tabs on our street....

I don't know what the new obsession with our bedroom is, but she loves going back there.  When I walk back to see what she's doing, she'll be walking along side of the bed. 

Climbing is still a favorite activity.  Climbing up in her chair and standing is so much fun. 

Look Mom-no hands!

If there is a remote, phone, or a laptop in sight and you leave the room, you better not plan on being out of the room for very long.  It's the only time she moves fast, and I mean it's like she has eyes in the back of her head.  She won't be paying one bit of attention to what you're doing, but she knows as soon as you leave the room and will get to the remote, phone, laptop in no time.

We had a rough few hours the other day.  She pulled the number 3 key off the laptop keyboard.  I literally walked out of the living room for one minute and set the laptop on the footstool.  I left it open, and she somehow was able to pry the number 3 key off the keyboard.  When I walked back in, she handed it to me like:  "Here Mom...I think you need this".  Not even ten minutes after she did that, she had her new Mickey car on top of her.  She tried climbing off of it and the entire thing toppled over on top of her.  Then, she was in our bedroom closet and pulled the full length mirror on top of her.  I was more than ready for Joel to get home that day!

Loving on Daddy

She's been watching a lot of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse lately.  She likes to sit on our lap and rock while watching it.  Her chair is another favorite place to sit to watch it.

This picture cracks me up!  She was really into Mickey!

I gave her a powdered donut for breakfast this morning and she loved it!  Actually, I gave her two and she loved both of them, as well as half of a banana!

Easter with the Freeman's

We had Easter lunch today with the Freeman's.  Ainsley had a good lunch and then went out for an Easter egg hunt.  She found a few eggs.  She was more interested in what everyone else and the dogs were doing than the actual eggs.

I found an egg!

I'll just stand here and chew on it and watch everyone else!

It was so nice outside.  On our way home, my car said it was 84.  She still didn't like touching the grass, so we tried to stay on the concrete as much as possible.

Sue had some pretty flowers in her flower bed that were blooming, so I had to get some pictures of Ainsley bug in front of them.

Get me outta here!

I don't want to touch anything....

Maybe I like this flower...

Ainsley actually walked this afternoon while holding onto my hands and then walked with me and Rita for quite a while.  She would never walk with anyone before, only walking with a walker or taking a few steps by herself.  I was really surprised how much she walked while holding onto our hands today. 

We didn't stay long, because Joel needed to get back in the fields.  As soon as we got home, he left again for the river farm.  Ainsley fell asleep on the way home, but woke up as soon as we put her in her crib.  She took a twenty minute nap this morning and only slept for ten or fifteen minutes on the way home, so the rest of the afternoon/evening is sure to be "wonderful" and I'm sure I'll have a very cranky baby on my hands.

Fever

Yesterday before we left Dad's, Ainsley felt a little warm.  When we got home, I checked her temperature and it was 99.5.  I was worried that she may be a little dehydrated because she hadn't drank very much.  She hasn't had a bottle during the day since last Monday, and we've only been giving her one at night to fall asleep.  She doesn't drink the greatest out of a sippy cup, so I broke down and gave her Tylenol in a bottle with Pedialyte.  That bottle went right down, so I was glad to at least get some liquids in her.  I didn't think any more about her fever, and we put her to bed around 7:30.

She woke up around 3 crying and we let her cry herself back to sleep.  She wakes up occasionally in the middle of the night and will go back to sleep.  When she woke up an hour later at 4 and cried, I decided to go get her and bring her in bed with us.  I'm glad I did!  She was burning up.  I took her temperature and it was 101.4.  It scared the crap out of both of us. 

She was sweating, so we pulled her pants off.  Joel said he was putting her pants on his head to try to keep her entertained while I went to get her Tylenol, and she would barely smile.  I put her Tylenol in a bottle with juice and she sucked it down.  It took about an hour before she started to cool off.  She slept in until 8:30 this morning.  She wasn't running a fever when she woke up, but it started to creep up to 99.4 around 10.  She was suppose to go to Lisa's and I had some things I needed to do, so I ended up running her over to Lisa's around 10:30. 

We were scheduled for a follow up appointment with Dr. Johnston on Thursday afternoon for her ear infection, so I went ahead and called this morning to see if we could get in today.  I was worried that her ear infection hadn't gone away completely and that's where the fever was coming from.  We got an appointment for 4 this afternoon and when I picked her up from Lisa's around 3:30, she was starting to get warm again.  Lisa said she was clingy all day and didn't act like she felt good.  When we got to the doctor's office, her temperature was up to 100.4.  The doctor checked her ears, but they looked good.  She did a strep test on her, and luckily, it came back negative.  They think it's either something viral, that will last a few days, or her teeth.  I gave her more Tylenol when we got home and she slept about 45 minutes on my lap tonight.   She's up and playing now.  I'm hoping this doesn't last long, because I hate when she doesn't feel good.  I'm starting to wonder when we'll ever catch a break.  We just got done with a cold, ear infection, wheezing, and terrible diaper rash.  We only had our happy baby girl back for a day before she got sick again.

Here's a picture in the bath tonight.  I had a curl going in the back of her hair.