St. George Church Picnic

We went to the St. George picnic today at Grandma and Grandpa's church. They had lots of really great food and games to play. Paige had a fun time...they had a duck game that she really enjoyed playing. She showed the other kids how to splash the water...which wasn't really a good thing, but she had fun!

Showing off for Grandma...showing her that she is a big girl!! She was walking around and stopped for a break (and a smile) at this chair!

Playing the duck game.

Pick a duck!

She gets the prize on the bottom of the duck! Pick one Paige!!
She chose duck #2~ a pair of sunglasses!! Yay!

Swimming

Paige went swimming in her little pool at Grandma's house today. It was fun to watch her explore the pool (from the outside), eventually get in, and enjoy the water! Yes, I was in the pool too! I thought it would help her to be less afraid of getting in...I think it helped. Here is the experience through pictures!

Getting ready to test the water!!

One hand in!!
Two hands!!

All in...this is fun!!! Looks like swimming is a real hit for Paige!! Plus, there is nothing like swimming in the backyard and getting grass on your face!!

Eating Daddy's Ice Cream

Neil was eating an ice cream cone today, and Paige decided that she would like to try some. Neil tried to give her a bite of the ice cream, but she wanted to hold the whole cone. So he gave it to her.

Of course, it was a little hard for her to bite, but she didn't give up. She kept examining it and trying it over and over. She did manage to take some very small bites of the cone with her four little front teeth...determined little girl!!

Father's Day

Today Neil celebrated his first Father's Day. He truly is a wonderful father. Paige and I are so blessed and we thank God for him.

We celebrated this wonderful day over at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Paige made a hand print for her Grandpa and he loved it!
Paige just loves her grandpa and thinks that he is way too interesting to look at the camera!

Playing Outside with Daddy

Paige loves playing outside at Grandma and Grandpa's house. (Unfortunately, we don't have a very good yard at our new house, so she doesn't get to play in the grass much!) So, her daddy took her out to play and walk around before dinner. She really enjoyed it!

Walking with the security of daddy...she is not afraid of the grass anymore! No more flamingo stances with barefeet!

Here is the big girl walking all on her own!!

A Day with Macy

Macy (Paige's cousin) came over to our house for the day. Paige had fun hanging out with her and so did I. We baked cookies, made cards, and played a little too. It was a busy and fun day!

The girls took a little time to relax from all the activities!

Paige ate Beefaroni for lunch (for the second time) and I just couldn't resist taking pictures again! Look at how cute and messy she is!!

Walking Like a Pro!

Paige is on the move now! She is walking as if she has always known how to do it. She does get a bit wobbly every now and then (and has to do a balance check), but she is all over the place!!!!

Loving the Swing!!

Paige loves to swing, and we finally got her swing up at our house. She gets the biggest smile on her face when she swings...and sometimes really gets to chuckling a lot, too. She is such fun!!

We are going to have to move the swing though because the sun shines directly on her in the afternoon, and she can hardly open her eyes!

This is not the best picture of Paige (since her eyes are closed) but you can see her four teeth pretty good.

11 Months Old

Paige turned 11 months old yesterday! She is getting to be such a big girl...not in weight, but in ability and age...Wow! She took 12 steps consecutively yesterday and is really enjoying herself in this journey of learning how to walk. It was kind of like she just all of a sudden realized how to do it. 12 steps was the most that she took at one time, but she did it over and over for about 2o minutes. She was really proud of herself and so were we!

It is just amazing that she has been in our lives for eleven months now. Yesterday I was trying to remember how small she was when Neil and I first held her in our arms...and I barely could. It is weird how time plays tricks on the mind...it seems like just yesterday, but so much has happened that it is hard to remember all the little details. I guess that is why you have to live in the moment because once it is gone, you can't get it back!

I try to enjoy every moment with Paige, but every mom and dad knows that sometimes you get caught up in the work of life and raising a child. So, whenever I feel like I am getting bogged down with the everyday "stuff," I make a point to take a break to actually sit down and play with my little Paige. I love doing that, and that is what parenthood is all about...enjoying your kids! Now, if someone else would clean our houses, cook and pay our bills, we could all do that all day, huh?!

Here is Paige hanging out on the deck...I forgot to take a picture of her yesterday, so this will have to be her 11 month picture! Doesn't she look so big in her chair?!

Five Steps Today

Paige took five steps in a row today, and she is getting more and more confident about it! She could be a walker any day now...although, she knows that crawling is still way faster. So, that will probably be her first choice of locomotion for a while!

Back to Eating

Paige is back to her old self again. She slept all night last night and she is eating like normal today. She also stopped holding her lip out...which is really good because Neil said that she looked like she was holding tobacco chew in her lip...yuck! That is certainly not cute for a little girl...looking like a baseball player! Ha!

First Steps and Feeling Better

Paige took her first steps today. The first time she did it, she kind of took two steps to the side. Later on, she took two steps forward while standing in the kitchen. We are so excited!!



Paige's fever is gone and she slept better last night...she still can't eat a lot, though. She will only eat 2-3 bites of food and then quit. She is very cautious too! She feels her food with her index finger to feel how soft it is before she will put it into her mouth...pretty smart little girl!

Elmo Walker

Paige has an Elmo lawnmower that she just loves to walk with! She is so proud of herself whenever she does it...she looks at us to see if we are watching her, and then she gets a really big smile on her face...she is such a fun little girl! What did we do with our time before we had her?!

Sick Again

So, Paige has a virus now. The poor thing woke up with a fever of 103.3 yesterday. She was burning up!! I thought something was wrong the night before because she had a slight fever of 101.7 before going to bed. So, we went to the doctor again and she has the Coxsackie A virus which causes Herpangina (a very red sore throat with yellow sores). It is very painful for her!!

Last night was very difficult...she would go to sleep for 30 minute increments and then wake up crying. She did this all night! The only way I could get her back to sleep was to nurse her...it seemed soothing to her throat, so I was all for it!

It was a good thing that she was marathon nursing last night and today because she won't eat a thing!! She tried a couple of times, but she just started crying after the first bite. She won't even swallow her saliva. She has started holding her lip out to try to contain her saliva because she is that afraid of hurting her throat!! Neil and I feel so bad for her...hopefully she will get better soon!

With her rough night last night, Paige woke up with some real bed head. I tried to take a picture because she looked so funny with tousled curls on the top of her head...Paige kept trying to get the camera from me!

The Right Tooth is Here!!

Paige's right tooth (top front) cut through last night...just a little. I will have to get a picture of her with her four teeth to post soon...get excited!!

Snails and Slugs

Today Kathy and I took Paige to Runge Nature Center in Jefferson City. I signed Paige up for a program called Babes in the Woods which provides activities for children ages 0-2 years old. Today the topic was snails and slugs, so Paige got to learn about snails and slugs. It was a fun time!

Here Paige is learning that snails and slugs have eyes on the top of their tentacles and that when snails sleep they go inside their shell.

Here we are practicing looking around like a snail or slug does.

Paige got to crawl through a tunnel to practice moving like a snail and slug move.At first, Paige was a little hesitant to go through, but when she saw me and her Grandma at the other end, she started crawling. The second time that she went through, she really picked up her speed!

Paige got to go out to the pond and try to catch some snails in her net. She got one snail and a tadpole! Paige liked this a lot and wanted to fling water on me with the net, so we had to move on from that activity! LOL!Next, we went out to the garden to find some snail and slugs, since they like to eat plants. The teacher made it easy and gave us a snail to hold (I was secretly happy that she didn't give us a slug like she did some other kids...yuck!) Paige liked looking at the snail and feeling the shell.

In this picture Paige has the snail in her hand. I bet you can guess what she tried to do with it...that's right, she tried to put it in her mouth (more than once). Needless to say, the snail hid in his shell!

I tried to hold the snail so that Paige could see him come out of his shell. He did come out for a second and Paige must've liked him because she immediately wanted to pick him up again. Look at the concentration on her face! After class, we went back inside the nature center to look around. Paige got to see a really big frog and a real snake. She liked watching the snake slither in his tank.

Visit to Indiana

We went to visit Indiana over Memorial weekend. It was really busy because we only stayed two days. We didn't even have enough time to visit everyone in the family, but we hope to go back after the middle of July. It is just hard to travel with Paige. I am hoping that it will get easier after she is one...we'll see!

For example, we always drive at night to make it less stressful for Paige. She really hates long trips in the car and cries a lot. So, for this trip we left at 8:00 pm and arrived at 12:45 am in Terre Haute. (The drive was much better than the 6 1/2 hour drive that we are used to doing from Kansas City, though.) Paige almost made it the whole way, but she woke up the last hour and cried until I let her play with my phone. I thought that was pretty good, but I paid for it when we got to our destination. She wouldn't go back to sleep for two hours...but why would she when mom let her play?!! Live and learn!

On our way home Paige woke up with one hour to go again and I just tried to soothe her and stick it out. There was no way that I was giving her something to play with. We made it back and she went right to sleep in her bed...whew!

Here are some pics from our trip:

On Saturday we went to Fazolis to eat lunch, so Paige got to eat Fettuccine Alfredo for the first time. She really liked it...the taste and the feel of it!

One of the reasons we came home this weekend is because my cousin, Bernice is expecting a baby and her shower was on Sunday...Paige got pretty tired by the end of the shower. She enjoyed seeing all the people and playing with the other kids...babies are always such a hit with young kids! Here we are with my Aunt Rhonda and her youngest daughter, Sarae. Paige is sleeping in my arms...so sweet...she never does that anymore, although she probably would if I would let her!We took a family pic before everyone left. From the left is my Aunt Liz, Aunt Karen, Bernice, Rhonda and Sarae, Me, and my Grandma. (Paige was taking her nap.)Here I am with the expectant mommy, Bernice. Bernice is due on Paige's birthday...crazy, right?! So, she is the exact amount of pregnant that I was last year...watch out for those swollen ankles in July (uggh)!!Paige had to get in on the picture too!!Here we are with Paige's Great Grandma. Her first name is Bernice, so this is who Paige and I are both named after.After the baby shower, we went to visit Paige's grandparents and great grandparents. Great Grandpa Bill showed Paige his hot tub. Paige really loved the warm, "bubbly" water and putting her feet in.She really examined what was going on with the water. You may have noticed that she no longer has her bow in this picture...yep, during her excitement it fell in the water!