Second Trip to Dentist

I don't even remember if I posted anything about Paige's first trip to the dentist in May but it was very unsuccessful. She had a "lap visit" and barely let the dentist look in her mouth. Dr. McCandless assured me that the trips would get easier. Well, 6 months later Paige is officially a big girl. I can't believe how much she has grown up in 6 months. She got right up in the chair and let them clean her teeth and do the exam without any problems. I also want to add that we were probably at the dentist's office for a total of 15 minutes max - how awesome is that! Too bad all appointments aren't in and out like that. Of course I didn't have my camera with me so I didn't get any pictures of this milestone.

Something else I want to mention about Paige is that in addition to being a chatty Cathy she has started singing about everything. She just makes up songs about whatever she is doing. Most of the time it is very funny but sometimes Todd and I feel like we are trapped in some really bad musical.

Todd's deadline (my deadline for Todd) for the nursery is quickly approaching. He assures me that it will be finished before he leaves on Saturday to go on his week long Thanksgiving hunting trip. My parents and sister will be here for Thanksgiving so I'm sure I can convince them to help me put the finishing touches on the nursery. I would love to have this marked off of my list of things to do. Obviously, Todd and I are complete opposites when it comes to planning and getting things done. Even though it drives me crazy to wait until the last minute, he has always been true to his word in 16 years and hasn't failed me yet. I'm sure he gets a big kick out of watching me cringe. He did put the crib together today and got some of Paige's baby clothes out of the attic for me. I'm happy to report that there don't seem to be any major stains on any of the clothes. Paige and I had a great time going through the clothes. She is very excited about having a baby sister and there is no doubt in my mind that she is going to be a very helpful big sister.

Hope everyone had a blessed weekend. Ours has been relaxing and productive. Now for the countdown to Thanksgiving!

I'm a NUT!!

Paige loves to sing the acorn song. I have posted a video of her singing it below. Yes, I know it is sideways and can find no way to flip it around. I don't think I could get a better video of her singing it so please enjoy it by tilting your head sideways. She is somewhat obsessed with acorns and we have a bag full of approximately 50 acorns in the garage. She has collected them at home and at school. She wanted to gather them at the zoo but we were able to discourage that particular acorn collecting. If anybody has an idea of anything we could do with lots of acorns, please let me know.

Happy Halloween

Our Halloween weekend was very fun and very busy. Paige dressed up as Cinderella this year so her costume looks very much like the one she wore at her dance recital a couple of weeks ago.

Paige went trick or treating at her school on Friday and around our neighborhood on Saturday. We also watched Monsters Inc. on Saturday night for movie night. Sunday we enjoyed the beautiful day by going to the zoo. Paige really liked the elephants and the giraffes. During the month of October, Paige and I made Halloween decorations. Todd and Paige carved a jack-o-lantern and baked pumpkin seeds. I posted pictures from all of our festivities in October. I apologize that the pics are in such a random order but I was having a heck of a time posting this blog!

Giraffes at the zoo

Riding the train with Mommy

A big cheese

Making a silly face (I think it was her "mad face" but she was having a hard time not laughing.)

Halloween Decorations

Pumpkin Carving with Daddy

Trick or Treating with Daddy

Big smile from Cinderella

Trick or Treating at school

First Dance Recital

Today Paige made her dancing debut. I think they did a great job. She absolutely loves dance. We just finished up the princess class. You will see in the pictures below that she is Cinderella. I tried several times to upload the video but I couldn't get it to work. We are starting our next class which is Creative Dance - ballet, tap, jazz and tumbling. I also learned how to make an official "ballerina bun". I think I did a pretty good job considering I didn't learn how to fix my own hair until I was 15.

Patriotic Paige

So Todd and Paige were feeding the dogs tonight while I was cleaning the kitchen. When I was finished I went out there to see what they were doing. Imagine my surprise when I saw Todd holding an American flag and Paige was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. We didn't even know that she knew it. I am sure they recite it everyday during assembly at her school. I am totally turning into one of those "isn't my child just the cutest thing ever" Moms! Of course she looks like a total ragga-muffin which means she had a fabulous time at school again.

While this video was uploading, we were going through our bedtime routine and Miss Paige was not doing a very good job listening. Needless to say she is sitting in time-out for the second time. She is crying and saying that she wants a smile - translation she wants us to be happy with her. It is absolutely heartwrenching. Now she just told me that she stopped crying.

Dancing Queen

Well, our little girl absolutely loves to dance. Todd and I are always trying to get some good footage of her original dance moves. Here are a couple of clips of her dancing. They could use some editing but I think it is a miracle that I've posted them.

Singing Sensation

Since Paige started her new school she is always coming home singing new songs. This is her latest favorite and I have actually always liked this song "This is the day that the Lord has made." She has made lots of progress with the words because the first two weeks that she sang it she prounounced Lord as "whore". And yes, I giggled every single time. I am so happy with how much she loves this school. Todd says that her face lights up every day when he drops her off and she runs off to play with her "best friends".

Checking in

Well, I don't have anything too exciting to write about. We've been doing very well. Paige is really enjoying school. She has been struggling with her allergies. Now that she doesn't have tonsils and has a brand new set of tubes in her ears she is doing great. Now Mommy is just learning how to deal with a runny nose instead of the major infections. I think we are getting it under control. Todd put our new desk and bookcase together so that we could move the computer out of the nursery. Yeah Todd. Of course now the ball is in my court and there is a ton of crap in there for me to go through. Hopefully, I will make a dent in it this weekend. I really want to have the nursery done by the end of October. I had a doctor's appt last week and the baby has really grown and she is doing well.

I know that Paige says lots of funny things but I can't think of any since I'm actually going to write them down - I definitely need to get better at writing them down as they happen. Here are some pics of Paige that I've taken in the last month. She is so much fun right now and she is such a big girl!

This is what my raggamuffin looked like yesterday when I picked her up from school. At least she obviously had fun, right?

Princess Paige - she insisted on wearing this to Walmart on Sunday. I think Todd was surprised that I went along with it. If you can't dress like a princess when you are 3, when are you going to do it? Besides, have you seen those Walmart emails that have been going around?

Another favorite outfit at our house.

Paige usually requests having a T-shirt on but since Yaya bought her this red tutu (it goes with her Christmas jammies), Paige only wants to wear the tutu. Thanks Yaya!

Our little artist. She drew the happy face by herself. The blue dots are the ears and cheeks.

Results of Todd's hard work. It really looks great in our room.

Paige helping Daddy put the desk together. She loves using the drill - she definitely didn't get that from me!

Labor Day Weekend

My Mom (Yaya) came down for the weekend and it was a busy one. Well, busy for the cranky preggo at least. Friday after we picked Yaya up from the airport we headed straight to the outlet mall on Hwy 290. I spent plenty of money but didn't have the success that I did last time. We were on a mission to find Fall clothes/shoes for Paige. She was a complete angel while we were there.

Saturday we had dance class and my Mom got a couple new pics from that. Then it was errand running: Lowes, Target, Costco & Walmart. Needless to say I was exhausted. Todd put up the water slide for Paige and Josh, Jen, Maddie & Sam came over for dinner. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the babies but they were so sweet and it is obvious Paige is going to be a very helpful big sister.

Yesterday, Daddy & Paige played on the water slide for hours and had so much fun. My Mom and I did some more shopping (of course). This time we hit Marshall's and Target again. I got a really cute diaper bag and new purse and some new clothes for this ever growing body. Today, I am trying to be as lazy as possible. Hope everyone had a very relaxing weekend and spent less money than I did!

Dirty Feet

Obviously Paige has been going to school on a regular basis for quite some time now. And for almost two years she has worn Crocs to school during the summer. They are so easy and they are required to wear closed in shoes to school. This summer was no different. She has been wearing her green crocs almost every day. Before you see the pics below, I also want to mention that I already have plans to go to the outlet mall on Friday to do some Fall clothes shopping and shoe shopping for Paige- especially shoes for school. Are you ready to see what her feet looked like when I picked her up from school today???? At least we know she must be having some fun at school.

Paige & Sam

Princess Ballerina

Last Saturday Paige had her first dance class. It is the Princess class for 3-4 year olds. I got the best pics I could and will keep trying. I have to take pics through a window during the class. Ms. Gina sprinkles them with fairy dust and they do their warm up in their leotards/ballet shoes. After warm-up they get to put on their princess dresses, for the past two weeks they have been Cinderella. Ms. Gina reads them the story of Cinderella and they begin working on their routine. Then they get to put on their tap shoes and practice. Paige loves wearing her tap shoes.

Also, I guess I haven't announced that we are having another girl! We are going to name her Audrey Grace and I believe my due date is Jan. 6. Paige was very upset to learn that she was having a baby sister. She thought it was going to be a boy. She has come to terms with it and says that Mommy has a girl baby in her tummy and Paige has a boy baby in her tummy. Very cute.

Lastly, Paige only wants to wear things that twirl which means dresses. Of course, Mommy convinces her that lots of things twirl. To balance this girly-girl attitude, Paige often likes to wear her camouflage baseball caps with her beautiful dresses. You can imagine how much her Daddy loves this!

Princess Ballerina - took these pics before we put on our ballet shoes

Love this pose!


Not the best pic because of the window but there are the little Cinderella's. Paige is the only blonde in the class.

Beautiful yellow sundress with camo hat

Grandpa & Grandma (Jerry & Rita) bought this hat for Paige

Sprout Imagery

Amber got in a mini-photo shoot while she watched Paige last week. I think the pics turned out great. Hopefully, the next time she is here we can have a full-blown shoot. However, she is insisting on getting some maternity shots but promises she will make me look good! :) Thanks Amber for the great pics. Love you!

Paige's week with Amber "Sissy"

You know how kids really try to pull one over on their substitute teacher? That is exactly what Paige tried to do the week that Amber (Paige calls her Sissy) watched Paige. Amber can tell all of stories much better than me but here are some of the things Paige said or did.
1. My Mommy said I don't have to go potty today.
2. Toward the end of the week, Amber asked Paige if she was excited about going to school on Monday. Paige said she was still too sick. She also told Todd when he asked about feeling better and going back to school "probably not".
3. Amber told Paige she needed to take one more bite of her PB&J. Paige pretended to choke on it.
4. Paige's comforter for her bed wasn't dry and it was time to go to sleep. Paige told Amber she would just stay up until it was done.

Just a few of the "cute" little things Paige said. Thank goodness I'm the Mommy and not the substitute. How do our little friends learn to be so manipulative?

Surgery Success

I can't believe it has almost been two weeks since the operation and I'm just now getting back on here. This pregnancy is making me so tired, I tend to only get accomplished what is absolutely necessary in a day. Paige is recovering well from her surgery. My sister, Amber, stayed home with her last week and Paige is back in school this week. I think she is happy to be back in school. It is nice to see her more active again instead of just watching too much TV and milking the fact that she had her tonsils out. We have our post-op appt. on Friday so I will let you know how that goes.

Pre-Op Appointment

Paige will be having her tonsils and adenoids removed as well as getting more tubes in her ears this Thursday, July 23. We have to be at the hospital (Herman Memorial in The Woodlands) at 7:00 a.m. so I imagine that her surgery will be over early in the morning. There is a good chance we will have to stay the night because they are really concerned about dehydration at this age and will want to keep her IV in. I'm not going to pretend that I don't have any anxiety but I am feeling better about getting it over with.

She had her pre-op appt with the ENT on Friday. This went really well and Paige was so good. She even opened her mouth really wide so the doctor could look at her throat. The doctor even listened to piggy with her stethoscope and let Paige listen to piggy's heart too. At the end of the appt, they told us we would have to set up an appt to do lab work. I was wondering when they were going to draw her blood because I remember getting my tonsils out when I was 4. They sent us to Quest Labs which is what our insurance accepts and that room was very full of people waiting. I was slightly annoyed because I was working that Friday and this was an unexpected detour. I ended up taking the rest of the day off and working on Saturday instead. We waited for 45 minutes and it was our turn. I explained to Paige what they were going to do and she was just excited about getting a bandaid.

She sat on my lap and "D" our nurse got another woman to hold Paige's arm. In anticipation of Paige's reaction, I was afraid I would start crying. Having my own blood drawn doesn't bother me at all but watching my baby get it done - different story. Paige was such a BIG GIRL! She didn't cry or even try to jerk her arm away while they were getting the samples. She got a purple bandaid. As soon as the procedure was over, her little lip started to quiver. I think emotionally it was just too much to handle. As soon as we got to the car she was very upset. This was very short-lived. I told her for being such a big girl she could get a new movie. We went to Target and she looked at all of the movies for a very long time. To my dismay, she picked a Barney movie. She has recently become a huge Barney fan because my Mom (thanks Yaya) bought her a Barney movie. Oh well, it makes her happy. Needless to say, we have watched this new movie at least 6 times since Friday!

Random Pictures of Sweet Paige

Helping make brownies
Professor Paige

I couldn't resist this one - naked jogging??

Ghetto Fabulous

Strong face - She makes this when she eats her veggies

Visit with the Frey Family

Since Luke and Ashley moved we don't get to see each other that often. The Frey family came over for dinner last weekend and Todd set up the water slide for the girls. They had so much fun. I can't believe that I didn't get more pictures - I didn't even take any of Lucas! I will try to do better next time. I would also like to mention that Paige and Halle have not always gotten along but they has such a fabulous time playing together.