Houston Family

While in Houston last week, we had lots of cousin time! We took the girls to the mall and let them play. Most of the toys were too big for the girls, but they didn't seem to mind. 

Paige is getting to be quite the little climber.

The other day, she took this box off of the bench, then used it to climb up on. I have a feeling I'm going to have to keep a good eye on this girl!

My grandma got the girls Green Bay Packer cheerleader outfits. They are so cute, with the little pom-poms! 

We dressed them up right before nap time, so the girls weren't overly smiley at that point.

Last Wednesday, Paige and I flew back to Oklahoma. I was spoiled because our flight to Houston was so easy, I figured the flight back would be.

ha.

Even though the flight was only an hour, I wasn't prepared well for it. I didn't bring hardly any toys because Paige was going to be in the carrier and I was hoping she would sleep. Instead, she kept wanting to tickle the complete stranger man next to us, who looked less than thrilled about having a child within 10 feet of him. It was nap time, but she thought throwing her toys and food was a better use of her time. Meanwhile, I'm having a small panic attack trying to figure out how to control my 13 month old child and get her to sit in my lap like a little angel.  And this was all before take off.

So once the seat belt sign was off, I stood in the galley at the front and rocked her till she fell asleep. Then I just stood the rest of the flight. When we had turbulence and were starting to descend, I sat down and she woke up. I figured since she had a little catnap she would be perfectly delightful, so I took her out of the carrier. Instead I think she was confused and decided to cry until we landed. It was so much fun, I am already looking forward to my next flight alone with an infant in my lap. 

We've enjoyed being back in Oklahoma, but definitely missing the warmer weather we had in Houston. My goal is to blog more regularly, so look for another post soon!

love

laura

Cousins Cousins Cousins

Tuesday morning Paige and I flew to Houston, to visit my sister. It was Paige's 11th flight, but my first time to fly with her by myself. I was a little worried, but it went really well!!!! Our flight was a little delayed, but I just walked around with Paige in the carrier (love my Ergo!). She took a little nap until we boarded the plane.

I kept her in the carrier for the first 20 minutes, while Paige waved to everyone she could see. Girl knows how to work the crowd. Meanwhile, I was trying not to get sick. I never get airsick or carsick, but it was really hot on the plane and I was so close to losing it. yuck.

After I nursed her I let her play on the empty seat next to us-we had the ONLY empty seat on the plane, and I was so thankful!!! She did really well until the last few minutes when she wanted to move around more. So I distracted her with food, ha! 

We went to the grocery store the other day when the boys were in school, and got a lot of looks. I think people thought they were twins. I honestly don't think they look that much alike, but we hear that they do all the time.

(Adelyn is 11 weeks older than Paige).

Yesterday I kept the girls while Sarah and Mike had a date. The girls were really good and we had fun playing together.

(don't they look thrilled? ha!) 

 Paige decided not to nap in the morning though, and both girls refused their second nap. So Sarah and I put the girls in the car and drove around. This is what we found when we got back home. Precious!!!

Paige keeps climbing on the outside of the steps and making me a nervous wreck. She keeps going higher and could care less about possibly getting hurt.

She climbs on the higher steps, but I take her off real quick so I don't have pictures. 

Both girls have had runny noses and now we think maybe a stomach bug. The last month, Paige has been waking up almost every night crying, (which she has done maybe 5 times in her entire life). I couldn't figure it out, but thought maybe it had to do with weaning. Yesterday, I felt in her mouth and realized her 2 top molars were in ! And have probably been in for several days. The last 4 nights she has slept perfectly! I'm glad it was probably just teething and not our new norm!

Paige getting some good hugs with cousin Ethan! 

We've been enjoying the nice weather, taking walks, going to the park, and playing in the yard. I've been enjoying having nice grocery stores with organic options!! We went to Central Market and Kroger, and I practically drooled over the options, even the little things like organic applesauce make me happy. 

Sarah's boys are 7 and 5, and after just being here an hour, I now know all the words to the Lego movie theme song. It's awesome.

We are here until Wednesday, then we fly back to Oklahoma. I hope that flight goes as well as the first one. 

Have a great weekend!

love

laura

Park Time

The last few days have been just beautiful here in Oklahoma! So we have been trying to be outside as much as we can to enjoy it all.

Yesterday, we went to the park with cousin, Ava, and today we went to a lake not too far from the house.

Paige loves being outside! And she hasn't really been around water before, so this was fun for us too!

These cheeks are just too much!!!

When we were at the park yesterday, someone thought Paige was a boy. I made sure we had a bow in our hair today, just to make sure this wasn't any confusion, ha!

There was a playground at the park, and Paige kept following all the big kids around trying to play with them. Even though she isn't really talking, I could tell she wanted to play with them so bad! I think she likes to watch them do all the big kid stuff she isn't able to do yet.

Cutie pie!

Love her smile!

Have a good weekend!

love

laura

Gogo & Papa's House

My parents are Gogo and Papa to the grandkids. They were supposed to be Grandma and Grandpa, which is all we grew up with. But my sisters oldest child (and first grandchild) starting calling them Gogo and Papa, and we've just gone with it.

My parents drove from Illinois to Oklahoma for the birthday party, so Paige and I rode back with them to stay for about 10 days. We were in the car about 8 hours, and she slept for about 30 minutes. Despite hardly sleeping, she did great! 

We got this playset on Craigslist and it has been the best toy for Paige. I knew she would like it, because we played with it at a friends house before. This kept her entertained for several days. 

My mom has a front load washer and dryer, and Paige thought it was the coolest thing. Everytime it was going, she would stand in front and just watch it. I love this picture, it looks like she has her hands on her hips impatient for her laundry.

Paige got to try Gogo's homemade blackberry jam. I think she was a fan. 

Paige, and I'm sure most children her age, loves getting into things. She really likes sitting in large tupperware, box tops, and things of that size. She played with this box for about 20 minutes one day. 

Since Paige didn't eat all that much of her very first cupcake, we decided to take her to a little cupcake shop and let her experience it again. I think she liked it. She ate half of my moms cupcake which was a lot of dark chocolate and icing.

Gogo thought Paige could have her own, but Mama said let's start small, ha!

She did have some tummy trouble the next day, but I'm not sure if it was related or not. She has had a little bit of ice cream and has LOVED it! She cried both times it was over. 

Nothing better than wearing our cupcake outfit to the cupcake place. She's such a cutie!

One day I was in the kitchen and watched Paige go over to the side table, grab the (new) box of kleenex, then go sit down with it. I should've told her No, but it was one of the cute moments that I just had to let happen.

She took out every tissue one by one, then seemed a little confused when the box was empty. It was pretty cute.

One day Papa took us to lunch at Red Lobster. Paige had salmon for the first time and seemed to really like it. These days though, if we go out to eat, it's hard to get her to focus and eat. She loves to people watch and gets pretty distracted with new surroundings. But she is really good when we are out, and I love that!

The drive home was a little rough, we were in traffic, so in the car almost 11 hours. Paige did great up until the last hour, and I was getting impatient, so I completely understand why she was.

We are back in Oklahoma for several days, then we will go visit Auntie Sarah in Houston for a week. We are looking forward to playing with cousin Adelyn!

love

laura

THE Party

I've been preparing for Paige's first birthday party since before she was even born. I early on declared Paige a lover of cupcakes and polka dots! Having a baby girl born after Valentine's day is perfect! Last year I stocked up on lots of great stuff and was able to do the same this year.

I love how everything turned out! You just can't have too much pink right?

We had cupcakes, candy, chocolate covered marshmallows, veggie tray, and punch!

I found this idea on Pinterest to serve the marshmallows, and i love it! I just filled glasses with valentine's m&m's then placed the spokes inside. Turned out very cute!

I had so much fun being in america and being able to buy all the party supplies I needed. It almost made me want to throw regular parties just because of how much easier it is here.

Paige's party hat! Which she wore longer than I thought she would!

Her special cupcake!! It was just chocolate cupcake mix and homemade buttercream vanilla icing. My parents came down for the party, and my mom frosted the cupcakes. 

Here are a  few other decorations!

I originally printed out her monthly pictures to display to show her growth, but at the last minute I decided to make it more of a game for the adults. I put the pictures in random order and had the adults try and guess the month of the picture. I tried it out on Daniel and our moms first, and no one was even close, ha! The winner of the game (by far) was Daniel's Aunt-she got 9 of them right. It was a lot of fun!

Paige was a little unsure of what to do with all the people and attention. Sidenote, i've had her first birthday outfit picked out since before she was born. My mom bought this outfit when we found out we were having a girl, and I instantly loved it!

But she was very excited to greet her guests.

I was so excited/grateful that my friend Jen drove up from Dallas with her little girl to help us celebrate. It meant so much to me to have her at Paige's first birthday!

I love this girl and am so thankful for her!!

First up on the party agenda, was to give Paigers her first taste of chocolate! We sang to her and I helped her blow out the candle. Then she just stared at the cupcake for a while. We had 15-20 people standing around taking pictures, so I think all the attention kept her from just diving right in.

Overall she didn't eat too much, I think there was just too much commotion. I gave her a taste of icing and she was not a fan. Maybe it was just too sweet?

Oh well, there's always next time!

After cupcakes, we opened presents. It's funny to see the big difference between Christmas when Paige really didn't have a clue, to now where she was semi-interested. 

What birthday isn't complete without a giant cupcake??

Her favorite thing of course was the Puffs she got, mainly because she can recognize them anywhere.

After presents, we all went outside and played for a while. It was a beautiful day!!! 

Grandma and Grandpa have had this little tractor for a while, but it was the first time we got it out to play.

We tried getting some family pics, but the sun just wasn't working with us. oh well!

I may just need to work on the editing. But I think we all look good together :)

We were so thankful to have friends and family all come together for Paige's birthday party. Being in the states for her first birthday was so special!

After the party we all went to dinner at Slim Chicken's. It is one of our fave places!

Happy Birthday Little Cupcake!

love

laura