Grant's Farm

Well, today was the last day of my vacation. Good thing is that I only have to work two days this week and then I'm off for the three-day weekend! We got to Grant's Farm right when it opened and it was an absolutely beautiful day. Peyton didn't know what to think about those goats. We were a little afraid she would want to drink the bottle of milk but she did okay! She seemed to like the huge tortoises - she kept wanting to walk back to them. We got to the beer garden right before 11 am and she was still going pretty good (two days in a row with no morning nap!), so we ordered lunch and Greg and I each enjoyed a beer. By the time we left at noon there was an enormous line. We heard people say they were waiting an hour. There is no way P would have made it through that. So glad we got there early! She fell asleep almost as soon as we put her in the car seat and slept until almost 2:30. Greg and I were pretty pooped too, so we took a little nap. We made a quick trip up to Faust park to play on the playground and ride the carousel. Then, we had to get home to get the house ready for poker. Now I'm wondering why I didn't take the next two days off.

Bouncing

Turns out we didn't plan out our week very well and almost everything is closed on Mondays that we hadn't seen yet. So, we went to our favorite park in the morning and in the afternoon we went to Bounce U. They have open "bouncing" during certain times. She's a little small for it but she still had a great time. I think Greg enjoyed it just as much if not more! It was nice since there weren't very many kids there to worry about trampling her. No pictures cuz the camera was buried in the diaper bag and I thought I forgot it. We are definitely contemplating a birthday party there in a few years.

Lazy Sunday

Got my sticks..

Just follow me.

Watching the boats

Greg and I went to a grad party on Saturday night so Peyton stayed at Uncle Bob & Aunt Stephie's house. We were pretty tired the next day so we decided to lay low and not adventure out too far. After her morning nap, we went to Creve Coeur (is that right? I live here and never remember how to spell it) Park for a walk. It cooled off a lot after that storm came through Saturday night. We've been letting her go off on her own a little more instead of confining her to her wagon/stroller. As you will see in the pictures, she loves to pick up sticks and carry them around. Our subdivision is full of trees that drop a lot of sticks. So, we go on walks a lot and she has to stop every couple feet to pick up sticks. Who needs toys, really?

Magic House

On Saturday, we took refuge from the heat at the Magic House. Neither Greg nor I had been there since we were kids. It is huge now! I was a little worried that they wouldn't have much for her age range, but was I wrong! She LOVED the story book area and the slides. It's so fun now that she can go off and explore on her own without us carrying her. We did get the picture of her with the static electricity ball. Afterwards, we realized that it may have been better if I had held her in the picture since Greg's hair is so short! Of course, all week we had a hard time getting her to let me hold her for a picture since she only wanted her daddy to hold her. I'm ready for this phase to be over with!

My first trip to the Zoo!

I'm going to get that turkey!

Hi Mom!

Whoa, he's big!

Digging in the sand.

Friday we decided to go to the zoo. Knowing that it would be 100 degrees that day and that some exhibits were free the first hour it was open, we got there right at 8am (plus we got a great parking spot on the road so we didn't have to pay the $11 for parking!). We went to the Children's Zoo, saw the gorillas and monkeys and cooled off in the Penguin house. She got most excited by the couple of birds walking around, one was a turkey but I'm not sure what the other was, and the Zebra. Neither Greg nor I had been to the zoo in over 10 years, so we all enjoyed it. Luckily most of the paths were shaded by trees, so although it was quite warm it was definitely not miserable. We had all had it by 10 and when we left, lots of people were walking in - now they were going to be hot!

My first carousel ride

Did I spell that right? Thursday was G's first day off from work and we got to wait for the windshield repair guy and the TV repair guy to come. Luckily they both came before noon. So, we have our TV in the basement back and our windshield no longer whistles (we recently had a new one installed and turns out the guy didn't put it in right - fabulous). After lunch we took P to Faust Park to ride the carousel. She loved it at first but quickly looked bored. Oh well, it was a super cheap outing and we got some cute pix. And it was something to do in the air conditioning - could it be any hotter this week?

And our Staycation begins...

Because we had some vaca days to burn (and could get a credit on daycare tuition), Greg and I decided to take a week off and bum around the Lou. Greg couldn't take Wednesday off, so P and I had a girls' day. After her morning nap, we went and picked up Aunt Stephie and headed out to Foristel to meet Gina's new baby, Sam. We were a little disappointed her future hubby (Gina's other son, Sully - yes, P has a lot of prospects!) wasn't there to play, but that meant that Peyton had full run of the house and all of Sully's toys to herself. And boy, does he have a lot toys! And, the house is TOTALLY babyproofed, which I can't say for my own house, so she could go from room to room and play while I held the teeny little baby. I'm sad we don't get to see Peyton's future mother-in-law (as Gina kept mentioning) often enough. But, we had a great time and can't wait to visit again when Sully is there.
Peyton slept the entire 50 minutes home and then we went and played in her pools in the backyard. It was a nice start to our fun week ahead.

Just like Mommy

I have this thing where, if I'm sitting down at home, I have to be sitting cross-legged or otherwise have my feet up or under me. I'm sitting cross-legged right now in the computer chair. I even sit that way in the dinner table. That's just how I'm comfortable. We've noticed that Peyton has her legs crossed most of the time in her high chair. So, she got at least one thing from me. Funny thing is she looks just like her Uncle Bob's baby pictures in this picture.

Peyton is 14 months old, by the way! She is becoming more independent and gets mad at me when I try to hold her hand if we're walking downhill or someplace that makes me nervous. She is a big girl and doesn't need help! I'm losing track of her teeth; she has a at least 12 and is getting some new ones up top. Not sure which ones, I will have to consult the diagram in the baby book! The drool continuously pours out of her mouth. We are back to covering up all her cute clothes with big ol' bibs. She climbs all over the place and loves to climb up stairs.

She's getting pretty good at repeating words. I've been working on getting her to say to words in a row, like "Hi Daddy". She's not quite there but can at least get out as many syllables as I say. She knows what certain things are and can say them, such as ball and dog, which comes out more like "Dough". She loves to play with her musical toys and really loves to read books.

She is also already testing her limits. She has a few places in the house that she knows she's not allowed to go or touch. She'll put her hand up to the object and peek around with a smile on her face to see if we are watching. If we are, she'll go to grab it. If Grandma is around, though, she only needs to be told "no" once, and she listens. What a little stinker! We're having a lot of fun this summer watching her make all of her new discoveries and seeing how excited she gets when making them.

Father's Day

Father's Day started out with Peyton and I making Greg pancakes and eggs for breakfast. We had to wait for him to get out of bed, though, since he got to sleep in! Daycare made the cutest picture frame that said "Daddy's Girl" and put a picture of her in it with a tie and baseball cap on. So, we gave that to him, a mini cookie cake and a subscription to Blockbuster's mail-in movie deal. Then we headed off to Papa Lou and Gaga Maggie's (Greg's dad & step-mom) for a bbq. Papa had bought a new pool/sprinkler but the little ones (Peyton & AJ) didn't want anything to do with it, though. The water kept shooting them in the face! At least Dakota had fun and all the adults wanted to get in it since it was sooo hot. It's fun getting P together with her cousins and we had a great Thies meal, as always.

Butterflies!

We took P to the Butterfly House last Sunday as a preview of our STL Tourist week we have coming up. All these years we have lived here and we had never been there before. Peyton wanted to run around but they had so many warnings about not touching ANYTHING, we had to carry her. The humidity really brought out those curls of hers! I do think she enjoyed watching the butterflies flying around. Afterwards we had to hit the playground. I think her favorite thing is trying to climb up the slide. Whatever keeps her happy!

Frog legs, anyone?

We hung out over at Nana Jean's and Grandpa Terry's on Sunday. Jean and I ran up to grab some dinner for us and when we got back Greg and Terry were cracking up laughing. They couldn't wait to tell us what happened. They have a lot of little frogs (about the size of your thumb) at their house and Terry found a couple to show Peyton. Peyton grabbed one and if Greg would have been a half a second slower Peyton would have had a frog in her mouth. She does devour everything, but I hope she would have spit that thing out! So gross!

We had a breakthrough!

Drooly Droolerson finally had one of her molars pop through! It's the one on the side that had been bruised really bad. Yay! Her two bottom cuspids also popped through this week. Kinda crazy to see all those teeth in her mouth (where did my baby go again?).

Hangin' at the Pool

We filled P's little pool up last weekend. She had more fun standing outside it and splashing the water than actually being in it. We filled it up in the morning thinking the sun would warm it up but it ended up being in the shade, so it was still pretty cold. It's amazing what a difference a year makes. Last summer she was just a teeny little baby who couldn't even sit up in her pool and this year she's running (ok, maybe wobbling) all over the place. She got her first set of skinned knees that day, too. She was playing in the sprinkler and slipped on the sidewalk. She was not happy!

My lover girl

Peyton's new thing is to "give love" and blow kisses. If you ask her to give love, she'll put her head on your shoulder. Whenever she sees one of her dolls or stuffed animals she will pick it up and hug it or crouch down and lay her head on it. It is so sweet! Miss Nicki at school also taught her how to blow kisses, so Peyton will blow Miss Nicki kisses when we leave for the day. I need to get her on video doing that.

How long do these things take?

I'm just going to vent a little. At P's one-year checkup the doc said her molars were ready to pop through. Well that was 5+ weeks ago and still nothing. Everyone that sees her gums comments on how swollen they are. For about a week now one side has been purple! We were a little worried but when daycare called me at work to ask me if I'd noticed it I became even more worried (you'd think they have seen everything). But, the doctor said that it is very likely the gums could bruise because the molars are so big and we just need to watch for infections. She did say that she was surprised they weren't in already. So, it's just a waiting game, I guess. We've only had about 8 sleepless nights in the past month, so I guess we should be thankful she is taking this all so well.