I don't think I'm ready yet...

So Matt and I have had quite the adventure for the past week. After we went to Colorado, we agreed to babysit/housesit our sister-in-law, Donnie's, sister's four kids while her and her hubby went out of town to watch the BYU game. I went from having a 4-month old to having a 9-year-old, 8-year-old, 6-year-old, and a 2-year-old, plus Livers, of course.

Here's Livers with Caden. These were my two little buddies all day while the other kids were at school. At first, Caden wasn't a fan of sharing attention with Livers, but by the end of the week he would come lay by Alivia and chill with her - it was so cute.
So I learned a couple things during the 5 days that we watched these little ones:

1. I am not ready for toddler poop! Ew! I'm used to baby diarrhea that looks like mustard - but not actual poop! Luckily I have a little while longer before that happens! I had a little changing station set up in the house and spent the majority of the day there with these two.2. Tweens have attitude! Here's Brinley (9) and Casey (8). They were super sweet and helpful, but had their moments. Unfortunately, Alivia is only 5 months old and I can already tell she's going to have a lovely dose of attitude at an early age - payback for my parents, I guess.

3. If you leave a 2-year-old for even a SECOND - mayhem occurs!!! I would leave this kid in his high chair to go check on Livy and BAM!!! Peanut butter and jelly would be in his hair and on the floor! Also, 2-year-olds are flight risks! I had to make sure he hadn't escaped every time the door opened.
4. Matt and I have always said that we want a big family - but we're going to take it one kid at a time!
Also, Ben and Donnie brought the boys over while we were there so all of the cousins could play together. Their littlest one, Jake, is three months younger than Alivia, but is only smaller by like two pounds! It's crazy!We also tried to put him in the Bumbo, it looked hilarious. He's still mastering the whole head control thing...
Here's a couple other hilarious pics from that week...

Here we have Dumbo meets the Bumbo
Here we are loving our Oatmeal - she hates rice - she'll only eat the oatmeal.Laughing one minute......and then one second later...CRAZY!

Craziness in Colorado

So this first picture is a side note and then I'll get to our lovely weekend in Parker... Sometimes Alivia is playing on the ground and decides that she's super tired and here's what it looks like:So our little Labor Day getaway was filled with a lot of firsts for Livers. She got to meet some of her second cousins for the first time ever who had more fun with her toys than she did! The bumbo was a big hit among all. It was mainly used as some sort of helmet with the older kids. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it. Then she went boating for the first time. It was pretty hilarious. Here are some awesome pics from the big event:

The life jacket was more for eating than for floating. Also, I'm not sure why it looks like Matt has a milk mustache.Here's Matt and my aunt, Michelle, attempting to keep the littlest ones happy.Here I am chillin with my awesome little cousins. You can see me trying to convince my little cousin, Shayla, of two things: A) that I'm actually her cousin and B) that I'm married and I have a little kid. Later in the weekend, she told me about the dangers of drinking poison and blood. She's very informative.
Alivia was pooped after the first 20 minutes on the boat. Luckily, Matt found a way to keep them cool.What a happy family. As you can tell, Alivia was in charge of holding the flag up to inform other boats that someone was in the water.Here's Livers playin with Grandma while making one of the best faces ever. Apparently, Grandma has wronged this poor girl.Gettin in some play time with Grandpa.
Here's Alivia taking a bath in the sink...
...And here's the crowd that gathered around to watch the spectacle.Since Drew's been gone, Ky has been without an older brother to beat the crap out of him. So Matt stepped in and immediately rectified the problem by giving him this gross bruise with a toy light saber...Here's Matt teaching the kiddlies how to juggle.I have a picture of Shayla giving Matt a kiss on the cheek on the Fourth of July in 2007. Here they are a year later, stronger than ever.Young and old, everyone's a fan of Little Einsteins!
"I am a cello, and I am looking for my mommy!"

Yeah, Alivia's awesome.

The cutest little outfit on the cutest little bod...So I went to this little pool hopping party that the moms in my neighborhood had for their little ones. Alivia is still too little to get into the pools, but it was the perfect opportunity to put her in this way cute swimming outfit.The flip flops pretty much rock my world.Just chillin in her little jumper thing......while making some awesome faces...Apparently I surprised her by taking this picture.

The dreaded screaming phase begins...

The best part is that she always seems to start the screaming extravaganza during church when it's DEAD SILENT, and it literally comes out of nowhere! We're just sitting there enjoying ourselves as the awesome Wiseman threesome and then BAM!

Something we promised ourselves we'd never do...

I know, I know! It looks horrible, but it keeps her so happy! And she loves Little Einsteins almost as much as Matt does! Seriously, he'll sing like five songs from that show - it's awesome. It really is an awesome Bumbo Baby-Sitter when I need five minutes to finish something - like this post, for example.

Also, I wanted to show you all of the amazing new adventures in the Bumbo:

Here she is as I prepare to make some Livers stew.

Here she is just lounging around.
Here she is in her Bumbo trying muddy buddies for the first time. She freaking loves this stuff! She would suck on it so hard and then later on, she started to bite it! It was so funny! Who can blame her, though? It's delicious!

Here she is in her Bumbo being romantic with me. She loves to interlace fingers lately. Oh Alivia.

Here she is attempting to escape the Bumbo. Doesn't this picture look funny? We knew it wouldn't take her long to discover that it actually constrains her...And here's just something funny. Earlier today I was sitting, taking care of some stuff on the computer and I looked over at Alivia and here's what I saw:

She was peeking at me from under the table (while sitting in the Bumbo, of course)! It was so cute! I love this kid.

Who's excited about some real food? ...Not Alivia

So we finally decided to try Alivia out with some rice at night. She keeps trying to eat our food so we thought it was about time. Our first attempt ended with a lot of tears and angry feelings all around - Alivia was mad at me for giving her gross food, Matt was mad at me for SUPPOSEDLY talking to him in a derogatory way, and I was mad at Matt for being a butthead.

So then we put her in her bath and she was super happy and I thought, why not try the food now!? And it worked!It was a genius set up! She would get all messy and then I'd be able to immediately clean it up! And she slept longer than she ever has that night! Woo! We eventually moved this act downstairs and into her new Bumbo! I love it! I've been wanting one forever and Matt finally let me get one at Wal-Mart the other day! Woo! It's so funny! Bumbo pictures are the best!

Who knew you could get Henna tats at the SLC Farmer's Market?

After our first adult slumber party ever, we went with the Ivins to the Farmer's Market in Salt Lake. It was really cool. There were some really fun characters there. To which Matt gave this face...
Also, Jessica and I sprung for a little henna tattoo action. What's that you say? Isn't this my second henna tattoo in a month? Why, yes it is. I've reverted to my teenage ways.So I got into this lovely position for my ankle tattoo. What you can't see in this picture is the agonizing pain I'm in. My thigh started to cramp up immediately and I was too embarrassed to move. Oweeeeeeeee!So not only do I win the larger tattoo competition(on the right), but also the whitest leg - it was a close one though.Here's how Matt felt about the Hawaiian music playing in the background! There were some skilled singers.After the fun people-seeing adventure, we headed to a little pub for lunch where we got the worst service in Salt Lake City. Again, waiter, I'm sorry for thinking I could order water. I don't know what I was thinking. I should call my mom and tell her she did a horrible job raising me.By the end of the Ivins/Wisemans extravaganza we were all pooped, especially Livers. She got into her seat, grabbed tightly to Mr. Pug and was out for the whole ride back home to wonderful Utah Valley...