A New Phase

Since we are about to enter a new month, it seems like time to update you on Allison. She has changed so much in my eyes even since her birthday just a few weeks ago.



Frank and I decided that we have recently entered a new phase with Allison. It literally seems like she changed from a baby to a little girl over night, and it all started with her walking. Even though she has been able to walk for a few weeks, it wasn't until last Thursday that she finally decided to give up crawling. Thursday night we taped her walking around the house for about 15 minutes, and we were both amazed because before then she hadn't walked much more than across the living room. When did she learn that?? She was sooo proud of herself, too. She walked anywhere she could get to just because she could. She has only picked up speed since then. I think she'll be at a run in another week. I can't think of many things much cuter than the way she walks. I love the way she very deliberately picks up her feet, the way she sticks her chest out to balance, and how she likes to take things with her when she walks because it's something she couldn't do before! She always has her lamb in one hand, and either a book or a favorite toy in the other (or sometimes Maggie's favorite toy).



Allison is also starting to communicate more with me. She still doesn't talk, but she is just now learning to point at things that she wants. Every time she points at something to show me she says 'dat!'. I don't know what that means, but I believe the closest translation is 'that!'. She has a couple of words that are real words, but just baby babble to her. She says 'yeah' and 'wow' a lot - wow is said with much enthusiasm. Today she revealed another new babble word that unfortunately sounds very much like the bad word for 'poop'. Frank and I don't use that language, so I'm not worried about it sticking, but I had to laugh when she said it because the first time I heard her say it was when I was changing her dirty diaper. Ha!







This is fun - she just got her fourth tooth today! I'm so ready for some more of those to come in so she can eat more foods!! We are entering a time where I want to give her more and more table foods, but I have to hold back on so many things because she doesn't have enough teeth to chew! I'm still buying some of her veggies in the baby food tubs, and I'm so tired of those! I can't wait for the days when I can just make her a sandwich and fruit for lunch instead of having to get very creative with mushy foods. Not much longer, I hope!





What else? She is now mainly using her right hand! We were so sure she was going to be a lefty, but I guess she had other plans. I'm sorry I don't have many pictures. Our point-and-shoot has died and I hate lugging out my huge camera for the candid pics around the house.

Here are some pictures from the weekend of her birthday party. Frank's dad, step-mom, sister, and brother-in-law all came in town for the event. We loved having everyone here to celebrate with us!

The first picture is my family because they were the first to show up at the party. My Aunt Susan (far right) surprised us and drove in from College Station for the party! We have great families!



Amy and Eric got her the cutest purple tutu!



The rest of these are from dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Just thinking about that makes me hungry!







That's all for now! It's time for bed!

I'm an Aunt!

My nephew Drew was born yesterday, so I'm finally an Aunt! He is such a cutie! Since he is 7 weeks early he will need to stay in the hospital for a little while, but I'm looking forward to holding him soon. Congratulations Amy and Eric!



For all the details you can visit their blog that is linked to your left. :)

First Birthday

Today is Allison's 1st Birthday! I can hardly believe that an entire year has passed since she was born! Happy Birthday, Baby!

I must say that I feel like my life has been made more complete by having Allison as my child. I always knew that Frank and I would have a family, but I never could have imagined how much we would be given in return. Weekly, Frank and I will ask each other, "Can you believe we get to be her parents?". I'm addicted to her smiles, her laugh, and her chubby fingers that she tries to stick in my mouth. I really can't get enough. Hitting this milestone is bittersweet, but I'm thankful that we have a happy and healthy little girl that we get to take care of and love. I can't wait to see what she'll learn in the next year!

Today is a busy day. We've already taken family pictures, and finished Allison's smash cake session. Frank has family flying in for the party tomorrow, and they are due to arrive around 5pm. I'm planning to clean my house and pretend it's always in great shape, but I also plan to cuddle with Allison as long as she'll let me. She only turns one once right?

Please be prepared to view probably the most pictures I have ever posted in a single blog. Her smash cake was a great success, and had too hard of a time narrowing down the pictures. Enjoy!





The rest of the pictures are from her smash cake session. I'll narrate for you since you weren't there.

"OOOh! A cake!"

"Wow, Mom - good job on those pink sprinkles!"

"...just wait till I get my hands on this!"

"This feels a little strange..."

"It tastes pretty good though."

"If I could just pick up one sprinkle..."

"I'm still not completely sure about this."

"...but since there are apparently no rules, I'll just draw on my leg."

"Mom, I told you I don't like things on my head anymore."

"This piece looks tasty."

"Mmmm. It was!"

"Just one more bite."

"Is that powdered sugar I taste in the frosting?"

"Lets see if they'll let me stick my foot in the cake."

"This is gross. I'm leaving"

"Wow, check out my toes!"

"I mean it - just one more bite."

"Dad loves this picture"

"Its ALL mine!"


I hope you've enjoyed the ridiculous amount of pictures! Her birthday party is tomorrow, so I'll post more pictures from that, too! Check back soon!

Baby Steps

Frank and I have been watching Allison learn to walk for the last week, and we finally caught it on video!! I very rarely post videos on my blog, but this is a special occasion. I'm so proud of my little girl! Just 4 short days till her birthday, and she's walking!

Growing Up

I certainly don't mean to leave so much time between each post, but things are busy around here! I can't point to anything specific or reoccurring, but each day gets filled up very quickly.

Allison will be turning one a week from tomorrow, and it still makes me sad. I haven't cried yet, but I think that's coming. I sent out her birthday invitations this week, and I'm making all of the party plans. It's a small party, but the planning keeps me distracted enough not to think about her growing up.


I've noticed some changes in her lately that I don't like, and I attribute it to her getting older and wiser, as well as finally realizing her true potential as a fallen sinner. :) She has begun to follow me around the house crying because she wants me to hold her all day. I don't know where this is coming from because that has NEVER been a habit of mine.



She is also testing the boundaries of how far she can push the "no touch" rule. Frank and I decided not to baby proof our house (other than cabinet and light switch proofing) because we wanted her to have these lessons. She definitely understands what 'no touch' means, but she will eye me and put one finger on something she knows isn't hers! When that doesn't work, she'll touch the same object with a toy because that isn't actually HER touching it. Can you believe her?? I've tried a myriad of things to 'punish' her for these lapses in judgement, and so far swatting her on the back of her thigh is the only punishment that doesn't elicit a laugh and then turns the punishment into a game.



We found out a few weeks ago that Allison really likes apples. She still only has her bottom two teeth (yes, believe it or not) so I was surprised at how well she could eat a sliced apple. She'll work on one slice for about 15 minutes and eats most of it. I got some pictures of her eating it last time. Look at those big brown eyes!!



We are still working on walking, but she is not that close yet to having down a repeatable technique. When we set her up to walk she leans forward like she would if she were pushing her walking toy. Obviously that does nothing for her balance. I'm going to put up her walking toy, though, so she can learn some new walking habits.



We took her swimming for the first time at the community pool on Memorial day. The water was definitely colder than I prefer, but we had fun. We started out in the "big pool" with Allison in her raft, but ended up letting her play in the kiddie pool that is only 1' deep. She had fun for most of it, but she never liked her head under water. The first time she went under Frank dunked her intentionally and she came up sputtering and choking. Whoops. The next three times she fell in the kiddie pool and we let her face get wet again just so she could learn, and we had the same results. By the fourth time she was crying and ready to go home. Mean parents, I know.
We took a picture of her with each of us, but neither of us want to be on a blog in our swim gear, so you will have to be satisfied with pictures of her at home wearing her swimsuit.




One of Allison's favorite games is peek-a-boo. Frank and I will hide behind anything and pop out and yell 'boo!'. She thinks it's SO funny. Last weekend she was wearing a dress, and I was using that to play the game with her as she laid on the floor. I would pull up her dress and hide behind it and then pull it down real quick. Again - hilarious to a one year old. So my smart kid figures out that she can play this, too. She grabs the bottom of her dress and raises it enough to hid her face and then drops it quickly while squealing at the same time! She really gets it! We probably played that round for 10 minutes. I wish I had gotten it on camera. She was so proud of herself!



Finally, Allison hates things on her head now - including bows. She pulls them off immediately, so if I need her to wear one for a picture I have to distract her for a while to make her forget that she's got it on. She never forgets for long, though. Give her about 20 minutes and she'll be feeling around on her head to pull it off. I guess this means no birthday hat! Sad!

That's all for now. I'll of course post something next week about her party. Check back soon!

Sick Together

Baby Allison turned 11 months over a week ago now, and we broke our tradition of monthly pictures! That day, Allison had a runny nose and it was raining and foggy. The next day it was pouring outside and she was feeling even worse. The story continues in the same fashion for a few days, and by the weekend she was on antibiotics and I was sick as well. We are both STILL fighting this nasty cold! We've spent the last couple of days in the house bumming in our PJs.

One good thing does come from Allison being sick - she lets me hold her! A couple of days ago I was sitting on the couch watching something on TV and she crawled over to me wanting to be picked up. This usually means that she wants me to hang on to her while she wreaks havoc on everything around me, but this time she sat there and leaned her head on my chest! I pulled her close and rocked her, and she just cuddled up to me and sucked her thumb. She must have sat there for over ten minutes! I was truly in heaven!! Since then she's continued to want to be cuddled, and I'm hoping she learns to like it enough to keep it up once she feels better.

We are now just three weeks away from her birthday, and I have to say that I never thought she'd grow up. It can happen to other people's kids, but not mine. We are getting so close that I am forced to give serious thought to the plans for her party, and I need to send out invitations very soon. It makes me sad, but it's also so fun to watch her change. Ever day she displays new parts of her personality that bring never ending joy to Frank and I.

Here are some of the new things she's up to.

1. She is fluent in opening cabinet doors. I found her quietly taking all of my cleaning products out of the cabinet under my kitchen sink this morning. yay! I'm making a trip out tonight to purchase baby proofing stuff!

2.She is still not interested in walking, even though I fully believe she could if she wanted to. She would much rather crawl around - even bear crawl! I'm ok with her putting that off though because she does an adorable strut when she crawls that I will miss. If you can picture as much bounce, sway, and attitude as possible you will see her crawling technique. I have no idea where she got her style, but it's hilarious!

3. She loves food. It doesn't matter what it is - she wants some.

4. Whenever I use the vacuum or my hair dryer around her she yells as loud as she can to compete with the noise level. She thinks it's big fun!

5. She lets you know when she's ready for a nap. I was in her room this morning putting away laundry and she crawled to her crib and held on to the bars crying. I put her in there and she cuddled up with her lamb and waited for me to finish my chore. Five minutes later she was asleep.

6. In the last 2 weeks she has started being more apprehensive about strangers. She will no longer go willingly to our neighbors, and she definitely didn't want to go to the nice lady at the church nursery. She doesn't cry when she's handed off, but I think that's probably in our future.

7. She recently learned to wave 'bye-bye'. She doesn't actually wave, but she holds her arm in the air and babbles to us before heading off down the hallway.

8. She just switched over to her 12 month PJs. I tried them on her sure that they would be too big and they fit!! I was a little sad, but she looked so cute!

The pictures below are are her in her first 'big girl pjs' cuddling with her fat sheep in the living room. Doesn't she look huge??

DTS Grad

My brother-in-law Eric graduated from DTS yesterday, and the whole family showed up to celebrate! Eric spent 5 years taking classes to complete his Masters of Theology - including Greek and Hebrew (ouch!). Amy threw him a graduation party yesterday afternoon, complete with a HUGE tray of nuggets from Chick-fil-a. If you know Eric, that is very fitting. Congratulations, Eric - we can't wait to see where you go from here!