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I realized I forgot to write about my insane week last week. Back up to Wednesday, June 22 when I woke up with a crazy rash on my arm that got progressively worse over the following few days. Jeff was sure I had poison ivy, but I’ve never had that and pretty sure I’m not allergic to it. The rash did have small blisters but I tried popping them and only got a tiny dot of blood. By Monday I decided to go to the dr. The nurse right away said oh that’s shingles, have you been stressed out? I was taken off guard but then said the only thing I’ve done strenuous was hike at a high altitude and she said sure that could have done it, but wait and see what the dr says. In the 5 minutes I had to wait for him to come in, ofcourse I was bringing up web md and things were starting to make sense. Considering the rash was only on one side of my body and the inside of my arm, he concluded that it probably is shingles, though he was amazed I was not in near as much pain as what is typical. It is a little unnerving that it’s diagnosed by sight or at least mine was but I do think that’s what I had. Looking back now, I remember having a crazy itch that felt like rug burn just a couple days after hiking. And the current rash did feel like fire if it was ever scratched or hit, but overall it was not too bad. wait a couple days of fatigue kinda sucked. I think I was lucky it was on my arm and I didn’t have to have clothes on it most of the time, because I did find a couple shirts that were not soft enough to wear. My course of treatment was an immediate shot of steroids in the hip, then a 7 day supply in pill format along with valtrex. Oh, how I loved going to the pharmacy and filling a prescription for the herpes drug. I think the steroids started working within hours and it was not near as red and scary looking.

So in the week that followed, we missed out on our only weekend to go to Birmingham and see the twin brothers new house. His 14 month old is not yet vaccinated for chicken pox and even though I swore that I would not pick him up and let him lick the non-oozing bumps on my arm that could be covered up, the first time momma was still protective (as I probably would have been). My sister sent me a pretty insensitive email that I would have gotten slightly ticked over at anytime but THAT week it pushed me over the edge and a huge witch erupted out of me. Luckily I think we are still talking. I really do think I had touch of roid rage, between being moody, working for an emotional female that was under a deadline that week, and my driving patterns resulting in a ticket, I do think I’ll put some blame on the drugs :) I really did feel like a different person by that weekend when I had weaned off the steroids.

So in summary I freaked out my body by going on a 3 hour hike at high elevations but only got a minor case of shingles or else I have a really high tolerance for pain. Actually I did have natural child birth so maybe I do have a high pain tolerance. Yes I remind that to Jeff on a regular basis :)

Jeff was lucky enough to get invited to another wedding in a beautiful place. Two of his friends from Auburn decided to get married after being together for 18 years. I had never met these people, but it was a chance to see Colorado for the first time, so off we went! We got in late Wednesday afternoon and stopped in Boulder. They have a neat outdoor mall area that is a few blocks long. So we walked and went in a few art galleries that were open and then had dinner at the Mountain Sun, I think a local brewery. The section of town we were in reminded me of a college town in California, lots of hippie looking people and bikes. I had heard parts of Colorado were pretty earthy and that town certainly is.
We made it into Estes park after dark about 9:30 and found our hotel. It was right on the Fall River. It was cool to hear rushing water right outside your door. And it was rushing – they had sandbags up to protect their picnic tables. I think someone said that Colorado didn’t have much of a Spring – went straight from winter to hot temps and fast melting snow meant extra water.

Thursday we were meeting the gang at the Stanley hotel and going on a hiking trip. People were late so we didn’t actually get on the hike till closer to noon or 1. I think we had about 12 people on the hike. Several of their friends from London came over to the states a couple weeks ago. The hike was a good chance for Jeff to catch up with his friends. He knew them in Auburn and had seen them in Seattle but not since then – about 6 years ago. They were both pretty cool, wish we had gone to visit them in London when they lived there. Oh well. The hike was 2.3 miles each way. It took us 2 hours to get up the lake and the last 30 minutes about killed me. It was only and hour to hike back down. I was not sore the next day so I think it was the elevation messing with me. The hike was really pretty and we crossed over some small creeks a few times – jumping on slippery rocks was a bit unnerving, but everyone made it fine. We passed people walking little kids and I wondered how they did it. There were some thunderstorms in the area, so we didn’t hang out by the lake as long as I thought we were going to.

Thursday night was dinner in town with the gang (about 14 of us – friends not family). We made it to dinner but not the bar that they closed down that night. I think the bride and groom left when the tequila shots started. On the way back to the hotel we were driving down a back street and saw something going through the trash. At first I thought it was a dog and then got really excited it was a little black bear. We got our picture and then had to honk to get him to scatter away.

Friday Jeff and I hung around the little town of Estes Park to get some souvenirs (reminded me of Gatlinburg), had some lunch and then went into the Rocky Mtn National Park. ($20 to get in, ouch). We drove the Trail Ridge road up to the top of the snowy peaks. We stopped several times up to take photos. One was for an overlook that you had to walk in the snow for. Luckily we had hiking boots and jackets – unlike some people in shorts and flip flops. Jeff went a bit further out than me, after sinking my legs past my knees in some of the snow that was not packed, I stayed back. He got a photo of a marmot. It’s in the squirrel family but is the size of a beaver. We went all the way to the Alpine visitor center. By that point, several windy stops later and dizzying heads, got us to head back down. One stop was at 12,090 elevation, but we went further than that, so I’m not sure our highest point. The views were breathtaking and it was pretty cool to get snowed on in June. We were on our own for dinner since most people were tied up with the rehearsal dinner, but then we all joined up at the hotel bar that night. Jeff tried the Red Rum Ale (known at the Stanley) but didn’t care for it. I had the Red Rum punch and thought it was wonderful :) .

Saturday we both had a bit of a hangover. I was fine after getting food in me, but Jeff couldn’t finish his breakfast, so I knew it was bad. Haha. I wanted to see some more of the park, but neither of us were in shape to drive in high elevations again. So we just chilled out, had subway for lunch and caught a movie. The wedding started at 5 and the weather was perfect. It was held on the front patio at the Stanley. It was a nice short ceremony and then the reception was in the concert hall (separate building just across the parking lot). Neither of us drank like the night before since we had to leave by 7am Sunday to catch our flight back in Denver. Jeff got to catch up some more with his other college friend Elizabeth. Then everyone HAD to participate in the conga line (as dictated by the bride who is of Cuban decent). But Jeff and I aren’t much for dancing so that was our limit, haha. I do have to say that this was my first wedding seeing so many exposed tattoos. There were also some crazy stories with the gang of friends, from 6 nights of drinking in a row to hookups with the groomsmen and some of the UK ladies. Somehow that started AFTER the Vegas trip. I do think the bride and groom had a really fun week, we just got to participate in the latter half of it (after Vegas and rafting).

On the home front, Allison got to stay at home while Jeff’s parents spoiled her. I think they had a great time till the last day when Allison refused to nap and bit her Mimi. Yep, we’ve had some trouble with her biting and then trying to figure out what kind of punishment will get through her thick skull. Karen even said she’d be willing to do it again, after recovering for a few weeks, haha.

Overall, it was a FANTASTIC trip to a beautiful place. More photos coming soon.

Allison continues to amaze us with all her talking. Now, her speech still has lots of work, but she is shocking us by putting 5-7 words together. The other day she said something like "my take off shoes before get in bed". The bad part about all the talking is when we don't understand her, which is a regular occurrence every few minutes :) Many times it leads into a screaming/crying match. Sometimes we have to leave the room, other times we just ask her for a hug and change the subject.

On the sleep front - she is great about going to be about 8pm. We don't have any issues with her getting into bed and staying there. I think we've only had one peepee accident in the last month. Lately she's been waking us up between 2-4am to tell us she has to go peepee. If it's after 4am though she's ready to get up for the day. I'd say on average she gets 8.5-9 hours of sleep at night with a 2 hour nap at daycare. I'm so jealous of my other friends kids who are sleeping longer. With Allison getting up between 4:30 and 5:30 everyday that means I sleep from 6-7.5 hours which is not enough. A few times I've worked with her to tell her to play in her room while mommy goes back to bed but that may last 10 minutes. She's still has trouble getting on /off the toilet by herself unless she takes her pants off all the way, but then she can't get them back on by herself. Ugh, always something. I'm seriously in awe of mothers that have multiple children and can get them out of the door ontime everyday to go to work.

Last week the National Weather Service issued 29 tornado warnings in my county (Madison/Huntsville, Alabama) and 92 for North Alabama. But Wednesday, April 27 was the crazy day that 21 hit the state, 100 tornados hit the southern US, killing 356 and destroying so many homes.

An EF5 with max winds at 205 MPH was just a few miles northwest from my house and within blocks of a few friends houses. Another EF1 tornado was just to the southwest of us. Power was knocked out to the major transmission lines and caused huge problems leading to power being out for 5 days for us and most of north Alabama. I feel lucky that we only had minor damage (fence and siding, maybe some roof shingles) and that I don’t have any close friends with huge damage. Though a mom I know through daycare lost her house, but the family is ok.

Here is a map of the tornado paths (click for larger version w/text description):



After the power went out Wednesday and was not on Thursday we were hearing reports that it could be one week to 10 days before it was restored. (And here I'll say thanks for Verizon for pretty good cell coverage on our smart phones) Jeff had plans to go to his parents house in Mississippi to attends a friends wedding and have a guys weekend, but I decided Allison and I would crash it :) If I had an option to avoid a week without power with a toddler ofcourse I was taking it. And ofcourse Mimi and Pawpaw were excited to see Allison and hear her sing ‘tinkle tinkle little star’ in person.

So we got back into town on Monday just hours after our power was back on, and the internet came back Tuesday. Today is Thursday and Jeff is back at work but I am not. Seems Marshall Space Flight Center will be one of the last businesses to get power. I’ve been told I have to flex out the missed work time or take vacation or leave-with-out-pay. Boo. I knew I should have worked harder to convince Jeff to skip the wedding and us just go to the beach.

One of the daily talking routines with Allison is her pointing to me, saying ‘my mommy’ or to Jeff and saying ‘my daddy’. Etc. and we have to confirm it, repeat it, or else she keeps asking. we go through that probably four times a day. All the kids in her class know who everyone’s parent is. I’m guilty of not knowing every kids name and if she can’t say it clearly, I’m in trouble because I can’t repeat it back to her. I was guilty yesterday of mumbling ‘…’s daddy’ so she would quit asking me. Today I’m supposed to go up to school for the Easter Egg hunt. It got me to thinking and dreading the day where she is embarrassed of her mommy and when I come up to up school she runs into the car as fast as she can before any of her friends can she who I am. I know that day will come; I remember clearly doing it to my mom.

When we left the campground the other day and had just pulled out on the highway Allison started talking more and when I turned around and finally understood her, I heard ‘my seat belt broke’ over and over. Yep, I pulled a major parenting failure and had forgotten to buckle her car seat. I think I said something fast and loud to Jeff about pulling over and then when I opened her car door she seemed scared but I think I fixed it fast with a smile and some kisses and thank yous. I think this was only my second time to forget to buckle her – the other time was a long time ago and I remembered in the parking lot. For several weeks now (maybe months?) it’s been a routine to get in the car and Allison will say ‘my belt’ several times and then point and say ‘mommy’s belt’ and ‘daddy’s belt’ whether or not both of us are there, she’ll say belt for all of us. So now I’m thankful for that little thing that was almost becoming annoying. Actually I shouldn’t say that, I’ve read where toddlers saying basic stuff like that is just a good introduction to learning conversation skills.

Just other thing she always says is yummy for any food, whether she likes it or not. This morning she combined saying yummy with rubbing a circle on her belly. That was cute :)

Saturday we took Allison on her first overnight camping trip. Honeycomb Campground is just before Guntersville and only about a 40 minute drive from home – good distance for the first time. We got there about lunchtime and our friends the Dudleys arrived soon after. They have a 4 year old boy and a 6 year old girl, who Allison had a great time following around. Allison loved playing in the tent, and at the sandy beach. She got her feet a little wet but the water was ice cold. The Dudley kids did end up swimming and shivering in the water. Heather was trying to keep them from going all the way in and a few times they didn’t follow orders they were pulled out and made to run around and do pushups. A funny but evidently effective way at punishment sometimes.

Our campsite was right on the water and none of the kids fell in or caught on fire, so I’d say it was a great success. Actually I think everyone had a good time. I cut the morning a little short because my antibiotics decided to kick in the night before and kept me in the bathroom most of the night. (I have my first ear infection in my surgery ear in 12 years – could it have anything to do with getting a hearing aid, hmmm?). So while I’m looking forward to more camping trips, I’m also thinking I want a pop up camper with a toilet, haha.

The last two weeks have reinforced my feeling that I could never live somewhere that it snows heavily and frequently. Spring has arrived along with warm temperatures that invite you to play outside. Have I written how much Allison likes to be outside? well she does and I feel like she's a nicer and less grumpy/moody kid now. So thank you mother nature for helping my family be happier :)

Here is just one shot from a night out at Bridgestreet.

Oops, I’m behind on blogging about her birthday. It was a really fun weekend. The Machamers all came over (minus brother Jim :( but added uncle Dave. And then I invited 2 couple friends with kids Allison’s age. So we had Allison, Alice and Amelia. It was just the right number of people. The weather was nice so we got to play in the backyard for a bit and then moved inside for food and presents. We had been singing the ‘happy birthday’ song with Allison for a few days and when we all were around the table singing she just had the cutest smirk on her face like she knew it was all for her and only her.

On days like today I'm wondering how I ever survived those first few months after having Allison and never sleeping more than 3 hours in a stretch. For the last couple weeks Allison has not been sleeping well. After flying back from Texas she kept a low fever for a few days and we figure it was her 2 year molar teeth. we were giving her ibuprofen before bed and she'd sleep till about 3am. the last 3 nights she's only slept till midnight. The best way to get her to stay back asleep is for me to sleep on the floor next to her. ugh! And if I didn't say it before, 90% of the time only I can get her to sleep or back to sleep. I so wish Jeff could take some of that off my shoulders but she'll just scream for mommy.

I've been reading up on sleep issues with toddlers and the proper way to set up a bedtime routine, etc. I admit before our routine was to read books in my lap then cuddle till she was asleep or almost asleep and then I move her to her bed. That's bad because when she wakes up she needs me - the feel of me or rocking or back patting or something to soothe back down to fall asleep. I need to let her learn to settle down on her own. So I'm willing to work on that for the bedtime routine. Last night I laid her down awake, lights on, walked over turned the lights out and just sat down in the middle of her room. No trouble. The night before was at least 30 minutes of trouble putting her back to bed again and again, no eye contact, very limited words, etc. I guess it just depends on how worn out she is.

But what the hell do I do at midnight or 3 am when she gets up? I have no energy to battle it out with her on who can last the longest. First off from experience in the last couple weeks I will loose the battle, I'll loose my nerves, I'll slam doors and throw down blankets and if it gets so bad then I just walk away and leave her screaming and Jeff gets her for a few minutes while I calm down (sort of) in another room. That is what happens when I'm sleep deprived. I lose my sh*t. I admit it. I wish I could have the patience my husband does and I try, and can be pretty good at it during the day but not at 3am when I haven't had 6 hours of sleep in a week. I'm almost in tears as I write this. Why the hell do I let a 2 year old get me so worked up? Then I get pissed that I am so emotional about it. It's a stupid cycle of crazy female hormones that I wish a man could experience just for a damn day.

So I'm about to spend $15 on a book or 2 that I have no idea when I'll have time to read. Because the only advice are giving me is to put her in bed with us. That doesn't work, we've tried. What I really want to do is spend a couple hundred bucks and run away for a few nights so Allison will have to get used to her daddy putting her to bed at night.

A change of topic to a happier note. Allison talks all the time. We understand alot of it, especially if we're in sight of her and see what she's sees or points at. It's exciting to see her vocabulary grow or when she throws out a word you don't remember teaching her. The latest really cute word is 'help' or as she says it 'haalp'. We're still working on sizes for big and small instead of everything small being a baby and a bigger version of it being a mom or dad.

We are so failing at figuring out how to deal with toddler tantrums. I feel like it’s becoming obvious that we have no experience being around kids and I really need to get out and hang out with other mommies and their kids to see someone else experience a similar situation. Here is a snipit of an email I sent to a friend – this is soon after while I was still in an emotional state and eyes still stinging from earlier tears.

started out good, we left the gate open last night, she slept all night and came into our room at 5:17am. then I got in the shower and I guess Jeff let her go straight to the tv (like I’m sure she probably demanded). I come out around 5:45, tv show ends and I say get breakfast. she says ok to cheerios. we make the bowl, bring it to the table and she won’t get in her chair, won’t eat the cheerios - would have thrown them if we let her. crying starts, then somewhere shes in her chair and says 'new cheerios'. Jeff was ready to get her new ones, takes the bowl back around the counter and more screaming. ‘No’ to new ones and ‘No’ to existing ones. so that led to about 15 minutes of her sitting in her chair refusing breakfast. Jeff was offering her other stuff, and I was trying to battle her and say no, these are made, it's these or nothing. he goes to take a shower, I force her out of her seat and take her in her room to get dressed. more crying. I tried singing about it, 2 clothes options, whatever. just screaming. about 6:30 jeff comes out, we get some underwear and pants on her and she's pulling them off. by 6:50 we had forced her into clothes and a coat, I never let go of her afraid she'd pull her clothes off, and I got her in a car seat. then I went back in the house and cried and put makeup on again.

So we’ll get through this weekend of having a bunch of company and a party and then try a new routine for Monday. I even borrowed and idea from another site and printed out some picture cards for it. Sunshine, potty, dressed, breakfast, teeth. And if all that is done before 6:40 then she can watch tv. but preferably no tv at all in the mornings. I wonder if I can just put a sheet over the tv, or if that would be like playing hide and seek with it and get her excited about it.
And Jeff had a good suggestion that we make breakfast on the table in front of her. so she'll be belted in, with an empty bowl in front and just bring the milk and box to the table. And maybe we'll be brave enough to let her hold the box or pour milk.

After all this (tantrums, tears and snipping at my husband over parenting techniques, etc) effecting my mood for the first few hours this morning, I get to work and read about the huge earthquake and tsunami in Japan and try to go back to thinking how truly lucky and blessed I am to have everyone and everything I have.

Next up, to pull some pictures from a very fun and happy weekend in Texas recently….

This past weekend we took the one side of Allison's crib off so it's now a toddler bed where she can get in and out of it on her own. She still has a baby camera/monitor and last night about 12:40 I was woken up by her screaming. Since she's sleeping in regular underwear I bolt out of bed in hopes of catching her bladder before it spills on the sheets. So I get in her room and she's still screaming and there is a pounding sound. I can't find her. really, it's dark but my eyes adjusted and I couldnt find her. I had to turn on the lights and by then I'm frantic, checking behind the chair throwing her 4 blankets up in the air. So I get down and lift up the bedskirt and she's under the freakin crib. I need to take a picture, but I think there is about a 6" clearance under that bed. I had to hold and rock her for several minutes to calm down. I still think she had to of crawled under there on purpose. We laid out 2 pillows right under her bed there in case she fell out of bed, she'd have a cushion. Those were still in place, so I'm still clueless how she got under the bed.

Mostly. Overall Allison is still doing great with potty training. As parents we need to lay up a little and back off from asking her every 5 minutes because that seems to piss her off and start a tantrum. I’ve made friends with another mommy from her classroom who emailed me a few days ago with a subject line of ‘holy quick pee-er’. Yes Allison is fast on the potty and as proven the other day, too fast to wait a few minutes to finish up, so that led to some changes of clothes. I think she also didn’t want to leave the playground to go poop. that day she went through 4 pairs of underwear but the next just one, and yesterday was all good. As for nights, it’s been a mix of waking up wet a couple times and dry a few more times. Last Sunday night we braved going out to eat and she did great, went potty twice. I have a portable folding potty seat for little kids that worked pretty well. Overall I’m really excited- this is much easier than diapers. Maybe more stressful when it’s 8pm and she hasn’t peed in 2 hours and she’s screaming back at me when I keep asking if she needs to go, but overall still better than diapers.

Yesterday when I picked up Allison at daycare she had big news - she peepee'd and pooped in the potty there. Ofcourse I'm thinking could it really be this easy, then I laugh and mentally slap myself and say we've barely begun. Last weekend I braved entering Walmart (I hate that place) and bought 20 pairs of size 2T underwear (heard that brand ran small and Allison still has a small booty). We have the book 'Potty Training in 3 days' and will try that this weekend. So I guess Saturday after we get home from the Little Gym, Allison will try on her big girl panties and we'll follow her around like guard dogs ready to whisk her onto the potty and go back to clean up the little trails. For now we are probably still confusing the hell out of her by putting her on the potty, cheering for her, giving stickers and then putting a diaper back on.

I think it was last week Allison started putting 2 word sentences together (can you call that a sentence - probably not). She'll say 'more juice' or 'thank you momma', things like that. She'll also says 'yeah' a lot which I'm trying to correct her to say 'yes' but it's taking some work.
She was sick for almost a week - fever from Saturday through Tuesday, went back to daycare on Thursday and finally slept through the night (YEAH! oops I mean YES! dang I need to be trained too) This morning we woke her up, she went peepee in the potty, played a little and then Jeff caught her making a funny face and asked if she had to poop and she said yeah, and bam, success on the potty again. wow is that easier to clean up!
Now this weekend will be the difficult part of sleep training again - oh yes she gets spoiled when she sick and I think 3 nights were spent with one of us in the guest bed with her. The other night we tried taking the bed rail off (so it was a 3 sided toddler bed) but she pitched a fit and Jeff put it back on. But when she gets mad she tries to climb out, so we know thats coming soon.
Warm weather in the forecast for tomorrow so we'll have to visit a playground :)

For the last week it's been a struggle to get Allison to take a bath. One night she pooped the tub, next night just screamed so we let her off one night and then it was time she had to Saturday morning. We did the usual routine of putting her on the potty first and she was happy, read a book, etc. Several minutes later the water was filled, so I got her off the potty to find a brown mess. First poop in the potty! Yes! I had to call for Jeff to come see :) So we did the crazy/silly parent dance and cheer for her.
A couple hours later we went to the Little Gym and she had a blast playing. We got home just after 10 am and she was falling asleep (she got up at 3:30 am with Jeff). So after a 3 hour nap she woke up burning up. Fever was 101 and climbing and she was lethargic. This meant she got to watch lots of Dora. Jeff left to go to see a movie and within an hour her temp went from 102 to 103.4 (with both motrin and tylenol in her). I flipped, call the dr's answering service and agreed to the $15 fee for weekend calls. about an hour and a half later all 3 of us were driving to the dr's office so she could get checked out. She tested negative for flu and her throat was clear so it's just another virus that we'll have to wait out. I'm just thankful that we have a doctor that took us serious (though he was laid back about the whole thing) and we didn't have to go to the emergency room on a Saturday night and be exposed to more germs.
Today has been laid back, fever has been manageable so far. She's still coughing bad but we have some breathing treatments to give her.
Weather guys were predicting another major snow event but I think revised it yesterday to something much less.

Realized I completely missed blogging about the holidays. Oops. Aren’t most people so frazzled that their holiday is blur. Guess I can’t cop out with that excuse for not blogging, I’m just getting worse about it since being on facebook so much :) Overall the holidays were great. I missed seeing my family but we had a good time with Jeff’s family. The TSA implemented new flight changes for most airports that include either a radiation xray zap or a full body/I know your cup size now procedure. So between that and having a kid in the terrible twos – we just didn’t want to fly. For Thanksgiving we went to Meridian and Christmas was spent at our house. Jeff’s parents came in Christmas eve day and brother Jim (now Dr. Machamer!) flew down from Baltimore and just in time since Christmas morning we woke up to full snow covering everything. It was beautiful! It’s so rare to have a white Christmas. The guys went out an made a 6’ tall snowman and threw snowballs at each other. We got Allison out in it for 10 minutes or so but she didn’t seem that interested in it. And she wouldn’t keep her gloves on and had a really bad snotty nose from a cold.





Allison of course got some great gifts for Christmas. Grandparents got her a radio flyer wagon (a plastic version with seat backs – oh the times have changed), a few little einsteins toys and much more that I’m not thinking of right now. She went through a phase where all she wanted to watch on tv was Little Einsteins, so we got up to 57 recorded episodes. Then she’d start flipping out when the fast/music part came on so we gradually played more mickey mouse and dora. Now Dora is the one that stuck and that’s all she wants to watch.

Since we didn’t see Greg and Claire at Christmas, we went to Bham for new years. Just 5 days after a snow we had warm 60 degree weather, so we all headed for the zoo. While it’s certainly not a great zoo, Allison had a wonderful time so that made it fun. I also got to hang out with some old highschool friends over the break and it was great to see them.



Allison’s vocabulary is exploding, as it’s supposed to about this age. She recognizes all the colors and can say most all of them, she knows all the animals but will call most of them by their sound (a cow is moo, cat is meow, etc).
She’s great on one syllable words; but most other words she’ll just get out the first syllable out and point and leave you to guess and sometimes get just as frustrated as her when you guess wrong. Boy does she get excited when you repeat back what she said though. The confusing part is that most all words will have an ‘s’ added to the end.

She’s still going peepee in the potty but has not gone #2. She’s come closed but those ended up on the carpet and bathtub. Yuck. Overall she’ll just go in the morning and nighttime, it’s hard to get her to stop playing to get on the potty. And those times that you do, a little tantrum will soon follow for some reason – more, more and more toilet paper or she wont let you put the diaper back on or something. I hate that so many times it leads to a toddler fit because I don’t want her to see going to the potty as a bad experience. I always give her stickers (one for each hand ) after she goes and sometimes when she just tries. I’ve googled for some potty training help and found a couple tips we might use, or at least they stand out to me for being funny. One – keep extra cheap underwear and scissors in the diaper bag and if they go #2, just cut the underwear off to reduce the chance of skid marks down the legs; and the second thing – give 2 M&Ms for going poop in the potty and if they go poop in their underwear then FLUSH 2 M&Ms down the toilet. Oh yes I’m envisioning a huge traumatic event, but can also see that working.

We signed up for the Little Gym, and have been the past 2 Saturday mornings. Allison LOVES it and its something to get us out of the house on a weekend in winter. We have our first birthday party there this weekend and that’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. I’m mostly looking forward to talking to some other moms. I feel like our working lifestyle doesn’t exactly leave room for meeting new people and hanging out. I already miss the friends I do have.

Week before last we had a huge snow event – one of those the weather guys say happens every 50 years or something crazy. We got 8-10” of snow and in then 2 days later a cold front came and created ice. Businesses shut down for 2 days, schools shut down for 5 days! It was crazy. Daycare shut down for 4 days and that led to a big drama event parents probably cussing out the director for keeping the money and not paying the teachers. It was interesting to see some of the emails and facebook messages. I still don’t know what resulted in that. But during that LONG week at home Allison switched from being a mommas girl to a daddys girl. So he’s getting a taste for what it feels like be the one that she cries for, that she wants to read to her, but her to bed, etc. It’s nice for the break but she’s also hurt my feelings a few times. Guess I have much worse things coming in the future though :)



Here are a couple other random photos. One Allison is playing on a peg board that was my dads when he was a kid (so it’s close to 70 years old). He said it came with real nails and a little hammer. Wow – can you imagine giving a 4 year old real nails now days? And a neighbor gave us a play kitchen. One side is a kitchen and one is a grill. Allison LOVES it. and it adds to our already toy filled living room currently :)



And our flagstone patio is complete and sort of naked. We have not done any flowerbed space around it. But Jeff can play with fire now.



I got an art project completed for the living room. Funny how you change one thing and it throws off the whole feeling of the room. We got a new black recliner, so I thought a few large black frames would help tie the room together, then that meant I had to put something in the frames, so I just decided to do it myself. These are done in pastels. A good project for those extra 4 days at home :)


Overall our lives are pretty routine and I figure boring to read about, hence the slacking here. We just work all day and come home to an adorable toddler.

Another random catch-up of several things:

In mid-October we hired a contractor to create a flagstone patio in the backyard. He's been slower than expected but it looks great so far. We have the seating wall around a firepit that has a gas fireplate in it. I didn’t want to smell like a campfire. Also later on (when Allison is older and want to spend the money on it, we can switch the river rocks for the colorful glass stones). He still has to install a bubbling water rock, create a rock facade under the deck and replace the deck railing. And we're in talks on what kind of plants will surround this thing. I'm so worried about creating extra bed space that our bermuda grass will creep in and I'll never be able to control.

We had a football party on Nov 6 that was attended by several of our friends from many circles. We've tried to have parties over the last few years but it just seemed like not even half of the people invited came and it was not worth it. Well, it turns out that once you make a party kid friendly, everyone comes! There were 5 kids under 2 and then a few more of various ages. While it was fun it was a little hard to just hang out with friends. I think Allison enjoyed it but several times she was not so sure about these other kids playing in her room with all her toys :) The firepit was not done so we may have to have another party.

Around Nov 3 we took away Allison's pacifier (she was not quite 20 months old). She got one night with the nub cut off and after that, she never saw it. For the first few nights she woke up several times throughout the night and required our help getting back to sleep. That next weekend was the time change and she seemed to be fully awake by 4:30 am for several mornings. There were some rough spots in that 2 weeks but nowhere near as rough as we thought it'd be. Fingers crossed, she seems to be going back to normal on her sleep pattern - she gets to read books in our lap, then a few minutes of cuddle in the dark, usually wakes up when we put her in the crib, she cries, and within a minute of shutting the door she is laying down and quiet.

we got rid of our Iphone and switched to a droid on Verizon's network. So far the only thing I love about it is an indicator on the screen when I miss a call or text msg and the camera flash. I've had a few hiccups with buttons not working as they should. In particular I can’t hang up on calls. And that never happens when I call Jeff, it’ll be with a business call or total stranger. Their 3 minute voice message probably comes out as a muffled serious of clicks with ‘damnit hang up stupid phone’. Then I give up and shut off the phone and hand it to Jeff the first chance I get who just replies ‘must be user error, I’ve never had it happen’. Usually he is more helpful with all things electronic.

Allison experienced Chuck-e-cheese for the first time. She was terrified of the mouse. Guess we'll hold off on Disney for another year :)

Allison has pee-pee’d in the potty a few times. Mostly after seeing Kaylee (a 3 year old) do it. Daycare is not willing to work with her till she’s had a full weekend of doing this and #2 in the toilet at home, and also talking/communicating better. Our first problem is that even with a step stool in front of the toilet she can’t get on it with her booty far enough back. She doesn’t seem interested in the toilet on the floor besides shoving her dolls in it. I’ve heard there is a book about potty training in 3 days that I need to get. Maybe we’ll work on that over a Christmas holiday. In the meantime when she does go on the potty I turn myself in the most enthusiastic lunatic mommy I’ve ever seen and she gets stickers too. For the normal times that she’s fighting us for diaper changes she gets a bribe of 2 M&Ms. We’ll see how long that works for.

We had a fun photoshoot last weekend at a park downtown. I wish I had been better prepared and tried on her outfits first. My top 2 choices did not fit her and after getting those on and off everyone in the house was just about crying and screaming. Did I say Allison hates to get dressed – yes that’s an understatement. Hopefully we’ll have some more cute ones at Thanksgiving with her baby cousin James.

And I know Jeff doesn’t contribute to this blog but if he did he’d probably write something about Auburn football being #2 in the country. They are having a great season being undefeated. One more game to go against the big rival and then hopefully we should be SEC champs and play for the National Championship (which the University of Alabama won last year)

I know I’m getting terrible about blogging and keeping up with people but what can I say, life gets in the way. So here are some random updates. We now have a Dr. in the family. Little brother Jim finished his PhD in biology from UAB. I think it’s neuro-biology but I’m not sure. Whenever he tells me about his work the words miss my brain and just fly over my (yes, blond) hair. He’ll be moving to Baltimore to do his post-doc at John Hopkins. We’re very proud of him but sad to see him move so far, but it sounds like an amazing opportunity.

Finally with the last week of September fall temperatures have arrived. I feel like half the summer was trapped inside because the temperature or heat index was over 100. Recently I took Allison to Monte Sano park so I could check out the art show, but there was something in it for her, she saw the biggest playground ever. She loved it. Another reason I’m so thankful for fall temps. We have a swing set on order and hope it comes next week so Allison can get a little time on it before winter hits.

We’ve met with 3 landscape contractors about putting in a flagstone patio. All three were different with contradicting ideas, but none offered me a drawing. Somehow my art background and schooling has not over-ridden my horrible green thumb and hatred of yard work so I have been incapable of drawing what I think I want. I have also made an appt with a landscape designer to get a plan going. I’m so visual I really need a drawing in front of me before I shell out thousands of dollars for this project.

On the Allison front we have definitely entered the up and down, happy and screaming world of the toddler. It’s so strange for someone to be able to giggle and cry out in frustration in practically the same breath. Luckily that innate thing about being a parent makes you have stronger memories of the cute sound of giggles rather than the little fits and body slamming the floor. She has also taken more interest in the TV lately. Disney has a show called Little Einsteins and she’ll really get into the part where they ask you to pat your lap and raise your arms and scream blast off. It’s really cute. Jeff even saw her on the baby monitor sitting down in her crib patting her lap. And no, she does not have a TV in her room :) I guess she was just dreaming about it.

Here are a couple images from the Botanical Gardens last weekend. She loved all the butterflies and yes that one stayed on my head for over a minute.

This morning we whisked Allison from her bed at 6am to take her the surgery center. She was the ENT's first patient today for a procedure taking all of 5 minutes to put tubes in her ears. She's had 5 ear infections since December and I was ready to find a fix. I'm really hoping for an easier winter where she can recover from viruses much easier. Anyway, she was a champ, barely cried till they took her away. Not even 30 minutes later she was back with us and really showing us the tears and screams, but that just lasted about 5-10 minutes. They just gave her gas, no IV or breathing tube. Knowing that made our decision easier. She was eating and drinking fine when we got home and so far so good. The tubes are supposed to fall out on their own in about a year. About 1 in 100 do not, and the dr has to go back and remove them.

After coming home from the weeklong fun Florida trip, we had a weekend to ourselves before Jeff and I split up and ventured out for our own weekends. His parents came over Wednesday night to watch Allison while Jeff got in car to drive to Nashville and I got on a plane to go to Portland, Oregon. Jeff had work training mixed in with eating (they drove to Kentucky one night just for a steak). The main purpose of my visit was to see my aunt one last time before lung cancer takes her away. I also had a happy side trip to visit my friends Linda and Miles who moved out there a few years ago and now have a cute cottage with an orchard and garden surrounded by beautiful wineries and only a short drive to the coast. All of which I checked out. My aunt’s doctors said that this summer would be her best months and they must be right because she was almost normal to me. The hair was much shorter and she carried an oxygen tank and walked slower but otherwise she seemed pretty good, or was a good actress for my benefit. We went to Portland’s weekly Saturday Artist market downtown and I was in heaven. They had more artists than our annual art festival does. We had lunch in Chinatown and then drove around and she showed me the cemetery where her boys and my mom are. That night her granddaughter came over for dinner. She’s 18 now and I think she was 7 the last time I saw her. We went through some old photos and somehow my aunt stayed strong through all that. Not sure how. The next morning (after a quick trip to Ikea) I got on a plane with all kinds of unspoken words going through my head not sure how to make them come out of my mouth. Yes, I know I have a problem uncommon to most women, I don’t know how to verbally express all my emotions :) Overall it was a happy trip, definitely glad I went, not just for getting to see family and friends, but I’m thankful the opportunity to take a sanity break for myself and have a break from motherhood duties.





Last weekend Jeff and I went our separate ways again – he went on a canoe/camping trip with 26 guys and I took Allison for her first weekend with the margarita ladies to Tonya’s lake house. Jeff told me about paddling fast in the middle of a lightning storm, but left out plenty of details for what the guys talked about after countless beers sitting around the fire. Ha – I don’t want to know. Allison got to swim in the lake and went on a skiboat ride which she stayed mellow enough for that I wasn’t sure if she was having a good time or just terrified she fall out if she moved. I’m very envious of Tonya’s big house with the beautiful view (best view I’ve seen on Smith Lake); she’s just another example of what I want to have in retirement or well before :)

We just back from my first big family vacation together. My parents, brother and sisters family all gathered in one 3 story house for an entire week. Considering that several people in the house were practically strangers and there were no big blow up fights or broken property, I’m calling it a huge success. Seriously though I think a fun time was had by all and I’m so glad we all came together for it.

Our beach house was in Blue Mountain Beach, about 15 miles east of Destin, FL. We were all very anxious to see what the beaches were like, and luckily our beaches were oil free (from our sight anyway). The green slimy algae was smothering the water and anything in it though. Our house had its own pool though which was a big hit with the kids. I really can’t imagine what we would have done without a pool or if an adult had to go walk to the community pool constantly with the kids. I think the only down side of things may have been the stairs. Did I mention it was a 3 story house, plus more stairs if you wanted to go to the rooftop deck. I’m sure several people are feeling the effects of climbing stairs by today. I did like Ronnie’s saying one time when a kid asked for something: “no way can you get me to climb those stairs even if there is a pot of gold down there”.

Jeff brought a brisket we ate on for a couple meals and then several more trips to the grocery store were made. And damnit if my brother didn’t scar me for life, I’ll always think twice before pronouncing Publix again. When I think of that name I see their usual sign in lime green letters but with curly black hair on it. I even went into Walmart twice on my better judgement. So much food was both eaten and thrown away and I really do feel guilty for not recycling all week. We certainly gave that garbage man an extra workout. Jeff and I tried going out to eat with Allison twice during the trip and both times were nightmares. She will not sit still in a highchair for more than 10 minutes now. We got away for a date night once and ate at Tommy Bahama’s restaurant where I had the best crab cake ever – thanks to the sweet spicy sauce it was on.

Wednesday we booked a cruise to Shell Island leaving out of Panama City Beach. LK’s bunch had us all nervous but finally got there with no time left to spare. Since it said we’d only be on the beach for one hour, most of us didn’t wear swimsuits which we regretted since the water was crystal clear and so much nicer than Destin. I think the boat tour before us took all the shells though. On the way back we found dolphins. It was definitely fun and a little cheesy with the Giligans Island song running in the background… 3 hour tour…

The guys made it out fishing one night, but just on a pier since deep sea fishing charters were near impossible to find. Friday the kids and adult guys hit the race track and gocarts. And there were a few shopping trips, one where Courtnay got a bright green tshirt saying FUBP, showing an oil slicked bird. LK, Courtnay and I did make it to the ‘outlet’ stores, but calling them outlet was a joke. Prices were just as high as their regular store counterparts.

Most of the time was spent being lazy, talking, kids playing cards or swimming, wandering the beach, or a few people sitting on the deck smoking. That was fine because when it did come time for all of us to leave, it turned crazy, trying to figure out what time to leave, which cars, etc. A few times it seemed like we’d be talking and poof there went one family gone. Friday morning LK wanted to get family photos on the beach and they did manage to get out there with David’s bunch and get a few good ones (except the boys left their sunglasses on!). I wanted to be there, but in the heat of things people running around, I had no idea if/when they were leaving, it was just impossible to figure it out with people moving and talking as fast as they did.

I think the kids were only shy for a day or so and by mid week the teasing had started. Alan and Matthew teased Kasey and Ronnie about saying ‘say’ instead of ‘hey/did you hear me’ when a person hasn’t answered a question yet. And I think Kasey and Alan were picking out the ugliest people on the boat ride to pair the other up with. Even Cody’s shy shell may have been cracked – just a little bit.

I’m looking forward to doing this again next year hopefully.
Full set of pics in the link above.

Addition - I forgot to write about our fearless Allison and the waves. The first time she sat in the sand she held up her dirty hands at me and frowned- obviously not liking being dirty (she does this at daycare too - little miss priss). The next time she was just fine once we started moving the sand and packing it in to shapes she could smoosh. Then Jeff took her in to the waves. They even got splashed by one and she just giggled. When he tried to take her back to the calm dry sand she ran right back towards the ocean. She even accidentally got dunked by a wave a couple times and it didn't make her cry or anything. Unfortunately I did not get video of this since I didn't want to get the camera wet.

I’ve probably written a few times about my gadget loving geek husband on here. Well this is our latest big purchase that I have enjoyed reaping the benefits of. I typically put the term geek in a very high regard – they are smart, like to figure out new things and can make money doing it. In addition to all that my husband loves to eat and thank goodness like to cook. So he’s been experimenting on a new platform and so far we both love it.

Last Christmas (or 2?) Jeff’s parents got him a smoker. He’s used it a few times and made a great boston butt and smoked chickens, but there was some trouble getting it hot enough in the winter. It was a great start though to realize we wanted the real deal. I say we, but Jeff did all the research. And since I don’t cook and he does – I’ll let that man buy most anything he wants to if he keeps cooking up delicious grub!

For the 4th of July weekend since we had a big group of family coming over I suggested Jeff get a brisket. I’m from Texas and that will always be my first choice for bbq. He found out that stores around here either don’t carry them, or don’t know how to cut it (they trim all the fat off). Luckily though Sams had one left – a 14.5 lb one. Haha. He made his own custom rub for seasoning. It turned out great and we got probably 20 servings or more from it. When we were done with it, he took it to work for more bragging rights. I’d say every other week at work the guys in his team come up with something new that involves food and turning it into a competition. I’m thinking this is Jeff’s favorite part of his job but you’ll have to ask him.

Soon I’ll add another true geek entry on how Jeff rigged up a security camera outside pointed at the temperature gauge on the Big Green Egg, that sends pictures to his computer at home, then from work he can log into his home computer and get the latest pictures to see the camera and temp.

A catch up on a few things in our house. Allison (who will be 16 months next week) had another ear infection and just finished those antibiotics. This one came just 6 weeks after the last one. No mention of going to an ENT but I do see it in her future. Over the last couple weeks we’ve skipped that last night time bottle a few times and others she just drank a couple ounces. I tried the sippy cup late last week at night and the next night she pushed away the bottle. So I packed them up! All bottles are gone. Yeah! Also on that front, I bought some vanilla soy milk Saturday and that’s all she’s had for milk. I’ve been told a few times that milk is not good when you are sick since it increases mucous. And another friend swears that our bodies are not made to digest milk, certainly not young toddlers. So we’ll try this soy since she seems to drink it without a fuss.

We had a houseful for July 4th. Jeff’s parents came up on Friday and soon after Jeff and I ran out of the house screaming… freedom. Just kidding. But it is nice that his parents are comfortable enough in our house that we can take off and let them be. We just went out and I had a delicious martini called the blue dolphin. We ate some food that was not memorable since I had a second martini and then we hung out at some friends house. It was a nice medium size crowd where I felt like I actually had conversations since I didn’t have to watch out after Allison. Wow, after re-reading that it sounds like I need more date nights, haha. Saturday afternoon when Greg, Claire, James and Jim got there, the ladies went off the Flying Monkey Arts center for the Saturday artist market. James is almost 2 months old and filled out and so much cuter. He looks more like Claire so I guess Greg knows how I feel, haha. Jim is still gathering up post doc offers so we’re not sure where he’ll be living in a few months.

We’ll be at the beach with my family in a couple weeks. I can’t wait. I think the last time my brother and sisters kids saw each other was at my wedding almost 5 years ago. And this will be the first time my sister meets Allison. I was so excited to get to show some of them the white sand on the Florida beaches but we may just get to look at it and not play in it. I’m still hearing mixed reports on how bad the oil is and where it’s washing up. We all decided to keep our plans since the rental house has its own pool. It’ll be a lot of fun and I can’t wait to have more memories with my own family since these group gatherings are few and far between.

Last weekend we made the 6+ hour drive up to Indiana - land of Jeff's cousins from his mom's side of the family. It's a small town where Jeff has about 15 cousins, many our age with kids. We stayed with cousin Jennifer in her new huge house. The basement was the kid zone and Allison was in heaven - kids her size, toys, doggies, etc. We spent the whole weekend there and everyone came to us. it was nice. haha. We were even able to spend a good portion of the time on the covered deck since the heat was not as suffocating as it is here right now. We plan to make it an annual summer trip so Allison will get to know her cousins (more than I could even dream about). Next summer will be grandma's 90th birthday so I'm sure there will be a big bash and good times. I'd write more but I think I've said plenty of good stuff from previous visits. Yes I'm still wondering where the black sheep is hidden in this perfectly nice and normal family and no I have not found it yet.
(photos are in my picasa gallery - link above)

Allison opened her first door yesterday. (She's been trying for a couple weeks now.) Jeff had gone in the bedroom and she took after him and cried when the door shut in her face. She kept reaching and finally moved the lever door knob the same time she pushed against the door. It swung open and she lost her balance, wobbled and luckily fell on her butt instead of face first. then she cried again. It was cute... and scary. Most of our doors in the house are about to require 2 hands to open. This could be a pain. I'll update in a few weeks.

There are a couple cute sprinkler videos on the youtube page. It was so hot yesterday the power kept flickering and finally went off for about an hour. Guess the power grid couldn't handle all the usage.

She has her 15 month appt today with shots :(

I know every kid is different and reaches milestones at different ages but it's been about 3 weeks since Allison started walking and I still want to keep her in a padded room. Yesterday she put mark #3 on her forehead, thank goodness the one between her eyes is gone or that would have been 4 marks forming a big speckled and scraped shadow across the top of her head. She still wants to hang on to a toy or cheerio container or whatever it is and keep walking and then she doesn't always have her hands free to break her fall. I thought I would get smart and try to remove the object from her hand but that just makes her head spin 180 degrees and pitch a screaming fit. So for now she's still in the learning process of falling and slamming her fingers into drawers and all that fun stuff.

The cute parts are when she claps for herself. For months now she's been on a tear to throw her sippy cup on the ground, so whenever she puts it back on the tray of course we get excited and clap our hands. Now she puts it down and claps for herself. She's also starting to show signs of having favorite books. We can go through all 40? books we have and many times she'll shake her head no and grab the book and throw it down and keep pointing till you get the right one. She is doing one more thing we are most excited about - showing signs needed for potty training. She'll come up to us and start trying to pull her shirt off when she has a poopy diaper. I guess I need to do some reading material and see what I have to work on and watch out for along those lines. We are still amazed at the sign language she uses. I think she confuses 'eat' and 'more' but those pretty much go for the same thing so it's working for us. Except the sign for more means cookie in her mind. haha.

Allison got her first taste of jealousy this weekend. Her grandparents have been at our house for a short time the past 3 weekends, so there is a strong connection to Mimi and Grandpa. Then Sunday when Greg and Claire came with baby James, Allison had to share her Mimi and the look on her face when she was holding another baby was priceless. She really didn't know what to think. She didn't pitch a fit, but there was just a look of confusion and bewilderment. It's so amazing to look at your child and see them grow and develop within just in a few seconds of a stare. It was just one of those precious moments to be looking at a 2 week old baby remembering your child was that tiny bundle that could barely move or communicate and now she's probably forming all kinds of brain connectors generating complex emotions of confusion and jealousy. This part of parenthood is becoming more fun. I really don't miss that newborn stage.

We all learned something this morning - I FREAK OUT when I see blood on my child. The first time it happened was when her umbilical cord fell off but she was only 6 days old and I was freaking out about everything at that stage. This morning Jeff had the lovely awakening at 5 am of me practically kicking in the bedroom door screaming get up, Allison's bleeding. I didn't wait for him to reach me, for some crazy reason I ran back to her bedroom with her in my arms I guess because that is where the only light was on so we could see. (Nothing makes much sense at 5am to me) Looking back now this was totally cruel to him because he had another few seconds to wait to see where the blood was. It was all over her mouth and drooling down her chin by that point. We got a washcloth, sippy cup and flashlight but couldn't really figure out where it came from. Guess I should clarify that Jeff got the washcloth, sippy cup and flashlight - I was in a frozen state almost crying myself holding on to her. I'm sure this whole scene description is common for first time parents and one that second time parents would laugh at. She does have a top molar only partially broken through so I'm guess that's all it was. She ate some breakfast just fine. And we sent her off to school. She may have a fussy day from getting up so early.

Today I had about 5 minutes of a life I had forgotten so long ago - a life where I could hear someone talking even with their back to me. A life where I could hear the A/C vent. It sounded like the ocean off in the distance. A life where maybe I wouldn't have to ask WHAT five times in a row. A life where maybe I could hear that story my father-in-law says for the 8th time in his very low tone voice. But that was all I got to experience before the audiologist removed the demo hearing aid. Now I have to decide if it's worth it to spend $3200 on. (yep my mouth feel open too) For the record, the audiologist first had me try a mid-range cheaper one, but that one sounded like I was talking in a microphone with a constant echo; didn't feel natural. I was really impressed with how small the behind the ear ones are. I pulled my hair back in a pony tail, loosened it slightly and you couldn't even see it! Well if you look close you'll see the clear tube that goes down to the ear canal, but you have to be looking.
Before I decide to spend that much dough, I'll bug the HR representative at my husbands company a few more times on trying to get the insurance plan to change to accept hearing aids. If anyone has a suggestion for battling them or Blue Cross Blue Shield I'm all ears. ha!
There is always the option to wait a half year and sign up for a flex spending account so we get a bit of a tax break next year. But that means waiting. And I've felt the sensation of full hearing again and I want it now, not in 7 months. And no telling if I'll even be at this job next year. And if I'm unemployed then it'd really be hard to justify that money. damn, sounds like I'm making a convincing argument so far. I'll keep you posted.

Jeff's twin brother and his wife welcomed James Redding into the world today. I think I've said this before but it really is exciting when your family starts growing. I could have never imagined I'd marry into such a wonderful family, and then to have a sister-in-law I have so much in common with just adds to it. I'm excited we'll get to share so many of our kids memories together. Allison and James are 14 months apart, and I hope they will grow up to be great friends.

Saturday we went to a friend's party for their little girl, Amelia, who turned 1. Allison was her usual happy self. I had to laugh at Amelia, a few times when everyone was fussing over her, staring and ooohing and awwing, she'd start crying. I remember the same type of reaction from Allison at her own party but she didn't get quite as worked up as Amelia. I'm hoping these two will be good friends in the future. Since they are both daycare babies, and all 4 parents work full time, getting together for playdates hasn't happened. Sucks how life just gets in the way of playing sometimes!



This party is also where Allison walked her first steps. She must have known that Amelia was walking before her and was younger and felt like she had something to prove. Just kidding - we'd seriously be in trouble if she were that smart with that kind of attitude this early!

This morning was a late morning for all of us. I had my follow up to see if my ear drum healed (it did- but I'm still practically deaf and yes it's close to causing fights of mis-communication and tears from me about getting a hearing aid before my 34th birthday but that is a long drawn out rant I don't want to get into). Allison had green gunk in her eyes on Sunday so we were afraid it was pink eye, so her appt was 9am. wow, long story to say we were both home this morning when she decided to take off walking again. back and forth. it was so cute! She took a brake for most of the remainder of the day to play sick kid - yep ear infection and conjunctivitis, but then she started walking again tonight.

Allison has been fascinated with little seats lately so I ordered her own chair. Ofcourse I got purple. It doesn't match anything but I like the color. It's a P'kolino Little Reader Chair. She's not the best about holding her own books, but she does love her own little chair. There was pure fascination about climbing all over a new item.