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Something hit me this morning and I realized this summer marks 20 years that I've lived in Alabama. ALABAMA. Oh, how I cried when I was 13 and my mom said I was to move here. So I packed up my life in Texas in 2 days, drove back here with my dad and started 8th grade. There were many changes that made it hard (besides the obvious family change) - how most people talked funny with that slow southern draw, how peoples first question was what church I went to or who my favorite New Kid on the Block was, everything about a much smaller school and more stuff I guess my brain has just absorbed as normal for around here. Luckily I made friends with the other tall girl so I didn't look like the only freak, and the headbanger chic since I wasn't into NKOTB and it worked out. I actually had a major personality change after moving up here. When I was younger in a bigger school system I was painfully shy, and for some reason I did a 180 up here. Maybe it was the parental change of having a dad and a stepmom (a woman with a strong personality and overall a better role model than my mom), or maybe it was that wildly fun and crazy tall girl Jenny, who knows, but I'm actually glad I'm here now. It has taken many years to accept the fact that Alabama is ok. It's fun (and scary) to wonder how my life would have been different if I had all the things I wanted - to stay in Texas or go to UT in Austin. Would I have run away to get away from my stepdad, would I have turned to boys for attention and gotten knocked up in highschool like an old friend there, or would I have been shot in highschool (yeah the schools were rough), would I have even gone to college and discovered I had some artistic talent? All I know is that those scary changes made a wonderful impact on my life. I grew up with hard working parents that pushed me to succeed and I think I did that before starting a new chapter in life with my own family.

I'm much too tired to come up with stuff to write, but I've been on the computer editing photos some more. We attempted another photoshoot with grandpa this weekend. Here is one of those 'too-adorable-for-words' gifts we got recently. What do you know it came from a dentist - so she can reach the sink to brush her teeth :)

I was reading some mommy blog about how the 3 month old stage is the best. While I don't have a comparison since she's the first, she did point out some wonderful points that I notice with Allison.

She smiles so much now. You just can't help but be in a better mood when a cute little baby is smiling back at you.

She can entertain herself. I've laid Allison in her crib to watch her mobile while I put up her laundry or just put her bouncy seat on the kitchen table to watch me do dishes. Usually she does pretty good for 15 or 20 min.

She's content to be held. Though I think she's sick of our living room as the scenery.

She's not grabby yet. She's still working on her coordination to grab the items you dangle in front of her, but she's certainly not grabbing my dinner plate yet :)

yeah - her head is finally stable and she's easy to carry around. (guess this has been the case for several weeks now, just didn't write about it.) I feel like that was a milestone that opened up a bunch of options.

Observant - you can really tell when she's focusing on something and I can just imagine all the brain cells getting turned on. It's fun to watch.

I survived Jeff being gone for a week of travel. It was hard since I got up at 5 am to get most things done before waking up Allison. And the worst part of that was she got her 4 month shots one afternoon. So I kept her dosed on Tylenol for 24 hours. I also survived a week of minimal breastfeeding. I'm only feeding her once in the morning and twice at night. I may continue that for a couple more weeks and then try to stop all together. I had high hopes of making it 6 months but it's difficult trying to pump at work and worry about leaking through my shirt. Yep, had to give you that visual, sorry if it's tmi :)
As of last week Allison was 13.8 pounds and 24.5 inches long with a big head for that size. I've been told the big head comes from the father's side.
Jeff's parents are here this weekend and grandpa had a photoshoot yesterday. This photo with Ginger (cat) made me laugh.
I have a long to-do list started on my Iphone that includes stroller shopping, catching up on thank you notes for some too-adorable-for-words gifts (quilt and step stool in particular), freelance work, researching baby proofing the house, cleaning and more cleaning before a party next week. oh and I'll need a nap today so we can finally make it out downtown to party with friends. yeah!

What a treat for July - at noon it was 75 degrees out and partly cloudy. Here's how we spent some time outside on a lazy Sunday.

I took this cute photo of Allison the other morning. She's been sleeping like this lately with her hands behind her head. She does several things that make me worried she's going to push her ears out like dumbo :)

From this angle it looks like she's sitting on a ball, well more like a water balloon. I'm still amazed at how much diapers can hold over night. We've given daycare the cheaper diapers, but I'll only buy Pampers for at home. I may start buying Pampers for daycare; she's blowing out an outfit everyday it seems. yuck!

Last Thursday I took Allison to the dr, as recommended by the daycare workers. She was just fine. I stayed home with her to make sure she was ok for a long weekend in Indiana, sure enough. So we got on the road early Friday morning. We went to cousin Jennifer's that night and Saturday morning went into Brookville to see the rest of the clan. There was a nice big party for Jeff's grandma's 88th birthday. When I say big, I mean she had 5 kids there with spouses, at least 11 grandkids there some with spouses, and I think 11 great-grand kids there. We all sang happy birthday to her, someone said something nice about being surrounded by family and then funny man Mark said something like "look at what all you did". I thought it was funny anyway. Kinda made me think about being a mom and creating life and more generations.

Allison weighed in at 13.1 pounds last week. She'll get weighed again tomorrow before they give her shots for her 4 month checkup. Last time she got shots she had pain screams that were just horrible, so I'm dreading tomorrow night. And daycare wont give Tylenol, so I guess I'll be running up there at lunch. Because as soon as she has a fever they kick her out. On a happy note, she is starting to grab stuff. Its really cute when she's in deep concentration staring at something trying to figure out how to get it or whatever she's thinking. Ofcourse everything she gets goes straight to her mouth. She's still working on getting her whole fist in her mouth too :)

Jeffs parents will be visiting again soon. Those are about the only visitors we get. I'm a little sad to think that my family will have big gaps in watching her grow up. My parents will see her once or twice a year and who knows when my brother or sister will come. I guess I knew that since we're the only ones that live in town we'd be doing it on our own, but sometimes the emotions hit hard and it does feel like Jeff and I are in seclusion. Guess I need to quit posting pics online and writing on this thing and maybe people would come around more.

So in writing that little sappy bit it made me remember something Rob Thomas said at a Matchbox Twenty concert. He said something about yes he knows they have more sad songs than happy songs, but when he's happy he's out having fun, not putting a pen to paper and sitting around at home.

So I'm about to look up some fun things to do.

Something in that long weekend must have spoiled Allison. She's been fussy at daycare the last 2 days. We're still not sure whats going on. She's still on breastmilk thats been frozen, so I have no idea if it's something I ate, or maybe she just needs more entertainment.
For a while now she's been all about her hands in her mouth, and then just in the last week she's started grabbing things better. She even held her own bottle for about 20 seconds. That may have been a fluke thing :) I keep forgetting to ask daycare if she's done that. So while she's discovered her hands, she hasn't found her feet yet.

I was playing with the video on my new Iphone and posted a video to YouTube. It's Jeff playing and talking to Allison and getting that cute baby talk back. I still need to work my videography skills. haha.

I attempted an step and sculpt aerobics class yesterday that kicked my butt. I was worried I wouldn't be able to walk today, but my legs are just the right about of soreness. I may have to try it again next week :)

We had a fun weekend in Birmingham with the Machamers. The guys got their fix of card playing in, and Karen and Claire didn't seem to fight over baby time :) We even took Allison to a restaurant/bar and sat in their outdoor patio area. Our main purpose was to try some of the new high gravity beers that Hsv does not have yet. Allison was a great baby and I think liked having new stuff to check out. The problem came on the ride home when we got stuck in 4th of July fireworks traffic. She was screaming and poor auntie Claire tried her hardest to calm her down. We didn't think of it till later, we probably should have turned the light on so she could see better. Anyway, 30+ minutes in a car with a crying baby stressed me out like I haven't been before. At home crying isn't as big a deal b/c you can try multiple options to fix it but in a car you're trapped. I'm laughing now knowing Allison won't ever remember that, but I sure was worked up. And my other worry is that episode may have been another year of birth control for Claire. I really hope not ;)

Earlier we said we wouldn't show her any tv, but now we're considering a portable dvd player and Baby Einstein for a future long road trip. I guess I could keep the tv to a special treat only available in the car.

Here's a photo of Greg drooling over his creation