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Yep that title is like typing out a whine. Lots of people have been whining about the rain. But the latest forecast looks about perfect this week - clear and highs in the 70s. Some friends of ours live in a neighborhood that does not have sidewalks, so when we get flash floods, they have yards half full of water. I just about lost it laughing/crying when I read on facebook that a friend was wanting to go redneck water skiing. He posted a video, unfortunately it was not of himself but some other stupid rednecks in Texas. Some guys found a wide waterski or kneeboard, a rope, and a 4-wheeler to drive down the street while pulling the guy on the along in a ditch. It's pretty funny. And I think there are enough crazy people that it could catch on. haha.

We had a wonderful visit in Meridian. Jeff's parents have been working on remodeling/updating their house and it looks terrific. But I think the best thing about this visit was that it was like staying in a smoke free house. Soon after Allison was born Karen quit smoking traditional cigarettes and started the electric one that emits water vapor. Between that and pulling up half the carpet in the house, it was a breath of fresh air in that place. A few friends of hers stopped by to see Allison and brought more gifts. I've said it before, but I'm just amazed at how people love babies and will buy so many gifts. Then the chef friends came by with homemade gumbo. Yummy! It's always good to have friends that love to cook, when you have a house full of Machamer men that love to eat. I think Frank even got Bruce to use the grill outside. I'm so glad that Jeff and his brothers are opposite from their dad on the whole cooking front. I think all 3 boys like to cook and have fun experimenting with it.

Allison is not crawling yet, but she does scoot herself backward. It's pretty funny. And still no teeth but she'll get fussy when she can't chew on something so it's gotta be soon. I think in preparation for my sisters visit in a couple weekends with her whole rambunctious crew, we'll start baby proofing the house for Allison too.

It's almost 10 months away but I have my next beach vacation planned so the excitement has started. A few friends have told me stories of getting their whole family together and renting a beach house. I just listened in pure envy. And recently when my dad had a health scare I really thought we should do it. Our family is so scattered now that we don't see each other often enough. I think my wedding was the first time several of the cousins (my nephews and niece) had met each other! So next summer we can call descend upon one big house and play in the private pool or walk to the beach. It'll be my parents, and 2 siblings with their families. So 8 adults and 7 kids. Well darn, I was trying to figure out how old the kids will be next summer but there are so many they escape me. 5 boys ages ages 15,14,13,10,7 and a girl that is 13 and ofcourse my girl who will be a year and half. (I'm not sure if my 22 year old nephew will be able to make it. )

In other news Jeff has started his new job and seems to like it - though how much do you really know 2 days into it. He is more restricted on his internet usage though - which sucks! We used to always be in communication through Google Talk but that is not allowed. So I just get to bug him with a few or twenty emails a day and hope he checks it on his Iphone often enough. I think he may need to make friends with someone in the IT department to see how to get around some of these restrictions.

Yesterday we took Allison in for her 6 month check up. She weighs 16.4 lbs and is 26" long. That is still right around 50th percentile on weight and 55 for height. Her head however grew more and is at 90th percentile. My poor cute baby has a big head! It better be all those brain cells that will get her a full paid scholarship :)
Allison is also sick again. I don't think she really ever got over the crud a month ago. She's still coughing to breakup mucus so the dr did a new test I didn't know about. If the kid lays still enough they can put a thing in their ear, blow some air and test resistance on the ear drum to see if there is fluid behind the ear drum. Sure enough she had fluid in both ears, meaning she'll probably get an ear infection in a couple days. SO he went ahead and prescribed amoxicillin. So at 6 months she's on her first dose of drugs. I tried a little and it takes like the bubblegum stuff I remember as a kid. I think when I was real little I even got it out of the fridge and drank some extra I wasn't supposed to :)

On the food front, we've expanded to bananas, squash and carrots. I don't think she liked the carrots today but then again she wasn't feeling great. Bananas and oatmeal she's had several times and does well with. I've been reading up on making baby food and it sounds so simple and those jars can get pricey, so I decided I try it. Tonight I boiled and pureed some sweet potatoes and froze in ice cube trays. Then I guess I'll transfer it to freezer bags and maybe make some applesauce later. Sweet potatoes and apples sound pretty good :) I'm still confused by the dr charts on how they are still supposed to drink 30-38 ounces of formula plus 2 servings of cereal and 2-4 jars of food. Right now Allison gets about five 6 oz bottles a day and usually leaves a couple ounces in at least two of them. Daycare gives her cereal in the morning, we give her more at night. We only see her about 2 hours every evening, so I don't know where we'd fit in another solid food feeding. I guess I'll send daycare more food and they can worry with it.

Jeff starts his new job on Monday. I know he's looking forward to a change. My job is still the same. Lots of people are uneasy at NASA with good reason. So many jobs are involved with Ares I whose future does not look promising. I've only worked out there 6 or 7 years but budget cuts and changes are commonplace, so I'm just going with the flow for now. Just let the paycheck keep coming.

We made it back from the beach yesterday. Our friend Taryn was getting married in Ft. Morgan, so we decided to be one of the 90+ people to rsvp yes to the wedding (I know she didn't think a destination wedding would be that big). We arrived Friday after a 8 hour car ride. Allison was very good and got to see TV for the first time (that got turned on when she got fussy). Brother Greg and Claire went with us and we stayed in a condo at the Beach Club. We practically had the resort to ourselves or so it seemed, but then again it rained most of the time so maybe people were hiding out inside. Since it was raining and a 20 minute drive into town, we stayed local and had a nice seafood dinner at the restaurant onsite there (Allison slept through it). Thunderstorms woke me up a couple times that night, but being half asleep I remember asking Jeff it that loud sound was a motor cycle; kinda funny.

Saturday was more rain and so much so that we wondered if that road heading back to Gulf shores would flood over. so we stayed put, inside with books and cards. About 4pm the clouds separated and it was gorgeous. Perfect for a wedding - or three. Turns out 2 more houses nearby were having weddings on the beach. I went a little early and got to see the bride's sister work some magic on helping Taryn get some cleavage with the help of rolled up tank tops and underwear. The previous attempts with boobie stickers in the shape of porkchops was even funnier. The bride was cutting up and seemed to be way more relaxed than her mother and the groom. During the ceremony it was hilarious to watch the groom take very deep breaths to prevent what looked like a close call to passing out. The wedding was nice and short, and silent for most all the guests (no mic set up).

At the reception (in the house) we go to talking to a couple friends Jeff used to work with and heard a fun story. 5 ladies rented a house nearby and got a knock on their door late Friday night from a neighbor frantic that their porch light was on - screaming the turtles are coming turn your light off. Evidently they didn't read the large sign on the refrigerator about the turtle eggs that hatch between May and October and sure enough the environmentalists had already set up short plastic walls guiding the turtles to the ocean practically right outside their house. Tammy (a huge animal rights fanatic who even went to New Orleans to help Katrina stranded animals) was super excited and woke up the whole household screaming, THE TURTLES ARE COMING, THE TURTLES ARE COMING. They got out there with their flashlights and were picking them up one by one and putting them back in the water.One of the ladies had her 5 year old son with her who was helping. I'm already jealous I missed out on this - I just can't imagine how much fun that would be for a kid to help out with.

Sunday morning we woke up to partly cloudy skies. Finally! So after Allison's morning nap, we were out the door (about 9am). She had on her lil swimmer diapers and we headed for the beach. I wanted to at least say I took her to the beach. Jeff held her and walked out in the ocean a little bit but the first splash and she started crying. So we got her settled in our lap under the umbrella and she was ok for a bit, but sand was of course getting everywhere. I figured as much and sure enough, a 6 month old on the beach is not really fun. So after maybe 30 minutes she cried for food and the bottle wasn't warm enough so I went back to the condo to feed her while the gang packed up stuff to take to the pool. The indoor pool was nice and the perfect temperature for her. She didn't know what to think about it for the longest time, but finally started slapping her hands on the water and didn't seem phased by those splashes at all. After a while there, we went to the outdoor one and got her positioned under and umbrella again and she took a nap in Jeff's lap while I attempted to get a sunburn. There were only a few others at the pool. I liked being there off-season and not having to wait, but then again cool options like the tiki bar and gulf-side grill were not open. no margarita pool side :( So we had a nice half day in the sun, even saw dolphins in the distance but then the rain came back later that afternoon.

The drive home Monday was a rough one with really bad storms. I hate driving 40 mph on the highway with white knuckles. Back at home last night, Allison seemed to back to sleeping better in her own bed. Saturday was rough for Claire and Sunday was just a long attempt at getting her to wind down enough to get sleepy.

oh, I was hoping I'd like Ft. Morgan as a place I could go to with my family next summer, but I found it too secluded. I prefer options for shopping and eating. So I'm back on a search for a 5 bedroom house for about $2500/week with beach and pool access.

I took Allison over to my friend Dana's house Sunday. She did the one-month photos, but at my house when I was new to the mommy thing and I just stayed stressed. This time I went to her house where she has lights, props and backdrops and I didn't have anything to stress about. It was a great experience this time. A lot of it could be her age now. Now she actually feels like a real baby. Something about a one-month old, they just don't have too much personality. At six months, she's cuter, smiles easily and is fun to interact with. I took the quilt that cousin Jeanette made and used that for a background in one of them, and then I brought the Strasburg dress that a friend gave me. So we have the dress shots and the rest were naked shots (well, naked in pink bloomers). I saw a few of the photos on her camera and they were great! So now I'm in anxious wait mode :)

update: here are some photos - more in picasa


Saturday night we went to Keith and Angie's for a little while. The Auburn game wasn't on TV so we figured we hang with friends and watch the Alabama game. They enjoyed torturing us screaming Roll Tide. I think we were over there from about 6pm to 8pm and Allison was great the whole time smiling for everyone. It wasn't until the calm quiet dark car ride home that she had to start screaming. I'm sure we over stimulated her and of course kept her up an hour past her bedtime. The screaming kept going after we got home but I finally calmed her down with some rocking. I think in the future we'll try to keep the new faces and stimulation during the day and leave the last couple hours before bedtime calm. We'll in a perfect world anyway :)

As for her cold, she still has a cough that seems to be productive at breaking up the mucus. I haven't taken her back to the dr yet.

I saw a funny bumper sticker today. It reminded me of all the hard core Republican Texans in my family.

I'll keep my guns, freedom, and money. You can keep the "change".

I'm still amazed that people think Obama will take away freedom. Then again Fox News still has viewers after one of their people called Obama a racist against white people. Yeah, I really think he hated his white mother and grandparents. I think my eyes will start hurting if I keep having to roll them that far back in my head!

I feel a little lucky that Allison made it almost 3 months in daycare without being sick. Now I'm afraid we'll be spreading the germs for the next few years. joy. I took her to the doctor on Friday and he listened to her breathe and said there wasn't much we could do at that point. It seemed to get worse Friday night where you could hold her and just feel her chest rattle with congestion. Then Sunday the fever started. when it got to 101 I paged the doctor. He said they're not too concerned till it gets to 103. Through all this, Allison has not been too fussy. She was definitely more cuddly on Monday which I didn't mind. Tuesday Jeff stayed home while I went into work for a half day. Today she's back in daycare- we'll see how that goes. I may be calling the dr again at the end of the week to check for an ear infection. I've been wondering if I have one myself. Seems like I've been congested for 2 weeks now. At least I know how to get rid of the mucus. Poor Allison just coughs to break it up, then swallows it, then sometimes has projectile vomit. oh yeah - that was a site that left Jeff and I both screaming :) I think we may need to rent a carpet steam cleaner for the living room rug. Hopefully next time I'll do better at aiming her mouth. haha.

The news is doing a good job of scaring me about the swine flu this year. But I'm not scared enough to give an experimental vaccine to my 6 month old or myself for that matter. I'd rather the newly rushed and developed vaccine be tested on other people before it gets in my body. Luckily, I get weekly info-emails from work on flu facts that include detailed photo instructions of how to wash my hands :)

In other news my dad got a Great Pyrenees puppy. I got the first pictures of the 9 week old yesterday. He's an adorable ball of white fluff. We won't get to meet him till Christmas, but I predict he'll be about miniature pony size then and just the right size for Allison to go riding. I'll tell my dad to start looking for a saddle!