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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.