August and September 2012

I am trying to get better about blogging as I dont want to miss out on not remembering fun things going on and the infamous "terribl twos". But I have been failing thus far :) Nonetheless we have been up to Potty Traning and Moving from our Crib to a toddler bed. The toddler bed was much better than I expected and she has done very well. The first night she got out three times and we put her back in and from there she has only had a couple of occassions where she not been interested in staying put. But she has done fantastic, especially when I hear about some parents battling with their children for more than an hour trying to keep them put. Allie has napped great in there as well and loves her bed, often telling people about it when they see her or of course her infamous "My bed and my room". She often goes upstairs and gets in her bed byherself although mainly because her paci is in there and she knows she can have it if she goes "night night". Potty traning is going pretty well, we have had some accidents but not many and can def count them on my hand. She does the best when she is in big girl panties or nothing at all and will tell me in hasty voice "I have to pee pee" with such an urgency that we immediately whisk her away and go to the bathroom. Yesterday she was successful at the library in a public restroom as that has been scaring her so this was a big deal as she usually wont go near them. She also told me while she had her pull up on which usually she just goes in that. Our next step is to increase our outings without a pullup on and graduate completely to big girl panties. We are close. But just more practice. She is doing quite well. Our next goal after potty training will be to get rid of her paci completely. But that will be an issue as she loves it :). She is so funny these days and can be quite the pill too. Her favorite foods are: spaghetii, pizza, chips/salsa, fruit-grapes/strawberries/sometimes bannanas but not as often as she used to/ apples with peanut butter; M&Ms; Vitamins; peanut butter on waffles NO JELLY, not a big fan of cookies/doughnuts; kolaches but no meat just the bread; ham/cheese; cereal, she is obsessed right now with cereal; sometimes bacon but not much; french fries with ketchup; chicken nuggets. She is a very picky eater and really doesnt mind not eating. She loves her juices and milk. She can be such a pill sometiems, often not minding and telling you NO or thats mine. She tells you always what she wants when she wants it. She has her tantrums at times but we just let her throw them and then she calms down. We were at Ikea the other day and she decided she didnt want to leave so she proceeded to just lie down on the outside of the store pavement, EWWW, I had all sorts of stuff in my hands so I was finally able to get her up and just carry her to the car, but man I was one mad mommy. She doesnt hit as much but when she does its when she is tired and she goes to time out. She doesnt go often, but I do have to use the 1,2,3 or bribery. If on 3 she doesnt do what I need her to do then I have her go to time out, but lately I have resorted to bribing :) I know not great, but when Will is out of town and I am so tired it just gets the job done. We also will take baths together and her favorite thing to do is to drink out of a cup in the faucet and give it to me to drink as well. I got her some bath crayons, what a mess and she likes them alright but she mainly likes playing with the holders vs the crayons. She is wearing a size 2t and size 5 in shoes. She still loves her baby dolls and putting them to sleep. We go through many dish towells as she insists on those being the only blankets the babies can use b/c they are they right size. She also likes blocks and coloring with dry erase markers. I recently bought her some stamps which she likes as well and proceeded to stamp her entire body. She also loves shoes right now, I bought her some black squeaky shoes which she LOVES but mommy and daddy do not so we took the squeaker out for public outings and inside too :) She loves music and is singing all the time, mary had a little lamb, itsy bitsy spider, old mcdonald, twinkle twinkle, happy and you know it, and still some country. One of my favorite things is when she is in bed with me and we have popcorn together and she watches her barney. She gets so excited. She loves to go to story time which we do once a week, and we get togther with Sara McCarroll and her girls too. WE go to the park a lot and do some shopping but try to keep that to a minimum. She says thank you and please quite often and will say "your yelcome" for your welcome. very cute. She states "I did it" for I'll do it. Or she states I do it myself. She is a very strong willed toddler but very cute esp when you see her get so excited for something. she loves animals and loves to count. she sings ABCs all the time. Loving this age although it can be quite challenging. On another note we are pregnant, YAY, about 16 weeks. We find out in three weeks what we are having. I think its another girl, I was more sick this go round in the first trimester-naseous at times and didnt feel like anything to eat, also very tired. but no crazy symptoms, although breaking out for sure like I did with Allie. I started feeling baby move about 11 weeks but no kicking yet just the butterfly feeling. I have been eating a lot of cereal and popcorn, more salty cravings vs sweet which with allie i had no cravings and if i did it was more for something sweet. Nonetheless we are very excited, due date is march 17th, 2012. We have told Allie about the baby but she still doesnt get it as I am not very big. She points the baby in my belly and hers. Another adventure but excited to start.

OUR BABY IS TWO YEARS OLD!!!

How did it happen so fast. Another year has gone by. What a ham we have created. She brings us so much joy and we are so thankful she is our little punkin. Allison is "crazy" these days as I like to describe. She has had some terrible two stances, mainly where she doesnt like to do what we tell her to and she often at times is heard telling us no. WHICH makes us so mad not to mention people turn around like who is talking to you that way, then they see its a 2 year old and laugh. Most of her favorite phrases consist of "No No Daddy or No NO Mommy"... Although lately it has been towards her babies and stuffed animals, and then proceeds to place them all in time out. I looked over and the stuffed dog, elmo, and 2 babies were all turned towards the wall in their respective corners. Of course then I'm like oh no maybe I am sending her too much. I will say she has been great these past two weeks and really hasnt had to go but maybe once to time out. She is doing really well on potty training. I recently started a potty chart and she is doing great with it although its only been two days. She also loves M&Ms and that helps with the bribery. Allie is into many things these days. Her favorite activity of all more than any of her toys is to put all animals and babies night night. She grabs all of our kitchen towells and uses those for blankets and every day/night each animal will have about 5 toys on it. Finally had to tell her no more towells as she had 20 out in the living room. She loves putting bailey night night too but bailey gets annoyed with that. She tries to put Will and I night night as well. She loves to go outside and to the park. For her birthday she got a wagon from Papa D and she loves riding in that. We have been doing all sorts of things lately. On July fourth we were in Florida with aunt natty and uncle wyatt, papa d and sherry, mama mel and poppy, and then sue and company were all with mom at another condo. We had a lot of fun. We took Allie to a july 4th festival with just Will and I and then did breakfast. It started to rain so we couldnt go to the beach until later that day which ended up being great b/c it was cooler. For Allie's bday party we did an under the sea party here at the house with pool toys and then we had visors to decorate. We had a good number of people and little ones and had a really good time. Mama Mel and Jan helped me set up for the party and the decorations ended up being awesome. Allie loves her babies right now and takes them often with us everywhere. She loves to play on the ipdad and calls it "my IPAD" which I dont like but she loves playing the games and watching the movies. The office is soon to be out of our house which I am very excited about b/c most of her toys are all in the garage until we have more room up in the playroom. I think she will play with her toys more once we get them all up there. Jim and Sabrina gave her the entire pottery barn kitchen set which was soooo nice. Allie plays with it at times and I think when she gets older she will play with it even more. Allie is talking so much more as well

22 and 23 months old...

I dont know why its so hard to post for me but it is! So we are combining months now. Allie is just adorable, fiesty, and wonderful all in the same sentence. She gives us a run for her money. For example her favorite things to say to Will and I are "No No Mommy, and No NO Daddy. Or "my phone" or MY ANYTHING. She will tell you what she wants and when she wants it. She is still very sweet and relatively well behaved. Although the other day at the grocery store she proceeded to say hello to the man waiting by us at the deli. She kept waving saying hello and then he turned around to say hi back. Then she stated " Go Away" and No No No. I was mortified and told her that she was the one who started this conversation. But I laughed a little. She started back to hitting a little but not too bad and this past week she hasnt done it once. We dont do time outs as much, I have spanked very gently which has helped I guess. She is still not a great eater, but will eat when she is hungry which isnt that often. We usually can get one good meal in her per day which is usually breakfast. She hasnt been into yogurt these days so its mainly banannas, grapes, oranges, waffles, chick-fil-a nuggets, spaghetti, watermelon, sometimes strawberries, peas/carrots, ham and cheese, JUNK FOOD-graham crackers, goldfish, SHE LOVES CHIPS, pizza-cheese preferrably. She has started to not want to go to bed or naps but she only protests for about 30 seconds. She naps for about 2.5-3 hours and goes to bed around 9-745. SO NOT BAD! She LOVES LOVES ELMO and MICKEY right now. We remodeled our downstairs somewhat so we were stuck in our bedroom for about a week in which case we used ElMO a little too much on the t.v. which has created Allie to insist on watching it. SO Now our routine is a little elmo or mickey in the morning, maybe one more time during the day but mainly about 30 min right before bedtime. which gives me/will a little break to wind down after bath. Allie still loves baths, and is obsessed with bubble baths, but I had to stop those as it made her very irritated on her skin, and I thought she had a bladder infection. She loves to put things and me to "night night" and put a blanket over us. She is talking so much too. Everyday its new sentences and new phrases/words. She loves saying "I Did it" even if she means "I'll do it". She loves bailey and screaming her name as well as giving her treats. She is a little pistol but what a cute baby girl. Love her so much and having a lot of fun with her. Although trying at times aka restaurants its still a great age. I say its a hard age, but then its the most fun b/c they truly get so excited to do and try new things. Her favorite toys right now are bubbles, LAMB and Paci, puzzles, stroller, shopping cart. Her birthday is about a week 1/2 away. Cant believe it, what an amazing two years have gone by. I love her so much and she is just growing so quickly.

20 and 21 months

So I have once again been bad about posting to the blog regarding out little miss personality. She has just been too cute these days. 20 months was a good month although sad for us in that we lost our baby at 9 weeks. The baby itself +as only 7 weeks and 2 days old. Been a very hard deal for us but we are okay and moving forward. I had a very hard time with it all, truly felt some grief in losing the baby. But will do a seperate post about that experience later. Allison in her 20th month was not only active physically but truly starting talking so much more. She started doing 2-3 word sentences. Her favorite at the moment is "no no mommmy". She is also saying "what is that" and other such phrases. Allison loves to still walk her baby around the cul de sac and she also loves to walk Bailey. OUTSIDE is a common word and she loves to just beat on the door until I go with her outside. She still enjoys the backyard but mostly the front is where its at. She loves the park and going down slides. She likes babies and putting them to sleep. She has also gotten in to reading to her babies like she does at school. When Will and I put her down at night she proceeds to grab the book from us and turn it around so she can read to us. Its pretty cute but usually book time is cut short as she is over us reading to her. Allison doesnt like to eat much these days and we usually get her to eat in the mornings which consists of a bannana and nutrigrain bar with milk. She loves grapes and bannans, she will eat pb and j sandwiches, broccoli casserole (sometimes), green peas (sometimes), graham crackers, goldfish, NUTS-peanuts/cashews, yogurt, cheese (smoked gouda), granola bars. She is a picky eater and just prefers not to eat. In her 21st month she was very big into water, pouring it out. She loved to have mutliple cups and pour water in and out of each one. She loves mickey mouse and has recently gotten more into Elmo (video). We havent had to do as many time outs but she still likes to hit and often embarresses me as she does it with other kids or playdates. Allie doesnt do it at school. I guess I just bring it out in her. We have been pretty busy with traveling to Galveston to Amanda's wedding and Nashville for a marathon for JOhn. She stayed with her Mama Mel and Fred and the Driskell's. She is still sleeping good with her music and goes down about 830-845 although she has been pushing it to 9 these days. She likes us to read to her probably about 3-4 books before we put her down. She will sleep until about 730 usually. She is not a good restaurant companion as she has about 20 minutes before she is screaming to get out of her chair or throwing things :).... But she is as cute as a button. Loves to dance to music and wheels on the bus. She loves Merle Haggard. She is talking a lot and now days its trying to truly figure out what she is saying. She loves to mess with Bailey, mainly trying to put her to sleep with a towell. She plays in her car, I got her a water table, she loves BUBBLES, she loves the park and slides, she loves her stroller and going on a walk. She loves bath time and drawing with markers. All of these activities only last a short minute until we have moved onto the next. I have tried doing more with her like the library, playdates, esp wine with playdates at Sara McCarroll's, and the park with walks. Its pretty essential to get her out of the house so that she can expend some energy before and after nap. Things are going well. We have been really busy with weddings and other types of events. But its been fun. Allison is also obsessed with putting shoes on and off. Things to remember: pretty girl smile Wa Wa- water and her ever increasing vocabulary. kisses and hugs

19 Months

Allison Allison Allison, What a HAM! She is absolutely precious although can get in trouble quite often. She is not hitting as much but she does it more at night before bedtime because she is tired. But honestly I think she wants to go to time out because we will ask her if she needs to go to timeout and she will nod her head that she does. She loves loves loves to dance still and will point to the stereo for me to turn on and she will start dancing. She loves the song if your happy and you know it clap your hands and she loves do you know the muffin man. She is getting more and more into puzzles and books although she still grabs them from me so that she can read them. She loves ba ba black sheep and has gotten into elmo books. She also will watch (for like 5 minutes) mickey mouse clubhouse. she loves the IPAD and will call it by its name. She knows how to do all sorts of stuff on it and often at times looks at the pictures on it which are mainly pictures and videos of herself. Her hair is getting so long and I am trying to learn new ways to do it as is slippery and she is wiggly. She weighs about 23.8lbs and is still quite tall for her age. She loves bailey and now tries to pick her up. Bailey doesnt enjoy that part as much but bailey often goes up to her room with me in the morning to greet the punkin. Allie still sleeps through the night although we have had some illnesses this month, another EAR INFECTION and last weekend she had walking pneumonia. It was kindof scary as I could tell that she was having difficulty breathing and breathing very fast. But we are much better and she is still enjoying her school. She talks about her little friend Abby although we dont know if she truly loves abby or if its just easy to say her name. She knows how to say PACI like a champ and she says Wills name too. She says Oh no and Oh Boy and knows many words of course dog, daddy, mommy, Wa Wa (water), paci, cow-moo,nana (bannana), apple (which she means orange) as SHE LOVES ORANGES but of course it still hurts her stomach so we cant give her many of those, she says outside a lot as she loves to go outside, either to park or just walk around the cul de sac, and/or to push her baby doll in stroller or walk bailey. She has really gotten into baby dolls. Its cute at night because she will put her lamb or baby in bed with her and then tuck it under her blanket and put it to night night then she will say bye bye to me. :) She still gets cranky on car rides that are long as she wants to be out and about. She still enjoys stickers. She climbs up and down the stairs. She is still a picky eater as one day she likes something and then the next she doesnt. Banannas, brocoli cheese caserrole, green peas, corn, meatballs, cresent rolls with ham/cheese, graham crackers, yogurt,oranges, raisins, NUTRI GRAIN BARS (she is currently obsessed with these), cheetos, PB and Jelly sandwiches, kolache (mainly the bread), and a few other things. But you never know with dinner time. She still also loves spaghetti and chick fil a nuggets. She drinks milk very well and apple juice/water. She gives wonderful hugs and kisses which melt your heart. We are going through throwing our food at times which also gets her put in time out and meal time over. :) I just bought her an elmo insert toilet as she kept pointing to it at the store. but everytime I try to sit her on it she screams. so we are just waiting. She keeps giving me signals that she is ready but then obviously no too much.She loves twinkle twinkle little star and will sing aloud once you get to the part "up above the " and will point to the sky.

Fun age and very cute.

Things to Remember:
Wa Wa, Dada, Mama, Wull (will), PACI, outside,her cute language
pushing baby dolls around and/or walking bailey outside
park- sliding down slides
dancing to her songs
ipad and her knowledge of what to do
her love of oranges
hugging and kissing
bath time
playing in her ball pit
MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC

17 Months and 18 Months

Christmas, New Years, 30th Birthday, OH MY OH MY
Wow, I have been a huge slacker in posting on our blog. We have had so much going on with the holidays, my birthday, Christmas, New Years, Breckenridge etc. Its been a whirlwind but a lot of fun. But I will be honest in that I am really looking forward to hanging out around the house some. Allison has become even more animated than ever. SHE DEFINTELY has started showing us her own independence and NO is often a way of expressing herself. For her 17 month in December she got to do a lot of fun things. She really loves her preschool and you can tell she has really adjusted. She really enjoyed the christmas music especially with her amazing dancing skills :). She loved putting on a show and especially liked Nat King Cole. She liked the Christmas tree and the lights and impressingly enough she didnt take down the ornaments. For my 30th birthday, Will and John planned a suprise party for Emily and I with a lot of our friends in Ft. Worth. Allie went to Jim and Sabrina's and spent the night. The boys took us to the stockyards, we stayed in the Worthington Hotel and then had a suprise dinner at Cattlemans. First we got there and the boys took us to Joe T Garcias where we met dad and Sherry which was a huge suprise for me. Then we hung out around the hotel and then went to H3 and then cattlemans then partied at a bar across the street. Lots of fun... Okay back to the gator.... She met Santa again in Allen with the virtual line where they just text you when to go wait in line. At first Allie cried but then we sung the wheels on the bus go round and round and then she smiled. So we got two great pics-one crying then one smiling. ALLISON loves to walk/run. Sitting is not a strong suite these days. Car rides are harder as Allie does not want to be strapped in. We often try to do the drive around nap time so we can at least get 2 hours then try to entertain her some more. We went to mama mel and grandpa zuker's for christmas. Nat and Wyatt were there too. Allie was such a ham and little turkey too. She got so much from Santa. What a special Christmas. She woke up and we took her downstairs in which she just starred at all of the gifts. She didnt know what to do, so we put her down and she would go to each toy and then look back at us to see if it was either hers or okay to touch. She got a ball pit, dancing puppy, crayons, dry erase board, books, leap frog junior, stuffed animals, baby piano. Mama mel got her lots of clothes, her cute cute pottery barn luggage, aunt natty and uncle wyatt got her a cabbage patch doll, she got a learning purse and picnic basket from Grandmother and Grandaddy, as well as a stroller and baby doll from Aunt Brina and Uncle Jim, and another purse from Uncle Tommy and Aunt Christine. She got a whole lot. Allie then went back with Will to Frisco so she could go to her school and then Nat/Wyatt and I went to WImberley to hang out with daddy for new years. We had a lot of fun and then Will and ALlison came to Wimberley that Thursday before new years. We had a new years party at dads house on the hill and Allie stayed up with us until about 830. Then slept her way through the new year with the party going on downstairs. 17 and 18 months are kindof running together as she is doing about the same stuff although she is talking a bunch more. She loves to say "oh no" and then she loves to say no no. then she says bow,okay,ball,cup,dog,and lots others just cant think right now :) She can do some animal sounds-cow,monkey, dog, pig. She knows all of her body parts AND IS OBSESSED with putting her shoes on and off. She loves to bring daddy his shoes or anyones for that matter. She climbs on stairs alot but now knows how to climb down. She enjoys bath time, and Will and I are still bathing with her. She goes to bed around 8pm. FOOD TIME is another story. Sometimes she will eat but most of the time she wont. I will say spaghetti is by far her favorite and she loves these crescent rolls with ham/cheese although she only eats the cresent part of it. She loves to snack, graham crackers sometimes with PB, granola bars, raisins (although she cant have these too often as they make her sick), organges (same cant have them a lot), banannas, rice/beans, She isnt a fan of meat these days either. She does like PB and Jelly. She will eat cereal and she loves loves yogurt. She loves goldfish and cheezit, and still likes fruit. Only veggies she will eat is if they are hidden or peas and sometimes corn. she likes chicken nuggets. But overall i guess she is a good eater but we only get about 1 good meal eaten. She drinks quite a bit of milk with meals and juice/water. She has started being a little toot at times in that she will try to hit us. We have started implementing time out and then at times a little swat and firm no. She also thinks throwing her food is appropriate which then we tell her meal time is over and another firm NO. We cant take her to restaurants for more than about 15 minutes as she wants out of her seat and gets very mad. So one of us is either scarfing down our food and the other is entertaining and then we get the check. :) Its a fun age though but its a hard age. She is very loving and still hugs/kisses. She does open kisses and closed. She overall is still a very happy baby with some whining on the side. :) She is our pride and joy. I just love watching the new things she does. She really has "grown up" in that she can really understand what you are asking her. I can ask her to bring me something and she will do it. Pretty cool. I love love love my baby. She also loves to color some, still not into tv although this past trip to breckenridge she got into mickey mouse clubhouse. i also bought her some elmo tapes but she isnt there yet. I am really going to start doing more with her on my days off, join a play group, do art work etc. Its going to be a good year- I will post more about Breckenridge on the next post.
Things to Remember:
open kisses, hugs
night night, bye bye
no no
lamb
paci
dancing to everything
the wheels on the bus, row row row your boat, the itsy bitsy spider
christmas
santa
juice
puzzles-putting shapes into things
walking bailey
putting her shoes on and off