We are almost there

Well we are a little less than three weeks due with our second baby girl, Mary Petyon Driskell. ALlison is getting so excited and keeps telling everyone that she is about to have a baby sister. ITs really cute she calls her baby siwsta. All has been about the same with this pregnancy as it was with Allie especially b/c she doesnt move much either in utero, I pray its the same thing as it was with Allie in that I just have chill babies in the womb. We have been doing extra monitoring with weekly sono and NST tests just to confirm that everything is looking good. Which so far so good, they are thinking Petyon is about 6lbs 8oz as of last week so we will see if she is bigger than Allie as I know sonos are off. We have the nursery ready, Allie's big girl room which she is in although its been a harder struggle with her big girl bed vs the toddler and the playroom is still a work in progress. Allison is so cute these days, what a ham. She loves music and still loves the songs if your happy and you know it, you are my sunshine, row row your boat, if all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops and then of course any of the songs on her toddler cd from Primrose. She seems to like her class a lot and doesnt cry when we drop off as much sometimes she still does with me but overall she seems very content. We are still working on potty training, she was doing great then we would go out of town and get her off schedule which would throw us through a loop and were still doing that week to week. She is in big girl panties but we have accidents. WE give "treats" to her when she uses the potty, like hershey kisses although Allie would prefer the blue cookies "oreos" Those are by far her favorite. She is still a picky eater and loves her waffles samwiches with only peanut butter no jelly, she loves cheese pizza, mac and cheese, strawberrie,grapes, sometimes bannans, apples, organges, mostly all fruit, spaghetti, lasagna, sometime quesadillas, chips of course. For breakfast she either wants waffle with pb, or cereal and fruit. For lunch we can sometimes do ham/cheese, spaghetti, chicken nuggets etc for dinner its a struggle if she is even hungry as she really wont eat what we are eating unless its like pizza,spaghetti, so she will do either pizza, pbj, fruit, mac cheese, chicken and fruit eating is not a strong suite of hers. :) We had another ear infection recently, next one she has to get tubes, I hope we can make it through without another one. I worry I should have done it alot sooner. RIght now our other struggle is bedtime and getting her to actually get to sleep at a decent hour, I truly think its b/c I let her nap long and later like I put her down at 230 so she doesnt get up until 5 so by 830-9 she isnt sleepy. SO we maybe trying to drop her nap so that she can go to sleep around 730 or maybe i should put her down no later than 1 work in progress. She is just talking so much too, its so cute. I know our lives are about to change so much again, I worry about how she will do but excited at the same time. Cant wait for her to be here. ALlison loves loves loves to paint, mainly with her fingers vs a brush she loves playing with her baby dolls but does not like them to have clothes on she loves watching dora, Mickey Mouse, sophia the princess, she has recently started watching lady and the tramp and cinderella. She still likes Barney and lots of the time she has our IPAD or IPHONE and will watch different things on it like the backyardigans, barney, wheels on the bus. She has also started to love taking showers with us esp her daddy, its pretty cute. she loves going to the mall and riding the horsies, she also goes to chick fil a quite a bit :) and loves to play on the playground. She loves stoty time and is really into animals right now. I need to take her to a petting zoo soon. Anyways I need to go to bed, just trying to jot things down so I can remember them later. Two year olds are pretty funny, crazy, indepedent, cranky, sweet, irrational all in one.

January 2013

SO I cannot seem to get better about blogging but hey its a new year. WE are 32 weeks pregnant with our second baby girl, Mary Petyon Driskell. It was a hard name to come up with but ultimately we have decided on her name. Mary from both of our grandmothers whom we dearly loved and Peyton is a name we both liked and agreed upon :) Allie is getting so excited about her baby sister, she tells everyone she sees that she is going to have a baby sister, its precious. Its pronounced baby siwsta. WE had a great Christmas, half at dads until Christmas Eve and then to the Driskells. We had spent Thanksgiving at moms, which was a great time. OH AND THE NEW news is that Natalie is pregnant, I am so excited. Christmas was great as we were both the non drinkers and also got to spend a lot of time together. Allie got quite a bit for Christmas this year although we were trying to be quite mindful of not going overboard. So Santa brought her an wooden easel with art supplies-paint, brushes, markers, stampers,chalk; then a basketball goal, and a trampoline for toddlers. She also got two baby dolls with a changing station, feeding supplies bottles etc and she got a Minnie Mouse and some books. She got a motorized car from papa d and sherry; all sorts of fun food stuff, CD player, clothes, shoes, and baby carrier from mama mel and fred, she got a big Mickey Mouse from grandmother and grandaddy, and all sorts of other fun stuff. She had a great time hanging out with her cousins. RIght now things are settling down, mrs d and will painted the new nursery *allies old room) and ALlies new room which we painted a baby pink and the nursery a grey. we had the woodwork and doors painted white. SO now since the paint fumes have settled we are transitioning ALlie from her toddler bed to her new big girl full bed which we actually got from craigs list from a lady that only got to use it for one year. still was quite a bit since it was from PB but oh well. We got her a dresser too and all new bedding from PB. SO things are coming together although there is still so much to do. We are in the process of getting both rooms complete, the play room organized including my dads office stuff, and getting all the newborn stuff out washed etc. So I guess you would say I am nesting as I want it all complete, but do feel better since we have started. We also have to clean out our closets, and the garage, and I will feel better. Will hasnt had to travel too much since early dec really before thanksgiving so we have been spoiled having him here so much during the week. Its so nice. Anywho we are also still working on potty training, over the holidays it kindof went to the wasteside although we still tried but being off schedule and so much going on it was just no practical. We got back from xmas, and Allie went to another classroom at her school which really concentrates on potty training and she has done really well but then we have had quite a few accidents since we got back from Crockett which we went to last weekend because Grandmother died she was 101 amazing!sad funeral but then also glad for what a wonderful life she led for that long. Allie is doing really well and talking up a storm. She has def done her fiar share of toddler things such as writing on the couch writing on moms phone, pouring milk out all over the floor, picking up on mommy and daddys wrong language which she remembers but then changes it with Oh my goodness. She loves to sing songs such as oldmcdonald, wheels on the bus, all her primrose music, if your happy and you know it. She loves going to the mall and riding the horsies and she loves talking about the farm where she fed the animals i guess in october. she is a loving little girl and so cute but she def has her two year old tantrums. she loves going to story time at the library. She loves getting in her stroller but then is over it after 15 min. She loves bailey although she will also try to pick her up which I tell her not to. She doesnt eat much these days although obsessed with waffles and pb; she will eat spagehtti, croissants, pizza, ham, chips, chicken nuggets, french fries, she loves reeces mms hershey kisses which are all treats she can get when she potties. She is pretty funny and has great expressions. She told me the other day with my phone in hand, Mommy this is my phone, Ya hear me. I know she got this from me b/c im constantly asking her if she heard me. but she said it in a funny way but still had to tell her she coulding say that to mommy. She also tells us to go away please when she is in the bathroom. She still sleeps to her music but its not a necessity and we are trying to get rid of the paci although she is just moving on to her thumb. SO that is another battle we will fight, right now we are trying to get her bed routine to an earlier time not to mention not as long as she wants us to sleep with her which is our fault b/c she had to sleep with us for 2 weeks while we waited for the paint fumes to settle. She still loves to play with babies and art supplies. I will post later im getting tired. Pregnancy is going well, lots of Braxton Hicks and this baby is acting a lot like allie did in utero with not a ton of movement, she was really active so I didnt think it was going to be an issue but it is , the doc wants to monitor more with sonograms and nst test to just make sure everything looks good. which she thinks it does. Getting ready to meet this new addition although its strange to think we are going to have another one. Crazy.

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