Guard Dog

Our Silly Toddler

It has been so much fun watching Allison turn into a toddler these past few months. She is always cracking us up with the things she does. She is learning so much each day, it amazes me. Sometimes I wonder where she learns these things from.

The other day she took the watering can out of the garage and walked to the faucet on the side of the house. She set the watering can under the faucet and put one hand on the nozzle like she was going to turn it on. Now if you saw my flowers this summer, you would know that it had been a very long time since I actually filled a watering can. I was surprised that she remembered me doing that.

We picked up the helium balloon pictured above from the hospital to place outside our house so we could let our neighbors know that we had the baby. Since we brought it back in the house, it has provided some great entertainment for Allison. She walks all around the house dragging it behind her. My sister Jodi came for a visit the other day and brought over an even cooler looking balloon - one that is shaped like a baby. That one really got Allison's attention. I think we may be making trips to the party supply store this winter to pick up some more balloons. Cheap entertainment - you can't beat it.

Allison is very into her books, particulary four Sesame Street board books we picked up in the dollar section at Target. We have them on a coffee table so she can easily reach them. She likes to either carry the books one by one to another table or she brings them to a person in hopes they will read the book to her. She also enjoys sitting on people's laps, especially dad's. She will walk up to him and turn around and back herself up into his lap (usually with a book for him to read to her).

Allison is also a very big helper. For every one piece of folded clothing I manage to put in her drawer, she takes out two. She also enjoys "helping" when we try to fold her clothes. We usually keep a pile set aside for her to play with while we fold the rest.

We still are waiting for molar number four to pop through. This particular tooth has taken the longest time to come through out of all of them. I could feel the bump around three weeks ago but it hasn't cracked the surface yet. I feel bad because you can tell it is really bothering her. Pretty soon it will come through (I say this every morning when I check to see if it has).

Hi, Back At Ya!

The other day I had Amelia in the swing and Allison was intently watching her. Amelia's arm involuntary shot up, like she was waving. Allison got all excited and waved back.

As you can see, Allison is very curious about the baby. She likes peeking in the bassinet to look at Amelia. We normally don't let her stand on the bassinet because we are afraid of it tipping over, but I figured I had to get at least one picture of Allison doing that.

Amelia is adjusting to our household just fine. She is eating 3 ounces per feeding, around every three hours. The last two nights she only woke up twice, which has been nice. She is the noisiest sleeper though. She has been served eviction papers and will be moving out of our bedroom in a few weeks once we get Allison's new room set up and we can move Amelia into the nursery. Even though she is sleeping longer periods of time, Brian and I are not getting good sleep because she is keeping us up.

Amelia had her first outing yesterday. I didn't want fall to pass me by so Brian took us on a short car ride so I could see the leaves. We took the scenic drive at Johnson Park. We also made a stop at Millennium Park so Allison could play for a bit and burn off some energy. Minus the breeze, it was a nice afternoon.

A Tale of Two Sisters

Here is a video from the first day that Allison saw Amelia. As you will see, she got a little too excited about seeing her little sister

This video is from when we brought Amelia home from the hospital.

So far Allison has done very well with Amelia. We just have to watch Allison closely as she doesn't realize that she has to be gentle with the baby. She is very curious about the baby and always want to check her out when she is in her bassinet. We thought that might be a safe place to put Amelia, but Allison figured out that she can step on the bottom rail of the bassinet and peer into it. I think it helps that Amelia has a bunch of hair for Allison to "pet." She is very fascinated by the baby's hair.

Hopefully this is just the beginning of a great friendship. My wish is that my girls grow up realizing how special it is to have a sister and are always close.

Overall Allison has been great about the whole deal. She did wonderfully while I was in the hospital. A huge thanks goes to both our parents. Brian's mom came over at 4 am to stay with Allison and my parents took over while I was in the hospital. My biggest fear was that she would be clingy when I came home and not understand why I couldn't pick her up. So far that hasn't been an issue. She and her dad have become extra special buddies this past week and she really relies on him.

Some more pictures

Amelia all ready for the car ride home.

Dad bringing home his "girls"

Allison and Ozzie checking out their new play buddy.

Here are a few more pictures to tide you over. All is going well. We are pretty tired as Amelia is waking up every two hours to eat at night. Hopefully she will start taking more per feeding and we can stretch it out to three hours. I got to sit outside with baby for a few minutes and enjoy the nice weather. It felt good to get out.

Introducing Amelia Ann

Here are some pictures to start off with. I have plenty more to post. These are just from day one that were already on the computer. I have to download others later today or tomrrow.

We got home from the hospital yesterday. I talked the doctor into releasing me last night rather than today. It felt good to be at home. All is going well so far. Allison has done great - in fact so great that she deserves her own post with pictures and videos that I hope to do soon.

Thanks for the well wishes from everyone. They mean a lot to our family.

Announcing Amelia Ann

She is here!

Amelia Ann
6 lb and 11 ozs
19 inches
Monday, October 13

I had a feeling something might happen as soon as I lost my mucus plug over the weekend. I woke up around 1:30 am and felt some leaking. I got up and realized I was having some contractions. I didn't think they were all that strong or close so I didn't do a good job timing them (can we say denial). I started timing them around 3:30 and realized they were coming on quick and fast. I woke up Brian and we called his mom over. We arrived at the hospital around 5 am and I was already at 4.5 cm. Whoops! I guess I should have gone in a little sooner. Contractions were getting strong at that point in time so I got to experience the joys of labor pains.

Due to a communication issue with the doctor on call, she didn't get to St. Mary's until after 6 am. By then I was ready for an epidural but held off until I got to the OR. The surgery went well and we have a cute little girl on our hands.

Amelia has a full head of hair - even more than Allison has right now at almost 15 months.

Hopefully we will get pictures posted soon. Stay tuned.

Final Countdown...

I was going to load the song "Final Countdown" by Europe on the blog as a joke, but I didn't want to catch anyone off guard by having music blaring from my normally silent blog.

We are on the final countdown.... only 11 more days...that is if I make it. There are days I don't think I will. I don't like this waiting around, trying to decide if such and such sign means that I am about to go into labor. With Allison, I had nothing until my water broke. You couldn't argue with that sign....well, the nurses and doctors in triage tried to argue that sign, but I won't get into that story.

I'm feeling pretty good. I've decided that I only have a few more days of being pregnant, ever in my life, unless we have a pretty big change of plans. I am going to focus on the fun stuff and not worry about the aches and pains. I am going to enjoy my donut and McDonald cravings a few more times. I'm going to enjoy my round belly and even the protruding belly button. Maybe my husband will take pity on me and spoil me with foot rubs and back massages each night (we will see if he notices that I slipped this one in.)

I am enjoying as much one-on-one time with Allison while I still can. I am trying to do something with her each day. This weekend Brian and I headed out to Grand Haven for one last trip to the beach for the season. We took a nice long walk on the pier.

A friend of mine and fellow blogger, who is due two days before I am, commented on her blog that she is getting very emotional about these last few days as a family of three. While she is very excited for the arrival of baby number two, she can't help but get sentimental about spending these last few days with her daughter. I know exactly how she feels. I think the thing that worries me the most is the first few weeks of recovery, especially because these past few weeks Allison has gotten very cuddly and somewhat clingy. But somehow we will weather through it - taking it day by day.

Don't Forget to Vote

Don't worry, I'm not getting political on you. I just want to encourage you to vote in the baby pool I created. Click on the link on the side of my blog and place your bet. As a reminder, I have a c-section scheduled for October 23 at 11 am, but that doesn't mean I can't go early!

Our Happy Little Family

Last Friday we had family pictures taken. My friend and walking buddy, Amber, is starting a photography business and offered to take pictures of Allison and the family. Allison gave Amber quite a workout that night, as Allison was on the go the entire time. I think the only picture we got of her actually sitting still was when she tripped on some bramble and was stuck.

I saw a few of the photos and they turned out great! I can't wait to see the rest of them.
Check them at Amber's website.

Thanks again Amber. You really captured Allison's personality and captured some special memories for Brian and I.

Our Pumpkin at the Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we took our annual trek to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch. I wanted to get the trip in this weekend, "just in case" the baby were to arrive early. To me it isn't fall unless I have one trip to get my cider and donut. We started off at Steffen's Market and stopped at another orchard, Fruit Ridge Farms, just down the road. The area orchards and farms have banded together to promote their businesses, which makes it easier to find them. Check out Kent Harvest Trails for more information.

The weather was perfect, sunny and a bit cool. You could feel fall in the air. After a long car ride (due to construction, an accident, and poor map planning on my part), Allison was very happy to get out of the car and walk around. The highlights of her afternoon were seeing the animals and sharing a donut with mom - she may not like pasta, but at least she shares my love of fresh, cider mill donuts.

Allison shows off her driving skills.

"This one mom, I'll take this one."

Dad shows Allison a tractor that is very similar to one that he drove on the family farm while growing up.

Allison saw many animals at the Fruit Ridge Farm. She showed off her new vocabulary skills.

Llamas - "daw"

Sheep and Donkey - "daw" - Ponies were "Daw, Daw, Daw!!" Evidently due to Ozzie's large size, most farm animals are dogs in her eyes.

"Oh how I wish mom and dad would just let me go on a pony (daw) ride."

Next year, we will take Allison on a pony ride. She just is too much on the go this year and we were afraid she would not sit still long enough. If she is really good, we will even let her take the "Pig Train" ride.




Allison and her shadow give up any hope of a pony ride and take off to explore the rest of the farm.

Down She Goes

For the past few weeks Allison has been climbing up the stairs, which I figured is a good thing, since I won't be able to carry her up them when I am recovering. It dawned on me that she needed to learn how to go down them, so we have been practicing doing that. Allison has gotten very good at it. To go down, she will lay on her belly and shimmy backwards.