Allison and her Cousins

Last weekend, we headed to Swartz Creek to visit my family. My cousin's son Jackson turned one, so we went to his birthday party. Jack is Allison's little buddy, so she had fun seeing him.





On Sunday we brought two of my nephews back with us for a visit. They were supposed to come last summer, however we ran out of weekends before Allison was born, so they patiently waited until this year. Allison had a blast playing with her cousins. They kept her entertained, which was a big help on the car ride back to Grand Rapids. They took Allison through the sprinkler for the first time. She didn't like that too much and had more fun watching them run through it, or in Cole's case, running around the ball 300 times. On Monday, we went to Holland State Park where they played in the sand and Chase and Cole had a great time jumping the waves.

I know that we must have done a good job entertaining them, because they were both fast asleep on the car ride to Lansing where I met my sister to drop the boys off.

Potential Craig's List Ad

Ever since Brian and I sold our TV and another item on Craig's list, I have been searching for items around the house that we could get rid of. After today, I was tempted to post the following ad.

Available to borrow for as long as you would like:

Girl: One year old. Approximately 21 lbs. Brown hair (what little she has) and blue eyes. A cute grin. A little on the chubby side.

Slight imperfections: Teething and still tired from long weekend. Some could consider her crabby. Obsessed with stairs. Will make you chase after her several times a minute.

Price: Negotiable. Willing to provide beer, wine, free lunch in exchange for taking her off my hands for a short while.

Ok, so maybe I won't get rid of her, at least not on Craig's List. Now if any family or friends want to take her for a bit, that would be a different story.

Signs of a Toddler

I've noticed things here and there that Allison is no longer a baby and is starting to become a toddler. We installed our new TV in the basement the other night, so the next day, I brought Allison downstairs to show it to her. We were watching something on PBS that really caught her attention. She was sitting next to me, playing with her feet. Then she laid down on the pillows and was watching the show, like a a true couch potato. It just struck me that she was getting to be so big.

Speaking of the basement and TV, we are almost finished. We are so close. Basically everything is done and put together, with the exception of the bookshelves. They are assembled and put in place, Brian just has to put his books out and make it look nice. Once that happens, I promise to put pictures up. Hopefully after this weekend, unless he is waiting for AT&T to come install the cable, then it would be at least until Thursday. Well I am off to watch the Olympics on our new big screen.

Thank You Aunt....

Thank you Aunt Jodi, Aunt Keri, and Aunt Lori and all their families. For Allison's birthday, they got her a gift certificate to Toys R Us so we could get her a sandbox. I found this one on their website for a great deal. It included a little picnic table, which I had eventually wanted for the kids, so it worked out great. She loves her new sandbox and spent a long time playing in it this afternoon.

Allison taking a seat at the table before she tested out the sand box.

As you can see, the sand box is a hit.

She loves the table because she can set stuff on there and she also likes to stand in the box holding onto the table.

Our Overnight Adventure

We decided to take a short getaway on Sunday and drove up to Pentwater and Ludington. I decided that we should leave at 10 am, hoping that Allison would take her morning nap in the car, however Allison being Allison, that was a no-go. She very rarely sleeps in her car seat, only when she is extremely tired.

We arrived in Ludington and had a picnic at the beach and spent some time playing in the sand. She was the hit of the beach. Everyone around us kept commenting on how cute she was crawling in the sand and on her bathing suit.

We then checked into the hotel, hoping that Allison would take her afternoon nap. Again, that was a no-go. She cried so hard, which I don't understand. She has taken naps in her pack-n-play before without a problem. I guess she was afraid she was going to miss out on some fun.

Finally after 45 minutes, I gave up and got her out. We took her swimming which she loved. We then went to dinner in Pentwater. Considering how tired she was, Allison did great. We ordered her first meal off the children's menu (Dad had to help finish off the grilled cheese). She did get a pickle which was a bonus, as you can see. You can also see how tired she looked.

After we got back to the hotel we put her down to bed, which luckily happened without too much fussing. Brian and I watched a movie on the portable DVD player to pass time. I made the mistake of bringing a comedy which caused Brian to laugh a little too loudly. About 45 minutes after Allison fell asleep we heard " HA HA HA." Our little sleeping angel was standing in the pack-n-play and joining in on the fun. I tried ignoring her, hoping she would lay back down, however Brian started cracking up because Allison was standing there waving at me like "Hi mom, I took my nap, I'm good to go some more." Needless to say, we knew she wouldn't be falling back to sleep anytime soon, so we got her out and let her look at books for a little bit. Luckily she went back down around 45 minutes later.

The next day we walked around Pentwater and looked at the shops. It was getting to be too warm and muggy to do much else, so we just drove home. We stopped for a quick lunch, when I realized that I hadn't wished Brian a Happy Birthday yet. I felt awful. I knew it was his birthday, I just didn't think of it that morning yet.

Later that evening, I took Brian out to Famous Daves for dinner. We were going to go to the park, however it was starting to get overcast, so we walked around the mall to burn off dinner. Overall it was a nice little family getaway.

Does Ozzie Smile?

We had several people comment that it looked like Ozzie was smiling in the photo below. Based on these pictures, we would like to think that Ozzie does smile as he is a happy doggie.

Life is Back to Normal

I just love this big ball of fur

Life is back to normal at our household. Nothing too exciting going on. Allison had her 12 month appointment this week. She was 28 1/4 " long and weighed 20 lb and 15 oz. She did great at the appointment. She really likes our doctor, so she enjoyed seeing Dr. B again. She was in a happy mood until she got her shots - needless to say she wasn't prepared at all for what happened. She didn't do too bad in the office, but you could tell she had hurt feelings afterwards. We went to Applebees for lunch and as I was waiting for our table, I looked down at her and she looked like she was about ready to start bawling her eyes out. Her bottom lip was puckered out and her eyes were all teary. She was that way for about five minutes. Luckily sliced cheese and mandarin oranges saved the day.

As you can see by the picture, she loves Ozzie. That is her buddy. She is always rolling over him, giving him hugs, etc. She is walking along furniture and with our help, but isn't showing any interest in doing it herself. We have weaned her from bottles. It wasn't an issue at all. She hates sippy cups but will drink from cups with straws. I feel like we conducted a science experiement trying to find a cup that she will take and doesn't either leak or is hard to drink from.

We are just about finished with the basement. We are in the process of putting the furniture in place and the decorations up. I can't wait to post pictures. Brian did an amazing job and worked very hard. I can't thank him enough for all his efforts.




On the pregnancy front, I am 27 weeks and 5 days along. I can't believe it has gone by this fast. We meet with the new doctor this week. Because Dr. B. is a family practitioner, she isn't able to do my c-section. I decided to continue to see her during the first two trimesters and transfer to St. Mary's OB office at 28 weeks. I'm feeling pretty good still, although get tired a little quicker. I really need to get a few things done around the house before I get too far along. I want to do some deep cleaning. I feel like I can't have this baby until I clean the baseboards. It is really bugging me. I also need to clean out my sock drawer - it is very pressing.