Yay...Christmas is over and we can go back to normal. Don't get me wrong...I like the holidays, it's just such a hectic time. And trying to do it all with a minimum of disruption to Ally's schedule is maddening. But, we survived. And thanks to all for everything. I'm glad we did manage to see everyone. And Ally is too.

Ally was interested in opening presents until as she got enough toys to play with. Then, if you opened the edge of the present, so she could see there was a toy inside, she would open it. Otherwise, she didn't want to be bothered. But, after a while, she would get interested again and want to open more. Bob and Glinda got to see her a week after Christmas, so she hadn't had any for a while and was excited all over again.

Bam-Bam came over for a visit on Friday. He was with us for about 5 hours and I think it did Ally some good. She let him play with some toys. Not a whole lot, but she did better as the day went on. I can't believe the differences in the two. I don't know if it's just different personalities, or a boy/girl difference, but it's amazing. When Ally plays with her balls (foam soccerball and basketball), she usually goes to it, picks it up and brings it to one of us so we can roll it and she can chase it. Bamaco(sp?) picks it up and throws it and crawls after it. Then he throws it all over again. Also, I put some dry cereal snack on Ally's picnic table for the two of them. This works just fine for Ally. Bam-Bam immediately smashed them to bits. It was fun, but taught me how lucky I was that we didn't have twins!

Christmas is coming fast, and Ally won't let me wrap all the presents. We got the tree up last weekend, and she didn't interfere too much with that. She was too busy unwrapping and unboxing the ornaments for me. But last night, I got 2 presents wrapped and she immediately grabbed them and ripped the paper. She doesn't bother any of the ones under the tree, so if I can get them under there, they are safe for now. She loves to look at the lights on the tree and especially out the window. If we don't take her outside to see them occasionally, she throws a fit.

She's sleeoping a lot better now. I wonder if it has something to do with being weaned. I think maybe the milk is staying with her longer, so she doesn't wake up hungry as much. In the last weeks, we've had 2 nights she's slept all night. The other nights haven't been as bad though. She goes back to sleep pretty easily after she wakes up. She started sleeping with a little stuffed lamb. She tucks it under her arm and cuddles up. Then, when she wakes up, sometimes she throws it over the side of the crib, cause she's done with it. no more sleeping!

We went Christmas shopping at the mall the other day. She absolutely loved it!!! She would not stop babbling. She talked at everything and pointed and lunged. We got the idea to take her to the pet shop (which I personally HATE on a deep level!!) to see the puppy dogs. She was so excited. She kept pointing and saying "ooooh!". She didn't want to leave. We even thought about the carousel, but it looked like it went a little too fast for her still.

Everything else is going pretty much the same. School is out for the semester. Rob and both are in classes next semester. I'm just trying to get more training for my job with some on-line classes. This last semester didn't kill Rob, so he's going back for more.

Lunch is over, so I'm going back to work. ttfn!

I can't believe it's December already!! And Ally turned 2!! Oops, I guess she's only one still. Freudian slip! She's discovered that screaming is fun. When she wants anything and can't have it imediately, she screams. When she wakes up at 1:00 am and wants held, she screams. When another kid at daycare is playing with a toy she wants, she screams (and then tries to take it away. sometimes she succeeds). When she has to sit still in her high chair to eat instead of wandering around the living room... you guessed it, she screams. Where did our little angel go?

But then she does so many non-screaming related things, it's like amnesia wipes it all away for a while. Like, her new favorite thing to do is to climb up on the couch and get chased from arm to arm. She can't really run very well on the cushions, so she trips and laughs cause you're "gonna get her". And when she make it to the other side, she turns around and leans back against the corner with a smug look on her face that says, haha I made it.

And she takes her little poeple and trys to put them in our mouths so we can have as much fun as she is chewing on them. We got her some Noah's ark animals and some others for her birthday. She searches through the pile of animals until she finds 2 that match and carries them around in each hand. Her favorites are the dogs. I think because she knows what they are (We only have one kitty, so she doesn't like it as much) She likes the aligators too, though so maybe not.

She loves chairs and wagons. We can't put away her boster seat because she thinks it's her easy chair. And we got out some Little Tyes trucks to play with the other day. One is a dump truck. We had to wire it up so that it wouldn't dump anymore because it kept dumping her. She kept sitting in it to play with her toys and falling out. And then, if anyone sits on the floor, it's likely she'll come sit on you to play. People are the comfiest reclainers!

We didn't have such a great birthday supper Wednesday. Ally's nap got interrupted at day care so she was kinda tired at supper. and of course we had the 5 inches of snow fall, so not too many people came - which was perfectly understandable. It took us a very long time just to get home from daycare which is usually a 15 minute trip. She fell asleep on the way home from Ryan's. I had to give her medicine though and that woke her up once we got home. After that 15 minute nap she was ready to play for another 3 hours. She didn't go tto bed until after 10. And we had a good Thanksgiving with most of Rob's family over for dinner. They were staying at a hotel in town, so we went swimming that night (and back Friday cause she liked it so much). Of course all her summer swim suits were two small... Aunt Ruth to the rescue. We had a suit Marley had outgrown (or maybe it was garage sale?) that was a little too big this summer so it fits her now. She had a blast splashing and chasing everyone in the water. Friday when we tried to get her out, she kept trying to squirm away and get back in on her own...which leads us back to the screaming...but it wasn't bad. She was just getting tired. So, we have had a busy couple weeks. It was good to see everyone, and those of you we didn't cathc for Thanksgiving and birthday, hopefully we can see for Christmas!

I got some pics of the crib play. She had a blast with it. Too bad she gets stuck in it, and I had to put it up

I haven't gotten any pics I took set up here yet, but I got the JCPenney's ones back. I've got a couple with Bamaco and Ally in her wagon from Halloween that are cute that I need to copy here. The wagon is a story unto itself:

I got Ally a baby doll crib the 30th. She started palying with it right away. First she took the baby doll out, then the "mattress". Then she climbed in. The only problem with that was that she is too big to even sit comfortably. She kicked her legs over the sides and got one stuck in the slats. Then she turned and got her hips lodged in it because she is too wide. So I took it away for a while and gave her the plastic doll bassinett we already had. She sat in it off and on most of the day. When Rob came home the next day, she started sitting in it again. I laughed at her and told him that she was doing it all day before too. He tried to tell me she wanted a wagon. She's only 11 months old, I didn't really think she knew what a wagon was much less decided she needed one. He pushed her around the room in her bassinett and she got excited and smiled real big. So, we went out and bought her a wagon. She's well on her way to being spoiled! Now she just treates the bassinett as her own personal chair. We've thought about getting her on of those little kid plush chairs, but aren't relly sure what she'd do with it, so we haven't done it yet. She loves to sit on the couch with us.

Also, she's learned that she actually can walk with shoes on. She just looks like Frankenstein's monster.

Ally goes to sleep all by herself now. When it's bedtime, she starts to get cranky and will usually lay her head down for a second or towo in the midst of playing. We can put her in her crib and she lays down, gets comfy and closes her eyes. It's so nice. She still wakes up around 3 or 4 am, but we're working on that.

She walks lots, and since it's almost winter now, I've started trying shoes sometimes. She loves to play with them. She's outgrown all the shoes we had, so I went to Payless and got her some more the other day. She had a blast. But when I try to put them on her...let's just say she's less than happy. We got her a few pair anyway. I try to put them on for a couple minutes before the car ride in to daycare in the morning and let the day care take them off when she's had enough. As soon as you put shoes on she holds still, though. She won't pick up her feet! She's just starting to realize she can still crawl in them, but she won't walk. When you take them off, she picks them up and walks around the room playing. She plays with her socks too, for that matter...

She had a great time for halloween. If I can ever remember, I'll get some pictures off disk and post them here. Nothing scared her this year. I expect that to be a little different next year, though.

Her hair is getting really long. I don't want to cut it, but I think I might have to soon. It makes me sad. We use clips sometimes to keep it out of her eyes, but they don't stay in so well. We'll see... maybe for her birthday pictures. Hope to see you all soon!

birthday/Thanksgiving
Okay, 6:00 it is on Wed Nov 24. Ryan's is on Dirkson Parkway right in front of the Super WalMart. If you can't make it, It's not a big deal, but we'd love to see you. If you have any questions, drop me a line

Now Ally is walking pretty regularly. She's gone 7 or 8 feet at once a couple times. She knows she's hot stuff too. She always has a big grin on her face especially when she's chasing the cats.

One of her new games is to put toys in the cat food. I think the logic goes like this: If I put toys in the food dish, I can't get in trouble for playing with the food, because after all, there are toys there! It doesn't work though. And when I tell her no, she smiles and tries it again. The next time, though, she knows I'm serious and it breaks her heart. If Dad says no...she knows everything is okay, becuase he never really can bring himself to discipline her. He just moves her away. It's going to be a long time before "Just wait til your Dad gets home!" has any effect.

She still is not sleeping through the night. This is a very bad thing because soon, she'll figure out how to crawl out of her bed. She climbs everything. So we have to break down and let her cry. It breaks my heart. I started Sat afternoon nap and it took a little over a half hour of crying before she went to sleep. She'd cry then give in a sit down, then cry and stand up some more, then stop and sit, then cry sitting, and lay down screaming, then stand up again. For a couple days, we only did it when she first went to sleep, but she'd still wake up quite a few times during the night, so we finally bit the bullet and stayed consistant. Last night it only took her 15 minutes to go to sleep and she only woke up once, so I hop and pray the we're on the right track and it'll be over soon. Keep your fingers crossed!

birthday/Thanksgiving
I'm planning a birthday party on November 24. Our house is much too small for everyone to gather there, so we're going to go to a Ryan's near our house. It's a great buffet place that Ally loves because there's always lots of people to watch. I'm thinking supper time around 6 would be good, but I wanted to see if that would cause any major problems with anyone, so please let me know. Also, please help me pass the word to anyone who isn't on this list.

Thanksgiving will be kinda like last year at our house. Darra and Jenn and Rob's grantparents came last year, but anyone can feel free to stop by (Let me know so we'll plan the right amount of food). If you prefer to celebrate her birthday then, (or not at all, after all she's not going to remember it!) that's fine too.

More details to follow as they are decided

I put Ally's 10 month pics up. She looks so grown up! She's with Christy's youngest in some (for those of you on Rob's side). He's 3 weeks younger, and a little shorter. This month we'll get Halloween ones done. She's going to be a dragon ans we'll stay home to pass out candy. I just hope all the costumes don't scare her.

Around her 10 month mark, two bottom teeth pushed through a little. They're still coming in and not very high out yet. She's chewing on everything. Now, she has fun biting off pieces of her food. She doesn't eat very much table food. I just can't interest her in anything not crunchy. If you try to hide a carrot in her baby food, for example, she'll suck the baby food off it and spit the carrot out. I tried to give her some milkshake out of my straw the other day, just to see if she could figure it out. She loved it and I couldn't get it away from her. She had no problem with the straw.

She's been standing alone for almost 2 months now, and not very interested in walking, but that's starting to change. She would take a step or 3 or 4 toward something - remember that she wasn't holding anything - then sit down and crawl. She even got to where if you would try to stand her up and she didn't want to, she would lift one foot high in the air. This girl is definitely opinionated. Anyway... these last couple of days, she's been taking more and more steps. She got up to 15 the other day. And more often, she's sitting instead of falling when she gets where she wanted to go.

We got her a (yet another) Little Tykes slide at a garage sale. This one has a platform and castle walls and a tunnel to crawl through. She has learned how to climb up to the platform and sit at the top of the slide. If she has socks on, we sometimes let her slide down by herself (standing nearby...It scares her a little if she gets going fast). If she's not wearing socks, though, she sticks her feet to the slide and stumbles down, so we have to watch her close.

Rob is halfway through this semester (and very glad it's mostly over). I got a new job! I start Monday in Informatino Services. I'm not really sure yet what I'll be doing, but I know it has to do with the internet and intranet development here at IDOR. Most importantly, it's a great pay raise! This is the job I've been trying to get for the last two years. The stupid governor wouldn't let anyone hire though. Now, everyone is desperate because they have needed people forever, and they're getting me. They're going to have to train me from the very beginning, so I hope they aren't too bothered by that. I think it'll be pretty interesting to do. If not, I can some back to this job (fat chance!!)

Well, lunch is over, so I'll talk at you all later.

Yesterday we spent the whole day being industrious. We've been hitting the garage sales hard and have filled our garage with Little Tykes toys for Ally. So yesterday we decided to rearrange the house and give her the extra bedroom for her toys.In order to do that, first the toys had to be washed, and the room emptied out. The latter was a lot easier said than done, by the way. Rob spent the day inside rearranging, and Ally and I went outside with the hose and a bucket.

First thing she did was stick both hands in the bucket of suds and spend the next five minutes trying to get the bubbles off her arms. Then she crawled over to the new Ally-size picnic table and climbed on top of it. (She's quick too. I didn't even see her climbing, just caught her sitting on top about to climb down the other side, which she did remarkably well.) She helped me clean a couple of things and wandered around a while. Made her socks soaked and filthy dirty. Then I got to cleaning a little bassinet for dolls. I soaked a scratcher pad in soapy water and wrung it out in the bassinet and here comes Ally. She started slapping the water and having a great time. Well her hands were covered in grass and dirt, so she made the clean water not so clean anymore. So I dumped it and ran fresh, not soapy, water and let her play. She climbed in!! She just hiked her leg over the side and sat down, clothes and all. She kicked her legs slaphing and sloshed water over the edge. And I was outside all by myself with no camera. Boo-hoo.

Maybe I'll let her play in it again some day and be prepared for pictures. Oh well, she had a good time. Rob got almost everything where it belongs now inside, and we're now trying to figure out new places for some of the stuff. Now Ally has some toys in the living room, the bathroom, has a toy room, and a bedroom. I think she's on her way to being spoiled.

Thursday morning we had 5!! steps in a row before she realized it was too slow and crawled. I think the only obstacle to her walking right now is that she can go faster crawling. She can go even faster standing up walking holding onto someone's fingers. She loves doing that. She runs with a big smile on her face! Especially if we're chasing the cat. (which we were doing last night when she got a second wind at 9:10). Isis just hates that game!

This week she "graduated" to the toddler room. None of the kids are quite toddlers yet, so it's a transtion. It's mostly still an infant room, with a lot of stuff they put away until the kids get older. Anyway, it's new teachers too. There are three of them now instead of two and a couple new kids. I don't like it. We just had the last teachers trained. The new ones are nice and all, they just don't know the kids yet. It looks like they'll learn a lot there. oh well, Ally doesn't care.

Last weeke she weighed 21 lb 3 oz. She's slowing down. She's starting to look so big!!

Ally learned lots of new things this weekend. Friday, she learned how to blow raspberries on other people's bellies (and arms and legs). Anytime I lay on the floor now with any stomach at all exposed, she detours over and blows. The strange thing is that she doesn't laugh about it. She must think it's fun because she keeps doing it, but she doesn't act like it.
What she does think is funny is knocking blocks over. She has finally learned to destroy block towers. And she doesn't just giggle about it either. She has deep belly laughs. She usually gives herself hiccups. She gets so excited about it she knocks them over even if they aren't stacked up.
Sunday night she even took a step. just one, but she didn't fall. She also started standing up with heavy toys in hand. Last night she picked up her panda bear and stood up. I think it helps counter balance her weight. god help us...she'll be walking soon

We all had a great time Sunday. Thank you to all who came. We were all exhausted last night. Of course, the new pictures I just posted weren't available til today. Bad timing! Oh well. We've got them now, I guess.

Ally has a Leapfrog learning drum at daycare that she likes to play with. When she slaps the top of it, it counts and plays music. So last night, she was slapping my stomach over and over, but she just couldn't get any music to play. I think she enjoyed herself anyway.

My wonderful mother offered to babysit last night so that I could have a night off for my birthday. Rob picked Ally up from daycare. I came home and fed her and played for about 1/2 hour, got a nice long shower and we went out to eat. I came home feeling sooo rested. That was about the best birthday present I could have gotten. And I only called home to check in once.

If you put her feet the right distance apart on the floor and stand her up, she will stand for 2-3 seconds at a time. She doesn't know what to make of it, though. Once she loses her balance, she tries to stand up again, but the second time, she's excited, and can't hold still, so she just plops to the floor again. we're having loads of fun. Hope to see everyone sometime soon

Well, Last night was the first night that I slept all night since Mother's day. Ally has had 3 colds, and, therefore, 3 ear infections. And she's teething, but not getting any teeth. But, other than nighttime, we're having a great time together. She's getting around very quickly and pulling up on anything that will stand still (and some things that won't). She starting saying dadadada for a few days, but then quit when she got distracted by trying to learn how to clap and wave. She holds her left hand real still and smacks her right one against it. We think it's just hilarious, so she smacks her right hand against (again) anything that is near her, including me. She's 20 pounds now, and I think she's getting taller too. She loves it when we take walks at night, which we've been trying to do, since we're all getting fat.

We've taken her into the pool twice. The first time she'd splash until she got water all over her face, then try to lick it all off. The second time, she was more interested in trynig to gum the squirt toys to death and pull her hat off. I'm still doing monthly pictures, and posted the newest ones. She wasn't in a great mood. It wasn't too bad, but she just wanted to be held instead of sat down all alone.

Graduation is over!! No more school for a couple of months. That is a very good thing, believe me!

Ally is not satisfied now with crawling. (She does it pretty well: we've had to start remembering to shut the stair gate when she's on the floor. The best motivator for getting her to crawl is a tie between one of the cats, and and pair of shoes on the floor. Shoes are fun to drool on.) She doesn't just crawl though. She thinks she should be able to walk. We see crawling one minute then the next, she's standing on her hands and toes with her butt in the air, trying to stand up on her own. She's pulling up to whatever will hold still. If only she would sleep! For about a month she was sleeping pretty regularly all through the night. Then all of a sudden, she fusses every night for a couple of hours. I think it might have been the weather change, but I can't get it figured out. Last night, I had to kick on the a/c and lay her down without a blanket in a onesie to get her back to sleep. I'm not looking forward to when it actually is summer.

Sitting up is old hat now. She does it every 2 or 3 minutes when she wants to get somewhere. She manages a couple of crawling motions, then sits up to see how close she got. Then lunges forward and crawls a couple more inches. She loves to find and slobber on the tv remote, so we have to be careful when we pick it up not to reach for the drool end. What is it with remotes anyway? The cats love to sit on them too. Do they just know the tv is taking attention away from them? oh well...anyway... Rob's graduation from LLCC is Friday at 7:30. We're having a light dinner before and cake (although I didn't tell him about the cake part.) He took one final today and is pretty sure he aced it. The other one is Thursday. Wish him luck!

Last night, all Ally's work paid off. She's been kicking her leg out and flipping her arm back trying to sit up, but the other leg was still folded in the laying down position. Last night she figured out how to swing it out and sit up. The first time she did it, I think she was confused. The second time, she just kept going and ended up on her back. But she did it twice more and thinks she's cool now. When she sits up and quits wobbling, she looks around and waits for applause then smiles real big. She's still working on crawling, but she has no trouble getting to the toys she wants by other means (mainly lunging and turning in circles to get there. She's got all the time in the world). Look out cats!!

We put our gate up on the stairs. Ally has started trying to crawl. She does pretty good, except that almost all of her progress is backwards. I wondered if she'd have any trouble getting that huge belly of hers off the ground, but she manages. She even scoots her legs forward, but hasn't managed to figure out how to move her arms. I hope it takes a while. While she's stationary, she's a lot easier to watch.

We made our first trip to the ER this weekend. Not really an emergency situation, but since Rob's got friends there. We had her checked out and got advice on how to medicate her. She's got a pretty bad upper respiratory cold, which morphed into her first ear infection. She's feeling a lot better now, except for when we make her take her antibiotics. She's not real thrilled with them.

Last Tueesday was her first experience with a babysitter. Rob and I went out for dinner for our aniversary (thanks for the card Harriett). We left her with a nurse that Rob works with who's been asking to babysit since Ally was born. I'm proud to say that I didn't call home to check on her once! I'm not so proud that the first drink I had made me dizzy. It's been a long time! We couldn't think of anything more exciting to do than have dinner. We lead very boring lives. Well, that's about it for now. Love you all