Movin' Out

Its official, just call us the Simpsons. Karl has accepted a position with St. John's Hospital in Springfield, IL and we will be relocating there this spring. This is the same hospital system that recruited Karl right out of graduate school but it just wasn't the right fit at the time for our family. This time around, they came after him even harder and made us an offer that we just could not refuse- better company, better money, more responsibility, better growth potential, etc... We chose to keep the news to ourselves for a while for several reasons but our house is on the market and I had to officially "resign" from my job so we are now making the news blog official... and the rumor mill at work is starting to turn!

Karl began his work as the Process Improvement Project Manager at St. John's three weeks ago and is already enjoying the new location and job responsibilities. I will be staying in West Lafayette with the kids (Ally and Ella) and my job through at least the end of April when I have wrapped up the Swimming Championships and most of the baseball season. Part of the deal Karl was offered was to be able to work from home two days out of the week until we get situated in Springfield so starting next week he will be driving to Springfield (about 2 and a half hours) on Tuesday mornings and returning on Thursday nights. It has been a big adjustment for all of us but we are excited about the opportunity to try something new. The bad part for me is that there really isn't much to offer in terms of my career goals in Springfield but it is centrally located between three major universities (Bradley in Peoria, Illinois State in Bloomington, and Illinois in Champaign) so I am hopeful something will come up at one of those places. We will be moving closer to my brother and we hope that my connections at one of those schools will help a lot with my job search. Until we are sure where we will settle, we plan to rent a house/townhouse in Springfield once our house in West Lafayette sells. It went on the market last Sunday and we have had two showings already so it seems like the poor housing market may be turning around.

It will be tough when the time comes to actually leave Purdue but we know that we will be back often to visit family and go to games, the difference is now we will actually have to pay for the tickets and I will get to sit in the stands with the family. As always, we will keep everyone updated but until then wish us luck and if you are looking for a very well maintained 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch in West Lafayette just give us a call.

February Art

More beautiful works of art for our fridge. This month we feature a colts blue football to celebrate the Super Bowl and a wonderful pink heart for Valentine's Day.

The First Bites

I had some issues uploading the video but here it is... Ally's first attempt at almost solid food. Karl and I took turns feeding her and she was unsure at first but as you can see, she quickly started squealing with delight.

Cereal Time

Ally had her first taste of rice cereal on Saturday night and she loved it! We mixed 1 tablespoon of the rice cereal with 3 tablespoons of milk so it was very runny for her first attempt. We assumed she either would spit it all out or just refuse to try it but we just couldn't get it in fast enough. She loved using the spoon and most of the cereal actually ended up in her mouth. She still got a fair share on her face, hands, bib, etc... but not nearly the mess I expected and clean up was pretty easy. She really enjoys sitting at the table and wants to put the spoon in her mouth by herself, even more last night when we did it again. This time I made it a little less runny and she still did very well. Our plan is to stick to the cereal once a day at dinner time for a while then introduce new foods little by little to work for more variety and frequency. So far she is doing great!

4 Month Check Up

Today Ally finally had her 4 month check up. She was described by Dr. Ho as "perfect" and being an alert baby that never got the "duh" look. She measured 14 pounds, 15 ounces and 23.5 inches long which puts her in the 75% for weight and 25% for height. She has wonderful reflexes and is very active and happy. She can follow voices, sounds and objects and seems to recognize our faces but doesn't really know strangers yet. He ears have cleared up after a second dose of antibiotics so I hope we are done with ear infections and colds for the winter. Ally is starting to really like sitting up and can push herself up to a standing position when you hold her in your lap. She has to be in a position to look around and if she sees it, shes going to grab it and put it in her mouth. For example, today while Dr. Ho was listening to her heart she managed to go from grabbing the stethoscope to using it to pull herself to a sitting position on my lap then to leaning over to suck on her newly discovered toes. It was pretty funny! She is a wiggle worm now that she can roll and is always trying to squirm on the changing pad and get away from diaper changes, face washes, nose sucks, etc... She got two shots in the leg today and one oral dose but only cried for a few minutes so it wasn't too terrible.

We were given the ok to start experimenting with foods so we will give that a try this weekend and see how it goes. She is really showing her personality these days and its lots of fun.

Peek-a-Boo

The other night Karl was playing with Ally while I got her bath ready. He had her laughing so hard I just had to grab the video camera. She has now figured out what peek-a-boo is and thinks its the best game ever!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Grandma Sharon for being named Purdue's Acadmic Advisor of the Year. She is very deserving and now has the chance to win the national academic advisor of the year award. Her family, students and co-workers already knew she is the best advisor so this did not come as a surprise to anyone. We were able to attend the awards ceremony today. Way to go Grandma!

4 Months Old

Ally celebrated 4 months on Saturday with a fun filled day playing with Aunt Sue, Grandma Sharon, Grandpa Hank and the three dogs. This month she experienced a few first including her baptism into the Catholic church, rolling over and a cold/ear infections that needed antibiotics. When we took her to the doctor for her cold she weighed in at 13 pounds, 14 ounces so we will see if that has changed any when she goes in for her 4 moth appointment next week (it was supposed to be this week but her pediatrician had to cancel and change it to next week). She has her own little personality now and is very vocal and loves to reach out and grab onto anything and everything. She loves to put her toys in her mouth and has to hold her bottle or your fingers while you are feeding her. She tries to put her bottle in her mouth herself but hasn't quite mastered that yet because she often insists on having both her finger and the bottle in her mouth at the same time. She makes a lot of new sounds and her latest and most frequent one is a crazy sort of gurgling/spitting sound that causes drool to run down her chin constantly. She reacts to faces and voices and gets the biggest smile on her face when you talk to her. She has also discovered her dog and loves to reach down to pet Ella and will wrinkle up her nose in anticipation of a lick from her when she gets close. Ally has rolled over a few times from tummy to back but I still haven't seen it yet so I hope to catch her in the act soon.

We have really lucked out in the sleeping department and I have been pretty successful with a bedtime routine of a book or two followed by a few ounces of milk from a bottle and rocking. This usually means I get her into her crib between 10 and 10:30 and she sleeps until I need to wake her up for day care between 6:45 and 7:30 depending on my morning schedule. She naps like a champ at day care and has gotten better about napping during the day at home on weekends. She really only fusses for 10 minutes or so if we put her down for a nap when she isn't already asleep and will nap for anywhere from an hour to three hours during the day. As far as day care is concerned, she seems to really enjoy it and aside from the awful cold she got we are very happy with it. Its good for her to spend time with her friends during the day and the staff there just loves her.

Ally is growing so fast and is so much fun. She is a very happy baby and her noises and funny faces just seem to get better every day. I didn't do as good of a job taking photos this month but here are some favorites to enjoy! Now there is no 30th of February so when do we celebrate the next milestone??

Work of Art

This is Allyson's first piece of art work, the skating penguin. Its obvious that she is very talented! She spends time each month finger painting at day care and they already made hearts for the month of February. They stay on the wall for a few weeks then they get sent home for us to admire. We love it and we can't wait to add more works to the collection starting on our fridge.