Push Toys are Great

Ally's first real steps! She pulled herself up to her toy and began making her way all the way across the living room. She was halfway across the room before I was able to get the camera going so this really only shows her last few steps but it was pretty amazing. She was so happy just pushing her toy across the room! She didn't quite know what to do when she ran into the sliding glass door so she decided that was enough. I'm hoping she will show off again when I am more prepared to video. This FisherPrice convertible toy is great, it goes from a push toy to a ride on toy easily and Ally just loves on the moving parts on it. Its just the right height for her and will be good for quite a while.

10 Months Old

Its so hard to believe that Allyson is almost a year old already! She is still on the move constantly and is getting more adventuresome by the day. She has perfected the art of pulling herself up and can do it on just about anything but has yet to get on her feet without holding on to something. This week she has started to experiment with letting go of things she is hanging onto and seeing how long she can stand alone before she sits down. Its sort of funny to watch because she is so careful and she lets herself down to her knees or butt very gently even when she isn't holding on to anything.

Her favorite activities still include emptying things and taking items off/out of things. She spends a lot of time each day removing any items from the table, her book shelves and toy baskets. Some of her other new tricks include clapping, waving, motor noises/raspberries, blowing kisses and hitting her hands on things to make noise. She claps all the time, anytime she hears "good job" or "yay Ally" her hands go along with a big smile. Waving is new as of last week but she doesn't quite use it in the right context yet. She knows the word kiss and will smack her lips like a kissing noise and its so cute. Some days she is stingy with the kisses but other days she does it constantly. This week she also started to hit things like the sides of her head, her legs, chairs, table top and me of course just to see if it will make noise. Ally is very vocal and makes a ton of sounds. She refers to Karl as da or daddy but he isn't the only one so Im not sure if we can count that as her first official word or not. She is getting pretty good at carrying on a conversation even if we can't understand her.

Ally is eating more table food and has recently taken to feeding herself chicken, turkey and bananas in addition to the breads and crunchy stuff she has always liked. She is hit and miss on the pureed baby food items but she definitely likes to have bites of everyone else's food. The funny thing is that she is a fantastic eater out in public and really only puts up a fight to eat when she is in her highchair at home. We are experimenting more with a sippy cup but she hasn't quite figured out that she has to suck to get the liquid out. She tips it correctly using the handles but she only bites on the spout. We do have one cup that doesn't have the spill-proof spout so she likes that one best but she makes a huge mess so I prefer she learns how to use the other ones. She also knows the correct motion to use a regular cup but she gets surprised every time liquid comes at her so she tends to get a huge mouthful and pull back. We are looking forward to the one year mark so we don't have to mix formula anymore but we need to get this cup thing down sooner rather than later.

This week we wrapped up Ally's first 8 week session of swimming lessons and she seemed to enjoy it. We go to the pool about once a week in addition to the Y class and she just loves the water and to watch other kids at the pool. Milestones coming soon will be Ally's top two teeth, more words, standing alone, cruising and walking. Not sure in what order they will come but her top right tooth has broken through a little and she is starting to walk more with help. She hasn't shown much interest in cruising around furniture and things but yesterday she walked all the way across the living room behind her walking toy with no help from me. Scary! I didn't do a very good job taking photos this month (surprise) but here are some to enjoy.

Ally's First Competition

On Friday I took Ally to South Bend to watch her first baton competition. They have made some changes to the competition and they have now crammed 5 days worth of events into 4 days so I decided to make the trip up for the finals. This was my 20th AYOP and my 6th year as a spectator. I can honestly say I never thought I would take my own daughter there so it was quite the experience!

Now that we live further away, we made a stop in Lafayette and spent Thursday night there and then went up in the morning so we weren't driving all 5 hours in one day. We were able to see Whitney compete in the twirl offs, the corps finals and several of the exhibition performances. Of course Notre Dame was experiencing a major air conditioning failure on the hottest day of the year so the arena was easily over 100 degrees. Everyone was so incredibly hot, especially all the babies but Ally was a trooper. In addition to seeing some great twirling, we also got to catch up with some old friends and Ally got to meet lots and lots of people. She was her usual adorable self so we got stopped by many moms asking if she was a future Miss Majorette or future Golden Girl. It was great to meet up with my friend Rachael (Socially Inappropriate Mom) and meet her baby Daisy, see Jenny O and her two girls and to see all the girls on the team looking so grown up. Most of them don't remember me since I taught most of them when they were 4 or 5! Obviously it would have been much more enjoyable if it hadn't been so unbearably hot and moving so slowly but we saw what we needed to see and made it back to Lafayette by 1am.

I have been asked several times since Ally was born if she was going to twirl and my response has always been "if she wants to". Maybe I can show her a few things when she gets old enough and then she can make an informed decision but its hard to imagine not having her go to the studio where I grew up so we need to find a way back to Oshkosh before that time comes! I certainly don't want to be starring in an episode of Toddlers & Tiaras but I wouldn't mind having her learn what it means to be dedicated and work hard and to have something to show for it...like a Miss Majorette title or a college scholarship. Daddy might think otherwise but we will just take it one step at a time :)

A side note: ND has gone through a major renovation and did some things that will be similar to what Mackey will look like soon. They did a great job with the history of the school and all of the images around the arena, and the seating area itself is a huge improvement. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of Ally by some famous/infamous landmarks but you can be sure I was telling her "you may see a few football games here, but you will never go to school here". These were taken on my phone so they are pretty poor quality.

Baby Owen

I usually just reserve this blog for writing about the happy and fun things in our lives but with so many pregnant friends, I just have to share a sad story. Last week my good friend Nicky lost her baby boy, Owen, just weeks from his due date. I can't even begin to imagine what she and Bobby are going through and I would never wish this terrible time in their life on anyone. I am so sad that I wasn't there and that I won't be there when they lay him to rest tomorrow but I feel better after talking to Nicky and knowing that she is doing the best she can. Please keep the Balda and Sitter families in your thoughts and prayers as they try to get through this difficult time. Although we didn't get a chance to meet him, we know baby Owen is watching over us. We know that we are very lucky to have a healthy and happy baby and we wish the same to all of our many friends due in the coming months.

Here is a link to more information about Owen: http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20100725/OSH010301/7250486/-1/obits

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend but it was a lot of fun. On Saturday we went to the park next door to check out the Chatham Sweet Corn Festival. Apparently they have the worlds best corn so we sampled some corn and took in some interesting scenery like cow chip tossing and the Sweet Corn Queen. We would have stayed longer but it was super hot and Ally wasn't so interested in riding around in the stroller any longer. Later we met the Connors at the Beef House in Covington, IN for dinner. It was a great spot to meet for us both and everyone got their beef fix (not me of course). After dinner we let the girls run around on the grass outside for a bit until a giant rain storm came and we had to hit the road. Its so fun to watch the little girls together. Lexi is 5 weeks older than Ally and she once used to look so big next to her but Ally is catching up quickly now. Crazy how they have changed: then Ally 6 weeks and Lexi 11 weeks and now Ally almost 10 months and Lexi 11 months.

Sunday we took a trip to St. Louis for a Cardinals game. I had gotten Karl tickets for our anniversary so we decided to take Ally to her first game. Again, it was super hot but our seats were in the shade and there was a nice breeze. She really did well and liked playing in the chairs and checking out the people around us. She also liked eating in the stands, especially ice cream! While we were taking a few quick trips this weekend we decided to check out one of the local kennels and vets for Ella. It made the weekend easier on us and we think it was a nice break for Ella too. She has been getting a little stir crazy lately and has been a little rough with Ally so this served as a break for everyone. She checked out great at the vet and her reports came back very positive. Its nice to know that there is high quality pet care here and very much like we had in Lafayette when we needed it. Here are some pictures from the hot but fun weekend.

Sad...

Our Purdue plates expired so we had to get Illinois plates.... yuck! We may now have Illinois plates on both cars but we will never be FIBs or FISH.

New Tricks

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th with my family in Oshkosh and had a great week and weekend. Ally got to hang out with the whole family and play at the water park and in the lake for the first time. The weather was perfect all week and we took lots of walks. She was so busy every day, she barely had time for naps and she liked to stay awake as long as possible before settling into her pack and play for bed. We didn't make it to any of the parades on the 4th but we had a lot of fun at the lake. Ally loved hanging out in her starfish float and playing in the grass with her toys. The water was a little chilly but it didn't seem to bother her at all. After some playtime in the water she took a nice long nap in her stroller and spent time crawling around from one relative to the next. We figured she was a little too young for fireworks this year but next year we will be sure to introduce them to her. I didn't take a ton of pictures but here are a few from the week.

9 Months Old

This month has been a big one in Allyson's development. She has reached some major milestones and is close to a few others. Here are some of the latest fun developments:

• In addition to crawling, she can pull herself to a standing position while holding onto things
• She crawls FAST!
• Her hair is really filling in and getting very curly
• Two bottom teeth are in and the two top ones are getting closer to the surface
• She is very careful when letting herself down to the ground from a standing position
• She likes to climb on and over any obstacles including our legs, toys, pillows and her toy basket
• Her current hobbies include people watching, emptying toy baskets, emptying bags, emptying book shelves and more people watching
• Cheerios and puffs (any flavor) are the foods of choice and she will also feed herself breads, pretzels, crackers, noodles and other Gerber snacks
• This past week she started to clap for the first time
• Her vocabulary has grown to include dada, ga, la, ba, ya, ah and a strange sound almost like "unk"
• She loves to yell and sing loud, especially when she can hear an echo
• She can turn on and off the light in her room if you put her by the switch
• She is a wonderful sleeper at night, usually going for 10-11 hours
• She loves to read and can now turn the pages in the books herself
• Swimming lessons have been fun and she enjoys being in the water
• She smiles at anyone and laughs often
• Sesame Street holds her interest for a few minutes
• "Single Ladies" by Beyonce is her favorite song and can be used to entertain/distract her when needed

Some not as fun developments:

• She can crawl fast and gets into things before I even know what she's doing
• Her favorite activities include emptying Ella's food and water dishes onto the floor
• She thinks all of the things in the apartment are her toys and its tough to keep her away from the blinds and the cords near the sliding glass door
• Eating is still a struggle and can either go very well or very bad. She only wants to feed herself hard/crunchy items and is very picky when it comes to other textures. She also does not like to eat breakfast. Meats are still not part of her diet as we just cant get her to open her mouth.
• She discovered stairs and thinks they are for playing on when we are in a place that has them
• Poor Ella just cant get away from Ally... there is no safe spot in the apartment and Ally likes to steal Ella's bones and chew toys
• She is nearly impossible to change as she is constantly squirming to get away. This is a huge frustration but its also hit and miss. Some toys entertain her and some don't so you never know whats going to happen. When all else fails, break out the "Single Ladies" song and dance!
• She hates the vacuum cleaner and hair dryer

Today we visited a new pediatrician here in Springfield. Ally has really grown since her 6 months appointment: 19 lbs 6 oz and 28.5 inches long. This brings her into the 61st percentile for weight and the 75th for height. Dr. Ehrlic seemed nice and gave us the anticipated "shes perfect" response. No shots this time but she will get the full work up at her next appointment which will be the Monday following her first birthday. Enjoy some photos from the last month!

9 Months!

Today Ally celebrated her 9 month birthday. We are currently visiting family in Wisconsin so her official update and photos will be posted next week when we get home. She has reached many new milestones this month so there will be a lot to share!