Happy Halloween

13 Months Old

Saturday we celebrated Ally's 13 month birthday with a trip to Champaign to watch some Purdue football. It was the worst game we have ever seen but the wind, cold and terrible football didn't seem to bother Ally. It was her first time wearing a hat and mittens and she actually left them alone and wore them for the majority of the time. A lot has changed for our family in the last few weeks so month 13 has been a busy one.

Ally has really reached some major milestones, specifically walking in the last week. She really does well on her feet and loves to carry things around the apartment. She is getting more comfortable taking steps and doesn't crawl much around our place. She isn't ready to show off her talents outside the apartment yet but I think that will come as she gets better balance and confidence in her abilities. Carrying around Ella's leash is her favorite and she also enjoys bags with handles she can put on her arm. I am convinced that Ally is either training for one of those strong man competitions or is the incredible hulk. She is going through this phase where she tries to pick up/carry/flip over anything and everything. She loves putting the strap to her diaper bag over her shoulder and carrying it and dragging around her toy work bench and activity table. She will flip over anything that moves!

Ally got so many great toys for her birthday and she really likes to play with them and spread all the pieces all over the place. She has several shape sorters and a set of big duplo legos that she really likes. She knows where the pieces go, can stack things up, pull them apart, and is very good at knocking stacks over. She has also learned how to throw things which is bad and put things back into their container which is good. Books are still her item of choice, especially the lift the flap type. She has several stuffed animals, a singing cookie monster and a dog that talks but she isn't quite sure about them yet.

We have discovered several new foods that Ally likes this month. The big hits have been black beans, grapes and mini-corn dogs. She also likes cooked peas, carrots and flavored rice dishes. Still not a big fan of meats at all and we have tried a variety of types and textures with no luck. Recently she has shown a ton of interest in utensils and actually does better than expected with spoons and forks. She knows exactly what to do with them and can scoop oatmeal from a bowl and land some in her mouth and can also stab a few things with a fork without injuring herself. We are working to phase out the bottles and are down to the late AM bottle and the bedtime bottle. She still is not a big fan of drinking milk out of a cup but will drink water or diluted juice with no problem. Hopefully day care will help her with more exposure to the cup but I also have a fear that we will digress while we are commuting for the next two weeks.

In anticipation of the new schedule, we worked hard this past week on a new and improved bed time. Ally has been sleeping 9:30pm-9am with a 2 hour afternoon nap for a while now which really isn't going to be possible when I have to work at 8am with an hour commute. We started last weekend moving up her bedtime routine (bath, read, bottle) by a few minutes which also meant that we put her to bed awake for the first time. I also woke her up earlier each day. She did much better than anticipated and we really only had one night where she cried for more than 10 minutes. Right now we are getting her down as close to 8pm as possible and Karl is the best at easing her to sleep.

This months pictures include some from our pumpkin patch visit and Halloween so enjoy. Lots more to come as Ally gets to explore a new day care and a new house very soon.

Time for a Walk Ella

Ally has been walking more and more this week and has discovered how to carry things. She finds all sorts of things to pick up and move from one place to another. Yesterday when we got home from a trip to Target she was trying to pick up a big pack of paper towels so I grabbed the video camera. I didn't get much of her strong man training with the paper towels because once I started the camera, she decided it was time to take Ella for a walk. Ella didn't agree but it was so funny to watch. What a funny girl!

Walking

Our New House

Big News: New Job and New House

Last week Tuesday, I was offered and accepted a job with Bradley University Athletics as the Assistant Director of Marketing. Its actually a very odd story as to how this job came about but here is the short version. A few weeks ago I was a finalist for a job doing marketing for the Bradley Alumni Association and part of my interview was to meet with the university president. She is a wonderful woman and we discovered we both had many Purdue/athletics ties so we spent a lot of time talking about those things. She asked if she could give me resume to the athletics director and I said sure not really thinking anything of it. Turns out she did that day and the next day his secretary called to schedule a time for us to talk. I had a brief phone conversation with him a week ago Friday, came to campus again last Monday to talk with him and a few other staff members and then he offered me a job on Tuesday. Right now its a temporary title until some of the restructuring the AD is doing is finished but it is a great opportunity with a lot of growth potential and creative freedom. Bradley has 12 division one sports (no football) and are in the Missouri Valley Conference. I will be responsible for all game day elements, ticket sales efforts, marketing, advertising, etc... of their most valuable sport which is men's basketball and I will also be creating and implementing a sales strategy and a branding campaign for the department. Big responsibilities but the athletics director feels like I am the right person for the job! I will start on November 1 and my first game will be the following Saturday. And now my brother and I work for rival schools... who would ever have thought that would happen?

With a job in Peoria and Karl in Springfield, we decided to look for houses in East Peoria which will be about 45 minutes for Karl and about 15 for me. We saw a lot of options and decided to put an offer in on a two story 4 bedroom/2.5 bath new construction on Friday. Because of the number of long hours and events I have to work right away we really need something fast, and our lease is up in November as well. The house is still being finished and we have the opportunity to pick carpeting, appliances and counter tops which is very exciting. The most important factor for us in moving was to find a really good neighborhood with families and people we could be friends with since we aren't near any friends or family and we think we found a great place for a great price. The house is set to be move in ready on November 12 so that is our closing date.

We found Ally a very nice day care in East Peoria and she will start there full time on November 1 as well. There weren't too many options for places with immediate openings but I think this place will work out well for her. She is still going to be in an "infant room" until she is 15 months but there are 3 other babies close to her in age in the room. They will continue to help her with table food and drinking milk from a cup and she already fell in love with all of the fantastic toys to climb on in the room. The rooms are also equipped with web cams so we can check in on her anytime but I'm not sure if I want to take advantage of that- once I start I probably wont get any work done. Until our house is finished, Ally and I will make the drive to and from Peoria together so its going to be a big adjustment for all of us. I wont be working many week night events until we get moved in so this plan should work out great for us once we get a handle on waking up much earlier.

We are so excited and will have more information to share soon! We are making some trips to the house this week so maybe I can get some pictures to post of the current progress.

Pumpkin Hunting with our Pumpkin

A few weeks ago we took Ally to the Apply Barn Orchard in Chatham to pick out her very own pumpkin. With the weather being as hot as it has been lately, we waited for a relatively cool day after Karl was done with work so it would actually feel like fall. Ally loved looking at all of the rows and rows of pumpkins. She carefully picked out a very round little one and we picked out two other medium sized ones to complete our pumpkin family. Not sure exactly what we are going to do with them but at least our patio looks somewhat festive.

First Birthday Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago we had Ally's pictures taken by my former intern, Kim and her husband. We loved how Ally's 6 month shots turned out so this time I wanted some outside. The weekend we had the pictures scheduled Ally ended up getting sick but we did them anyway. It turned into a very quick shoot at Happy Hollow park. There were some nice shots but we can also tell that she wasn't her smiley self (come to find out later, she actually had a fever of 103 while we were taking these). Overall we were happy with the ones we got and more pictures just makes it harder to chose the prints! Here are the best ones from the day:

Again, I highly recommend Kim Davis Photography. She is more than affordable and you get a ton of pictures to choose from. And yes, Ally's hair naturally looks like that! How she got so adorable we will never know.

Birthday Celebrations

Ally had a great birthday week full of presents, family and food! We started with a small get together at Grandma Sharon's a few days before Ally's birthday. It was a cupcake party complete with a cake made out of cupcakes, in the shape of a big cupcake. We ate BBQ and mac and cheese, then opened some presents. Ally was much more interested in climbing on the steps than anything else so she really wasn't in the party mood. We sang Happy Birthday and gave her a cupcake with pink frosting hoping to get a good reaction but instead she stick her hands in the frosting and freaked out. She hated it and wouldn't even put it near her mouth! Instead of cake she got a bath and the party was over.

On her actual birthday we invited Uncle Corey over for dinner and presents at our apartment. She got a fun singing Farmer Cookie Monster from Corey and a few toys and clothes from us. I sat her in my lap and gave her some cupcake off a fork and she enjoyed it much better. She loved playing with Corey and her new toys.

The next day we loaded up and headed to Oshkosh for a big party at Grandma Julie's. Everyone was really looking forward to seeing Ally and she had a great time. She decided not to nap much during the day so we feared that it would be a repeat of her first party but she was great. She played with everyone, opened TONS of presents, ate snacks, and even got the cake in her mouth on her own with no melt down. We took tons of pictures and some video of all of the parties so I have put together a little of everything. A big THANK YOU to all of our wonderful friends and family for making Allyson's 1st Birthday so special!

One Year Check Up

Yesterday Ally had her one year check-up and passed with flying colors. She measured at 21 lbs 5 ounces and 29.5 inches tall which puts her in the 97th percentile overall. We were really shocked to see that she only gained a pound and grew an inch in three months because she feels so much heavier and so much longer to us. This slow down in growth is completely normal for this point in her development and she will continue on this plateau for most of this year. Ally might be wearing the 12 month clothes and size 3 Huggies for a while longer as they fit just right. She got three shots and took them like a champ. One interesting thing is that we had to do a lead exposure questionnaire and we will have to take Ally to get a blood draw in the next few weeks to test her lead and hemoglobin levels. We had never heard of this but apparently its required in Illinois, even though we have only lived here a few months and answered no to all of the questions. I am not looking forward to taking her in for the blood draw, I can't even handle getting it done on myself let alone watching them do it on my baby.

We got the ok on our front facing car seat and the switch from formula to whole milk so those are exciting milestones. We need to work for more table foods and phasing out the bottles by our next visit in three months. We should also begin a routine of brushing her four little teeth. Two thumbs up for Ally and another great check up!

Year in Review

Ally's Favorite Activities:

Climbing

Waving

Reading books

Pulling items out/off of their place

Petting her dog

Visiting family

Drinking from a straw

Our Favorite of Ally's Activities:

Laughing

Smiling

Clapping when you say good job

Getting a big smile and a wave when you go in to get her in the morning

Productive nap times

Best Buys/Gifts:

Video baby monitor

Graco convertible products- we love both the travel system and high chair systems

Boppy pillow

Flip video camera

Pottery Barn blanket

Bouncy seat

Works in Progress:

Meal times- trying to work for more self feeding and to try to put more in her own mouth than she gives to the dog

Separation Anxiety- since she is with me all of the time, she is sometimes hesitant to go to Karl when she needs something. She is ok with others if she doesn't see me leave which is obviously very common at this age

Riding in Cars- she is great on long trips but anything shorter than a half hour is a disaster most of the time

Walking

Proudest accomplishment for myself in the first year: Sticking with nursing for six and a half months despite the stress and struggles

Biggest area for improvement in year 2: Better communication with Karl about the small things related to Ally and let him do things his way and I can do them mine, as long as they get done and she is happy

We are beyond lucky to have a very easy going, healthy and happy girl. My goals are to stress less about the small things and enjoy all the fun things that are ahead. Although I know she is "normal" and all kids go through some struggles I can't let a bad trip in the car, refusing her lunch, a day with no nap, waking up a time or two at night or any other minor one time problem ruin my day.