The Obsession with Dress Up

We have a glitter problem! Ally is obsessed with playing dress up and this is what she does from the moment we wake up or get home from school to the moment she has to go to bed.

Tinker Bell for Christmas from Uncle Corey



 

Married Rapunzel from Grandma Sharon and Princess Tiana from Aunt Kristen and Megan at Disney World
 



She even dresses up our friends: Tiana, Ally as Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Butterfly and Strawberry Shortcake. AKA: Ashley, Andy, Alayna and Tessi. Not pictured is Tinker Bell (Emily) and Butterfly (Cris)
 

Baby Moon in NY

 

 

Since I am so far behind on the blogging, I sort of skipped over our trip to New York back in November. We knew it was going to be our last chance to do something just the two of us before baby comes so we took a few days off while basketball teams were on the road and went to NYC with the Benders. It was a quick but nice adults-only get away for the 4 of us. We had great seats for the Purdue basketball games at Madison Square Garden (yes, my vacations include going to sporting events which makes no sense) and ate nice meals. It was a litle rough with all that walking around being pregnant but we got to see the city getting ready for the holidays. I found this picture on my camera and thought it was worth sharing. We hardly ever get any pictures together!

Holiday Recap

We had a very busy but relaxing holiday break. We spent the weekend before Christmas in West Lafayette to celebrate with the Kraebbers then took a full week in WI.  My game schedule worked out great this year so we got to spend a lot more time with family than normal. Ally was so excited, not specifically for Santa to come but to see everyone and get to play with her beloved Uncle CoCo. We picked him up at the airport in Madison on our way up and Ally got to boss him around and annoy him for a full week.  She was not really interested in having Santa come but she was very interested in opening presents!
There was a ton of snow on the ground when we got to my parents so Ally got to use her snowsuit and get pulled in the sled a little bit. She got to have Christmas Eve dinner at Grandpa Joel's with great grandma and grandpa then play all day on Christmas with a whole bunch of family. We even got to hang out at the YMCA water park one day. She had no complaints about all of the wonderful gifts she got and we left each house we stayed at a sparkly, glittery mess!
We took Corey back to the airport on Friday then headed home to see what Santa left at our house while we were gone.  Ally was a pretty good traveler considering it was just the two of us and we had a little messy weather to deal with both ways.  Karl had to drive separately since he wasn't able to stay as long.  We have wonderful family and are very thankful for all of the Christmas gifts and time we were able to spend with them. Unfortunately I didn't take hardly any pictures, not even a family shot but here are a few.


Tearing into presents in Lafayette



Christmas Day- and yes, that is a scene from Vacation on in the background

Ella getting into the holiday spirit

Going down the water slide at the YMCA with Grandpa Dew. Over and over!



Finding presents Santa left at home in Peoria while we were gone

Little Sister Update

Remember all those great weekly posts I used to create when I was pregnant with Ally to document every little detail about her (and my) development?  They were so fun to write and I love going back and reading them now but it also makes me sad because I have documented nothing with this pregnancy at all.  Life has taken over and between work, Ally and the general craziness of this time of year I have fallen behind on a lot of things, especially blogging.  We haven't really even had time to think of a fun way to announce that baby #2 is a little sister for Ally.

Tomorrow will mark 26 weeks along and almost the end of the 2nd trimester.  We had our anatomy ultrasound right before Thanksgiving where we saw all of the properly functioning parts and learned that baby was indeed a she just like Ally insisted.  All measurements looked good and right along with the due date of March 27.  We spent some time talking over options for the delivery and getting various opinions on scheduling c-sections and other major decisions we will need to make. I've overall not been feeling great with this pregnancy which has been a combination of extreme business at work, severe heartburn, and stress of parenting a 3 year old but no tests have revealed any major issues.  Baby and I are both doing well with no reason for concern.  If my records are correct, this is about the time I started to enjoy pregnancy a little with Ally and have been throw-up-free now for just over 1 week.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

Baby is very busy and enjoys moving around a lot.  Ally got to feel it for the first time last weekend and her reaction was priceless.  She loves talking to her baby sister and its just the cutest thing. Now that she knows its a girl she has decided her name is Gloria (the girl hippo from Madagascar, rather than the boy zebra Marty).  We think she is going to be very sad when we pick her real name, which we haven't even spent much time on yet.  She talks about all of the things she is going to teach her sister and seems very excited about it all.

I feel sad that I have not documented this journey as well the 2nd time around but at the same time I am so thankful for this technology that allows me to go back and ready everything fun about the first time.  Things have been fairly similar- just more tired and feel bigger this time around.  This girl has had a pretty consistent heart rate at 150 and measures about the same size as Ally did at her visits.  Soon the appointments will go from monthly to bi-monthly then weekly.  I am looking forward to setting up a big girl room for Ally and setting up the baby room with all of the great stuff Ally has been using.  Time to bring those storage containers up from the basement and get washing!

Fan of the Game

Back in August, Ally was selected and asked by the John Purdue Club if she could be the JPC Fan of the Game at one of the Purdue football games this season.  Because she gets to go to so many events and she is the cutest cheerleader there, she gets noticed a lot.  Of course we said yes and it was set up for the last game of the season against Indiana.  Of course I had to work and could not go but Ally got to be featured on the video board during the game and was given 2 seats in the Shivley Club which meant she could sit inside and keep warm.  Ally bundled up to record the video board spot during pregame with the whole family and then split time between the outdoor and indoor club seats to watch the game.  She had a great day! We had a few friends recognize the group on the video board and hopefully they will be able to send us the video so I can actually see it too. 

Ally's Purdue obsession has become totally crazy.  She knows all the words to Hail Purdue, will only wear jerseys on game days and loves to go to any event in any sport. She has a particular affinity for Purdue Pete, MerrieBeth the Golden Girl and the cheerleaders.  On her last trip she picked up one of the cheerleading squads posters and now calls it her "cheerleader calendar" and puts it in various places around the house.  She insists that Purdue Pete is a member of her family and keeps her eyes on him at all times, not afraid of him at all which I find shocking.  They couldn't have picked a better Fan of the Game in our opinion because she truly is the #1 fan!

JPC Fans of the Game saying HI on the video board. It was freezing!

Enjoying her favorite popcorn snack during the game