Puddle Love

Halloween Princesses

Party time!

"Oh oh, I have to go to the party!" Hearing that come out of my 2-yr-old's mouth makes me laugh. Especially when she means to say "potty". I'm not going to correct her mistake...it makes potty training so much more fun for the Mommy!

Allie 22 Months

Things we love about our Allie-Girl:

• She sings along with me as I sing "ABCs", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Goodnight, Baby". She gets most of the main words. It is my favorite thing to be holding her with her head resting on my shoulder as we sing. Usually it happens as I am walking with her at nap time.

• Sometimes she tells me "I wuv ooo" as she tries to do the sign language along with it. I spend the rest if the day as a puddle on the ground.

• She wants to do what her brothers do: Climb the tree, ride the scooter, hold the neighbor's dog's leash, talk on the phone, sit on the bar stool (but I don't let her), take a bath, play (destroy) Monopoly, ride in the truck with dad and eat a popsicle.

• She was excited to wake up yesterday at Kohl's. "Clothes!" She loved to watch me try on a dress. She said, "Mommy, dress, dance!"

• She loves Sundays so we can go to "Church, song!" Whenever we drive on the freeway, she thinks we are headed to church. Our building is about 15 minutes away by way of the highway.

• Nothing is more fun than chasing or being chased by her brothers.

• She is a great picnic hostess for her toy characters and animals.

• She refuses to sit in her high-chair or wear a bib. I love that. But, I have learned to pick my battles with my determined daughter.

• She waves "Hi!" to people when we are out in public.

• She wants to ride in Dad's truck instead of Mom's minivan. I feel so cool now!

• She always wants to wear a dress or skirt if given a choice. Her big brothers don't even care what they wear. lol!

Remember it

Tyler walked into the kitchen at midnight last night. He looked half asleep. I was loading the dishwasher. I asked him if he needed a drink of water. He said, "yes", grabbed a kids' cup out of the drawer and took a big gulp of the empty cup. Then looked at me with a confused look. It was all I could do to keep a straight face as I said, "How about we fill it up with water first?"

We were driving in the van tonight when Allie says, "Hello?" I looked back and she had pulled her sandled foot up to her ear to call someone.

I got a haircut today. Same-ish style but shorter in back. When I picked up Allie later tonight, she wrapped her arm around my neck and started giggling when she rubbed on the super short hairs. "Scratchy!"

Allie

Allie is 13 months old.

Allie is 13 Months Old Today!

Allie had her first haircut today. I trimmed her bangs because they were getting so long. Now she looks like a little toddler to me. She grew up in that 10 minutes it took me to cut her hair! Where is my baby?

Here are her latest favorite things:

+ Giggles when we give each other Eskimo kisses.

+ Loves to watch Baby Signing Time. She knows lots of signs now and it is SO NICE to know what she is thinking about and what she wants/needs when she doesn't say the actual words yet. Her favorites are "baby", "sun", "dog", "more", "all done", "sleep", "milk", "Dad", and "wet".

+ She is starting to try to repeat what I say when I prompt her...say "this".

+ Today (of all days) she started shaking her head "no". For now, it really is adorable!

+ Has taken a few steps by herself. She's a super-cruisin' babes.

+ Always stops climbing half-way up the stairs to wave at anyone in the kitchen and family room.

+ Calls "Go, go, go!" and does the sign...All.Day.Long.

+ Loves to go walk with me out to meet the school bus and "the boys". Justin, Tyler and the neighbor kids "ooh" and "ahh" at Allie and give her leaves to hold and wave around. She gets so much attention, no wonder she loves this school bus thing.

+ Took a bite out of the wall the other day. Bit right through the drywall and swallowed it. And this coming from a girl who refuses to eat bananas and pears.

+ She's got her own little groove. She dances to any music and instead of bouncing to it like her brothers did, she grooves side to side to the beat. She has better moves than I do! Ha ha! I wish you could see it!

Yes, you know its true, oooh, oooh, oooh-oooh, I love you!

Happy Birthday Allie Mai!

Our sweet babes is 1 year old today!

You know she is our third child, because we partied by taking Justin and Tyler to get their eyes checked in time for school. They both need glasses so we picked out some frames. Tyler is so excited, but Justin isn't so convinced it will be a good thing. I think they both look handsome in their new glasses.

We did have a little family party after dinner. The boys picked out a party hat and bib for our cutie-pie birthday girl. She hated her banana "ice cream". She made some pretty funny cringing faces.

Allie is growing up so fast! She is our big girl doing so many big things:

• She often says "Go!" with sign language. Especially after she hears us say that word in our normal conversations.
• Always wants to climb up the stairs and stop half-way up to look at herself in the hall mirror.
• Walks along with her walker. She is getting faster now and can stop without losing her balance.
• Always talks with her hands now that we have been teaching her sign language.
• Signs "sleep" when she is tired. "more" and "all done" at mealtime.
• She takes the quickest little steps when she walks barefoot on the grass.
• She loves the BIG neighbor dogs, but does NOT love a cold dog nose on her bare foot.
• We always have to go stand in the garage to wave goodbye to Travis & the boys when they leave to go somewhere. She squeals and flaps her arms and legs when we get to go along, too.
• Allie loves to talk on the speaker phone when anyone calls.

Here is a month-by-month stroll down memory lane:

First Day:

6 Days Old:

1 Month:

2 Months:

3 Months:

4 Months:

5 Months:

6 Months:

7 Months:

8 Months:

9 Months:

10 Months:

11 Months:

12 Months:

This has been a wonderful year of smiles, kisses, cuddles and baby bliss. We love you Missy Lou!

Buddies

11 Months Old

Allie is 11 months old today. Every day with her has been a joy. Here are some of her favorite things to do these days:

1. Today I held her hands while she was standing and she walked 10 tiny steps before sitting back down.
2. She likes to lick everything. Including the walls and the dishwasher door.
3. Allie can sign "more", "all done" and "hat". She saw herself today in the mirror and noticed the bow on her head. She immediately signed "hat". Adorable. She has her own version of signing "baby" with one bent arm rocking off to the side of her body.



4. She says what sounds like "Hi Dad!" when Travis comes into the house. She says "Mom" and "Ta" (Tyler) and "Ju" (Justin).
5. She gets the biggest giggle and smile on her face when Justin "saves" her from the play pen or her crib.



We are loving our sweet babes!

10 Months Old Today

Allie turned 10 months old today. We celebrated with a quick photo shoot. I tried to capture her "Allie faces". This one is a classic: She seems to always be sticking her tongue out. Especially when we are outside and it is a little bit breezy. She must love the feeling of the cool air.



Her hair is finally long enough to pull back in a barrette. I'm loving it!



Right now she is exactly the perfect height to beaver the windowsill. When she pulls herself up to stand up to look out the window, her mouth just easily clamps right onto the ledge. Yes, we have marks to prove she was there! I try to line up toys on the windowsill so she'll play with them instead.

Those are 18 month sized pants she's wearing. I had bought them ahead so she could wear them this next winter. lol!



She is a bit shy around strangers now and when they talk to her she'll put her head down on my shoulder for a second or two. I think it's sweet.



Oh and we just love all her kissable rolls and chubby cheeks!

Last day finish line fun!

Good buddies, Shawn and Justin.



Cheerleaders, Allie and Mom.



Videos to come...

9 Months

Allie Mai is 9 months old now! Here's her short-list from this week:

1. Crawls everywhere...fast! I hardly get a thing done...I follow her around all day.
2. Claps hands together when I come in to get her out of her crib.
3. Flaps her arms with glee when I start to carry her out into the garage. She loves to be outside.



4. Nuzzles back into my shoulder when a stranger tries to talk to her.
5. Squawks when I walk into the "wrong" room when she really just wants to follow her brothers or dad.

Oh, I love this little girl!

It's a wonderful life!

Why do I always insist on an impromptu photo shoot on Mother's Day? Because even though I know they won't be perfect, these pictures remind me that life is sweet with my kiddos. Crazy, silly faces and all. And it makes me laugh to think of Travis perched in the bush taking these pictures!





I love you Justin, Tyler and Allie!

See what I mean?

Allie crawled across the room tonight!!!! She just took off after a little basketball. No one-sie,two-sie,three-sie for her. She just hit the floor CRAWLING! The very first time. Right before bed, too. Everyone was almost too excited to go to sleep.

Wowsers! I wonder what she will do tomorrow???