Home Sweet Home

Ali and I are home together today- taking a little mommy-daughter time before she transitions to a new daycare tomorrow. She was being watched by a friend of mine up to this point.. and without getting into specifics; I have learned that business and friendship (especially when children are involved) does not mix... so the best plan for Missy Pants was to move her to a new facility. She starts at a childcare-learning center tomorrow. We went today for about an hour, so Ali could get used to being around the other kids, as well as the two gals who will be in charge of her in the infant room. While the thought of taking our sweet angel baby to a "daycare" is hard for me to swallow, I feel pretty good about this place. The girls were nice and welcoming. They handled the babies well and made me feel good about leaving Ali with them for the majority of the day. It also helps that my neighbor's son, who is 2 weeks older than Ali, will be there with her, so at least she'll have a friend to play with and keep her company!

... this whole daycare experience makes me wish sometimes I worked part time: just enough to give Ali some independence ; and just enough time at home for me and my gal! one can dream...

Ali Monster

So Lil Miss Sweetie Pie Alison has turned into Lil Miss Demanding Ali Monster as of late!!! She has not begun to :

• cry when something is taken from her that she cannot have (i.e. momma's gross, dirty gardening sandals)


• she knows the word NO, and gives big puppy eyes when you tell her "no, no Ali"


• gets downright P.O' ed when momma or daddy do not sprint to pick her up if she's tired of playing by herself... she creams so loud, that the neighbors must think we're pitching her


• cried for about 1/2 of the walk we took yesterday because she wanted to be held rather then ride in the stroller


• and has woken up bawling the past 3 nights in a row- and will not be soothed unless she is brought into mom and daddy's bed...where she promptly falls asleep...Sideways. (we cannot figure out if this is manipulation, or nightmares, afraid of the dark..teeth, or???)
• She's rolling everywhere- ready to explore her world- which is both a blessing and curse- but is now antsy pantsy to get down and explore her world- making her not so much fun in public places where she must be held...

Missy Pants had got her padres scramblin!!!!

And here's a picture of her hanging with the boys at daycare... SO Cute!

.. and can we say BIG GIRL!!! She's almost as big as Joey (the boy to the left of Ali in the red shirt)... and he's 19 months old!!! Yikes !

Thoughts for Thursday

Who's got two teeth poking through on the bottom... and who rolled from her tummy to her back 3 times yesterday!!!!????

THIS KID!!!!

HOORAH ALI!!!!

Laminin

Take some time to learn about Laminin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e4zgJXPpI4
..How Amazing and Awesome is Our God!!!

What a great way to start my day... thanks Lindsay!

8 months already!?

Alison turned 8 months on Sunday... and although I am loving this stage, it is hard to believe she is growing up so quickly! Her little toother on the bottom left side is growing its way into the world, and the left one is right behind it! Amazing!

One of the labor and delivery nurses from when she was born lives across the street from us and yesterday we where talking about her birth and it just seems like we were right there! Amazing how time just fliiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeesss by when you have a child--people always told me it would but really, it's cruising!

My friend and neighbor Tarragh(whose son Wyatt is 2 weeks older then Ali) and I took the kids to church yesterday:

Must of been a real snoozer! :)=

Anyway, the kids had a little playdate afterwards and I was so surprised to see that Wyatt is cruising all over the place! He crawls and pulls himself up on everything... and my girl sits on her bum and claps for him!! She's kind of starting to show some desire to move towards something she wants- but she still doesn't really put forth any effort to get there. She's still only rolling from her tummy to her back, not vice versa. I know she has the muscles for it, that I'm not worried about for sure... but I just wonder why she doesn't care to go anywhere? Like, am I doing something wrong as a parent by not putting her toys far away so she must reach for them? She spends a lot of time playing on the floor, but she'll go from sitting to her tummy to her back, and then be content. I'm not sure what I should be doing to encourage her, or if I am messing her milestones up by missing a step???

What I really need to do is stop being a worry-wort: stop comparing my sweet, beautiful, smart baby girl to everyone else, and just let life happen.... whew! talked myself down from that one :)

Ali also is showing us her love for music and dancing (just like her momma!). Anytime a song comes on, even a commercial, she'll bob her head and move her little body back and forth- it's so cute! She's even started to add a little head shimmy.. I've got to get it on film!

She absolutely loves it when I sing to her- I even made up some lyrics from Jason Mraz's "Lucky" song that she just giggles every time I sing it to her.

It goes:

Lucky I'm in love with Alison

Lucky that she is my very best friend

Lucky when I come on home again.... and she loves this part...

ooooo a ooooo a oooo a ooo a ooo :) :)

Oh my sweet baby! I can't wait to see her at the end of today already!

Look at my beautiful baby!

My brother's girlfriend edited this print of Ali in photo shop...

it's been ordered

will matted and framed

to proudly display on our wall!

She's gorgeous! I just love her!

le sigh

Holy man, the busy life never ends! I'm sitting her on my couch, at 8:09... barely keeping myself awake. I feel so out-of-control of my life. All that I do is work, coach, come home and play with a semi-grumpy baby (because her dad is HORRIBLE at making her take the dreaded afternoon nap), eat dinner, give said baby a bath, put her to bed, and then go to sleep.
And I repeat the above schedule 5 days a week. And it sucks.
I feel like I'm just a ghost in Ali's life. She is totally almost rolling over from her back to her tummy, and I can't even spend enough time encouraging her, and I know she's going to do it at daycare or in the afternoon and I'm going to miss it and be sad.
She's also getting her two bottom teeth in- any day we expect those puppies to pop their way through- finally! My problem is that I just don't' feel like I'm a true part of everything. Like I'm just a bystander who gets this little glimpse into my baby's life at home. It's so hard, I'm really struggling with it, and I struggle every day.
I also hate that my house has gone to crap. My husband will do small pick-up- like dishes and garbage- but he does not dust,vacuum, pick up toys, clean bathrooms, or mop. So the house is a complete disaster and IT'S DRIVING ME NUTS! (Remember, I am a self-diagnosed clean freak). So not only am I uncomfortable in my skin, I cannot stand to be in my dirty house... but I'm too dang tired to clean it!

I'm just really hanging on to get to the weekend- no games, no practice. Just time to spend with my sweet girl and her daddy... and CLEAN MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!

I miss my girl

I have been so busy with softball this past week that I think I've spent a total of 3 hours with my baby. It makes me so sad. We have such a close relationship, and it's so hard for me to not be with her as much as the day allows. KK has been bringing her to our games, and it kills me to see her sitting there, watching me through the fence, smiling and laughing at her momma, and not to be able to go over and squeeze her. This time is so precious.. and slipping away so fast... and my heart is breaking to think that I will never get it back.

I guess the good news is that I have a loving husband to spend time with her, so at least her time away from me isn't spent with some unknown... and I am really taking the time I do have to put everything else aside and BE with my baby.

I'm still really sad though...

I mean, look at 'er! She's so stinkin cute!

Hoorah for KK!

I've been meaning to post about this for quite some time..

But a huge CONGRATULATIONS goes out to my sweet KK! My dear husband has been coaching high school basketball for about 12 years now, and has always had a dream of coaching at the collegiate level. Last month, his dream became a reality. Kris was hired on down at the local community college to assist the men's basketball team. While the money is not coming in at an outstanding pace, it's a foot in the door and we're really pumped! It is so nice to see him reach his dreams and move forward in his passion. He really knows the game well (cripes, we watch EVERY FRIGGIN GAME on TV and we're in the gym for the entire winter) and he loves it. He was not feeling challenged at the high school level any longer, and when this opportunity presented itself, he jumped. He has been helping out already with recruiting and some off season open gyms.

And let me tell you, it has been really refreshing to watch the man in action. He is doing what he loves, and really loving what he is doing. He comes home like a little excited boy, and has a pep back in his step that I have not seen since he was the head coach at the high school. So yay for KK!

... and another bonus of this new job is that I think we are going to get Missy Pants into the childcare center offered at the college. Only students and staff may bring their kiddos there- it is said to be the best place in town! It is more of a children's learning center than anything- the providers are early childhood development students in their internships, so the learning would be awesome! I wrote the director today and am waiting to hear back from her on what sort of waiting list we will have to be on, but keep your fingers crossed because we really want her to be able to attend!!!!!

Back to the Grind

Man, it feels like forever since I've even touched a computer!!

I left town March 26 with the softball team I coach for a tournament down south... came home on that Saturday and we started spring break! KK, Ali, and I headed up to my family's cabin about 2 1/2 hours from home with our good friends Jenny and Brian and their 18 month old son, Brady.

It was a pretty boring, but relaxing spring break, to say the least. It snowed the entire time we were at the cabin, and with two little ones, one who refuses to be held (Brady, not Ali heehee) that does not make for any time to get outside. So we mostly sat around, watched movies, and played some games. It was nice to be away from home where we would have worked the whole time, but not the ideal way to spend our break away from school.

It did, however, get nice this weekend, and we took advantage of that time to be at home and clean up the yard and use our cool new stroller-kit that we bought to attach to our burley bike trailer. This thing is awesome! It attaches to our bikes and can hold up to two kiddos. We recently ordered the stroller kit and tried it out this weekend. Ali considers it her own personal playpen on wheels... she loves it!

Ali really enjoys to be outside- I am thinking I am going to have to get her knee pads when she starts crawling or our stone patio will totally tear up her knees! I did put a little blankie down and some toys- but mostly she spent her time watching the doggies run around and loved to laugh at her daddy picking up poop!

... and now I'm trying to get back into the swing of things at work- so I'm going to cut this short- hope all is well with all my blogging buddies! More to come soon :)