Well, we are happy to say that we actually had a winter storm come through here on Friday night. Its now Sunday and we are still snowed in. Jay has attempted to go get us some yummy lunch. I told him if he gets stuck some where, I cant come get him because I refuse to go anywhere with the kids in this weather. I think he has cabin fever. I imagine we wont be working tomorrow either so cabin fever may be setting in for all of us then.
Maddie loved sledding in the "good ol laundry basket" on the road in front of our house. Jay and I also took turns pulling her by attaching a rope to the basket. That was fun and good exercise too. We attempted to make snow fairies ( Maddie prefers fairies over angels) but the snow was way to hard. We had to beat the snow with our arms...not the same effect. We had a few snowball fights and collected clean snow for snow cream making. This was my first snow cream creation. Maddie enjoyed it, but Im confused on the hype of it...not so yummy!
Ally did not play in the snow this time. Too cold!! She did watch her sister from afar, however.
Ally is continuing to grow like a weed. We are planning her 1st birthday party...wow, I cant believe it!!! We are going with an alligator theme because she is our little Ally-Gator...hehe!!! Wish everyone could join us but we know how it is :(
Maddie is still a great big sister although she likes to carry Ally around which is bad on my heart....heart attack! She loves to play with her though and she speaks to her like she's one of the gals...! So cute!
Jay and I have been talking about school options for Maddie when she goes to Kindergarten, then I decided I don't want to talk about it because Maddie going to Kindergarten saddens me. We still have a year before we have to register her and more than a year before she starts...thank goodness!
Well, all is well here. Healthy for now though the cold season seems to be every season, so you never know. Hope everyone is doing great.....we love you!
Well, it has literally been months since our last post. Facebook has taken over I guess.
Ally has developed such a personality over the months. Since our last post, she has began eating solid foods...she eats just about anything now other than watermelon, black beans, and other slimy things. She is quite ravenous at meal time...always wants more. Like her sister, we taught her sign language for "more" so she doesn't have to freak out when we aren't giving her what she wants.
Ally got her first tooth just before Christmas and the second tooth the day after Christmas...so much for, " All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth"! Haha! Teething did not go well for her. She went through a period of waking up at night with little success for a quick sleep again. Overall, she has been a wonderful sleeper though. She is now on somewhat of a schedule and goes down for her morning nap with ease...most days.
Ally LOVES her gammie and grandaddy who take care of her while I work. She always has a huge smile for me when I get there to pick her up though...I love it.
She has been crawling since about month nine. We have no doubt that she will be walking before her 1 year birthday. She seems to be doing some things a bit earlier than her sister Maddie did, but that's alright!
One of Ally's biggest things is that she STILL doesn't like to be held by anyone other than, Jay, myself, her gammie, or her granddaddy......seriously! We have been working on it by giving her to others for short periods of time and she is making some progress. My mom has been able to babysit a couple of times, but she has crying intervals until she goes to sleep...poor girl!
Well, overall Ally is doing fantastic...she's been teething, has had 2 ear infections, eating us out of house and home, crawling and following us everywhere, LOVES bathtime and music, and we are LOVING every minute of it!!!
More to come....
Ally is officially more than 2 months old now. She weighs in at 12pds. 3oz!! She now holds her head up constantly. She sleeps wonderfully waking up only once any where from 2:30 to 5:00am just to nurse and go back to sleep. She slept through the night one day last week not waking up until 7am. It was great!!! She is still a gassy girl so that gets the best of her sometimes. She is also a smiley girl. We have considered making that a nick name but have resorted to calling her "Ally J" or "A.J. most often!
I have less than 2 weeks left to be home with Ally before going back to work. I have to say that it makes me sad because I will miss her. I remember going through this with Maddie so I know that Ally will be absolutely fine without me. She will be with my grandma and granddaddy just like Maddie was. I helped out at work a couple days last week so Ally has already been to her Gammie and Granddaddy's house and did wonderful. They love her with all their hearts!!
I am going to be participating in the annual March of Dimes walk this weekend. I am really looking forward to it and I thank everyone who was able to donate to such a worthy cause!
Well, our little family has settled in nicely. I personally feel like life has just begun in some ways. We are our forever family and I'm so looking forward to the future!!!
Well, Ally turned a month old yesterday and now weighs in at 9lbs.12oz. What a jump in weight! She continues to try her hardest to hold her head up. She scares us with her wobbly head, but she holds it well enough that she has advanced to only using one head support in her car seat now instead of two.
Maddie continues to be such a wonderful big sister. She has amazed us with her enthusiasm and care for Ally. She helps change her diaper, wash her in the baby tub, burps her, and much more. She is also very protective of her little sister and always wants to know, "where's Ally"? We couldn't ask for a better family!
The girls' Granna and Papa came this past weekend and enjoyed their visit tremendously. I believe they achieved the goal they set out for, which was to get as much of the girls as possible. We enjoyed the visit and look forward to seeing them again!
Today was a big day around the Almers household. Ally had her first bath in her bathtub earlier and actually appeared to enjoy it. Well, she didn't hate it at least. Her umbilical cord fell out Saturday, March 7 but it still looked a little oozy. She fussed a little in the beginning but then settled down shortly after. Maddie helped and then proceeded to play in the bath water for a little bit once Ally was done.
Earlier this week we had some incredible weather which we took advantage of as much as possible. We have gone on several walks with the girls and taken a couple trips to some of our friends' and family's houses. Yesterday was the start of some nasty cold and rainy weather that is supposed to last until the end of the weekend so it is keeping us a little home-bound.
Ally continues to sleep well at night. She has gotten a bit snotty but it hasn't posed too much problem when it comes to her sleep. The routine that seems to be working starts with us getting Maddie bathed and ready for bed around 7:30. Once Maddie is down, we have a little time with the little one and then get her fed around 9:30'ish and down by 10:00. She typically wakes up around 3:30 in the morning for her feeding and then sleeps until Maddie wakes up with yelling "Sunshine's Out!" repeatedly from the time she wakes up until the time she comes blasting through our bedroom door.
Well, Ally has been home for a week now and I must say that things are going far better than I expected. Maddie has been a great big sister and is extremely proud of the fact that she has a "lil sissur". She tells everyone that she has a little sister and her name is Ally, though she pronounces it more like "A-yee". Every day that she has gone to school, she has taken a nap with photos of her mommy and her sister that were taken while we were still at the hospital.
Ally has been incredible when it comes to sleeping. Knock on wood, but with the exception of the first night home, she has slept through the night and only wakes up once for a feeding ever since. There was some concern in the beginning that her jaundice numbers were a little high but they have started coming down and her color is returning to normal. She eats well, though she prefers to be fed from a bottle. I guess it is an instant gratification thing, which apparently she is like her father in that regard.
Missy is doing great as well, up and moving around without too much difficulty. With the exception of not being able to get super-comfortable in bed and a little residual stiffness, all of her major complaints have subsided. We have all been fighting a cold and sinus stuff, so that makes things a bit less enjoyable, but all in all I would say things are great.
Well, on February 25, 2009 at 9:26 a.m., we added another little one to our ranks. Alyssa Jean Almers was born and weighed in at a healthy 8lbs. 6oz. and was exactly 21 inches long. Both mommy and baby are doing great. We all returned home the following Saturday and started our new life as a family of four.
As you all know, I do not really keep up with the blog. Actually, I think I do a pretty good job of avoiding it. What I do post about typically has something to do with geeky stuff or cool new "whiz-bang" things that I have figured out. This post is no exception. I used the arrival of our new baby as a reason to upgrade our blogging software so, though past entries are not easily accessible, the new features of this software makes it easier to create and manage our posts.
