::::::::::::: Blessed For Sure! :::::::::::::: March 2010

Friday, March 19, 2010

Lots of new posts!

Check out the many new posts below!!! :) I think I'm finally caught up now! :)

Nineteen Months!!!!!

Allie girl is already nineteen months old! :) Here's some things that she has been doing lately...

*She holds her spoon and fork more steadily. She loves to put her own food on the utensils. She is getting pretty good at it. She scoops things up and usually gets most of it if not all of it into her mouth. She was doing amazing this evening while she was eating spaghetti!!! I was pretty impressed. She would much rather use these utensils than her fingers! Big girl!

*She goes up and down the steps without much help. Down is on her belly until the last couple then she turns around like a big girl and steps down! Sometimes she would rather walk down like we do, and hold onto one of our hands. She does pretty good with both of these. Going up, she tries to be big too, but usually ends up going up on her hands and knees after the first few. It's hard work being big! :)

*She is saying more and more words- and more and more two/three word combinations. I've got you! All done, Home, Oh boy! Oh boy! Amen, Thank you, No, Glasses, Ernie, Bert, Mae (from Sid the Science Kid) , Toothpaste, silly, turkey, funny, Gottcha, shoes, Gracie, Kasie, Bus, Hi bus, bye bus, .... I'm sure there are more, but I can't think right now.

*She brushes her teeth at least once a day now. She has two of her four eye teeth. The top two have poked through and are growing pretty good. The bottom two are working their way up and are going to make their grand appearance any time now. (She says ouchie and points to her mouth and then says teeth. :)) She loves to brush her teeth with mommy and or daddy. If we aren't brushing our teeth and she is, she will stand at the sink and say our name over and over and point to our tooth brush. :) Silly.

*She has a shoe fetish right now. She loves to say the word. She loves to point to people's shoes, and she LOVES to wear mommy and daddy's (and anyone else who happens to leave shoes laying around) shoes. We came home one evening and I set her down in the laundry. She bent down to play with a pair of shoes and I noticed that she had hidden a couple treasures in daddy's shoes. A bink in one, and a ball in another. THAT was something new.... :) pretty cute.

*She has started to really answer our questions when we ask them. Before she knew we were asking questions, but never got the answer right. Now, we ask questions and she usually does get the answer right. ;) Amazing!!!! :)

*She pretends more and more. It is pretty cute. She loves to feed her babies and her toy Ernie. She loves to play on her own for a little bit. It is fun to watch this. I just wonder what her mind is thinking. :)

*She can tell us what she wants more, or what hurts, or what she needs. She will tell us if she is thirsty for milk or water. :) She tells us when she cries (if we ask) what is wrong, or where it hurts. :) This isn't 100 percent consistent, but we're getting there!

*She loves to hide. :) She knows to be real still and very quiet. She gets all excited when you find her. Her favorite place to hide is our bedroom closet.

*She had another sinus infection this month. :( She is finishing up her antibiotic. We took her to the ER one evening for their "Fast Track"(stat care) service. They said at the time that she had a virus. I could tell it was progressing to something else. Two days later we were at her doctor's office getting checked and taking home an antibiotic. It took her about almost a week to respond to the antibiotic and start being her normal self again. Mommy was sick and on an antibiotic at the same time. Thankfully we are over that stuff and ready to enjoy this beautiful weather we have been having lately! :)

*She has realized that her mouth can be an extra "hand". :) She uses it to carry things when her hands are full. (Picture above is good example.) She especially has been doing this when we are going somewhere. I think she thinks she needs to gather stuff up that she wants to take along. It is pretty funny to see her with both hands packed full and then one of her treasures sticking out of her mouth.... :) Such an imagination and so smart to think of this!!!! :)

She acts so big! Our little baby is now more like our big girl! It is so amazing to see how much they learn and grow and what they are capable of remembering and learning.

Heaven

In the last couple of months (November to March) Allie has lost two of her Great Grandparents. I am sad that she will never get to know these amazing people and that her only memories will be the stories we can tell her about when she was really little, and the pictures we can share with her. Both of these people were amazing! Such amazing stories. Two completely different life stories, and yet both so gentle and loving and the type of people who would do anything for you. They both loved Allie girl so much! They both got such a huge kick out of her and loved to interact with her and watch her. We miss them both greatly already, but Great Grandma E and Great Grandpa K are dancing the streets of Heaven. Visiting at the feet of Jesus. Celebrating because they no longer are in pain or suffering. We will see them again someday- of that we are CERTAIN!

Here are some precious pictures that we have of Allie's time with them.

Grandpa K's Memorial Weekend

I just realized that these pictures are going to be in reverse order from the end of the weekend to the beginning, but oh well... too late now. We had a long weekend filled with family time (very comforting). Family from Florida, Indiana and Ohio came in for the weekend. We spent a lot of time together, visiting and reflecting and sharing memories. Cousin Jeremy shared the message during the funeral on Saturday and did a very nice job. It was awesome to sit and listen to him describe his grandfather in such a knowing way. Great Grandpa was a great, Christian man who has lots of family and awesome stories from the people who love him the most. He is surely celebrating in Heaven right now! :)

One thing that we want Allie to know is that He loved it when she came with Grammie to visit. He would light up and get the biggest smile. He loved it when she was around. She was a highlight to his day and he remembered her. It was a special little bond. ;) He liked to tease her and try to get her to laugh and respond to him. We called him Double G for her. When we paid our last respect and said good bye for the last time, we told Allie that Double G was in Heaven with Jesus. She said Jesus's name and then said "bye bye" and waved to him. Later in the weekend when we mentioned his name again, she waved bye bye and then said Jesus. Almost like she understood to some small degree what we were trying to teach her.

Here are a few of the pictures I took.

Papa and Nana's House

We went to visit Papa and Nana one evening. Allie loves to play with them!! :) It is always so much fun to see her interacting with people she loves! :) She loves Kasie puppy too! :) Daddy and I commented the other day how funny it is to see her at our parents houses. Because she is there each week, she knows where things are. She feels totally comfortable in their homes and knows where she is allowed to be and what she can do (and when to test you to see if YOU know this stuff). She knows places to hide and where her toys are. Especially her favorites. ;) You can tell she feels 100 percent at ease at both places. I think that is pretty cool!!!!!

Allie's Kitchen

Allie loves to play in her kitchen. She loves to press the buttons on the microwave and play with the pretend food. She has figured out how to put the lid on her kettle and frying pan. She is very precise and careful when she puts it on. She gets frustrated if she can't get it to sit on just perfect. She loves it when we ask her to prepare us some food. She wants us to sit down with her and play. She has started making the noise we make when we pretend to eat our food. We have even caught her trying to pretend feed her baby and other toys and she makes that noise. She love to put several things in a bowl and use a big spoon and "mix" it all together. :) It is too cute to watch her pretend! :)

Bridal Shower Fun

A few weeks ago, we went to a bridal shower for Mommy's cousin and his soon to be wife. It was a lot of fun. Nana went with us. Here are some pictures. Allie girl was getting sleepy and you can tell in a couple pictures. She did really well. We had pizza and pasta and really yummy cake! Allie enjoyed watching everyone and looking at books and coloring. WE left her favorite book behind... booo! :( It was a fun day to celebrate Erin though! She got a lot of fun things for her house!!! :)

Friday, March 5, 2010

Life! :)

Here are some pictures we've taken recently. Just normal, everyday life. :) Allie is showing us more and more of her little personality. It is so much fun to see it revealed. She loves girlie things- necklaces, glasses, purses, shoes. It is pretty cute. She doesn't like to pose for pictures- much too busy! :) She is constantly on the go and loves to be right in the middle of the action. :)

(Or- hiding from you. :) That's a new game too! )

Enjoy the pictures!