Climbing

Allison's been working up the courage to explore more and more everyday...  Thursday she learned that she can go down the step into grandma and grandpa's family room all by herself.  So naturally, she applied that same theory to other objects, like the couch.  Fortunately, Matt was there to stop her from taking a dive.  But yesterday I caught her trying to get to Denver on the landing...  (please ignore my child's crazy mismatched outfit.  we had sloppy joes for dinner.)

Time Flies

I can't believe an entire year has passed since Allison surprised us with her early arrival.  It doesn't seem long ago that we were visiting her in the NICU, staying up for graveyard feedings, or carrying her around in her baby sling.  I still look at newborn clothes and think that my baby is still that small, but I guess she will always be in my mind although she's obviously grown tremendously in the last 12 months.  Here is her 1 month pic with her china doll and her 12 month pic.

(you can see I even had to turn the camera to fit her all in!  and the first one was even taken from the couch!!)


Allison is growing perfectly, weighing 18lbs 10oz (20th percentile) and measuring 29 1/2" (50th percentile).  That's a long way from 4lbs 2oz!!  The doctor said she is just a petite girl and probably always will be.  So we have awhile before we turn her carseat around, but that's okay.  I'm just glad that she's such a happy, healthy girl!

Birthday Party!

I think we've finally recovered from Allison's big party...  Well, except for the floors.  There are still remnants of cake crumbs to be found.  But Allison had a great time celebrating with family and new and old friends!  And I think we figured out our house's capacity...  We crammed over 30 people including 9 kids downstairs for presents and upstairs for cake!  But I think everyone had a fun time despite some being put to work.  (I had a bit of a panic attack an hour before dealing with a no napping child and a long list of to dos...)  We really appreciate everyone that came to celebrate and especially all of those that helped pull it together!  The cupcakes were a HUGE hit and Allison loved digging into her giraffe.  Here are some pics from the big day...

her party dress made to match the jungle theme

cousins!

lions, zebras, monkeys, oh my!

allison's giraffe

yum!

our family

I'm 1!!!

I've been fearing Allison's first birthday for quite awhile...  More than turning 30 even.  My little girl is officially no longer my little baby; she's a big girl!  But despite a rough birthday eve and a crabby and snotty birthday girl, we tried to have a fun day...  We visited with MoMo and PaPa in the morning and left from there to go to her 12 month doctor's appointment.  Which I had the time wrong for...  So we missed it by 90 minutes and had to reschedule for next week.  We got some help from the weather, so we were able to play outside (although she is not a big fan of grass) and attempt to grill for dinner (except we ran out of propane).  And then the big moment we have been waiting for...  cake!  We decided to go small and just give her a chocolate cupcake (with chocolate frosting).  I think it was a little too rich for her and she ended up crying about 5 minutes in (possibly from exhaustion).  We're hoping that Sunday will bring a happier baby and a yellow cupcake will be more to her liking.