DREAMING

Allie woke up from her nap this afternoon and I asked her if she had a good dream? She said, "Yes." (I've noticed she's been saying yes instead of yeah....if she does say yeah she will correct herself with yes.) I asked her what she dreamed about.....she said, "Bubbles and Mony & Papa. I asked her what she was doing with Mony and Papa. "At the store." So then I said what were you doing at the store.....she didn't answer me, she just continued to tell me what she was dreaming about......"Avery's blessing & Kaiya's blessing." Wow, Allie....what a good dream!! It's so cool to be able to have a little conversation with her now!

GAME NIGHT

Woo Hoo! We finally have a Game Night up and running again. Derek and I were soooooo craving it (and adult interaction). We really wanted to start one up while we were at Scott, but we didn't really know too many people that liked to play games. Luckily, we started hanging out with Ben and Clara towards the end of our stay there. It was fun hanging out at their house, having dinner and watching UFC.

Game night came about while we were in college. We would hang out at the Allen's until about 1:00 in the morning once a week just playing games (usually the boys playing video games and us girls just chatting or playing a board/card game). It was soooooo much fun! Miss you guys! :) After the Allen's moved away to Wisconsin we still continued game nights with the Hauperts and Asays. We would usually go to Buffalo Wild Wings every Tuesday for wing night and then head over to someone's house for a friendly game of poker. Every once in a while we'd order a pizza, but no matter what we always had a great time!

Times sure have changed, we definitely don't stay out as late as we used to now that we have kids. But, none the less, we are LOVING having Game Night once again! The Barkers and Hinsons are becoming GREAT friends and we enjoy hanging out with them every Monday night. We're rotating houses each week and so far we've played Settlers of Catan (really fun), ping pong, Dr Mario, and watched re-runs of SNL and The Office. The host is also fixing dinner (another change of the times) and so that's a lot of fun. Although, everyone that knows me really well knows that I can't cook and so I'm always afraid of the dinner part of the evening when it's our turn!

Anyway, this is a tribute to GAME NIGHT......oh how we missed you and are glad you have returned. We have such great friends.....old and new!!!!!

B Dubs Game Night Gang

The Sesame Street Experience

Tonight we went to see Sesame Street at the base theater. It was kind of like a mini Sesame Street Live.......but for the military. We were really excited to take Allie since she loves Elmo so much. We got there 45 minutes before the doors were to open and we were the first ones there. Since it was so cold out we decided to go shopping........Allie went potty 10 times and so that meant she could pick out a toy. After we got her toy we went back out and Derek got in line while the rest of us stayed in the car........well, I had the tickets with me so we lost our spot! We still got front seats, but off to the side instead of the middle. This turned out to be a good spot because it was that side that the characters kept coming down on!! Allie was scared at first and she was crying, but she eventually got excited and was dancing around. Zoe even came down and shook her hand!!!

Bug! and Talking on the Phone

Here are a few fun videos. They are kind of long. The first one is of a fly trying to eat Allie's crackers.....and she's not too happy about it, but she is still very polite and even manages to ask him how he's doing! The next two are of Allie talking on the phone. I have no idea where she gets her pacing and talking with her hands from!! If you look closely you'll see Derek getting the fly that you saw in the first video! Oh, and I missed videoing the best part of Allie on the phone. She kept saying, "Right, Mony?" I think to make sure she was listening! Excuse the messy house :)

One Last Time

We're selling our boat!!! Or, I guess I should say we've sold the boat....it's not out of the garage yet but it will be by November 10th. Derek says it's so we can save up and get a bigger one. I was just excited about the possibility of parking the van in the garage for the winter! Of course, Derek is really excited to start boat hunting again and has already found several possibilities which could ruin my chance of parking in the garage :(
Anyway, so we had to take it out for one last time especially since I haven't had the opportunity to ride it much with being pregnant for most of the time that we've owned it. We took it out when my family was here so they could watch the girls. It was supposed to be for just a couple of hours, but ended up being longer because the jet ski broke down and Kim was stranded! We finally found her and it took FOREVER to get the thing towed in. Despite all of that, it was still fun to ride it one more time and take a shot at wakeboarding again. It was a good boat and it will be missed!!!!

Pumpkin Patch & Trunk or Treat

Yesterday we went to the Pumpkin Patch at Young's Jersey. I would say that most of the pumpkins had been picked over because there weren't a whole lot of good ones to pick from. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures because it was cold out and we were in a hurry to get to Trunk or Treat.



After leaving the Pumpkin Patch we headed home to get Allie in her costume and then left for the Barrett's (who were hosting Trunk or Treat). The evening started with roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire and ended with the kids going around to all of the cars to get their treats. It was absolutely FREEZING out so, once again, I didn't get many pictures. It was so cute because there was another little girl, Olivia, that was dressed as a witch too and her and Allie were having fun together on the swing. Allie is about 9 months older than her and so she was trying to push her. I really wish I could have got to my camera, but that was when Derek was running to the car to get our chairs and I had Avery in one hand and our hot dogs in the other!

Avery Update

Well, Avery had her 2 month Dr visit today. It started out a little shaky because, for some reason, they had the appointment being down for Allie. Once that was all straightened out then Avery was finally seen. My scale must be off because Avery does NOT weigh 12 lbs, she weighs 10 lb 6 oz......exactly 4 lbs more than when she was born. This puts her at the 25th percentile for weight. She is 22 in long, putting her at the 19th percentile for length. Her head circumference is at the 12th percentile. So, with all of that, she is a tiny little thing! This is exactly the opposite of what Allie was........she was in the 90th percentile for weight and head circumference and about 25-50 percentile for length.

Avery ~ 2 Months

Avery, or "Thumper" as we sometimes call her due to her always shaking her left leg, is growing too fast! She's already at 12 lbs and you can definitely see it in her belly. She eats like a horse and sounds like a machine gun :) She gives the cutest smiles and is already starting to coo. Her sleeping is still about the same ... she'll get up 2 times during the night for a short feeding. That needs to change! She will ONLY sleep on her TUMMY, which is exactly how Allie was. She loves to watch her sister, loves her swing and her bouncer...as long as it's vibrating. I'll probably have more to update on her in a few days since she has her 2 month check up and shots on Friday. In the mean time, here is our little munchkin:

King's Island

This brought back a lot of fun memories of our many trips to King's Island as a kid! We've definitely grown up a lot since then because the park seemed a lot smaller than what we remembered. The biggest change, though, was having a child of my own to watch on the rides! It was so amazing to see Allie overcome her fears and then to watch her be so proud of herself afterwards!! Her first ride was on the merry-go-round and she was quite hesitant to get on (or stay on). Then we were off to the helicopters and when she got off of this ride she proudly yelled, "I did it" and was smiling from ear to ear. Her first few rides were with one of us, but by the end of the day she was riding on her own.





Then we headed to Howl -o- Fest where Allie got to walk through a hay bale maze, pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and color it and one for Avery too.


At 7:00 the scary stuff started coming out and the fog was on full blast. We could hardly see where we were going! My Mom and Dad took Allie and Avery and headed home while the rest of us stayed and were ready to have a fun night! Our first stop was to ride Invertigo and while we were in line we were deciding on what we thought would be the most fun of the haunted areas to go through. Just as we were getting ready to get on the ride we get a phone call.......my parents have no way of getting in the house! So we ride the rollercoaster and then head home, which may have been a good thing because after that ride I was extremely dizzy and just did not feel good at all (hence the name). I was even still dizzy the next day! It was still a lot of fun though.

SLEEP

Just another half hour....that's all I ask! Why is it that when you have two kids they can never sleep at the same time?! I thought for sure Allie would sleep in this morning since she had the privilege to stay up late last night to watch her Daddy's soccer game. But, no, she woke up at her usual time. Fortunately, Derek was still here this morning and got her back to bed, but then Avery wakes up. I try and try to get her back to sleep for just another 3o minutes of shut eye and then......"Mommy, Hello....anybody here" ...Allie is up (just 20 minutes after Derek put her back to bed)! I go and get her, come back to get Avery and wouldn't you know she's back asleep.

Oh Charlotte!

Yesterday was an overcast, dreary, wet day. So, we had a lazy day and spent it indoors (except for later in the evening when Allie and I had our one on one time and we went puddle jumping!). After our nap we decided to color and watch "Charlotte's Web." Allie was really paying attention to it, which surprised me because it's the newer version that isn't animated. I think she was fascinated with the animals talking or something. Anyway, after Allie and I came in last night from puddle jumping we decided that we would go downstairs and get out our Halloween stuff. While Derek was getting the bin out Allie was playing with her toys. Avery and I were over with her just watching her. She goes to get a toy out of her toy bin and says, " Oh, Charlotte!!" I went over and looked and there was a huge spider in the bottom of the bin! (yes, it was dead...Derek just bombed the house for spiders while we were gone) I was just taken aback because I hadn't realized that Allie had made that connection.

While we were going through our Halloween stuff we came across the Allie the Alligator costume that Allie wore when she was a baby. I held it up to Avery to see if she might be able to wear it this year. I thought it looked a little big, but Derek thinks it will fit her. Then Derek holds it up to Allie and says he thinks it will fit her too!


Allie at 4 Months

Our Week In Lafayette

Allie, Avery and I headed to Lafayette last Friday to stay for the week. Our main reasons for going were to attend baby showers. My cousin, Ashley, is due November 6th and I couldn't miss that......we were like sisters growing up! I can't wait to meet her little boy! Our family is expanding so fast....with a baby girl due in a couple of weeks and another baby girl due in January!! Then I also went to Melissa's shower, one of my friends from high school. She's having a little boy, Jack, in December. It was good to see her and her mom, Katrina and her adorable baby girl, Paige (looking so cute in her Colts outfit)!

Our week was soooooo busy. We hung out with GG for a few days and the rest of the days we spent shopping with my Mom. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep, but I couldn't pass up the shopping since it's almost impossible to do with 2 kids alone. One day while we were shopping at Target we saw a crowd around one of the check out lanes. So, I went down there and standing there at the register was Robin Williams. I started to walk back to get my Mom's phone so I could take a picture and as I left them Allie started crying for me. My mom told her I was going to go see a movie star and that I'd be right back. Well, she wanted to see the movie star and was whining about it so they headed over too. As we were walking over there he was done checking out and looked like he was getting ready to leave. So I just said oh well and we turned around to head out. Then he passes us........Allie is still whining about seeing the movie star. So, we catch up to him and my Mom says to him, "She's crying because she wants to see the movie star." Robin Williams says, "Oh, well she's not even old enough to know who this movie star is." He wasn't very friendly so we just walked away! I can sort of understand since everyone was swarming around him and he probably never gets a break, but still.......a cute, crying little girl!! Anyway, I guess he was in town for a performance at Purdue. I read in the paper the next morning that he told the audience immediately to "remember this moment the old fashioned way....in your memory." He didn't want any pictures taken and to end up on Facebook or MySpace.

I know this is probably boring, especially without pictures (I didn't take any this time).
But this week was fun, exhausting and lonely (w/o Derek)........but mostly fun!!

Happy Birthday, Derek!!!

I know you say it's just another day, but if it wasn't for that day 26 years ago then I wouldn't have the best husband in the world with two beautiful daughters! I feel so bad being away from you on your birthday for the 3rd year in a row! All three of your girls want to be there to celebrate with you and let you know what an amazing husband and father you are (as I don't show or let you know enough). You really are the BEST. We never have to worry about anything because we know you are here to protect us, guide us, and provide for us. I know things are hectic now with school, a new baby and a toddler running around, but you still manage to take the time to help around the house and play with Allie and Avery. You're always there to help anyone when they need it. You're patient and thoughtful (still open the car door for me after 8 years!) You have a great sense of humor and know how to make me laugh. We've missed you this week and can't wait to see you in a few days. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Have a great day and good luck in your soccer game tonight!