Our Little Allie Kat.....

...Is the Sweetest Thing! She's growing up so fast and soon she's going to be a BIG sister. I wanted to take a minute or two to "spotlight" our little love bug. She is 2 years old and LOVES to:

• play in/with water (beach, pool, sprinkler, rain, bath, sand/water table etc)


• sing and dance


• pretend (Mommy to her babies, cook food at her kitchen)


• play with her dollhouse


• be outside doing anything


• watch Elmo and Baby McDonald


• read


• be silly

There is so much more that she loves, but this post would be way too long if I named them all!

Allie sleeps in her big girl bed all through the night and will get up and play on her own, in her room, for about 30 minutes or so before she heads to the door knocking saying "Mama, Hello". It cracks me up! She can be very loving and is soooo caring. If Derek or I make the slightest sound that we might be hurt she'll ask, "You OTay?"

Right now she plays better on her own than she does with other children, but she's slowly learning to share and get used to the idea of playing with others. She finally made it the whole 2 hours in nursery without crying last Sunday! It was a big accomplishment in our eyes!! When Derek picked her up she was sitting at the table playing with play doh and she just looked over and said, "Hi, Dad" and kept on playing.....then when we left she said, "FUN!"

I know having another little one around will be hard on both her and me. We've become so attached over these last 2 years! The longest we've been apart from one another is just a few hours!!! That is bound to change soon......I'm assuming. I think we'll always have that close knit bond though........we are so much alike (despite the age difference) ;)

Allie had her 2 year checkup on Monday. Everything looked good. She is average for her height and a little under for her weight (22lbs). She's just going to be a petite little thing! She got a shot and cried, of course. But stopped after the nurse handed her a sucker. This is her last shot until she turns 4!!! Yay!!

I could go on and on and on about this sweet little girl. She brings such a joy to us and knows how to make us smile! We love you Allison Katherine!!!

Last PREGNANCY Update

I found out yesterday that the c-section will definitely be on August 14th, but won't know the time until Monday. I'm excited to see this little baby girl (weighing 6 lb 1 oz as of now) and just ready to be done! On the other end of things, I'm really nervous about having another c-section. Hopefully I'll calm done some by Thursday!

We're heading out tomorrow night to stock up on some things. We want to do one more "fun" thing this weekend since it could be a while before we get out and about like that again. I don't know what we're going to do yet. We were thinking about going to a drive-in movie theater, but it all depends on what is playing. Of course, Derek wants to go to the lake.......I don't know if that's an option for me with the way the humidity has seemed to have kicked into high gear! Then I'm sure we'll be doing some last minute cleaning next week.........and then she'll be here!

What will her name be? Probably won't know until we see her!!

Our House

I know this is long overdue. We've been here in the Wright Patterson AFB area for 4 months now. We absolutely love it here! This time around we decided to live off base, which I think is one of the biggest reasons we like it so much better here than at Scott. While looking for a place to live we searched and searched for a house to buy. Long story short, it didn't work out and so we're renting. Here's the house: (you can click on the pics to make them bigger)

Front of House (old pic)	Back of House
Entry Way	Entry Way
Living Room	Kitchen
Master Bedroom	Allie's Room
Master Bath	Allie's Bath
Basement Play Area	Basement Play Area

As you can see, Allie's play area is pretty cluttered. She has tons of toys and it's nearly impossible to keep organized! The rest of the basement area is still a work in progress, as well as the baby's room.

Mony & Papa's Visit

We were glad to have Mony and Papa come and visit us again! The last time Papa was here was when we moved in........4 months ago. Allie was definitely excited to see them. Of course she was shy at first but it didn't take her long to unwind. Sunday we just kind of relaxed and ended up heading out to Yellow Springs later that night to visit Young's Jersey Dairy. We couldn't get over how packed it was for a Sunday night!





Monday we were off to get Allie's 2 year pictures taken. I know it's a little late, but I know how much Grandma likes to spend money on pictures!! The little stinker wouldn't smile. She was doing everything she could NOT to smile actually. There were some pretty adorable pictures though! We had planned on going to the fair that night, but changed our minds after we found out they charge $5 just to get in! Growing up in Lafayette, we've never had to pay to get into our fair.......we only have to pay to get into the State Fair, I think. I just really wanted some fair food (elephant ears!!) So instead, we went to one of our fav mexican restaurants here, Acapulco.

Allie went to bed acting sick Monday night and Tuesday it was quite evident that she had a cold. Her nose has been running constantly. Poor baby girl! I had my NST and ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday morning. They called the night before to cancel my ultrasound until next Tuesday, which I was quite upset about. As soon as I got into the doctor's office the nurse and I got into it about a scheduling error that she made and my Mom had to wind up talking for me......I was really mad, and it really showed in my blood pressure! They wound up doing an ultrasound to check my fluids so at least Mom was able to get a peek at the baby. We went back home, picked up Allie and my Dad and went out for lunch. Then just came back and relaxed until it was time for Grandma and Grandpa to head home. Allie was really upset. She wanted to go in Mony's Tar (car). She woke up this morning asking for them! I think she might just like them a little bit!!!

Pregnancy Countdown

We're finally down to about a month to go until my estimated DUE DATE (9/02/08)! I've been really bad about taking pictures of my big belly this time. I finally took one a few days ago.

35 weeks
35 weeks w/ Allie

Our original PLAN was to start trying to have this baby as soon as Derek got back from his deployment. That would have put the baby due in April/May. We decided to hold off because that would have been about the time we would be moving here and we didn't want to take the chance in delaying that any (we were ready to move on)!

MORNING SICKNESS set in pretty quickly for me with this pregnancy. It's hard to say if it was as bad as it was with Allie because this time I had her to take care of on top of being sick. I know I was sick more frequently with Allie, I think with this pregnancy it was more that I was just nauseous all of the time. Around 16 weeks, a friend of mine offered me her leftover Zofran and Phenegran. I had called the nurses telling them how sick I was all of the time and asked them to prescribe me something, but the nurse I talked to told me that they didn't give out any medicine (which I knew wasn't true b/c this friend of mine was given something AND another nurse told me if I ever felt bad to let them know and they would get me something). So, anyway I got the pills from my friend and I actually never got around to taking them because as soon as she gave them to me I started feeling better. Go figure!

I felt the babies first MOVEMENTS around 22 weeks. I was getting worried there for a while because I thought that I had felt Allie kicking and moving around earlier than this. I'm not worried about it now, this little girl moves all of the time. She's going to be a soccer player!

CRAVINGS with this pregnancy have been pretty mild. I didn't have much of an appetite while I was feeling sick. Once I started feeling better I craved pasta, fish and ice cream. My most recent cravings have been pickles and Grandpa's concoction of saltine crackers with butter and melted marshmallow.....yum! Things that made me sick were salad and pizza.

As soon as my belly started growing, which didn't take long, I just knew this baby would be a BOY. So did just about everyone else that saw me and wanted to take a guess. Well, all except for Derek, my Mom and my Grandma. They all still thought it would be a GIRL. I don't really know why I thought it would be a BOY, I guess I just had a feeling and it looked like my belly was showing differently than it did with Allie. But, the ultrasound shows that it's a GIRL and I am thrilled with whatever little blessing I can get!

As far as NAMES go, for a boy we had already had Blake picked out from my previous pregnancy. We thought it might be neat to add in a C name to fill in our alphabetical theme (Allie, Brooke, C...., Derek) so we decided that we liked Carson and Cole. We had a hard enough time picking out a girl name last time and this time around wasn't any easier. We finally narrowed it down to Avery, Caitlyn, Haley, and Hayden. We have our C name in there and then we have H names because I think they sound good with our last name and then there is Avery, which was on our list of names with the last pregnancy. Derek and I cannot agree on a name, which is really why we put the poll up in the first place. Of course, Avery is in the lead (my favorite) but that is Derek's least favorite! I suppose we'll decide at the very last minute. As far as middle names go, it's looking like we'll use either Grace or Elizabeth.

Now for some big news............this baby will DEFINITELY be here on or before August 14th or 15th!!! Yes, that is only 2 weeks away. I'll say it again, ONLY 2 WEEKS AWAY!! I can't believe it's here already. When we got home from our camping trip on Friday I had a message from the doctor and they want to deliver this baby at 37 weeks. Do doctors always flip flop on their decisions like this?! The reasoning, I guess, is because of the complications I've had thus far and my last urine protein test came back a little high. Anyway, so he said they would induce me then and I told him if they plan on inducing me to just go ahead and do a c-section. Then if I happen to go into labor before that then I'll try the VBAC. So, this morning (Tuesday) I had an appointment and I was supposed to schedule the c-section as well. Of course the doctor is on vacation this week and didn't make any note of it in my records so I won't know of the exact date until next Tuesday. The nurse did say it would be on the 14th or 15th though. I really can't take her word for it though because she's already messed so many things up for me thus far.....I'll just let everyone know for sure as soon as I find out!

COSI Columbus

Our next door neighbors just moved to Kirtland AFB in New Mexico and they have 3 cars........so they had to make an extra trip back here to get their 3rd car. They asked us if we could pick them up from the airport on Saturday. We decided to make a day of it and went to COSI Columbus - it's a Science Center. I think we were all still a little tired from camping and we had high expectations from the Magic House in St. Louis. It was neat to go to once, but we've been to better. On top of all of that, one of the first things Derek decides to do is go on the Centripetal Generator (where you stand against a wall and the thing starts spinning and the floor drops from underneath you) and he doesn't really even like rides to begin with. He really surprised me by even wanting to go in it in the first place! But, anyway, after that he didn't feel good for the rest of the day. Of course, the last stop we made was in Kiddie Land, which Allie loved!!!! We should have just went there first and spent the whole afternoon there. It was so fun watching Allie interact with the other children. She's so cautious and safety minded! We were probably in that area for about 45 minutes, but had to leave so we could grab something to eat before heading to the airport. We ate at the Spaghetti Warehouse.........and it was AWESOME! Saturday night my Mom and Dad came in town to visit. They will be here until Tuesday so I will probably have more to post about! When they got here they were starving so we went to City Barbeque and Graeter's Ice Cream. Both were really good, City Barbeque was outstanding!

Camping and (you guessed it) the Lake

Thursday night we headed to Caesar Creek with some friends to do some camping! We really love the outdoors and we needed to get in one more camping trip before the baby comes. The evening went by really quick, which makes you question whether or not it's really all worth it for just one night. It's soooo much work, but it really is worth it (we'll have to do 2 or 3 nights next time though)! Abe and Nicole made tin foil dinners for us and they were yummy! Of course we had S'mores and a late night snack of hot dogs. For breakfast, Derek made scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage links. Through the night there was some WILD animal roaming around our tents. We swear it had to be a wild pig of some kind because it was snorting. I would have figured that we would have some raccoons, but do they snort? I don't know, but whatever it was kept me from leaving the tent through the night to go potty. I was in so much pain!!

Allie & Addie	What cuties!
Adeline was fearless w/ the tube	Good Morning!
Allie & Chloe	Brooke's breakfast, can you guess what it is?

Then we were off to the lake. We were all pretty exhausted, Allie was ready to go though! I really can't get over how much she loves the beach and the water now. Despite the lack of sleep we still had a great time. The girls pretty much spent most of the time on the beach (dodging the goose poo) and the boys were out playing on the boat. Afterwards we were all starving so we stopped at Subway before heading home for our naps!!




After this trip it really seems that we might have to get Allie a dog!!

Answer to the breakfast question: Scrambled Eggs!! It looks disgusting, I know, but it was actually pretty good. I don't like eggs to begin with so I asked Derek to cook them in some bacon grease for me.......so he did!

Caesar's Creek

We went to the lake yesterday.....we're so happy that Allie likes the water now!!




Allie got into Abe's donuts!!

The THRILL of a good bargain

I love garage sales! For one, it is something different for Allie and I to do. Secondly, it gives us the chance to explore new areas. Best of all, we can find great deals on things......especially baby things!! So yesterday Allie and I went to a garage sale and hit the jackpot. Here is what we found:

• Power Wheels Barbie Jeep - $20 (came w/ battery and charger)
• Big Spring Horse - $15
• Mega Blocks - $2
• Beach Chair - $2

All of that retails for well over $300 in the stores. Ever since our trip back to Indiana over the 4th of July weekend, where Allie got to ride and drive Mason's Gator, we've been wanting to get her some sort of a battery operated vehicle. We just didn't want to buy it new and spend an arm and a leg on it. We kept looking and looking on craigslist and we would always find something that was half way decent, but usually didn't come with a battery or charger. We actually just found something similar to the Gator for $50 the other day and we had planned on picking that up today until I found the BARBIE Jeep yesterday!! I really wanted to get something more girly since we're going to have 2 girls and I couldn't pass it up for $20.

I know I mention Craigslist a lot on here. What exactly is Craigslist? Well, it's basically an online garage sale. People post things that they want to sell, listing price and location and you just contact them and let them know you're interested. Then they'll tell you where exactly to pick it up at (usually their home, which I would never do myself). Derek and I were just talking about how addicted we are go to craigslist last night. We'll get on there just to look and find something that seems to be a good deal and we'll get it, even if we don't need it. So, we're going to slow down on that for sure, hopefully ;) Anyway, I thought it would be fun to list some of our awesome finds (I won't list prices b/c I don't remember all of them exactly, but I do know that they are all well under 50% the original cost - the best deal being the jet skis):

• 2 Jet Ski's w/ trailer
• Pool Table
• Bike Trailer for Kids to ride in
• My First LeapPad Leapster w/ 3 books
• Carpet to cover our ENTIRE basement
• Stationary Bike
• Tons of Computer things (FREE)
• 2 Trikes
• 2 Sheds (FREE)
• Double Stroller
• Jogging Stroller
• Toddler Bed
• Little People (Farm, House, Garage, 2 Circus Sets, Noah's Ark, School Bus, tons of people, animals and cars)
• Art Easel/Chalkboard
• Art Desk
• Car Top Luggage Carrier

I'm sure there is a lot more, but those are the ones I could think of off the top of my head! So, we also go on trash walks.........doesn't sound appealing, I know. I don't like to do it, but Derek really loves it. He'll go out at night (trash night) and see what people has out for their trash and if there is something he likes, he'll take it. Here's a list of some things we've got from doing this:

• 3 Kids Bikes
• Furniture for our porch
• Kids Folding Chairs
• Christmas Tree

That's all I can think of there. We also do a lot of shopping at thrift stores......call us cheap, but we like to call it THRIFTY!!!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!

So, we went to the hospital today to have my fluids checked......they are up, which was great news. This means I'll probably be able to go full term now......well, the doctor said there is no way they would let me go past my due date and that there's a good chance they'd induce me around 39 weeks just because of the blood pressure and all. While we were there I was hooked up to the NST monitor and we were all listening to the baby's heartbeat. Out of nowhere Allie says "Baby Sister!" Derek and I just looked at each other and laughed. We've been trying to get her to tell us if she was going to have a brother or a sister for a while now and she would usually just say "brother or sister" repeating what we asked her. Not this time! We figured if anyone would know it would be Allie. Her saying that was official enough for us right there, but the doctor went ahead and made it doubly official by telling us it was a girl as well. We're so excited and we know that Allie and her little sister will be the best of friends. We're really looking forward to watching them grow up together and see them interact. So, anyway, if you haven't voted for a girl name yet.......VOTE, please!!