2 Year Check-Up

Allie finally went for her two year check-up on Thursday. It was delayed b/c of the cold she had. I felt like the appointment went really well. She weighed 29.7 lbs. and is in the 89th percentile. She is 35 in. tall and is in the 76th percentile. So, she is a little heavier than she is tall, but he isn't worried. She only had one shot and she didn't even cry! I was shocked. Her lips quivered but no tears. I think if she would of had another shot we would of had tears for sure! She cried and threw a fit when we had to take her shoes off to be weighed and measured. What a girl! For some reason she is obsessed with shoes. She always wants to have them on or for us to have our shoes on. At Carmen's they have to keep all of the shoes outside in a basket b/c she likes to take everyone their shoes. Her doctor thinks she is doing great. He expressed a concern with her speech development b/c she refuses to talk to him. When he asked me if I was concerned I just laughed. I assured him that she talks mostly in complete sentences, a lot of 3 word phrases, sings, and already tries to read familiar books. She is just so shy when she doesn't know you. My family (besides my parents) never thought she talked until Easter. So, hopefully he believes me and won't ask again.
I feel like every day she is learning something new or saying something new. All day today she has told us "No, it's mine." "Mine, mine, mine". Which, yes she has told us this before, but now she points her finger at us or tries to hit us. Oh the joys of turning 2!

A Birthday Party and a Cold

Well, my poor Allie came down with a cold and fever early Friday morning. What rotten luck! It was a low grade fever, but by the time she went to bed it was at 102! I decided Friday night that we would just move her party to Sunday afternoon because I didn't want her to get everyone else sick. It was a very easy adjustment b/c this party was just family. She usually kicks a fever within a day so I was sure that by Sunday she would be fine. When she woke up Saturday, she had no fever. Jarod and I finished things around the house and I continued to check her temperature all day and her temp was never even normal. She acted like she felt good so I knew that Sunday would not be a problem. My parents came over Saturday night to bring over her b-day present. They got her a sandbox. We also gave her our present (an outdoor climber). She loved being outside and playing. Sunday we got up and went to church. She was a little crabby and we put her down for an early nap. She looked kind of puny, but I didn't take her temp. By 4:00 her party started and she was very excited to see her family especially her cousins Greer and Karlie. They played together and everyone had a good time, but I suspected that she was running a fever again. She just didn't look like she felt all that well. After the party we went and ate at On the Border. Yum-O!!! We got home kind of late, got her ready for bed and sure enough she had a fever! I was shocked. I couldn't believe she didn't run one for an entire day and 1/2 and now all of a sudden it's back. So long story short she finally went to the doctor today and she has an ear infection, possible throat infection (whatever that means), and a cold. Poor baby. She would not nap at Carmen's and cried today every time she coughed because it hurt her throat. I got her those suckers for kids to help soothe her throat and she absolutely loved it! Hopefully she is on the road to recovery. Sorry for all of the pictures. We never got a good one of just her with us. Oh well, maybe next year.
If you couldn't tell by the first picture, Allie's theme for her party was farm animals. She absolutely loves animals! Carmen who takes wonderful care of my child, also made this adorable and yummy cake in the shape of a cow!

I made the piggy cupcakes. They were so easy to make and I made them especially for Allie b/c they weren't made with eggs. When it was time for her to eat her cake all she wanted was the marshmallows! Oh and I can't take all of the credit for the cupcakes, I got the idea from the Internet.

Smiling after eating M&M's.

Pouting after I wouldn't give her any more M&M's!

She just finished blowing out her candle!

Her new climber for outside! She loves it. Unfortunately she hasn't been able to enjoy it since she has been sick.

Tonight with her grape sucker before going to bed. She looks like a big girl.

Her newest phrases since turning two: "No, it's my turn" and "____ what are you doing?" and she will keep repeating the last one over and over again until you answer her.

Happy Birthday Allie

Wow! I can't believe that Allie is two years old. I have to say that I have been a little weepy about it lately. There is just something about your child turning two. It's hard to explain. Allie is a constant joy in our lives. She continuously amazes us everyday with new things she has learned or new things she has to say. I am amazed how verbal she has become within the last couple of months. She is very observant and inquisitive of her surroundings. Her newest trick is asking for one parent when the other is getting on to her. Man she learned that fast. She is very dramatic and has "fake crying" down pat. She likes to ask us what things are and takes our answer and puts it into her own sentence. She thinks she is a "big girl" and wants to do everything on her own, but if she needs help she is not afraid to ask for it. She gives the best hugs and kisses and is the funniest kid I know. Jarod and I are truly blessed to have her for a daughter. Words can't express the love and joy she brings us daily. We look forward to the next phase of her life and I'm sure she will be turning 3 before we know it!

Things she likes to do at 2: play outside (pitches big fits when we leave the park or Carmen's house), sing any song she has ever been taught and occasionally tells me not to sing with her, dance parties in the kitchen, playing with her baby dolls, playing with her cars, and helping Carmen take care of the babies.

She has her two year check up next week and her birthday party is Saturday afternoon with my family.

At the bottom of the post are pictures of Allie when she first born. It was such an exciting time for us. I was very lucky to have such an easy pregnancy, labor and delivery. If you ever need to hear a "good" story just ask me.

Allie eating her birthday cupcake today at Carmen's. She definitely knows what cake is now!

Allie helping decorate cupcakes.

Yum-O!

First family picture taken at our house. I can't believe how tiny she is.

This picture was taken the day after she was born. She still sleeps with that hippo, but prefers Care Bear.

What a sweetie! I'm amazed how she looks nothing like this now. When she was born she had darker skin than she does now and she had brown hair. The blanket that is wrapped around her was my baby blanket and it is her favorite blanket now!

Texas Bluebonnets

I absolutely love Texas Bluebonnets! I remember when I moved to Texas (I was 14), I fell in love them. It's so pretty to see them on the side of the road when you are driving. I never had my picture taken in them, but I remember seeing families having their pictures taken in them. I decided a long time ago that if I lived in Texas I would take my children to have their pictures taken in the bluebonnets. Last year we found a great place so we decided to go to the same place this year. Well this time there wasn't any there! So we had to go to Plan B. When I went to Kroger the other day, I saw some on the side of the road. It wasn't the most ideal place to take pictures, but there was enough for us to get some good shots. We got several sweet pictures of Allie but I decided not to bore everyone with all of them. Here are just a few of them.

Yes, all you Texans, she is holding one! (I say that b/c at one point you weren't allowed to pick them b/c they are the state flower, not sure if that is still true or not) We had a hard time getting her not to pick them. She is used to picking dandelions and thought it was okay.

Love this close up! She just looks like a sweet little girl! I can't believe she will be two in 11 days! She has changed so much in a year. This time last year she barely had any hair and the hair she had stuck straight up like a feather!

Strawberry Cake and a Diet Coke

Most of you know that my sweet Allie girl is allergic to eggs and peanuts. We discovered this last year right before her birthday. Needless to say it has been quite the challenge and we are hopeful that she will out grow it. My little sweetie has only had cake one time and that was for her b-day and Benedryl helped washed it down. I've never really looked into finding other ways to make a cake without eggs b/c we try not to keep sweets in the house. Well, with her b-day coming up, I decided that I needed to find something that she will be able to eat.
A couple of co-workers of mine told me a weight watchers recipe for cakes without eggs. All you do is take any cake mix and any diet drink, mix them together and follow directions on the box for cooking time.
Last night I tried out my little experiment. I used a strawberry cake mix and put one can of Sprite Zero (I cooked mine at 350 for 20 min). It came out looking like a normal cake and it tasted so good! For the topping I used fat free cool whip since I'm trying to follow weight watchers. Maybe some of you already knew about this, but I thought it was too good not to share. What a healthier way to make a cake and tastes just as yummy. Allie has yet to tried any b/c last night she was already in bed and tonight she wouldn't eat her dinner so I didn't feel right giving her cake. Hopefully she will get to indulge tomorrow!
Now I can't wait to make her pig cupcakes (farm animal theme) for her birthday.

Happy Meal

I decided that Allie and I needed a much deserved "girl time" tonight. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her during Spring Break and she hasn't wanted much to do with me until a few days ago. With Jarod being out of town I thought it would be fun for us to go eat at McDonalds. I've never taken her there (we don't eat fast food often) and I thought it would be fun for her to have her first Happy Meal and then play.

There was lots of drama there tonight with kids crying and fighting. Allie and I got situated at our table in the play area. She was very excited about her food, the other children and of course the play area. She was so excited that after one nugget, some milk and a few apples she wanted nothing more to do with her food and was ready to play. From now on, I think I will eat outside of the play area then go play after she eats. She had a great time (not that she could do much) and I'm glad that we got to do that together even if she didn't want to eat with me.

Of course when we got home she said "Mommy, I want to eat, I want to eat". So I get her the rest of her dinner then it is time to head upstairs for her bath. I make sure that I have everything I need so I don't have to go back down the stairs (takes me way too long). She gets her bath, we get in her room and I realize that I forgot her cream for her eczema that I had just gotten at CVS downstairs. Ahhh! So I tell her that I'm going to close her door and that I will be right back. She understands but when I go to close her door she has this look on her face like "I'm sorry" and she pees on the floor. I had forgotten to take her to the potty after her bath. She refuses to go before her bath. So I grab an old burp rag and go to clean up, forgetting that I just had knee surgery 2 weeks ago, I squat down. Immediately I collapse to the floor, I have pain running up my knee and I almost have tears in my eyes. Sweet Allie comes over to me, bends down, puts her hand on my shoulder and says "Mommy, you okay?" "Yes, Allie, mommy is okay." Allie, "Mommy hurt knee?" "Yes Allie, mommy hurt her knee." Then she just leans over and kisses me. It just melted my heart. That was all the girl moment I needed!

Easter

We had a great Easter and we hope everyone else did as well. We started the morning off at my parent's church in Arlington. They had a huge Easter egg hunt. There was a contest amongst the adults classes to see who could donate the most eggs. Well they really went above and beyond. They had over 12,000 eggs! I couldn't believe it. They only hid 3,000 for ages preschool to 3rd grade. Needless to say there were plenty of eggs to go around for all. Allie's basket was very full. She loved finding the eggs. Most of the pictures I got of her were from the back or the side or she is looking down. She was a girl on a mission. For lunch we headed to my Granny's in Dallas and had another egg hunt. She loved that one too! She liked it so much she started taking her eggs out of her basket so Poppy (my dad) could hide them again. Crazy girl! I don't think she realized there was candy in them until we got home.





This is Allie taking her eggs out and if you look closely you can see my dad in the background hiding her eggs for a 2nd time!

Love this picture! She was determined to get all of the eggs in the bushes instead of the eggs by her feet.

I know she isn't looking in this picture but I wanted to show how full her basket was and we kept adding to it. I also didn't realize I had bent down that low. Not bad for a girl who had knee surgery 10 days earlier.

The one picture of her looking at the camera!

Mimi, Allie and Poppy