We're stuck in Kansas...

So we went fishing. Our flight from Kansas City to Atlanta was delayed, so we were going to miss our connecting flight to Virginia. It was a long, stressful afternoon on the phone with Delta trying figure out how to get home. Thankfully my dad was able to get through to someone helpful and got us on a flight tomorrow, that hopefully will actually make it home. After the stress and tears were over, we headed out to my dad's lake for a little fishing.

Dad tried to catch a fish from this stump and decided to make it a little more challenging for himself.

It was an absolutely perfect evening and nothing could have been better to lift my spirits...well, the Culver's butterburger and oreo/peanut butter ice cream helped too.

Alison did awesome. We figured she would last all of 2 minutes, but she sure did prove us wrong. This child has no fear when she's around water, which is good and bad. She had a blast climbing all over the boat and splashing in the water.
I was determined to catch a fish so Alison could actually see one. After 2 jumped off our lines, we were excited to finally get one in the boat.

Alison wasn't too sure about the fish, especially after she touched it. But she did a great job calling the fish for us. It was pretty cute hearing her say, "Here fishy, fishy!".

My little helper

We're still in Kansas and enjoying time with Grandpa now that he's home. I love how Grandpa can make anything fun! Alison was begging to help wash dishes tonight and put laundry in. Notice how Alison has only one pigtail in the picture... her hair has been pretty crazy this week.


Alison has also added cuddle time in with her bedtime routine. It's her new thing and it's pretty funny. As soon as a towel is wrapped around her after her bath, she asks to be picked up and will hug and squeeze for as long as you'll let her. Well, Grandpa gives the baths around here so he got a good dose of cuddles the past few days. He tried to share them with Grandma, but it was a little challenging with her tummy recovering.

Popsicles!

Alison and I are in Kansas right now helping my mom out after her surgery. Someone brought my mom a huge box of popsicles, but my mom doesn't really like them. So Alison and I took it upon ourselves to help clean up the things my mom didn't want (so far that's included pudding, jello and popsicles). Alison is a great helper! She's so good that the past 2 mornings she's asked for jello for breakfast. I admit I did give in and let her have it...after some eggs and fruit.

Playing the flute

Ben's been working on writing some new songs and wrote a small flute part for one of them. So this afternoon I broke out one of my old flutes and fumbled through the few lines. Alison was pretty intrigued by the flute and before I new it she was marching around the house humming into this pen, pretending it was her flute.

A quick stretch

This afternoon Ben was getting ready to go to the Y and Alison started stretching with him. She actually did pretty good. Alison also currently has a little virus. She's pretty much lost her voice and has been running a fever. She acts like nothing's wrong until it's bedtime, then can't sleep. Thankfully, Aunt Beth came to the rescue and told us a little remedy that worked wonders last night. Alison also got her fist real haircut yesterday. I debated taking her somewhere to get it cut, but I couldn't stand it any longer and did it myself last night. I thought it was actually a lot of fun and turned out pretty good.

Kitty treats

Alison loves giving the cats treats. As you can see, Smoochie usually snatches them up before Milo has a chance. Alison has also picked up on the cats feelings about her. Milo isn't mean to her, he just doesn't really care for her. On the other hand, Smoochie is her best friend and lets her do whatever she wants to him. I thought it was funny today when Alison blew a kiss to Milo but layed on top of Smoochie to smother him in love.

Not my baby girl anymore

Ben's last "project" for Alison's room

Since this blog is mainly about Alison, I find it only fitting to a moment to brag on my little peanut. It amazes me how much can change in the life of a child in a matter of days. We started the week saying good-bye to the crib, the next day Alison said adios to her booster seat at the dinner table and Wednesday we said bye-bye to the last diaper. By today, Alison peed on the potty 7 times and pooped! This may not be blog appropriate, but I'm documenting milestones in her life. 2yrs and 1 week...potty trained. There are so many different opinions out there on potty training I somewhat hesitate to publicize her accomplishments. However, I realized this week something that has taken 2 years to sink in-it's all about knowing MY child. I can read and listen to thousands of pieces of information and advice, but it all comes down to what I know about my daughter. I knew Alison was ready, but I wasn't. Last week we were at the store standing in the diaper aisle and I had out all my coupons trying to find the best deal and it hit me-I am so done with diapers! She handled switching to big bed so well I realized that I just needed to take the plunge and teach her how to pee on the potty. Wednesday morning we said bye-bye diapers and she had 3 accidents and no success. We talked about how we don't pee on Elmo or the kitchen chairs (that seemed to be a favorite) and by Thursday it clicked. I've been putting a diaper (I bought a different kind and convinced her they were bedtime panties) on her during nap time, bed time and when we go to the Y, but she has kept them all dry. I don't know when to say she's officially potty trained, but I think she's done an amazing job and learned the whole thing very quickly. It does make me a little sad that she's no longer my baby, but I'm so proud of her.

This evening we were working on somersaults. Oh, I hope this video makes others laugh as hard as I was. Just looking at Alison's outfit is enough to make me burst into laughter. I admit she's not been very clothed the last few days since her clothes are off and on so much, but the shoes-she added those herself.

Princess

Ben made (painted and finished) Alison a princess stool and dress up box to accommodate all of her new dress up clothes. It's exactly what we needed in her room and they turned out great.
Alison also got several new bath things for her birthday. Among them were finger paints and water dye. However, Alison has found that it's more fun to paint mommy and daddy's face rather than the bathtub. I can't say that I blame her. I got a good laugh out of it too!
Yesterday, my friend Carolyn and I took Alison to the Children's Museum. I watched a Jon and Kate Plus 8 episode awhile ago where Kate took the kids to a Children's Museum and it looked really cool. When I checked this museum out online it said it had some of the same attractions as the one featured on the show. However, they failed to mention that this particular museum was hugely run down. I was pretty dissappointed in it, but Alison still had fun.
In the pretend grocery store
Pretending to be a kitty. Alison didn't get it, but it was funny to us.In the train...Alison was more interested in the stairs.
Driving the bus!
In a bubble! Alison was terrified.

Beaver Lake

We had an awesome trip to Beaver Lake this summer. First we went to Kansas and got to spend some time with friends and family. I always enjoy going back to Lawrence...especially when it involves First Watch.
Alison LOVED the water and as I predicted we had a hard time keeping her out of it. The biggest blessing of the trip came at night. Alison slept awesome on the trip, in fact it was the first time she's ever slept well on a trip.
Alison and baby Kate had a great time playing together. One evening Ben and I helped them jump on Grandma and Grandpa's airbed and they thought it was the best thing ever.
Alison went tubing for the first time. She wasn't too sure about the experience, but she did really well.
We spent a lot of time swimming, skiing, eating really good food and relaxing with family. I actually got a whole book read and took some really good naps.
Pictures from the trip on are the slideshow and there's some video clips below.

2 year check up

Alison had her check up this morning. She's healthy and right on track. She's now 27 lbs and 34" tall. It always surprises me when they tell me her head's in the 90th percentile...she doesn't seem to have a big head to me. Alison surprised me again this morning by sitting really still while the doctor poked and prodded and then didn't cry when they had to draw some blood. She did great and I'm so thankful for a healthy little girl.

Big girl bed!

I should be blogging about our trip to Beaver Lake, but we have so many pictures and videos to go through I know it's going to take awhile and I couldn't wait to show these pictures.
We've been talking up big girl beds for awhile and decided to take the plunge today. When we bought Alison's crib we were under the assumption that it was a bed that converts to a toddler bed, but found out today that it really only turns into a day bed.Ben put a lot of work into changing the crib, but we quickly agreed that Alison would most likely roll onto the floor if we left it like this. We checked out bed rails but found that the smallest one would only leave Alison 3 inches to get through to get into bed...essentially it would still be a crib. So, we quickly jumped into plan B since bed time was approaching. The Boomer's gave us a toddler bed before Alison was even born when they were moving here and we've kept it in the garage ever since. Boy am I thankful we did! Thankfully she wasn't too confused when we told her two different beds were her new big girl bed. But now her room looks even more ginormous with this little tiny bed in it.She went to bed beautifully and I haven't heard a peep since. It's so nice to be able to just tell her to get into bed.
These are just a couple of pictures from yesterday.Playing dress up
In her new shirt from Andrea and Jesse. I thought she looked so cute!

Happy Birthday Alison!

I can't believe my peanut is 2! I never believed people when they told me time would fly by and to enjoy every moment. Now I know what they were trying to tell me. I've loved every moment of Alison's life (well, maybe not teething) and can't wait to see what's to come.
Grandma and Grandpa gave Alison some gifts before we left Kansas on Thursday. Alison was excited to try on her new princess shoes.Truthfully, we were all pretty grumpy on Alison's birthday. We didn't get home until 1am Friday from Kansas and for some unknown reason Alison still woke up at 7:15. She happily took 2 naps and opening presents throughout the day helped lift her spirits. I had planned on having the house decorated and a yummy breakfast waiting for when she woke up, but that for sure did not happen. Daddy came to the rescue and went and some Ringo's donuts and even surprised us with some lunch too. Alison had lots of packages waiting for her from Poppy, Mimi, all the aunts, Nana, Granddad, Andrea and Jesse.Alison sporting her new dress Nana made for her on the Like A Bike
I think I like Alison's birthday better than my own. It was really fun to watch her tear open the presents and the huge smile on her face was priceless. And, she's played better than she ever has the past 2 days. So thank you to all who contributed to Alison's entertainment!Last night we had Daddy's special pizza and ice cream to celebrate. Alison did pretty good blowing out the candles, but wouldn't eat the ice cream. This morning we had a little party with the Boomer's and Emerson's.Getting "pretty toes" for the partyWe decided today that we're going to stick to small parties for awhile. I forgot how much kids love presents and with sugar in them, it got a little crazy when gift time came. I was so thankful they were able to come though and I know Alison enjoyed seeing her friends.
Andrea sent us a video of Jesse saying 'Happy Birthday' to Alison and then put a little clip of the two kids taking a bath together when they were about 6 months old. It was so fun to look back on Alison's life and remember some really sweet times.

Happy Birthday Alison! I hope the next 2 years are a great as these 2 have been. I love you so much!