Hiking Through Life With The Allens

My Bouncin Girl

2012-02-15T11:49:00.002-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day You All!!!

2012-02-14T10:19:00.004-08:00

I absolutely LOVE Valentine's day! Growing up my mom always had a special breakfast on valentine's day and a gift on the table when we would wake up in the morning. To me Valentine's Day hasnt always been about having a beau to spend it with but it truly is a day to love and appreciate those around you. I always enjoyed giving out candy and flowers to friends at school growing up and making special gifts for my gal pals in college. In the past 5 years I have had the most wonderful man to spend Valentine's day with!! And now even better I get to also shower my two little bugs with Valentine's as well! Today Jack had a little party with all of the kids in our church playgroup. We had a blast exchanging valentine cards and goodies and decorating heart shaped cookies. Here are a few pictures from our day...

Not only did Jack get some goodies for Valentine's but so did mommy!! I have worn down my barefoot shoes so much that I needed a new pair and the hubs got me a new pair, YAY!! Thanks babe, my feet thank you!!! Love you!

Birthday Parties and Baptism

2012-02-13T04:37:00.000-08:00

We had a GREAT weekend with everyone in town celebrating Jack's birthday at Sea World and celebrating sweet Lucy's baptism. Here are some pics to sum up our time this weekend...

Jack's birthday breakfast (with his firetruck birthday hat)

Jack's "Lady of the Sea" girlfriend

Lucy girl in her birthday onesie and tutu

Eating lunch at sea world, only way I could get him away from his food for a pic was to ask him how big he was :)

Firetruck birthday cake

Lucy's Baptism

5 months baby!!

2012-02-10T05:49:00.000-08:00

Thats right sweet girl, you're 5 months old! That means in several weeks from now you will be six months which equals HALF A YEAR OLD! Oh my goodness where did all of that time go?? Check out this picture, this is a perfect representation of little Lucy goosey! All smiles, all the time.
Now, Ill be honest, the first 3 months I wasn't so sure I could ever call her a "happy baby." But now that we have some stomach issues resolved she is a smiley precious happy joy ALL THE TIME! Even when its time for her to go down I just lay her in her crib, she squeals for a few minutes and then quietly falls asleep.

At five months baby girl you are:
-rolling over and sometimes get stuck on your back and can't figure out how to get back on your tummy
- blowing bubbles, squealing, laughing, and smiling non-stop!
- you smile the biggest when your big brother squeals back at you (and its especially cute watching the two of you laugh at each other through the rear view mirror in the car)
- You already have 2 TEETH!
- You enjoy grabbing your feet or playing with any toy within reach (I especially enjoy when Im laying on the floor with you and you enjoy playing with my face)
- You are an excellent sleeper, taking 3 naps/day and sleeping 12 hours at night (however since you are already getting teeth sometimes you still wake at night uncomfortable from the pain)
- you have the SOFTEST prettiest skin and I love blowing raspberries on your tummy
- You have your daddy's long features but your mommy's little turned up nose and big brown eyes (so most people thing you look like mommy)
- Your daddy is absolutely WILD about you and cherishes his cuddle times with you

Thanks for being in our lives for the past 5 months, you are a joy and are treasured!

2 Years ALREADY???!!!

2012-02-05T11:13:00.001-08:00

In about 20 minutes from now Jack will officially be 2 years old, WOW!!!!

The other night we had some friends over for an impromptu celebration and watching Jack blow out the candle on his brownie cake was a mind blowing experience. I stood there looking at that sweet precious boy and it hit me that hes no longer a baby. He's a boy, a two year old, hilariously goofy, strong willed, sensitive, oh so funny little imp :).

Jack, at 2 years old here are some of my favorite things about you and things you love...

you LOVE giving hugs and blowing kisses to anyone you meet, even strangers, you just have a magnetic way about you when we are in public, people are instantly attracted to you!

You LOVE counting to 10 and saying your ABCs

You love reading books, especially if you can sit it mommy or daddy's lap

You love talking about Noah, Ben, Choo Choos, Thomas the Tank Engine, Shamu, Elmo, Lulu (Lucy), Mama/Dada, Mimi/Papa, Grandma/Grandpa (those are pretty much your favorite things)

You are learning about punishment and consequences when you do things to hurt others or disobey mommy and daddy and you love saying sorry and reconciling afterwards with those you love

You really enjoy watching daddy cook at the stove (emphasis on "Daddy")

You enjoy climbing, running, wrestling, dancing, spinning, doing somersaults, and all things rough and tough boy

You LOVE LOVE LOVE your "kiki" (blanket) and having your special sippy cup filled with water at all times

Your crib is filled with some of your favorite things (your blanket, sippy cup, shamu, elmo, fuzzy blanket from Grandma and your stuffed otter) and you love making sure everyone is accounted for when you nap or go to bed at night

You sleep at least 12 hours at night and still take at least a 2 hr nap in the afternoon

When you wake in the morning the first thing you want is a "Nana" (banana)

You have an incredible memory and will recall any number events even if they have happened several days ago.

You LOVE making people laugh and will do whatever it takes to be super silly

And one of my all time favorite things about you is that you want to know where all your people are! If we go somewhere you want to know if Lucy and Daddy will be there and are always very conscientious about where the most special people in your life are at all times.

I love you so much sweet boy. You have taught me so much about how to love and how to be less selfish. You have taught me to be silly and laugh even more than I already do. We have shared some tears over boo boos, and disobedience. But we have shared many many more hugs and kisses than I could even count. Your mommy, daddy and LuLu love you SO MUCH! Happy Birthday!!

The Parking Garage at Winnie/Arnold Palmer Hospital

2012-01-30T11:00:00.001-08:00

This post is dedicated to two of my best friends: Jessie Salzman and Mary Kathryn Merrifield who are two incredibly STRONG women, courageous, hilarious friends, rock star mommies and great shoulders to cry on! I love you both!!

You can usually tell a lot just by watching the way people stroll in and out of the Winnie/Arnold Palmer Hospital parking garage. People rushing their children into the ER, going to visit a newborn baby, a mother up early in the morning going in for her pre-op c-section testing, a couple leaving the hospital with their newborn baby, parents getting in the car with their child after the ups and downs of an unknown virus causing them to spend the week in the hospital, a dad shouting on the phone "its a freeking miracle man!" as he describes how he feels about being a new father. In the past 2 weeks I have witnessed all of these situations and emotions. Im exhausted, Im excited, Im so thankful! Two of my best friend's have been in the hospital for two very different reasons in the past few weeks and Im finally less scatterbrained enough to be able to blog about it...

Little Noah: (Jessie's son)
2 weeks ago our sweet little friend Noah (who is a few months younger than Jack) started getting a cold. The cold turned into a very high fever, the fever turned into sores down his throat and after that turned into one of the scariest things a parent could experience: their child having seizures. Noah was placed in the hospital for almost a week as the doctors tried to figure out why he was having seizures. They did test after test to rule out certain viruses and thankfully ruled out the big ones such as Meningitis. The doctors agreed that it was probably Hand/Foot and Mouth but were still unsure why the virus was causing seizures. Thankfully after several days his medicine started working, the seizures stopped, and after almost a week he was able to go home to the hospital. I had several opportunities of talking with Jessie, (Noah's mom) who is one of my best friends, during her stay at the hospital. She was scared, no not scared, terrified, for her sweet son. "Would he ever be able to play outside again, will he enjoy looking up at the sky and seeing airplanes, will he play at the park?" All fearful questions that went over and over again in her mind. I cried, I cried a lot, Derrick and I both cried. When you have a close friend who has a child your age you go through the ups and downs with them. You pray for them, you weep with them and you try to be strong for them. I am SO thankful and delighted to report that the MRI showed no signs of brain damage from the seizures. Little Noah is seizure free, laughing, smiling, playing outside, looking up at airplanes, and doing all of the things that little Noah does best! So thankful for him! Glad they got to walk through the parking deck with their sweet son and take him home with exhausted smiles on their faces!

Christopher Robin: (Mary Kathryn's son)

A sweet little 6 lbs 6 oz bundle of JOY! Oh my gosh what a joy! Nothing makes me happier as a mom than getting to share in the joy of welcoming a new baby into the world. One of my besties, MK, had little Christopher Robin at 36 1/2 weeks. Hes a tiny one, but so so healthy! She gave birth to big brother Ben when he was 32 weeks so we were full of joy when she was able to make it to 36 1/2 weeks with CR. She has high blood pressure during her pregnancies and was so glad that CR was almost full term. Friday her blood pressure sky rocketed and so she headed to the hospital. After waiting awhile to get some test results back her doctor decided it would be best to go ahead and do the c-section. He was born at 3:30am Saturday morning. I had the wonderful pleasure of staying with baby Ben at their house while Chris and MK were in the hospital and I even got to bring him to the hospital for the first time to see his new baby brother. That was SO much fun!! I remember when Jack came to see me in the hospital, it was such a special visit. Now I think my 2 little babies are the cutest ever, but Ill tell you what, that CR is definitely 3rd on my list for cutest baby EVER! Gotta love how perfectly round those c-section babies heads/faces are! CR, we can't wait for you to come home and play with all the crazy boys. We can't wait to see you toddling behind the big three (Jack, Noah and Ben) and trying to catch up with them! Don't worry, Lucy won't be too far ahead :). We love you sweet boy, thanks for joining us a little early! I couldn't stop smiling when I was walking to the parking lot of the hospital after seeing him for the first time, so special!

Many trips to the hospital parking lot in the past few weeks! Every time I walked to my car I was reminded of God's many many blessings and his faithfulness!

Little House on the Prairie, err I mean Maitland

2012-01-23T05:39:00.000-08:00

Derrick and I haven't really set any sort of New Years resolution but lately we have been very much into preserving, canning, and making all sorts of homemade yummies! Derrick, the chef, brewmaster and master canner of the family always has some great ideas of how we can be healthy and economical with our food and drink choices. So what do i do around the house if Im not the cook? PLENTY, hey, Ive got 2 kids under the age of 2, give me a break!! God completely blessed me with a husband who loves to cook, in fact his idea of decompressing is to cook after work, LOVE IT!

Derrick has a passion for cooking and also for brewing beer. He recently made a Belgian Farmhouse Saison and we are getting to make a Rye IPA and an English Bitter, YUM! It is so economical to brew your own beer, cutting the price almost in half(and its good beer, not crappy American MASS PRODUCED (because America does have some great craft brews) beer made with yucky adjuncts). We really enjoy having a good beer to pair with our dinner, thats right, beer pairs well with food and I think it does so even more than wine does! (we are not wine people around this house)

In the cooking department recently we have made great use of our newest gadget, our pressure cooker! We have probably made 70% of our dinners since Christmas in our pressure cooker; things like Roasted Chicken, Boston Butt (for pulled pork sandwiches or Carnitas), roast, and many other types of meats. One of our favorite ways to use the pressure cooker is for canning! Not all canning has to be done in a pressure cooker, depending on the type of food you are canning. Recently we have made: Spicy red pepper pickled okra, roasted red peppers, kumquat preserves, strawberry lemon preserves and apple butter (my fav!). We also found a neat way of displaying our canned goods by getting some shelves at Ikea and putting them up in our kitchen, I love being able to see the beautiful canned goods (and we also have a shelf displaying all of our neat beer glasses that we have collected throughout the years).

We also recently discovered the ease of making your own yogurt (Greek yogurt that is) and to top the yogurt we made homemade granola with Barley/Rye organic oats (from Trader Joes, LOVE Trader joes!). So we are having a blast coming up with ways to make healthy and economical alternatives to the foods we like to buy at the store, especially with the fruits and vegetables that are in season (its not too economical if you are trying to buy out of season things to can). Here is a pic of our yogurt and granola breakfast, YUMMO! I am going to try to post more entries and pictures on this blog of what we are making, so enjoy and feel free to post questions if you are interested in doing the same!

Southern girl wearin her pearls

2012-01-20T09:16:00.000-08:00

Vintage Christening Gown and Shoes

2012-01-09T10:04:00.001-08:00

My little Lucy is going to be baptized in several weeks, such a special time! Before she was born my mom gave me the gown that my grandmother had all 5 of her boys (including my dad) dedicated in. She also gave me the adorable little shoes that she wore when she was baptized as a baby. TO...DIE...FOR...!!! Here is my adorable little Lucy in her baptism gown, so edible!

My 4 month old bundle of laughter

2012-01-08T11:41:00.001-08:00

At 4 months Lucy smiles and giggles ALL THE TIME! We call her Goosey because it rhymes with Lucy and it is even more appropriate now because she makes this hilarious honking and growling noise when shes trying to "talk." Lucy loves her mommy and daddy's faces and especially giggles and laughs when big brother Jack talks to her. She enjoys playing and chewing on her rattles and toys and is spending much time these days examining her hands and feet. She has become such a laid back baby and enjoys watching the goings on in the house from her little perch upon the kitchen table in her Bumbo seat. When in a reclining position she tries to sit up, ALL THE TIME and shes working on rolling from her back to her tummy. She especially enjoys putting weight on her feet when we hold her arms and "standing up." Her happiest time is right after she wakes up. When I go to get her from her crib, at first sight she offers up a huge smile! What a smiling ball of joy she is for us!

Hike through life with us...

2012-01-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

(Econ Trail: photo courtesy of Outdoor Travels.com)

Out with the old, in with the new...

The old title of our blog was "Biking through life with the Allens." When Derrick and I were first married we bought bikes and pretty much went everywhere on our bikes. Now, two children later, the bikes are a little rusty on our back porch and we don't have bike seats for the kiddos yet. HOWEVER, we will always find ways of being in the outdoors, even without working bicycles. We love spending time outdoors, especially with our kids, and feel that it is important to experience God's creation first hand outdoors as often as possible! So, we hike, instead of bike. In fact we went on our first hike as a family of 4 the other day out to our favorite spot in Oviedo (Little Big Econ State Park). We hiked out just as the sun was setting over the river, had a nice dinner picnic and then hiked back before it got too dark outside. I love my family of four, I love hiking and I want to tell you all about our journeys together. So hike with us and keep reading about our adventures :)

ABCs, 123s and my very own Romeo

2012-01-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

So this is how my 22 month old says his abc's and counts to ten...

A, C, E, F (he says that one very enthusiastically), Grr (thats "G), H, K,L, emme, enne, (M and N), O, S, U, Wubbubu (W), Y, Z! Then claps his hands and says YAY!

Then he proceeds to try to count to ten: He always starts with 10 for some reason, and then goes back to 1 so this is how Jack counts to ten: 10, 1, 2, 4,5, 6, "sheshon" (7, my absolute favorite number to hear him say!, 9, 10, and then he claps his hands again and says YAY! (hes all about congratulating himself:)

Okay so hes missing a few letters and numbers but its the cutest thing Ive ever heard! Sometimes in the morning when he wakes up we put him in bed with us and we all three rest together until he won't stand to stay in bed anymore, the other morning it was completely silent in bed while we all laid there and then all of a sudden he started going through all of his letters and numbers 1-10. Just talking to himself, trying to entertain himself while mommy and daddy tried to get a few more minutes of shut eye. I was laughing inside so hard because I didnt want him to know I was awake and disrupt the oh so cuteness that I was hearing.

He will also now respond to the questions "What is your name" and "How old are you?" he will say "Ack Allen" (but the ll's sound like Y's which is pretty cute) and he will say "2" when asked how old he is.

Jack has become such a little charmer lately! He has always completely captivated people's attention when we are out in public, he has this incredible way about him. But now, add to that his cute little wrist wave, his "hi, hi, hi" and the fact that he will then blow everyone a kiss, and youve got yourself a little romeo!! We were at the beach and Jack looked up to one of the higher levels of the condo building and saw an old lady looking down at him from her balcony, he took both hands, put them on his mouth and blew her a huge kiss and then waved to her. She was captivated! It was precious! I either have a little romeo on my hands, or a politician, lets hope for romeo :).

I am LOVING this stage with him right now! He has started saying so many cute things and also becoming super affectionate and loving to everyone he's around. He definitely is starting to exert his 2 yr old strong will, but in a way I am glad, it shows that he is maturing and learning to be more independent. Lovin that little dude! And so proud of all that he is learning!

Reflecting on Christmas

2012-01-02T16:45:00.000-08:00

(LOVE this picture, it totally captures the independent, carefree nature of my Jack. 7:00 in the morning, watching the sun rise with mommy and chasing the sea gulls)

Im sitting here on my couch trying to recover from the stomach bug (2nd time our family has been hit with it this Christmas) and I am going through my pictures from this past Christmas. What a fun time we had! This year we went to Cocoa Beach with Derrick's family and had a blast. My favorite moment of the whole break was taking jack out to the beach one morning when he woke up early and watching the sun rise, all cuddled up on the sand. That was a sweet precious moment with my big boy that I won't ever forget. Instead of writing about all that we did here are a few pictures to sum it all up...

Im sitting here on my couch trying to recover from the stomach bug (2nd time our family has been hit with it this Christmas) and I am going through my pictures from this past Christmas. What a fun time we had! This year we went to Cocoa Beach with Derrick's family and had a blast. My favorite moment of the whole break was taking jack out to the beach one morning when he woke up early and watching the sun rise, all cuddled up on the sand. That was a sweet precious moment with my big boy that I won't ever forget. Instead of writing about all that we did here are a few pictures to sum it all up...

Little Lucy Kate got her some BLING for Christmas...

2011-12-21T10:59:00.001-08:00

Derrick and I have been playing around with the idea for awhile to get Lucy's ears pierced. I have been a little more back and forth about it and Derrick has always wanted too, but we were finally both on board and decided to take her this week while Derrick was off work and could go with us. We went to the mall and picked out some very cute tiny 24k gold ball studs and only after a few seconds of crying (ok, screaming) she was completely content and didn't even realize what had just happened. She looks so dainty and precious and oh so girly!! She has the tiniest ears anyways and so its precious seeing her little girly ears with some cute little bling :)

ITS CHRISTMAS UP IN HERE!!!

2011-12-19T05:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas lights, christmas cookies, Elf on a shelf, christmas presents, Baby Jesus, Manger Scenes, Christmas Carols, "Christmas Vacation" (not all in any particular order of importance of course). My favorite time of year!!

I have had a blast enjoying Christmas this year with our little family of four! Jack loves pointing out all the "dot lights" (hot lights) that he sees on people's houses and in their yard and he loves turning on our christmas lights inside the house every morning when he wakes up.

Christmas started a bit early this year because my parents came in town this past weekend to have our christmas celebration with them. We had a fun filled weekend of playing with the kids, opening gifts, farmer's market, lots of laughter and SEA WORLD! (yes we go pretty much 2 times a week these days).

It was so fun seeing Jack open his presents and completely delight in his new toys. There is something so enjoyable about a child young enough not to have any sort of expectations about what gifts should be like and completely explodes with joy when he opens a new toy! A few examples of those delighting moments were seeing him open his Thomas the Tank Engine track, his stuffed elmo, his new books and his vintage Jack in the Box. He takes Elmo with him everywhere and is always hugging him and talking to him. Here are some pictures of our wonderful weekend. OH... and Derrick got a pressure cooker from my parents for christmas and has been having an absolute blast canning food!! Since Derrick loves cooking so much he is finding all sorts of new ways of cooking and caning and preserving with this gift. I will try to snap some shots of Derrick's canning creations and post them to the blog. We also have a homemade Saison de Noel (christmas farmhouse Belgium beer) carbonating in bottles that we are going to share with everyone for our Christmas dinner next week! Lots of yummy creations coming from our kitchen! (stay tuned...)

Christmas lights, christmas cookies, Elf on a shelf, christmas presents, Baby Jesus, Manger Scenes, Christmas Carols, "Christmas Vacation" (not all in any particular order of importance of course). My favorite time of year!!

I have had a blast enjoying Christmas this year with our little family of four! Jack loves pointing out all the "dot lights" (hot lights) that he sees on people's houses and in their yard and he loves turning on our christmas lights inside the house every morning when he wakes up.

Christmas started a bit early this year because my parents came in town this past weekend to have our christmas celebration with them. We had a fun filled weekend of playing with the kids, opening gifts, farmer's market, lots of laughter and SEA WORLD! (yes we go pretty much 2 times a week these days).

It was so fun seeing Jack open his presents and completely delight in his new toys. There is something so enjoyable about a child young enough not to have any sort of expectations about what gifts should be like and completely explodes with joy when he opens a new toy! A few examples of those delighting moments were seeing him open his Thomas the Tank Engine track, his stuffed elmo, his new books and his vintage Jack in the Box. He takes Elmo with him everywhere and is always hugging him and talking to him. Here are some pictures of our wonderful weekend. OH... and Derrick got a pressure cooker from my parents for christmas and has been having an absolute blast canning food!! Since Derrick loves cooking so much he is finding all sorts of new ways of cooking and caning and preserving with this gift. I will try to snap some shots of Derrick's canning creations and post them to the blog. We also have a homemade Saison de Noel (christmas farmhouse Belgium beer) carbonating in bottles that we are going to share with everyone for our Christmas dinner next week! Lots of yummy creations coming from our kitchen! (stay tuned...)

Sea World Double Date

2011-12-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

Becca and Miss Sydney

Oh my gosh this child is in HEAVEN on the train!

Little Lucy was dropped off this morning at g-ma and g-pa's house for the day so that I could take Jack on a little date to Sea World. We got passes this year and it is Jack's absolute favorite place in the whole world to go! We met up with Jessie and Noah, Lauren and Cora and Becca and Sydney (so technically Noah and Jack took Cora and Sydney on a double date, pretty sure Noah has it bad for Cora so we will go ahead and let him chase her around, Jack likes brunettes anyways, hehe). We had a blast!! We pet the sting rays, looked at Penguins, sea horses, sharks, eels, seals, sea lions and of COURSE saw "Mu" (shamu). Jack particularly LOVED riding the kiddie train (see previous post) and the carousel. Sea World has an amazing kids area with a splash pad (I made sure to pack his bathing suit), slides, giant sandboxes, a huge boat and more. We even had a special treat to share together (a shamu ice cream bar!). I love my little man, he is so special to me as my first born and I love any chance I can get these days to spend some one on one time with him and spoil him a little bit :). My favorite moment completely delighting in him was when he and Noah were riding on the front of the kiddie train and he was laughing hysterically with his mouth wide open, not holding anything back! I love that smile and laughter!

Choo Choo!

2011-12-14T12:04:00.000-08:00

Winter Hats and Shorts

2011-12-10T06:34:00.000-08:00

lYes, its 80 Degrees outside in December! Not too weird for Florida although I feel like every year I expect that it will be colder in December and then I find myself wearing shorts on christmas day. So we are trying here to combine the best of the two worlds and get some use out of the kids really cute winter hats that my cousin's gf (Kat) made for them. Thus the hats and shorts reference :) Its cute, it works, especially with the lime green shirt (Jack). :)

Shout out to Dave Ramsey...

2011-12-08T04:22:00.000-08:00

WERE DEBT FREE!!! Phew, that feels good to say! Over the last few years Derrick and I have paid off all of his undergrad student loans and one grad student loan (we decided to pay cash for the rest of Derrick's school because we are not fans of taking out student loans), we own both of our cars and have ZERO credit card debt, dont use them, dont even keep them in our wallets (credit cards that is). We listen to Dave Ramsey a lot and although we haven't officially gone through his Financial Peace University we follow many of his financial principles and ideas (we would love to take the class soon and be trained to become instructors!). Derrick is even teaching a portion of the Dave Ramsey curriculum to his students. The more knowledgeable we became on the lessons of being debt free we tackled our dept hard and paid off huge chunks at a time, NEVER paying 1 stinking penny of interest! Interest is yucky, dont even mess with it! We have been so blessed during this time and feel that God has truly blessed our efforts. We have set a very strict budget not to go into debt and when things seem to get very tight at the end of the month it has been amazing to see how God has provided (with someone bringing us diapers, Derrick picking up an extra odd job here and there, and getting checks back from medical expenses that ended up being covered by insurance). One HUGE blessing recently was finding out that our insurance company paid 100% of the expenses of having baby Lucy! They originally told us we would be responsible for 4,000 of the 35,000 dollar c-section and hospital expenses. After we brought Lucy home from the hospital we kept waiting and waiting for the bill. We saved enough money to make sure we could cover her birth and still have a little cushion in the bank for emergencies and paying off more debt and so it was a HUGE surprise to find out that we didn't have to pay one penny! (that also helped us pay this one last student loan that was hanging over our heads) I have an incredible and wise husband who has led our family well in our finances and I am so glad to have a teammate who is striving to be Godly with our money! We don't own a house yet and so that will be the next big financial task, saving for a 20% down payment and then (as Dave Ramsey encourages) getting that 15 yr mortgage instead of 30 yr and getting that house paid down as fast as possible! Thank you God for your many provisions and blessings for our family!

Thats right folks weve spotted a molar!

2011-12-06T10:06:00.000-08:00

(here's the tooth grower himself, chewing on the string of his blanket, hanging out by the fire)

A Two yr molar that is (no, Lucy is not getting teeth yet). The Bo Bo has been up at all strange hours of the night this past few weeks and coming into bed with us until it is acceptable to get up for the morning. I had a sneaking suspicion there may be a tooth involved but its been so long since Jack has teethed that I wasn't exactly sure. Since 12 months Jack has had all of his teeth, he was a very fast teether starting at 4 months! So it has been almost a year and not so much of a surprise to me after his odd sleeping behaviors lately, I spotted a toofer when we were trying to clip his toenails the other day and he was screaming in protest! YUP, thats a 2 yr molar in there causing all kinds of havoc on our sleep these days. Of course that next night he slept like a "baby" and didn't make a sound since the tooth popped through. Only 3 more hellish molars to go through and then he will have all his baby teeth, fun fun. :) (oh yeah and side note: hes still missing one of his top incisors. Its a strange Randolph family genetic thing, some people are missing teeth and some people have too many, but we shall see if his adult one will come in. Its the same tooth my brother is missing, kinda funny)

Goose is 3 months!

2011-12-06T06:30:00.001-08:00

Yes, shes only 3 months and already has a variety of nick names. Luce goose, Gooses, Gooser, Lucy Goose, Girl Girl (we call Jack "boy boy") and an array of other names having to do with the animal "Goose." I think nick names are always fun. As a baby I was called Peanut by my dad and my mom has always called me chick. Jack's main nick name is Bo Bo (coming from "boy boy" and it just morphed from there). Anyways, so my little Goose is now 3 months! It has gone so fast and she is so big!!

She is on a great schedule every day which is so helpful! She wakes around 7 and is back down for a morning nap from 8-10. Then we all get out of the house for a few hours, home for lunch and then both kids go down for a 3 hour nap from 12-3, YAY!!! (that is my heaven every day!). Then she has her afternoon feeding, down for a short cat nap before eating dinner around 5:30 or 6 and then off to bed at 7:00. I am so much of a morning person that I never did really well staying up until 10 or 11 to feed her before going back to sleep so she still wakes up once in the middle of the night since I dont wake her up to eat before bedtime. Some nights if I am staying up later i will feed her late and then she will sleep till the morning time.

Lucy is talking and smiling like crazy! She is so much more verbal than Jack was at this age, must be because she is a girl :). She loves being sung to and being snuggled! she still HATES being in her car seat but is adjusting so much better and she actually did quite well on our long trip to Atlanta! She LOVES being on her tummy and can hold her head up so well and can completely hold up her upper body when on the floor. She also enjoys sitting in her bumbo seat. The goose is so good about being on an alternative schedule if we need to go places during the weekend and is great about napping on the go! She is so much more flexible than Jack was :). And when she is swaddled and laid down in her crib for sleep time she barely cries and just falls right to sleep (with Jack I would expect at least 10 min of crying to soothe himself to sleep, but she is pretty quiet when going to sleep). Lovin her! She has brought so much joy to our family in many unique ways. She is our little cuddle bug and we can't get enough of her!

Lovin this girl!

2011-12-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

Baby Lucy's baby book

2011-11-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

You'll love award-winning Shutterfly photo books. Start your own today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is my absolute FAVORITE holiday! I love the food and the smells coming from the kitchen, I love the Macy's parade, I love that there are no expectations of presents but just families getting together to express their thanks and gratitude, I love having all of my family members around one table and the number 1 reason I love Thanksgiving is because it was the day that Derrick and I got engaged!!! So before we celebrate both occasions on Thursday I thought I would write a post about our engagement...

Derrick, me, Patrick Moore, Derrick's sister Lindsay and their parents got into their van Wed night before thanksgiving and drove up to Atlanta. Patrick lived in Atlanta so he was bumming a ride with us up from PBA where he and Derrick went to college. The plan was for the Allens and Randolphs to spend Thanksgiving together. Our families have been good friends for awhile and because Derrick and I had been dating for so long and knew that things would eventually get more serious we thought that it would be a good time to get our families together again. (Side note: Derrick and I had never had the conversation about getting engaged, or looked at rings or even discussed rings so I had no clue anything was in the works). After we had been in the car for several hours Derrick's dad got a call on the phone from his brother informing him that Grandpa Allen had been in a head on collision and had passed away immediately. The van was silent. It was horrible news and shook everyone up quite a bit. We continued our road trip to Atlanta because the plan was that they would stop over in Atlanta for the night and then figure out how to get up to NY as quickly as possible to be with Dave's mom and to be there for the services. We arrive in Atlanta late at night and Derrick informs me before going to bed that he wants to spend some time together in the morning before he took off to NY (I was going to stay in Atlanta for a few days and then fly up for the funeral). I thought nothing of this other than the fact that Derrick wanted to spend some time before leaving me behind in Atlanta, nothing unusual.

Little did I know that spending time in the morning would start at 6:30am!! I was so startled when Derrick woke me up but I got out of bed, threw on my trusty Boston baseball hat to cover my bed head and we got into the car. As soon as we got into the car Derrick queued up a CD that he had made with many of our favorite and meaningful songs. We drove around a bit and finally ended up at a park near my parents house. I was starting to suspect something a little bit but since we had never had that discussion before I was not getting my hopes up too much :).
We pull into the park and Derrick pulls his journal out of his pocket. He once told me that no one would read his journal except his wife and so I was starting to suspect something even more once he started reading excerpts from it. It was so special! There were several entries that he read me that he had written "To my future wife" in which he was journaling about what she might be like and what she might be doing. It was so sweet to hear what his thoughts had been about his future wife. Then he turned off the car and we got out. I didnt see anything in his hand or pocket so I was certain there was no ring anywhere but I was still a little confused as to why all the romantic gestures??? We sat down on a bench right at the edge of the pond and he pulled out his journal again. He read an entry dated October 10th 2006 (on actual october 10th he told me to remember this date because it was going to mean something to me at a later time, which of course only confused me at the time). The entry narrated a conversation he had with my parents when he asked them permission to marry me. I started getting MAJOR butterflies in my stomach. Before I knew it, he was done reading, he was on his knee holding the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen and he was asking me to marry him!!! I said "Are you serious??" I dont know why that was the first thing out of my mouth but then of course I quickly said YES!!! After that was all a blur but I remember calling friends and then racing back home to see our families and tell them the good news (which they of course already knew about and were waiting in their robes with coffee to welcome us when we came back). The Allen clan stayed for Thanksgiving lunch and then they headed to NY. A day later I flew up to join them for the funeral service.Thanksgiving 2006 was such a bitter sweet time. Derrick and I were able to be together as an engaged couple at the funeral of his grandfather. It so sweet to hear his grandmother say that grandpa Allen knew we were going to get engaged and wouldn't have wanted anything to stand in the way of that happening and that she knew he would be so excited for us. It was neat to be able to be there for my future husband throughout his mourning of his grandfather's death and even though it was a sad event it was wonderful to rejoice knowing that Grandpa Allen was in heaven with Jesus, feeling no pain!

(The whole Allen family together including Grandma Allen up front with me)

And THAT is why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!

It Is Well

2011-11-17T18:18:00.001-08:00

My heart breaks for one of my very best friends who has recently experience a great loss in her life. I am so confused and saddened at why things happen the way that they do but i rejoice with this friend over the fact that we both believe in a sovereign God! All day today God has put the hymm "It is Well" on my heart and so I thought I would share it here on my blog.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Proud moment

2011-11-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

Today after Jack ate his lunch he found a piece of cheese that had fallen off his high chair. He picked it up and said "cheese" just like he does every time he eats cheese. I said to him "Do you want to eat that?" And he said... "Yes, Eat Cheese" THATS RIGHT FOLKS a 3 word sentence! His first sentence ever! So proud to hear him putting words together, melts my heart!

"Jat:"

2011-11-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

Translation: "Jack"

That is what Jack calls himself when he sees himself in a picture or we ask him what his name is. I haven't done a post in awhile about my little dude and what all he's into these days so I thought Id write up a little post about the life of my almost 2 yr old. WOW, I can't believe in 3 months he will be 2!! My favorite thing right now... his sweet little voice saying ALL KINDS of words! Everyday he comes up with new words and starts pointing out things I didn't even know he knew about. I am totally in love with hearing his voice. Its funny how you go almost a year without knowing what their voice even really sounds like until they start saying big people words :).

Another thing about my little Jack that completely amazes me is his memory and grasp of his surroundings. When we are driving he will point out things that he recognizes like Dada's Work, or he will say YUMMM when we drive past a mcdonalds, or he will say Turtle when we pass the stream down the street or will "Meow" as soon as we pull into the Target/Petsmart shopping center because he wants to go see the cats. I don't think I even fully understand how hard his little brain works when we drive in the car and how he pays such close attention to where he is.

Things Jack loves: he loves having on his shoes, throwing balls, being tickled, watching movies about animals or children singing, throwing things away in the trash for mommy, brushing his teeth with his big boy toothbrush and "choo choo" toothpaste (Thomas the Tank Engine), watching silly animal and Shamu videos on youtube, reading his books and pointing out all the things he knows, looking at pictures and having me name everyone, climbing and playing on the playground, giving hugs to his buddies and their mommies, giving kisses to Lucy and mommy and daddy, waking up in the morning and eating a "Nana" (banana) in bed with us while we all cuddle and try to wake up, sitting on Grandpa's motorcycle, feeding the cats at grandma's house, talking on Skype with Mimi and Papa and without fail pointing out the ceiling fan he can see behind their heads every time, flipping lights on and off, riding on his rocking horse, building tents in the living room, sitting with daddy beside the campfire, sleeping in the tent with daddy, picking up rocks and carrying them around with him all day, throwing rocks into the creek, going to see the turtles, going into petsmart to see the "tats" (cats), being held while we cook so that he can study every move we make to see how its done, he loves babies and will blow kisses to any baby he sees in person or on tv, and so many more things I could keep going on and on.

He is such a joy and makes us laugh ALL THE TIME! He has a sensitive heart when he is punished and always enjoy hug time after he has been disciplined. He is great at sharing with others and is a good listener when mommy and daddy ask him to pick something up. He plays funny games with us to make us laugh and I can tell he will have a great sense of humor. I continue to pray everyday for his sweet heart and that he will know Jesus from a very young age. love you buddy, thanks for being the source of so much joy in my day!!!

Beachside Baptist Church

2011-11-10T10:43:00.000-08:00

Okay we don't really go to beachside baptist church, but in college when you would play hookie from church on Sunday mornings we would tell people we went to "bedside baptist" or "pillow presbyterian." I know, its cheesy. But this week our fam went to the beach on Sunday because both kids had runny noses and I couldn't leave Jack in the nursery. So we packed up the car and headed to Cape Canaveral National Seashore (Mosquito lagoon). It was a chilly morning but we enjoyed walking on the beach and picking up seashells with Jack. He loved running right up to the edge of the water and then running back to us feeling overwhelmed by the sea. It was such a worshipful morning, playing with and totally delighting in my children and husband! The ocean was in an uproar, it was incredible to stand on the beach and as far as you could see were huge violent waves. There was no way i would go swimming in water like that. Standing there I felt like I was standing in the presence of God, it was incredible. The strong yet beautiful nature of the ocean was jaw dropping. So, we didn't make it to actual church, but I felt like our little family of 4 had a wonderful sabbath experience in the midst of God's creation.

2 Month Check Up

2011-11-10T10:34:00.001-08:00

The little Goose Goose just had her 2 month check up with Dr. Rich. She is weighing in at a whopping 12 pounds and she is 22 1/2 inches, just right about where Jack was at that age as well. Her appointment was pretty uneventful. We wait until our kids are 6 months before getting their immunizations to let their immune systems get a little bit stronger, and then we do an alternative schedule, so she avoided having to have any shots this visit. :) I am counting down the days till her 6 month visit though so that we can get her ears pierced!!! She will look so precious. And Derrick's grandmother gave Lucy some tiny tiny pearl earrings which was so sweet of her to do. She probably won't be able to wear them as an infant but when she is a bit older I look forward to passing those on to her. So anyways, back to her appointment... Doc says she looks great and nothing in particular to comment on (which is always good for a well-visit). The nurses and Doc both kept commenting on how amazing her head and neck strength was. (don't tell them that its because she sleeps on her tummy, or mommy will get a lecture, but I dont care, she sleeps best that way anyways, and see, she is super strong because of it). When I put her down for tummy time she can hold her head up and lift her chest, she even scoots her legs a bit and moves forwards. I want to make sure to document and remember these steps with her because I did with Jack and I don't want to become to "busy" to recognize the small weekly developments. She is a joy!!

Talking and Cooing

2011-11-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

2 Months!!!

2011-11-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

(in 3 days) Lucy Goosey will be 2 months old! Lucy, in the past 2 months you have brought so much joy to our family. You are so unique in your own little way and it is so incredible that I now have 2 little kiddos to love more than I can even measure! Some of my favorite moments with you are when you wake up from your nap, I unswaddle you and you look up at me with your big brown eyes and give me the BIGGEST smile, you are so happy to see me! I also love our times in the evening when big brother Jack has gone to sleep and I am feeding you one last time before you go to bed for the night and we have a blast cooing and talking to one another. You are so precious and beautiful. You HATE, I mean H-A-T-E being in your carseat but I dont blame you, I wouldn't like being tied down like that either and nothing makes you stop screaming except one of the sweetest things EVER, your daddy letting you wrap your little finger around his finger. You are already wary of the big stinky big brother and whenever he comes nearby you always keep an eye out for him and sometimes even wince knowing that he may grab a hold of your hair any minute now. You do however smile and respond to him when he says "Hi" to you over and over again and wants to hold you. You are an all star sleeper! You take great naps during the day and never cry when i put you down to nap (if you are tired enough that is). At nighttime you have been sleeping from about 9 or 10 until 6 or 7, YAY, we will definitely consider that sleeping through the night. And you have already caught your first cold, thanks to your brother Jack and the 3 amigos that pass things around constantly! I love you so much and love everything about you that makes you you! You are different from your brother in many ways and I love that I have two unique kiddos that make me smile in so many different ways.

My little Farmer and Dairy Cow

2011-11-01T09:41:00.001-07:00

We had an absolute blast this year with both kiddos. This was the first year we did Halloween since having kids now that Jack is old enough to somewhat grasp the idea of trick or treat. And of course we couldn't dress him up without dressing up little Lucy as well! After going to the first few houses for trick or treating Jack completely grasped the routine and walked right up to the houses on his own, knocked on the door and was ever so careful at selecting his piece of candy. He was edible himself with his little farmer outfit. He didnt want to keep his hat on too long but we managed to snap a few pictures of the little farmer and his cow before heading out for the evening. I can't get over how cute they both are!!

7 Weeks!!!

2011-10-25T10:56:00.001-07:00

These pictures were taken with my phone so they aren't great quality but either way shes still such a cutie! Little Lucy is such a precious joy to her parents and big brother. She is definitely our "emotional" child and even at such a young age she is already much different in termperment than Jack was. Jack is our laid back kiddo, I dont think Lucy is going to be that way :). She is much picker on how she is laid down, how she is sitting, where she is sitting, how you are holding her and she HATES riding in the car! Thankfully being that she is my second child I can tune it out a little better realizing that shes fine other than the fact that she just doesn't want to be in her car seat. But of course the most amazing moments of the day are when I have just fed her and she is laying on my lap and looking up at me with huge smiles. She is also starting to coo and "talk" to us which is also so precious! I am so blessed to have a little boy and now a little girl too! (even if she is more emotional, like most girls are, hehe)

My Two Little Pumpkins

2011-10-25T10:42:00.001-07:00

We had a blast today at the Sanlando United Methodist Church Pumpkin Patch! If you are looking for a great one to go to check this one out!! There are fun games, story time, puppet shows and of course TONS of pumpkins. Jack had a blast and came home with dirt all over his face :) (and came home with a pumpkin as well)

Happy 28th Birthday Daddy!

2011-10-25T10:30:00.001-07:00

The kids are still a little too young of course to grasp birthdays, but its still fun to help them celebrate their daddy nonetheless. I got the good ole finger paints out and we made a lovely banner for Derrick to see when he got home from work on his birthday and hung it up in the kitchen. The highlight of Derrick's birthday this year was once again the Birthday bonfire extravaganza. This is the 5th year in a row we have done a bonfire for Derrick's birthday and it is always a blast. This year it was particularly fun because many of us there have kids now old enough to enjoy running around the fire and making smores and roasting hot dogs. Thanks to all of you who showed up to help us celebrate! Derrick felt very special!

The mother's of the Three Amigos

(here are two of the three Amigos and no Jack is not grabbing his hair, he is patting him on the head, we are thankfully now out of the hair pulling phase, thank you Jesus!)

(I didn't get a picture of the birthday boy or the other 25 or so people that stopped by that night because I was having fun and didn't want to carry the camera around, so sorry D, I didnt capture the evening very well for you)

The Allen Crew

2011-10-25T10:21:00.001-07:00

We are so blessed by Great Grandma Allen and Great Aunt Cathy AND Uncle Brenden being able to visit and see the kiddos (and us of course!) We were able to snap a few shots of the family after a wonderful breakfast the other morning...

Great Grandma Allen and Lucy K

Brenden, Der, Jack, Dave and Grandma

Linds, Me, Grandma and Lucy, Patty and Cathy

The Allen Kids and Grandkids (minus Cameron and Leslee)

Jack and his buddy Uncle Brenden

Lions and Tigers and Whales OH MY!

2011-10-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

Ok I know thats not really how the song goes but it best describes what my little dude has been up to recently. Jack has been on "learning animals" overload lately! ITS GREAT! In one week Jack was able to go to the Zoo AND Sea World! Jack loves animals and has had a blast this week learning all sorts of new animal names and sounds. My absolute favorite word for him to say right now is "turtle" because he says it with his teeth closed and he says the word way back in his throat and its hilarious. But hes all about the turtles these days (he daily wants to walk down the street to the pond to see the turtles near our house). Lindsay (Derrick's sister) took Jack to Sea World for a nephew/aunt date and they had a BLAST! Jack got a little overwhelmed when the walrus swam right up to him on the opposite side of the glass but he had lots of fun watching "Moo" (Shamu as he calls him) jump out of the water during the Shamu show. Then later in the week we went with Derrick's grandmother and Aunt and his parents to the Central Florida Zoo and saw all sorts of fun animals. Jack's favorite was by far the snake house (he kept going "sssss, sssss, sssss)." Here are some pictures from both of Jack's animal adventures!

Here Jack is cheering for Shamu

Jack and Aunt "Z" as jack calls her

Me, Jack and Lucy girl (in the Ergo Carrier) in front of the Monkeys

Jack in the snake house

I dont quite have the words...

2011-10-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

... To describe this cuteness!!!! (cow ears are only a part of the full cuteness that you don't get to see until Halloween!)

5 Weeks!

2011-10-13T13:49:00.001-07:00

My little peanut is already 5 weeks old! And starting to smile at us now! I LOVE seeing her smile but its impossible to capture on camera at the moment since it happens at such random times. She is becoming so much more aware and responsive. She is a bit more "preferenced" than Jack was as a baby. She hates her car seat and pretty much anything that sits her on her back. She loves cuddling on her tummy against your chest and she prefers to sleep on her tummy too. ( I know, doctors now tell you not to do that, but she sleeps so much better on her tummy AND she can move her head from side to side so Im not worried about her, it makes her happy :)

We have established a pretty good routine with her. Shes on a 3 hour feeding schedule, awake for a little bit after each nap and then goes down for a pretty good nap between each feeding. A few of her naps are spent running errands or in the baby carrier during the morning and late afternoon because those are the times that Jack needs to get out and do something or he gets too wound up and antsy being in the house all day. But I have managed every day to get them both down for a long afternoon nap from about 12-3 which is nice so I can rest or get things done. She is doing pretty well at nighttime too. Only one feeding around 2 or 3am and then back to bed till around 7ish. I am still doing a 9:30 feeding in the evening before we go to sleep to assure she only wakes up once at night and not twice. Im so spoiled with a bigger kiddo that sleeps through the night that its so hard having to start waking up again in the middle of the night. But oh well, its just for a time:).

Lots of fun things coming up: Derrick's birthday next week!, Uncle Brenden coming in town, Grandma Allen and Aunt Cathy also coming into town next week, Halloween parties and then I feel like the Holidays are right around the corner. Here is a picture of what I am starting to work on for the kids Halloween costumes (Lucy the Cow and Jack the dairy farmer :)

Life With Two

2011-09-22T11:52:00.001-07:00

My big boy at the park, rocking his new kicks
(which he insisted on putting on with his PJs as SOON as
he woke up this morning!)

Out for our morning stroll, trying to get some sun on
Lucy, shes just a tiny bit jaundice

LOVE having a sweet precious little
girl to put in cute little outfits!

So far so good, life with two hasn't been too bad! We have jumped right into some sort of a routine and that has really helped! Every morning this week we have gone for an early morning walk and then come back to nap lucy while mommy showers and then we head out somewhere for a few hours until lunch and naptime for all three of us :). I have MIRACULOUSLY gotten both of them down for a nap in the afternoon at the same time so that I can sleep a bit too. Nights arent too bad and i am adjusting to having to wake up to feed lucy so it doesnt quite feel as horrible as it did at first. She is starting to sleep slightly longer stretches at night (5ish hours in a row) and so that is really helping. Jack is still loving his sister but we have to keep a close eye on him still because sometimes he gets wound up when hes around her and gets so excited and ends up being rougher with her than he means to be. But nonetheless, hes still so sweet and a great big brother to her. Im feeling well and healing up well. Still a bit sore but I am able to pick Jack up now which of course helps with being able to do things with him and not be relying on other people. So all in all, things are going well and i am looking forward to some weekend time with the four of us!

One Week Old!!!

2011-09-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Cant believe this time last week I was in recovery feeding my sweet girl and trying to move my legs (from the epidural) so they can release me from recovery and let me go to my room. We have had such sweet moments this past week while trying to figuring our sleeping and feedings. Today I feel like Im in a little bit of a groove with Miss Luc. She wakes up around 7am for our first feeding of the day and then I keep her awake for a bit and talk to her, let Jack touch and kiss her, give her some tummy time and then after about 45 min or so do a short nursing and put her into bed for a nap. We have been continuing this same routine throughout the daytime until nighttime when I dont keep her up after her feedings but try to get her back to sleep quickly. She is responding really well to this routine which is nice for me to have a little bit of predictability. BUT I know that could all change by later this afternoon so we will just take what we can get!! I had an appt with my ANGEL of a lactation consultant! She has been so much help with both kiddos and so I wanted to touch base with her about how feedings are going with Lucy and check on her weight gain. She got a great report from the LC who was very encouraged by our feeding progress so far and Lucy is only a few ounces from being back at her birth weight! As you might recall from blog posts about Jack early on, I was unable to continue to breastfeed him because my body wasn't producing enough to keep him sustained so we ended up switching to formula. So of course I am ecstatic that everything is going well with kiddo number 2 in the breastfeeding department! YAY Praise God! Jack is learning how to be so sweet to his little sis and LOVES giving her kisses. I snapped a few photos this morning of him kissing her, it was a sweet moment while she was on the floor having tummy time and of course he LOVED having full access to her! I think they are going to be besties!

Jack loving on his little sister with Mimi's hand close by so he doesn't bite her :)

Can you say "I have my mommys nose??"

Der LOVES his little girl!

Im still completely in awe of her black hair!!

Bringing Home Baby!

2011-09-10T09:32:00.001-07:00

We are all settled back at home now. It has been so much fun bringing her home and having our family of four back together! Derrick has been playing man on man defense with Jack and I have been taking care of Lucy. He is probably ready to go back to work which is probably less exhausting than chasing Jack around, but he has been doing an awesome job of being mommy and daddy to Jack. Me and the little Miss have just been working on resting and getting the breastfeeding down. She is doing great and thankfully this time my body is actually cooperating and producing breast milk! A typcial day so far for us starts in the morning around 7 when she wakes up from her last nighttime sleep stretch. I feed her and then she and I both go back down for a morning nap. Ive been feeding her about every 3 hours or so but a little earlier than that if shes particularly more hungry. But shes been doing well on a 3 hour feeding schedule and then pretty much just sleeps between each feeding. At night she has been eating around midnight and then again at 3. When I feed her at midnight she has a hard time going back down to sleep and I think its because she still has her nighttime and day times mixed up. I try to nap her in the middle of the living room so she is exposed to the light and noise of day time and will differentiate that with the quite darkness of nighttime. She is SO cuddly! Her brother Jack is in LOVE with her. He wants to see her first thing in the morning and he loves giving her kisses. We have to keep a close eye on him though because he sometimes takes a grab of her hair or wants to hid her head a little rough, but hes getting used to seeing her swing in her swing and leaving her be. I miss playing with that little boy but try to get in reading some books and playing on the floor with him since I can't pick him up. Well, off to go feed Lucy! Ill try to keep the pics coming!

Day 2 of Life

2011-09-07T19:32:00.001-07:00

We have had so much fun having visitors stop by the hospital. Lucy already had lots of love AND she even got a chance to meet her future husband (Sarah and Pete Nadeau's little boy due in Dec :)

Miss Lucy Katherine Allen: Precious Child of God

2011-09-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

SHES HERE! And what a beauty she is!!! Our little Miss Lucy arrived yesterday morning around 8:40am, weighed 8 pounds 7 oz and is 21.5 inches long! She weighed more AND is longer than Jack was when he was born.

Yesterday morning we arrived at the hospital around 5:30 am and got prepped for surgery. By 8:40ish she was delivered via C-Section. The surgery went well although I kept getting sick to my stomach from the epidural so that made things a little uncomfortable but all in all went great!! Derrick was able to see Lucy being delivered out of my stomach and I was able to hold her seconds after her birth. We spent most of the morning in recovery (all three of us) and then by noon were all settled in our hospital room at Winnie Palmer (which is probably the nicest hospital room Ive EVER been in!).

Lucy is healthy and has passed all "inspections" from the pediatrician and nurses. She looks a little bit like Jack did when he was a newborn but she has a head FULL of beautiful thick dark hair! She has a beautiful pinkish skin tone and beautiful deep blue eyes. She already has us completely wrapped around her finger, we can't stop staring at her! Feedings are going well and she is a champ at feeding. Our favorite moments so far with her have been during feedings and just after feedings when she is completely conked out and snuggles against either of our chests.

Jack has been up here to see us several times and it has been so precious to see him "investigate" the new addition to his family. We have been talking to him about Lucy and whenever we would ask where Lucy was he would point to his tummy. But now when we ask him where Lucy is he knows exactly who she is. He loves giving her kisses and has only tried to pull her hair once :). Jack has been spending the past few days with my in laws which has been such a blessing and he has a blast at grandparent camp. Hes going to be so spoiled after these next two weeks with all of the grandparent love coming his way with my parents coming in town on Saturday.

So on to the fun part, the pictures!!! Here are a few pics that document our last 24 hours and our sweet little blessing, Lucy Katherine...

Mary Kathryn Merrifield

Jack opening his Big Brother present

Our family of 4!!

(more pics to come, but got to go feed the little sweet pea)

T Minus 36 Hours...

2011-09-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

TILL I DONT HAVE TO LOOK LIKE THIS ANYMORE!!! I am SO ready to have this baby outside of me! Can't believe I get to meet her in less than 48 hours! Sweet Lucy I cant wait to hold you and smell your sweet baby smell!! Not much longer sweetheart!

Jack, Noah and Ben, a.k.a The Three Amigos

2011-09-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

As I am trying to survive these last few days of being pregnant (5 more days!) I am eating up all the time I can with my little dude for some much needed one on one time before Lucy arrives! Im all kinds of attached to him right now! It is going to be incredible getting to have two children but I am also realizing that for a little while there will be somewhat of a transition for Jack and I want to get some good mommy squeezes in before things drastically change in this little dudes life.

SO that being said, me, Jessie and MK loaded up our kiddos and went to Lake Lotus Park today. WOW what a blast and what a great park! There is a playground and all sorts of boardwalks and pathways through the Florida outdoors. We even saw baby alligators! I got to capture some great shots of the boys together. These three have been playing together almost since day one of their lives and it is so fun to see them grow and enjoy each other! When they aren't pulling each other's hair, or pushing or wrestling each other, they really do seem to enjoy being around each other even at this young age! Fun to see them just be boys! So here are a few pics of the Three Amigos! Watch out Lucy and Christopher Robin (MK's son in utero) you guys have some wild, crazy and energetic shoes to fill, hope you two can keep up!!!

2 1/2 weeks to go!!!!

2011-08-18T15:56:00.001-07:00

September 6th couldn't get her fast enough! I am SO sore and tired all the time from her being so dang low that I am feeling like these days are just dragging by. BUT Im trying to make the best of it and get some great one on one time with my little man before we are a family of 4!! It has been so hard to find things to do and I feel like Jack is getting so bored with our house. Its a billion degrees outside and rains most afternoons. Jack begs to go outside but because it is a billion degrees outside and I am a billion months pregnant it is exhausting to be outside for more than 5 minutes. SO, we have been running lots of random errands, playing indoors with other friends, watching finding Nemo (Jacks favorite), and doing silly things around the house to entertain ourselves. Jack is down to just one nap now from about 12:00-3:00 so that gives me some good afternoon time to rest. Thankfully Derrick is home by 3:30 and can help me with Jack because I am So exhausted by the afternoon time that I don't know how Id make it till bedtime without a little help! He has been amazing, but no shocker there!

PRENATAL UPDATES: Lucy is hanging out as low as she possibly can without falling out. I am so sore and am having to deal with so much pressure that it makes everything pretty uncomfortable. Doc says he calls that "2nd baby syndrome" because you don't have quite the same muscles as you did the first time around to hold baby up as well. So yay for me, not only am I super uncomfortable but now Im even more sure that my belly will NEVER go back to the way it used to be. Oh well, not planning on any bikini contests anyway and its so worth it, children are way more important than my silly vanity! I have 2 appts left until she arrives. She and I are both measuring perfectly on track for how many weeks along I am. And her heart rate sounds perfect and I am healthy as well! If I put enough pressure on my lower abdomen (ok lets be honest, pretty much below my bikini line because she's SOO stinkin low!!) I can feel her itty bitty head! Its so tiny still. I think playing with a big 18 mo old every day is going to make me shocked at how tiny new borns are. Der and I have a bet going about the weight, I think she will be in the high 7lbs range (like her brother, around 7 lbs 13oz), he thinks she will be right around an even 7.

NESTING: Our third bedroom still isn't finished yet but still trying to remain calm about it because there is no use in fretting, plus Lucy will probably be sleeping in our room for the first few weeks while we adjust to day and nighttime sleep and feeding schedules. But since all of her things are crammed in Jack's closet and I haven't been able to do ANY nesting yet I decided to do a little bit today with what I had to work with. So, I got out the bassinet and assembled it and laid out all of Lucy's sweet blankets. Here are some of our favs and necessities when it comes to baby cuddles and swaddling...

1. Aden + Anais Bamboo Swaddling Blankets (like the muslin ones, just make out of even softer bamboo, one of my FAVORITE shower presents. Great for swaddling, breastfeeding cover, blanket for baby to lay on for tummy time)

2. Organic Cotton SweaterKnit Blanket: (Lucy's big brother Jack has one almost just like it and its so soft and cuddly, I love the natural color and feel to the blanket, Lucy's is washed and ready to cuddle her)
3. Miracle Blanket (my little man slept SO well swaddled till he was around 3 months old, then he started breaking out of the swaddle and wanting to roll over. Babies LOVE the secure feeling of being swaddled and this blanket is a great thickness for our warmer weather and keeps them all snug as a bug in a rug, of course we got pink for Lucy but I also have an organic natural colored one as well )

I love these swaddling/blanket items and can't wait to get her all snuggly and cuddly in my arms! Once I got the bassinet assembled Jack wanted to get in it. So I put him in there and he had a blast sitting in there and he even kept laying his head down like he knew thats where he used to sleep :). So needless to say I can't get her actual room set up yet BUT I at least feel like I have a cozy sleeping place all ready for her whenever she arrives if it happens to be before the scheduled C section.

OH, and I can't wait, my mom bought Lucy some vintage I Love Lucy metal signs for me to hang in her room!! One of them is the Vitameatavegamin Ad from the show and the other one is of Lucy and Ethel at the chocolate factory shoving chocolates into their mouths and dresses. Two of my absolute FAV episodes and I am so excited to have some Lucy memorabilia in her room :).

Lucy's BFF Has ARRIVED!!!

2011-08-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn Marie Wilson arrived this morning weighing in at 8 lbs 13 oz and 21.5 inches long!

Her incredible mother labored for 20+hours with NO epidural for most of that time through pitocin induced contractions! For any of you moms out there who have experienced pitocin contractions, you know what sort of feat that is to withstand that type of pain without meds! I heard Lianne was a ROCK STAR going between standing and laboring in the tub for as long as she could! Lianne ended up having a C-Section and I am not quite sure of all the details yet but either way her sweet baby girl is here and is healthy and I know her parents are SO happy to hold her in their arms after these long 9 months! AJ and Lianne we are so excited for you two and so happy to be a part of your lives and raising kids together! We love you Kaitlyn Marie and little Lucy can't wait to come out in 4 weeks to have a play date with you!!!

18 Months!!

2011-08-06T11:00:00.001-07:00

(here my little Monkey has climbed on the table while I was out of the room, and hes trying to eat a dime he found in his diaper bag!)

Today my little crazy monkey is 18 months old. 1 1/2 I cant believe we all made it alive!!! These last 18 months have been the wildest ride of my life!! So incredibly fun, but wild!

He is wasting no time flying right into the 2 year old stage. He is beginning this new whining phase which we are trying to very quickly nip in the bud, and he enjoys testing us by doing things hes not supposed to do. But other than the normal, "testing the waters" phase of being a little 18 mo. year old, Id say we are all doing pretty well!

I am LOVING this phase and I feel the older he gets the more and more fun we have interacting with each other. We love dancing together and wrestling and tickling. He loves being around other children (unfortunately he's in a hair pulling phase that makes other kids a little hesitant to want to be anywhere near his hands, don't blame them) but he seems to do particularly well when he's around older children and follows their lead well.

Today I peaked in on him in the nursery at church to see him sitting IN A CHAIR, NOT MOVING, just eating his snack while holding his sippy cup between his legs. I was like WHO IS THIS CHILD?? He looks like a 16 year old sitting in math class!! He saw me peaking into his classroom and just pointed and said MAMA and then kept on with what he was doing. So mature, so grown up, I thought I was going to explode and cry at the same time!! My heart overflows with incredible love for this child, I think it might completely rip apart once I have this little girl and try to wrap my head around the incredible amount of love I feel for BOTH of them!! Jack's 18 mo b day is exactly 1 month until little Lucy's arrival date AND it is also the 100th birthday of Lucille Ball which I think is cool considering that I have already started scanning Etsy for I Love Lucy vintage memorabilia for Lucy's room :).

Happy 18th months little dude! I smile a million times a day because of you!!!

Operation: GET RID OF BOTTLE

2011-07-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

GET RID OF BOTTLE has begun! I have been going back and forth for weeks over what to do with Jack and his bottle. Since I wasn't able to breastfeed him he has had a bottle since day one. He isn't on formula or breastmilk anymore of course and he drinks out of a sippy cup during the day. But for nap and bedtime he still has a bottle as he winds down for sleep time. Im probably more attached to this idea and routine than he even is, but it was still a hard decision as to how to go about removing the bottle. I thought about waiting till after Lucy arrived so that he would still have some comforting things during that transition. But then I thought, NO WAY, its much easier now to work on a transition when its just one of them instead of 2 babies. I didn't want to be washing bottles for two babies so I thought, nope, its time to do away with the bottle! He has also shown more of a disinterest in the bottle recently so I actually do feel like it was time for him to say bye bye :). Today is a Saturday, Derrick is home, and will be around for most of the rest of the summer until school starts up in the Fall. So I thought this would be the perfect timing so I could have another set of hands in case Jack didn't nap well or was particularly fussy. So far its gone really well!! This morning he wouldn't take a nap, but I think it has more to do with him transitioning out of his morning nap than the fact that he didn't get his bottle (he wasn't even asking for a bottle). Awake time has been successful, bottles are hidden away and he particularly LOVES the new sippy cup we got him for drinking water and coconut milk. SUCCESSFUL afternoon nap without having a bottle and we shall see how going down for bed goes tonight. Hes SUCH a laid back child and has always transitioned well to new things so hopefully he will go down alright. Im planning on putting his coconut milk in his sippy cup and reading and singing to him in his room before bed so that he can wind down and then just placing him in his crib as usual. Wish me luck! I tend to get more wound up about these transitions than I need to, so say a prayer for patience and calmness :) Its funny the sort of things that get to you as a parent :)

7 More Weeks!!!

2011-07-21T04:13:00.001-07:00

7 weeks feels like forever yet its really not that long in comparison to 40 weeks! I am just ready to have this baby girl and meet her sweet little face! We had a check up yesterday and it went great. Doc says Im measuring exactly on track! BOOYAAAH all you tall people out there who look at me like Im past 40 weeks. Im just short, leave me alone, I know my stomach looks large, but if you measure the space between my ribs and hip bones you'd realize why!! :) My blood pressure is perfect and the results from the ultrasound showed, as expected, that the cysts did indeed disappear and the fluid inside the placenta looks great. Her measurements and anatomy look great, so all is well!!!

I am so blessed to have had 2 healthy pregnancies. I don't take them for granted because I know of plenty of people who have difficulties with constant nausea and even have more difficult and dangerous difficulties while they are pregnant. No, I just seem to have issues when it comes to getting the actual baby OUT! :), one reason Im glad we are scheduling a c-section with Lucy. WHICH, we have picked a date YAY! Looks like September 5th which also happens to be Labor Day (hehe, funny coincidence) will be sweet Lucy's birthday! I am so excited to know when we will be going in for our c-section. Of course she could come early, but I am having so much fun already being able to anticipate her birthday.

We have LOTS going on in the next 7 weeks so I anticipate it flying by. Derrick is 2 weeks away from finishing his grad school program at UCF. YAY BABE!! So proud of him! We are throwing a big celebration for his accomplishments with our close friends and family which should be fun. Derrick and I have also set aside 3 nights away to St. Pete for a babymoon/anniversary/grad school celebration and Jack will be at grandma/grandpa camp for a few nights while we are away. Hopefully I won't go into labor while In St. Pete, dont really feel like being stranded in a hospital over there! Next weekend my sweet friends are throwing me a baby girl shower and my mom will be coming in town for that. We still have lots of preparation for her arrival INCLUDING the extra addition that is being added onto our house. Im trying not to freak out about the fact that her room isnt done yet, because honestly she will be sleeping in our room for a few weeks, but still Id rather not have construction workers trekking through my house while I have a newborn there. But we are SO thankful to our landlord for offering to build this third room, it will enable us to stay here for a bit longer and not feel too squished!! So, phew, lots of things going on the next few weekends which I think will help me keep my mind of of being uncomfortable and antsy for her arrival. 7 more weeks, I can't WAIT!!!!

The life of an 18 mo. old

2011-07-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

In a few weeks my little boy will be 18 months, I can't believe it!! I am bad about updating Jack's baby book so Ill at least try and update things here so I can go back and record whats up in the life of my little 18 mo. old these days. He learns new things every day its so much fun!!
Our daily routine: wake up around 6:30 (no fun but at least he sleeps 12 hours!), breakfast then read books and play till about 8:30 when he normally will still take a morning nap. 10:30 wake up and we usually go meet up with some other mommies and babies, go swimming or run errands and have lunch. 1 or 1:30 afternoon nap and will typically sleep till 3:30 or 4:00. Its too hot in the afternoon to go outside so we either go swimming or play around the house until dinner time at 5:30ish. 6:00 bathtime and between 6:30 or 7:00 off to bed!

At 18 mo. Jack's favorite foods are: scrambled eggs, greek yogurt with fruit and flax seeds, cheerios, sweet potatoes, black beans, kidney beans, brown rice, hot dogs (only the healthy ones of course) green peas, bananas, strawberries, grapes, mandarin oranges, whole wheat pasta, boars head turkey, applesauce and coconut milk. He will pretty much at least taste anything we give him and usually will eat it but these are foods he eats most consistently, he isn't too picky though.

At 18. mo. Jack's vocabulary consists of: Daddy, mama, hi, bye bye (and he will wave), titty tat (kitty cat), biper (diaper), sues (shoes), zizzrd (lizard), zeza (zebra), my ABSOLUTE fav word he says is dot (hot) and he uses it correctly when he touches hot food or whether he steps on hot concrete pretty smart boy if you ask me :). There are probably other words he says i just cant remember right now. He has started to mimic almost any word we try to get him to say but these words he says most consistently and they sound most like what they are supposed to sound like. He makes several different noises for things such as: vroom vroom (when he sees a car), and will also make the sound for a choo choo train and animal sounds include cow, owl, cat, dog, frog, bear, lion

It is so fun to watch his memory and developmental skills for organizing and remembering items. We will tell him to go get a certain toy and he will look all over the house until he finds that particular item and will bring it back to us. I can give him specific instructions for example to "put the toy car inside the box" or "go get mommy your stuffed bear" and he will do exactly as asked. Other things like telling him to stay out of the toilet and trash can don't quite work the same way, he tends to be a bit more stubborn about listening to us on those things :).

He dances constantly whenever he hears music or even a drum beat and he plays SO many silly games with us I cant even think to list them all here. He is my little monkey, he will climb up anything! He will scale a tall playground structure while mother's of 3 year olds ask me how old my child is because they can't believe he can climb so well while their child still requires lots of help (I know thats totally bragging, but hey hes my first born so Im allowed to do that!) He loves giving kisses and he has gotten so cuddly. I LOVE when I am in the kitchen cooking and next thing I know he has wrapped his sweet little hands around my leg just to hug them, priceless. I can't wait to see him with his sister!! Well thats all I can think of to brag on him for right now, Im sure I can find more later. My 18. mo old is a blast and I have SO much fun with him every day!!

Bye Bye Baby Legs

2011-07-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

No I don't mean those silly little leg warmers that babies wear sometimes called "baby legs." I mean actual baby legs. And we currently have no baby legs in our house!! The other day I looked at Jack's legs and realized they looked like BIG BOY legs :(. No more squishy thighs and rolls of chub!! My little BOY has knobby knees and skinny yet very muscle-y thighs and calves!! Thankfully i only have to wait 8 more weeks until I get to see little baby legs again but I can't believe my baby boy is looking more and more like a big boy every day!!! And in a few weeks he will be 1 1/2!! Im so proud of you Jack, you are the most fun part of my day!!!

Baby Wearing and How To Make a Maya Wrap

2011-07-08T11:11:00.001-07:00

I have enjoyed SO many moments having Jack rest or nap on me while being worn in some sort of baby sling/carrier. I definitely made a point early on with Jack to train him to sleep in his crib without needing to be held to fall asleep because I felt that was the best way for him to rest. But there were many times when he was sick, or we had to be out and about or when he was a newborn and slept all the time he often would nap on us during errands or at church. I have really enjoyed my Ergo Carrier!! It is great for walks, hiking, naps on the beach but not so great for sitting down (because of the wide waist band). I wanted a carrier or sling that was comfortable for Lucy to nap in and was also comfortable for me to sit down in once shes asleep. I had a Moby Wrap which was cute looking but a pain in the rear end to put on. Its about 10 feet of fabric and mine was black and WAY too hot for Florida. Recently I discovered the Maya Wrap and LOVED the look and design of it, but wasn't too excited about the price :). Its not too bad of a price if its your first child and you are stocking up on necessities and have someone to buy it for you, but for second child when you are learning to be a bit more thrifty I decided that instead of buying one Id make one ! I ordered the sling rigs from Slingrings.com (make sure you order approved baby carrying rings, you dont want them breaking on you!!!). And the really awesome thing about the Maya Wrap website is that they have instruction online on How To Make The Maya Wrap (check it out!!) My mom did most of the sewing, but other than a few hems and a few stitches to secure the sling rings, that was the only sewing required! I went to JoAnn fabrics (with my coupon in hand for 40%off, YAY!) and picked out a wonderful strong linen fabric (100% Linen, no poly/rayon blends). I say "strong" but the fabric is still very soft for my skin and for Lucy's skin and breathable which is VERY important for Florida!!! It is important to pick a fabric that is a "bottom weight" fabric, meaning that its used for making pants, skirts, slacks, etc. This type of fabric has a more complex weave and will stay sturdy enough not to breakdown like a thinner fabric for shirts or tops. So that is why I choose a 100% Linen. I picked out a greenish/slate gray color (again no black, too hot for Florida, and a gender neutral color to use for all my kids and something Derrick wont be embarrassed to wear). If I could have had endless amounts of money to spend on this project I would have picked some hand loomed organic fabric for the project, but again I had to make do with the resources we have right now. I would also suggest getting a fabric that is a solid color or printed on both sides because both sides of your fabric will show with the end result (unless you don't care, then it doesnt matter). All in all this project was SUPER easy and cost a total of 27.00!! Here is a pic of the Maya Wrap that you can order online (75.00 plus shipping) and a few pictures of Derrick wearing Jack in the one that we just made (again, for only 27.00). Id be happy to assist you in making one if you are interested!!! (not the sewing part, I dont sew, I just plan out the details, hehe).

(Jack was sick with a cold and not napping well thats why he has this look on his face, he really does enjoy it I promise :)

Time stopped and the silence was deafening...

2011-07-07T12:04:00.001-07:00

Wow what a morning! Derrick, Jack and I went to what we thought was a routine ultrasound to check on Lucy's growth in preparation for scheduling our c-section. I didn't think anything of it, but was so excited to get to see her little profile again! We get into the sonogram room which already feels clostrophobic and I lay back on the exam table for her to take a look at Lucy. The ultrasound tech mumbles to herself "ok now we will just have a look at those cysts and see if they are gone." I swear to you time stopped and that room got 50 times smaller, I felt like I was going to explode!! I said" Excuse me???" Tech: "Yeah the cysts, thats why you are here, to see if they have gone away, no worries, they ususally do in the 3rd trimester, did your doctor not tell you?" Me: Ummm, nope, thats why I am making this crazy horrified look right now!" Thankfully she stayed very calm and informed me that at our 19 weeks sonogram they had found a few small cysts on Lucy's brain that are fairly common and nothing to worry about. YEAH OKAY lady! Nothing to worry about!? Last time I checked ANYTHING strange on the brain WAS something to worry about! I felt like time was moving so slowly, I felt dizzy, I felt like cussing and screaming, I felt like crying. I was so emotionally overwhelmed in those first few moments that I had no idea what to even feel! Why the hell did my doctor not mention this to us when we got the results in from the ultrasound 11 weeks prior???? Did I want to know?? Would I have worried this whole time, would I have become numb and cold to this sweet baby or would I have become even more endeared to her?? I could feel my sweet girl moving inside of me, almost like she was asking me to play with her, flopping and flipping around, just having the time of her life. But at that moment, I was numb. I didn't get as excited as I normally do when I feel her move about. I thought, oh my goodness, whats wrong with her?? Is she going to live? Is she going to have a lift of difficulty, will I have a life of difficulty raising her?And mind you all of this is happening in my head in about a 5 minute window as we get situated with the ultrasound tech for her to begin taking measurements. In real world time, the ultrasound begins. Derrick is staying very calm while he manages to keep Jack under control. I can't even look at either of them or I know I will loose it. "Stay strong" I tell myself, "its going to be alright, even if there are cysts on her brain, she is going to be fine, we will be fine, our family will be fine." Thankfully peacefulness started settling over me as the sonogram begins. Truth was running through my head, God had already knit her together in my womb and formed her perfect being, exactly as he had planned before time began. She was a blessing, she was perfect, she was mine but most importantly she was HIS. Apparently the ultrasound Tech isnt a mother because she spent the first 5 minutes measuring her legs and arms and other body parts. COME ON LADY, look at her freeking brain already, lets get this over with, rip off that bandaid!! Finally we started looking at her brain and she focused in on the area with the cysts. She showed us some gray areas of the brain where the cysts had once resided. Praise God they were gone!!! Ok, I can breathe, shes ok, praise God! Time stopped and the silence was deafening!! Tears started streaming down the sides of my face as I looked at Derrick and Jack and then back up at the screen at sweet baby Lucy. The absolute most favorite moment when looking up at her was watching her pull her feet up to her face with her tiny fingers and play with her toes. She was just playing in there, having so much fun, not even realizing mommy was about to have a heart attack out there in the real world. Thankfully what I did learn in that tiny little room as time stopped was the wonderful reminder that my children are not my own. Lucy is the daughter of the Mighty Healer and regardless of the outcome from that appointment, he will always be watching over her and taking care of her more than Derrick or I will ever be able to. She is perfectly created, she is my daughter, and she is a beautiful child of God.

So all of that to say, everything looked great in the appointment. We got to see her 4 chambered heart, her brain :), her kidneys, everything looked wonderful. She is also measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule on her length!! She is going to be a tall one! I am going to be the shortest one in my family if I keep having these tall lanky kids! So blessed to have a healthy baby girl and can't wait to meet her in about 8-9 weeks!!

Cheating just a little...

2011-06-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

So technically I am 29 1/2 weeks BUT since Lucy will be born approx one week early via planned c-section, I am REALLY enjoying cheating a bit in my countdown. So Ill say that I only technically have 9 1/2 weeks left, HECK YES!!! OF course depending on what the sonogram shows next week in terms of her growth we will always error on the side of keeping her in there as long as possible so shes nice and healthy. But Ill tell you what, I went 5 days overdue with Jack boy and MAN that was miserable. So Im looking forward to shaving a little bit of time off my 40 weeks :).

Went to see my doctor today for a routine prenatal appt (everything went great, passed my glucose test, her heartbeat sounds great, and I am measuring right on schedule). LOVE my doctor!! He is so relaxed and chill and will spend as much time as I need him to answering my questions. I haven't had quite as many pregnancy questions as I did with Jack since Ive done this before, but I have had lots of questions about VBAC vs. C-Section and all sorts of questions surrounding the c-section process. Since I didn't get to do a lot of research last time, (not a lot of time to research as you are speeding from the birth center to Winnie Palmer and having your child cut out of you in a matter of minutes while you are in a total fog from your 30 hour labor!), I really do have lots of questions about how the whole scenario will progress the morning of. Today he went over the check in process at the hospital, getting my epidural, rolling me to the operating room and then the recovery process. Since Jack was not doing well physically when he was born (only scored a 1 on the APGAR scale, poor guy) he was unable to come to my recovery room with me. I thought that this was routine (for the baby to be kept from you during recovery) but after researching and asking my doctor, he informed me that assuming she is good to go then they can bring her to me ASAP and have her try to start breastfeeding. This made me SO excited!! And while I won't hold my breathe on anything, since I learned last time that God's plan is often very different from your own plan, I am hoping hoping hoping that seeing Lucy right away and having her room in with us will really help my milk production and her ability to breastfeed sooner than Jack. That is going to be one of my biggest concerns while trying to recover in the hospital and I am going to try to do things a little different to help the breastfeeding process along better (i.e rooming in over night instead of sleeping in the nursery, not having as many people visit the first day so I can rest and spend lots of skin contact time, having her brought to the recovery room to breastfeed, etc.). So all of that to say, I am really loving my doctor and how he really hears my concerns during our appointments. So, for the sake of cheating a little... 9 1/2 weeks to go little Lucy Katherine, can't wait to see your sweet little nose and tiny fingers!!

Fort Building Time

2011-06-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

Its NEVER EVER too early in a little boy's life to start building forts! I wish these pictures had sound so that I could perfectly capture the excitement and awe that was being expressed from Jack as he sat in his "fort." He didn't stop "talking" about it the whole time he was playing in there, he was SO expressive about it! Of course none of it really made sense but I promise you every one of his statements ended in an exclamation mark!! I love my little boy, and I love everything about him that makes him a little boy! Better enjoy your fort now little man because in a year or so you are going to be fighting your sister over whether or not its called a "Fort" or a "Princess Castle." Maybe you guys can compromise and it can be a Prince and Princess Fort :). I love that Derrick thinks to do things like this with his son, its neat to see the father son bonding over boy things even at Jack's young age :).

Happy Father's Day Dad/Papa

2011-06-17T14:38:00.001-07:00

To "C" or Not To "C"

2011-06-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

That is the question you have to answer when your first child was born via C-Section. NOT my top choice on delivery but after 30 hours of labor as you might recall from my birth story post in February 2010, the c-section ended up being my best option. So, this second time around it was TOP priority of mine to find a doctor that was willing to discuss my options for delivering Lucy. I found a wonderful doctor who was willing to let me try what is called a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) but he would also keep the option open to do a scheduled c-section close to my due date. At first I was feeling quite cavalier about the whole situation and without a shadow of a doubt thought I was going to go for the VBAC. But after lots of conversations, prayer and reflections on my first delivery I am feeling pretty settled on the scheduled c section. My doctor said he would let me try but that because I failed to progress after a certain point there is no way of knowing if that would happen again. And I sure as HECK dont want to get to that point again. And since my body never delivered a child vaginally the first time this second go round could be a long labor just like most people's first labor. I didnt have having a c section but there were several things I wasnt a huge fan of: not being able to be with the baby right away (have to be in recovery for a few hours), the pain meds and other medications knocking me out and making me sleepy, and then the recovery from having your stomach cut open is a painful drawn out process over about a 10 day period. On the plus side, I am ecstatic about getting to know ahead of time when Lucy's birth date will be (for practical and anticipation purposes) and I know that I will not have to go through that same emotional drawn out labor process like I did before. Once Jack went through such a long and hard labor he was not doing well when he was born and I couldn't stand to think of doing that same thing to Lucy. So while I understand a VBAC is possible, and props to those moms who do it, I just don't think its for me. My doctor also said not to worry that I wouldn't have to stop having kids after just two. He has delivered up to 6 c section babies for one woman and while there is no way Im having 6 kids :), its nice to know that there is a great possibility we could have as many as we will want to have. I feel like my mind has gone so back and forth on this issue but I really do feel at peace about this decision. I just can't wait to meet her!!!

Mini Photo Shoot...

2011-06-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

I have absolutely no idea what I am doing! But Im just havin a little fun :). We borrowed a nice digital Nikon from someone for a few days just to try it out and see how we liked it and so I made Jack be my subject and snapped a few pics of him playing in the baby pool and running around outside before bedtime. Somehow by the grace of God some of these actually turned out ok with the shadowing just right and the focusing just right. Either way, my kids pretty stinkin adorable! So here are a few of the pics I snapped today during our mini photo shoot :).

Its Summertime and the Living is Easy

2011-06-01T11:02:00.001-07:00

My absolute favorite face Jack is making right now, he thinks its so funny!

Love him to pieces!

Mimi came to visit for several days over memorial day. So much fun! Jack was exhausted from playing at the park in this picture :)

So we are all just hanging out, swimming a lot, going for walks in the morning and playing at different shaded parks around Orlando. Lucy is healthy and growing and Im feeling like timing couldn't have been any better with Jack finally walking so that I don't have to pick him up as much. Still have 14 weeks to go! (give or take depending on when they schedule my c-section) We had a wonderful memorial day weekend with my mom. Other than getting 2nd degree burns on my hand from the espresso maker, the weekend was pretty uneventful and relaxing full of good food and great conversation.

Derrick only has a few months left of his masters program. YAY!!! WE ALL MADE IT! Notice I said "we" not just "he". :) It has been a long few years for our family emotionally, mentally and financially but we are so excited we put in the resources for Derrick to be able to get his counseling degree, he is completely in his element which is so neat to see!! So excited to see where God is going to take us after this, who knows??!!! Looking forward to the end of the summer when Derrick has officially graduated, hasn't started back teaching yet and Lucy is still in utero, we are going to try to spend some much needed family vaca time to rest up for Lucy's arrival!! Peace out for now :)

These shoes were made for walking...

2011-06-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

My little man is a WALKER! I bought these cute little blue keds for him before he was even born, crossing my fingers that they would fit once he started walking. Didnt expect it to take till 15 1/2 mo. before hed start, but thankfully I think we still have a little more time before he grows out of them :). Jack actually started taking steps several months ago, but knowing my child's personality, he is a typical oldest child and does not like to do anything unless he thinks he has mastered it. This was the case also with crawling, he never army crawled or scooted but once he felt confident enough he just crawled across the room! Same goes for walking. All of a sudden last week he just took off! One night he practiced over and over and over again getting up from a sitting position without holding on to anything. It was hilarious watching his stubborn determination! LOVE IT! Now he walks everywhere (including sneaking out the front door earlier today and making it almost to the street!)

Jacks First Hair Cut!

2011-05-21T18:22:00.001-07:00

Jack was WAY overdue to have his hair cut but I kept putting it off because hes such a squirmy little fella and I was afraid to get near him with a pair of sharp scissors. So when Derrick was home this morning before heading to work we decided to get out the scissors and take care of the matted growing mess on the back of Jacks head :). I put Jack in his high chair, turned on Baby Einstein's Baby Animals (which he LOVES!!) and kept feeding him orange slices while Derrick took the scissors to his hair. Jack did so great! I was afraid he was going to be afraid of the scissors or to squirmy but he was perfect! I didnt take a before and after picture but here are a few pics of Jack during the process. And I cant believe how blonde his hair is!!! Hes so precious, just cant stop staring at his cute face!

LOVE my double stroller!!!

2011-05-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

WOW reality is really setting in here people! TWO KIDS! I get to go to a restaurant and say, Yes we need a table for FOUR!!! WHAT??!!!!! I grew up in a family of 4 so to think this is as large as family ever got for me is crazy to think that I am already at that point! We are so blessed with our 2 sweet kiddos! So here is a pic of our new Peg Perego Aria 60/40 Twin Stroller. It rocks! Well it rocks as much as a stroller can rock :). I had a hard time trying to figure out what stroller to get. Do I get a jogger, a side by side, front to back, sit and stand, blah blah blah blah blah. Well it all came down to a few MUSTS, 1. Must fit in my car!!! 2. Must not look like a train when I am pushing it (front to back kind) 3. Must have a cup holder for me (this one has a detachable one) and Must have a snack tray for dos kiddos, 4. Must not weight 5 billion pounds 5. And the best perk of this one is that I really wanted one that our chicco infant car seat would fit into and 6. good price, wont break the bank! (Thank you Mimi and Papa for helping out with our stroller!) So this one covered pretty much all the bases! Id love a double jogging stroller at some point for jogs and walks around the neighborhood but I had to be practical if I was only going t oget one stroller at this point in time because the joggers would not have fit in my car and would have weighed a ton. Maybe Ill find a cheap one on craigs list at some point but thats not a priority at the moment. Can't wait to bring Lucy home from the hospital and have big brother Jack show her where we take walks around the neighborhood! And Jack, you BETTER keep your hands to yourself, this is going to be a good lesson of obedience I already have a feeling!

To Lucy, love Mommy and Daddy

2011-05-04T11:53:00.001-07:00

I Just Haven't Met You Yet, Michael Buble

I'm Not Surprised
Not Everything Lasts
Have Broken My Heart So Many Times,
I Stopped Keepin Track.
Talk Myself In
I Talk Myself Out
I Get All Worked Up
Then I Let Myself Down.

I Tried So Very Hard Not To Lose It
I Came Up With A Million Excuses
I Thought I Thought Of Every Possibility

And I Now Someday That It'll All Turn Out
You'll Make Me Work So We Can Work To Work It Out
And I Promise You Kid That I'll Give So Much More Than I Get
I Just Haven't Met You Yet

Mmmmm ....

I Might Have To Wait
I'll Never Give Up
I Guess It's Half Time
And The Other Half's Luck
Wherever You Are
Whenever It's Right
You Come Out Of Nowhere And Into My Life

And I Know That We Can Be So Amazing
And Baby Your Love Is Gonna Change Me
And Now I Can See Every Possibility

Hmmmmm ......

And Somehow I Know That Will All Turn Out.

Miss Lucy we cant wait to meet you! I know these lyrics are from a love song but I think many of the words are appropriate in how we feel for you. "We can be so amazing and baby your love is gonna change me!"

Easter Weekend 2011

2011-04-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

I LOVE me some beach time!!! Especially now that its getting hot and Im only getting larger and larger :). And my little Jack man LOVES the beach too. We had a blast with Derrick's parents and sister and were sad to have to leave :(. Here are a few pics from our time at Cocoa.

I mean can you blame me???!!!

2011-04-21T09:13:00.001-07:00

Having a boy has been a blast, but not so much fun in the clothing department. Dont get me wrong I love getting Jack dressed up for church, he looks so handsome, but look how stinkin cute this little sun dress is! Lucy will be born in the hottest part of the summer (end of Aug, beginning of Sept) so I couldn't resist this cute outfit (not to mention it was only 5 bucks!, heck yes!). Thankfully I have lots of friends with little girls who I am sure will be more than happy to loan me some hand me downs, but this little sweet dress I just couldn't resist. Oh, and even cuter are the tiny navy blue bloomers that go with it! AHHH I just want to squeel, I can't wait to see her cute little face!

Future star of "So You Think You Can Dance"

2011-04-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

LKA!!! Sweet daughter of mine!!

2011-04-19T10:28:00.001-07:00

Thats right! ITS A GIRL!!!! Miss Lucy Katherine Allen made her female debut yesterday at our ultrasound appointment. I was shocked that it was a girl, for some reason I thought I would be having another boy. So excited to get to experience something different with a daughter. Lucy means "Bringer of Light" and Katherine, after my first name, means "Pure One." We love the meaning of her names! Lucy we can't wait to meet you! I look forward to all of the soft, cuddly, sweet smelling aspects of having you as my daughter. It will be interesting as a second born to see your personality develop different than your brother Jacks. I have a feeling you will be a spit fire of a girl! (especially if you at all take after your momma). Your ultrasound pictures showed you in boxing position with your fists by your face and I think you are already protecting yourself from that tough yelling smelly brother of yours you probably already hear outside of mommy's belly. They also commented on how incredibly long your legs were! It will be interesting to see if you too take after your daddy's height. Future volleyball player! September can't come quickly enough for me to hold you! I love you so intimately and deeply already and the cool thing is that God loves you even more than I can. I pray you grow up to never remember a day where you did not know God's true love for you! Mommy, Daddy and Jack Jack love you tons!!

Little footsie, yay God for 5 toes :)

She and Jack have very similar profiles, got mommy's nose :)

Her mouth was opening and shutting the whole sonogram, already chatting like her momma!

She has her hand clenched up by her face

To the left you can see her LONG legs!

Spring is here!!

2011-04-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

And that means beautiful weather and LOTS of swimming! Being pregnant means I am going to LIVE in the water this summer (just bought THIS cute bathing suit). I am very excited about it being warm enough to swim and we have even already been to the beach 4 times in the past 2 months! So let me catch up on whats been going on in our household...

Jack is SOOO much fun, this has been such a fun stage to be past the 1 yr mark. Hes starting to take steps but is taking his own sweet time walking, which is fine with me, Im not in any rush for him to start, it will come soon enough. He has perfected mama and dada and a few other short words and he has started mimicking all sorts of words that we say. I swear the other day he said "Jesus." He will show you where his foot, his nose and his eyes are. He will shake his head no when you tell him "NO." He will tell you what a bear and an owl can say (this is too cute, I need to record a video of this!) He is SOOO active and the best climber Ive ever seen. He can climb up and down from the couch and our bed and will climb to the top of the tallest slide at the play ground (backwards up the slide). He LOVES music. I will have music on in the car and will turn around and he will be bopping back and forth in his car seat and whenever we play music at home he is always bouncing up and down to the beat. I just cant say enough fun things about this kid, he is a TRIP! He is also really enjoying swimming as well and will climb in and out and in and out of the pool at the little step. Hes pretty much down to just one nap a day which is nice because in the morning we have a fun routine of walking, swimming and running errands before lunch and nap time. Hes my little buddy!! Jack doesn't understand it yet, but come September his little world of just him is going to change! :) But I think he will be a GREAT big brother.

Derrick and I do our best to connect in passing as our schedules are super busy right now with him trying to finish grad school. Derrick's parents watch Jack a lot for us on the weekends so we can have some alone time, and often even watch him over night! Derrick is an all star balancing everything that he has on his plate and we are so excited that he will be finished with grad school beginning of August!!! Just in time for our little cute arrival!!

My parents and brother/sis in law came to visit this month. That was such a treat, they had a blast playing with J man and it was such a blessing for me to see them!!

In prenatal news, things are going well, now currently 18 weeks! Im finally past the yucky sick stage which lasted a lot longer than when I was pregnant with Jack. We find out Monday (April 18th) the gender of the baby. Some of my fav name initials (cant tell you what they mean yet!) are LKA, GRA, CRA, CLA, GLA. Those are my top choices. Only one of those is a girl name because weve actually already picked the girl name but have some deciding still to do on the boy name. All of my appointments and tests so far have gone really well. BP is always perfect and Im doing well in the weight gain category. Ive actually been more disciplined this pregnancy with weight gain because now I know how it turns out in the end :) hehe and so Im trying to steady things and not gain as much in the beginning, so hard when you are starving all the time. But things have been pretty easy. In labor and delivery news, I think I actually have decided against the VBAC option, which I was pretty set on as your can read in an earlier blog posting. After talking to my doctor and also pondering all the pros and cons I really do think that a c-section is going to be my best option. I won't go into all the details but emotionally I think it will be better for me because of what happened before and also physically there are some reasons why I am not as good of a candidate for that. My doctor said I can wait till about a month before hand to decide so I still have time but that is what I am leaning towards. Well that is pretty much all for now, I will update things on Monday or Tuesday after we find out baby #2's gender!!

Family Recipe #2: Fireman's Chicken Marinade

2011-04-13T18:37:00.001-07:00

I keep for getting to get on and post another family recipe, so here goes...
Fireman's Chicken Marinade:
This recipe comes from Derrick's side of the family and it is from his Aunt Carol Allen that lives in NY. This is my absolute favorite lick your fingers Grilled Chicken Ive had in a long time. Its SUPER easy it almost seems like I shouldn't even be wasting my time telling you about it. But its SO yummy on a hot summer night served with some watermelon and corn on the cob! For the chicken I like to use thighs or really any dark meat is good, it could probably work okay with chicken breasts but not nearly as good as far as I am concerned :).

1 C. Vegetable Oil
1/2 C. White Vinegar
1/2 Tablespoon Salt
1 teaspoon Poultry Seasoning
1 Whole beaten egg
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Whisk all above ingredients together and pour over the chicken (HAHA I just typed in the word "Children" instead of chicken, if you re-read the sentence inserting that instead it will make you laugh!!) Next BBQ the chicken up! You can use the extra sauce for dipping if you aren't squeemish about the raw egg. But its good, so just try it anyways!! Side note: Im not exactly sure the ratio of sauce to chicken in terms of how much chicken this recipe will cover, but just play with it, you can't really mess it up.

Thanks Carol for the yummy chicken that I will continue to cook for my children (not pour on them hehe) and pass it on down the family tree! I do need to find out why its called Fireman's chicken though :).

Family Recipes...

2011-03-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

So I am getting bored with the typical blog post updates. Although there are always cute things to share about Jack, I felt like varying things up a big. I was digging through my kitchen cabinets today and found one of my favorite presents from our wedding, a family recipe book. Families from both sides added in fav traditional family recipes so that Derrick and I could keep the traditions going. I am sad to say I have not made more of these recipes but I am definitely going to try to do so more often! So, I have decided to blog every few days or so about a family recipe to share with you all. There are about a billion of them and knowing me I will loose steam soon, but hey Ill give a shot!

Probably one of the most famously passed down recipes on the Randolph side of the family is for Mona's Cheese Sandwiches. This recipe is always made at family gatherings, family vacations and anytime someone is in need of some major comfort food! I could never claim to be from anywhere but the South after posting a recipe like this (heads up, following recipe contains lots of mayo and cheese!). And I am pretty sure Weight Watchers would take away all your food points for a month if you ate this, but hey, its worth it! Mona is my great grandmother on my dad's side (his mother's mom). I don't have memory of her because she passed away when I was a baby but I have heard many stories about her and of course her legend lives on in these sandwiches. Ok so enough talking, now to get to the good stuff...
Ingredients:
1 loaf of Pepperidge Farms VERY THIN white bread ( dont even think about buying wheat!!!)
1 package of Cracker Barrell extra sharp cheese, grated
1 small onion, grated
Hellman's Mayonnaise (Im sure you could use a different kind, but this was Mona's preference)
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco Sauce
Salt and Pepper
1 stick butter, softened (or even melted0
Small amount of milk (optional)

Mix cheese and mayonnaise to spreadable consistency. I don't know the amounts of the seasonings, she just used "a few dashes" of each. Add a little milk to make more spreadable if you wish. butter the bread and make a sandwich by filling 2 halves with the cheese mixture. Place sandwiches on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees until golden and bubble, Enjoy!!!

1 Year Jack update

2011-02-22T11:03:00.000-08:00

This is my FAVORITE stage so far!!! Jack is such a blast and is interacting in so many fun ways. At Jack's 1 year check up he weighed 21 1/2 pounds and is 31 inches long, PRETTY TALL! He is getting long and lean just like his daddy! He has had a run of some colds this winter which is pretty normal during flu season but thankfully nothing to bad and no fevers. He has always been a pretty healthy child. He has almost all of his teeth except his far back molars. Since christmas hes had about 8 teeth come in. Unfortunately the molars have been really painful for him and have caused him to wake up some in the middle of the night which is no fun for anyone, but thankfully he goes right back to sleep after a quick bottle and back pat. He takes two (2 hour) naps 8:00am and 1:00pm and goes down at 6:30 which I LOVE because I have all night to spend with Derrick or get things done. He usually sleeps till 6 or 6:30.
Some of Jack's favorite things to do/new found talents...
1. When you smack your lips and say "kisses" he comes close and kisses you right on the mouth (loves kissing other babies too)
2. Is crawling SUPER fast and crusing all over the place while holding on with one hand (not walking on his own yet though)
3. Loves pretty much any food you give him unless it has a wierd texture, then he will just spit it out (especially loves anything off of mommy or daddys plate)
4. LOVES reading and will bring you books and scoot in your lap. Some of his fav books are Brown Bear, I love you through and through, How big is baby (SO BIG), the Baby's first 100 words book (loves looking at the cats and dogs), any pretty much any book with animals!
5. Still loves playing peek a boo and will hide his own eyes and reveal them when he wants to surprise you
6. When you say "How big is Jack" he holds up his hands to show you how big he is
7. Loves dancing to music
8. He has started talking a ton, not real words, but just babbles on to himself constantly!
9. Can say Dada, Up ("UT"), and Hi (NO, hes not saying MAMA yet unfortuantely!)
10. He is into everything, all over the place, crazy boy!!!
11. He LOVES his daddy! He will get sad when Derrick leaves in the morning and when he gets home will be attached to him. In the mornings when he is getting ready for work Jack is at Derricks ankles while he shaves and gets dressed for work, its super cute, he is Derricks little shadow.

He is such a joy and even though we are getting to the point where we really have to be firm with him on some things he knows hes not supposed to do or get into, he really already has such a sweet heart and disposition. I love praying for Jack every night before I put him to bed and we have sweet book reading and singing time before I lay him down. Love him Love him Love him!!

some MAJOR catching up to do...

2011-02-22T10:18:00.000-08:00

Other than the new baby news post I had been terrible at updating about anything else. Chasing around a 1 year old and being 11 weeks pregnant is exhausting but Jack is napping and so doggone it im going to get caught up!!!

We had a fantastic Christmas in Atlanta with my family that consisted of a white christmas, some sledding, snow ball fights and some good old fashion relaxation! It was so fun to celebrate Christmas with Jack because even though he had no clue it was even Christmas it made it so much more fun to see him tear open presents, eat the wrapping paper, and make a mess of all of his new fun toys!

From December to February was kind of a blur with all that we had going on in life but some really fun news I wanted to share with you all was that our friends Matt and Beth adopted a sweet baby boy!!! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! It has been so neat to watch their journey to become parents and I am so excited for them in their newly formed family!!!

In other super exciting news, my little baby turned 1!!!!! I cannot believe it has been a year since his birth. It has been the most incredible year of my life. Lots of ups and downs, but mostly ups and it has been neat to see how God has grown all three of us closer in the past year as we learn how to grow as a family. I didn't have any interest in going completely all out for his birthday but I did want to have some of our friends over and some of Jack's little baby friends over as well to celebrate and have cake. Jack LOVES the Eric Carle books (Brown Bear Brown Bear and The Very Hungry Caterpillar) so I decided to do a Hungry Caterpillar themed party. Well not really themed because other than the invitations and the cake nothing else was really themed, but either way it turned out really cute! Both sets of grandparents were there, Aunt Lindsay was there and so were some of our closest friends including the Carters, Hammonds, Salzmans, Jodye, the Spradlins, and many more of our other close friends. It was so neat to see everyone gather to celebrate Jack turning 1!! He did great at his birthday party, no meltdowns and he ate his cupcake like a champ!

Jack and his buddy Noah

My Hungry Caterpillar Cake (well it was Jack's but I worked hard on it so I get the credit)

The weather recently has been GORGEOUS!!! We have taken every opportunity to be outside. I think Jack gets kinda antsy as do I so we go on about 2 long walks a day. Which is great for me being pregnant (i hate running while being pregnant) and its great to get outside. February and March are my favorite months in Florida because the temp is around 78-80 and breezy with hardly any rain. Derrick had several days off for President's weekend so we took the opportunity to do some camping (just the two of us) and then we also took Jack to the beach! He hasn't been to the beach since last September and wasn't too thrilled about it then so I was a little nervous. But he couldn't have been happier at the beach this time! It was so fun to see him daringly crawl right into the waves in the shallow areas. He would have crawled right out to sea if we let him, not a scared bone in his body! He wasn't scared a bit! That makes me so happy because the beach is my happy place and i don't think I could handle having a child that was terrified of the beach. I figure the more he is exposed to it this spring and summer the better and he will be a little fishy in no time!

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone and I know before I can even blink it will be September and we will be getting used to life with 2 little ones in the house!!

The Little Bean 9 1/2 Weeks

2011-02-07T14:50:00.000-08:00

Healthy heartbeat and everything looks great Praise God!!

Not the BABY anymore!!!

2011-02-03T17:31:00.001-08:00

Jack isn't quite sure what to think about being the big brother but thats probably because he doesn't even really understand yet :). Thats right everyone!! We are popping out another Allen baby!!! #2 is due September 11th and we couldn't be more ecstatic!! I went for my first prenatal appointment today and met with a new doctor. Last pregnancy if you recall posts from last year, I used a midwife in a birthing center and then had an emergency c section at Winnie Palmer Hospital. I can't do a birth again at the birth center because of my previous C section but I did find a GREAT doc that will let me try to do a VBAC(Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) which I am very excited about (and he delivers at Winnie Palmer which I LOVED!). I like at least at this point having the option of giving birth vaginally and yet at the same time having the security of knowing I will be in the hospital and if we get in the same situation as last time we can quickly deliver the baby via c section. Its so funny because this go round I go hours and totally forget that I am even pregnant because Im so focused on being mommy to Jack. Its kinda nice not having to obsess over the newness of being pregnant and yet its fun to know that there is a sweet precious baby growing inside of me and also be able to look at, hug, kiss and play with my other baby that I have already given birth too. I cant believe my child isnt even 1 yet and we are already pregnant again. What a blessing! And for those of you wondering, YES it was planned :). Thankfully only took one time trying which was kinda surprising but also very much a blessing! I cant WAIT to see Jack interact with his younger sibling. They will only be about 18 months apart! There are so many other things in our lives I haven't blogged about yet including pics from Jack's 1st birthday party so I will have to get back on here soon and update you all on other arenas of our lives but for now I just wanted to share our exciting news!

My Heart Is Full!

2011-01-08T06:00:00.001-08:00

It has been so fun to see Jack grow and develop at a rapid pace. I feel like every day there is something new he is doing or a new funny game he plays with us. This is his most recent funny thing to do, he loves showing us how big he is and will do this constantly all day long and he gets frustrated when we don't say "How big is Jack, SOOO BIG." This little man warms my heart all day I have so much love for him I can't even describe it!

Ending 2010

2010-12-21T10:51:00.000-08:00

(Here is my almost 11 mo old riding his new Christmas toy from mommy and daddy!)

WOW I cant believe how much has happened in our lives in the last year! The beginning of this year i was about as large as the Goodyear blimp and by Feb 6th we were blessed with our sweet precious little Jack Jack! He has been such a blessing and joy in our lives and I fall more and more in love with him everyday. I cant believe he has grown almost 10 inches since birth and weighed 7 pounds 13 oz and is now a whopping 21 pounds!! He is the fastest crawler Ive ever seen and has even in the past few days started letting go and standing for a few seconds on his own! He LOVES making us laugh and will do just about anything to get us to do so. He plays peek a boo with us by putting his hands over his eyes or burying his face in my chest and then popping his head up when I say "where's Jack?" followed by "There he is!" He will eat just about anything I give him as long as its not green peas :) and he wasn't too thrilled about beets either. He is starting to eat the same meals as us which is fun to have him eating big people food! He is down to about 3 bottle feedings a day and takes a 2 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. His regular sleep time is from 6:30pm-6:30am and he always wakes up with so much to say to us! Who knows, maybe in 2011 we will start working on making the family even bigger!?

Derrick has about a year left with grad school and I am still a stay at home mom working part time as a fashion consultant. I LOVE being able to be at home with my child and have lots of fun things lined up in the week to keep us busy (play dates, swinging at the park, costco lunch, etc.) We have been blessed with such an amazing church and we have so many friends and other babies Jack's age to spend time with and we are SOOO lucky!!

I can't wait to see what 2010 brings!! And I cant believe in less than 2 months my baby will be ONE!!! Here are a few pics from the past month, some highlights of what this little dude has been into...

Kisses for daddy

Jack and Noah love playing together!

Jack taking a walk with his new toy

Watching Christmas Vacation with Daddy

The fam at Disney

snow!!!

2010-12-01T11:06:00.001-08:00

Nope not in Florida, but I thought I would add some snow to my blog to help get me in the holiday spirit even though its 80 degrees outside right now!!! Enjoy :)

9 Mo. Stats

2010-11-18T10:25:00.000-08:00

Jack went to the doctors the other day for his 9 mo checkup! He weighs 21 pounds and is 29 1/2 inches long, WOW!! HE is a tall baby! He is always so fun to take places because people are just obsessed with his cuteness and Im not just saying that because hes my kid (even though Id probably say that even if he wasnt cute all the time) but hes so stinkin adorable and always steels the show with his babblings and cute chubby cheeks. Check out this adorable pic while we were waiting for Dr. Rick to come in...

PRICELESS!!! Jack you are such a joy even when you are fussy! We adore everything about you: your inquisitive and thoughtful nature, your contagious laugh, your busyness, your outspokeness, and so many more things! Thanks for being a fun part of our lives!!

My giggly boy...

2010-11-04T07:05:00.000-07:00

Jack LOVES to go swing at the park!

2010-11-04T06:56:00.001-07:00

Updates...

2010-11-04T06:33:00.000-07:00

BIG update in the life of my little almost 9 mo old!! On Derrick's birthday, the 21st of October, Jack crawled for the first time! YAY! I can't believe he is mobile now and boy is he ever. He not only crawls all over the place but climbs and pulls up on everything, it keeps me very busy!

Happy Fall!!

2010-10-11T10:39:00.001-07:00

Jack and Cora

2010-10-11T10:31:00.001-07:00

Jack and Cora are 2 days apart, Ive posted pics of them before. Lauren and I took the two kiddos to Leu Gardens for a nice stroll around the park and here are some cute pics of the two of them...

Little Bro got Married!!!

2010-09-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were in Atlanta for my brother's wedding. He married the lovely, talented, beautiful and sweet Stephanie!!! We love her so much and are so happy that she is in the fam! The weekend started out a little dramatic when my brother's best man, Penn, was riding my dad's scooter and got hit by a truck. He was taken to the hospital with several injuries but thankfully no injuries to the head/brain or spine. Unfortunately Penn had to miss out on the ceremony and festivities because he was in the hospital but he was definitely missed and thought of often. It was so neat to see John and his guy friends rally around Penn and support him since his wife was out of the country. John I love you so much and am so excited to see the life that God is putting in front of you. You have a beautiful wife, dont ever hesitate to tell her you love her and laugh a lot together. Forgiveness and repentance in marriage is what will make it stronger so do that often!! CONGRATS!!

New Perspecive On Life...

2010-09-13T13:05:00.001-07:00

... From the upright position. I love watching Jack enjoy his new perspective on life. He is not exactly sure how to get down, how to get to all his toys, or how to get sitting up again once he falls over, but he has the biggest smile on his face while hes there and enjoys looking around. He has such a fresh new look on life and it always reminds me to take things in the moment, stop and look around, and smile at everything I have been given.

Fast Forward To Now...

2010-09-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

I dont even know how to start blogging again when I have clearly neglected to post anything in several months so I am going to give you all a point by point update on our lives recently and then show you a few pics!!!

Update on Jack Eliot:
- he is 7 months old now, 19 pounds and is in the 95th percentile for his height!!
-loves playing in his exercauser
- 4 teeth!!!
- eating 3 meals of solids a day, FAVORITES include green peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, avocado, bananas, or any mushed up combination of those foods DISLIKES: baby cereal (so we stopped that after about a day of trying) and squash, just like his momma!
- Sitting up!
- Getting up on all 4s and he likes to peek his head underneath his belly and seems to think to himself "wow I am actually off the stinkin ground!"
- has an insanely contagious laugh, especially when you tickle his chubby thighs
- loves it when he wakes up from nap and daddy holds him so close while he tries to wake up (they are both slow waker-upers)
- loves it when daddy throws him up in the air
- everytime he sees mommy he gets a huge smile across his face and tips his head to the side as to act like hes being a bit shy, PRICELESS
- will go from one end of the room to the other in 2 minutes flat by rolling and scooting
- LOVES his mimi and papa and grandma and grandpa!
- LOVES all things water!! Bathtime and pooltime are his favs and he is learning how to hold his breath when he gets dunked under the water!

Update on Derrick:
- went gator hunting for the first time and caught a 7 ft gator!
- has an insanely busy schedule (grad school, full time work) but ALWAYS has time to be an incredible husband and daddy
-finishing up his teachers certification process and will soon be a fully certified teacher
- started seeing clients for the first time and has enjoyed it and already learning a ton about being a counselor
- gets a big kick out of little Jack and loves spending time with him, they already have special bonding things that are just between the two of them, its pretty sweet
- as always is an amazing cook and finds new and yummy things to make quite frequently

Update on Me:
-started a new job!!!!! I started my own business from home doing independent fashion consulting for a woman's clothing company based out of California
- I had 3 ingrown toe nail surgeries (I know you aren't really interested in this but this dumb toe has pretty much defined my last 4 months of life since I haven't been able to wear a shoe and have been in a ton of pain)
-Toe problem fixed, YAY, can start wearing my Vibram Five Finger barefoot shoes now to go running, I missed running terribly and am glad to be back in the game!!!
- have lots of fun these days playing with my little man and visiting during the week with other mommies and their babies
-my little brother is getting married this coming Saturday, Derrick and I are both in the wedding. He is marrying the beautiful and amazing Stephanie and we love her to death!!

Here are some pics to sum up some of the new fun things these past few months...

Mommy lovin

Grandpa Allen (Derrick's dad)

Jack and Derrick in the ocean at Cocoa

"Dont mess with me"

Jack, Caleb and Abby (my bestfriend Rachel's kids)

Papa (my dad) and Jack always have such sweet conversations!!

Laughing and giggling with daddy

Laying out at the beach

Fun with Peas!!

My froggy Prince

Happy Birthday To Me...

2010-06-26T05:57:00.000-07:00

THE BEST SOUND EVER!!!!!...

2010-06-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

Nothing makes me happier than to hear my little guy belly laugh!

4 Month Check-Up

2010-06-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

Even though Jack is just a few weeks away from being 5 months we just now had his 4 mo. well visit at Dr. Rich's office. Jack is in the 75th percentile for his weight, at 17.1 pounds and is in the 95th percentile for his height, at 27 inches long (hes grown 6 inches since birth!). It is so neat to watch him grow and do all sorts of fun things. He is rolling over like crazy, grabbing for everything, trying SOLIDS for the first time, talking and laughing constantly and sleeping like a champ! We still have 3 naps a day which makes for a very happy baby and mommy :). And Jack is doing great sleeping through the night (which usually means from about 6:30 to 6:30!!). I never thought the day would come when "sleeping in" would mean sleeping till 8 but the other morning Derrick woke up with Jack and fed and played with him till his next nap time and let me sleep till 8, it was GLORIOUS!! Here are a few pics to highlight our growing baby Jack...

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

I am so blessed to have an amazing husband who is the BEST father in the world to our little Jack Jack. I am also blessed to have the best Dad in the world!!! My dad taught me to be confident, caring, strong, beautiful, child like, Godly, and intuitive. I love you very much dad and wish I could be with you on this Father's day. To my hubby Derrick, you are the greatest and I look forward to seeing the ways in which you lead our children and teach them amazing things. I am blessed to have amazing men/boys in my life, my husband, my father and my sweet Jack Jack!!

Jack and Cora

2010-06-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

Jack and Cora are 2 days apart (Jack is 2 days older). Our friends Lauren and Charlie Carter found out they were pregnant the same week we did and Lauren and I had a blast being pregnant together and were there to support each other when we were both a week overdue!! The day after Jack was born Lauren was visiting us in the hospital and later that day went into labor herself! These 2 little cuties are going to be great friends!

THEY ARE HOLDING HANDS!! How cute is that!! :)

Correction...

2010-06-19T07:33:00.001-07:00

I wanted to update the most recent entry from yesterday. We not only spotted Jack's 1st tooth but we spotted his 2nd!! The bottom middle 2 teeth are poking their way on through! I am trying to keep a good perspective and be happy for my child's new developments but it is really hard seeing him so fussy and sleepy but unable to nap well. I am trying to stick loosely to our schedule and have him eat when hes hungry and nap whenever and skip naps if hes to fussy and just wants to be held. So I am currently on mommy overdrive which is a little tiring but it is such a blessing to be able to love on and comfort my little one! Thankfully he is sleeping through the night! However day time and nap time is a little rough. I was just working on getting Jack into the habit of soothing himself to sleep better and working on a new 3 1/2 hour schedule but that is now out the window for the moment while we work on just keeping Jack soothed. If its not one thing its another. It is however so exciting to see him rolling over from back to tummy and growing his new teeth!!! I love that little guy even when hes being a pill :)

1st Tooth!!!!

2010-06-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

Today we discovered Jack's first tooth. He is only 4 months so this is on the early side for spotting teeth. This has been quite the week for developments. Not only do we have the first tooth but Jack is now rolling over onto his tummy and staying there while he sleeps. Although very cute and he actually sleeps WAY better on his tummy, I have had some adjusting which manifests itself into me checking on him every so often to make sure hes breathing. He is completely capable of moving his head but its just one of those 1st time mom worry things that I will soon adjust too. I cant believe every day how much he changes. He is SUCH a joy and a blessing to our lives!!

Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!

2010-06-18T06:15:00.001-07:00

I cant even begin to explain how stinkin excited I am about the new Harry Potter world at Islands of Adventure!!!! It is called The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (check out this blog entry with pics and descriptions) The even more amazing thing is that we happen to have FREE TICKETS AND get to go with our friends Matt and Beth Peele!! I have read all the HP books, seen all the movies so I have become quite a fan over the past 6 or 7 years. Man that makes me feel old to know that it was about 7 years ago the books came out. :) Ususally I am not a fan of heading out to the theme parks in the summer in Florida, but this I cant resist!

Vibram Five Fingers

2010-06-15T05:25:00.000-07:00

My birthday wish list is pretty short this year. I am pretty much only asking the hubby for these (especially since they arent super cheap). Vibram Five Finger Sprint barefoot shoes! My brother has the Five Finger Sprint shoes as well and he loves them. Says it took a little while to work up to being able to run as far with them because of re-training your calves and feet to run without shoes on, but from what I hear it is well worth it!! I have knee problems for playing volleyball most of my life and I really think that these are going to help any knee and back problems that arise.

Craft Projects- on little or no budget :)

2010-06-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

First of all let me preface this by saying Beth Peele if you are reading this be warned that I am NO WHERE NEAR your level of expertise of home projects but I am inspired by you often and enjoy learning about all the cute projects you do to transform your house into a stylish and comfortable home! See Beth's amazing ideas and projects at Design A Peele.

I have never thought of myself as "crafty." Sure I have done the occasional scrapbook project or little things here and there around the house but lately since I have become a stay at home mom I often find myself wishing I had an endless supply of money to spend at the craft and antique stores. I dont typically like to take on big projects but the other night I found several framed mirrors and pieces of framed art that needed a makeover and so I did a little painting (with paint we have purchased for other previous painting projects), turned out really well and looks great in our bedroom. We have a little duplex (we are renting) and I haven't wanted to put much time or money into decorating or any projects since we wont live here forever. But what I have found is that if I take a piece of furniture that we will be taking with us again wherever we go and re arrange it differently or paint something that I already have it can really transform your living space. I also went to Lowe's and got a few indoor plants and some hanging plants for our front porch. Its amazing what a little green inside and what some small touches outside can really do for a small space. Jack's room is the only room we have really "decorated" but I am slowly finding little ways of making our bedroom a little less "plain jane." We have an old chest that I did not want to part with but haven't been able to find the best place in the house for it. It was currently playing the role of coffee table but we didnt much like it there because it was an awkward height and size. We have a matching ottoman for our couches but it was currently sitting in the corner collecting dust. Since Jack has been born we spend a lot of time playing on the floor and having that hard piece of furniture in the middle of the room made it difficult and uncomfortable. I dont know why I didnt think of this before but who says you HAVE to have a coffee table. I moved the ottoman out in front of the couch to create some softer and better playing space for baby J. Now we have something to rest our feet on while watching tv and I moved the chest into our room. There was now an empty space where the ottomon was in the corner and so I did a little switcheroo. I moved our bedside table (which wasnt really a bedside table at all, it was more like just an end table) into the corner inbetween the couch and the love seat. Put a neat little lamp on it, stacked up a few antique books and put a little green jade plant on top of the antique books. I put one of my fav soy candles from Aveda also on the little table. It created such a nice warm little space in the corner (which also enabled me to get rid of the horribly awful floor lamp that we had in the corner). I moved the chest into our bedroom to the right of our bed. Ususally in this space you would have a bedside table but i centered it in the middle of the rest of the wall space and also created a nice little space on top of the chest with some pictures, a candle, our lamp and some antique little books. I also happened to have a sage green table runner (which matches the colors in our room) that I had bought for our kitchen table but decided I didnt want to use it for our kitchen table. It fit perfectly running over the top of the chest and covered up some imperfections in the wood due to chemical burns that occured when this chest was in my great grandmothers house. I am no decorator but it is amazing how a few small transformations makes you feel more at home. I also realized there was WAY to much clutter and I am working on being a little bit more minimalistic and not feeling like I have to display every candle, picture frame or decorative piece all at once. So considering we dont really have room in the budget right now for craft projects or many home imporovements I have started a list of craft things I want to get for birthdays, christmas or whenever we have a little extra cash stowed away.

Craft Wish List:

- blank canvas (I would like to make some cute painted canvas wall decor for baby shower gifts or other presents, taking fun pieces of fabric and stickers, I want to create some pieces of art, see picture below)
- Small bottles of acrylic paints (to be able to make all sorts of crafty projects including the one above
- Stensils (I would like to be able to monogram or stensil out a baby's name onto baby gifts)
- Home Card Making Kit (I realized the other day that cards cost about 4 dollars on average these days, I would like to be able to make my own christmas cards, birthday cards, father's day cards, thank you cards, etc.)
- Fun stickers (these stickers could be used for making the wall decor above, or for making homemade cards, I am not talking about your cheesy little stickers you get at the dentist when your child has been good but pretty stickers, even ones that are raised up or have fun different textures and prints and even different borders with adhesive on the back, might also need to get some craft glue that would help items stick to the canvas)
- different sized paint brushes (for all above projects)
- fabric (I would like to collect little pieces of fabric and scraps for doing all sorts of craft projects, I already have a bag full of some scraps from curtains I have had to hem and other projects from around the house)
- ribbon (cute colors and patterns of ribbon can always be useful in sprucing up a gift package or used to hang things from the wall or tie around a little plant or vase )

Well that is all I can think of for now but I am sure I will come up with others in the future. This is sort of a new territory for me but when I make my first crafty project I will have to post some pictures. I already started on a square canvas for Jack. It is painted blue and now I am just waiting to get inspiration for what to do on the front of it. I was thinking about putting a train on the front of it either painted or with cut out fabric to match the colors in his room and then getting some stensils to put his monogram on it, but we will see. See below for where I am thinking I might go with this, instead of an elephant doing something else, or maybe doing an under the sea creature to match his bedding.

Etsy is a great place for inspiration so maybe I will browse there for ideas!

Trip to Visit Mimi and Papa

2010-05-30T08:07:00.001-07:00

(Jack LOVES his bath time!)

Jack and I took our first flight together since he was born and headed to Atlanta to visit my parents. Derrick was in Boston so I thought this would be a good time to take a trip. We visited with lots of friends and family members in Atlanta, Dalton and Chattanooga. Jack did great on the flight and entertained everyone around him.

Jack and Uncle Chris (my mom's brother)

My sweet Great Aunt Geneva (Jack's Great Great Aunt)

Jack and Mimi

One of my best friends ever, Rachel, and her sweet boy Miles

Miles and Jack

He loves his giraffe

Talking with Papa

Almost 4 Months!!!

2010-05-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

Photos Courtesy of Rachel Douglass, In His Image Photography, http://www.ademossphotography.com/