Here are a few pictures

not too many changes...

Other than Alijean growing up and get smarter, there haven't been a lot of changes in our lives. I mean, guess there are but it all seems to be going smoothly so I don't always recognize them as changes. Ben's brother and his family are currently living with us for a few months. Ali is struggling with not being an only child while Kinsley is living there. Liam... well he is grwoing like a weed. Ben has gotten a promotion and is now a salesman. I'm so happy for him as this is something he's wanted to do for years and years. :) I have faith that he'll do well.
Me, same ole same ole. I've taken a short break from running but am at the end of that break. There are lots of 5K's coming up so if I want to be competitive, I better get my running shoes on!

Alijean is her regular ole spunky self. Always something crazy coming out of her mouth. I look forward to every new day with her. <3

She's 3 1/2!

Wow does time fly! Our precious baby girl is 3 1/2 years old already. It's so weird to look back at pictures and see her so little and looking SO different! I cannot wrap my head around the fact that is was just a few short years ago. So many things in my life changed since she's been born. All for the good. Her mostly. I cannot imagine having gotten a more perfect child. Beautiful, caring, imaginative, energetic and giggly.
Everyday she has something new coming out of her mouth. She never ceases to amaze me with her imagination and thoughtful processes. Just the other day my 38+ inch tall, 29 pound skinny child asked me for bigger diapers to cover up her "big butt" as she turned and stuck her non existent rear end out, put her hands on her hips and began to shake her bootie to show me how big it is. Love her so much. She loves "Garbage" (or better known as Garfield to those who don't know my daughter). And pickles. She loves pickles. She's been known to call me before work and ask me to pick up some pickles on my way home from work. Right now she appears to have a crush on her new daycare teacher... Mr Johnny. She loves dresses.. LOOONG dresses momma! Loves her baby dolls and tries to brush their teeth, with toothpaste I might add all the time. here is a status update that was on my FB wall the other day.

"Ali and I walked home from her daycare today. The ENTIRE mile she screamed adn cried for me to hold her because she didn't want to walk. (this was after she told me she WANTED to walk home.) so we get home from the full mile of crying and we sit in the chair and she says to me....and I quote.... "Momma, can we go on a walk?"

What else has changed since Ali's birth? My fitness level, that's what! I went from a ... well let's face it... lazy person to running half marathons, regularly running 5K races and am scheduled to do my second RAIN ride. RAIN is a 160 mile bike ride starting in Terre Haute IN and going through Indianapolis and ending in Richmond IN. Last year it took us about 12 1/2 hours. The whole family does it and it's great! Ben was injured last year but will be joining us this year. My work has hired a personal trainer that comes in twice a week so I've been doing that for about a year and half now. I love it and my trainers are fabulous. Mean sometimes but fabulous! :)

I must go for now as work beckons me.
I will try to get on here and blog more. I'm not good at it but will improve if I coudl just remember to. I would love to be able to blog Ali's imagination here. :)

7-11-2010 Just an update on things

Wow. I had no idea it had been so long since I've been on here!

I guess there is a lot to write probably but we'll see how much I get here.

First things first... Alison. She is getting so big. 35 1/2 inches tall and just over 23 pounds. It's pretty bittersweet, as all mothers/fathers know. She is so smart and so witty... and so giggly. Right now she is into acting like a lion and roaring to scare us. So cute, she curls up her little hands and puts them up in the air and roars and GIGGLES! She loves fishing and SHOPPING. Oh lord that girl wants to shop non stop. she asks for credit cards and threatens to spend all of our money. We've been taking her swimming and she is finally starting to enjoy being in the water. She is very apprehensive about it though. Poor thing.. her lifejacket keeps her too bouyant since she weighs so little. I have to hold onto the bottom of the life jacket to keep her upright and not laying on her back. She is learning her ABC's but doesn't quite have them down yet. oh lets see, what else... she is still into dollies and purses and girlie stuff. She is getting pretty good at talking (at least for my ears. seems as though strangers still ahve a bit of trouble with it!)

me... well, still running.. and biking. I have a 160 mile bike ride next weekend. As as right now, 65 miles is the furthest I've gone so this should be interesting. Dad and Dawn are riding also. Ben is signed up but unable to ride because he has an achilles injury that just won't heal. :( We all ran the Mini Marathon together in May and then the next weekend we ran Dances with Dirt. Very run relay race in Brown County IN. Lots of hills climbing, water, down ski slopes, and MUD! Excited for next year! Can't wait for the day Alison can do this stuff with us. We did a 36 flight stair climb in january last year and if Alison wants to do it this year, I'm going to let her. Means I'll be climbing with her but that's okay! On my weight loss.. I got down 60 pounds and seem to have stalled (could it be a mental stall since I can't seem to stop eating?? pretty sure my bodly will let me lose more I just have to stop being stupid!)

Ben.... has started running and biking with us :) As mentioned above he has an injury so is currently benched. Current plans right now if ankle heals is to run the full marathon in November. We'll see what happens with the injury though. Still working at Hightower Graphics. Not a whole lot other exciting going on with him that I can think of.....

Ali's two year check up

Alijean had her two year check up on the 18th of November. She is 34 1/2 inches tall (55th percentile), head is 18 in (either 5th or 15th, can't remember) and she weighs 21lbs 11oz (5th percentile). Everything checked out great! She has a small small portion of her soft spot still open, which Dr. Lawlis said not to worry about. I also did not mention that she was recently diagnosed with asthma. There is not wheezing or anything, just lots and lots of persistent coughing. She is on an inhaler twice a day (Flovent) and was on a Nebulizer but her coughing pretty much stopped so she was able to come off of it :D

I really need to get better at this!

Alright... November 17th... about 8:00pm. I am listening to Ali in her room upstairs just talking away instead of sleeping. The girl likes to talk, I gotta give her that! She is getting so big! She turned two last week!!! We had a birthday party for her over the weekend and she had a ton of fun! It was in Fort Wayne at her Grandma and Grandpa Cleven's house. She got lots of toys and her two favorite where her busy ball popper and her baby stroller... for now. Ali is talking really good, she is making sentences and all that fun stuff. She is one sassy little girl though let me tell ya!!!

The bad news to report on this post is that in September I lost the pregnancy that I spoke of in the last post. :( It was a very sad day for me and Ben (and family and friends) but I have "moved on". I have Alijean and I have faith that it can happen again. I still think about how far I would be and if it was a boy or girl...

All for now... I'll try to come back more often.....

Ali is napping so I thought I would blog

Alijean is upstairs taking a nap... I plan to take on soon too. Having a very blah day. No reason...it's raining and I have a headache (getting better though ;) )
There is not a whole lot going on to blog about. Ali is growing and learning like crazy. she is in the "I want to be naked stage" and it not potty trained yet so that is fairly trying. She has also decided she likes to mimic me in a smarty pants tone if I tell her to do something. Little stinker.
I ran a 5K yesterday... I haven't ran in 6 weeks so I am a bit sore today! My lungs and heart were fine, legs felt great afterwards but they started cramping for some reason. Well, today I'm sore. I guess that shows me that I need to get off my butt a little more often!
Recently a very good friend of mine lost her daughter. I still cry often for them. It is so heartbreaking and I just don't know what on earth I can do for her. I am being there as best as I know how to, but sometimes I wonder if I'm doing right for her. I have never been through anything like what she is going through and have no idea the feelings she is going through. I just don't understand why these things have to happen.... especially to people like her. I hope people can all pray for her and her family for strength and healing. I know she will survive this, she is a very strong woman, but in the meantime I know there is a lot of pain. I also pray for her that she can conceive again, quickly, and with no problems. *sigh* I know Isabelle will be in her heart forever... and she will be in mine also.....

And not to leave out me... I am 9wks 6dys pregnant as of today. I am feeling pretty good now. I have been trying to find heartbeat on doppler and have not yet been able too. I am very excited to hear it so I hope I find it soon. I am due April 19th and will try to post with any updates I might have. And yes, we are going to make everyone wait until April to find out the sex of the baby. And the name. ;)

I hope everyone has a good day.....

I'm such a bad blogger!

Okay, so it's been two months since I last wrote...seems like it's been longer to me!!

Alison...she is getting so big! She is 32" inches tall now and weighs 20lbs 8oz at her weight check about 3 weeks ago. She is learning so much everyday and is just cute as a button! She tries to talk and some words are understandable..and others, not so much. she says "bompekay" and I certainly cannot figure out what THAT one means!!
she giggles a lot :D We bought a jogging stroller about a week ago and that thing is Alison's best friend now. Not sure why but she has taken a real liking to that thing.

Nothing exciting in my world. I finally got on board with weight loss and have managed to lose 35 pounds. I am signed up for the Hilly Hundred in October with my dad and sister and then the Monumental Half Marathon in November, again with dad and my sister. It should be interesting. I'm excited to do it, and quite frankly more nervous about the run than the bike ride. For some reason, I am in a lull with running....(though it's been hotter out, maybe I just need to condition more?)

Ben is good. He is working and seems to like to who he works for. (which is always good of course) He has to go to Chicago tomorrow (errr, Monday...it's late) to fix a copier, hopefully it doesn't turn out to be a super long day like the last time he went up there.

Herman and Hank are good too! No new news about them.....

So, here I sit at work...Saturday night....1:15 a.m...... will be here until about 6 or 7 am :(

Learning to talk

What a hard to understand language Alison is speaking! She sure knows what she is saying but I'm going to have to hire an interpretor because I can't figure it out!

Alison is changing sooo much! She has quit the energy and is so full of smiles! She loves to dance and she is a CLIMBER! 

She is currently sitting on the living room floor, with her Colts jersey, trying to pull it up over her legs like as if its a pair of pants. I think she's a little confused!

Christmas Update

Alison had a great christmas! She got lots of new toys that she just looooves! Her Grandma and Grandpa Cleven got her a table and chairs sized just for her (well, they are a little bigger than her..made to last a while ;) ) She likes to sit at it and eat dinner or play with her blocks. She got a kitchen play set that talks to her so she likes to "make popcorn" and cook some eggs and pancakes. She got a singing teddy bear that she just looooves to hug and dance with. She got lots of cute clothes too. Her Grandpa and Grandma Reynolds made her a wonderful new toy box! She doesn't understand yet how cool it is but she will when she gets bigger!! Thanks so much to everyone!!

Alison has learned how to say Mama and its the sweetest thing I've ever heard.... EVER!!! :D She was saying thank you for a few days (dak oo) but doesn't do it much anymore. She has slowed down on her little kissing phase but she gets very excited when friends come over! She hugged her BFF Isabella when she came over for the day. Then a few days later hugged Landy when he came over! She is signing a bit now too. She used the wrong sign but she is trying by gosh!

I guess that is all for now!!!!!

Almost Christmas!

I'm so excited for Christmas this year. Alison is still not old enough this year to get it but I'm still excited. We got her some cool toys so I hope she likes them.

Alison is starting to kiss alot. It's so sweet. You give her a bite of food and in exchange she gives you a kiss ;) She saw her reflection in the refigerator the other day and I guess she thought she looked like she deserved a kiss because she leaned into the girl on the fridge door and gave herself a kiss!!! It was soooo cute!!!

Alison sure does love her squeaky shoes too! She brings them to us and wants us to put them on her. She'll then get down and run around squeaking her little feet and just grinning!!

Been a while again!!

Okay, so it's been a while..again since I've posted!!
There are always new things with Alison to post. It's amazing to me how much they learn so quickly!
Alison has figured out a tricky way to get toys back from her cousin Landon when he steals them from her. She simply gets another toy, takes it over to him and he snatches it since he thinks she wants it and drops her original toy of preference...in which she picks up and walks off all smug!
Ali has also learned a new laugh that she thinks is pretty darn funny. She breathes in heavy while making a funyn noise. It's pretty cute. ;) (isn't everything she does just too cute?)
She loves her squeaky shoes and will stomp whenever you put shoes on her so that she can see if they squeak or not.
We went to her BFF's house last weekend and Ali had such a good time. They climbed into a milk crate together and then got stuck. Too cute!

I'll try to post more often. It's hectic around here....

Haven't posted in a while

So, it's been a while since I've posted....
Alison has been very busy learning and walking and climbing on everything!! She loves her little sit on toys that she can push. She has a few that make noise and that just intriques her right now. She is walking like a champ of course. Not talking much yet at this point though. She has mastered the word "UP".
I think she is starting to be scared of the vacuum cleaner. She has always loved the vacuum but this morning she wanted held while I ran it and once I turned it off she was perfectly happy to get back on the floor and play.
Alison had her first birthday recently. How sad that my little girl is getting so big! At her one year doc's visit she was 17lbs 9oz and 29 inches long. Still a petite thing but finally putting on some real weight! We tried to break her paci but it just didn't work out so we'll try again next month.
Any other news..... not that I can think of. Just following Alison around and seeing to it that she doesn't hurt herself with all her exploring. She sure is a curious little thing!
Next week is Thanksgiving and I can't wait for Ali to meet her cousins for the first time! She was too young to make the trip last year so this should be exciting!

teeth

Alison's top tooth FINALLY broke through. We've been working on that tooth off and on for about 2 months now. I am so glad it's finally through. She has 3, maybe 5 teeth sitting waiting to start moving in so I guess it's on to the next one now!!

Alijean is also starting to walk quite a bit too. She doesn't get too far before she topples over but she is trying! She did take a whopping 28 steps the other day :D she is getting so big!

She has this white plastic bucket that we keep her beads in and she emptied it and so her daddy held the bucket up to his mouth and yelled into it making a funny sound. I guess she liked this because she took the bucket and did the same thing...and then she wouldn't stop!

biggest loser update... BLAH! I cannot stay on track :( I won't be winning this season. I have lost some weight so that was the REAL goal. Now I just need to keep going and slowly lose this weight. Maybe if I do it slow I can keep it off????

Biggest Loser

So, I feel like I should be losing more...but that's okay. It's coming off, just very slowly and I do already feel better since I'm putting all that crap into my body. Starting today I'm going to attempt to wean off of caffiene. I drink way too much of it so.... one Diet Mt Dew a day for me. Once I am used to that I'll think about cutting that back.

Alison is now braving taking steps on her own. Before we had to "trick" her to get her to walk and now she does it on her own. She can get only about 2 maybe 3 steps before she topples over but the fact that she is trying is a big deal!! She's being brave...that's got to be scary for a little kid. She is growing this new "attitude" also. She has a very very shrill, painful scream she does when she wants something and then she'll just sit and stare at you like as if to say "if you don't do it I'm going to scream again".

I've noticed her Daddy's chin coming out in her too. Every here and there I'll catch a glimpse of her and there is Ben's chin. Her Grandma Reynolds says she thinks she is getting Ben's nose also. She's got my eye color...Ben's hair color (so far, I know these things can change). She seems to have Ben's sense of humor!! She laughs all the time, and THIS of course is a good thing ;)

Her one year birthday is coming up fast. I will be getting invitations out soon ;)

Nothing too exciting to report

Nothing real exciting to report today.

Alison is still a bit weary of this whole standing and walking thing so we've gotten no further than we were 2 weeks ago. But that is okay ;) She will walk in her own time and THEN I can put dresses on her cute little butt ;)

The holidays are fast approaching. AND I cannot believe my little girl is going to be a whole year old already. Where did it go? I can barely remmeber just a few months ago, let alone remember much of when she was a newborn. Everyone told me that it would fly and to enjoy it while it lasted...and not that I didn't believe them but I never imagined it could go this quickly. And how being so sleep deprived makes you forget most of it. I did do a bit of journaling, but there is alot more stuff I want to write down. Maybe I'll take the time this weekend and get some of that done. I have "milestones" and interesting tidbits to add to her calendar so I better do that before I forget them.

Biggest Loser here at work is going well. I have lost 10.5 pounds to date (it started 3 weeks ago) so I am halfway to my goal of 20. I'll set another small goal once the first 20 is off ;)

Steps??

So, on Friday Alison took two steps! It was an accident, she wasn't trying, but she did it!! Grandma had some macaroni and cheese that Ali wanted more of so I was holding her hands so she could walk and I let go and she kept going for two steps before she realized I let go and she fell down. she might not of falled down except Grandma and Mommy bothed screamed in excitement over her first steps that we kind of freaked her out!! She hasn't done it again but I'm sure she will soon!!

Our trip to the zoo Saturday went great!! The weather held out and we had no rain at all!! Both sets of Grandparents were there along with some friends and some other family members. Alison took a little nap so she missed out on a few things but that's okay, she's got lots of zoo time left in her life ;) We got to pet the sharks (AliJ did not pet the sharks, but she looked at them anyway).

Nothing else real exciting has been going on. Just the normal stuff. I have an event again this coming weekend with Discovery toys and I am debating whether I want to work the next weekend or not. I think I need to take the weekend off and get some stuff done around the house and spend some good quality time with Alijean. Of course when I'm gone, she gets good time with Daddy, so it's not a total bad thing. I need to make her some more food, she is running low. I am trying to come up with new stuff for her eat so she's not eating the same old boring stuff day after day. Yesterday I made her brown rice with squash.....we'll see how that goes over!

Hump day!

Weather is not looking so hot for Saturday's trip to the zoo :( that makes me sad :( :(

Alison is doing fabulous as usual. She does new, funny things daily now. She never ceases to amaze me!!

I am at work right now, taking a breather. I haven't even seen my boss yet today, which might be a good thing. He's been in a bad mood for a while now.

My diet is going really good so far! I have lost 6 pounds already! I just hope I can keep up the momentum. I know it'll slow here soon but the longer they pounds just drop off, the better! LOL I am going walking tonight with my friend Mindy from here at work and her baby Isabella (who took her first steps yesterday at not quite 9 months old!) I think I will be getting ..... no I won't, I forget they closed the one in the mall. I wanted a chic fil a chargrilled sandwich because they are not all that unhealthy but we'll be at the mall and chic fil a was being redone last time I was in there.

well, that is all, I just wanted to pop on for a quick hello!

what a weekend!

This has been an interesting weekend. I was excited about my first demo today for Discovery Toys and the only people that showed were the hostess and her sister...and me. SO, not one single solitary sale happened :( I mean, no biggie, but I was excited. Oh well...on to the next demo. Maybe it will go better.
I did an event with Discovery Toys Saturday afternoon (Penrod Art Festival) and I actually signed a consultant so that was exciting! She is my first one!! You win some, you lose some.

Alison is just so precious. :( I hate Sundays because I know I have to go back to work the next day. I hate missing any time with her because I know I can never get it back. I know it's good for her to be away from momma sometimes and probably good for me too but Sundays are just no fun.

Well, this coming Saturday is zoo day....I'm quite excited! I hope the weather is nice and doesn't rain. I want AliJ to see all the animals!! I'll post some pics after we go. Then I have another demo on Sunday...so again...wish me luck!

Foul Mood

So, for whatever reason, I am in a FOUL mood today! I hate days like this. I'm hoping that once the morning passes and more people show up here at work that my mood will improve. Not sure what is wrong, I'm just annoyed!!!

Alison waved bye bye this morning to her daddy and she even tried to say bye bye! How cute. I wish I could have seen it. She has also taken to shaking her head no..which is so stinkin cute because her whole little body shakes along with it! I *think* she is trying to say binky now too. It's not real clear but it seems as though she is trying to say it.

Tonight we are going out for hot wings for Ben's birthday. Don't know yet which wing place we will go to but we'll go somewhere. It should be interesting..me trying to eat wings and take care of Ali at the same time.... I suppose I'll figure it out... I always do. Of course biggest loser starts today so I'll be starting off cheating!! Mindy is in biggest loser too and she is going with us so I guess we'll be cheating together!