I'm 1 year old today!

Guess who is one year old. A year ago right now I had just started to push this little girl out. At 3:40pm we will celebrate her exact birth moment. I bet that she will be taking a nap though. Today she said byebye. She can also say Dada, Momma, More, Nana, NighNight, Boom, Wow. I think that is it. She is getting much better at mimicking our sounds though. This morning I said the word scissor and she said scdithhter... or something like that. This past year has just flew by! I can't believe that she will be moving out of her room and into a new room to make room for baby. We are going to get her a big girl bed soon! She has 7 teeth and is working on one more right now. No walking yet... but she is perfecting the art of standing. But if I hold out my hand in front of her to walk to me her knees buckle and she crawls over. We will be having an ultrasound in a few weeks to tell the sex of the next baby... can't wait!

Deep thoughts

A few deep thoughts by Jack Handey (SNL)

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.


I hope some animal never bores a hole in my head and lays its eggs in my brain, because later you might think you're having a good idea but it's just eggs hatching.


Instead of a trap door, what about a trap window? The guy looks out it, and if he leans too far, he falls out. Wait. I guess that is like a regular window.


When I found the skull in the woods, the first thing I did was call the police. But then I got curious about it. I picked it up, and started wondering who this person was, and why he had deer horns.


Consider the daffodil. And while you are doing that, I'll be over here, looking through your stuff.


I'd like to see a guy tap-dancing so fast his legs actually broke, because it would finally establish a "tap barrier," and we could move on from there.


The other day I got you my can opener and was opening a can of worms when I thought, "What am I doing?!"

Pictures

First Snow for the little girl
Momma and Baby out for a stoll in the snow
Mmmmmmmmmm kisses from dada.

Life stuck at home.

I've been home since Monday and with a sick and grumpy baby. I took Aly into the doctor on Monday.. (glad I did that day or I wouldn't have been able to make it into town). She had been running a fever since Sat and tugging at her ears. Turns out she had or still has... not sure... a throat virus. Ohhh, she has been a grump. I think that we are nearing the end of the sickness, but she is still really congested. Poor thing... all she wants to do is suck her thumb. Kinda hard when you can't breath out of your nose. I try to use the bulb sucky thing, but I can't get a drip out of her nose. I hope that she isn't learning how to be a winy baby, because she sure is getting good at it. My parents decided to get out of the house yesterday and come over. I told them to do it at their own risk. I haven't driven anywhere since Monday and Steven has gone to work everyday and said that the roads in our town are pretty bad. Especially up and down our road. So they decided to brave the elements and head up. They made it almost all the way. Their truck got stuck and started to slide backwards down our road. They had to walk up to our house and my dad got a shovel and dug himself out and backed slowly down our road till he got to the flat part next to our mailboxes where he could turn around. As many of you know there are dropoffs on both sides or our road... scary! Well he got the truck unstuck and walked back up to our house. Later they made it back to Vancouver just fine. What an adventure for them! Our neighbors built the most awesome igloo out of all the snow that we have! It is so big. We played out in the snow for a bit a few days ago. I got Aly all bundled up and put her in the Baby Bjorn. It was her last ride in that thing because she was so heavy pushing down on my prego tummy. I need to go look for her. I hear things in the kitchen.
Ok I'm back and she was eating a candycane. MMmmmm I bet that was good. She is so curious. I hear more banging. What is she doing? She is getting so big. She is pulling herself up on just about anything. She is so close to walking. I can't believe that she is going to be a year old!!!

Ohhhhhh.... pretty day!

There is nothing as good as waking up to a snow covered morning. The house is so bright because of the reflection of the snow. Guess who is going outside for her 1st playday in the snow. Pictures to follow!

Young soldier remembered

This was such sad news to hear. I was watching the news when my mom called to ask if I was watching. Weird question... got me a little nervous. I said why? Then I saw this story. Jeremiah played baseball with my brother Adam for many years and was a friend of his. I remember his family and how friendly they were. His dad and mom use to come in to YNG to shop and again... so friendly. You could tell that they had the love of Jesus is their hearts. I will remember Jeremiah for being a man of duty serving our country and making the ultimate sacrifice no person would wish for their child. I know that he is with Jesus and that is a calming thought. Prayers go out to his grieving family.



http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_010507_news_soldier_accident.fd70aba.html
Vancouver soldier dies from injuries in Humvee accident
04:56 PM PST on Friday, January 5, 2007
By Pat Dooris and kgw.com Staff
An soldier who grew up in the Vancouver, Washington area died after injuries he suffered in a Humvee accident in Baghdad.

Caring Bridge
Jeremiah Johnson with his wife Gayle and their two children.
Jeremiah Johnson, 23, died Friday morning at the U.S. Army hospital in Germany, according to his mother Elizabeth johnson.
Johnson was part of the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parchute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Fort Richardson, Alaska.
Johnson suffered traumatic brain injuries after the humvee in which he was riding rolled into a canal, trapping Johnson inside and under water for as long as ten minutes, according to Senior Paster Lee Erickson of the Salmon Creek Four Square Church.
Erickson is close friends with with the Johnson family and speaks with JeremiahÂ’s father, Dave, every other day.
Dave and Elizabeth Johnson live in the Vancouver area but flew to Germany to be with their son as soon as the crash happened.
BACKGROUND: Vancouver soldier injured in Iraq
Jeremiah is married to Gayle Johnson, and the couple have two children, ages 2 and 4. They met at the Salmon Creek Four Square Church.
Prayers and remembrances were being sent to the Caring Bridge Web site.
Link: Caring Bridge

Due July 5th, 2007

It's a baby...

Yummy Yum Yum

MMMMMMmmmmmmm...........whipcream kisses!

Home is so nice.

We hope everyone out there had a wonderful Christmas! We did. Alyenna cleaned up with all her new toys. We had a very busy few days and are glad to be at home resting today. There was alot of lack of sleep for baby... but with all the action she was a great tag-a-long. I'm having some technical problems with my program that loads the pictures off my camera and on to the computer... so I hope to resolve that soon. I had an ultrasound yesterday to tell how far along I actually am and I am 13 weeks. So my new due date is July 5th. Just around the corner! We also decided to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. That ultrasound will be sometime in Feb.

NO, NO, NO.

Yellow and clear are so much better. Aly is starting to feel much better... and sleeping thru the night again! I still think that she is working on the teeth next to her bottom teeth though. So I went to my nurse educator visit yesterday. That nurse's job must be so boring. She has this list of people who are newly pregnant and she has to ask them a million and one questions about their medical history and take their blood pressure and then tell them food and health related info during pregnancy. So I must have really bored her because all of my answers were no. No muscle related problems. No non-functioning organs. No diabetes. Nothing. She did inform me that if I choose to, I can have an ultrasound to determine my due date accurately. I was all over that!!! I only got to have one ultrasound with Aly. So this time I will get to have two! So my 1st doctor appt and ultrasound are day after Christmas! Woo-hoo. I can't believe that it is the 15th! Ahhh. I need to finish shopping! P.S. Why does the scale at the doctor's office have to say something SO different than my scale at home!

Green is no fun!

Having a baby with a cold is just no fun. She really hates it when I come near her with the bulb sucker thing... but man does that rattle her brains as I suck the snot out of her nose. Poor little girl. She is such a sad case when she is sick. Don't you wish you could just give your child a tissue and say "Here blow your nose". Not the case I guess. When do they learn that skill? Not soon enough. It is so hard to pin her down with one hand... hold her hands out of the way and try to get her to hold her head still as I approach with the sucker with the other hand. What a production. She has mastered avoiding that thing like a pro! When I just touch the rim of her nostril with the sucker she freaks out! And I mean a ROYAL freak out. Like I was slowly sawing off a limb is what it sounds like. She is napping right now.. thankfully. Sleeping is hard for her when she can't suck her thumb. Her nose is stuffed up so she has to breath out of her mouth. She didn't wake up last night though. Thankfully! Owww... it just feels good to vent!

How well do you know me?

Create your own friendquiz here

Mmmmm... paper.

What type of animal likes to eat paper? Well, I will tell you that it isn't an animal at all... it is my human baby. Any type of paper and she is down for a bite. She has 4 top teeth now and her bottom teeth make for some great chompers. Almost all the papers in the bottom drawer of my desk have little Aly bites out of them. Right now she is trying to score a bite of the envelope that holds our house documents in it. Not just thin paper... the thick folder type. Ohhh she got a bite. At least now she has the coordination to get it out of her mouth when she realizes that it is not food. Hmmmm babies a interesting breed. When she was on my lap this morning she tried to score a bite of the Woodland Town Paper. No type of paper is a task to hard for my little girl... she will get a bite!

under the weather... explained.

We have news...
A is going to be a big sister. I am about 10 weeks along! Surprise.. what a blessing!
I have been feeling like a pile of nauseous junk for the last month or so. Much worse than the first time I was pregnant. I took 2 home tests two weeks apart and they were both negative... so I went in for the blood test and confirmed the symptoms that I was having. PREGO! So my due date is end of June. We are surprised, shocked, excited and a little nervous. The babies will be 19 months apart... eeeeek. I'm going to be a busy mommy!

How cute am I?

Look at all her teeth! All of the sudden she has a mouth full. I've been feeling a little under the weather the last few days... so the blogging has taken a hit. Have a great Turkey Day everyone. I know that Aly will have a great time enjoying turkey and all the trimmings. She is a meat lover. She will pick out the meat off her plate and skip the veggies, unless I feed them to her with my fork. She loves puzzles lately.. especially the wood ones. As you read in a previous post she is part beaver. All her puzzles pieces have teeth marks in them.

Quiet.... too quiet.

Here is why
it was so quiet
in the kitchen.
Mmmmmm....
dada's coffee grounds
out of the garbage.

It's not to late to sleep like a baby.

La La La La La... I'm kicking my legs and playing in my crib. I'm suppose to be getting tired and taking a nap, but la la la la la. I think I just lay here and kick the side of my crib and dangle my legs in and out of the slats. I don't even know that my momma is watching me and listening to me. I can hear my music and am just enjoying life. Wow...it has been like 10 minutes and I'm still just as content as can be. Talking to myself and dangling my legs out of..... ASLEEP!! How is that even possible to fall asleep mid kick? She didn't look to comfortable as you can see from the pictures, but I wasn't about to go in a wake her up to move her. She fell asleep like that so it couldn't be that bad. Needless to say she woke up about 1 hour into her nap when she realized that she couldn't get her leg out of it's tight spot. So I went in and picked her up and we sat down in the glider and rocked for a bit. She fell right back to sleep and then I laid her down in her crib and she slept for 2 more hours. I got a great nap in too!!! God bless the rain... it just makes you want to stay in bed.

(Please note the fashionable addition to the end of her crib. She had chewed through to the wood that could give her slivers, so I had to cover the end of the crib so that she wouldn't get wood in her lip~! )

Dirt Water Pool

I think that our house is going to erode away with all this rain. We live at the top of the hill and so therefore all the water that runs off our property goes down the hill. Well our neighbors are just below us so guess where our water runs off to? You guessed it... there house. Their driveway is a lake and the streams coming down off our lot are the major contributing water source. There are little eroded pathways in the dirt leading from the top of the side yard down into their driveway. Our driveway has some carved out little streams of it's own dumping out into the street. When it is really coming down you can look out the window and just watch the water run down into their driveway where it is puddling under their cars. There is a break in the rain right now and I can actually see across the valley. It is so pretty because all the deciduous trees are turning yellow and so the landscape is dotted with yellow.

Ode to Rain.

Rain coming down so loud
Wondering if I might drown.
Want to go outside and play
Wishing for a sunny day
Dark and cloudy day outside
Thinking of a Slip N Slide
Waking up at night from rain
What a pain, what a pain
Can't take baby for a walk
Stuck inside, wanna talk?
It's warm though, that is nice
Ohh a nap... to me entice
Must go now my time is up
Baby crying and needs some lup :-)

Big Girl

Miss D had her 9 month check up today. She is a long girl.
She measured in at 29 1/2 inches long. That is in the 97%.
She weighed in at 19lbs 11.6oz... keeping her in the 75%.
She did have a head growth spurt. She went from 42cm to
45.5cm. She went from the 50% to the 89% for her head.
So there are the stats. She did have to have a finger prick
to check for anemia. No shots though! Here is our attempt
at the self-portrait... all Miss D was into was the camera strap.