Thursday, July 31, 2008

I Called the Bluff...

If you followed my babysites blog you know that I recently made a difficult decision about work. I was issued an ultimatum by my boss to either come back to work full time or else they'd need to replace me. I thought long and hard about the decision and came to the conclusion that I really want to be a mommy full time and I'm not really enjoying my work here anyway so I told them that I'd stick around long enough to train my replacement but I wouldn't be coming back full time. I mentally moved on and was starting to look forward to my future as a full time stay at home mom.


Yesterday the director of my contract came to my office and told me that I could continue to work part time if I would stay. Basically I called their bluff and now they've changed their tune. It's flattering as an employee that they're willing to bend the policy in order to keep me, but at the same time it's really ticking me off. If they would have agreed to let me stay a part time employee in the first place I may have continued working this way (somewhat happily) for some time but now that I've seen the light at the end of the tunnel I've realized how much I don't like my job and how eager I was for a change. I'm pretty angry that they've put me in the position to have to make another difficult decision after Ive already made one and had closure.


Matthew and I talked about it a lot last night and still haven't really come to any conclusions. I've made a mental list of pros and cons and am going to attempt to figure it out over the weekend so I can let the bigwigs at work know my answer on Monday. No matter what we decide I know we'll make it work somehow.


On to more fun topics- Ally and I went to the swimming pool with friends Sarah, Dan, Hal & Kate yesterday. I was able to squeeze her into her strawberry swim suit, even though it's a 0-3 mo. size, so she looked adorable- as usual! She really enjoyed the water this time around- especially when I swooshed her around in it and gave her some tummy time on a boogie board.


After our fun in the pool we went home for some more play time with Daddy.

Ally enjoyed some walking practice on his tummy!

Daddy and I both love this outfit- even though 2 people have called her a boy during previous wearings. Seriously people, blue does not always mean boy!

Ally has the tastiest fingers in Norfolk!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Ally & Daddy

Matthew commented that there were no pictures of my handsome husband on my new blog so I thought I'd better post one. This was taken yesterday as Ally enjoyed some tummy time and kisses with her daddy. Aren't they sweet?
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Ally Nearly Rolls Over

Here's a fun little video I shot tonight- Ally is so close to rolling over from back to tummy- hopefully I'll be able to catch it on video when she finally does it.
Enjoy!


Sweet Sleeping Ally

Yesterday was a challenging afternoon. I don't know what was wrong with Ally all day but she was grumpy with a capital G! She wouldn't eat, she wasn't wet (though she did have a fantastically powerful blowout yesterday afternoon that required an emergency trip to the bathtub and a load of laundry), she didn't want to play, she wouldn't nap, etc... I didn't know what else to do with her and was starting to question my decision to be at home all day every day subjecting myself to this type of misery and heartache. Then sweet, glorious bedtime arrived and I saw this....

The minute I set her down she rolled over onto her side- I had to rush downstairs for my camera to capture the moment because she's sleeping in exactly the same position that I sleep in! Suddenly all my frustration of the day slipped away and I was reminded just how fortunate I am to have this little angel in my life- no matter how much of a stinker she may be occasionally.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Welcome & Weekend Recap

Welcome to my new blog! I've decided that it's time to leave the babysites blog and move on to a simpler, more user friendly forum where it's a lot easier to post pictures and videos. My friend Christine is a champion blogger and she's going to help me pimp my blog. It will still be primarily about Ally, but it's going to include lots of stuff about the rest of our family too. I've thought long and hard about a creative title and haven't been able to come up with much so I decided to pilfer one from my favorite Doctor, Dr. Seuss that is. Oh, Baby, The Places You'll Go is a book I read to Ally nearly every day when I was pregnant. The first line of the book is "Baby, oh, baby, the places you'll go! The worlds you will visit! The friends you will know!" I think it's sort of an appropriate beginning for a blog that will be chronicling Ally's life. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I'll enjoy writing it!

Now for the weekend recap: We had a nice relaxing Friday night- I cooked a nice dinner, Ally sat at the table with us to eat- she's really starting to show more interest in what we're doing so I think we'll be attempting solid foods with her soon. After her bed time Matthew and I vegged out and watched some Family Guy episodes. We took the dogs to the beach on Saturday morning and let them frolic around in the water for a while. As usual, Morrison was obsessed with his tennis ball and Angus spent the whole time trying to bite the waves. Once we got the boys bathed we headed out for an exciting afternoon at Home Depot and Costco!

Matthew got to spend some quality Ally time on Saturday night because I had a bachelorette party to attend! My friend Marissa is getting married in October- she and a about 15 girl friends came to Virginia Beach to celebrate her last big night out before she ties the knot. I met them out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, then went back to the beach house they were staying at for a lingerie shower. All I have to say is Brock (Marissa's future husband) is going to be a very happy guy! The entire entourage then piled into a 15 person stretch Hummer limo for a night out on the town- I followed in my car since I needed to go home early in order to get up with Ally in the middle of the night and be ready for church bright and early in the morning. I had a fun time but am ticked that I forgot to bring my camera. Marissa is supposed to share some pics soon so I'll be sure to post a few when I get them.




Here are some fun Ally pictures from this weekend:




Smiley girl



Mommy & Ally


Happy girl sitting in the Mommy recliner
Ally had fallen asleep reading her book and was just waking up when this was taken
Ally's first shoulder ride! She loved it!