Checked Out

I've checked out for a few weeks. My parents were in town last week, this weekend we're at the lake for the holiday weekend and we're heading to Myrtle Beach on Tuesday for the remainder of the week. I'm enjoying time away from work and am trying to leave all of my electronic gadgets behind so don't waste any time checking the blog for updates until Monday 9/8 when I'm back at work and looking for a way to kill some time- lots of pictures to come. Until then, enjoy the Labor Day holiday!

Lazy Weekend

Ally hanging out in her activity center

Spending some QT with dad- and drooling all over him in the process

Catching a quick nap with mommy

Hamming it up after church at Sunday brunch

The Many Faces Of Gus

Irritated by Commitment?

Have I mentioned that I have a marvelous husband? A little over three years ago on July 8, 2005 my sweetie got down on one knee to propose to me on a tennis court after a little white ring box fell out of my racket case as we were getting ready to play. I said yes, he slid the most beautiful platinum engagement ring on my finger (I know all the girls say that but mine really is quite breathtaking) and we went along on our marry way to celebrate with friends and family (we were too excited to actually play tennis.)

Less than a year later on May 20, 2006 he slid another band on my finger that was a symbol of our commitment to one another. I have happily worn these two rings since then with the exception of a brief stint late in my pregnancy, when I was plagued with a condition commonly known as sausage fingers, during which time I wore them on a chain around my neck.

Given that I have worn one or both of these rings without incident for the past three years I was shocked to discover that I seem to have developed an allergy to them. WTH?!? Apparently I'm not the only person with this problem either- I googled "ring rash" and got 1690 hits!

There appear to be two prevailing schools of thought:
1. It is an allergy to the nickle or other alloys that are mixed with the platinum.
2. I'm not drying my hands well enough and water is getting trapped under my rings.

Since I haven't changed my hand washing habits (still just as obsessive compulsive as I always have been) it seems unlikely that #2 is the culprit but it also seems impossible to just develop an allergy to something you've been exposed to for years!

While many suffer from this affliction, very few seemed to offer up any solutions. I managed to take away the following suggestions:

• remove rings and wear around neck until the rash has healed
• take off rings when washing hands and make sure fingers are completely dry before putting them back on
• clean rings by boiling in vinegar with a drop of dish washing soap
• apply several coats of clear nail polish to the inside which will act as a barrier in the event it is an allergy to the nickle

While my finger may be irritated by the symbols of our commitment, the commitment itself remains strong and healthy. I love my man more today than I ever have and am so proud of the husband and father that he has grown into over the past few years!

Loving My Life

When I started this blog last month I had visions of writing witty entries full of pithy comments and funny stories. After re-reading a few of my posts I realize that I've basically just recounted my days and included lots and lots of pictures and videos of Ally. Try as I may, I can't seem to come up with any fodder for more interesting and glamorous blogging.

I never led a particularly sensational life before we had Allison but I could hang with the big dogs on the weekends- staying up late, having some drinks, and doing spontaneous things. I had a social life that included fun and interesting activities like book group, tennis matches, trips to the gym, ladies nights, dates with my hubby, etc. That's all changed now that there is a little baby in my life who has a schedule (sort of) and frequent middle of the night wake up calls. There is something about getting up for work at 5am every day, spending my afternoons playing with Ally, changing diapers, washing and sterilizing bottles, cooking dinner and trying in vain to keep a tidy house that just zaps all the spontaneity that I once enjoyed so much.

You know what though- I am 100% okay with it all. I love my life and my new roll as a mommy! The highlight of my day is picking up my little peanut from daycare and seeing her big gummy smile. We play all afternoon together and wait for daddy to come home in the evenings so we can go on a nice long walk around the neighborhood with a shared glass of wine. I don't care that I go to bed at 9:30 every night and only make it out to dinner once every few weeks. I am completely content. Though I still want for a lot, I need nothing. We are so richly blessed with good friends, (who continue to be our friends even though we don't see them as often as we used to) a loving family who supports us in so many ways, and our happy, healthy baby girl.

How could I possibly feel like my life is lacking in any way when I see this goofy, beautiful smile every day?

Bath Time

Tummy Fun

We're going to have to start strapping little Ally into her rocking chair! As you can see from these pictures, she's starting to twist around in it a lot and will be wiggling free before we know it. It's awfully cute, but a little worrisome too. We're about to enter into a whole new phase of her life where baby proofing everything from the cabinets to the toilets will become the name of the game. It's exciting to see her becoming more mobile, but it's bound to be nerve-wracking too.

Strangely enough, she seems to have forgotten how to roll from her belly onto her back now that she's gotten so good at going from back to belly. Anytime she spends any length of time on her tummy she gets bored and starts making "the most annoying noise in the world" until we take pity on her and flip her back over... at which point she inevitably rolls right back onto her belly only to repeat the entire cycle!

This forgotten skill has become quite a problem in the middle of the night lately- she'll roll onto her belly at some point then wake herself up when she can't flip back over and she wants to change positions- and you know what that means- Matthew and I get to hear "the most annoying noise in the world" at all hours in the evening. She gets so frustrated by the time we get to her that she's fully awake and ready to go. Saturday morning she was up at 4:20am, Sunday morning she was up at 5am, and today she was up at 1:35am and again at 5am.

Last night was particularly fun and exciting... in addition to the two wake ups from Ally, one of our dogs, Angus, had a nightmare and woke up screaming around 1am- I can't quite explain the noise he makes but he literally does scream.

I wish I knew what it was that terrified him so much. The poor baby gets so scared that he wets his bed. He's done this perhaps 15 times over the past 4 years or so. We can't be mad at him so we get up, comfort him, clean him off, do our best to clean up and dry out his bed and then we hope that it doesn't happen again for a while. Poor Gus.

We had a low-key weekend with the exception of all of the nighttime excitement! Some members of Matthew's extended family were passing through town on Saturday morning so we visited with them for an hour or so at the house. Matthew's 8 year old cousin Anna had a lot of fun with Ally! We attended a cut throat soccer game played by our lake neighbor Emilee and generally vegged out on Saturday night. Matthew and I both volunteered at the church nursery yesterday morning. I was in with the 2 year old kiddos and Matthew was manning the door making sure everyone had their name tags and paperwork. Ally was in the infant nursery. I made the mistake of picking up a little boy named Caleb who started crying the minute his mommy and daddy dropped him off and I wasn't able to set him down again until they came back for him. Apparently it was only his second time in a day care setting so he has some major separation anxiety. Although I don't like the fact that Ally is in daycare a lot during the week it makes me happy that she doesn't seem to have any issues being separated from us- yet.... maybe that comes later.

Olympic watching and a steak dinner with Bonnie capped off the weekend. This will be my first week of only working 4 days and taking every Friday off. I'm really looking forward to the short week and to having a full two weeks off to enjoy my parent's visit and our trip south to NC and SC over the Labor Day holiday.

Correction

After I posted yesterday I got a call on my cell phone from Matthew requesting that I pick him up at the squadron on my way home because his 12 day work up got cancelled! We were so excited to have him home with us last night and are looking forward to a fun weekend together. Life in the Navy is never dull!

Playing Hookie

Yesterday I played hookie from work- sort of. My friend Nicki and her two daughters, Katelynn and Hannah, drove down from Northern Virginia on Tuesday afternoon to visit with us. We went to the beach and had a lovely, low-key night at home. Since Ally had an appointment with the doctor on Wednesday afternoon and we thought she'd developed pink eye I decided to keep her home so we could hang out with Nicki and the girls a little longer. We went out for a yummy breakfast Wednesday morning and then caught up on the Olympic Gymnastics from the previous night. Here's some pictures of our visit:

Ally had just finished her bottle and was sporting a lovely milk goatee!

Ally and Mommy enjoying the sun!

Ally's hat sure looked goofy, but it did the trick! Her new one piece bathing suit worked really well too!

Nicki, Katelynn and Hannah enjoying the refreshing water of the Bay! (Can you tell that Nicki is expecting a third kiddo soon?)

Katelynn and Hannah were such good swimmers!

Matthew enjoyed hanging out with the girls... I think he loves little girls this age and can't wait until he can horse around with Ally!

Hannah and Katelynn found a nifty new use for our ottoman!

Once the gals left yesterday afternoon Ally and I were off to the doctor's office. I'd made her an appointment to discuss her feeding problems and to get her eyes checked out because we thought she'd picked up pink eye. Luckily the doctor didn't think it was pink eye but he gave us some ointment to put in her eyes just in case since they've been so gunked up lately. He also diagnosed her with acid reflux. I was really surprised by this and feel so terribly guilty for overlooking the signs for so long. She hardly ever spits up so I didn't think it could possibly be reflux but apparently it's quite common for babies to take a few ounces at the beginning of a feeding then refuse the rest of the bottle once their esophagus starts to get irritated. She also coughs a lot which I didn't associate with her eating issues but apparently that's also a symptom.

We got a prescription for some baby Zantac. Amazingly enough they didn't flavor it with some infant friendly fruity flavor and the stuff tastes horrible. Poor Ally tries to spit it all back out and it makes her gag. I've tried putting it into her bottle, but in order for that to work she has to finish the entire thing which she doesn't always do. I'm considering calling the pharmacy today to see if they can flavor it if I bring it back in. Regardless- hopefully we'll see an improvement in Ally's eating habits within the next few days.

The Doc recommended waiting for a while to start feeding her cereal but suggested putting a small amount in her bottle (which I'd previously avoided doing) to help sooth her esophagus and tummy when she's eating. We tried this last night for the first time at her final feeding. Matthew was administering it and after a few minutes he said "Wendy- she's been working on this bottle for like 10 minutes and it doesn't seem like she's making much progress." She's usually very sleepy and keeps her eyes closed during this feeding so I told him to keep working on it and that she'd finish it eventually. 20 minutes later he took the bottle from her and discovered she's only taken about a half ounce in 30 minutes! Apparently I put too much cereal into the mixture so she couldn't get anything out of the bottle! Poor baby was working so hard and couldn't get anything! Needless to say we remixed the bottle and she was able to get her requisite 5 ounces before bedtime. I am definitely not winning any mommy of the year awards this month!

Last on the list of crummy news, Matthew found out yesterday that he was going to be going on a 12 day work up with the Eisenhower and he left at 6:30am today. Nothing like getting some notice with stuff like this! We're trying to keep it in perspective though... there was another group of guys in the squadron that found out they're leaving on Sunday for 4 months so it could definitely be worse. It was hard to say goodbye to him this morning when we dropped him off at the squadron and I had a mini panic attack. I should be used to all of this by now but somehow everything is different now that Ally is here. The thought of having to do everything on my own for the next week and a half is really daunting. I know we'll manage somehow but we're sure going to miss our number one guy!

Razzberries and Cereal

No, I didn't misspell razzberries. Ally has learned to razz or 'blow razzberries' with her little mouth and she did it a lot this weekend- it was hysterical! I haven't managed to catch it on video yet, but I'll try again this week.

I did however capture her first experience with cereal on video- the sound is sort of messed up so I'm not sure if you'll be able to hear my commentary but hopefully the action doesn't need much narration and you'll be able to keep up without it.

Here is the latest round of pictures from the weekend. Ally had some good quality couch time with her furry brothers.

We attempted to make a family trip to the beach this weekend but were thwarted by two police officers on 4 wheelers- we had no sooner arrived than they told us we were not allowed to have dogs on the beach between the hours of 9am and 7pm because there are too many tourists... This was the first time we had ever heard this rule or encountered any officers enforcing it. The tourist excuse is complete BS too- tourists don't come to our part of the beach- in fact, the few blocks of beach in front of our home are virtually deserted- even in the middle of the summer time! We were issued a warning by the officers which I suppose is better than a ticket, but it was still disappointing- especially for the dogs- they didn't understand why we had to turn around and go home right away. To add insult to injury- we tortured them with baths since they had just enough time at the beach to get wet and sandy.

The rest of the weekend passed without much excitement and was fairly relaxing. We enjoyed some much cooler temperatures and a little rain yesterday which made me start to anticipate the fall. We still have some end of summer fun to look forward to first!

• 8/12 Wendy's friend Nicki and her two daughters Katelynn and Hannah come for a visit
• 8/16 Matthew's aunt, uncle and cousin will be passing through town for a quick visit on their way to the lake from Delaware.
• 8/24 Grandpa Nick and Grandma Ann arrive for a visit
• 8/29 We leave for the lake for the Labor Day festivities
• 9/2 We depart the lake and head down to Myrtle Beach, SC for some fun in the sun with our friends the Kennedys.

Ally continues to be a difficult eater with her bottles. So much so that I've made an appointment with the Doctor on Wednesday to discuss it. I know she's my first child and I have a tendency to be paranoid and over cautious, but I just can't believe it's normal behavior for her to scream, cry, arch her back, push away bottles, hit me in the face and pull my hair all while I'm trying to feed her. It's not just me either, she does it to Matthew (not the hair pulling part) and the ladies at her daycare. Every feeding is a battle and we fight to get her to take a few ounces at a time before she starts in on her antics. It's gotten a lot worse over the past few weeks so I thought it was time to seek some professional help and to get a weight check on her to make sure she's not loosing weight. Wish us luck!

Revisited: Ally at 2 months

Earlier this week I was taking some pictures of Ally (what a shock!) and the battery on my camera died. I don't even know how long it's been since I recharged it and I can't find the charger anywhere. Matthew is insisting I find it instead of buying a new one so my camera (A Cannon PowerShot) is out of commission indefinitely. Consequently, I dug out his digital camera (a Nikon CoolPix) so I could continue snapping away. When I got ready to download I discovered a bunch of pictures from early May still stored on the camera.

Little Ally was only two months old. Hard to believe that she's 5 months old today! I put her into the jumper-roo this morning at daycare for the first time and she loved it! She started bouncing right away and seemed fascinated by all the toys. I'm sure we'll be buying one for the house soon.

This picture was taken the other day- Ally was sort of sitting up on her own for the first time. Granted she was leaning way forward, but it was a great start! She's gotten good at balancing and can support herself pretty well on her arms. I'm still close by to catch her if she topples over though.

I'm really happy that it's Friday today and am looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. I'm planning to sleep in as late as Ally will allow, watch some Olympic coverage, do a little shopping and just enjoy the time with my family.

A lot to report

I've got lots of big news to report on today! First and foremost my job: I have decided to hang onto it for a little while longer. I'm a little bit disappointed in myself for doing it, but what can I say- a salary is a pretty powerful motivator. I spoke with my bosses yesterday and we agreed that I'll cut back from 32 hours a week to 25 and I'll have Fridays off. I'll still get to spend more time with Ally and bring in a little bit of income at the same time. It's not as good as being with her all the time, but I figure I can always quit again in a few months if it still isn't working for me.

I'm going to try to turn over a new leaf and be more positive about things at work- I'm thankful to be employed and thankful that my company wanted to keep me badly enough that they were willing to compromise with me. I'm thankful that Ally is doing well in daycare and doesn't seem to be at all traumatized by being left alone there for 6 hours a day- I'm also thankful that she is nearly 5 months old and hasn't been sick yet (yes, I did just knock on wood) which I attribute primarily to good healthy genes and being exposed to things from the other kids at daycare- she's building up a strong immune system.

I'm doing my best to look for silver linings and have not given up the dream of being a SAHM. I'm trying to do what's best for our family and I think I need to keep working for a little while longer. We have plans to have another baby at some point in the future and I'll definitely be at home for a while with them when there are two little ones to look after. Thanks for sticking with me through all of this drama. I hope you're not too disappointed in me.

Next in the lineup of big news- I finally caught little Ally rolling over from her back to her belly on video! Yea- now I just have to clean 28 minutes of failed attempts off the camera!

I was so proud of my little peanut!

She was a happy and cheerful little girl all day yesterday afternoon! We had lots of fun together.

All in all, life is good.

We're Officially Old Farts!

Monday, Monday.... it's always hard to come back to work after a nice weekend and this past weekend was quite nice indeed. Matthew, Ally and I relaxed on Friday afternoon and evening and had a quiet dinner at home. Ally and I went shopping with Grandma Dee on Saturday morning since it was tax free weekend here in Virginia. It was a successful trip as we all found some fun things.

Granddad and Grandma came over to babysit Ally on Saturday afternoon since Matthew and I were going to the wedding our our friends Chris and Linette. Chris and Matthew were deployed together for 4 months and were roommates on the ship so they got to be pretty good friends and his beautiful wife Linette was a good email buddy of mine during their absence. Matthew was a part of the sword arch after the ceremony- it's an awesome Navy tradition- the bride and groom walk through the arch and as they pass through each pair of swords is lowered to block their way and they have to kiss to pass through. Upon exiting the arch, the bride is smacked on the
backside with a sword and gets a "Welcome to the Navy Mrs. (Insert Groom's last name here)!" It's pretty cute and is always a huge crowd pleaser. Matthew is the one at the end of the arch with his back to the camera.

The reception was held at a neat place right on the water so we enjoyed some lovely vistas with our dinner. We danced a little bit and called it an early night. Even with babysitters that we trust implicitly with our daughter we were still home before 10pm. We're so old and pathetic these days!

Sunday morning was filled with the usual routine: church then brunch with friends Bonnie and Dean. We frequent this little place called Omar's Carriage House that used to be an actual carriage house. It's small and quaint and they have good food but they have a really screwed up menu. Every time we go, someone tries to order the Shrimp & Grits meal and every time the waiter tells us that they're out of it. The restaurant doesn't open until 11am on Sunday and we're usually there by 11:15! How are they going to run out of something already?
Anyway, I digress....

One really cool think about living in Norfolk is Mermaids. There are mermaids designed by local artists scattered throughout the city. They are painted and accessorized to go along with the theme of their location. For example, one mermaid by the hospital is dressed in a scrub top and has a stethoscope dangling from her neck and the one by the Amphibious Naval base is dressed in a sailor outfit. This weekend we found the Chinese mermaid- who knew there was such a creature! She is located right next to a huge waterfront restaurant that looks like some sort of Buddhist palace or temple. I thought she made a perfect Norfolk photo opp! I can't take the credit for discovering her though- Bonnie led us to her.

For those of you wondering, I still have not made a decision regarding my employment status. I'd still love to be a SAHM and have not yet ruled out the possibility. I have however decided that IF I go back to work, I will be reducing my hours, going in later, and taking Fridays off so I'll have more time at home with my precious peanut. I think I hold the upper hand in the negotiation process at this point. If they won't agree to my new schedule I can always turn in my notice and quit! I'll keep you all posted whenever I do finally make this decision.

Finally, Ally hit a major milestone this past weekend... she rolled over from her back to her tummy... five times! Of course I was unable to catch any of it on video but I do have roughly 18 minutes of footage of her squirming around and grunting if any of you are interested! :-) I vow to keep trying though so look for a new video soon!

August already?

My little Ally bear was looking so darling yesterday in her flowery capri pants and turquoise turtle shirt that we just had to have a little photo shoot. She wore this outfit because it was picture day at day care... can you believe that they take school pictures of little tiny tykes? I found that rather amusing. Her teachers told me she didn't smile for the picture so I thought I'd take some of my own so I could remember the day.

August is now upon us and I'm surprised by how fast the days and weeks are passing by. Ally will be 5 months old in a week. Even though I love the stage she's in now I find myself torn between a longing for the days when she was so new and tiny and I could wrap her up and cuddle her to my hearts content and excitement at the little pre-toddler she will become in the future months. I'm looking forward to feeding her the first bites of cereal and veggies soon, seeing her roll all the way over from back to tummy, watching her learn to sit up on her own, and a myriad of other tiny wonders. For today though, I will treasure the child she is right now- I will appreciate her tiny fingers and toes, her sweet milky breath, the way her face lights up when I nuzzle her tummy and the way she holds both sides of her daddy's face as she gazes into his eyes. She is truly our joy to behold!