How cool is this t-shirt?

The tide was high but we're holding on....

On Thursday afternoon the wind gusted and the tides were high- a disasterous combination if you happen to live on Pretty Lake Avenue. This first picture was taken from our driveway looking down our street towards Little Creek. The Ford Focus driving down the street didn't make it and had to be pushed to high ground because the engine got flooded.





















The second picture was taken from the empty lot across the street. The railroad ties used to outline our yard (to keep the kids from riding their bikes through it) but they floated away so we had some exciting times rounding them up. Thankfully we got help from two of our neighbors.





















This last picture was taken by our neighbor looking down on our house from his 2nd story. If you look closely- you can see Matthew standing just inside the garage. He's drinking a beer and trying to kick water out of the garage. Despite his best efforts, we got about 3 inches of water but it could have been a lot worse.

Matthew spent most of the day outside cleaning up on Friday but we're back to normal now with no permanent damage.

My little maniac

She's a maniac, maniac on the floor

And she's dancing like she's never danced before!

Another awesome gift from Aunt Michele- baby legwarmers (Baby Legs)! I saw an identical pair on a baby at the mall yesterday and remembered that I had these stashed in the accessory drawer so we busted them out and rocked them 80's style on Sunday afternoon!

Validation

Ally saw a doctor yesterday regarding her eating problems. The very nice doctor has referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist (GI), a doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating disorders of the entire gastrointestinal tract. This validates my suspicions that this is not normal behavior for an infant! The referral takes 48 hours to process so we'll find out on Monday how soon they can get her in. In the mean time we've been instructed to keep her zantac dosage the same and to do our best to feed her every day. She did gain a little bit of weight in the 3 weeks since our last visit so that's encouraging- she's up to 15 lbs. and 5 oz. now!

Welcome Fall

It finally felt like fall yesterday evening here in Norfolk! After watching Ally amuse herself with her toes for a while, we bundled her up and went for a walk with the boys. I had her in the bjorn and I wrapped a blanket all around her then zipped her up in my jacket. She looked so cute in her little cocoon that we couldn't resist taking a few pictures.

We're expecting the full force of a Nor'easter storm to hit us tonight and tomorrow. The forecasters are calling for moderate tidal flooding so we're fully expecting to have some water in our garage again. Winds will be gusting up to 60 mph so it's going to be a breezy few days. We'll probably skip our evening walks since we're likely to need waders to get out of the house! It's just the price we pay for living so close to the water I guess.

Ally has a doctor's appointment today. We broke down yesterday and called the clinic since she's been giving us the dickens during feeding time for over a week now. She's eating less and less every day and isn't having as many wet diapers as I think she should. I'm sure to most of you I sound like a neurotic new mommy who is just making a mountain out of a molehill. I've certainly been know to do that in the past, but I'm trying to trust my instincts on this one and they're telling me that it just isn't normal for my daughter to arch her back and scream bloody murder when I'm trying to nourish her. Her reflux medicine doesn't seem to be helping at all and I can't take it anymore. I spend way too much energy trying to force her to eat and I obsess over counting ounces all day. We need some sort of relief- a new medicine, increased dosage of the old stuff, SOMETHING!!!! I'll update tomorrow with the outcome- wish us luck!

Lazy Weekend

Last week was particularly challenging for me. Not only was I on my own with Matthew out of town, but Ally decided to revert back to her pre-Zantac days and fight me on every single bottle I tried to feed her. She's been doing reasonably well of late and has even had a few great days where she actually downed 30 oz of milk- which is in the acceptable range for a gal her size. Last week was a different story however. She would take an ounce or two of her bottle with no problem then start in on the back arching, screaming, crying and general carrying on as I tried unsuccessfully to force the bottle into her mouth. It is quite stressful on both of us and usually results in some tears on my part by the end of the day. Poor Matthew called on Wednesday night to check in on us and caught me in the middle of a breakdown. So much for holding down the fort while he was away! We were all relieved when he returned home on Friday night. Thankfully there are no more travel plans in his future and Ally has improved a little bit since he's been home. Maybe she was just upset that he was gone too and decided to express her displeasure by being a difficult eater.

In an attempt to encourage her to actually swallow some solids, I introduced her to bananas this past weekend. She liked the sweet potatoes and carrots that we've tried so far, but she hasn't gotten over the expulsion reflex so she still thrusts the food out of her mouth with her tongue. Bananas were a big hit! I mashed them up with some baby cereal and breast milk and I think half of them actually made their way into her stomach. The other half still ended up on her bib, face, hands, hair, etc. It was progress though. At this point I'm only experimenting with solids once a day because it's such a mess. As soon as she starts taking in more of the food we'll increase that to 2 or 3 servings a day. I may also be doing 2-3 loads of laundry a day!

A few other fun things have occurred over the past few days: Ally did a 360 degree roll on top of our bed the other day and she realized she can really cover some ground that way. I imagine rolling will become her primary mode of transport shortly until she figures out how to crawl. We're going to have to start watching her like hawks! Ally also passed a toy from one hand to the other several times over the weekend. She's developing better hand eye coordination every day! Finally, Ally discovered that her toes can go in her mouth- along with every other object she can get her hands on- and that they provide endless entertainment. She's constantly grabbing them, especially during diaper changes!

We had a nice relaxing family weekend. On Saturday, Matthew and I didn't get dressed until after noon and Ally stayed in her pajamas all day long! We were so lazy and it was awesome! We did take the dogs to the beach in the afternoon but it was overcast, windy and cool so we just left Ally in her jammies so she'd be covered up. By the time we got home it was after 3pm and it seemed silly to waste clean clothes at that point since we weren't planning to go out at all. Ray, Dee, and Matthew's grandmother Jody came over for dinner on Saturday night. I cooked Matthew's favorite meal; gnocchi with a disgustingly rich cream sauce. It's good, but it's so heavy and rich that I couldn't eat my full portion. He enjoyed it though and so did our guests so that's all that matters. On Sunday we went to church, had brunch with Bonnie and hung out watching football- I love lazy weekends!

Ally zonked out in her highchair at dinner one night.

Ally was ready to go to the beach on a brisk Saturday afternoon!

All dressed up for church in a sweet little dress.

If you look very closely you can see her teeth in this picture!

Boom- over she goes!

Every girl needs some Juicy Couture!

Thanks Michele!

No News Is Good News

It's been another uneventful yet busy and fun week since I last updated. Ally is now sitting up quite well for 30-45 second intervals on her own before toppling over. Her two bottom teeth are coming in nicely and don't seem to be bothering her much anymore although she still drools buckets!

We started trying some baby food this week in hopes that she'd like it a little more than the cereal. Sweet potatoes were first on the menu. She seems to really like them as she opens her mouth wide, smiles, and bangs her fists on the highchair tray, but she still spits most of them out all over herself. It is quite a messy endeavor as you can see from the pictures. Grandma and Granddad Martin hooked her up with a sweet new highchair this weekend- she is much more focused on the business of eating when she's in it and doesn't try to squirm out like she was doing in her bumbo seat.

Matthew ended up sticking around through the weekend before leaving for Indiana yesterday. I'm proud to report that Ally and I made it through our first night alone together with flying colors. I was inexplicably nervous for some reason but I'm sure that the rest of the nights will be a breeze now that we've got one down. We're looking forward to Matthew's return on Friday and will spend the weekend enjoying some time with his grandmother who is coming down from Delaware to meet Ally for the first time!

Ally can sit up on her own for 30-45 seconds now before she looses her balance and flops over on her side.
This is her stylin' new highchair courtesy of the grandparents Martin!
Ally's first taste of sweet potatoes!
She looks a little crazy in this picture but she was having lots of fun!
I keep trying to get a picture of her teeth but they're hard to capture- I promise that they really are there!

And finally, here is a little video of Ally practicing her sitting on our bed- the safest place to practice. She seems to enjoy flopping over just as much as the new perspective of being upright!

The busy traveling Martins

Wow, what a few weeks its been for our family- we've been on the go constantly and are actually happy to be home and settling back into our routine. My parents were here the last week in August- Ally had a great visit with her Grandma Ann and Grandpa Nick. We didn't do anything particularly exciting- a few dinners out, a visit with the Martins, a shopping trip, and lots of time just hanging out. They left on Friday morning and even though I had another big week to look forward to and lots to keep myself busy I still felt a little lost as I always do when they leave.


I didn't have much time to be down in the dumps though because we left that afternoon for Lake Gaston to kick off the Labor Day festivities. We had a big crowd with the 6 Martins (Ray, Dee, Brian, Matthew, me and Ally) and our friends Tony and Megan. The atmosphere at the lake is very relaxed and we passed the days in the water with the dogs or Ally, riding on the boat, catching some rays, watching U.S. Open tennis, and of course eating and drinking ourselves silly! Ally cut her first tooth while we were at the lake which made for a few cranky days but she handled it remarkably well. She's also learning to sit up unassisted for brief spells before toppling over. We're quite proud of her!


There was a bit of a dark cloud over us during this visit though. As hurricane Gustav was approaching the Louisiana coast Matthew received word that he would likely have to deploy as part of a relief mission to that area. The timing was uncertain so we were in limbo for most of the weekend. He was finally called home to prepare on Monday evening. Sadly, this meant that he would miss the rest of our family vacation in Myrtle Beach.


Ally and I were not deterred though! Even though we were sad to go without Matthew we departed the lake on Tuesday morning and headed to South Carolina. Allison was an angel on the trip and slept for most of the 5 hour drive. We arrived tired (I'm a terrible distance driver and am prone to highway hypnosis) and happy to see our friends the Kennedys. They have a lovely condo on the Intercoastal Waterway where Ally and I had our own room & bathroom. There was even a portable crib and a highchair for Ally! It was a great set up. We spent our days shopping, eating, walking, lounging by the pool, and just hanging out. Jana & Larry's daughter Bella is 10 months old so it was really fun to see her and Ally together. It's the second time they've met and they seemed to have a good time together. We hope they'll have many more opportunities to visit with one another as they grow up.

We left MB on Friday, a day earlier than expected, to head back home. Tropical Storm Hannah was on her way into town and I wanted to be gone before she arrived as rain and wind gusts do not make for fun driving. Ally was great in the car again- she really is a wonderful traveler. We stopped back in at the lake for a few hours to rest then continued home where we met Matthew. After floating off the Carolina coast for a few days on a ship he was finally allowed to come home. What a waste of taxpayer money- they mobilized a ship for relief efforts and didn't do anything even remotely related to the hurricanes! They flew training missions while they waited. It was all just an overreaction to Katrina- the government doesn't want to get caught with their pants down again so they're trying to be prepared for every possible contingency. I guess that's good, but in this case it wasn't necessary and I'm bitter since it caused Matthew to miss out on our vacation.

I guess it was good practice for me and Ally to be on our own for a few days though as Matthew will be gone all next week in Indiana at a Navy Seal sniper camp. He won't actually be sniping- he'll be flying the snipers around though.

That's it for now- all the pictures from our trip are posted below.
Thanks for checking in!

One Last set of Pictures

Sitting on her own with no hands!
She cheated in this one and put a hand down on the ground for balance.
Daddy is introducing her to beer nice and early!
She liked it! (don't panic- we didn't actually let her taste it- she just liked holding the bottle.)
This one is from Myrtle Beach too but I forgot to add it earlier- Ally got so tired from all the fun in the sun that she zonked out while relaxing in Bella's float!

Myrtle Beach

Jana with Ally and Bella
Ally sitting up in a restaurant high chair for the first time
Bella & Ally stylin' in their strollers
Ally got her first tooth while we were away- hard to see it in this picture though.
Wendy enjoying a Landshark at Margaritaville- hey, it was 5 0'clock somewhere!

Ally in her matching swim gear

Bella in her matching swim gear

Mommy and Ally poolside

Bella and Jana enjoying the lazy riverOur gracious hosts- the Kennedy Family (Nik, Zak, Jana, Larry & Bella)

More Fun at LKG

Ally naps on the boat with Grandma
Brian & Matthew
I promise Matthew & I hadn't had too much to drink- we were just being silly.
Here's a more normal shot...
Ally finally woke up to enjoy some of the fun!

Labor Day Fun at Lake Gaston

Ally is learing to sit up
She's also working on her flying skills...
Grandma and Granddad with Ally at sunset
Mommy, Daddy, & Ally
My little orange marshmellow

Ally's first time in her new float- she seemed to enjoy it.

Mom & Dad sure enjoyed playing in the water with her

Daddy makes the silliest faces!

The Martin crew
Tony (flipping some sort of gang sign), Megan, Brian & Matthew at the bonfire.