Most Creative Use for Pumpkins

Happy Halloween!

Rub-a-dub-dub Look who's in the tub!

Ally has finally outgrown her bath chair and tries to roll out of it or sit up during bath time. She sits really well now, but still topples over every once in a while. I don't want her do bonk her noggin on the porcelain tub so I bought her a little inflatable one. It sits right in our tub and takes a lot less water to fill up. We used it for the first time last night. Though she's wouldn't smile for any of my pictures, she seemed to really enjoy being immersed in the water. She was also particularly interested in the rubber ducky on the side of the tub- it squeaks! Bath time was definitely the highlight of the day yesterday!

The rest of the afternoon and evening were pretty rough. We had a particularly difficult day with Ally. She stubbornly refused to eat anything and cried every time I tried to get the bottle near her lips. After about 30 minutes of this last night I yelled up the stairs to Matthew to tell him he needed to come take her for a few minutes. The minute he grabbed her I burst into tears. I tried to hold it in so she wouldn't see her mom wig out, but it was no use. All the frustration came bubbling out. I went into the bedroom at least so she wouldn't have to watch me blubber like an idiot. 5 minutes later when I'd cried it all out (CIO works for mommies too!) it was back to the feeding chair. We're back at that stage where every bottle is a battle now. I'm not sure what's changed- she was doing so well for a while, but the last few days have been really miserable. I find myself doing a lot of praying because I always find myself worried and frustrated. I know we're told to cast all of our cares on Him, but sometimes it's easier said than done. I even took my frustrations out on our dog Morrison last night. I repeatedly asked him to quit humping his brother Angus. After asking nicely 7 or 8 times I finally got tired of it and whopped him on the butt a little bit harder than I meant to. I spent the rest of the night feeling guilty. Not only am I lousy mother who can't get her child to eat but now I'm a dog abuser.

I know neither of those statements are true, but sometimes I do feel like a complete failure at this game. It can get pretty discouraging but I wouldn't trade Ally for all the tea in China. She's still the best thing that's ever happened to us and somehow it's all forgotten when she falls asleep in my arms and curls into my chest as we're walking up the stairs for bed. She sighs with her sweet milky breath and somehow I find the energy to start all over the next morning.

Silly Tuesday Pictures

My favorite picture of the day!

Silly face

Look at my teeth!

Up close & personal with Gus

Play date & Lake trip

Last Friday Ally and I had a play date with our friends Libby and Natalie. We met up at Mt. Trashmore Park (worst name for a park ever! Love the concept of turning a landfill into a beautiful park, but seriously... pick a better name!) It was a windy cool day so Ally was all bundled up in the BOB for our walk. She got to sit in a swing and go down a slide (with me holding her upright) for the first time. She really enjoyed both activities and all of the fresh air. These pictures were taken at the end of our park time when she was all tuckered out. Don't you love her little pink pilot's cap? We had lunch at Chipotle- they finally opened one up in Virginia Beach- so exciting! Libby and I had a nice chat while the girls ate their lunches and made quite a mess.
Matthew came home on Friday afternoon. Ally and I were very happy to have him back home with us. We celebrated with a nice evening together. It was quite apparent that he had really missed little Ally! Saturday was nice and lazy. We had brunch at our favorite local spot then Matthew worked in the yard while I went for a nice long training walk with Ally. Matthew had to put in an appearance at the HC Ball- an event for all of the helicopter communities on the East Coast. I had to stay home like Cinderella because we didn't have a sitter for our little pumpkin. Truth be told, I wasn't too upset about it- I'd rather stay home with my girl any night! He was still home nice and early so we had a little time together in the evening.

On Sunday morning we got going nice and early and drove down to the lake house in NC. Our friends Martin & Katie and their son Robby were passing through town on their way to Annapolis, MD from Pensacola, FL. We met at the lake house and spent the day together. It was really fun to see Ally interact with another kiddo. Robby is 14 months old (although he's such a giant- you'd think he's at least 2!) and was a little ball of energy! We had gorgeous weather and enjoyed a nice walk outside and lots of football. After dinner Matthew, Ally and I headed home while the Wrights stayed the night at the lake.
I took Monday off work to take Ally to her first feeding therapy appointment. It went about like I expected and was mostly just an introduction. The therapist watched me feed Ally a bottle, then she tried to feed her a bottle. She watched me try to feed her some solids, then she tried to feed her some solids. The therapist agreed that there were some problems that most likely originated from the reflux. Even though we think the reflux is controlled now with the new medication, Ally has developed some bad habits and an aversion for eating since she associates it with pain in her tummy. I'm not exactly sure what course her treatment will take, but the therapist seemed confident that she could help us. We have our next appointment next week on Tuesday. In the mean time, we're going to keep doing what we've been doing with the bottles and I'll start trying to introduce solids again- even if all she does is play with them and spit them all over the place. With any luck, we'll have the situation under control within a month. I'm optimistic anyway.
Fall is in full swing here. The days are getting shorter and the temperatures are dropping. Ally wore her winter coat this morning for the very first time! It was way too big, but she still looked pretty snug. My parents are coming for a visit on Friday so we've got a fun weekend ahead of us. Matthew's parents will also be returning from several weeks in Florida this weekend so we're going to have a grandparent fest! Just in time for Halloween. I'll post some pictures of Ally in her costume soon.

She's a talker...

Missing Mom

My mom, Bronni Stahl.

Eleven years ago today my mom passed on to a better and more peaceful place. Eleven years- wow, it seems hard to believe that it's been that long yet at times the pain still feels so fresh. Especially now, as I embark on this wonderful journey of raising my own child. I wish she were here to meet her granddaughter and to guide me through some of the difficult and confusing times.

It took me a long, long time to get past the guilt of not being with her at the end of her life. I was a junior in college and living in Texas at the time. When my dad told me that it was time to come to Illinois because the doctors didn't know how much longer she would live I took a day to get my affairs in order- visiting my teachers, calling friends, packing, etc. She passed away the next day while I was on the airplane on my way there. I should have left immediately- that thought still eats me up inside so perhaps I haven't put the guilt behind me 100 percent, but I'm comforted by the thought that it was her time to go and that she knew how much I love her and didn't need to have me there to say it in person.

I don't want to dwell on the sad stuff so I'm going to focus on the happy memories- they are plentiful! My mom was the most creative and fun person and as a small child, I couldn't have asked for a better companion, playmate, and friend. She had an amazing wealth of games to play, crafts to do, stories to tell, puppet shows to perform, books to read, places to explore, etc. Some of the highlights for me were the treasure hunts and string games that we played at all of my birthday parties. Mom would go around the house taking pictures of various places and pieces of furniture as clues. The treasure would inevitably end up in the oven and it usually consisted of goody bags for all the kids. Sometimes we did this just for the heck of it when it wasn't even my birthday! The string game was a crazy disaster and I'm amazed now that she continued to do it. You tie a piece of string to a pencil and then wind it all over the house- around furniture, light fixtures, pets, whatever. Then each child got a pencil and had to follow their string while winding it around the pencil- at the end of the string would be a prize. I'm not doing either of these activities justice in my descriptions so you'll just have to trust me when I say that my birthday parties were the best and all the kids loved coming to our house to play for the day.

Mom & Wendy- fall 1977

We made indian costumes out of paper grocery bags, she made me a replica of Villa Villekulla- Pippi Longstocking's home- from of a refrigerator box, we sewed pillows and other simple things, we gardened together, made our own wrapping paper at Christmas time, and and a plethora of other fun things. I was also the only kid I knew to have a balance beam and swings in the basement!

Dad, Boomer, Wendy & Mom- taken in front of our house in Dubuque, IA in the summer of 1978. The yellow bug belonged to my grandpa Bob.

When I was a teenager, I used to get unbelievably irritated with her because she would come crawl into bed with me on the weekend mornings when I was trying to sleep in and she'd tickle me and sing annoying songs like You Are My Sunshine and Skinamarinky dinky dink. Even though it drove me nuts then, I now perpetuate the misery by employing these same tactics when I'm trying to get Matthew out of bed!

As a young adult she showed me what it meant to live life with dignity and a good spirit. The last years of her life were spent in an assisted living facility because her health had deteriorated. Though she was the youngest person there by a long shot she rarely complained and was always upbeat and chipper. She befriended all of her neighbors and was known for leaving crafts and candy at their doors on holidays and sometimes 'just because'.


I think it's fitting to wrap up this post with the epitaph that appeared on her headstone:

Bronni Stahl

Nick's wife

Wendy's mom

Friend to children everywhere

Fall, Pumpkins and Redskins....

Before I launch into my weekend recap I want to tell you about the best Monday morning I've had in a long time. Allison has been fighting a cold and has been really snarky (my word for snotty & nasally) and she decided it was time to get up at 4am today. Why in the world would this make for a good start to my day you ask? Well, Matthew is leaving today for a conference in Las Vegas and I know he's really going to miss Ally so he decided to get up with us today. We crept up to her room together, had a big hug and kiss fest, changed her and cleaned all the dried buggies off of her nose (lovely!) While I was working on feeding her the first bottle of the day Matthew and I watched the Saturday Night Live episode that we'd DVR'd over the weekend. I loved that Tina Fey and Sarah Palin both made guest appearances in the same episode- too funny. I digress.... anyway, we hung around watching TV, talking and yawning until about 5:45 when Matthew went back to bed and I actually had to start getting ready for work. Although I'm really tired this morning, I'm thankful that we had that time together as a family today- it was a special treat for us all.

It's officially fall here in in Southeastern Virginia. We had high temps in the low 60's this weekend and lows in the upper 40's and it felt great! We had some pretty strong winds on Saturday and Sunday so it felt a lot cooler. We turned the heat on for the first time since it got down to 67 degrees in the house and poor Ally had little ice cubes hanging for feet! What better fall time activity than a visit to a pumpkin patch?!?

We bought 5 pumpkins! One for each of us including the dogs! I think we'll only carve one or two of them, but we sure had fun picking them out together. Ally liked picking at the grass & the straw too. After visiting the patch and running some other errands we came home in time to sneak in a quick walk before it got totally dark. We all bundled up against the wind- Ally was snug as a bug in the BOB.

On Sunday we went to church in the morning then brunch with Bonnie. Ally was very snarky yesterday as wasn't a good eater so I spent much of the day battling with her to take bottles. We still found some time for some fun though and a little photo shoot in this adorable outfit from Grandma Dee that it is finally cool enough to wear.

At our home, Sunday equals football. Given Matthew's obsession with the Redskins, it was only a matter of time until Ally became a fan as well.

It was a fun and tiring weekend for our little pumpkin. Ally and I will certainly miss Matthew this week while he's away in Las Vegas but we're already looking forward to another fun weekend together soon. Hope it is fall where ever you're reading this from and that you're enjoying it as much as we are!

4 Day Weekend Fun

Matthew and I were both lucky enough to have Friday and Monday off of work for Columbus Day. We had a nice lazy day on Friday- n0t leaving the house until 1:30 in the afternoon to take Ally to her 6 month well baby check up- a month late! She astounded the doctor with her mad skillz- okay, not really, but he did say she looks good and seems to be hitting all of her developmental milestones on schedule. We've discovered that our daughter is actually a string bean- her weight (15lbs and 4 oz) is only in the 25th percentile but her height (27.5 inches) is in the 75th percentile! She's long and lean- with any luck she'll be blessed to retain that physique throughout her lifetime.

We had friends over for dinner on Friday night and feasted on steaks, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rice krispie treats all of which was washed down with 3 bottles of wine! I was the worst hostess ever- I abandoned my guests at 10:30pm to go shower and go to bed since I had to be up at 5am the next morning to go into work for an inventory. They were showing no signs of leaving and were enjoying conversation with Matthew so I didn't see any reason to break up their party but I did feel like a schmuck leaving. It sure didn't keep me up though- I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow!

After 6 grueling hours in dusty, dirty warehouse hell on Saturday morning I returned home to rescue Matthew from his morning with our early riser daughter. He did a great job playing Mr. Mom for the morning. We set out to purchase our new stroller (described in the previous post) and then took it for a test drive at a local art festival. Saturday night we went out to dinner with friends at Luna Maya, an awesome restaurant that has somehow escaped our attention for the last two years.

Sunday morning we did church and brunch then headed back home to watch the Redskins devastating loss. Matthew hung around the house to watch more of the games and I made a trip to Babies 'R' Us will Allison.

Monday was another beautiful day so we decided to take advantage of it and take the dogs to the beach for a morning romp. Looks can be deceiving though.... even though the weather was sunny and beautiful, the mosquitoes and biting sand fleas (whom we have never encountered before) joined forces to cast a dark cloud on the morning- or more specifically, a dark swarming cloud around my head! The beach trip was short lived but the boys didn't seem to mind- they still had fun and got some exercise. Next we went to Homearama- an annual home showcase where Matthew likes to gather inspiration for future projects.

Here it is, Tuesday morning and I'm back at work- longing for another 4 day weekend.

Ally is so strong!

It's hard to tell, but she is up on hands and knees in this picture!

It looks like she's giving kisses, but she's actually trying to bite me with her two teeth!

Hamming it up with Daddy

Standing in Daddy's lap all by herself

We love this adorable denim dress!

So happy she finally grew into it!

Go Redskins!

Playing with Mommy

All Hail The BOB

We broke down and purchased a new stroller this weekend. Not just any old stroller mind you... but a BOB Revolution- the awesomest stroller to grace the sidewalks and shopping malls of suburbia! I truly don't know how we've lived without it for so long. It glides effortlessly over the pavement and turns on a dime. The swivel wheel in the front makes navigating tight spaces and large crowds a breeze but it can also be locked into the forward position which is safer for actually jogging. The sun canopy comes down far enough to be functional and it even has an emergency brake wrist strap in case the stroller happens to get away from you while you're running. Best of all, when it's folded, it actually fits into the back of the car with plenty of room to spare! I just can't say enough about this wonderful addition to our garage paraphernalia!

We've been looking for a BOB on Craig's list for months now- even expanding our search to other far away cities where various family members reside. Few BOBs come up for sale and the ones that do are all still very expensive. One website that we visited while researching jog strollers said that once you've shelled out the money for a BOB you keep it in the family even once your kids have grown out of it and that they're often passed down or gifted to others. So, big brother in law Brian... if you ever have little ones of your own, we've got you covered!

I was amazed to discover that the BOB even has a car seat conversion kit... had I known this, I would have purchased it in the beginning and saved myself the hassle of the travel system set that we got.

All hail the BOB!!!

Ummm, yummy barium!

Ally had her video swallow test yesterday at CHKD, our local children's hospital. Even though she had to ingest some nasty, nasty, nasty white paste of varying consistencies, she performed like a champ and we were able to confirm that she is protecting her airway- meaning there is no liquid/ food going into her lungs when she swallows. While this is good news, it means that we are back to square one and still don't know what is causing her eating issues. The specialist we saw suggested an endoscopy of her esophagus and stomach next. I'm hoping to explore some other options first since I don't particularly like the idea of putting her under anesthesia just yet. Hopefully we'll get to meet with the doctor again next week to develop our plan of attack.

It was nice to have the day to spend with Ally yesterday- we got in some good play time once we returned from her appointment. She's made some amazing progress over the past 48 hours- I first caught her up on her hands and knees for a few seconds on Tuesday afternoon. Since then she's repeated the action several times for longer periods of time, she lunged forward from the position for a toy she was trying to reach, she can spin on her stomach in a circle (I'm waiting for her to start break dancing any day now) and she's just becoming less stationary in general. This is an exciting stage, but a little nerve wracking too. We'd better get started on the baby proofing soon!

Here are two pictures from play time yesterday. Don't you just love Ally's fashionable hat?

Our Big Night Out

Here are two pictures of Matthew and I on our big night out away from home. First one was taken on the pier at Marissa's wedding. It was a little windy so I have some crazy hair going but it was beautiful. Our bed and breakfast was right behind us directly across the water.

Here we're standing outside the reception venue just before sunset. Gorgeous!

Two Shout Outs

Congratulations to the Dixons on the arrival of Noah Andrew on October 2nd. What a beautiful family! Katelynn & Hannah are happy to be big sisters. Nicki is recovering nicely after her 3rd natural childbirth! (She's my hero!)

Congratulations also to Marissa and Brock Beatty- married on October 4th in Cape Charles, VA at a gorgeous marina. I didn't get a lot of good pictures of the event, but here is the lovely couple saying their vows.

And here is Marissa with all the men. She looked so beautiful in her custom made gown!

Congrats again to the Dixons & the Beattys- I'm so happy for you all and wish you nothing but the best!

Seven Months Old

Ally turns 7 months old tomorrow! It's hard to believe that much time has gone by since she arrived. She recently graduated from the panda bear class to the polar bear class at day care and is now surrounded by kids who are becoming mobile and starting to scoot & crawl. She's sitting up by herself for longer and longer periods of time and topples over a little less than she used to. Yesterday she got up on her hands and knees for the first time- it was very brief, but I happened to catch her do it so I clapped up a storm and she was very proud of herself.



One fun new game we've started to play involves a Tupperware bowl filled with some rings or little toys. I hand it to her and she dumps it out. Every time she dumps it she gets a huge smile on her face and giggles. She hasn't mastered refilling the bowl yet but we're working on it.



Ally has become fascinated by water- both in the bath tub and the sink. Last night she learned how to turn on the kitchen faucet and was absolutely mesmerized by the water flowing out of it. When I turn on the bathtub for her at bath time she goes positively nuts and squirms all over the place trying to get out of my arms and into the water. It's really cute.



Matthew and I spent our first night away from Allison last weekend. We attended the wedding of a friend on the Eastern Shore of VA. Thankfully we were only about 45 minutes from home so I wasn't too panicked. We left our girl in the competent care of her Grandma and Granddad Martin. They came over to our house on Saturday afternoon to pick up Ally and the dogs (the really had their hands full!) and took them all back to their home. She ate fairly well for them, napped a little bit, slept through the night, and let them sleep in until the late, late hour of 5am on Sunday morning! We called to check in only once (although we thought about it a lot more often!) and enjoyed our night away. We stayed in a beautiful bed & breakfast in Cape Charles and enjoyed sleeping in until 8am in the crisp white sheets with the down comforter! It was heaven. After breakfast we were ready to get home to all three of our babies so we headed home and were reunited with our family by noon. I'm sure we'll get better at leaving her behind occasionally, but for now 22 hours was long enough!

Last week Allison went to see the pediatric GI specialist at Naval Medical Center Portsomouth. We had a great experience! The doctor spent about 45 minutes with us taking the most complete history I've ever seen. He agrees that something is going on with her since she's still not eating solids, hasn't been able to switch to a high flow nipple without gagging, arches her back and screams when we try to feed her, etc. The most common theory at this point is esophageal dysphagia which is the fancy name for a swallowing disorder.

We got a referral to CHKD, the local children's hospital, for a barium swallow test. They put some barium into her food then take Xrays to see where it goes and if it's going to the right place. Our appointment is tomorrow- I'm taking the day off work because it's supposed to be a pretty time consuming procedure and they only do it in the mornings so I'd miss too much of my day anyway. We probably won't get any concrete results for a few days and we'll have to go back to the GI specialist at Portsmouth to discuss them. I'll do my best to update the blog again on Thursday though with the preliminary results.

Thanks for checking in!