All Aboard!

Ally and I got to visit Matthew last night aboard the USS Bataan. The ship pulled into port yesterday afternoon. Matthew wasn't allowed to leave the ship since his duty section had watch so we decided to go see him. We got a tour of the ship and got to see the hangar bay, the mess hall, the gym, the wardroom, and Matthew's room.

It was quite a happy reunion for us all!

As usual, Ally was more interested in Daddy's shiny name tag than smiling for the camera!

So happy together!

Playing in Daddy's rack

The top of Daddy's rack is only about 4 inches above Ally's head. She kept trying to stand up and bumping her head!

We had a great visit and are so excited to welcome Matthew home this afternoon when we'll pick him up on our way home. We have a fun weekend planned together.

Practically Wordless Wednesday

There's nothing like a nice warm bath to make Ally happy!

She has a great time playing on this little chair in her room.

She thinks it's hysterical to lay her head down in the seat!

She doesn't really dig sitting in the chair and climbs out as soon as I plunk her down in it.

If this were an actual Wordless Wednesday post, I wouldn't write that I'm royally ticked off with the Navy right now. I also wouldn't say that I'm frustrated that my husband has been gone for 7 of the last 8 weeks and now that he is back in town today he still won't be able to come home because he has to stand watch tonight and spend the night on the ship! I guess I'd probably also have say that I'm thankful to have a husband who is gainfully employed and able to support us once I stop working, and that I feel guilty for complaining, but not guilty enough to quit complaining!

Countdown Mode

It's Monday and my life is officially one big series of Countdowns! There are two more days until Matthew comes home again, 14 days until my birthday, 17 days till Ally's last day in day care, 24 days until my last day of work, 25 days until we start our vacation at the lake, 32 days until Matthew and I go away together for the first time to the Outer Banks (we're leaving Ally with her grandparents), and finally... 50 days until Matthew leaves for a seven month deployment. I'm really torn because I want to look forward to the first six events that I mentioned, but with each fun event comes the knowledge that our time together is going to be much too short. I'm doing my best to stay positive and to not get too upset and bitter, but it's going to be tough. As I've learned over the past 7 weeks that he's been away- a deployment with a baby is going to be a whole new ballgame for both of us. Okay- enough of that depressing stuff!

We had a nice weekend and once I got used to the quiet house again I was actually able to enjoy it and take a few naps! We had several visits from Ray & Dee- they babysat for Ally on Saturday afternoon so I was able to attend a luncheon for a friend. My friend Linette, whose husband is also out on the Bataan, came over for pizza and a movie on Saturday night- it was nice to have the company and to have someone with whom I could complain about this lousy work up schedule! Yesterday I worked in the church nursery and really enjoyed seeing how Ally interacted with the other babies in there. I think she's going to grow up to be the class clown type- she was a total ham and seemed to be trying to entertain all the adults- it was quite a kick. We had a nice lunch afterwards with friends Bonnie & Dean at Panera which was only slightly less enjoyable than normal due to an unfortunate incident of projectile vomiting of recently consumed green beans & bananas. Sorry about that guys- thanks for helping with the clean up! (Just in case it wasn't clear- Ally was the source of the projectile vomit!)

Here are a few pictures of our weekend- enjoy & thanks for checking in!

Silly girls!

Happy Ally

We sent this one to daddy with the caption "Ally loves you THIS much!"

Pretty in purple

Lonely Tonight....

I'm sitting here on the couch by myself for the first time in a week. My dad & Ann just left to go home to California today and the house is feeling pretty quiet and empty even though the dryer, dishwasher and television are all rattling away and I have a dog snoring on either side of me. Funny how that happens.

I think I'm a little depressed too because it was a beautiful spring day today- sunny and almost 70 degrees. I drove home from work with the windows down and the sunroof open. Why would this make me depressed you ask? Because by 5pm the temperature had dropped 25 degrees, the winds are now gusting at upwards of 20mph and it's raining... AGAIN! Ugggg!

Thankfully Ally and I have a fairly busy weekend planned with lots of errand to run. Hopefully the time will pass quickly and we'll be a few days closer to Matthew's return.

Speaking of Matthew, I have to brag here for just a second.... he had a big oral board today to test his operating knowledge of the Combat Information Center on the ship. The past 6 or 7 guys that have held his position have failed the board on the first try but he passed it with flying colors! I'm so proud and he is so relieved! WoooHooo- way to go honey!

What would a post be without a picture or two of Allison?

Here we are enjoying a brief moment of sunshine on the deck.

Post blowout picture- hence the lack of pants!

Ally had just woken up from her nap here and she was sporting some crazy hair and two lovely sleep marks on her forehead. BIG YAWN!!

Now she's perking up a little bit!

Enjoy your weekend- thanks for checking in with us!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Oh, my mother isn't Irish

And my father isn't too,

But today I feel as Irish

As the really Irish do.


For today I wear a shamrock

That is green in every way

And though I am American,

I am Irish -- for today!

1 Month To Go.....

Only one more month until I'm done with work! I was so excited to see my little ticker counting down today. I'm more and more certain I've made the right decision with each passing day and I can't wait to be home with Allison full time!

Speaking of little Ally... we went to the doctor for her 12 month well baby check up last Friday and my big girl has grown! She's now weighing in at 18lbs and 8oz (up from 17lbs and 14oz a few weeks ago) and is 29.25 inches long with a head circumference of 45cm. The doc answered all of my questions and advised me to keep her in her infant car seat as long as possible since she hasn't reached the weight limit to graduate into a convertible front facing seat. She also told us to continue giving her formula instead of transitioning to whole milk since she's still a very finicky eater and isn't doing well with textured solids & finger foods. Ally was a champ for her shots- all four of them- and was pronounced healthy and happy! :-)

We had a nice, albeit rainy weekend at home. My Dad & Ann came back in town from NYC on Friday and are staying with us for another few days before they head home to sunny San Diego. We braved the slick roads and headed to the mall on Saturday afternoon to stock up on some new clothes for Ally and her first two pairs of real shoes from Striderite. Is it just me, or are baby shoes ridiculously expensive?? I checked out a lot of different sources and was shocked to find that they average about $35/pair for decent shoes! That seems like a lot of money for something that will only fit her for a few months.

On Saturday night I enjoyed a nice evening out with some girlfriends that consisted of dinner (and an adult beverage!) at Moe's and a trip to the movie theater- my first since December of 2007! We saw He's Just Not That Into You. It's not going to win any Oscars, but it was a fun escape for the night!

That concludes the weekend highlight reel- pretty sad huh? Here are a few of my favorite pictures to go along with it.

Thanks for checking in!
Wendy

The shirt says it all!

Sweet Goose loves Ally

My 3 kiddos

Ally playing with her new maracas- an awesome birthday gift from Aunt Michele!

She loves getting kisses from her furry brothers!

Flashback Friday

This picture was taken just about a year ago when Allison was only a week and a half old. Matthew had just returned from his deployment and this was our first bath time as a family. It's hard to believe how much our little girl has grown since then!

Wordless Wednesday

All For Nothing

All my worry for the past few days has been for nothing! Without going into a lot of detail, the letter I received about my mammogram was sort of an administrative mistake! Nothing to worry about here- the girls are good to go for another year until my next check up. Woo-hoo!

Weekend Randomness

There are a bunch of other things on my mind from this past weekend. I wasn't sure how to categorize them into a post so I'm going to quit trying and just chalk this up to a bunch of random thoughts and a few more pictures then I'll be all caught up!

First off, I'm sick again! I was complaining about a bad cold a few weeks ago which cleared up nicely in time for Matthew's return but then came back with a vengeance. I started sneezing a lot last Thursday which I attributed to allergies, but as the weekend wore on, it got harder and harder to deny that the cold was back. The last few nights have gone something like this: down cough medicine. slather nose with Zicam and Vicks Vapor rub. Shoot up some nose spray. Breath through nose long enough to fall asleep. Wake up stuffy an hour later and repeat ad nauseum. Uggg!!! A serious side effect of a stuffy sniffer is an inability to smell poopy diapers. I usually have a nose like a shark (or whatever animal can smell really well) but this morning I completely missed it because I was so plugged up. I'll spare you the gory details but suffice it to say that we went through a lot of wet wipes and needed a full change of clothing afterward- socks included!

Secondly, Ally drank from a sippy cup by herself last night for the first time. It was a big occasion so of course I commemorated it with a picture!

Thirdly (yes, I know thirdly isn't actually a word) I got a letter from the breast imaging center that I went to for my mammogram last week. Apparently I was a bit premature when I posted that I'd gotten a clean bill of health. The letter stated that there was an area of concern that would require further imaging and I should call to set up an appointment. Of course I called immediately and was told that they needed an order from my primary physician before they could set up an appointment or discuss anything. Ah, hello... this is my boob we're talking about- can you please tell me what's wrong with it??!!?? I called my PCM only to find out that she hadn't received the report yet so I was in limbo all weekend waiting to find out what the heck is going on. I have a call into her office this morning but so far am still waiting. I'm guessing that when they had my films from my first mammogram messengered over after I'd left they found something they didn't like when they compared them to my new films. Hopefully I'll hear something soon and will be able to get in for further imaging (which I think will be an MRI) soon. The letter got me so bent out of shape that I accidentally recycled a $1450 check from our renters. Late on Saturday night I started wondering what had happened to that check and I ended up outside sorting through the recycling at 10:30 at night until I found it. What a ding bat!

Fourthly (I'm sticking with my theme here!)-yesterday Matthew's ship was sitting about 3 miles off the coast of NC and the Captain gave the crew permission to make cell phone calls so he was able to sing happy birthday to Ally and his brother, chat with his family and have a nice 1/2 hour long conversation with me. It was so great to hear his voice- I just wish they could stay in that position so he could call every day. Only another 18 days until he's home again!

Finally here are a few more pictures that I wanted to post since this blog is as much of a baby book for Ally as anything else. My dad and Ann were watching her at home last week since she had pink eye and dad took these photos and emailed them to me with the title "Following Ally."

Ally's Second 1st Birthday Party

Ally's second 1st birthday party took place on Saturday (a day before her official birthday.) Some of you may remember that she was born on her uncle Brian's birthday last year. Brian lives in Charleston, SC but he came up for the weekend to celebrate with his favorite (and only) niece. We had the privilege of celebrating with Ally's great aunt and uncle, Loretta & Charles, who were visiting from Delaware for the weekend. Also in attendance were Grandma, Pop-pop, Mema, and our friends Sarah and Hal. It was a small group- just the way I wanted it, though I obviously would have loved to have had Matthew and my parents there.

Ally looked absolutely beautiful (my biased opinion) in her party dress! I spent way too much money on it, but I think it was worth every penny! I teared up several times over the weekend as I thought back on the year and how much life has changed with our wonderful little addition. It's hard to believe an entire year has passed since she arrived.

Without further ado, here are the pictures:

Finishing up lunch in her pjs before the party started.

Love this picture! Ally loves to stare out the window.

My 2nd favorite picture of the day!

Pushing her new shopping cart- thank you Kennedys for the awesome gift!

Silly little 1/2 smile

Her monogrammed bloomers still fit- yea!

Ally's friend Hal seemed to have fun playing with her toys

This picture cracks me up

What a cute pair!

As usual, she was more interested in the bows than anything else

Checking out some of my new toys with mommy & Hal

Ally's cake with homemade butter creme frosting- thanks again for the recipe Sarah!

Seriously... could he get any cuter?

Silly uncle Brian!

The birthday bunch

A girl gets thirsty after all that cake!

Mommy with her birthday girl

Ally didn't actually like the taste of the cake very much as you can see from this lovely expression

She had more fun playing with it and squishing it between her fingers