Guess Where We Spent A Beautiful Sunday In Late September?

Who Is Prettier In Pink?

Molly Ringwald circa 1986

or Ally Martin circa 2009?

No contest in my book!

Just So You Know.....

.... I have not fallen off the face of the earth! It seems as if it has been forever since I have posted anything other than a few pictures here and there so I figured it was finally time for some catch up. Ally and I have been busy! We recently moved her to a one nap a day schedule in preparation for preschool and some other new adventures so our activities are now largely scheduled in the mornings before nap time. We have feeding therapy on Mondays and Thursdays, preschool on Wednesdays and a Little Gym class on Friday. We'll also be starting a music class on Tuesday mornings next month. Sunday morning is taken up with church so Saturday is pretty much our only free day. After whatever activity is going on, we book it home for lunch, a bottle and a nap which ranges from 2 hours - 3.5 hours. I much prefer the 3.5 hour nap days! Afternoons are generally spent hanging out around home, at the park, the library, or the Botanical Gardens (all of which are within 10 minutes of our home.) We're home by 5:30ish for dinner, a walk with the dogs (weather and mosquitoes permitting), bath time, lots of reading, another bottle and into bed by 7:30. I unwind after a long day by watching bad television and sending long-winded emails to Matthew. Rinse and repeat.

Thankfully, our weeks are going by pretty quickly and amazingly, I find myself 25 weeks pregnant tomorrow! As of today, Matthew has been gone for 4 months and 12 days and will be home in 2 months and 12 days! It still seems like forever, but we're definitely moving in the right direction. He has been in port in Dubai, UAE for the past week and we've been very fortunate to have had lots and lots of opportunities to Skype together. He's been able to watch Ally eat breakfast on several occasions, see her point out all the body parts she knows, watch her terrorize the dogs with her shopping cart, stroller, car, and anything else with wheels, spin round and round until she falls down, throw the occasional temper tantrum, and blow lots and lots of kisses at the computer. I'm a little concerned that she thinks her daddy lives inside the computer these days, but hopefully we'll be able to correct that misconception soon enough.

Baby #2 very nearly has a name which we will be announcing as soon as we've finalized it and notified our families. He is growing like a little weed and is quite a strong kicker! My next appointment won't be until the 30 week mark at which point I'm quite certain I will have grown out of all of my maternity clothes if my current size is any indication! My belly is huge and my belly button has all but disappeared (which never happened with Ally- it just got really elongated.)

Well, if that's not the most boring update in the world I don't know what is! Sorry, but that's just my life these days. It's pretty mundane and not at all spontaneous, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! Unless of course I could have the exact same life with a live and in person husband in the living room!

Super Ally!!

**do you think it's time to put this tshirt in the outgrown pile???

Just Another Day At The Beach.....

Okay, so it wasn't really just another day at the beach... it was actually the first time we've been to our beach this summer. The very same beach that is a mere two blocks away from our home! It's a tragedy that we haven't come more often- especially since Ally had such a fun time. Hopefully we'll still have some nice days throughout the rest of September so we can make a few more trips.

When we first arrived, she was pretty skeptical- and yes, it was ridiculously hard to push this stroller in the sand!!

Once she dipped her toes in the water she started to get excited!

I thought our shadows looked pretty funny today- me with my huge belly and Ally with her goofy hat!

My cautious girl wasn't interested in going any further without a hand to hold.

But she was off and running on the shore and happy to be rid of the vision obstructing hat!

She had lots of fun picking up rocks and throwing them into the water.

What a fun place to splash around!

I can still see my toes, but just barely!

Here she was about to throw a rock at me- what a sweetie!

Tasting the Chesapeake Bay!

The obligatory silly self portrait!

Happy Grandparent's Day!!

Happy Grandparent's day to two awesome sets of grandparents who couldn't love our little gal any more if they tried!

Grandpa, Gramy and Ally at Cardiff Glen Park during our most recent visit to San Diego.

Grandma, Ally and Pop-pop at Grandma's birthday celebration last month

18 Months

Dear Allison Leigh,

Today you are 18 months old! How is it possible that you are three quarters of the way to two already? It seems like just yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital, orange as a little carrot! Since I have proven to be absolutely terrible at keeping up with your baby book I thought I'd record some observations of your life these days so we can look back and remember what you were doing at this time.

• You were at the doctor's office early last week and weighed in at 24 pounds and 10.5 ounces (50th percentile) and were 31.5 inches tall (also the 50th percentile.) We are thrilled to call you AVERAGE!!


• You have 12 teeth that are fully out and you have four more pearly whites that are about to break free from your gums any day now.


• You sleep for 10-11 hours a night and have just moved to a one nap per day schedule.


• You have 5 loveys! 2 Lily Maes (frog head blankets), 1 Nettie Confetti (bunny head blanket), and two little satin blankets. You have to have all 5 of them to go to sleep.


• You love to cart around Lily Mae (the original one with the hat) everywhere!


• You adore your dogs and have lots of fun chasing them around the house with all of your push toys (car, lawnmower, shopping cart, baby carriage, etc.)


• One of your favorite activities is to run up and down the dog ramp in the back yard. You never seem to tire of this and will happily do it 50+ times or until you are forced to come inside.


• You love bath time and run naked from your bedroom into the bathroom shrieking happily all the way! It's usually a race to get you into the tub before you get too excited and pee all over yourself and the bathroom floor!


• You're starting to build up a decent little vocabulary which includes "yes" (interestingly and thankfully you haven't learned "no" yet!) "go", "eye", "hi", "dada", "ma", "baby", "Mo" and "Gu" (Gus).


• Due to all of your feeding complications you still have this bizarre aversion to anything with texture so you eat strictly baby food. Anything with more texture will cause you to vomit. You do love to try to feed me and others though.


• You will drink water out of a straw cup, but are not as willing to accept your high calorie formula. We're concentrating on this in feeding therapy right now and are also working to get you to hold your own bottle which you still get 5 times a day in order to provide you with the necessary calories to keep you growing and healthy.


• You love the Tupperware cabinet and the salad spinner. The dishwasher, washer and dryer are also favorites of yours. You like to help mommy load and unload all three.


• You watch a video of your deployed daddy nearly every night before bed and smile when he signs off and tells you how much he loves you and misses you before blowing you a kiss.


• You love to dance (bounce) to all kinds of music.


• You are not at all interested in television. I've tried to get you to watch Sesame Street and various programs on Sprout, Noggin and PBS but you won't sit still long enough to check them out.


• You love being the center of attention in most all situations.


• You can point out the following body parts: nose, eye, ears, mouth, teeth, tongue, boobies, tummy, belly button, hands, bottom, knees, feet, and toes.


• You will be starting pre school at our church one day a week from 9am- noon tomorrow. (GULP!!)


• You have the most beautiful golden curls and blue eyes. We may be a little bit biased, but your daddy and I think you are the most beautiful girl around.


• You're going to be a big sister in a mere four months! While I don't think you have any concept of what that means right now, I'm confident that you're going to be just great in your new roll.

You are such a special little girl and you bring so much joy into the lives of so many people. Daddy and I feel so luck to have you and we love you to pieces!

All our love,

Mommy & Daddy

Hello from the lake!

We're spending the Labor Day holiday at our favorite home away from home- Grandma and Pop-pop's home on Lake Gaston in North Carolina. We've been swimming, laying in the hammock, watching a lot of US Open tennis, eating lots and lots of yummy food, napping, and just enjoying our vacation. We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity for the whole family to Skype with Matthew this morning while he was on a short port visit in Bahrain. All the makings of a great weekend! Pictured above on the nightly booze cruise: Tony and Megan Pishioneri, me (with my diet coke) and Ally, Grandma, Pop-pop and Uncle Brian.

Because It's Been A While....

Here's a belly shot from 21 weeks and 5 days.... believe it or not, it was cool enough for a sweater in Norfolk this evening!

Wordless Wednesday- a dose of sweetness and plumber's crack in one picture!