Sensory Box

I've seen some awesome blog posts about sensory boxes lately and decided to try it for Allie. She loved it!! We got some bins, a few small toys, a small shovel and rake, and some dried pinto beans from the dollar store. I also had some rice at home and I thought it would be fun to have two different textures for her to play with. Hmmm... ya. The beans were awesome, but the rice was a bad idea. I was hoping that she'd just play and that everything would stay relatively mess-free. I don't know why I'd think that? What toddler keeps things neat and tidy? Haha. Well anyway. The beans are easy to clean up but the rice is a pain in the butt. Needless to say, she won't be playing with the bin of rice again. But here are some pictures of our fun afternoon with her sensory boxes.

She loved finding all the toys buried in the beans. 

She thought it was much funner to dump the shovel-full of rice all over the patio instead of back in the box. Big tedious clean-up for mom. 

On a Sunday

This last Sunday while Sean and I were making our weekly brunch, Allie decided she wanted to go outside. She was so dang cute! Walking around, trying to pick the apples off the tree, pointing at all the birds. I couldn't let the photo opp pass. Enjoy my precious princess!

My little miss

Allie turned 15 months on the 3rd of August. Weird? I can't believe she's that old already! And yet, part of me is glad. She's so fun now! Every stage we go through is exciting and wondrous, and I love it!

• She finally started walking at the beginning of July. Hurray! 
• She loves to close any drawer or door, especially the fridge when I'm still looking in there and trying to find something to eat. 
• She loves to dance and instantly recognizes when a song comes on. Even if it's just in a passing car, or a commercial on tv. 
• She's become quite the copy-cat. The other day I sat down on the floor and she came, sat down right next to me, and arranged her legs exactly how mine were. 
• She still loves to eat, but she's becoming VERY picky. Her current favorites are Lucky Charms (but she only likes to eat the marshmallows), Nilla Wafers, pears, bananas, grapes, cheese, bread, and cookies. 
• She loves to give "loves." Multiple times a day she'll come over to me, lay her head on my shoulder, leg, stomach, whatever. So cute! And she gives lots of kisses - both on demand and just because she wants to. 
• She loves to read books. She loves to turn the pages and point to all the pictures. 
• She LOVES water (swimming pools, the beach, the bath) and has no fear. She doesn't grasp the fact that it gets deep and she can't swim. Even if she falls in and gets a mouthful of water, she still wants to GO and hates any kind of restraint. I try to put a life jacket on her, or put her in a floaty and she cries the whole time. Hates it. I can't wait for next year so we can start swimming lessons! 
• Everyone is "mom". My brother is "mom," grandma is "mom," dad is "mom." I think she understands the difference but doesn't know how to say the words. She knows how to say "dada" though, so I don't know why she doesn't call him that? We're still working on it. 
• She knows her body parts. She can point to her eyes, ears, mouth, nose, belly, and feet. She loves when I count her toes and fingers too. 
• Her word count is up to 6 words: Mama, dada, hi, bye, ball, baby. She makes the elephant animal sound, and uses it for all animals - except dog. For dog, she sticks her tongue out and breathes heavily. 
• She's doing really great at sign language. She can do the signs for eat, all done, more, drink, bath, and play. 
• Everyday she learns something new. I'm always amazed at what she can do!
• She finally has enough hair to do a ponytail on the top of her head! Woohoo!!! I've been waiting so long for that!

And here are her current stats: 

20 lbs 12 oz

30 in tall

25% for weight

50% for height

Playing catch-up

It's been quite a while since I posted, so here's an update. Our summer has been crazy! 

In June, Sean and Allie and I took a long drive and we updated our family pictures. It was a fun little day trip, very spontaneous and out of the ordinary. I love doing things like that! I'm so grateful for a supportive family :) 

July: we celebrated the 4th with our friends, the Clarks. We BBQ'd and watched the fireworks - Allie didn't like them much, she kept getting scared and wanting to crawl away. Stinker :) 

Allie also started walking 4th of July weekend. We were so excited for her!! It was a long time coming! 

Just last week, Allie and I went to Oceanside, CA. We spent a whole week with my family in my grandparent's condo on the beach. I was super sad that Sean couldn't make it. He's had a lot going on at work lately and he didn't feel like he could take any time off. Bummer. Allie and I did have fun though! She wasn't sure what she thought about the beach the first couple of days, but then she really took to it. She loved running down to the ocean, feeling the water and then walking back up to where everyone was sitting to dig in the sand. She loved that everyday we would wake up and go swimming. So fun! 

Also this summer we found out we're expecting Baby #2! My due date is Feb 6, 2012. We find out the gender next Tuesday so it can stop being an "it." Hurray! But here's an ultrasound pic from a few weeks ago. 

I guess that's it for now. Our summer has been fun and crazy and exciting. 

Homeowner's foreclose on bank?

Did you hear about this? Apparently Bank of America tried to foreclose on a couple who NEVER EVEN HAD A MORTGAGE. They took them to court and the court ruled that Bank of America had no right and they owed the couple for all the legal fees. Bank of America never paid. So the couple's lawyer foreclosed on the bank. How hilarious is that? I love it. Stick it to the man!

See the article here.

Words to live by...

.... and definitely learn from.

Monday ramblings

I saw this idea on the blog Thinking About Pretty  and I really love it! Feel free to join the fun and let's make each other's Monday a little better :)

Making: A photo book of Allie's first year on blurb. So much work but I'm excited about it!

Laughing at: Some old pictures of Allie. Man her cheeks were BIG! They take over her face! It's amazing how much she's changed.

Seeing: An episode of Heroes. Gotta love Netflix.

Hearing: All the Heroes arguing about something or other.

Smelling: The Febreze I just sprayed all over the house *sniff* MUCH better. It was a bit stuffy.

Tasting: Nothing really. I'm drinking water and it doesn't have much of a taste.

Feeling: A bit warm. Maybe it's time to turn on the air conditioner?

Reading: Thicker Than Blood by CJ Darlington... meh.

Wishing: I had more motivation.

Loving: Pinterest. Am I the last person to hear about this awesomeness?? I'm on a stinkin waiting list, dang it! 

Craving: The beach. The hubs and I have talked about going to San Diego this summer and taking Allie to either the Zoo or Sea World, both sound fun but the beach is my fave. 

Anticipating: Summer. I'm ready for sun and water. 

And here's some added fun. Allie likes to help me with dishes. Isn't she so cute?
(Not my best picture, but it still makes me laugh.) 

Allie Jane

I did a photoshoot of my pretty little girl today, to celebrate her turning 1! You can view the photos on my photography blog.

Thanks! :)

My Princess

Today is Allie's first birthday! Can you believe it? I still can't. I've had a whole ton of emotions assault me today. I'm overjoyed at being a mother to such a wonderful little girl. I keep reminiscing the day I brought her into the world and the emotions I felt then: relief, joy, fear just to name a few, and it's making me feel the emotions all over again. If you don't remember my post about her birth, you can click here to read it again.

I love my little princess. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me (aside from meeting and marrying my husband, of course). Her laugh is contagious. Her smile is precious. She has gorgeous blue eyes, and her hair is such a pretty color. I love her!!!

Here's some more about Allie:

• She now has 8 teeth. 6 on top, and 2 on bottom. 
• She's crawling like a pro, occasionally doing the "stink-bug" crawl which is the most adorable thing ever. 
• She pulls herself up on everything and walks around the furniture.
• She dances to every song she hears, usually just with her head (turning it side to side) unless she really likes the song and then she'll add bouncing.
• She loves animals! Every dog or cat or bird she sees makes her giggle and point and act all excited. 
• She still sucks her thumb when she's going to sleep.
• She waves at everyone, can give "high-fives" and loves giving kisses to her mommy and daddy. 
• She loves having the windows down in the car and feeling the breeze on her face. 
• She loves when I sing to her. Her favorites are "ABC's", "Eentsy Weentsy Spider", "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" and "If you're happy and you know it" where she claps her hands and giggles perfectly on cue. 
• She loves reading books, or at least looking at the pictures. She'll let me get through about half the book before she's done listening to me read the words and just wants to turn pages. 
• She greets me with a huge smile every morning. 
• She knows "nose", "eyes" and "ears." 
• She knows how to say "hi" and puts emphasis on the "h" so it sounds more like "hhhhhhhi" 
• She says "bye" perfectly
• She also says "mama", "dada", "nigh nigh" and a lot of other jibberish that I haven't quite distinguished yet.
• She points at everything interesting to her.
• We taught her the sign for "more" and whenever she's eating and wants more, she'll grunt while doing the sign. She also does the sign whenever she sees food and wants it. We were at the check-out in Walmart one day and a lady behind us had cookies. Allie saw them and started grunting and signing more. When we told the lady what she was doing, she thought it was so cute and insisted on giving a cookie to Allie. I think we're in trouble! 
• She loves bath time! Whenever she hears the water turn on she races to the bathroom and giggles as it fills the tub. We bought her some bath letters and she's great at sticking them to the wall. 
• She's a great eater. She practically eats anything we give her and a lot of it! We're amazed at how much she eats. Her favorite foods are sweet potatoes, avocados, mashed potatoes, pasta, cheese, cheerios, yogurt, bananas, bread, and pears. Her least favorite foods are strawberries, mandarin oranges, peas, and green beans. 
• She loves helping me with laundry. She's great at shutting the dryer door and pulling the clothes out of the basket as I try to fold them... she's also great at destroying my folded piles, but that's ok! She'll learn. She also loves helping me with dishes... mostly just banging on the dishwasher door and the puddle that forms there as I load dishes. I love her company though, and someday she'll actually be helping me.

The list doesn't end there but I'm afraid of boring you. Literally, though... I could go on all day! Here are some pictures from her birthday party. She had a great time eating her cake! 

Just for fun

These are about a month old, but I thought they were worth posting. Mostly because I love my baby so much and all I want to do is brag :)

This is her "surprised" face. I still don't know what to think about it... it's a little funny and a little eeekk. If she keeps doing it I might have to be one of those moms that says "stop making that face or it will get stuck that way."

I love this one. That face is priceless!

This one was fun. She rolled all over the living room and eventually got herself stuck. This was before she really got the hang of crawling. She must have decided that since she was stuck and mom was just going to laugh at her and take pictures, she might as well make the most of it....

...by kissing the cabinet. hahaha 

Goodness, I love that girl!