Developmental Leaps

The past few weeks have brought huge changes to the Allen house. My babies are growing up! We're hitting developmental milestones so quickly that my head is spinning. Tristan is getting to be a little boy so quickly that I look at him and wonder where my baby went. Maura maintains that she is not a baby, she's a big girl! Brent with the kids when he came home from work the other day. They are so excited to see him each evening and mug him as soon as he sits down.
We started self feeding with Tristan last week. He's been feeding himself finger food for some time now, but today we gave him a feeding tool and let him just go for his yogurt. You can see the result! Photos can't adequately show how messy this child was! He's got to learn somehow, but I think we'll do something a little more solid next time.
This was Tristan's biggest milestone of the past few weeks. On the 20th of March Tristan finally started crawling! He's been military crawling for months, but things just clicked for him and he took off on all fours. He still resorts to military crawling when he wants to go really quickly, though! He's all over the place now! AND, here's the other new development! I walked in just a day or so later to see him standing up in his crib, crying for me. He's so pitiful! Thankfully, I had my camera handy. I could see that it was definitely time to lower the crib.
This was the last time time for my little man to be in his crib on the highest setting. I always feel sad when we lower the crib--it really feels like he's growing up! " I'm so funny Mommy! Aren't you proud of me??"
Pulling up has given him a new perspective on all of his toys. His new favorites are all standing toys. He loves crawling over and pulling up on the TV stand to mess with all the movies. On this occasion, he was watching the movie from the Baby Dedication at our church. That's my baby boy on the screen! "You caught me!" He giggles whenever I ask him what he's doing.
Our other big news is that MAURA IS POTTY TRAINED! We've worked on it for so long that it doesn't seem possible that we could be done! About a month ago at MOPS she told her teacher that she had to go to the bathroom and DID go and she's never had an accident since. I think she was influenced by the other kids using the potty and it all just clicked for her. This photo was taken when she put the very last sticker on the chart.
What a proud day for my baby girl, and what a happy day for her mommy! My big potty trained girl. Don't you love the bed head? A full chart meant it was reward time!!
That very day I took her to Wal-Mart for her reward. I told her that she could buy whatever she wanted(within reason) and I set her free in the toy isle. It was paradise for her! I've never even let her out of the cart in the toy isle before! She had lots of possibilities and she spent lots of time looking. It was a hard decision!
We looked at all sorts of expensive toys, but she eventually settled on this inexpensive fishing game! Great! Tristan was a patient boy while all these deliberations were going on!

Maura showed her completed chart to the cashier, who was sixteen and couldn't have cared less! She felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment at this monumental occasion and I gave a little sigh for the milestone that we'd just passed and the fact that she's just getting so darn big! I'm just so thankful that I can be home to witness all these special moments in my babies' lives. I wouldn't trade it for the world!

We've got some SPRING in our steps!

We're so glad that it's springtime in Georgia! It's a little ironic, though. For the majority of the winter, we had very little precipitation and MANY days with weather in the high sixties and seventies. I took walks with the kids all the time and we played outside a lot. Now that springtime has arrived, so has the rain! We've had some cool snaps too. I started to get the kids ready for a walk this morning and realized that it was 36 degrees outside. I opted to postpone until later in the morning when it got a little warmer. This past week, we had torrential downpours. It rained pretty steady from Wednesday until late Saturday. As you might imagine, things were a little soggy around here. By Saturday, we had the beginning of a lake in our backyard and Maura was very interested. I was gone for most of the afternoon, but Brent got her all dressed up in her raincoat and umbrella and she went outside to explore. If that doesn't bring a smile to your face on a rainy day, I don't know what would! My girl loves her umbrella!

My girl thoroughly enjoyed her puddle stomp. I'm going to have to get her some rain boots! Maura went splashing through the puddles singing, "The Elephant March," from The Jungle Book.

Wipeout!!

On the very first day of spring(March 22nd?) we headed out for a morning walk. We love our walks, but I wanted to do something a little different. Some friends from church live up the street and have said that we could use their swing set, so we went in for a little swing. It was Tristan's first time in a swing and he loved it! I never could get a photo of him with his eyes all the way open because he was SO relaxed in the swing. Little chubbo! I took them back today and he actually fell asleep while he was swinging. It made me wish that I hadn't already taken the swing back to Kentucky!

I had to include this photo because this swing makes me nostalgic. I don't even know what it's called(a teeter totter?), but I have so many happy childhood memories of riding on one of these! Maura loved their roller coaster. It has two gentle hills, but the kids fly down them!

Pointing to where she's going maybe?? I don't know! It had rained the night before, so I promised her that at the end of the walk I'd let her jump in mud puddles. I dressed her in her oldest/most mud colored clothing in anticipation of a real mudfest. I should have known better. She is, after all, my child. She wasn't really interested in getting dirty.

Stepping in mud was about the dirtiest she got. I hate to think that my clean fetish might take away some of the joys of childhood! Lots of rocks and sticks were thrown, but not a muddy splash was made by her little feet. How disappointing!!
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That afternoon, we decided to plant some flowers. We've been admiring some pretty posies on our walks, and Maura decided that we needed some of our own. I took her to Wal-mart and let her pick out all the blossoms she wanted and we planted them the next day. Here she is, ready to get some gardening on! Digging the hole for the posies. My girl was really into the potting soil. I had to hold her way back, or she would have dumped the whole bag in each hole. She loved planting the flowers and every time we're in the front yard now she checks their progress. What a great little helper!
Where was Tristan during our gardening extravaganza? He was just chillin' with a bottle. What a big boy. He's not interested in having anyone else hold it these days. I'm putting you to work NEXT year in the garden little buddy! Happy Spring everyone!

STOP, DROP and ROLL!!

I want to get the last of the Kentucky photos up before we head back to...you guessed it-KENTUCKY!! We'll be heading toTennessee this coming weekend to visit with family before going back to Kentucky to camp out and wait for the bambino to make her appearance. We're all hoping for an early birth because I need to get back to my husband before he breaks more bones or poisons himself with rotten meat! Brent doesn't do well when left to his own devices. Some men are made to be married, and he's one of them! I sure do love my hubby and I really don't want to be away from him for a whole month, so everyone say a quick prayer for Lorie to go into labor sometime not too long after the sixth of April! On our last Friday in Kentucky, we went over to Katie's reception site, Fasig Tipton. I hadn't seen it yet and wanted to check it out before the big day. This photo is classic Maura. I think the lady gave her a cookie to keep her from running all over the room.
Tristan got some Aunt Katie snuggles. Grammy and Maura enjoyed checking out the reception site. It will be good to have a visual example in my head now while we're doing the planning. After we toured the site, we we headed over for what we thought would be a leisurely lunch.
Katie, Maura and I at Sapporo's, our favorite(and cheap) hibachi grill. Me, Aunt Barbara(who had just flown in that morning), Tristan and Mom.

The whole crew(that's Emily on the right). These photos were taken only moments before calamity struck. We were seated at the grill with an older lady and a girl who was in her late teens or early twenties. They were nice enough to take these photos for us and we chatted a bit. Then, the cook came out doing his usual routine, turned the grill on and prepared for the huge fireball that proceeds all hibachi cooking. Well, something went very wrong and the girl started squealing right after he lit the grill. We looked over to see that her shirt was on FIRE! She was just hitting at it and squealing and Katie and I both started shouting, "Stop, drop and roll!" I think she was just panicked and didn't hear us at first, but then she got down and rolled around and stood back up quickly, at which point her shirt reignited! The hibachi cook grabbed her and put the fire out with her coat. It probably only lasted 10-15 seconds, but it felt like an eternity. I felt so sorry for the girl. She stood over in the corner of the restaurant in pain and embarrassment. I went over to see if she was OK and she had some minor burns on her stomach. They left soon after and we all looked at each other and wondered if we should stay or go. I was STARVING, so I voted for staying, but my aunt was very shaken and I think she just wanted to leave. Before we were able to decide, the cook came back and just started cooking for us, so we stayed and ate and it was delicious. We got SOOOOOO much food, because they cooked the food for the other two people for us. This was my plate, after I'd eaten a lot of chicken and rice and before they gave me veggies. We took home six to-go boxes full of food! What a crazy experience! I will certainly scoot my chair back from now on when they light up the grill!
We really enjoyed our visit with Aunt Barbara. We only see her about once a year, so we try to get as much visiting time in as possible. Tristan loved playing with her. Maura and Tristan with Aunt Barbara.

Maura and Tristan with Aunt Barbara and Grammy. Barbara is Mom's oldest sister. She is gracious to come to our graduations and showers and we truly appreciate the effort that she makes to be there. Thanks Aunt Barbara. We love you!

Welcome Little Lamb

We held Lorie's baby shower on the last weekend I was in Kentucky. I'm so excited about my sister's pregnancy and I can't wait for her to experience all of the ups and downs of motherhood. It'll be so much fun to see her parent her new baby girl and I can't wait for her to be a stay at home mommy like me so that I always have someone to hang out with! Naturally, my sister, Katie, and I wanted to throw an awesome baby shower to welcome our niece. Since she'll be a spring baby we went with a lamb theme and it was super cute. Mom made the cake and I did all the fondant work to make this awesome cake. The lamb is Styrofoam covered in fondant, which is a lot like working with play-doh. I found the idea online and copied it to the best of my abilities. We wanted the cake to be cute, but still fit with the graphic look of the rest of the shower.
Sweet little lamby! I was tempted to take him and sell him on ebay, but he's pretty fragile. It was a big fondant week for me, between the horse for Maura's party and the lamb for Lorie's shower.


Tristan got in on the shower decorating. These days everything is a hat to him and he'll put it up there for a laugh. He knows he's being funny and he loves it! Aunt Katie and Maura shared a giggle during shower preparations.


The dining room table. If you're wondering, yes, that is grass in the middle of the table. My whole decorating scheme centered around a lush green grass centerpieces. Sadly, none of the trays of grass seed that Katie and Mom worked so hard to grow looked either green or lush. The day of the shower we decided that there was no way that we could put them on the table. My poor mother went out in the pouring rain to dig up some grass from behind the barn that she seeded in the fall. Dad helped, and together they dug up their own sod for the centerpieces. Admittedly, we did have to watch them carefully for bugs for a few hours, but by shower time they were awesome! The moral of the story is: never attempt to grow anything that you need for an important event! The buffet, looking a little bare. We did add more before eating time.
The gift room. Lorie received tons of beautiful gifts. She and her baby girl are blessed to have so many people who care about them. By the way, I painted the two lamby pictures on the mantle. They turned out so cute! Lorie and Tristan. Lorie loved hanging out with Tristan this week. I think she's really in mommy mode now that her baby's birth is less than six weeks away.
Marilyn came over to help with the kids while we were busily getting ready for the shower. I'm so grateful that we had help too, because we were busy up until the very last moment! Me with my two adorable kiddies.

Lorie really enjoyed seeing and talking to all her guests, some of whom she hasn't seen for a long time. In this photo; Lorie, Alison, Mom and Rebecca. We played a shower game that was a little different and macabre. It involved freezing little plastic babies in ice cubes. The idea was to give each guest an ice cube and whomever "delivered" their baby first without putting the ice cube in their mouth wins. Well, it evolved into a game of who could most quickly stab their baby out of the cube with their pen. Not exactly what I had in mind, but we dutifully awarded the prize and went on with the shower! Emily was a particularly fierce competitor.

.Grammy enjoys a Tristan cuddle. Katie was in charge of the waste wrapping paper and she did the job with gusto!
Lorie received some awesome gifts. It made me want to go back and re-register! The baby things are already so much nicer than they were just three years ago! Cake time. Lorie loved her cake, which I was so happy about.

We had contemplated hiring some girls to do clean up at the shower and then just decided to do it ourselves. These girls decided to take matters into their own hands, however. What started off as one girl washing a glass for herself evolved into these six washing and drying all the plates and cups and putting them away. SO sweet! I was so glad to just be able to relax and enjoy the shower. Katie, me and Tristan enjoying visiting.

Grandma Kay, Aunt Jen, Lorie and Katie. All of these ladies are relatives from Micah's side of the family. Amanda and I. Amanda is married to my cousin, Bryan, and we are so thankful to have her as part of the family.
Aunt Nancy, Lorie and Aunt Barbara. Aunt Nancy drove down with Bryan and Amanda for eight hours just to be there and Aunt Barbara flew. We were so blessed to have our aunts there to celebrate this special occasion. All the Bridge Girls: Emily, Lorie, Katie and I. Who knows how many children we could all end up having between the four of us! Also, notice those smiles--it's the miracle of orthodontics!

Mom and her girls. The whole family gathered that evening for dinner at my parents house. Only a mother of five children can hold a huge shower at her home in the morning and then turn around and prepare dinner for fifteen that same evening without batting an eyelash! Bryan and Amanda stuck around to visit for awhile. Because they live in Pennsylvania we don't get many opportunities to see them, but now that they know how fabulous Kentucky is, we think we'll see them more often! We had a great visit and talked over the shower and what a smashing success it had been