The Party is Here!!

Emily's fifth birthday celebration officially begins today. She had her "Walk Around the Sun" this morning at school. I guess it's a Montessori thing where they place a sun in the center of their circle, and the birthday child proceeds to walk around it the number of years that they have been alive. The teacher also shows a picture (provided by me) for each year of life. Then, the best part, according to Emily, they get to have the birthday snack - which this year is fruit salad. The school actually requests that you don't bring sugary snacks because it makes the kids crazy - those teachers are so smart. Emily was most excited because she gets to pick three friends to help her hand out snack. She told me this morning who she was going to pick, and apparently she had put some serious thought into it, Vincent, Max and Matthew. All boys. Too cute.


This evening, we will be having some of her neighborhood friends over to decorate cookies, have pizza and a Carvel cake - yum. Then tomorrow is her birthday lunch at her much beloved Red Robin. She's just excited that she gets to have them sing "Happy Birthday", have a sundae and balloons. On Sunday, her actual birthday, is the family party. Gee, only four birthday celebrations.....the poor child. I should have planned better and had five for five - but I think each year it would be a bit much.


Paige had a very rocky start to her no bottle at 3am routine - she cried for two hours straight the first night. However, last night, she almost made it, she just woke twice, and was easily settled in a matter of minutes. I am trying to stay positive, and HOPE that this is a trend, and it will get easier each night.....but I am not holding my breath. She is Paige, after all.

Couldn't you....

Just squeeze this baby? I could, and I DO. Happy Wednesday everyone.

Good News and Bad News

(By the way - for those of you who cold really care less about the eating and sleeping habits of a 4 1/2 month old, skip the blog today. I am just warning you.......)


So which do you want first? Are you an optimist...or a pessimist? Well, depending on the day, I am both. Let's just start with the good news. Paige had her first taste of baby cereal Friday night. She loved it. Ate the whole thing - and I made more than I was supposed to. I was such a proud Mama. She happily opened her mouth and slurped every bite. It was adorable. She then downed her entire bottle afterward. I was really hoping for a good night - but I would like to add that I know my youngest daughter very well, and I knew exactly what we were in for. So this for all of you who told me, "Just give that child some cereal. She'll sleep for ya." The bad news....Paige, of course, didn't sleep through the night. And for the record, we have given her increasing amounts of cereal each night since, and, no, she is still not sleeping through the night.



This just proves my theory that some kids, no matter what, are sleepers, and some, no matter what, are not. Sure, Paige sleeps. She is right now as I type this. But is she a good sleeper? That would be no. She is not consistent. For example....yesterday, took and good nap in the morning, but then only 30 minutes in the afternoon. She then fell asleep last night at 7:30pm, and slept until 10, took her last bottle of the day, went back to sleep until 3am, and then awake again at 7:30. Today, she already off schedule - fell asleep for my Mom this morning at 9:45am - she usually goes down for her morning nap at 10:30. She'll probably be awake any moment. This is Paige. It's just how she is. She is just reminding us that under any circumstances, she is NOT Emily - my world champion sleeper. Still is.


Paige is in for some tough love this week. We are completely removing the middle of the night bottle. We have reduced it to a mere couple ounces over the last few weeks, and now it's time to say good bye. We will probably be saying goodbye to sleep for the next few nights as well. Does that make me an pessimist? No, actually, it doesn't. A pessimist would probably say that we would be out of sleep for the next few weeks while we battle an almost 16 pound baby for a full night of sleep. I am remaining optimistic....at least for today. Check back tomorrow.


Oh, and Emily would like to remind the world, that her 5th birthday is in only six days. Saying that she is excited would be an understatement.

Emily's Performance

Just a quick post to share some photos from Emily's Winter Program. She did a fantastic job, although, there was no triangle playing....we don't know either. She was SO excited today. She wanted to wear her red dress and sparkly shoes to school. It was hard to contain her until 5pm. Great job sweetie. We couldn't be prouder.

And little Miss Paige. To say that she loves her Jumperoo would be an understatement. She jumps and she jumps and she jumps. It's just the cutest thing ever. I would also like to say that I am proud Mama on both sides because my sweet Paige was such a good girl during her Big Sister's performance. She said quietly on my lap for most of the performance. She did spend some time pretending that she was back in her Jumperoo. Too cute.

Look what I can do!!

Paige can sit up, unassisted, for at least 40 seconds. Pretty cool. Even Max is impressed!! My baby is growing up. Next week she'll be driving.

This Weekend

Good weekend. No sleep. Not even a little bit. Baby who doesn't want to be apart from us. Decorated tree, house. Loaded Christmas CD's in the CD player. Gotta have my Amy Grant. Finished my book - Kite Runner. So good. I love to read. Snow on Saturday night. BIG snow on Saturday night. Snowman and french toast on Sunday morning. Yum. Big rain all day. Streets are slushy, as are my shoes. WalMart outing with the bluenovember.org group. Good food at Mongolian BBQ. No room for dinner. Emily has such fun with her cousins. Hope baby sleeps tonight. Foggy outside tonight. Christmas shopping online. Going to bed. Happy December.

The Jig is up - thank goodness

Just got back from my surprise visit to sunny, and HOT, south Florida. I am so glad all the sneaking around is over. You see, I am not a very good liar, and although I was never directly asked by anyone about my coming to Florida, it was still very hard to hold it all in for a couple months.

For those of you who don't know - I surprised my whole Adventure Travels office by attending my good friend Keri's baby shower. The only person who knew that I was coming was my partner in crime - Linda Freels. We both did an excellent job of keeping the whole thing under wraps until Wednesday night. It was so much fun seeing everyone's faces as they came into the room at Buca DiBeppo. Most everyone's first reaction was just to say, "Oh HI Allison", but then they realized that it was not a normal thing anymore for me to be there, and then came the "Oh my GOD!! Allison's here!!!" I do however think my favorite reaction of the night was Keri's reaction. I don't think anyone was more shocked than she was. It was great.

I would like to thank the lovely Lisa Hellman for taking such a great picture. You really captured it!! It so much fun to get the chance to do that to someone - gives you the warm fuzzies on the inside. I am still smiling about it.

Anyway, we had a great time at the shower. It was so much fun to get to see everyone - although it will just make me miss them so much more now. It's just not the same taking on the phone, or though email - but it's better than nothing, right? So, thank you Adventure so much for making me feel like I had never left. You guys ROCK. And Brooke - there are just no words...good gift.

I had a great Thursday afternoon with my sister, Amanda. She, bless her heart, sat though my visit to the office so I could catch up with those who were not able to attend the shower. We had a great lunch at my favorite place - LaBamba. And even got to get some Christmas shopping done at Towne Center mall. I got to see her new store that she will be managing in a matter of days - WAY TO GO Amanda! Stop by if you get a chance - Baby Cottons. It's a super cute store with super cute clothes for baby and kids.

Thursday nite was a fun night with all my south Florida girlfriends - Tracy (who was so sweet to put me up for my stay), Mary-Frances, Patti and Sheila. We ate at our usual spot, Carrabbas, and stuffed ourselves on gossip, stories and did I mention the food? Again, it was so great seeing you girls, and I now miss you even more.

One more thing....I would like to say thank you to all of you who let me know that you like reading my blog. It was so good to hear that so many are enjoying it. I think it's just a great and efficient way to keep up with everyone. I think everyone should have one!! So, if you promise to keep reading, I promise to keep writing. I am just going to warn everyone that this month's blog entries are sure to be either short or less frequent - December is a busy month for our family. Emily already came running into my bedroom this morning shouting, "It's December! It's December! Happy December!" With her performance this Thursday, her birthday two weeks from Sunday and Christmas, it's no wonder it's her favorite month. So, Happy December everyone!!

Oh, BTW - everyone is in one piece here in Michigan. Eric and my Mom did a super job holding down the fort.