My Ewok

is the cutest little Ewok ever! He had just had Pumpkin Pie... yeah he is his fathers double.. He loves it... we sampled it at Costco and he is a fan:)

Teething Bites............

even more so when its molars... Leland is getting 4 new molars in... Yes I know they are supposed to be 2 year molars, and yes he really is getting them:) Even the doctor noted them!

This is for Mom...and Amy

This is the outfit that mom bought while she was here... she bought a matching one for Eli as well since we are always getting asked if the boys are twins:) Once it cools off a bit more we will dress them in their outfits for outside wear, meanwhile we are using ours as a sleeper.

The reason this post is for Amy as well is because Leland is actually drinking his own sippy cup without help! He has FINALLY discovered the art of tipping his head back, some day we hope that we won't have to use the little holder things (although they come on the sippys we use, but the bottles we have to add them which isn't a problem but we only have two, and I am really good at losing things!)

Then he realized I had the camera and was after it! He enjoys playing with it and since we have the 4 year warranty I let him usually, but I always take it away when it heads for the mouth, unless its the strap, he can chew on that all he wants, which is what he was after tonight:)

Uhmmmm

So I went though all the clothes for the baby tonight and got them put into boxes by size.... i win... and now I hurt:)

Thanks Jen!

I have to admit that I was in a bit of a panic this morning when I emailed Jen about my blog being ruined! She immediately went into action and had it all fixed within less than an hour! Thanks for taking time out to help the computer challenged me! You are the best! For those of you wondering what happened somehow I managed to get rid of my layout tab completely and I had not a clue as to how I did it or how to get it back, and Jen knew how to fix it and got it done! So now I can enjoy my Halloween background, that is more of an Autumn background but still an excellent background none the less, and still see my blog! Thanks again Jen!

Leland's Walking...

Well sort of :) Check it out for yourself....

The music is really loud in the back ground and that is because we were in the bathroom and his mom likes to have a little noise with the splashing. By the way you need a splash guard if you want to sit with him while he is in the tub those little mitts make a huge splash!

Oreos

Brian left the oreo's out on the table not our high table, which I have moved into the bed room, but our little red side table that is currently displaced:) Anyway I was getting Leland's bottle and taking drugs for my cold and couldn't figure out why he was being so quiet, since he has been sick if I leave the room or even turn my back on him it usually results in water works. Well many of you know that Oreo has a new way to do the bag, it just pulls open, now when you have opened your Oreo bag as much as we have, the sticky starts to wear off, thus making it easy for a baby to figure out.

There were only 4 left, i know because I ate one last night when I got home from babysitting:) Anyway I am not much better I just turned around to find him all messy, I left his tray from his high chair down on the little red table and he found the last cookie on it. Anyway Brian gets to live because I caught it before a huge mess had been made! He also re discovered his birthday glasses from Hopie... and loves them!

Just some pretty random thoughts

These are all pretty random... Just FYI:)

First the picture above... I find it fantastic(and no those aren't rabbit poops they are dried blueberries)! I was doing some emails on the computer and had given my poor child (who I believe it getting a fever...ugh) a bunch of random food, Cheerios's biter biscuit and some dried fruit (he likes dried blueberries...odd) anyway he has been quite for some time so I turned around to check on him and this is what met my gaze... Poor little guy, can't breath through his nose most of the time... So needless to say I am cleaning up the humidifier, which surprisingly enough if you leave water in it bad things happen... DUH! I am a dork, think Allie think! So I am soaking it in bleach water to make sure I kill the mold... somewhere told me two minutes then washing it out with just plain old dish soap. Then I have to find that little plug in thing that releases Vic's vapor rub... that way I know he will get some rest tonight.

Second Brian and I have never gotten out of bed so fast in our married lives than we did this morning. We had both woken up around 8 I know this is amazing... and we were both are ya ready for this.. still pretending to be asleep, I am sure this is because we could both hear Leland talking away in his crib and neither one of us wanted to get up yet as we both felt nasty this morning (we have Leland's cold) So we had just made eye contact and were starting to talk when we heard a very loud crash and then Leland screaming... I was pretty sure he had pulled a chuck Norris and crashed out of his crib, and I am sure that is what Brian envisioned too because we halled bum out to his room... only to find that he had pulled the light over his crib off of the ceiling by the cord that when he was littler was out of his reach... can I claim my bad mother award yet:) Anyway, it didn't hit him or anything it just scared the pie out of him... needless to say if we put it back up I will be stapling the cord out of his reach....

Thirdly Amy and I get to go to the pumpkin patch again this year! Well we are planning to and I am SO excited! I LOVED it last year and I think I will enjoy it more this year as I don't have a one month old or so much pain:) This should be so fun! I am hoping Brian will go with us, because it is nice to have some extra hands, cause we are going to pull Ame's kids out of school to go, so that would be 6 in total! Totally excited!

Fourthly and this is the nerdy one... I am still, yes STILL waiting for my WoW download to finish... Painful! I downloaded the expansion pack first by my own mistake and to my dismay it doesn't "stick" if you don't have the other one up loaded... so we are STILL waiting for the expansion pack to download... as I am typing it just posted at 3% and that is after 2 hours! Yikes!

Just Plain old Tired...(hope this is the post:))

This has been my theme since Thursday. Leland had his 1 year check up! YAY he is still huge... I mean a tank:) no seriously he is growing so good and strong! I am so glad! Anyway he got 4 shots, he was only supposed get 3 but I noticed they were giving flu shots, so I asked if we could get hooked up that same day, hoping to avoid another $20dollar copay, even though that is NOT what I owe any more and I tried to "tell" the staff that, but since the insurance card still says aetna they still collect the $20 from me, and I pay it realizing that I will just get the credit from it. With that said.. I still have to pay another copay... why you ask, because apparently when they get their first flu shot they have to get two! OUCH! anyway, its worth it. Leland has allergies or so Dr. Mom has guess because Thursday night was hard hard hard. I went to go into bed around 11:30 and poked my head in to check on Leland, I was greeted with the vomit smell, and then panicked (for those of you that don't know I have been having awful dreams, Brian thinks its because I think I am a bad mom, I think it just fits with my life.. I have had horrid dreams since I was 15 so yeah) I was mostly worried that he had drowned in his vomit, but then realized he was in fact fussing, as I would have been if my puke was drying on around my neck:) So I grabbed him out of bed and we went straight for the bath, got him cleaned up and then I realized... oh great, he thinks that was a nap and will be up for the next two hours. I was right, however I am sure he would have slept if I had let him cry himself to sleep I just felt too bad to in fact pull that since I let him wallow in filth... so he got rocked and sung to till around 1:30am then I had to wash everything down, and remember to change everything over to the dryer. So I hit the sack around 2:45 and Leland by the way somehow found his way into our bed, oh wait he wouldn't stop screaming so I slept stiffly by my little guy till around 5 when I asked Brian to move him to his own bed... he did so but not willingly, and I went back to sleep, only to be woken up at 7 to wake Brian up to get Leland, then to hear Brian yell ALLIE! So I got out of bed and we had found a pooped Leland, it was pretty close to everywhere, so we took him straight to the bath and hosed him down and washed him up:) So that is how my Friday started, then I worked 6 1/2 hours, picked up Leland from Hopes (you are fantastic!) and then went to wait for Brian to get off... So Saturday morning I called and figured out what I could give him for the mucus and she gave me some options, we are trying those out so that Leland can still have his go-gurt and milk without the extra mucus they create gagging him. So Saturday we ran a lot of errands, and this with an over tired mama is kind of amusing I am sure for those who get to witness it. We went to wal-mart for an oil change and it took... are you ready for this??? ....2 hours! So I spent 2 hours in wal-mart and maybe 30 minutes of those 2 hours were spent close to tears... you see a marching band from the local high school thought it would be brilliant to come to walmart and play trying to get some funds for whatever marching bands need... those of you that know Leland know he does not enjoy sudden loud noises... if the noise is soft then gets louder... he is usually ok, but when it just gets loud and he can't see it or hasn't heard it before we have a melt down on our hands... now again let me point out that I am tired... so this said marching band... decides to come up the isle that I have deemed safe, or safer than where we were looking... and they decide to play their march... well Leland melts down, and his little hands are grabbing at me trying to get up and so I pick him up but not before mom has a melt down... that's right as my child is screaming and crying I melt down as well and start balling.. I think I managed to get myself under control before too many people saw me.. but still talk about lame... but the best part of my day was yet to come... I got a text from Hope saying she had finished Leland's other gift (at this point I just really want to be done and go see his gift because she had been collecting pictures for it for a few weeks...) and so I wait FOREVER for my car to get done, and head to Hopes house, I am treating her to lunch for being willing to take Leland Friday so last minute even though she had another sitting job. So she brings me this little book.. she is lucky to have not witnessed the total melt down. but she did get tears! She had made us story book, but using all of our family and extended family! I am amazed at how much work she put into it and am SO blessed to have such a wonderful friend who loves me enough to see a need and fill it. For those of you who don't know I have been stressed about how to handle family gatherings. My in laws are both remarried and love both sets equally as much but having them together is always stressful for me. I am just worried that someone will get their feelings hurt, and I could be the one hurting them.. so it stresses me out to say the least. But Hope came up with book as a melding for Leland, Toby, Tank, BBJ, bebob, bub, Brian and put all the family pictures in it. I absolutely love it, the story is tender and sweet and the pictures turned out great...... SO great that I have to share them all with you!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

So I cried when I read it through the first time and I cried when I read it to him right before bed. He was up when his dad got home and I showed Brian ( who I think even he got a little teary eyed) who took a little too long to read it as Leland had figured that if he got up on my lap and stood up he could comendear his book back... I read it to him one more time before I put him down, and then he held it while we rocked for a minute... and then I took it from him (not an easy task) and laid him down. While typing this post I just feel so much gratitude for Heavenly Father guiding me to Texas, I have met 2 wonderful women who seem to understand me from square one, they get me, they get my humor, and they know what I need when I need it and even a hug from them can make me feel better.. oh you know who you are but I know I will hear it from Alison if I only mention Hope:) I love you two to death and there should be more outings... just so you know. Another great blessing about moving to Texas which is actually the real reason I moved here is so I could be close to Amy. She is an inspiration and I love living close to her, its fun to watch her grow as her boys do, and watch her get goofy when it gets a little two late and have her to hug when I am so down and under that she just gets it, cause she has been there too... So without me knowing it, God put me here to realize my worth. That these people could love me so much that I must matter. I must have a purpose. So as I am worn out tired and even my hands hurt while typing this I just want thanks with my whole heart the gratitude is overwhelming and I am sure I look sort of sad sitting and balling at my computer but no one is home but the baby and he is asleep:). And Hope thanks for the most wonderful gift I could ever ask for from a friend and sister.. sorry you are stuck I claim you.. I hope that is celebrity enough for you:) The pictures aren't very good but you will get the drift:)

Kamille and Andrew

Some of you know that I have friends down in Houston. We were worried about them this last Saturday as Ike passed through there, but were relieved to hear on Monday that they were safe and considering coming up here for a bit. I was glad to offer my home as Kamille and I were roommates at BYU-I and we got along swimmingly! They have a 3 year old named Michael (who was not a huge fan of Leland... Poor guy!) Anywho they stayed with us only two days and I supposed I can understand why they would ALL go back to Houston rather than Kamille and Michael staying here. You see Kamille is 8 and a half months pregnant and just while she was here the baby began dropping and she began having contractions. Also Andrew is in school and in an Opera that will be put on in October, and since it is September and they are just starting prep for the Opera Andrew needs to be there! I don't blame Kamille for wanting to go back with him so he can be there if/when she goes into labor. I feel slightly bad for them, as they have no A/C at their apartment still but since Andrew has to be back they are off and running! I hope they get home safe and it was so great to see them! I only wish they would have stayed longer!

Followers

So I added a follower link... just an update! I like to be followed:)

Frustrating much?

Here is the nerd side of me people! I started playing world of warcraft with the hubby and I am now addicted... however I had to reset my computer to factory settings... all you nerds out there know that means that I have to re download WoW and folks this takes a long time! If I could have found disk 3 (there are 5) it would have gone so much quicker! Ugh to having computer issues:)

My Kiddo

LOVES go gurt.. I know eww. But we bought it on Coupon at Costco, and within the last two days he has eaten 6 I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but for him it is a good deal more considering there are still bottles and Cheerios and gold fish and the like... Tonight he finished off his goldfish crackers that Rachael gave him for his birthday (thanks rach!) and had 1 go gurt and then I successfully dumped out a huge amount of Cheerios on his plate, to which I got yelled at when I put some back in the box, and he has almost finished those! I am so proud! What a good little eater I have. I am having trouble with finding vegetables for him to eat though, so if anyone has any thoughts let me know... I just don't want to keep wasting money on things he won't eat! Also when do they need to start learning how to feed themselves with utensils?

Amy's Cupcakes

So Leland only got one of the cupcakes I made last night. However Amy's looked so much more yummy to me so today for breakfast Leland got a cupcake... Mind you those things are heavy so for the most part he left it on his tray and leaned in to get it... It made me laugh!

We will have pictures of the party soon! Hope is going to email them to me:)

Leland Turns 1

Today was Leland's first birthday and I wanted to say thanks to everyone that came and made the day special for us! We sure love having company and we love the good friends and times that come with the good friends! We love you all! But as I sit here after all the crowd is gone and Leland has gone to bed, and the toys have been silenced I am feeling overwhelmed and sad that my baby is now 1. It doesn't make much sense does it! But in just a few years he will be able to sass me and tell me he hates me, but there will also be the tender moments where he loves me just as much as I love him. I think I am scared of what the future will bring as he grows. Will I be an adequate mom? Will I be able to teach him like the stripling warriors moms did? Will he make good choices? Will he know how much I love him, and how much I love the Lord? Or will the worlds influences be too much for him and will I fail him in the areas he needs. I guess you are supposed to take it day by day, but when it seems like just yesterday I was cradling my infant so new from Heaven it seems like the years will all pass that quickly. He is such an angel and has brought so much joy and his giggles make me laugh on even the worst days. He is such a wonderful baby and I am such a Lucky mom! Not only to have this wonderful child, but to have such a wonderful family and support system that is built of people who love me and love and adore my Leland. So instead of flip out I guess I will take a page from Amy and post the pictures of the year! Loves to all!

Zekie-isms

The other day I got a call from Amy's cell phone... this is the following conversation....

Me: Hello? HELLO?
Zeke: Allie (pause, pause, pause) Allie I'm goin NUTS...
Me: (stifled laughter) why Zekie?
Zeke: mumble, mumble mumble toy. mumble mumble mumble monies, mumble mumble hey when are you coming to see me.
Me: Is it ok if you come to my house on Sunday
Zeke: YEAH.. Love ya bye.. CLick

Babies Room completed:)

I reign victorious over another room! The babies room is done... Now for all of you who think I am being as good as I had hoped and getting it organized as I go, not so... this is in prep for the party:) I am going to have to go back through and redo:) Dang... but I have to have it pretty for tomorrow!

Before

After:)

Playin in the Rain

Amy let the boys go out and play in the rain this last Wednesday and I wished I could go with them but I hate being wet with no dry clothes so I got to watch from the garage until it let up a little and then I could go and watch them play in the rain run off! Thanks Ame for the entertainment:P

Shortly thereafter the rain play I got to witness Amy do sweatintotheoldies... :D Very fun to watch!

Bathroom is DONE!

Its a huge improvement:)

What do you think!

Before

After

Herculean Effort/ A little Embarassing:)

So as of today Wednesday the 10th our house guest is officially supposed to be out, which means.... I am undertaking a huge effort to get our house in order for not only Leland's first birthday but so that we can enjoy our space without the clutter! I figure there is no time like the present since we have already been in this apartment for almost 8 months:)

This is the kitchen
This is the living room/ entry way

This is the bathroom

Lelands Room

Our Room

Computer area

Check back for the after pictures when I finish each area I will post it:)

Mom and Dad's visit

Mom and Dad came out for a visit and we had a great time! It flew by much to our dismay... and we know that it really did because Dad even said it did:) Anyway I am so grateful for such wonderful parents and my wonderful sister who was gracious enough to host all of us, even though I only live 20 minutes away to save on gas! Thanks Ame! Sadly because my brain is dead most of the week is a blur:) But I know we went to see Kung Fu panda which I actually got to watch as Dad was sweet enough to come to retrieve my whining kiddo. Leland did pretty well, but alas at this age they just aren't that interested in sitting in front of a movie. I laughed out loud most of the time... but my favorite lines are by far "my tenders" and "stop I'm going to pee" very funny in context believe me:D needless to say it is a movie I will own for me, I mean Leland! We did Gatti Town which is always fun and who doesn't like an all you can eat buffet especially when Dad takes the kids all except the two little ones into the arcade and we get to sit and eat Cinnamon bread with a cream cheesy icing.

We also went bowling on Labor day which was a nice change of pace and how fun it was to watch Eli get so excited for his turn. Leland enjoyed his grandma's singing and I enjoyed watching everything!
The Rodeo was a blast we went to the Stockyards in Fort Worth, which even people who were raised here have no idea that they have a rodeo on the weekends, because I told some of my friends we were going to a rodeo and the only one they could think of would be in Mesquite. I am sure that one is good but this one was lots of fun as well. As mentioned in an earlier post I fell at this rodeo. here is the story for those of you who have been waiting for it:) One of the muscles in my eye is slow to act so in the dark and when I do quick changes in what I am looking at (like reading and all the sudden looking up) my vision gets a little blurry, now I do have glasses to correct this problem but I never wear them. I know what a waste of money. I never wear them because up until yesterday I didn't know where they were! Anywho, I was going to meet dad and help him bring the stroller up that had my sleeping baby in it (that dad had just walked all over to get to him to finally go to sleep) and totally miscalculated the steps, I looked down in the dark, thinking okay only one more... well there were two and I went down pretty hard. Poor dad was sure I had sprained my ankle and kept asking me if it was alright, although I was laughing so hard I had a hard time reassuring him I was ok. Thankfully from our group it was only Dad that witnessed otherwise I may never live it down. But I got a swollen wrist from it, and a scratched up leg. The wrist is fine now and the cuts are healing and I am still giggling and hoping that it was graceful! Anywho I am waiting for some pictures from Amy's camera but I will post what i have :) Thanks so much mom and dad for an awesome week! You two are the best!