Playing with her bell

caught talking after her nap!

play-gym

Trying to get her talking, but not very successful!

jumper

Ally in her jumper/swing - not much else going on :)

Ally learning to talk

She's recently started babbling more and more - her latest obsession is gurgling to herself...

good morning sunshine!

waking Ally up is so funny sometimes we had to record it - she's slightly less animated with the video camera, but still pretty funny. she's all smiles, and usually doesn't realize she can move her arms after being swaddled all night so you have to move them for her before she understands - then she gives these great big stretches - it's hilarious:

playdate with Rowan

Our good friends had a baby boy 6 weeks after Ally was born (he was a month early!). we met today to go to a mom's group together and took a couple pictures - Ally's a lot bigger than he is, although i'm sure he'll catch up soon :)

recent photos:

give me my binky and no one gets hurt.

monkey talk

i noticed if i put Ally in her play gym and left her alone, she'd start to talk to the stuffed monkey that hangs on it - i sit behind her at the computer and she has 10 minute conversations, it's hilarious. if she notices me, though, she stops, so i have to kind of sneak up on her. i got a little bit of it on tape this morning (it's hard to get the best parts without making the video ten minutes long!):

8 weeks old!

I can't even believe Ally is 8 weeks old already! she's getting so big - everyone thinks she's three months! we visited the doctor on tuesday and she's currently 11 lbs, 5.5 ounces, so she's eating like a champ. every day she's more and more interactive and just yesterday she had a real chuckle - i'm still waiting for the next one, but hopefully every day we'll hear more and more. her favorite song is the itsy bitsy spider, and she loves looking at herself in the mirror - here's a video of Ally looking up at her reflection while she sits in her swing (there's a mirror attached to the top):

allyson is one month old!

admittedly, i've fallen off the bandwagon a bit with the blog, but now that we've kind of gotten into the swing of things, i'm hoping to get a bit better at finding the time :-) in any case, ally is one month old already (officially yesterday) and is starting to smile and babble just a bit when coaxed along. she loves staring at the blinds and the mobile over her changing table, but still isn't too fond of sleeping more than three hours at a time unfortunately! here's a quick video of her on her changing table - apologies in advance for my annoying baby talk, but it just can't be avoided with a baby this cute ;-)

no baby yet!

we're still anxiously awaiting the arrival - we're about 3 days overdue and counting. i've been taking long walks and eating spicy food, but she still seems to be pretty comfortable in there. fingers crossed we'll have news to share soon!

getting ready!

we're using every minute these last few weeks to get ready! piles of baby stuff are everywhere, and Bryan painted the room on saturday - a pretty pale blue. car seat got installed last weekend, and soon we order furniture - it's the home stretch!

baby shower!

i had a WONDERFUL time at my baby shower last weekend - my friends did an amazing job and my mom and Susan were able to make it up from southern california to celebrate. ally and i got so many wonderful gifts - thank you to everyone!

it's a girl!

we had our second ultrasound today and found out we're having a little girl! she was asleep for a good portion of the ultrasound, but woke up near the end and was moving all around. she's growing at a good rate and healthy as can be, so now it's on to picking names and nursery colors!

little kicks

i can't believe it's been a whole month since our ultrasound! the past few weeks have been a breeze and i'm still feeling really good. i've had a few whirlwind weekends with bachelorette parties (i happily acted as a designated driver) and other events, and can no longer button my pants :) i've been sticking rubber bands through the button hole and looping it around the button to give myself another few inches - i just need to make sure i wear a long enough top!

just this week i started to feel little kicks every now and then - it's usually only when i'm sitting still and paying attention - otherwise i barely notice them. i wasn't so sure what they were at first, but i've been feeling them more and more and now am pretty certain i'm feeling little arms and legs! next week we'll go in for our second ultrasound and hopefully find out if we're having a boy or a girl, so get your votes in!

first ultrasound

today we went in for our first ultrasound, which is technically to screen for proper development, but offers the benefit and fun of seeing the baby actually moving around and lets us take pictures home to show off to friends and family :)

everything looks good and the little guy (or girl) had the hiccups, which was pretty funny. bryan was worried at first, but the doctor said it's perfectly normal and actually is a good sign that diaphragm and reflexes are developing well. phew!

anyway, so far so good, and now we finally have some pictures to share!

cravings, doctors and naps

well, so far the pregnancy has been an easy one - almost no morning sickness! the biggest side effect i've been experiencing is tiredness on the weekends. i've also been eating more hamburgers and b.l.t.'s than i have in a while - i guess it's the need for all that protein. other than that, it's been business as usual, and i'm still taking the train to work, though bryan and i are going to start switching a couple days a week now that his office is close to the train station too.

two weeks ago we had a doctors appointment and got to hear the baby's hearbeat! it was beating at about 180 beats per minute and absolutely incredible. it was the most amazing thing hearing my own slow steady heartbeat one second, and then a few inches to the right hearing the baby's fast heartbeat coming out loud. i can't wait to go back for the ultrasound and see the baby moving around in just a few weeks.