Beautiful Toddler

Here are a few pictures from a photo shoot we did this past Monday. Allie has always been a beautiful baby, and she continues to be a gorgeous toddler. She's growing up so fast!

By the way, the pictures with the red bow show Allie sitting in Joy's rocking chair from when she was little; plus, the dress she's wearing is the same one Joy wore for her one year pictures!

Birthday Fun

We had a wonderful birthday week with Allie. (Her birthday was Sept. 2; I'm a little late getting this up.) She was PRECIOUS opening all her gifts, eating her cake and toddling about while enjoying being the center of attention. We enjoyed having some family here for her special occasion. The Rancatores came in on Friday before her birthday and Jane and Jacob came up on the Sunday before.

Allie has continued to do well with potty training. We hit a bit of a wall with the different schedule of her birthday week; plus she was very sick with teething that week (poor baby). She had fever several days, in addition to general ickiness. But, we had our first accident-free day on Saturday, Sept. 13!! We still have a ways to go, of course; but it's nice to see such awesome progress. We're able to go out a little more now (which is very helpful for Allie AND Joy). This week we may even attempt the grocery store!

Allie's seventh tooth finally popped through Saturday. We think an eighth one is on its way. She has had such terrible times with teething, especially with the bottom ones. We're looking forward to getting all those pearly whites in place so we don't have any more miserable weeks; but we've been warned that the molars are the worst. Honestly, we can't imagine worse and would really rather not even think about it!

Keep checking back because later this week we'll update with another post. We did a photo shoot with Allie on Monday, Sept. 15; the pictures turned out very cute, so we're anxious to share them, but we didn't want to pile two posts right on top of each other! Plus, it will give our family and friends something else to look forward to!

Also, Joy is much closer to having the photography web site finalized. She had a final meeting with the guy who is her "web guru," and he should have the finishing touches put up and kinks worked out soon. When it's ready, she'll send an e-mail to those of you who have expressed an interest and support in the project for some feedback and critiques. Then, we'll post the address on here; so you can check it out and refer Joy to anyone who's in need of a photographer!

Thanks for all the support through this endeavor. It's certainly taken many months more than we anticipated in getting started, but we're almost there!

We have figured out how to put up vertical pictures on here now, so we've included another of Allie's one-year portraits below. Also, we've put up our favorite pictures from her birthday week. As you can tell from the pictures, she had a ladybug-themed birthday party. Enjoy!

Tenth Percentile!!

So, our baby girl has made the 10th percentile with both her weight and height! We've never put much stock in the percentile things because really they're based on out-dated scales; however, our pediatrician, Mandy, told us today that the fact that Allie's height and weight are in the same percentile is awesome because that means she's perfectly proportioned. In other words, the fact that she's growing and growing equally lengthwise and weightwise is more important than how long or how big she is. Really? Hmmm....we never would have guessed! (Note the sarcasm: those of you who know us best already picked up on it!)

Anyway, Allie weighs just over 18 pounds, is 27.75 inches long and has a head circumference of 43 centimeters.

Allie did great with her two shots and finger pricking, too. She's so brave--nothing bothers her! She cried more with the finger pricking because she was mad we were holding her hands down than with anything! They checked her blood for anemia; she's fine, thankfully. She received the MMRV and HepA vaccines today. We chose not to do the chicken pox vaccine since it would be better for her to get that naturally, and she's not required to have it until kindergarden anyway.

This is a brief post (and boring with no pictures), but I haven't gotten around to uploading birthday pictures yet. We're still deep in potty training--which is going very well, by the way. Also, I am meeting with the guy who's helping me with my photography website this week, and need to focus on that right now. I hope to definitely post pictures by the end of the weekend at the latest--thanks for your patience!! Also, those of you who get my monthly e-mail for our online album, I should get that out by the end of the weekend as well.

Thanks for keeping up with us!!

ONE YEAR OLD!!!!

Believe it or not, Allie turns one today! We are celebrating tonight with a ladybug-themed party with family. I will post pictures from the evening soon, but I wanted to focus this blog on a few pictures I took for Allie's one-year cards. Also, her one-year appointment is next week, so I'll post her updated height/weight/etc. then.

By the way, I would put more pics, but can't figure out how to put vertical pictures on here--if anyone knows, please share the knowledge!!

End of Summer Beach Fun!!

Thanks to the generosity and hospitality of our friends, the Hawthornes, we were able to spend last weekend at the Outer Banks. We stayed in Nags Head. If you've never been to that part of the US, you should go. It is beautiful all along that far eastern edge of North Carolina.

This was Allie's first beach experience, and she LOVED it!! I'm pretty sure she would have no trouble being a beach bum baby!! She loved playing in the sand; and, no, she didn't try to eat it. When we stood her on the packed sand near the water, she would stand there for a minute and then take off running toward the water.

The only two times she was really grumpy was when Joy tried to take her one-year portraits. Despite Allie's best attempts to undermine the photo shoots, we got a few good ones. We'll do a special one-year post with all those pics.

Thanks to our good friend Valerie, we also got some family portraits--first time since Christmas! They turned out really well, and Joy's considering hiring her as a second photographer for Joyful Seasons Photography!!

Allie also loved playing with the Hawthorne's dog, Bailey. He was a sweetheart; and, although I know he grew tired of her constantly wanting to play with him, he was very patient with her.

Here are a few pictures from last weekend and a couple of Allie feeding herself lunch at home--always a messy experience!!

These first pictures are at the aquarium in Manteo (pronounced maneeow). It is not nearly as big as the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, but it was great for Allie. She thoroughly enjoyed the fish, sharks, turtles, otters, etc. She also liked dipping her hand in the petting area where Joy got to pet a sting ray.







These pictures are in Nags Head at the beach and beach house:









These pictures were taken at Jockey's Ridge, an almost-100-foot sand dune. From the top you can see the sound on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.








Here are a few pictures from Thursday at home. Allie was feeding herself her entire lunch: cheese, sandwich, vienna sausage and tomato. She didn't eat it all (actually, she doesn't like the tomatoes or sausages), but she did pretty well. Of course, she did make a mess!!




Now that the summer is officially over, we are getting back in school mode. Tony's first class is Monday morning. He will be taking Theology III, New Testament I and Philosophy this semester. We are also getting ready for company in a couple of weeks. We're looking forward to spending some time with the Rancatores and with Jane and Jacob while they're here for Allie's first birthday on Sept. 2. Also, Joy and Allie will be concentrating very hard on potty training beginning Monday. We're both as ready as we can be!! We're open to suggestions (as long as they don't include "don't even consider potty training until she's at least two years old" because, quite frankly, I will give you plenty of proof that that's not a very good view to hold)!