Life is good!

I will put up a post in the next few days about Alli's first 4th of July and our annual family campout.  It's been such a hot one!

Today I have been really emotional.  A year ago today, I started my regimen of infertility medicines to begin our first invitro cycle.  I remember being so excited and nervous.  We have come so far from that day.  Our IVF cycle ended in failure in archiving a pregnancy of my own, but out of those dark days came our miracle child Allison Grace. The whole IVF process was overwhelming but one I would gladly go thru again if it meant that was the way we got to Allison.  I truly believe that we HAD to go thru the IVF process in order to get to Allison.  I am still not totally sure what lesson we were supposed to learn from it.   I have been sitting here today thinking about the Jason Aldean song "Laughed Until We Cried".  The song has a part in it that goes something like this, "Just the other night the baby was crying so I got out of bed and rocked her awhile and I held her tight and I told her it would be alright.  My mind went back to a few years ago when we tried so long we almost gave up hope and then I remember you coming in and giving me the news.  Oh man we were living, going crazy in the kitchen.  We danced and screamed and held each other tight.  We laughed until we cried".  Those lyrics really are how it was for us.  It sums it up so perfectly.  I couldn't have said it better myself.  I may never know why Alli's birth mother choose us, but I am so thankful that she did.  She is an amazing young woman, who I think of daily and will ALWAYS talk about with the utmost respect.  I don't think I can ever truly convey to her how much she really means to us and what her decision means to us.  It's so hard to believe where we have come in only one short year.  And that my wonderful miracle baby is sleeping soundly in the other room.  I am loving life and am so happy.  Life if great and God is good!

9 months

I cannot believe that Allison is 9 months old already.  We are just amazed everyday that we get to be her parents.  She is an amazing child.  I just love to sit and watch her as she learns new things.  She is changing so fast and I don't want to miss a minute.  I took some pictures tonight with the quilt that Allison's birthgrandmother made.  Alli got really tired of Mommy playing photographer, but she was a trooper. 

Yeah for Allison

Mom, I am so done with this!!!

Finally a smile

If I can just grab Mom's camera she can't take any more pictures.

Allison's 9 month check up is July 12th.  I can't wait to see how much she has grown.  I think she is getting so big.  It will be interesting to see how different her numbers are from her 6 month checkup.





Diaper Rash GO AWAY!!!

We noticed that Alli had little red bumps in her diaper area and had been treating it with the diaper rash cream our doctor recommend.  But after 7 days, it still wasn't any better.  I called the doctor to talk to the nurse.  I had been reading about a yeast infection diaper rash and was afraid that's what she had.  That's what the doctor thought too so she prescribed a cream and we started putting it on.  By Friday her diaper rash was SO bad.  I called the doctor and they told me a few other things to do which included two different creams, rinsing all the chemicals off the wipes we are using, and trying to keep her out of her diaper for as long as possible.  Really, that want me to keep my almost 9 month old daughter out of a diaper.  I didn't see this going well, but if it made her feel better, I was all for it.  So Saturday, Mike cut a garbage bad and laid it out on the floor, we put a blanket down over it, and then put a changing pod underneath. 

She played and was doing fine.  About 5 or so mintues in, I check her to make sure she hadn't potty yet when I notice her shirt was wet and big wet spot on the changing pad.  Mike was right there and started freaking out.  Not only had she peed, but she pooped too.  Now our daughter is not a quite pooper but of course this one time she would be.  Mike runs to the kitchen to get a paper towel.  I pick her up and he holds the paper towel underneather her tush so the poop doesn't fall to the floor when Alli decides she needs to poop again.  YIKES!!!!!  Mike doesn't handle dirty diapers well.  I was laughing so hard.  All I had going thru my head was the scene from Full House where Michelle had a dirty diaper and Uncle Jesse and Joey were home with her.  They ended up putting her in the kitchen sink and washing her with the hand held wand and wrapping her paper towels instead of a diaper.  She wasn't really all that messy and I cleaned her up.  But what a funny few mintues.  By Monday she was looking better, but today she is really red again.  But I am thinking we are getting teeth and that's not helping anything.

We had a photo session on Saturday with my Bosses daughter Beth Oswald who is studying photography at Hannibal LaGrange University.  Alli did pretty well.  I had three outfits for her and we only got to two, but that's okay.  We will save the other one for a little later.  Beth thinks she should have the pictures soon and I can't wait to see them.  Next up are her 1 year pictures.  Holy cow, where has the time gone.  I love her more and more each day and Mike and I are so blessed!

First 4wheeling trip and Mike's 1st Father's day

Last Thursday, we loaded up the camper with the ton of stuff for Allison, the 4wheeler, and all our other essentials and headed out to St. Joe's State Park in Missouri for our Annual 4wheeling trip.  After our last camping trip with Allison I was prepared for the no naps and not sleeping very well at night, but Allison loves outside so we were going to have fun.  We stopped at Hardees to eat before getting to the campground.  I get Allison out of her seat and realize that she has peed everywhere.  So Mike and I grab all her stuff and head into Hardees to order food and change her diaper.  I get into the bathroom only to notice that there is NO changing station.  REALLY!!!  Does Hardees not expect people to have kids and need to change their diaper?  So we head back out to the truck, which is not parked by the door mind you because we have a 25ft camper with it and it's hot, to change Alli's diaper and clothes.  I get her all set and we head back in to get food.  Alli was great while we ate!  Mike gets her out of the high chair and she has peed again all over her clothes.  It was mostly all over her pants, but I didn't have anything else in her diaper bag and I couldn't get to her clothes in the camper.  So i stripped her down to her onsie and back in her car seat she went.  We get to the campground and get the camper set up probably easier than ever.  Our friend Mona took Alli for a walk so she could fall asleep.  Alli took a good nap outside.  I went to take her over and change her and she had peed again in her stroller.  Her stroller was sopping wet so I had to put it in front of a fan to dry and change her clothes yet again.  I wasn't sure how this weekend was going to go after that.  I had quite the load of laundry and we hadn't even been there 4 hours.   There was a nice playground there and so Allison got to play on her very first playground.  They had two baby swings so we swang for awhile.  We took Allison's favorite toy, her jumperoo, and she had a blast playing in it outside. 

She is such a happy girl outside.  She got to visit with lots of friends.  She had a great time.  I can't believe how much she loves outside. 

There were a few times that it was hot so we went in to play.  She loves having her toys in her bag so she can play with all of them.



Allison had a rough night Friday night and was up from midnight to 6 am off and on.  But she was pretty good that day and slept ALL night Saturday night which was a first in the camper.  She really was a good girl and was so happy.  We have been blessed with such a happy baby.

Sunday was Mike's first father's day.  I would like to say that we made it super special by him not having to do any work and he got breakfast in bed, but that didn't happen.  Let's face it, I can't do much with the outside of the camper so he had to work a lot that day and then drive all the way home.  I did let him sneek in a little nap in his chair when we got home.  Sunday morning before we left the camp site, Allison and I gave Daddy his gifts.  Mommy got Daddy a Dad and Me camo picture frame for he and Allison's special times.  I got this especially for their first hunting trip together.  Yes I know it is a few years away yet, but it was just so fitting.  Allison got Daddy a gift certificate for Cabela's and lots of kisses.  I think he had a good day all and all.  I know he was really happy just having his baby with him.  

Daddy is my best friend

Nothing makes my heart happier than my daughter laughing.  Unless it is hearing my daughter laughing and peeking around the corner seeing her playing with her Daddy and that's why she is laughing.  It's in those sweet moments that "my cup runeth over" to quote a great movie!  She is truly a Daddy's girl already and she has him wrapped around her finger.  They are so sweet together.

The other day while I was getting ready, I noticed that Alli was being awfully quiet so I peeked around the corner to find Allison had ALL of her toys out of her toy bag.  She had not only emptied it, but she had figured out how to grab the handle and drag the bag to her to empty it.  She is such a smart little girl who I have a feeling is going to keep this Momma on her toes.  But I am ready for every minute of it.

New Trick

Allison has learned a new trick.  She claps and loves to do it.  You say "Yeah Allison" and clap she will copy you.  If you start saying "Patty Cake Patty Cake" she starts clapping too.  It is so cute.  I got it on tape.  Here is a video of it.

She of course didn't really want to do it after I got the camera, but you get a little bit of it.  She is saying DaDaDa all the time.  It is so cute.  She changes so much every day.  She is such a blessing.



Ear Infection

So those of you that have had children with Ear infections know what I am talking about.  It is horrible.  Mike and I had to make an after hours phone call to Alli's doctor on Friday night.  Alli was in so much pain she screamed for almost 3 hours.  Doctor advised we should probably take her to the emergency room.  I didn't feel comfortable with taking her to Carlinville and didn't want to make her ride all the way to Springfield screaming.  She finally calmed down about 11:30 and fell asleep about midnight.  She slept until 8 the next morning, which is a miracle because Allison like to wake up at 5 am daily (she got her father's morning person personality.  Mommy is NOT a morning person).  She was still pretty fussy and did not want to eat or take her bottle.  We gave her a little time and she finally took 3 oz.  We finally made the decision that if she was still acting like she felt bad at 10 am we were going to load her in the car and head to Springfield.  Alli's doctor called about 9:30 and wanted to know how she was.  I told her she was very fussy and wasn't wanting to eat.  She told us to bring her in to the office and she would see her.  She took one look in her left ear and said, yup she needs a shot.  Great, Mom and Alli don't like Alli getting shots.  Especially one's where Mom and Dad both have to hold her down.  I think that shot was hard on everyone including the doctor.  She gave her the shot and Motrin and sent us home.  Dr. Cruz said she should be feeling better by evening and that she would probably go home and sleep.  Well she didn't sleep, but she did seem to be feeling a little better.  She was at least no fussing non stop and playing a little.  By Sunday morning I could see a total difference.  She was running a fever, but was happy and playing, still not eating well, but better than before.  What Dr. Cruz forgot to tell me was that this medicine could cause diarrhea.  Well, it causes a lot of it.  Enough that she had poop all the way up to her neck!  And I had just change her clothes and put her on the floor.  It was maybe 5 minutes or less and she had poop everyone.  Daddy was out on Dive Training for the Rescue Squad so Mommy got this one on her own.  Daddy probably wouldn't have been much help.  He probably would have puked and then I would have had two messes to clean up.

We had 3 really bad diapers Sunday, but I will take that if it made Allison feel better.  Shortly after the poop explosion# 1, I notice Alli had a spot on her foot.  So I got to looking her over and I noticed a horrible, prickly looking rash that was super hot in one spot on her leg.  Alli has always had sensitive skin so it didn't really alarm me at first.  But the spot got bigger, and bigger, and bigger.

 Then I noticed it was on the top of her leg and her arm.  I was starting to get alarmed at this point, but I didn't want to be an alarmist first time mom.  All I could think was this was spreading rapidly and going to stop her heart or her breathing.  Thankfully I have two good friends that are nurses and they assured me as long as Alli wasn't experiencing any shortness of breath or trouble breathing she was fine (although then I didn't want to put her down because as soon as I left her she was going to have trouble.  Yes I know I am a total worry wart).   I called the after hours doctor's number again because I just wanted to make sure Dr. Cruz knew and she said to give her benadryl and call first thing on Monday morning to set an appointment.  Alli was fine all night.  The rash didn't bother her at all.  We saw Dr. Cruz Monday morning and she said the rash was fine and that Alli's ears were starting to look better.  Tuesday morning Alli finally finished a bottle and her food.  We are seeing improvement every day.  I hope we are on the downhill side of this.  Dr. Cruz said we don't have to worry about tubes yet and that she would see her at her nine month check up.  Can she really be almost 9 months old?