November 2015: Part I

In addition to the many clothes my mom and others have purchased for Allison, we were also given many cute, gently used hand me downs from friends. I have no idea which hand me downs were from which friends, so I attempt to take pictures of every outfit Alli wears just so whoever donated them to us can know the clothes are being used and appreciated. For that reason there will be a LOT of Allison pictures in all her various outfits in this and future posts.

I've never been a huge fan of the color pink, but Allison just looks so fabulous in it in all its various shades.

Tyler is growing up and getting more and more independent these days. He wants to do everything by himself, even if he's not physically capable of it (like pushing the vacuum). I've always been very cautious with Tyler because of his vast potential for mess and destruction, but I've been trying to give him more privileges and responsibilities as he grows to help him learn how to use things appropriately. For example, Tyler's always found a way to dump or drip the liquid out of his sippy cups, no matter how leak proof they claim to be. He'd shown some improvement at listening and not intentionally spilling his cups, so we gave him a new privilege and let him start carrying his sippy cup around the house. Then we second guessed ourselves when he figured out how to spit his orange soda into the fan. With Tyler it's pretty clear that we can't just tell him not to be messy and destructive. We have to give him opportunities to be appropriately messy and destructive and then attempt to teach him when it's appropriate and when it's not. It's a slow going process...glaciers move faster....

This was a super cute exchange between Allison and Nibbler. I was getting in some good cuddles with my baby and my furbaby when he sniffed at her face and she shied away from him in her very dainty way before they both went back to their previous positions.

I continue taking Tyler to toddler storytime because he does so well there. Sometimes I take him 2 or 3 times a week. We attempted baby and me storytime, but Allison was totally indifferent to it and Tyler threw a tantrum before mom took him out. Then another mom brought her baby and toddler daughter in, and her daughter could not get enough of Allison. She played with her and interacted with her the way I'd been hoping Tyler would. One day...

 Such a sweetheart!

She's the perfect sister for this silly Ty guy. Her calm demeanor complements his craziness.

Alli first started smiling and becoming interactive in November. She really responds to daddy.

We brought up the play chair for Allison from when Tyler was a baby. Guess who claimed it as his own? We actually had to put it away and bring it back out at the beginning of January since she wasn't all that interested in it yet and Tyler started refusing to eat anywhere but in the chair.

During choir practice, the Hall kids took it upon themselves to teach baby Allison how to fist bump and speak. I love seeing children light up around her. I rarely took Tyler out of the house when he was a baby since it was often more trouble than it was worth, but we take Alli out a lot since Tyler needs to get out and work all his energy off. Everywhere we go the children flock around Allison. 

At 2 months old she measured 21 and 3/4 inches and weighed 11.3 pounds. She's growing fast but I'm so glad she's not on track to be the enormous baby Tyler was (he weighed 14 at that point). We'll still have the same issue of pants always being too long on her. Ty's pants were too long because I'd have to go a size or two beyond his age to fit his girth. Allison's just short (18th percentile).

Paine Field park is super close to where Boeing is, so every once in awhile you'll see a test plane come flying over. On one visit a huge British Airways 747 flew low over the park. It was probably the best day of Tyler's life! He squealed and went chasing after it until it disappeared into the clouds.

With mom here it was just a lot easier to keep Allison home with her than to bring her wherever I was taking Ty. I miss having that option.

 She just looks so beautiful in whatever I put her in.

 The many faces of Allison!

 Love getting sweet snuggles with my girl. Sometimes Nibbler joins in on the love.

Christmas was coming and Tyler loved all the Christmas lights and decorations wherever we would go. Our neighbors across and to both sides put their lights up soon after Halloween, and he'd run to the window yelling "Christmas lights!" It made him so happy I got our tree up and decorated as soon as possible. One time I even took him over to Walmart purely so he could enjoy looking at their decor and pre-decorated Christmas trees. We bought some Christmas window clings while we were there, but then they ended up in storage since I found my old ones and they still stuck well to the windows. I'd let Ty put them up with me and called them "window stickers."

Funny how it works sometimes. At 11 pounds I had to put Ty in size 2 diapers, even though size 1's say they last up to 14 pounds and size 2's don't start until 12 pound. At 11 pounds with Allison I could only use the Fred Meyer size 1 diapers since they run a bit small and the Huggies and Pampers size 1s I had were too big.

Dancing baby!