Catching up, finally

It's been a busy month, that's for sure! We moved into our new home in Texas and we're getting settled. As all parents know, everything takes at least 10 times longer to accomplish with a toddler in tow so the unpacking and general catching up is kind of slow going. We're getting there though :-)

Alyson and Andrew did great on the long drive from Ohio to Texas. Between the days in Ohio when our house was getting packed and time on the road and time on the Texas end waiting for our stuff we ended up spending 8 nights in 5 different hotels. Alyson did great sleeping in the Pack n Play and putting up with all the changes. We'd only been our new house for 4 days before Michael had to go out of town for 2 weeks so that stressed her out a bit and she started waking several times a night again. She's back on track now-thank goodness! Sleep deprivation, a brand new town, no friends, a house in chaos, and a husband out of town is NOT a good recipie for a cheerful mom. Luckily my oldest sister and her kids came for a visit to break it up. It was so nice for Andrew to spend some time with his cousins and for them to meet Alyson.

Last week Michael took command of his new squadron so we had tons of extended family in town for the ceremony. It was a busy but great week. Everyone fell in love with Alyson. She did really well with all the attention and warmed up to everyone quickly.

She's really adjusting perfectly and is very attached to us even though she was willing to be held by other family members.

She's talking quite a bit, most of it we don't understand. A lot of it still sounds like Mandarin baby talk. She loves to talk. She'll turn anything into a "phone" that she can hold up to her ear and babble away-calculator, remote, my Dymo labeler, tupperware lids, she's not picky. She copies me everytime I'm on the phone or when I'm ordering food at a drive thru. That one's particularly annoying-cute but annoying. Usually the poor fast food people can't hear a word I'm saying with little miss yelling from the back seat. Andrew thinks it's hilarious and laughs and laughs which just encourages her more. I'm trying to catch some of this non-stop chatter on video so I can post a clip. Just the other day she was holding up a toy cell phone to one ear and putting her finger in her other ear while she was babbling. Hmm, wonder where she learned that move.

She does have quite a few English words/phrases too. The ones I can think of at the moment are:

No

NO

no, no, no

stop

stop it

stop that

you stop

(noticing a trend yet? No question that she's almost 18 months old)

up (although how she makes that word 3 syllables long is beyond me)

dog

dog-dog

down

Bailey (the dog)

Andrew (much clearer now-it used to sound like she was saying Avery)

Daddy

Mama (sounds kind of like mom-mom)

chip (as in potato or tortilla chip)

all done

night night (this one's very cute, she says it with a big grin when she sees one of us making her a bottle)

Those are the ones I can think of at the moment.

She's completely off the formula now but we're still giving her her milk in a bottle 3 times a day for now. She's doing great with sippy cups or cups with straws for water throughout the day. She's feeding herself with a spoon really well. She must have been doing that before we got her because she's really adept at it. She is getting a lot more picky about food. Her favorite right now is mashed potatoes with rice being a close second.

I think that's the best I can update for the moment. Here's a bunch of pictures that are totally out of order but at least they're posted:

This was the cake our friend made for our block party in Ohio before we moved.

A pretty common sight. Alyson pushing Andrew out of her way. He takes it really well though.

This is the "I'm about to cry" look. She was mad because I wouldn't give her my camera. Boy does she hate to be told "no."

This is a pink foam cowgirl hat I put on her head while we were shopping in Hobby Lobby.

A beautician in the making. She's fascinated by her nail clippers. These are my sister's hands and feet she's "working" on.

Natasha, this one's for you. Remember when I was talking to you on the phone while in the WalMart parking lot and you couldn't hear what I was saying over Alyson's chatter? Well this is what she was doing.

It's Alyson's mission in life to get Andrew's DS away from him.

What? Doesn't everyone eat their broccoli stem first?