Christening December 20, 2009

Her day was the morning of December 20, 2009.  Allison was ready to go to Church and be baptized.   She took a little nap before we had to leave the house in the morning by 9:50.  Our family was so thrilled that Juliette and her family were able to come down from Atlanta to enjoy the day with us.  Beforehand, I had made some really cute invitations and will post a few copies of the day.  Allison's godmother bought her the dress and it was champage colored with lace on the sleeves and then down the middle of her and it was long and elegent on her.  She looked like a Queen.  I think she is one of the most beautiful babies i have seen in their Christening gowns.  She was perfect through church, but once in a while she would make a joyful noise to the Lord!  Well, it was after the sermom and it was time for her to go up there with Ted, me, Matthew, Kevin and Joshua had to come down from the altar as he was acolyting.  The two wonderful godparents also went down, Jody and Matt Greene.  Jody was the one to buy the gorgeous gown and I cannot ever thank her enough. By special request, the choir sang Baptized in Water which just brought tears to our eyes because it is such a beautiful hymn.  Then we proceeded with the baptism and Allison was perfect.  She was being held by Daddy and then when it was time to hand her over to Father Steph she was just fine.  She did fine being blessed with the water, but she did not care for having Steph putting the cross on her forehead which I believe he does with either oil or somekind of wax.  Everyone in the congregation started to laugh because she litterally swiped his hands away from when he was messing with her forehead.  She hates have anyone wiping or messing with her face.  Then Steph who has magic powers with babies, took Allison during the peace and walked her down the aisle to show everyone.  I am sure she was doing her Queenly wave to her guests.  She was a riot, but absolutely stunning.  We had tons of family and our closest and dearest friends we inviting and we almost filled the church!  We then had a cake afterwards the made to look like the invitations.  The cake was made by Kim Garcia of JaxDesserts and the cake was fabulous and oh, so very good!  We have a whole layer left and I am tempted to cut into even though we decided to freeze it!  Ha!  It was such a special day and having during Advent made it that much more special.  A huge priceless milestone was had today and it couldn't have been more perfect.

I have been a deficient blogger!

I can't believe I haven't posted in such a long time, but honestly, life has been crazy!  I really think the trip to China just plain, flat ran us down especially physically.  Ted has really taken the brunt of it and has not recovered and has been dealing with some unknown infection that has had his liver working overdrive.  They did all of the tests that you would think to do and he is fine!  They just think that his body is fighting off some kind of unknown infection and that he is totally rundown.  Allison has been so wonderful but she still does get up a lot at night and has been sick with different various things since we have gotten home.  It first started off with the horrible stomach bug that got us all, then she got bitten by something that turned into one of those MRSA infections on her face.  It made her right eye almost swell shut, but we got her on the strongest, nastiest antiobiotic there is, Cleosin.  It is supposedly the worst tasting thing out here and we can even smell how horrible it is!  Allison has been a trooper about it, though, and her face is almost back to perfect.  But, unfortunately, now she has a horrible cold!  I have forgotten what it is like to have a baby/toddler who picks up every kind of germ in sight and then sweetly passes it on to everyone in the family!!  So, of course, she isn't sleeping well and we just can't ever catch up on our rest.  Allison is doing incredible in spite of all of this.  She can stand unassisted for several seconds and can walk now when holding on to something.  She sometimes says MaMa and DaDa when she wants us or sees us.  She know when we tell her No!  Does that stop her??? Defintely not.  But you do see her looking at you and she knows she is not supposed to be doing whatever she shouldn't be.  She LOVES her brothers.  They are so good with her and pick her up and play with her all of the time.  Matthew has surprised us the most.  As a 14 year old, to see his face light up when he sees her is the biggest blessing there ever could be.  She got to open up her first presents this past Saturday as we had a little early Christmas celebration with my Dad, stepmom, sister and her boyfriend and my step-grandmother.  She loved it!  She got her first walker and she is all over.  She sometimes will go too fast though and take a tumble!  She is determined.  She has 4 teeth but 2 more on the top are almost in.  One of them really is already in and sticking out.  I am sure this hasn't helped with the sleeping.  She copies us when we stick out our tongue or make noises with our tongue and lips ( I think those are called zorberts or something - I probably have spelled it completely wrong!!).  She crawls all over the house and looks at the stairs with great determination but hasn't figured it out yet.  Thank goodness!!  Her Christening is this weekend and I can't wait to see her in her Christening dress. Thanks, godmother Jody, for the beautiful dress.  We have a lot of people coming as we sent out some really cute invitations, so it should be a very special day.  Matthew is in the middle of exams.  This kid is so blaise about everything.  He barely studies and he says how easy everything is.   We will see when we get his grades!!  He actually made Headmaster's list the past quarter which is a 3.8 or above, so I think that gave him overconfidence and that is why he thinks he can just breeze through anything.  We shall see!!  He is playing basketball this season and is on the A team.  We were very excited for him.  He just didn't realize how hard it is to play basketball as part of a team.  He thought because he could shoot outside at our house and make all of the baskets that it would carry through to the actual sport.  He is finding it to be much harder!  The other boys are doing great and we are looking forward to the break.  I love it when they are home and we will probably spend the vacation up in the mountains.  I am posting some pictures of Allison that we just taken this Saturday.  I really see a difference in her now as compared to two months ago.  When she went to the doctor last week her weight was 17 pounds and 5 ounces.  She is still so tiny though and when she stands up she is so adorable because her legs are so short.  She is a very happy baby and loves everyone.  Now, if she would just sleep, things would be perfect!!

First Road Trip and the Mountains

On Saturday Allison made her first official road trip to North Carolina. The trip from Jacksonville to our house outside of Asheville normally takes about 6 1/2 to 7 hours. I was quite concerned this one might take 12! I couldn't believe it, but with me sitting back there with her, she fussed for a total of about 5 minutes. She did great. She took a couple of naps and then I gave her a couple of toys that played music. She is crazy about music! You ought to see her dance. It is hysterical. She rocks back and forth the moment a song comes on. Even if there is a song way, way in the background, her little ears pick it up and she starts to dance. So Ted found this great toy at Target that plays classical music and it kept her entertained for a long time. We were very proud of her. We were also worried about changing her environment and how she was going to sleep. We have made the guest room into her room in the mtns and during this trip we have started to switch it over to a very girly room and we are going to paint it light pink tomorrow. We took her pack and play and after some hesitation the first night, she is sleeping better than she did back home. She took a 2 hour nap today and she slept through the night two nights ago. We are having a great time. Today we went into Asheville and we ate at the Mellow Mushroom. Tomorrow we are going to the Grove Park Inn to look at the gingerbread display they do every year. We went I think last year just Ted and I and it is incredible. We are taking all of the kids this time. Well, it is just us for Thanksgiving, which means I am in charge of the whole meal this year, including the turkey. Thankfully, I only have Ted and the kids to embarrass myself in front of! It has been a great trip and we got some great pics of Allison out on the back porch. When you see her standing by the railing it makes you realize how tiny she is! One thing that she is doing that is driving me absolutely crazy, though, is that she has learned how to grab our attention by gagging herself. She does it deliberately and looks at us. I believe she is very smart and has learned survival techniques of how to get attention in the past. Well, we had one child who did that also before (I think Kevin when he was about 11 months) and let's just say the car started to reek after awhile so Allison is going to have to learn to cut out this technique very quickly!! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

So Many Changes - Yet How Things Stay the Same

What an addition this little one has been in our lives. I remember sitting in China and just crying because I was so worried (what wasn't I worried about?) that the boys wouldn't love her or they wouldn't care. What if they just ignored her and they didn't feel like she was a part of the family? Well, I have never seen 3 brothers react with such love and concern about a little girl before in my life. They come home and immediately they drop down on the floor and play with her and talk to her. Even Matthew! Allison has been such a blessing for Matthew. It has opened him up in ways that none of us could. He breaks out in grins and just thinks Allison is hysterical. He tickles her and watches out for her. Joshua our 10 year old is so funny. There was one time I was sitting there watching her while she was standing up holding on to the table. I was watching like HGTV at the same time and just keeping a grip on her. Well, that wasn't enough for Joshua! He thought I should be taking better care of her! He told me that he would watch Allison so I could watch my show. I laughed and told him that I was perfectly capable of watching Allison but he wouldn't accept no for an answer! So he felt like he could watch out better for her. I loved it. Kevin loves to read books to Allison and actually will feed her her meals with a baby spoon. He does the whole helicopter thing and it is so cute. Things are so much more than I could ever imagine. I think also because she interacts with them so much, that that is why they feel so attached to her. She smiles and laughs at them and the boys just eat it up. The one difference that we have seen in Allison since we have been home since the 29th of October is that she doesn't suck her thumb except at nighttime now. I really think it is because she feels secure and happy. Before in China she would constantly have her thumb in her mouth. Since we have been home, about a week and a half later I just started to realize during the day she never sucks her thumb. She smiles all of the time and can definitely voice her demands when she wants to. She is strong willed, sweet, busy, very aware and alert of all of her surroundings. We call her the rock star because whenever she goes to a big gathering like church she dances during the music, she flirts and grins at everyone and she is very vocal! Finally, because I believe she has gotten so comfortable with home, she is sleeping much better. She likes to go to sleep in her pack-n-play in her own room and goes to bed around 8:00 and gets up once or twice a night. She also takes 1-2 naps a day. She knows when it is time to take a nap and she just snuggles right in and sucks her thumb and falls asleep in my arms. You can't ask for more than that. I love the cuddling!!