Allie's 2-Month Stats

Allie's 2-Month checkup went very well. She weighed in at 10 lbs 14 oz (50th percentile) and was 23 1/2 inches long (75th percentile). The doctor said she is long and lean.

He referred us on to an ENT specialist to have her tongue looked at further. She was born tongue-tied which means that the fraenulum (thin piece of skin that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your mouth) is attached too close to the tip of her tongue, restricting it's movement. He noticed that her tongue curls upwards when she tries to stick it out of her mouth so he wants to have it checked. He's 90% sure it won't have to be clipped but just wanted to make sure. If it's not corrected it can cause speech and dental problems down the line so we'd rather get it fixed now if necessary.

He was very surprised at how social she is. She talked up a storm while we were there and makes fantastic eye contact. She's a total busy body and isn't happy unless she can see what's going on. I told him that she likes to stand up and he said that she probably isn't bearing much weight on her legs at this age. She stood up and he was shocked! He was impressed with her core strength and her head control.

She got 5 vacinations but only 3 shots. She screamed bloody murder with the first one. It was so sad. They waited like 5 minutes (why, I have NO idea) before giving the next one and Allie started screaming as soon as the nurse came near her. My kid's not stupid lady. She knows you hurt her last time and doesn't want you anywhere near her again! She got her final two shots and cried but calmed down pretty quickly. She slept most of the next day but wasn't too fussy.

All-in-all the doctor said she is perfect, which Mommy and Daddy already knew of course!

2 Months Old

Today is Allie's 2-month birthday! I sang Happy Birthday to her when she woke up this morning and she looked at me like I was crazy. We go to the doctor tomorrow morning for her check-up so I'll have to update her stats afterward. My prediction is 12lbs and 23 inches long.

Happy 2 Months Allie! We love you!

Rub a dub dub

Allie loves the water! I've found that it's much easier to take her into the shower with me than use her baby bath and things have been going well. She doesn't cry when she gets water in her face and loves having her hair washed. She just smiles as I shampoo her hair and looks so sad when it's over. Now if I could only teach her not to poop the second we get out of the shower I'd be all set!

8 Weeks Old

Today Allie turns 8 weeks old. She's really hit a growth spurt and is getting so big! She's starting sleeping through the night fairly consistantly (6 out of 7 nights isn't bad!) and is awake a lot more during the day. We're trying to work on a schedule for the daytime so that her naps aren't all over the place. We're also working on sleeping in a real bed instead of the Magic Chair. That one's not going too well. She does not like to sleep flat on her back.

She smiles almost constantly throughout the day, wants to stand on our laps at all times and thinks Mommy is the best dancer in the whole world! We spend our days on the "fun circuit" which consists of the activity gym, the exersaucer, belly time, story time and dancing to the radio. I think her favorite is story time, but only when Mommy makes the crazy voices. She's still trying to get that fist in her mouth but isn't having much success. She's growing up too fast!

Happy 8 Week Birthday Sweetheart! Mommy and Daddy love you!

7 Weeks Old

Allie is 7 Weeks Old today! We're starting to notice her little body filling out and she's getting so strong! She has total control of her head even though she hates tummy time. Her newest trick is to want to stand up all of the time. She's pretty good at it too. She's smiling and cooing more and more every day. She's starting to imitate us if we make a sound or a funny face. She loves it when we sing to her, even if it's just a silly song we've made up. I can't believe she's almost two months old!

Happy 7 Week Birthday baby girl! Mommy and Daddy love you!

Smile Pretty

Allie has recently started to smile. These are actual real smiles and don't indicate an upcoming poop. It's so rewarding to see her smile at you and it's amazing how it can totally melt your heart and make all of the hard times worth it. Here are some of the smiles I've caught over the past few days. She's just too cute!

Just In Case You Didn't Know...

This is what cute looks like!

Allie is 6 weeks old today! Time has totally flown by and our baby is growing up. In the past day or two, it's like a light bulb went on inside her head that she should spends some time awake during the day. She used to stay awake for no more than an hour at a time before she would have a meltdown. Yesterday evening she was awake for four hours straight and today she's still going strong after being awake for four hours this morning.

She's so much fun! She's discovered her hands and likes to see if she can fit both fists totally inside her mouth at one time. She gets pretty close to one entire fist inside her mouth but can't seem to squeeze that second one in. She seems to grab and swat at toys with her left hand all the time so I wonder if we'll have a lefty? She's making more noises and starting to notice all of the things around her. She loves the butterfly mobile in her room and stares at it when we rock her. She's just the cutest thing around!

Happy 6 Weeks Alligator! Mommy & Daddy love you!

Pretty in Pink

I can't for the life of me remember when I took this picture but I found it on my camera today and think it is totally cute. That's probably the last time Allie will be able to wear those adorable overalls. They are size newborn and our chunky monkey is moving into the 0-3 month size now. She's also outgrown the newborn diapers! We went to the doctor for her clogged tear ducts on Tuesday and she weighed in at 9lbs 150z! She's growing up so fast!

5 Weeks Old

I'm a little late in posting this but Allie turned 5 weeks old last Thursday. She has become such a fun baby! She will track your face and has started to really recognize our voices. She's also starting to find her voice and makes the cutest little sounds. Sometimes she scares herself and jumps when she makes a sound. It's too funny. She likes to play with her activity gym and has started to swat at the toys. She's growing up so fast!

Newborn Pictures

We finally received Allie's newborn pictures back from the photographer and the turned out so well! We used Patrick Banfield and were very pleased. We own the rights to the pictures too so we can make as many copies as we'd like, which I love. We had the taken when she was 18 days old. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Allie's 1st Christmas

While in Texas, we celebrated Allie's 1st Christmas. Being that she is so young, we didn't go overboard on her. We left that up to the grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends and boy did they come through. Allie received TONS of presents! I tried to take pictures of the gifts as we were opening them but Allie had had enough and had a mini-meltdown so the picture taking ceased. Thank you to all of you who spoiled her rotten on Christmas. We love all of the gifts and can't wait for her to wear the outfits and play with the toys.

Nick and I call Allie our little Alligator so we searched high and low until we found a stuffed alligator for her to play with as she gets older. We also got her a sweater and a small toy but we were most excited about the alligator.

Aunt Kelsey and Uncle Marshall ordered this blanket for Allie with her name and birth date on it. You can see the shear excitement on Allie's face when I opened it! It is beautiful and looks fantastic in her room! What a great keepsake for her.

Aunt Victoria and Uncle Chris picked out this adorable hat for her. There is also a sweater and mittens to match! I tried to take the picture during the mini-meltdown so it's not very good (and I can't figure out why it won't upload in the correct direction) but she's worn it several times since we've been home and she really does love it!

We hope you and your families had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Allie Invades Texas

We loaded up the truck on the 22nd and headed to the great state of Texas to spend Christmas with my family, non of whom had met Allie. Who knew babies needed all of that stuff? The inside of the truck was packed to the brim and there was also a lot of gear in the bed. We probably could have gotten by with a quarter of the stuff we brought but we are first time parents and wanted to be prepared.

The first day we drove to just past Memphis. We stopped a few times along the way to eat and to feed and change Allie. It's kind of awkward to breastfeed in the parking lot of a gas station but you've gotta do what you've gotta do sometimes. We went on a wild search for some Memphis BBQ thanks to the GPS system and finally ended up at B.B. King's on Beale Street in downtown Memphis. We felt kind of guilty about taking a baby to a Beale Street but Allie seemed to enjoy it. She loved looking at all of the neon lights and listening to the music. After some good food, we headed about 45 minutes west where we stayed the night in the grossest hotel I've ever seen. Let's just say we DON'T recommend America's Best Value Inn, no matter how nice it looks on the outside. We didn't let Allie touch anything and got up and got moving pretty early the next day.

After a quick breakfast we headed on towards Dallas. It was pretty rainy and gloomy most of the day but not too bad. We finally arrived at Casa de Shedgar (our affectionate name for my Dad and Step-Mom's house) around 5pm. Chris and Kelsey came over that evening to meet Allie for the first time. It was so great to see their reactions to our beautiful daughter. Kelsey, who doesn't like kids, just kept repeating "I love her" over and over. It was so cute. Even Uncle Chris got in on the holding action.

My Dad and Shelley enjoyed meeting their very first grandchild! I'm not sure I've seen my Dad smile as big as he did when he held Allie for the first time. He ended up being sick for most of the trip so he didn't get to hold her as much as he wanted to but he did manage to sneak in a little cuddle time.

Victoria came over the next day to meet Miss Allie. There was a lot of talk about her stealing Allie and taking her home so Nick and I made sure to monitor all of the doors whenever Victoria was holding her. You can't be too careful right? Just kidding Victoria!

She also got to meet Kristen, Ryan (two of my step-siblings), Ryan's girlfriend Lindsey, Shelley's Dad and Shelley's brother Rob but I don't have those pictures on my camera. Allie enjoyed meeting all of you and can't wait to see you again. She's looking forward to her next trip to Texas in May for Chris and Victoria's wedding!

The 2008 Bryant Christmas Party

We celebrated the Bryant Christmas on the 20th this year with Nick's extended family. It was the first time many of them had met Allie. It's so neat to see everyone's reaction to her and just makes me so proud that she's ours. She did great being passed around from person to person, although she did get a little cranky at times. After all, she is a baby, right?

She got to wear her Christmas dress again and looked so darn cute. Of course I wouldn't expect anything less from the little Princess!

All of the Bryant kids and grand kids were there with the exception of Jake, who is in Afghanistan, and Kiel, who is in Arizona but moving home in February, so they decided to take a picture. It will be so cool to see how people (especially the kids) grow and change as the years go by. Back row: Brian, Tony, Nick, Dan, Andrew, Carson, Casey, MyKella. Middle: Jimmy, Holli, Sheri, Megan, Allie, Laurie, Laney, Lindsey, Carissa, Logan. Front: Cameron, Shelley, Andrew, Cole, Loren, Maggie, Maura.

Allie also posed for a picture with her immediate cousins on the Bryant side. From left to right, Carson (16 months), Logan (8), Cole (16 months), Loren (15), Allie (3 weeks), Cameron (16 months).


Allie also got some snuggle time with Loren who is super-excited to finally have her first girl cousin on either side! Loren's going to have to teach Allie how to be stylish as she gets older because I have no clue.

We had a great time hanging out with everyone and can't wait for next year!

Allie Meets Her Great-Grandpa

The week before Christmas, Allie got to meet her Great-Grandpa Whalen. She is his 8th great-grandchild behind Zane, Jorden, Ian, Trevor, Trent, Tyler and Cecelia! Hopefully Allie will be blessed with his intelligence, longevity (he's 97!) and good health. We can't wait to visit again soon Grandpa!

Lots of updates coming soon

I know I haven't posted in awhile but we've been really busy this past week. I'm working on uploading a ton of pictures and hope to get some new posts up in the next few days.

Allie is doing wonderfully and getting so big! She's sleeping longer and longer periods of time at night and is really starting to smile more often. We love her more and more each day!