Daddy's Union Picnic

Nick's Union Picnic was held at Stricker's Grove Amusement Park. We've been several times with the boys (and Allie in my belly) but this was Allie's first trip on the outside.

She loved the carousel. I think I rode it about 10 times by the end of the day. She would dance on the horse as the music played and wave to people as we went around. She's not a ham at all, is she? It's hard to make sure she doesn't fall off the horse while dancing and take a picture at the same time but I did my best.

She also rode the flying elephants (think Dumbo ride at Disney on a smaller scale) with me. She was a little hesitant at first but started to enjoy it more towards the end. Of course, by riding with her, I forfeited any opportunity to take a picture of her but it was well worth it!

She was too small for most of the other rides. We don't call her "Short Stuff" for nothing! She was ready to ride the boats with Cole but the lady caught her at the last minute and said she didn't meet the height requirement. Maybe next year!

We also got to ride the choo-choo-train with the boys. She would crack up if I made the train noises and really liked going through the tunnel. I see more train rides in our future. I didn't get any good shots of Allie on the train but here's a good one of Cole.

Overall, it was a fun-filled family day. I can't wait until next year's picnic!

A Few Pictures Since I'm Behind

I'm doing my best to get caught up but we've been so busy lately. Here are a couple of pictures from back in September.

Playing in Maggie and Laney's Bratz Doll Chair.

Apparently we don't need chairs at our house because she prefers to sit in her toy baskets. Maybe she just doesn't want to sit on our ugly couches?

Cute girl ready for a walk around the block!

Game Face

This is Allie's "game face." It cracks us up everytime she does it.

1st Hospital Visit

We had quite the scare on Labor Day Weekend with Princess Pea. While we were at Nick's parent's house, Allie got her hands on Linda's weekly pill container. Before I realized it, she had popped open one of the days and the pills spilled all over the counter. As I gathered them up and compared them to the other days, I realized that one tiny little blood pressure pill was missing. We searched all over for the pill but could not find it. We had no other choice than to believe that Allie had somehow swallowed it.

I called Poison Control and told them the situation. They told me that I needed to drive "very quickly but safely" to the nearest branch of Children's Hospital. So Nick and I piled Allie in the car and headed to the Liberty Campus. On the way, Allie fell asleep and Nick had a very difficult time getting her to wake up. I don't think I have ever been so scared in my entire life. I had 911 dialed on my cell phone, just waiting to push "talk." She finally woke up just as we were about to arrive at the ER.

Poison Control had called ahead and pre-registered us so we were seen immediately. Allie was acting like nothing had happened and just played with the toys they brought her. I felt like a complete idiot every time I had to explain how she got her hands on the pill and they definitely made me feel like the worst parent ever, but Allie didn't seem to notice.

Several people came in and examined her in the ER. The doctor finally came in and told us the wonderful news that we were being transferred to the downtown location for an overnight stay in the cardiac ICU. She said that there is no way to tell if Allie had swallowed the pill so she would need to be hooked up to a heart monitor until it was out of her system.

They came and put an IV in. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to watch. Thank God the nurse got it on the first try or I would have totally lost it.

We then waited for the ambulance transfer to arrive. It seemed like it took forever but they finally got Allie strapped to the stretcher. She had a big smile on her face and waved to the nurses and staff as we were leaving the ER. I rode in the ambulance with her. She stayed awake watching the lines on the monitor for awhile, but finally zonked out.

When we arrived at Children's we were escorted to our room. Allie slept through being weighed, measured and checked. The doctor came in and wanted to do an EKG. We were not lucky enough for her to sleep through that. She screamed as the doctor applied the stickers and started kicking and hitting when they tried to hook up the lines. I finally had to ask them all to leave the room so that I could calm her down. She fell asleep and they were able to run the test while she slept in her bed.

We were told that we would be staying at least 18 hours and to try to get some sleep. It was hard to sleep with her monitors beeping all night, but we made it through.

The next morning she was re-examined by a whole throng of doctors and nurses. We continued to wait. She did not like being confined to the hospital bed but had to be hooked up to a heart monitor . It was so hard to attempt to entertain her in that small bed, even with the toys they brought her.

Finally, we were allowed to go to the playroom so that she could get out of the crib for awhile. You would have thought she won the lottery, she was so happy!

Around 3pm we were finally released and headed home ! We'll never know if she took the pill or not but are beyond thankful that she showed no effects from it at all. We're hoping this is our last trip to the hospital but with our little monkey, that's not looking like a very good possibility.

Team Alligator Fantasy Football Draft

Nick recently had his fantasy football draft. Allie went along to help with the selections.

Allie likes the player suggestion Daddy made.

Waiting for the draft to begin at BW3's

Sneaking around under the table to steal the other teams' strategies.

Let the draft begin!

After the draft, we went back to Nick's parents' house to hang out. Aunt Shelley put Allie in the doll stroller and started pushing her around. It was too funny!

College Football Is Back!

Nick is a huge Ohio State Buckeye fan. Since my good ol' Syracuse Orangemen leave a little to be desired in the football department, I've jumped on the OSU bandwagon as well. We had to get Allie some Buckeye gear so she could cheer them on. She looks adorable in it! She seems to enjoy our college football Saturdays and claps along anytime they show fans cheering on TV. We can't wait to take her to her first game!

First Church Festival

Church festivals are HUGE in Cincinnati. This was something new to me as my church picnic growing up was nothing like a Cincinnati church festival. There are games, music, food, beer, gambling and carnival rides! Beer and gambling at church...my husband is in heaven! Just about every Catholic church has one throughout the summer making for some great family weekends.

We decided to take Allie to the festival at our church. She had an absolute ball. She played a few games, got her hand painted (instead of her face), played a little bingo and got to taste her first bite of orange sherbert! She even came home with a few prizes that she won playing the games. It was a nice family night out and we're looking forward to taking her again next year.

Playing the duck pond game.

Rolling the ball for the tic-tac-toe game.

Showing off the flower she won playing games!

Look at this ball I won playing Pick-A-Winner!

Yum...orange sherbert!