Tol - 1 year birthday!

Warping heads of babies

Allison got her DOC-band off yesterday!! Here are the before and after pics. One of the problems the band addressed was the width of Allison's head. Her head used to be a lot wider than it was long. In the first picture, you can see that now her head looks lengthened.

Also, the band corrected some flattening and assymetry at the back of her head. The second set of pictures show how much rounder the back is.

And finally, you'll notice in the last set of pictures that her head looked "flat" and the sides of her forehead looked pushed out, which is called brachyocephaly. You can definitely see the overall change in her head shape and especially how different her forehead looks. Amazing!


Before vs After

Before vs After

Before vs After

Raiders of the Dirty Diapers

Lowrider

Grrr!
The low rider drives a little slower
Low rider, is a real goer

Keepin' Cool!

Oceans 11 (months)

Our baby is 11 months old today!! Where has the time gone? We love going in and getting her in the mornings. Although she's usually awake by 6:30, she waits patiently in her crib until we get her 15-30 minutes later. We can hear her squealing and practicing her babbling, which is so adorable. When we do come in and get her, she immediately pops her head up and gives us a great big grin. Allison also delights us by smacking her lips and making a kissing sound--she's giving us kisses! She's a great eater and loves feeding herself. Her favorite foods are pancakes, applesauce, goldfish crackers, lima beans, and strawberries. Lately she has been doing more "army" crawling and is quite fast at moving toward toys or other things that interest her. When asked, she can clap, reach, shake, and kiss, although she doesn't often do it on command. Having quite the fiery personality, she definitely lets us know what she doesn't like! She is strong-willed for sure, yet so sensitive too. Every night before we go to bed, we sneak into her room to check on her. It is the most amazing feeling to watch your baby sleeping peacefully. We didn't think we could love her any more than when we first met her, but each day we find our hearts are filled with even more love than the day before. Happy 11 months, precious "Boogies". You are such an incredible gift and we are blessed beyond measure to be your parents.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy mother's day!

To my own mom - thanks for not messing me up... so much.
To my mother in law - thanks for feeding me so much.
To my wife - thanks for loving me (ie, putting up with me) so much!

Motivational Wednesday

Sleepy Beauty

Allison is back on a sleeping-through-the-night streak, that is, until she cuts some more teeth. We feel another top one coming in, which makes the count up to SEVEN teeth! The other morning when we came to pick her up, her arms and feet were cold, so we bundled her in a blanket while she drank her bottle. She looked so cute we had to take a picture. We also finally got a pic of her sleeping on her side. She no longer stays in the same position when she sleeps but rolls around in her crib during the night.

Childhood memories last forever....unfortunately

Dad's directoral debut!

Bluebonnets!

It's spring in Texas, which means, bluebonnets! Whenever I'm driving on the highway and catch my first sight of those fields of blue, my heart leaps in excitement. I have been waiting a long time to take my baby's first "bluebonnet pictures".

new "do"

We haven't updated the blog in a while, and there is SO much that Allison has been doing in the last two weeks! The most amazing to us is that she has finally decided she will roll onto her stomach. Many times after her nap, we have found her in her crib on her belly, pushing up to get a view of us over the rail. She's become such a proficient roller that this is now her mode of travel. Phil discovered this a couple days ago when he left her in the living room sitting up, and when he came back a few minutes later, she was no where to be seen. He thought she was gone! Turns out, she had rolled across the room to play with something interesting.

Allison is also perfecting her pincer grasp and can pick up Cheerios one at a time and put them in her mouth. She is babbling more sounds; some of her favorites include: neng neng, ba, ssssss, ta, dee, ya ya, and finally (to my delight), "ma ma." She loves to squeal and scream--loudly--and she can clap her hands!

She has a new "look", too. To keep some of her long hair out of her face, I put her hair up in pigtails. She gets just as many comments on her new 'do as she does on the decorations I put on her DOC-band. Here is our little girl, growing up faster than we ever thought possible!