Big Girl Bed

Guess who slept in a toddler bed for the first time last night?!?!
She only fell out once, we went in to check on her and she was flopping around on the floor like a fish out of water. 
She went to bed great, but was up about 4 times and needed snuggles from Mom. :) 
In the morning, she stayed in bed (but obviously destroyed everything within reach) until I came to get her.  Then she put her cute little arms up for me to get her out of bed.  Silly girl!

Week 32 & 33

Well, here we are at the end of week 33 and I am very behind.  Last week Gabby was the size of an acorn squash, this week she is the size of a durian fruit (what on earth IS that?!?).  This week Gabby's brain is working on developing and her bones are hardening.
I forgot to take a picture with the squash, and I'm pretty sure my grocery store doesn't carry whatever a durian fruit is.  So, instead I'm posting a picture of the pile of baby clothes I washed. :)  Along with the diapers my sweet sister gave to me as an early gift! 
Baby Gabby's room is a disaster!  Not only did I wash all the baby clothes and just throw them on the bed (that needs to be taken out of the room), but I've also turned it into Christmas Central.  The floor is full of wrapping paper, ribbon, tags, gifts, etc.
I did buy a dresser for her this week and we'll pick it up after Christmas.  As soon as Christmas is over her room will be set up! 
The closet is ready for her, and is storing most of her stuff at this point, so that is a small victory!
Christmas is just such a busy time of year!!!

Teaching

We babysat a little girl from our ward the other day, she loves dogs as much as Ali!

Ali was sure to teach her the fine art of feeding Morty bread and goldfish crackers.

I just love how they are both sitting on his bed and he's on the floor!

'Cheese'!

What a cute little girly we have!  We took some pictures and text them to Daddy the other day, just so he could see us! 

Santa!

Santa came to our ward Christmas party!  I think this picture pretty much speaks for itself. :)

She never did cry!  But what a sad face!!!

Eggs

So....
I was making cookies last week and either I didn't shut the fridge tight, or someone figured out how to open it.  I was talking to my sister on the phone, turned around and saw THIS!

Yes, those are eggs.  She was throwing them like balls (probably because she bounces our plastic ornaments like crazy).  I laughed, grabbed my camera took a quick shot then set her up with something to distract her ('I Am a Child of God' on You Tube) and tried to clean up the mess.  Have you ever tried to clean up eggs with paper towels?  I couldn't believe how hard it was! 

I Am A Child of God

This is Ali's favorite song.  Yesterday I was singing it to her and she was singing along so well we had to record it.  She usually folds her arms while singing.  She's so sweet!

Accessorize

So we got a package today and in it were these air packing things...

Ali thought they would work great as bracelets!  She walked around like this for quite a while!
It actually reminds me of what she does at school.  They have a rope thing like this: 

All of the other kids hold onto the circles, but not Ali!  On the rare chance she is not just holding someone's hand, she thinks it is better to wear the rope like a bracelet.  She just slips her cute little hand through the loop.  I'm sure she wonders why all of the other kids do it wrong...

Live Nativity

For Family Night tonight we headed out to Nibley with the Bytheway's to go to the live Nativity they have out there.  It was fun, even in 8 degree weather!

Ali and I don't look too great in this picture, but Stuart looks very handsome!

There were different animals to see along with the live Nativity.  It was a neat experience!

The Bytheway's checking out the camel.  I'm not a huge camel fan.  We had one for a while back when I was 16 or 17.  It was VERY mean and actually attacked my step-Dad while I was there.  I had to attack the camel back with a stick to get it off of him.  Because of that I felt no great need for me or Ali to get too close to this camel! :)

Just the Rinse Cycle Please...

Wait, you mean there is another way to wash your baby???

At least she's creative! :)

I guess she's not quite ready to babysit yet!  But we'll get there!!!

Car Seat... Check!

We got Gabby's carseat in the mail this past week.  Ali knew exactly what to do with it.

In went Santa (who is treated quite a bit like a baby in this house).

In went her baby (did anyone else have a Suzy Soft-Sounds when they were little?  This one was mine and it's Ali's favorite doll!).

Then she had this brilliant idea!  Why not put them both in together?!?  Then she got mad that she couldn't lift the carseat.

31 Weeks

This week little baby Gabby (yes we are announcing that her name will be Gabriela Dawn Brower) is the size of a pineapple... of course, because that's the next closest sized fruit/vegetable to a cucumber.  Whatever.
This week her little nerves are developing and we got a fun video on facebook from our sweet birth mom showing us all of her crazy movement!

I'm sure Ali thinks I'm crazy always taking pictures with fruit/veggies.  She figured she'd get in on the action this week and get one taken too!

More is Better... Right?

We were doing laundry the other morning and Ali decided that she should add to her outfit.  My favorite is the extra skirt she has around her ankles.  She kept trying to walk, but it was really more of a waddle.  Love this girl!

30 Weeks

Ah, I'm a week behind!  Today our little girl is actually 31 weeks, so I'll have to do two posts this week.  But, last week our little darling hit the 30 week mark!  She is the size of a cucumber (so they say).
We are very happy to have hit the 30 week mark, and even happier to hit the 31 week mark this week!  Every week helps!  Not sure why this picture is so blurry... but the cucumber is gone now so I can't retake it!

Is it Monday Yet?

I guess someone is ready to go back to school after the long weekend!
Yes, me and Stuart are just that much fun to hang out with! :)

Life...

Well, it's been a while since I posted, we've been busy!  This is going to be a little catch-up post of randomness! :)

How stinking cute are those boots?  I love them!  Yes, that is my bucket of flour in the background... it needed to be taken downstairs, and yes Ali is sucking on a outlet safety cover like a pacifier.  She definitely has her own ideas these days.

Sweet little happy face!  She holds my camera up to her face and says 'cheese', so I had to take a picture of her! :)

Ali got ahold of a toilet paper roll, it was great entertainment!  She wore it like a cast and would wave at me and Stuart.

Crazy little nub handed child.

In adoption news, we had our home study yesterday.  I cleaned like a crazy person while Ali was at school then tried like crazy to keep the goldfish spreading to a minimum when she got home!  I find goldfish in the strangest places!
We had our home study at 5:30 and our social worker got stuck in traffic and was 15 minutes late.  After that we had appointments to get fingerprinted (for our FBI background checks) at 6:40 at USU.  It takes us 20 min to get there from our house.  It was close!  Thanks to Whitney for watching Ali so she didn't starve to death!
We got it all done though and today we will mail everything out so that we will be ready when little baby girl comes!  Which, we are nervous might be sooner rather than later!  Our sweet birth mom is now on bed rest after she lost her mucus plug on Saturday.  We are really hoping that little girly will stay put for a few weeks (she hit 30 weeks last Sunday), but we feel so bad for our birth mom having to lay around in bed for a few weeks!  She is wonderful though and is so willing to do what the doctors recommend!  We love her!

29 Weeks

This week little baby girl is the size of an acorn squash.  I'm a cheater and just take pictures with the fruit/veggie at the grocery store.
Ali was pretty sure she needed a bite of the baby this week.  I did stop her before we had to buy the squash!
Little baby girl is working on fattening up this week and because of that she has more energy!

Preschool

Ali has officially been in school for 2 weeks now, I've been meaning to post about it since her first day, but it's been really rough on me.  I think I can finally post about it and not cry.
Since Aliyah has Down Syndrome she qualifies for a special needs preschool.  It is run at the elementary school here in town, right by our church house.  She goes 4 days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day.
I'm not going to lie, the first day was ROUGH for me!  Actually the first day I found out she would go to preschool was rough... the meetings with the school were rough, the days before preschool were rough... see the pattern?

Here she is all ready to go to school, cute as can be.  She did great and was happy to go.  I cried before I dropped her off, while I dropped her off and after I dropped her off (and of course I ran into a bunch of people I know).  The second day I did better, but she cried... so then I cried.  I seriously though about not taking her back.  She's my little buddy, my sidekick.  I miss her when she's gone!
But then things got better.  She has the BEST teacher.  I'm pretty sure she gets spoiled.  She's always being carried around when I go to pick her up from school.  She likes to go now and I have to admit I can get a lot done in 2 1/2 hours when I don't have a little tornado following me! :)  I still miss her like crazy though.

Also I have the most beautiful picture hanging on my fridge.  It's hard to see in the picture, but she 'colored' it.  I know it sounds stupid, but when you try to have kids for 10+ years you really appreciate the little things.  I love everything and anything that proves I am a Mom... even if it's crying at the school!

Slippers

Aunt Whitney and her family got Ali these super cute slippers for her birthday.  They work out perfect because she is in love with shoes right now!  Plus she can put them on all by herself!
Thanks Bytheway's!