When is it Official?

I guess it's not official yet, but Ali did take 8-9 steps in a row tonight!  Not just one time, but two!

Everyone cross your fingers!

A Kitten Visitor

I was getting ready in my bathroom this morning, and this cute little kitty came to visit!  She found the headband all by herself and put it on.
 

Oh the vanity of this child!  Can you see how gross the lower part of the mirror is?  She spends a LOT of time looking at herself!

Cutest kitten ever!

2 1/2 Year Check-up

Today Ali had a 2 1/2 year checkup, her pediatrician is awesome and just wants to make sure Ali is staying healthy and growing properly.  Aliyah passed with flying colors!  Her doctor was impressed at all of Ali's skills and how smart she is!!

Ali still only weighs 24 lbs. and her doctor recommends keeping her rear-facing in her carseat until she is 30 lbs.  We may never get there!!!!

I had to add this picture of Ali scratching the side of her stomach.  She has been doing this for at least a year!  It's so funny, she does it when she's excited, stressed, happy, sad, etc.  Cute little monkey baby!

Jeeping

Last Saturday Stuart took Ali and Morty out for a jeep ride.  They almost got stuck and brought back one muddy jeep!

Heidi's Hat

Ali's Aunt Heidi came and babysat her the other night.  They had lots of fun with Heidi's hat apparently!  Heidi snapped a few cute pictures!

 

 

Sorting

This girl loves to sort things.  We got some sample lotions from Aunt Heather and Ali has been sorting them ever since.  She was sorting them the other day and was angry because she couldn't hold them all at once.

She was pretty excited I was taking pictures!

 

 

In other news, yesterday the tube in her right ear fell out.  I saw it sitting in her ear and thought 'what is that metal thing in her ear?'.  The tubes they put in were titanium, and it was just sitting there.  I called the ENT doctor and they said that's just fine that it came out. However, I took her in for a check-up today and sure enough, her right ear is all plugged up.  We are going to give her 2 months and see how it does, but we just might be going in for more tubes.  We are averaging about 1 set per year.

Beautiful

I watched this music video today and was reminded of the long road we have traveled to parenthood.  After trying to have a baby for 3 years, we found out I was pregnant in  2006, I was due to have our baby on August 9th, 2007.  I never made it to my first doctor's appointment.  On Christmas Day 2006 I started bleeding and we lost our baby on New Years Eve.  I did get to have an ultrasound in between those dates to see if I was miscarrying.  We got to hear our sweet little baby's heartbeat and see the little bean on the monitor.  I wish I had asked for a print out.  That was by far the darkest time in my life.  

Then in 2010 we got our baby.  We didn't go through the traditional channels of adoption, and we did everything backwards.  But, in the end we got a beautiful baby girl who has filled our lives with happiness.  Going to family functions became fun again and I finally felt as though I fit in with other women my age.  

Adoption is such a blessing and we will forever be grateful to our birthmom for giving us the greatest gift we have ever received.

Chilly

It was chilly in Richmond today, like a high of 40 degrees chilly.  Ali didn't let that daunt her though!  She was more than happy to go outside with Daddy to throw Morty's bone.

They only stayed out a few minutes, but Ali would've stayed out longer if we had let her!

Headphones Anyone?

Yes, she draped herself in two sets of headphones.  She was very pleased with herself!  She wears these all the time, and gets angry when she gets to the end of the cord and can't go any further.  I guess she would prefer a wireless set! :) 

Ali is Ready

Ali is ready for a sibling!  She adores her little cousin THOR.  Anytime she see that he is close by she crawls as fast as she can to him and rubs his little head.

She got to 'hold' him for the first time today.  She was so happy and just rubbed his head forever.

Ali loves to snuggle her baby and stuffed animals.  Maybe Aunt Whitney can pick up some baby-care tips from Ali.

Ali was having a rough morning the other day, so I let her look at some pictures of Howie and THOR on my sister's blog.  She just sat and looked at them forever!
Anytime now adoption.... we are ready!

Hogle Zoo

A few weeks ago Whit, Paul, their kids and I met up with my friend Sarah and her little girl at the Hogle Zoo in SLC.

The zoo is super disapointing.  Sesaly did get a picture with a peacock though!

I'm such a mean mom, making her get her picture taken with a statue.  Howie is trying to reassure her.

Ali drank water the ENTIRE time!  I think the little water bottle was her favorite part.
(On a side note, who wears cowboy boots to the zoo?)

Ali and Lily.  Poor Lily was so sweet to Ali even though she kept pulling her hair!

Little baby THOR is under that blanket!
Thanks for the fun day guys!

Ahhh!

This carseat is so comfy!

Eating a Book

So, Ali is usually very careful with books, I don't think she has ever ripped one until this church book.  I'm pretty sure she didn't mean to rip this book, but it has flaps and things you pull up and she ripped it while trying to get it to work.

I took the book from her and the piece she ripped and went to get her some milk, when I returned, she had the ripped piece and was eating it.

Poor little kids, never saw it coming!

She did spit out the two pieces she had bit off.  I don't think we will be repairing the book now!

Cousin Fun

We've had lots of fun with cousins lately!

Lydia and Ali riding in a car at a park (see how little they looked last year here)

Sesaly blowing bubbles for Ali... yes that is a happy face on Ali!

Aliyah's cousins dressed her up one day!

Sesaly, Sophie and Ali playing in the sand... well, Sophie and Sesaly playing, Ali was destroying.  There were almost all of Ali's cousins (on my side of the family) at the park this day but they were running around like crazy and I didn't get pictures of them!

Lydia and Ali in the playhouse.  I wanted Sky (another of Ali's cousins, she is just a few weeks older than Lydia) to be in the picture too, but she ran away.  They are all about the same height!

Lydia and Ali both had to be in baby THOR's carseat.  It's a great place for a baby hug!
Ali loves all her cousins and I don't know what we would do without them!

More Easter

Ali got to go to Lee's (a local grocery store) and see the Easter Bunny.  Luckily the kids in front of Ali in line were super brave, so she didn't think to be afraid of the huge bunny!

I love this picture because she is signing 'horse'.  Ha ha!  It was a good guess!

Ali's Easter basket.  Hidden amongst her many, many, many toys!