things, lots of things

January 2012

2012-01-26T16:33:00.001-05:00

Happy 2012!

The weather was nice on New Year's day so we spent a good chunk of the afternoon in the backyard. Alina likes riding her bike down the "hill" over and over (and over and over) again.

My cousin Brittany (aka Ninny) came to visit Jan 3-10. It was a lot of fun, but I don't really have any pictures! They did build a garage for Alina's cars though:

The biggest news is that after Ninny left, Alina moved into her new room! Everything's not all done yet but here's the general idea:

We also put together the new dresser for the nursery (and by we, I mean Danny):

I filled it up with stuff though!

Diapers!

Socks/Legwarmers/Blankets!

Drawer of tiny little clothes!

I filled up the other drawers too, but I'll spare you. Just picture more baby clothes, sleep sacks, my ring sling, and some little shoes.

Here's Alina talking to Nana on the phone:

And this is her on Tuesday:

My due date is in 7 weeks (and 3 days, if you want to get technical). It's kind of blowing my mind! I have an ultrasound on the 31st (aka my 33rd birthday) so maybe I'll have a picture of our still nameless baby to share!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T16:23:00.001-05:00

Alina with her cousins:

Checking out her new stethoscope:

Workbench!

Trampoline!

She took her trains to breakfast the next day:

At breakfast:

Pullen Park

2011-12-29T16:15:00.001-05:00

The Sunday before Christmas, we picked up Alabama and headed to Pullen Park. It looks great!

Alina was very excited to ride the little train, until we actually got on it:

However, once we got going, she loved it!

After the park, we went to MoJoe's and it was delicious! I hadn't been there in years, which is just ridiculous.

December Pictures

2011-12-29T16:06:00.000-05:00

I could have sworn that I posted these before now, but I guess I never did!

Dec. 5
Winking!

Dec. 7
Loving her water tower:

Hi Rocco!

Alina's cousins were born and we are now officially Tio Danny and Tia Amy. Meet Isabella and Adrianna:

Dec. 8
Water tower!

Dec. 10
Alina discovered the water fountain:

Dec. 15

Alina and Adrianna:

Alina loves her kitty:

Dec. 16
I chopped off all of my hair!

(yes, our downstairs bathroom really is that color!)

Dec. 20

Dec. 22

THREE!

2011-12-02T06:59:00.001-05:00

Alina turned three on Nov. 21.

Her 3-year checkup was on Wednesday. Her stats:

Height: 38.75" (85%, up 2.25")
Weight: 31.75 lbs (55%, up 3.25 lbs)

She's a tall, skinny little thing!

She also had her vision checked for the first time. The first thing they did was show her a Magic Eye type chart and have her pick out the different shapes. She did great! On the other hand, I couldn't see a single shape. I've never been able to do those things. She also had to do the standard test with the chart on the wall, which she also aced.

Here are a few pictures from November:

This one was on the way to the grocery store and while I made my shopping list, she made one too:

This is one of the only pictures she let me take before she went to her grandparents' house in the morning:

It's not a good picture at all (my phone does not take great pictures) but she's still cute!

My parents gave her a ukulele for her birthday and here she is on Thanksgiving with it:

Alina is only allowed to touch the Christmas tree with one finger. Here she is demonstrating that she knows the rule:

I will try to take better pictures in December!

March 2012

2011-10-24T07:03:00.000-04:00

So, it's official and we're having a baby boy next March! I'm excited, Danny's excited, and even though Alina says "no thanks" when you ask her if she wants a baby brother, I think she'll eventually be excited too.

2011-10-13T09:43:00.001-04:00

I guess you can take my picture.

2011-10-11T13:41:00.002-04:00

We went to New Bern to see Nana, Pop, Uncle Nelson and Bailey last weekend. I hardly took any pictures though (bad mom!).

We went to the Mum Fest downtown, so we had to hit the toy store first. Here's Alina showing off her loot (kitty ring, maraca, unicorn):

We walked around for a long time and then hit the playground & pumpkin patch at Christ Episcopal. I think my dad took more pictures, but he hasn't emailed them to me yet (ahem). Even though this picture is blurry, I like it a lot:

We had a lot of fun but I sure was tired when we left. I wasn't the only one:

P.S. The mosquitoes in New Bern are HORRIBLE!

2011-10-03T09:44:00.001-04:00

Alina didn't really feel like having her picture taken this morning. It was cold out! I think it was 45° when she and Danny left the house.

the house

2011-10-03T09:37:00.002-04:00

We made a couple of changes at the house.

We got new bedding (finally) for the guest room:

We also put shelves in the front room (previously empty/catch-all for random things room):

I love both things.

work and play

2011-09-29T12:30:00.000-04:00

I brought Alina to work with me while Danny went to the doctor:

Papa picked her up and took her to the park:

September!

2011-09-29T09:26:00.000-04:00

September 1:

September 9:

Mami Nora's has a chicken kids can ride and Alina loves it:

September 15:

September 16:

Tip toes!

September 18:

September 23:

Rocco!

September 26:

The rest of August!

2011-09-29T09:22:00.000-04:00

Aug. 18:

Super Alina!

August 20:

August 22:

August 23:

August 31:

Gooooooooo Red Sox!

2011-08-11T09:44:00.001-04:00

2011-08-09T07:28:00.000-04:00

Hi!

A few more from June.

2011-08-08T07:38:00.001-04:00

Ninny sent me some more pictures last night from her visit!

2011-08-08T07:18:00.003-04:00

August 4

August 5

Too busy for pictures:

Fat cat:

FENCE (plus a crappy yard):

Today:

Tall!

No more pictures, please:

By the way, Alina did change her clothes over the weekend. I just grabbed the same exact outfit out of the pile of clean laundry.

2011-08-03T07:35:00.002-04:00

Rocco likes to "hide" in the morning so he can keep sleeping:

Alina is wearing one of my favorite shirts that she has:

Aw:

Tomorrow we are having a fence installed! I'm very excited that fence day is almost here.

2011-08-02T07:33:00.002-04:00

August 1

Poor cat:

Rocco!

August 2

July

2011-07-29T11:34:00.002-04:00

Here are some pictures from July:

Beach!

2011-07-29T07:59:00.002-04:00

We went to the beach with my family at the end of June. It was fantastic.

June 2011

2011-07-29T07:54:00.002-04:00

Ninny!

Bike!

Harry the Dragon at Harris Teeter!

Play-doh!

Balloon!

Finger painting!

Aw:

Funny face:

May 2011

2011-07-29T07:49:00.002-04:00

Eating miso soup:

Hi Rocco!

Alina had roseola in mid-May:

Poor baby!

Alina was really into her kitty cat piano and played it all the time:

Ninny came to visit for a whole month at the end of May!

April 2011

2011-07-29T07:41:00.003-04:00

When April started, Alina still had the mullet. If she would let me put it in a ponytail, it wasn't so bad:

However, ponytails were rare so I grabbed my scissors and chopped off the mullet:

Sassy girl:

Chopping off the mullet made her curls go C-R-A-Z-Y:

April also meant Easter!

Easter present from Nana & Pop:

March 2011

2011-07-29T07:36:00.004-04:00

It looks like March was otherwise known as Crazy Bedhead Month:

Seriously. The child had a mullet:

Well, hello there.

2011-07-29T07:34:00.001-04:00

I've been a bad blogger. I guess I just got too comfortable uploading random pictures to Facebook.

I will post updates today. PROMISE.

2011-02-21T07:30:00.000-05:00

the weekend

2011-02-21T07:25:00.000-05:00

Alina, Rocco and I went to New Bern this weekend. The weather was gorgeous (and windy) on Saturday so we spent a lot of time outside.

Alina liked to bring us the gumballs (is that even the real name for those things from a maple tree?):

She found this one little pile of leaves to play in:

Not ready to go inside:

Sunday:

The people next door have puppies, but every time Alina tried to see them, Bailey would put himself between her and the pups:

Puppies!

Rocco was all tuckered out from running so much:

2011-02-18T07:54:00.000-05:00

2011-02-17T07:33:00.000-05:00

2011-02-16T07:17:00.000-05:00

2011-02-15T07:24:00.000-05:00

February (so far)

2011-02-14T07:43:00.002-05:00

Feb. 2 - Alina makes her puppets say "hi Alina, how are you?"

Feb. 3:

Feb. 4:

Feb. 7:

Feb. 8:

Whoa! Bedhead Alert:

Alina fake sleeping in Rocco's bed:

Feb. 13:

Yesterday, when Alina woke up from her nap, she asked me to put Rocco in her crib:

He was obviously okay with it! I think she'll have lots of furry company whenever she moves to a regular bed.

Wearing my boots:

All dressed up for Valentine's Day:

January Pictures!

2011-02-14T07:31:00.000-05:00

Well, I got off to a bad start with blogging in 2011!

Alina, Rocco, and I went to New Bern on New Year's Day.

With Uncle Nelson:

With Pop:

We went to Sanuki and Alina got to have her favorite soup:

Look! Rocco and Miss M, almost touching:

Jan. 13 - reading The Little Engine That Could:

During the MLK holiday weekend, my mom, Alina and I went to Murfreesboro, TN. My cousin Brittany (aka "Ninny") and I took Alina to Discovery Center. Alina had a blast!

That's the highlights from January!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-28T11:09:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Alina met Santa the Saturday before Christmas:

She was very excited to meet Santa, but once it was her turn, she was very shy. Of course, 3 minutes after she met him, she wanted to go see him again. She's been randomly saying "Santa hoo hoo hoo" recently, which is as adorable as you think.

Alina wore my favorite dress of hers on Christmas Eve. She was so excited to wear it that she started dancing:

Serious face:

Silly face:

The dress is from a Canadian company called Nosilla Organics. I love all of their stuff.

Christmas morning:

Alina was very excited to see all of the stuff that Santa brought her!

Apparently, Santa is a very big fan of Melissa & Doug. Oh, and those are her special Christmas pajamas!

Rocco wasn't as big a fan of Christmas as Alina:

Probably because Santa didn't get him anything (oops).

Raleigh got a bunch of snow the day after Christmas and Alina went out to play:

She even helped get snow off of the cars:

Besides the big puffy coat and awesome hat, she's also wearing two pairs of pants, two shirts, two pairs of socks, and her Abby Cadabby rainboots.

After the fun in the snow, we went inside and Alina banged on her drum for us:

She also enjoyed one of Nana's cheese cookies:

My work was closed for the holiday yesterday (we always close on Monday if the holiday is on the weekend) so I got to spend another day with Alina! She took Moo-ella shopping:

tossed Rocco his ball:

and played her in stocked kitchen:

She also hung out on the couch with Papa last night and enjoyed her snack:

cheese!

2010-12-10T12:57:00.002-05:00

Alina has definitely started making the silly toddler cheese face:

2 year checkup!

2010-12-09T07:24:00.000-05:00

Alina had her 2 year appointment yesterday with Dr. Shaw.

Stats:

Height: 36.5" (90th percentile)

Weight: 28.5lbs (70th percentile)

Head circumference: 19.25" (90th percentile)

BMI: 20% (normal range is 5-85%, so that's good)

She did great at the visit. We got the go ahead from Dr. Shaw to try peanut butter and shellfish. I've been really worried about a peanut allergy for no good reason (no one in our family has a peanut allergy). So, Alina had a pb&j when we got home. She loved it! Also, no hives or vomiting so I guess the peanut butter was a success. She did have a little rash on her back a few hours later, but I think that was from the tag on her shirt irritating her back. I hope so anyway!

Here are some recent shots of Alina:

November 14

November 19

November 28

Christmas tree!

November 29

Alina loves turning lights on and off! Almost there (December 2):

Snow! (December 4):

December 6

December 7

December 8

Reading The Little Engine That Could, her birthday gift from Uncle Nelson:

Alina loves brushing her teeth:

December 9

Hugging her lamb:

Birthday Girl!

2010-11-22T13:32:00.003-05:00

Alina turned two years old yesterday and we had a little party for her:

Birthday girl!

Alina with her Vovô and Vovó:

Some of her loot:

kitchen!

Plex keytar:

Sweet little lamb:

Boots!

and most importantly, her cupcakes:

Another post about Christmas cards and other awesome things

2010-11-16T16:37:00.005-05:00

It's time to order holiday cards again! I love using photo cards because I have a cute toddler. I ordered a few cards from Shutterfly so I could check out their flat stationery cards. I love them! The paper that they are printed on is high quality and they looked great. The stationery cards seem a lot fancier than your average photo cards. I've always been happy with Shutterfly's service. Last month, I ordered Alina's birthday invitations from Shutterfly:

Party Chick Birthday Invitations

Aren't they cute? The design was made for her (since she's our "little chicken") and again, the quality was really great. Also, you cannot beat the price!

***Brief pause so we can all freak out that Alina is TWO YEARS OLD. Okay, resume normal post.***

We also ordered some holiday cards from Shutterfly last year:

Wonder Trees Noir Holiday Card

I love that card and I think it will be hard to not order it again this year! Luckily, there are tons of great options that I don't think a repeat will be necessary.

Some of the other designs that I'm considering for this year are:

All Wrapped Up

Retro Metro

Get Glowing

What do you think? Maybe I'll just order all of them!!

Greeting cards are not the only thing you can order from Shutterfly though. You know what grandparents LOVE receiving? Calendars, specifically personalized wall calendars. They are super easy to make. I am really liking the Modern Florals background, but there are lots of different ones and it's really easy to customize your background, number of photos, etc.

Shutterfly also sells customizable notepads. I've never ordered any, but I think they look great and would make a fantastic gift. I also really like the pewter ornaments. Maybe this year, the grandparents will get calendars of the granddaughter and ornaments of the granddog.

One more thing: Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up:http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Christmas Cards!

2010-11-08T21:21:00.010-05:00

Retro Kaleidoscope Holiday Card

Christmas cards and holiday thank you cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

The weekend and beyond...

2010-10-18T12:55:00.004-04:00

Alina really likes to sit in a regular chair at the table to eat her snacks or to color. She tries to sit there for meal times, but we put her back in her high chair. I'm considering taking of part of her high chair to turn it into a regular chair though.

Our cousin Brittany is buying UGG boots for Alina for her birthday, so we had to go try them on to get the size:

I don't know how I feel about $90 boots for toddlers, but since she's getting them for a really good price, I guess I can admit that I think Alina looks adorable in them!

We went to the fair on Sunday and Alina had her first ever corn dog:

She also totally stole my lemonade:

It's almost as big as she is!

Tuckered out on the way home (notice she still has my lemonade):

Always wanting to read stories:

I even had to promise to read Blue Hat, Green Hat in order for her to brush her teeth yesterday morning:

Alina is 23 months today and I took horrible pictures this morning. She refilled the diaper holder for me:

By the way, those Attitude diapers are not the best, which makes me sad because they're pretty earth friendly for disposables. We'll be going back to Seventh Generation when we run out of these.

More from October!

2010-10-15T15:32:00.004-04:00

Last weekend, Alina, Rocco and I went to New Bern for the Mum Fest. Alina and I dropped Rocco off at Nana and Pop's house and then went with Nana to meet Pop for lunch. We went to The Chelsea. Alina gave Pop a high five:

After walking around for a while, we went to the playground/pumpkin patch at Christ Church. Alina had a blast on the swings and she went down the slide a bunch of times! She's never really seemed to care much for the slide before now. Here are videos of her swinging and sliding. I love how she says "I did it!" after she goes down the slide. Aw.

http://vimeo.com/15694783

http://vimeo.com/15694883

Here are some pictures:

We wanted to get a cute picture of her with the pumpkins (like last year!) but she was more interested in the totally awesome wheelbarrow:

This was the best (well, only) shot that we got:

While we were in New Bern, Nana and Pop bought her these two cars:

She loves them! That's the Tonka Chuck the Dump Truck and the Elephant Wheel Pals car. They are seriously a big hit and she takes the truck into her crib with her at night.

The other morning, Alina kept singing "CHEESE!" and holding her arm up like an opera singer:

High five!

(October 13, 2010)

Alina loves to color, just like Brobee:

I can't believe that Alina will be 2 years old next month. It's pretty surreal.

But first, a small house update!

2010-10-12T16:47:00.002-04:00

We FINALLY painted our bedroom.

Here's a horrible picture:

The color is Rainwater by Martha Stewart and you can buy it at the Home Depot.

I am a horrible blogger, blah blah blah.

2010-10-12T15:56:00.004-04:00

Look! I finally got a stool for Alina:

(August 12, 2010)

She put all of her guys in a circle around her and she "read" to them:

(August 20, 2010)

Since even before she was born, I have had baskets under Alina's crib with various items in them. Well, she finally discovered the baskets in August.

(August 25, 2010)

(August 27, 2010)

(August 30, 2010)

(August 31, 2010)

She loves this little ride on toy out of nowhere:

(September 6, 2010)

Juice! (pronounced "goose"):

(September 9, 2010)

We HAVE to get a balloon when we go to the grocery store:

(September 12, 2010)

We went to the beach for a wedding in mid-September.

(September 17, 2010)

My dad and I told Alina that we'd take her to the beach before we left on the 19th. She kept saying "go bye bye! ocean!" all morning:

Alina has crazy hair in the mornings:

(September 20, 2010)

(September 29, 2010)

(October 5, 2010)

(October 6, 2010)

(October 7, 2010)

(October 8, 2010)

I've been having fun playing with the Retro Camera app on my Droid:

That's the only one I have online right now.

I like this picture of Alina and Rocco looking out the window:

She calls Rocco her buddy. It's pretty much the sweetest thing ever. In the car, she'll say "go see Rocco? My buddy" and if she calls Rocco to come to her she goes "ROC-CO! BUD-DY!" which is awesome.

I think that's all for now. I'll be back in later with another post about the Mum Fest, with videos!

I cannot believe it is already August.

2010-08-03T15:12:00.003-04:00

July 28

Alina likes to grin for the camera now. So cheesy:

This one's better:

July 30

Ready to go!

We went to New Bern last Friday so we could go to my dad's surprise retirement party* on Saturday. I think she ate cheddar bunnies the entire drive from Raleigh to New Bern:

* My dad is officially retired after 28 years with the company! I'm very excited for him. In fact, he's already come to Raleigh once to be an emergency babysitter last Wednesday. He and Alina had a blast playing hide and seek and watching The Backyardigans.

July 31

At the party, my dad's friend Carl made delicious peach ice cream with this awesome ice cream maker that's hooked up to a tractor:

Alina liked it!

She also liked running off to go see this parrot sign:

I'm still tired from chasing after her.

While we were in New Bern, we had Sunday brunch at a new restaurant, 247 Craven. It's delicious and you should go there if you're ever in town. We had quiche lorraine, shrimp & grits, croque madame, and french toast. My parents had the zucchini pie as a side and it was apparently the most delicious thing ever. I didn't try it because I was too busy eating Alina's french toast.

August 2

Here she is reading a book on Monday morning:

Here is her tooth brushing station:

I really need to get a stool for her!

August 3

Check out the serious bedhead she was sporting this morning!

20 months old!

2010-07-23T13:44:00.002-04:00

Alina turned 20 months on Wednesday. I can't really believe it!

July 8:

This is one of my favorite dresses of Alina's:

I don't have any pictures between the 8th and 17th because my awesome cousin Brittany was still here so Alina wasn't going to her grandparents' house in the mornings.

July 17:

Pebbles:

July 18:

Sharing with Rocco:

Looking at her toothbrush (she looooooooooves to brush her teeth now):

Bathtime!

She loves her ducky:

and brushing her teeth:

July 19:

With Brittany gone, Alina and I started having to wake up early again. She was still pretty groggy when it was time to go:

July 20:

blowing a kiss:

sticking out her tongue:

July 21:

I like how she threw the pile of laundry on the floor so she could sit in the glider:

I guess that's just reason #83 why I should just put it away immediately.

July 22:

someone had a little tantrum because her mean mama made her stop brushing her teeth:

Papa cheered her up!

July 23:

she likes to put things on the stool and then rock them:

hi!

Ocracoke!

2010-07-08T16:08:00.004-04:00

Danny, Brittany, Alina, and I left for Swan Quarter at 5:00 AM on Friday, July 2. We got to the ferry way too early (7:45), so we ran around waiting until it was time to load up (our ferry was at 9:30).

(I think I got sunscreen on my phone camera lens or something there.)

I don't have any pictures from the rest of Friday. When we got there, we put our stuff in the room and headed across the street to SMacnallys for a delicious lunch. I had the Greenhead burger (pesto + provolone) and it was obviously delicious. After lunch, we just kind of chilled for a while and then went out for dinner at Howard's Pub. I felt like we should go there since it was Danny's first trip and Howard's is an Ocracoke institution. However, I wish we'd gone somewhere else. Our service was not the best and the food was pretty mediocre.

On Saturday, we went to the beach. It was Alina's first time! She thought the waves were pretty cool, but she did not like sand on her feet. She pointed to her feet and said "on no! mess!". All was well once I put her shoes back on though:

We left the beach and headed back to Smacs for lunch (of course!). Alina was tuckered out and slept through lunch:

After she woke up and ate her lunch (and a wardrobe change!), we headed down to the pool. Alina had a drink by the pool:

and went in the pool for a few minutes (no pictures though, oops). That night, we just ordered pizza and hung out in the room. The Grays (Randy, Jan, Sophia) came over. Alina and Sophia played, but this is the only picture:

Sophia will be one later this month. Alina called her "baby" and "fo-fee". Jan and Randy are trying to poach my nanny! They really tried to get Brittany to move to New Bern and watch Sophie for them.

On Sunday, we went to the Drake's, where the Best Porch Ever exists. Bayleigh got out some toys for Alina to play with:

Rocking chairs!

I decided that it would be a good idea to take Alina swimming in the Pamlico sound. We had her swimsuit, but I had to wear my clothes in.

My little family watching the 4th of July parade:

After her bath, she tried to call Uncle Nelson from the remote:

Alina watched a lot of Yo Gabba Gabba in the mornings. One episode (Friends) that she saw approximately 300 times featured a kid named Marshall balancing a spoon on his nose for his cool trick. We went out to dinner that night and she grabbed our spoons and tried it herself!

She thought she was pretty cool.

We left on Monday (insert sad face here). Alina slept for most of the ferry ride back:

but when she woke up, she was happy!

How is it already July?!?

2010-07-08T15:50:00.000-04:00

I decided I was going to try to be better about updating the blog last month. FAIL.

Let's see...

We went to Kylie's 3rd birthday party on June 6. It was at a park. Alina was not impressed with the sandbox area (she kept saying "mess, mess"):

Here she made Danny and me sit on the bench across the way. She wanted to sit all by herself:

Afterward, she and Rocco spent some quality time looking out the window:

Alina really likes to read in the morning:

June 7:

June 8:

June 9:

Alina really likes to pretend to call Pop.

June 10:

I want to know what they were talking about!

My little prisoners:

June 11:

Reading again:

This picture makes me laugh:

My cousin Brittany arrived in Raleigh on June 13 and she has basically been our live-in nanny for the past few weeks. It has been GREAT! However, it means that I haven't been taking very many pictures.

June 16:

June 17:

June 25:

This is Alina taking a nap in her PeaPod:

That's it for June pictures! We spent the weekend of July 4th in Ocracoke, which was FANTASTIC! I'll put the recap in another post.

June!

2010-06-03T07:25:00.003-04:00

You know, I am having a hard time processing the fact that it's already June!

I have pictures from June 1, but they are not very good so I'm not posting them. Alina was super fussy that morning and did not want her picture taken.

June 2

She likes to look at books while getting ready in the morning:

Look how tall she looks!

I put a bow in her hair after her bath:

June 3

Danny, Alina, Mickey, and Monkey had to leave early this morning, so this is all I've got:

The Month of May, Part 2

2010-05-31T20:21:00.003-04:00

May 18

May 19

Go Red Sox!

May 20

May 21

May 24

Amazing bedhead:

May 26

Alina threw a little tantrum before her 18 month checkup:

May 27

May 28

May 29

Alina, Rocco, and I went to New Bern on Saturday. Here's Alina being silly when we were at lunch with Nana:

May 30

With Bailey:

All of that playing was exhausting!

Cute new dress:

Mexican for lunch!

May 31

Today, Alina and I met Beth and Caris at Marbles.

Alina wasn't too sure at first:

but she ended up having fun. They both loved the veggies:

Caris and Alina with the bead maze:

Playing with the water:

Alina now says "CHEESE!" when you take her picture, so a lot of pictures look like this:

======================

Alina's 18 month check up was on the 26th. It went really well! Her stats:

28.6 lbs (70th %)

33" tall (85th %)

19" head circumference (90th %... big brain!)

Height to weight ratio: 50%

We don't go back for another check up until November!

The Month of May, Part 1

2010-05-31T20:10:00.003-04:00

May 2

With Monkey and Mickey Mouse:

Alina loves closing doors (she hasn't figured out how to open them yet, which is good!):

May 3

She LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba:

May 4

May 5

Reading to her guys:

May 7

Danny's godmother was in town and she brought Alina this cute Red Sox outfit:

May 9

In the car with the newly discovered Elmo:

Coloring:

May 11

A preview of 13 years in the future?

May 12

Ready to go!

May 13

I will post the rest of the pictures and a little update shortly!

Funny Faces

2010-04-22T13:54:00.003-04:00

Alina makes some funny faces.

April 14 (mad at Mama):

April 15:

April 16:

April 19:

April 20 (ready to GO):

April 21:

Not a funny face, but look at her legs:

April 22:

I like this picture:

In case you ever wondered what our son would look like:

Vote for Lulu!

2010-04-13T07:40:00.001-04:00

My friend Marianne's baby, Lulu, is in a cute baby contest:

http://www.babble.com/impossibly-cute/fan-favorite/index.aspx

Please vote for her! You can vote every day and the contest ends on Thursday.

Thanks!

April (so far)

2010-04-12T07:41:00.003-04:00

April 1:

April 2:

Alina, Rocco, and I went to New Bern for Easter. I have pictures on my phone but I haven't uploaded them yet. I do have this picture of Alina with the Easter Bunny though!

I think I like the picture my dad took with his iPhone better:

Nose!

April 6:

This picture makes me laugh because Alina knows that she isn't supposed to touch the outlet, but you can see how much she wants to do it anyway:

April 7:

April 8:

Somebody had a little attitude and didn't want to get dressed:

She got happy though:

April 9:

New trick!

and new shoes:

Hi Rocco!

Picking a paci:

April 11:

We decided to finally put our old dishwasher on Craigslist yesterday so we all headed out to the garage to take pictures of it. Alina liked sitting on the treadmill:

Walking around outside:

Helping Papa pull weeds:

P.S. She's wearing a dress that is more of a shirt now (size 9M) and a diaper. All of her shorts were being washed. I won't take her out in public like that, I promise.

Today (April 12):

I don't know why she looks so serious there.

I had to help her get all of her pacifiers out of her crib:

Random Pictures

2010-03-29T17:48:00.001-04:00

In my last post, I called out my parents for not sending me pictures. It worked!

Alina on Pop's boat:

In Nana & Pop's backyard:

Bailey likes sticks:

This was taken about 2 seconds before he knocked down Alina trying to get her stick:

(she thought it was funny)

With Pop:

Rocco and Alina investigating Pop's shed:

Rocco found a pine cone:

We don't have those at our house!

We went to the park so Alina could swing:

and then out for Mexican food:

Updates

2010-03-24T11:21:00.002-04:00

St. Patrick's Day:

Last Friday (March 19):

On Saturday, my cousin Brittany flew to Raleigh from Tennessee. We went straight to New Bern from the airport so she could see my parents. We all went to the Yacht Club before dinner and Alina wore a life jacket so she could get used to it (and just in case she walked off the dock):

There are some pictures of her on Pop's boat, but I don't have them yet (DAD).

We also played in the backyard with the dogs. Here's Alina with her ball:

There are more photos, but I don't have them yet (MOM).

Brittany has been our nanny this week while we work. It's been great! Alina loves her so much and I wish she lived here so they could spend more time together. I also love being able to go home at lunch so I can see my little chicken.

Brittany has sent me a picture of Alina every day and look how happy she always is:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Today:

Alina's newest words are "Nana" (finally!), "clock", and "down". She also looooooves telling people "bye bye". She also likes to point out your eyes, which means she says "eyes" and pokes you in the eye. It's awesome.

We got a new video monitor yesterday and I love it (so far)! It is the Levana Baby View 20. The picture is awesome, even the night vision. There hasn't been any interference at all. Our old monitor was the MobiCamAV and while I liked it, the new monitor is much better. The Mobi would get all staticy from interference and the night vision feature was pretty much worthless. I was amazed last night that I could actually see Alina in her crib with the Levana. I haven't tried the night light feature on the Levana yet, but I probably will soon. Alina's current night light is on its last legs because a certain someone likes to smash it with her hands.

In non-related news, my friends Adrien and Marianne started a fashion blog:

http://looksgoodfromtheback.blogspot.com/

Read it!

newish pictures

2010-03-15T07:46:00.002-04:00

As you're probably aware, Daylight Savings Time started over the weekend. I'm really surprised by how little it seems to have affected Alina so far. She didn't really want to wake up at 6:45 this morning, but after just a few minutes, she was her normal happy self. I'm still waiting for her to start fighting going to sleep, but I've decided to be optimistic.

She has a few new words too: clock, people, Nana, apple, and most round things are called "ba."

Here are some old pictures:

Alina likes to push this little bear around in her stroller:

and she likes to sit on the bottom step while she drinks her last cup of milk before bed:

Brushing your teeth is serious business:

Bedhead:

March 12:

Today:

little reader

2010-03-05T07:47:00.001-05:00

Alina likes to read a book every morning now before she gets dressed:

After getting dressed, she likes to go to the door and say "bye bye!":

Reading

2010-03-02T09:14:00.000-05:00

the animals

2010-03-02T07:49:00.003-05:00

I totally forgot to put the new pictures of Rocco and Miss M in my last post!

Rocco enjoying the sunshine:

Miss M:

It's March!

2010-03-02T07:25:00.002-05:00

Hello! Alina is getting to be more fun each and every day. She's talking up a storm these days, although I only know about 5% of what she's saying. Here's a video:

(Please excuse the mess; we were cleaning house!)

Pictures:

baby feet:

Hanging out with MooElla:

Stretch!

She loves standing in front of doors and saying "bye bye":

Reading this morning:

Hi!

2010-02-26T07:43:00.003-05:00

Alina was happy this morning:

As soon as I put on her shoes, she walks to the door and starts saying "bye bye bye bye":

She likes to point out her belly for you:

15 months old!

2010-02-23T07:44:00.002-05:00

Alina turned 15 months old on Sunday. It's kind of hard to believe! I took her to the doctor for her 15 month checkup yesterday. Here are her stats:

32" tall (85%) - she grew almost 2" in 3 months!

24lb 2 oz (70%)

head circumference: 18.75" (90%)

Dr. Shaw said she looks great!

Here she is ready to go to the doctor yesterday:

This morning:

I had friends in town over the weekend and Alina had so much fun with them! We went for a walk around Shelley Lake:

We also went to El Rodeo and Alina sucked on a lime:

Alina was sooooooooooo good while everyone was here, especially since she hardly napped and there were so many people.

Crankypants

2010-02-16T07:42:00.003-05:00

Alina definitely had her crankypants on this morning!

Fake cry:

She woke up a little earlier than she usually does, so I'm thinking that's why she was cranky. She also didn't want to be held. Hopefully she'll be good for Vavô today!

Hola!

2010-02-15T07:48:00.003-05:00

We had a fun weekend. Cassie came over on Sunday and Alina liked her hat:

Here she is this morning:

I have no idea why she looks so serious.

Hello!

2010-02-12T07:41:00.003-05:00

Here's Alina trying to peek around the camera at me:

Smiling but refusing to take out the paci:

I have no idea what's up with this:

She finally took out her paci so she could stick out her tongue:

but that just means she opens her mouth and makes a "baaaaaaaaaaa" sound while barely moving her tongue. Silly girl.

Hi again!

2010-02-11T07:44:00.002-05:00

Two posts in two days? Whoa.

Alina has learned how to climb up onto the couch. I'm pretty sure that's why her forehead now looks like this:

Alina was posing this morning:

Sears catalog, watch out!

This is her "I'm being really silly" face:

Hi!

2010-02-10T14:54:00.002-05:00

So, I've apparently turned into the worst blogger ever. Oops!

Alina had her first ever cold last week! She was so pitiful, but extra snuggly. She seems to be better now, with just a little cough remaining. Last Friday, Alina and I flew to Tennessee with Nana. We got to see Aunt Amy, Brittany, and Lee. It was a lot of fun and I wish they all lived closer! She was really good on both flights. I think it helped that she was in her car seat and could look out the window.

Here are some pictures from the past 6+ weeks since I last posted:

Alina likes pickles, just like me!

Pushing her new stroller (watch out Rocco!):

Peek-a-boo!

Petting Rocco:

CAT!

Kitty coat:

One day, it was freakishly warm, so we played outside:

Two days later, Alina was bundled up:

for the snow!

Uh-oh!

Reading to Daddy:

That's all I've got! I've been a poor photographer in February.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T12:01:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the slack posting. I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!

We had a great Christmas. Of course, Alina was more interested in tissue paper than her actual gifts, but it was still fun:

Here is a video of Alina dancing to Otis Redding on Christmas Eve morning:

Dancing! from amy dale sao joao on Vimeo.

November 10

2009-11-10T07:57:00.001-05:00

Hi!

This will be really quick, but I wanted to post a video of Alina walking!

MAH00125 from amy dale sao joao on Vimeo.

She walks a lot just before the :30 mark.

Also:

Where's Alina?

PEEK-A-BOO!

October 29

2009-10-29T07:58:00.001-04:00

Alina is wearing a Halloween outfit today:

October 28

2009-10-28T07:27:00.001-04:00

I just realized that Alina will be a year old three weeks from Saturday. Eeek!

Here are some pictures from this morning:

Trying not to laugh:

October 27

2009-10-27T07:58:00.001-04:00

This is Alina not wanting to wake up this morning:

Yelling at the cat:

Peaking at Mommy:

Happy:

Videos!

2009-10-26T14:57:00.002-04:00

Here's Alina swinging:

Untitled from Ann Dale on Vimeo.

Before going to Nashville with Daddy last Friday (my favorite part is around 1:01 when she sees herself in the mirror):

Untitled from amy dale sao joao on Vimeo.

Peek-a-boo!

Untitled from amy dale sao joao on Vimeo.

October 26

2009-10-26T13:37:00.003-04:00

I have about 2 weeks worth of pictures to post.

October 13:

Alina has a lot more teeth on top (here's when they were first popping through):

Funny faces:

October 14:

Mean Old Mom took away the paci:

but it's okay:

Alina wanted to chew on the buttpaste:

and Mean Old Mom struck again:

Telling the cat all about it:

and then deciding to go get other lotions and ointments:

October 15:

mid-yawn:

Happy girl:

October 15:

A better shot of the new teeth:

Drinking her milk before bed in a sippy like a big girl:

October 21:

October 22:

October 23:

Danny was upstairs playing his guitar, so Alina and I stayed downstairs and played while watching Project Runway.

That was a lot of pictures!

Today:

October 12

2009-10-12T12:52:00.005-04:00

October 6:

This is the look she gave the cat:

and then she smiled at me because she loves the cat!

Ready to go to Vavô's!

Silly faces:

October 7:

This is how she sleeps:

I don't think it looks very comfortable!

Alina loves her elephant:

Oops!

October 8:

Silly face + tooth:

Not happy (I took away her paci):

Okay! Never mind:

October 9:

October 10:

Alina, Rocco, and I went to New Bern! We went downtown to the Mumfest with Nana and met up with Pop downtown. We had a delicious lunch at Morgan's and then walked over to Christ Episcopal, where they had a pumpkin patch:

We also went to the little playground at the church. Alina loved the swing!

Alina spent a lot of time looking at the big dog Bailey:

October 11:

Since Alina loved the swing so much, we went back on Sunday!

Now we need to find a nice park with swings in Raleigh!

Alina was happy this morning, except for when I took her paci away so I could take her picture:

We got some good videos of Alina swinging, but they're not online yet. In the meantime, here's a choppy one from my BlackBerry:

VID 00017.3GP from amy dale sao joao on Vimeo.

October 5

2009-10-05T07:41:00.002-04:00

Alina thought playing with her pacifiers was more fun than getting her picture taken:

October 2

2009-10-02T07:51:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it's already October!

October 1:

Alina seems to have figured out that she can make funny faces for the camera:

It's been really cool this week and it made me realize that Alina outgrew all of her socks! Oops. I got some more for her yesterday.

Today:

SNAGGLETOOTH:

September 25

2009-09-25T07:50:00.002-04:00

Alina is really teething right now and wants her paci constantly. I tried to take it out for the pictures, but that didn't go over very well.

September 24

2009-09-24T07:42:00.000-04:00

September 23

2009-09-23T15:32:00.002-04:00

I've been a poor blogger again. Sorry!

September 4:

She loves standing:

September 8:

Morning leg stretches:

September 10:

Mommy's mean and wouldn't give Ali the camera (you can see her newest tooth in this picture; Snaggletooth!):

September 11:

More standing:

September 14:

September 15:

September 16:

Ali loves Daddy:

September 17:

Tippy toes!

September 18:

September 19:

September 21 (10 months old!!!):

September 22:

September 23:

Here's a video from about 2 weeks ago of Alina bouncing:

bounce from amy dale sao joao on Vimeo.

September 2

2009-08-28T13:23:00.006-04:00

August 21:

I think Rocco was jealous of Alina's picture being taken:

Buddies:

August 25:

Alina had her 9 month check up on the 25th. She's doing great! Her stats:

weight: 19 lbs 14 oz (90th %)

height: 27½" (50th %)

head: 18" (75th %)

Dr. Shaw was thrilled with how great she's doing. She said she wishes we would've known back in December when we were so worried about her.

We are starting new finger foods with Alina. The first one we tried was mandarin oranges and she loved them! We also did some elbow macaroni, which was hard for her to pick up but she liked it.

Here are pictures from that morning:

She loooooooves to stand! Sometimes she doesn't take naps because she would rather stand up in her crib.

August 26:

August 27:

Alina likes to blow raspberries:

August 28:

August 30:

New pajamas!

August 31:

naked baby:

This is what we use for her bath toys and I recommend it to everyone (they also have a frog version):

Ready for bed:

crib pacifier collection:

September 1:

Today:

It was in the 50s when we woke up!

Alina has been doing really great with the finger foods. Last night she had cut up chicken and whole peas for dinner! She also has a new tooth. This one is on top and she bit me really hard when I was checking. Ow! I won't be doing that again.

Here is a video from last week:

standing from amy dale sao joao on Vimeo.

August 20

2009-08-20T07:42:00.001-04:00

Happy girl!

August 19

2009-08-19T07:51:00.001-04:00

Happy Anniversary, Nana and Pop!

Mwah!

August 17

2009-08-17T07:49:00.001-04:00

Alina is constantly wanting to pull herself up now. She usually only gets up on her knees:

Sippy cup!

2009-08-14T21:43:00.003-04:00

Alina successfully drank from a sippy cup tonight for the first time:

Usually she just throws the cup on the floor, so this is definite progress.

August 14

2009-08-14T07:42:00.000-04:00

Alina has started taking baths in the big bath tub:

Last night she wore her first pair of two piece pajamas:

This morning:

August 13

2009-08-13T17:12:00.001-04:00

Sassy girl!

August 1-12

2009-08-13T17:02:00.002-04:00

August 1

August 2

Alina can give herself a bottle now:

(but I prefer to hold her anyway)

Crawling:

Untitled from amy dale sao joao on Vimeo.

She wears legwarmers sometimes because crawling around can be tough on little knees!

August 3

She loves Yo Gabba Gabba:

August 4

Crawling:

With Miss M:

August 5

Doing the happy naked baby dance:

August 6

August 8

Alina has learned how to undo the velcro on her diapers (cloth and disposables) and this is how I found her after a nap:

August 9

August 10

Awesome paci collection:

Ruffle butt!

August 11

August 12

Rocco looks a little nervous:

HI!

Massachusetts - July 2009

2009-08-13T16:57:00.002-04:00

It was a fun time but exhausting. Next time, we'll have to go back for longer.

Alina met her cousin Evan, who is 3 months older:

Danny and Evan:

Alina and Danny with some of the cousins:

Alina and Tio Joao:

Alina and Daddy:

Alina and Danny with more cousins:

July!

2009-08-13T16:36:00.002-04:00

My Aunt Amy and my cousin Brittany came to visit on June 30. They stayed at our house and then Alina and I took them to Ocracoke for the 4th of July. It was a lot of fun! Nana, Pop, and Uncle Nelson were there too.

Alina and me on July 2:

Alina and Pop in the pool:

Pop feeding Alina her breakfast on July 3:

Alina loved the pool:

We had this tent for her to play in by the pool:

It was a great trip!

Aunt Amy, Alina, and I left Ocracoke on July 5 and headed back to Raleigh. Amy flew back to Tennessee on July 6.

Here's my little galinha (chicken) on July 8:

Funny face:

Alina pulled herself up onto her knees and was very proud of herself (July 10):

She also rolled over on the changing table and was proud of herself for that too:

Stripey PJs! (July 13)

Stripey skirt:

July 14:

July 15:

Mohawk!

This is how she sleeps now (July 16):

8 months old! (July 21)

Alina fell off the couch one morning and scraped her nose (July 28):

July 29:

July 30:

July 31:

Alina started crawling on July 28!

crawler! from amy dale sao joao on Vimeo.

We also went to Massachusetts to visit Danny's family. I'll talk about that in the next post!

Oops!

2009-08-13T16:22:00.002-04:00

It has been just over 8 weeks since we updated this blog. Sorry!

Here are some pictures from June:

Alina and Rocco (June 21):

Nana gave Alina this toy and it's her favorite:

She loves dumping out the blocks and chewing on them:

June 22:

On June 23, I accidentally cut her thumb while trimming her nails:

I don't know which one of us cried more, Alina or me!

Alina gave me a thumbs up on June 25 to let me know her thumb was better:

Getting ready to nap on June 27:

Standing in her crib on June 27:

Afternoon nap on June 27:

I will do another entry for July!

today

2009-06-17T07:32:00.001-04:00

Another sign that she's working on another tooth is the thumb:

She only sucks her thumb when she's teething.

Big yawn:

She looks like she's pouting here, but she was just making faces:

Talking:

Oops!

2009-06-16T21:46:00.002-04:00

It looks like I slacked off with the blog!

Everything is going really well. Alina will be 7 months old on Sunday (6/21). She is such a fun and happy baby and this is really a great age. She can sit up unsupported and seems to prefer rolling to crawling.

June 1:

June 4 (If you look closely, you can see her teeth!):

June 5:

June 8:

June 9:

June 10 (looking at Danny):

June 12 (SO EXCITED to see Rocco):

June 13 (so exhausted):

June 14:

June 16:

beach baby

2009-05-27T07:01:00.000-04:00

We're going to Ocracoke in July and I'm so excited to take Alina swimming. My friend sent Alina two swimsuits and I tried them on her last night to see how they fit:

I also put a bow in her hair just because I finally could:

I promise not to do it again until her hair is longer!

Here she is this morning:

baby food and pictures

2009-05-26T17:13:00.004-04:00

I made peas!

They were liked:

I also mashed up banana for her, but I honestly think she doesn't like bananas because she would hardly eat any of the fresh or jarred ones. I think it's weird that she likes peas (yuck!) more than bananas, but I guess we all have our little quirks. I haven't made them yet, but I also have carrots, pears, sweet potatoes, and prunes that I'm going to puree for Miss Ali. Making baby food is easy (even if making the peas is kind of annoying and labor intensive). I like knowing that she's getting fresh fruits and veggies and it's so much cheaper than the jarred stuff.

Okay, now it's time for the pictures!

Our friends in Japan gave Alina this outfit (it's still a little big):

Saturday nap time:

AM (wearing a cloth diaper!):

PM:

Where's Alina?

There she is!

Chewing on the giraffe:

With Daddy:

Bunny ears!

Laughing:

6 months old!

2009-05-22T11:09:00.003-04:00

Alina turned 6 months old yesterday. We went to the doctor for her check up and shots. Her stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 10oz (90th percentile)
Length: 26" (50th percentile)
Head: 17.25" (75th percentile)

The doctor thought she looked great! She's really pleased with her weight and with the solids she's eating. So far she's had:

peas (favorite)
carrots
sweet potatoes
pears
bananas (least favorite)

Next up will either be green beans or some sort of squash. We also need to introduce some prunes into her diet.

Here are some pictures from the doctor's office:

Playing with Roxie and waiting for Dr. Shaw:

Tried to take our picture (FAIL):

Tried again:

Alina was a good girl while she got her shots. I think the oral vaccine for rotavirus was worse than the shots because it took forever for her to take the entire thing. The shots didn't seem to bother her too much yesterday. She was a little fussy but after her nap, she was her normal silly self.

I took some pictures before bed last night:

Close-up:

Sitting up:

This is why diaper changes are more challenging now:

We're giving the Huggies Overnight diapers a try because her regular diapers are really full in the morning:

Striped Pajamas:

KITTY!:

Silly:

Ready for sleep:

Don't worry: we don't let her sleep with Ellie the elephant. Once Alina falls asleep, we remove the toy(s) from the crib.

Today: