Happy Birthday LaLa

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORELAI!!!!

We love you and can't wait to see you tomorrow!!!!!

Oh No It's Santa!!!

We were not very happy about having our picture taken with Santa Claus. (Please look very closely and notice that Santa is Grandpa!)

Nope - still want nothing to do with this old guy.

Really Mom - just take me off of his lap. NOW!!!!!!!!!!

Abduction

So the other day Dad took our friend Janet and her little girl Molly to the airport in Raleigh. On the way back he decided to stop at a thrift store (shocking I know), but Peyton was sound asleep. So he sat in the car for about an hour letting her get her beauty rest. When she woke up he gathered her and headed into the store. They were only in there for 45 minutes or so when it was time to go. Dad felt a little guilty throwing her back into her car seat since she had been in it for so long that morning. He left her run around a bit outside. Fifteen minutes or so went by and Dad told Peyton it was time to go. She responded with "no, no, no, no!" He then reached to pick her up and she started yelling "Mommy! Mommy! No! No! No! Mommy!" Dad was very concerned that someone would think he was abducting this precious little blonde. He quickly threw her in her seat and took off.

Morale of the story - make sure you have your medical release form in the front pocket of the diaper bag so you can prove that you're related to the screaming child!

Other funny story - he took Peyton to get her 2nd flu shot and the nurse at the front asked "Are you the father or grandfather?" Dad giggled and said "that's pretty bad that nowadays you have to verify!"

Baby #2

So I announced my pregnancy a little prematurely because we were so excited. It is now official -I have had the blood pregnancy test and it is positive. So we are going to call Baby #2 "The Sequel." It's only appropriate considering the legend that Peyton has already left. She's very excited about being a big sister. She doesn't cry too hard when I hold another baby :)

Oh, and I don't think I mentioned that one of my assistants is pregnant too. Not only is she pregnant, but she's due July 31st and I am due August 3rd. Our other coworker Scarlett is not too happy. Poor thing. I told her we would budget for monthly spa treatments while we're on maternity leave. And, our HR Manager is pregnant due in mid-June. We are all on the same hallway at work. They are calling it Estrogen Alley. No one wants to drink the water. HA!

Feeling pretty good. Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes. Never knew that many people read my blog! I am totally exhausted and hungry, but other than that doing well. Naptimes are critical and I'm in bed by 9:30 on weeknights.

A BLAST at Disney!!!

YAY - we're finally here and it's Disney time! As you can see...Emily was not very happy with the characters.

But, Emily didn't mind the Princesses where Peyton wanted nothing to do with them. She preferred her own Mommy!

Whoa - there's a really big duck right next to me!

This is how Peyton spent every 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The vacation did not stop her naptime!

Uncle Scooter gave me my first sucker! YUM!

Douglas Family Photo

First Carousel ride with Daddy!

That's right - we're expecting our 2nd baby! WOOHOO! My due date is August 3rd.

You know you're a mom when...

It doesn't get any better than projectile vomit at Roly Poly in the middle of lunch. Then going back to work smelling like puke the rest of the day. Fabulous!

Called the doctor and they said what I thought - Pedialyte and fluids with Motrin and Tylenol. The usual, right? Poor thing. I just hope she gets through this quickly before our road trip to Disney. Yikes!

Sick Kid

There is NOTHING worse then having a sick child. Poor Peyton. So I was sick Thursday night, Friday and a little bit on Saturday. I had a touch of a stomach virus. I thought we were in the clear with Peyton and then Monday morning she puked all over her bed. She was so pitiful. She definitely wanted to cuddle with Mommy. That part was adorable. After getting her cleaned up and back to sleep in my bed, she woke up that morning in good spirits. Then this morning she decided to wake up at 4 a.m. WHAT? Who does that? So I very calmly rolled over and told Rob it was his turn. He went up and got her and they played until 6:30 a.m. when he brought her back down to me. It's going to be a long tiring day. Whew!

All my thoughts and prayers go out to those parents who have really sick kids. That's a tough job.

On the brighter side, we leave for Disney on Friday. WOOHOO!!!! It's going to be so much fun. Can't wait. We'll have lots of photos and videos to post when we return.

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone! I personally have a lot to be thankful for.

Halloween Photos

One of the cutest Snow Whites (one of many...Lexie and Ella)

Sorting our candy - there were so many pretty colors

Trick or Treat with my boyfriend Corbin. Corbin was showing Peyton the ropes. She got the hang of it, but wasn't very happy when they would not invite her in the house and then rudely shut the door in her face. We shed a few tears after the door closed.

Grandpa gave out the best candy.

My Halloween Christmas. Grandma gave me a few of my Christmas gifts. I really got into the unwrapping of the gifts. It was awesome.

Grandma helped me Trick or Treat. She was actually showing me off to all of her neighbors.

My First Boyfriend

CONGRATS TO LANE

I would like to quickly congratulate my best friend Ang for the birth of her precious baby boy Lane Michael. Lane was born this morning. He gave his mom a hell of a time (her water broke on Tuesday morning at 3:15 a.m.) I'm sure more stories will come as she recovers and gets to know her little one.

CONGRATS Ang and Shane!!!!!

New bumper sticker

This bumper sticker will replace the following sticker:

A little political shout out - to all my loyal readers (ha!) make sure you VOTE tomorrow. It is incredibly important that you access your right to vote.

Dear Peyton -

You will read about this election in your history books when you are in school. In fact, it will probably be a quiz question. The question will say "who was the first woman to hold a position in the White House?" Or, it might say "who was the first African American to be President?" Either way, this race is historical. You will think that your Dad and I are old because we actually voted in this election. You'll think it was so long ago that this took place. No matter what you think about our age, just know that we did take part and we encourage you to form your own ideas and political opinions. We hope that they are aligned with what we believe, but if they aren't then we just ask that you have a good answer when your Father asks "why" because you know he will. When you get a chance ask us about how we felt during this time in our lives and how we reacted to the decision that will be made tomorrow (probably not until later because I'm sure there will be some drama that will extend the decision.)

Love, Mom and Dad

Pumpkin Patch

Stylin' and Profilin'Eeennnny Meeeennneeeey Minnnnnnny Moeeeeeee
Yup - that one will work! It's just my size.

Our hay ride. You can tell she was really in to the ride.

"Choo Choo!" Doing our Princess wave.

Buddies riding the train together.

Videos

I finally got my DropShots account to work so I have uploaded a bunch of videos.

Here are the videos on the site (they start at August 27th):

1. We prefer Hip Hop over Ballet
2. Feeding the baby
3. Rob's Welcome Home
4. Jello Jigglers - first time
5. Newspaper Tantrum
6. John Deere Dance
7. Leash

CLICK HERE to see the videos.

Dad's do it differently

This morning Peyton slept in until 8:40 a.m. It was awesome. So I woke up and gladly went upstairs to get her out of bed. She was all comfty in her PJs that Daddy put on last night. But I decided to go ahead and change her into her outfit for today so she's ready to go. As I was taking off her PJs I noticed that the feet were extra tight. I slowly peeled the legs of her PJs off of her skinny little legs and I see something blue. There were her socks that she wore all day yesterday. Yup - Rob did not take her socks off before putting her PJs on last night. When asked this morning about this odd situation, Rob responded with "oh, she had socks on?" So I console myself by saying Dads Do Things Differently!

15 month check up

We had our 15 month check up today and Peyton is very healthy and very tall.

She is 33.5 inches long which puts her above the 100th percentile. She is the average height of a two year old. Ha! She is 23.4 pounds which puts her in the 50th percentile for her age. So we have a very tall, skinny child. I really, really hope that stays with her for life.

I am going to try and upload some videos tonight. We have some funny ones. I will give you a hint....we are going to skip ballet classes and go straight to hip hop.

DC, West Point and Peyton at 15 months

Boy Oh Boy What A Week!!!!

We left on Friday and headed to Rivereagle (my Aunt's house). On Saturday night we went to DC for the AUSA conference and left Peyton with the fam. Sunday Rob ran the Army 10 miler and I cheered at the Hooah tent. Then I had my conference until Thursday. Rob went and picked Lil' P up on Tuesday night and brought her back Wednesday. We left Thursday morning for West Point. Rob had his 10 year reunion and we stayed at our friend's house the Sciolettis. We then left Sunday morning went back to Rivereagle and then came home Monday. Whew!

Here are some shots from the weekend: Rob giving Peyton a tour of West Point. She was very clingy this weekend so here she is reaching toward me. Behind him is the main campus area.
Brady Scioletti taught Peyton how to eat an apple. She loves eating them. The only problem is that she chokes on the skin and she only takes a few bites and then tosses the apple.
Hockey Time - Bring It!!
Mommy Time!!!
This is pretty much how we felt after the whole week. Peyton was cuddled up against her Daddy. This is the best time to snuggle with her. She's so cute.

Go Army Go! Army did win the game (shocking I know)
Army Butt - how can you resist that?
Army on the Go here
The beautiful colors at West Point. Rob and I realized the day we were leaving that we hadn't taken any scenic photos so this is at the gas station on our way out. Nice view from AAFES.
Chugging contest between Brady and Peyton. Peyton is putting way more effort into the contest. Go girl!

Milestones for Peyton:

1. When you ask her "what's a duck say?" she responds with "quack." It's so funny. She also responds to "What's a dog say?" She says "woof. woof."

2. She is running everywhere. Run Forest Run!

3. She weighs 24 poundsish.

4. She is wearing 18 month clothes (just stretching out her 12 month ones.)

5. Loves putting stuff into her grocery cart. Then shoving it around the house.

6. Words we say:

- GreySee = Gracie

- GanPAA = Grandpa

- HIIIYA = her greeting of hello

- DiDa = Daddy

Trip to Birmingham to meet GreatGran

Peyton feeding a giraffe during her first trip to the zoo.

Having a little stroll with GrandDaddy!

The Douglas/Stone Family. This Rob's parents and his Grandmother which is Peyton's Great Grandmother.
Rob, Mother and Lil P
We were able to meet up with Rob's cousin who he hasn't seen in 15 years.

Product of R&R

For those of you who don't know Rob and I got pregnant on his R&R from Afghanistan. My dear friend Ann Marie bought Peyton this onesie and she's never worn it because it was always too big. Today we busted it out and had our very own photo shoot.

I must say she is adorable and I love these photos.

This is our "workin" pose with her hands on her hips.

Our latest trick that Daddy taught us - TOUCHDOWN
Our little angel

Clapping for herself because she did such a great job!
Say Cheese

Goodbye Ludwig

For those of you who have lost a family pet you know how much it hurts. I received a sad phone call today from my Mom that she had to put my 17 1/2 year old puppy to rest. He was a trooper all the way until the end. Ludwig will be remember for many things, but the funniest of them was when he attacked my Uncle wearing a cow costume. He kept launching at the udder. So funny! Luddy was a great dog and my first dog. He was a lover and loved to lick.

I love you Ludwig and I will miss you!

Vacation Time

I have already instinctively started climbing, but to make matters worse my Dad has also taught me how to do things that Mommy was avoiding. Here's a pic of Dad and I climbing through a tree.
Vacation is exhausting!
"How you doin' down there?"
Why not make her afraid of sharks immediately, right?
I just thought these were the perfect little lips. She has learned how to stick that bottom one out to try and get what she wants.
Accessorizing...with Mommy's underwear.
Accessorizing...with blocks. She was hording the blocks at the kid's museum.
Peyton loved the aquarium. She thought the fish were pretty cool.
Bird watching is a serious job.
Climbing takes a lot out of you. This pose lasted about 3 seconds.

MILESTONES at 14 months today:

- She signed "eat" this morning

- She flat out says Gracie (and a version of Mommy, Daddy and Grandpa)

- She can go up and down the stairs

- Climbing on everything and anything

- Taking a sippy cup with a bottle nipple. It's the Nuvi 3 phase cup that transitions them from the nipple to a straw. This is a big move for us because she's been pretty attached to the bottle and not so interested in the sippy cups.

- Gives kisses to the lip and blows kisses

- Knows where her belly button is

- Gives a high five

- Favorite food - bananas and carrots

- Can still fit into size 9 month clothes, but is mostly wearing 12 month stuff

- Probably weighs 22 pounds by now

- Best Of All - she is STILL in her bucket car seat. We have to switch her out soon. I'm hesitant to put her forward facing because she's so small and our next car seat doesn't do well facing backwards. So...we're in a pickle.