We NEED Your Vote!

Our wonderful photographer is having a photo contest and my two gorgeous children are in the running for the "Favorite Image of 2008!"

So... head over to Nicole's Blog and vote for Ally and Luke - Image #3 and we will win an 11x14 of the photograph!!!

Come on people... help a girl out!

UPDATE - Oh wow... due to the age of my browser at work it didn't load all the images! At home I can see all the images and there are two other ones!  One of Luke and one of Ally's silly face!  HA!  Still vote for #3... it has both my kids in it... I can see at least 10 of you have listened to me! Or maybe it was the mass email?  :-)  I am shameless in my pursuit!

First Infection...

Well, Luke has his first official infection - his first time on an antibiotic! He made it over a year without one, so I should count my blessings I suppose!  Ally made it to about 18 months before she had her first infection, which was the same as Luke's first - he has an ear infection.

I took him to the doctor's this afternoon for what I was certain was going to be a respiratory infection. The boy has a terrible congested cough.  But, his lungs sounded clear and his left ear was all red and bulging!  Go figure!  You always think ONE thing is wrong and it ends up being another.  HA!

The doctor said we caught it pretty early though, so luckily, it doesn't hurt him too bad yet Mostly, the little guy is just wiped out from the cold which caused the infection. He is sleeping ALL the time!  He will sleep 14 hours at night, and then take up to two 3 or 4 hour naps!  I shouldn't complain, I know... but it's a little freaky how much he is sleeping.  I hope he just sleeps this infection away and gets better soon. The little man is just pathetic!  :-(  He tries to smile up at me best he can though, through his snotty little face.

Ally is feeling pretty good so far.  FINGERS CROSSED cuz her big birthday bash is this weekend!  We are looking forward to having Beth, Scott, Isabel and Eli in from Chicago for the whole weekend and Ally's Hannah Montana party on Saturday afternoon!  The girl is GIDDY for her BFF, Isabel to be here. They are just the cutest little girls together!

Friday, Ally doesn't have school, so Kristen, Ally and I are taking a little girl trip to the salon to all have our hair done together!  How fun is THAT?  Nothing like some girly salon time.  I'm looking forward to letting Christopher get his hands on Ally's crazy head of hair!  Hopefully, he can work his usual magic!

Right now the girl is dancing in front of her reflection in the oven to the Mamma Mia soundtrack.  Besides Hannah... Mamma Mia is a close second in obsession!  She has of course seen the play and we rented the movie. I think I'm going to buy the movie for her for her birthday too.  I've only gotten her a few little Hannah Montana themed items. Nothing big yet!  YIKES!  I need to get on that!

In other news... MY MOM IS MOVING TO ALASKA!  Yes, you read it right.  Alaska!  Everyone keeps telling me "I hear you can see Russia from there!"  Is this some joke I missed because I cannot COUNT the number of people who have said this to me when I tell them! HA!  I think you can!  She told me on Saturday and I must say, I'm STILL IN SHOCK!  I could not have been more shocked if she told me she was moving to Russia!  Alaska does indeed seem like another country!

Times are tough all over, and Las Vegas is doing about as well as Michigan when it comes to their economy, the housing market and new builds... my step-dad is an electrical engineer and when people stop building things... jobs go away. So, he has to go where the work is!  I guess Alaska has it goin' on!  WHO KNEW?

Wow!  It's crazy.  CRAZY!  I'm going to have family in Alaska. HAHAHA!  I have to laugh at this cuz it's just insane!

Ear infections, upcoming Hannah Montana parties and Alaska. I think you are now up to date!

Luke - One Year...

A little late is better than never!  Luke turned a year old last month. A whole year old... my little man!!!!

Luke at one year:

• He's still not walking and really seems to have very little interest in trying!  I'm so okay with it as he gets into everything as it is.  He is an expert crawler and seems content getting where he needs to be that way.
• He only has four teeth.  HA!  
• He weighs over 25 pounds and is over 31 inches tall.  That places him in the 75th percentile for weight and the 95th for height.
• He's eating solids a lot better recently and transitioned to real milk really well.  His favorite foods are bread (toast especially!), raisins, BEEF, turkey sausage, and pasta.  
• He says Ally, Mama, Dada, Nana, Papa, Google (HAHAHA!), Hi, Bye, No and mimics other sounds a lot.  He shakes his head when he says no.... and usually repeats it in a "NONONO" fashion. He's a character.
• He loves balls and trucks... very boyish toys.... but also his sister's Hannah Montana dolls and stage... so he's not picky. Ally's toys are often superior to whatever is in his hand at the time.
• He is just now starting to piss his sister off from time to time and I have to fight not to laugh at it..... but for the most part, she is as patient and as wonderful as can be with him and he loves her dearly.  It still warms my heart right through to watch the two of them interact.  
• He is sleeping 12-13 hours a night and still taking two good solid 2 hour naps a day.  He's  a good sleeper! About damn time!  :-)
• He's wearing both 12-18 and 18-24 month clothing.  He is very long in his torso so tends to need the bigger onsies. Craziness.
• His head is huge.  He is wearing a 2-4 year old hat from my Aunt Jenni and it is a little big, but NOT REALLY THAT BIG!
• His eyes are bright blue as ever and the doc says they will stay that way. 
• He is going to be a heartbreaker... starting with his Mom's... I just know it!

A year flies by... what a year it has been!

Quickie...

So... I'm alive. Hanging on by a thread, but I thought I should at least write a minute to let you all know that I do, indeed LIVE!

We have been battling one crisis after another around our house that I can't get into at the moment. Lots of sickness.... I've been traveling for work... and Scott is so busy he works until 2:30 am some nights. It's just insane. It's borderline out of control really... but we are pulling through somehow. We couldn't survive without the help of Scott's parents.... and they have been a god-send to us this week througout our drama.... words cannot express our gratitude here!

I am so far behind with work it's stressing me out and I am sick myself.... finally have an antiboitic though, so I hope I can say I'm on the road to recovery!

Life, life, life! Luke is finally feeling better. He's done nothing but sleep for days and days.... kind of scary, but I gotta say, with this cold/sinus infection, if I could stay in bed all day, I so would! So, maybe he's just feeling the same way.

I just wanted so surface and say... "I'm here!" I don't have the time to write extensively or even much to say besides bummy news........ Scott's birthday is Friday and we are trying to get up the energy to celebrate. Ally's birthday is next weekend, and we are having her party on Jan 24th... so I am gearing up for that too. Hannah Montana party! :-))) Good times....

Updates coming soon... and hopefully, more upbeat posts!

Things Kids Say...

Lately Ally has been saying some of the funniest little things.  She's coming to that age maybe... I remember when she was really little, she would say some dingers... but it seemed to taper off there for a bit...

But lately, she's been coming up with some good ones...

The latest is this...

She was coughing after she swallowed something wrong the other day at dinner. She said, "the meat went down my fruit hole!"

HAHAHA!!!!

So, of course we cracked up... and now, she has terms for every hole. This morning she informed me that her bagel and cream cheese went appropriately down the bagel and cream cheese hole. No worries.

What a crack up!

KIDS!

The Year of the Truck...

Luke got a lot of trucks this year for Christmas... five to be exact! Well, a few trucks and a bus... and look at how HAPPY he is to have them all!  Everyone was good to the little man this year. He has more toys than he knows what to do with... and of course, his favorites are his sister's!

He loves her Hannah Montana stage... her My Little Ponies... her Barbies.  He may be "all boy" but he sure likes the girlie toys!  :-)

Family Pictures...

I have to guide you all over to my sister-in-law, Jane's blog to check out the AMAZING pictures she took for us for Christmas!!!!!!!!

What great pics of all the kids.. and I can only imagine how hard it was to get them to do this!!!!

Thanks for the wonderful gift Jane!!!!!