Allyson's first Curls

This morning I decided to curl Em's hair and on a whim curled Allyson's. It actually curled really nice. She turned out cute. Doesn't look so much like a mullet anymore!

Did I Mention She's Stubborn?

Isn't She cute! Well behind that sweet face is a stubborn little thing! Ally was always the one who would sob if we told her no, in fact she would sob if we told anyone no. And a little spank to the hand...oh my gosh...you broke her heart. WELL, not anymore. Now, no she interprets no as a suggestion. Something to which she may totally ignore or choose to listen to...depending on her desire. And when I spank her...she looks at me, spanks herself or the wall, floor, furniture etc. And then it's a game. I'll even get really close to her face and very firmly say..."NO ALLYSON" and she looks at me like, "right mom, whatever." So fun raising kids! That has to be why God made them so darn cute!

Emily and her skirts...

Every morning when I tell em to get dressed, she asks me the same thing...can I wear a skirt? Sometime she gets to, sometimes she doesn't. So the other morning she was wearing pants, standing on her step in the bathroom while I curled her hair...our conversation...
Jamie: There, now you look beautiful.
Emily: No, I don't look beautiful, just incredible. I only look beautiful when I'm wearing a skirt. Can I put a skirt on?
Jamie: No, you'll just have to look incredible today.

Too bad she has low self esteem!

Sound Asleep!

Last week Allyson was sick and during lunch she was getting really cranky. So I decided to put her on the couch to watch tv for a few minutes while I ate my lunch because she hadn't been leaving me alone. I should have known better because Allyson doesn't watch tv, never has cared one bit about tv. Anyway, I got to eat lunch and she immediately fell asleep, which I actually was trying to hold her off from doing. But when you're working with a one year old, not much you can do!

The Zoo and San Francisco

We've been having troube posting new items so there are a couple new posts...you'll just have to scroll down.

This past weekend I managed to talk Mike into taking Friday off...no easy task. So we headed out to San Francisco that day and the zoo Saturday. It was a lot of fun. It is rare to be in San Francisco and be hot, especially in Feb. but it was. There was very little wind. It was beautiful. Allyson loved the zoo. She's my animal lover, Pet Smart and my parents dog Bubba are her two favorite things to visit. She squealed and stomped her feet in excitment at every animal. I think Emily had a lot of fun but she declared halfway through that she was bored. In her defense though, a lot of the animals were either asleep or no where to be seen. Emily is also my big chicken so a lot of the animals freaked her out. Ally, however, would have tried to pet the lion if she could. At the petting zoo she went right up to every animal. She also LOVED the seals at the pier. It was so cute. We had a very nice and relaxing weekend. Wish it didn't have to end!

Valentines Day!

Last week, being Valentines Day, Mike and some of our friends surprised all of the girls that night. But backing up...Mike and I usually go out on that night to Marie Callenders, mostly because it's not busy and we have free babysitting that night. But Mike instant messaged me at 12:00 that afternoon and told me that we were going out, to find or buy a new nice dress and be ready NO LATER than 5:00, that part was crucial. So I crossed my fingers and tried my dress on, luckily the baby isn't that big yet and it fit! Later he IM'd me again and said that he had to have someone come in the office at quarter to five but still be ready to go at 5. So at 5:15 I sent him a "hint" message that I was ready when he was. Right as I sent it, the doorbell rang. I ran downstairs and there stood a limo driver. The guys arranged to have all the girls picked up in a really nice limo and then they took us to the guys. They then took us to a really nice dinner at the lake. It was a great night. The guys trully pulled off something big and it was really fun. Mike also bought me a huge bouquet of red roses but unfortunately FTD didn't get it to us until the next afternoon. But they are beautiful.

Some Firsts For the Girls...

It's official, Allyson is a walker now. Just as with crawling, she walks at her own pace, which is slow. But it's really cute to watch her waddle around. She's definitly not winning any baby marathons in the near future. She's a multi-tasker too, she can walk and drink out of a sippy cup at the same time.
Emily also had her first visit to the dentist. She was amazingly good. They all loved her and found her totally hilarious especially since she told them all about Billy, (for those of you who don't know, Billy is her imaginary child). They were so impressed with her behavior and her willingness to get her teeth cleaned. She also got a big plus on her teeth cleaning skills, (which actually are mommies skills, but she doesn't know that!), so overall she had a great first dentist experience. I was so proud of her. She walked away with a ton of goodies and a new Ariel tooth brush. Our dentist, Dr. Holmes and his staff are wonderful. If I moved out of state I think I would travel to go to him.

New little Littau...whatever he or she may be!

I guess there's only room for one....

This morning, Emily asked me if she could play dressup. So as she was getting dressed Allyson was intently watching her. So I thought maybe she would like to wear a princess dress too. My mistake. She HATED it. She cried until I took it off of her. The second it was off, she was totally happy. I guess there is only room for one girly girl in this family. Am I seeing a future softball player then?

Allyson On Her 1st Birthday!

Isn't she sweet?!

Allyson Update

Ally is turning one year on Wednesday, the time has flown by. She is getting so fun these days. She says, "see", "that", "mama", "dada", "nana", and "papa". She still isn't walking although she could. She waits until she only can reach one finger onto whatever she's holding before she starts to crawl. I don't think she believes she can do it. We went to the doctor yesterday, and she weighs 17 lbs 8 oz. and is 29 inches long. It surprised me because I always thought she was bigger than Em. But at 9 mo. Em was 18.3 lbs and 29 inches, so obviously being 3 mo. younger she was bigger than Allyson.
Ally also had her first ER visit this week, before Em which was also a shocker. I always figured we spend way more time in the ER with Em's activity level. But luckily God let her be a scared active baby! Anyway, I let Ally have a small lick of peanut butter, which she didn't like and spit it out. Within minutes her face started breaking out in hives, something she's done before so I didn't panic. But then within minutes it moved into her eyes and she started coughing. So I rushed her to the ER and by the time I got there she was breathing fine but her eyes had almost swelled shut and her whole face was swollen and dark red. Even the whites of her eyes were red. So they had to give her an anti histamine and when that didn't touch it a steroid. 3 hours later she was doing better and they sent her home. Yesterday they had me follow up with my doctor who said she can't be in contact with any peanuts or peanut products, she can't even be touched after someone else has handled them, we have to super wash our hands first. He also gave us an epi pen in case she gets a hold of it, so now we have to carry it wherever we go. It was really scary but she's totally fine now. I also found out that the doctor wasn't okay with her not liking to drink milk and I have to start giving her four tums a day to replace her calcium, she's a high maintenance medical baby!

Coming August 11, 2007

If you are reading this BLOG, you are finding out just as everyone else, we haven't told anyone. Are we joking? No, we are totally serious! There will be another little Littau. Was it planned? NO! We had pretty much totally decided we were done. I guess God found that funny because low and behold here we are. I am a little over 8 weeks pregnant. We are excited however and actually found it funny. Those of you that knew us when we found out we were pregnant with Emily, we were in total shock and didn't find it funny right away. This time we figure, what's one more! It would have been nice to know before we traded in our van, but we'll make it work! Anyway, first sonogram is scheduled for Jan. 15th if our insurance gets approved by then. But we've already been to the doctor for the "official" test.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you all had a good Christmas. We had a very nice day. The girls loved everything that they got. Emily was so excited for every gift. Even Ally figured out that when I called her name and had a present in my lap that she was getting something good. I hope you all enjoy the pictures of the girls from Christmas eve and Christmas day!

Emily's Haircut

As most of you know, a litte before Thanksgiving, Em and her friend Tessa decided to cut each others hair, after watching Tessa's mommy get her hair cut. It wasn't that big of a deal and I hadn't even made it in to get it re styled. Then, on Monday, I had Devon over and wasn't paying enough attention to Em, obviously, and she cut her bangs a little, which were well on their way to being grown out. Then today, my friend Tricia who cuts my hair, came over and gave me a cut and color in the kitchen while Tessa and Em played. Mike called when we were done and needed a ride home for lunch so Tricia stayed with the girls. Well, Em saw her opportunity and decided to ask Tricia for her craft bag, with the SAFTEY sissors in it. In the span of seconds Tricia heard..."I'm going to cut my hair just like Tricia cut mommy's." And that's all it took. Luckily Tricia is a hairsylist and was able to "fix" her hair, as much as she could. So, I am including a picture of the hair that she cut (not including her hair from the real haircut) , which there was more that I threw away before I started saving it. And one of her with her new haircut, that totally breaks my heart by the way. And I am keeping the clumps of hair so that one day when she asks me why I gave her that horrible haircute, I can show her that it was because she cut her hair so bad. And for the record, I have hid all the sissors so well that I'm going to have to make a map for Mike and I to find them now!

Emily's Haircut

Emily's 4th Birthday

Emily celebrated her 4th birthday on Friday. We took her and her friend to Chucky Cheese. She had a blast. Thank you to all who came, we are truly lucky to have so many people who love our girls! I think I counted 12 adults, 4 babies, and 2 kids. Emily actually let the mouse hug her without hesitating. I was shocked. The great thing about Chucky Cheese is that we were able to pass out the rest of the cupcakes to all the kids before we left, otherwise we would have had to take them home and I have a major weakness for cake. Ally enjoyed herself riding the car, when we would put the coin in she would squeal and laugh. It was so funny, I've never seen her that excited. I think she'll be my roller coaster girl!

Happy Feet

A few weeks ago Em, Ally, my mom, My friend Jen and her daughters Tessa and Bella, (four and 10 mo.), and myself went to the movie happy feet. It was a very interesting movie day, my mom finds it hilarious and says I should share it, however, I'm just getting around to laughing.
We get to the movies at 3:30 and are running a little late so we get the girls booster seats and get them situated towards the bottom of the theater. They get all settled so we hand them their popcorn and begin to watch the movie. Soon, we run out of popcorn with a lot of people eating it so I get a refill, but by the time I get back, no one is hungry. So the full bag gets discarded on the floor. Then Emily and Tessa have to go potty, so they get down with seats banging to the ground and then knock over the full popcorn so they are loudly crunching popcorn as they are trying to get through the maze of people. I warn my mom before I go, (who is trying to get Ally to sleep) that she needs to watch where she puts the soda because last week I was doing the same thing and Ally kicked my full soda onto the ground when she didn't want to lie down in my arms. She says ok and the girls and I exit to the bathroom. When I come back, sure enough, Ally had knocked over the soda with her feet when my mom tried to lie her in her arms. So now soda and popcorn are all over the floor and people are giving us "the look". The chaos over?...Oh No...the worst hasn't even happened.
Ally wakes up towards the last 20 mins. of the movie and is fussy wiggly so I pick her up and take her to the back to walk her. She is facing me at this point and the next thing I know, I look down just in time to see her throw up all over me...three times!! I'm in the back COVERED and everyone else is in the front, so what do I do? I start yelling, "MOM! MOM! JENNI!" By then everyone is staring at me from the back 5 rows. And it smell BAD! She can't hear me so I put ally on the floor in the corner and run to them and say, "mom, we have to go now, get the girls." She then tries to get Emily out of her chair and when she figures out that we are leaving starts yelling, "I don't want to go I want to watch the movie" and loudly crying. Ally is so covered I have to strip her down and throw away her clothes. We exited the theater through the back and I realize my mom didn't grab my new sweatshirt. So back she goes looking for it and she was so embarrassed but laughing too. She couldn't find it and was feeling around on the wet popcorned floor and finally found it in my chair, but it was stuck. So there she is pulling and laughing with all her might. Then we get to leave and I'm less than thrilled because Ally and I are covered and smell bad. But my mom is in the car laughing and I finally say, as politely as I can, "mom, I'm really not finding any of this funny right now" It didn't even phase her though!
Em and I did make it back on Friday to watch the movie with the last 7 mins. we missed, however, we found a sitter for Allyson! And let me just say, it didn't go all that smooth either, they had theater malfunctions and we had to switch theaters after that movie already started! I do recommend it though, it's cute!

Cruise Pictures

The girls and I had a lot of fun on the cruise. It was beautiful weather. Emily did miss home and daddy. She asked numerous times if she could go home. It's kind of hard to walk off a boat though. Ally was wonderful. She ate well, (no surprise there!), slept well, played well and was totally happy. She loved it. Em did too, but she's a little older and missed her bed and daddy.

We are definitly glad to be home and are in the full swing of the Holiday's.

For those Michael fans out there, I just want to add that he has always had full access to the blog. So if you want to hear from him, he can blog anytime. And yes, the house looked Great!

The End...

I've always said to Jamie and leaving for work, "I won't say goodbye because I don't believe in that... I believe in, "See you Later". Today ends the saga of living alone for a week while Jamie was gone on the cruise. So today, I won't say goodbye to what I experienced this week, but "See you later". What that means for the future is difficult to know or how long to wait...

Today at work I got a fax from the future. The fax was from myself in the future giving me strong warnings. It was really cool! This does not happen often. When I get these faxes, it even has my own letter-head on them. Today it said something like, "Mike, the candy jar on Tera's desk is poisened! Do not eat from the jar! More details to come later" It was signed by me from me in the future.

Ok, did this really happen? Yes! Was it real? No. But it was really cool... If anyone watches "The Office" on NBC on Thursday's, it was the funniest opening ever as Dwight got the fax from his future self. I suggest everyone to get last year's DVD collection to watch the series, and then dowload this years episodes from Itunes on the internet.

An update on the house.... it is totally clean. I'd like to dedicate the house cleaning to my mother since it is her birthday today! I could not see myself allowing my wife to come home to a filthy, dirty house and know that my mother would have to be defending me that I was not raised that way. So to make Mom's birthday special, I decided to show the true colors of her son.

On a more personal note... I've learned that I am probably more difficult to clean up after than what I knew. Things piled up pretty quickly. So the work Jamie does that goes un-noticed, was really seen this week while she was away. So in the past, when I failed to come home and recogize how hard she worked to clean the house while I was away was really because I never knew it was dirty. Jamie does a fine job of picking up around here and she has earned her way back home :) All dishes are done, laundry done, bed made, fishes fed. It took 14 candles lit for two hours to bring new scents to the house.

Nothing so much to update on the time-line of what happened. It was a pretty normal day and I'd be wasting my effort to write and your effort to read if I list what happened in the last 24 hours. Mostly, my free-time was cleaning the house and getting it ready for home-comming weekend.

My brother has encouredged me to start my own blog or take over this one. I'm not sure what will happen as I've enjoyed taking over Jamie's blog this week. I'll take some serious thought to see if I'll continue in a new blog... my main concern is to make sure I don't get writers block and lose my audience...

So until next time... good-night America... "I'll see you later".

A side note...

I read an article today about Guns N Roses. They canceled a concert in Maine because they were told that they would not be allowed to drink Beer, Wine and Jagermeister on STAGE. This was clearly not an issue where they were canceling the concert because fans could not drink.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061110/ap_en_mu/music_guns_n__roses

Guns N Roses issued a statement: "a band spokesperson blamed fire marshals for "making it impossible for the band to perform their show to the usual high standards that their fans deserve."

Hmmm, I'm thinking something is wrong that they canceled the concert because they couldn't drink on stage. Did the fans think that by them not drinking, the band would not be abile to perform to the "usual high standards that their fans deserve".

So maybe I should not clean the house today and blame it on the fact that I was not able to drink in the house and it caused me to not be able to peform (clean the house) because I couldn't live up to the high standards any longer.