Swim Lessons

We finally made it back to swim lessons after being sick for awhile. I still have my cough but other than that we are all good to go. Cory was able to go to his first swim lesson with Alyssa. He had a good time seeing what she did. She was playing with the ball and trying to eat it, of course. I would throw it a little in front of us and have her try to grab it. She did pretty good considering the water obviously moving it and everything. Alyssa is learning how to pick up her strawberry apple puffs but hasn't figured out how to put it in her mouth yet. These are great because they are somewhat like cheerios but the dissolve in your mouth so you don't have to worry as much about choking. She has enjoyed eating them and crunching down with her teeth. She was startled the first time that she did this and the sound it made her expression was priceless.

Not much more has been going on. Cory is winding down from working Mariners and I have been busy with working part time and taking care of everything else at the house. We have some fun stuff coming up, a couple of concerts, golfing, and a trip over to Lake Chelan and of course Halloween. I can't wait to go and pick up our pumpkins from the farm and bring them back and carve them. It's great because right down the road from us we have this wonderful farm, Carleton Farm, that has a corn maze, a pumpkin cannon, hay rides and animals. As well as a lot of great produce, homemade jams/jelly's, salsa, and salad dressings. This place is great! If you haven't been there you should definitely go. Of course it will be a lot more fun once Alyssa is older but it will still be a blast! Cory has also informed me that since he is done with Mariners it's back to hitting the gym hard and eating good again. So I am going to try and not make any more desserts. We will see how well that goes. I need to find a happy medium with this. Especially since the holidays are coming up and I want to start some traditions with Alyssa that I did with my mom growing up.

A long.....boring.....week

This week has been very long and boring. Alyssa and I have both been sick and pretty much haven't left the house in a week except for today! It was great to be out even tho we just went to Babies R Us to find a couple items and out to the grocery store. She is feeling better, I think, and I am somewhat day to day. Alyssa has been in a great mood for having a cold tho, I swear this child never seems to get that cranky I am just waiting for the hammer to drop tho.

She is starting to be able to stand up holding onto stuff for a little while. She can't pull herself up but she will stand there and after a few seconds she seems to want to move but can't figure out how and starts whining. Its actually quite cute. I also have gotten her some crackers for her to see if she can figure out what to do with them. She did, they went pretty much straight to her mouth after banging them on her high chair tray. That's not saying too much because almost everything is going straight into her mouth at this point. Her front bottom teeth are still coming in. I'm surprised at how long they are actually taking to come all the way in. Tonight was the first time that she actually was almost in a crawling position. She got her bottom and legs in the position and was trying to figure out what to do but couldn't and then would hit the floor and push herself up with her arms. Hopefully it's only a matter of time before she starts to crawl. At that moment tho I was thinking I should probably start to somewhat baby proof the house.

Well hopefully this week gets back to normal. We haven't gone to her swim lessons this last week because of being sick but I'm planning on going back on Tuesday. They are actually pretty fun even tho they go by so quickly and she really enjoys them. Cory will be able to attend this next week so hopefully I get some good pictures of her. I have completed her Halloween costume and can't wait to see her in it. The holidays are going to be soooo much more fun now I can't wait!

Cory and I spent this afternoon working in the back yard. We decided to dig up all the crab grass that was back there and replant. Hopefully it works. I have crab grass. So if anyone out there has any really great tips on how to keep it out let us know because so far with everything we have been hearing it's not easy.

Pics from the last year

First day of swim lessons

Today was Alyssa's first day of swimming lessons. I wasn't sure exactly how the facility was so I got us already at home and planned on wearing our cover ups home. Alyssa was in one of her little swimsuits and she got to wear a Dora swim diaper for the first time. We got to Forest Park in Everett and put our belongings into the locker room. We then headed to the shower to rinse off before heading out to the pool. The pool is huge and they have picnic tables and benches for other friends/family members to watch at. The instructor, Ewan, had us get into the pool and explained how things would go. There would be some free play time and song time. Song time was great. We sang songs that everyone new with water movement. Alyssa loved it, especially when we did jumping in the pool. She never did get fussy. I was a little worried about that because the lessons are right at nap time. She was rubbing her eyes a few times but remained a good sport and kept playing and kicking. It was a fun time. I hope she continues to enjoy it. I have her signed up thru November so if things continue to go well I will sign her up for more.
she is doing absolutely fabulous. She continues to change day by day. She loves playing in her exersaucer and turning around in it. Her bottom front teeth continue to come in and I noticed her front top in is starting to come out. I can see a little white tip poking out. She has been relatively unfussy from this. When she does start to fuss tho I put some Orajel on it and give her a little Tylenol and she is good to go.

First trip to the beach

The family just got back from our mini vacation down to Long Beach WA. We spent four days down there and had a great time. The weather was wonderful. We stayed at Cory's Uncle Dick and Aunt Donna's cabin who were there with us along with Corys parents. When we got down there we fed Alyssa and she went down for a nap and we went and got her a bunch of sand toys ready to go play. After a few hours of hanging out at the cabin and letting the dogs run-a-muck Alyssa got up and we headed down to the beach.


One of our favorite things to do is drive on the beach and take it all in. It's one of the most relaxing things to do. So we were off. Corys parents and their dog and us and our dog all headed down. We found our spot and we let the dogs out and they were in seventh heaven. Harley loves the sand. Cory took some drift wood, a relatively small piece, and was throwing it for Harley. No piece of wood is too small for Harley. I swear he is the strongest dog. Anyways, Harley brought it back and was trying to bury it as he was kicking up sand all over everyone else. It was so funny.


Alyssa wasn't enjoying it as much as everyone else was. We got her out and all laid out on the blanket with a rake and lobster thing and she just was not having any of it. She started out OK sitting on the blanket and feeling the sand. After a few moments she just started fussing and would not stop. I figured she was tired because she hadn't had that long of a nap. So no biggie I put her back in her carrier in the car and she was fine. She sat there and played with her toys and was happy as a bug. We hung out for a little while longer and then we headed back to the cabin for some more relaxation and fun.

We played some scrabble, Wii, and had way too much great food. The next day was more of the same driving on the beach in the morning with our cup of coffee, going into town and checking out some of the stores and stuff We got Alyssa her first water bottle with her name on it. It's very cute. We also realized why she had been so fussy the day before her second tooth has popped out. It's her other bottom front tooth. It literally came out of nowhere. So now our little girl has two teeth. They are not all the way out yet but I would say probably about 1/4 out. It's very cute you can see them when she smiles.


She is doing so well. It's amazing because every day she changes and accomplishes new things. She can now sit up by herself for long periods and play. She is also playing with her toys more and trying to figure them out. She also loves to stand. Her legs are sooooooo strong.
Well tomorrow I am taking her to her Great Grammy's house for her to watch for the day because I am going back to work at my old job as a temp employee. It will be weird leaving Alyssa, I know she will be in great hands, but for the reason I am leaving her. It's been wonderful being able to stay home with her and I honestly don't think I would trade it for anything.
We will have an exciting week ahead of us. On Tuesday we start swim lessons! I think I talked about those before but I can't wait for them.

Each day a milestone

Well it finally happened, her tooth is starting to come out. It's her lower left front tooth and its razor sharp. She keeps running her tongue over it which I am surprised it hasn't cut it yet. I don't know how long it will take for it to come all the way out but it's on its way. I'm amazed that she hasn't been all that fussy about it either. She's drooling like crazy and enjoys putting the cloth diaper in her moth and chewing on it. Yes it is a clean one, I don't use them for diapers.

I have Alyssa all signed up for her swim lessons that she starts on September 9. She will have those two times a week for 30 min. I am pretty curious to see what kind of things we will be doing. It's a class for 6 months - 3 yrs and introduction to water. I am very excited for that because she loves playing in the bath tub. Although she cried the other night but I think that's because she didn't like the bubble machine I got her. It was pretty loud. I have been trying to find some fun bath toys but I am having a hard time finding any good ones.

I have also bought a great book on sign language and we are going to start trying it. It's going to take a lot of persistence from us but I think if we can stick it out it will be worth it. It's very basic but if we can do it, it will be a great way to start communicating with her before she actually starts talking. From the look of the book that I have it's actually pretty easy to do and easy to remember.

She is also starting to sit up on her own. She can do it for several seconds before getting wobbly and falling over. At least she doesn't get upset when she tips over or hurt yet. She's enjoying building her leg muscles, she loves standing, and I honestly can't wait until I can start chasing her around. OK so I might be saying in a few months that I regret ever saying that! She is also enjoying kicking her legs and especially when she is on a surface where she can make noises. She gets so proud of herself when she does this, it's actually pretty cute.

She adores Harley. She laughs at him and her face lights up whenever he comes around it's the cutest thing ever. The other day Alyssa, Harley and I were all playing on the floor and he brought over his ball and put it next to her. She started playing with it rolling it and he started playing with his chew ring, because if you know him he always carries two toys with him.

Food, Food, Food

I think Alyssa and I are having fun trying out new types of food. Her tasting them and me making them. At this point the front runners are broccoli and applesauce. I don't know which one she likes more but she gobbles them up quick. I've been buying the apple sauce at this point but might try and make it this fall. She also likes her sweet potatoes, sorry dad! One of the bought jars, the turkey dinner, she absolutely hates which I don't blame her it was nasty. She also didn't like the bananas that I mashed up for her but hopefully they will grow on her because I use them a lot. I found this great website that I have been using for ideas and stuff. It's amazing all the different things you can make and how much cheaper it is to use "normal" food instead of the baby food. I added this link to our site as well. It's amazing the things that I have learned on their about food especially the berries. For example that strawberries and blackberries are considered an exotic fruit but not kiwi. And blueberries and cranberries aren't considered to be a "true" berrie which they consider mild to highly allergenic. Anyways it's a great website with lots and lots of info. I have just been taking plain vegetables and pureeing them at this point, I'm going to do spinach and carrots next. I will have to try some of the recipes on the site they don't sound all that bad.

I'm getting excited because we are heading down to Long Beach for a few days on Labor Day. This is somewhere where Cory and I spent a lot of time growing up since we were only an hour and a half away from. So it will be fun to bring her out there and drive on the beach. Surprising that hasn't been outlawed in Washington yet. Our doctor gave us some good advice about her eating sand tho. His daughter had done this recently who is nine months old and it went right thru her. So when he was changing the diaper the sand was there and he had taken a wipe and it became like sand paper on her behind. Poor girl. So he advised us not to do that and just rinse off. It was actually quite comical when he was telling us the story. Something that I guess you wouldn't really think of either. Kids are going to eat the sand and it does have to come out so anyways we are really looking forward to bringing the family down there. Hopefully there will be some nice weather, although I prefer it stormy!

Six month check up

Alyssa is a perfectly healthy baby! She is 26.25inches, 18.11lbs and 17.25 HC. If anyone wants to find out what percent that is you can check it out on the calculator I have added to the website. The doctor couldn't believe at how laid back she was and calm about everything. Our doctor is wonderful he is so very laid back and helpful we really lucked out. She got four more shots and only cried for about 15 seconds or so on the last one and than was back to ripping up the paper on the table she was laying on or whatever you want to call them.

I thought that she was going to weigh a lot more than what she does but I am happy that she is not a huge baby despite her many chins!!!! Once we got her home, we went out to lunch afterwards and ran some errands, she ate and went straight to bed. She was getting pretty fussy since she hadn't had her morning nap. When she got up later she was still pretty fussy, I am chalking that up to getting those shots, and she ate and played with Cory for awhile and fell asleep laying in his arms. It was the most precious thing. Nothing melts my heart more than to see those two together.

Well 9 days until one of the most exciting days of the year! You might be asking what that is. It's Cougar kick off, and yes Lisa's birthday!!!!!! We'll see how well they will do on Saturday August 30th when they play Oklahoma State. They have a new coach so this will probably be a rebuilding year for them but it doesn't matter how many games they win or lose as long as they beat those stupid Dawgs it will be a successful year! GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!