Saturday, August 25, 2007

She's Not A Good Bleeder

Yes, that's what the nurse said at the 9 month doctor's visit during the blood sample collection process.

To collect blood from an infant, they have a special baby-finger-pricking-device. So her finger starts to bleed. She does not make a peep. Then the nurse whips out this testtube connected to a tiny plastic straw (for lack of a better way to descibe it). She proceeds to squeeze Ally's finger, milking out the blood and gathering it in the tiny straw. If you have taking a baby to the doctor recently, maybe you have seen the insanity.

Ally was good for about the first six minutes, but then started to realize that some strange lady was milking blood out of her finger and smearing it everywhere trying to collect it in a tiny straw. She started to cry and struggle a bit (who wouldn't), and so we decide the only way left to try and console her is to sing. We started Old MacDonald with every animal we know. The nurse started to sing along. All in all, it took somewhere between 12 and 15 minutes to gather enough blood to run tests on.

Quotes from the nurse:

-"She's not a good bleeder"
-"Who invented this thing"
-Nurse: "I think this will be enough" Julie: "maybe you should take a little more so that we know it's enough and we don't have to start over" Nurse: "I think you are right".

At the end, we have to wipe the blood off of Ally's hand, and then the nurse gives us a band-aid to cover the pin prick on Ally's finger. There was a little scale problem, though.





Yes, an adult bandaid would go around Ally's itty-bitty finger about 30 times.

Then they came and gave her a shot.



Anyway, she has a clean bill of health and is gaining weight well. I'll post some more Ally photos soon!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Swinging Ally

Ally has just had her first few times in the baby swing at the park this week, and it is a lot of fun.

Here's what she looked like today:


A few photos

My sister Beth came to visit this weekend:
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and fun was had by all.


We tried to pose Ally for a photo of this outfit, but she got preoccupied by the mirror and it is pretty cute!
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And the last photo is of the outfit that Mama (that's Becky) just loved a long time ago.
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Friday, August 17, 2007

Sippy Cup Joy

So the video quality I have put together for the internet isn't quite as good as the original (you can't see the water spilling out of her mouth), but it shows just how excited she gets when she gets to drink from a cup. If we give her a cup during her bath, she gets water in it from the faucet (really not intentional - she isn't quite that coordinated yet!) and drinks it.

It's a little long...but enjoy.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

9 months old!

It's hard to believe that Ally has been home for two months. It feels like she has been with us forever, and that she just got here all at once.

Sorry I've been such a bad blogger lately. Here are the latest photos to give you all a smile.


I think the cats have gotten over the new family member.


Ally loves sippy cups

Monday, August 6, 2007

The Welcome Home Ally Shower

Well, we had a wonderful weekend. Michelle (and Julia and Karina, of course) hosted an amazing shower for us on Saturday where Julie grew up, and so many people were able to come. Julie and I were pretty overwhelmed. Ally has a fantastic new library of books (and a lovely array of new wardrobe items!). We were so thrilled to have the opportunity for everyone there to meet Ally.

As Julie and I were pretty busy, we only got photos of the cake (and of our friend Allison in "the hat", and I just can't put that photo on the Internet - I can't do that to you!). Michelle is an artist! One cake was carrot, and the other was Bailey's Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse. I can personally say that both were delicious.

If you have any photos from the party we would love some digital copies!





Here are more photos courtesy of Grandma Barb:

Visiting Great Grandma Florence

Here are some great pictures from our way home from Ally's baptism. We got to stop in and visit Great Grandma Florence!














Jump

Thanks to Kurt & Christine, we no longer need our TV.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Latest from the Doctor

Ally went to the doctor on Monday for a weight check. She is up to 16 pounds 4 ounces! The doctor was happy as Ally is now about the 10th percentile for weight for her age. We'll be back again soon for Ally's 9 month checkup (and more shots...what fun.)