The Party

After the baptism, we headed back to Grandma Debbie's house for a great party! Just about everyone got a chance to hold Ally, and she did pretty well with it all. Here are some photos!
If you have some good photos from the party, we'd love to have a (digital) copy because our camera battery wore out somewhere after about 200 photos or so. We have some from Grandma Barb's camera, but if you have something great from the party shoot us an email!
PS - From my internet research, it does indeed seem that Ally is a 2nd cousin to our cousins (So Mandy, yes, Ally is your second cousin) (This was a question that came up at the party) :-)

The Baptism

Thank you all for PATIENTLY waiting for the photo show. I know it's been 5 days since the baptism, but it feels like we just got home! It was really nice to relax today.

This post will cover our time at church! I have so many photos from Sunday that I have to stagger this or I will get overwhelmed with how to put it online.

Before the service, everyone seemed to arrive simultaneously in the gathering room.

There were so many cameras going at once no one knew where to look. At least Ally and her Great Grandma had the wisdom to just look at each other in that one photo!
Once at the service, we got a good photo of Ally in the very old baptismal gown that was worn by many members of her family, including back to Ally's Great Grandfater when he was baptised in England.



The baptism itself was wonderful - it was a really amazing service. We went through the Methodist service of baptism, including the administration of water, and the laying on of hands.

After the formal baptism was complete, the pastor led a song on guitar to which the whole congregation sang, while the other pastor took Ally around the congregation for everyone to see her and sing to her. The pastors presented us with a certificate of baptism and a shell from the water used for the baptism to help Ally remember her baptism.

Another post will come later with party photos!

All Home Safe and Sound

I'll post more later, but I wanted to post that we made it home early this afternoon. It's Julie's birthday today, and we've been pretty low-key after our travels, but had a favorite dinner of fajitas (followed late by ice cream cake!)
Ally was a champ during all of our car travels. It was really nice to break up the drive home into two (well, three) chunks. We started by heading to see the new Great Grandma, then after lunch and goodbye to my parents, on to Barb and Franks for the night. This morning we finished driving home. Ally slept on all legs of the trip home.

We had a wonderful trip and were so glad to see everyone. I'll post photos of the baptism and party later - thank you all again!!

Weekend with Grandma Barb & Grandpa Frank

In Grandma's Lap

Grandpa, can I eat read the paper with you?





















Michelle meets Ally!

Julia and Karina were so excited to finally meet Ally! They have been
following every update on "baby Ally from Guatemala" since the very beginning.

Raspberries

Imagine if you started to follow this bedtime routine...

• Quietly listen to someone sing for a few minutes


• Seem quiet for a minute


• Start loudly blowing raspberries for 5 minutes


• Suddenly get quiet and pass out

Perhaps that is the key. If I can't fall asleep, blow raspberries until I pass out. I'll have to try that next time.

Hot and Humid!

It was more humid then hot, today. Ally was feeling the heat, though, so we wanted her to cool off.

	Mom, it's hot! Let me hang out in my diaper. This is the best! And look at me sitting up all by myself. I still fall over, but not very often. Unless I'm tired.
Okay, I'll put this on, Mommy. It's nice and cool.
	You didn't tell me I would have watermelon butt!!! I can't belive you are doing this to me and then posting pictures on the internet. You just wait until I can talk.

A Schedule?

Yes, that's right, knock on wood, but I think we have a scheduled kid.

She's eating 3 squares (well, for a baby), napping at 9:30 AM (wouldn't that be a nice way to live) and at 2:00 PM, and bed at 8:30.

At least she's done this for 2 and a half days. At least we know she can do it now, rather than cat napping for 20 minutes whenever she feels like it!

Here are the latest pictures!






Big smiles!




















Chillin' in the bumbo chair.

First Haircut

Yes, Ally has lovely locks. They needed a trim! Julie and I went in for our cuts today, and Ally got the beauty treatment, too.
Here are action shots of Ally and our stylist, Feri.

Before:
During:
And after:

Peas Please?

So, Ally is starting a new fruit or veggie every 3 days (alternating). So far she is eating rice cereal, carrots and bananas. Today we tried peas.

She ate every bite, but we're not sure that she knows if she likes them or not. What do you think?

Fourth of July

Ally celebrated her first fourth in style, waking up the family at 5 am. Having started the day so early, we grilled our burgers for a nice 11 am lunch.

Here she is in her fancy 4th of July outfit!

Ally went to the doctor

I took Ally to the doctor today. She did great! She was in the 5th percentile of weight for her age two weeks ago, and now is in the 8th percentile. We want to get her above the 10th percentile.

Also, there was a big ego boost for me. Ally was doing fine, playing on the exam table, and then the doctor went to look at her and picked her up. Ally screamed and wailed and cried. The doctor said "stranger anxiety!" and kept doing her exam. She handed her back to me and instantly Ally stopped crying. The doctor said, "she knows who she belongs to. That is great!" This makes me really happy to know she is adjusting to the changes!

Here is your dose of cuteness for the day: