Just too cute

One of Ally's favorite things right now is pulling up. I was lucky enough to catch all of her motions from crawl to standing. And the ruffle butt is all for Debbie!

Thanksgiving

Sorry this is so late. We had a wonderful visit in the Philly area with Grandma Debbie and Poppy Dave and all of their relatives. Ally is such a super traveler and so much fun to be around. Enjoy the pictures!
Becky and Ally in the airport. I have to say the Providence airport was the cleanest airport we have ever seen - yes we let her crawl all over the place. Our flight was delayed almost 2 hours and she was happy or sleeping the whole time!



Above is Ally reading with Grandma and below are a montage of pictures from Thanksgiving. Sorry we didn't get one with the whole group!



See Aunt Pam - Ally really does love her Great Aunty Pammy!

Ally enjoyed some quiet time in comfy clothes hanging out under the dining room table!


We had a nice visit with Great Grandma Florence. I think this picture is so cool - it looks like Ally is reaching for Florence's hand! So sweet.

A slow stream of photos

Well, the craziness is over. Getting ready for the birthday party, hosting the party, packing, travelling, Thanksgiving and visiting Grandma Debbie & Grandpa Dave, travelling home, unpacking and getting Ally back to herself. So now I have time to fill you all in on the photos! I'm going to pace myself so I'm not overwhelmed.

Ally's party was great - we are so thankful that so many people could make it! Ally was not so keen on cake, even with Aunt Beth trying to shove chocolate icing into her mouth when the hot pink butter cream failed. The kids, though of various ages, all seemed to enjoy themselves, and gave the adults a good laugh with crawling parades behind Ally all over the house. They were so unbelievable and randomly timed that I have no photos of that.

Enjoy the pictures!

Happy Birthday Ally!

Today our little girl is 1 year old! We'll be having our main celebration tomorrow with friends and family, but we'll do a little celebrating today. Icing will be everywhere.

What I have for you now, prior to the glorious frosting photos, is a Tuesday night gem. Ally discovered splashing. Yes, she's splashed before, but she really clicked on the cause and effect of it. Or maybe she was just hyper. Let's just say that I was very wet.

Actually, that was the second time that day that I got soaked. The first time was at the doctor's office (checking in on a rash - turned out to be no big deal). I went to get the naked baby off the scale, and then the floodgates opened. Pee all over my shirt, all over the exam table, all over everywhere. When the doctor came in and saw me with my goofy smile, she said "Well, it's sterile!"

Enjoy the show, folks!

Our first understood word

Okay, so she doesn't say anything that I understand as a word.

But today, it seems pretty clear that Ally knows one word: CLAP!

When I tell her to clap, she claps. It's pretty cool. I guess I need to use the same intonation and say "BURP!" or something unrelated and see if she claps, too. I am, however, very excited. I feel like she is suddenly very interested in all the noises that come out of our mouths, and has figured out that they mean something.

Watching a kid learn is really cool!

Back From The Desert

We had a great trip to Arizona to visit Ally's Great Grandma Mimi, Gruncle Phil, and Great Aunt Suzie. Flying that far with a squirmy 11 and a half month old baby was not exactly fun for all, but we made it just fine.

The one kicker is that the morning after we got back, Ally woke up with a nasty cold. She's looking better today, but has not exactly been a happy camper. She is, however, thrilled to see her stuff (and her cats) again.

Gruncle Phil, the self-proclaimed "King Of Fun"

The KoF was glad Ally was too little to say "Stop poking me!"	Great Grandma Mimi couldn't believe that Phil held Ally
We'll admit it...	...he does look like the KoF.

Aunt Suzie, the "Queen of Fun"

We also got to go swimming! Outside! In November!

Ally went swimming in her new friend Claire's pool	Mama also got to swim with Ally for the first time - it was awesome!
	Ally is our little moviestar!

Too much time with Phil, King of Cheez-Its.	Our family out on the deck
Ally loved to climb up onto the hearth!	Four Generations!
Ally playing at Mimi's	Ally could pull up on the window!
We think Phil taught her this	Having fun with Grandma Mimi

Boo!

We had a great first Halloween with Ally. As you can see below, she was a goldfish! The last picture, where Ally is in the skirt, shows the orange top and tights that went under her costume. What I thought was funniest is that when she crawled in the costume, her tail stuck up in the air and she really looks like a fish.



Also on Halloween, we were invited to an afternoon Halloween party for babies. There were a lot of people. A lot. You can see in the photo below how many, and I had to cut people out of the picture. I'd guess more than 20 babies with parents. It was really cool, but a bit overwhelming.

I don't want to put people's picture on the internet without them knowing...but I had to show the baby party craziness. I think I count 15 babies in this picture alone.	You can see the pure insanity of the party in Ally's face. She just sat and stared for most of the party. The only way I got her to loosen up was to try hard to get her to play.
One of the lobsters with us in the sea life section attacks! Ally tried valiently to swim away, but it was too crowded.	The goldfish retaliates by going for the lobster's eyes. Luckily the octopus arrived late, or it would have been war.