Happy birthday baby!

It seems like it was just yesterday I held you in my arms for the first time!

 But now suddenly you're 2!

Happy birthday baby!

We had a nice party today at Grandma and Grandpa Swanson's house. Allie loved her cake because it had Elmo on it! The cake was on the seat next to Allie on the way down and she kept asking for Elmo. This was a good cake. Its from Target and everyone commented on it! We love Target cakes. Anyway, no time for more pictures right now. We're all recovering from the hectic weekend!

All about the pumpkins

The Durso pack has been a busy pack this fall. So busy that we didn't find time to get to the pumpkin patch until the weekend before Halloween! But we finally went today. Even though its the same thing every year, its new to Allie every year and that makes it super fun.

First it was the pig races:

We went early in the day instead of after lunch like we usually do. That worked out great because it wasn't as crowded. We scored a front row seat for the races, which Allie really enjoyed.

 Then it was off to see the animals. Allie got a kick out of the goat going up on the goat bridge.

The main attraction was, of course, the pumpkins. Allie enjoyed examining the pumpkins up next to the store. But we took the hayride out to the patch to pick out pumpkin.

Here's the first pumpkin Allie was going to pick.

 Until she found this one!

Its the perfect size for her! Since its so late we decided against carving the pumpkin. There's just not enough time. So we put it out on the porch. And its so cute because tonight Allie kept running over to the window and squealing when she saw her pumpkin out on the porch!

The last attraction was the mini-maze in the barn. At the end of the maze was a sandbox with corn instead of sand! I think Allie would have played here all day, but we needed to get home and get her nap.

Last year when we took a picture next to the "how tall this fall?" ruler, Allie wouldn't wear her shoes and she didn't want to stand next to the ruler! This year she didn't mind at all. What a cutie!

Looking back: The second year

Allie has grown so much this year! As promised, here's year 2 in pictures:

Month 13, November: It was a tad chilly this day, but Allie did enjoy some running around at the park. And she enjoyed chewing on her mitten-covered fists.

Month 14, December: Riding around in her brand new umbrella stroller. We were out the day before Christmas to see Santa. So far Allie has gotten along with Santa fine.

Month 15, January: Hugging her big bear she got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Swanson. The bear was bigger than her at the time:

Month 16, February: Look at that hair! This was the beginning of her mop. It still looked cute instead of just being a mess!

Month 17, March: At the Madison Children's Museum. She really liked playing with all the blocks they have there. We haven't been to the children's museum in awhile.

Month 18, April: In the car, ready to go home after a long day at Aunt Jeni's wedding. She didn't nap that day. Can you tell?

Month 19, May: Lounging at Brat Fest, Allie's got the purse and the keys and she's ready to go!

Month 20, June: We introduce Allie to the really big bath tub that is the pool. She likes it.

Month 21, July: We're working on brushing teeth. I think she likes it, though we're still not sure how much the brush actually meets her teeth.

Month 22, August: Mama takes a day off work and Aunt Jocie comes for a day at the beach. Allie liked putting her feet in the sand, but she didn't really like going in the lake. 

Month 23, September: She really hams it up for the camera! This kid is used to having her life chronicled on film, thats for sure! These are her new kitty jammies.

Month 24, October: Earlier this month we took a family vacation to Minneapolis. Allie had a great time running around through the sculpture garden there.

Allie is so different now than she was last year at this time. Well, duh! But it still surprises me sometimes the things she can do and how she has grown. It seems the last two year have absolutely flown by! This weekend we celebrate!

Looking back: The first year

With Allie's second birthday coming up, I thought it would be fun to go back and find one picture a month from the last two years. This is year 1. It was really neat to go through all the pictures and see the changes as she grew, as her personality started coming out. I haven't looked at the pictures from her first year in awhile. Its amazing how different she looked when she was tiny, but that she also looks the same.

Birthday: At 1 day old, Allie dressed up for Halloween too. But it was only for about 20 minutes. She was sleepy and Mama was (needlessly) paranoid about her wearing clothing that hadn't been washed yet. Ahhh, the silly things I used to worry about.

Month 1, November: One of her awake moments. She couldn't do much. She'd try to roll around without success. She would cry when we'd put her on her tummy.

Month 2, December: This was on Christmas Eve. We had her all dressed up with her coat on and all that dress crammed into the carseat. I'm not sure how we got her buckled in.

Month 3, January: Allie was really starting to smile a lot. She hated tummy time, but didn't mind it when her face wasn't on the floor. This was a few days before I started working and I was taking lots of pictures to take that perfect one to work. This is one of the ones I took.

Month 4, February: By this time she was rolling over and she didn't mind tummy time so much anymore. She was awake a lot more and starting to play.

Month 5, March: There's that big smile!

 Month 6, April: Rolling over, eating solids and discovering her feet!

Month 7, May: She loved, and still loves, going to the grocery store and seeing all there is to see there.

Month 8, June: We went to the Discovery World Museum in Milwaukee and she was fascinated by the fish and the ship on the top floor as well as the taste of her stroller!

Month 9, July: She started standing before she was 9 months old! It was soon after this that she started walking, but she wasn't really good at walking until sometime near her birthday.

Month 10, August: This was when we switched her from the infant seat to the convertible seat. She was getting so big and we managed to keep her in the infant carrier that long!

Month 11, September: We had to start baby proofing, which included the fence to keep her in the living room. This fence was and still is a lifesaver!

Month 12, October 30, 2011: Our baby turned 1! She didn't really "get" the present thing. She enjoyed the cake though! I think she'll be way more into presents on Sunday and probably more into the cake too.

Stay tuned for the second year!

Coloring and cooking

Allie has taken an intense interest in "colors." She also likes to watch Mama cook... or maybe she just likes playing in the kitchen since we don't let her go there in all the time. Either way, the other night she combined these two intense interests by coloring with Dada on the floor in the kitchen while Mama cooked dinner!