The new rules of the road

Traveling to southern Illinois with Allie this past weekend was quite a challenge. When we made the trip in April Allie was still small enough that she slept through a lot of it and was OK staying in the car seat. This time though, she was aware of her surroundings and did NOT like being in the car for 7 hours. Niether did we!

We learned that there are different rules of the road when traveling with a baby. This time I'm going to write them down so I can look at this post next time we're preparing to travel. In no particular order:

- No matter what, we will always bring way more stuff than necessary. She's definitely going to need half her toy box, right? This time I made sure to pack less clothing (we brought nearly her whole wardrobe last time), but we still brought way more than necessary.

- We need to learn how to pack the car effectively. Every time we stopped, we had to take a suitcase out of the back seat in order to get Allie out! Its inevitable: We will eventually need to buy that minivan.

- Allie will be happy in the car seat until she throws all her toys out of the car seat. Sometimes that would happen quickly, other times she'd hold on to the toys longer.

- Even if we only stop a few times, the normally 7-hour trip will be 11 hours.

- Instead of throwing extra stuff in random grocery bags, just pack Allie her own suitcase. That didn't really do much for decreasing the clutter in the car, but it was at least a bit more organized.

- The longer the trip, the more overrated sleep becomes. At least sometimes that means more time will be spent sleeping in the car.

- Last but not least, flexibility, flexibility, flexibility! I used to have a hard time with being flexible in planning. If there's one thing Allie has taught me, its to be flexible!

We had a great trip, highlighted by a night at a minor league baseball game, a great afternoon with friends that included a long whiffle ball game, lots of great time with Grandma and Grandpa and a visit with my best friend. We were all happy to be home and sleep in our own beds, but we look forward to the next visit!

Our little girl is growing up

Allie, at 10 months old, you are becoming one amazing little person. You are always moving, always talking, always happy. I'm looking toward your first birthday with a mix of excitement and sadness. I'm sad you are growing up but excited to see the person you will become.

Getting to know you

It seems like I'm really getting to know my baby. At first I thought it was because I'm spending more time at home with her, but if anything I might be spending less time at home, at least this month.

Then I realized there's just more of her to get to know. She's really getting playful. She will play on her own for short amounts of time. But then she'll cry out to get our attention. She's so clever. If Doug has the lap top on his lap, she will peer through the fold from under the computer. She likes to stand on her head now. Is it possible she'll turn a summersault before she learns to walk?

And she's getting so big. I'm getting out clothes in 12 to 18 months and some that are bigger than that! She's always jabbering and she's adding new syllables every day. Sometimes she repeats after us when we talk. She's so tall and she's eating all sorts of grown up foods. She enjoys chunks of peaches and pears as well as cottage cheese and regular cheese too. She doesn't like going to bed and will cry herself to sleep, but then she'll sleep two to three hours or sometimes more. Then she wakes up and cries for us and smiles the minute we enter the room. Our little girl is growing up we're really loving getting to know her.

Not the week I expected

Monday started out well enough. I got up early with Allie to let Doug sleep in a little. We played in the living room and when Doug got up I made blueberry pancakes, and we gave Allie some blueberries. After that I was going to go for a run. I couldn't think of a better way to start my week off than running around the arboretum mid-morning, just like I used to. I also wanted to have a better run than my 5K race on Saturday.

Well, I was having a great run. It seemed like it was going really quickly. I had started with a slower pace and gotten faster with each mile. I wanted to run 5, but was hoping I'd be up for 5.5. I was coming back intot the arb finishing mile 4 and struggling. I was managing to run through my struggles, when I fell. In that part of the arb I would usually switch between the road and the gravel on the side of the road. I don't know if I was going back to the gravel or I just tripped. But I tripped off the side of the road and sprained my ankle.

It hurt right away. But I was able to walk on it, which was good because I had to walk a mile and a half back to the car. Even if I'd had my cell phone with me, I also had the car, so Doug couldn't have rescued me. I guess it was the adrenaline. I knew that once I got off it, I wouldn't be able to keep walking. I was right.

When I started walking again, I was determined to finish my run. But I wouldn't be able to and the whole walk back I was just ticked off that I couldn't finish my run.

I took a spectacular spill. I'm surprised I didn't skin my face. I have skinned palms, elbows and a knee that hurt more than the ankle sometimes.

So I spent the first few days on the couch with my leg elevated and on ice and ibuprofin. Its better now. We were supposed to leave this morning for southern Illinois, but we decided to wait a day. I'm glad we can still go. It would have been disappointing to cancel.

This morning the clinic called and told me a radiologist had read my xray and there actually was a small fracture, but he or she wasn't sure if it was from this injury or an old one. Its feeling much better so I'm just functioning as normal. I won't run again until I see the doctor next week. It seems like every time I really get going, I have some sort of snag. But it could have been worse.

Surprise tooth

Last night, Doug and I noticed a new spot of white in Allie's mouth and thought it was a new tooth getting ready to cut. Well it turns out its a new tooth that not only had cut through, it was already a pretty decent size. That one sure worked fast because neither of us noticed it earlier in the day! Another surprise about this tooth is that it wasn't the one we thought would cut next. Allie has two bottom teeth and now two top teeth. But the top teeth aren't the middle two, they're the right, and then the one on the other side of the middle. But that one that's skipped is coming through soon because we do see the white of that one getting ready to make an appearance.

Just like her other top tooth, this new one was a surprise. I'm glad to note that teething hasn't been a problem for Allie at all. A few times we've had to give her some baby ibuprofin to help her feel better.

Allie's new ride

Like so many other things, Allie has just about outgrown the infant car seat. She's growing so fast. We've put it off for awhile. But this weekend, we got Allie her new convertible car seat. We tried it out this afternoon when we went grocery shopping and its looking like she likes it so far. 

This snazzy seat looks a lot more comfortable than the old one. And Allie will use this one until she weighs 65 pounds. She'll still sit rear facing for awhile, but she's higher now so she can see out the back window! She hasn't had any complaints about this seat. I think she quickly realized the comfort level and that we can get her in and out of this one quicker.  
 

Saturday when we came home from Babies 'R' Us was the last time she rode in her infant seat. She caught a few final zzzzzz's here and now the carrier is stored in the garage.  

Allie was a lot smaller the first time she rode in this car seat, Nov. 1, 2009 when our new family came home from the hospital.

Vacation!

The first day of vacation started early. We woke up at 5:15 for me to run the Madison Mini Marathon 5k, and for Daddy and Allie to watch. It wasn't a pretty race, but its done. A full recap is available here.

After working seven months, I am finally on vacation. Its my first paid vacation in two years. The week is filling up with activities, but there will be plenty of relaxation and sleeping in too.

Our big event this week will be our trip down to Southern Illinois to see Grandma and Grandpa Durso and also some good friends. It will be a fun visit because Allie has learned a lot of new tricks since Grandma and Grandpa last saw her.

We won't be leaving on that trip until Wednesday. Before that we want to have a family trip to the pool and we also plan on buying Allie her big girl car seat. I also have a few projects I'd like to get done. For a long time I've wanted to organize all the recipes I use the most into our own family cookbook. I'm hopeful I can get that started and maybe even finished this week. It would also be nice to update Allie's baby book and get the house fully babyproofed. I guess time will tell if those goals are too ambitious.

No matter what I get done or what I don't get done, it will be awfully nice have 5 paid days off from work.