Happy Birthday, Aunt Ashley!!! 7/25/2008

Today is Aunt Ashley's birthday!! We won't get to be with her on her birthday, but hope she is having a good time in Cali and has a GREAT day! We love you Ash!

It's Our Anniversary!

Today David and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary! It's hard to believe that it has been 3 years, but then again David and I have been together for so long that it kind of feels like it should be longer than that. :-)

Tonight was our first baby-free outing together and we left Ally with Aunt Tonya and her cousins, Ryan, Alyssa and second cousin, Mary. She did a great job while we were out and had lots of fun playing with her cousins.

While Ally was being entertained, David and I ventured downtown to Hyde Park and had one of the BEST meals of our lives! It was so good...steak and salad and martinis, oh my! After dinner, we took a stroll down to the Surly Girl to see if cousin Carmen was around and to have another drink. We didn't see Carmen, but we saw some others that we knew and had fun playing the little table top video game for awhile. We also saw Sara and Tom (Aunt Laura's friends) when we were walking down high street...small world!

We picked Allyson up from Tonya's around 10:00-ish and headed home to relax before she woke back up and needed to be fed.

It was a wonderful night with my hubby and I really enjoyed the time we spent talking and catching up with each other.

Happy Anniversay, Bud! I love you more today than the day I married you and I look forward to many more happy years together!

A 90th Birthday Party in Cleveland

Today we drove up towards Cleveland for a birthday party in honor of David's Grandaddy. It was a surprise party to celebrate him turning 90!!!!! Honestly, he doesn't look like he could possibly be 90, but they tell me that he really is. :-) We just love Grandaddy and we were more than happy to make the trip up to see him. We got to see a lot of Lori's family that we don't see very often, so that was nice and we took a big family group photo to cap off the day. Happy Birthday Grandaddy...We love you!!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Alyssa Nicole turns 3 today!!! We hope she has a wonderful day...full of fun, presents and lots of cake and ice cream. We love you, Sis!
(P.S. The picture is a little old, but it's still my favorite! How stinkin' cute is this kid?!?)

Meeting the Old Neighbors

Our neighbors from when I was little, The Perkins Family, were in town this week from California visiting family and they made time to join us for dinner at my parent's house. I haven't seen them since our wedding a few years ago, so it was great to get to catch up and for them to meet Ally. Mom and Dad have visited with them in Cali when they were out there to see Ashley, but we don't get to see them very often and it was nice to enjoy a leisurly dinner talking about old times and hearing about what Shannon, Ryan and Mary have all been up to. I must have had a temporary moment of insanity and forgot my camera for this occasion, so I apologize for the lack of pictures! :-)

Lunch with the Cousins

My Grandma's cousins have a neat tradition that they started years ago, where they get together for lunch every few months or so to try to stay in contact with each other over the years. Many of them and their spouses and occasionally children and grandchildren come each time and they usually have a nice turn out. Most of them live in the Cincinnati area, but they are spread out within that region and their adult lives have taken them in many different directions. My Grandma loved attending these lunches when she was alive, as it was always a nice time catching up and sharing stories about new grandbabies and other life events and family meant more than anything to my Grandma.

Since I am on maternity leave, my aunt France contacted me and my mom a month or so ago and made sure we had the summer lunch on our calendars (well, mainly on Ally's calendar :-)) and we were more than glad to add this to our schedules. We made the trip to Middletown to Francie's house, where we picked up France, Evan and Megan and made our way to the Olive Garden to meet the group. There were quite a few people there, many whom I haven't seen in years. One of my second cousins, Eric, who is the same age as me, was in town from Chicago and it was great to hear about what he is up to.

After lunch, we visited with France, Alecia, Megan and Evan for a little while, before heading back to C-bus. Evan and Megan were particularly taken with their newest baby cousin.

It was a very fun day, had by all and I am so glad to have had the opportunity to make it to one of the "Cousins Lunches".

Visitors from up North (but not the bad place up North...a little south of that)

Jim and Vicki Goranson came from Toledo to visit this weekend and to meet Ally for the first time! Jim and Vicki are my parent's best friends and they are like members of our family, so to get to introduce them to my daughter was a very exciting and touching moment for me. "Uncle" Jim met me at the car and immediatley grabbed Ally from me and they were close buds from that point on. It was nice to visit with Jim and Vicki and so great for them to finally get to meet Ally. I am sure they will be part of many great moments in Ally's life and will show her how to have a great time! We love you guys!

CBKT Family Night at the ZOO!!!

This evening we attended Family Night at the Columbus Zoo, hosted by David's company, Coldwell Banker King Thompson. It was such a nice event they put together and great for people with kids. We took Ally, although she slept the entire time and won't remember any of her first trip to the zoo (not that she would remember if she were awake). David's co-workers were excited to see her. Dinner was provided for us, under a large group of sheltered picnic areas. This was nice for getting out of the insane heat for a little bit. After dinner, everyone was able to venture out at their leisure and take in the zoo. It was fun, but SO hot and David and I were like mad men trying to flip Ally's shade cover on her stroller back and forth to keep her out of any smidgen of sun (people probably thought we were insane, but at least our baby doesn't have a sunburn at 6 weeks old). David and I have not been to the zoo in years and many things have been changed, so we had no clue were we were going, but we knew we at least wanted to make it to see the elephants. So, we headed off in the direction of the Pachyderm Building. We saw bobcats and birds and wolves and many more animals along the way and finally made it to see the elephants. This area was slightly crowded, as it offered an air conditioned retreat to many, but the elephants were there along with some hippos and rhinos, so we got to see it all. We spent about an hour or so wandering around one half of the zoo, but Ally started to get restless and needed to be fed, so we decided it was probably time to head home. We had a great evening and I would like to thank CBKT for hosting such a nice event for their employees and their families!

Royal Manor Baby!

Today Grandma C., Ally and I took a little trip to Friendship Park in Gahanna to meet up with some of Grandma C.'s co-workers and their babies. Three of Grandma's co-workers had babies this year, near the time that Ally was born, so when they invited us to a gathering in the park, we thought it would be a great playdate for Ally. It was a beautiful summer day and we enjoyed the time outside (despite how it looks from the pictures below of Ally...she was just hungry at that moment). Ally enjoyed meeting her new friends. Here are a few pictures from our day in the park...

Better Get Your Ally Fix!

Aunt Ashley and "Uncle" Ben stopped by today to visit with Ally one last time, before Ashley has to make her way back to California. They stayed for a couple hours and I got some fun pictures of Ben holding Ally. We also gave Ashley her birthday present while she was here, since we won't see her on her actual birthday. We enjoyed our visit, but don't want to see Ash go yet.

We will miss her so much!!!! Come back soon Aunt Ashley...we love you!!!

Ally's Baptism

We had Ally baptized today at St. Matthew's Catholic Church, in Gahanna. This is the same church that David and I attended most of our lives, so it was nice to have Ally's baptism done there. We invited both sides of our extended family and a few close friends to attend mass with us and Ally was baptized along with three other babies, directly after the mass. After church, we invited everyone over to our house for a cookout and cake. We had a nice turn out and the weather was gorgeous! Ally recieved many lovely gifts and we want to thank everyone for being so generous and for sharing in this special day with us. A special thanks to Aunt Ashley and Uncle Danny who will share in the duty of being Ally's Godparents!! It was a wonderful day shared with family and friends and we will remember it for years to come with fondness.

Let's Party!

Today we went to a birthday party for Ally's cousin, Alyssa, who turns 3 next week. It was a family party with yummy food and a cute cake made by Grandma T. Alyssa received lots of fun presents and all the kids had fun playing together. Thanks to Alyssa for inviting us...we had a great time! Happy Birthday!

Mommy Checks Out OK

Today was my 6 week follow up appointment with Dr. Goist and everything went really well. I took Ally with me and she almost slept through the entire appointment! Dr. Goist said I looked good and she didn't have any concerns for me, so that was good news. She was very impressed with Ally too! Dr. Goist had not seen Ally since the morning we checked out of the hospital and it was very early and very dark in our room, so she really didn't get a chance to see her that well.
We love Dr. Goist and were so happy with the care she gave me during my pregnancy and delivery. She was the on call doctor the night that Ally was born, so she was actually at the hospital for most of my labor, which was a nice feeling. Given there are no insurance changes by the time we have our next child, I hope to have Dr. Goist as my doctor again.

After my doctor appointment, Ally and I headed over to my office on Ackerman road to pick up "Aunts" Kim and Christy so we could meet "Aunt" Heidi for lunch at Champps. It was so nice to see my girls! Although I don't miss work, I do miss seeing my good friends every day. We had a nice lunch and caught up on some of the work gossip I was missing (don't miss the drama at all!!!). Ally slept through the entire lunch, so of course no one believes me when I say she is not a great sleeper! She's always making a liar out of me! :-) Lunch was a lot of fun and hopefully we can meet for lunch at least once more before my maternity leave is over.

Lunch with Aunt Laura and Grandma C.

Today we ventured DOWNTOWN!!! Ooohhh! Ally, Grandma C. and I headed downtown C-bus today to meet Aunt Laura for lunch at Gordon Biersch. We had a yummy lunch and Ally did really well; sleeping most of the time. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures on this trip...

Let's Go Reds!!!!!

Around spring and most of summer you will see mainly one thing on our TV...Cincinnati Reds baseball. We are big fans (although I will say that baseball season is reallllllllllllllly longggggggg!) and try to at least make it to one game a year. Given the big event we had in our lives this year, though, it doesn't look like we are going to make it to a game this season. So, in an effort to keep in the spirit of the game, I dressed Ally in her Red's gear and decided it was time for another photoshoot!

GO REDS!!!

Cousin Jilly Comes to Play!

Cousin Jillian came over today, along with her mommy (Julie), of course, and Maw-Maw! Obviously the girls don't do a whole lot of playing at this point, but it was great to see everyone anyway! There will be lots of playing in our futures, I'm sure!

Happy Birthday Carey and John!! 7/05/2008

My aunt Carey and our brother-in-law John, both celebrate birthdays today! I won't be reveiling ages, but I will say that neither one of them look a day over 21!

We love you guys and hope you both have a wonderful day!

Happy 4th of July!!

Today was Ally's 1st Fourth of July and well, let's just say she was unimpressed. She was in a mood today for some reason and just wasn't herself, so we had a bit of a fussy 4th. With that being said, David and I actually enjoyed a fun, albeit rainy, party over at Laura and Johnny's house in Upper Arlington. They have a yearly party, starting early in the morning with the very popular UA parade and going most of the day with food, drinks, games and lots of laughs. We didn't make it to the parade (we barley made it to the party!), but we did enjoy some yummy food, a little cornhole and great people. We have gotten to know many of Laura and John's friends over the years and they are fantastic people and have always been very welcoming of us. It's always good to see you all!
Thanks, Laura and Johnny, for the invite to yet another great party! Maybe next year we will actually make it to see the parade (and there won't be any rain!!!)!
After we left UA, we headed to Pataskala to stop by a cookout that one of David's clients was having in their new house. It was nice to get to meet the people that David had been working with and so sweet of them to invite us over.
Here are some pictures from our day:

Aunt Laura holding Ally Ally says, "What's up?"

Great-aunt Pam and Ally
Ally's cute 4th of July shirt from "Aunt" Kim

Pretty much how Ally felt most of the day :-(