4 Month Appointment

We just went in for Allison's 4 month appointment yesterday. She's weighing in at 14 lb 5 oz (50th percentile) and is 26 inches (96th percentile) for height and 30th percentile for head circumference. She was a trooper through her vaccinations, crying briefly after her shots but then settling down and being pretty good all afternoon.

She rolls from her back to tummy but not tummy to back (at least not that we've seen), so when she gets frustrated of being on her tummy, she flexes her legs and scoots forward, scooting when she's in the crib until there is no more room to scoot.

It's been slightly cooler than June was so we've been trying to spend some time outdoors in the shade most days. This week we went swimming again, walked on the American Tobacco Trail, and visited and ate lunch outdoors with some friends.

Summer activities

We've been doing some fun summer things. We've gone on several hikes at the nearby state parks. This one is at Umstead Park.

We went to the pool for the first time with the Young Women. She's the cutest little swimmer!

 Allison was pretty indifferent to the water, but that may have been because she was hungry and distracted with eating her hands.

 And we sometimes spend time sitting outside on the hammock just looking around at all the trees.

Still sick

Happy 4th of July!

So I thought we were just about done with this sickness stuff but now Allison is getting more congested again. I suspect Allison and I had a mild cold that we were about over then Jeran got this more severe cold (or whatever it is), then I got it, then Allison got it. Oh well. This to shall pass, even if it means staying sequestered for all of July, which is often the most social summer month.

Otherwise things are good. Allison has rolled over several times in her sleep but she doesn't do it deliberately or when she is awake or unswaddled. We put her in some footie pajamas instead of swaddling her last night and she did all right, especially one she fell deep asleep. It took a while because I think she's used to having her feet move more in unison and swings herself about that way, which wasn't working so well being unswaddled. Overall night one of that was a success.

Work is going well overall. Lots of things are getting done which is good news for my stress level. Allison is being good when I have to have her with me on conference calls and Jeran is good about taking her on walks and stuff in the afternoon when I need to get work done.

Life is good. Getting excited for August though. Lots of good, fun stuff happening then: tests finished, babies born, visitors coming!

June 2015

The other night we had a pretty good storm, complete with grape-sized hail. No real damage right around us, except that our over-achieving tomato plant (Jeran counted 56 tomatoes!) lost one of its most laden branches, Really just bent it good, it might pull through.

Here are some hail pictures - not very good ones since I was in a hurry and holding a squirmy baby, but you get the idea.

Allison has been sick with a decent cold for over a week. I think she's improving but still wakes herself up coughing. Since she gotten sick she has been staying up until 11pm instead of her normal 9:30pm. She has also been pretty much impossible to set down during naps without waking her completely and won't nap well unless she's held. So we've been holding a coughing, sleeping baby a lot recently. I'm not sure whether it is just a normal phase or if it is because she's sick, but hopefully it won't last forever.

Jeran is sick now too, and he gets pretty miserable whenever he gets a sore throat, but it can't be too serious because he was well enough to go wake-boarding twice this weekend despite the rain. :) Allison also wakes up to his coughing, so I got treated the other night to the amusing sight of Jeran rushing into the bedroom to grab a pillow to smother himself with while he coughed after putting her to bed one night.

My sister, Jessica, came to visit us this past week. She braved Allison's sickness and we just hung out and went out to eat and talked. It was so great to see her again and talk baby stuff. Woohoo! Not long for her now!

My work is going pretty well and I think I'm doing a pretty good job balancing work and home even as they are blended together so thoroughly. Jeran has been trying to study most every day for a few hours for his Masters qualifying exams that will happen at the end of July so that's keeping him pretty busy. I'm excited for the few weeks in August between those being over and school starting again, plus my friend Mary and baby Peter are coming to visit during that time so it will be doubly good.

I'm going to try to post a little something much more regularly. I always enjoy my family and friends' blog posts, even if it's only one or two lines or just a picture, so I'm going to try to update my own more even if it's just a tiny post. Happy end of June (already?)!

Reading Update

I don't have much time to write long reviews on these so I'll keep most of them very short. Actually since this list goes back about 8 months, I don't even remember some of these very well. I put an asterisk in front of the ones I particularly liked.

Rose Under Fire (Code Name Verity, #2) by Elizabeth Wein

* The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1) by Brandon Sanderson

Dangerous by Shannon Hale

* Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2) by Brandon Sanderson

* David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell

* The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns, #1) by Rae Carson

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

The Crown of Embers (Fire and Thorns, #2) by Rae Carson

The Bitter Kingdom (Fire and Thorns, #3) by Rae Carson

* The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All For the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II by Gregory A. Freeman

The Selection (The Selection, #1) by Kiera Cass

The Elite (The Selection, #2) by Kiera Cass

The One (The Selection, #3) by Kiera Cass

The Guard (The Selection, #2.5) by Kiera Cass

The Prince (The Selection, #0.5) by Kiera Cass

Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors, #1) by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The Testing (The Testing, #1) by Joelle Charbonneau

Independent Study (The Testing, #2) by Joelle Charbonneau

Graduation Day  (The Testing, #3) by Joelle Charbonneau

The Goose Girl (The Books of Bayern, #1) by Shannon Hale

The Islands at the End of the World (Islands at the End of the World, #1) by Austin Aslan

* Terrier (Beka Cooper, #1) by Tamora Pierce

Bloodhound (Beka Cooper, #2) by Tamora Pierce

Mastiff (Beka Cooper, #3) by Tamora PierceMajor Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty

Lucky Dog: How Being a Veterinarian Saved My Life by Sarah Boston

* Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande

The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal

The House of the Scorpion (Matteo Alacran, #1) by Farmer, Nancy

* Unearthly (Unearthly, #1) by Cynthia Hand

Hallowed (Unearthly, #2) by Cynthia Hand

Boundless (Unearthly, #3) by Cynthia Hand

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

More baby pictures

Now, more baby pictures! She has really started smiling good occasionally, but we don't have any real great pictures of that because I would rather just stay and watch her and smile back than get the camera out and miss it!

Getting dressed up with Grandma B

Cuddle time with Mom

Nap time with Dad

We had a baby!

Our sweet baby Allison is two three almost five weeks old. Yes, this post has been a long time coming. We are blessed to have a darling, oh-so-cute little girl join our family. After being married and on our own for over 10 years, it has been quite the adjustment to have a new addition.

Allison is healthy and doing well. She's right on track for growth and is generally happy and sweet.

12 hours old! 

All the clothes we had for her at the hospital were way too big. Oops. :)

Napping with Daddy 

She is very good at pulling weird faces, waving her arms around, and blocking her face when the camera comes out. Wonder who she gets that from...? The result is that I have lots of sweet pictures of her like the one below, peaceful and sleeping, that all look more or less the same.

She looks a lot like Jeran but every once in a while I see some of myself in her.

She is pretty good at being hungry at predictable times, but we haven't yet gotten into a predictable sleeping pattern, besides sleeping pretty well most nights. Thus we're tired but not completely out of it (most of the time).

We are very happy and love being parents to this wonderful baby!