Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July!!!

I hope that everyone is having a great holiday so far! It's hard to believe that just one year ago we met our first couple of neighbors while watching the fireworks in a cul-de-sac under construction just down the street. I'll post about our festivities later, but I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe fourth!

17 Months Old *July 3, 2010*

17 months old...WOW!! I remember thinking back to when we first found out that we were pregnant with your sister that you'd be 17 months old when she was born. That seemed so far away at the time, and that age just seemed so old and grown up to me. Well, now it's here, and you are more fun then ever! You are going to be such a great big sister (a bit bossy I think...but what big sisters aren't?!?), and we can't wait to introduce you to her. Happy 17 months sweet Lila!

*You weigh 24 pounds and are a little over 30.5 inches tall. (you didn't grow any taller this month, but you gained a little less than 2 pounds).

*You are wearing a good mixture of 12 month clothes and 18 month clothes depending on the brand (all of your smocked dresses are 12-month sizes). 


*You are still wearing size 4 diapers as you have been for the past several months. I think it will be a long while before we're in 5's. 


*I ordered you your very own pink potty this month; however, we aren't going to stress potty training until well after your sister is here!


*You run everywhere, even around the house. I'm not sure why you're in such a hurry, but you have your own special missions set up in the house and it's so much fun to watch.

*Because you love to be so mobile now, you are becoming impossible very hard to take out to meals. You don't love to sit still in your high chair for very long at all. We've been eating in so much more because of that!


*You LOVE to swim. We've been going to our neighborhood pool quite a bit since it's now open everyday. We've also had fun meeting friends at Moody Gardens Palm Beach to play in the sand and the wave pool.

* You still love pitching fits. I don't see that getting any better for at least 5 or so years (maybe never). Any little thing can set you off. You bow your back and then flop face forward on the floor. It's really funny to watch, but we just have to try and ignore you when you act out. 

*You love to throw things (mainly balls, but you will throw pretty much anything). Your granddaddy can't wait to get you out on the softball field! You have surprisingly good form already and even switch throwing arms occasionally. We're trying to get you to realize that you can't throw at people unless they tell you too (how do you reason with a 17 month old??). 


*You still drink four huge cups of whole milk a day in your sippy cups, and we go through a half a gallon in between 2-5 days! You are starting to like apple juice more and you'll drink a little water here and there also as long as it's cold.

*You still love blueberries and strawberries, bananas, anything sweet, waffles, bagels, oatmeal (can you tell that breakfast is your favorite meal?), turkey and cheese sandwiches (especially with mayo), pb and js, mac and cheese, peas and carrots, ravioli, spaghetti, and eggs. 

*You are very interesting with your eating habits, as most toddlers are. You love to eat a big breakfast, but sometimes you don't care to eat much of anything for lunch or dinner. You love to snack and eat little meals throughout the day. Some days you love chicken, macaroni and cheese, green beans, peas, carrots, pizza, etc. but some days you don't want to take the time to eat anything!

*You still aren't a huge fan of meat, and we're trying to work to get you to eat more protein. Turkey, eggs, and a little bit of peanut butter is about all the protein that we can get you to put in your mouth. 

*You are still sleeping 12 hours a night, and we pushed your bedtime back until 8pm so that you sleep a little later in the morning! We put blackout curtains in your room and they seemed to push your wake up time back about 15 minutes, but it really helped your nap times become longer!


*You rarely take 2 naps a day now since we are hardly ever home in the morning. Most days you only get one long nap in at around 1:30-2:30 and sleep until between 3-5 depending on how tired you are and when you started your nap

*You have been doing a great job at your gymnastics class.  Even though the class technically doesn't start until 18 months, you are hanging in there really well with the other kids. You can do a forward roll, backflip, handstand, walk on a balance beam, and jump on the trampoline (with mommy or the teacher's help). 



 *You have 12 teeth now. Three came in this past month and all at the same time (see blog post). Your 6th bottom tooth came in the other day right out of nowhere. I'm so thankful that it didn't bother you like the molars did. 

*You talk ALL THE TIME, but don't really say many "real" words (I SO wish that I knew what you were trying to say!!!). You can say "doggy", "ball", "night-night", "bye-bye", "hi", "mama", "dada"-still your favorite, "uh-oh", "milk" (which you only pronounce the last sound /k/), "good morning"-although it mainly sounds like "goo goo goo" right now :)  We're working on "shoe" and "book", but you look at me like I'm crazy when I tell you what those are and you reply with you own made up (Chinese sounding) language. 


*You also love to say "no" "stop" and "don't" whenever someone has a toy that you want, or if I am trying to do something that you don't want me to do (like putting a bow in your hair). You are having a hard time sharing right now, but we are working on that. You can be such a little stinker and are VERY strong-willed!!!



*You are starting to learn your animal sounds. You can make sounds for a duck, monkey, cow, and pig when we prompt you.

*You love to read, sing, and dance. You dance to any kind of music, but you especially love your Barney and Sesame Street songs. You haven't watched your Sesame Street dvd as much this month, but you are really loving Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and will actually sit still for 5 minutes straight here and there throughout the program. 


*Your new absolute favorite DVD right now is mommy's Greek Sing DVD from college. You love to watch the girls dance and listen to the loud music and cheering on the video. I get sucked into watching it for hours with you too!

*You absolutely LOVE to dance the Hot Dog Dance with Mickey at the end of the show and will come running from whatever room you are in when you hear it start to play. 

*You are slowly learning the hand motions to "itsy-bitsy spider," "The wheels on the bus", "the hokey pokey," and "mr. sun," but you still love "if you're happy and you know it." You sing along to the songs on your Barney dvd now, and it sounds so precious!

*Your hair is finally long enough to pull back in a pony tail. I'm so excited for this since you hardly keep your bows in your hair anymore!

*When we ask you where mommy's baby is, you point to your own belly. Sometimes when I'm sitting on the couch or getting ready for the shower you will pat my belly and say "baby" (which sounds like "dady" because you say d's for b's). 

*You have the most contagious laugh and love to do it often. You will even fake a laugh for us when we laugh at you (trying to get you to laugh-not because we love to laugh at you). Chevy makes you laugh often whenever he chases his tail, sticks his tongue out, or is trapped outside or behind a gate. 

*You love to play with shoes. It doesn't matter who they belong to, you will be entertained for hours by moving them and carrying them around where you are. 


As always, you have kept us very busy and learning many new things about toddler-hood this past month. You are such a fun, independent girl and we can't wait to see you in your new roll as Big Sister soon!

Alli's Progress-37 Weeks

This morning I had my 37-week doctor's appointment to check the progress little Alli is making. At my past two appointments (35 and 36-weeks), I have been dilated 1 cm and only about 20-30% effaced, so I was thinking that there wouldn't be much more progress than that (and hoping that there wasn't much more since Josh is gone all weekend through Monday). However, the nurse practitioner said that I am dilated in between 2 and 3 cm and 50% effaced. I am excited to be making progress, but I really hope that Alli doesn't decide to be born until Josh is able to be with us! He is off-shore somewhere and will be pretty difficult to get a hold of for the next few days!! Say some prayers for us please!

On a different note, after the doctor's appointment, my mom and I took Lila to play at the Houston Children's Museum for a while before eating lunch at Ruggles Bakery in Rice Village. Lila had a great time playing at the Tot Spot, and it was so much fun to see her enjoy the area since this is the first time that we've been back since she's been walking. She is going through the terrible twos already and is having a really hard time sharing with others, so this was a good opportunity to have her work on sharing and not taking toys away from other kids. Boy, is toddler-hood much harder than the baby stage!?!

In other exciting news, I won this gorgeous Coach diaper bag from Baby Love Ultrasound today!!! I was so shocked and excited when they called because I have NEVER ever won a raffle, or really anything drawing-related, in my life!  Isn't she a beauty?!?

Playtime on Sunday Morning

I love when we get ready for church early so Lila gets a chance to run around and play before she goes to the nursery. She is always so happy and full of energy in the mornings, and on Sundays, we are actually home to let her run around our house.  I'm amazed at all of the things that she finds to play with that aren't "toys" even though she has a room (house) full of toys. 

 playing with a diaper that she pulled from her room

 sitting in her rocking chair

 playing a song on her keyboard

 using her keyboard as a teething toy

 self-portrait of me (36 weeks 4 days) and Lila playing

 she found her piggy bank (ps. I hate the lighting in her room-it gives every shot a yellowish/pinkish tint)

and a purse makes a great toy too

 not sure what this face was for...but this is her little attitude coming out

 silly girl

 sweet face

I hope that you all are having a great Sunday and weekend!

Videos from the past month

Lila being silly and playing around the house in early June.

Lila playing around my room one June morning. She loves playing with greeting cards (and occasionally taking a bite out of them). 

Lila dancing and playing after her nap one day. 

36 Weeks!! The final month! (hopefully)

I'm kinda sad that this is my last (hopefully!!) pregnancy update post for Alli. It will most likely be several more years before we attempt another baby, so this last month is bittersweet for me. I really love being pregnant and am sad to see it go, but I am so excited to meet my second baby girl!  I can't wait to see how she and Lila interact with one another and grow together since they will be so close in age! Our lives are about to change (again), for the better...once we get our minds back after we lose them for the first few months! :)

How far along: 36 weeks today  *last month!!!*

Size of baby: she weighs about 6 pounds and is about 18 inches long (from babycenter.com)

Total weight gain/loss: +25 pounds (that's getting harder and harder for me to comprehend! Good thing it's about to go down when she's born!)

Maternity clothes: mainly maternity clothes, but thanks to maxi dresses, I am able to wear many of the clothes that I've worn every other summer.  There are also a few flowy tops that still I'm able to wear, but other than that, it's all maternity clothes from here on out.

My focus during shopping trips has definitely changed from "will I be able to wear this during pregnancy?" to "will this be comfortable after the baby/will this be easy to nurse in?"

Gender: a GIRL! Allison Neal Gentry

Movement: Yes!! She definitely has more of a pattern than Lila did. I can always feel her moving around 9am and 9pm no matter what I'm doing. She is CRAZY ACTIVE at night right around 9-10pm and feels like she is literally going to fall out (sorry if that's tmi!). Here lately, I feel her more squirming around rather than strong kicks, which is exactly what Lila did. I think I'm due to have two squirmy babies, which will be sure to make airplane rides fun :)

Contractions: I started having Braxton-Hicks contractions at around 18 weeks, which is MUCH earlier than last time, which I hear is completely normal for your second pregnancy. Although they are annoying, it's good that my body is already starting to get ready for labor. 

I get them A LOT when I'm walking on the treadmill or outside for exercise, which makes it harder and harder each day to get in a full workout! Plus, when she moves around during my walks it sometimes blocks some nerve to my leg and it goes halfway numb...fun stuff!


Sleep: I'm still sleeping really well (and taking advantage of my beloved sleep), although every now and then my hip will start hurting and I need to switch to the other side.  

What I miss: everything!! I have wanted wine and champagne much more this pregnancy. I had a mimosa at my baby shower and it was heavenly!  I've got a bottle of Cakebread Chardonnay reserve waiting for me in the refrigerator for when we come home from the hospital! 

I've also wanted sushi (the good, raw kind!) more than last time. I can't wait to go back to Masa (our favorite local sushi restaurant) soon! I'm sure they've missed our business!!

Cravings: Cheetos, anything sweet (mainly chocolate and cake), and deli sandwiches (yeah I know they're supposed to be a no-no, but I just try to not have them everyday!). Also, Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits and McDonald's sausage and cheese biscuits (I'm getting hungry just typing this). 

Here lately I've been really craving anything with ground beef, and I've been eating a ton of tacos. Maybe I need more iron?? 

Best moment this month: My playgroup through me a baby shower in early June which was so nice and thoughtful. Those ladies have been such a blessing to me and Lila since we first moved here last year!

Josh, Lila, and I also took maternity portraits this month which were so much fun (I just love pictures)! We went down to Beachtown in Galveston where there are so many pretty areas to take pictures, so I can't wait to see how they turn out! 

Happy Father's Day

"Fathers, like mothers, are not born. Men grow into fathers - and fathering is a very important stage in their development." -- David M. Gottesman

I'm so thankful for Josh and the wonderful father that he has been to Lila and Alli (even though she isn't even here yet!). He is so hands-on and supportive, and his little girl just adores him!  I'm sure Alli will love him just as much as Lila does!

I'm also thankful for my daddy who is such a great role model for how a human being should act in God's eyes. He is such a strong, generous, Christian man who I still look up to even though I'm 27 years old! I'm so lucky to have such a great dad who always taught me to love myself and be proud of all my accomplishments. 

 In Arizona for the National Championship Game

Last, but certainly not least, I'm thankful for my heavenly Father who gave his Son so that I could live forever in Him. Just like my earthly father, I continue to look up to Him daily and strive to be the person that he meant for us all to be. 

35 Weeks*35 days left to go*

I'm such a math nerd (I can't help it, I get it from my dad), so I love it when number things work out this way. I'm exactly 35 weeks pregnant today which means I have exactly 35 days left until my due date. 35/35. I know, I told you I was a nerd!

Anyways, today I had my weekly check up, and the cervical checks started today as well. It's still so early, so I wasn't expecting anything to be going on down there already (except that she's felt SO low for a couple weeks now!). But, to my (and I think the doctor's) surprise, I am already dilated 1cm and about 20-30% thinned out (which isn't much at all-but it's a start!).  I know this doesn't mean I'll go into labor tomorrow or anything, but it's nice to know that things are getting going. I'm so anxious and excited to meet our baby girl! Alli, you can come on now whenever you are ready girl!

Happy Sunday

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. – Psalm 33:20-21 (NIV)

It has been such a wonderful day that started off with a beautiful church service with our friends Kim and Brody. We had a delicious lunch afterward at Panera where both babies (although they made a mess as usual) were very well behaved and sat in their high chairs for a long while so that Kim and I could chat. Lila has been in such a great mood, and has been so hyper, which is always funny. I just love taking pictures of her in her cute Sunday outfits.

 sleepy before church

 climbing on her futon

 sitting in her rocking chair

 she loves reading cards