6 Month Sweetie

Has it really been 6 months already?? Since Allison was born, we heard "Don't blink because she will be graduating college before you know it" from a number of people. And looking at this little one on her half birthday, I completely understand what they meant. This past half year has flown by. Eric and I have probably learned more in the last 6 months than ever before. And in that time, we have experienced such awesome happiness and love, all stemming from 16 pound ball of giggles.

Allison had her 6 month check up on Wednesday and here are her stats:
Up 2 pound from last appointment, weighing in at 15 pounds 14 ounces (50th percentile)
Gained an inch in length at 26 inches (50th percentile)
Head circumference topping out at 437 cm (85th percentile- Thanks Dad!)

Allison also had to get 4 vaccines, three of which were shots in her perfectly chubby thighs. If all goes as planned though, the next check up is needle free!

And as Allison coasts into her 6 month of life, here are 6 things about our little peanut that have defined the past 30 days :)

1.) Roll over, roll over. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a rolling machine. It started on Mother's Day at bath time. As Allison was laying on her back getting ready for bath time, she spotted her lotion and was determined to get it. I called down to Eric and just as he came up and got the camera rolling, she succeeded! Now, it is all she wants to do. She still only rolls from back to belly, but when she gets to her belly she thinks she is just the coolest thing out there.

2.) "Hey, I know you!" There is no question as to whether or not Allison is a momma's girl. But when the two of us spend just about every second of her waking hours together, who can blame her? Over the past few weeks though, she is definitely recognizing her Dad. When he walks in the room, she gets so excited, kicking her legs and squealing nonstop. She follows him around the room with her eyes and smiles from ear to ear just looking at him. He's always been able to make her smile, but now that she seems to know who "Daddy" is, she loves it even more.

3.) Nature Lover. This is a little girl who loves to be outdoors. We have been breaking in our new jogging stroller and she could not be more content. She is also a huge fan of walks down to the water in the Baby Bjorn. I am not sure what it is about being outside, but it makes her happy. Which makes us happy.

4.) Boys are gross. Well, maybe not gross. But they do seem to scare her. Allison and I were out grocery shopping and she was in the Bjorn, happy as a clam. An old couple came up and the woman was talknig to Allison and Allison was just loving it. Her smiles quickly turned to a frown and even some tears, though, when the older man tried to say hello. I think it is the low voice. Whatever it is, let's hope she thinks boys are scarey for about 18 more years...

5.) Stand up, sit down. Allison has loved standing since her knees have been able to lock in place. I've mentioned before how she loves to stand in the bathtub, but now she is loving standing outside of the bathtub. She can hold on to the side and keep herself up. She is a strong little lady. She has also been sitting up on her own! She isn't 100% steady, but she can pretty much "tripod" on her own without any tumbles. Uh oh. I just realized that crawling will be next. Eek!




6.) Cereal! The time has come to join the ranks of the rest of the world and eat "real" food. We started Allison on rice cereal on Monday and she seems to really like it. She is only getting it at dinner right now, but we will move it to breakfast on Sunday and start other foods at dinner. So far we are planning on sweet potatoes, avocados, and squash. That should take up a couple weeks and we'll go from there. We can't wait until all of our garden veggies come in so she can eat those too!

Love you little Allison!



Just ignore my irritating voice :)

5 Months Old!

Our little Allison turned 5 months old this past week! Time has sure flown by. It seems like just yesterday we brought her home and the we spent the first night staring at her as we camped out in the living room. That first month was pretty tough, definitely tougher than we anticipated. Now, though, she is learning something new each day and interacting with us. She is, as her Dad describes her, "like a little real person."

Since there was no doctor's appointment this month, Allison joined mom on the scale at the gym. Fully clothed, the peanut weighed in over 15 pounds! I know those tiny jeans and her mini sweater account for some poundage, but our munchkin is definitely growing! We've got a big milestone next in June as the princess with be turning 6 months and will get to start real food. Until then, I leave you with our 5 most favorite things about Allison Claire this month!

1.) "What's my real name?" By now, you have probably realized that Allison goes by about 10 different names. Allison, Ali, Princess, Peanut, Munchkin, Pumpkin, Pretty, etc. When we call "Allison," she does not turn around. Call out for "Princess" though, and her eyes find you right away. We have created a monster.

2.)Tuesdays with Mommy and Wednesdays with Dad. Now that golf league has started, Allison gets a girl's night on Tuesday nights and her and Dad hang out alone on Wednesday nights. We love spending time as a family, but there is something special about that time at night we get to spend alone with her.

3.)Baby Hugs. Sure it may be one of those "safety reflexes," but when we pick up Allison and hold her against our chests, she will wrap her little arms around us. This little baby hug is one of the best feelings in the world. And she executes it to perfection.

4.)Standing Tall. We are so blessed that this little one is so pleasant. SHe has the best smile and always seems to be happy. One of her favorite times, though, is the time right before bath time. We "skin the bunny" (sidenote- are my parents the only parents who used this phrase? Eric had never heard of it and pointed out how horrible the phrase actually is lol) and stand that little peanut up in the bathrub. She thinks she is just the coolest kid out there. She will rest her hands on the side of the tub and squeal in delight. She does love "standing" all the time, but this is definitely her favorite.

5.) "Who's that cutie??" We recently put together Allison's Exersaucer and she loves it! She is constantly trying to eat the apple on it and loves hitting the different buttons to get them to light up and make noise. Our built in babysitter, though, is the mirror that sits on it at her eye level. She stares at herself (she hopefully outgrows this and the "Princess" phase by teen years) for the longest time. When she "sees" this other baby looking back at her, she squeals as if saying "Hi! Who are you?!?" It is pretty much the funniest thing ever.



And forgive the Christmas onesie. Someone (me) bought a 3-6 month onesie before she was born thinking it would fit. Ha!

We hope you are enjoying watching out peanut grow! She has brought such joy to our lives already and continues to do so everyday. Happy Spring everyone!

Who Knew??

Allison and I went to the gym this morning just like we do every morning. Except this morning was different. This morning, when I stepped on the scale, my weight read ONE POUND away from my prepregnancy weight. I almost cried I was so happy. My body is still not what I want it to be, but I feel so much better than I did 3 months ago when I was finally allowed back to the gym.

My question, though, is who knew it would be so hard to lose baby weight?? Everyone I talked to said the same thing "Oh, you're breastfeeding? The weight will come right off." Um, no. Though I chose to breastfeed for a hundred reasons besides weightloss, I was thinking that was a great perk. But did you know that when you breastfeed, you want to eat absolutely everything in sight? Or is that just me? I eat as much as, if not more than, Eric. And even if I wasn't as hungry as a horse at all times of the day, I don't believe dieting is in the best interest of someone who wants their child to actually grow and gain weight.

Losing these 10 pounds have been really hard. Harder than hard. And to mommas with more than one kiddo, I am amazed by you. Moms who work? You are super stars. I have been lucky enough to stay home with my peanut which allows for 2 hours at the gym everyday. Also, our gym allows babies to be on the gym floor so as long as she gets a good nursing in and I rock her to sleep, I can get at least 45 minutes of cardio in before she wakes up.

So this may be me gloating or tooting my own horn. But I haven't been this excited about the number on a scale since, well, forever. I wanted to shout it out in the locker room. But I guess I'll just blog about it for now :)

4 Months Old!

Today we headed over to Mayo with the little peanut for her 4 month well baby check up. She is healthy as can be! She tipped the scale just shy of 14 lbs, weighing in at 13 lbs and 15.5 ounces, and finally broke the 2 foot barrier at 25 inches. Her little (big) head was toward the top of the charts at 22.5 cm. But like her Uncle Tim said “Big heads run in the family. Need room for all of those brains." She also got 3 vaccinations while she was there, two of which were shots in her pudgy little thighs. I cried. She cried. It was no fun. She is good to go for another 2 months though!

This past month we hit a bit of a snafu. A little piece of disaster commonly known as RSV. RSV is a respiratory virus (Respiratory Syncytial Virus to be exact) that hits babies hard. I'm pretty sure everyone can get it but it seems to have an affinity toward the cute, chubby cheeked little ones. Who can blame it, though? Those cheeks are hard to resist. Anyways, Allison got RSV in early March. The sleeping through the night that we worked so hard to accomplish went out the window. The pack and play went back up next to our bed and the blue bulb suction was working overtime. A very long three weeks later, she was symptom free. This coincided perfectly with the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Schorsten to Rochester and the departure of Eric and I to Vegas! Allison got to spend 4 days getting spoiled by them and Grandma Deutsch (lucky girl!) while her parents enjoyed some alone time, sunshine, and no dirty diapers (luckier us!). We had a blast seeing our good friends Shane and Rachael but missed the peanut terribly and were pretty excited to get home to her.

Since we have been home, we've had plenty of beautiful weather and are eager for spring and summer! The stroller has made it's debut outside (and not just as a means of getting in and out of the gym!) and we've started scoping out where we will hang her swing (Thanks Markey family!). So with one more month under our belt, I give you the 4 things that defined our princess this past March.

1.) TOES! Despite my complete disdain for it, Little Miss Deutsch is trying her hardest to be a thumb sucker. She thinks she is so crafty sometimes as she tries to hide it, even sticking it into her pacifier as she is falling asleep. Then, one night after her bath, she thought to herself "Mom may keep taking my thumb out of my mouth, but if I can reach my toes, maybe that will be ok..." And she did. And in the mouth they went. They have quickly become her favorite chew toys. Lay this little one on her back and as those legs come up, she grasps onto her calf with white knuckles and chomps away to her heart's content. And as I watch in amazement of her flexibility, I realize she is right. How can I take away those toes when she looks just too darn cute??

2.) DADDY! I spend all day, every day with Allison. She is my appendage, my accessory, my "if I don't have her, something doesn't feel right". I read her stories, feed her, change her diaper, and do everything I can think of to make her laugh. And then Eric walks in the room. And just by saying "Hi Allison!", he wins her over. She stares at him, wants to sit on his lap, watches him as he eats. He's the bee's knees. The shiniest toy on the shelf. The coolest kid on the block. Not that I am bitter or anything ;) It actually melts my heart to see her so mesmerized with him. Though I think she is just working on getting him wrapped around her finger for her teen years...

3.)SKYPE! Every couple of days, Allison and I hop on the computer and Skype with her cousins and Aunts. A lot of times, she is fixated on the light above the desk, but she is quickly learning that the people on the screen are talking to her. And she LOVES to talk back. She is making new and different noises every day. We hope that this helps her get to know her cousins and vice versa. We don't want to be "those one set of relatives that live out in Minnesota..what are their names??"

4.)READ! Allison loves books. We started to read her books right when we got home from the hospital and now she can't get enough of them. We have a bath book called "Water, Water Everywhere" and she is obsessed with it. When she is in her bath, she turns her head and stares at that book until you take it off the shelf and read it to her. Her eyes get really big and her arms and legs splash all around as you open it up. After we are done reading it, we place it back on the shelf and her head turns back to stare at the book and the process repeats itself until she is a wrinkly raisin. This is also a great trick for keep her happy in a restaurant. If there is a menu with pictures, she is one happy girl. Ergo, we are two happy parents :)

We have so much to look forward to this month as Easter is around the corner, swimming lessons start, the weather warms up and the golf course opens. We haven't decided how we are going to golf with her, but we'll make it work. Happy 4 months Allison!

3 Months Old!

Our little Allison is 3 months old and as cute as can be! We don’t have an appointment until 4 months so no stats for now. This little munchkin is definitely growing, though, as evidenced by the increasing number of outfits joining the newborn clothes in the “outgrown” box. This is such a bittersweet thing for me. I love that those chubby thighs, multiple chins, and big round belly remind me that she is eating well and growing. However, they are all also a reminder that she won’t be my little baby forever. I guess I’ll spend extra time cuddling her while she still lets me J

Our biggest event this month was Allison’s baptism! We were so lucky to be joined by her God Parents Melissa and Lang (and Declan!) from Pittsburgh, my parents and Allison’s Aunts Beth and Lisa from Ohio, Eric’s parents, Allison’s Uncle Tim from Minneapolis, and all of our other family and friends! She looked like such a doll in her white dress and couldn’t have been better. And, in true girl fashion, spent most of the brunch afterward squealing more than she ever has! Thanks again, Christie, for being her chatter buddy J

It is so hard to narrow it down to 3 things for this month, but here goes…

1.) Allison loves the mirror! We worry that we have a little diva on our hands already. If you want to see a little princess smile and squeal, plop this girl in front of a mirror. She thinks it is just the funniest thing!

2.) If we are out to eat, Allison doesn’t want to hang out in her car seat. She wants to sit on your lap! She is happy as can be sitting on anyone’s lap and looking around. She wants to be part of the action too.

3.) Allison’s neck is getting so strong and she will hopefully no longer be a bobble head! She spends part of each day on her tummy and sitting in her Bumbo to work on her neck muscles. She is really getting the hang of it!

We love you, our sweet girl, and can’t wait to see what the month of March holds for you!

Our little 2 month old!

Allison had her 2 month appointment last week and she is doing great! I cannot believe that he is already 2 months old. Where has the time gone?? She grew 3 inches since her last appointment (up to 23 inches!) and, weighing in at 11 pounds and 2 ounces, she gained almost a full 4 pounds! She also had to get her vaccinations which included 3 shots :( She was not too happy with those, but I think I cried more. She is so healthy, though, and that is more than we could ask for.

The past two months have definitely been an adjustment, but she has made it relatively easy on us. Starting around 1 month of age, Allison started sleeping 7 hours straight through the night! She has been a champion eater (and pooper!) and is getting into a very nice schedule. She even took her first plane ride to Ohio to visit my family. She slept from take off to touch down both there are back, so we were very pleased (as were all of the other passengers!).

She has discovered her hands and chomps on them all throughout the day. Another one of her favorite things is her activity mat. The lights and sounds just fascinate her. As silly as it may be, one of my proudest moments so far is when she reached out and snagged the rings on it. Yay Allison!

Stealing the idea from Kristin @ www.bkhagerman.blogspot.com , here are 2 things about our little 2 month old that make her, well, her.

1.) She loves her bathtime! During our visit to Ohio, Allison used her cousin Michael and Nicky's bathtub. We always used the sling in her bathtub at home, but since this one didn't have the sling, we made do. And she LOVED it! Needless to say, when we got home, we got rid of the sling and haven't looked back. She splashes and laughes the entire time. Her head turns as soon as she hears that water running.

2.) Little Miss Allison has a million expressions and sounds to match. She coo's, goo's, and smiles all day long but her newest favorite is squealing. This little lady is bound to be a chatter. She will "talk" to anyone who listens and talks back.

We just love our little peanut and feel so blessed to have her in our lives. Happy 2 months Princess!

Just Add Baby!

From the moment we opened up the envelope and found out that our little nugget would be a perfect little princess, we couldn't wait to get started on her room! We started off with a blank slate. The room had old pale blue carpet, white walls, and a hunter green wall paper trim. First thing to go was carpet. We went through Home Designs Studio in Rochester to have the new flooring put in. We thought about doing wainscoting in the room, but decided that since the flooring matched the baseboards already, we would stick with that.

After the floors went in, I steamed down the wall paper trim. We then spent a good 20 hours taping off the room and painting the walls green with white stripes. This is not an easy task to take on. If you ever plan on doing painting stripes in a room, let us know and we can give you so VERY helpful tips that would have saved us loads of time. In the end, though, the stripes turned out better than we could have hoped.

After the painting came reinstalling the baseboards. This is not as easy as it sounds. Think putting together a jigsaw puzzle that needs to fit perfectly. And the pieces are large and cumbersome. With nails. Eek! We survived though, and so did the walls.

Next came the ceiling fan. We wanted to install a dimmer and a ceiling fan, which would require a little rewiring. This task was left entirely to Eric and our go-to handy guy/good friend Brent. Together, they put in the fan (and it is still up!) and put the whole system on a dimmer. It could not have worked out better.

I made some wall art with canvas, mod podge, scrapbooking pages, and ribbon. We added her furniture, clothes, a rug, and hung everything on the walls. Now we are good to go! We just need to add baby, which will happen this week. We are going in for induction tomorrow night and we could not be more excited. Or more nervous! We cannot wait to meet our not so punctual princess. She will be the perfect last addition to the room that we are just so proud of :)

Grandpa's Bassinet

This past winter, being that it was my first spent in Minnesota, brought about a multitude of challenges. One such challenge that was almost a daily occurence was getting my car up the driveway and into the garage. This may be a simple task anywhere else in the world, but on a sloped ice covered driveway with a sharp turn into the garage, not so much. So when the image of me trying to haul Little Miss Deutsch and a diaper bag up from the bottom of an icy driveway that my car could not get up come mid January flashed in my head, we decided it was time to clean out the OTHER two car garage that is closer to the house and easier for me to pull into.

This, however, was no simple task. Like most garages, there was hardly any space to move in this one and there wasn't even a car parked in it. With an empty dumpster and a couple ladders, we got to work. Since the garage has been a storage space for Eric's parents since the 80's, you can only imagine what we found. Most of the items were tossed without hesitation (think boxes of moldy stuffed animals and comforters) but there were some pretty neat things that we came across as well. Amidst the several mice skeletons, we dusted off a box of Eric's parent's wedding invitations in perfect condition, a few pictures from the 1970's, and the bassinet that Eric's dad and his siblings slept in as babies.

The bassinet was in pretty rough shape but with a little one on the way, we got a little nostalgic. There is no amount of bleach that would justify putting a child to sleep in this thing, but we thought, cleaned up, it would make a perfect place for blankets and toys. And when Little Miss Deutsch is old enough, she might like the idea of having Grandpa's Bassinet as part of her room.

In order to salvage the bassinet, we had to have a plan of attack. First step- a soap bath. Using a plastic knife, a few wash clothes, and a bucket of suds, I cleaned this sucker down to every last nook and cranny. Since it was missing one of the wheels, we decided to pop off the remaining three and replace them with small wooden balls with some felt glued onto the bottom. Next, we sanded it down to the bare wood. This was not very easy. I have the blisters to prove it. Apparently, sanding was not something this bassinet has seen before. Instead, there were about 4 layers of paint in varying shades, one on top of the other. After the sanding, Eric rolled out the power washer (side note-super easy to get out of the garage now that it is so clean) and went to town on the bassinet. After a thorough bleaching, another light sanding to smooth out the rough spots and a few coats of white spray paint, it is complete. It is the first piece of furniture we have in the nursery so far and we love how it turned out. Hopefully it can stay in good enough shape that one day it can get passed down as Great Grandpa's Bassinet.

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The Start of Summer

With my summer break starting not too long ago, Eric and I had made some big plans for what we would do with my first couple of weeks off. We were so excited to have our good friends Shane and Rachael in town from Las Vegas for the first week off. Shane and Eric played in the member-guest golf tournament at the country club while Rachael and I relaxed and did typical girl things. It is always a blast seeing those two and hopefully we will see them again in September for a Notre Dame game!

Our 2 week summer vacation went into the next phase on Sunday soon after Shane and Rachael left for the airport. We had a nice father’s day brunch with Eric’s dad and then packed up our bags for our 3 city road trip. First stop: Geneva, Illinois. Eric had been invited by Brad, someone that Eric’s company does business with, to play in a charity golf tournament in Geneva. Geneva is about 1 hour west of Chicago is perhaps the cutest little town I have ever seen. We were lucky enough to go during their “Swedish Days” festival that is held every year. There were so many street vendors, bands, and little shops that could have kept me entertained for weeks on end. And the hotel we stayed at could not have been better. A quaint little balcony overlooking the river, a sitting area with a toasty fireplace, and warm cookies and perfectly cold milk brought to you before bedtime. Really, does it get any better??

We left Geneva on Tuesday to head up to Milwaukee for the Twins- Brewers game. I was a little disappointed that I could not enjoy one of Miller Park’s finest brews, but was so excited to see a new ballpark and cheer on the Twins. Eric did an awesome job with finding tickets online and our seats for right behind home plate! The Twins couldn’t pull off a victory, but we had a blast anyway.

Wednesday morning came a little early as we wanted to get on the road by 8 am to avoid Milwaukee traffic. The final leg of our trip was one we were looking forward to for a long time: 5 days up on Lake Millie Lacs with our friends Brent and Brenda. The trip was made even better since Brent had proposed to Brenda the day before!! We spent our time celebrating, fishing, and just enjoying some sunshine. I caught my first walleye and Eric filleted up our catches like a champ. We even went to a meat raffle! Eric and I didn’t win any meat, but leave it to the pregnant lady to win a free cocktail J. There were some perfect nights for fishing on the lake and you couldn’t have asked for a prettier sunset.

We are home in Rochester until we head to Pensacola Beach for Eric’s mom’s birthday next week. It will be nice to relax and get some household chores done. And I suppose Eric should go to work. Sidenote: Eric played in a Minnesota State Amateur golf qualifier on Tuesday and qualified!! The tournament is later on this month so I will keep you updated. Fingers crossed that he does well!

Forbidden Fruits & Satisfying Substitutes

When the word “baby” first made its way into our daily conversations at home, I started reading all of the “I’m going to be a new Mom so I am hoping to be dreadfully over prepared for my first doctor’s visit” books I could find. Besides the shock of the potential weight gain and the promise of little to no sleep that would be coming, I had to just drop my jaw at the list of foods and activities that I was now to avoid at all costs. For the most part, it has been pretty easy to stick to the list knowing that the little bundle of joy coming in November will be worth every missed bite of a medium rare steak and sip of a perfect margarita. However, when 24 weeks seems like 24 years, I turn to my now favorite substitutes to keep me happy and the little one healthy. Here are some that have become my pregnancy staples:

1.) Replace a Jimmy John’s #16 (oh-so-delicious) with a #6 with hot peppers. I love Jimmy John’s. And since we did not have one in Phoenix, it was still a delicacy to me once we got to Minnesota. But then Heidi Murkoff goes and tells me that lunch meat is not something one should consume if they are “Eating Well While You’re Expecting.” So when that aroma of fresh baked bread comes over me, I get the all veggie sandwich with hot peppers to add some spice. Really pretty tasty, even without the meat!

2.) Replace running hard with 30 minutes on the stair climber. Yes, I am one of those people that really enjoy running. I’ve never had coordination so running has always been something I could do and do well. When I get on the treadmill though, I want to test it to see how fast I can go and for how long. Turns out, the baby isn’t a huge fan of that. Having to keep my heart rate around 140, I turned to the escalator-looking contraptions at the gym. At first, I only lasted 8 minutes. These things really work your legs! Now, I just grab whatever book I am reading and set the timer for 30 minutes. My heart rate stays regulated and my thighs, calves, and tush get a workout like never before.

3.) Replace a tasty Cabernet with a wine glass of grape juice. Let’s be honest, there is no replacing a nice glass of red wine. My search for must have ‘mock’tails started with instructions on making a virgin dirty martini. It said “1.)Place two olives in glass. 2.) Enjoy).” It gave me a good laugh but made me realize that water doesn’t have to be the only beverage a pregnant lady consumes. Sometimes making pasta sauce at home just feels more relaxed with a little of Welch’s finest in some nice stemware. And though I tell Eric I would like a margarita brought to me after I deliver, there have been a few other favorites that make me feel a little less out of the loop when out with friends like the classic Arnold Palmer (iced tea and lemonade), a virgin Gary Miller Lite ( I think you need to live in Rochester to know about this one- Diet Tonic, a splash of cranberry juice, and a lime), and an O’Doul’s Amber.

4.) Replace sleeping on your back with a really comfy side pillow. Since sleeping on your back in pretty much forbidden after week 20, and I am strictly a back sleeper, I have started to prepare myself for an additional 20 weeks of side sleeping. The first couple weeks went really bad. But after going through all of the pillows in the house and finding the perfect match for me, I have mastered the side sleeping. Bring it on pregnant belly.

All that being said, we are so excited to be expecting the little one and thank you all for the well wishes! This is the latest picture of Baby Deutsch waving hello.