stomach bug hits home...

We'll it has been a difficult few days for the residents of 58 Canton Road (and for one unlucky visitor - sorry, Sue!). Alice got sick on Saturday and was pretty out of commission all day, preferring to sleep over any other activity. She never really spiked a fever but she was quite pale and clearly not her usual cheery self. While we thought that watching your child be sick was the worst possible thing ever, Sunday turned out to be much worse, when both Reeves and I got sick with the stomach bug at the very same time. Taking care of Alice when we both could barely sit up was one of the hardest things we've had to do. Thankfully, it was just a 24 hour affliction and we were on the mend by Monday. We are all feeling back to normal, finally. Now here's to hoping we don't get hit by the H1N1 later this winter!

In more upbeat news. Alice is starting to use her big bouncy seat on a daily basis. This makes us feel like she is really growing (even though her feet still can't reach the ground - we have to use books to prop her up!). She can spend as much as half an hour in the bouncy, totally content and engaged. It is so neat to watch her process the different gadgets and realize that she can make them move and make sounds and lights come on. She is becoming more and more demanding in terms of how we entertain her, so this is a great new item in the rotation. It gives us a nice break!
Alice is also becoming more "grabby," using her hands to experiment with her surroundings. For the first time a few days ago she actually grabbed a hold of my hair when I picked her up. And now when she's on her play mat she grabs and latches onto the one toy that is within her reach. We are excited to see these developments!

Alice's pumpkin from Grandpa Ken!

Alice missed daycare on Monday since we were still recovering from the stomach bug and will actually miss the entire week, because we are headed to the vineyard tomorrow for Leah's wedding. Alice and I are traveling with my friend Dana and meeting my Mom at the Ferry on Thursday afternoon. Alice will get a nice night with her grandmother while I attend wedding activities and Reeves and my Dad will join us on Friday night for the rest of the weekend. We are excited to introduce Alice to many of my college friends and her grandparents are really excited to be her babysitter for the weekend. Should be lots of fun!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Bald Spots and Incident Reports!

Alice is taking a her morning nap so I thought I would jump on the internet and quickly give you our weekly update. She had another good week at daycare. She continues to flash her cute smile with great frequency. The only big news at daycare this week was her "incident report" from Monday. Alice received a scratch on her cheek from one of her little friends at daycare. The policy is to write up any incident so we took home a whole report of the altercation!! We were pleased that she was able to restrain her contentious behavior on Thursday, avoiding any more classroom rumbles and further incident reports! We knew we had our hands full with this one!

The picture to the right is pretty cute. She is fitting into 6 month clothes now so she has access to a whole new portion of her wardrobe and this little fleece with ears on the hood will certainly be a rotating item. She seems to love it and it's so adorable!

In other exciting news, Reeves and I have invested in a new camera to document Alice. We were having difficulty with our other camera taking pictures in the auto mode, so we decided it was time to upgrade (Carolyn was happy to spread some early xmas cheer - anything for the sake of quality media equipment!). These pictures are all with our new camera. Hope you enjoy!

This picture to the left shows you Alice's early version of rolling over. She spends lots of time in this position, arching her back, trying to see more of her surroundings. While her head and torso are active in this 'rolling over' her legs have not begun to follow yet!

The next photo show you her very noticeable bald spot on the back of her head! She has developed a very significant bald ring around her head from rubbing her head from side to side while on her back. It's certainly a stylish look for a 4 month old!

Alice had a busy week as she had her first full days at daycare on Monday and Thursday. When we weren't at daycare, Alice was helping me do errands in preparation for our visitors this weekend. It was also a beautiful week of weather so we spent lots of time outside!

Daycare went well. While it was difficult to say goodbye to her for the full day, since it's only two days a week, it's not as traumatic for me as I anticipate it to be in the spring. Alice is working her charm and her teachers are enjoying her smiley addition to the classroom.

On one of our off days, we spent the afternoon cheering on Reeves and his soccer team at a home scrimmage. Alice and I were able to find some shade and had a nice time on her blanket as she looked up at the trees and all around. She just loves to be outside! We are excited to watch more field hockey and soccer games this fall - especially if the weather continues to be so nice!

We had a wonderful weekend to cap off our busy week. We welcomed several visitors for Perry's 60th birthday party. It was wonderful to have a house full of relatives! Thanks to everyone for making the trip - it was a memorable weekend for us! Here's to hoping for more visitors in the near future!!

Here is one last picture of little Alice. She continues to smile for any audience that she can get. I get stopped at the grocery store all the time because she'll smile at strangers passing by. I'll be busy shopping and then hear, "Ohh, what a smiley baby!" She is a constant joy! She is also becoming more active . She likes to stand up as much as possible (with some assistance) and she is getting closer to rolling over everyday (although this feat may still be a long way off!). Either way, she is an active, inquisitive little girl. I can't imagine how we will keep up with her when she can move on her own!

Busy week!

Well it's a been whole week since we posted anything about Alice so I thought it was time to get some more pictures up. As you can see, her hair continues to thin as it falls out. She has a ring of baldness around her head which is especially prominent in the back. She sports it well though, getting cuter every day!

We had our two transition days at day care this week. The first day we both stayed and got to know Alice's teacher Lisa and her playmates, Ray and Liam. (A side note: Ray has more hair than I do! He has an incredible mop of hair on his head, making me even more nostalgic for Alice's departing locks!) Alice had a fine time during her first visit. She slept for about half the time we were there and was only a little bit fussy when her mother wasn't holding her but seemed to get over it quickly. The next day, I left her by herself for a couple hours and she seemed to do quite well. She was a little fussy again when I left but calmed quickly and enjoyed meeting the other two older girls who were playing house. She is taking her bottle easily which is making this daycare transition SO much easier. So far so good. Her first full day is Monday. We'll let you know how that goes!

Alice loves her fleece vest for the cool fall temperatures. Thanks Weezie and Frank!

Alice was really excited to meet the lacrosse team on Friday afternoon. She was full of smiles and then exercised her vocal chords a little bit for her audience. She quickly fell asleep after her display!

Alice continues to impress us with her generally content and happy disposition. She is becoming easier to have with me on the go and seems to really like observing new surroundings and new people. We are looking forward to an exciting fall season as she continues to grow!
(If you look closely Alice might be giving the camera the finger! Where did she learn that from? Dad??!! Grandma Sue??!!)

Labor Day Weekend

Happy Labor Day Weekend! Alice and I are sitting here enjoying our morning. She slept very well last night - from 10pm-5:15am and then gave us just a little more time to snooze, going back down until 7:15am. All in all we both feel pretty rested! And since Reeves is still snoozing, he should feel pretty rested too!

I had a little bit of fun playing around with the hospital pictures of all three Perine girl cousins. They are a cute bunch for sure! Jenn, Kristi and I all think Eva bears a close resemblance to Chan (sorry Karen!). We can't wait to meet Eva in person, although we did have a nice gchat with her yesterday. Peaceful little girl, sleeping the day away.

Alice and I had a fun day yesterday. The weather has been so beautiful that we've been able to get outside for walks everyday this week. Yesterday we walked on the path we discovered over 4th of July weekend. Alice loved the view of the trees and seemed to really be taking in her surroundings for the first 30 minutes of our walk - the second 30 minutes not so much - that was snooze time!

Later in the day I tried to get some weeding done (house maintenance has been more than a little difficult with dear Alice) and I snapped a few pictures of her lounging in the yard. She enjoyed it for a little while but then became cranky . Check out the before and after...

Lastly, Alice has developed a SEVERE drooling habit. It's incredible the amount of drool that appears on her chin when she really gets going. I tried to capture some pictures of this mammoth drool but the camera doesn't quite do it justice. You can judge for yourself.
On that note, have a great weekend!

Just hanging out...

Alice has been a ton of fun the last couple of weeks. She continues to flash her beautiful gummy smile, ALL the time. It warms your heart each and every time it happens. I may be premature in saying this but I'm certain this will never get old.

The big news is that she starts going to daycare 2 days a week starting next week. We will have a couple of transition days and then, on September 14th, she will begin attending Trinity's daycare on Mondays and Thursdays. I can't quite believe that this is possible - that we are already beginning her daycare - but alas she is getting bigger every day and I guess we have to start sometime!

Trinity Gold jumpsuit from Ceej!

In other action in the world of Alice, she had nearly a week of being constipated after trying some formula on Sunday night. Thankfully, this morning, she had a very big BM and we are hopefully back on track! Very exciting, don't you think? We'll that's big news in our household - even merited a call to Dad at work!

Hope you enjoy these recent pictures. The camera hides it well, but Alice is actually losing quite a bit of hair these days. I would by no means call her bald, but there are definitely some pronounced bald spots and they seem to be growing! Maybe she'll be a blondie after all!

Footstool courtesy of the Schultz family!

Special Day!

Alice is thrilled because today she's getting a new cousin!
Good luck Aunt Karen and Uncle Chan!