Truck Driver

I got a new truck a few weeks back, and that is ok to play with but the real cool part is the truck driver! I like to play with him, take him in and out of his truck and sometimes even share him with Bosley!

Hurt Leg

I hurt my leg! All weekend I couldn't stand on my left leg. I would try to pull myself up to stand but my left leg hurt I would just hold my leg up or go back down to my knees. It even hurt to crawl in and out of containers which is one of my most favorite activities. Well today I got to see Dr. Kim to check out my leg. She didn't see anything obviously wrong so she took some x-rays which were also negative for any fractures. Then I went to baby school. They told Daddy that on Friday I did fall funny once but they checked me out and I seemed fine.

So I am going to just take it easy and let people carry me around for a few days. It is starting to get better already because tonight I was able to put a little weight on my left leg.

Hope I get better soon! I feel like I am always visiting Dr Kim for something.

Triathlete!

For many years I have wanted to do a Triathlon. Apparently all it takes is for a co-worker to challenge me to do one with her and then it gets done. (Where is my self-motivation?) 2 months ago we signed up for a race on May 9th but last week on a whim we decided to do a practice triathlon today in this little race in town. There were about 300 people at today's race and my goal was to finish the 3.2 mile run, 12 mile bike and 0.25 mile swim in 1 hour 45 min. I was pretty close I finished in 1:47:23. However the race organizers said they messed up the run a little bit and it was further than a 5K. So that might have dropped my time below my goal. Edit - Got an email from the race saying the run was a full mile longer. How do you make a 3 mile run 4 miles!!

The real drama for the race was before the race started however. I was driving with my bike on my rack about 0.4 miles from the race and I didn't see a speed hump in the road. My rack & bike bounced so high one of the rack straps snapped and my bike & rack fell onto the road. One rope I had tied between the rack and bike was so tight it took me a few minutes to untie it to separate my bike from the rack. Once that was done I noticed my chain was off - which I put back on easy enough but somehow my front brakes were clamped down on the wheel and I could not get them loose. I tossed the bike in the trunk and drove to the parking. Then I carried my bike to the transition area and tried to get someone to help me fix my brakes. We ended up taking the front brake completely off. Lucky for me I have a brand new to me (thanks Heather!) road bike coming in the mail as we speak to replace the mountain bike I raced on today. I am hoping the road bike drops my time a little bit as well. My goal for the May 9th triathlon is 1 hour 40 min!

At the finish line I had Dan and Dexter cheering for me. No pictures to share from the race but here is me after I got home and showered. This permanent marker isn't coming off anytime soon.

Birthday Presents

I got a box for my upcoming birthday! My Aunt Heather must know how much I love boxes.

Happy Earth Day!

  I hope everyone is having a wonderful Earth Day!  This is one of my favorite holidays - it is a simple day where I find myself looking around more than usual.  New Mexico is an interesting environment.  The Sandia Mountains are in my backyard, the sun is shining almost everyday, there is dirt and rocks everywhere and the wind is very gusty.  There are rivers nearby also, in fact next month Dan and I are going white water rafting in Taos with my co-workers.  It is interesting living out here in the desert and it takes my mind back to Turkmenistan sometimes and the life I had there.

In honor of Earth Day this weekend we are going to plant some rose bushes.  I really look forward to having roses again, which I haven't had since we lived in Gainesville.  I think it will help to see roses bloom while Dan is deployed reminding me of how much he loves me.

Earth Day is also a great day to see what simple things in your life you can do to reduce, reuse or recycle.  Before we moved to New Mexico we gave away a lot of items to people in Dayton via freecycle.  This is a great program which I encourage people to check out.   Why throw something away that others may need?  We gave away a dresser, mattress box springs, a file cabinet and several other items.   Another thing we have started this past year is composting (the roses should love this).  People throw away so much food waste - why not compost it!   Composting reduces the need for water & fertilizers in your garden and also reduces the amount of methane and leachate formulation in the landfills.   Also simple things like changing mail to electronic, using cloth shopping bags & having a programmable thermostat can help the earth and reduce costs.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Earth Day.  ~ Ali

NFL Draft

Tomorrow starts the NFL Draft. I am looking more towards the 2032 draft. I am going to be a punter at the University of Florida and then have a 20 year career in the NFL as a punter before I go on to be male model/Nobel peace prize winning humanitarian - or so my mommy says.

Until then I will just play toss with this little football, that sounds like fun!

Walking progress

For the longest time I have been walking holding on to stable objects like tables and walls. Whenever someone wanted to hold my hands while walking I would just go to my knees. Well this weekend I finally got over my trust issues and will walk holding people's hands.

Battles

The battle is on - my mommy and daddy and even the nice ladies at day care are trying to take my bottles away from me. They keep saying I have to drink from a cup - well I have no problems with cups. I drink water, juice & smoothies from cups every day. Warm or cold doesn't matter to me. But I refuse to drink my milk from a cup! If you put milk in there I will scream and contort my body every way I can to avoid drinking milk from the cup. I am no dummy, I can tell when milk is in there. Replace it with a juice cup or milk in a bottle and I will drink it down no problems. The battle is on!

Diaper Derby

Today at school we had a race. It was a weird race because everyone had to take their clothes off and race in their diapers. I won the race, easily. Not to brag or anything but I crawled that hallway back and forth before some babies even moved a foot. Of course I had added motivation of my mommy and daddy there to cheer me on!

Put me in coach

First off - Happy Birthday Grandfather! He loves baseball so I am wearing my uniform today for him. Baseball season has started and our local team is the Isotopes, I will have to check out some of their games.



Also did you know shoe boxes are great for holding special things, like books!

New Shoes

In the one year old room you have to wear shoes.
So I am supposed to start practicing now.

So many rules in the one year old room.

Containers

There is really no limit to the fun with containers! I like to crawl in and out of them, throw objects out of them or just sit and play in them!

Welcome Raleigh

My good friend Holly had her baby girl today! Raleigh Maclaine Miller is 8 pounds 11oz and 23.75" long.

So happy for her, Jeremy & Rowan

Peek a boo!

I see you!

11 month update!

Here is my final month update! March pictures are also updated. This time next month I will be turning one! I can't wait

Weight: somewhere over 21 pounds

Skills:
Physically: This month I have gotten a lot better at walking. I walk behind my toy car all the time and also walk around the coffee table a lot. I still will not try walking unless I am holding on to something however. I am also getting better at using a spoon. I like to put my spoon into the bowl of food and then put it in my mouth, but I don't always get any food on the spoon. So I am still working on that
Verbally: Still not talking with any words you would know but I do enjoy making random sounds.

Likes:I like playing - my walk behind car and my new fort are probably my favorite right now. I love going on walks still and to let mommy or daddy know I am ready for a walk I go over to my stroller and try to crawl into the seat or just bang on it to get their attention. I love to give the sign for "all done" once I am done eating. If I wave both hands in the air and smile at mommy or daddy they will take me out of my high chair and let me play on the ground with the dogs. Here is a picture of all the boys in the fort - no girls allowed.

Dislikes: I don't getting albuteral breathing treatments and try to look as sad as possible when mommy gives it to me.
New Foods since my last update: I will pretty much eat anything now, just cut it small enough and I will try it. In fact I had a piece of grilled cheese with tomato soup the other day at baby school and loved it. I also really like black beans and baked beans.

Highlights of the month and what is to come: This month I visited people in Ohio and took my first airplane rides. I was completely asleep for 3 of the 4 flights, but I do remember playing peek-a-boo with the lady sitting behind me for the one flight I stayed awake for. This coming month is a big one for transitions. At school they are going to switch one bottle of milk for a cup of milk over the next 4 weeks until all my milk is in a cup! If there is space in the 1 year old rooms I will move up to that class at the end of the month which should be exciting to meet new friends and teachers.

Easter Egg Hunt!

First off I am starting to feel better - I am at about 60% functioning. Nothing several 4 hour naps & my daily antibiotic can't fix...Anyways, on to the big Easter Egg Hunt at Hardin Field on base.

Daddy, Me and the Easter Bunny!

The 0-2 year old section of the Easter Egg "Hunt"
There wasn't much hunting going on, where can you hide them in a open grass field?

Me testing each egg before carefully adding it to my bag. So embarasing that mommy didnt give me a basket to collect eggs in like some other kids had.
Finally, me and my egg bounty! Most of these eggs were collected by my friends Sean and Tyler who after opening them to get the candy out gave me all the empty eggs! Wasn't that nice of them!

Sick again

For the last 2 days I have felt very sick. Didn't want to do anything but sleep or be held. Didn't even want to eat or drink much (which is rare for me!) Today I finally got a high enough temperature (102.8) for mommy and daddy to take me to the doctor. And surprise surprise I have another double ear infection! That makes number 4 since Christmas, do I see PE tubes in my future? I also had low oxygen sats again - 88%. After a getting a suction tube down my nose and a breathing treatment it was up to 92%. They sent a sample of my snot to the lab. They also sent a urine sample to the lab - this was not fun since I can't pee on demand they cathed me! The urine was to check for a UTI and check my sugar levels because I haven't eaten much and to check for diabetes since mommy said I smell fruity. The urine test was normal however. Hopefully the antibiotics clear up my ears this time - I am on my 3rd different antibiotic since the previous ones never seemed to completely clear up my infections. I also am the proud owner of a breathing treatment machine now, so I can do albuteral treatments whenever I need. Last time we just rented one for 2 weeks. Well that is all, I really hope I get better by Saturday because the Easter bunny is coming to base and there is a big Easter egg hunt planned.