Ali's a big sister!

This announcement is a little overdue but I finally have a few minutes to write about our newest addition. Andrew John Love was born on July 28th. The delivery was scheduled and induced so we were able to have lots of family there (at the hospital, not in the room). He weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces and was 18 inches long. He came out crying which was the most magical sound I've ever heard. He does have some health issues. For more details, you can visit our caringbridge website that is dedicated to the medical side of his life. The address is:
http://caringbridge.org/visit/andrewlove
Ali loves being a big sister. She struggles with all of the time Mom spends at the hospital but she loves helping take care of her brother. Ali is excited to share her old baby toys and room with him. She's even made plans for them to have bunk beds when Andrew is bigger. Hopefully he'll be home within a few days. Enjoy these pictures: In the resuscitation room. Ali and Andy exchanged gifts. Andy gave Ali a cheeky monkey webkinz. She loved it and named it Sandy. Here is the card he gave her. Ali gave him a stuffed elephant named Ellie. He's gotten quite attached to it. Often having Ellie touch his head or lay on his chest will help him calm down when we can't be there. Me holding Andy for the first time in the NICU. Though not the first time holding him ever (I got to hold him for a few minutes in the recovery room while he received a blessing) it was the first time I could really get a good look at him. Emmanuel Children's Hospital has lots of fun things to keep Ali entertained. Here she's playing in the children's garden, painting in the playroom, and riding bikes in the yard. Ali spends hours at the hospital each day. She has been such a trooper! She spends most of the time doing this: After school started, we began waking up early so we could visit him before school. So... All of us in the PICU after the surgery. A glimpse of Buddy's "Bling". (His chest cavity was still open at this point that's why there is a washcloth covering it. This is a G-rated site.) About ten days after his surgery, we were FINALLY able to hold him again. After Andrew stabilized, we were back in the NICU. Here he is wearing clothes for the first time. Andrew turned one month old in the NICU. Here he is with his growing bear. Peek-a-boo! Bath time! When Andy progressed to Level 2, they put him in this bed. The only way we can describe it is to say it's a refrigerator drawer on top of a microwave cart. Andrew's fauxhawk. And now for my most favorite pictures. These are of Ali holding Andrew for the first time. Before the surgery she was frightened when he cried. After the surgery he didn't have a voice because of the breathing tubes so she wasn't as intimidated by the crying.

I just love the proud and excited look on her face. She had been waiting for this moment for such a long time! I have to admit there were times when I thought she wouldn't ever have a chance to hold her brother. I've never been so thankful to be wrong!

Ali's First Essay

We have recently had a problem getting Ali out of the pool. Last week John got so frustrated that she lost all swimming privileges for the next two weeks. Unfortunately, we have Amy and her kids coming this week to swim with us so that wasn't going to work out very well. We decided we needed to come up with a way for her to earn back swimming. We could have her do extra chores but it didn't seem like that punishment really related to the crime. Then I got this great idea from a friend who has their kids write essays as a form of punishment. Of course, their kids are in grade school and can actually write but we figured we could modify this enough to make it work. So, John and I came up with a list of questions for Ali to answer that would lead her essay in the right direction. I was the scribe as she answered all the questions. Then we put it into essay form and typed it up. Ali had to read it aloud to John and get a 'pass' in order to earn back swimming. She did a good job and now she has something to read before we go swimming each time as a little reminder of how we expect her to behave. :)
Here is Ali's essay:

Why It’s Important to Obey at the Pool
By Alicyn Love (July 22, 2008)

Not obeying at the pool is a bad choice and will have bad consequences. It is important to obey Mom and Dad at the pool so you won’t get stuck in the water and die from drowning. If you don’t obey, you’ll lose swimming. You will feel very sad and Mom and Dad will be upset.

The rules of swimming at the pool are:
1. Don’t get in when Mom and Dad aren’t looking.
2. When it’s time to go, get out of the pool and go.
3. If Mom and Dad tell you to do something in the pool, do it the first time they ask and right away.
4. Don’t go in the deep end without Dad or Mom. That means no monkey walking to the stairs at the deep end by yourself.
5. Don’t run by the pool or you may slip with wet feet and fall in the water or get hurt on the cement.

When you obey the rules at the pool you feel very, very happy and everyone else is happy too. It is a good choice to obey at the pool and you will have good consequences like being able to go swimming every time you want. You can also invite friends to come over and swim too.
The End

Friday the 13th

"I'm not superstitious, but... I'm... I am a little-stitious." - Michael Scott, The Office

Actually, our Friday the 13th (in June) turned out pretty wonderful. It was Ali's big day. It started off with Preschool Graduation. Here is Ali signing Teacher Vicki's memory book. Here's Ali getting ready for the big moment with Morgan and Gabi.

Being Silly- what Ali does best. The Procession. (I have to admit that I got pretty choked up- what happened to my baby???) Class of 2008 Ali and Teacher Vicki After a celebratory ice cream cone at Baskin Robbins, we headed home to get ready for our second big event- Mini Olympics. I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the pictures- the lighting was really bad in the gym and the camera kept focusing on the people's heads in front of us instead of Ali. Here's Ali marching out with her class. Here's the beginning of the floor routine... and the end. All the participants got trophies. Ali was so proud! She just kept talking about her "First Trophy Ever!!". Here's Ali with her coach Jane. Ali just loves her- she has just the right temperament for Ali. Finally a few random pics after the show:

A Blast From The Past

We recently upgraded our computer and are in the process of wiping the old one clean. Anyway, we found some video clips from when Ali was a baby and thought we'd share them. A few of them were posted when we first started our blog but have since become inaccessible so I added them again. Enjoy!

Here is Ali's most famous video.



This is Ali singing her trick or treat song. She's about 2 1/2 here.



Here is Ali "reading" the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. This may just be my favorite of all the videos. She's at the part where Cindy Lou Who comes out and catches the Grinch. I love how Ali does the voice of Cindy.



We hope you had as much fun going down memory lane as we did.

Ali's Infamous Left Hand

Ali has determined that her left hand is her naughty hand. Here are some examples of conversations that we've had recently.

Scene #1 setup: Ali moving her straw up and down quickly on her McDonald's cup in order to make that really annoying noise.
Me- (worrying that she'll spend the whole 18 hr drive to CA with my parents making that noise)"Ali, please stop doing that- it really isn't good manners"
Ali- "I know- it was my left hand."

Scene #2 setup: Ali throws a little bouncy ball behind the piano
Me- "Ali! What did you do that for?"
Ali- "What?"
Me- "Now you have to wait for Dad to get home before you can play with your ball. That wasn't your best idea."
Ali- "I know. My left hand just made my right hand throw it back there."

Scene #3 setup: Ali is supposed to be brushing her teeth
Me- "Ali, have you finished brushing?"
Ali- "Almost"
Me- "What's taking so long?" (It had been about 20 minutes.)
Ali- "Mom, can you punish my left hand? It's making fun of my right hand. It's saying, "Right has an owie!"
Me- "What?"
Ali- (in a sing song voice- imagine Na- Na- NaNa- Na)"Right has an owie...Right has an owie"
Me- "How am I supposed to punish Left? Put it in time out?"
Ali- "Yes."
Me- "If Left is in time out, how will you brush your teeth?"
Ali- "I don't know."
Me- "Why don't you just focus on brushing your teeth and when you're done you can put Left in timeout yourself."
Ali- "Perfect!"

Scene #4 setup: Ali is in the backseat arguing with person/persons unknown.
Me- (after turning off the radio to be sure that what I thought I heard was actually what I heard) "Ali, who are you arguing with?"
Ali- "My left hand."
Me- "Why?"
Ali- "I don't know."
Me- " "
And the argument continued.

I'm not really sure why/how this discovery was made. It sort of gives new meaning to the phrase Choose The Right.

Our beach get-away

Recently we were able to spend two great weekends at the coast. First, for Memorial Day, a friend let us use their beach house in Newport, OR for the weekend. It was so much fun! We went last year and decided to share the joy this year and invited Grandma and Grandpa King to come with. I have a theory that Mother Nature waits for us to plan a trip to the coast before deciding what the weather will be like. I've come to this conclusion because I've NEVER been to Newport when it wasn't rainy. However, this time Mother Nature smiled on us and we had three beautiful days. Monday it did rain but it wasn't a show stopper. Anyway, our Newport weekend started off with fun at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Ali had a great time. She was able to touch a sting ray, anemone, and star fish. She decided to pass on the sharks though. Here she is with the star fish. (No she's not flipping anyone off- she just has a lazy "pointer" finger so "tall man" does all of the work.) Here's Ali with her otter friend. It was amazing, actually. He was completely enthralled with her. He was watching her even after she left the window. She was sort of running back and forth and he was following her with his eyes and swimming around to get a good look at her. I don't know if he thought she looked like a yummy lunch or what.
My personal favorite was the water tunnels. Here are a few pics. Since the weather was bad on Monday, we decided to check out the shops. Ali tasted her first fish ever and didn't like it. (That's my girl!) Here's Ali in our favorite taffy shop with her class pet- Beverly the Beaver. After lunch and a good dose of sugar, we went to tour the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Ali barely passed the height requirement and was able to walk to the top of the lighthouse with the rest of us. Stairs, stairs, and more stairs. 150 stairs to be exact. We really had a great time!