Big Baby News

We went in for our mid-pregnancy checkup on Wednesday and guess what? Alyson and Kourtney got their wish...I'm expecting a boy! So, I guess you'll be seeing a little more blue at our house if you visit us after October 31st (my due date).

Kris is excited that he'll have a son to golf with (he wants a golfing buddy badly so hopefully our little gy will be athletic, or if not athletic, smart so he can talk accounting with Kris!). Kourtney and Alyson can't wait until they can play "Princesses" with him because that means they'll have a "prince" to play with. I'm very excited to see the brotherly/sisterly dynamics that I never got to experience. I also hope Ellary and "?" will be good friends and buddies especially because they will be so close in age (about 18 months).

We are still working on choosing a name for this little guy, but hopefully we'll decide on one soon. At least we can call the baby "him" for now. Of course we would have been happy finding out we were expecting a girl if that were the case. We know little girls and had a name picked out already. Boy names have been more difficult for us to choose this time around but we have a few in mind that we like.

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My doctor said that our little guy looks healthy and is measuring about 6 days ahead of schedule (not quite enough to change my due date). We are just very happy and grateful that he is growing well!

As for telling our parents, you know we had to stick with tradition and tell them in a creative way...Kris came up with the idea this time around. We called Peterson Plumbing in Grand Junction and asked them to call our parents and spring the news on them in a creative way (we provided a script for them). This is the gist of what Sonja from Peterson Plumbing told them-

"This is Sonja from Peterson Plumbing calling to confirm your appointment on October 31st for some outdoor plumbing work."

To which Kris' mom replied, "I didn't order any plumbing work."

"Is this not Kris and Jessica Allee's house?"

"They haven't lived here in years!" Then Eleonore hung up. She figured it all out a few minutes later.

Sonja had to leave a message on my parents' voicemail because they were traveling somewhere between Green River and Provo and didn't have cell phone reception when she called. My parents called about 3 hours later wanting to know what we had found out at the doctor's office.

I asked them, "Didn't you get a message?" Apparently mom erased the message from Sonja right away disregarding it as a mistake on Peterson's part (they had some work done by them that ended up causing a huge leak in their house, so they weren't so thrilled to be hearing from them).

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After asking if Peterson Plumbing had called, mom and dad pieced it together on the speaker phone with me. "October 31st...outside plumbing...You're having a boy," they exclaimed.

Our parents and family are very excited that all is well as are we!

Potpouri

If you could tap into the smell of this blog it would have three scents: baby lotion, sweet apple sauce and fresh pumpkin. You will understand the reason for the three flavors as you read on.


First of all...baby lotion. I can't say it enough...I love little girls! As I went through Ellary's clothes that no longer fit her, those dainty little summer outfits painted pastel colors and embroidered with ruffles, I couldn't help but recall just how small she really used to be. I also thought about some of my first memories of her and just how fun it was to dress her in a new outfit every day. It may sound cheesy and almost superficial, dressing her as if she were a doll, but maybe it's just a mother's way of reenacting a childhood activity that has now become a reality. Anyways, I took a picture of some of my favorite outfits (most provided by my mom, Nana, and the girls' adopted grandma in Bloomington, Grandma Stangas. Thank you!)



While I packed up Ellary's old clothes, Alyson and Kourtney played checkers on the floor of Alyson's room...in their tutus may I add. What fun it is to be a little girl! Playing dress up and participating in a friendly competition with your sister...How much better can life really get?

Now on to apple sauce. A couple days ago Kris was holding Ellary and eating an apple at the same time. She pulled his arm close to her so she could get a taste of the juicy apple and guess what...She loved it! She couldn't get enough of it. Thank goodness she doesn't have any teeth yet otherwise she would have taken a huge bite of the apple the way she was going at it.

Kris fed Ellary some baby apple sauce after becoming ferocious with the apple. She gobbled it all up. Ellary is really enjoying solid foods, and she really loved having her daddy feed her.

On to fresh pumpkin...Like most of you, we carved our pumpkins this past week. Alyson and Kourtney both drew faces on their pumpkins and Kris and I cut them out. It was a fun Family Home Evening activity that I am sure will be repeated next year.

Happy Halloween Everyone! Hope you have a safe and fun time trick-or-treating. We will be sure to update you on how ours was, and also fill you in on the ward activity we had this past week in which Kris dressed up as Merlin and was the M.C.

Ellary's First Taste of Cereal

We performed a test at our house today that reminded me a lot of high school biology.

THE SUBJECT: Ellary.

THE HYPOTHESIS Ellary is ready to eat, and will enjoy baby rice cereal because she is showing several signs that she's ready for solid foods.

EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE HYPOTHESIS: she has been grabbing at our food while sitting in our laps at dinner time, and making adorable smacking noises with her mouth and tongue while watching us eat.

MATERIALS NEEDED: Ellary, bib, bumbo seat, baby rice cereal, baby spoon, bowl, pumped breast milk, camera, feeder, and photographer.

THE VARIABLES: (1) Ellary's somewhat disdain for her bumbo seat (she still needs a little support to sit), and (2) her infatuation with bibs or any other remotely loose fabric around her face.

FEEDER: Me.

EXPERT PHOTOGRAPHER: Alyson (she stayed home from school today because she's not feeling well.)

RESULTS WE OBSERVED...see for yourself.

Happy subject: ELLARY

So far so good. Subject even reaches for the bowl of cereal...

Subject opens mouth to receive the cereal...

Subject tastes cereal...and...

Subject spits it out.

Results following our second...third...fourth...and fifth attempts...

Ellary was somewhat relieved (and somewhat annoyed) when her face was all cleaned up and we took a little break...

Remember that variable I mentioned about her infatuation with her bib...well, after Ellary made a mess of her first bib, she decided to play with then try to destroy her second one...

NEW HYPOTHESIS FOLLOWING OUR TEST: This may take a little more time and work than I originally thought.

We are Having a Girl!

Our family went in for our mid pregnancy ultrasound two weeks ago, and guess what...We are having another girl! While most people thought we'd be having a boy, Kris was right on and knew all along that we were having a girl. Kourtney got her wish for a little sister, and Alyson quietly whispered into her daddy's ear after hearing the news, "Next time can we have a baby boy?"

As with tradition, we have already chosen a name and have begun calling our baby girl by the name of Ellary. Her full name will be Ellary Evelyn Allee. Alyson has a friend that she likes very much whose name is Ellary. Kris' mom, Eleonore will also have a name sake, and my grandmother on my mom's side was named Iva Evelyn. Also, keeping in tradition with Alyson and Kourtney's full names, Ellary's first and middle names both start with the same letter and have Y's in them. She will be called Ella for short.

We are so excited to welcome her into the world some time in April. She will be loved very much, and her arrival will come at a bitter sweet time when we are preparing to relocate. Ellary will be our little beacon of light as we await the many transitions our family will make in the following months.