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July 27, 2009 - Hi everyone.Its been since November since we last wrote a story here. It's past time that we do so. We survived the bitter winter this year, with lots of snow and cold weather. I think I snowplowed the driveway almost every other day for awhile. Aliyah has been getting stronger and becoming more of a little kid these days. After what seemed like an entire winter (starting in October) of colds and some such malady's, and at one point the doctors thinking she might have had whooping cough, and then a pneumonia scare (which turned out to be a misdiagnosis sending us to Childrens), we finally settled into a very healthy and happy spring. Now its summer, more than half through already. Aliyah has her 2 year birthday on August 8th, and we are already planning for it. She is talking in full sentences, and can count up to 6 in Spanish and English. A very talkative sort, she is also a daredevil that likes to go fast and really likes motorcycles. (not something Dada is looking forward to as she gets older). Susan has a really good mommy's group that gets together on a regular basis, so that helps on all fronts. The terrible two's are definately here, and she constantly tries to push our buttons at every chance. We are still learning that whole social development thing, but its going well. We'll have pictures and more stories coming soon. -- Al
Comments It looks like Aliyah and friends had a great birthday party! We hope to see more pictures soon. - Karl and Debbe
November 04, 2008 - Aliyah's birthday in August was great, and we have been woefully negligent in getting pictures and especially stories onto the website. Aliyah is doing great these days, though mom and dad have been dealing with cold issues lately. Mostly mom.
Aliyah is running, not walking, running, throughout the house. We had a bout with some sinus problems with her and the doctors prescribed a nebulizer. We used it for a few days and she was fine after that. She is a big eater these days, takes 2 naps between 11am-4pm, and in between is in constant motion. Goodness, no one ever mentioned the amount of attention you need to devote to making sure they don't bonk into something, eat something from the floor, or try to run out into the street. It takes a constant eye. Wheeeew@!.
She has gotten so smart. Where do they pick up this information?? Susan and I play animal games with her all the time, so she can now name the sounds of a Kitty, Lion, Sheep, Duck, Cow, Doggy, etc, and do it in Spanish as well as english.
Susan's mom has been a godsend for us lately as we get this new house in order. We are heading down to Texas soon to introduce her to my mom (Grandma Jo) who has not seen her yet. We will spend a few days with my mom and then head back.
Aliyah's 15 Month (we go in months now) birthday is coming up in November. No big celebration except for having Thanksgiving dinner here at the conclave. OH OH, Make sure to check out the new issue of ECFE Winter Catalog. Aliyah made the cover. Next up, Gerber Baby Promos, her own teen show, then the runway at Bryant Park during Fashion Week. :-)
http://www.district196.org/ecfe/Catalog.pdf
She had a good time trick or treating. Aliyah was a pumpkin, dad was a scary doctor, and mom was Cleopatra. We had about 75 kids. Dad got to eat all of Aliyah's candy. :-)
More stuff to write about, but we will do so soon. -- Al
August 08, 2008 - Today will be known the world over, as the day the USA entered into the Beijing Olympics, soon to celebrate record medal wins. But more importantly, today Aliyah turned 1 yr old. How cool is that? We had Aliyah's birthday at our new house in Rosemount, where we had about 35 adults and kids show up. Thanks to every one of you who could make it. We are continuing to upload new pictures to the site from that day. -- Al
July 16,2008 - Holy cow, does a few days make a difference or what. I leave for Chicago for overnight, I come home, and I find out Aliyah is now climbing stairs. If you hold her hands, she will walk on her own, and very quickly I might add. Its so incredible how quickly this all happens. Everyone said that, but to actually experience it makes a huge difference. We expect she will be walking by her birthday.
July 8, 2008 - Aliyah turned 11 months today. She has been crawling for about two weeks now. It started with the whole rocking back and forth, or scooching backwards, then all of a sudden, crawling. In fact, I picked her up one afternoon from Grandmas house and Juli said 'look at this', put Aliyah on her hands, and she crawled across the floor and emptied out an endtable. Needless to say, I came home that night, and began to fully childproof the house. We were on the boat from the 3rd to the 7th, and stayed in Bayport Marina for two nights, then in Hudson bay for Sunday night. We took the gang (all 20) up to stillwater on Casa Del Agua to see the fireworks. Aliyah slept through them completely.
She has been such a good girl, and a great all around baby. Only minor fusses, but for the most part, everyone comments on how happy, active, yet not fussy.
She has two bottom teeth coming in. I sometimes feel she is 11months going on 15 yrs, with how smart she has become in such a short time. Extremely focused on what she is doing, if she wants to investigate something, she does. And if she can't figure it out, she does. If you show her once, she will repeat what you did. Susan and Aliyah are back in ECFE for awhile, which is a great interaction time for them and the other moms. Susan also has a mommys group she meets with that seems pretty cool and provides more interaction.
We have not been diligent about updating her site. Things are changing so fast and work has been tough for both of us. We will be updating over the next few days to update the pictures and such. We have some great ones.
Aliyah's 1 year birthday (can you believe it) is coming up in August.
May 8,2008 - Aliyah turned 9 months today. Check out some of the latest pictures from this month. She is getting so big, and so alert. Not really crawling yet, but she has learned how to flip from one side to another in order to get to something. Crawling should be any day now. Aliyah stands up just fine. In fact, if you hold out your hands for her to lean on, she will stand herself up and actually laughs as she does it as she knows she has accomplished standing up.
We are still doing swim lessons, and she gets better each week with kicking and scooping.
Every morning is a joy to see her. Since she can sit up by herself unsupported (something she could do for a couple months), she is able to play with her toys and games and such without us needing to be right by her constantly. She does a good job entertaining herself for 5-10 minutes :-). Aliyah is sleeping sound from 9pm-7am these days.
We have now upgraded to Big Girl seats in the cars now. Another purchase we had to make given that she has outgrown the old seats.
April 8, 2008 - Aliyah turned 8 months today. She is such a happy sort of baby, smiling all time. Aliyah has been rolling over and back again for quite some time now, sleeping thoughout the night, and eating solids. Not only the rice and oatmeal, but also the carrots, squash, etc. Watch out for the peas. Eating solids is quite an experience, especially at first when we started at 6 months, but now she actually is into the whole ritual. Her gross motor skills are great, and she is doing really well at sitting on her own to play with toys. She loves books and anything with pages, but also anything to do with computers or gadgetry. I expect her to start the new Google of the future.
Aliyah's hair is getting long enough to finally make her into a cupie doll.
We moved into a new single family home last friday, and she seemed to take the change in stride. She should, since her new bedroom is almost as big as my first apartment. :-) It has been a very hectic time for us though. Travel has increased for me, Susan is still working part time, and moving does not make it any easier. Oh yeah, and boating season is about to start!!!! Needless to say, I have not had much thought on boating this season with so much to do at home, but that will change.
Some other new things Aliyah is doing is going to swimming lessons. Her mom takes her every monday to Wise Swim School. She loves it, and does not fuss at all. We also are taking her to Early Child Development classes every tuesday. This gives her and her parents the ability to relate with other parents and interact with kids her own age. She seems to like it.
Feb 8, 2008 - Aliyah turned 6 months today. Susan and I can't believe how fast this has happened. For the first few, Aliyah just acted like any other new born. But now, at 6 months, stages we thought we would see for awhile are gone, and replaced with wonderfully new stages. She smiles sooo much, cries when she is hungry, tired, or does not get her way (already has me around her finger). Aliyah always smiles at me and she is constantly searching the room for where I have gone. But one thing her mom gets me on, once the food comes out, Aliyah has no idea who I am anymore. Thats just as well.
We get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep now, but she is still on a late bed schedule around 10pm. We are trying to change that and when we begin to feed her some rice cereal, that may change. Will keep you posted..... Al
Feb 4, 2008 - Wow, it's been a long time since I've written. Aliyah is doing great. She is so much more aware of her surroundings and she's growing like a weed. She sleeps 8 - 9 hours at night. We are gearing up to take her on a plane to Florida, which will be a whole new experience.
1 de enero - Feliz Año Nuevo. Nos alegramos hablar con Manolo y Laura anoche. Aliyah se fue a la cama a las 11:45, no llego al fin de año, pero casi.
Mari, intentamos a llamarte tambien, pero no contestaste. Nos dijeron que tu estarías allí en Manzanilla hoy y que te enseñaran la pagina de Aliyah.
Dejanos un mensaje. Haga click en "guestbook" y "sign the guestbook," escribe el mensaje en la primera caja, tu nombre en la segunda caja y en la tercera caja tienes que copiar el numero que vez (es por seguridad). Entonces haga click en "Add your comment"
December 23rd, 2007 - Aliyah was Baptized today, 9am at Westwood Lutheran Church in St Louis Park. Pastor Jason did a great ceremony. She was a good baby considering she had to get up early, dressed up, tossed into a car seat, and then having water splashed on her while a bunch of people she did not know sang to her and the other babies being baptized that day. All kidding aside, it was a great ceremony and service, and begins Aliyah's life with god. In attendance were, Grandma's Juli and Barb, Grandpa Viall, Uncle Bruce, Uncle Terry, Aunt Kaylene and Aunt Denise. Thanks and love to everyone who were in attendance. -- Al
December 21, 2007 - We took Aliyah to the mall to have her picture taken with Santa today. She was such a good girl. We got a 3x5 picture and two keychains...what a rip off, but you gotta do it, right? We got a picture with our camera, but she's not looking at us : (
December 9, 2007 - I've been reading again...actually I'm reading 3 books at the same time. Most recently I've been reading 'Save Our Sleep' in hopes that we can do just that. Of course, all the books say to wean her of her pacifier, and teach them to self settle, but that means many nights of no sleep and a LOT of patience and perserverance. I'm not sure we're ready for that yet quite yet, but I'll let you know how if goes when we cross that bridge.
She's a night owl, like her Dad, so it's hard to get her down before 11:30 or midnight. Then, if she wakes in the middle of the night, she wants her pacifier and will cry until one of us gets up and gives it to her. I've started putting her down with her Sweet Pea friend that her cousin Emily gave her.
As most of you know, I've been looking for part time. Well, I finally found a position and it started this week. I am still at Ecolab, just in a different divison. I'll work 16 hours one week (Tue, Wed) and 24 the next (Tue, Wed, Thur). I will have Monday's and Friday's off.
Al was gone all week, so we had a busy week. He was here Monday morning for her 4 month appointment , where she had to get her immunizations. That's never fun for anyone, but we made it through.
Luckily I only had to work 2 days this week and my Mom helped out, otherwise I don't think we would have made it. I tell you, the simplest things have become a major under taking. For example, my parents had an appointment with financial advisor to start up a college fund for Aliyah and I decided to go with them. Of course, it was right at her meal time, so I had to bring milk and a bottle, not to mention the diaper bag. Then, she wanted to be entertained during the appointment.
November 25, 2007 - Aliyah enjoyed her first Thanksgiving. She didn't get to enjoy the turkey and stuffing, but she enjoyed the company of family. She is starting to play with toys on her jumpy chair that she hardly noticed before and she's holding her head up better. Although, she still looks like a bobble head.
November 13, 2007 - Grandma came over to take care of me during the day while mom and dad worked. I sure hope I never have to get a job, and what's this college thing that all the grandparents keep talking about. Apparently, they have it under control already which I guess is better than most. I have new pictures of my friends from Spain. My friend Matilde was born in Spain not too long ago. My mommy and her mommy have been keeping in touch lately through Windows Live Messenger. Check out the pictures. -- Aliyah
October 31, 2007 - Aliyah's First Halloween. She is 3 months old today. Susan took her to the doctor because we were concerned about some wheeziness. Turns out that all babies get sniffly and wheezy sometimes. We did not know this, but babies are not wired correctly yet to breath out of their mouth. So by habit, they constantly breath out of their nose. If the nose is stuffy, then they sound wheezy. Go Figure. She got weighed, and was 11lbs 15ozs. Aliyah got dressed up for Halloween as a Pea in The Pod, and she helped hand out candy to about 15 kids that came by during the night.
At 3 months - she is sort of into a kind of routine. We haven't had a "won't go to bed till 2am" deal in about 5 days. If we time it right, she is fed at about 10-11, and has been going down at 11-11:30. She will actually sleep till 6-7, but Susan gets her up to feed her before she goes to work now, and then I get up, pack Aliyah up, and head to grandmas house.
Its been great having grandma Juli watching Aliyah during the week, and it gives us time to figure out if we want to do it that way for good, or make some changes fo the first year. So far Aliyah seems pretty content.
Friday we will take her to Pazzaluna to meet our friends Laurence and Nancy who are going to have a baby soon.
October 26, 2007 - We had a long night again last night, but not as bad as the night before. I was not able to take a nap after I got home, so I was still running on the 4.5 hours of sleep at 11:30 when I finally crashed. Al said Aliyah went down at midnight and she woke me at 5am.
I was so distracted today, getting back into the swing of things that I only cried once. Also, we went to lunch for Angel's birthday and talked about wedding plans for Tracy and Chris, so the day went by faster.
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