So many new things!

I can’t believe how many new things Alana is doing! Since we have gotten to Norway, she has started running (about two weeks ago), climbing stairs (about 2 weeks ago), walking backwards (3 days ago), and climbing up on chairs (yesterday)! She pretty much always has a couple of fresh bruises from all the falls she takes from doing all of these things! She continues to amaze me with the things she knows. She knows what things are and what they are used for and says so many new things.

I put some more pictures up and will try to get more up soon.

Well, gotta run!

-Kellie

Finally! New pictures!

Well, I finally was able to get my computer hooked onto the internet at a friend of my mother’s home. So, I was able to get some pictures up. I have a lot more to get up but it’s a start!

We are having a good time, but are hoping the weather gets a little better soon. It has been very rainy and cold here the last several days, so we haven’t been able to play at the park lately.

Well, gotta run…. enjoy the new pictures!

-Kellie

Anyone out there?

Just checking in and wondering if anyone is reading my posts here. Would love to see some comments!

We are still doing well in Ålesund. Lanie has learned to climb stairs on her own, with me very close by of course. She gets a lot of practice since we are on the 4th floor. Her favorite thing to eat here seems to be polser and somedays that is the ONLY thing I can get her to eat. She must be taking after her father, who ate a lot of polser when he visited Norway.

Well my time on the computer at the library is about up, so I will post more later. Still haven’t been able to get on a wireless network due to a problem with my AC adaptor. I have ordered a replacement so once I get it I will be out looking for a wireless network again! Then maybe I can get some pictures posted!

-Kellie

Our little shoplifter!

Today, we were out shopping at a shopping center in Ålesund and decided to stop in a kiosk (convenience store) to get a couple of polser (Norwegian hot dogs – so much better than American hot dogs!). While I was paying, apparently Alana decided she wanted a Kvikk Lunsj ( a candy bar similar to a Kit Kat). I didn’t notice and neither did my mother until we got down the hall to sit down and eat our polser. Alana had started eating through the wrapper to get to the chocolate! I did go back to the kiosk and paid the 11 kroner for the candy bar and everyone had a good laugh. I’ll definitely be keeping a closer eye on her in the stores from now on! I took some pictures of her with her booty, and will post them as soon as I can!

-Kellie

Hello from Norway!

This is the first chance I have gotten to get online to post anything, and unfortunately I won’t be able to post any pictures yet, but hopefully, soon! We are having a great time here in Ålesund, and Alana seems to really be enjoying herself. We go walking into town every day and she just loves to be outside. So far the weather has been very nice and we haven’t had too much rain.

The plane trip over was a bit of an ordeal, but Alana did very well through it all.

I have to get off the computer now, but I will write more later, and as soon as I find a wireless network I can log into I will post some pictures!

-Kellie

Our Big Trip!

6/7/05, 9:30 P.M.

Tomorrow Alana and I are leaving for our big trip to Norway! It is Alana’s first trip out of the country and we will be gone for 6 weeks. We will be traveling and staying with my mother in her hometown of Aalesund. I am excited and anxious all at the same time. Alana and I went to Pennsylvania just over a week ago, and I have been busy trying to get ready for this trip for the past week. Of course, I am still not ready and will be up most of the night to finish what I need to.

I know everyone left behind here will miss Lanie and I will try to get pictures posted while we are there if at all possible. I hope everyone else has a great summer!

-Kellie

1 year old!

It is so hard to believe that a year has already gone by since Alana joined our family. It has gone by way too fast! She has gotten so big and excites us every day with all of the new things she does. She is not quite walking on her own yet, but walks along the furniture and with us holding her hand. Most of all she just likes to crawl to get where she wants, and she is very fast doing that. She is talking up a storm and so far says baby, daddy, hi, hey, there, and bye-bye that we can discern. She can be very loud and has a way of making her presence known! She had her 12 month check-up on the 13th and the doctor said she seems to be doing very well. She weighs 22 lbs, 13 oz, which is just above the 75th percentile. She is 30 1/2 inches tall which puts her between the 75th and 90th percentile. Her head circumference is 18 3/4 inches which is still right at the 95th percentile. She seems to be staying right on track and is meeting all of the age appropriate developmental milestones.

On her birthday, I took the day off to spend it with her. We mostly just played at home, and then went to go take some pictures in the bluebonnets (a Texas tradition). We went out to dinner with Alana’s Grandpa and Mormor at Cristina’s Mexican Restaurant. They gave Alana some flan for her birthday but she wasn’t impressed at all! Since David had to be out of town for work on her birthday we did her family birthday dinner on the 14th instead. Along with David and I, Alana’s Mormor, Grandpa, and Aunt Michelle were there. We had a cake for her which she promptly stuck her hand in, but really wasn’t quite sure what to do with after that! Her actual birthday party will be next Saturday, the 23rd, so I will be sure to post more pictures then!

I just updated the Picture Gallery, so I hope you all will take a look and see what Alana has been up to!

-Kellie

New Pictures

I have been working on getting Alana’s picture gallery updated and hopefully will have that done tonight. I noticed when I was putting up the Christmas pictures that we didn’t have any of Alana opening any gifts. Thinking back, I don’t think any were taken because we decided to videotape and I forgot to make sure someone also took some still pictures. I can tell you Alana wasn’t really all that interested in opening presents, but really liked the paper and boxes. We still have the box her stuffed polar bear came in and I think she plays with the box more than the bear!

Hope everyone enjoys all of the new pictures!

-Kellie

9 Month Update

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything to the website, just been pretty busy around here.

Alana is doing great and is just getting so big!. She had her 9 month check up on January 14th. She weighed 20 lbs, 3 ounces, which was in the 75th percentile for weight. She was 29 1/4 inches long, which was in the 90th percentile, and her head circumference was 18 1/2 inches which was above the 95th percentile. She didn’t have to have any shots this time, but they did have to do some bloodwork which turned out fine. They just had us start her on a multivitamin with iron because her iron came up a little on the low side, but nothing to worry about.

Alana has started doing so many new things! She started crawling earlier this month and is getting into everything. In the past week she has started pulling herself up on her knees and now completely up to stand! We know it won’t be long for her to start walking. Last Sunday, she started waving goodbye, which is just so cute! Now she waves goodbye to me in the morning when I leave for work, which both makes me smile and makes me sad to leave.

So, I think Alana said her first word, but David isn’t convinced. She has been babbling for quite some time, saying wawa and baba, among other things, but this past Wednesday we were all out at my parents house, and David was holding Alana and my parents and I all heard her say “Daddy.” I thought it was pretty clear, but David thinks it was just more babbling.

As I said earlier, we have been pretty busy around here. The holidays were pretty hectic, but we had a good time. David’s Dad and his wife, Patti, came out from California for Christmas to celebrate Alana’s first Christmas with us. It was so nice to have them here and Alana enjoyed spending time with her Papa and Yaya. We had some snow the week of Christmas, so Alana’s first Christmas was a white one. We had Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning here at our house, and then had Christmas Day dinner at my parents home in Haslet. I finally managed to get out our holiday cards about half way into January, which I just have to believe is better late than never, right?

David started his new job with ACS, and it looks like he is going to be travelling a bit, so I know I will be posting more when he is out of town so he can see his little “Stinky Pants” when he is away. I have tried to get him to call Alana something else, anything else, but the name seems to have stuck for now at least.

I hope all is well with everyone else, and I am going to try to get Alana’s pictures updated and try to put news on here more than once every 3 months!

Take Care!

-Kellie

6 month check up and general update

Alana had her 6 month check up on October 12th and the doctor said she is doing very well. She weighed 18 pounds (75th-90th percentile), measured 27 1/4 inches long (90th percentile), and her head circumference was 17 3/4 inches (above 95th percentile). She got 5 shots, which she did not appreciate, but mommy and daddy were both there to comfort her.

Alana has now tried all of the 1st food veggies and fruits and we have not found anything that she doesn’t seem to like. We figure she just likes food! The doctor said we can move on to 2nd foods now, and we will as soon as we work our way through our stockpile of 1st foods!

Alana is doing so much now! She is a very busy girl, always on the move. She hasn’t started crawling but she rolls everywhere! She loves to play with her toys and loves her new exersaucer. She has a toy in her crib that is an elephant that plays music when you pull its tail. We have been awakened on a few occassions by that music in the middle of the night when she has woken up and is just occupying herself.

Alana has two teeth now! The first one came through on the 16th of this month and the next one came on the 24th! So she now has both of her bottom front teeth coming in, but she really hasn’t been very fussy at all, so we hope this will hold true when she gets others!

I am going to try and get her picture gallery updated in the next few days so keep checking back for new stuff!

-Kellie