Our first trip to the zoo

Well, we took our first trip to the zoo on April 23rd. It was such a pretty day and there were alot of strollers there! :) Alivia had as much fun people watching as we did!

It was hard for her to focus on any animals, but she did notice the monkeys. She would watch them all over their cages. It was quite adorable, I think.

Was she confused that I was a monkey? :)

Pushing the stroller was great exercise. I'm so glad that the weather is getting nicer so we can take walks after work. Hopefully we'll be participating in some of the charity walks coming up soon.

By the end of the day she was done! She had a nice nap in the car on the way home!

We had a lot of fun and are looking forward to trip 2 if anyone would like to join us!

It's good to see our wildlife has their priorities right. They know that if they don't recycle, there will be nothing left of our world for their grandsquirrels!

Time for a change

Well, I thought it was time for a change. With Spring here and flowers blooming, I wanted something more colorful! In addition, we're celebrating our daughter, so thought I'd use "girlie" colors! (Craig will probably love it...we'll see how long it lasts!)

Alivia's Special Day

Alivia's baptism was April 13th.
The day started with some fun playing in her jumparoo! bouncy bouncy bouncy!

Then it was time for the special event...

It was absolutely beautiful and we were so proud!!

The priest who married us, Monsignor Jim Buerster, came in all the way from Germantown, IL to perform the baptism. Craig and I are so honored to have him as such a special part in our lives and now Alivia's life. We will forever be thankful to him.

Family and friends came from all over to share in the joyous occassion! As Craig tried to get out in his thank you, we hope each and every person there continues to play a special part in Alivia's life, guiding her in down a good and holy path. Thank you for celebrating with us.

Thank you to Brenda and Jeff for being Alivia's Godparents. We know you will always be there for her.

Alivia received so many nice gifts...thank you everyone! Look for thank yous soon. Alivia is busy making them for you all!

At the end of the day she was pooped! Such fun and excitement. Actually, I think we were all pooped! :) We went home and had our quiet moments together as a family and thanked God, once again, for each other and for our little angel. She's truly heaven sent.

It worked!

As you all know, I am a scientist. For the past several years I've been working on cloning in our basement! hahah

Here are my results!

We've Got It Easy!

When Alivia is in a grumpy mood or is crying from a belly ache, I just remind myself how easy we really have it! The link posted is an article about 2 of our best friends and the life the live now. Here are their angels!

http://northcountyjournal.stltoday.com/articles/2008/04/09/news/sj2tn20080408-0409flo-triplets0.ii1.txt

Cassie, Jenna, Alli and Jimmy Clauser

Our precious gift

Hello everyone! We can't believe how quickly she is growing up and learning new things. It's sad giving up her little bitty baby days, but it's so exciting, fun and just amazing to see her growing and learning. We are so proud of her!!!!
Alivia does so well eating. Of course, she likes to stick her hands in her mouth and gets a little messy sometimes, but she's taken to the spoon pretty well! I just think it's so cute when she holds the tray of her highchair like this. It melts my heart! :)
She's getting better at tummy time and holding herself up. We think it's a combination of just getting stronger, wanting to move and her tummy feeling a little better. Fortunately, the Pepcid is working the best out of the three we've tried! There are not nearly as many painful fits of crying. We are so glad she is getting some relief.

She has rolled over about 4 times now!! I'm sure soon it will be a regular thing. Wow! A mobile child!

Alivia splashed in the bath for the first time on 4/2/08. It was so cute! She was getting ready for swimming...kicking her feet so proudly!
She loves her toes now!!! :) They haven't reached her mouth, but we're sure that's soon to come.
Alivia loves her robe from Auntie Leen, Uncle Bobby and Bri! :)
After a rough tummy day (lots of crying and spitting up all over her cute shirt) Daddy and Alivia were pooped. After taking her wet shirt off, she looked even more like Daddy, both of them hanging out in their jeans and white undershirts! :)

Craig and I feel so blessed. I know we've said it before, but it's just amazing what God has given us. She is just a wonderful little girl; definitely made from sugar and spice and everything nice.

We're looking forward to her baptism next weekend!

God Bless!

Meet My Family!

I've had so much fun meeting my family and getting to know them all better! What a wonderful family I was born into

On Easter I had fun with Nana and Grandpa (sorry Grandpa, we didn't get you in a pic). Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Jay, Aunt Leen, Uncle Bobby and BriAnn were there too! The Easter Bunnies were good to me. Thank you Easter Bunnies!

Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Jay are holding me! Here are Aunt Leen, Uncle Bobby and Bri!

Love my Bunny!
Hangin with Nana. Grandpa Jack says he can see a little of Nana in me...what do you think?

What a wonderful big cousin I have in Bri!

Here are some pix from when the Katsafanas Family came to visit!







Below are my cousins Lucy, Molly, Libby, and Sara. Grandma Jill is holding me and my Great Aunt Cyn is joining the fun.

I have a new pal, Sara! She was so cute in her AC/DC shirt Uncle Nick and Aunt April gave her!


It's going to be so much fun having Libby only 5 1/2 weeks behind me! Look at all her hair!!! One day maybe I'll catch up!

Just posting some pix!

I'm doing so well sitting up on my own...even though my head is heavy. Shoot! With mommy and daddy's heads, I didn't have a chance. At least I'm proportioned ok!
Love my Bumbo, Aunt Cyn!
I've got my daddy's blue eyes!

We're getting ready for Opening Day. I love my cap! Wow! My hair looks red in the sun. Again...just like when daddy was young!
Thanks, John, for my first personalized "jersey". LOVE IT!

4 Months Old Today!! Wow!

Time sure does fly. Alivia is 4 months old today. She's growing up so quickly and doing fun new things every day.

Where do I begin? :)

Yesterday we went to Dr. Steele because Alivia has had several bad evenings in a row and was pulling on her ear alot. Well, all is ok as far as her ear goes. Dr. Steele is attributing her "fussiness" to her acid issues. Her prevacid works during the day, but at night...not so much. We're going to put her on two doses now; one in the morning and one at night. Hopefully this will help. As far as the rest of the appointment, Alivia is doing great!

Here are her stats:

weight - 15.1 and in the 80% (went down from 97%)

height - 24 3/4 inch and in the 70% (went down from 90%)

head - 17 and still in the 93%!

The doctor said she's very strong and doing well! What good news!



As far as the fun stuff at home goes:

Alivia rolled over for the first time on her own on March 19th. We practiced a couple times with her and then she did it all on her own! For my family, I personally think that Grandma Ruth and Grandpa John gave her a little push.

She also ate cereal with a spoon (ok, I used the spoon, not her) for the first time today, March 21st! She looked at me like I was crazy at first and then seemed to do ok. I couldn't get it in fast enough at one point.

Well, she can't do it on her own yet, but Alivia is playing in her Jumparoo! She just laughs and laughs! What fun. Her exersaucer is next, but she's still a little too wobbly for that. It's that head she has to support...it's heavy! :)

The weekend of the 8th, she got to meet her Great Aunt Cynthia and Aunt Missy and her cousins, Tommy and Sara. We do have some pictures, and I will post them soon, but right now our computer is being repaired. Sorry! Keep checking the blog to see them. She loved playing with Jack, Lucy, Molly, Tommy, Sara, and hanging out with Libby. They look so cute together! It's going to be so much fun watching all of them grow up together.

Alivia is starting to belly laugh now a little more. It's so cute! I wish I could get it on video, but she is mesmerized by the camera when it's out and stops her laughing! Maybe she'll be in Pictures one day (or take them)!

Alivia's 3 month pictures turned out great. Some of you should be receiving them in the mail soon. I'll get them out this weekend. The picture attached is one of them!

We'll be spending her first Easter with Craig's family. It will be great to see everyone again! Maybe Jada will come too and she and Alivia can get to know one another a little better! ;)

We are having our precious angel baptized on April 13th. We are so honored that Father Jim Buerster (the priest who married us) is coming in from Germantown to perform the baptism! We're going to the Old Cathedral downtown and then we'll celebrate afterwards. We're so blessed. We really, really are.

Hope this finds everyone well. Craig and I are adjusting to parenting and absolutely loving it!! It's more rewarding than we could've ever imagined. We're just so proud of our little Alivia and are just amazed at her discovering the world. We thank everyone for all the advice, love and support!

Happy Easter and God Bless

3 months old already!

We can't believe Alivia is almost 3 months old now; Thursday, February 21.

She's changing and learning so much every day. She's smiling and giggling and trying to hold conversations! She's a very active little girl; kicking and punching quite often! I guess that means she's feeling better.

Alivia had RSV and an ear infection for a few weeks and is finally off of her meds and only has one breathing treatment left tonight. Poor thing had to sleep in her swing for a good 2.5 weeks so she could sit up, but we're happy to report she's back in her own bed in her room and doing so much better now!

"Who's that baby in my daddy's car! And why is she wearing that funny hat!" (Alivia discovers herself in the car mirror!)

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

"Hello Fredbird! You're a funny guy! I can't wait to meet you in person one day!"

"I'm going to go over there, Fredbird! Do you want to come?"

Smiling

Well, Alivia is smiling now! Oh so cute! I don't have a photo to post right now, but will later.

Other than that, all is well with the Ball family. Alivia has the sniffles today; hope that's all it is! This could be her first cold. How come that's not in all the baby books! I sure will remember it...staying up all night with her. Poor thing!

Below are a few of her 1 month photos (I know, she's almost 11 weeks already, but we just got these back last week). Enjoy!

Hope this finds everyone well!