What kind of parent am I? A father's adventure in Christmas shopping!

I’m so embarrassed! What kind of parent am I so buy this gift?

It was in the children’s section by mistake. I purchased one for Jordon and David and brought them home for Christmas. Later Darlene noticed that the toy said not for children. Oops! It’s a dog toy! We do call the little guys our puppies, but I guess these toys might not really be for kids. We both thought they was really cute, and it has very nice squeak paws! Darlene and I are thinking about keeping them. We'll see ...

David's First Time Eating Rice Cereal

Four months old and we noticed that the little guy was wanting a little more food than just a milk or formula. So today we decided to see how rice cereal goes. He took to the spoon fast, and kept most of it in during and after feeding. It's so sad that our little baby is growing so fast.

4 month checkup

Today was David's 4 month checkup and he is doing very well. He is in the 75th pecentile for heighth at 25 1/2 inches long and in the 50th percentile for weight at 14 lbs 6.5 oz. It's kindof interesting how Jordon was actually bigger at 4 months by about 1/2 a pound at David's age. Maybe it was the formula that bulked him up.

He had 4 shots, it makes me sad everytime that my kids have to get shots because of the crying but i know that it is very important. Jordon came along too to get a flu shot which he did very well. Gramma was kind to help me out with the appointment. Thank you so much!

Our household has been battling colds for a little while. I have bronchitis/almost phneumonia but hopefully the strong meds the dr gave me will kick it out of my sistem within a week. Going back and forth from TX to MT maybe made it worse. But the trip was worth it.

David is enjoying tummy time, not too much into the rolling but loves to stand and watch what Jordon is doing. Jordon has been doing well with speech at home, not so much with the speech therapist, she intimidates him a bit, but around me he says alot. He now knows how to say: cow, moo, milk, juice, water, meow, down. We are so proud of him. We sure do love our boys!

We are all planning on being well for Christmas, David is also sick with a cold cough and oh ya and a teething cold!

We cant wait to see those who are coming to TX for Christmas. We hope all will go well with the traveling!

Plenty of pictures at Walmart.com

Hi everybody!

Just wanted to invite you all to check out the pictures we took on our last family vacation in Montana. I got them loaded into Walmart.com and I hope this link works.

Love,
Chris, Darlene, Jordon, and David

http://photos2.walmart.com/walmart/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4584271004/a=18899600_18899600/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walmart/

Back from the Winter Wonderland and boy what a travel it was!

Hidee ho! This is Chris.

Darlene and I are back from our world wind adventure to Montana! The airplane trips weren't too bad. Thanks to Darlene's wonderful planning. We had plenty of food to feed Jordon for two days. And plenty of spare clothes in case of anything that could happen during our travels.

The time in Montana was filled with snow, subzero degree temperatures, and more snow, but we all had fun and it was so good to see everyone on Darlene's side of the family. Considering everything I think the trip went really well, but I sure am glad we don't have to travel any time soon. Darlene and I are still tired from the trip and catching up on many things. Darlene has been fight a nasty cold for three weeks and we finally set up an apointment with a doctor this Monday. She is soooooooooo exhaused from dealing with two active boys during the day and night. I had a Boy scout court of honor and then a round table plus catching up on a mountain of work that waited for me at the Dallas office. It's going to be strange taking the new train line down there. Wish me luck, and I'll be sure to mention how it goes in another post. The advertising on the radio say that it will change everything. Well, it certainly will change everything with my commute, and other things too. It will get us down to fair park easier and maybe even a Mavs game too. :)

Love you guys and hope you have a safe and Merry Christmas!

Chris, Darlene, Jordon, and David

OWIE!

So last night was pretty scary, good thing everything is ok. Jordon was actually excited to go to bed last night and started to run down to his room. He's a lot faster than me and before i knew it he had tripped over the gate by his room which had fallen down previously. I forgot it was there and he ran, tripped, and hit his head really hard on the doorjamb. This is the morning after, last night it was 3 times as bad. Didn't like it when i had to put ice on his owie, he fell asleep in like 5 minutes after i iced it and stayed in his a while. He was crying pretty bad but after a lot of hugs, kisses, and 2 books, and 3 songs he was ok and willing to fall asleep. i was afraid he could've had a concussion but was very happy to see him up and running this morning. the only morning i was happy to see him before 6 am! Nothing like a 2 year old boy getting owies. I swear he gets a gooseegg every week. But this one is the worst i have seen.



Everything else seems to be going pretty good. Those of you who check facebook know that I have been sleep training Jordon for real this time. After several nights of him waking up in the middle of the night with him wanting me to sit with him for over an hour made me realize that i really really can't do that anymore. He's been doing pretty good, but some nights he has woken up and wanted to play with the cat! arr! stupid cat jumps his gate. I might just have to lock jordon in his room but we'll see. Nap times are rough. You would think he would want to lay down around 11:30 when he wakes up around 5;30 but somedays he waits til almost 2 or 3. We are doing our best though. He eventually will sleep. I hope daylight savings doesn't make him wake up at 4:30. Any suggestions?

David is doing well. He is almost 3 months old and close to 13 or 14 pounds i think. He is smiling and cooing. He is starting to not like being in his papasan during meals, he wants to see what Jordon is doing. But speaking of David, he is waking up from his nap. Hope everyone is doing well, we'll post halloween pics soon!

Deja Vu!?

So Jordon likes to try to fit into this baby swing, we thought it would be neat to post this picture along with one where he was a baby in the swing. so here you go. it's amazing how fast time flows.

To think he was once this small. We love our Jordon. He has been doing so well lately. He is still in ECI and getting speech therapy but just in the past couple of weeks he has been really using his words plus more. Here is a list of the words he can now say.

please, thank you, up, boom, zoom, zip, mamma, dadda, more, ELMO, milk(kindof), blocks, kitty every now and then, fff for puppy, roar(lion or bear). i'm sure there's a few more but can't think of them.

We are so proud of what he has been learning and are amazed at what he does every day.

Long Lost Pictures

Here are some cute pictures of the boys we would like to share. Some are just them at home and we have some of the baby blessing. No real order to the pictures, don't have the time to really do that. Hope you enjoy!

The first few are pretty funny, i got David a Bumbo seat since he likes to be up looking around and isn't the best at tummy time. We don't want another flat headed kid to take to the chiropractor so this is one of our solutions besides just forcing him to do tummy time a little everyday. Jordon really likes the bumbo seat too and wants it as his toy. This is his reaction to having a toy he really can't have! :)

And the drama! heheehee! ok it is heartbreaking to him but his drama is priceless. the brother jealousy has already set in as you can see!

But we still have a happy boy

Baby David's Blessing day. He was wiped out as you can see. It was a great blessing, thanks for those who could make it to our special day.

Before church, yes, he isn't too happy, mostly because it's nap time!

Our handsome little boy in his new suit. He's turning into more and more of a big kid. I'm not sure how i can handle him looking so much more older in this outfit.

Sorry, some of these pictures are upside down. But here's father and son getting ready for the big day!

And after a long day, night night book time.

Jordon and his Elmo Robe

The two brothers trying to see if they'll sit next to each other. Showing off their Alleman 1 and 2 shirts.

They are becoming better friends and brothers. Still have jealousy issues with Jordon but they do love each other. David watches Jordon all day and it's so cute to see how they interact together as brothers. When one is upset the other one gets upset until they can see eachother and it's like they have a way of calming eachother down. We sure love our boys and are grateful to have them in our family. It's a lot of work but worth it.

Our Two Boys!

We just got this picture and HAD to share it to the world! Jordon isn't giving his usual smile, but we think Jordon's looking pretty handsome. That guy is getting older and older. Where does the time go? Huh? David's look is of surprise, since the second before the photographer stole his pacifier. Hehehe ... it sure got a good photo of the two. We are so proud of these two boys.

Love,
Chris, Darlene, Jordon, and little David

Quick Update

Don't have too much time right now, promise to do a real update later. just fyi, david rolled over from tummy to back this morning. He's starting to coo a little too, 7 weeks old and doing good. of course now i need to wear jordon out. he thinks its so fun to be awake at 5 am! help the poor sleep deprived mommy. hope to get a little power nap before he wakes up at 1. we'll post something later!

Baby David is Here!

Don't have much time to blog, trying to finish dinner before Chris and Jordon get home from church and i need to take a nap. But just wanted to finally state that David is here and safe. He was born on August 5th, 2010 at 11:42 AM weighing 6 lbs 12.5 oz and 19 inches long. He is doing well, quite the eater. He is happy and healthy and we just love him to death. We'll post pictures later and write more of a blog. But we are doing good, I'm just quite exhausted, thank goodness for husbands who get paternity leave!

We hope everyone is doing well.

It's been a while!

So i didn't realize it's been over a month since i've posted anything. I guess I have been a bit preoccupied with a toddler and being pregnant. Jordon is doing good, ECI is helping him learn new signs and talk a little. His new word this week is "ZZZ" for zip as in zipping up a ziploc bag or zippers. He has been acting up a lot for me this past month, i think he senses something is changing and wonders why mommy is looking different and acting grumpy when he wont go to sleep. Yes, toddler bed issues aren't fun for us. ANd he is trying to give up naps i think. Some days he'll nap other days he won't.

But he is still a cute kid and we love him!

We are doing many things trying to get ready for David. We will be induced next Thursday, the 12th and i just found out today that Chris will actually be able to get the whole time off from the 12th to the 25th of the month instead of doing the audit. I am way excited. I have a doctor's appt tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. Wish us luck and we'll have baby David here before you know it. Keep us in your prayers, i'm a bit nervous about doing this all over again plus having a very active needy toddler.

We'll post again as soon as we can!

Energy Level zapped!

So for all those mothers who have children one right after another (Mommy Alleman) I totally respect you. I have no idea how you can maintain a sane attitude while pregnant with a 2 year old or less running around. Let's just say by 6 pm i am so glad that Chris is home. I am plain worn out and tired, just had to vent. Jordon is doing a little better with the toddler bed but still needs at least one of us to put him to bed and of course can't leave til he's asleep. We've tried the say goodnight and shut the door idea, it just gets worse and worse. This is our only solution, maybe in a little while when he starts to understand the concept better he'll let us just put him in his room. I am dreaming of that day. This morning he let me sleep in until 6:30 instead of 5:45ish. I was very happy about that. But the days are long when he won't go down until 11:30-12 and only sleeps a couple of hours or so. But he does fall asleep before 8 which gives me some down time in the evening.

We have 7 1/2 weeks left, pray for my sanity! I dont know about having 2 boys in the house, but i can't wait to be done being pregnant. Next time we'll rethink the due date, no more summer pregnancies. Everything is going well with the pregnancy, besides a bad sciatic nerve and not wanting to move around too much. The dr says i'm measuring a week behind but the ultrasound came out fine, i guess our babies tend to be smaller which i am perfectly fine with. We almost have the nursery all done, everything is pretty much all set, just got to do some freezer meals, wash some clothes, baby shower, and a few odds and ends. HOpe all is well with everyone else!

Filling Dad's Shoes

Well Jordon has shown some interest in my (Chris') shoes recently and here are the pictures to prove how silly he can be. Or maybe how silly we can be as parents. Enjoy!

Dr Appointment

Today i had my dr appointment. I am almost 32 weeks along, hard to believe it's only 2 months away til D-Day! I don't know if i'm ready to have another kid in the house, but i do know i am done with being pregnant. I forgot how much fun the last trimester is. This time i'm actually having a normal pregnancy which is nice but at the same time at least when i was on bedrest i didn't feel the round ligament aches as much and sciatic nerve pain isn't cool either. But we are surviving, we have a sprinkler out back for Jordon and I to cool ourselves off with the heat.

I had a sonogram today since last time the dr said i wasn't measuring correctly(a week behind) which in my opinion isn't bad at all. I always seem to measure smaller. But the sono went great, actually little David has turned, he was in a breach position too just like katie, but now he's head down. Said he is at 3 1/2 pounds so far, fluid levels normal, and my blood pressure is doing good. They had to give me the RH Rogam shot today in the hip. The joys of having the rh factor. But it wasn't too bad.

It has been a long day, Jordon didn't get much of a nap today, so he crashed at 7:15. Time to Relax! And time for my super big gulp! hahaa!

Jordon's Weird Sleeping Habits

So at 3:00 Jordon decided to finally take his nap. I know it might not sound bad to some out there, but he's been awake since 6 AM. I tried from 12-1 to get him down with plenty of tears on both sides. I gave up and said, fine no nap today then. My hopes of him being asleep by 7 PM are long gone. I still have a very long day ahead of me. It's kindof hard to not put him down when he's eating carrots in the high chair almost asleep on the tray. No fussing from him to nap, he saw his bed, i put him in it, he saw big bear and crashed. Good thing Chris will be home soon, I let him take over bed time routine, Jordon listens a whole lot better to him now. Well dinners all done, i guess i'll do the dishes and take a well deserved nap myself.

New Pics!

our incredible growing boy! who thinks he wants to be potty trained, i think he just wanted to sit where i was sitting before bathtime, but we can all hope he wants to get out of diapers soon! We wouldn't mind.

Summer fun has already begun, not even much into June and he already has a bit of a tan line. He loves water! Even got a sprinkler for us to cool ourselves off, thanks Chris!

We actually got him to wear a hat, Thomas the Train, for a few moments to take pictures. Jordon is so determined to not wear anything on his head, just as bad as when we tried to put shoes on him. Of course, I am quite proud that we bought his first pair of sandals that he himself picked out. He went from a size 7-8 1/2.

Jordon giving David a big hug! Jordon loves his little brother to be, not a fan of the mama with no lap though!

3T overalls, yes he does fit into them! Growing toooooooo fast!

Thought you would all like some recent pictures, we are doing pretty good, have a child who is determined to be up at the crack of dawn(ok it's not too bad, but it's still 6 or 6:30 AM) Still working on the toddler bed, hopefully he'll get away from us being in the room, any advice is welcome!

Have a great weekend!

A Long Overdue Post

So, just for the record, we are alive! Sorry we haven't posted in a long time, pretty much all of my waking hours are with a rambunctious active little Jordon, and when he's napping I am asleep. I am almost 29 weeks along and definitely feeling tired and and tired of being pregnant. I guess the 3rd trimester has hit me. I had a lot of ambition the last few months but now it is heading downhill. I don't know how i will survive the summer! But Chris was very kind and has bought those big gulp slurpee cups at 7-11 to help to keep us cool.

So far we are doing fairly well. The nursery is complete for the most part with the crib in their along with the bedding put in. Of course it'll be a while til the baby will go in there. Jordon is working hard on trying to stay in his toddler bed. We have our good and bad days. Night time is so much easier with Chris around, I don't know what i would do without his help. Jordon has turned into a HUGE Daddy's boy and listens to him when he tells him to go to bed. He gives him one warning. With me, today i had to restrain him down in his bed for him to get the point. It hasn't been a good day for me today, but hopefully with a good night's rest we can hope for a better day tomorrow.

I don't know how i feel about him being a Daddy's boy yet, I think it's awesome that he's letting Chris do so much for him. He wants Daddy to give him his yogurt before bed, brush teeth, read stories, and put him to bed(of course i still have to be in there too or else he's very sad). It's just kindof annoying it takes Chris 5 minutes for him to reason with Jordon for him to stay in his bed, when today it took me an hour. what's up with that?

Jordon had his Early Childhood Intervention assessment a few weeks back and he actually did qualify for the program which it's a good thing they caught it this early. We have a developmental specialist coming every 2 weeks and a speech therapist every week. It'll be great to see how they can help him verbalize his feelings better and catch up on the skills he needs to learn.

My sister had her baby almost a month ago and seems to be doing ok. She is feeling pretty tired still with having a 3 year old and a baby in the house. i'm glad her in-laws and my other sister were able to go out and help her. We are very excited to have our little boy here soon, so much left to do still but we are up to the challenge! I hope??.... Thank goodness for plenty of family and friends being so willing to help us out. We have officially decided on a name for our little boy but i think i will do a fun thing this time and see if anyone can unscramble an anagram!

"Earl Handyman Lived!"

Hope everyone is doing well, take care!

It's a BOY!

Chris, Cindy, Jordon, and I went to my doctor's appointment on Monday. It was the big day of finding out the gender of bump Alleman. Everything so far with the doctor's appointments are going well, my blood pressure is pretty good and i have plenty of amniotic fluid. Jordon was pretty concerned for me when he saw me lying down on the table. He started to cry when they put the jelly on my belly. Our little sensitive son. It was as if he was asking Daddy, "what's wrong with Mommy?" It was very sweet.

It took the ultrasound dr about 10 minutes to finally be able to tell us what we would be having. The baby just would not cooperate and wanted to keep all curled up in the fetal position. But finally HE cooperated. Yes we are going to have another little BOY! We are so excited, we thought for sure it would be a girl but ultrasounds these days don't lie. But it will be nice since we have everything we need, clothes and all. If anyone would throw a baby shower it would just be for diapers, wipes, and maybe a few other things that would be nice this time around. Jordon will have a lot of fun having a little brother around.

Here are the ultrasound pictures we got.

profile shot
full body shot

another profile

Thanks for all your support, we sure enjoyed telling our great news!

Birthday and Easter

Happy Birthday to our 2 year old. Can't believe it's been 2 years. Here he is at a week old, so tiny, only 5 lbs, totally in need of our constant help.

Now I'm 2! I'm going to be a BIG BROTHER! I am becoming more independent, sometimes i don't let mommy put my shoes on, of course i just can't seem to get it. Daddy thinks I have mommy's smile, cheeks, and eyes, but i've got the Alleman heighth, hair, and hips! Did i tell you, i'm almost 3 feet tall and a whopping 26.5 lbs. I'm still a tall skinny boy according to my doctor. I like my doctor.

I love my Megan! She reads nice stories to me. thanks for coming over and spending time with me!

Easter Egg Hunting at McKinney with Laura, Jeremy, and Kirsten. Right now i'm in my happy state of mind, just got to the park.

The Easter Egg Hunt in my age group already went and I missed it by just a few minutes. Getting a little annoyed!

Ok, so not just a little but very! I want to go get my EGGS!

Well, at least i got one! I snuck an empty one into my hands!

Oh so happy, very happy, elated!

There's my mommy, had to tell her everything!

Birthday Pancakes! I know it's supposed to be waffles, but Jordon loves pancakes so much more, don't ask me why. I really think it's all about the syrup!

Welcome to my birthday party! i had such a good time, of course i couldn't think about taking a good nap that day, so i'm already tired by the time it started, but not trying to show it. I had my best buddies over! Thanks for having a water party with me!

We made cupcakes this year, thought it would be easier for all the toddlers!

Opening up all my cool presents. I got a little people airplane, bubbles, lego mega blocks tiny and tuff buildable car city (way too cool), outdoor chalk, a cars chair, and way too many other things at this party and at gramma and grampa's. Daddy and Grampa made me wooden blocks, Laura got me a Pooh Bear cup with straw that i love. I sure got spoiled this year, i guess everyone wanted me to know how special i am before the baby comes! I sure feel spoiled!

I'm still not sure about this whole cake thing and the candle.

But it sure tastes good, had 2 cupcakes, couldn't get enough chocolate. Just ask my parents how hard it was to get me to go to bed.

My cars chair and I.

My new kitchen!

Kirsten and I getting ready for an Easter Egg hunt at Gramma and Grampa's.

We are all so excited!

Mommy and I doing the hunt. I just couldn't help opening every egg. And then i found candy. I like the candy! Heehee!

And puppy!

I love my presents, but now it's time for bed!

Good night everyone! Thanks for helping me enjoy a great birthday!