ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

so i made a little vlog. it's mostly about Baby Wise , you know, the book? i think i mention at least twice in the video, i'm not trying to start a debate about parenting or infant management, demand-feeding vs. scheduling... i don't intend to argue over which is better. all it is, is me explaining really quick, the basic idea that the book presents about a flexible routine style of infant sleep training and feeding that they call "parent-directed feeding"... it's pretty simple and straight-forward and since i'm right in the thick of it, i figured i'd let you in on the secret. again, a lot of you probably did things differently and others of you probably did BabyWise like me. some of you gals are expecting your first baby soon, and this method might work for you, it might not. anyway, if you have any questions, please ask! i'm not an expert but i've read and implemented it, and have some experience. so here we go: ...

whelp, i had a baby on wednesday!  it was so strange how that was all planned out.  very surreal to just walk into an operating room and have them pull out a baby ten minutes later.  and everything went according to plan, praise God! we're all happy and healthy and getting used to a family of four [which included buying a new (to us) car because we couldn't fit two carseats in my car AND have daddy drive. he's too tall and the seat wouldn't scoot back enough. we would've had to take 2 cars every time we went somewhere] i'll write about everything in detail soon, when i have some free time [haha!]  but for now i figured i could at least give you my instagram photos from last week? make sure you scroll all the way down for a sweet little surprise :) this girl and her trains shameless bragging: she does these puzzles 100% by herself. it's amazing. the trains have taken over our house! a spontaneous trip to cold stone. one...

you have one more day to be my baby... tomorrow morning we'll wake up, we'll get in the car and we'll drive to the hospital, and you'll become a big sister. technically, you won't be my baby anymore. you'll be my big girl... God has equipped you in so many ways to be a big sister. you are kind and thoughtful and compassionate, always looking after others and making sure they're happy and comfortable. you love to help me around the house, and you love little babies. your family is so important to you. i believe you will be Tessa's favorite and best friend, almost by default, and i hope that each day you choose her to be yours too i pray that you grow to be the kind of girl, teenager, woman that she can look up to. you love to do right, and you love positive reinforcement. i pray i can nurture that desire into a love for goodness and mercy and mostly just Jesus. Tessa will need you. you will identify w...

most of you know that i'm having a baby in 9 days, right? okay, just making sure. so i'm definitely in that last-minute-get-everything-done nesting phase. the furniture still needs to be swapped from my 2 year old's room into the baby's room. we still have to put together a dresser and storage cubby-thing. i have a million and ten things that i want to hang on the walls, in both rooms but my husband doesn't love when i hang things myself... but he also doesn't want to do it. [i'll probably just take the reins on this one and just do it myself] anyway, the nursery is just being recycled since i'm having another girl. it's the " brooke " line from pottery barn, and i still love it: owls, birds, trees, lots of color! i found this stamp at michael's yesterday and fell in love. i'd been wanting to do some hoop art for her room, and thought this would be perfect. well, i also needed to make a few things...

reese and i did a little maternity shoot yesterday. there are some of just her, some of just me, some of the two [actually, three] of us girls. my cousin-in-law Melissa is about to open up a photography business, and she's been needing some maternity photos. i wish i could say i was happy to oblige and be her maternity model. but i was very reluctant! while i knew the photos were going to turn out amazing, i was less than confident with my appearance. to say i am self-conscious and uncomfortable right now would be a huge understatement! i'm due in 4 weeks and you can certainly tell. after seeing how these photos turned out, i told Melissa i will forever consider her a m a g i c i a n , in addition to a photographer. the fact that i love every single photo [even the ones of myself with my face actually showing! ha!] was legitimately shocking, and pleasantly surprising. THANK YOU Melissa! i'll post a few here, and then i want you to head over to her blog for the rest :) ...

today i am 19 weeks + 1 day pregnant. we had our official, medical ultrasound [where you usually find out the sex, but we already knew it was a girl]. she confirmed that it was in fact a girl, which was no surprise to me. and it looked like everything else was good too. i never want to take for granted the fact that my babies are healthy and all their parts are working properly. i know it could be very different and i know i certainly don't deserve a healthy baby over anyone else. anyway, it occurred to me that maybe you'd want to see some shots of the growing belly? and it is popping out fast! i promise at the end of these 40 weeks people will be asking if i'm sure i'm not having twins [it happened last time, so i fully expect it again]. i discovered it wasn't all that simple to take photos of myself... find the right lighting, find an object to set the camera on that was high enough, make sure it focussed correctly, and then make sure i didn't look like a...

i've been wanting to show you theses photos for awhile... loving her new PJs: and if that doesn't clue you in, maybe this will: of course, this will probably do the trick: due february 8th. excited :) [oh, and i'm doing a 27% off promo in honor of my 27th birthday coming up. use code BDAY27 at checkout. yay!]