Ear Infection Free and Proud to Be!

In the absence of ear infections, Allie's coming into her own and we have deemed her a certifiable goofball. She is jabbering non-stop, about what, we don't always know. She's added some new crazy faces to her repertoire, and she's quite ready to let you know how she feels about things, which leads us to her latest accomplishment in the word-list...'no.' Imagine me, Suz, pointing my finger at Abby and saying 'No!' She's got the intonation down and everything. It's unnerving. We're finding ourselves having to pass her off and turn our heads when we see her doing it because it's in the brief stages of still being absolutely adorable, but we know it won't take long for the tide to turn. And lastly, for the latest belly-update, Allie's shirt-sizes end in  a 'T' these days, for TUUUUM-MMMY.

Some things don't change, she still loves hanging out with the big boys, especially her two very big boys, Jamie and Noel.

What do you mean I don't look comfortable? I can hang...hey guys...this sleeping bag's a little slippery..little help here.

We spent Easter at home and with Grammy and Grandpop Shaiko at the end of our North Carolina Spring Break.

Abs was still on cloud nine from getting her Allie back...

A little Easter morning lovin' from Abs. Perhaps she saw Allie's morning Mullet and couldn't contain herself.

All cleaned up and ready to...

DANCE!!!

Easter Morning Eicholtz Ladies

We took advantage of the sunny day to test out her egg-hunting, bubble-blowing skills.

Tell me again, Grandpop. Which came first? The pink and green chicken or her pink and green egg?

No matter, that's one for me...moving on.

And some Easter afternoon bubbles with Daddy...

Daddy, I've been watching, I can do it. I'm confident I'll be GREAT.

YEEEEEESSSS!!!!

And a few every-day photos so you can see what's going on at the Eicholtz house these days...

See? Certifiable Goofball.

What? Not a good hat choice for the rain?

I'm sure I can think of something else to do with this...

And the star of many afternoons, our very own Justin Beiber impersonator....'Baby. Baby....Baby.'

Here, watch. You'll be jammin' like me in no time. 

Sorry, friend. You're slowing down my groove.

OK, fine. I'm just as good one-handed anyway.

A little double-baby-lovin' in her special  corner. Yes...that's the trashcan.

A rare pony-tail-IN-the hair snapshot. She knew that Brady's 2nd birthday called for  pulling out all the stops!

Nothing says 14-month-old fashion like bling, ice-cream, and jeggings.

Our little energizer isn't a fan of day-time napping unless we're driving somewhere. Sometimes, she just goes until she crashes. And then it looks like this...

And...

she's...

out.

New Atti-tubes!

On the 30th, Allie had minor surgery to get a matching set of ear tubes 'installed.' The doctors and nurses were wonderful and it was very quick. There was a pink 'Allie-phant' waiting for her on her bed and she's received a very sweet 'recovery card' from the team. We decided to celebrate the hopeful end of ear-pain with four new molars. It's still nice to not have to worry about whether it's teething or the ears, unless something didn't 'take' I can assume it's the gums and Orajel-away. Allie was back to her normal self the afternoon of the surgery, so the next day, we headed out for North Carolina, our Spring Break home-away-from-home, to see Grandpa and Grandmom Wintrode. We had a great time, as always.

I'm ending this blog less than an hour before Easter, so I'll finish with a wish for Easter Blessings to you all and the hope that you are able to enjoy the gift of Christ's love and resurrection with your family and loved ones close by.

And now, our NC vacation in a (rather large) nutshell of pictures...

A pre-surgery pep-talk from our little negotiator...

Alright, Doc. Here's what it boils down to...what are YOU, going to do for ME?

 The 'Kittys' featured prominently in our time in North Carolina. Allie's never really had a reason to use this word, but she decided she liked it (and them)...a lot.

Crouching-Allie, Hidden-Kitty Stance. We saw this one many times.

Me? I just want to pet and love and hug them.

One of these little guys was more excited about this meeting than the other...

Grandmom, where did she go? I was just saying we could be best friends and I'd never leave her...ever...

I'm in my PJs, I've got my water, I can do this all day long, Kitty.

I give up. I need breakfast.

And we all know breakfast is more fun with Grandpa

We brought our swimsuits, but the indoor pool's heater was broken and it was still a bit chilly for a dip outside, so we put on a swim-suit fashion-show inside instead...

That's right, you've earned that belly!

Work it....

And...freeze.

Wardrobe change! Finally! This belly can breathe!

 And we hit the links, of course.

Ah, it's a beautiful day for a game of golf with the grandparents.

What do you mean, 'Watch the ball.'?

Now, where did that land? A little help here...

I got it! Guys! I got it!

I'm packing it in. It's lunchtime, folks.

 But it wasn't ALL fun and games...

Keep swiffering, Allie...

Those greens-fees don't pay for themselves.

  We took the golf cart and headed over to introduce Allie to the putting greens....but really we introduced the putting greens to Allie.

Grandpa, is this thing street-legal?

This place is a goldmine.

Apparently, we forgot to explain the part about being quiet on the course. She wanted to make sure we saw each ball and knew that it had a name.

Good. Nice stance, Grandmom. Now not too much of a back-swing and put that ball in the hole.

Watch. This is how it's done.

 We visited the beach, but it still wasn't quite warm enough to test out her new suits. We learned that our girl wants absolutely NOTHING to do with walking on the sand. Shoes, no shoes, wet and packed, soft and shifty, doesn't matter. She's not having it. The seagulls, she loved...go figure.

I'm not taking one more step, lady. I can have my beach fun from here, thank you very much.

 Back at the house, she was her shy and retiring self again.

Hah!

 And then since we were going to have to say goodbye before Easter, we did a little pre-game warm-up with a back-yard Easter Egg Hunt.

Nothing inside? I'm going to have to have a chat with this Bunny.

Just making sure they're not hiding anything chocolate that they might want me to eat.

But to be extra sure, I'd better...

Nope. Definitely NOT chocolate.

She may be part Cullen with that white skin and her affinity for biting when needed...but she's all ours and we love her.

And of course we made sure to get in more than a few good belly-laughs during our visit.

But we knew we had to head back home as our slurp quota was getting dangerously low.