Cold Weather

It feels as if fall has finally arrived! Football is in full swing, the trees are changing colors and my mums are still alive!;) This weekend the weather really took a drastic turn. It went from being in the 80s during the week to the high being 54 on Saturday! Crazy! Of course it happened to be homecoming for HSC so it was a crazy weekend of outdoor events and a big game on Saturday. What does a pregnant woman wear when she has no warm maternity clothes...oh the joys of getting bigger and bigger daily;) Good thing Alley had a warm outfit to wear while showing support to her favorite Tigers. Just this past week an old friend sent me a package of some HSC outfits her girls had worn during their time at HSC. It was so sweet of her to pass them down and let Alley wear them! Thanks Cortney:) Here's a picture of us before the game - thank goodness she slept the whole game because it was FREEZING outside. (Side note - there were girls at the game in sundresses, summer-weight sweaters and flip-flops! Where are their moms???!!!!)
Okay, I couldn't pass up this picture. Alley has definitely started copying us in everything we do. She saw me lean up against a poll the other day and cross my legs, so now she does that all the time. Here she is leaning against the door jam this morning eating her muffin...so silly:)

Books and Costumes

As most of you guys know, Alley loves (and I mean LOVES) to read books. She could spend all day looking through books and just soaking up every little detail on the pages. She and "my daddy" spent Sunday morning going through her books...such an adorable moment.



These next two pictures are of Alley trying on part of her Halloween costume. We've had the costume for a few weeks , but Alley has absolutely refused to try it on (much to our dismay). We finally convinced her to try it on tonight - with Mimi's help:) Alley has an obsession with wearing everyone else's shoes...so we said she could try on Mimi's shoes if she put the costume on - I just wanted to see if she was really that serious about shoes...and she must be!!! She went right over and let us put it on her and then demanded "shoes!". So funny!! Here she is with Mimi putting on the shoes and then the glorious wild costume...don't worry, if we can convince her to wear it again, she'll have black on underneath;)

Football Saturday

I love Saturdays in the fall. I love the cool mornings, the crisp air, the colors of the trees...as well as the excitement of a day tailgating and watching your favorite team win:) Today we watched the HSC tigers beat the Bridgewater Eagles on our home field. It was a great game (which I actually got to watch because Alley was napping - woo-hoo - victory!) and awesome tailgating...as long as food is around, I'll think it's the best tailgating ever;)
I tried to get some photos of Alley...she was acting so photogenic;) Of course the day Alley is wanting pictures taken of her is the day my camera acts SUPER slow!! Go figure...Anyway, all these photos are a second too late, but she was so cute I had to post them.

Striking a pose:)

I went to take a picture and she sat down and said "cheeeeese"

Getting ready for the big game

Alley has started singing all the time. She breaks into songs at the most random times...in the grocery store, at a football game, in the tub, when we put her down for bed or nap...during prayers! I have tried to get her to sing on camera because she is sooooo darn cute when she does it! Tonight I was able to get one of her many songs on video. I'm going to continue to try and get her singing twinkle twinkle little star - she sings that one ALL the way through and on key!! Amazing:)
The video will not upload - go figure - so I'm going to continue to try and get it up at some point today...

First Haircut

I took Alley to Chesterfield this morning to have her first haircut. It's not like her hair was super long or really impossible. She just needed a trim to fix some of the wildness to her hair. I was truly impressed with this place! They had cars for them to sit in and DVD's for them to watch and even had hair clips for them to pick out to wear home. Alley did a fabulous job...no tears, no fussing, no problems! I was slightly nervous that she would melt down, but this place had so much for her to look at that she was perfect. Here are some cute pictures of the event:

She wanted to sit in the pink convertible (thata girl!)

Here is what it looked like before the first cut...

In the zone

too cute;)

The big girl after it was all done. I was so proud of her:)

The verdict is in...

It's another girl!!!!!! The ultrasound tech had a very hard time getting pictures of baby girl McPherson #2. She was moving around a ton! She was also in breech position (which wont be a problem until much later on down the road!), so that created some minor issues. I'm just praising God for another healthy precious baby. We are so blessed!

Precious little thumb sucker
The classic McPherson foot picture:)

HSC Football

Today Alley enjoyed her first HSC football game of the season (I went alone last weekend to the Tiger's first home game). It was an enjoyable game (due to a friend graciously letting Alley nap in her apartment which is right next to the field) with a wonderful final outcome! The Tigers won in overtime (whew!) and Alley slept for most of the game!! Woo-hoo! I think we've found our game plan for the rest of the season!! She woke up rested and ready to see "my daddy" (Andy, obviously). Here are some pictures from after the game.

Alley posing like the HSC Tiger Alley and "my daddy" - precious:)

and the family photo

New Challenges

***UPDATE*** (Monday, 8/31)
Alley slept for 2 hours and 15 minutes in her "big girl" bed yesterday - even going down without a sound! YEAH! As for potty training...tonight she stood victoriously on top of her little toilet (after sitting on it for a long time and claiming - "all done") and peed on top of it....at least she was close...right?! I guess that's what we get for getting a toilet that is also a step stool...

Since we are expecting #2 in the late winter, we've come to realize two things. First, we do not want to have TWO kids in diapers (pricey!!), and secondly, we need to get Alley out of the crib so we don't have to buy another one for the baby. Oh I feel stressed already just saying that;) So why not try to knock them out all at once, right?! Actually, I think we're going to take a slower approach, but if we still haven't accomplished them by Christmas, watch out!

Today Alley is taking a nap in her "big girl" bed for the first time and so far so good! We're going to start out with just naps and then after she seems to be use to the bed, we'll jump in head first with nights. We thought naps would be easier since she sleeps on a cot at daycare...night could be a whole different story! As for potty training...I wasn't even thinking about it, until Friday. I went to pick up Alley from daycare and her teacher asked to talk to me. This is when I found out they have been putting Alley on a potty several times a day and that day, Friday, she actually tinkled a little bit in the potty...WHAT?! My child?! The oblivious one? Ha...needless to say, I was hooked on the idea from that point on...you mean I could possibly get her potty-trained before baby #2?! Thrilled! So today we've been hanging out around her potty...nothing yet, but she sure does love sitting on the potty;) I'm not going to push it, but I'll continue to offer it...there is hope:)

So, that's the news from here...just getting ready for some serious transitions:)