Here We Go Again

Does it feel like last week is repeating itself to anyone else? It does to me. Let's see, it's Wednesday morning, I am packing, getting presents together and I have to run to the store. We are heading out of town this afternoon so we can go see my parents in East Texas. We'll be back Sunday...yep, exactly like last week! I miss my parents so much. It feels like forever since I have seen them, I think it's because I didn't see them on Christmas. The only difference is that I was a little more organized last week. I am sitting on my couch now looking around at my house. Had you told me 7 months ago that my house would look like this, I would have said no way. It is a complete wreck. There is baby gear EVERYWHERE. No matter how much I pick up, it never seems to stay that way. We need a room devoted just to baby stuff. Our friend Rachel came over Monday night and brought us a few things her son has outgrown. She is moving in a couple of weeks and wants to take as little as possible. It's great for us because it means free stuff! She brought us a walking toy thing for Alex when she is a little older and a Jumperoo!

I put Alex in the Jumperoo yesterday and she loved it! This picture kinda describes my days right now. Cooper is like my little furry shadow. Poor guy is starved for attention so anytime I am with Alex, he is right there. It is even worse when the camera comes out, he has to be right between us!

I had Miss Abby yesterday. Over the Christmas holiday she started rolling over!!! Yeah, two rolling babies! Abs isn't quite as fond as being on her tummy as Alex is, but we'll work on it!

Abby, come play with me!!

Mommy, seriously, why is Abby trying to kick me?

hmm, not quite how I imagined it would be. How am I supposed to play with you if you aren't facing me?

Thank you for the comments on yesterday's post. I got some size 3 diapers last night so we'll see how they work. Alex is still sleeping so hopefully we will have dry sheets when she wakes up! I better go start packing so we can head out when Josh gets home!

Avocado

Alex had avocado for the first time yesterday. Despite the silly faces, she ate it all so I am assuming that means she liked it! This girl is an eater. She always finishes whatever fruit or veggie we give her and the oatmeal then acts like she still wants more!

Josh and I think she is starting to cut a tooth (or 2)! We can see and feel 2 white bumps on the front of her gums on the bottom. She has been very fussy at night, chewing on my finger non stop and tugging at her ears (which is a sign of teething). She has been great during the day, but a little miserable at night. My poor little pumpkin.

Josh worked yesterday and Alex and I ran a ton of errands then met him for lunch. He was so cute when he got home. She was napping and he kept going in her room to see if she was awake yet. After spending the last 5 days with her, he really missed her while he was at work. She finally woke up and Josh snuggled with her most of the night. She is getting so snugglie again, I LOVE it! She was a little fussy so I put her on my chest and within a minute she was out. I left her there for about an hour because she was just so darn sweet. I swear, sometimes I just look at her and she just takes my breath away. She is just so perfect and beautiful.

She is now sleeping about 10-11 hours at night, which is great except....she sleeps on her tummy and we are having leaks pretty much every other night. I am forever stripping the bed and washing the sheets and mattress pad. We have always loved the Pampers Swaddlers but I am wondering now if I need to switch to something else.

I hear the little munchkin waking up and she doesn't sound happy...I am guessing she leaked through again. Ugh!

Christmas 1-3

Sorry it's been so long since I have updated the blog. I was having problems logging in for some reason.

Anyway, Christmas (#1) started on Christmas Eve morning at our house. Since we were heading to Dallas that afternoon we wanted to have our Christmas at home before we left instead of taking the gifts with us. Josh and I got up early on Wednesday, made coffee and opened our presents from each other. We decided to let Alex sleep since she really doesn't know what is going on just yet. My sweet, amazing husband did great this Christmas. I got a KitchenAid Professional series stand mixer that I have been wanting FOREVER! I was so excited and surprised! Then he handed me a flat box that I just knew had jewelry in it. I opened it and saw a necklace and matching earrings. I just kinda looked at it and said thanks, I love it. I was really thinking, does my husband even know me?!?! It was nothing I would ever wear but I felt so bad because he looked so proud. I just sat there acting like I really liked it. He was doing something behind his back but I couldn't figure out what it was then he finally just took the box away from me and pulled the necklace and earrings out and there was my real gift! He got me an iPhone! He was trying to call it so it would ring but it wasn't getting a signal so it wouldn't ring. I was so excited to get the phone but I was even more excited I didn't have to act like I liked the necklace and earrings anymore! I mean, it really was ugly. I actually think it is plastic! He said he actually looked for the ugliest thing he could find!

That afternoon we loaded up the car and headed to Dallas. I have spent every Christmas Eve of my life at my Grandma's house with my entire family and this Christmas Josh thought he was going to have to work all day on Christmas Eve so we told my Grandma we were not going to be able to make it. We told her in November and I could tell she was upset we wouldn't be there. When we left her house Josh said he would plan on working half a day so we could drive up and spend Christmas Eve (#2) with her. I was so excited! I decided not to tell her so we showed up at her house on Christmas Eve to surprise her. It was great! We had a great time visiting with the family. My Grandma was so happy to see us!

We spent the night with Josh parents and woke up Christmas morning and had Christmas #3. Cooper didn't waste any time with his presents. He took his wrapped bone and within 5 minutes he had half of the paper and wrapper off and was chewing away!

Alex was not very interested in her gifts. She was more interested in trying to get the tissue paper in her mouth!

She got to debut her Christmas jammies with the Santa baby pockets!

We spent the morning relaxing. That afternoon we went to Grandma Mary and Grandpa Buddy's for Christmas #3. Alex LOVES them! She just smiled and laughed the whole time we were there.

Friday we met Shannon for lunch. I miss her so much, it was great to see her! We relaxed again Friday night. Saturday afternoon/evening we did some shopping while Alex stayed with Terri and Ray, then we went to dinner. It was nice to have a little baby break! Now it's Sunday and we are back in College Station for a few days. We are heading to Mineola to see Nomi and Popi on Wednesday. We are doing Christmas (#4) with them that evening. We'll hang out there until Saturday, then we are heading back to Dallas. We are having Christmas with Josh's brothers/wives/kids (yes, #5) on Saturday afternoon. Wow, 5 Christmases. It seems crazy doesn't it?

In the last few days Alex has mastered rolling...and rolling and rolling. She will roll onto her tummy (she prefers to roll to her left) then will roll again into her back then just keep going. We were unpacking just a while ago and I looked at Alex and she had rolled from her blanket onto the rug and under the coffee table. She was just hanging out looking proud of herself. She is also able to sit unassisted for about 15 seconds at a time. She doesn't even put her hands down for balance.


Here are a few cute pictures of Alex and Grandpa! She LOVES sitting on his shoulders. It is so funny because after a while she bends over and kinda gums his head!

Christmas Eve Eve

I am so excited Christmas is just around the corner! Josh and I are exchanging gifts tomorrow since we won't be here for Christmas. We figured it would be easier than trying to take the gifts with us! I am trying to talk him into us doing it before he goes into work (for half a day) because I just can not wait! We'll see what he says!

Hmmm, what else is going on. Oh, we decided to nix the bananas for a little while. Alex tried them Sunday and loved them, but she had some "interesting" diapers that evening and the next morning. I am guessing the bananas didn't agree with her. Alex goes for her 6 month check up on the 12th so I'll talk to the pedi about it and until then we will just move onto something else.

Alex is still loving her newly accomplished skill! We can not keep that girl off of her tummy. We put her down and within a minute she has rolled over. I posted a very short video below showing a little bit of the rolling action. It took about 15 minutes to get that because she was more interested in looking at me with the camera than rolling over. The second I would put the camera down she would start rolling over.

Speaking of the camera...Sunday was a very sad day in the Stafin house. Josh dropped my camera and bent something that holds the lens cover/shutter things. A few pieces came off and will not say on. It is still usable, but the lens is not covered so I can't really take it anywhere without worrying about scratching the lens. I called Wolf Camera first thing on Monday and they said it will take 6-8 weeks to get it fixed!!!! I am going to have to use my crap-tastic Sony camera until it gets fixed.

I am having a day where I am not motivated to do anything. I am sitting on the couch...I think...it looks like Alex's closet threw up on it. I've been doing laundry and I'm now surrounded by piles of her clothes. I need to figure out what I have to pack. I used to think I would never get tired of folding and hanging up these cute little baby clothes, boy was I wrong! It's just more laundry to add to our ever growing pile.

Oh, on top of trying to get the laundry done so we can pack, taking care of the babies and wrapping presents, I am getting sick. My throat is killing me and I am so stuffy and congested. It's a real pretty sight in the morning when I'm stiff from the RA and snotty from whatever it is I have. Poor Josh, I'm sure if he knew this is what he had to look forward to, he would have thought about it twice! The crazy weather isn't really helping.

Alex is loving her exersaucer more and more. She loves looking at herself in the mirrors on it. She will even start talking to the reflection. It really is the cutest thing. Cooper loves it because he can do drive by lickings since she is at his level.

ok, enough rambling, I better get off my rear end and get some stuff done!

mmm, bananas!

Yes, this weekend has been relaxing! I started wrapping presents yesterday and we watched a couple of movies last night. We got out today for one more gift and now we are watching some football before we go meet some friends for dinner. We are going to Texas Roadhouse. I am starving already, a steak sounds sooo good!

Miss A tried bananas today. Another hit! I wanted to do some veggies before doing any fruit because I heard if you start with the sweets, they will prefer those over veggies. Who knows if it's actually true but we went with it.

Getting ready for that first bite! She cracks me up, sometimes the flash just completely catches her off guard and she makes the funniest faces!

First bite...a little mushy...hmmm, not sure about this!

Oh yeah, I love them...Mommy, more please!

This last pictures shows what I call her baby bird face. She has started doing this when she eats and when the sippy cup gets anywhere near her mouth! You would think we never feed that girl!

Little things are making me happy these days. Not only are a few days away from Christmas, but I just realized I don't have to cook for an entire week! Like I said, we are meeting friends for dinner tonight, tomorrow we are going to the Sorensen's for dinner so we can check out baby Kyler's nursery. He is making his appearance in a couple of weeks and we can't wait to meet him! Tuesday, we are going to Red Lobster with the James'. Then of course, we are heading out of town and I'll be helping out in the kitchen, but I won't have to cook a whole meal!

Ho Ho Ho!

We took Alex to have her picture taken with Santa on Thursday. Little pumpkin would not smile no matter what we did! The second I started walking towards her to pick her up, she started smiling! I guess no smile is better than crying!

We tried green beans again yesterday, while she wasn't sleepy, and she loved them! Yeah! She is so funny when she eats. If the spoon gets anywhere near her mouth, she opens her mouth and tries to move her head towards the spoon. She is such a little piglet!

We are planning on a pretty quiet relaxing weekend since we have a busy 2 weeks coming up. We have a little Christmas shopping to finish up but other than that, no plans!

green bean...yawn

We introduced green beans today! I made a few mistakes. Alex didn't take her usual nap so she was tired but seemed ok when we started lunch. I also decided to use the high chair instead of the Bumbo. She ate quite a bit then started getting fussy.

The first bite!

I thought she was getting fussy because she was in the high chair so I moved her to the Bumbo and she ate a little more! Then, she decided she was just too tired to keep eating! Tomorrow we will go round 2 with the green beans!

I'm one of THOSE Moms!

Yes, I am that Mom who that can not stop taking pictures of her baby! I can't help it. Since she started rolling over, it is so much more fun because she just does the cutest things ever!

I checked on Alex while taking a nap and she had rolled over and stuck her foot out of the slats. I think it's time to get a breathable bumper!

We had naked baby time last night! She just has the cutest little buns!

Thankfully I put a lap pad under her because she took the opportunity to tinkle while we were playing!


My sweet beautiful baby girl sleeping with Lenny!

Can I tell you, this rolling over thing is the best thing ever! She has taken 3 hour naps in the afternoon the past 2 days! She LOVES napping on her tummy! Last night was a great night for us. Alex has been super fussy in the evening, but last night was completely different. She was great! She actually let us sit down with her and was happy! I don't know if it is the long afternoon nap or the fact that we are on more of a schedule now. She has been waking up between 7:30 and 8, I change her diaper and then she just hangs out for awhile. She takes her first bottle around 9, plays until 11:30 or 12 when I feed her solid food. She takes another bottle around 1 or 1:30, naps, bottle around 5 and the last one around 9. She has been going to sleep between 9:30 and 10. I put her down awake, plug in the lights on the Christmas tree in her room and she falls asleep within about 5 or 10 minutes! I didn't want to be a strict schedule person, but she seems to have created this for herself! (I'm knocking on wood as I type this because just my luck, it will all be thrown out the window tomorrow!)

Part 2!

Ok, I couldn't resist. The little munchkin is on the move! She scooted herself around and rolled under the Christmas tree! I think all of the movin' and groovin' has worn her out because she has been napping on her tummy most of the afternoon!

One more update! I stated below Alex is now weaned, which is great! I'm now dealing with drying up my supply. One side is great, but apparently my left side is an overachiever! The darn thing will not stop producing milk. The supply has gone down significantly, but every morning I am super full. I've been pumping just enough to relieve the pressure, but it's still uncomfortable. I'm hoping it won't take too long for the left side dry up!

Click!

In the last two days it seems like Alex has learned so much, like little things are just clicking! I was washing sippy cups yesterday and I looked over the counter and there she was completely rolled over just looking at Pinky! Before, she could get her bottom half over but couldn't quite get her arm out from under her. Of course, I turned her on her back and let her do it again and again! She was actually content on her belly. She used to get fussy if she was on her tummy too long. She took 2 short naps on her belly yesterday and is napping on her belly right now.

She is also using her rolling abilities to look at the things that interest her. She will scoot her body around until she can face the Christmas tree or get to a toy. Yesterday, her doll was a couple of feet away from her and she rolled on her side just to get the doll then she rolled back and played with it. Cooper laid down near her blanket and she rolled on her side so she could play with his fur.

Other big news! Alex is officially weaned! The last time she nursed was Saturday at 6:30pm! She is doing great! She took a total of 30.5 ounces of formula in sippy cups yesterday!!!

We are also finding new tickle spots. If you wipe her neck with a wet wipe, she giggles over and over. She is also ticklish under her right underarm. Josh found that one last night! I really could spend my entire day just sitting there trying to make her laugh. It is truly one of the best sounds in the world!

She loves trying to sit up. If she is on our laps, she wants to be sitting up, not leaning on us. She is also starting to use our hands to pull herself up to stand. I was sitting Indian style and she was in my lap holding onto my fingers. The next thing I knew, she had arched her back and pulled herself up to stand up!

Our little girl just continues to amaze us every single day. Josh and I are just so enamoured with her. We spend our nights just watching her.

UPDATE!!! She can roll from tummy to back also! I figured she could, but has never done it! Well, she just woke up from her nap and rolled onto her back!

Christmas Party

We had Josh's company Christmas party last night in Houston! Alex got to stay in a hotel for the first time! It is amazing how much more stuff you have to pack when you have a kiddo! Cooper got to spend the night with Aunt Linda and he had a blast playing with his doggie friends! We had lunch at Landry's first then headed to the hotel. I wanted to get there early enough to have time to relax and take my time getting ready. Our sitter, Caitlyn, got there about 7:30 to stay with Alex while we went downstairs for the party. Alex has been doing great taking a sippy, but it seems she only likes taking them from me. She refused to take anything from Caitlyn. I guess getting her weaned was only the start, now we have to get her to take a feeding from someone other than me! The good news is, she should be completely weaned by the end of the week!

Alex and Josh relaxing watching TV while I was getting ready.

Alex, always munching on her hand! Yummy!

Chow Time!

We had so much fun today eating solids! About half way though her feeding, Alex got fussy so I thought she was over it. Nope, she just didn't like wearing clothes so I took them off and she went right back to eating! Thank goodness I did because this was by far our messiest meal ever!

Little piglet scarfed down her food, then tried licking the rest off her hands!

Coopie moved in because he spotted BABY TOES!!

After Alex was out of the Bumbo, Coop moved in to help me clean up! (Don't worry, the Bumbo has since been cleaned with something other than the dog's tongue!)

Baby, it's cold outside!

We woke up this morning to the tiniest amount of snow on the ground. As the day went on it melted. This afternoon it started coming down again, and it stuck! Here is the house with snow!!! (and decorated for Christmas, we are still looking for lights for the house!)

Coopie went out with me to check the mail and he looked so cute with some snowflakes in his fur I had to grab the camera!

Alex tried butternut squash for the first time today! Surprise....she loved it! She has taken 6 ounces of formula so far today and will only be getting sippy cup feedings for the rest of the night! We gotta break this girl from the boob!

When Abby got here this morning she was sporting her monkey hat! She looked adorable, so of course, I had to put Alex in her mouse outfit and hat for pictures!

5 Months Old!

My little pumpkin is 5 months old today! She showing us more and more of her personality everyday! I love it! Last night we went to Ninfa's for a work dinner Josh treated all of his employees to and Alex had a blast! She was passed around from person to person and she just smiled and had the best time!

This month, she has started...
laughing real belly laughs!
rolling over (but only when she is mad!)
taking a sippy cup with formula (she took 3 feeding from the sippy yesterday!)
improving her motor skills! (she will reach for something, pick it up and put it straight in her mouth!)
eating solids (so far only rice cereal, which she hated, oatmeal and sweet potatoes!)
she is getting very good at trying to stand while we hold her!

A message from Alex! (yes, she is very advanced for 5 months old!)

I am such a lucky little girl to have a Mommy who buys me pretty much any toy I show an interest in, but here are a few of my favorite things!

I love my Infantino Jittery Pal. I have a lion, his name is Lenny! I give Lenny slobbery wet kisses! When Mommy makes Lenny kiss my nose, I laugh!

I also love my Gund Pinkaboo pony! My 2 favorite things on Pinky are the mirror and the green plastic squares!

One of my new favorite things is my Nuby sippy cup! I hated bottles so Mommy decided I was a big girl and got me a sippy cup!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Mommy and my Daddy. Mommy spends all of her time with me and she is always making silly faces and making up silly songs! She takes me shopping and buys me all sorts of cute clothes and jammies. She also lets me take baths with her! Daddy won't admit it, but he is wrapped around my little finger! My favorite game with Daddy is crying when he sits down. As soon as he stands up I stop, if he sits I cry again. It's a fun game, I like it!

I also have the best big brother ever! Coopie is a little clumsy so Mommy has to make sure he doesn't accidentally step on me, but I know if he did, it would be an accident. He loves giving me kisses on my face, head and toes!

Another One Year Ago

One year ago Josh and I stood in our bathroom holding the stick pictured above that confirmed I was pregnant!! Oh, how things can change in 1 year!

We had a big weekend, I made sweet potatoes for Alex and she had her first real food on Saturday! She LOVED them!

First bite, the jury is still out!

So good, she's licking the tray clean!

Saturday night we went to the James' for dinner! It was so much fun because it was baby central! It was us along with 2 other couples. Jen and David have Ashleigh who will be 2 at the end of the month and Luke who is will be 6 months old Wednesday. Alex, Abby and Luke played on the floor for awhile! Luke, always the ladies man, was in between the girls! Sarah and Chris are expecting their little one this summer!

Abby is 3 months, Luke is almost 6 months and Alex will be 5 months tomorrow!

The Family Man

Last night was such a great night! I made dinner when Josh got home, we left the TV off and listened to Christmas music. We have had The Departed for a week and haven't made time to watch it. I decided I wasn't in the mood for it so we watched The Family Man instead. Josh had never seen it and it had been awhile since I had seen it. I forgot how much I love that movie. It makes you really start thinking about all the little things that had to fall in place and decisions you had to make to get exactly where you are at this moment. What if you chose a different path at one point in your life, how different would your life be now? For Josh and I we have an interesting story (for another time if you don't already know it) and we started talking about how different our lives would be if we hadn't both made the decision that we wanted to be together. We both realized our sweet baby girl wouldn't be here and we started tearing up just thinking about a life without her in it. We looked over at Cooper and knew he would be in this world, but not with us. We have so many wonderful things to be thankful for, not just this holiday season, but everyday of our lives.

We thought back to our first Christmas in Wylie and I remembered how we used to sit on the couch with all the lights off except the Christmas tree and we'd just look at it and talk. We get so wrapped up in all the things we need to do now, we don't have moments like that anymore. Josh got up, turned off all the lights and I put some blankets on the floor and we just snuggled (with Cooper beside us) and looked at the tree. We ended up falling asleep for a while. It was a perfect night.

Alex's favorite toy!

Alex has a favorite toy! It is a little horse the Sorensen's brought to her in the hospital! It is so cute, it makes all sorts of sounds and has different things dangling from each leg. The best part is the mirror on the bottom! Like I said before, this girl loves looking in mirrors! We sing "You're So Vain" to her! lol

Today is a Mommy and Alex day! Katie has the day off so Abby is with her! We are going shopping! I need to find a Christmas dress (or two) for Alex. We have so much family we will be seeing over the Christmas holidays, she needs a few outfits! Oh, and of course Christmas jammies! We are meeting Josh for lunch! I was so excited to get our day started, I showered and got ready early. Alex sat in her chair in the bathroom with me. When I was done, I put her in the pack and play so I could change clothes and wouldn't you know it, within 2 minutes she was asleep!