The Big 3-0

I had the best day with Josh and Alex today! Well, it actually started last night. Alex woke up a little after 11 and was wide awake. I put her in bed with us and we played with some glow in the dark necklaces. She was so cute just holding on to them and looking around, it made me forget that it was 11:30 and I would have rather been sleeping. I could tell she was getting tired so I put her on my chest and she snuggled into me for awhile. A little after midnight I put her back in bed and she passed out. It was a perfect start to my birthday, snuggling in bed with my sweet baby and Josh.

When it comes to gifts, I get really antsy and can barely wait until morning to get or give them. Josh had already told me one of my gifts wouldn't be available until early May so I'd have to wait for it. Last night at 11pm he told me what it is, since technically it was midnight on the east coast so it was my birthday there! Anyway, I am getting a new camera. I got a new one a few days after Alex was born but that one has already been dropped more times than I can count and it takes AA batteries and I go through a pair pretty much every other day. My new camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T1i. The coolest thing is that it has a full HD video capture so I will be able to take HD videos of Alex! I am soo excited about it.

Before my surprise birthday dinner Saturday, Josh gave me a new James Avery necklace. I've been wanting an everyday necklace that will stand up to little hands tugging on it. It is a beautiful heart on a black necklace that Alex has already tested! I love it. This morning, I got another necklace! This one is more delicate so I won't be able to wear it every day. It is also a James Avery necklace with 3 open hearts and 6 pearls. I love the 3 hearts, I immediately thought of it representing our little 3 person family, Josh had the same idea when he picked it out.

My day included a yummy pancake breakfast, relaxing, a little shopping, a HUGE late lunch/early dinner at Saltgrass and a cake Josh made!

Cooper joined in on the celebration with a tiny piece of cake!

Goodbye 20's

Today is my last official day to be in my 20's! I turn 30 tomorrow!!! We started celebrating early. Saturday we drove to Dallas. Josh, with the help of my mom, planned a surprise birthday dinner at Maggiano's. There were about 20 people there (friends and family). We had a family style dinner which was WONDERFUL!!! The food just kept coming. My poor little pumpkin was not herself. She only had 1 short nap all day long and was just out of sorts at dinner. It didn't help that she was up way past her bedtime and her 2nd tooth working it's way up. It was so great to see a lot of my family and some of my closest friends and it meant so much to me that they were all able to join us. Josh is the best!!

Pulling up!

Where is my baby going? She is turning into a little girl right before my eyes. As much as it pains my heart to see her grow up and transform from a little baby who just sleeps, eats and poops, it bring me so much joy to watch her learn, gain her Independence and confidence.

She is very into movies...actually the movie cases, pulling them off the bookcase and banging them on things (including her head).

As of this afternoon, she is officially pulling up to a stand!

We are heading to Dallas this weekend. I don't know what the plans are because Josh has made them and will remain a surprise to me until...well, until he decides to tell me. My 30th birthday is coming up (Tuesday) so this is part of my birthday celebration!

Kisses!

Alex has started crawling more. She still prefers to army crawl but if she is going a short distance, she will crawl on all fours! She loves pulling things off the coffee table, couch or chair. She is very into looking at herself. She loves all the stainless steel kitchen appliances. She crawls to the oven, dishwasher and fridge to look at her reflection then she tries "kissing" the baby! She has also turned into the sweetest little snuggle bug! If I am sitting on the floor, she will crawl over to me and climb all over me and every few minutes, stop and put her head on my leg or chest. Last night Josh was reading a book to her before bed time while I was on the floor with Cooper. When he was done, I curled up on the glider with them and she was just so snugglie. She kept giving me big sloppy open mouth kissed and thought it was just the funniest thing ever. She would kiss and just laugh while she was kissing me, then she started giving Josh kisses too.

First Tooth!!

Alex's first tooth finally broke through the gums! Tooth #1 is the lower central incisor on her right side. I knew it was coming soon. Friday I could tell it just under the gums and she was not herself that night. She was up screaming two times before we went to sleep. When she woke up Saturday morning, she was not her usual happy self, she just screamed and cried. The rest of the weekend, she seemed to be ok, but had little interest in eating. Tonight, I knew she was tired, she screamed when I put her down for bed. I rocked her a little and tried again. After a few minutes of more screaming, I decided to bring her back in the living room with us. She played for a little while, but I could tell she was sleepy. She kept laying down with her head on the floor and just rolled around instead of crawling. Finally, at 8, she went back to sleep...but was up about 30 minutes later screaming. She just wanted some snuggle time, so we rocked and she went back to sleep. My poor baby, I hate knowing she hurts.

This weekend, she started taking little breaks to rest her head while she is eating. She is too cute!

Picture Friday

We haven't had much going on the last few days so I'll just share some pictures I took of my sweet little bunny yesterday!

She LOVES looking out of the windows. The speaker has since been moved against the wall so she can't squeeze in this tight little space any more!

Window Watcher

Alex has a new found love for looking out of the windows. I have to open the blinds a couple of feet so she won't grab them. She can sit there for about 10-15 minutes just looking out. She is such a little doll!

We are adding new foods to Alex's diet. She has had cantaloupe, cauliflower and we tried potatoes again. This time I used organic fingerling potatoes and she loved them! Yesterday I made broccoli cheddar sticks and they were a hit! I ate a few, they were really good! (They were really easy. I just mixed chopped steamed broccoli, cheddar cheese, bread crumbs and egg yolks, formed them into stick shapes and baked them!!)

Alex has just been out of sorts lately. Naps are all over the place. Yesterday she took 3 short naps, Monday it was 2 long naps. I'm not even trying to figure it out anymore, I'm just going with the flow. Alex had a horrible diaper rash yesterday, she just screamed and cried when I changed her diaper. I kept Desitin on it and it seems to have cleared up a lot, but it is still red. My baby's poor little bottom. :(

Bunny's First Easter

Alex had great first Easter! This morning she got her little bunny Easter basket I ordered for her that had a few books and toys in it. We headed to Aunt Martha and Uncle Greg's for lunch with the family followed by an egg hunt! 9 kiddos participated in the hunt. Alex was the youngest, but barely! My cousin Chris and his wife Jennifer have an adorable little girl, Peyton, who is about 7 weeks older than Alex. Alex didn't really get to hunt for eggs but we got some great pics of her playing with the eggs and sweet pictures of Alex and Peyton sharing their eggs with each other! All in all, it was a wonderful Easter weekend!!

Alex and Peyton

Alex and the adorable Easter pail Nomi and Popi got her!

Happy Easter

I've been wanting to take Alex's pictures in the bluebonnets for a month now and we just don't seem to have time. I guess that's what happens when you are out of town every weekend! Yesterday, I had a baby shower to go to so Josh was on Alex duty. He said they had an errand to run. I figured he was shopping for my birthday since the big 30 is just around the corner. When I got home, he showed me where they went. He took Alex to Washington on the Brazos (the birthplace of Texas, where the Declaration of Independence was signed) and took some pictures in the bluebonnets! I cried, of course, because it was just so sweet of him to take her since he knew I was disappointed we weren't going to get any pictures this year! My Josh is the sweetest guy ever!

Happy Easter to all!!!

9 Months Old!!

Alexandra Rae is 9 months old today! I can not believe we are only 3 little short months away from her 1st birthday! Month 8 has been so much fun but we can't wait to see what our little one will learn this month!

Alex is CRAWLING!!!! Yesterday, she was in her crib while I was changing Abby and I caught her in the corner of my eye up on all fours crawling!!!! The rest of the day, I tried catching a video of it, but she got camera shy and would get up on all fours, move a little bit then drop to her tummy and army crawl. She is also standing while holding on to something or someone. While she is on her tummy, she can pull up to her knees and is working on getting to a stand! She is great at feeding herself finger foods. At the beginning of the month, she was having problems getting a grasp of slick mango and banana chunks, but she has it mastered now! Alex has tried and loved: sweet potatoes, butternut squash, acorn squash, green beans, broccoli, peas, apples, pears, blueberries, mango, banana, carrots, yogurt, lentils, cheese, beans, breads (waffles, pancakes, bagels), egg yolks, avocado, cheese, peaches, nectarines, plums, papaya and prunes. She is now eating 3 meals a day and taking 4 six ounce bottles.

She babbles some, but is not a huge "talker." She has said mama and dada, but doesn't know who mama and dada are.

She LOVES playing peekaboo! She is very vocal when she is upset, which is usually only when I am taking too long to make a bottle (sippy cup) or if she sees us walk by her room while she is in her crib and we don't get her out. When she sees her sippy cup she start sucking on her bottom lip, it is the cutest thing ever!! Alex is great at repeating what we do. If she is sitting on our lap and we pat our leg, she will pat our leg once we stop. She truly is the most laid back baby ever. She loves running errands, sitting up in the grocery cart and being outside. She rarely fusses. I know if she starts getting fussy, it's either because she is really tired or really hungry.

Dr. H said she looks great! She has her HepB shot and cried for about 2 seconds then was over it and back to her happy self. They also had to do a finger prick to check her iron levels and that one was a little more tramatic for her. It didn't help that she was already getting sleepy and they had to squeeze her little finger to get a little tube of blood. She cried and wimpered for about 10 minutes after that then just clung to me. She did not want to be put back in her stroller so I had to carry her and push the empty stroller. Her iron count is supposed to be at 11 and she was at 10.9 so Dr. H said since it was so close, it's not a huge concern now, but they will recheck it at her 12 month appointment. She has been a little fuss bucket since we got home so after a lot of rocking and carrying her around, she finally took a little nap.

Pedi Updates:
Weight
6 months: 16 lbs (41st percentile)
9 months: 18 lbs, 2 oz (32nd percentile)

Length
6 months: 26.75 inches (75th percentile)
9 months: 28.5 inches (74th percentile)

Crazy? Maybe...

Several months ago I bought this cute Baby Bjorn plate along with some matching spoons. I thought it would be great since "the shape of the edge makes it harder for small hands to grab the plate and throw it away." (This was actually on their website.) So we tried it out this morning. Alex has started trying to take the spoon away from me as I feed her, so after she ate some papaya chunks and oatmeal this morning, I put the plate on her tray and gave her a spoon. She liked chewing on the spoon and squishing the oatmeal in her hands.

"hard for small hands to grab the plate," I think not!

She had fun, and that's all that matters! Thankfully, I pulled the top part of her jammies down before she ate and it was straight to the bath when she was done!

I feel like we have had a crazy busy week already, but truthfully, we really haven't done much. Monday, the girls and I went to Target and yesterday we went to Bed Bath & Beyond and the grocery store. I love going to the grocery store with the girls. We go to the same one each week (sometimes twice a week) and most of the people there are starting to recognize them. Everyone stops to talk to them and tries to make them smile! They love the attention!

Tomorrow we have Alex's 9 month appointment. Can you believe she is going to be 9 months tomorrow!?!?!? Time is flying! I have to admit, I've already started buying things for her birthday party! The theme is Bunnies! Now is the perfect time to buy things for it since it's Easter, so I've been shopping away! Hopefully, by the time her birthday actually rolls around, pretty much everything will be done!

Another weekend at the lake

We had a wonderful weekend at the lake with our friends Deb and Alan and their kiddos Shelby and Isaac. We got off a rocky start when Josh realized he forgot the key to the house so we had to turn around to get the key. We were about 40 miles from home!! We finally got to the lake house a little after 10 Friday night. Alex woke up when we got there and stayed up for a little while before she crashed. She let us sleep in until about 8:30, which was sooo nice! Saturday was beautiful but we spent most of our day inside being lazy! We ended up venturing out for a bit to watch the kids fish. The weekend went by way too fast! Before I knew it, it was time to pack so we could head back home. Alex was a little angel all weekend! She did great, took great naps and had the best time watching Cooper and Rocco play!

DRAMA

Yes, we have a dramatic little girl on our hands! I have no idea where she gets it from! :) I am going to blame it on teething...but as we approach the 9 month mark, we are still toothless in Texas! Alex has always been so great with Cooper...but lately for some reason she has a fit if he comes into her "personal space" (personal space being within 2 feet of her). She will scream and fuss until he goes away. Now, it is perfectly ok for her to combat crawl over to him and play with him, but it is not ok for him to come near her. Every little thing is the end of the world. If she brushes her head on the leg of the table, she screams. When she is tired, she screams. When I leave go into the kitchen without her, she follows me, screaming. It's not a long drawn out scream, but short little scream/squeals like she doesn't want us to forget she is there. I have noticed that the drama screams usually start about an hour before she takes a nap or goes down for the night. I guess it's just because she is getting worn out and irritable.

I guess you take the bad with the good. The last week or so, the girl can not stop giggling. She giggles at everything! I love hearing her sweet giggles! She loves when I mimic animal sounds (cat meow, pig oink, cow moo, lion rawr).

We have also been adding new foods to her diet. I've finally found 1 food she is not a fan of...potatoes! Just regular white potatoes. I baked them, boiled them and gave her a few chunks, and even mashed them and added a little cheese...she's just not a fan of them, no matter how I cook them! A few new favorites: broccoli, beans, mini whole wheat bagels, mini waffles. I got some frozen mini organic wheat waffles, which are perfect for her. Each waffle is 4 mini waffles so I break them apart and she gets 2 little minis for breakfast, along with chunks of fruit and yogurt or oatmeal mixed with fruit. I'm still giving her a pureed fruit or veggie with each meal to make sure she is getting enough, but she continues to impress us each day with her ability to pick up all of her finger foods! I actually have to make sure I only put 1 piece of food on her tray at a time because if I put more, she will just keep putting them in her mouth until they are all gone.

We are some what back on a schedule. She is great about her morning naps, by 9 or 9:30, she is ready! Afternoon naps are still kind of all over the place. She will take one, but nap time and lengths just vary each day. She is now going to bed between 7:30 and 8. By about 6 or 6:15, she is ready for dinner and she will sit in her high chair in the kitchen with me while I cook dinner. Once our dinner is on, I get her cleaned up and dressed in jammies and give her a sippy cup. I was trying to put her in bed right after the bottle, but after 3 nights of screaming and crying, I decided to let her play just a little while right before bed time. It actually work out pretty well because we eat dinner while she is playing, by the time we are done, she is ready for bed!

Yummy waffles

All smiles

The drama begins