Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Halloween last weekend at my parents. They have a party every year and it is always fun! We missed last year because Josh had a work event the same day so we were soo excited to go this year. I wanted our costumes to incorporate Alex. My main thing was for her to be comfortable so I found cute thermal jammies, added a bunny tail and she wore bunny ears. I was a playboy bunny and Josh was Hef!

I am sad to admit, we didn't do anything for Halloween. I love our house, but our neighborhood consist of 2 street with 8 houses and everyone is older, like no kids, only grand kids. The larger neighborhood we are connected to are all huge lots that sit back off the street and there really aren't street lights so I didn't want to take Alex through there. I really don't know if people trick or treat through there or not. Alex wore her Halloween shirt and went to the door with me for the one group of trick or treaters we had. This is one of the times I wish we lived in a younger neighborhood that did activities for kids and families. That's something I will definitely think about when we look to move. (Not that it's happening any time soon!)

Tomorrow we are meeting my parents in Waco to switch cars so they can take Alex and Cooper to their house until Thursday. Josh and I are then off to Austin to stay the night with my best friend, Shannon, and her husband. Monday morning, we are going to Vegas. I am sooo excited about Vegas, but so sad about thinking of leaving my pumpkin for 4 nights. I cried putting her to bed tonight because I know it will be 4 nights before I am the one putting her to bed again. As much as I know I am going to miss her, I know she needs to spend time away from me. She is totally and completely a mama's girl. I took Cooper to the vet this morning while Josh stayed home with Alex and she had a fit. When she saw Cooper's leash, she went to her stroller because she thought we were going on a walk. When she realized we weren't she stood at the door waiting for us to go somewhere. When I left without her she cried and cried. I was gone about 45 minutes and Josh said she cried off and on the whole time. While I was in the shower earlier, I could hear her crying outside our bedroom door. She busted in and was happy to play in the bathroom until I finished. She can not stand not to be where I am. If Josh is giving her milk before bed and I leave the room, she wiggles and squirms until he lets her down and she follows after me to see where I am going. If she is eating and I leave the room, she cranes her neck to see if she can see where I went. If Josh and I are both home and I go into another room and shut the door without her noticing, before I can count to 5, she is banging on the door. It doesn't matter what room I'm in, she always knows. Josh said she can smell me! So, a break from me will be good for her...and me! It may be hard for Nomi, but I know my baby girl, she loves her Nomi and she will have a blast with her!

for now

I know it's a poor quality pic, but I'm too lazy to upload pics from my camera so this is from my phone. Anyway, we went to my parents this weekend. They have a Halloween party every year. Due to scheduling conflicts, they had it a week early which worked out great for us since we are going to Las Vegas this Sunday!!!

I'm sure you can tell from the picture, but Josh was Hef and Alex was a little bunny. She lasted about 30 minutes, then crashed and was out the rest of the night despite all the noise from the party. I have a ton of pics, but I'll wait until Halloween to post them!

Alex is still going great on one nap a day, which I love! Abby is still taking two naps so during her morning nap, Alex and I get to spend some quality time playing! She is such a busy bee. She learned how to open doors today. She has been trying for about a week and couldn't quite reach the lever, but tonight she got it! She has to get on her tip toes and reach as high as she can to open it. The whole family was playing in Alex's room this evening and Cooper was just being a pain. He wouldn't let Alex come near us without him being right there so I put him out of her room. She could see him under her door and he kept sticking his paw under the door and she thought it was the funniest thing ever. She would put her hand under the door trying to get Coop's paw or nose then he would lick her hand. Josh and I watched them for about 5 minutes, cracking up the whole time! I love that they play so well together. Cooper is always taking one is his nasty chewed up toys to Alex so she will play with him.

We've let Alex start going to sleep with a toy. Her glow worm stays in her crib now. I don't know why I haven't thought of it before, but she will lay in her crib playing with it for a while until she falls asleep and in the morning she will play with it when she wakes up until we get her. Last night about 30 minutes after she went down, she started screaming and crying like she was hurt. I went into check on her and realized she was upset because the batteries died in the glow worm and he wouldn't play music or light up. It took me a while, but I put new batteries in and by that point Alex was wide awake. We let her stay up until 8:30. We were watching Dancing with the Stars which she LOVES. She stays glued to the TV, dances while the stars are dancing then claps when they are done. She is soo cute!

We have molars!

Tooth # 7 and 8 popped up in the last day! In addition to all four central incisors, 2 top lateral incisors she now has her first molars on the right side, both top and bottom!

Morning What?

So, I said a few weeks ago I was thinking about transitioning Alex to one nap a day. Well, I didn't do it, however, this week she decided it was time. We go through our normal routine, wake up, milk, breakfast, play. At nine I still put her in her crib and she will stay in there for about 30 minutes "resting" and snuggling with her blanket. After she is done, she will start talking so I can hear her in the monitor so I get her up and she is a happy camper for the rest of the morning until 1:30 or so when she goes down for her afternoon nap. She has been in such a better mood. Last week she was getting a little crazy and having fits over the smallest things. This week she has been like a completely different child, my normal sweet calm baby!

One of her bottom molars is about to break through the gums so I have a feeling the fits were caused by teething pains. There are still no signs of her lower lateral incisors, so who knows when those will make their appearance.

Then and Now

Exactly one year ago I started watching Abby. Some days it's hard, some days it's easy, but everyday Alex has her best friend here to play with so I wouldn't change a thing! They went from being little baby blobs who would just lay there to sweet little toddlers who run all over the place right before my eyes!

Alex, 3.5 months old Abby 1.5 months old

Alex 15.5 months old Abby 13.5 months old

Alex used to try to nibble on Abby
Now she kisses her bestie!

Pumpkin Patch

We took Alex to do our yearly pumpkin pictures. I told Josh there are certain things I want to do each year, one being taking pictures with the pumpkins, another being pics in the bluebonnets. To me pumpkin pics kinda signify Fall for me, I love Fall!

2009 Cook Off

Last year after the cook off we said we weren't going to be on a team this year. We stuck to our guns and weren't! Josh did volunteer to be in the dunking booth so we headed to the cook off around noon to eat and walk around before Josh went into the booth at 1. It was cool, but not cold...apparently the water was cold! We had fun, ate a ton of food and Alex and I got to watch Josh get dunked over and over and over again! Alex even got to dunk Josh. Since she couldn't really throw the ball, she got to push the bull's eye. She cried when Josh went in! My little sympathetic sweetheart! After Josh got out, he changed into dry clothes and we let Alex play with Abby in the little kids bounce house! She and Abby had so much fun falling over each other!

Cook off 2008

Cook off 2009

still dry!

First Dunk!

bounce house!

Alex pushing the bull's eye

a few words!

This morning while Alex was eating breakfast, she looked at me, put her hands out like we do for "all done" and said aaal duu! I thought it was just a coincidence, then she did it again! Then while we were on the way to Target, I was singing Row Row Row Your Boat, which she thought was hilarious, when I was done she said oooh, oooh, oooh so I sang again and again when I was done, she said oooh, oooh, oooh.

She loves figuring things out. We have some cupcakes she got for her birthday that she absolutely loves!

They are great because they have shapes you match up then the bottom of the muffin tin has the same shape so you can put each one in their place. She doesn't have the shape part down, but she loves taking each one apart then trying to put it back together. Then she puts them in which ever hole she can get them in. She will carry the tray around the house and pick up all of her cupcakes, put them in the tray then just keep dumping them and putting them back in. When she is tired of putting them back in the holes, she pretends like she is eating them and will give us a bite if we ask for one! She is very big on pretend eating. She will walk around with an empty bowl and pretend like she is eating from it. She is also getting pretty good at drinking out of a regular cup! Every single day she amazes me at the new things she does! She has also started "multi tasking." The other day she got her blanket, sat on her car and watched tv. She will also ride her car to a toy to pick it up or play with it. She just learned how to go forward instead of just backwards.

Sitting Pretty

Alex cracks me up about 1000 times a day! She does the silliest things or makes the funniest faces. Lately her obsession is sitting in bins, baskets, bowls or drawers. It started in the last week or so. We have a few metal bins that are on the bookcases in the living room. They usually have her toys in them, but one day she decided she would dump everything out and get in!

A few days later, she got back in the bin and snuggled with her monkey.
Then after her morning nap, she decided a plastic bowl would do!
My favorite was the next day, she was in the kitchen being really quiet. When I went to check on her she was sitting in the drawer.
About 10 minutes later she got back in with a book and sat there for the longest time just flipping through the book!Speaking of the kitchen. Our has become a war zone. Originally we only put latches on 2 sets of cabinets to keep Alex out. She was really good about staying in the cabinet with the plastic bowls and 2 drawers that had stuff she could play with. This week, she has just gone crazy. She gets into every single cabinet and drawer just yanks everything out. She got into Cooper's bag and pulled out his bones and poor Cooper was following her around waiting for her to give him one. We have a little desk area with 4 drawers and we just keep random stuff in there. This week, I emptied the drawers because she would just open them and grab whatever she could and take off. I went to the bathroom and was gone for less than a minute and came back to find...I picked up the mess and she threw a fit

before realizing there were a few more things in the drawer she didn't get out the first time!

It was getting really bad. We had 7 empty drawers in the kitchen because I just kept taking everything out until Josh could put the latches on them. Josh put latches on the drawers and more cabinets and she was not happy about it. Now she just pulls and pulls hoping one will open!

Her will is getting stronger and she is testing her limits more and more every single day. If she is doing something she isn't supposed to, I will say her name and she will stop, look at me and shake her head no, give me a cute little smile and do it again!

15 Months Old!

This picture total describes Alex's attitude. If she doesn't want to do something, she looks at us like we are crazy!

Alex is 15 months old today! We went for her check up and she was 31.5 inches (76th percentile)21.8 lbs (30th percentile) and her head was 18.4 inches (71st percentile). So she's still our tall skinny kiddo!

She had two shots and cried when she got them. As nurse Heather was leaving the room Alex blew her kisses through her tears so she wasn't too upset with Heather. She blew all the nurses kisses as we left. Other than that, the appointment was just a regular check up. She looks great. We do have to start a daily vitamin with iron. At one of her last appointments, her iron count was low and with the eating issues we've had and her dislike for meat most days, she needs to get some iron so I'll be picking up vitamins for her this weekend.

Alex will say words but only on rare occasions. She prefers to babble and talk gibberish, but she will say Mama, Dada (or Dadee), fffff (for woof) on a regular basis. Every once in a while, she will say other stuff, like pop, Jo (Aunt Jodi), bye bye.

She knows where her head and belly are and will point to them. She loves sitting on me, lifting my shirt and tickling me or blowing raspberries on my stomach. When we are done with something (bath, food, snack) she will put her palms up when we say all done. She did it after her shots today when Heather said she was done.

She loves putting her toys or anything away in drawers or baskets. She will open the kitchen or dresser drawers and put her toys in them. She opens the little trunk to her car or her purse and puts toys in them and gets frustrated if the toy is too big to fit in it. When we were at Barnes and Noble the other day, she got mad at me because I wouldn't let her put a book in the diaper bag! At bath time, she tries to climb in the bathtub on her own. If her toys are not in the tub, she will drop them in before she tries to get in. She loves being chased around the house and will laugh her head off while she is trying to run away.

She is walking 100% of the time and has started kind of running when she is really excited!

Another RA Update

I went to the doctor today. I am supposed to have blood work done a few days before going, but honestly, I didn't feel like it with all the traveling we've been doing. I love my doctor, she said no big deal, just do it in the next few days. When I left the office I went to the lab and had both arms poked and prodded because I have tiny veins, didn't drink enough water and one vein collapsed when the stuck the needle in it. Oh well, they took the blood they needed. While I was talking to the doctor, I told her I've been having dull pains the last month or so. It just feels like I slept wrong and I'm just kinda stiff throughout the day. She said it's time to change meds again. This time we are adding an injection I have to give myself. There are several different ones out there that vary from weekly, bi-weekly and monthly injections. I chose the monthly injections...the less I have to stick myself the better. Anyway, I dropped off the prescription and the pharmacist said they didn't have it and would have to order it. I said no biggie, just tell me when it's in and I'll get it. He asked if I knew if my insurance would cover it, I had no idea so he said he'd call and find out and let me know before he ordered it because 1 injection is...$1900! WTH, I almost choked. So, of course, insurance doesn't cover it so now tomorrow morning I get to see if my doctor will call my insurance company and talk to them about covering it or see if there is one they will cover. Ugh!

On a good note, Nomi came to visit us yesterday. Josh had a work thing so after Abby left, we went to Sam's and had dinner. Alex ADORES Nomi. She stayed the night and stayed with the girls while I went to the doctor. Alex decided she didn't want to take her morning nap and played with Nomi instead. She finally took a quick little nap around 11. When it was time for Nomi to leave and was not happy about it. I took her from Nomi and she cried and tried to reach back for her. We watched her out the window and Alex just smiled and laughed until she couldn't see Nomi's car then she fussed for a few minutes. That girl loves her Nomi!

Tooth #6

Tooth # 6 broke through the gums the day we left for California. It came through fast and about half of it is showing now! It is left upper lateral incisor. It looks like her first molars are going to be next, there doesn't seem to be much progress on the bottom.

While we were in California Alex slept great at night. Since we have been back, we've had more sleep issues. We spent one night (Thursday) at home and Alex did great. Her 2 naps on Friday didn't go so well. She cried and fussed herself to sleep and only slept about an hour each time. Friday night, we got to Josh's parents around 10. Alex was soooo excited to see Cooper. She was a total ball of energy. We finally got her to bed around 11, but she was in bed with us. I guess at one point she sat up and flopped back down and landed on my head. It woke her up and hurt like heck. I put her back in the pack and play in the office and she slept until 7ish when Cooper nosed the door open and woke her up. Saturday night was just as bad. Twice we put her down and she screamed and cried so we got her back up for a bit. She woke up 2 more times, but we left her to CIO and eventually she went back to sleep but was up at 6:15. Last night she went down around 8:30 without much of a fuss, but woke up screaming around 11. I rocked her for about 10 minutes and she went back to sleep. She was up again a little after 2, we let her CIO and she went back to sleep. I am looking forward to 2 weeks at home so we can hopefully get back to a decent sleeping schedule.

The last week or so, Alex's eating habits have also become horrible. She will barely eat. The things she has always loved, she will hardly eat now. Friday, she ate 1/4 of a waffle and 2 bites of applesauce for breakfast. We went to Dickey's for lunch and she ate a pickle slice and a few bites of mashed potatoes. For dinner we stopped at Cracker Barrel and she ate half a corn muffin. She will eat a bite or 2 of something, then either turn her head or take the food out of her mouth. It's very frustrating. I know she should be eating more and stuff that is better for her than mashed potatoes and lots of bread, but she just won't eat it. Every 2 days or so she will have one meal where she just eats and eats, so I let her eat as much as she wants. Finally on Saturday night after 2 days of barely eating she ate spaghetti and meat sauce...2 helpings of it. The only thing she will eat anytime is Morningstar veggie "chicken" nuggets, but I feel horrible giving those to her every meal so we keep trying new things but keep a stock of nuggets just in case. I'm hoping the eating problems were just from being in a new place where there was so much going on and it will get better now that we are home.

California!

We had sooo much fun in California. After a long long afternoon/evening we finally got there around 10pm on Saturday.

Watching the airplanes at the airport

Sunday we went to Malibu so the kids could boogie board and we could hang out. It was 20 degrees cooler at the beach then it was at my sisters, so I'm glad I decided to wear jeans!

Hudson and Izzy looking soo cute in their wetsuits!

Alex and her Izzy
Sweet Hud kisses

Alex and Uncle Laith

When we got home from the beach we decided to hop in the pool. The kids loved climbing all over Josh. After about 20 minutes, Alex was over it so I got her out and Josh and the kids stayed in for another hour or so. My sister made a yummy dinner so after everyone showered we ate and hung out.

The kids hanging all over Josh in the pool!

Monday Jodi wanted to take Alex to Disneyland. Josh and I opted out and decided to stay at the house and relax a little! We spent most of the day on the back patio reading. It was so relaxing to be able to just sit there and not have to worry about the little one getting into stuff!

The beautiful back patio.

Alex got her first Mickey ears!

Meeting Mickey Mouse

Playing in the dirt at Disneyland

When they got back, we played with Alex in the front yard. She loved running around and splashing in the fountain! Hudson, Josh and I walked Alex to the park for a while while Izzy went to dance classes that night.

playing in the front yard

Alex doing her favorite thing, playing in the fountain!

Tuesday we all got ready so we could go into Los Angeles. Izzy had a class with her acting coach to get ready for an audition that afternoon. When it was over, we went to The Grove. I loved it! It's an outdoor shopping center with a ton of stores. Alex got to go to the American Girl store for the first time. There is an market area where there are a ton of places to eat so we had lunch, walked around a bit then headed back to Glendale to get Hudson from school. After we picked him up we went to a cute little soda shop called Rocket Fizz. It's not like an old school soda shop, but they have hundreds of different sodas in bottles and lots of candy. We all picked out a soda and some candy. Alex got to try PopRocks! She loved them! Laith made dinner that night and it was delish!

Wednesday was out last full day there. Josh and I had plans to take the Murad's out to dinner so we decided to stay in so Alex could relax and get 2 decent naps in. Our family is very competitive when it comes to games. My sister, who is sooo creative, made shirts them to wear before we went to dinner. They came out with Alex as their mascot and did a little dance routine. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen!!

silly Aunt JoJo, Alex and Izzy

That night we went to The Americana, a shopping area in Glendale for dinner. We ate at Granville...the food was soooo good! After dinner we went to Crumbs Bake Shop to pick up cupcakes for later. Since the stores were still open, we decided to do a little shopping. We went to Izzy's favorite store, Peek Aren't You Curious and got a few little things for Alex.

Overall we had a blast and I can't wait to go back. I miss everyone already. Alex did surprisingly well with the time change. We were on the go so much some days she only got to nap for about 30 minutes total. She loved all the attention she got from Hud and Izzy. Each morning, the minute she started stirring, one or both of the kids were in our room ready to get her up. They would then run down stairs and get her milk and climb into bed with us and snuggle and play with Alex. I still remember when they were both babies and love seeing them with my sweet baby now!

The Murads