A Few Tidbits

Friday night we helped Kate celebrate her 2nd birthday! Candice picked a "night at the movies" theme and it was sooo cute! They had a huge screen set up in the backyard so after it got dark we could watch a movie outside. It had been beautiful weather all day and right as the party started, it started raining. :( They brought the screen in and the kids still got to enjoy Tinkerbell. Candice had bags of popcorn for the kids and a whole candy bar set up for the adults!

Alex and Kate with their bags of popcorn!

cake and ice cream!

The adorable cupcakes Candice made with marshmallow "popcorn"

So, these are the only things occupying Alex's bed at the moment. She is still sleeping on the floor, but we have to make sure Piggy, Popi, Bean and Mono are all sitting at the edge of the bed watching over her. Naps are still totally hit or miss. If she naps, it's usually not until 3ish and that is after trying for 2 hours to get her to go down. I've noticed her attitude has changed since her sleep issues started. She is throwing more and more tantrums, she is cranky and gets totally out of sorts at the smallest things. At lunch yesterday, she actually got frustrated and threw a chip at Josh. I decided we need to get the sleep issues under control because it is making Alex a different child. I am totally fine if she is ready to drop her nap, but we have to work on her getting a good night sleep. She is still waking up at some point almost every night screaming and crying. I was flipping through a book on toddler and pre-school sleep issues at B&N the other day that I am going to buy this week. We need some changes in our house, I am at wits end!

A Fun Friday

Alex and I didn't have anything planned on Friday except a few little errands. After we made our stops, we went to Toys R Us. I let Alex have free reign to go look at anything she wanted. We ended up spending over an hour there just looking around. She had a few favorite things she kept going back to. We already know at least one of these is going to be a Christmas present!

Alex and the pink Barbie Mustang

Dancing around with an umbrella

The kind of creepy dog that would react when you pet it.

Alex LOVED it and kept giving it kisses.

After an hour we left empty handed. Alex never asked for anything and didn't even object when it was time to go. We met Josh for lunch and Alex ate GREAT! I was soo happy because lately she barely eats anything for lunch. She ate a decent portion of my sandwich, some chips, soup, tomatoes and a pickle! We had to stop at the store for milk so I let her pick out a cupcake since she had such a great day!

Any guesses what flavor she picked?

Tea for Three

Last night Josh asked if we had the makings for oatmeal raisin cookies! We did, but only because I had 4 little boxes of raisins for Alex! After dinner we had a little hodge podge tea party. I realized most of Alex's tea set have holes in them where they were tied into packaging so we had to use Christmas mugs, a birthday plate and a Valentine's napkin/table cloth! Alex ate a bite of each cookie, but that was about it. We ended up using 2 little plastic tea cups that came with her kitchen. When we were done with our cookies and milk, she asked Daddy to do rocket with her!

Piano Man

Alex absolutely loves when Josh plays the piano for her. If she is cranky or upset, a little tune can instantly change her mood. Sometimes she dances around the room like a wild child other times she likes to sit on the bench and help him play. I could just sit and watch them play and laugh forever.

Baby Muffins

Alex has been hit or miss with naps again so Tuesday, when she wouldn't nap, I decided we'd make muffins for breakfast the next day. We made mini apple banana muffins. They were super easy and pretty good. Alex loved them so that's all that matters! It made almost 50, so I popped them in the freezer. They defrost on the counter in about 10-15 minutes so they are a great easy compliment to fruit and yogurt in the morning. This morning I asked Alex if she wanted baby muffins for breakfast, she said yes. Then I asked what else and she decided...baby mango and baby milk! My silly girl!

Alex loved pouring in the ingredients

mixin' it up!


the best part of baking...licking the batter!

my little helper putting muffin cups in the pan!

watching the muffins bake

at last, tasting time!

Almost Park Weather

I decided this morning after breakfast we'd go to the park. It's been in the high 70's before 9 so I thought it would be tolerable for a little while. Alex was so excited about going. I pulled out of the garage and could barely see because it was sooo foggy! Alex kept saying, "Too froggy!" (In the first pic you can actually see how "froggy" it was when we first got there!) We went to the park anyway. It was soo humid and gross outside, but we stayed anyway. Alex wanted to swing for about 2 seconds, then she hit the slide. Her pants we soo wet after she went down once because the humidity was soo bad. I could actually see tiny little water drops in the air just kinda floating around. Alex lasted about 15 minutes then she got frustrated because her pants were wet and she was getting dirty so we left.

2 Years and 2 Months

**a few days late, but better late than never!**

My sweet Tinks is 2 years and 2 months old today! She continues to amaze me every single day. She just soaks up every little thing, good and bad. This morning she actually told Cooper to shut up when he was barking. We had to have a little talk about how saying shut up is not nice and we shouldn't tell people that. (and now Josh and I REALLY have to watch every little thing we say!)

Alex has an amazing memory. She can count to 10 on her own and to 20 with a little assistance because she always forgets 15, then picks back up. If we are at a restaurant and she has goldfish, she will count them while we wait for our food. I think she enjoys counting them more that she does eating them. She can sing her ABC's, along with most nursery rhymes we sing, Lady Gaga and Frank Sinatra. She ask for Gaga pretty much everytime we get in the car. She can name every character on the different Disney shows we watch (which may be a sign she watches a little too much TV sometimes!)

She loves running errands. She is starting to recognize the roads we frequently use. As we pass the street to head to Josh's office, she always says bye bye Daddy and blows kisses. When we are close to the dance studio she talks about her dance shoes. If we are near the grocery store, she will start debating what color balloon she wants.

Alex is very into makeup. She loves sitting on the bathroom counter while I get ready. She has some clean makeup sponges she plays with and always imitates what ever I am doing. After her nap the other day, we went to Ulta. She LOVED it! She carried around the little basket pointing out all the makeup and got so excited when we put something in our basket.

When we are at the grocery store, she will point out at least 5 different things on each aisle. When I put something in the cart, she tells me what it is and says, "mmmmm, delicious!" Delicious is her favorite word when it comes to talking about food! She is still picky when it comes to eating. After dance yesterday we met Josh at McDonald's. She ate 2 apple slices, 1/2 of a chicken nugget and a few bites of a hamburger bun. She is into cereal now, but does not like milk in it.

Alexandra lights up our lives every single day. She is a sweet, caring, funny, polite little girl. She is smart and beautiful! She makes us laugh everyday!

Tiny Dancer

Alex nad her first dance class today! She was soo excited to wear her new dance shoes. I love the little studio where she is taking class and the owner is her instructor. Her leotards are working double duty for dance and gymnastics! Dress code for dance is pink, black or lavender leotard, pink tights, pink ballet shoes and black tap shoes. Alex LOVES her tap shoes!

Alex did better than I thought she would. At gymnastics, she is all over the place. At dance, she listened for the most part, her only problem was sitting down when she was supposed to. A few of the parents had to be in the class because their child was crying or upset and a few girls were asked to step out of the class for a few minutes so their parents could remind them the importance of listening to the teacher. Thankfully, I was able to watch through the window the entire time and never had to have a talk with Alex. At the end of class she got a lolipop...or pop as she calls them!

Labor Day Weekend!

We had a fun filled long weekend! Saturday morning we got to relax a little before we headed to Katy to spend the day with our friends. Alex and Cooper came along. They both had a blast!!! Cooper got to play with Mocha and Alex had everyone's attention the entire time! She loves swimming in their pool!

She sat on the diving board for awhile while Josh tried talking her into jumping. The only way she would jump is if I held her hands and lifted her as she jumped and dropped her in the pool. Josh was always there to catch her, but she loved going under for a few seconds!

Alex and Daddy! Josh was on Alex duty in the pool so I could take pics!

We all took a little break and ate. At some point, Josh got in the hot tub and I ran inside to grab a new swim diaper for Alex, before I got back, Alex hopped in the hot tub in her clothes!

Thankfully, I had extra clothes so when we were done for the night, she had dry stuff to put on!

I'm not sure why this turned when I uploaded it, but I loved it! I was on the balcony calling her name and she finally looked up!

My Cooper boy checking me out! (On a side note, Alex has always called Cooper, Coo Coo. This weekend, she started actually calling him Cooper, but still calls him Coo Coo and Coopie from time to time!)

My silly little sweet girl!

When the wind blew, the white flowers from the crepe myrtle blew around. Alex called it popcorn. She had the best time playing with the "popcorn."

We had our regular Sunday breakfast at IHOP then ran a few errands. When we got home, Alex played while I cleaned and did laundry. Josh washed my car and mowed the lawn. (Another side note, I got a new car a few weeks ago! I LOVE it! I'll have to post pics and details later!) We went to Abby's birthday party later in the afternoon. Alex had been talking about Abby's party all week and was so excited to see Abby and eat cake!

Alex, Ina and Abby in the mini bounce house!
Alex and her cake! Once she had a bite of ice cream, she was over the cake and all about ice cream!




A few weeks ago, Alex got a gift card for her birthday. We took her to Target and let her pick out whatever she wanted! She was sooo cute going up and down the toy aisles looking and looking. She'd pick stuff up, look and put it back down. As soon as she saw something she wanted, she'd put it in the cart. Her first selection was a Woody and Bullseye toy. She also picked out a Special Agent Oso toy she had been eyeing on our weekly Target trips. It cracked us up that as soon as she knew she wanted something, she'd drop it in the cart!

Anyway, Alex takes her Woody and Bullseye pretty much everywhere. This morning she read Bullseye a book and kissed him all over!