Iphone Dump

I don't know how it happens, but I clear my pics off my phone at least once a month and before I know it, all of my memory is full again because I take so many random pics throughout the day.  Here is a small dump of some of my favorite pics!

 

Josh works in Houston now.  Over an hour from home.  There were talks of moving to Houston, but we decided at this time, it's not the right thing for us.  There are too many things we love about College Station.  Yep, I said it, we love College Station.  If you would have asked me after living here for a year, I would have never thought those word would come out of my mouth.  I love that we have a small town feel, but it's not really a small town.  We are close enough to Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas that we could easily drive there in a couple of hours.  My girl has a life here, her friends are here, our friends are here, our lives are here.  My sweet husband decided he didn't want to go most of the week without seeing his girls so he gets up while most people are still sleeping so he can leave the house by 5:30 or so each morning.  On a normal day, he leaves the office by 4ish and his home by 5:30 so he still has his evenings with us.  I will never be able to express to him how much I appreciate what he does for us.  Some nights, he gets stuck in meetings or has dinners or team activities so he doesn't get home until after Alex is asleep.  Those nights, I let Alex sleep on the couch until he can get home to carry her to bed.  One night she slept on me while we waited for Josh.  I love my sweet little sleeping angel!

 ok, this one is totally random.  Have you ever had a Honeycrisp apple?  If not, get yourself to the store and get one.  They are the best apples ever.  They are only in season for a few weeks of the year.  When they are in season, we like to cut one up for dessert after dinner.  Healthy dessert, yes please!

 My girl enjoying her apple!  This was a weird night for us.  We had an early bird dinner.  Josh was out of town and Alex and I were starving for dinner at 5 so we ate!  Then shared an apple!

 Alex has such a say in what she wears now.  She rarely goes a day without wearing something purple.  Her teacher actually asked me this morning if she has a closet full of purple.  Why, yes she does!  The girl knows what she likes!  She loves boots.  I found her these adorable purple suede boots.  A match made in heaven...even if they don't match her outfit!

 Poor Cooper, he puts up with so much.  Alex thinks its hilarious when we put things on him, like her sunglasses!  He just sits there and goes along with it.  I LOVE these sunglasses.  We were at Nordstrom one day.  Alex and Josh were walking around while I tried stuff on.  Next thing I knew, Alex was carrying a shopping bag with her new purple sunglasses she just had to have!  My child needed another pair of sunglasses like she needs a hole in the head.  She is up to 10 pairs now that she wears on a regular basis.  Sunglass hoarder!

 Dance is back in full swing.  At the end of each class they get a sucker.  My child always has to pick bright then insist on me taking her picture of her tongue!  It's turned into a game, we send a pic to Josh and he guesses the flavor.  Yes, we are crazy sometimes!

A Girl and her Dog

Alex loves her Coo Coo. She tells me every day he is our buddy. I asked her where we got Cooper, she told me her Daddy got him for her. I had to break the news that Coop was around before she was! Alex is forever feeding Cooper. She will sit on the floor with her snack and give one to Cooper for every one she eats. The day I took these pictures, Cooper went down the street to play with another dog about the same time I took Alex in to nap. She was hysterical and would not sleep until Cooper came home. If Alex is eating Cooper is right by her. The other day she told me she and Cooper were holding paws, when I looked, she had her sweet little foot on Coopers paw!

Valentine's Projects!

Alex has been asking to make crowns lately. In honor of Valentine's Day, we all made Valentine's crowns/headbands today! Since Alex has been on a Mickey kick lately, she covered hers in Mickey Mouse stickers and asked me to write Mickey's Clubhouse, Minnie and Daisy on her hearts! When we were done, we had a dance party! I have to brag about Josh, he knows all the words to the Beauty and the Beast songs since we listen to them about 500x a day! I guess it's part of being the daddy of a girly girl!

Cone of Shame

Cooper has been a little neurotic the last few days licking his tail. Josh finally got a glimpse of it this morning and he had a huge bare spot that was raw. I called our vet and they told me to bring him in. They had to shave part of his tail just to see what the problem was. His tail has always looked huge since the fur is sooo long. Now it just looks like a 5 inch long hotdog with a foot of fur on the end. (I'll spare you a pic because it's pretty gross!) Anyway, the doc couldn't pin point what started the problem, but the base of his tail is pretty raw all the way around it because he has been chewing at it. She said it could have started with something as small as a bug bite then he became obsessed with it and now it's raw. If we would have left it untreated, it could have turned really serious. Since his hair is so long, it could have easily gotten infected. Since his tail is fairly thin, the infection could have caused us to have to amputate his tail. THANKFULLY we took in in before we are heading out of town!!! Anyway, Cooper is now on an antibiotic, had a cortisone shot to relieve the itching and is wearing a cone for 5-7 days. When the doctor was telling me everything I was worried about my poor Coop. Then when he got fitted for a cone, and Alex bust out laughing, I couldn't stop laughing either. He is hitting his cone on EVERYTHING and I can't help but laugh. It's easier to laugh now knowing he will be ok!

3 years ago...

Three years ago a skinny little collie stole our hearts. Josh and I had been talking about getting a dog and we came across the Houston Collie Rescue. We saw a super skinny collie named Max. We could tell he was beautiful, just needed some love and a few pounds! We emailed the group and soon found out Max was being fostered in College Station by a family that lived 5 minutes from us! They agreed to bring him to our house on a Friday evening. We saw him and immediately knew he was the one. Linda and Gary offered to let him stay for the weekend so we could see how he did with us. We were going out of town the next day so he only stayed one night then they picked him back up. On the way back in town, we stopped and got a few supplies. Cooper came home as soon as we got back. Our first mission was to pick a name. Max didn't suit him so we named him Cooper, after our favorite BBQ place in Llano! Cooper completed our family before we knew it. 3 weeks after we got him, I found out I was pregnant with Alex!

Cooper has his moments, but he is the best dog. He adores Alex and is soo gentle with her. He is a snuggler and will let me just lay on him and hold him. He is the perfect dog for our family!

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!

Sunday Funday

Sunday we relaxed in bed a little, then we got up and I made breakfast. We had yummy blueberry waffles. We've started giving Alex her own plate and utensils and she will feed herself while we are eating. Since she was having waffles, without any syrup, I gave her a little bowl of yogurt to dip her waffles in. She LOVED it. She was soo cute picking up her waffle and carefully dipping it, then looking at it to make sure she had yogurt on it before she put it in her mouth. If she got any yogurt on her fingertips, she was not happy. She hates her hands being dirty. My mom said I was the exact same way. I would come to her so I could wash my hands anytime I got dirty. After breakfast, we went to the park. It was completely empty so we had the whole place to ourselves. The park was kind of old school and had metal slides. Alex loved the small one since she would just zip right down. We let her try the tall spiral slide. Josh took her to the top and let her go down alone. When she made it to me, she was half on her side, upside down. She was not a fan. Josh slid down after her and he ended up on his side too. I guess parks are moving to the plastic slides since they slow the kiddos up a bit! She loved the swing. When Josh got her off the swing, he put her down and asked where she wanted to go and she took him right back because she wanted to go again. Josh tried getting her to go across the chain bridge and she was not a huge fan, but tried it anyway. Before we headed to the car we took a little walk to the pond and let Alex look at the ducks. Instead of going back to the car, Alex decided she wanted to run in the opposite direction because she was not ready to leave!

We headed home, grabbed the jogging stroller and Cooper and went to Lick Creek to walk the trails. It's a leash free area, but because Cooper is not the most well behaved dog, he stayed on the leash. We walked and walked and walked, then came to a dead end, so we turned around and walked and walked and walked some more until we made it back to the car. It was about 3 miles total. I was pooped...I should really start exercising more! Alex was getting so antsy on the walk back so I started pointing out all the bumps on the trail to her and would say bump bump as we went over. She started saying bump bump back to me! She finally fell asleep about 5 minutes from the car. We came home and had lunch. Alex's new trick is to hold on to her milk without using her hands so she can still hold toys or 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