First Swim

A few weekends ago we went to visit our friends, Erik and Fei. We took Alex and Cooper and spent the whole day over there. Alex LOVED LOVED LOVED swimming and playing! It was a beautiful day.

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!

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!

Random Pics and Stuff

Alex had her last summer session gymnastics class last week. Her instructor, Miss Summer, is moving so Alex will have a new teacher for the fall. We LOVE Miss Summer. The Fall session actually started this week, but we missed the first class because we were out of town. In addition to gymnastics, Alex starts dance in 2 weeks. It's the only studio in town that has a 2 year old class and there is only one class day/time so we were super excited to get a space! It is a ballet/tap class. We have a welcome orientation tonight!

Helen, Miss Summer and Alex

Last Friday we had 2 couples over for dinner and games. Kate and her parents came so Alex and Kate kept each other entertained. They even got little bowls of ice cream!

Alex is on an apple kick. I usually cut them in slices so when she asked for one, I cut half of it into slices. She threw a fit, took me in the kitchen and pointed to the half that was on the counter. She wanted a whole piece. Since then, she will only eat big apple halves she can bite!

When Alex was sick a few weeks ago, she totally became a Mommy's girl. She wanted nothing to do with Josh. When she got better, she was still all about Mommy. She has finally come around to loving on Josh more and more!

Alex is also obsessed with stickers! We went to Target one day and bought lots of stickers from the $1 bins. She will go into the closet and pull out a sheet of stickers and put them all over her arms!


Last but not least, I **think** we finally have our sleep situation figured out! I started leaving Alex's door cracked when I put her down, so she could still see me as I passed her room. This went on for a few days while she slept on the floor. Then she started asking for me to leave it cracked when I told her it was nap or bed time. After a few days, I moved her blanket she slept on from the floor to her bed. At first she was a little hesitant to get in bed, but after a few times, she'd get in bed on her own. Now, she is sleeping in her bed with the door cracked. I let her take the Leapfrog laptop to bed with her so she can play with it until she falls asleep. This is more for us because she will pretty much play with it until she falls asleep. When we stop hearing the computer, we know she's asleep! Last night was our first little hiccup. She woke up around 1:30 screaming "crack, crack!" Her door was cracked, but since all the lights were off, she couldn't tell. I went in her room to talk to her for a few minutes, then turned on the bathroom light so she could see come light coming through the crack. She was happy and went right back to sleep. Now we just have to remember to leave a light on in case she wakes up at night she can see a little light coming through the crack.

Beach Baby

We headed to Galveston Saturday morning. We had sooo much fun! We stayed much longer than we normally do because we bought a canopy so we'd have a little shade. Alex is such a water baby! The tide was high so we had a great shallow area to play in. We had a picnic lunch, played in the water, relaxed in the water while the waves came over us, then flew a kite! We can't wait to go back.

When we left Galveston we headed to our friends house to clean up. Alex adores Steve and Tricia and they adore her! We went out for burgers before we headed to an event in their neighborhood. While we were at dinner silly Alex made onion ring glasses! Alex got to stay up way past her bedtime while we walked around. We had a great time catching up, eating yummy burgers and drinking even yummier drinks!

Today the James crew came over for dinner. Alex has been so excited about seeing Abby. We've been counting down the days. All the kiddos played so well together! I can't believe I didn't take any pictures.

On another note, Alex has continued to amaze us with her ability to transition to a toddler bed without any issues! We are keeping our fingers crossed that it keeps going good. Next challenge...potty training!

Splash Day

Candice and I met for a music class with the girls last week. They loved it! Because we had conflicts Tuesday and Wednesday we were only able to make it to the Thursday classes. This Thursday was the end of the summer session so it was a splash day! Alex had soo much fun! The class will pick back up in the Fall so we are looking forward to it!

A few of Candice's friends and their daughters met us there then we all headed to Candice's for lunch and a play date. The girls all sat at Kate's little table and had a tea party. We stayed way past Alex's nap time because she was having such a great time!

As we go to more activities, it really hits me we are in a small town. We are in gymnastics with a friend from our school year Friday play group. We see several moms and kids from our gymnastic class at the library for story time on Wednesday, and then even more moms from story time and gymnastics at music class on Thursday. Then there are other moms I see all over town running errands, at Barnes and Noble, Chick-fil-a or a the mall play area. Then we see at least one mom/kid from swim lessons at each activity. As summer is coming to and end, I am sad because some of my mommy friends are teachers so they will be going back to school and most of the other kids are starting MDO. I guess it's time for me to branch out and meet more moms with kids who aren't in MDO. I'm just not ready for Alex to start this year. I plan on her starting next Fall when she is 3!

Alex and Kate

Mia, Alex and Bethanny

Alex, Bethanny and Kate

New Friends

Alex loves Kate! We met Kate and Candice in the Spring at the company fun run. Candice's husband works for the same company as Josh They had moved to College Station a few months prior and Alex and Kate seemed to hit it off. We talked about swim lessons and planned to sign the girls up for the same class. We didn't talk again until sign up started and we confirmed class dates and times. After the first swim lesson, Alex woke up every morning asking to see Kate! Since they were out of town for Alex's birthday party, we had them over for a play date last week so they could play with all of Alex's new toys. They played and had lunch. When they were about to leave, Kate opened the door to our coat closet and went in, shutting the door behind her, then popped out saying boo! Alex thought it was hilarious! Alex wanted her to keep doing it, so she would take Kate to the closet, close the door, then take off running and laughing! Kate would pop out, close the door and run after Alex. Then they would hold hands while walking back to the closet and do it all over again. I love seeing my baby girl so happy!

2nd Birthday Party!

We celebrated Alex's 2nd birthday Saturday afternoon. My parents and Josh's parents were here all day Saturday to help us prepare. Our theme was Ice Cream Bar. The colors were orange, hot pink and aqua. Alex was OBSESSED with the balloons on the mail box. She actually saw them before her nap when my dad was bringing them up the driveway. I ran out and asked him to take them around back so we could hide them in our closet. The party started at 3 so we had to wake Alex up from her nap. As soon as she got up, she went to the front door and said balloon over and over again. We kept trying to redirect her attention to no avail.

We finally brought in a few balloons. By the end of the party, all dozen that were on the mail box had made their way inside!
Alex had a blast opening her presents and throwing tissue paper around. We are so lucky to have wonderful friends who love our little girl.
After presents, we started the ice cream bar. We gave everyone a selection of 3 flavors then had toppings (nuts, mini M&M's and sprinkles) along with caramel, hot fudge, whipped cream and cherries! Instead of cake, I made mini cupcakes so there wouldn't be too much of a sugar over load! We had so much fun! I realized after hosting a shower and a birthday party within 3 weekends of each other is hard work...we may be having her birthday party somewhere else next year!

Our sweet little family!

Last Swim Class

We had our last swim lesson on Friday. I'm not going to lie, swim lessons 4 days a week for 2 weeks is a pain. We may find something different next year. It was right in the middle of our morning so it made it hard to get anything done before nap time. I could tell Alex was over swim lessons about half way through week 2. During class she kept repeating Mommy, all done and wanted to get out of the pool. A few days she didn't even want to leave the house to go to class. The highlight of her class was she got to see Kate. Alex would see me getting our stuff together and get so excited because she knew she'd see Kate. We are sad Kate is in Las Vegas for 2 weeks and we won't see her! :(

I wasn't able to get any pics of us in the pool this year. Friday before class, I took some last day pics.

Alex sad because it's her last class?

No!

Alex was upset because I wouldn't let her have a snack before class!

Alex loving on Kate!

Admiring the slide on the other side of the gate

Post class snack. A swim class tradition!