Mommy's Little Helper

Alex is such a great helper. She loves helping to unload the dishwasher. I pull all the knives out first, then she will go through each drawer and remove all of her things. She hands them to me or if I'm busy, she will place them on the counter. When she is finished with her things, she will help with everything else. I used to unload the dishwasher while she was napping now I wait for her to wake up so she can help me. I love it!

She loves it when I wheel the laundry basket from our closet to the laundry room. She stops whatever she is doing to come help. I put whatever I am washing on the floor and she will help me put all the clothes in the washer. When she is done, she will close the door then push the button to turn on the machine.

I love my sweet little helper!

Her last cuspid broke through the gums yesterday! Now we are just waiting on all four 2nd molars!

stuffing it all in!

close the door

turn it on!

NYE in California

On Thursday Josh worked half a day then we loaded up the car to head to Dallas. We got to his parents, sat for a few minutes then headed to the airport. I read on the AA.com site they recommend getting there 3 hours before your flight due to extra security. Seriously, it took us 20 minutes to check luggage and get through security. Since we had TONS of extra time, we had an early dinner. Josh noticed our flight that was supposed to leave at 6:55 was now delayed until after 8. We finally left the ground a little after 8:30. My poor girl was soo tired and slept off and on during the flight. We landed at LAX and had to wait almost an hour for our luggage! We made it to my sisters, in Glendale, at 11:45, with just enough time to unload the car, say our hello's and grab a glass of champagne to ring in the New Year! Alex stayed up until 1:30 (yes, 3:30 Texas time!) and was up at 6am. We are used to the first night in a new place not going well, so we were expecting it. She slept with us and tossed and turned most of the night. We were on the go most of the time we were there so Alex was lucky if she got in an hour nap each day in the car. Considering she went to bed late every night, woke up by 6 every morning and hardly napped, she was great! We did notice on the last day that 2 new teeth broke through the skin while we were there and the other 2 are about to. (Alex now has 2 of her canine teeth!) The teething added a little extra fuss.

Friday we stayed at the house most of the day. We all woke up, relaxed, had a yummy brunch and opened presents. That afternoon Josh, Laith, Hudson, Izzy and I went to the mall to find all three kids coordinating outfits for pictures they were having made Saturday. Alex got to stay home with my parents and Jodi to rest.

Saturday afternoon we took the kids to a friends studio for pics. Alex napped about 20 minutes in the car and was not happy about pictures. I haven't seen them yet, but from what I saw, we may have a handful of good pics, but I think it's going to be slim pickings! After we got home, Alex got to nap for about 30 minutes then we went to Granville for dinner and walked around the Americana for a little while. We ended our night early so we could take Alex home so she could go to bed.

Sunday we all got ready and headed to Pasadena to do some shopping and have lunch. We passed by the Rose Parade route where all the bleachers were still set up. The whole set up looks much bigger on TV! We had a great dinner at the house. My sister and Laith are great in the kitchen so we had delicious food the entire time we were there!

My nephew got a kitten 2 weeks ago. He is a little black tuxedo cat named Houdini. He is the sweetest cutest cat I have ever seen. Alex LOVED him and he won Josh, a dog person, over. Every time Alex would see him she would laugh and yell kit or kitty at him. He ran from her so she would look for him, then he would come back to see her and let her chase him again. Sunday night he was on my lap and Alex was beside me. He slowly started reaching for her with his paws until he was pretty much in her lap. She just let him sit there. It was the cutest thing. One afternoon Josh was napping and Houdini was snuggled up next to him. I think Josh actually liked it! The Stafin house is now in negotiations for adding a kitten, but it's something we really want to think about and if we do, it wouldn't happen for several months.

Monday morning Alex started getting sick. She has a snotty nose and a cough. Last night she was running a temp. I think it's all due to the drastic weather changes, teething and lack of sleep the last several days. I'm keeping an eye on her and I have nothing planned this week so we can work on getting back on a sleeping schedule and so my sweetheart can get caught up on some sleep!

holiday brunch tradition, crackers with the paper crowns and toys in them!

Josh and the kiddos

every morning, we would go downstairs and snuggle on the couch with Nomi

Alex and Houdini!

Even more teeth!

So, I've realized my child has a crazy long tongue! When we feed her if we get the spoon close to her mouth, she will stick her tongue out to feel the spoon! Today I was eating Skittles and she came to me and opened her mouth for me to give her one, which I didn't, and I blew in her face because she usually thinks it hilarious! She must have like it because smacked her lips and kept coming back with her mouth wide open for more Skittle scented blows...crazy kid!

Anyway, this week, 2 more teeth have popped up. All four of her first molars have broken through the gums and her first bottom lateral incisor finally popped through yesterday. Kinda weird, she got her molars first, but at least the first one finally showed up! So the tooth count is now at 11! I've noticed that with each pair of teeth, the left one shows up, then the right one a few days or weeks later.

Alex is turning into a Piggy Sue! This morning she had breakfast around 7:30, a cereal bar for a snack around 9, some puffs around 10 and by 10:45 she was fussing and whining in the kitchen for lunch so she has 2 helpings of white turkey chili! She knows exactly where we keep her snacks because she will stand in front of the cabinet fussing and pointing to it until I give her some. Most of the times, she has her snack bowl in her hand and hands it to me to fill for her. Demanding little thing! If I ask her if she wants milk, she goes to the fridge to try to open it and if I am making her waffles for breakfast, she tries to open the freezer to get them out for me! It's getting bad. When we were at the grocery store Monday I actually had to sneak the puffs and goldfish into the cart because if she sees them she will fuss and try to turn around to get them the rest of the time we are at the store!

At Last

Josh and I made it back from Vegas last night. We had a blast. We started our vacation a day early by heading to Austin to see my best friend, Shannon, and her husband Neal. We went to The Hula Hut for drinks and Homeslice for pizza! While we were in Vegas, we ate, gambled, shopped, ate some more and gambled some more. I' m not going to lie, it was nice to try and sleep in (even though I was wide awake at 6am every morning), not be on a schedule and just enjoy spending time with each other, but I don't think being away from Alex for 4 nights is something I'll be doing again any time soon. We were kinda lame and spent a lot of time in our room, relaxing, watching TV and I read a book. We pretty much stayed in in a 2 block radius from our hotel. We have both been to Vegas several times so we didn't feel the need to sight see or anything. I had so much fun just eating! We had some great food and dessert with dinner every night. I think I gained 5 pounds while we were there since we would eat huge dinners at 9:30 or 10, then go to sleep.

Even though we had a blast, I missed my baby girl. It wasn't a bad miss, like I wanted to go home immediately, but I just missed holding her. I got tons of pictures every day. I loved seeing what she was up to. I knew she was having a good time with my mom, so that put me much more at ease. I could not wait to get home to see her. We got home around 7:30 and Alex was beyond tired. She was in the kitchen so I went in and sat on the floor. She kinda looked at me like she didn't know what to do, then came to me and hugged me. She stayed with me for a few minutes then wanted Nomi. We let her stay up a little later to play then she was more than ready for bed. She was up at 5am so I brought her to our bed and she slept until the alarm went off at 6:30. It was soo great to have her back in my arms. We spent our day just playing and hanging out. She was soo sweet and giggly, but didn't want me out of her sight. It's weird going 5 days without seeing her. She looks more like a little girl than a baby to me now. I guess I never noticed as much because I was so used to seeing her every single day. Josh and I are looking forward to our weekend at home with our pumpkin and no plans!

While we were gone tooth #9 popped up! She now has her first top molar on her left side.

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!

The Little Things

Little things make me realize my baby girl is growing up right before my eyes. I am getting a box of clothes together to send to my best friend's niece who just had a little girl. Going through all of Alex's old clothes just saddens me. I can remember her wearing each little outfit and looking at them now, they look so tiny. I finally decided it is time to move up a size in jammies. Her 9 month stuff is just a little too tight in the length. I loaded up the girls today and we went to the Carter's outlet. I walked in and looked at all the adorable snap up footed jammies at the front of the store, then I realized, they only go up to 9 months. As I made my way to the back of the store for the "big girl" jammies I thought there had to be a mistake. They looked HUGE! Now, I know they go all the way up to 4T but how can my sweet baby be in the style where the size range goes from 12 months to 4T? We no longer get the sweet little footed jammies, now it is the zip up jammies with the rubber grips on the feet. So, I got 2 pairs of footed jammies and a couple of short/pant/tee shirt pj sets.

She is getting so independent. It seems like in just a matter of days, she went from pulling up to stand every once in a while to now pulling up on EVERYTHING from the wall, my legs while I'm standing and Cooper if he sits still too long. She is now always standing in her crib when I get her up for the day or from a nap. She is getting more confident walking while holding onto something or someone. She is very much a social butterfly. We walked down the street the other day so we could return a few gardening tools and I wanted her to meet Alex. Joan opened the door and Alex immediately held her arm out and leaned to her so she could hold her. This girl has never met a stranger.

Tooth #2 cut through the gums yesterday!!! She now has both lower central incisors.

Baby, you are not supposed to grow up this fast, can you slow down just a little bit and let me savor the last 2 months of you being my baby before you turn 1?