Christmas Party

We had Josh's company Christmas party last night in Houston! Alex got to stay in a hotel for the first time! It is amazing how much more stuff you have to pack when you have a kiddo! Cooper got to spend the night with Aunt Linda and he had a blast playing with his doggie friends! We had lunch at Landry's first then headed to the hotel. I wanted to get there early enough to have time to relax and take my time getting ready. Our sitter, Caitlyn, got there about 7:30 to stay with Alex while we went downstairs for the party. Alex has been doing great taking a sippy, but it seems she only likes taking them from me. She refused to take anything from Caitlyn. I guess getting her weaned was only the start, now we have to get her to take a feeding from someone other than me! The good news is, she should be completely weaned by the end of the week!

Alex and Josh relaxing watching TV while I was getting ready.

Alex, always munching on her hand! Yummy!

Chow Time!

We had so much fun today eating solids! About half way though her feeding, Alex got fussy so I thought she was over it. Nope, she just didn't like wearing clothes so I took them off and she went right back to eating! Thank goodness I did because this was by far our messiest meal ever!

Little piglet scarfed down her food, then tried licking the rest off her hands!

Coopie moved in because he spotted BABY TOES!!

After Alex was out of the Bumbo, Coop moved in to help me clean up! (Don't worry, the Bumbo has since been cleaned with something other than the dog's tongue!)

Baby, it's cold outside!

We woke up this morning to the tiniest amount of snow on the ground. As the day went on it melted. This afternoon it started coming down again, and it stuck! Here is the house with snow!!! (and decorated for Christmas, we are still looking for lights for the house!)

Coopie went out with me to check the mail and he looked so cute with some snowflakes in his fur I had to grab the camera!

Alex tried butternut squash for the first time today! Surprise....she loved it! She has taken 6 ounces of formula so far today and will only be getting sippy cup feedings for the rest of the night! We gotta break this girl from the boob!

When Abby got here this morning she was sporting her monkey hat! She looked adorable, so of course, I had to put Alex in her mouse outfit and hat for pictures!

5 Months Old!

My little pumpkin is 5 months old today! She showing us more and more of her personality everyday! I love it! Last night we went to Ninfa's for a work dinner Josh treated all of his employees to and Alex had a blast! She was passed around from person to person and she just smiled and had the best time!

This month, she has started...
laughing real belly laughs!
rolling over (but only when she is mad!)
taking a sippy cup with formula (she took 3 feeding from the sippy yesterday!)
improving her motor skills! (she will reach for something, pick it up and put it straight in her mouth!)
eating solids (so far only rice cereal, which she hated, oatmeal and sweet potatoes!)
she is getting very good at trying to stand while we hold her!

A message from Alex! (yes, she is very advanced for 5 months old!)

I am such a lucky little girl to have a Mommy who buys me pretty much any toy I show an interest in, but here are a few of my favorite things!

I love my Infantino Jittery Pal. I have a lion, his name is Lenny! I give Lenny slobbery wet kisses! When Mommy makes Lenny kiss my nose, I laugh!

I also love my Gund Pinkaboo pony! My 2 favorite things on Pinky are the mirror and the green plastic squares!

One of my new favorite things is my Nuby sippy cup! I hated bottles so Mommy decided I was a big girl and got me a sippy cup!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Mommy and my Daddy. Mommy spends all of her time with me and she is always making silly faces and making up silly songs! She takes me shopping and buys me all sorts of cute clothes and jammies. She also lets me take baths with her! Daddy won't admit it, but he is wrapped around my little finger! My favorite game with Daddy is crying when he sits down. As soon as he stands up I stop, if he sits I cry again. It's a fun game, I like it!

I also have the best big brother ever! Coopie is a little clumsy so Mommy has to make sure he doesn't accidentally step on me, but I know if he did, it would be an accident. He loves giving me kisses on my face, head and toes!

Another One Year Ago

One year ago Josh and I stood in our bathroom holding the stick pictured above that confirmed I was pregnant!! Oh, how things can change in 1 year!

We had a big weekend, I made sweet potatoes for Alex and she had her first real food on Saturday! She LOVED them!

First bite, the jury is still out!

So good, she's licking the tray clean!

Saturday night we went to the James' for dinner! It was so much fun because it was baby central! It was us along with 2 other couples. Jen and David have Ashleigh who will be 2 at the end of the month and Luke who is will be 6 months old Wednesday. Alex, Abby and Luke played on the floor for awhile! Luke, always the ladies man, was in between the girls! Sarah and Chris are expecting their little one this summer!

Abby is 3 months, Luke is almost 6 months and Alex will be 5 months tomorrow!

The Family Man

Last night was such a great night! I made dinner when Josh got home, we left the TV off and listened to Christmas music. We have had The Departed for a week and haven't made time to watch it. I decided I wasn't in the mood for it so we watched The Family Man instead. Josh had never seen it and it had been awhile since I had seen it. I forgot how much I love that movie. It makes you really start thinking about all the little things that had to fall in place and decisions you had to make to get exactly where you are at this moment. What if you chose a different path at one point in your life, how different would your life be now? For Josh and I we have an interesting story (for another time if you don't already know it) and we started talking about how different our lives would be if we hadn't both made the decision that we wanted to be together. We both realized our sweet baby girl wouldn't be here and we started tearing up just thinking about a life without her in it. We looked over at Cooper and knew he would be in this world, but not with us. We have so many wonderful things to be thankful for, not just this holiday season, but everyday of our lives.

We thought back to our first Christmas in Wylie and I remembered how we used to sit on the couch with all the lights off except the Christmas tree and we'd just look at it and talk. We get so wrapped up in all the things we need to do now, we don't have moments like that anymore. Josh got up, turned off all the lights and I put some blankets on the floor and we just snuggled (with Cooper beside us) and looked at the tree. We ended up falling asleep for a while. It was a perfect night.

Alex's favorite toy!

Alex has a favorite toy! It is a little horse the Sorensen's brought to her in the hospital! It is so cute, it makes all sorts of sounds and has different things dangling from each leg. The best part is the mirror on the bottom! Like I said before, this girl loves looking in mirrors! We sing "You're So Vain" to her! lol

Today is a Mommy and Alex day! Katie has the day off so Abby is with her! We are going shopping! I need to find a Christmas dress (or two) for Alex. We have so much family we will be seeing over the Christmas holidays, she needs a few outfits! Oh, and of course Christmas jammies! We are meeting Josh for lunch! I was so excited to get our day started, I showered and got ready early. Alex sat in her chair in the bathroom with me. When I was done, I put her in the pack and play so I could change clothes and wouldn't you know it, within 2 minutes she was asleep!