Miss Independent!

Alex is turning into a big girl right before my eyes! She tries to be more and more independent every single day! She loves trying to hold her own sippy cup! We tried a sippy cup with a straw last night...that one is going to take some time. It's kinda weird because you have to bite down on the straw in order to get anything from it. (Yes, I know this because I tried then made Josh try! He could do it, but for some reason, I had problems! You gotta be smarter than the cup and apparently I'm not!)

Anyway, we have halted crawling lessons for a few days. That isn't stopping her from trying every single time she is playing on the floor, but we decided lessons will resume after the house has been baby-proofed this weekend!

I have decided today is clean the house day. Well, at least the front portion of the house. My house always looks like a wreck. I think it's because I make piles of stuff that need to be put away, then never get to putting the stuff away. I need to get better and be more organized. It's sad how forgetful I have become. I have to set reminders on my phone for EVERYTHING! The girls and I met Josh and the guys for lunch then we went on to Target. I was feeling great until we got home. My hand started hurting then by the time Josh got home, my knuckles on my right hand were swollen. Then I started thinking, I couldn't remember if I took my pills in the morning. The more I thought about it, the more I started thinking I didn't. How sad is it that I can't remember if I took my meds? So, there is now a new daily reminder on my phone to take my meds and I even set up the alarm to go off at 8am to remind me. It sucks getting old!

Please keep your fingers crossed for us. Katie had some stomach flu Tuesday and Wednesday, Tracy now has it. The last thing we want is the flu to come knocking on our door, especially with my super weakened immune system. I am making sure I scrub my hand anytime I handle Abby. She hasn't gotten it which is a good sign for us!

I ordered Alex's Easter basket yesterday! I can't wait for it to get here. It's from Pottery Barn Kids and it's soooo cute! It's the little bunny basket in the picture below! It will have her name on it in script! I saw it and knew it was perfect so I sent the picture to Josh and he loved it! It is fitting since we call her our little Bunny!

operation crawl: lesson one

Last night was Alex's first crawling lesson with her Daddy! Josh had one very attentive student and furry friend providing moral support for Alex.

Unfortunately, Alex was more interested in staring at Josh than pushing up! Josh was trying to entice her with toys and her new favorite thing, the plastic box wet wipes come in! She may have been more interested in the attention her Daddy was giving her but I know lesson one wasn't a waste. While she was playing on the floor today, she saw the wet wipe container and tried moving towards it. She pushed up on her knees and tried to move her body forward but instead of moving forward, her knees just slid on the blanket and she ended up moving backwards. She didn't give up and kept trying! It's a start!

I had another appointment with the rheumatologist today. All of my blood work came back and I am as healthy as someone with RA can be, so I'm starting my first dose of Methotrexate (MTX) tonight. I only have to take it once a week. The first week, I'll take 4, week 2 I'll take 6 and week 3 I'll take 8. After week 3, I'll continue taking 8 each week. Along with the MTX, I have to take 1mg of folic acid once a day, 1000mg of Sulfasalazine twice a day, 5mg of Prednisone once a day. So, after 3 weeks, I'll be taking 14 pills 1 day a week, then 6 the other days, see I'm a pill popper! I love my doctor. She is soo sweet and always asking about Alex. My next appointment is at the end of March. A week before my appointment, I'll have to go in for lab work so they can check all my numbers again. One of the numbers they are looking at is my erythrocyte sedimentation rate numbers, in a normal person, 20 is considered high, at the time of my last test mine was 112! The goal is to get my ESR back to a normal level. If the MTX doesn't help too much, I'll have to move to an injection. I would rather not have to give myself an injection so I am crossing my fingers that the oral pills work!

hands and knees!

Alex pushed up on all fours this morning! I had the camera in my hand taking pics of her in her cute cupcake jammies and she just popped up! Of course she wouldn't do it again for a pic, so my goal today was to keep the camera in my hands at all times to I could catch it! I did it!

Yesterday when I got out of the shower Josh was on the floor with her trying to get her up on her knees. She would get one under her, but not both. Then she would use his leg to push off and move forward a couple of inches! Not quite a crawl, more of a scoot. I think the little Daddy practice was all the motivation she needed! Josh said he's work with her every night so I have a feeling in no time, it will just click! If she is flat on her belly, she will constantly move her legs back and forth, so it is just a matter of time before she does it up on her knees!

With that being said, we are making a trip to Babies R Us this weekend so we can get stuff to baby proof the house. With as much energy as Alex has, I know once she puts two and two together, there will be no stopping her. I just feel sorry for Cooper. For the last almost 7 months, he has been her shadow, that is all about to change!

Woof Woof, Giggle Giggle

Alex and I were playing on the floor in her room the other day and Cooper started barking at something, so I mimicked him by saying, "Woof Woof," and she thought it was the funniest thing ever. It amazes me how the smallest things will make her laugh!

We relaxed most of the day yesterday! I wasn't feeling to well after breakfast so I took a nap while Josh played with Alex. She adores her Daddy! Her face just lights up whenever she sees him! After my nap I felt much better, but we decided to stay on the couch and watch movies. We got out last night to run a few errands and grab a bite to eat. I love do nothing days! The only crappy part about yesterday was when I went outside in the morning. I noticed some red plastic stuff on the ground behind our cars so I went to see what it was. Some moron broke Josh's tail light with a bat or something! About a month and a half ago someone shot paint balls at his car and the garage door. We didn't think anything about it, just kids being kids, but our house was the only one in the neighborhood that got shot. Again, with the tail light, our car was the only one in the neighborhood that had any damage. We are thinking it is some disgruntled employee. The paintball really wasn't that big of a deal, just an inconvenience. But when you start damaging things that our property and cost us money, that just pisses me off. Anyway, Josh filed a police report. I doubt anything will come of it, but still, it just makes me mad!

Well, I have to make brownies to take to a Super Bowl party this afternoon and my house is kind of a wreck so I better get started on cleaning! Ugh....

Alex and her Crew!

Yes, my little Alex has a crew! The first member of her crew has been her shadow since the first day she came home! Cooper Collie Stafin! He adores his little sister and she in turn adores him! I wonder of people will think it's weird that Alex will eventually refer to Cooper as her brother?

Here is Miss A's other crew (from left to right: Pinky, Honey, Lenny [in her hands], Love-A-Bunny, Dr. Octagon, Robbie, Giggles, and Polly Dolly.) We are weird, we name all of Alex's toys. She loves them all...well, she loves chewing on them!

We had round 2 with bananas today. Last time we did them for 1 day, she had weird poo, so I didn't give her anymore. I talked to the pedi about it at her 6 month appointment and he said it was normal. So breakfast today was bananas and oatmeal! Yummy!

I couldn't resist, after her bath, her little booty looked so cute! She has a perfect little heart shaped butt! I could just bite it!
Here is Alex's blankie she gets to nap with. It was a Christmas present from Nomi. She only gets it while she is napping because she moves around so much I worry about her getting tangled up in it. She loves holding the blanket right by her face. We have incorporated the blanket into her nap time routine. She has been such a great napper for several weeks now. She does 2 naps a day, usually 2-3 hours at a time. I can tell when she gets sleepy so we'll go in her room, I'll hold her on my lap, let her hold her blanket and we rock for a couple of minutes. I love this time because she is soo sweet and snugglie! The last 2 days she has been taking 3 naps. Instead of 1 long morning nap, she will nap for about an hour, wake up, play for about an hour, then nap for another hour. She is still taking her afternoon nap, but this is getting shorter and her bedtime is moving closer to 7 or 7:30!

I love this picture of my sweet little baby, she looks like such a big girl!

Heart Breaking...

I made my little pumpkin cry yesterday. (This is an old picture, I don't have a recent one of her crying.) Since she started rolling over, she has become such a wiggle worm on the changing table. Yesterday, she kept trying to roll over and I kept flipping her back, then would say no no. She would just giggle like it was a game. After about 5 times, I flipped her back, looked her in the eye and said, "No" one time in a stern voice. She looked at me, turned bright red and opened her mouth but no sound came out for about 10 seconds, the she wailed. I, of course, picked her up immediately, and started crying too. So much for being a disciplinarian. I just can't do it when she cries and looks at me like that. I am already such a push over!

Alex had pears this morning. She gobbled them up! On Saturday, we are going to revisit bananas. Hopefully she won't have funky poo this time! To date she has tried and loved: butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, apples, avocado and pears! I am still making all of her food. It is soo easy and I love doing it! While I was at the store last night, I picked up some puffs so she could practice her pincer grasp. While we were eating dinner, I put her in her highchair and put 3 puffs on her tray. She could pick them up and get them to her mouth, but since her fingers were slobbery, they just kind of stuck to her fingers. She ended up getting one in her mouth and made the funniest face as she ate it. She looked like she wasn't too sure about the texture. Cooper also was introduced to puffs last night! The remaining 2 puffs ended up on the floor! Josh told Cooper he better get used to it, because this was just the beginning of the feast to come!!

Could they be any cuter?

We went to Dallas this weekend! We left here Saturday afternoon and got home last night. It was great short little trip! We met some friends for dinner in Fort Worth, then went to a comedy club! It was a blast. Alex got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa! She was great for them! Sunday, we had lunch then went to visit Ito and Ita on our way home. Both of my babies were so tired from being on the road. I looked back and Coopie was snuggled up to Alex in her car seat. They are sooo cute! Can I tell you how hard it is to take a picture from the passenger seat while the car is moving, especially since Alex is facing backwards?!?!?

We have started having naked baby time every day before bath time! I can not believe how long my munchkin looks in this picture! I realized that Alex has about 3 more inches until she outgrows her car seat. Now we are trying to decide what "big girl" car seat we will get her. I have a feeling in no time, Alex will start pushing up on all fours. Once she gets that down, I have a feeling she will just take off. She can not keep her legs still to save her life. They are always moving!

Josh is home sick today...it is bad that I am excited!?! I love spending days with him! He was just feeling worn down, achy and congested. He is curled up on the couch watching TV, I think I may join him since the babies are sleeping!!