Baby Grand

Last week the birthday present we ordered for Alex finally came in! We had the hardest time figuring out what to get her, then I came a cross an adorable little pink baby grand piano and knew it was perfect! She adores playing with our big piano so we thought a little Alex sized one would be better for her. I showed it to Josh and he loved it. While I was giving Alex a bath and getting her ready for bed, he put it together. She was so excited when she saw it! She started banging away. She has been playing with it non-stop. One of her favorite things to do is play hers, then reach up and play the big one to hear the difference!

Alex's hair is getting so long, but it's a weird long. It's long on top and over her ears, but it's not as long around the sides. I've been playing with her hair on a daily basis and Josh just laughs at me! Here are 2 new hair do's we tried...I decided we'd wait a little longer to try pig tails again!

1 Year Appointment

We had Alex's 1 year check up today! Dr. H said everything looks perfect! We are clear on all foods, except nuts. He wants us to wait until she is 2 to introduce nuts/peanut butter. She had 4 shots today. She turned bright red and tried screaming, but no sound came out with the 1st prick, by the time she actually let out a sound, the shots were done. She cried for a few minutes, but it was more like a whimper.

current stats:

weight: 20 lbs (28th percentile)

height: 30 1/4 inches (80th percentile)

Alex currently takes 2, 1.5-2 hour naps a day, 3-4 sippy cups of whole milk, and loves water!

She adores being in the water and gets very excited when she sees she is about to get in the bath

She dances and loves music (moves her head around kinda like Stevie Wonder, rocks back and forth and most recently waves her arms around)

We let her watch half an episode Special Agent Oso once a day and she LOVES it! She gets very excited when they sing the catchy little song. (we started watching this because my niece, Izzy, does some of the character voices on the show!)

She can listen and follow a direction, example, when she is standing at the baby gate and we ask her to sit down (so we can get through) she will.

Says Mama (and knows it's me!) When you ask her to say Dada, she will say Mama. It's quite funny, to me, not Josh!! She will say Dada on rare occasions, but prefers Mama!

"helps" to get dressed and undressed (will pull her arm out and take a shirt off her head when getting undressed and will put her arms through the arm holes when getting dressed)

"helps" to get out of her car seat. if we loosen it and unbuckle it, she will get her arms out of the straps and sit forward so we can pick her up

plays peek-a-boo

She has 3 teeth (lower left and right central incisors and upper right central incisor)
Wearing size 3 diapers

Clothes: wearing mostly 6-12 or 9-12 month clothes but can still wear some of her 6-9month stuff

Eats 3 meals a day. (loves strawberries, blueberries, mozzarella balls, cottage cheese, yogurt, cherries, broccoli, avocado) She has some foods that she may like one day and refuse the next...sometimes she'll even eat them at the beginning of a meal, but not at the end...cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes and fresh steamed green beans.

She can drink from any straw and uses a sippy cup

She can self feed and is pretty good at feeding herself with a spoon if I put food on it and hold it in front of her. She can take it from me and get it in her mouth!

She loves playing with a remote we have for a lamp in our room. She can click it to turn it off and on and is very aware of what buttons to push through out the house to turn things off and on.

She loves playing in the kitchen! She has a drawer that has silicone molds, spatulas and a few cookie cutters in that she can play with forever!!!

quick recap...and pics

I feel so behind with the 12 day countdown to Alex's birthday. So much happened during those 12 days so here's a quick recap and pics!

A visit to Nomi and Popi's over the 4th of July weekend. Josh and I got to have a date night while Nomi and Aunt Pam watched Alex. The next day we had the 1st pre-party, cake and presents!

the cakes

cake #1

presents! Alex got her first American Girl doll, Bitty Baby!

the family relaxing!
Alex and Ita watching Daddy
Happy 4th of July!

Then we were off to Josh's parents lake house on the 4th for a second pre-party, cake and presents!

Cake #2 (by this point I had made 4 cakes and was over baking, but still had to make 2 more cakes for Alex's party the next weekend!) Opening presents with Corbi, Sabrina and Sam! During all of the cake eating and present opening, we completely transitioned to organic whole milk. I decided to try one sippy cup of milk to see what she thought about it and she sucked it down. After that I changed my plan of mixing formula with milk and making a slow transition. The next day we did 3 sippy cups of milk through the day with breakfast, lunch and a snack then a formula sippy cup before bed. This continued for about a week until we were completely out of formula so July 5th was her last official bottle/sippy of formula. I cried because I realized my little girl was growing up so fast!

The last bottle

And, tooth #3 made it's appearance! Alex now has her top left central incisor! The right one is on the verge of breaking through the gums so I'm sure we'll see it in the next few days!

Alex got sick the day of her birthday. We went to the doctor and she had an upper respiratory infection. My poor little thing. She was put on an antibiotic because Dr. H could hear a little congestion in her chest and wanted to kick it before it moved completely into her chest and became bronchitis. She is doing much better and has been fever free since Friday! We have another date with Dr. H tomorrow morning for Alex's 1 year check up!

Party Time!

We had Alex's birthday party today! I've been working on stuff for it all week and my parents came down last night so they could lend a helping hand this morning. Josh's parents also came down early today to help too! We have the best parents!

My poor little sickie did great! She napped until the first few guest arrived and took a few minutes to warm up, but one she did, she was perfect. There were only and handful of kids, but it was a perfect amount! We had burgers, dogs, cake and ice cream! I realized I didn't get a good picture of Alex in her dress, but it was sooo cute! It had a little brown bunny on the bottom.

The Birthday Girl!

Playing Peek a Boo

The Cakes!

(the first, and probably last birthday cakes I'll be making!)

the adorable letters my sister cut for me!

hanging pictures of Alex from the last year!

The Stafins

Present time!

My little bunny!

The cake!

Holding on to make sure the cake didn't get away!

Digging in!

I think she liked the cake!

We had so much fun, but it was exhausting! After everyone left, we all crashed and took a 2 hour nap!

A day of first...

Yesterday was a big day of first...First Birthday, First Step (only one, but it was still a step!) and first sick day!

Here is her 12 months picture in her chair! I have more to share to show what a wiggle worm she is! I remember the days when I could sit her in the chair and she would sit while I took pictures. Now she is either standing in the chair or trying to get down. It takes a book or toy to keep her still enough for a few quick pictures.

I'll post more later...the last week was busy. We had 2 small pre-parties with family and her big party is tomorrow so I'm running around trying to get stuff done.

We didn't do anything special on her actual birthday for 2 reasons...I didn't want to do another cake since she has already had 2 and will have her third tomorrow.

But the main reason we didn't do anything was because my poor baby was sick on her birthday! She was snotty and congested before she went to bed Wednesday and wasn't too much better in the morning. She had a 101.6 fever by the afternoon. The fever went down some before she went to bed last night, but was still at 101.1 this morning. A morning dose of Tylenol didn't help and her fever was a little higher an hour later. She has a doctors appointment this afternoon.

Happy First Birthday!

Happy First Birthday Alexandra Rae!

Alexandra,

Here it is, a whole year after you decided to make your early grand entrance! I never thought I could be a daddy, but the moment I first saw you, I knew I was wrong all those years.

You have shown me what true love really means. Every day I'm thankful your mommy came into my life and you are the perfect little embodiment of the love we have for each other.

I love your fuzzy little hair, I love your cute little nose. I love your big gummy (and a little toothy) smile and I love your laugh. I love your head and I love your toes.

For all of your life, you will have a daddy who loves you, protects you, believes in you and supports you in everything you do.

Happy first birthday my sweet Alexandra. I love you and always will.
Daddy

Alexandra, my sweet baby girl...

One year ago my life changed forever. You came into this world and gave me the greatest gift ever. You allowed me to become a mommy, your mommy. The first time I laid eyes on you, I knew my life would never be the same. My heart melted as I took in every single detail of your beautiful little face. You were absolute perfection. I loved you more that I have ever loved another person and now, one year later, I can not even put into words how much that love has grown. Every single day you make my life better than I could have ever imagined.

I could sit for hours and watch you sleep. You are an angel...tossing and turning, because a peaceful sleeper you are not! The excitement you show when you see anything makes me smile. You are determined, affectionate, silly, and just plain wild sometimes...everything I love rolled into one adorable little package.

Baby, you made our family complete and Daddy and I would do anything in the world for you. You are my love, my life and my happiness.

Happy first birthday my sweet baby girl.

I love you,
Mommy

Month Eleven!

Month eleven! Alex started swim lessons this month, cut her second tooth, started eating pretty much everything, started standing unassisted, started calling me Mama on a regular basis and shocked us by saying bye-bye one day while waving to Josh! She also loves playing peek-a-boo. Before we would cover our face and she would uncover it when we said boo. Now, she will cover her own eyes and uncover them when we say boo!

Alex's last formula bottle.

At the lake with Daddy!

Reading a book. She loves looking at books...even if they are upside down!

The cute little face I see every morning!

Eleven Months Old!