boo boo bunny

My poor little tinks busted her lip today. What's even worse, I don't know how she did it. I was cleaning up the lunch dishes and she was playing with Abby. Alex started crying and Abby came around the corner with the toy Alex had been playing with, so I assumed Alex was upset Abby took the toy. I went to check on her and there was blood in her mouth! She was kneeling by the bar stool so I can only assume she lost her balance and hit her mouth on the stool. I looked in her mouth and the blood was coming from her gums. I gave her a little water to wash the blood out. After a few sips, she wiggled away to go play. I gave her a few minutes then got her toothbrush because it's the only way she will willingly open her mouth to let me take a look. There was still a little blood but no cuts or anything on her gums. It looked like it was coming from the gum line. She wasn't fussing so I let her play. Within a few minutes, her lip started swelling. Since she was more interested in playing than me holding her I gave her a mesh feeder with an ice cube in it to help the swelling. The swelling went down some, but you can see a bruise on her lip. My poor little pumpkin. I do have to say, for as clumsy as this kid is, I am shocked this is the first boo boo she has had!

her poor little fat lip

a better view

I think it worked!

Our sleeping struggle may be over...maybe! We have had 2 nights in a row where Alex didn't get up for an hour in the middle of the night. It's a start. The first few nights Alex would wake up crying after a few minutes I'd go in and check on her. She was always fine, just wanted to be held. It would turn into her being up for an hour and a half or so. The 3rd night, she slept without waking up at all. Then she started waking up as soon as Josh and I were going to bed. We keep a white noise machine on in her room so she has a constant sound she hears and we don't have to worry about waking her up with any noise we may make. It's on a remote, so after we get in bed, we turn it off. For several nights before we would even turn it off, she would wake up. We let her try to CIO and she cried for half an hour two of the three nights. After 30 minutes we finally went in there and held her until she finally went back to sleep, but it took at least an hour each time.

Over the weekend, we decided we'd just keep her up later (until 8) to see if she went to bed later, maybe she'd sleep all night. It worked...but it threw her naps off. We are finally getting back on schedule with naps and she has slept through the night 2 nights in a row! Woo hoo!!!

Other than sleep issues over the weekend, we had a great time. Saturday, we went to Ikea and to an outlet mall near Houston do to a little shopping. Alex got some jeans and new shoes! I don't understand kids clothing sizes. Her jeans are 9-12 month and they are still a little big in the waist and so long we have to roll them up! We are in the process of turning the office/guest room into a playroom/tv room with a sleeper sofa for guest. We found a great shelf unit at Ikea and got some storage bins that slide into it. It's great for all of Alex's toys and it was cheap enough that if something happens to it, it's not a big deal!

Sunday, Nomi and Popi came to visit. Popi helped Josh hang a projector in the playroom, Nomi and I went to Target and Alex napped. We are getting ready for our trip to California, where it will be much cooler than it is here, so Alex needed some long sleeve tops and pants. They have some of the cutest stuff out now! I feel like there is so much I should be doing before we leave, but I can't really think of anything. I'm sure I'll be running around like crazy towards the end of the week!

swing, take two

The other day we had a few errands to run that ended up being pretty quick and we had a little time before the rain was supposed to come in so we stopped at the park for about 15 minutes. I put the girls on the same swing they shared four and a half months ago. It now seems like a lifetime ago. Both babies have changed so much. Alex has SO MUCH MORE hair! My baby is starting to look like a little girl now.

May 5th

September 15th

Wakeful Wiggle Worm

Don't let this sweet little face fool you! She is a perfect little angel during the day, but at 2am the horns poke through her baby fine hair! The last 2 nights at 2am Alex woke up screaming and crying. The first night, I went in and rocked her for a few minutes and put her back in her crib. Before she even touched the mattress she was screaming! I sat on the floor so she could see me and she sat up in her crib for about 20 minutes. We tried rocking again with no luck. After about an hour, I gave in and put her in our bed. She tossed and turned and was just so restless and I figured there was no need to keep both Josh and me up so I took her back to her room. We rocked again, I sat on the floor again. When I thought she was out, I slid out of the room on my rear end! lol!!! The second I shut the door, she started crying. I sat on the couch for a few minutes to see if she would calm down. Josh got up and held her for a few minutes then I went back in her room and she immediately reached for me. We rocked again, I put her down and went to our room. She screamed and cried. Finally Josh said, just bring her to bed with us. So we tried it again. She sat up, tried crawling all over the bed, kicked Josh then started talking in her sweet little voice. As tired as I was, her little voice made me smile. I decided to give the rocking one more try. I got a blanket, snuggled with her in the glider and after 20 minutes she finally fell asleep. I waited longer this time to make sure she was really out. After an hour of dozing, I finally put her in her crib and she was fine. It was now 4am and I was beat!

I chalked it up to teething. I noticed 2 teeth that are about to break through the gums and in the past, she usually has a bad night right before they pop up.

Last night, again screaming and crying at 2am. This time, I decided I'd just rock her until I could tell she was out and I'd put her back in her crib. At 3, I put her back in her crib and she woke up. I laid down on the floor and put my hand through the slats on the crib and she held my hand and fell asleep. After 45 minutes or so I headed for my bed and she started crying. I ended up on the bed in the office with her. She tossed and turned forever. She'd giggle, rub her feet on my legs, poke my eye, pinch my cheek...basically anything but sleep. Finally around 4:30 she fell asleep on my chest. We got in about 2 hours of sleep until the alarm in our room went off and she popped up happy as a lark.

Needless to say, I am one tired mama. I don't think I can handle another night like this.

Mommy's little helper!

Last week we had a few days where I was going batty. Alex went from taking 2 naps that were each around 2 hours long to taking 1 decent nap and 1 mini-nap. Friday, she slept for about an hour in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon. It was rainy so we couldn't play outside and mama was going crazy. She was tired, but refused to sleep, cranky, fussy and just sooo needy! I decided we'd make cookies! Alex sat in her high chair playing with a bowl of water and a mini spatula then got to have a snack of raisins...and a couple of chocolate chips! Josh loves oatmeal raisin cookies and I'm not a fan of raisins, so I made half a batch with raisins and half a batch with chocolate chips! Alex loves watching the KitchenAid Mixer so she was happy to have a good view of the action!

The cookies turned out great and sadly, they are all almost gone. Alex loves getting little nibbles of the cookies when we eat them.

On the sleeping, or lack of sleeping, note I think we are getting close to moving from two naps to one. Alex has been taking naps at 9am and 2pm. Lately, the naps have been getting shorter and shorter. Today, each nap was right at an hour. It was the same over the weekend. Saturday her afternoon nap was about 15 minutes in the car. I just can't decide when to move her nap to. Part of me is saying right around noon since she is pushing her morning nap a little later and later each day. I just don't know. I'm going to play around a little this week and see how it goes. I am reluctant to start a new schedule since we are leaving for California a week from Saturday and I know whatever we do is going to be completely thrown out the window while we are there. I may just wing it for the next 2 weeks and work on her schedule when we get back. I wish there was a rule, at such and such age your child move to 1 nap, it will be this long and will be at (insert time here)...wouldn't that make life (and parenting) easier!?!?

Alex and the Horse!

This weekend, we went to Josh's company picnic. It was raining off and on all day so I was not looking forward to it. It sprinkled a little when we got there, but then the rain stopped for the afternoon. We took Alex around to see the animals in the petting zoo area. She wasn't too impressed with the bunnies. I think it's because their area had pretty tall walls and they were being lazy. We then went out to see the horses. She started squealing and reaching out to them. One put his head over the gate so she could pet him. She loved it! She had a huge smile on her face the whole time. The horse liked the attention and kept poking his head over so she could pet him!

Other than the picnic, our weekend was pretty uneventful. Next weekend is our last "free" weekend where we don't have any plans. After that, we are booked solid for 7 straight weekends. I'm excited about all of our plans (California, the Texas State Fair, company cookoff, a couple of trips to Dallas, my parents annual Halloween party and Las Vegas!), but not looking forward to packing, unpacking and laundry!

14 Months Old!

Our little doll is 14 months old today! She amazes me every single day. She soaks up every little thing. She is walking non stop now. Every once in a while she will crawl, but for the most part she is officially a walker! She LOVES to read. She can sit with a pile of book for half an hour and just look through them and babble to herself like she is reading them! It is the cutest thing! She loves giving kisses. She has the muah sound down and loves to kiss her stuffed animals and the animals in her books. She will kiss me and Cooper, but is very stingy with her Daddy kisses! She likes to slide toys around on the tile while making a vroom vroom sound. She is obsessed with opening and closing doors.

She is a very head strong little girl. If I'm in the kitchen in front of a cabinet she wants to open, she will push and push until I get out of the way. She gets frustrated very easily if she can't do something. She loves her alone time. She will go in her room and shut the door behind her so she can play alone. I follow her in, with my phone so I can play games, and just let her play. If I'm in the middle of something I'll just open her door back up so I can hear her while she is playing. She loves to dance/bounce along to music, the more upbeat the better!

She is becoming a slightly picky eater. She will eat most fruit and veggies all day long...meat is another story. She will eat 3 or 4 bites of meat then start taking it out of her mouth or turning her head. I even cut up meatballs really small and mixed them in with some spaghetti and sauce. She would let me put the food in her mouth, eat the spaghetti and sauce, then spit the meat out. She LOVES Morningstar "chicken" nuggets. If she sees them on her plate, she will not eat anything else until she eats the nuggets.

Even though she is an active toddler most of the day, at nap time and bed time, she turns back into my little baby. She loves to snuggle with me before naps and at bed time she will let me rock her as long as I want. Last night she woke up around 10pm and snuggled with me until 10:45 or so. She was so sweet, when I put her back in her crib, she sat up and just looked at me. I sat on the floor to watch her and she picked up her bunny/bear "bearnnie" and held it like a baby then she offered me her blanket. She melts my heart!