Date Night

Josh and I had a date night Tuesday. It has been forever since we've gone out just the two of us. Mark and Veronica came over to watch Alex. In true Alex fashion, she screamed bloody murder when we left. Really, it was when I left. She is so used to Josh leaving every morning for work, it doesn't phase her, but since she is my little sidekick, she freaks out if I leave without her. Apparently she only cried for a few minutes then Little Einsteins made it all better. She cried when she went to bed, but it was only for a little while. This doesn't surprise me either. Some days she goes down easy, some days she cries more.

Anyway, Josh and I went to Chili's. Fancy right? We used to go to Chili's like once a week when we lived in Wylie so it was kind of like the old days. After that we went bowling. I love bowling, even though I am horrible. We bowled 3 games. The first one I barely broke 50! lol!!! I never broke 100, but we had fun so that's all that matters! After Mark and Veronica left, Josh and I had a glass of wine and just talked...no tv, no baby, just us! It was a perfect date night! We have another date planned with Tracy and Katie in 2 weeks that I am really really looking forward to! Alex will get to see Abby and will hopefully be good for the sitter!

Our Weekend!

We had such a fun weekend! It started Friday night when I went out for a lingerie shower/bachelorette party. We went out to Northgate, the big college bar area. I've never been and I realized why Friday night. The bride to be is in her early 20's as were most of her friends. After drinks and gifts, we went to a few bars. At one bar the guy at the door actually looked at my ID and asked if it was really my ID!?!? Really, if I was a college kid using a fake ID to get into a bar, it would not say I'm 30! I just felt old, but I had a good time!

Saturday, we went to Nathan and Mandi's wedding. It was smack in the middle of Alex's nap time so we put her down for an early nap and crossed our fingers that she wouldn't melt down during the festivities. She was super antsy at the ceremony so Josh took her to the atrium to run around so she didn't disrupt the wedding. Alex had a BLAST at the reception. She loved being on the dance floor. We had to hold her so she wouldn't interrupt the first dances. There was another little girl a couple of years older that Alex loved playing and dancing with. She totally hammed it up. At one point, the photographer bent down to take a picture of them together, Alex noticed it, pushed the other girl away so she wouldn't be in the pic and smiled for the camera. Total cheese ball! When they started the dollar dance, Alex walked up to Nathan and put her hands up so he could pick her up to dance. It was the cutest thing ever! We went to dinner with Mark and Veronica when we left. Alex wouldn't eat any shrimp until we gave her cocktail sauce to dip them in. She eats soooo much better if she can dip her food in stuff.

We all slept in Sunday morning, thank you time change, then had a late breakfast. After breakfast, we went to Lowes. Alex loves looking at all the flowers. We picked out some flowers for the beds in the front. We literally spent an hour digging out bulbs that I planted 2 years ago. They don't bloom anymore, but they still sprout grass like leaves all year long. I swear, I planted like 20 and they multiplied. I promised to never plant bulbs again! Alex had so much fun outside. She was such a busy body moving dirt from pot to pot, picking up leaves, playing with mulch and smelling the flowers. She learned how to open the front door and decided to let Cooper out, then she kept going in and out and in and out.

I didn't take one picture all weekend, but we spent more time outside today and I took a ton of pics. Alex and I picked up Subway, then picked up Josh and went to the park for lunch. Since I already know my kiddo hates lunch meat, I got her a pizza from Subway. She loved it...Josh and I thought it was kinda gross, but oh well, she ate a 1/4 of it!

After she woke up from her nap, we went out front to play some more! Alex decided it was sooo much more fun to have Coopie outside with us!

Free At Last!

my baby looks like such a big girl here!

taking a break to smell the flowers

Cooper begging to be let outside!

laughing at Daddy

tantrum because we wouldn't let her go play with the big girls

20 Months

My sweet girl is 20 months old today! Wow, we are so close to 2! Alex is sooo active. We took a break from traveling for a few weeks and now if we are in the car for more than an hour or so, she gets antsy and frustrated. It usually only last a few minutes, then she's over it.

She loves taking showers with me. If I get in the shower without her, she gets so upset and starts crying. She has mastered the little pouty lip. We were meeting Josh for lunch the other day and Tracy was holding her. Alex tried taking his sticker off and Josh told her no, she looked at him and in slow motion, pouted her little bottom lip as far as it would go then started crying. It's so funny because telling her no to the smallest things will get the biggest lip pout!

Current words:
Daddy (dadee)
Mommy (momo)
cool
cheese (chee)
Cooper (coocoo)
toot toot
shoe
ok
hey
yeah
koko
popi (popo)
blue (blu)
ball (ba)
row
mmmmm, yum
poo poo

I say a few words to her in Spanish...because I only know a few words! lol. When I put her coat on her I tell her it's her chaqueta and she always tries to repeat it. It is soooo cute!

Any time we sing to her, she sings along with us, but it's usually row row row (your boat) no matter what we sing! We were in the car yesterday listening to the Glee soundtrack and Alex was singing to herself in the back.

She has become a stuffed animal hoarder. She used to sleep with 3 animals and her blanket. She slowly started adding more and more animals until she had 8 or 9. If she sees one at bedtime she has to have it and is not happy until we let her take it to bed with her. I've noticed during the day, she will add a toy here and there to her crib so she has them when it's nap or bed time. I have to clear out her crib and put all the extra toys in her closet when she isn't paying attention.

She mimics everything we do. If I sneeze or cough, she does it too. If I pet Cooper, she wants to pet Cooper. If I am putting lotion on, she wants a dab of lotion to rub in her hands. If I am brushing my teeth or hair, she wants to also. If we are drinking out of a cup with a straw, she wants one too. This makes it a little hard because I only give her water and milk so I've been more conscious about ordering water so we can share. If I get something else, I order a water for her.

She is totally turning into a Daddy's girl. Every morning, she runs and gives Josh a huge hug before he leaves for work. This morning, I got her up and was changing her diaper. Josh walked in the room and her face lit up and she yelled YEAH!!! She gets soo excited when he comes home for lunch or if we meet him out for lunch during the day. Dadee is by far her favorite word.

She is so much fun at this age. I love it!

Weekend at the lake

We headed out Friday afternoon to my parents house. Little miss stayed awake the entire drive. She got her second wind as soon as we walked into my parents house. She took my mom to the back room to get her toys and she just played played played until well past her bed time! The first thing she wanted to do Saturday morning was go outside. After breakfast, she got dressed and Nomi took her outside to walk around, visit a neighbor and swing. When they got back we ran a few errands. Extreme Makeover just rebuilt a house in Mineola, where my parents live, so we drove by to see it! They were done, but the sheriff was still blocking off the street so we didn't get a good look. After Alex woke up from her nap, we all went outside to play. My mom and I both took a ton of pictures. After we had been outside about an hour, my mom realized she didn't have the memory card in her camera! haha! Thankfully I took enough pictures for the two of us! Alex just adores being outside. She walked all over the place. She'd stop to swing a bit, then be off again. When it's time to go inside, we have to distract her because she immediately wants to go out again. We went to dinner Saturday night and Alex ate her weight in food. She ate a ton of chips and salsa, a tortilla, all the tomatoes from our tacos, black olives, guacamole, a whole bowl of charro beans, some refried beans, ground beef from my taco, more tortilla and finished it all off with part of a sopapilla! Sunday morning, she wanted to go outside first thing again. My Mom took her out for a bit, then it started drizzling so they headed in. Alex wanted to go out the rest of the day, but the rain kept her in. We had the best time relaxing, eating and enjoying my parents. We also got my mom turned onto Words with Friends. Anytime Alex would nap, we'd all sit there and play against each other!

Picture overload!

my favorite fluff ball!

so sweet!

Alex trying to pick up Stoney

my love

Alex and Popi (or Papa as she calls him)

Nomi, Alex and the cat tails

some of my favorite people

our little family

So Happy

Alex has been in a great mood this week. She is getting over the congestion and getting back to herself. It was also our first week with just the two of us. I have been so used to two toddlers around every single day, Alex and I are having to find a new routine since it's just us. My old routine was to shower before Alex got up and Abby got her, which resulted in Josh being to late to work every single day for many many months. Now, Alex and I get to relax a little in the morning, some days I shower while she is drinking her milk and Josh is still here, some days she showers with me. I love having options! Our first day was Tuesday and we spent the entire day at home doing laundry, relaxing, cleaning and playing. Every day since we've run errands and Alex has been wonderful! So far we get up, eat, get ready and leave around 9 or 9:30 to run errands. We are home by 11 or 11:30 for lunch, play time, and she winds down a little before her nap at 1. Another change, she has been napping at least 3 hours every day!!! It gives me plenty of time to fold laundry, pick up the house, pick up all the toys in the play room, start on dinner and just relax, yesterday I planted herbs I bought earlier in the day! After she wakes up, we go for a walk. We don't go far and we don't use the stroller. Alex loves to walk up and down the street so we walk to the pond, talk about the water and fountain, stop and see all the flowers, and head back home. We took Cooper with us once and he barked his head off when we saw a neighbor so now he stays home.

Alex has just been soaking everything in. When we run errands, she points at EVERYTHING and wants to know what it is so I tell her and she tries to repeat everything back to me! I have a feeling her vocabulary about to just explode!

Alex is back to drinking at least 3 cups of milk a day and most days 4! She is eating better. She still avoids meat like the plague but she is eating other stuff great. Last night we went to Cracker Barrel and Alex ate 1/2 a cornbread muffin, pretty much all my green beans, fried apples and a few bites of a chicken tender. That was until she discovered the gravy! Once she discovered the gravy, she ate more chicken, more green beans and part of a biscuit all dipped in gravy. I have noticed if Alex has something to dip her food in, she will eat better. She loves dipping pancakes in yogurt, fries in BBQ sauce, bread on olive oil at Italian restaurants and so on. I try to keep it a little healthier than gravy, but oh well, what are you going to do?

I love the pic up top! My best friend, Shannon, took it after Alex got done eating an entire bowl of hummus when we were in Austin last month. This face kinda described Alex's mood all week! And my mood now, I'm getting a few last minute things done today so when Josh gets home, we can head to my parents for the weekend!!!

Snow

Last week we had the tiniest bit of snow. I was so excited to let Alex experience it. As soon as she got up from her nap, I bundled her up and we went outside. She got the cutest little snow suit for Christmas that she finally got to wear. The pants are actually overalls that she decided she loved and wore them around the house the rest of the afternoon. She also loves wearing gloves! The girl could have stayed outside forever, but mean mommy made her go inside after about 10 minutes because it was soo cold!

Grandma and Grandpa

Sunday morning, Josh's parents came down for a visit. Alex usually loves on Grandpa, but this time, she was a total Grandma's girl. They spent so much time outside walking up and down the street, looking at the neighbors flowers. Alex was worn out at nap and bed times! Alex led Grandma all around the house to play with her. It was great for us because Josh and I could make dinner without having the little one in the middle of everything. Sunday night we made a delicious German meal of jager schnitzel, sweet and sour red cabbage and spaetzle. YUMMY! Monday we went out to dinner to celebrate Ter's birthday. We were all sad to see them leave this morning, but we'll be seeing them in a few weeks for Easter.

Alex and Grandma

Itsy Bitsy Spider

dance party in her Mickey ears

On other notes, Alex is still getting over her congestion, but she LOVES her medicine so she gets soo excited when she sees the pink stuff!

She is climbing like crazy so it's giving Mama a heart attack. She loves climbing on her chair and going back and forth from the chair to the ottoman. I am so used to letting her do her own thing and closing her bedroom door if she wants to but now I feel like I have to be right there with her in case she falls off the chair or couch.

A few new words: cool, car (kaa), hello (llllo), cheese (cheees)

We are also starting on operation cut back on TV. Last week while Alex was sick, she was super cranky and pretty much clung to my leg all day long so I left the TV on quite a bit to keep her happy. I hated that she watched that much TV, but I seriously thought I was going to go batty when it was off because I couldn't take a step without her following me crying. Today, she got to watch one show this morning and she will get to watch another this evening when Josh gets home. If she points to the TV or remotes, I direct her to her books, a toy or sometime else. It seems to be working so far. I've also cut back on her snacks. She used to carry around her snack cup and I'd refill it several times a day so she'd snack most of the day and not eat meals very well. Now, her snack cup stays out of sight. She gets a snack in the afternoon and sometimes in the morning. It depends on how she eats. I can tell it's helped with her eating. She has been eating great at breakfast, lunch and dinner. She is still picky, but when we find something she likes, she will eat like there's no tomorrow! Yesterday she ate 2 veggie chicken nuggets, a cheese stick and 1/2 a mango for lunch. For dinner she ate a ton of pasta with sauce, bread and croutons. This morning, she had half a really big pancake, a bowl of yogurt and more mango. She is still staying away from meat. Hopefully this good eating will continue!

And last but not least, I mentioned last week her sound machine died, well, she has actually been sleeping a ton better without it. She used to fuss for a bit when we put her down, now she goes down without a peep, takes great naps and sleeps all night long!