Smoothie Queen

Alex has a new found love...smoothies! Alex has started snacking a lot in the afternoon and wanting dinner early. I decided to help fill her up, instead of Kix or goldfish and milk, I'd make her a smoothie. I always pick up huge bags of frozen fruit at Sam's because I love it with yogurt and granola. I picked out some strawberries, threw in 1/2 a banana leftover from breakfast, some vanilla yogurt and milk. Alex LOVED it. Pretty much every day since, I'd made her a smoothie as her afternoon snack. I change it up a little every time I make one. One day it was peaches, mango, honey, yogurt and milk, today it was all the different fruit (strawberries, peaches, mango and pineapple). I love using frozen fruit because it makes it a little thicker! As different fruit are coming in season, I'll probably start using a mix of frozen and fresh. The only problem I have with frozen fruit it that it isn't as sweet as fresh, which for Alex that's ok, but if I'm sharing with her, I add a little honey. I've actually read several different places that you can throw a handful of fresh spinach in and it doesn't alter the flavor. I'm picking up some on my next grocery run so I can try it out. I love it because she is getting dairy, fruit and soon to be veggies! Since she still tends to be picky it makes me feel better knowing she is getting some good stuff!

Poor Collie

We love our Cooper to death. I'm not going to lie, since Alex arrived, and more so since Alex started walking, Cooper has received less and less attention. We rarely go on walks, he prefers to sleep on our bed most of the day, he gets in more trouble because he is constantly knocking Alex over with his rear end. I snuggle with him as much as I can while Alex is napping because I know once she gets up, all my attention will be on her. Well, Cooper has decided to let us know he does not appreciate getting the shaft. He has started nibbling on Alex's toys. Alex does not appreciate it one bit. If she sees a toy he has nibbled on, she gets my attention, points to it, the points to Cooper. She looks at it funny, then kind of avoids the toy because she knows there is something wrong with it.

Now don't go thinking Coopers life is worse because Alex is here. In fact, I think he'd have to say it's better. He gets more people food then he knows what to do with! Alex loves to share her snacks with him. In fact so much that when we took him to the vet, she said he could stand to lose a couple of pounds! When Alex is done eating, Cooper sticks his nose in her highchair to get any crumbs she may have dropped! If Alex and I are outside, she always lets Cooper out! Alex pets Cooper, kisses him and just loves him with all her little heart! They play so well together and I just love listening to her laugh while she plays with him!

Notice the long Collie face intently watching?

one for you and one for me!


Free at Last!

Martha's Bloomers

These are the days I love! It's supposed to rain most of the day tomorrow so Alex and I took advantage of the warm sunny day and went to Martha's Bloomers this morning. We want to add a tree and flower bed in our backyard so Alex and I went to look around to see what we liked. I knew Alex would love it because she can just walk around and explore. She loved playing with the gravel, looking at the fish in the pond, digging in any dirt she could find, smelling the flowers, chasing the cats that live there, checking out the birds and just wandering around! By far her favorite thing was picking up gravel, dirt and rocks and putting them in any container she could find! After we left, we met picked up Josh for lunch! We've seen him ever day this week for lunch, I am starting to get spoiled!

I love the Texas Redbud in the background! I'm thinking I want one for our backyard!

Alex and the cat...checking each other out!

she wasn't sure what to think about the birds

mmmm, the metal flower smells good!

they had huge ceramic balls around, Alex tried to pick up every one and got frustrated when she couldn't!

Finger Painting

So, we tried our first activity yesterday. Alex finger painted. She HATED it at first. She was excited to put her fingers in the paint, but the second she realized her hands were dirty she freaked out and started crying. After I dipped my finger in the paint and put fingerprints on the paper, she was ok with it. I know I shouldn't have laughed, but it was too funny! She ended up loving it!

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!