Sour and Sweet

Alex had an off day. It was my fault. We met Josh at McDonald's for lunch and we didn't arrive early enough for her to play first! I ordered while she dragged Josh to the door of the play area, then proceeded to throw herself on the ground and scream bloody murder when he told her we had to eat first. She fussed as she ate an entire cheeseburger. As soon as we got to the play area, she continued to fuss because she was tired. She wanted to go down the slide, but only if I went down with her. Me and a toddler slide tunnel slide...not a good combination. She threw another fit when it was time to leave. She screamed as Josh buckled her in the car. Within a minute, she was back to her sweet self. She is getting really really bad about throwing fits if we go somewhere with a play area and we don't let her play immediately or when it's time to leave the play area. It's getting to where it's not even fun to take her because I dread the scene I know she'll cause when it's time to leave. She took a great nap and woke up happy. Around dinner time, she started melting down again and was just mad and upset. Josh bathed her as I cleaned up. I decided we needed some down time, just giving her every ounce of our attention with no TV or music distractions. It was just what we needed. We played in her room for about half an hour. She brought me Olivia and "read" it to me. She likes to flip through it and point out things Olivia is wearing or doing. I love it! We had some sweet snuggle time as she drank her milk then we sang her night time song as we all hugged. Josh left the room and I sat with my baby in my arms and just talked to her. She curled into my body and it was just perfect. As I was about to put her down, I told her I needed her to sleep good tonight (since she woke up several times last night crying) and she whispered, "ok." I told her I loved her and she looked up at me with her sweet brown eyes and whispered, " lole looo (love you), night night Mommy." It was a perfect end to a tantrum filled day!

Alex and Abby

We got to babysit Abby this evening. I've been telling Alex all week Abby was coming over so anytime we would see Tracy at lunch, she'd ask about Abby. I know she misses Abby because last time she was here, Alex woke up every morning that week asking where Abby was. When they got here, she kept saying Abby Abby Abby over and over again. She kept bringing toys out to share! The girls picked right up and started playing ring around the rosie. We all sat down and had dinner together. I realized, Alex may be picky, but she is a little piggy. She ate her food, in about half of the time it took Abby to eat! After dinner, we took the girls outside to play. We took Alex's cozy coupe and motorcycle with us. Alex hopped on the motorcycle while Abby relaxed in the cozy coupe. Alex was a mad woman. She really got some speed pushing herself on the motorcycle. We had to pretty much mall walk to keep up with her! When we got to the little common area at the end of our street, the girls switched vehicles. Alex was not too happy about Abby being on her bike, but seemed to be ok when Abby let her sit on it with her. When we got back, the girls got to take a bath together, then we settled down for bed. Alex kept taking books to Abby in her glider so they could look at them. They were so cute with their milk, blankets and books. Alex was soo sweet kissing Abby over and over again!

ring around the rosie!

we all fall down!

zoom zoom!

Abby giving Alex a ride

We had to put Abby's feet up because she kept getting her feet stuck under the car as we pushed her!

my cutie girls!

Alex reading her favorite Bunny My Honey to Abby

Alex checking out Abby's blankie.
Abby was not too sure about Alex touching her blanket until Alex said, "Abby kankie"
so Abby knew Alex knew it wasn't hers!

sweet night night kisses!

Changes...

So, we have been in our house almost 3 years (it will be 3 years mid June). Since we've been here, 2 new houses have been built. I'm sure the developer would like it to go a little faster, but I'm not going to lie, it's been kinda nice to have lots of empty land around us and at least 2 lots between us and our side neighbors. That all changed a few weeks ago when we saw a SOLD sign in a lot by us. It was hard to tell if it was the lot next to us or one lot over and we quickly learned it was the lot right beside us. There are TONS of empty lots to choose from and we were very sad the lot right beside us was selected. Last week they started clearing the lot and it has been non-stop activity since. It stinks because the machines are loud and there are always huge trucks parked right in front of our house. We used to wake up and open all the blinds in the front of the house. Now our 2 living room windows look directly at the construction. The only good thing is Alex LOVES watching all the equipment work. She can sit at the window for half an hour just watching all the action. She says bye bye to each truck as it leaves and blows kisses.

You can kinda see the lot to our right that was all trees and brush. The tree at the right edge of the pic that provided us lots of great shade is no more. They cleared every single tree from the lot. :(
Here is the lot cleared last week. It's not the best pic because it was taken from my phone and it was really really bright out.
Alex's new favorite past time. Lounging on the boppy, knocking back a cup of milk while watching the activity!

This Week...

This week seemed to fly. We spent the first few days at home working on potty training. I decided Alex HATES her frog potty. She knows when she needs to potty, but it's always a split second too late. She would wake up from naps dry so I'd sit her on the potty and she'd sit there and sit there reading books, painting her toenails or we'd sing songs. Within a minute of getting up, she'd pee. The only time she actually used the potty, she cried, but they got super excited because we started jumping around and cheering her. I ended up getting her a new potty that looks more like a regular toilet and doesn't have the "boy shield" that makes it almost impossible for Alex to easily sit on. I haven't put it out for her yet, I figured we'd take a few week break then I'll bring out the new potty.To celebrate ending our 2 days of staying inside in big girl undies, we went to Chickfila to play. When we arrived, there were 3 older kids in the play area screaming and roughhousing so we shared some ice cream hoping they would leave soon, but they never did, so we took our ice cream to the park!

Thursday, we met Erika and Axel for lunch. Since Alex ate so well, she got to pick out a cookie for dessert!

Friday we went to playgroup at Chuck E. Cheese. I've been to this playgroup before and had mixed feelings about it. There were not any kids Alex's age, they were all a few months to young for her to interact with or just old enough to be on a totally different speed. I decided to give it another try 2 weeks ago and it was a totally different experience. There was a new mom and her daughter, who is a little older than Alex. We all hit it off, have e-mailed a few times, and are setting up play dates. This week, the group went to Chuck E. Cheese. Alex has never been and I think she was overstimulated because she had several meltdowns. She wasn't crazy about playing the games, but she did like putting the tokens in the machines. She also LOVED the little carousel. She probably rode it 10 times.

After playgroup, we went to Houston. Babies R Us was having a sale so we made the drive. Alex got tons of diapers, a new potty and a new swim suit! When we got home, she made the bin her diapers came in her newest toy.

Saturday night, Josh and I went to Houston to meet some friends for dinner. We used a new sitter and Alex LOVED her. She didn't cry when we left, she blew us kisses and said bye-bye Mommy, bye-bye Daddy. We called to check on her after her bedtime and Meredith said she went down without a peep! I love that Alex now seems to be ok with me leaving. When she used to scream and cry it broke my heart and made it hard to enjoy our evening.

Beach Baby!

We went to the beach today! It has been FOREVER since we've gone to the beach. We went last year but didn't actually get near the water because the ramp to our favorite beach was damaged during Hurricane Ike and it was too cold. The last time we actually went on the beach and walked in the water was when I was 33 1/2 weeks pregnant (17 days before Alex decided to make her early arrival!) Alex went to the Malibu beach when we were in California last year, but it was way too cool to get in the water, so this was her first real beach experience. She hated the sand the second I put her down. She kept pointing to her sandy toes saying, eeewww Mommy! So I had to pick her up and carry her along with all of our bags while Josh carried the ice chest. As soon as we got there we had a picnic lunch I packed. As long as she was sitting on a towel on our blanket, she was ok.

After we ate, Josh took her to the water. She was torn between walking in the sand she hated and being carried. She HATES being carried when we are outside. She decided to bite the bullet and walk. She was a little timid with the water at first, but quickly warmed up to it!
She loved when the waves crashed around her ankles. She got pretty good at staying on her feet and would just laugh and laugh if she fell down.
She thought it was hilarious when I tried jumping over all the little waves.

There was a ton of seaweed type stuff that had washed up and quite a bit still in the water. Every time a tide would wash some away, she'd say bye bye! If a piece stayed on the beach, she would point it out to us so we could toss it further up the beach and out of our way. She got a little neurotic about it.




We took her pail and shovels and Josh made a little sand mound for her. She could have spent forever just shoveling sand and making a mess.
It was one of the best days ever. Josh and I have always loved making little day trips to the beach to, but seeing it through Alex's eyes made it so special. I know there will be many many more trips to the beach in our future!

What to do...

What do you do when your child is so tired she won't sleep? Give them a cupcake of course! (and seal your fate that there will be no nap today because your child is too hyped up on sugar!)

New Found Love

Alex decided on Tuesday she LOVES slides. We went to the mall and Nomi took her to the play area so I could take my time looking around. When I got there, she barely stopped to see me because she was too busy going down the slide! She threw a fit when it was time to go. Today, we went back and Josh met us for lunch. She had another HUGE fit when it was time to eat, then time to go. After Alex woke up from her nap we went to the park. Alex was the only kid there for a while and she just kinda walked around taking it all in. More kids started showing up and she started coming out of her shell and decided she LOVED the biggest spiral slide. She took a little water break and had fun trying to drink from a water bottle. Alex has always been kinda shy around people other than us, but she is slowly coming out and becoming a social butterfly. She loves when I take her to play and there are other kids there. She adores older kids. Now we just need to work on the tantrums that occur with it's time to go!