Popcicle Days

We had our usual Sunday...out for breakfast, walking around Target then a stop to Lowes. When we got home, we all went outside to plant some flowers. Alex helped me water the plants and watered herself too! She was SOAKED. When we were done, she got to enjoy her first entire fudgecicle. She wasn't too happy with how messy it was or how cold it was, then she embraced it!

Alex at 2

Alex had her 2 year check up today! Development wise, everything is great!!!

She currently weighs 28.6 lbs (73%) and 34 13/4 inches tall (72%). Her weight is up from the 32nd percentile from her 18 month checkup! I spent the week preparing Alex for shots at her checkup. We packed some Toy Story band aids to use after the shots. I was so happy to find out she didn't need any shots! She did have to get a finger prick so they could check her iron levels so she was excited to to get her band aid. (She has a slight obsession with band aids. She has to put one on every morning when she gets ready.)

Here is what she is doing now...

She is talking up a storm. I tried to make a list of her words to see about how many she has in her vocab, but there are just too many. She seems to learn several new words every single day!

She loves to jump and hop around!

She is learning her shapes (heart and star are her current favorites) and is working on her alphabet. She can point out about 8 letters on her fridge magnets and will sing along to the ABC's.

She can repeat numbers all the way to 20 and can count to 4 without assistance, then needs a little help to get to 10.

She remembers EVERYTHING! Her morning routine is to get up, diaper change, grab some milk then lay in bed with me. She watches Josh get ready and tells me everything he is doing. (Shower, blowing nose, brush teeth, comb hair, get dresses; pants, shirt, shoes). She runs into her Daddy's arms every single morning and gives him a huge hug and kiss.

A few times when we meet Josh for lunch, he will be on the road beside us and she will point to his car and tell me it's his. If we are in a parking lot, she can point out my car to me!

We made the change to 2% milk.

I recently found out, she LOVES pork. Beef and turkey are hit or miss with her, but pork she LOVES!

She is currently wearing a size 5 diaper, most clothes are 24 months, some 18 month shorts/pants and size 7 shoes! My child has huge feet!

I absolutely love this age! Alex is sooo much fun and we have a blast every single day. We are keeping ourselves busy with activities every day. Typically we leave Monday and Friday open for play dates and errands. Tuesday is gymnastics, Wednesday is story time at the library then play time at Chickfila and lunch and Thursday is music class.

New Friends

Alex loves Kate! We met Kate and Candice in the Spring at the company fun run. Candice's husband works for the same company as Josh They had moved to College Station a few months prior and Alex and Kate seemed to hit it off. We talked about swim lessons and planned to sign the girls up for the same class. We didn't talk again until sign up started and we confirmed class dates and times. After the first swim lesson, Alex woke up every morning asking to see Kate! Since they were out of town for Alex's birthday party, we had them over for a play date last week so they could play with all of Alex's new toys. They played and had lunch. When they were about to leave, Kate opened the door to our coat closet and went in, shutting the door behind her, then popped out saying boo! Alex thought it was hilarious! Alex wanted her to keep doing it, so she would take Kate to the closet, close the door, then take off running and laughing! Kate would pop out, close the door and run after Alex. Then they would hold hands while walking back to the closet and do it all over again. I love seeing my baby girl so happy!

Elefun Party

Alex got an Elefun game for her birthday over the 4th of July weekend from Nomi and Popi. We put it away for a little while, mainly because I kept forgetting to pick up batteries for it! Last night after dinner, we took it out. Alex LOVED it! She can't quite catch the little butterflies yet, but she loves waiting for them to flutter out! This game was a HUGE hit!

**excuse the mess in her room...I was doing her laundry and changing her sheets before bed time!**

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Gymnastics

Alex had her first gymnastics class today. I signed her up a while ago, but she couldn't start until she turned 2. Lucky for us, they had a session starting the week after she turned 2. This was her first experience where she had to listen to someone other than a parent, wait her turn and follow directions. The parents have a viewing room on the 2nd floor and also have the option to go on the floor with their kid. Miss Summer came up to get the kiddos and Alex didn't even look back so I stayed in the viewing room. I poked my head out a few times to snap some pics, but I didn't want to distract her too much. They started in a circle on squares and they went around and said their favorite food and did a lap around the circle. I'm pretty sure Alex said her favortie food was "yum!" Then Miss Summer took her and her friend Helen on their lap around the circle. From there, they split up in age groups. Alex and the other 2 year olds went to the rings first. Alex had no idea what to do, so she would touch the rings and push them away. Then she went to the wedge mat where she was supposed to try a forward roll, instead she chose to slide down it. The second station was bars, where they tried to hang, then a tunnel to crawl through and the bars again. Alex liked the tunnel the best. The last station was a wedge mat again where they would do another roll, a bar on the floor they held onto and tried to kick their feet up and a spring board they got to bounce on and jump off. She finally tried a forward roll at the last station.

Considering it was her first time in any type of organized activity, she did great! She has problems waiting her turn and actually staying on her mat when it isn't her turn, but other than that she did good. She stayed on her mat more that I thought she would. She got a stamp at the end of class!

getting ready to leave the house

sitting on her mat beside Helen

Miss Summer taking Alex and Helen on their lap around the circlethe bars

being directed to her mat for about the 30th time

2nd Birthday Party!

We celebrated Alex's 2nd birthday Saturday afternoon. My parents and Josh's parents were here all day Saturday to help us prepare. Our theme was Ice Cream Bar. The colors were orange, hot pink and aqua. Alex was OBSESSED with the balloons on the mail box. She actually saw them before her nap when my dad was bringing them up the driveway. I ran out and asked him to take them around back so we could hide them in our closet. The party started at 3 so we had to wake Alex up from her nap. As soon as she got up, she went to the front door and said balloon over and over again. We kept trying to redirect her attention to no avail.

We finally brought in a few balloons. By the end of the party, all dozen that were on the mail box had made their way inside!
Alex had a blast opening her presents and throwing tissue paper around. We are so lucky to have wonderful friends who love our little girl.
After presents, we started the ice cream bar. We gave everyone a selection of 3 flavors then had toppings (nuts, mini M&M's and sprinkles) along with caramel, hot fudge, whipped cream and cherries! Instead of cake, I made mini cupcakes so there wouldn't be too much of a sugar over load! We had so much fun! I realized after hosting a shower and a birthday party within 3 weekends of each other is hard work...we may be having her birthday party somewhere else next year!

Our sweet little family!

Birthday!

On Friday, I got up early and picked up donuts so I could be here as soon as Alex woke up on her birthday. Josh and I put together her kitchen the night before, so I wanted to see her sweet little face when she saw it for the first time! She absolutely loved it! So much that she didn't even want any donuts because she wanted to keep playing. We finally talked her into sitting at her kitchen counter to eat a little.

Alex hates getting her hands dirty when she eats sweet stuff for some reason, so she ate the top off part of her donut and decided that was all she wanted.
After breakfast, we had a Lady Gaga dance party. Alex loves her some Lady Gaga! She showed off her jumping skills!

We all got ready and went to see Toy Story 3. We weren't sure how she'd do, but she was great!!! She sat in her little booster seat and munched on pretzels and goldfish. About 20 minutes before the movie was over she started getting antsy and went back and forth between Josh and me. After the movies we went out to lunch. Alex's favorite...Pizza!

Nomi and Popi got to our house around 7:30 so we went to dinner. We went to Chili's so Alex could have some chips and "sauce." She loves salsa, which she calls sauce.

I love that Josh took off the entire day so we could spend Alex's birthday together doing her favorite things! Seeing my sweet girl so happy just makes my heart smile. Josh and I had so much fun on her birthday, especially because we could tell she loved her special day!