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!

Last Day

Friday was our last day with Abby. I've known since day one, she'd start school at 18 months. It seemed like time just flew by. Abby was 6 weeks old when I started keeping her and Alex was just over 3 months old. I look back at the beginning and realize I had it easy! They slept and ate and didn't move around. I remember thinking, man, I'm going to be in trouble when they start rolling over, crawling, walking, running and then just getting into everything. It's been hard with two kiddos everyday, pretty much like having twins Monday-Friday from 7:45 to 5:30, but I've loved it. I love watching them interact and play together. In the last few weeks, they have been so sweet with each other. Alex shares her snacks with Abby, holds her hand and leads her around the house, hugs & kisses her and they love to play ring around the rosie together. I loved that Alex had a friend around all day long to play with. I know she is really going to miss her Abbykins. I have loved watching these two sweet babies turn into beautiful little girls!

Alex and Abby's first day

Alex and Abby's last day

Sick again!

I knew my little doll was getting sick again. She's had a cough for about a week and a half now. She was up for about an hour last night just coughing and coughing and coughing. I called the doc today and he wanted to see her. When she is sick, she is cranky, super needy, gets frustrated and mad really easily and sometimes just down right mean. Last night after dinner she only wanted me to hold her. She snuggled into me and put her head on my chest and was content to just let me hold her. I loved it. Today she was starting that again so I made her a little pallet on the floor while we waited to leave for the doctors office.

He said her lungs sound great, her ears are clear so it seems to just be a sinus like infection and he prescribed an antibiotic. I dropped off the prescription and we went to McDonald's for lunch while we waited. Alex has decided she can tolerate their fries, as long as she dips every single little bit in barbecue sauce. Even with that, she doesn't intentionally eat the fry, she sucks the barbecue off and re-dips it. Yummy, sick toddler double dipping in my sauce. It quickly became her sauce. She ended up eating a few fries, almost a whole container of barbecue sauce and about 1/2 of a hamburger.

Shimmy Shimmy Shake

I mentioned a few weeks ago that when Alex dances, she sits still but moves her shoulders from side to side. This morning, she started doing a fast shoulder shake that cracks me up! The first time she did it, I thought she was cold and it was just a shiver, but I quickly realized it's her new moves. She hasn't been feeling well today and has been running a low grade fever most of the day. Tylenol seems to be helping, but as it wears off, her fever goes right back up. She has been cranky, fussy and clingy today so I was so happy to see her having a great time with Josh while they watched videos tonight.

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Josh's Beast

I helped Josh work on his Trans Am Sunday afternoon while Alex was napping. It is finally running. It still has some issues that need to be fixed before he can actually drive it, but he did get it fired up! Woo hoo!!!

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