Blah Week

Nomi brought Alex home on Sunday evening and spent the night. I love when my mom stays here. Alex woke up in the middle of the night calling for Nomi and when I got up Alex was snuggled in bed with my mom! They were so cute together. Monday we headed to the Woodlands to meet my 2nd cousin and her daughter for lunch. We were a little early so we planned on doing a little shopping then walk to La Madeline. We made it to 2 stores before the skies opened up. I was able to find Alex and Mom a way to the parking garage so I could pick them up there. I ran through the rain in white pants to get the car, then I dropped them off in front of La Madeline so I could park and run back through the rain. We had a great lunch, but Alex started melting down. She took a little nap in the car on the way home. Nomi left that afternoon.

We went to our normal Tuesday gymnastics class. Because most of the pre-schools here started this week, our friends were not there. They all moved to a Monday class. We didn't know any of the moms or kids, but they all seemed to know each other. They were in "interesting" crowd that I really can't see us hanging out with. I'll give it a few more weeks, then we may see about changing classes so we can be with our friends.

The rest of the week consisted of a trip to the grocery store every single day and a few other errands. Alex is starting dance next week so we made a trip to the studio to get a few supplies. She is so excited about starting class!

With all the traveling last week, Alex's sleep habits got totally messed up! She has not napped the last 2 days, she flips out if I leave her room. The one day I got her to take a nap, I had to lay down with her until she finally fell asleep. Nights haven't been much better. She has gone back to sleeping on the floor. The last 2 nights, I left the room and let Josh stay with her. He gives her pep talks until she finally agrees to go to sleep. She now sleeps with a flashlight she can turn on in case she wakes up and gets scared. Once she is asleep, she is out for the night, which is great, but it's like pulling teeth to get her to sleep. She seemed to do so well sleeping on a full size bed when we were in San Antonio and at Nomi's that it kinda makes me think we should have skipped the toddler bed all together and gone straight to her full size bed! Knowing her, she'd probably hate that too!

Nomi got Alex a purse last weekend that she has been carrying non-stop (and even sleeping with)! I told Alex we had to get ready to leave the other day so she got her purse, put on her sunglasses and grabbed her water. It cracked me up because it reminded me of Josh when he leaves for work (minus the purse) with his sunglasses and coffee!

I am so looking forward to a long weekend with Josh and Alex. Tomorrow we are heading to our friends house to spend the day playing in the pool. We love Erik and Fei, they have an amazing backyard and always make the best food! They ADORE Alex which makes it even better! They even told us to bring Cooper this time so he can play with their dog, Mocha! It will be great to be heading out of town as all the Ag's head in for the first home game of the season. Our town gets a little crazy on home game weekends. Then Sunday afternoon we are helping Abby celebrate her 2nd birthday! Alex is so excited about the party and keeps pointing out Abby's present to me!

Happy 30th

This is my best friend in the entire world. We have been friends for over 15 years. We can go weeks or months without speaking and pick up like we just saw each other. I love her, I love her family, her family is like my family. She turned 30 on Saturday. Her husband planned a weekend in Wimberley for her birthday. Josh and I headed down Saturday morning. As soon as we got there, we were handed drinks and the relaxing started. I hung out in the pool with the girls, while Josh headed down to the river with the boys. We talked, drank, ate and relaxed while the boys hung out then played bocce ball.

Later in the afternoon we all got ready and headed into Wimberley for dinner, then went back to the house to play Celebrity and Catch Phrase. Later we sat around the fire pit on the porch and just talked. This morning everyone slowly rolled out of bed, grabbed a cup of coffee then made their way to the porch. It was almost cold, but perfect!

We had the best weekend getting to know Shannon's new friends from Austin and catching up with old friends. Happy 30th Birthday Shannon!

Random Pics and Stuff

Alex had her last summer session gymnastics class last week. Her instructor, Miss Summer, is moving so Alex will have a new teacher for the fall. We LOVE Miss Summer. The Fall session actually started this week, but we missed the first class because we were out of town. In addition to gymnastics, Alex starts dance in 2 weeks. It's the only studio in town that has a 2 year old class and there is only one class day/time so we were super excited to get a space! It is a ballet/tap class. We have a welcome orientation tonight!

Helen, Miss Summer and Alex

Last Friday we had 2 couples over for dinner and games. Kate and her parents came so Alex and Kate kept each other entertained. They even got little bowls of ice cream!

Alex is on an apple kick. I usually cut them in slices so when she asked for one, I cut half of it into slices. She threw a fit, took me in the kitchen and pointed to the half that was on the counter. She wanted a whole piece. Since then, she will only eat big apple halves she can bite!

When Alex was sick a few weeks ago, she totally became a Mommy's girl. She wanted nothing to do with Josh. When she got better, she was still all about Mommy. She has finally come around to loving on Josh more and more!

Alex is also obsessed with stickers! We went to Target one day and bought lots of stickers from the $1 bins. She will go into the closet and pull out a sheet of stickers and put them all over her arms!


Last but not least, I **think** we finally have our sleep situation figured out! I started leaving Alex's door cracked when I put her down, so she could still see me as I passed her room. This went on for a few days while she slept on the floor. Then she started asking for me to leave it cracked when I told her it was nap or bed time. After a few days, I moved her blanket she slept on from the floor to her bed. At first she was a little hesitant to get in bed, but after a few times, she'd get in bed on her own. Now, she is sleeping in her bed with the door cracked. I let her take the Leapfrog laptop to bed with her so she can play with it until she falls asleep. This is more for us because she will pretty much play with it until she falls asleep. When we stop hearing the computer, we know she's asleep! Last night was our first little hiccup. She woke up around 1:30 screaming "crack, crack!" Her door was cracked, but since all the lights were off, she couldn't tell. I went in her room to talk to her for a few minutes, then turned on the bathroom light so she could see come light coming through the crack. She was happy and went right back to sleep. Now we just have to remember to leave a light on in case she wakes up at night she can see a little light coming through the crack.

Wild Oak Ranch

We left Monday for our first family vacation. We've been on trips before, but it was always to see family. This was our first, just the 3 of us, family vacation. We went to Wild Oak Ranch in San Antonio.

I love the drive. We go through Bastrop. I love all the tree lined roads!

Our first stop was for lunch. Without even asking, Josh pulled right into Pizza Hut. Alex LOVES pizza! She gave Daddy a huge pizza kiss to thank him!

We checked in to our room, unloaded the car then checked out our room! We loved it! It was a one bedroom condo with a living room, dining room, kitchen and washer and dryer! The kitchen was fully stocked with any cooking utensils we needed so we made a list and went to the grocery store! We went a little crazy and decided since we were on vacation we would get things we don't normally get at home like cookie dough, root beer, french onion dip and real potato chips (not baked lays!), Alex picked out juice and a meal of hot dogs! That evening we walked around the property then went back to our room and had dinner. After dinner we relaxed in our room and had warm chocolate chip cookies and milk!

That evening we set Alex up on the pull out couch. She went to sleep just fine but woke up crying at 1:30 so I put her in bed with us. She woke up a little before 7 so we let her watch cartoons in bed. I got up and put some delicious Grands cinnamon rolls in the oven. Alex sat at the table without a high chair for every meal!

After breakfast, we put on our swimsuits so we could head to the Rattlesnake River! Alex hammed it up for the camera!

Alex loved pushing the elevator button every time we left the room.

Since it was still early, there wasn't anyone there so we had the place to ourselves. We picked a table and I grabbed the sunscreen to put on Alex. I took my rings off like I always do and set them on the table. Somehow they took a bounce and my wedding band fell on the ground...on the deck...and fell right through the boards.

My sweet husband trying to get my ring.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get it so the WONDERFUL staff at the resort helped out. The maintenance guy actually removed all the screws from a board in the deck so I could get my ring back!

While I was waiting for all of that to happen, Josh and Alex headed for the water! Alex had so much fun floating the river. She started walking, then just picked up her feet and floated along! Her favorite part was getting near the jets on the river to gain speed. She'd laugh her head off and say More Fast!!!

After we left the beach/river area, we went to the outdoor/indoor pool. Alex didn't like it as much because there was a huge slide she was too short to go down. Josh and I each went down and Alex would start screaming AGAIN AGAIN because she wanted us to keep going down.

After a little more swimming we headed back to our room for lunch and naps. Alex napped in our bed while Josh and I fell asleep on the couch. As soon as she got up we put on dry swimsuits and headed back for round 2. We hung out at the beach for a while, got a yummy margarita and a cherry slush for Alex then we decided to move to a cabana. There were several great cabanas right off the river. We sat around for a bit then Josh decided to take a few laps around the river. Alex and I waved and blew him kisses every time we went by. I painted Alex's toes and fingernail then she hopped down and danced around the cabana! When Josh got back, I took a few laps, then we all got back in.

When we were all worn out, we went back to our room, showered and got ready for dinner. We went to our favorite place, La Fonda on Main. Alex was super excited to eat chips and sauce. When we got back we put Alex down in our bed and watched a little TV. We actually bought a bottle of wine to enjoy on our balcony but we were too tired so we saved it. I made the rest of our cookies, we ate them then crawled into bed with Alex. She never sleeps with us because she usually tosses and turns but this time she was great. We were both actually looking forward to going to bed so we could snuggle Alex!

Josh and I kept talking about how much fun we had. Alex is at such a FUN age! She cracked us up the entire time. When we got up Saturday morning we asked her if she knew where we were, she answered, Vacation! She kept talking about vacation the entire time. We can not wait to plan another family vacation. We will definitely be going back to Wild Oak Ranch sometime!

Who Needs a Bed?

We have been having more sleep issues with Alex. She has been getting hysterical when we put her in bed. We have resorted to leaving the room and letting her cry herself to sleep. She gets soo upset but never gets out of her bed. I finally decided to put a blanket on her floor in front of her crib with her pillow, blanket, glow worm and kitty. I decided it may be easier if we give her a little more freedom at bedtime. We sat her down, gave her a few books and her Leap Frog computer. We told her she could stay up looking at books and playing with her computer all she wanted, but she needed to stay in her room. 5 minutes later, she was out, on the blanket. She slept on the blanket again last night.

Naps have been horrible. She slowly started pushing them back later and later to the point where we had to wake her at 5 so she wouldn't sleep too late. I kinda thought the late naps were causing the bedtime problems so I decided to cut out her naps for a few days. If we were in the car for a while, she'd nap, but naps at home were hit or miss. I've gone back to putting her in her room around 1:30 or 2 and telling her she could play all she wanted, but it was quiet time. I keep her door cracked so I can keep an eye on her. Yesterday, after an hour of playing, she finally took a little nap in her bed. Today, I knew she was sooo tired, but wouldn't sleep. I went in and held her for a bit, then put her on the floor on her blanket and she crashed. At one point, when I checked on her, she was sitting in a pail. (the above pic!)

So, I've basically given up on naps, if they happen, great, if they don't oh well. I'm fine with her sleeping on the floor for now, if it means she will go to sleep without crying.

Bathtime

I don't think we have ever had a bedtime routine we have followed to a T. Baths happen once a day, but it's always at different times. For awhile, Alex loved showering with me. Now she is back on a bath kick so I usually let her play in our tub while I get ready. Today, I took about a million pics of her playing in the tub because there was some great light coming in our window!

I posted a ton of pics because I just love them! I'm thinking about framing a few for her bathroom.

This is Alex's "please" face.

3 Years

Last Tuesday Josh and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. He sent me 2 dozen of the most beautiful pink long stem roses. That night, we stayed home, made a nice dinner and relaxed. Friday we drove to Grapevine and dropped Alex and Cooper off with his parents and we went to the Gaylord. We spent Friday and Saturday there. We timed it perfect. They do a fireworks show over the lake every Friday so we were able to open our curtains, lay on the bed and watch the fireworks. I may have dozed off, but what I saw was great! We decided instead of doing one big fancy dinner, we wanted to go to places that were special to us for different reasons. We went to Macaroni Grill for lunch and our favorite Thai place (Jasmine) for dinner. We spent Saturday at the Galleria and Northpark, then we just drove around. We drove by to see our old house in Wylie and were amazed by all the new stuff in Murphy. We had a great time just spending time together. I think sometimes we get soo wrapped up in Alex that we forget to take time for ourselves!