Miscellaneous Update for Aunt Rhonda

Alexa thinks she needs to sit on every one's lap - never mind that they are smaller (well, in height) or a year younger.

After a long afternoon of helping mom organize and clean - she loved it.

The two monkeys. Alexa climbs on everything and anything and it all happens in a matter of seconds (literally).


We've seen a lot of progress in Alexa the last couple of months. At her 19 month check-up she weighed 17 1/2 lbs. and was 30" tall. So, what this means is on the growth chart she is average for her height as a 19 month old, and not on the chart for her weight even at a corrected age of 16 months, but the doctor said he wasn't concerned and that he suspects that she will gain more when she hits a growth spurt between 2 and 3.

Words she says: What's that, I don't know, mommy, dada, mama, papa, owe, Thank you, grandma, more, baby, eye; and within the last few days: love you, fishes, ball, yes

Other developments: Eating really good, sleeping through the night more frequently, and today, when she was at the "Y", she climbed up on this little 3 year old boy and held his face in her hands and kissed him on the lips - twice.

Things Alexa likes: Hugs and kisses (she puckers up and makes the noise), carrot juice, almost every vegetable (including Kale we found out last night), playing outside (even when it's -13 degrees), playing Xbox with Daddy (she gets her own controller), going to Grandma's house (doesn't matter which one - she gets excited), climbing, stairs, socks and shoes, Nursery (mommy likes this too), making messes and getting into mommy's stuff.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Alexa loves Itsy Bitsy Spider - she touches her fingers together and that's how you know she wants you to sing. Trevor doesn't usually let me record him talking or singing to Alexa, but he was a good sport for this clip. (When she's flailing her arms around that's "washed out".)

New Hair-Do

This is our first attempt at any kind of hair-do. I don't know where she got her personality but it's very entertaining - whenever she poses for a picture she tilts her head to the side.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

By the time we got to Trevor's work to go trick-or-treating Alexa was out cold. We couldn't wake her up for a good 10 min.



After her nap she was rearing to go - our adorable little giraffe. In case you couldn't tell.

We had a hard time keeping her focused on getting the candy. She kept running wherever she could find to go in the opposite direction of mom and dad. She thought it was pretty funny as you can see from the photo below when we caught up to her.

We all had a good time watching her take on this new experience. By the end of Halloween night she was bound and determined to carry her own basket. Trevor tried to take from her, but she wouldn't have it.
Little more of an update: Earlier this week she identified on demand her eyes, nose, ears, and teeth. Instead of pointing to her teeth she runs her tongue over them. Last week she started saying "baby" - it took her just a few tries before she could say it very clearly. Her feisty little personality is really starting to shine and she shows us new things she's catching onto every day.
Children are so much work but oh so worth it. :D

Alexa's Newest Discovery

I was on my quest to find my very quiet child. When I called her name there was no response - which is usually bad. This is what I found. Since it was already ruined I just took more pictures as she proceeded to rip it to shreds.

It's been a while since I posted and I have much updating to do, but it's someones bedtime :D Umm, I mean :(

"HI"

Trevor was playing with Alexa tonight and I came over to watch. Trevor says "show mommy your new trick" and then he lifted her up by her knees, her head came up, she looked at me and ...

This was no fluke. She did it several times, the above video being about the 4th. Before now she would usually only wave at herself in the mirror. I think she finally figured out what it meant.

Along with this adorable new trick her first tooth finally broke the surface, she started crawling (about 3 weeks ago) and she pulls herself to a standing position anywhere she possibly can (about 1 week ago).

It's hard to believe her first birthday is only 1 month & 5 days away. She has continued to develop & grow normally (she weighs about 14.5 lbs), stay healthy, and make everyone who sees her smile. She has brought joy to our lives that we never knew existed. What a blessing it has been to have such a beautiful, happy, healthy baby despite her rough beginning. She truly is a special daughter of God.

Spring Break - St. George Island, FL

For Spring Break we went to St. George Island, FL with Trevor's family. We had a lot of fun and it was so nice to be out in the sun and on the beach for a week. Alexa didn't know what to think of it all, but she enjoyed jumping on the sand and eating it too (well, she didn't really like that). The water was a little cold so we mostly just put our feet in - a few brave souls jumped in, but after seeing a shark 3 feet from the shore on the first day, most of us enjoyed the ocean from the shore.

While there we: took nightly strolls along the beach, had a picnic on the beach with the seagulls, went on a bike ride through a swamp, did plenty of shell hunting, had fresh fish for dinner (that's another story), drove 1 1/2 hrs to Panama City to go shopping at this dinky mall, and of course spent much of our time relaxing in the sun.

Also during this time Alexa started teething, getting up on her hands and knees and bouncing, willingly eating solid foods, giving kisses when requested, and making fishy faces. So it was an eventful trip with just her.

Alexa did very well on our 16 hour drive there, stopping in Birmingham, AL along the way (we were hoping to hear some really thick southern accents at church, but no such luck). On our way home we took a detour through Destin, FL making it a 17 1/2 hr drive, which didn't go as smoothly, but we made it home in one piece.

I'm really glad we were able to go and spend time with Trevor's family. Lindy and Ryan were able to meet us there which was a lot of fun too.

I'll be posting pictures of our trip in a web album as soon as I figure out how to create one and not delete all the pictures out of it. Here are a few teasers to get you started.