Big day of firsts

She was too impatient to wait for Mommy to break it into smaller pieces

She loved the pear juice in her sippy cup

His car is the red white and blue one in lane 1

Nathan and his car

Little Miss had a big day of firsts today. We started the morning off with her very first pancake. I've only given her "big people food" a few times now. She's tried mashed potatoes, beef noodles, pizza crust, and frosting. She seems to do really well so I've graduated myself to letting her try other things. You'd think she was my first baby with how hesitant I am and how worried I am about choking. We tried so long and went through so much hurt to get her that things that shouldn't worry me WORRY me! I digress...I made her a mini pancake. I first tried to just set it on her high chair tray while I was getting the camera on the counter. No sooner did I turn my head that she had the whole pancake up to her mouth trying to eat it. She loved it! She even freaked out when I tried to take it away to break it into smaller pieces. The next first for her was drinking from her sippy cup without crying! I've only tried giving her a sippy with her breakfast. I was putting formula in it and trying to get her to drink her 4 oz bottle in a sippy. She has been refusing for the past two months. I even tried buying different kinds of cups to no avail. Well today I figured I'd try to put some juice in there for her to wash down her pancakes and ta-dah! It worked! I first had to take the "no spill" spout out and give her a taste but soon after she tasted it and I replaced the spout she was chugging it down. Victory is mine!! She also enjoyed a fun big girl bath today with her big sissy. Abby has been begging me to let her take a bath with Alexa for awhile now. My older two have been taking showers for the past year. I hate giving baths and I hate cleaning up the soaking wet floor after they splash a few gallons of water on it. Needless to say I was happy when they decided they'd rather shower. Alexa had a blast with Abby and I'm sure it will happen more often now. Finally our other exciting news is that we bought Alexa her big girl car seat. I have been dreading making this decision and have put it off as long as I could. Today was the last day for the trade in event at BRU and I knew I should take advantage of it. Britax? Graco? Safety 1st? I've spent hours reading reviews and still had a hard time choosing. I finally went with the Graco My Ride 65. It's an adorable pink and brown pattern much like her Graco snugride 35. I hope she's comfy and safe. We rounded out our day with Nathan's Pine Wood Derby race. His red, white, and blue car was one of the first eliminated but he had a blast building it and is already looking forward and thinking about his design for next year. That kid has such a great personality! We all enjoyed some snacks and watched the rest of the racers. All in all a very fulfilling day!

1st toothy!

I really need to get better at updating here. Ugh! I've been so busy lately. Who would've known that three kids would have me so busy?! . And not to mention Lil' Ladies has taken off. In the last few weeks I've had over 50 bows to make. I'm sooooo happy!

My baby girl is growing by leaps and bounds this week. On the 15th (1 day before her 8 month b-day) I spotted Alexa's 1st tooth popping through the gums. I knew something was up when she had been incredibly cranky. I figured it was either a tooth or a cold coming to get her.

I've been out doing a bit of shopping these past few days. Alexa has about half of a summer wardrobe. I even bought her a cute pair of white sandals (size 3's) for the summer. I've noticed my shopping routine has changed a bit. Instead of finding clothes that I like and then matching bows to it, I've been looking for cute clothes to match my bows. I'm buying her size 18 months in anything one piece. She's so tall/long for her age. She's now in size 18 month Gerber onesies. Her torso is just so long. I'm excited to spend the summer with her. Last summer she was so sick and we spent so many days in the hospital or just cooped up in the house that I'm excited for her to feel the sunshine.

I'm a little late on her 8 month pictures this month. Such a slacker! I'll take them tomorrow morning and post. Ta-ta for now!

Blabbering baby

So she's back at it. Da-Da-Da and Ba-Ba-Ba all day and night long. She stopped saying Da-Da for awhile and had me worried but is surely back at being a noisemaker now. I say to her Ma-Ma-Ma and she says Da-Da-Da. Little stinker! She thinks it's funny too!

Everything is going so well with her that I almost hate to say it. She had a minor cough for all of one day and it disappeared. That surprised me as it was right after I had been sick for a few days. She's eating super well. We've switched over from Gerber to Beechnut baby food and it seems she likes it more. She hated Gerber carrots and country garden veggies but will gladly scarf down a jar of those same veggies made by Beechnut. This works out nicely for me because I've found all sorts of crafty uses for the glass baby jars. She's steadily eating her puffs and Mum Mums. In the morning when we get back from dropping off the big kids I stick her in her high chair with a handful of puffs and she munches away until I've got her rice cereal mixed up, her 4 oz bottle poured and a jar of fruits all ready to go for her. She's on a very good routine now. After breakfast she plays with me for about an hour or two and then she's down for her morning nap. Quick, easy and painless! I love this girl!

I picked up her Valentine's Day card yesterday. It seems the holiday really snuck up on me this year. I was well on track for having everything done early and then BAM here it is...Today! We bought her a giant stuffed ladybug and a balloon. I'm sure she'll get loads of entertainment from this balloon. It's the little things in life huh?! I still need to pick up something small for Abby and Nathan. We're going to play BINGO with peanut butter M&M's today when they get home from school. They love that game. And Burt and I will enjoy some cuddle time on the couch later. Nothing fancy. I think love is something that should be shown everyday of the year not just once on February 14th because someone says you should. We appreciate the smaller everyday things that we do for one another and I love that!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

The mystery has been solved

Her chin has been red for quite a few weeks now. It would come and go. Red one day. Fine the next. I asked the pediatrician about it and they suggested it was just dry skin from the winter months and told me to keep vaseline or Aquaphor on it. I did as they told me for a few days with no improvement. I finally started a little detective work of my own. I started to notice that it was worse in the morning and at night right before bedtime. As I pieced it together more I realized it was the worst after eating dinner and breakfast. The wipes! The wipes were the culprit. We use Walmart brand baby wipes. For selfish reasons mostly. I love the smell of them! It seems that Alexa's face doesn't like them so much. Since then I've been wetting one of her burp clothes with water and wiping her face after meals. Her chin has cleared up. Yay Detective Mommy!

Pictures are always fun!

After our 15+ inches of snow!

One of her favorite toys...her binkie!

She loves this thing.

7 MONTHS OLD

My babies!

Another day of baby-sitting under my belt. Having four kids for the day really makes me question our trying to conceive in May decision. Boy! I'm exhausted!! Alexa does love him though. She kicks and giggles and then whines when he walks away from her. She loves all little people. Tomorrow I'm going to sign us up for the Mommy and Me music class at the YMCA. She loves music!

I'm slowly recovering from my hellish trip to the dentist on Friday. Fillings, one root canal, and two wisdom teeth extractions later, I'm in pain. Not so bad now but boy was I miserable. Now next week is the other side. Burt had the baby all day by himself. I never worry about whether he's capable of keeping her all day but I worry about her schedule, which I've worked so hard at maintaining. My worries were validated when she was still awake at 10pm Friday night. Her bedtime routine was ruined. It took me all day Saturday to get her readjusted.

Happy Birthday Me!

Alexa is a nut! She's started doing this screeching but not really making any noise thing. When she gets super excited she starts to screech but then goes so high pitched that noise stops coming out. She's generally such a happy baby and that makes me a happy mommy.

Yesterday was my birthday. And I must say it was one of the best birthdays I've had in awhile. Burt bought me a $200 gift card to the mall to get my nails done, buy some new clothes and maybe some new make-up. My mom got me a $50 gift card to Victoria Secrets and Frankie got me some perfume and lotions from there too. Abby and Nathan coordinated a dance routine for me and "performed" it right before bed. They're nutty too! Overall I felt very loved!

I've begun to feel overwhelmed with just how many things I have to do in one day. With two kids I never felt this way. The house was always clean, laundry was always caught up and kids were always the best dressed kids in the neighborhood. Now, not so much. I have laundry up to my eyeballs (I guess it doesn't help that Lexa is the puke monster), Nathan's hair hasn't been cut in over a month, and my to do list just keeps getting longer and longer. Once I check one thing off the list ten more appear in its place. Maybe I'm just too much of a perfectionist. Maybe I'm slacking. Or maybe I've just filled my plate with too many things I want to do. Either way I need to get cracking!! Can you hear the whip sound in the background?!