Changes on the way

I made a mistake. Sometime in July I started a new blog for pregnancy number 6/wombmate number 7/ living child number 4. I had a few people tell me I should just continue on with the same blog but I wanted Alexa and Scooby Snack to have their own baby book of sorts. I felt like I'd be a bit more organized if I kept them separate, but it seems like keeping up with two separate blogs is next to impossible. So now I've decided to combine the two and yet I don't know how to bring the new blog over here. I've tried copy and pasting it to no avail. I think the only option I'm left with is to retype everything. The task seems like too much to handle but I think in the end it will be worth it.

Who ticked off Mother Nature?

So in one weeks time we've experienced/lived thru one earthquake of 5.9 magnitude, several tornado warnings, and one category 1 hurricane named Irene. I can't help but think that Mother Nature is trying to tell us something. Pennsylvania never has any of these things! Thursday night I started taking all of this hurricane talk a bit more serious. I talked with Burt and we decided we'd stock up on a few things. Friday I took my sister and the kids out. We bought a few flashlights, candles, snacks, non-perishables, water and juice. We brought in all the kid's outdoor toys and brought up any totes of importance from the basement. As far as I was concerned we'd be good to go if the power did go out for any period of time. Saturday night came and so did the wind and rain. We pretty much stayed glued to the TV watching the news. The kids entertained themselves with a new box of dominos, cards, and lots of jumping on Mommy and Daddy's mattress. Around 10pm we heard that dreadful sound come across the TV. There was a tornado warning for Delaware County. We quickly gathered up a few things and all headed down the basement. The winds were roaring by this time and everyone was on edge. Alexa was tired and cranky. She most definitely did not want to be cooped up on that couch. Soon the time had expired and we headed back upstairs. No sooner did we hit the top of the stairs that we heard the warning again and turned right back around. This was getting serious. Abby was an emotional wreck by this point. She turned to me with tears running down her face and said, "I just want to grow up". Poor baby! I comforted her and soon she laid her head on me and tried to sleep a bit. I reassured her that I'd wake her up if anything happened. Finally 11pm hit and we again headed upstairs. This time we pulled the mattresses down from upstairs and tried to settle the kids. We laid Alexa in her pack and play and the kids on the mattresses on the floor. If we all were going to survive this night they needed to get some sleep. Alexa of course fought her sleep until I finally laid down in bed with her. We both passed right out. I woke up several times thru the night just to see the weather updates. Burt stayed up pretty late. By the morning the winds had died down and we were left with a huge puddle in our backyard and minimal flooding in the basement. I most certainly counted my blessings in the morning. This was an experience that I could do without ever experiencing again.

We've lived thru the earthquake of 2011

I'm being told by a friend's mom that when I was little I'd experienced a few little earthquakes. Must not have been very strong or memorable because I have no memory of it. This earthquake was a 5.8 magnitude quake in VA but was felt up and down the east coast. It was about 1:45pm. I was in the kitchen getting a drink of water and the big kids were in the living room watching TV. Alexa was taking a nap. For about 45 seconds the cabinet doors shook, the basement door rattled and the floor vibrated. When I eventually figured out what was going on I walked to the kitchen door to check on the kids. They just looked at me and asked what was going on. Nothing traumatic. No scared kids. Fairly quick. A couple minutes later the news was plastered with evacuations of the pentagon and many skyscrapers in the city. Facebook too was littered with status' about the quake. It was definitely not something that happens here often and I'm sure it will be talked about for a few days. Congratulations Alexa! I can now officially say you could sleep thru an earthquake (although about 5 minutes later you were awake)!

She's got personality!

Oh my! My daughter is so full of personality these days. I probably won't remember half of what I wanted to document here. She is definitely the center of attention in this family and keeps us laughing constantly. She has learned how much fun it can be to climb up onto things and sit there. She first started with her little people bus, then graduated to sitting on the folded up pack and play and today I found her sitting on top of the old boxy radio that my Mom and Matt gave the big kids. She makes the most adorable faces but I have yet to be able to capture them with the camera. She has become quite the disco dancing queen. Anytime she hears music she busts a move. She moves her little feet so quick and is a good little booty shaker. She is in love with Yo Gabba Gabba and will dance every time the theme song comes on. She is also understanding so much these days. If I say "Come on let's go seepie nigh nights" she grabs the closest bink and starts heading for the stairs. She climbs all the way up the stairs (with me right behind her of course) and walks right to her room. If I ask "Are you hungry? Do you want some nummies?" she quickly starts walking to the kitchen. I'm hoping she soon has a vocabulary explosion. I've noticed that she's getting frustrated now when we don't understand what she wants. If she is out in the kitchen and wants a drink she will stand by the sink and cry. Every once in awhile when I forget and start to walk away she gets really angry and starts screaming. If someone tells her no or takes something away from her she angrily smacks herself in the head three or four times. I love spending every minute of my day with her. Sometimes I sit back and just watch her. It's almost like I can see her brain working and her ideas forming. Such an amazing little person!

Bad bad Mommy!

As I checked on this blog today I realized that I haven't written anything since Alexa's 1st birthday. Can you say slacker?!?! I guess it doesn't help that the monster has broken a few of my laptop keys which makes it difficult to type a lot.

June 25th- Alexa's 1st Birthday Party

The day started out super chaotic! I still had tons of things to do and woke up with killer morning sickness. Lovely! I did all the party prep that needed to be done at the house and then called in for reinforcement...my Mom. She came and sat with the kids while Burt and I did out last minute running around. The party was to start at 3pm and we were still running around at 2:30pm. I finally made it home in time to pay the lady for the cake and to meet the photographer. The photographer took pictures of the kids together as I finished a few things. Soon the guests started to arrive and it was party time! Everyone loved all of the decorations and I have to say I was quite pleased with it myself. Alexa was in a good mood but was being very shy. I think she was a bit overwhelmed with all of the people. She loved her smash cake and really enjoyed the ladybug release. She loved letting them crawl on her arm and then watching them sly away. I still can't believe my baby is one.

Happy 1st Birthday Alexa! at OneTrueMedia.com

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It has happened

No matter how hard I kicked and screamed she did it. No matter how many tears I shed, she did it. Today my baby turned one year old. She started her day out just as smiley as other days. Abby, Nathan and I sang her happy birthday while she was in her crib. Her face lit up and she danced along. One thing was very different about this day though. I had a secret that I was just bursting to tell. Before I went in to get the birthday girl this morning I took a pregnancy test. A digital one to be exact. It was one I had left over from when I found out I was pregnant with Alexa. As soon as I took the test it came up positive. We were expecting another baby. What better birthday present is there to give Alexa? We continued on with our morning. Breakfast. Getting dressed. When Daddy came home from running an errand I had Alexa walk up to him holding the pregnancy test. He proceeded to sing the entire Happy Birthday song and never noticed the test. I finally said to Alexa "I guess Daddy's not very observant today". He turned to look one more time and said "You're pregnant?" I of course said "Yes". One oops and there we were...PREGNANT. How did this happen after so many months of trying and so much disappointment before? I of course feel completely blessed. Blessed and shocked. We had planned on ttc in June or July right after Alexa turned one. The problem is the past few months I have been very flip floppy on whether or not I really wanted to start trying. I've started to feel a bit overwhelmed with all that is already on my plate. Apparently God has other plans and he reminds me that HE is in charge. We continued about our day with the birthday girl. We went to Toys R Us where she got a birthday balloon and a birthday crown. We picked up her birthday present ( a parent push trike) and a few other things. Then we stopped at Carter's to buy a "Big Sister" shirt for a later surprise and headed off to the park. She loved swinging in the swings and riding on the seesaw. Then we went home and she went down for a nap. Abby and I went to Walmart to pick up some prenatal vitamins and another pack of HPT's just in case the last one was expired. Sure enough I took it and the test line showed up instantly. Mom Mom, Matt, Amanda, Juan, Uncle Frankie and Devon all stopped over for cake. We had a blast watching Alexa make a mess of herself. At first she refused to touch the icing. Burt even pushed a small section of the cake into her face/mouth and she just sat there motionless. Eventually a small dollop of icing made it's way into her mouth. One taste and she was game! We all watched her make a huge mess. After getting her cleaned up Burt and I gave her a present. It was the big sister shirt I bought earlier. Once she got it unwrapped Burt held up the t-shirt. Everyone looked. And looked. And looked until eventually I said "Amanda, what does it say?". She answered. And they still didn't get it. I finally had to say "What does it mean if Alexa is going to be a big sister?" Then the lightbulbs went off. The excitement level was not the same as it was when we announced our pregnancy with Alexa. But we're excited. Abby and Nathan talked about it all day...almost as much as they talked about the birthday girl. This was definately an exciting day and will go down in the books as a fantastic first birthday. The birthday girl got lots of kisses and lots of cuddles. We had tons of laughs and many smiles. Happy Birthday Alexa Lynn! You are amazing and I couldn't love you even a drop more.