Us on New Years Eve

Jim had to work on New Years Eve night so we didnt get to celebrate at midnight... but we made sure we got some family pictures before he headed off to work. And to think, last year this time I was 30 or so weeks pregnant and now I have a 10 month old!!








For nostalgia purposes - Here we are last year

 

 

My little cutie

"Hanging" with daddy

Christmas Eve

Alexis did so great at Christmas. We were away from home for 4 days and so she missed a lot of naps and was surrounded by a lot of people. She was so wonderful. She loved playing with bows and paper (but mostly bows!) and ignored her presents for the most part. She loved all of the new food she got too. She got stuffed cabbage, which she LOVED and all sorts of other goodies!

First steps

I was trying to get a picture of Alexis standing since that is a new skill of hers. I stood her up, and then quickly backed up to take the picture. Just as I was taking the picture, she pivotted towards the ottoman, and took 3 steps and made it to the ottoman. I tried to get her to do it again since Jim was in the other room, but she wouldnt repeat the trick. He of course accused me of making it up, but the next day she did show off her skills for him!

Meeting Santa

Alexis met Santa today and loved him. The 3 kids in front of her in line all flipped out. We were worried Alexis would do the same, but nope. She looked at him, looked at the camera, and smilled. She was slightly tired and of course she had fallen aslep as soon as we got to the mall so we had to wake her up, hence the odd look on her face... but not bad for a first time Santa experience.

Time to pack up the bouncy chair

We were packing up a bunch of Alexis' old toys and I decided to put her in the bouncy chair one more time. The chair about hit the floor she weighed so much! And she was able to practically roll out of it and sit up in it!! Yikes! For so long this was one of her favorite places to hang out! She loves hitting the bird and trying to pull the rings off. Sigh... just another sign she's getting older!










And for old times sake...

Thanksgiving

Baby Jail

We got a jail for Alexis. Now that she is moving around, crawling and cruising, we were spending a lot of time telling her "no" or "get away from that" and so we have gotten an 8panel gate that will allow Alexis the chance to play in the living room with all the freedom in the world. It's her own little world. We got it from onestepahead.com and it has been the greatest purchace EVER.

The new sippy

We tried a few different sippy cups, but she never got the hang of tipping it back. We tried a sippy cup with a straw... and she got the hang of it right away!!

Time to put away the swing

Alexis has been in her swing in a very long tim. I knew it was officially time to pack it up when she started trying to use it to pull up... and of course the swing would swing away when she grabbed onto it. Fall #3 was when I decided it was time to go!











and for old time's sake...

New car seat

Alexis has outgrown her infant seat :( so we had to go get her a new big girl seat. Here she is for the first time! She's not so sure about it.

Standing & Clothes basket fun

Alexis had a great time playing in the clothes basket today. So much so that she even let go and stood for a few seconds. This was the first time I was able to get it on film!

Alexis and her ducks!

Alexis loves the bath. She has 3 rubber ducks and she tries to hold all 3 at once. She doesnt like sharing her ducks :)

Swimming

Here is Alexis in action - swimming and going under the water!

She let me rock her to sleep!!!

Alexis gets put into her crib wide awake every nap and every night. For whatever reason, she let me rock her and cuddle with her and she closed her eyes and just laid there. It was the sweetest thing ever! She hasnt done this in SO long! I had so many things to do for work the next day, but I didnt care. I just sat there, rocking her, looking at her.

Standing in her crib

Look who learned to pull up to standing!! Just like many of her other milestones, this one occurred in her crib first. She wasnt happy with us that we left her standing to take the pictures. She wanted out, and now!

Cute noises!

Alexis has learned a new trick. I dont even know what to call this trick... other than mouth noises! She's slightly tired so she's also rubbing her eyes and getting food all over her face in the process. Enjoy.

Halloween Card

Alexis enjoyed dressing up for Halloween. We went and visited the grandparents and great grandparents. Her loot bag included puffs and teething toast. Yum :)

Time for a big girl carseat

Now that it's colder and Alexis needs a coat each time we leave the house, it's become quite clear that she no longer fits her infant car seat. I dont even remember my little girl that took up no space in this carseat!

Swim Lessons

We signed Alexis up for Bubble Babies at the local rec center. There were 9 other babies in the class and Alexis LOVED every minute of it! She splashed around, put her face in, and even loved it when we dunked her under the water. We cant wait for the spring to take lessons again!

Fall Days

We took Alexis to a pumpkin patch today. Pumpkin patches are supposed to be cold and muddy. But of course we went on one of the warmest weekends of the season! It was so odd to be so hot at a pumpkin patch. Alexis enjoyed the sights and sounds. We went on a hay ride, looked at pumpkins, and just enjoyed the outdoors!

We have a crawler

Crawling part 2

Shopping Cart

Alexis is now sitting in the shopping cart like a big girl! She LOVED being able to look around and get the full Target experience!

We survived the first week of daycare & work

We somehow managed to survive the first week of returning to work and going to daycare. Alexis loves her time with Mrs. Sandee. Plus, her buddy Connor goes to the same place (which means I have a friend to talk to about what's going on and how we're feeling). I was physically exhausted this week. Working full time is hard!! Especially when all I want to do is go home and play with my daughter. I get home from work around 3:30, feed Alexis and then put her down from a nap. You can see it in her eyes, she's absolutely exhausted from her full day of "work" and she goes down for a 1 1/2 - 2 hour nap. At 5:30 she gets her dinner and is in bed by 6:30. That doesnt leave much time for me to play with her. I've started playing with her in the morning because I know I wont get much time after school. It just makes me sad to know that I only get 3 hours a day with her, and she's napping for 1-2 of those hours! I was so looking forward to our weekend together, and she has been less than pleasant all weekend. It's actually made me quite sad. I dont know if it's because she's sad at me for "abandoning" her at daycare and so she's letting me know that she doesnt want me to put her down for one second, or if she misses daycare and is sad to be home, or if she's going through a growth spurt and is dealing with a new routine and is learning new things and that is what is causing her behavior. I certainly hope that this isn't how she behaves at daycare though. If she cries as much at daycare as she did at home this weekend, I'll be super embarrassed!! I dont know what happened to my laid back happy girl :(

6 month pictures from Sears

Not sure why these posted out of order, but I dont feel like rearranging them :) These are taken from the Sears website so they arent the best quaility but I'll repost them once I get the CD. We ended up cropping in closer on one of the mirror pics (where she's looking at the camera) and we also got a collage with 4 really great facial closeups with 4 very different facial expressions... SUPER CUTE and I cant wait until the 6th to go get them!