I was trying to get a picture of Alexa's two teeth, obviously I was unsuccessful, but this was still a cute picture :)
On October 29th, we went to see Dr. Jacob (Alexa's pediatrician) for Alexa's 1-year well check appointment. She weighed in at 21 lbs 10 oz and was 27.5 in tall! That means that in one year of life, Alexa gained 14 lbs 5.5 oz - isn't that crazy? Dr. Jacob was delighted with all of Alexa's talking. She did some showing off by saying, "Chl goo gr" and by barking, haha. When I told Dr. Jacob other words that Alexa says and what activities she likes to do at home (the shape sorter, taking lids on and off, etc.), she said "She's brilliant!" Alexa's speech development (and intellectual development in general) are above-average. Now, her physical development is average. We've been trying to work with her on walking this week, but she is not getting much better. Maybe being motivated by other people (Noni, Papa, JaJa, and Auntie) this weekend will help Alexa out! Other things we discussed at her well check appointment were the transition to whole milk, eliminating bottles, and the pacifier. The doctor was pleased to hear that earlier that week, when I had introduced milk, I had done it exclusively in a sippy cup and packed the bottles away. She also warned me that although it's great that Alexa only uses the pacifier at nap & bedtime, we need to take it away between 14 - 15 months. So after the New Year, we will take Alexa's pacifier away. At the end of the appointment Alexa received five vaccinations. She was incredibly upset when we left, but she fell asleep in the car on the way home.
We had a full house the last weekend of October, and it was great!! A few hours after we got home from the pediatrician's office, Aunt Janine and Uncle Ken arrived! We enjoyed a nice dinner together and got to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters :) We had over 15 children this year, which is the most we've had in the three years that we've lived here. We're gonna try to convince Aunt Janine & Uncle Ken to come back next year for Trick-or-Treat night to pass out candy (Aunt Janine says she'll dress up) while we are out with Alexa :)
Aunt Janine & Uncle Ken woke up early with Alexa and let us sleep in for a bit on Friday morning :) Alexa really enjoyed playing with both of them!! During the day on Friday, us girls went shopping. It was during this trip that Aunt Janine discovered something our little daredevil loved - being spun in the shopping cart :) This is my new "trick" to use whenever Alexa is unhappy while we are out and about!
By Friday night, Alexa was super attached to Uncle Ken - she wouldn't even let me hold her! He was sweating so bad that he had to take routine breaks outside just to cool off. Here she is in her Halloween costume - A.R.R., the pirate :) See how mad she was when she had to sit with Daddy & Mommy for a picture? All she wanted was Uncle Ken!
Dan and I went to a Halloween Party at our friends, Nick & Angie's house. THANK YOU, Aunt Janine and Uncle Ken, for babysitting so that we could have a night out with our friends! Also, thanks for loaning us the Tavern Man and Beer Wench costumes.
Alexa was totally fascinated with Aunt Janine's notorious Indians mug. She learned how to drink from a straw!
Here is Alexa (whom Noni woke up) when Noni and Papa arrived on Friday night, and Alexa showing Noni how she can drink from a straw!
Alexa with Mommy & Daddy and then with Papa & Noni once George the gorilla was moved into the basement.
Look how big George is compared to Alexa! She now says something that resembles gorilla and will give George kisses :)
After a busy Saturday of unloading the new dining room furniture and setting it up, watching the Buckeyes, going to the grocery store, etc. We ended the day by celebrating my birthday. Everyone surprised me with an ice cream cake, which Alexa loved!
Haha, I love when Alexa does her fake smile for pictures.
Playing downstairs after we got home from Mass and breakfast on Sunday morning.
Right before Aunt Janine & Uncle Ken left.
One last sip from Aunt Janine's mug before she leaves :)~
Time to carve the HUGE pumpkin that Noni & Papa grew for Alexa :)
Like how we are all dressed in our Brownie gear??
Showing Noni & Papa how cute Alexa looked in her costume - Us sitting at our new dining room table, THANKS MOM & DAD!!!
When Noni & Papa left, Alexa took her nap while I did homework and Dan worked on leaves. When she woke up, I took her outside to play in the leaves. She loved it!
We had a WONDERFUL weekend with our full house!! It is always so nice to spend time with my family :) We are leaving in a few hours for another fun-filled family weekend in Perry!! Yay! Have a great weekend, everyone. Ciao.
For my birthday, we went out to dinner at Red Lobster - yummy! Alexa had fish for the first time (a baked flounder), and she really enjoyed it. She also liked the french fries and cheddar-garlic biscuits.
Dan and Alexa got me a cake decorating kit and turn-table thing so that I can FINALLY take classes! I think I'm going to take them in December :) Oh, the other thing we did on my birthday (since it is exactly a week after Alexa's) is pick-up the hand print plate we made at Marcy's Clayground. Isn't it cute? It is now front-and-center in our china hutch. And yes we did vote on my birthday too - thank goodness Worthington City Schools finally passed their school levy! Although our children won't go to WCS (because we will definitely be moved from the Columbus area before our children are school-aged), I feel it is EXTREMELY important to pass school levies!!
Alexa's a big girl now... we turned her car seat to forward-facing! She thinks she is so cool, and I think it is great to see her face in my rearview mirror.
This past Saturday we had Alexa's second 1st birthday party in Dublin. Here is Alexa with Dan's little cousin, Nick. She really enjoyed playing with all the kids - Dylen, Nick, Kate, Kiran, and Leylynn. And they really liked her Playroom! Here is Daddy feeding Alexa dinner. I made baked chicken, cottaged potatoes, green bean casserole, and garlic bread.
All the kids eating dinner - I told them they could not have cake and ice cream until they ate dinner, lol. I did not take any pictures of the cake because it was not pretty (although it tasted really good); like I told my girlfriends, "This is the reason I need to take cake decorating class. Haha." Hopefully by Dan's birthday I'll be able to make and decorate an amazing cake!
Alexa enjoying her cake and ice cream. Mommy & Alexa opening presents - here is a Talking Farm from Sean & Stephanie (and as Sean proudly pointed out, "If you turn the button it talks in Spanish too").
More gifts... Dylen, Leylynn, & Kiran helped me open bags and and unwrap boxes.
Alexa got a ton of great gifts - more Mega Bloks, cardboard building blocks, books, stuffed animals, gift cards, a Doodle Pro, a classic Chatter Telephone, a wobble penguin, puzzles, a Vtech laptop, a puppet, and clothes. Thanks to all of our AMAZING friends and the few members of the Ritchey family who came to celebrate with us!
Alexa woke up on Monday morning COVERED in spots. I was so concerned that I made an appointment at the pediatrician's office. Alexa's doctor was not there, but Dr. Sheetz (whom we saw when Alexa had an ear infection back in October) was able to fit us in at 9:15 am. Come to find out that Alexa is one of the 5% of children that have a reaction to the weakened measles virus in her MMR shot. So the past few days she has been our "speckled frog" (is what I'm calling her)... she's been irritable, had a fever, etc. The only good news was that she is NOT contagious. We had plans to go visit Sharon & her family so I was so thankful that Alexa was safe to be around the newborn baby.
Here is R.J. (Sharon's 2-year old son) playing in his basement Playroom. He did a great job of sharing his toys (particularly his trucks and fishing lures) with Alexa! Also, here is Alexa playing.
Me holding baby Ardynn Michelle Soika :) I was so happy to meet my BFF's beautiful baby girl! Alexa and I had a FABULOUS time visiting the Soika Family. I was really sad when I left for our 2-hour drive back to Columbus because I wish that Sharon and I lived closer together!! I know that if we did, we would get our kiddos together all the time, and we would get to spend loads of time chatting :)~ Alexa and R.J. got along so well - he would lay on her, and she would give him open-mouthed kisses... it was too cute. Alexa was not too interested in Ardynn (because she had R.J. to watch), but she was not jealous of me holding her (which is a good thing because we wanna start trying for Baby #2 pretty soon!).
I think I mentioned it before, but my parents bought us a dining room set. They brought it down a few weeks ago (I'll blog about their visit, as well as Aunt Janine & Uncle Ken's visit) in my next blog post (which will hopefully be tomorrow). Anyway, here is our beautiful Thomasville maple dining room set. I have it all decorated for Thanksgiving (even though we will be "home" in Perry for the holiday weekend). All of our friends really liked it when they were here for Alexa's birthday party :)
See A's plate in the hutch?
Up-close of the harvest-themed table. The upholstery perfectly matches our curtains!
Alright, well I want to veg out on the couch with Dan for the remainder of the evening... between working on the Playroom, homework, visitors, birthday parties, etc. I have not felt like I could lay on the couch and do nothing in SO LONG, so tonight that changes! Ciao.
