It's A........

Alexa and I continue to have loads of fun together... she is so adaptive to any situation. With all of the running around I had to do last week, she would eat lunch in the car (or shopping cart) and go to nap an hour late with no problems. She goes to bed at 8:00 pm and sleeps until about 8:00 am (give or take 30 min). Alexa is communicating more and more, telling you up, down, more, please, thank you, goldfish, banana, cheese, round & round (when she wants to listen to music), etc. She has gotten a lot better with her separation anxiety and will play in her part of the basement peacefully while I sit at the computer or run upstairs for something.

I've told many of you that Alexa has quite the personality, and I have the perfect story to share with you... I believe it was Monday morning, and Alexa was eating breakfast while Daddy was packing his lunch for work. Well, Daddy farted and Alexa said, "POOPY!" and started laughing at him :-)~ It was funny that she a. thought farting = pooping and b. laughed at her own joke!

Here's what has been going on this past week:
Last Friday we went to dinner at a yummy Greek restaurant with Pat & Becky (who left for Florida on Sunday). Alexa really enjoyed dipping her fish sticks in the tarter sauce! She actually did a pretty excellent job at it. Afterward, we went to Pat & Becky's house to hang out for a little bit and watch the beginning of the Buckeye game.










Alexa did not want a photo with Daddy apparently. I think she was just wanting to get one with Mommy instead because we were matching in our pink Buckeye attire ;-)










Once again, Alexa thoroughly enjoyed playing the piano.










Here are Alexa, the pianist, and Pat, the guitarist, playing a duet (of sorts, hehe).

On Saturday, I co-hosted a Bridal Shower for my friend, Tiffanie. Thanks to Dan for the AWESOME idea to wrap & stack boxes as the centerpieces in the gift/cake/game room. I didn't think of this until after the shower, but this idea actually goes really well with Tiffanie's wedding reception centerpieces (which will be cakes with bows on them).










Thanks to Susan for helping me make these two banners with her Cricut machine (hint hint to all you people looking to buy me a gift one day, this would be an EXCELLENT idea -- in fact, convince Dan to buy me one & ask him what extra accessories I need). The reason the banners (and the cake) say, "And They Lived Happily Ever After" is because Tiffanie is doing a Cinderella theme for the wedding (the church looks like a castle, she has a princess gown, the table cards will be in mini-glass slippers, and she is actually wearing glass slippers).










There were 11 vases of three roses & rice as the centerpieces on the luncheon tables. Here is the cake I designed (but let Kroger make) for the bridal shower. The picture of the slipper originally had a blue pillow, but I put it in PhotoShop and turned it pink so that it would match everything else.










The gift table. I made/decorated this card box for the shower. Tiffanie liked it so much that she asked if she could have it to use at their wedding :-) She's also going to be using some of the centerpiece gift boxes too.










Tiffanie with [most of] her 'maids: Kelly, Me, Erin, & Beth.










We went out on Saturday night for a few hours to see Art, who was in town for the weekend, and bid Kate & Tim (Eric's sister & brother-in-law) farewell before their big move to Washington (the state). Thankfully Francesca, the girl next door, is available last minute to babysit because we didn't even find out about these plans until Friday morning! Alexa did wonderful when Francesca arrived, no crying at all as we handed her off and walked out the door :-) Let me emphasize again, she is such an easy-going, adaptive toddler! We also got to hang out with boys on Sunday. Art came to the house to spend time with our family in the afternoon, then we met Tim and Eric at BW3's for wings and basketball. Alexa loved dipping her grilled chicken fingers and french fries in honey mustard and sweet BBQ sauces! She is really too precious.

Alexa kidnapped Ralph the dog & Baxter the bear from the librarians during Babytime today. I continue to like the Tuesday group better then the Monday group, and I am thrilled that our schedule allowed us to make the switch. There are so many friendly parents in this session! Plus, Ms. Jenny is amazing! She was excellent about Alexa taking the animals, wanting to help, etc. After announcing we were going to do Hickory Dickory Dock, Alexa went up to Ms. Jenny and said "Baa Baa" (as in Baa Baa Black Sheep) which Ms. Jenny did because of Alexa's request :-) All of the parents (whose children are mostly younger than A) laughed and clapped when Alexa did things (like the Touch Your Toes song) all by herself. Great confidence booster for our little performer ;-)










Most of you may know this by now, but yesterday we went to Ultrasona to find out the sex of #2. They will do the ultrasound at 14 weeks (as opposed to the doctor's office who won't do it until 20 weeks) and it ends up being cheaper then at the doctor's office. We went there when I was pregnant with Alexa too, and they were right :-)

Here is the baby's spine and heart beat (in yellow, you can see it was 158).










This technician switched back and forth between 2D and 3D like the tech who did my ultrasound with Alexa did. It is so cool to see the baby in 3D!










Daddy and I both saw it before the words were even on the screen - IT'S A BOY!!! (The tech used a cool feature that lets you see the blood flow of the umbilical cord just to be positive it is not being confused with the penis)











The little guy captured my heart in the picture on the left ♥










One last photo.











I'd like to say that Daddy and I are the most excited that it's a boy, but to be honest that prize may go to JaJa and Auntie who literally hollered & screamed when we told them :-) Alexa and I are looking forward to shopping for our little Prince the next few months, and Daddy & I can't wait to begin planning his nursery. We feel really blessed that we are going to have a daughter and a son ♥ I've already made up my mind on what the first piece of clothing we are going to buy our son is... I'll post a picture once I find it. No names picked out at the moment, we'll keep y'all updated as we agree upon one!

A video of Alexa at our last See Me Run class this morning.


Alexa giving Danny a hug. No worries, I've arranged a play date for these two with Danny's grandma in two weeks ♥ Alexa really enjoys climbing up the slide now that she has figured out how to do it on her own!










This week Alexa has begun to show an interest in the potty. Whenever I am using the bathroom she says, "Pee pee potty." I took this as a cue to get the kids' potty out of the box yesterday, and I have set it up in her bathroom (which is going to need redecorated from it's purple decor before Baby Boy is born). I need to get another one (or at least a kid's seat to put on the adult toilet) for downstairs and my parents' house. I'm not forcing the issue of potty training AT ALL... I am merely letting her sit on the potty a few times a day (at her request). Frankly, I still think she is too young to potty train but figure I can at least let her get comfortable with the concept. She hasn't peed on it yet, although she says "pee pee" while she sits there and smiles :-) Maybe Noni will help us consistently sit on the potty once an hour or so next week while we're on our Perry Spring Break-cation... which we CANNOT wait for!! Alexa, Chloe, and I are leaving on Friday morning (Daddy will head up sometime in the afternoon). We will enjoy the Easter weekend with everyone, including my cousin Michael who is coming in from Florida! I haven't seen him since our wedding, so I'm ecstatic that he will be up for the holiday and get to meet Her Highness finally. Then, Daddy will head back to Columbus on Sunday evening. Alexa, Chloe, and I will stay in Perry to enjoy Spring Break with Noni & Auntie until sometime on Thursday. Will post next week when we return. Until then, HAPPY EASTER!! Ciao.