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.
My apologies for the long two weeks since my last post! We've been battling colds, then the stomach flu, and most recently teething... these battles put me behind schedule with household chores, things I need to do for a bridal shower I'm throwing this Saturday, and working on a huge research paper due on Monday. Phew, I'm exhausted writing all of that!!! So although this post is filled with photos and has two movies, I am going to TRY to keep my words brief ;-)
Here is Alexa saying goodbye to Mrs. Allison, our librarian.
Swinging at the park is so much fun (on Friday, March 12th)!
We now go several days without photos because Alexa got sick on Saturday, March 13th. Let me tell you how awful that was... we are in Walmart doing our grocery shopping and it late, like 7:00 pm. I'm at one end of the freezer aisle and Daddy & Her Highness are at the other when I hear Daddy shout, "Nikki, Alexa just threw up!" Awesome. Not!! She was sick throughout the night on Saturday but appeared to be fine the next morning. Pat and Becky even came out and brought us dinner on Sunday. However, Alexa threw up one more time last Monday morning. After that she was fine - me, not so much. More on that in a moment...
Here I am 12 weeks and 1 day prego. The "bump" is a-growing :-) We find out the sex next Tuesday evening, can't wait!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
These photos are from last week's See Me Run class... of course Alexa is using the walky-talky in the police car as a phone :-)~ (The boy in the car is the infamous Danny)
Here's a video of Alexa and Danny playing in their cars. She was really loving him chasing her and then crashing (gently).
Her Highness LOVED this roller coaster ride. She is so adventurous! Danny asked me if he could push "Lexa." When she saw Ms. Linda had the bus set up, Alexa started spinning her arms and saying, "round and round."
I cannot get Alexa to sit still during circle time, but of course she sits like an angel in Ms. Linda's lap ;-)
Later on that day, Uncle came down to visit us! We had a really great visit with him. He was wonderful interacting with Alexa (although I didn't take photos because I didn't think he'd like that, haha). The four of us enjoyed corned beef & cabbage in true St. Patty's Day tradition, and then Uncle texted me the whole way home about the gas he had. Nice... LOL
Back to my stomach bug... I got sick on Thursday morning but had to go to the OB for my Ultrascreen test (it is a test for Down's Syndrome). The test is two-part: an ultrasound and blood work. The baby looked great in the ultrasound (still no word on the blood work, it takes 5-7 business days).
Here is the baby at 12 weeks 2 days. On the left, you can see his/her hand. On the right, is a close up of his/her face.
Here are more pics of the baby at 12 weeks 2 days. Watch how the baby's hand moves from chest level to thumbing sucking :-)
When we got home from Dr. Davy's office I was sick again and had to call Daddy home from work. It was too hard for me to take care of Alexa while throwing up, and I was just exhausted. Unfortunately, Daddy caught a minor bit of it too on Thursday night. So Alexa spent Thursday night gated into our family room watching Barney while we just laid on the couch :-(
Daddy stayed home from work on Friday because Mommy was still out of commission. Even though I hadn't vomited since Thursday afternoon I felt nauseous, tired, dizzy... just plain yucky and knew I could not handle high energy Alexa on my own. When the afternoon rolled around and Alexa woke up from nap after only an hour (she usually naps for close to three) asking for Noni & Papa (I swear the kid has an internal clock when it has been two weeks without them), Daddy made the decision that we were still going home for the weekend. We quickly packed and loaded and headed to Perry.
What a blessing my parents are! I was able to get some much needed rest (and comfort food), and Daddy was able to have a break from solo parenting (so that he could fix Uncle's computer - which was no easy feat, he is just a computer genius). It is times like these (when we are both sick and/or exhausted) that I really miss my parents. I wanted my mom. No. I needed my mom. She wanted to be here for us on Thursday so badly, but it is too far for her to be able to hop in the car to entertain Alexa and put her to bed for us. As I sit and think about our future family I grow even more headstrong that we have to live closer to them. We want to have four kids. There are going to be lots of times that we are going to need help... if we or the children are sick, when we have four different practices to attend, etc. And I know that Noni & Papa will be helpful when necessary, but they will also want to be involved in the children's daily lives. Anyway, enough with my moping over being closer to my family... Nothing I can do about it now, so here's to hoping that changes in the coming year (or two, max)!!!
Back to Alexa, she was cranky pants most of the weekend. Her nose was running which turned into a cough all because her top teeth were coming in. It made for a long weekend. Here is Alexa riding in Auntie's old car. She's leasing it ;-)
On Saturday, we went to Alexa's BFF, Regan's birthday party! It was lots of fun!
Happy 1st Birthday, Regan!
Regan tasting her smash cake. We took Alexa's cupcake home because it was going to be too messy to not eat it in her chair. As soon as I handed it to her, she shoved the ladybug icing straight into her mouth :-)
Loving the cupcake!
A movie of Alexa eating the cupcake.
Watching The Backyardigans on Saturday night.
Yes, Noni took a picture of the TV screen with all five characters so that she can print & laminate it for Alexa to walk around with. The characters are (from left to right) Tyrone, Pablo, Uniqua, Austin, and Tasha. Alexa says "Tyrone" and "Pablo" all day long. Sometimes she says "Tash" (with no 'a').
We kept hearing Alexa cry out on the monitor (as if she were having bad dreams) on Saturday evening. At about 12:30 am, Alexa woke up, and Noni went into the bedroom and rubbed her back until she fell asleep. Which wasn't for long. She kept awakening and asking for "Mommy," and finally at 3:00 am Noni brought her to me. It took me almost an hour to get her to fall back asleep! On Sunday morning we discovered that one of the top teeth cut through! The other one cut through on Monday. Hopefully, the rest of her teeth are not as awful as these two were!!!
On Sunday, we caught up on sleep missed on Saturday night. Also, Gram came over to see us and joined us for dinner. I made chicken parmigiana - yummy!
Due to other errands on Monday, we didn't make it to Babytime. So we ended up going on Tuesday, and I think that we are going to keep going on Tuesdays. There was another little girl, Alexis, about Alexa's age that she had fun around the Story Garden with and there are several friendly moms that I think I could make friends with :-) Oh, and the new Babytime librarian, Mrs. Jenny, is wonderful!
Here is Alexa (and Mommy) at our See Me Run class this morning.
"Mommy. Eyes!" And Alexa going wheeeeee on the slide.
First, Alexa had to knock over another child's block tower. Second, she decided to share the 3D cow puzzle with Danny.
Today I met Danny's mom (who is a teacher on Spring break this week - he normally comes with his grandma). I was rushing to leave SMR today because we had a play date to get to, but I told her that I am going to give her mom my contact info at our final class next week so that we can have a play date. She was happy to hear that! Apparently, Danny talks about Alexa at home so Shelly was excited to meet her :-)
We had a play date at the Nguyen's house after SMR. The dad, Minh, was my PSR aid last year, and I've become friends with his wife, Sarah. They have two kids, Daniel (5) and Joseph (2.5), and are expecting #3 in May. We had a great time playing and visiting!! I think that we are going to go to the zoo with them sometime in April :-) As if the day could get any busier, we also had visitors at our house for lunch! My friend (eh, ex-boyfriend honestly) Bob and his three boys Kiran, Bennett, and Davis came over for lunch and a mini play date before Alexa's nap. It was awesome seeing them! Alexa really enjoyed playing with a bunch of friends this morning, and I enjoyed having adult conversation :-)
Well, that's all I've got for now (which is actually a lot considering I said I was going to keep it brief, hehe). Her Highness is waking up from nap, and I have tons to do so I will try to post again next week sometime. Ciao.
