"1... 2... 7... 8"

Thursday, June 3rd -
Last Thursday evening we had to run to the Honda dealership to FINALLY pick up our Title Memorandum for the Odyssey (yes, we JUST got it last week -- we had to get a second 30-day tag because the dealership messed stuff up. It was incredibly frustrating, but I'm just glad it is all taken care of now!). Well as we were leaving Immke I asked Alexa what she wanted for dessert (because a. she had eaten a fabulous dinner and b. I'm pregnant & craving sweets, lol). I expected her to say, "ice cream" or "popsicles" but instead she responded with "donuts." So we went to Krispy Kreme, got some tasty treats and a cool baker's hat, and here's our little girl enjoying her snack of choice...










Friday, June 4th -
I had seen an advertisement that there was going to be a Backyard Concert at our library so we went to check it out last weekend. Unfortunately, since the weather was uncooperative they had to have the concert indoors. It didn't matter to Alexa though - it was a cool, free way to spend a Friday evening! Alexa had so much fun listening & dancing to the Irish and Scottish tunes!!










Saturday, June 5th -
We had a visitor for the day... my dear friend, Lynnie!! She was one of the bridesmaids in our wedding, and I have seen her several times since then (just not since Alexa had been born). Lynn works at a restaurant and lives on the westside of Cleveland, so her schedule/location and our usually jam-packed Perry trips have made it impossible to get together until now. Her boyfriend had to work in C-bus for the day on Saturday so she came to hangout with us. We had so much fun playing, shopping, and just catching up!!!
Note: the stuffed animal in Alexa's arms is Tyrone, from The Backyardigans. She found this at the consignment shop and for $1.50, I had to get it for her (especially considering Nick Jr. no longer makes Backyardigan paraphernalia).










After Lynn left on Saturday, Pat and Becky came over for a visit (we were supposed to go strawberry picking, but the rainy weather didn't allow that). Hard to believe it had been five weeks since we had last seen them! Unfortunately, we forgot to get the camera out so I don't have any pictures to share. But we had a nice time with them, and enjoyed dinner at Red Lobster and dessert at Menchies (that frozen custard place I mentioned in my last post). We didn't do too much on Sunday besides church, grocery shopping, yard work, etc. I do have a story to share from Sunday morning... as we pulled into Starbucks Alexa pointed out the firetruck in the parking lot. While Daddy went in for coffee, Alexa and I got out to look at the truck. The nice firemen waved us over, talked to Alexa, offered to take her up into the truck (but she shook her head & cried -- they told me to bring her to the firehouse when she gets a little bit older and wouldn't be scared), turned on the lights, and even briefly sounded the siren. Alexa LOVED it!!

Monday, June 7th -
Alexa and I went to lunch with Tiffanie at Panera and then walked around Easton. It was great catching up with Tiff & hearing all about her honeymoon and first few weeks of newlywed bliss!










Tuesday, June 8th -
Alexa went to the dentist for the first time today. The hygienist let her feel & hold each of the instruments before she put them in Alexa's mouth. Currently Alexa has 11 teeth (the 4 bottom incisors, the 2 top incisors, the 4 1st molars, and most recently 1 of her top cuspids popped through).










She did a wonderful job in the 5-10 minutes it took to get her teeth polished by the hygienist and checked by the dentist. They recommend bringing kids in at a young age, not so much to get their teeth cleaned but to familiarize them with the procedures so that when they really do need their teeth cleaned the are comfortable with the process.










Here I am today at 24 weeks prego with Baby Boy (yup, we still have not settled on a name). As I record my recent measurements, I realized that although I feel huge, I am actually smaller then I was at this point in my pregnancy with Alexa. Thank goodness!! Hopefully, the baby weight will come off just as fast (if not, faster) once he is born as it did after I had Alexa.










I'm not sure how much Alexa understands about the baby, but she certainly loves to give her baby brother kisses & cuddles every day! Feeling B.B. move is now a daily thing. There are certain times of day when I definitely expect him to be active (e.g. when I am putting Alexa to bed & for the first hour she is asleep), times when he is at rest (e.g. while I am working out), and he reacts to stimulants (like caffeine or the pressure of me resting my book on my belly). He is so much more active then I remember Alexa being at this point!










A few weeks ago, Noni bought Alexa her first pair of jelly shoes. She thinks they are so cool and because of them, Alexa has actually learned how to put her own shoes on. Her favorite part of the jellies is the noise they make! (We have also been working on learning how to get dressed and undressed on our own. Alexa can put on her tops & bottoms with assistance, and she is very good at taking off her clothes - as well as putting them in the hamper - on her own!)


Alexa showing off her Potty sticker chart.


I guess we still have some work to do on her counting ;-)
I need to get another video to share with y'all... over the past two weeks I have been singing the Alphabet Song to Alexa daily and she remembers about 16 of 26 letters! It is pretty phenomenal.


The past two days I started teaching Alexa something else... she now knows if she hears "O-H" to shout "I-O!" Last week I bought her an Adidas OSU cheerleader outfit at the kids' consignment store and she says, "Go Bucks!" whenever she sees it. So between her new outfit, learning "I-O," and saying "Go Bucks!" Alexa is all set for football season and it's only June! The past few days I have been helping Kevin Buchman (a former Perry teacher and cheerleading coach) with his resume & cover letter; I told him the payment was to set us up to meet Brutus & the cheerleaders (his wife, Lenee, is Ohio State's head cheerleading coach!). I will be sure to take LOADS of photos of our little girl to share with y'all when we meet the Buckeyes!!

Alexa is starting to piece together strings of words. During dinner tonight, Daddy looked at me and said, "She is almost talking in sentences." Hard to believe! As I always tell you, it is great being able to communicate with her. We love knowing what she is thinking/feeling, and we love that she understands us too. Lately Alexa has even been trying to sing songs... she will be playing and you'll hear her in a sing-song voice say, "Oh Mr. Sun" over and over again (it's from a Barney song) or at bedtime she'll say, "Twin Twin Lil Star" requesting that I sing that next. She is just so neat, and I wish all of you had the privilege of being with her every single day like we do!!!

Anyway, tomorrow morning we will go to the gym (I have Zumba) before we go to see Dr. Davy for my monthly check-up. Should be routine, just getting a measurement and hearing B.B.'s heartbeat. We had plans to go to the Splash Park in Powell with Bobbi & Kyla tomorrow afternoon, but I think the weather is going to change that... maybe we'll just play indoors at one of our houses. This weekend is a Perry weekend. I'm hoping the weather predictions change so that we can enjoy some outdoor festivities while we are up there, like the St. Gabriel's Festival and a hot air balloon-launch at a winery. That's all I've got for now... Ciao.