Albert Einstein, I mean Alexa Rose, loves applesauce (I mean seriously, look at her hair!). She is now up to eating an entire container of the 1st Foods. She seriously loves playing with that little keyboard thing!
My friend, Stacey, came over to visit on Tuesday afternoon. We talked and talked for 4 1/2 hours! Alexa tried prunes this week too, and like everyone warned me she pooped her brains out!
We went for the "weight check" appointment with Dr. Jacob on Wednesday. Alexa is a whopping 15 pounds (and moved from the 10th to 15th percentile)!!! She gained 1 lb 9 oz in 4 weeks. To put that into perspective for all of you, the average baby girl Alexa's age who is breastfed, should gain between 1 lb and 1 lb 4 oz in 4 weeks - so she beat the "max" by 5 oz! Dr. Jacob was THRILLED with Alexa's progress this month, so now we don't have to go back until she is 9 months :-) We've been given the "ok" to move onto 2nd foods as long as it is just fruits and veggies. The doctor was really happy with Alexa's babbling (she was telling her lots of loud stories, lol) and her sitting (pictured above). Unlike last month's appointment that I left crying, I left yesterday like a grinning fool :-)
Having a picnic lunch with Daddy today :-) The weather was beautiful, and Alexa sitting on her own was quite handy so that Dan and I could both eat! I still watch her sit and am amazed - it seems like yesterday that she was unable to even support her neck. I cannot believe how big our baby girl is! We just love her to pieces :-) Above she is "eating" Gerber Puffs (which the doc told me to start giving her for snack since she has cut herself down to four feedings a day the past few days). She's not too sure how to get them from her hand to her mouth, but we're working on it.
She LOVES flying through the air, obviously! Her Papa said to me last Sunday, "You're gonna have to give her rides because she likes it when Noni does it." LOL
So she isn't rolling regularly, but she's been doing this "attempt to shimmy" thing the past few days. When Dr. Jacob saw it yesterday, she said that Alexa may just skip rolling and go straight to crawling. We'll see. But it is pretty funny to watch her try to move and then get frustrated, haha.
Well, that's all I got for now... I'm logging off to watch So You Think You Can Dance (dance dance...)!!! YAY! So excited for our LONG holiday weekend in Perry :-) Ciao.
OMG - in my distraction with 24 as I was blogging last night, I forgot to mention one very important thing.... on Saturday while sitting on the family room floor, Alexa fell onto her back. Then, me, Dan, and Mom watched her roll from her back to her front!!! YAY!!! She hasn't done it since, but I've also been noticing her really pushing up on her hands, locking her elbows, and trying to move her legs. I'm hoping for some gross motor milestones here in the next month (i.e. lots of rolling and maybe even some crawling). Ciao.
Dan & Dad getting some yard waste picked up. Thank goodness my parents brought the truck down so that we were able to dispose of branches, leaf bags, etc. While hanging outside, Alexa gave me lots of kisses :-)
We brought her swing out, and she loved it. Our sitting beauty... Isn't she adorable? **Love her**
Playing with her little keyboard (which I have to add, I got for $3 at a garage sale! I'm such a bargain shopper) Papa feeding Alexa some bananas, but he didn't do so well so Noni took over.
Unloading stone to go around the shed now that it is free of branches and is a mud pit. Noni & Alexa watching Daddy & Papa move the TON, literally, of stone from the Tundra to around our shed.
We got the jumper out, and although she didn't quite figure out how to "jump," she loved moving around. She kind of looked like a drunken sailor staggering about, haha. After an exhausting first half of Saturday, Alexa zonked out on our way to campus to go shopping. She head a death grip on her beads.
She looked so cute in the chair at College Traditions, so much in fact, that an older gentleman asked to take her photo too :-) Noni & Papa bought her a Brutus book and an adorable OSU bathing suit to wear to Lake Erie this summer while we all jet ski! Alexa loves two things, bubbles & nakey time, lol.
The reason my parents came down was so that Dan and I could go to the 7:30 pm Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus without a cranky, overtired Alexa Rose.
The show was A-MA-ZING!!!
The tigers with their master, and a close-up of one of the elephants. They were so cute!
Alexa spending some time with Noni on Sunday morning.
Okay, so my mom has OCD and decided to clean underneath our refrigerator on Saturday night. Along with countless soda bottle tops and two ant traps, she found this diamond ring. Near as we can tell it is real... when compared to my wedding band, the four stones are larger, so we are thinking they are 0.25 carat each! Un-freaking-believable! Goes to show that we should all clean under our fridges once in awhile ;-)
The most spectacular part of the circus was the motorcycles in the steel ball... This video is SEVEN motorcycles going around in the ball! No pun intended, but Ringling Bros. is truly the Greatest Show On Earth!!!
My mom called me on Thursday night to tell me that her and my dad were going to come down for the weekend to babysit Alexa on Saturday night. She knew I was worried about taking Alexa to the circus considering it didn't even start until after her normal bedtime. When my friend, Tiffanie, had invited us to the circus back in January, Alexa wasn't going to bed until almost 10:00 pm, so I figured we could certainly go to the 7:30 show. I forgot to factor in that her schedule would change... needless to say, Alexa can become quite fussy if she is kept up later than usual. We wanted to enjoy the circus, so we happily accepted my parents' offer to come down! They arrived on Friday night and witnessed that "past bedtime fussiness" because I had kept Alexa up until 7:25 pm just to say hello. The morning was much better ~ Alexa was thrilled to see Noni & Papa and hung out with them before even wanting to eat! Dan & Dad got an early start loading all of our yard waste into the back of the truck to be taken a drop-off site (since Columbus canceled free yard waste pick-up). While we had the truck down here, Dan also bought a bulk amount of stone to cover the mud pit surrounding our shed. On Saturday afternoon, we went down to campus to do some shopping for OSU paraphernalia. Then, of course, on Saturday night Dan and I went to the circus with Tiffanie and Ben, and some of Tiffanie's other friends. Afterward we were able to have some drinks with friends, it was nice to have an evening out ~ thanks, Mom & Dad! Can't wait to spend a LONG weekend in Perry for the holiday!!!! After church on Sunday morning, we had breakfast and enjoyed a few more hours together before my parents headed home. Dan, Alexa, and I went out to Canal Winchester for Dan's cousin's 1st Communion Party in the afternoon. It was really great to see the extended Ritchey family, although Alexa was a little "Mommy clingy" (one of the downfalls of being a stay-at-home mom) and didn't allow anyone, including Dan, to hold her. I think she was just nervous with so many unfamiliar faces around that she needed to be with me for confidence, at least that's my best guess. I'm hoping that as time goes by, this clinginess will fade. Well, we're finishing watching the season finale of 24 so I'm gonna boogie. Gotta enjoy the last few minutes of seeing Jack & Tony's faces on TV together :-) Ciao.
Alexa loves pears and my cell phone :-)
BIG NEWS: She is officially sitting unassisted!!! She sits in our bed (as pictured), on the floor (below), or even on the couch. I cannot believe how big and independent she is getting!!!! Before work, she enjoys spending some time with Daddy. Whether it be hanging out in her bedroom playing, cuddling in our bed, or entertaining him in the kitchen.
Becky visiting on Thursday afternoon. Playing with one of her photo blocks (coolest way to keep the faces of loved ones always around).
Peaches. At lunch with "Aunt" Kelly.
Kel & Maggie with Alexa... on our walk around campus (at Mirror Lake obviously).
Alexa really loves bath time. Her nightly routine starts with bath at about 6:20 - 6:30 pm. Dan and I alternate nights. After bath, she has quiet play time in her room with one of us, which involves playing, reading, and listening to lullabies. I nurse her around 6:50 pm, and then one of us reads her a final story (Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones by Claire Freedman), dances with her, and finally lays her in her crib. It is nice because absolutely no later than 7:30 pm is "Nikki-Dan Time." We get to enjoy QT talking, watching TV, and drinking cheap wine, lol. Alexa sleeps until 6:30 am (give or take 30 min.). We are really lucky she is such a good sleeper! Our only problem has been her 1-3 times a night wake-ups for her pacifier. The past few nights we have not been going in to give it to her. I want her to learn to put herself back to sleep, which is what she has done.
Oopsie, in my excitement of Alexa sitting completely unassisted [for minutes on end] and wanting to get it on video, I accidentally switched from "standard" to "compact" video on our camera :-( Oh well, at least I got it on video, right?!
Alexa telling us "a story." Which she does CONSTANTLY, that is until I try to get her to do it for video or on the phone.
Life continues to be good to us. Alexa and I had a busy week (last week) of lunches with different friends, shopping, and sitting! It has been so exciting to just plop her in the middle of the floor and let her play. She falls occasionally, will shed a tear or two, but is fine. I think she is enjoying the independence of sitting and is becoming more brave reaching out for things around her :-) Also, last Thursday we "weighed" Alexa to see how much weight she has gained in 3 weeks... The doctor was hoping that by our 4-week appointment (this Wed.) she'd have gained 1 pound... Well, we already got it!!! YAY :-) As of last Thursday, Alexa had already gained 1 lb 3 oz! You'll see in pictures from our weekend what a chunkier she's becoming if you look at her leg rolls, lol. Eating purees two times a day is continuing, we've introduced pears and peaches since my last post. She still has enjoyed it, so much so that she is now finishing an entire container (2.5 oz) per "meal." Well, that's all for now. Will post about our weekend later on today. Ciao.
Every time I fed her bananas two things went through my mind... 1. I ♥ baby bananas (and I'd tell Alexa she might have to share, lol) and 2. I sang, "This s**t is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!" (a song by Gwen Stefani). LMAO.
This morning, I decided to try out the only baby headband we have on Alexa (even though I swore I would never subject a baby girl to one) and OMG I loved it!!! We went to Babies R Us and bought a pack of five this afternoon :) She'll be in 'em a lot from here on out ~ our little girl will be quite girly & cute in her earrings, headbands, and dresses!
She loves looking at this book all by herself :) She is becoming so "independent" and even a little ornery, lol.
We took a long walk all the way to the park/playground/school this afternoon. One way is 0.8 miles (so there and back is just over 1.5 miles). It's the farthest I've walked in a LONG time! It wasn't bad at all, and I totally plan on walking there 2-3 times a week this summer :) On the way back, we stopped and talked to a neighbor for about 30 minutes ~ she said to give her a call for coffee and a play date soon!
I've talked about how Alexa has loved to "stand" with someone holding her waist or hands, so today I decided to see if she could hold herself up... and she can! I cannot believe how fast she is growing!!!!
Well, between my title and lengthy "captions" I've summed up what's happened in our world yesterday & today - bananas, headbands, and a walk to the park :) We've still got a busy rest of the week ahead of us. I'll continue to keep y'all updated!!! Finally, I want to ask y'all to say a prayer for Abi (one of the little girls that I used to babysit & will be babysitting again part-time this summer)... last week they found a lump on her neck, and she is going for a biopsy tomorrow. She is only 6 years old. Please pray that it is not cancerous and that God will comfort the entire Figurski family in this stressful/scary time. Thank you! Ciao.
