Another blustery day, so more shopping!

We woke up to another blustery day, so Alexa spent the morning playing in our beach house. She especially loved the large coffee table with a bunch of drawers. We put different toys in each drawer and she had a good time opening and closing them all!

Finally, when the rain stopped for a few minutes, we headed outside to the deck. Was the rain really gone? As we got ready for a quick walk to the beach, Alexa and Grandma Lil enjoyed some play time!

Alexa was so excited to go outside, she was practically running to the beach. Here she is showing off our beach house in the background. We made the now-familiar walk to the beach... 

Unfortunately, even though the rain stopped for a while, it was WINDY! Holy WIND!

One good thing about rain is that with no beach to hang out at, the only thing to do was go SHOPPING! We found this nice outdoor waterside shopping center that was filled with lots of cute stores! I got several things... Some tights for Alexa at the Lilly Pulitzer store, some cute frames and a doggy puppet book for Alexa. She immediately loved the book! Yay!

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Beach! Sand! Surf! Shopping!

Yes, it was a busy day! To start off, I got in a good 5-mile run. It was nice to check out the town. I found tons of shopping areas that we could check out later! Here is Alexa after her nap sitting on the deck with Daddy. The rain let up and since it was warm out, we got ready to... Head to the beach!

Like yesterday, Alexa insisted on walking to the beach on her own. She also insisted on carrying her own bucket of toys too! Stubborn little girl she is. Even though she dropped her bucket, she put the toys back in, picked it up and kept on trudging toward the shore...

Finally... Beach! We only had about 30 minutes and the sky was overcast, but Alexa had tons of fun playing with her bucket, water, toys and sand. Yay!

Back at the house, we went for a quick dip in the cold pool... Alexa didn't mind, she loved it!

Finally, after another nap, we grabbed the stroller and took off to explore some of the shops that I had run past earlier. I found this cute yellow duck that says (duh!) Duck, NC!

Back at home again, Alexa helped Grandma cook dinner... Yum! Another home-cooked meal!

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Off to the Aquarium we went!

Sigh. Another rainy day! Luckily, there was a break in the morning so we enjoyed a nice walk to the beach. We tried to carry Alexa, but now that she's a big girl, all she wants to do is walk on her own!

At the beach, Alexa got her first taste of sand. Check out her expression... Yuck! But she didn't stop shoveling it into her mouth. It, uh, is supposed to be good for digestion? 

After the beach, we piled into the car and took off for the Aquarium on Roanoke Island! My friend Coleen had taken her baby Drew to the Baltimore Aquarium and said her son loved looking at the fish, so I was eager to take Alexa. She. Loved. It. So much so that we couldn't tear her away from the FIRST tank! She was memorized by the fish and kept pointing and grunting. So funny!

While on Roanoke Island, we stopped in their historic downtown for lunch and we got to walk around on the dock. I kept Alexa very close! She loved it. Afterward, I got stung by a bee. Ouch! But thankfully, the bee stung me and not Alexa. Whew!

After our day of fun, Alexa snuggled up with her doggy and fell asleep in the car. How sweet!

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Rainy Day No. 1

This morning was wet, but when the rain broke, we made a dash for the beach. Alexa loved the sand and surf. She also loved walking along the path to the beach!

When the rain returned, Alexa kept busy by playing cards and rearranging the things in the fridge.

Since the afternoon brought more rain, we loaded into the car and drove to Corolla. We found some shops that were covered and Alexa enjoyed walking up and down the hallway. When she fell asleep we drove to see the Currituck Beach Lighthouse!

Duck! Duck! Duck!

We woke up early today and hit the road. Luckily, we timed our journey so that we'd be leaving after Alexa had eaten breakfast and was ready for her first nap. She slept for 2+ hours in the car! We drove most of the way to North Carolina by then. We then stopped for lunch and she made a mess!

We arrived in Duck, North Carolina, around 4 p.m. Perfect timing! It was cloudy but warm, so we took a quick walk to the beach. Nice!

Alexa and Cristiano! The cutest kids EVER!

We had a wonderful visit this morning from my friends Chimmy and Marie and Marie's over the top adorable little boy, Cristiano. He was not feeling well, but his piercing blue eyes melted everyone he looked at. He was just too cute for words! Alexa was pretty cute herself. They ate some fruit and played a little, each fussing over wanting the other child's toy, until they traded and wanted the original toy back!

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Eating can be ... messy! (video)

Especially when you don't use a spoon! The good news: Alexa has taken to feeding herself with gusto! The bad news: She's more interested in whole hand insertion than scooping with a spoon. The result? Messy baby, messy high chair, messy floor, messy everything! But it sure looks like fun, huh?

Want to see for yourself? Put a bib on and get ready for a MESS!

Four Generations

We finally took this picture on Saturday. I can't wait to frame it. What a beautiful picture! Four generations: GG, Daddy & Grandma E!

Sept. 9 Birthday Buddies!

This is amazing... Alexa's great grandmother has not one but TWO great grandchildren who are born on her birthday of Sept. 9: Jake and Alexa! She also has a third great grandchild, Jason, who was born Sept. 7. Needless to say, this time of year, she has a lot to celebrate! So do we. Gram just turned 97 years old! Here she is with her two birthday babies... Jake and Alexa!

And here is Alexa celebrating... She sure is a ham for the camera! She was blowing kisses and absolutely loved being the center of attention! Yes, this would be Alexa's 3rd 1st birthday celebration! LOL. Lucky girl!

And surprise, surprise... She also loved eating cake... Yum! Yum!

And, of course, she loved playing with her cousins Amanda and Kayla! What a fun party. It was great to see everyone!

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Yom Kippur at Grandma E's

Alexa had a great time seeing her cousins and family at Grandma E's this weekend! We arrived just in time for the Yom Kippur break fast meal. Here is Alexa having a bottle with cousin Samantha. So cute!

The weather has cooled down a little, so Alexa got to dress up in this adorable outfit from Great Aunt Phyllis! Look how cute she is! She had a good time pushing chairs all around the deck.

Alexa also had fun playing with cousin Jason! And she liked sitting in the little kid chairs. So fun!

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Alexa's Photo Shoot, Part II

Are you ready to be blown away by cuteness? Get ready, because Alexa really is that cute... Adorable! Her family isn't bad either. We had so much fun taking these pictures. It was a little chilly out, but it warmed up quickly, especially in the sun. We started out taking some photos of our new walker practicing her stride...

We twirled her, kissed her, swung her... She was in such a good mood and had a ball with everything. What a little diva! Love her serious face too!

As I mentioned earlier, so many people were out walking their dogs that Alexa had a ball pointing and calling for them. She was so full of smiles. Her excitement was cracking us up. What fun!

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Alexa's Photo Shoot, Part I

We go the CD from our recent photo shoot in the mail! And we LOOOOOVE the photos! Yay! Thanks again to Erin Nephew for taking these gorgeous photographs. Here is darling Alexa as we got ready to head to the park. She is just precious. I love her outfit and I love her expressions!

In case you are wondering about Alexa's darling outfit, the skirt and hair clip are from Pettiskirt Style. The adorable cupcake tee shirt is from Etsy. Under the skirt, she's wearing a ruffle diaper cover, also from Etsy.

Alexa's cake smash! Whoo hoo!

One of the fun things we did during Alexa's 12-month photo shoot is a CAKE SMASH! Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. Baby + cake = Smash! Or, err, something like that was supposed to happen. Honestly, after Alexa's fun with cupcakes last week, I thought for sure that she'd be into it. Alas, we learned a lesson of how unpredictable babies can be! After a few swipes at the cake, Alexa decided that it was too messy!

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We hope she still had fun. We sure did. Thanks to our fabulous photographer Erin Nephew for this wonderful photo montage of the smash! LOVE IT! Also, here's a special behind-the-scenes shot of Erin in action. If anyone in the DC area is looking for a fantastic baby photographer, please call her!

Alexa loves her new kitchen!

We got a big box in the mail from Aunt Missy, Uncle Rich, Samantha and Jason for Alexa's birthday! After 2+ hours of assembly, we unveiled Alexa's new kitchen! I have to admit, I thought she might be a bit young for a kitchen, but she immediately started playing in it. She loves to turn the dials and open and close the fridge door. She also likes to put her cups and other things in the oven and take them out. So cute! She'll be playing with this kitchen for a long time!

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Birthday girl celebrates at daycare with CAKE!

We had SO MUCH cake left over that we brought it to daycare on Monday so Alexa could share it with her teachers and friends. It was a little chilly out, so Alexa also got to wear her new birthday onesie! Thanks to Kim, Ken and baby Ellie for such a cute gift!

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Have you seen a happier baby? Have you?

Daddy and I had to run a couple of errands, so my sisters offered to babysit Alexa. I guess we didn't need to worry about whether or not she would be OK... Looks like she was doing just fine without us! In fact, it looks to me like she was having a BLAST without us. Hey! I should add that Aunt Kelly also made a bottle for Alexa and put her down for a nice 1:45 nap. Yeah!

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Alexa's 1st Birthday Party!!

After the morning photo shoot, Alexa went down for a nap and we broke out the balloons and started decorating and setting up for her party! Luckily, she slept for two hours, because we needed that time to transform our house into party central! Thanks to everyone's help, it was a cinch. How on earth can we throw a party without our party crew help next time? Here is the house, ready for a party!

And what a party it was! It went by so quickly, but it was so amazing to see all of our friends. Some old friends that we've known for a long time. Some new friends who we met recently when we moved to Bethesda. Alexa certainly enjoyed herself! She was a diva and loved being the center of attention!

Finally... The cake! Yum! Alexa was all smiles but not very interested in digging in. You'll see why soon. Stay tuned for photos from this morning's cake smash! In the meantime, check out how cute she is... She was loving the attention! What a great party!

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Alexa's 12-month photo shoot!

We woke up early for Alexa's photo shoot, which started at 7 a.m.! I wanted to get pictures of Alexa with her aunts and in her birthday outfit... After shaking everyone awake, we took off for the park down the street. Everyone else in our neighborhood was out walking their dogs, so Alexa was full of smiles the whole time! Here are some shots my sisters took... Consider them sneak peeks until I get the professional ones from our amazing photographer, Erin Nephew.

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Not even 20 pounds yet! Our little peanut!

Alexa was all smiles this morning playing with her toys... She especially liked her new wooden frog!

After breakfast, we took Alexa to visit the doctor for her 12 Month check-up. Turns out she's still under 20 pounds! She weighed in at 19 pounds and 13 ounces, measuring 28.5 inches long. So she's still in the 25th percentile. Our little peanut! She also got some shots. Ouch!

When we got home from the doctor's office, Alexa took a long nap and then played with Aunt Jen in the yard! She had a good time throwing her ball. Yay for throwing!

And then... Surprise! Aunt Kelly and Uncle Ben showed up! Wow! They flew in for the weekend! We all enjoyed a nice dinner together, and I finally baked the challah I made! It came out great!

Alexa is 1 year old!!!

We started the day like any other Thursday... Mommy went for a run, so I took Alexa along in her jogging stroller! When we got home, Alexa got her first birthday surprise -- a visit from Aunt Jen!

After a nap, us girls met up with Alexa's birthday buddy Avery and her mom Blythe for brunch! The girls had fun eating big kid food off the menu. Alexa got waffles and fruit. She dug in and tried it all: raspberries, blackberries and a first for her... strawberries! Yum!

Another first today... The A's were given cups with straws that were filled with whole milk. Unsure how they would react, we held the straws for them and they drank out of the straws! Go big girls!

After brunch, it was time for dessert, so we headed to Georgetown Cupcake. As you might recall, we took the A's for cupcakes on their 7-month birthday. But we were the only ones eating cupcakes on that visit! This time, we let the girls have some... Alexa got a "hero" cupcake. During the month of September, if you purchase a "hero" cupcake, 100% of the proceeds go toward making miracles happen for children who are fighting cancer at Children's National Medical Center. What a yummy cause!

Tricia and her daughter Ella, who is about two weeks younger than the A's, met us for cupcakes. It's amazing to see how much these girls have grown! When we first met, they were only 2 months old!

After all our fun, we went home for Alexa's afternoon nap. When she woke up, it was time to get dolled up and open presents! Check out this neat Melissa & Doug wooden frog pull toy... Fun!

Here we are heading out to Alexa's birthday dinner... It's hard to believe that a whole year has gone by since Alexa joined us and made us a family. People always say that kids change you. It's true. They change you and your life in the most amazing way possible... They bring joy, laughter and giggles to every day! We're so excited to see what Alexa's 2nd year has in store!