Eli's Birthday Party!

What a fun day! We headed out for a new kids gym for Eli's 3rd Birthday Party. Here is Alexa all dressed up and ready to go. She wanted to wear her RED dress. It was a little chilly, so I grabbed this fabulous little navy sweater that Grandma E just sent her. Perfecto! Look how cute!

The party was pretty fun. Alexa's favorite toy was the pretend treadmill. Just wait until she's older and has to work out FOR REAL. She also loved the cake but was confused because she thinks every birthday party needs to have CUPCAKES. Thankfully, they did have pizza, which is the other thing she thinks every birthday party must have. Yum!

Music class and a birthday party!

We had a full and fun day today! It started with music class. Alexa loves all the props. The first song always involves the little back eggs that you can shake. Another song means it's time to break out the drums! The scarves come out for the gypsy song! Alexa always wants the red scarf. She also always wants to help put the props away!

After music class, we loaded up in the car and drove to Virginia for Will's 1st Birthday! The party was held at the same toddler gym where his sister Rigby had her 1st Birthday. Friend Nate had a party here too. Alexa loves this place. Henry is starting to like it too! 

Happy ... to you!

That's how Alexa sings the Happy Birthday song. It's so funny! She recently discovered a singing card in my night stand. It was recorded by my parents for my birthday. And it's now Alexa's favorite toy! She opens and closes it over and over, singing along "Happy ... to you!" Check it out... And Happy Birthday, Grandma! Alexa would say it, but she's too busy dancing to the Happy Birthday song!



Meanwhile, this morning Alexa had fun playing with Anne during a quick play date. She was running all around, crawling through Anne's tunnel and playing with Anne's kitchen. Anne is just learning to walk, so she took a few unsteady steps while Alexa raced around. I'm sure that they'll be chasing each other in no time!

Brandon's 2nd Birthday Party!

Hands down, one of the best kids parties we've been to! And not because it was all about us. Quite the contrary, it was all about the kids, and Alexa had a BLAST! The party was held at My Gym and the kids had an hour to run from activity to activity... They jumped on the trampoline! Swung on the bars! Played in the ball pit! Rode cars through a "car wash" with bubbles! Took turns on the slide! It was toddler heaven.

And then just when you'd think it couldn't get any better... It was time for pizza, juice and -- cupcakes! Alexa wore a birthday hat and chowed down. Yum!

And then, to work off the cupcake, she dove back into the ball pit! Here she is with her friends Avery and Ella, who she has known since she was 2 months old. Finley's in here somewhere too. They were throwing balls and playing together. It was adorable! Little girlfriends...

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Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is Daddy's birthday! To celebrate, we had a babysitter last night so we could go out to a nice dinner. Then, on this bright but cold Sunday, we headed downtown to meet friends Steve and Connie for brunch in our old 'hood. Yup, Logan Tavern, baby! Alexa enjoyed coloring on the table, pouring her water on the table, talking on her phone, reading books... Everything but eating! But she stayed busy and we had a good time.

Headed to Tarik's 1st birthday party!

Alexa got all dolled up today for the 1st birthday party of my friend Shazia's son Tarik. Here she is looking cute as we got ready to pile into the car. It was a beautiful day, a little windy out! My cutie pie!

The party was Alexa's first time actually meeting baby Tarik. She wasn't too interested in him. But she LOVED his toys, especially a cardboard house with doors and windows! How cool is this?! I think it's THIS house on Amazon that sells for $49. Hmmm. Would you pay $49 for basically a cardboard box? The benefit to this cardboard box is that you can color it and it has doors and windows... Hmmmm.

The party itself was pretty over the top. They had valet parking, a photographer, catered buffet, puppet show, an artist drawing caricatures and gifts for all the kids! Wow! Alexa had fun and so did we. We hope to go back and play with more of Tarik's toys!

Parties! More parties!

We had a busy day of parties today. First, holiday brunch at Aunt Elizabeth's house! We brought cookies. And enjoyed all the yummy food! Alexa enjoyed eating a muffin, one of her favorite foods. She also had fun seeing the other children there, including her daycare buddy Zico!

Next stop was Jen's house for Nate's 1st Birthday Party! Nate was born a preemie, so when Alexa first went to visit him, he was tiny! He's grown up a lot since then. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of Alexa with the birthday boy. He's in one of the shots below. Alexa had fun playing with her friend Kaitlyn. She also loved the slide and a nylon crawler tube. And she loved Nate's ride-along train that has BALLS you can put under the seat and they shoot out! The only thing she did not like was meeting Elmo. Oh well!

Kaitlyn's 1st Birthday Party!

With the election coming up, I had to stay in town in case something came up. Luckily, that meant we were able to hit Kaitlyn's 1st Birthday party! Alexa had fun playing in Kaitlyn's Pumpkin Patch. She even picked out her own pumpkin to bring home!

Here are Alexa and Kaitlyn sitting on the haystack... We couldn't get both girls to look at the camera at the same time! They were cracking up though, and trying to EAT the hay! Doh!

After cake and a short video about Kaitlyn's first year, the girls had fun playing on Kaitlyn's new activity center! Alexa loved the ball pit and she loved sliding down the slide too! Additionally, she played with Kaitlyn's mega blocks and ride-on lion. Upstairs, she pushed Kaitlyn's alligator walker all around the house. Isn't it fun to play with new toys? Alexa thinks so!

Kaitlyn is my good friend Kristin's little girl. She is only 7 weeks younger than Alexa! You might recall when she was born, and when they first met. Click HERE to see the girls over the past year!

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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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 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!

More pacifier fun... And Happy Birthday Jason!

After my last post regarding Alexa's sleep habits, I heard a funny story from Grandma E about Alexa's cousin Jason and his pacifier obsession as a baby. Apparently, cousin Jason loved ONLY his BLUE pacifiers! And, he used to sleep with them one in each hand and a third in his mouth. Look familiar? Now we know where Alexa's pacifier habit comes from!

And speaking of Alexa's cousin Jason... Guess who's birthday it is today? Alexa has a special message for her cousin Jason! Also, it looks like she wants cousin Jason to play ball with her!

Birthday Party #4 (Julia & Sara turn 3!)

This is actually Alexa's second time going to Julia and Sara's birthday party. It's just that last year, I was days away from my due date of Sept. 2 and Alexa was still in my tummy! This time, my bubbly baby got to enjoy the party on the outside, which meant crunching on yummy pita chips, checking out this cool ride-on toy, playing dress-up and checking out a slinky! As favors, kids were each given a bucket to decorate with puffy stickers. Mommy helped Alexa put her name on her purple bucket. What a great party!

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Birthday Party #3 (Catherine turns 1!)

Alexa was excited to go to Catherine's birthday party today! As you might recall, Catherine is Alexa's first friend! Alexa met Catherine at her first doctor's visit when she was only five days old! Also, her first play date was with Catherine when she was about two weeks old. Catherine is 11 days older than Alexa and a strong walker! She gave Alexa a few tips... They were adorable to watch!

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After some yummy cupcakes, the girls took a dip in Catherine's baby pool! They LOVED splashing and getting wet. They were giggling and squealing in delight. Don't take my word for it, here's a video!



Some more adorable pictures of our bathing beauties. Also at the party, Alexa got to meet baby Ellie, who is 3 months old and the daughter of two other co-workers, Kim and Ken. She was adorable in her bee outfit. A little too small to go in the kiddie pool, but she watched the big girls!

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Birthday Party #2 (Avery turns 1!)

After the first Avery birthday party, Alexa was ready for another Avery party! This Avery was also born on 9/9/09, about an hour and a half after Alexa. I know Avery's mom, Blythe, from my mom's group. Our babies have known each other since they were about two months old! Also at the party was baby Ella, who was born in September a couple weeks after the A's. We all had a great time!

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Check out Avery eating her cake... She wasn't sure what to make of the frosting at first. But once she tried it, she dug in! We can't wait for Alexa to try her first cake!

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Birthday Party #1 (Avery turns 2!)

This weekend, Alexa was quite the party girl. She was invited to FOUR birthday parties! What a popular baby. Alexa took a nap, then got dolled up in her pink party dress for her first event: Avery's 2nd Birthday Party! Alexa knows Avery from day care. Her party included cookie decorating! Alexa was more interested in watching the bigger kids than decorating, so Mommy helped out. Daddy helped eat the cookies. Below, Avery is on the far left. All the dads work together.

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Happy Birthday, Aunt Jen!

Alexa wants to say a BIG Happy Birthday, Aunt Jen! Hope you had a good one in Spain and won that poker game! Alexa can't wait to see you in Bethesda on HER birthday! XOXOXO

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Howard!

Today marked a big milestone for Alexa's grandpa. Today, he's officially more than 70 times as old as Alexa is! We celebrated by taking him out to breakfast. Alexa was in a good mood. She loved smiling and playing with Grandpa, packages of jelly and Daddy's hat!

After a delicious breakfast (I had chocolate chip pancakes! Oh, yes, I did!), Grandpa took some amazing family photos of us on the beach... I love the one of us looking at the ocean with Alexa facing the camera. What a beautiful day!

Finally, here is Grandpa with his son and granddaughter... Three generations!

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Alexa has a special message for Grandma!

Behind the Scenes: We snapped this picture when we got home tonight. Alexa is usually very tired and fussy, but Daddy made funny faces and she cracked up! It was hard to get her to stay still, he wanted to climb the sofa and crawl everywhere! Unfortunately, when I tried to take the remote control away, she broke down and let loose the hugest tears ever! Oh no! Enough pictures... Time for dinner!

Happy Birthday, Daddy! (video)

For Daddy's birthday, we drove up to New Jersey! Actually, we drove up for Passover with Daddy's family. But Saturday happened to be Daddy's birthday. So after some playtime on a few new toys at Grandma's house, Alexa went to bed and Daddy and Mommy went out to dinner in New York City! Yeah!

Here is Alexa with her old man... And having fun sitting and pulling up on her the new chair toy from cousin Amanda. What fun!

Click HERE for a video of her playing!