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!

Click on photos to enlarge!

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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Mom's group birthday party!

It's hard to believe that our babies are almost a year old! I met a wonderful bunch of women through a mom's group I joined when Alexa was 2 months old. We've kept in touch through weekly e-mails, Facebook and tons of awesome play dates. Today, we got together for a family play date to celebrate our babies' birthdays!

Here are our same babies at previous get play dates... They've grown so fast!

The oldest, Brandon, turned 1 on July 5. Most of the babies are close to Alexa's age with birthdays throughout September. Her birthday buddy, Avery, was also born on 9-9-09! Speaking of, here is Alexa with Avery!

And here are Alexa and Avery throughout the past year... We are excited for Avery's 1st birthday party coming up in two weeks!

Here are some more pictures from the party... We had such a good time! I made lemonade pie, and it was a hit! Everyone wanted the recipe!

At the end of the party, Alexa took a spin on Brandon's new SmartTrike... What a cool bike! She loved it! It has shoulder straps and safety bars to keep younger babies onboard, plus foot rests for little feet and an adult push bar. Basically, it's a stroller-bike!

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Our good little eater!

Alexa has really taken to food. At first, she didn't eat much and a lot of it came back out! It seems like over the past month, she's really started to get it. And to have favorites!

She has now finished the veggie started pack (carrots, sweet potatoes & peas) and fruit starter pack (pears, apple & banana). We just started her on Apple-Butternut Squash, and she loves it! Here she is after downing an entire 4 oz jar of it! Then she had some oatmeal... and peas...

Later on, Daddy fed her dinner and she ate a 4 oz jar of Sweet Potatoes, followed by ANOTHER 4 oz jar of Pears! Wow! In addition, we are experimenting with some finger foods. She tried some banana fruit puffs, which she's still not sure about. And, she had her first teething biscuit! See below. She LOVED it! (Note expression below right when I tried to take it away! Ha!)

Photos above taken at a mom's group brunch! Here are all of us moms with our babies and husbands at the brunch. It was great to see everyone!

Gear Note: Waterproof bibs that can be wiped clean, and that have a pocket at the bottom to catch things are the best for feeding. I really like the DexBaby bib that Alexa is wearing in the top photo. I also like these JJ Cole bibs and these Bumpkins bibs.

Alexa sees her first Cherry Blossoms!

What a great day! Alexa and I met up with the women from my mom's group for lunch. Then we all walked down the Capitol Crescent Trail to see the Cherry Blossoms at Kenwood. It was amazing, all the trees abloom. So beautiful!

The babies took a nap during the walk. Then, we all sat on blankets on the grass while the babies played. Alexa wore her sun hat and played with her plastic car keys. What a nice time!

Finally, a shot of Alexa and Mommy with the Cherry Blossom trees! What a great day!

Alexa had a great time. What a happy baby!

Babies! Holy cute babies!

Alexa and I started the day with a good Stroller Strides workout. Then we headed over to my friend Blythe's house for a mom's group get-together. Before we all left, we piled the babies onto the couch!

First, the girls! Anjali, Alexa and Ella. Check out how Alexa and Anjali are holding hands. They did that on their own. So cute!

All the babies in a row!

(L to R: Brandon, Avery, Anjali, Alexa, Ella and Drew)

Brandon & Drew hanging out with Ella & Alexa, then Drew pushes Alexa and Brandon aside and goes after Ella! So funny!

Then Ella went after Drew's hat! Brandon attempted to come to the rescue... But Alexa wasn't having any of it. Enough baby play! (Even when she cries, Alexa is so darn cute!)

Yay for a mom's group play date!

On Friday, Alexa and I met up with seven other moms and their babies from our PACE mom's group. Everyone brought snacks and we sat around at Coleen's talking about going back to work, pumping, rolling over, baby toys and anything else that came up. It was a nice and relaxing afternoon.

Here is Alexa all dolled up in her new Tea Collection tunic right before we headed over.

And here she is hanging out at our mom's meeting.

Back at home later that evening, Alexa wound down from the day by watching Countdown.

And sitting in her own green Bumbo chair!

Babies! Lots of Babies! VIDEO LINKS BELOW!

Today was my LAST mom's group meeting! So sad. The group, called PACE, meets for eight weeks with the idea that we'll continue to meet after the formal session ends. We already have a play date set for this Friday and another in January! So, hopefully, we'll stay in touch.

Here are 9 of the 11 moms and babies who were in my group:

And here are the babies! Click HERE to watch a video!

More adorable pictures of the babies... Pictured below (left to right) is Ella, Alexa, her birthday twin Avery who was also born on 9-9-09, and the youngest in the group, Anjali.

Also today, my sister gave Alexa a bottle!

Then Alexa had dance time on her activity mat! Click HERE and HERE for videos of her dancing! She apparently likes Beyonce and is getting closer to turning over!

And then, we went for a walk...

And picked out a Christmas tree...

And lit more Hanukkah candles! Alexa got a beautiful silver snow globe from Grandma E!

Later, at home, Alexa relaxed on her chair.