Alexa's 1st Valentine's Day!

Another great day! We went out to Valentine's Day brunch. And Alexa got all dressed up and then ended up napping in her stroller the whole time! Anyway, at least you all get to see how CUTE she is in her Valentine's Day outfit!

After brunch, Alexa and Daddy watched Olympics!

Daddy's little girl!

Alexa loves kisses from her Daddy!

Look at me, Daddy! I can play on my activity mat!

More exersaucer fun!

Today was great! We went out RUG shopping! Then to Buy Buy Baby to get some more bottles for daycare. Alexa was a good girl and took a long nap! Here she is playing in her exersaucer after dinner while Daddy did the dishes.

Click HERE to watch a video of her jumping! She loves her exersaucer!

Alexa likes coffee! And books!

With the latest blizzard over and the streets clear, Daddy headed to work and Alexa and I ventured out to meet Mary Clare and baby Catherine for lunch! Alexa kept reaching for my coffee, so I let her "pretend drink" from the back. How funny! The cup is almost bigger than she is!

Side note: I should probably teach her early on that coffee is a big NO-NO, huh?

So anyway, Alexa enjoyed watching a few minutes of her first Olympics' opening ceremony before heading to bed.

And speaking of bed... Check it out! She FINALLY is taking an interest in books! Um, eating them is just as good as reading them, right?

Alexa is a "scooter," aka "creeper"

Not exactly a crawler yet, but she is scooting! Or, as a woman in my mom's group said, she's definitely "creeping"! She uses her arms a lot to drag herself along the ground, then gets up in her knees and rocks, propelling herself forward - or over onto her back! It's funny to watch. If she sees a toy that she wants, she finds a way to get there! Or, she gets frustrated and starts fussing. So cute!

Click HERE to watch a video of her moving! Wow!

And just look what she crawled to... the computer!

Alexa will be blogging in no time!

After all that fun on the mat, we went outside to survey how our neighborhood withstood the latest DC blizzard. Out back... Where's our grill? Remember, the grill?

And... Our table and chairs are under here somewhere!

Standing on top of all the snow...

Check out how high the snow is out front!

Here are Daddy and Alexa all bundled up. What a happy baby!

And what a happy Daddy!

Alexa's 5-Month Birthday Pictures!

Wow, what a change... I could barely keep her still to take these photos! She wanted to sit, then roll, then shimmy off the chair... Check it out! Alexa at 5 months young!

Happy 5-Month Birthday, Alexa!

To celebrate, and to get out of the house before the next snowstorm rolls in, we took Alexa downtown for lunch. And since she's a big girl now who can sit up, we decided to try out the restaurant's high chair. Check it out! She loved it!

After lunch, we got cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcake. I was all set to get red velvet again... But then I HAD to get Lava Fudge. Same amazing frosting on top. But creamy fudge in the middle of the chocolate cupcake. HOLY AMAZING! (Alexa is frowning in the picture because she wanted to her her own cupcake but mommy told her she had to wait and share mine...)

So anyway, after today's adventure with the high chair, we've decided to set up the high chair that Aunt Jen, Aunt Kelly & Uncle Ben got her. We don't plan to start solids until Alexa is 6 months old, as is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and World Health Organization, to name a few. But in the meantime, she can get used to sitting in her high chair!

Off to the doctor we went...

With Alexa's runny nose and congestion not getting any better, we decided it was time to pay her doctor a visit. The doctor used his stethoscope to listen to her lungs. He said they sound clear and good. Whew! That means she just has a cold, nothing more serious. But it sure made us feel better to find that out!

The doctor also checked her ears and said they were fine, no problem there either. He said that her cold could take a week or more to go away. He also said to expect that she'll get 7-10 colds EACH YEAR! Oh joy. So this is the first of many more colds to come...

While we were there, we weighed Alexa. She had her diaper and onesie on. Guess how much our little angel now weighs? She's 14 pounds and 6 ounces! Right on track to double her birth weight by 6 months...

By the way, this is what our house looks like after the most recent snowfall. Insanity!

Alexa's first Super Bowl!

Alexa might end up a Saints fan... Since they dominated her first Super Bowl game! That's how Daddy ended up a Steelers fan. And in honor of last year's Super Bowl champs and Daddy's team, Alexa donned the only football attire she owns. Thanks Aunt Connie!

Alexa enjoyed watching the first half of the game... She took a bath at half-time and passed out by the 3rd quarter. She's still fighting her cold, so rest is important.

Alexa appears to have "found" her feet...

Check out Alexa's "Terrible Toddler Towel" bib! So cute!

Alexa is getting ready to crawl!

Even though our little princess is sick, she's still practicing her moves and getting closer to crawling. What a strong little girl!

Click HERE to see a 10-second video of Alexa practice her crawling, then topple over. Click HERE to watch a 30-second video of Alexa belly swim toward the remote controls! Finally, click HERE to watch a 60-second video of her move 90 degrees! Wow!

Our little beauty!

The snow started falling this morning... So I went out to get gas and Starbucks. Then we stayed in all day and watched movies. What a great snow/sick day! Alexa is still congested but she's still a happy baby! Check out how CUTE she is!

Another first for Alexa

Today was supposed to be Alexa's first day of daycare... But she started coughing last night. So we logged different first. And not a good one! Alexa is sick for the first time. With a cold.

My poor baby is congested, with a runny nose and coughing and sneezing. She doesn't have a high temperature though, so her doctor said to just make sure she keeps eating and sleeping. And boy is she sleeping! Long naps. Here is my little baby, curled up in her crib. She now likes sleeping on her knees. So cute!

Another AP Baby play date!

Today we went over to our friend Mary Clare's house for another play date with a bunch of babies born recently to my former co-workers: Catherine, Will and Harry! We all got together back in December. The babies have all grown so much!

And, as you can see from the pictures yesterday of Alexa and Avery, a big new development in Alexa's world is that she is noticing other babies and taking an interest in them!

Here is Alexa with one of her first friends, Catherine. They were so cute! Both reaching out toward the other one. Adorable!

Library story time with Avery!

We got up early for the Bethesda Library's 10:30 a.m. Born to Read story time today and got there 5 minutes early! Well, that was not early enough, it turns out. Story time is very popular! They hand out tickets and when the session is full, it's full.

Luckily, they repeat the story time at 11 a.m., so we decided to go to that one. As we waited, we got a library card! Well, I did. Alexa didn't get one. Also as we waited, our friend Blythe and her beautiful baby Avery, who was born the exact same day as Alexa, showed up. So Alexa got to enjoy storytime with her birthday buddy!

Here are the babies... So cute!

Afterward, we met up with Coleen and baby Drew for lunch and coffee. What a wonderful and relaxing day! On our way home, it started to snow... Alexa wanted to play in the snow but I didn't want her to get cold. So here she is, playing in the snow... in her carseat!

Once inside, Alexa started fussing. I think she's teething. So I broke one of these plastic toys filled with cold water that I have. I think she likes it!

More Music Class!

We drove downtown today for another Infant Music Class at the JCC. What is great about this class is that we learn the words to several different songs - and re-learn old classics. We each get a song sheet so we can follow along with the words. Alexa loves it!

Our latest favorite song is "I've Got Two" from Sesame Street.

Another one we really like is about a donkey called Molly. But I made up my own words...

I have a baby

Her name's Alexa

And she goes wah-wah all the time!

A-L-E-X-A, A-L-E-X-A, A-L-E-X-A

Alexa, mine!

Two other songs that we've done in class that I am warming up to are "The Goldfish" and "Free to be You and Me." Plus, the song "Goodnight" by Laurie Berkner is very cute.

It's so relaxing to sing songs... And, thankfully, Alexa has no idea that I can't sing. She smiles so big and loves it!