Alexa meets baby Annika!

We went over to the home of our former P St. condo neighbors Kyle and Elizabeth to meet their new baby today. Well, Annika Suzanne isn't so new anymore. She's already 3 months old! But compared to Alexa, she was so tiny. What a cutie pie!

Alexa had fun showing Kyle and Elizabeth what they will need to baby proof. She climbed up their stairs, pulled wine bottles out of their racks and crawled under their glass coffee table! Oh boy, it was quite an effort keeping up with her! She finally kept busy with the tissue paper from Annika's gift. Whew!

After her nap, we went out to lunch and Alexa got to try out her new Snack Trap, a nifty little thing that is designed to allow babies to feed themselves while keeping tiny snacks like Cherrios and Goldfish from spilling all over the floor. Awesome! Love it! It took Alexa a minute to figure it out, but once she did, she loved it too!

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!

Click photos to enlarge!

Alexa is clapping her hands! (video)

We've been working on this one for a while... And now, Alexa is finally there! As you read in yesterday's post, Alexa is clapping her hands! It's the cutest thing ever. When we clap our hangs, she copies us and claps. Or she just claps. She claps sitting. She claps standing. She claps in our lap and she claps in her car seat. Look how cute!

And now... Video proof of her clapping! Enjoy! Happy Friday!

All about Alexa at 11 months!

We're almost done! Almost at 12 months! But first, here are Alexa's birthday pictures for 11 months. What a little cutie pie, as if you'd expect any less. Enjoy!

Some fun facts about Alexa at 11 months: 

• In addition to crawling, pulling up, cruising, walking with a walker, and standing without holding on, Alexa can now stand UP from a sit!
• She can also squat, and stand UP from a squat!
• She can waive goodbye!
• She can clap! Yay, clapping!
• She can put small things into a container, like putting all her ducks into a plastic bowl!
• She can roll a ball! We're still working on her throw...
• When sitting on the edge of the pool, she can "jump" into our waiting arms!
• Loves playing hide and seek! I go hide behind the couch and she crawls over and "finds" me, and when she does she cracks up laughing!
• In addition to walking with her walker, she now pushes just about anything around the house, like her "Alexa" stool or a dining room chair!
• Loves her play cell phone. Loves my cell phone even more. Loves the remote control the best!
• Knows what buttons to push to make her toys play music and will push the buttons over and over to hear the sounds!
• Is talking up a storm, although it's tough to make out exact words. We think she says dada, mama, dog and duck... Her daycare teachers swear she said "Hugo," which is her friend's name!
• Speaking of dogs, she has taken a BIG interest in them! When she sees a dog, she gets excited and starts making sounds! She also is curious about cats and when we were at Grandpa's house, she chased the poor kitty all around the house!
• She still has only two teeth, but we swear her top two are on their way any day now!
• We've read that at this age, babies start to dream. We think she has because she sometimes startles in the middle of the night, although she always settles back down easily.
• She is still under 20 pounds! Alexa weighed in at 19 lbs, 3 oz. That puts her in the 25th percentile. And, as such, she wears most 6-12 month and 6-9 month outfits, some 9-12 month and 12-month items
• You'd think at her size all she eats is veggies. Nope. She not met a cracker she did not like: Favorites are Gerber crunchies, Saltines and goldfish!
• She also loves water ice and frozen yogurt. Yum!
• Has beautiful hair that is getting longer! We love her long bangs and there's no way we're cutting her hair! Not yet! 
• Gives us big hugs where she wraps her arms around us and buries her face. Awww!

And now, check out how Alexa has grown in the last 11 months!

Click to enlarge!

Weight Check!

We took Alexa in for a weight check today... And she's not nearly as big as we thought she was! Alexa seemed to really chub up, so we were sure she had put on 5-6 pounds in the last two months. She hasn't. She's still in the 25th percentile and hasn't even topped 20 pounds yet! She weighed in at 19 lbs., 3 oz.

Here are her updated stats:

HEIGHT:

Birth: 19 3/4"

1 month: 21 3/4"

2 months: 23"

4 months: 24"

6 months: 25 1/2"

9 months: 27"

WEIGHT:

Birth: 7 lbs, 12 oz

1 month: 9 lbs, 7 oz

2 months: 11 lbs, 5 oz

3 months: 12 lbs, 3 oz

4 months: 13 lbs, 10 oz

5 months: 14 lbs, 6 oz

6 monhts: 14 lbs, 13 oz

7 months: 15 lbs, 4 oz

8 months: 16 lbs, 1 oz

9 months: 16 lbs, 12 oz

11 months: 19 lbs, 3 oz

What a happy baby!

Alexa was in a great mood when we got home from daycare today... She was all smiles as she pushed her stool and played with her cell phone. Look how cute she is! So cute, so cute!

And here is Alexa practicing her squat. Daddy says she has the catcher's stance down pat! Now all we gotta do is get her in some pinstripes... Speaking of attire, if you want to see how much Alexa has grown, here is Alexa wearing this SAME OUTFIT back in January (7 months ago!) when she was 4 months old. The tunic still fits, but barely. The pants have become capri pants!

Click photos to enlarge!

Update: We've gotten so much use out of this simple hooded tunic, that I decided to get another one, in her size! I found this one sized 12-18 months on eBay and ordered it. Yeah!

Alexa is 11 months!

It's hard to believe that it's been 11 months, almost a year, since the most beautiful, happy, amazing little girl came into our lives. We took some fun pictures in our backyard yesterday and I was struck by the similarity of these two shots. Same location. Same time of day. Same afternoon light twinkling in the background.

Looking back, I am amazed. Little did I know then how much joy was awaiting us! This past year has been a challenge, sure, but it has also been the best adventure of our lives! We are so lucky. We love you, Alexa! You are the best part of every day!

Click to enlarge!

Sunday afternoon fun in the back yard!

Click to enlarge!

Anything is a walker, as long as you push it! (video)

Seriously, who needs a walker with wheels? Alexa has found that anything she can push can be a "walker." Like, say, a laundry basket or a dining room chair. Or a music table. Or even her "Alexa" stool. Here is a video of Alexa pushing her stool all over the place...

And now, here are some photos of our cutie pie having fun playing with her stool and cell phone! She was in such a good mood, all about playing! And standing. And cruising. Yay!

Alexa loves her Aunt Chimmy! Yes she does!

What fun we had this morning! Aunt Chimmy came over last night to hang out with me since Daddy is away at a bachelor party. We enjoyed a nice bottle of Reverie wine and unlike our younger days, fell asleep by midnight! Ha!

In the morning, I went for a nice run with Alexa... A whole long story there, but here are the cliff notes: The front wheel of the jogging stroller came OFF! Alexa didn't fall out, not even close, but I had to wheel her home like a rickshaw. She slept the whole time!

When we got home, Aunt Chimmy was brewing tea so we all sat down for breakfast! Alexa tried waffles for the first time and she LOVED them! She also loved swinging and walking with Aunt Chimmy!

Click to enlarge!

Alexa is standing UP on her own! (video)

Alexa is getting closer and closer to walking! This weekend, she started standing up on her own, getting up from a squat position. So far, she just stands there and then sits back down. No first steps... But she is close! Want to see for yourself? Fine, check out this video!



And now, here are some more pictures of Alexa from today... Look how cute she is! She was full of smiles and talking up a storm. My little munchkin! She is also getting VERY good at drinking from her sippy cup. Just the other day, she drank HALF of the water in it! That's a good sign because once she's a year old, we'll need to wean her from bottles and move her to sippy cups for milk and juice (she hasn't had juice yet, but I assume we'll introduce that soon.)

And finally, here she is playing with her cups in the kitchen again! If you look closely at her pants, you can see some uneven stiches around the hem. They are size 6-12 months but were WAY too long for our shorty, so I had to (gasp!) hem them! LOL! If she stays short, I better get my sewing machine out...

Click to enlarge!

Fun in the kitchen

One of Alexa's favorite play stations is in the kitchen! As part of our baby proofing process, we removed items from shelves that she can pull up to and reach. We didn't want heavy cans of soup to fall on her head! We also didn't want her to cover herself in baking soda. So... We moved everything to higher shelves or cabinets. What's left on the lower shelves are things that are OK for her to touch and play with, like her favorite new toy... CUPS!

In case you haven't noticed...

Here are some close-up shots of Alexa's two teeth! She still has just two, on the bottom. We keep waiting for more, but so far that's all she has! It's funny because some of her friends who are the same age already have a full set of teeth, molars and everything! Oh well, we just get to enjoy her beautiful gummy smiles a little bit longer!

A nice day for brunch!

After several very hot and humid days, we were blessed with a beautiful summer day! To celebrate, Alexa and I got up early and went for a morning run with the jogging stroller. Then we headed to Bethesda for a nice brunch! Alexa had so much fun! She got excited when she saw two dogs and flashed huge smiles whenever we held up a cheddar crunchie, her new favorite snack... So cute!

And speaking of cuteness, look at our little darling... Here she is with Daddy and Grandma E.

One more picture... So cute I just want to squeeze her! My little doll!