Away from my baby!

As some of you know, I will be away for 7 nights on a work trip. Here are some pictures from my first night away from my baby... Daddy was kind enough to send me these photos!

Daddy's little girl

Another adorable picture of Alexa and her Daddy! I love this shot. When she's tired, she puts her head down on her Daddy's shoulder. I don't blame her. She looks so comfortable! I love how she's looking right at me with a little smile. She was very happy and kept giving her Daddy hugs. It was so cute!

Alexa tries her first chocolate chip cookie!

Mommy made chocolate chip cookies for a work-related potluck on Sunday afternoon. Alexa knew something was going on in the kitchen, so she came over to ask for some: "Money? Money?" In case you missed it, "Money" is Alexa's word for muffins, the other thing that Mommy bakes in the oven, which Alexa correctly refers to as "hot." When the first batch had cooled, Alexa got to enjoy her first chocolate chip cookie. She, um, loved it! Subsequent trips to the kitchen prompted another favorite word: "More?"

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.

Playtime with Alexa

Alexa is a busy little girl! She loves running to the window and climbing up on her step stool to look outside, hoping to spot a DOG! She also loves blowing her Tommy Toot horn. And reading books! She likes it better when she can crawl on our lap and get us to read her books... She also spends a lot of time caring for her two baby dolls. She pats their back, feeds them a bottle and puts them down to take a nap. So cute!

All About Alexa at 18 Months!

Another month, and another update of our growing gal! This month, we had an appointment with her doctor. But unlike past visits, she now KNOWS that a shot is coming and was NOT HAPPY. We couldn't even get her to sit on the scale! Poor baby. I had to hold her and step on a scale, then subtract my weight. It was also very hard to measure her length and head circumference! Here are the photos of our growing girl, with her height and weight updates below. She remains consistently in the 25th percentile.

Height:

Birth: 19 3/4"

1 month: 21 3/4"

2 months: 23"

4 months: 24"

6 months: 25 1/2"

9 months: 27"

12 months: 28.5"

15 months: 29.5"

18 months: 31"

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

12 months: 19 lbs, 13 oz

15 months: 21 lbs, 13 oz

18 months: 23 lbs

And now... All about Alexa at 18 Months: 

• Alexa's vocabulary continues to grow. She delighted her daycare teacher by saying her name, Chi Chi. She repeats words after us and can point to certain items in her word book. She also has begun to understand how to ask for things, like "water" or "money" (muffin). 
• And, to our delight, she says "please" and her version of "thank you."
• Related, Alexa can now tell you what nearly every animal says! Lion? Roar. Cat? Meeeu. Dog? Woof. Horse? Nay. Pig? Uck. Sheep? Baa. Cow? Boo. (Yes, boo, not moo, not sure why!)
• And, as you might imagine, she has JUST STARTED to combine words, like "Happy Bebe"!
• Alexa continues to love the color and word "purple." She can also say "yellow" and "blue" but her first answer when asked what color something is is always purple! (Northwestern Wildcat at heart?)
• Alexa gives hugs when asked and it's the Best. Thing. Ever.
• Alexa knows that her pacifiers are only for her crib. When we hold her over the crib and tell her to put them back, she drops the ones in her hands and spits the one in her mouth out. Ha!
• She has learned to use a fork and loves it! Especially when eating pasta. But don't try to spear a pasta with the fork for her. She'll bang the fork to get it off. ONLY FOOD THAT SHE SPEARS HERSELF will be eaten. So don't even try!
• Alexa continues to love books. Her favorite kinds, if anyone wants to buy her books, are ones with flaps that she can open. Like this one, this one and this one. 
• Alexa has TWO new teeth! She already had two on the bottom, in front. Now she has four! Total teeth count is now up to 12. Four on top, four on bottom and four molars. Yay!
• Finally, Alexa says both "Hi" and "Buh-bye." It's adorable! Her teachers at daycare say that on buggy walks in the neighborhood, Alexa will tell everyone they pass "Hi" and then "Buy-bye." So cute! It's not so cute, however, when we're in the middle of a conversation with a neighbor or friend and she gets bored and interrupts us with "Buy-bye" and a wave of her hand. It's like... Uh, sorry!

And on that note... Buy-bye!

Daddy's little girl

My goodness but doesn't Alexa have a handsome Daddy? I love this photo of them together at the birthday party this past weekend. Alexa was being squirmy and her Daddy was so patient with her. It's amazing to watch them together. When I go into Alexa's room in the morning, she'll point at the door and ask, Da-Da? Other times, like in her bath, she'll shout at the top of her lungs: DA-DA, DA-DA, DA-DA! He comes running and she cracks up giggling. It's so cute! Wrapped around her little finger he is. And he's not complaining one bit.

Alexa learns about make-up from Ms. Elizabeth!

After Tarik's 1st birthday party last weekend, Ms. Elizabeth came over to play with Alexa. Alexa was more interested in playing with Ms. Elizabeth's purse, which I must admit was a pretty hot item.

"That's OK," Ms. Elizabeth said. "I'll close the zipper."

Unfortunately, Alexa knows how to use a zipper! Within seconds, she had her hands on Ms. Elizabeth's lipstick, compact and credit cards. That's when Ms. Elizabeth came up with the idea that Alexa use her chapstick to "pretend" put on lipstick. Brilliant!

Check out Alexa pursing her lips -- and applying chapstick on Ms. Elizabeth's lips! She also learned how to apply powder -- to her ear! Haha. So cute!

Alexa gets a visit from her friend Anne!

Alexa's little friend Anne came over on Sunday afternoon to play. Alexa had a hard time sharing her toys, but she adjusted pretty well. She said "hi" to Anne and called her a "happy baby." After the girls had lunch, we took them outside for photos. Obviously, we started with our fabulous Adirondack chairs!

We also tried taking photos of me and Libby holding our girls... But we couldn't get both babies to look at the camera at the same time!

Finally, Alexa sat down on the stone stairs and we tried more photos of the girls together. Alexa was amused by Anne. Anne was amused by Alexa's jacket. What a pair of cutie pies!

Another Sunday Fun Day with Avery!

One of Alexa's new favorite books is called Caps for Sale. She loves the part where the monkeys steal the caps and say to the peddler "Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!" She giggles and shakes her finger! So we went to a Sunday Funday play date about the book with her friend Avery. It was great! The kids colored monkeys, stuck hats on a wall, walked on a crunchy road and played with balloons! Alexa had a blast!

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!

My daughter, the bookworm

I have to admit, I used to think Alexa had too many books. That was back when she was a baby and we could read her any book we wanted, or even the same book night after night, which we did for months: The Going to Bed Book. Those were the days...

Now I am a bit desperate. For books! We can't get enough! But it's tricky. Some books are never touched. Others are read over and over and over. I guess that's the way it is with children? In our case, the obsession started with Go Dog Go. I guess it could have been worse. 

Now we alternate among the books and take turns reading them. Two books upon waking up: Mommy Loves and Pat the Bunny. One in between wrestling each article of clothing onto her body: A Good Day. Goodnight Moon. Are you my Mother? One before her socks:Spot Bakes a Cake. Another before her shoes: My Dog's the Best. One more to get her jacket on: Peek-A-Boo, I Love You. And several to read in the car on the way to daycare: Good Night, New Jersey. Neighborhood Animals. Mirror Me! I wonder if she makes the ladies at daycare read to her as much? 

It's more than a mild obsession. As soon as she gets home, she runs to her play kitchen. We keep her books in the oven. She will rummage around a bit, then emerge with a giant smile and a book in each hand: Good Night, Chicago and Snuggle Puppy. She'll look up at us and squeel: "boooook! boooook!" That means sit down, I am going to make read to me. If not, she will come over and reach for you to pick her up. If we're already sitting down, she'll turn around and plop into our lap.

More books at dinnertime. One after another! Caps for Sale. Busy Doggies. Good Night America. Go Dog Go. One Blue Hippo. She even has a book for her bath! Barnyard Bath. Then it's time for bed and even more books emerge... Everyone Poops. Daddy Hugs. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? Goodnight Gorilla. 

And it doesn't end there. Tonight, she stood up in her crib when I put her to bed and pointed: "Book?" 

"No, honey, it's bedtime. Lie down, please."

"Booooook!"

"In the morning, sweetie. It's bedtime."

"Booooook!"

"Fine. Here. You can hold it for me and we'll read it in the morning."

Oh yes, she is now sleeping with her books. She is asleep in bed right now snuggled up with The Mitten tucked under one arm, her doggie under her other arm and a pacifier in each hand. My daughter, the bookworm.

More photos from our backyard

Alexa had so much fun running around, and walking down the stairs in our yard, with Daddy's help of course. Here are some more photos to enjoy!

Alexa loves our new adirondack chairs!

Thanks Grandpa Howard and Mema Wanda for these beautiful adirondack chairs! Aren't they nice? These chairs were handmade by a craftsman who Grandpa Howard found near his store in New Jersey. Amazing! We love our chairs! We can't wait to spend nice lazy summer days in our back yard, relaxing in them. Alexa and Daddy are certainly enjoying them already!