10 months old

Alex turned 10 months old on July 11. Just when I think a stage can't be any cuter, sweeter or more fun, another one comes. Alex is cruising around anything stable or partially stable. Apparently, she is in her last stage before walking on her own as she walks pushing a wagon and cruises from one thing to the next without stopping. Alex's vocabulary has increased a good bit lately. She says multiple versions of mama (mom, ma, mama, mommy, and the Australian version "mummy"). She also says daddy and dada. Other words include ball, baby, night night (aka..ni ni), ouch (ouw), owl (ouw), yes(yeah), no, and plenty of other babbles. She mimicks everything we do: fake coughs, blows raspberries, fake sneezes, does a funny noise with tongue like us, waves, claps, hides, etc and even attempts to say words we say (i.e. ba for bag, gee for green, etc). We have been working on teaching her some sign language to help our communication. She understands much of it, but only signs back "all done" (or her version of it) right now. Alex still doesn't have visible teeth, but we see two buds on the mid bottom. No teeth has not stopped her from eating anything we give her. Alex eats mostly finger foods right now which has been so much fun to watch her learn and become more independent. Alex has always been active, but this mobile pretoddler must be related to Christopher Columbus. Her explorations have left me laughing, rushing to rescue her, getting on to her, stunned by her intrigue, or helping her learn.

You know you have a mobile pretoddler when:
* the room gets quiet, he or she is either reading books or in the bathroom trying to play in the toilet bowl or roll toilet paper down. (We now have to keep the bathroom doors shut. )
* the word/sign "no" becomes a common word each day. Our current "no" areas are the fireplace, my plants, the tv area, remote controls, our cell phones, the toilets/toilet paper of course, outlets (and any other dangerous places), and our books. That may sound like a lot, but she has plenty of yes areas. [God's Word is true that we are born into sin. I see the innate desire in Alex to "taste the forbidden fruit" as she tests the no areas. Parenting is teaching me so much about God in that He knows what is best for us even if we defy or ignore Him. And when we do disobey, there are consequences that often leave us hurt or scarred. God's perspective keeps the ultimate (longterm) purpose/plan in view and doesn't allow for temporary gratification. Sorry about busting out into a sermon here... I could go on and on, but I'll stop here for now...]
* the kitchen floors have constant milk splatters from drops off the high chair (another no no, but still in progress).
* the floors can look like a toy volcano erupted
* cries emerge because of falls, bumps, etc... (Alex is fearless and tries anything)
* folding clothes takes longer because little hands like to undo neatly folded clothes or scatter the unfolded ones. (Alex is so cute as she just wants to be with me doing whatever I am doing sometimes.)
* the cabinet and drawer latches become mommy proof, too (unloading the dishwasher takes longer now...ha!)
* you lose leaves on your plants no matter how many times "no, get down" is stated.
* batting and chasing a ball can occupy your child for a while.
* little hands grab your legs for you to pick him/her up.
* chasing a crawling toddler or him/her chasing you is so fun
* he or she tackles you with kisses all throughout the day
* I'm sure I could come up with more, but I'm going to share stories instead...

Most intelligent moment so far: Alex started early following our commands (i.e. turn the page, change hands, look at mommy) and has progressed to stand up, walk with the wagon, come here, point to the dog, say baby, etc... Well, her most intelligent response happened when I was cooking dinner and was letting her watch her Praise Baby video (it is often my before dinner default to give me time to focus on dinner...it sometimes works). Well, the video ended and the credits started rolling. Alex grunted/wimpered to let me know. I came in the living room to make sure I understood her grunts. So, I noticed the credits and looked at her as she was crawling to me and I asked "where's the remote?" Since we don't let her have the remotes, I didn't really expect a response; I was just talking to her before I would try to find it myself. Well, my smart lil punkin started crawling away from me towards the couch. I thought she was being cute trying to play chase or something. I followed her and she started batting the corner of the DVD remote (like a cat) from out from under the couch!!!!!! Ok, remember, she didn't look for it first. She was using her memory that she had seen it there and went back to it to bat it out for me. Also, know that the regular TV remote was right by my foot when I asked her that. She ignored that one and went to the correct one. I was so impressed and affirmed her with words and a few more minutes of Praise Baby so I could top off dinner.

Sad, but sweet story: Since Alex is finally showing signs of future teeth, we have noticed some strange things: random fever last week, looser stool, and a little more fussy sometimes. We have chalked most of this up to cutting teeth. Well, two nights ago she shreaked with screams starting at 9:15 pm. They lasted on and off for just over an hour. Was this teeth? tummy ache? gas? nightmare?. ??? We tried soothing her in so many ways: holding, rocking, tylenol, orajel, mylicon, gave water to drink, more holding... Finally, she started calming down so I tried to lay her down again and it started again. So, I let her lay on my chest in the dark on the couch to calm back down. It was soooooo sweet as it reminded me of when she was so little and did that often. She eventually calmed and fell asleep on my chest on the couch. I could have laid there all night. I eventually laid her in her bed. A few cries followed that transfer, but then she was out. I treasure those moments as one day she may be too "big" and not want to cuddle with mommy. I don't have a current pic of me holding Alex on my chest. However, below is us sleeping on the couch when she was 2 weeks old...so sweet!

Walking with Wagon

Trying new things with her hair. Doesn't Alex look like such a little "big" girl in these pics? Gina, I think Alex looks like Sable here. You? Alex "helping" mommy with laundry. a typical show of Alex pulling on my legs rather I am sitting at the table or standing in the kitchen. "Wonder if they see me." Notice the small pieces of bread on Alex's tray. Well, she reached past those to the big piece and took a huge bite out of it. She loves bread, especially this wheat bread from Old Mill Bread Company. Alex loves to feed herself. She's such a big girl! We went swimming at Annabell's neighborhood pool. Annabell is just 2 weeks older than Alex. Alex loved playing with 18 mo old twins, Taryn and Andrew, in their pool as she could climb in and out like them. Alex reached for Gracie as soon as we put them together. The first time I put Alex next to Jacob she kissed him over and over. Eventually, I had to pull her away.

Visit From Family

My mom, sister (Robin), and her daughter (Amber) came to visit the first week of July. We had a good visit in which cousins Alex and Amber got to know each other better...or the best they could at their ages. Amber is 21 months and Alex is 10 mos. Alex watched Amber like a hawk as she loves older kiddos. You'll notice that in some of the pics as she is looking at Amber. However, they copied each other doing so many things...so cute. Amber and Alex both loved attention from their Grandmother.



Grandmother bought the girls wagons in which we loaded Alex's down with heavy books so she could walk pushing it without it slipping out from under her. She loved walking/pushing the wagon!!!

Alex loves to give (and get) kisses.




At Chick Fil A






Cousin Amber loves to read just as much as Alex.

Bummed Out

Well, I have tons of pics to upload from a visit from my mom, sister and niece this past week plus an entry on Alex turning 10 mos old. However, Alex and I have been running fever along with Chris and Alex having a cold plus Chris is on call today/tonight. Also, a 33 year old friend (married with 3 little children) of ours is about to enter eternity with God as he has struggled with acute myeloid leukemia since January of this year (see blog on left side titled Jason Weathers). Unexpectantly, Jason experienced cardiac rest this week. The family made a difficult decision to cut off the ventilator today and are waiting. Thankfully, Jason and his family have hope in Jesus Christ and trust Jason will be in heaven soon. Very emotional time for all, but they are surrounded by support and prayers from thousands of believers. We are grieving with the family and praying for them. So, as you can see, I am too "bummed out" to update the blog with pics. Good night.

Update: Jason is no longer struggling. He went home to be with the Lord just before 11 pm. Please pray for his family as they now have to tell their children.

July 4th Weekend

We hope everyone had a good 4th of July weekend. Chris actually got a 3 day weekend. It was nice not to travel this holiday as we were able to rest more and do random stuff from house projects to fun things. Notice Alex is sporting her American spirit with her NY Yankee outfit. Thanks Gina!

Alex kept the hat on when she noticed that Chris was wearing a hat as well.
Alex took her first trip to the zoo this past weekend. She did great considering it was hot and humid. She only noticed or cared about the animals if they were moving around or really big so she could see them. Her favorite was the pink flamingos (probably because they were close and at her level). Unfortunately, we didn't get a pic of Alex being within 6 inches of a lion. Plexiglass separated them. Chris squated down to hold her on his knee at the lion's level. The lion rubbed against the glass right by her face. Then, it snarled and snapped at her and Chris! Neither Alex or Chris flinched. (Chris says she didn't flinch because the biggest, strongest thing in her world was holding her. :) However, I was about 6 feet back and I jumped. Crazy sight...and thankful for the plexiglass.

Some of June...

A couple of weeks ago Alex started waving, clapping, cruising more, saying a ton of new babbles and sounds and crawling on all fours about 99% of the time. This video shows some of those "tricks."

My attempt to video her clapping did not last long as she preferred tackling me with the camera since I wasn't clapping with her. And I can't seem to get the cute new noise she makes on video. I tend to say "uh oh" a lot during the day when things "fall" down (I try to distinguish between accidental drops and purposeful ones with her as she has started dropping everything over the high chair, stroller, car seat, etc). I think her new noise is her rendition of "uh oh," but it sounds more like "ah ooh." It's cute. Alex is so lovable. She loves to be held, play with and on you, hug, and kiss. Below is a sweet picture of her kissing me. However, the picture turned out funny like we are ghosts or something. I had to post it though because this is such a sweet characteristic of her. I read to Alex most mornings before her first nap, then she reads her "books of the day" throughout the day and then one of us reads to her before bedtime at night. Chris reads to her if he gets home before her bedtime, which he did in this pic. :) Alex loves books. She has been going through the stage where she likes to turn the pages more than listen to all the words. Alex enjoying her new musical and educational toy.
Alex had just finished making a mess with finger foods and yes, mom forgot the bib. Alex looks mad here, but is actually just pulling up. However, I thought it was a funny pic.