Christmas 2008

Chris, Alex and I celebrated our Christmas together at our house the Tuesday before we left to MS. Reading the Christmas story to Alex from the Bible was sweet as she likes to say "baby" and "Jesus." We traveled to MS on Christmas Eve to my mom's house for a few days, then to Mimi and Grandaddy's house. We had a great time and enjoyed not having to rush back as Chris was "off." Lots of pics follow, but know that I sorted through 100+ pics before posting. :)

Alex opening a gift from us at our house the day before we left to MS.

Alex and cousin Amber playing in pack n play

Grandmother went all out for Alex and Amber for Christmas. She had tons of gifts laid out for them including these tricyles.
Coloring together...however, we had to take all crayons away from Alex as she kept biting the tips off.
Cousins playing hard together, laughing, and pushing each other around
We spent some time walking the land at my mom's where the orchard grows and where she and my stepdad farmed during his retirement before he passed away. Mom hopes to move back to my hometown, Vicksburg, MS next summer so we wanted to enjoy one of our last walks in this quiet, peaceful country.
During our walk, Alex often wanted to take a break. She would just sit down and say "sitting" or "I sitting." She loved to play with the grass, feel the wind, smell flowers, look around, etc... It was a precious sight.
Chris's traditional night time reading with the girls
3 generations of girls
Grandmother with Alex and Amber. Got to give a shout out to my mom...she cooked an incredible, yummy spread of food for us all. She prepared it all for several days before we arrived and cooked it all while we were there. It was delicious, well appreciated and getting another taste as we froze some and brought home with us. :)Aunt Robin and Uncle Steven
Us at Grandmother's

Amidst the mountains of gifts for Alex from Mimi and Grandaddy, she loved riding the fire truck
Hunter being silly with a bow on his nose
Chris is practicing having an infant again with Anna Cate
Alex sporting her new tutu from Aunt Tammy. She loves wearing it! Yes, that is a bruise under Alex's right eye. She fell down trying to get out of her red wagon and face planted the floor the day before we left. :(
Visiting our special friends Kim, Fleetwood and their 2.5 mo old Logan Gail. It was so good to see them as this is our first reunion since they moved back from New Zealand.
Alex checking out and rocking Logan
Mimi, Anna Cate and Alex (in her Mississippi State Univ t-shirt - Chris loves that!)
Mimi reading to a sleepy Alex before bedtime the last night while Chris and I went out to dinner with some people.
Alex looks like she is getting caught doing something. ha!
Grandaddy, Alex, Mimi and cousin, Anna Cate
Us at Mimi and Grandaddy's house. Mimi got the book Multiple Blessings by Jon and Kate Gosselin for Christmas. I started reading it and devoured it in the few days we were there. I couldn't put it down. It was quite interesting as they had twins before getting pregnant with sextuplets. After reading it, I watched an episode of their show on TLC. Her life with 8 children under 4 yrs old makes my worst day with one seem simple! The book (and show) made me count my blessings as well.
As we took our time traveling home the last day, we were able to stop in Vicksburg to visit my Papaw and his wife, Mary. Alex started to scramble down to go pet his cat as soon as I got the camera out.

Potty Time

Clapping after Alex's 2nd "poo poo on the potty"

Disclaimer: If you can't handle toddler potty talk, don't keep reading.

Alex is so good to tell us "poo poo" right before she goes. So, I thought about seeing what she'd do if we started putting her on the potty right after she told us that. Well, she went for the first time on the potty yesterday and her second "poo poo" today! We made a big deal after each with lots of praise and clapping. She was very excited which makes me think she wants to keep doing it. Also, I think she likes sitting on the potty. She told Chris once before today but he didn't respond quick enough, so she went in her diaper. ha! We talked about starting to potty train this early which is why I bought the little seat, but I was hesitant. I am now motivated to keep working at it. I never thought we would start with #2, but it seems easier right now. However, I have no idea what to do when in public and she says "poo poo" as she would fall through most of those toilets. I know she is not fully ready as she still has a full diaper each morning. So, we will move slowly. What a joy it would be if she is potty trained before baby #2 comes!!!

***Christmas pics will be coming soon. I have so many that it will take forever to upload....maybe by the weekend.

Special People

Sweet friend, Aor, is in town from Florida so several of us (Ms. Vickie, Aor, and Lei) enjoyed an afternoon of high tea. Aor brought a special Thai high tea along with Grass Jam. Yes, it is made from a special grass in Hong Kong. She recommended we pour syrup (notice Karo on table) on it to flavor it. She was right.

Alex supervised and taste tested a batch of gooey butter cookies for our tea. She loves to watch and help mommy cook. I look forward to the day when she can participate more.

Got to give a shout out to our babysitter, Kayla. She lives down the street and has helped out a ton in the last several months for mommy time, date nights, meetings, etc. So thankful for her! She and Alex have a good time together.

Rose deserves a spot on the blog as she keeps Alex several mornings a week in the gym childcare. Alex loves Rose and Rose loves Alex.

Playdate with Bella and Gabi


Helping get the mail after our small snow and ice last week.

Fun Times

Future dancer...Alex has started holding her hands out like a ballerina or up above her head and turning. When she does, she laughs so hard. Unfortunately, this video was taken right after her biggest giggle fest while spinning. She got so worked up that she started hiccupping. So funny! She entertained herself for a while in every room doing this.
Caroline, Mr. Jack, and Alex in the nursery with our church. Mr. Jack greets the kids every week. They love him!

Friends, Jeremy and Sha Jackson, came to Little Rock last week for Jeremy to interview with UAMS. We got to spend Friday with them in which we loved catching up with them in person (and not just their blog). Their sweet little boys below didn't make the trip, but just thought I'd steal a pic from their blog to show. Unfortunately, we forgot to take pics so the above one is from their blog as well. Alex enjoyed Sha so much. She asked about her the entire next day.

Part of Alex's Christmas from both sets of grandparents and us. Chris put this together by himself with the help of a neighbor to get it into the backyard. Thanks again Jason for helping transport it from NLR Toys R Us!

Not only did we think this would be a great gift for Alex because she loves to swing and be outside, but because it will come in handy next summer when Baby Rock 2 arrives and we are grounded at home more next summer.

Our tree looks "interesting" this year as we didn't put balls on the bottom 1/4 or so...just soft and unbreakables so Alex could enjoy them. She loves to cup the koala, kangaroo, and pinocchio (souvenirs from Australia and Italy) in her hands and kiss them. Alex loved helping us decorate the tree. She has done suprisingly well with the tree and has not tried pulling it down or tearing the ornaments off.

We had the privilege of babysitting Gracie. As we read books to Alex and Gracie before bedtime, Gracie tried to eat the pages while Alex wanted to hug and kiss Gracie. They are so sweet together. And I must say Gracie is probably the easiest baby I have ever been around: so pleasant, content, hardly cries...she whimpered for less than a minute when we put her to bed and then she was out.

Play date with Taryn, Andrew and Seth at Fellowship Bible Church's indoor play area. We tried Rock Creek's indoor play area and decided it was more for big kids...or either we don't need to go in the ave when school gets out as the older kids trampled ours.

Enjoying the Fall Festival with our church about a month ago.

At the "ice your pumpkin shaped cookie" station, Alex sat down and just started eating the cookie. ha! We had to show her it was for decorating first.

She had a blast at the festival with all the balloons, people, etc... I think her favorite booth was picking the rubber ducky out of the water for a prize.

Playing at The Wonder Place

Alex loved the scarf section of The Wonder Place. You put the scarves in one hole that has air pulling the scarves through. Then, they shoot through this contraption and spit out from another spot.

Playing Music

Playing with Sand

14 Weeks and Showing

Yes, at 14 weeks preggo with Baby Rock #2, I am showing a bit. I was not showing at this stage with Alex. I've read that showing early with the second (and plus) kiddos is normal, but it's taken me some time to accept it. ha! I will post a pic when hubbie finishes his grand rounds this week. I am excited because we will find out the sex of the baby in one month from today. Chris convinced me to find out with Alex the gender and now I can't wait to find out for this one. Any thoughts...do you think it is a boy or girl?????

More Thanksgiving Pics...

Thanks to sis, Robin, and Grandaddy for the pics!

Grandmother with Amber and Alex. Chris' cousins, Amy and Kelly are in the background.
Grandmother taking the cousins for a walk after T'giving lunch. One cool thing about Thanksgiving is that my mom and sister's family come to Chris' parents house for T'giving lunch and to visit. It is great for us all to be together. Chris' Aunt Tammy's family comes too along with his sister's family and his grandad. Big group and growing with all the lil munchkins. Chris' grandad and my brother in law, Steven, are in the background.
Alex and Amber hanging out in the leaves and playing with their matching baby strollers from Grandmother.
Amber and Alex playing with hot wheels and an old car station that used to be mine and Robin's. They really liked playing with it especially when Chris played too.
Alex and Amber watching Dora. This was Alex's first time to actually sit and watch most of it.
Sweet cuz hugs

Alex loves to bounce on me. I used to let her bounce on my belly until recently as Baby Rock 2 probably doesn't appreciate that. She also loves to ride on my back. So funny as she doesn't hold on well so it is a lot of work for me, but she laughs the whole time.
Alex giving sweet kisses. We often tell her that is "very loving." I should add here that Alex has refrained from biting lately and resorts to kissing me instead. Every once in a while, she slips in a bite and gets sent to her crib for one minute. That seems to work as she screams her guts out and hates to be separated from Mommy. She follows our "talk" afterwards with kisses.
Grandaddy reading to Alex and Hunter

Thanksgiving

Several of you have asked for a blog update. Well, we are having some camera issues. Our camera blurs many of the pics we take so most of my pics from T'giving didn't turn out. I am waiting for my sister to send me some to post. Chris' dad sent 2 of the below. Unfortunately, I have no pics to post of Alex with Grandmother, Mimi or Grandaddy right now. :(

Also, I am so behind in posting that I have more pics than I can post of other stuff. So, I will just post a few now and if I ever get the energy to fight our slow, quickly overheating computer, I'll post the others. Hence, we have computer issues, too.

Thanksgiving... We traveled to MS to visit family. It was a short, but sweet visit in which we ate way too much. Just when you think you're full, it's time for dessert and you can't pass up dessert on T'giving. So, I have been working out every day since I got back and am feeling better. I took off working out while in MS - mistake! I learned my lesson and hope to eat less at Christmas in MS. :)

Alex did better on this trip than any other as far as riding in the car. We contribute it to her facing forward now and that we let her watch her Signing Time videos some. However, when she got tired of reading books, talking, napping, playing with dolls and toys, and watching videos, she just chewed her toes. ha!
The grandkids posing for a Christmas pic for Mimi's Christmas card
Hunter, Alex, Aunt Cathy, and Anna Cate
Chris reading to Alex and cousin Amber before bedtime
Alex being cute... I realized I don't have many naked shots of Alex to bribe her when she's 16 so I'm on the watch now. :)