Several posts...

May 25th, 2008 JoElle loves her swing set
Uncle Aaron got JoElle's swingset put together all the way yesterday and JoElle loves to swing on it! Alexa and I also swinged (Is that a word?) together on it. We finally have some shade in our backyard this year (it's been almost 6 years since we built our house). We are going to buy a baby swing to attach to the swingset as well so Alexa can also swing, not that she is able to support her head so well. At Aunt Ana's house for Memorial Day, I put Alexa in their baby swing outside and she did fine. Don't know if she liked it, but hey she didn't cry!
JoElle is doing great eating milk products now, she eats ice cream, pudding, cheese at school, pizza, and I even let her drink Starbucks coffee with me and none of these makes her sick! I am excited about this, and so is she! She could probably drink regular milk now, but we still give her Lactose Free, since she drinks so much of it, it's probably best to stick with it for now.

5/23/08 Alexa is 13 weeks - 3 months and 1 week
I gave Alexa a bottle of Lactose Free Similac today; we are trying to switch her over to see if she can handle it. We need to have her switched over to this in order to start feeding her food. When we gave her rice cereal in her bottle at 9 weeks to help reduce the spit up, it made her sick to her stomach, so I am hoping it goes better this time. She seems to be really sensitive to foods / milk. This first bottle seemed ok at first, then she was fussy the next day, so I am thinking it bothers her a little. We backed off for a few days, then started giving her the Lactose Free formula again on Monday night (the 26th) and two bottle a day for the next two days. She is doing fine, so we will probably start sending a few to school with her, until she is totally switched over.
She is still having normal BM's, so that is good. She is not fussy or gassy, so that is good. At school on the 27th (Tuesday) she ate up all 4 bottles of 7 ounces that I had sent, they had to ration her milk b/c she was wanting to eat every 2 hours! So we are going to start sending 5 bottles, just in case.
Alexa is still sleeping through the night. She normally goes to sleep for the night around 8-8:30, then I wake her up around 7:00 a.m. I am not sure how long she would sleep if I didn't have to wake her to go to school! Last weekend, she woke up Saturday and Sunday night to eat, she was especially hungry. She is eating more in the day too, so I guess she is going through a little growth spurt.
I started giving her allergy medication last week 5/11/08 (Zyrtec) because she was waking up every morning congested and was sneezing a ton during the day. It seems to be helping her quite a bit. Nobody would give me her dosage (her dr, the pharmacist) because theFDA does not approve of giving OTC to kids under 2. They all tried to tell me she is too young to have allergies, but I told them JoElle had allergies at this age and so did I, so I don't care what they say, I am giving it to her anyways! I don't think the government she tell us what we can/ can't give our children as far as medication is concerned. I don't have a problem telling her dr that I am giving it to her, along with the fact that she sleeps on her tummy, also a no-no in their books. I did finally get the dosage from my sis, isn't it great to have dr's in the family?

May 21st, 2008
JoElle's favorite dinosaur is TRex- the blue one (the one in her class is blue). They learned about dinosaurs all week, ate dinosaur eggs, and hate a whole lot of fun with dino's.
Ms. Trina informed me that Channing, Logan and Sandra all fight over JoElle. They call her "MY JoElle" and Ms. Trina tells them that JoElle is not their JoElle, but is her mommy's, daddy's and Alexa's JoElle.
JoElle is the most popular kid in her class but she still doesn't realize it. They all fight to play with her and sit with her, it is really funny. There is a new girl in the class named Tiffany, who is Asian and is still learning English. She sits next to JoElle on the rug for circle time. She thinks JoElle is hilarious and goes around saying "JoJo funny!!" She already picked up on calling JoElle JoJo b/c of Logan being in their now and calling her that!

May 20, 2008 Alexa is trying to sit up- 3 months
Alexa is trying really hard to sit up. When she is being held, she will lean forward so that she is sitting up straight. When we sit her on the floor without support, she can sit for a few seconds before toppling over!! She is also getting very good at getting and keeping her hand/fingers in her mouth. She loves to suck on them!
Alexa also like to play with a few toys now, she likes her starfish that JoElle also loved when she was a baby, ahnd she likes to chew on her burp clothes. Alexa loves to watch t.v. She was watching basketball with Daddy. She gets bored when commercials come on, but when the game is back on, she watches again!

May 19, 2008 Tandi is now JoElle's teacher!
Tandi started working at JoElle's school, she is now JoElle's teacher! JoElle was counting down the days until Tandi would be there. She is excited to have Tandi there, but she has been mischevious this week. She has gotten into trouble almost every day this week for mostly not listening. Some days she even told the teachers she didn't want to listen. She is having a hard time being serious and loves to make all of her friends laugh. At home we are also having a problem with JoElle getting a huge attitude with us and giving us a not very nice look along with a lot of crying. We are now sending her to her room when she acts like this, but it is her choice when she comes out, as long as she can act appropriately.
I have been reinforcing that not listening to us and her teachers makes God unhappy. This helps her quite a bit on why she needs to listen. When she does a good job listening, she is proud of herself and also asks me "Did I make God happy?"
JoElle loves to pray, when she hurts herself she will tell me and the ask "Can we pray for my booboo?" Then we will pray together. She normally asks if I will pray for her booboo again within 10 minutes, so we normally pray for her booboo's to get better at least twice! It is very precious time with her.

5/16/08 Alexa is 12 weeks old- likes to talk and suck on her fingers!
Alexa has finally mastered getting her hand and fingers in her mouth to suck on them, all by herself. She loves to suck on her fingers.
Alexa also oves to talk to us (and inanimate objects) Tim got her to say "Dada" several times! She loves to giggle at Daddy and talk to him. She has a cute little voice. Alexa loves to watch everything going on around her and does not like it at all if you hold her to you where she can't see everything.
Alexa loves to scoot around on her back. At school, on the playmat, she starts out at one end and scoots herself to the other end on her back. She is really strong; her teachers have to watch her because in the swings, she can kick herself out of the straps and out of the swing. She will not sleep in her crib at school (since they are not allowed to let her sleep on her stomach) so she mostly sleeps in the swings. Now she will sleep in her swing at home too since she has gotten used to it as school.
Alexa is their loudest crier and the youngest. She usually gets fed first because she cries the loudest! She also eats more than all the other babies. The only other little girl who eats as much as Alexa is Hannah who is 7 months old. They both eat 6 ounces at a time. Alexa is pretty much up to 7 ounces at a time, she eats about 6 bottles a day with 7 ounces, for a total of 42 ounces. She needs to start eating cereal soon, the doctor fussed at us with JoElle when JoElle was this age because according to the docs, babies are only supposed to drink a certain amount of formula a day, somewhere around 32-36 ounces, can't remember how much?
Alexa takes mostly little cat naps at school, for 30-45 minutes at a time. This week, she has wanted her teachers to hold her a lot (which they can't because they now have 7 babies in there, with 2 teachers).

4/29/08 Alexa is 9 weeks old- started day care
Alexa started daycare today, I started back to work. On Sunday, I cried a lot and was depressed. I really did not want to leave her and go back to work. It was much harder this time around with Alexa than it was with JoElle. JoElle was a tough baby, very demanding, cried a lot, wanted me to keep her busy all the time even though she couldn't play yet. Alexa is not really like that, she can be demanding, but calms down fast and can entertain herself for up to 30 or 45 minutes at a time. She loves her bouncer and I can have her in there for 2 cycles of the music!
Alexa did fine her first day of school. She loves to smile at her teachers, Ms. Billie and Ms. Alfie. She ate well and slept well for them. JoElle, on the other hand, was crying alot and her teachers and the director had to take her down to see her sister several times the first day. JoElle wanted to make sure the baby was ok.
It takes forever to get two kids ready for school (especially since Alexa take 45 minutes to drink a bottle) and in and out of daycare in time to make it to work. It has been a real struggle.

April 25,2008 Alexa is 9 weeks old
Over this past week, Alexa has grown very attached to me. She wants me to hold her in the daytime to sleep; everytime I put her down she wakes right back up! Alexa is sleeping through the night most nights (she started this at 6 weeks, the other night she slept for 12 hours straight!)
When I leave the room, she cries (if she is awake), even if Daddy or big sis are in the room. It's funny! She looks around for me, especially if she hears my voice. I feel very special! This is very sweet. She is really loving smiling at me, Daddy, JoElle and almost anybody she likes! She also loves to coo. At the Little Gym this week, she loved watching the kids in JoElle's class doing gymnastics, she was laughing and cooing at them!
Alexa is spitting up so much, even with the formula switch and reflux meds. We are going to try cereal in her bottle to make the formula thicker, however, she is such a slow eater, it didn't work so well the first bottle, she only at .25 oz in 30 minutes (she normally drinks 6-7 oz now at night). We visisted Daddy at work and all his coworkers oohed and ahhed over her, Chris, Erica and Sandra all held her. She was hungry and when Sandra was holding her, I asked her "What's wrong, Alexa?" She immediately frowned, then started bawling with a horribly scrunched up sad face!! It was hilarious! While I burped her, she watched Daddy working in his office through the glass.

April 23, 2008 Cousin Elena turns 3 today
Happy Birthday Elena! We celebrated Elena's birthday with her today at her house, the kids had a blast playing together, as always. A huge storm came through and the girls were scared. Alexa was crying because it was so noisy and it was her bedtime, Granny tried to calm her down, but she needed Mommy!

4-11-08 7 weeks old cooing and grinning
Alexa has been cooing at us and grinning a lot, sometimes I look down at her to find out grinning at me with her precious grin! She has been sleeping most nights 7-9 hours each night. If she does wake up, it is normally just once and then she falls right back asleep.
She is eating a ton, she must be on a growth spurt; she is eating 5-7 ounces every 3-4 hours (except at night, when she sleeps all night). She is still spitting up a ton, so we might start putting rice cereal in her bottle to thicken it up like the dr suggested, since she is already taking reflux medicine and still spitting up a lot.
Alexa loves to take baths; she likes the water nice and warm. She always falls asleep taking a bath. JoElle loves to take a bath with her, Alexa in her tub inside of the big tub in their bathroom. JoElle likes to help me wash Alexa off with a washcloth and is always entertaining her!
Alexa also loves to sit in her bouncer. She sits in her bouncer when I take a bath/ shower and also at the dinner table. She never stops moving, every morning I either find Alexa in the right corner of her crib or she has rolled over onto her back. Alexa also loves her playmat. She can lay on it for 30 minutes or so. The tv often catches her eye and she watches the movement on the screen. In the car, she is staying awake for a while and looking around. Normally, when the car stops, she cries. Then, we we move, she stops crying!
Alexa has now been to her Sunday School class twice. She does great, just like we thought she would. Every time we go anywhere, people tell me how cute she is and marvel at how much hair she has. I am hearing all the time that she looks just like JoElle when she was a baby.
The other day I went grocery shopping with both girls by myself. There is really no room in a shopping cart with a baby and a 3 year old who no longer wants to walk, since the baby is in the shopping cart! So, JoElle was sitting in the cart, piling the groceries around herself. She was arranging them in a specific way, not really sure what her method was, but if I tried to change it, she would move it back. I had to hold Alexa the last 20 minutes or so, she spit up on me and the floor in the middle of the pizza aisle...so I had to push the cart and hold her at the same time, which is not exactly easy, but I stayed calm! JoElle was very well behaved.
JoElle loves to play dr with her dr kit. The other day, she had on a surgeon mask and she told me "I'm Dr. Atkins!" I thought it was hilarious because I didn't realize she knew my ob's name! I only took her twice b/c I didn't want to many questions from her about what happens at ob visits.
JoElle likes to sing "No one" by Alicia Keys; it is very cute listenening to her sing her heart out. She also started singing "It is Well" in the car with us the other day, it was so precious to hear her sing!
One day when we were praying with JoElle she prayed "For Uncle Billy to get better" She isn't exactly aware of what is going on, but she can tell there is something wrong. If you are reading this, please pray for Billy (Tim's brother) and his wife Carrie, their marriage and their kids.
JoElle loves to go to church, she loves her Sunday School class. They teach her so much. She loves to "read" her Bible. One night after eating dinner with Granny and Grandad, JoElle was reading her Bible in the car and she told me "I need quite to study"; I was cracking up. I am not sure if I wrote about this previously, but when we were planting our flowers recently, Alexa was staring up at the sky, so JoElle told her "Alexa, God made the sky!"
JoElle picks up on new words and phrases extremely fast. She is good at getting her tone of voice correct and imitates me and Tim well. She picked up "hey, you guys" from her teachers at school. As always, I have to be vigilent about what I say and what she hears on the radio and tv. When Alexa is sleeping, she tells us "Alexa is knocked out"
JoElle can now buckle herself up in her car seat by herself (sometimes a little help is needed on the last buckle). She has grown up tremendously over the past weeks. She is having a ball at the Little Gym, she now will participate the entire class and does not cry when it is time to go into class. She loves her new gymnastic outfits that have skirts attached.