It's amazing...

JoElle is asleep by 8:30 p.m. I can't believe! This is very rare... since I have been staying at home with the girls, JoElle might be asleep by 10-:30-11:30 p.m. Before, when she woke up early for daycare, she would be asleep around 9:30. But she was so tired from being busy today that she was asleep at 8:30!!!

Wow, it's amazing :)

Some things we did today:

up around 8:00, fed Alexa and played a bit, left the house around 9:00, tried to find the brand new Dunkin' Donuts in "Ft Worth", not listed on the Dunkin' Donut site for any in the DFW area, found on Yahoo! Yellow Pages one on Eastchase, in Ft. Worth, so figured it must be it, ok wrong, got there, not the right place, called 1411 on my cell, it's actually in WHITE SETTLEMENT, which is obviously NOT Ft. Worth, close to Ft. Worth yeah but not the same thing. I grew up within blocks of White Settlement but I grew up in FT WORTH not WHITE SETTLEMENT, argh !

Anyways, we then had to decide on another breakfast joint, we were close to N. Arlington, drove back towards our house and JoElle went back and forth, I-Hop, Mimi's, I-Hop, Mimi's, ok finally after being "threatened" by me to pick for her, stuck with Mimi's. It was great food as always, we were there forever, our waiter was very nice, found out he is from Serbia, his accent was familiar to me, I told him that one of my fave Italian places in Irving, the cook was from Serbia as well and had a similar accent. Alexa ate the ENTIRE time we were there (about an hour and a half), she at cheerios, crackers, and orange, my scrambled eggs, a piece of JoElle Mimi's Mouse pancakes (since their is regular milk and she is slightly lactose intolerant), one of my bfast potatoes which she then spit out into her cup of water, and countles bites of pot roast, oooh so good pot roast.

Alexa loved to stare at the host as he walked people to their tables, one time she fell backwards in her highchair b/c she followed him with her eyes and head until she rolled back :) She also giggled at the cool lights and the fan in the mirror.

Several patrons of Mimi's approached as to fawn over Alexa and JoElle, one very nice lady encouraged me with sweet words, telling me to hang in their and God is with me, I almost cried. It's funny how God likes to talk to us, really talk out loud to us, through complete strangers. Love it. Alexa also loved this person, she liked touching her shirt and smiling at her. Other complete strangers also talked to Alexa and she grinned at them.

We thought about walking around the pond, no stroller in the car, oops I told Tim to leave it in the garage rather than put it back in my trunk, my bad. So, we went to JoAnn's instead. Did you ever think about JoAnn's starts the same as JoElle? Well, we did.

It was ok for a few minutes, until Alexa started swinging her legs in the shopping cart and bonking her head behind her. So I carried her. She is really heavy. She is extremely heavy walking around JoAnn's while JoElle exclaims "LOOK MOMMY! ________ (fill in the blank as everything is exciting to her, especially arts and crafts items). I could see the turning in her brain as she considered all the possibilities. Her Christmas list just increased exponentially...

We finally found ABC cookie cutter. I say finally, I never actually looked for them, but I wanted them months ago. Oh well, I guess God knows how lazy I am, b/c He put them right in front of me, couldn't miss them, so we bought them. JoElle reminded me we weren't going to buy anything today. I informed her "guess I changed my mind huh?"

Alexa is almost screaming, her teeth are killing her, she has 3 coming in at the same time, 5 already. She is gnawing on the baby doll I am holding for her. Poor nose. The line is crazy long, I have never seen such a long line for JoAnn's? I don't go that often. Some lady asked me if I was in line, well duh, why else would I be standing in line? Did I mention the million questions all morning long in the car from JoElle? By this point, I had institued a "no more question right now" rule. Wasn't going so well, she kept asking and I kept answering.

Almost as soon as we leave JoAnn's, Alexa is knocked out in her car seat. So, I start to drive home, tell JoElle "ok no more talking! time to rest and listen to music" that lasted for 3 minutes before JoElle reminded me that we were supposed to go to a car wash after Mimi's. Oh yeah, I forgot, what else is knew? So we tried to, but the place told me their internet was down, did I have any cash? Nope, just used it up at JoAnn's. Didn't offer me a free one, just looked at me like I was lying. So, I asked, how do I get out of here? I told the dude I can't really back up that far..., he finally lets me out, what no free car wash? I am not going back there. So I tell JoElle, I think I know where another one is, let's go. We found it after JoElle pointed out each and every car wash at each and every gas station. I liked this one better anyways, they actually wipe your car down with towels afterwards. Oh yeah, we also went to the bank before Mimi's, forgot about that till now, thought about it b/c I gave JoElle her allowance plus an extra dollar, had to borrow a dollar from JoElle to tip the guy wiping my car down. Alexa woke up during the car wash and screamed the rest of the time, she was really scared :( poor baby.

I think we went home afterwards, we watered plants, guess what? Two of our pumpkin seeds sprouted today! How great!!! We also watered the back and rearranged the furniture in the back, not sure why, just felt like it.

Alexa is crawling like crazy, she crawled all the way from the t.v. in the living room, across the living room, into the kitchen to come to me!!! I love it!

We did some more playing, JoElle ran around the yard countless times while Alexa watched, laughed, did some more eating, JoElle took 2 baths or so today, rode her bike around the block while I pushed Alexa, racing most of the way, we also played in her room, JoElle learned to read the word "Avenues" which is on a book I have left from when I taught 1st grade, also read some more words and read about different types of homes like apartments, adobe home, mobile home, etc etc. JoElle was yawning like crazy, time to go to bed!
Whew. Free! I went to Target for diapers. I can't remember the last time I went to the store by myself? It was so nice!!!

Alexa is adorable!

Isn't she adorable? Alexa was laughing at me and Tim. She is all about Mommy right now and has been for the past few months. Guess what? Sunday she crawled to me! She also crawled to Tim. What a wonderful feeling when your precious one is finally successful at crawling towards you and you are able to pick her up and give her a huge hug and shout joyfully for her! Both of the girls thrive on praise; so we shower them with praise as much as we can.

Crawled to Mommy!

Alexa finally crawled to me today! She has been trying toget to me for weeks now, but usually gives up after a crawl ir two forward, or backwards, today she made it to me!!!!!

How old am I?

New Haircut!

I cut JoElle's hair yesterday; I cut some of my hair and she wanted me to cut her hair, too...so we did!

Here is the back...

JoElle before...

Here is our hair in the sink.....

Alexa gets her 4th tooth! (Correction: and 5th tooth as well, the same day!)

While we have been waiting for her 4th tooth to break through on the top (her top left), instead a new one popped in today, the bottom right, next to the first one on the bottom! So, Alexa now has 4 teeth, but not in the order we expected!

So, right now she is cutting in the top right and the bottom second on her left. Considering that she had 4 teeth trying to come in at the same time, she is doing quite well! She is a little bit fussy, but it's not too horrible at the moment. Now she has 4 teeth in with two on the way......

Correction: Alexa ALSO got her fifth tooth the same day that her fourth one (the third one on the bottom) came in unexpectedly!) So, Alexa did get the top left front tooth as well today!!

I can't believe she got two teeth the same day, how crazy, considering that she was cutting in two teeth the same day, she was not so bad after all! She was crying out in pain when we went to eat at Applebee's with Granny and she would not let me put her down, not even in a shopping cart at Mardel's, I had to hold her through the entire store.

She did let Granny play with her, feed her and hold her later that afternoon, though!

Memory verse: Psalm 46:10

This is our memory verse for the past week and this week, corresponding to learning the letter B

Psalm 46:10
"Be still and know that I am God"

Letter B

We have been "working on" the letter B for several weeks- not that it takes JoElle that long to learn it, that took a few minutes, I just had too much going on with me. But today we finally learned to write B and b.

Some things covered today:

-practicing writing JoElle, the last e is a challenge for her
-writing B and b
-discussing the difference between b and d: b is a line then a circle, d is a circle then a line
-read the word "birthday" and the two words that comprise the word "birth" and "day"
- JoElle traced the B's and b's, then colored the B and b and the bee
- B makes the "buh" sound

This only takes us 10-15 minutes at the most.

Alexa lately: 6 1/2 months old

Lately Alexa has started to whimper for me. If anyone else is holding her, even Daddy, and she sees me somewhere or walk by her or through the room, she whines. It's cute and funny.

She also whines for whatever she wants. For instance, if she wants a drink of what you are drinking or a bite of your food, she whimpers like a little puppy!

Alexa still calms down when we turn the "Backyardigans" on t.v. She loves that show! She likes to play in JoElle's room (which will one day be her room too, when she can walk and sleep in the toddler bed). We let her play with the Little People toys, like the bus and the kids that go with it. She loves playing in JoElle's room!

She is working on her pincher grip, using her thumb and her forefinger to pick up food. She is pretty close to mastering it. It sure does make it easier for her to feed herself! She is not interested in pureed baby food, the only thing she will eat that is even similar to baby food is organic brown rice cereal. She used to love pureed organinc zuchini, blueberries, bananas and sometimes carrots and parsnips. Now she would rather eat anything we are eating!

Recently, Alexa ate organic mac and cheese with me which I added ground beef and salsa too. It was a little spicy, but she doesn't mind! She didn't get much of a tummy ache (as far as we know, she is lactose intolerant like JoElle was and Daddy still is, she is still on lactose free formula), she had some gas, but nothing serious. Also lately, she ate Panda Express with JoElle and me, she ate Orange Chicken, which is quite spicy, and she was fine.

JoElle loves to eat spicy food, she asks to go pick up hot wings all the time, she loves them from Wingstop and she doesn't use ranch. She eats the original hot wings, which are quite hot! JoElle also likes to eat jalapenos and other peppers by themselves.

As for bedtime, JoElle does not want to sleep, she gave up naps right after she turned 1, it has always been a struggle since then to get her to bed by 9:00, even when she had to wake up to go to daycare when I was working. Now, we are lucky if she is in bed by 10, sometimes it is more like 11 or midnight. She has so much energy, she could go on 5-6 hours of sleep and be fine, no crankiness or anything. This is how I was when I was young, too. I remember being in elementary school, as young as Kindergarten, and staying up until 2-3 a.m. reading or watching t.v. while everyone else in the house slept, including my mom!

JoElle still wakes up by 8 a.m. or earlier, full of energy and ready for the day to begin! She is not cranky when she is tired, only when she is hungry does she get cranky, just like me :) Lately, we have found JoElle falls asleep best if she is laying with me or Daddy. She will typically fall right to sleep and then we can put her in her bed for the rest of the night, I think a lot of it is security, she feels safe next to us.

As for Alexa, she is a great sleeper really, she typically takes 2-3 naps a day, she is up around 8:30-9:00 a.m. and is ready for another nap by 10-10:30 a.m. She takes another nap in the afternoon, this time is not very predictable unless we are driving in the car, then she will surely sleep! Sometimes she takes another nap around 4-6 p.m., usually not very long, maybe an hour. As for bedtime, she gets fussy and fidgety somewhere around 8-9 p.m. and she will either fall asleep as I or Daddy holds her, or she won't stay still so I put her down in her crib awake, giver her a blanket and turn on her mobile, then rush out of the room before she can look back for me and start crying! This works really well, she usually grins really big when I put her in her bed and she loves blankets. She sometimes cries a little bit as she gets comfortable, then she will find her fingers to suck and turn onto her tummy and fall asleep.

Lately, she cries when I lay her down, so I start rubbing her side under her arms and she giggles like crazy instead of crying because she is so ticklish!! It is really cute.

So close to crawling and pulling up!

Alexa is so very close to crawling! She is constantly rocking back and forth on all fours, "crawling" backwards, and a few days ago, she started to put one knee forward, and at other times, but the other knew a little forward.

While on all fours, she also lifts her knees off of the ground like she is in some sort of plank yoga pose, then she starts to scoot her hand back towards her feet and she tries to stand up. Our only guess is that she is trying to pull up/ stand up on her own. Alexa is pretty good at holding on to her stationary activity center or the ottoman by herself.

She is so great at rolling every which way that last week she was literally all over the living room floor. She gravitates toward the t.v. (I found her under the t.v. armoire chewing on JoElle's Leap Frog computer cord, or to my dad's recliner. She can get back and forth around the room rather fast. What is extremely funny is when I turn Backyardigans on, as soon as she hears them singing their opening song, she stops whatever she is doing, twists, contorts, cranes her neck and arches her back, whatever it takes to see them! She also calms down when waiting for a bottle to be cleaned and made if we turn this on for her. JoElle loves to watch it too, it's a very cute show.

Alexa's 6 month checkup

Alexa now weighs 18 lbs 12 oz (90 percentile for weight, meaning she is bigger than 90 percent of girls her age) and is 26 inches long (which is 75 percentile for height.)

Her head remains consistently small at 25 percentile. She got a sleuth of shots, as always, she cried a lot when the nurse was sticking her, 3 injections plus one oral vaccine. But this time, when I picked her up, she immediately stopped crying! Overall, Alexa is doing great!

She mostly wears 12-18 month old clothes :) Alexa is a pretty good eater, she enjoys the food that I make her, such as organic blueberries, papaya, zuchini; but even more so, she loves table food! She is happy with anything she can get her hands on, literally. One of her favorite things to eat is paper, such as JoElle's artwork, computer paper, envelopes and mail, oh yeah can't forget receipts! Alexa has my receipts in her mouth just as soon as they hand them to me at any store. The other day at McDonald's, Alexa was chomping away at the receipt and the person working there pointed out that she was eating the receipt, I responded with a polite, yes I know, she likes to eat paper. The lady looked at me as if I were a little strange, all the while I am thinking how strange she is, who cares if she eats the receipt anyways? More fiber I've heard.

Alexa loves to chomp on bread, chips, fries, she ate black-eyed peas recently, can't forget bananas, she enjoys the crust of pizza, we let her have some chocolate birthday cake from JoElle's birthday party for her baby and her girl monster (one of her imaginary friends). Last week, she ate Orange Chicken from Panda Express, even though it is a bit spicy!

Alexa: 6 months old and learning so much!

September 3rd, 2008: Her 3rd tooth broke through today, the top right front tooth.

September 2nd, 2008: she learned how to get to a sitting position from all fours!

September 1, 2008: Alexa started waving bye-bye with her right hand at JoElle riding her bike!