Alexa's first swim (that I can remember at least!)

On our way to the pool...

The girls and I had a lot of fun tonight at the indoor pool at the Y.
We had decided to go to a spray park, but it was closed, so instead we went to the pool.

I don't remember ever taking Alexa, this was her first time as far as I can remember!
As soon as we walked into the pool area, Alexa walked right over to the pool and tried to get in! JoElle had to hold her back while I set the towels down. They both loved it, it has been almost 2 years since I have taken JoElle, so she really didn't remember it. She can now walk in the water all the way to the rope, which separates the wade in/ shallow end with the lap pool. I can't believe how tall she is!

Alexa was brave, as always, and fell over onto her face numerous times, coughed a bit, then kept going! She loved to splash and walk along the side of the pool on the plastic part. She fell a few times, too, but I caught her. She won't let me hold her hand, she is extremely stubborn and independent....I used to think JoElle was stubborn, but she doesn't hold a candle to Alexa's stubborness!

JoElle is definitely ready to take swim lessons. She practiced going under the water (holding her nose) like Daddy had taught her on vacation in San Antonion.

Alexa did great, too! I told her to kick her legs while I was holding her, so she did, then she noticed that others were using her arms, so she did the same! She also laid back and put her head back in the water and let me hold her on her back. JoElle never would do this stuff when she was younger! She was always too scared...

The people at the Y had to chase us out of the pool at 7:45 p.m. and the whole way out people were oohing and ahhing at Alexa and JoElle, telling them how beautiful they are. It's always funny to me, they both take it in stride.

Precious Prayers

JoElle's bedtime prayer:

I love you God because you are my savior. I love all the things that you made. I love you for being in my heart.

In Jesus name I pray.

Amen.

Head, Shoulders....

I couldn't figure out why Alexa kept leaning over to touch her toes and then giggle.

She kept doing it over and over, then spinning around and making herself dizzy. I finally stopped and listened to the song that she kept playing on her toy-

Head, shoulders, knees and toes... OH! I get it! She is trying to do the song!

Today she even touched her head, shoulders, leaned down for her knees, then touched her toes!

Lex also loves "If You're Happy and You Know It", she happily claps, stomps with her legs going WAY up in the air, then shouts "hooyeah" with her arm up in the air for "hooray!"

Another fave song / dance of hers is "The Puppetmaster" on Yo Gabba Gabba! This dance is how she learned to lift her leg so high in the air and turn around!

I don't remember JoElle loving music and dancing THIS much, she loved it, but not quite like this! Most songs that play in the car get Alexa to bob her head from side to side, lift her arms up in the air or "sing" along!

Alexa is 14 months old!

So, Alexa is 14 months old- she loves to jump and climb. The other day, she finally got both feet off the floor at the same time!

Alexa loves to imitate her sister. She is using a fork extremely well to eat, she enjoys eating ice cream and yogurt, not every daily, just a few times a week, but she is digesting the lactose well!

Alexa loves to climb on things, then stand up and grin at me!

She is still just as mischevious and fearless as ever. She almost ran out of Chick-Fil-A the other day with some strangers, they didn't notice they had a tag along and she runs so fast I could barely catch up to her!

Alexa is finally loving being at childcare at church and at the Y. She walks in and doesn't look back, most days!

Alexa still loves to sleep- she goes to bed around 8:30-9:00 p.m. and doesn't get out of bed until 10:00-11:00 the next day, with one nap in the afternoon that lasts anywhere from 2 hours to 4 hours long!

Alexa loves people and animals, she is extremely friendly to people, she waves at cars going by in the front yard, and she waves and says hi to people everywhere that we go. She loves attention! We taught her to stay on the sidewalk outside, she does great with that!

Alexa loves to play in the mud, dirt, and mulch. She likes to draw with chalk on the sidewalk, she has great gine motor skills, she can color with crayons on paper even.

When we take her out to eat, as soon as she sees the waiter with our drinks, she starts screaming loudly until she gets her Coke. She is definitely a Coke monster! She notices at home and out eating that others are drinking something else from her, and she gets upset.

She loves to have Uncle Aaron hold her when he is over. She runs to him and puts her arms up. She does this to Nana, too. When Aaron puts her down, she cries and screams and follows him around!!

She is talking up a storm and making more sense every day. She tries to talk louder than JoElle all the time, it's hilarious. She knows a ton of songs and can sing some of the words. She love to bop to music. The other day, she was singing "Holy, holy, holy" to a praise song in the car!

Alexa likes to feed everyone, she thinks that is funny.

I could go on and on, obviously! But I will stop for now!

Sickness...again

Alexa has a nasty cough, again.

She gets coughs every month that last for at least 2 weeks. We have taken her to the dr twice her whole life to make sure there is nothing else we need to do, evey time the dr tells us there is nothing to give her- but we give her OT meds anyways. I don't agree with the new FDA guidelines around not giving our babies and toddlers any medication for coughs and colds.

As adults, when we are sick, we use medication to mitigate the symptoms, right? Why let our littlest ones suffer through the nasty pains, coughs, sneezing and runny noses without at least lessoning the symptoms? It is no easier for a parent to overdose their little ones with OT meds than it is prescription meds.

I have had numerous GERD meds for Alexa that had the most complicated directions to follow to prepare that even the pharmacists had a hard time understanding and explaining it. It is easy to give too much prescription med to a baby, esp when you have to prepare it from dissolvable tablets or granules, then only use part of that for the dosage.

Anyways, Alexa is having a hard time sleeping because the cough hurts her so much each time. Yesterday, Tim says she went into a coughing fit at Granny's house, not sure what set her off.

I am not even sure where she is picking these colds up from; my only guess is Sunday School or Wednesday night child care, this is the only time she is around other little ones. JoElle and I don't have these coughs she keeps getting and she doesn't go grocery shopping with me very often.

I am one

JoElle and I taught Alexa to answer the question:

"How old are you, Alexa?"

She lifts her hand and sticks up one finger to show she is one!

She is a smart cookie.

.....Amen!

JoElle led our lunchtime prayer today over a sausage and egg scramble; she asked the Lord to help Alexa close her eyes to pray and to help Alexa understand God.

We finish our prayers by banging on the table, lifting our arms, and exclaiming "Amen!"

Then we started to eat and Alexa banged on her tray, lifted her arms, and said "Amen!" She wanted us to do it again! It was cute cute.