Alex's Wagon

Jimmy and the kids putting together Alex's new red wagon. 

Thanks Nana and Papa!

This is hilarious.  He was soooooo happy!

 

Mimi is reading to Alex.  He would crack up every time she said the animal names because she shouted it out.  I love it that they are both smiling in this picture.  It was so cute!

"Ah-Kee, the book is all done.  The end.  Did you like it?"

 

A Warm Winter Day

Sixty degrees in January = Park

 

Showing me the mulch, "dis"

Goofy face

Mimi swinging with her BFF, Roshni

One mitten and one mum mum

One Year, Two Teeth

That's What She Said

I really need to be writing these down more often, but here's a few silly things our little lady has been saying lately:

Amelia doesn't just say no, she says "No way" or "I don't think so."  She also adds a sassy little tone when she says it.  Yeah, it was cute at first, but not any more!

Instead of yes, she says "Okay, okay, okay, okay" and says it as fast as she can.

If Alex does something bad, like throw food on the floor, she looks at him with disappointment and says "Ah-kee, that's not cool."

If she sees Alex crying, she'll comfort him be saying "Be cool Ah-kee. Be cool."  Then she will bust out into twinkle twinkle little star and rub his back.  This is by far one of the sweetest things I've witnessed in my life.

Sometimes, while she's playing independently she'll scream out "Marco" and expect you to say "Polo."  This is especially strange because we've never taught her that.  We think she picked it up at school.

For the past few months, we've been working on sequencing and she's gotten really good at it.  She is able to follow up to four directions in sequence and is starting to grasp the concepts of patterns.  However, she's been trying to work the system to her advantage. 

For example, at dinner, she'll as for licorice.  We tell her no and redirect her to drink her milk, eat her rice, and apple.  As soon as we finish our requests, she chimes in and says....."THEEEEN I'll have licorice."  That's just one example of about 25 situations a day. 

Me: Mimi, put your cup away and clean up your toys.
Mimi:  THEEEEN, we'll watch Elmo.

Me: Mimi let's go downstairs to change Alex's diaper.
Mimi: THEEEEN, we'll eat chips.

Me: Let's go grocery shopping and have lunch.
Mimi: THEEEEN we'll go to the museum.

She's cracks me up and I wish I kept better track of her silliness.  She gets really shy around people and doesn't talk as much.  I just really wish everyone could experience her hilarity and discovery (and manipulation!) of language.

Hospital Playtime

Jimmy had another 24 hour duty at the hospital.  This time, it was during the weekend, so we were really bummed out.  Our weekends are so precious to us for family time. 

Jimmy missed the kids, so we decided to meet up for lunch.  Only emergency services is open on the weekend, so the building was pretty much empty.  After we ate, we let the kids run around the near empty hospital.  They had so much fun chasing each other around.  The kids took an nice long nap after we got home.

We also visited Jimmy's office.  We wanted Amelia to know where Jimmy was most days.  She understands that Jimmy is at work, but now she has an idea of where it is and what it looks like.  Amelia was also happy to see all her art projects and pictures hanging up.   

Jimmy and I were very surprised when Amelia started talking about how Alex went to the hospital to see the doctor and felt sad, but then felt better.  It has been several months since Alex's last appointment and we haven't talked about it recently.  She has such a good memory! 

BACH

Blanchfield Army Community Hospital

An empty hospital is the best playground.  They didn't want to go home.  They were having so much fun.  You could hear their giggling echoing through the hallway.

Random Phone Pics

Hello Kitty blankie, books, and shoes...

Amelia is obsessed and we are enablers

 

Alex needs a haircut

Enjoying her new stamps.  Thanks Nana and Papa!

Under bite in full effect

 

Talking to her peeps while on the potty

 

Amelia and Alex have really been into making forts lately.  This one was designed and built by Jimmy, ha ha.

Amelia continues to put her shades on upside down

My little climber.  First on top of the chair...

then the table!

 

I just think they look adorable in the double cart ;0)

 

ONE.

Where does the time go?  I feel like with Alex, it went by so quickly.  One.  I now have a one year old little boy.  I can't believe it.  It's been such a crazy year with moving and settling in, that time just got away from me.  So here I am, reflecting on Alex's first birthday.

My biggest fear was that I wouldn't love Alex as much as I loved Amelia.  It's silly now that I think about it, but while I was pregnant, I thought about it all the time.  But, like everyone told me, your heart just grows bigger with love.  As cliche as it sounds... it's so true!  My heart is full and there is lots of room for my love for Alex ;0)

What is Alex like at one?

We call him Ah-Kee.  Amelia's been calling him that since he was a baby and I guess it just stuck! 

He is definitely a Mommy's boy.  At one year old, he still cries when I leave the room.

He loves to cuddle, snuggle, and just be close to people.  He does this thing where he just buries his head into your shoulder and it's the most awesome feeling.  I guess he can be described as a touch feely little boy, ha ha.

He has a blankie.  He loves to snuggle with it before he sleeps.  He rubs his fingers on it to feel the softness.  When he sees it on the floor, he'll bury his face into it.  When he brings his head up, he has the biggest smile on his face. 

He is very active.  At one, he is already really into running, climbing, and jumping.  I turn around for a second and he's standing on top of the table or couch or running off into a different room!     

He has two bottom teeth (finally!)  He's smiley baby and still constantly drools.  I feel silly keeping a bib on him since he's a toddler, but I have to to keep him from soaking through his shirts.

He still loves loves loves to put long and narrow objects in his mouth, ha ha.  He gravitates toward the number 7 and 1 on our number puzzles and L and I on our alphabet puzzle.  It's hilarious.  He goes for the same ones every time!  His other favorites are a toy hot dog, flashlights, tubes, and any type of silverware.

He eats... and eats, and eats some more.  His favorite foods are strawberries, rice, and any type pasta.  I also started weaning him about three weeks ago.  He's down to 3-4 nursing sessions per day.  Now, I usually only nurse him before naps and bedtime.

He constantly babbles!  Some of the words we can actually recognize are: uh-oh, mom, dada, mum mum, cat, and dis (this).  He usually says uh-oh after he throws something and says dis when he points to things.  When we ask him if he wants a snack, he says mum mum (that's the brand of cracker we give him).  He will point to the cats and say cat too. 

He loves water.  He gets really upset when we have to get him cleaned up after dinner because he wants to eat for longer (seriously, we have to cut him off!).  As soon as his hands touch the water when we wash his hands, he almost immediately calms down.  Alex loves baths too.  He is so fearless and just jumps and splashes around everywhere!

Happy first birthday to my little man.  I can't wait to see his personality develop!

Alex's Aquarium Birthday Trip

We wanted to do something special for Alex's first birthday, so we took a short road trip (2.5 hours) to Chattanooga, TN to take the kids to the Tennessee Aquarium.  The kids had an absolute blast.  They are both at perfect ages to enjoy and appreciate all the animals.  We stayed there the whole day and they acted awesome!  We will definitely be going back there for another visit.

Alex just really enjoyed watching all the animals.  He kept pointing at new things he saw and loved pushing his face up against the glass to watch the fish up close.  His absolute favorite thing to do was run around and explore on his own.

Amelia recognized a lot of the animals, so she was very talkative through our whole visit.  She kept asking questions about the animals she didn't know and loved to point out the ones she knew.  Amelia only got scared when were were in the jellyfish area since it was really dark.

Since our visit, Amelia hasn't stopped talking about the Aquarium.  It's amazing to us how much she actually remembers from the trip!  She keeps asking to go back.

We love to take our kids to see and do new things.  It is just amazing to see them absorb everything they come in contact with.  It's like you can see their little brains working, ha ha.  They are so freaking cute!

Yup, this is what they were like most of the time...

Alex in the shark cage!

 

Jellyfish- This is when Mimi got scared

Mimi and I inside the tube with giant crabs!

 

Hooper

 

Silly Mimi

Here are few shots of Mimi (29 months) just being herself:

 

I recently put decal numbers one through nine in the playroom for Alex.  Every morning, for about a week, Amelia kept asking where the rest of the numbers were.  She can count to 50, so you can imagine how annoying it got.  She cracks me up. 

"No, it's Mimi's birthday.  It's my party."

 

"Look mommy, I'm tall."