Two and Then Some

I'm going to forgo the apology for not having posted in so long....it's getting old :)

So, let's see....Lexie is 28 months old (when do we stop counting in months?). She has moved up to the Toddler room at daycare, and her teachers, Bridgette and Lindsey, are amazing. So patient and excited to be with the kids all day long. Lexie loves going to school in the mornings, and talks about it all the way to school in the car. Somehow, something happens right about the time we hit the doorway, and then she suddenly changes! her! mind! and let's everyone know. Usually on Monday mornings, so you can't really blame her... Her vocabulary is growing every day. The other day, out of nowhere, she suprised me by starting to count in Spanish. We have some really entertaining conversations, and it's really a neat experience to watch her figure out exactly what she wants to say.

We have entered the potty training phase, in earnest. I had been avoiding it, and now I know why. This is HARD, y'all! I take comfort in the fact that she doesn't have to be successfully using the potty at school until she's 3 (the kids have to be completely trained during the day in order to move up to pre-school), so we've got time. We've tried cheering, bribing, everything....just not interested.

Lexie's birthday party was a huge success. All the credit goes to Doug, who really pushed for the petting zoo, even when I balked at it. He was right, I was wrong. There, I've said it in a public forum! The lady who brought the animals was awesome. The animals were great, well cared-for, and really seemed to enjoy being around the kids. Lexie woke up the next day wondering where all her animals had gone!

Trying to figure out how to manage this massive cupcake, courtesy of Auntie Cynthia.

Cake pops are definitely more her speed, also courtesy of Auntie Cynthia.

Miss Daisy hanging out with the kids.

Bunny love.

Halloween was a huge failure. No amount of ANYTHING would get that kid into a costume. She had talked about it for a month. "I'm gonna be a COW....MOOOOO!" We had the costume, we had prepped her for candy, and when it came time to get dressed, we had the biggest tantrum I have ever seen. Needless to say, we sat out the trick-or-treating. And we missed out on cute kid-in-costume pictures!

Lexie had her first weekend sleepover in October. She spent the weekend with Aunt Dre, Uncle Terry, and Aunt Mimi and her cousins while Doug and I went to a wedding. She had a great time, and still talks about that weekend. I love that she loves being with family so much!

We spend a lot of time using Skype to video conference with Lexie's grandparents in California. That has been a real blessing for us, so that Lexie can get to know them, even though they're so far away. I'm not really sure she understands yet that Gramma and Grampa can't reach out and touch her, but she definitely knows who they are. I'm grateful for that.

Christmas was tons of fun. This was the first year she really got into the whole present thing. A typical conversation went like this:

Parent: "Lexie, what's Santa going to bring you?"

Lexie: "PRESENTS!!"

Parent: "How many is he going to bring?"
Lexie: "ALL OF THEM!"

Making a bee-line for the Christmas presents Santa left!

Unwrapping!

Sporting the cute jammies Santa left for her....

Christmas portrait from school.

We spent New Years this year with our friends in North Carolina whose little girl is the same age as Lexie. We were all very pleased when they really seemed to get along and play very well together. I love seeing her interact with other kids her age.

Lexie really enjoyed celebrating Doug's birthday this year. She talked all day about singing Happy Birthday to him, but when time came, I ended up singing solo. But we baked cupcakes and dinner and she would say, "Happy Birthday, Dada!" at random points throughout the day. She knows her birthday is September 11th, but always thinks that it's "next week". I think she's just angling for more presents.

And 2011 has started off with a bang....she finally cut two of her 2-year molars; they are still not all the way in yet, but the worst is over with these, I think. Two more to go..... We're going to transition to a big girl bed soon. It's really me that's holding things up. I just don't want to take her out of the crib yet. She's growing up so fast, it seems like we give up something every day that takes her one step further away from being a baby and that much closer to being a "big kid". It really is bittersweet.

Some random shots for your enjoyment....

Doug's company was planting trees on a new stream bed; we stopped by to lend a hand.

Not sure how this came about. She emptied out the pots and pans and promptly got in the cabinet herself....

At the Pumpkin Patch on a school field trip.

Sidewalk chalk on the new driveway.

She didn't want to be too far away from her Christmas presents after we got home.

"Look at my helmet hat, Momma!"

And, finally, a few of my favorites from our most recent professional shoot. Thanks, as always, Nissa and Chris!

Much love to you all!

Approaching the Big 2!

Once again, it seems I'm starting with an apology for such a long time between updates....

At any rate, Lexie is now 23 months old. She seems to have grown at least an inch in the past week. She can reach things now that she couldn't just last week (note to self - clean off countertops...). She has learned how to jump, and one of her favorite things in the world is a trampoline.

She is now the oldest toddler in her class at school, and she's getting ready to move up to the Toddler Room after her birthday. She's still doing very well in school, and has even managed to give up the paci at nap time (at school....not so much at home!). She still loves to have her teacher paint her finger and toe nails (I have pretty nails, Momma!), but at the same time, doesn't mind a bit being yucky dirty. I think we may have a girly tomboy on our hands.

She talks non-stop. We are actually having conversations with her now. She's got some favorite expressions: What's that?; It's OK, Momma; Don't talk about me!; and, of course, NO! We hear her chattering to herself over the monitor in the mornings most days. She loves to read books, and she gets very excited when we go to the bookstore (Ooooooh! New books!!).

She has started to take Kung Fu lessons. She gets one-on-one lessons with her sifu (teacher) every other week. Most of the time it's just playing with Sifu, but she has actually started to pick up on some of the movements. Our goal is to get her acclimated to the environment so that, when she starts to take real lessons, she'll be comfortable there. It has actually really helped with some behaviors at home that we were trying to change...namely, hitting and kicking. When she does it now, we can remind her that we only kick/hit with Sifu, and it stops.

Her temper has definitely shown itself in the past few months. We had our first kicking/screaming/punching/had-to-leave-the-store meltdown a few weeks ago. It was pretty impressive. I didn't really know someone so little could get SO mad! She has her own opinions about the way things should be and is not shy about expressing them.

She's been working on her 2 year molars for a few months now (all 4 of them!). Every week or so she'll have a spurt of teething pain that lasts a few days. Poor thing. When I brush her teeth I pray that we'll see a new tooth, but so far nothing. It's really during these days that we see the temper come out. But I can't really blame her. Cutting 4 molars at once must be really hard!

We had a weeklong visit from my family, which Lexie absolutely loved! She had her Grandma and Grandpa, her Uncle Sean and Aunt Carly, and her cousins Jessica, Kyle, Maddison, and Kane for a whole week! She also had her Uncle Mike and three more cousins - Zack, Logan, and Dylan - for a few days. AND one day we had a cook out where her Nana and PopPop, Aunt Dre and Uncle Terry, and SIX more cousins - Kylee, Sierra, Reagan, Davis, Peyton, and Caleb - came. She was in seventh heaven!! It was quite the adjustment when everyone left (including Doug - he was gone for a week on business) and it was just the two of us!

She is really turning into Daddy's girl. She gets so excited when she hears the door open when he gets home from work. I think it must be the highlight of her day. She likes to pounce on him in the bed in the morning when he's still sleeping (which he's a trooper about!) and shout, "Wake up, Daddy!". She loves to play in her playroom with him..."Gonin' in the playroom, Daddy?" It really is sweet to watch them together.

Developing her own sense of style...

This is what happens when you leave the bulk pack of napkins within reach....

Sprinkler time!

Helping with the laundry

Expressing her displeasure at being asked to get out of the cabinet

Beach baby! In the Outer Banks for Memorial Day

Putting our toes in the surf...it was COLD!

Bunny ears, short shorts, and high heels....thinking we may want to encourage different fashion choices in the future....

Not thrilled with posing with the stuffed alligator at the aquarium

Playing in the playroom with Daddy

Modeling her new Kung Fu outfit


Our favorite Mommy-Daughter date....Getting Smoothies!!

Just another day at the office

COUSINS!!!

Kyle, Kane, Zack, Jessica

Kylee, Sierra, Reagan, Logan

Maddison, Davis, Peyton, Dylan

Caleb, Lexie

Dancing Queen

Toddlerhood

I'm so bad at this whole blogging thing. There are people who manage to post something every day. I'm lucky to do something every few months!

At any rate....Lexie is now 17 months old. She's a very active, funny, smart little girl (if I do say so.....). She is running around the house at will now, and we are learning to let her go out of our sight for a bit at a time. She will play contentedly in her playroom for a few minutes before coming to find us. She is talking SO much. She'll pick up a new word without either one of us realizing that she knows it until it comes out of her mouth. And, yes, she has uttered her first 4-letter word. At 16 months old. We're so very proud.... I'll leave it to you to guess which one it was.

She is now in the Junior Toddler room at daycare. It was a slower adjustment than we had hoped, but she's finally settling in. It helps that there's a real live bunny right outside her room. (BUNNY, Momma, BUNNY!!) Her classroom fronts onto the street side of the building, and the walls are made of one-way glass, so she's able to see outside all day. (CAR, Momma, CAR!!!) She says Hi and Bye to everyone she sees, unless of course we ask her to say Hi or Bye, in which case she is silent. She has started asking for hugs, but only from both Momma and Daddy at the same time. She has also mastered the word No, much to our dismay. And she uses it liberally.

We had Christmas at Lexie's Aunt Dre and Uncle Terry's house this past year (I'm not sure we'll be invited back anytime soon :). She wasn't quite as into it as I had hoped. In fact, we came home with several wrapped presents, because she was so much more interested in what everyone else was doing. But, as always, she LOVED seeing all of the cousins on Doug's side of the family. And they are always just great with Lexie.

In January, we went to California to visit Gramma and Grampa for two weeks, who hadn't seen Lexie since she was a week old. She also got to meet her Aunt Susan, Great Grampa Jack, Great Gramma Deana, and her cousins Kalina and Farrah. And Thor and Circe, the dogs. (DOGS, Momma, DOGS!!! D-D-D-D-DOGS!!!) She did better than anticipated on the plane rides, which was a blessing. I learned the art of changing a diaper in an airplane bathroom, which is something I don't want to repeat. Ever.

In the last two weeks, we've had three snowstorms...big ones (with another one predicted for this weekend....). She's decided she likes the snow this year, as opposed to last year. Actually, she likes anything that gets her outside. And woe unto the one who decides it's time to go inside (which is usually me...). She doesn't like that. At all.

She's got 11.5 teeth (that last molar still isn't all the way through!) and is working on at least one more. She and I had dentist appointments today. She cried all the way through my appointment, so the dentist decided it might not be the best idea to subject Lexie to an exam. I could hear her chatting with the staff (Light! Door! Car! Ball! Meow!) as they took her through the office so that the dentist could actually finish my exam (and subsequent lecture).

She's developed a love of her baby dolls. She will feed them, put them night-night, kiss them, hug them, and carry them around. Until something catches her eye, when she will promptly drop said baby doll on its head without looking back. Hopefully she'll grow out of that before she's old enough to babysit.....


On to the pictures.....


All dressed up for Nana's Christmas Eve party



















She loves the computer that Mr. Don and Ms. Patsy got her for Christmas!














Daddy and PopPop went to the Dallas-Skins game after Christmas, and Lexie was helping cheer them on. Too bad it didn't work......















First snowfall of the season....



















Second snowfall of the season.....















Third snowfall of the season....



















Cozy little nest for a snowday from work and school...














The best thing Santa brought her...her very own ball pit!















Thor and Circe...her new bestest pals. She wasn't the least bit afraid of them.














She got tired of reaching all.the.way.in. the toybox, so she made it easy on herself....














As always....lots of love to you all! Come visit!!

The Post That Took a Year (Plus) to Write

Lexie Through The Ages

A few minutes old























One week old


















One month old























Two months old


















Three months old























Four months old


















Five months old





















Six months old
















Seven months old






















Eight months old

















Nine months old





















Ten months old

















Eleven months old


















Twelve months old





















Thirteen months old

















And she's REALLY mobile now.....