A Day in the Life...

All of these videos take place on different days, but they give you an idea of what a typical day in our world entails....Enjoy!

When Kevin studies at home, Alexa is constantly looking for him since he shuts himself in the office/spare room to keep our curious little girl out. She'll knock on the door and keep saying "da-da" over and over, which I'm sure helps Kevin with his studying!! Of course, as soon as I grab the camera though, she stops what she's doing!

This is how Alexa "reads" books. She goes back and forth between books and has to hold them herself. She usually jabbers on and on "telling" us her own version of the story which means we don't get a lot of actual reading in!

Alexa has her own corner of the living room where her toys are situated. She's getting better at entertaining herself for longer moments which is nice for me so that I can get a few things done here and there.

Our Little Chatterbox!

The image of Alexa at 13 just flashed before me!!! Oh wait, that's her at 14 months! Oh my, what do we have in store??? This is seriously one of her favorite things to do, she wanders around the house with the phone attached to her ear, saying "haaaaaiii" (use your best southern belle voice!). It makes me smile though because it's one more thing that proves she definitely is MY daughter, not that there was any question....but growing up my mom would find it humorous to go to parent/teacher conferences for me because my teachers always said the same thing "she's great, we love having her in class, straight A's...blah, blah, blah (yes, I am tooting my own horn!).....but she really does love to talk, doesn't she?!" Like mother, like daughter! Happy Valentine's Day Alexa, you have filled my life with so much love!

THANK YOU!!!

Thank you to my fabulous friend Amanda for helping make my blog look so darn cute....and more up to date! We love the new look and appreciate all her time and hardwork! Amanda, you're the best!

Our Simpson Selves...

Okay, so I found this on my friend Emily's blog and since Kevin is a HUGE Simpsons fan, I knew I HAD to do this too. So here is our Simpsonized version of ourselves....Enjoy!!

Kevin

Collette

Alexa

In Springfield, Alexa has already started school....what a lil' genius we have on our hands!! :-) You can try this out for yourselves at http://www.simpsonizeme.com/!

Pigtails or Curly...it doesn't matter!

Alexa here again...whichever way my mommy does my hair, I like it! I'm pretty cute no matter! Have I mentioned that being humble is one of my best qualities!! :-)

My Pretty!

I was talking to my mom yesterday who told me that my adorable neice Lenaia has a necklace that she calls her Pretty and she has to wear it all day long. Well, my parents were in Vegas this past week and my mom noticed these beads and decided she needed to buy a "my pretty" for Alexa too. We got the package yesterday and Alexa hasn't been without her pretty since. She loves it. Thanks Grandma Jenny for the fun present!!

Alexa loves her Daddy!

Alexa here! Hanging out with Daddy is so fun! I love to play with him. When he comes home from school is my favorite time of the day. I get so excited. And the days that I get to see him BEFORE he goes to school....those are my favorite! It doesn't matter what we do, I just love to spend time with him. I think I even have him wrapped around my finger...shhhhhh though, don't tell him I said that!! ;-)

Easily Amused...

There are days when Alexa is completely content to play on her own, such as this particular day. The piano and piano bench provided much needed entertainment for quite some time. Then there are the days when Alexa just wants mommy to play with her all day long and I can't be more than an inch away from her! I enjoy both, but a break every now and then is a good thing!

Hinckley Challenge

In memory of our beloved prophet, President Hinckley, I have taken the "Hinckley Challenge" to read the entire Book of Mormon in 97 days. With regret, I admit that when Pres. Hinckley challenged all of us a couple years ago to read the Book of Mormon before the end of the year, I fell short. So I am very determined to complete this challenge and even finish early. I have added the chart to track my progress on the blog more for my benefit so that I can be reminded to read!

Worst Mommy Moment...

Okay, so I know this has happened to probably just about all moms out there, (and if it hasn't, I'm sure it will) but it still doesn't make me feel any better. Here's the story....after putting Alexa to bed last nigth at her normal time of 7:00 - we noticed she was pretty restless and would periodically cough. We didn't think anything of it as she had a nasty cold not too long ago and I figured she was just still trying to get over it. I also was hoping that she wasn't coming down AGAIN with something because I wasn't sure I could handle it again so soon. Well, at one point when she was having one of her coughing attacks, it sounded like she was gagging...again, while she was sick - that was normal so we didn't think much of it. So Kevin and I continued to watch our movie and just hoped Alexa would settle into a good night's sleep. As a side note - later that night as we were going to bed...I noticed a nacho cheese smell as I headed up the stairs but figured it was our downstairs neighbors cooking something. So this morning when Alexa woke up a little after 8:00, I walked out into the hallway from our bedroom and my nose was assaulted with a pretty nasty smell. At this point, I'm STILL not cluing in thinking it could again be our neighbors or the garbage or.... Anyways, then I open the door to Alexa's room and BAM, it stinks SOOOO bad! There's my little girl standing at the end of her crib waiting for me to get her out and as soon as I turn the light on, I notice that she'd puked EVERYWHERE. Not just a little...A LOT! She was covered head to toe, her sheet was plastered with and she was still holding her loveys that were soaked with it. I just about fell apart, knowing immediately that she'd thrown up last night when we heard her gagging and I'd let her sleep in it all night long. I felt and still feel horrible. To top it all off, the last thing she ate last night for dinner were some blueberries. So not only did she puke everywhere...but it was blueberry puke! How delightful! Needless to say, I immediately put her in the tub and set to cleaning everything up. I think I've accomplished that but there's still a lingering pukey smell in her room that won't go away no matter how much Febreeze I spray. I'm surprised we made it to church after the morning we had and despite it all, I'm so grateful for Alexa even if I'm the one who gets to clean up her puke. Oh and no need to thank me for not attaching the picture of the puke...yes, I took a picture...I HAD to - Kevin had already left for church and he needed to experience at least to a tiny degree - some of what I went through this morning!!

I love Daddy!

I bought Alexa this adorable shirt at Old Navy the other day - "Daddys' Dreamy and so Am I"....I mean, how could I NOT buy it once I saw it??!!! I'm so thankful that I do have a dreamy husband and a beautiful baby girl. They are amazing blessings in my life and I don't know what I'd do without them!

Brrrrrr.....

Well, the temperatures have definitely dropped here in Louisville...I think this is the coldest it's been all winter and we don't like it one bit. But it is pretty fun to bundle Alexa up because she just looks so darn cute. The first time we put her big parka on, she could barely move...it was pretty funny, but she's gotten used to it now. Here's hoping Spring is right around the corner!!!

It's been a looooong week....

I know, I know...it's been a few weeks since my last post. I promise to have a few more pics up in the next couple days. But for now, I just wanted to vent, I guess. I think there's nothing more sad than having a sick child. And there's nothing more draining than being a sick mom, taking care of a sick child. That's what we've been up to for the past week and a bit. It started out as a cough for Alexa which quickly turned into a full blown ear infection and a very nasty cold. And being the sweet thing she is, she shared with her mama! Thankfully though, Alexa is back to her happy self. She still has a bit of a cough but she's smiley and content once again. Me??? Well, I'm getting there. But through it all, I do have things I'm thankful for or maybe just things I'm enjoying...like Alexa really understanding me. Whenever I say, "let's go upstairs" or "let's change your bum" or "you ready for a nap"...she'll walk to the bottom of the stairs and wait at the gate until I'm ready to go with her. And likewise, when we're upstairs and I say, "let's go downstairs" or "let's go to your room", she goes to the door of my room and waits. It's so darn cute that I just had to share it. And now she jokes with me too. It makes me laugh every time...even when she's kicking her legs, making it hard to change her bum - because I just look at her and she starts giggling and then will do it again. Such a little personality is emerging and I love it. Well, that's enough sharing...I have dinner to get on and more laundry to fold before we head out for the evening. Caio!

Playing at the Granets

The Granets

While we were in Elfrida, Kevin wanted to have Alexa experience some of the fun things he used to do growing up. So we played on the trampoline and we went to the highschool to shoot the basketball around and we also went up to the Granets (sp?)...a cluster of rocks where the Apache Indians used to live. There are holes where the Indians used to grind their corn. It's pretty cool and we had a lot of fun exploring, Alexa even liked to taste the rocks.