Look Who's 2!!

Our little girl turned two this past Friday!! It's hard to believe, she seems like such a big girl. Alex took a couple of extra days off to celebrate with her, and my mom came in to town as well. We celebrated Alicia all day on Friday, we had a pancake breakfast, went out to lunch at Friday's where they sang to her and brought her ice cream! On Saturday we had her little birthday party, and Alicia had a blast!! It was great to be around so many people that have such genuine love for our little girl. It made me very proud to see her cooking in her new kitchen from Ken, Silvia and Jennifer...we've barely been able to pry her away since she received it. We wrapped up Saturday with a horse and carriage ride. Over all it was a great weekend and a great celebration of Alicia's life!! It was really nice for me to have my mom there, because I always feel a little sad that my family misses most of our holidays and celebrations.

Our Newest Addition

Ready or not...here he is!! We are very excited to introduce our newest family member. He doesn't have an official name yet, but is a little sweetie and just as cute as can be. We aren't sure yet what his mix is, but think it may be German Shepherd and Boxer. He was found along the side of the road walking along a ditch by our neighbor's friend and they haven't been able to locate any owners. Alex was in love at first sight and has been borderline giddy!! Alicia is also pretty thrilled about having him around.

Pics from the last month and a special day!!

Today is a very important day!! On this day 34 years ago, he was born to two loving parents that I don't think had any idea what they were in for!! Alicia and I are so thankful for Alex on this day...and every day of course!! I can't imagine what my life would be if I hadn't met him. We have so much fun together, and he is such a good daddy and husband. We celebrate him today. This was his fourth birthday that we celebrated together, and I am looking forward to celebrating many many more with him in the future.
It seems that life has been flying by around here!! I've joined the women's group at our church and have been enjoying a night out each week to go to that...and I think that Alicia and Alex have both been enjoying the bonding time that it allows them to have. I went to the doctor yesterday and all looks good, except for maybe the fact that my weight is still steadily increasing! I'm far from overweight and just now approaching the weight that I was when I first got pregnant with Alicia, but my doctor has been cautioning me that it is not my weight gain, but the babies that we are concerned about. I've been feeling good, especially after the extra sleep with the time change, and the baby in my belly is extremely active...I just wish that it would choose sometime to do its playing other than when I am trying to rest or sleep. Alicia is getting to be such a big girl and her vocabulary is just exploding!! Every day I hear her practicing new words and she is very proud of her achievements. She had a terrible week last week since all four of her canine teeth came through at the same time, and we are all relieved that she is now feeling better.
Here are a bunch of pics since the last time that I posted any...enjoy!
Just enjoying some chicken nuggets. Making juice and showing off her Halloween pajamas...

All set for the big event...and it was a big success!!Reaping the benefits of a successful night!! She's just like her daddy in so many ways...

Alicia had made a huge mess of her clothes and was helping Alex BBQ outside in only a diaper, but they had to pull their chairs up to the door to watch the world series. With the dirt in the background I just couldn't help take a picture of my little white trash family!!

This is what it turned into...you can just imagine what the world would be like if kids had only dad's and no mom's around to maintain control...which in this particular case I had clearly lost. I took Alicia to a Halloween festival at a nearby park to give her wings a test run...

She didn't really want to dig in, but she did enjoy watching us carve the pumpkins...

Sharing snacks with her cousin Kate during her grandparents wedding!...

The couple had a perfect day...

On a trip to the pumpkin farm, Uncle Charlie managed to handle his daughters and give Alicia a ride down the slide as well.

Alicia loves her cousins and just can't get enough of them!!

Enjoying the new trikes that the bride and groom gave the flower girls...

An Angels game in early September...or was it August, not sure, but it was a lot of fun!!

A brief update

So sorry for the lack of posting. I went to Chicago for a week, followed by Alex being gone for a week on business...only to come home and have a major computer crash. All said, I just haven't really had much opportunity to get my hands on the computer in the last month.

Just a quick rundown...we went to a baseball game, Alicia and I had a great time going to Chicago for my dad's wedding. The weather was perfect, the day was beautiful, we enjoyed seeing all the family, etc. Alicia just loves to show her cousins how much she loves and admires them!! Since we've been back we had a lonely week without Alex, and since his computer crashed and lost everything, I wasn't able to get on it for a while. Other than that, my belly is continuing to grow and move, Alicia's vocabulary is just exploding and she is constantly cracking us up with things that she says. Her favorite word is "nice" and she uses it anytime she is pleased with something! She loves to start her day by snuggling in our big bed and reading with me. She is extremely independent and I no longer look down on parents that resort to using a leash on their children in public. She has a lot of pride in her increasing potty usage, and enjoys getting an M&M when she is successful (thanks for the tip Charlie and Linz) but prefers the security of a diaper when clothing is involved. She finally appreciates her hair being done to keep it out of her face, and loves spending time with her daddy. Her favorite song is the wheels on the bus, and she gets very excited to point out buses and trucks as we drive down the road. She experiments with new words every day, so please keep your tongue in check if she is around :) She loves to play with other kids, and has just discovered movies!! (I let her watch Monsters, Inc, and Snow White thanks to a number of videos handed down from Tom's daughter) I just tried 3 times to load pictures and it keeps failing, so that will have to wait a little longer, sorry

A Grand Achievement!!

I'm too tired to put in a long post, but I do have a couple of things to note from this past week. Pictures will have to come later. The first is that I went to the doctor for my regular baby check up and everything is moving along just perfectly. All of the results from the ultrasound were perfect and the baby is measuring in the 50th Percentile. I have officially popped and have to choose daily between the pants that I can't button, or the elastic maternity waistband that is still a little too loose to stay up properly. My biggest concern was a harsh reprimand from my doctor over a significant weight gain in the last month, but she was unconcerned so as long as it doesn't continue at that pace...so am I.
The REALLY BIG news...is that Alicia used her potty for the first time. I had been trying to potty train her a couple of months ago, and decided she wasn't getting it, and I wasn't quite ready for the hassle. So, I just stopped trying. She has continued to assist me in my bathroom adventures and loves to hand me toilet paper and flush for me. Then, out of the blue the other night she threw a big fit and didn't want to put on a diaper. I said to her, "Alicia, you have to wear a diaper. When you go peepee and poopoo in the potty, you don't have to wear diapers anymore." Then she said, "peepee" and pointed at herself. So I suggested that she could go sit on the potty if she wanted, and she did...and we waited but nothing happened. So she got off and started to play with her hair clips and I left her in the bathroom playing for a minute. When I got back she had repositioned herself on her potty and was looking in wonder at the yellow liquid in the potty between her legs!! We are so proud of our big girl, and she was extremely proud of herself as well! Then she still didn't want to put on a diaper, so we told her that she didn't have to wear a diaper if she pooped in the potty, and she sat on it grunting, but had no success...it was a very exciting event for us!

The rest of August/Vegas

The second half of August has flown by pretty quickly for us. We had a relaxing week after my mom left followed by a week that included a business trip to MN for Alex, my ultrasound, a new patio cover, and a trip to Vegas!!

My ultrasound went really well, everything looks good, and the tech gave me a ton of pics since Alex wasn't able to go with me. So, I'm already halfway through and feeling good...no complaints about the whole pregnancy thing, couldn't be better.

A little park just opened in our town that has the water stuff for the kids to play in. I found it was open when I randomly drove by it while Alex was at the Angels game with his dad, and I stopped to let Alicia play in it. Then we had to go back the next day with Alex, so that he could play in it with her...and they both had a blast!!

We all went to Vegas for a couple of nights this past week and had a great time!! Before I get into the trip, I have to say a little bit about the drive!! I've done my share of roadtrips and every one that I can remember used to have signs as warnings before long stretches without gas stations, but there we were driving through the desert when our gas light went on...so we started to look for a station. As we got farther along and were watching the fuel gauge getting lower we were getting a little concerned. Finally, we started to see signs that a town was about 30 miles away, but we were pretty concerned that we wouldn't even make it that far, so we went into gas conservation mode. We turned off the AC and started driving 55. The car didn't take long to heat up approaching the outside temp that was easily over 100, and the 30 miles seemed like it would take an eternity at 55...we were literally so concerned that Alex was putting the car in neutral and just coasting on down slopes, and I was waiting for Alicia to start freaking out in the heat as I watched the sweat starting to bead up on Alex's forehead. Finally we saw a sign for a station in one mile and we quickly threw on the air and were laughing about our near disaster. The station was so in the middle of nowhere that they were charging 5.59 a gallon!!

We stayed in a great room at the Mandalay Bay that overlooked the strip, but was also right next to the airport...and Alicia loooovvveeess planes!! So, we were able to set up her little seat right in front of the window and she could watch the planes while she ate.

Another reason that we chose the Mandalay Bay is that they have some of the best pools and a lazy river. We spent most of our pool time in the lazy river...Alicia couldn't get enough of it.

We also tried to get in all the sights, pushing Alicia to the limit, and she snoozed through a bunch of it. We had a great time despite the heat...it was over 108 and Alicia was the best behaved baby in Vegas!!

I think that Alex's favorite part was the endless king crab legs at the buffet dinner the first night!! Alicia enjoyed the buffet too. She ate like a little queen and really enjoyed the desserts!

Grandma Linda Was Here

My mom was here to visit for a whole week, but we were too busy painting to blog while she was here. We painted basically the entire house...the living, dining and family rooms, the kitchen, hallway, laundry room, and Alicia's playroom. I fit into every stereotype of a grumpy, moody, starving pregnant woman while she was here, because I was so exhausted from painting that I was on the verge of losing it constantly, and I did lose it once or twice on unsuspecting individuals like store clerks...letting them know that I was pregnant and starving and past my coping limit. Fortunately, my daughter makes up for her mother's moodiness, and I think that Grandma Linda enjoyed her visit as much as we enjoyed having her, and we are enjoying our new paint every day and thinking of her. At the same time we were working indoors, the landscapers were building our wall in the backyard. I took the after shots at night so they didn't turn out well, but our yard went from looking like this... to this...and you might just say that it still looks like a lot of dirt...and you'd be right, but this is a huge improvement for us, and makes getting the sod in a much less formidable job.

This is a picture of a recent visit to the pool that we had, but not with my mom.
My mom with Alicia showing off one of our new hangouts and a view of the hills around our area.
I am definitely feeling pregnant, and my mom was shocked to see a full baby in my belly when my doctor did a little ultrasound for her at my appt, but it is just starting to show to the general public...you can see it a little in this shot. I'm still in regular clothes, but I'm not snapping my top buttons anymore.
Alex giving Alicia a little ride on his shoulders.
Alicia playing in the grass, this is really exciting for her because we don't have any grass in her yard yet!

Grandma Linda, Alicia, and I showing off the sunset and the mountains.Here is a shot of our newly painted playroom, it is a light blue almost periwinkle color that is a little brighter than this picture makes it appear.A shot of the new paint in our family room...againl, the paint is brighter that it looks in the picture.Alicia loved having Grandma Linda here to read to her and practice her numbers and colors, and her little vocabulary is quickly taking off!! She was sad to see her Grandma go bye-bye on the airplane, but is looking forward to her next flight when she will get to see Grandma at the other end!! Thanks Grandma Linda for all of your help!!