Check Out My Cool New Tricks

Alexis is just a ball of fun these days! I know I've said it before, but she is just such a happy baby!! Here are some of my favorite times with her!

She has been laughing a lot more. It's hard to get it on camera because she stops when I pull it out. Hopefully I can get some better ones later. We love to get her going!

She is spending more time on the floor grabbing, rolling and playing. She is going to be all over the place before we know it!

This is by far my favorite time of the day! I LOVE to wake her up in the morning! I secretly wish I could wake her up when I leave for work each morning. However, Daddy is still sleeping so most days I just let her sleep in.

A is DYING to sit up! We have been working really hard on balancing in the sitting position, but when she is playing by herself, we catch her doing sit ups. She was doing them on que! I guess it's never too young to start on that six pack!

It took her a while to really enjoy her jumperoo, but as of last Tuesday, she been jumping, laughing and actually enjoying it. It's like she finally figured out what to do. Even though she is a little string bean, she still needs the pillow to reach the ground.

Happy Thanksgiving and 6 Month Birthday

Not only was last week Alexis’s first Thanksgiving, but she also celebrated her 6th month birthday. Last Monday she had her 6 month check up and to say that I was shocked, is an understatement. She is weighing 14 pounds, 25th percentile, and is 27 inches long, which puts her at the top of the charts in the 95th percentile. I knew she was tall, but I would have never guessed that tall! She did great on her shots once again and after a bottle she acted as if nothing happened. We even went shopping for Thanksgiving dinner.

On Wednesday A watched her daddy make her a gingerbread house. This is a Mannion tradition and Brian couldn’t wait to make one for Alexis. I have deep rooted traumas when it comes to building gingerbread houses so I didn’t participate. Maybe another year!

Thursday we hosted Thanksgiving at our house with the Mannions and the Catheys and Friday we went to the Lake to do our 2nd dinner with my whole family. We had a great time at both and it was by far my favorite yet!

A is learning so much! Just in the last week she has started jumping like crazy in her jumperoo, she has begun teething, she holds on to things for longer periods of time and she loves to laugh. I’ve got a few videos that I need to upload, but I will save that for the next post. She is very close to sitting up and she is starting to get on her knees when she does tummy time. All in all she is still a very happy baby. We are currently going through our first snotty nose. I feel so bad for her. Tonight she had a hard time getting to sleep, so I had to rock her. Hopefully that goes away soon.

We have so much to be thankful for this year. At the top of the list is Alexis! She has brought so much joy to our lives. We are so happy and we love her so much. She brings a smile to my face every time I think about her.

Her 6 Month Birthday Bath picture. She still loves her bath time. She is getting much more active and Mommy ends up getting pretty wet too!!

My first two babies! I LOVE this picture. This will probably appear on our Christmas card. Belle is almost 12 years old and Ranger is 8. They are getting old but they still love to play.

Alexis on her first Thanksgiving.

Making gingerbread houses. Notice Daddy's LSU and Aunt Missy's Ole Miss. They all had a blast!

Buffalo Bayou

I love Houston! And I love the sky line even more! I wanted our wedding at the Petroleum club because I wanted to be able to look out at the city and it’s the only building Downtown that allows you to do that. I’ve been dying to take pictures in front of the buildings since Brian and I got engaged, but I just never knew where to go! Well, after driving around for two hours Saturday, I found it, Thanks to Aunt Tracy!!

Alexis had quite the weekend! She was way off her schedule, however, you couldn’t tell because she was such a happy baby. I think she had a great time! She was quite the social butterfly; unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of her with all her aunts and uncles! I will do better at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I promise! On Friday night we met Uncle Ryan and his mom at Lupe Tortillas and Saturday we spent all afternoon with Aunt Tracy. We had a brief photo shoot at Buffalo Bayou (I think that’s what it is called) and then we went to the Original Ninfas, where we got to watch the end of the LSU and Ole Miss game. GREAT GAME!! Today was my cousin, Jamie’s, baby shower. So, she got to spend time with all her aunts and Mimi. We were super excited to see Aunt Debbie! We’ve really missed her!!! We ended the weekend at Berry Hill with Aunt Deanna, Uncle Chris, where we had a MAJOR blow out in our car seat! I was scared to get her out because I was afraid it would get all over the place. That was definitely a first, of many, I’m sure!

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from our shoot! She is such a ham; it was very hard to choose! I think I’m going to blow this first one up and get a gallery wrap for her wall!

What?? You don't like to chill out in your favorite chair? So, it happens to be in the middle of Downtown Houston.

Just kickin' my feet up!

Oh Geez, Mom!! Are we done yet?

Such a happy baby! I pray her eyes stay blue!

This girl LOVES her dresses and lovez!

Time Is Flyin'

Alexis is getting bigger and bigger and I just know that before I realize it, she will be walking. In the past week she has begun to grab things, laugh and is now staying on her tummy longer, with her head higher. Her Aunt Kelsey really got her laughing on Sunday. I didn't even realize she was doing it! Of course I didn't have my video camera, but I did get it on my phone, but my phone won't send it out! Last night I got a few good laughs out of her but when I busted out the video camera she stopped, as if she knew what I was doing!

We have changed her bed time to 8 o'clock. It kind of stinks because she now takes a nap from 4ish till 5:30. She takes a good nap in the morning, but won't really take one in the afternoon till Mommy comes home and puts her down. I like to think that she just needs some Mommy loving and I put her down the best! So, then we wake her up, feed her baby food and cereal and USUALLY she is in a great mood for the next 2 hours. By 8, she is ready for bed and we put her down, swaddled and awake and she goes out for the night! On a good night she can go anywhere from 5 to even 8 in the morning! We still have a few 3 or 4 a.m. rendezvous, but she is getting there. The bottom line is, this is helping with the 45 minute hysteria fit! We even tried to put her down last night around 6, because she hadn't had sleep since 1, and she went down and woke up in a panic! So, I guess the new bed time is working.

Here are a couple new pictures from the last week. I was bummed to put away her summer clothes, but winter clothes are just as fun! I love all her clothes!!