We Are Eight Months Old

That's right! Eight months is here and we have TWO teeth! Yesterday while we were in Montgomery hanging with our new baby cousin, Alexis broke her second tooth. She wasn't even cranky at all! She wasn't into taking pictures, but can you blame her?

Other than teething, Alexis has been one busy bee. She has had 2 birthday parties and one baby shower the last three weeks and next weekend she has her third birthday. I think we are in the clear until April, so we might get some lake time in soon. Alexis is still army crawling, but now she is all over the house! We are going to have to put gates up. She loves the kitchen and the dog bowls. Now I have to order higher dog bowls, but that is only going to deter for just a little while. I do honestly fear that she has found the army crawl so easily that she won't learn the real crawl. She wants to walk so bad that I fear she's going to walk before she crawls.

Aunt Deanna took these pictures this week to mark our eight month birthday and they are awesome! I've been dying to take pictures at the ricer driers in Old Katy but it was too sunny, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. So she found this super cute spot in between them and these look so awesome. Once again, these are my most favorite pictures so far! Ask me again next month! Hopefully then we can actually get on the rail road tracks on the other side of the driers.

Mommy's favorite! Check out her teeth!

I can't believe how dark her hair has come in! She definitely has more hair than I thought she would at this age. since I had none, I thought for sure she would be just like me.

She still loves her fingers, but she has two teeth so I'm not pushing it all that much.

Swinging for the first time! She seemed to enjoy it. Notice her Aunt Jamima hat!

She has started doing this with her tongue at dinner. I'm not sure what it really means. Does she not like the food? Is she trying to get it off her face because she likes it that much? It is just funny to watch. She also has the this shaking of her head, as if she is saying no and rolling her eyes at the same time. I'm trying to get a video so you can understand what I'm talking about. It makes us laugh every time.

Meet Laureli Brooklyn

I've probably been waiting for this child my whole life! Besides my own, of course! My cousin, Jamie, and I were as close as sisters when we were growing up. When her boys were born I couldn't wait to have our children grow up together. I never thought I could love anything as much as I loved Brody and Bryce. Boy was I wrong! I'm so happy that Laureli and Alexis can carry on the tradition and be best friends too. When A met Laureli for the first time she just smiled so big! It was like she was planning all the good times they were going to have! It was so flipping cute. I can't wait to watch all these babies grow up. And yes, I still use the word baby to describe Brody and Bryce because they will always be babies to me. I still love them more than words can say, even though they are stinky boys who don't always mind! They are a handful and they are going to be the best big brothers.

Aunt Michelle is Having a Baby

Saturday I hosted a baby shower for one of my bestest friends. It was PERFECT! The Italian food was so yummy, the flowers were gorgeous and the cake was Aunt Michelle's favorites! She got lots of great gifts and I know she had a good time. I just love showers, it gives me an opportunity to see my girls who I don't get to see very often. I can't wait for Carter to get here and meet Alexis! Michelle has been waiting for this for as long as I can remember and she is going to be an awesome mom! Even if she doesn't know what everything is. As long as she keeps in mind that Carter is a baby and not a dog, she will be good!

Michelle and her hostesses. This shower was so great thanks to all these ladies.

Aunt Michelle was just glowing and she looked beautiful!

Just crawling around! A had a great time too. She is with my mom and I miss her terribly! I don't know what to do sitting at home without her!

These are the cute Harley Davidson PJs I got her. They are 18 months but look more like they aer for a toddler. Poor Carter won't be able to fit into these till he is 5!

Aunt Tracy and I

I've been saving this outfit for this shower. It was so cute!

Everything looked so beautiful. This was the basket that took me forever to put together!

What Cha Eating???

Warning: This is Under Construction!!

Why, a highchair of course! Alexis might be THAT baby that just doesn't like to eat! She is just now up to a six oz bottle, and even then she doesn't always take the whole thing. However, she normally gets a tad bit of substance in her, but the last couple of nights, her highchair is the only thing of interest to her. When I try to pull her away, she starts crying and the only thing that can calm her down is shoving (I use that term lovingly) food into her mouth. Her appetite is up and down, to say the least. But then again, I don't really know what is appropriate for this age.

I'm now testing blended foods to see if she really has an allergic reaction to oatmeal. Some people have said it could be gluten, but I'm not sure. Her face gets a tiny bit re and I have taken away the oatmeal cereal because her face seems to get pretty red with it.

Tonight I introduced turkey and rice, but she was in one of her moods, so who knows if she really likes it. However, you can tell she has no problem turning on the smile when the camera comes out. Remind you of anyone?

She still loves her jumperoo. When she gets going, I swear she is going to fly out of there!

Her sleeping has also been off lately. For a more than a week now, she has regressed and is now waking up in the middle of the night. She hasn't been able to soothe her self back to sleep for longer than 30 minutes and then she wants a full bottle! MAYBE if she would eat more during the day, she would make it all night again! Mommy sure would appreciate it! Daddy has been super awesome this week and been up with her the last two nights. Between Alexis and work, I've been pretty tired!

As I mentioned in the last post, she is loving her toys. It's like she discovers a new one every day. She thinks her pillow pet is really funny!



I'm thinking that her teeth are bothering her again. She has started sucking and pulling her lower lip in. It must feel weird to her, but I still think this face is super cute!




The other day she sat up for over five minutes! She hasn't learned to move from sitting to her tummy or vice versa, but that just keeps her upright longer.

Well, I was trying out this lay out and I don't like it. I clearly didn't do it correctly, but I'm too lazy/tired to fix it right now. Maybe I will have motivation to fix this at some point, but for now, this is just going to have to settle for the worst blog ever! I guess I didn't have as much to say as I thought I did!

This weekend is Aunt Michelle's baby shower and I can't wait. Her Mimi is coming to town and Alexis gets to see all her Aunts. Have a great weekend!

Lots of Happenings Around Here

With all that we have been doing, I just realized that I haven’t blogged about all that Alexis is up to. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but Alexis has her first tooth! It came in on Thursday the 13th. She has been out of sorts for a couple of days and nights this week and hasn’t been sleeping very well. That’s because she is no longer Mommy’s little gummy baby! She still won’t let me see it, but I can feel it! She only has one and I know the 2nd tooth isn’t far behind, but I hope this is it for a while. This is all going way too fast for me!

She is also ALL over the place! She isn’t crawling on all fours, but she has mastered the military crawl across the room, especially to get to the dog bed and the TV stand. We’ve even made her play mat bigger and that doesn’t stop her. She spends the majority of her day playing on her tummy. Needless to say, Brian and I are baby proofing our house this weekend!

Alexis is also “talking” much more. “Dadadada” is all I hear. I KNOW she is just talking and this isn’t her first word. However, Daddy is convinced she is saying his name.

I almost forgot! She is also sitting up! She isn’t sitting up on her own, but she is sitting up and playing for longer periods of time. She has hit her head several times but she bounces back quickly!

She has also been sick for a couple of weeks. I took her to the Doctor on the Monday before I went back to work. She was coughing, sneezing and really snotty. It wasn’t in her lungs yet so she just put her on and antibiotic and we were on our way. She went back on that Thursday and it had indeed spread to her lungs and she was wheezing. This was the day we left for the Cotton Bowl, so Grandma had taken her. The doctor put her on breathing treatments after giving her one in the office. I knew I was glad that I wasn’t there, but I was not prepared to do it myself. The first time I had to give it to her I cried. It was so sad! She hates it and screams the whole time! I only cried that one time, but it still breaks my heart to have to do this to her. We are supposed to be done, but she is still on her new antibiotic.

In all these visits, she has been weighing between 15 and 17 pounds. I’m guessing she is about 16 pounds right now. She is still very tall!! We are in 9 to 12 month pants and even some of those are too short!

Alexis is still very independent. She loves to play with her toys on the mat. Most of the time I’m playing on the mat with her, but I do manage to get some chores done while she is playing.
And lastly, she is starting to cuddle with me! I LOVE it! All you moms know how special this is. I’ve been waiting for this day! At night she is so tired that she barely makes it through her bottle. She crawls up on my neck and just cuddles with me when she’s finished. Needless to say, I’ve been stretching out her bed time just so I can get some cuddle time.

Mommy's sweet face! I'm still praying her eyes stay this blue.

Practicing sitting and playing. We are almost there!

Crawling around the room

Going after her blocks. Look Mommy, I got it!

Play Time!!

Girl's Day Out

Today started a month long weekend of parties for Alexis. She had a grand time with all her friends! We started the day out going to Makena's first birthday. Kathryn hired a clown to paint faces, make balloon animals and do a little dancing. The big kids had a great time. A and Ryder played on the floor, but they seemed pretty happy. Happy First Birthday Makena!

Then we went home and played with Aunt Michelle. Aunt Deanna came over and Mommy went with them to take Aunt Michelle's maternity pictures. I'm so excited that she is going to be a Mommy. Michelle is one of my closest friends and I just can't believe she is going to be a mom in less than 2 months. I had a blast hanging with the girls. It was nice to get away for just two hours and laugh like the old days while Mommy got to play assistant to Aunt Deanna. I will post some pictures when she is finished editing. I know they are going to be awesome!

Then Aunt Jaime and Mr. Michael came over with Keely. Alexis had a great time with Keely. I actually made Keely giggle and smile. I was so happy that they got to play together. Keely would play pick-a-boo with A and then they ended the night with a bath where she helped bathe Alexis. It was way too cute. I've been looking forward to this play date forever and it was definitely a fun time had by all.

I just love bath time! It was really sweet!

See how well they played together? Here K is playing pick-a-boo with Alexis. The right middle she is asking, "where'd go?" So cute!

Lots of love at this birthday party!

Mommy and the birthday girl! Makena must not have wanted to get dirty, she just wouldn't dig into her cake. But she looked really cute in her dress, so I don't blame her for not wanting to mess it up! The party was great Biegs!

The kids had a great time! Don't let Brenlee and Ryder's faces fool you. I'm amazed at how sassy Brenlee is, but her vocabulary is better than any 2 year old I know! Every time she talked I thought for sure I was talking to a 4 year old, at least. Anna got a flower balloon, the boys got a Spiderman and Brenlee got a pink monkey in a tree. I think it was a very successful weekend!

A House Divided

I can't even put into words how awesome this weekend was for Brian and I. When Alexis was first born we figured that LSU would be neutral territory for Alexis, so she wore her LSU gear on most Saturdays. Of course she still sported her Aggie gear on some game days too, but we never thought we would have to chose one or the other. However, since Alexis is our little good luck charm, all of our teams did well this year. (Well, except the Texans. But there's always next year, right?!) The year she's born the Saints won the Super Bowl and LSU rivaled A & M in the Cotton Bowl. Daddy talked a lot of smack through out the week. Mommy put up with it like a good sport, I don't know that I can say the same thing about Daddy though. So, on Friday A rocked out both outfits. And, if I have to say so myself, I think she looked pretty cute!

I'm so incredibly proud of the Aggies. They had a great season! I felt like I was watching the team that played while I was in College Station. It was nostalgic, to say the least, shouting "Wrecking Crew." I LOVE the feel of being at an Aggie game, it gave me goose bumps and brought me back to the day. I can't believe I just said that, but it's true!

We drove up Thursday night with the Sorensens and had a great time setting up and sitting outside. Friday we had a great time tailgating with lots of good food. Donna and Mark drove up to watch Alexis, Anna and Cole and all of the kids had a great time.

Jerry World is CRAZY! As we were walking to the stadium, the sun was setting and it was so beautiful. That definitely helped to increase the atmosphere. It was a great game, I wish the score had been different, but someone has to be the winner.

Gig' Em Aggies!

One Day she can chose, but for right now she will rock both!

Alexis had a great time! She played in her pack and play and got lots of loving from all her friends and family! She was a great baby, as always!

My cousin Wendy finally made it to the tailgate, just in time to walk over to the game. She had a rough pregame day night and she wasn't up to par. Brian's friend Emily also made it. They all got to meet A for the first time.

A House Divided

We have the most photogenic children, ever!

The Sorensens. They are one good looking family.

Ringing in the New Year

Alexis’s first Holidays are over and I can’t believe how much more fun they were for Brian and I. Being that my birthday is two days before Christmas this has always been my most favorite time of the year. But I had no idea how special it would be. I love A so much and I don’t want her to grow up too fast, but it will be fun when she understands the Reason for the Season. I know it will come soon enough; I’m just amazed by how much she has grown and learned in just the two weeks I’ve been off with her. She has the best personality that we could have asked for.

NYE was so much fun. I’m not sure whether I had more fun hanging out with our closest friends or watching the kids have fun. I can’t wait until Alexis is old enough to play. I’m so excited that there is another group of babies coming so she won’t be alone! As you’ve heard me say before, my friends are my sisters, which is why their kids call us Aunt Deidra and Uncle Brian. It’s actually a competition for some to get called Aunt and Uncle. It warms my heart each time one of them calls my name. This year as we were getting ready to celebrate NYE, Anna asked me, “Who besides THE family is going to be here.” It made me laugh! We have our own little family here and I couldn’t be any happier. I just look forward to Alexis playing with her “cousins.”

If you read my blog regularly, you know I LOVE pictures. If you’ve known me personally for any time at all, this is nothing new. I have documented every party, important event or celebration for most my life. So, if you wonder why I’m always doing collages (you know who you are) it’s simply because I love taking pictures and I can’t decide which ones to choose. It doesn’t help that we have some of the cutest kids on the block! So, I hope you have enjoyed my blog this year. I have certainly had a great time writing it down and keeping track of our little family. I wish you the best in this New Year and I hope you are as blessed in 2011 as we were in 2010.

This picture of Noah just cracks me up. It's like he knows just what to do with a gun. This is as good as your going to get with these four!

Working on the perfect picture

Here are some of the outtakes from the night. Brian found his outfit at Katy Christian Ministries. He loves to dress up.

Yes, the kids had a Dance Off. Uncle/Mr. Michael was giving tips and William was nailing the dance moves.

The kids LOVED the fireworks this year. They even took part in lighting them!

The many faces of Cole.