Alyssa's 12 Month Well-Visit

The birthday girl went for her 12 month well-visit this week.  She weighs 19 lbs & is 26 1/2 inches tall.  This puts her in the 5th percentile for both.  Tiny little tot!

She is
standing from sitting now (without pulling up on anything)
still breastfeeding (imagine that) & sleeping in our bed
cutting her 5th tooth
blowing kisses
giving kisses
trying to climb
eating table food, but still has purees too
says mama, dada, bubba, mickey mouse, dora, no no no, bath, bye, Addison

When it's time for a bath & I tell her to come on she starts pulling at her shirt right away & gets very excited for bath time!  When I tell her it's time for a diaper change, she walks to the bathroom shelf & reaches for the diapers.  When I tell her it's time to do laundry, she starts walking down the hall to the laundry room & will turn to look at me as if to say 'come on'!  She's one smart cookie!

Texas Mosquitos

Alyssa got bit a couple of times by a mosquito on her little hand & arm yesterday while we walked to church.  The swelling & redness just kept getting worse, so we went to the dr this morning.

Even after dosing Alyssa with benadryl for the last 24 hours the swelling is still bad.  The dr prescribed an antibiotic to pull any infection out that may be in her hand & should look better in a day or 2.  If not, we have to go back to the dr.  I sure hope the rest of the week is uneventful.

MDO Luau Theme Day

This week the theme at MDO was Indoor Beach & Luau Party.  Addison was so excited to wear the flower lei & accessories along with the grass skirt.

This is the puffer fish that Addy made at school.

Baby Scarlett

I've been following Scarlett's story since she was first diagnosed with the brain tumor back in December.  You can read her story from the beginning HERE.  It was this post about HEARING AIDS that I really wanted to share with whoever is reading my blog.  The video is priceless.  I wish that someone would have been filming Brandi & Chris at the same time!  I'm sure their expressions were spectacular when little Scarlett turned her head towards their voices.  Enjoy!

More from Alyssa's Birthday Party

After presents & food it was time for the real fun to begin with the inflatable water slide!  All of the kids loved this thing (and me, Blake & Aimee).  Teresa sat at the top to supervise & help the little ones.  We took Alyssa & Arabella down the slide & they loved it.  Addison really enjoyed it too.  Blake & I were very sore the next day!

The four of us!  Can't really see us, but we are there waving!

Happy FIRST Birthday, Baby Alyssa!

We went home to Louisiana last weekend to celebrate Alyssa's birthday with our family & friends.  Saturday (party day) started out a little rocky.  I was working on the cake pops while Blake went to the store to pick up the cupcakes I ordered & have balloons blown up also.  Well, I had baked the cake Friday night so there would be one less thing to do on Saturday.   That morning I crumbled the cake & added the frosting to it.  Last time I made the cake pops (my trial run) I thought there needed to be more frosting, so I added a bit more.  Boy was that a mistake!  The balls kept falling off the stick each time I submerged them in the chocolate coating!  They were just too moist from the extra frosting I added.  We managed to get about a dozen decent pops.

These cute cookies were our party favors.  I didn't make them, but think I may try to do something like this one day.

When Blake got back from the store all of the balloons were popping.  The store clerk filled them with too much helium.  We ended up with about 6 red balloons out of 20!  The cupcakes were totally wrong too.  I ordered the cupcake cake to be shaped like the number 1, white cake, white frosting, red writing.  The cupcakes had yellow frosting, pink writing, sprinkles & curly ribbon.  Really?  Yes, really!  I called and talked to the bakery & the lady said bring it back & they would have the correct order ready.  I asked her who orders yellow frosting with pink writing anyway & she said that's what it looks like in the picture showing what cakes they offer.  I let her know that I've never seen the picture & the order was placed by phone, so not quite sure how that mistake happened.  Oh well, they fixed it promptly.  Luckily, the rest of the day went smoothly.

Alyssa opened presents!

Next it was time for cupcakes!  I made the cupcake toppers using a Mickey Mouse head printed on card stock, ribbon, glue gun & Starbucks coffee stirrers.  Guess I should have made the cupcakes too!

Alyssa wasn't crazy about the cupcake.  She had a few bites of frosting, but that was it.

 Great shot, photographer!

 Another great shot!  Hey, you know that's a zoom lens?

I made Mickey & Minnie Mouse ears for everyone.

Addy helped blow out the candle!

You mean this cupcake is ALL MINE?

Not too sure about the frosting!

Addy helping again!  Alyssa LOVES her big sister!

To be continued...

Our Library

I've been saying for a while now that I'd like to catalog all of our books in a spreadsheet, but just never got around to it.  Well, I finally made it a priority & we have 125 books on the bookshelf!  After I finished wouldn't you know I came across about 5 more that I missed!  You can never have too many books :)

  

Weaning - Not So Much

Well, I had already discussed with Alyssa that Thursday would be the last day to nurse, but it looks like I'll have to give her an extension.  She will NOT drink milk.  I've tried a variety of milk, warm, cold, a gazillion sippy cups.  I even tried pumping & giving it to her in a sippy - DIDN'T WORK!

Addy & her baby wore matching dresses to church.  This was the best picture I could get of them!

Smile!

This morning Addy put on her bathing suit because the theme at MDO is Water Fun.  They play outside in sprinklers, pools, slides.  When we were about to leave I wanted to snap a picture of her.  She was talking on her play phone & shushed me!  LOL - Is she really 3?  Lately, her imagination is all over the place.  She has imaginary friends that she feeds, takes to the potty, plays with, holds hands with.  It's so much fun to watch her.  Update: It's raining now, so not sure how much fun the babies are having outside :(

I've been waiting for this calendar to get back in stock & finally snagged one!  Each morning I help Addy make the changes needed & talk about what we'll do for the day.  Everything attaches with velcro & there are additional blank tags for Feelings & Activity, so we can make our own.  These tags come pre-made with the calendar:  Feelings = Happy, Sad, Sleepy, Grumpy, etc & Activity = Playdate, School, Zoo, Special Treat, etc.  

Lake Trip July 2011

We made a trip to the lake last Friday.  On our way we had to stop at the DMV to get my license renewed.  Thank goodness that only has to be done every 4 years!

The girls had a great time at the lake!

Erin & Parker came over on Saturday & spent the night.  It was nice to spend time with them without worrying about one of us having to leave.  Addison & Parker got in so much trouble this weekend!  Everyone was tired of getting on to them.  They ran in the house, took toys from each other, looked at each other the wrong way, didn't want to watch the same movie.  It was chaos.  This was the reason for a lot of tears:

This boat was originally a gift for Alyssa, but as always Addison claimed it!  When Parker or Alyssa would go near the boat the tears & tantrums started.  (We are home & the boat is still causing problems)

Thanks Grams!

She really loves the boat & held it most of the way home.

Addison's first trip to the lake - 2008

Alyssa's first trip to the lake - 2011

Addison & Parker - 2009

Addison & Parker - 2011

Addison & Parker - 2009

Addison & Parker - 2011

Addison - 2010

Addison - 2011

Addison - 2009

Alyssa - 2011

Okay, I got a little carried away with all of the pictures in this post!