19 Months (Dec. 23)

Lexi,

You are still our sweet little pumpkin who we fall more in love with every day. You have been learning soooo many new things, and we are excited to broaden the things you know by helping you explore, and exposing you to different activities. Again, I'm going to list the things you're up to right now:

You've become very interested in letters. As a reading specialist, I wouldn't have normally pursued teaching you letters at this age, but we have exposed you to them since you've shown such an interest. We certainly aren't pushing anything on you, just following your lead as we go with this. You say P for PopPop, D for Dada, N for Nana, and C for CoCo.

You now copy me when playing the, "Say_____," game. You ask me to say....It is so cute. You also say, "Who's that?" You then answer (PopPop, Nana, etc.).

Yup, you still love babies. You even try to help take care of Baby Lo by burping her, and telling her "It's ok," when she starts to cry.

You can also be a little bossy telling people to, "Sit!" when you want them to come sit next to you at the kitchen table, chair, couch, etc.

You LOVE the Christmas book by Little People. We started a tradition of introducing you to a new Christmas book every night from December 1-25. You love going and getting a book from under the tree and opening it to read each night. Your other favorite Christmas book this season has been one that contains the songs, "Up on the Housetop," & "Jolly Old St. Nicholas." You request it by saying, "Ho Ho."

Your favorite thing on my phone this month has been Sofia the First. You request it by calling it price (princess).

You're terrified of Santa this year. When we visited the Christmas train, we had to hold you and get in the picture with you. You have the most adorable pitiful face in the picture, but you did love the train, carousel, and pony rides we did afterwards! We visited the train this year with Daddy, Nana, PopPop, and Uncle Cody.

Another tradition we started was Elf on the Shelf. You were introduced to him at our breakfast on December 1. The name you chose? Baby Elf. Well of course...haha! I'm not certain you 'get' it completely this year, but it has still been fun to search for him every morning. We also visited a live nativity which you loved! Your favorite thing was the petting zoo afterwards even though you thought standing five feet away and holding out the food was sufficient enough for feeding the animals. We could not get you away from the bunnies though! You kept saying,  "Hop hop hop hop!"

You loved Rhema, and all of the lights! It was a lot of excitement seeing the twinkle in your eyes when we walked around with you. How fun this season is with a sweet little pumpkin!

You love muffins! Don't worry, I make the healthy ones...

You love to color, and sometimes spend as much as 30 minutes to an hour doing so which is remarkable to me, since you are seldom still for that long with one activity. You know black, yellow, red, pink, purple, blue, white, and green. You also recognize orange and brown, but we are still working on pronouncing them.

We cannot wait to see what this next month brings for you! We are so excited to see your face on Christmas morning. Something tells me Santa has been good to you. ; )

XOXO,

Mommy & Daddy

18 Months (Nov. 23)

Lexi,

Oh my goodness, it is so stinking fun watching you learn something new everyday! I really didn't think it was possible for you to absorb things so quickly at such a tiny age, but it is amazing what you little toddlers are capable of. This is going to be a long post of little things you are doing, and it might make no sense to others, but I know it will help remind us when we look back on it. Here is what you are up to right now...

You love to look for the moon everywhere when we are out at night. When you can't see it, you say, "Moooonnnnnn, where'd go?"

You enjoy laying blankets on the floor and pretending to go night night. If only it were that easy to get you to actually fall asleep, haha.

You pretend to fake whistle when going with your daddy to call the horses and feed them. It.is.Hilarious!!!! We've tried to get it on video several times, but no luck.

You absolutely LOVED dressing up like Minnie for Halloween. It's safe to say she is your favorite character, and has been for sometime. We know you would absolutely go ecstatic at Disney World if we took you back now. We promise to take you many times! Daddy said he never went as a child, so his kids are going to go so much they will be sick of it! Lucky for you. ; )

You have also started bringing me your tutus from your closet, and asking me to help you put it on. Oh, how I love having a little girl! We paint our toes often together too when you ask.

We went shopping with the babies for Christmas stuff at Toys 'R Us, and you kept wanting to share your snack with them. We are making progress! Although I'll admit, I'm not sure if it's just you thinking you are 'helping' take care of them by feeding them. Hahaha you're such a little mommy.

You still don't enjoy sharing your babies or strollers. If we take you into a store, and you see one or both, you will quickly snatch it up, and it is a battle trying to distract you away from them. When we were at Target, we let you walk around in the toy section. You found a stuffed mickey and minnie, and picked them up, walked over to the cart, and put them inside. Have we already learned how to do this?

After a long and busy week, you actually asked me to go night night. It was precious, and caught us by surprise.

You mention CoCo, DoDo, and baby (Lo) all day long throughout the day out of nowhere. It is amazing how much you think of them with them living a couple of hours away. You absolutely fell in love with 'Baby Wo' the minute you saw her. It has eased my mind and heart on how you will handle sharing your mommy and daddy when we make room for the new baby.

When you eat certain snacks, you associate them with Nana since she always has a stocked snack cabinet for you. When we are leaving her house, you ask to get in the cabinet and pick something.

You LOVE pink! Of course you do, you are your mother's daughter after all. You point to everything pink and tell us what it is  along with the color.

When we were at the doctor's office for baby brother and waiting in the room for the doctor, we were playing the "Say _______," game. When we said Jackson, you howled just like he does. Haha we had no idea you even knew who he was. Have I mentioned how terrified you are of my doctor? You cry so hard, and nothing consoles you unless I am holding you the whole time, even during the ultrasound. Pretty sure you are being protective of your mommy because he is not scary at all, and he thinks you are a little doll.

You help me vacuum each morning, even when I am not vacuuming, by using your little toy vacuum. You still love all your books, especially your birth book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and I'm a Big Sister.

You love Little Einsteins on my phone, and request it by saying, "Pat Pat." You raise your arms in the air when they say, "Blast Off." We get such a kick out of watching you do this each time.

We love you SOOO much!

XOXO,
Mommy & Daddy

17 Months (Oct. 23)

Lexi,

As I say every month, your personality is really starting to bloom, and even though I am your mom, I must say, you’re pretty darn cute!

Some funny things you did this month:

Hand plate to the waitress when you were finished

Get scared/nervous of men in hats or just random men, have I mentioned you’re terrified of my doctor? The man who delivered you? Well you are...and he just thinks you’re the cutest thing ever.

Points to my tummy and says, “Baby!”

Puts your babies on the toilet and says, “Poopoo!”

You love your monster book, Early Learning Fun colors Book, pink bunny robe, to go bye bye, doing crafts with mommy (chalk, paint, color, glue), pretend cooking.

You started saying church. Too cute! You are concerned where mommy and daddy are at all times! You’re fine on the day Daddy is at work, but if we’re all together somewhere, you always wonder where the other one is while in the car, or restroom.

You came out of Mazzio’s the other day, saw the moon, and said, “Hi Moon!” When we got in the car, you said, “Moon! Where’d go?”

We saw a stray dog at the lake, and I wasn’t sure if he was mean, so I told him to go. You started yelling and pointing, “Go, go go!”

You bring out your tutus and ask, “Minnie?” You like to dress up!

We did a dress rehearsal in your Minnie costume, and you didn’t want to take it off! Haha

Your FAVORITE book right now is “I’m a Big Sister!” Nana bought it for you a couple months ago, and you go and get it every night to read. So cute!

We recently had a playdate with the babies, and you did NOT like sharing your ‘babies.’ Your daddy repies, “Neither do you.” SO funny, but so true! ;)

When you give a hug, you say, “OHHHHH....”

We could ask for hugs all day long, and never grow tired of them! We love you SO much! 

XOXO,

Mommy & Daddy

16 Months

Lexi,

You turned 16 months old on September 23. You continue to amaze us each day with the way you explore everything around you. You love to sing and dance, and it's got to be the cutest thing ever. Your daddy has a song on his phone called "Little Lies," by Dave Barnes, and it is the perfect tune for you to sing along to. You request it often. You also enjoy dancing to "Call Me Maybe."

There are very few times when you are not walking around the house or riding in the car, or even eating in your highchair, when you do not have a baby with you. You request one from the minute you wake up until the minute you go to sleep at night. You can be heard walking around telling your babies, "Don't cry...it's okay. Oh...." Heart.Melting!!!!

You love to try to feed your babies, change their diapers, and cover them up. One day, I had the refrigerator open and you stuck your baby in there. I told you your baby was going to get cold so you left and went and got one of your burp rags from the shelf, came back and covered her up. When'd you get so smart? ;)

You love playgrounds, carousels, and walking all over Nana and PopPop's land. You sometimes enjoy swinging and sliding at home, but most of the time you'd rather walk ALL over. YOu have no fear of the horses, which is good and bad.

You love your Aunt Coco and Uncle DoDo. We went with DoDo because we knew Andrew would be too hard to say right now, and so would Drew. It was either going to be DoDo or Doo Doo. We actually tried for Doo Doo, but DoDo it is!

You are FINALLY drinking milk! Craziness...it just happened over night. You even request it by bringing us the milk out of the refrigerator, and then looking in your cabinet for your Minnie cup. We have got to buy you more of these, because it appears these are your 'milk' cups! You get rather upset if it isn't in the cabinet.

You are also blowing kisses and giving high fives. Your kisses are more like a spit in the direction of the person, but cute nonetheless. As usual, we love you to the moon and back! Here's a tentative list of your current words: (not including the words you sign)

B- ball, bye bye, book, bug, babies
C- cracker, cookie, choo choo, cheese, CoCo, Cody, cook, car, cry, cream
D- Dada, duck, down, DoDo, dirty
E- eat
F- fish
G- Gus
H- horse, hi
K- keys
M- Mama, moo, Minnie
N- Nana, no, night night
O- Ow!, ok
P- PopPop, pee pee, poo poo
S- shoes, stay
T- tractor, turtle
U- uh-oh

The pictures were taken right around the time you turned 16 months old, and we took you to the RSU nature trail. You loved it!! We thought you would eventually wear down from walking UP and down all the hills, but you didn't....must be those running legs in the making!

We love you to the moon and back sweet girl! You're going to make the best big sister, and we are excited to be on this journey with you. It is so incredibly humbling that God is giving us another precious miracle to love and add to our little family.

XOXO,
Mommy & Daddy

14/15 Months

I'm combining these months because I got behind on posting (what's new?).

Lexi,

I know I say this every month, but you are seriously SO stinking fun and cute right now!! I just love every stage, and each time I think I've reached my max for how much I could love a little person, you do something new that makes my heart melt. It is so much fun being your parent and watching you explore the world.

 Did I mention you were going to be a big sister?! Surprise!! :)

Peek-a-boo!!

'Cooking' while Mommy cooks

Cozy with snacks

Brushing teeth with Daddy

Did I mention you started walking finally?! I'll admit I was getting tired of so many people asking this. I don't know why. It's a typical question that people start to ask around 10ish months. One day I was getting you dressed, and you were standing in your room while I pulled up your skirt. You asked me for a necklace (I'll touch on that later). I told you I'd get you a necklace, and be right back. I walked into the closet and heard a giggle coming from your room. When I peeked my head in, you were WALKING towards me, and SO proud of yourself!! Once you started, you never looked back! No more crawling for this girl! How adorable is it that we now have this little person walking all around?! I LOVE it!

This is going to be kind of a jumbled up post, but I'm just going to list a lot of the things you enjoy right now:

• NECKLACES, BRACELETS, ANY KIND OF JEWELRY!! You ask for it everyday, and Nana gives you whatever she is wearing when you ask for it. Lovely. Now you think when you see a random person who has a necklace on that you want, they should take it off and let you play with it. If only, right? ;)
• Watching me put on makeup--You love to play in my makeup bag each morning. You pretend to put on blush. Oh dear...shouldn't we have several more years until that begins?
• Horses--Keith let you ride with him one morning for the first time, and you LOVED it!! You were mad when I had to get you off. It's a bit scary that you have no fear of these large animals, but that's how I grew up to, so I guess we'll be okay.
• Minnie Mouse- you ask for Minnie by saying something similar to Nana's name. It's your favorite right now.
• Baby Sign Time--You get SO excited when we let you watch this. You've learned so many signs from it, and love the babies in the videos.
• Books- You're still my little book worm! Makes this teacher's heart happy! ;)
• Purses/Bags- You love to go through purses and bags! Such a girly-girl!
• Babies-- Oh my! You love taking care of your babies! YOu feed them, change them, and carry them all over!! ADORABLE!
• Outside--Love playing outside and at the playground at the lake! 

I'll do a recap of the words you're saying in your 16 month post because there are lots! We had to switch doctors for your 15 mo. checkup because of insurance. You handled the new office like a champ! They even give books to kids at well-child checks! How cool is that?! The doctor was pleased with all of your developmental achievements and said you don't need to go back until you're 2! You are in the 10th percentile for weight weighing around 20ish pounds and in the 50th % for height. You stood on the scale this visit to get measured and weighed and looked adorable!

As always, we love you to the moon and back! It's such a blessing getting to be your parents, and we thank God for you every day!

XOXO,
Mommy & Daddy

13 Months

Lexi,

You turned 13 months on June 23, 2012. I realize I am posting this WAY late!! Things have been busy. I still wanted to have a recap of what you were into this month. We celebrated your first birthday last month, and it was loads of fun!

You are starting to say SO many words. As of right now, here are the words you can say: horse, bye bye, Gus, mooo (cow), choo choo (with sign), pop pop, cheese, keys, uh-ohhhhh, duck, stay (when telling the dogs what to do)...I'm sure there's some I am forgetting.

You also sign lots of words! I don't have a full list, but you seem to learn a new one every other day. You can tell us what a horse, cow, duck, lizard, bunny, and tiger do. You also have started giving kisses on the cheek...so sweet! Your friends Vanna and Kirby got you a new farm fridge toy, and you love to dance to the tune, 'She'll be coming 'round the mountain.' It is quite the act.

Something big that I need to blog about is your (and your daddy's) first Disney trip! You were so exhausted that you fell asleep daily in your stroller, and we are SO not used to seeing that. I think we snapped more pictures of that than anything else. Your favorite and our highlight of the whole trip was meeting the Mickey characters! You LOVED this!!! SO CUTE!

We also took you to Branson for the weekend to celebrate our 5th anniversary, and you had so much fun! You loved looking at the fish in Bass Pro. I think we took you there several times during our trip. We also shopped at the outlets, swam in the pool, went to dinner, and played lots in the hotel room! We look forward to many more trips and adventures with you! You are our sunshine.

The daughter of a doctor

So once again, I am catching up on posting. This post was in my drafts folder.

This month (May) was a big one for little Lexi. Not only did she turn the big one, but she also watched as her daddy walked across the stage and became a doctor!! We are both SO proud of him, and claim the title as his biggest fans. Lexi did great during the ceremony as my parents and I juggled her back and forth. Once Keith received his diploma though, I took her to a room right outside the auditorium to let her wiggle. Surprisingly, this seemed to be the baby hang-out. Lexi enjoyed the other babies. We are, however, still working on using 'soft hands.' She tends to like to pat them roughly. Haha They were all boys though, so maybe she's just putting up a tough front. We weren't able to get many pictures afterwards (the place was PACKED), but here are just a few.

Aunt Nicole, along with Keith's physician mentor, Dr. Steinbrook, got to hood Keith

It was a wonderful long-awaited day!! SO proud of my hubby!