She Amazes Us Every Day!

Lexie has her 11 month birthday today and she continues to amaze George and I everyday.  Whenever we are having a bad day, she can always cheer us up.  I have said this many times already but she is just so happy.  From the time that we go to get her in her crib in the morning to just before she knows that it is bedtime again, she is happy.  She loves to wave and clap especially.  She is getting better at blowing kisses and I have been trying to teach her where her nose is this week.

I took her to first Book and Babies class at the Lawrence Public Library last week.  That day there were about 15 other babies in attendance.  She was captivated by the older lady who leads the story time which lasted for about 10 minutes before she was up and walking in the middle of the circle that was made out of parents and other babies.  Lexie took her time sizing up each of the parents and really had no interest in the other babies.  She just went round and round in the circle clapping and waving to anyone that would pay attention to her.

We went to a few of the MOMS group functions that were going on during the week last week, it is hard to know whether we will be able to make the playtimes as Lexie's naps usually fall somewhere in the middle of them.  This week we went to the McDonald's playtime, which was only as much fun as you make it.  She liked the slide and the foam plastic animals but other than that, she would rather go into the dining areas and look at the people.  Last Friday there was the open gym at Lawrence Gymnastics Academy and I had been looking forward to that because Lexie loves to do anything daring.  They have a Bumble Bee class for infants from a year old to 24 months so I thought that if she seemed interested in some of the equipment and activities at the Open House then maybe I would enroll her in the class.  She liked to climb on the mats for a little while but she was far more intrigued with chasing the older kids and she also loved going down the slide.  So at this point, I can't see myself spending money to have her do things that she can do at a park for free.  I will continue to try to take her to the open gym sessions though to see if she develops any further interest.

She was on a mission!

Loving the LGA!

Last week was quite long as it was George's first road game vs Georgia Tech.  He left on Friday and by then I was absolutely exhausted from the week.

George and Lexie reading time

I decided to invite some of my girlfriends over to watch the game on Saturday, it was nice to have some adult time and to be able to enjoy the game in the comfort of my home where Lexie can run around freely.  My friend, Laura, brought her little boy Carter, whom Lexie loves playing with.  I don't think that Carter has the same feelings.  Whenever they play together it takes them awhile to play nicely.   Laura had a work function to attend after the football game had finished so I watched Carter for her.  We went on a wagon ride and they chased each other around the house.  It was so much fun!  Thanks Carter for hanging out with us!

Just another day!

The room looked like a tornado hit it.  The kids pulled out every toy!

Lexie chasing Carter

I gotcha!

Oh wait!

Helping with the clean up!

If I Haven't Figured Her Out Yet...I May Never Figure Her Out

As I write this blog post, I am listening to Lexie in her crib trying to take a morning nap.  For the past couple of weeks her sleep schedule, or lack there of, has been so unpredictable.  At this point I am trying to even remember if she has ever had a consistent sleep schedule since birth.  About two weeks ago she decided that she no longer needed her early morning nap and would let me put her down around 11 or just before lunch and then she would not want to take an afternoon nap at all.  I thought that this was a little early for her to start transitioning to one nap a day at 10 months.  My mother swears that as little ones my sisters and I transitioned ourselves that early.  So just as I was starting to get into a routine and get used to the new sleep schedule that Lexie has set for herself, she has thrown me off once again.

As I was out the door this morning to head to the grocery store, I just happened to look back at her in her car seat...I catch not one, but TWO huge yawns within a few minutes of one another.  A million different thoughts run through my head.  How tired is she? Can I get a quick shopping trip in? If I go shopping will I have missed the nap opportunity?  If we do make it to the store, how long will she last in the cart before a complete meltdown?  I decide to turn around and go home.  She did get up at 5:30 this morning and I changed her diaper, fed her a bottle, and immediately put her back up to bed.  She didn't go back to sleep and so after 20 minutes George went up to get her.  She has been getting up this early for awhile now but usually after a fresh diaper and a bottle she sleeps for another 1-2 hours.  Not this morning.

Since her sleep schedule has been in complete disarray, I have been missing play groups and other baby friendly activities.  She is so ready for interaction with other little kids so it makes the days long when we are stuck inside or at the park by ourselves.  Also in the past few weeks, Lexie has decided that she no longer likes her stroller.  So in order to have some sanity on our morning walks and walks to the park it was time to get her a new means of transportation...it was time for a wagon.  She absolutely loves the wagon.  I like it because I can still strap her in and I can throw in a slew of toys for her to play with while George and I get a walk in.

Morning walk with Daddy!

With the weather cooling down and football season in full swing we are going to be outside more often.  By the way, I took her to the football game on Saturday, she lasted through the National Anthem before we had to head home.  Progress!

Hanging with AlPal

Lexie, George, and Jay

Even though it may seem like I am frustrated by her, I know that she is a little version of me.  She is such a happy baby and she puts a smile on my face everyday!

Happy little girl

Rock Chalk!

It seems like forever since last year's football season.  I really love this time of year because College Football is my favorite and I can tell that Lexie loves it just as much as her parents do.  Lexie and I have been spending quite a bit of time at the football facility over the past few weeks and ever since George started training camp.  Lexie really liked having her Daddy home over the summer so it was hard for her once he wasn't around as much.  I was really good at trying to take her to the office to see him at least once a day...it was sanity for the both of us.  This past summer had been so miserably hot that we spent most of our days holed up in the house or at Target (which was not nice to Daddy's wallet I might add).

KU Football Kick Off Pep Rally
Big Jay, Jackson, Lexie, and Gavin

Anyway, Football season and Fall go hand and hand and this weekend was absolutely gorgeous out (minus the few minutes of rain on Saturday that delayed the game a few minutes).  This was exciting to me because I had made up my mind that I was going to take Lexie to as many games as possible this season and Saturday's game was no exception even thought the game did not start until 6pm.  Lately she has been only taking one nap a day so I knew that this may be challenging because she would most likely go to bed earlier than normal so I decided that I would try to get her down for an afternoon nap to save us both from having a temper tantrum.  She could read me like a book and was not having it so I decided to head out to tailgate with my normal crew at The Smith-Wingate Tailgate Extravaganza (I'll post a group pic in the next blog). Lexie had not seen a lot of these people since last season when she was just a few weeks old.  Having flashbacks to those days....we have come a LONG way since then.  My fondest memory of last year was the back to back tailgates/games that we went to, which just so happened to be in the early afternoon, and on our way over to the Smith-Wingate Tent, Lexie had a massive blow-out each time that literally ruined everything she had on.  As a new mom, I remember trying to get her undressed without getting poop everywhere, she was screaming, I was nervous and on the verge of crying, oh my! I knew that this year was going to be much different and I had a little tear and a chuckle came out as I thought back to those days.  Now that Lexie is walking and really doesn't want to sit still there are new challenges. The one thing that I did have on my side was gravity and a slight incline from the hill that we were camped on.  Lexie fell a few times head over heels before she figured that it was best to camp out on the blanket and enjoy some Sloppy Joes.

Lexie, Laura, and Carter

Carter loved this tree

Lexie absolutely loved being out at the tailgate.  I am convinced that she understands it when people tell her how pretty she is.  She loves people and all of the attention.

Future Cheerleader?

Just before kick off there was a thunderstorm and I strapped Lexie into her jogging stroller and jetted to the football facility.  Lexie loves it in there, it's like her big playground.  Once we got inside she wanted out of the stroller and couldn't wait to check out all of the rooms and stop all of the people.  I could tell that she was starting to get tired though and I knew that it would be a huge mistake to even attempt to take her inside the stadium to sit down to watch the game, so we just went home.  Once we got home it was like she got her second wind.  As I turned on the LSU/Oregon game she was racing around the living room making just as much noise as the TV.  This was going to be a fight but I knew that she had to go to bed, it was almost 9pm.

We are going to try to get her to take a nap next Saturday so that we can hopefully make it into the game.  In the mean time we will just enjoy these amazing Fall Days and get plenty of park time in.

She loves the park

Lexie trying out the slide