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

10 Months of Fun...Now We're Moving!

I know that I say this every month but I really can not believe that Lexie is almost a year old already.  Each day just seems to fly by and sometimes I find it hard to just sit back and take it all in.  Like Mother Like Daughter.

Lexie has been standing for long and longer periods of time and then one day last week while we were in Fort Worth for an AdvoCare event, she just started cruising around the room.  If she got too excited she would fall but with each day her balance got better and better, she had perfected her turning and she is even clapping while walking.  Maybe I am a proud Mama but I think that is absolutely amazing.

Always clowning around

Look I made a frame out of my play mat

Her personality is still continuing to come out in everything that she does.  She loves to imitate people.  She smacks her lips, clicks with her tongue, flicks her lips, and points and chats all day long.  Lately she has really loved the "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" song.  She also laughs at the special sounds that I make.  Her appearance is ever changing also. Her hair is getting thicker and longer on the sides. She now has 4 1/2 teeth and she has 3 more coming in.  She is getting taller by the day.  Lexie is willing to try new foods everyday, much of them she still does not like.  I am starting to think that she prefers pureed food because she is too lazy to chew, I may be wrong.  Some of her favorite table foods right now are goldfish crackers, black beans, green beans, eggs, turkey lunch meat, sweet potatoes, and apples.  I still can not get her to eat fruit cups for the life of me. Patience is key!  I also think that she has mistaken her books as a food group because they are starting to look ragged with all of the chunks taken out of them.

Gimme some more black beans!

She continues to really look forward to pool and bath time. I am glad that her dislike of swimming lessons has not taken that from her.  The other night she put her face underwater to try to blow bubbles.  She would laugh so hard that she would have to stop.  It is so amazing to be there to witness times like those with my baby.  I feel very fortunate.

With the start of football season coming up next weekend, I am sure that I will have some fun experiences to share soon.  Stay tuned!

Our Family Picture from the media guide

It's Not Easy!

So I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with the blog updates lately, I apologize for that.  It's already that time of the year when training camp has started and this is my first training camp since Lexie was born.  She was born during the season last year and that was a little tough from time to time but her not seeing her Daddy very often is very hard for both of us.  The Kansas weather has been relentless this summer, I don't even think I have ever experienced a summer like we just had so that means that Lexie and I have been inside for hours on end.  Since we have gotten back from our summer vacations the whole routine that Lexie has grown accustomed to have completely thrown her for a loop.  No morning walks with Mom and Dad...too hot.  No going to the swings...too hot for that.  No trips outdoors in general in the afternoon...too hot.  So what is it that we have been doing?  Well for starters, Lexie is still continuing to work on her walking skills.  When she gets up in the morning it is the first thing that she tries to do.  She stands up and before she even gets a step in she is on the ground bottom first.  As the day goes on, her balance improves and sometimes she will get multiple steps (I believe that the most consecutive steps is 5) in before she falls.  Lately, she has been trying really hard to get the walk down in the evenings just before bed time.  I can't quite understand why working on this at the end of the day is so important to her but there is no stopping her.  Each day she is getting better and better and if it takes her longer to get walking down, I am completely fine with this.  Our next obstacle is getting her to wear shoes...she doesn't like them so hopefully we will have enough time to get her used to them.

Aww MOM...Do I really need shoes? These things slow me down.

I also signed her up for some swimming lessons.  Since we spent so much time in the pool over the summer Lexie has no fear of the water.  She is tolerant of her float (The Yacht) for only a short while before she is wanting to go to the zero entry end of the pool and bear-crawl and explore her new surroundings.  I have no problem with that but she tends to want to crawl towards the deep part of the water and if her head happens to go under, she just laughs.  For that reason, I knew it was time to get her some swimming lessons.  I asked a few of my fellow mom-friends to see if they had any suggestions on where I should take Lexie.  It was unanimous...Claudine, they all say!  She uses her home swimming pool and she does private lessons.  Lexie had started her lessons earlier last week.  I must say that it was a little hard watching her cry for an entire 15 minutes.  Pictures to come later.  I know that the lessons will teach her that water is not suppose to be fun at her age!  She was a pro at holding her breath when she was suppose to and she also picked up the underwater kicking very quickly.  We were suppose to go 4 days in a row last week but due to thunderstorms, we will have to finish the lessons this week.

When we are not in the pool or at Target, Lexie enjoys some of her new toys at home.  I recently decided to get rid of her rattles and baby toys and visit Target's End of Summer Sale on toys and got some great and not so great deals.  More importantly, she just needed some new things to pass our days.

Check out my new drums!

A new toy box for my toys!

Of course our day would not be complete without going to visit Daddy at the office.  Since we have been going there almost everyday since she was born, she is really associating the football stadium to Daddy and when we are at the intersection of Maine, right in front of the stadium, she giggles and squeals in excitement.  Once she gets inside, she can't wait to get down on the floor to crawl up and down the hall to see everyone.  It won't be long before she is taking over that place.  Everyone better watch out!

I'm getting too big to get in this basket...I am STUCK!

Before I close, Lexie's latest stats from her 9 month well check.
Weight: 22 lbs (91st percentile)
Height: 29 in (88th percentile)

9 Months and Growing!

Lexie had her 9 month birthday last Friday and I almost let the day get past me.  She is so active these days that George and I are absolutely exhausted by mid-afternoon.  We just got back from our last family vacation of the summer.  We went to Scottsdale, AZ to spend a few days at one of the most beautiful and family friendly resorts that I have ever been to, The Westin Scottsdale Kierland Resort & Spa.  Very nice and the staff was so friendly and helpful.  Plus...there was great food and shopping just across the street.  So a plus anyway you look at it!

A View from the back patio of the hotel

http://www.kierlandresort.com/

Anyway, we had a great time while we were in AZ.  We got to see Grandma Mary and Grandpa Urs as well as Lexie's Aunt Ursula, Uncle Nathan, and cousins Triniti, Tristan, and Noah.  It was the perfect amount of time to be away and it was actually alot cooler there than it has been here in Lawrence.

The beautiful golf course

While we were in AZ Lexie worked very hard on trying to stand up by herself.  Practically every second that she was awake and not in the pool, she would continually crawl on top of us or perfect her standing skills and each day she was able to stand by herself for longer periods.  She also threw her first temper tantrum while we were there.  It was so funny because whenever she gets really upset, George is concerned as he should be, but I knew that this was indeed a tantrum so I couldn't help but laugh.  She gets frustrated so easily, much like her mommy.  She is becoming such a little person.  With her being so mobile these days, before we left for AZ George and I knew that we had to continue with the baby proofing.  This time...in the kitchen.  I left a basket on the ground with koozies, shaker bottles, and other little baby friendly gadgets.  I have shown Lexie where the tupperware drawer is and even took some of it out for her to play...but no....she wants to take my cookbooks off of the shelves and other things that she shouldn't play with so George and I decided to take everything out of the kitchen that has open shelves and we went to Target and got a cheap pantry to put in the kitchen so that everything would be locked up! So the never ending baby proofing continues...next project is to find a cabinet for the living room to go under the tv to cover the cords.  Fun Times!!

Practicing the art of standing!

Always has a smile on her face

Getting into trouble

Checking out her new walker

She still needs some help with using the walker

In the past month, Lexie has also popped out 2 more teeth, for a total of four (her front uppers and bottoms) and within the past two days I have noticed that another tooth is working its way out.  At this point, one would think that she might be ready to try some Stage 3 foods.  I continually work with her on her texture adversions and we have a long way to go.  At least she is eating, that is something that I really have never had to worry about and I am anticipating that what Dr. Riordan is going to say about Lexie.

After all of the hot days spent poolside this summer, I decided to get Lexie signed up for some swimming lessons.  She loves the pool and it is hard to keep her in her raft for long periods of time.  She prefers to go to the shallow end of the zero entry pool and bear crawl back and forth for about an hour.  This does not bother me, it's actually very cute and funny but I worry that she's a little too fearless in the water.  I know that four 15 minutes sessions in the pool will not do too much in teaching her swimming survival skills at this point but at least it will give us some fun things to work on in the pool together.

Stay tuned for our swimming lessons update and the results of her 9 month well check!  Exciting!!

A Weekend With Great Friends

Over the weekend we went up to Lake Okoboji, IA to visit some friends whom George has known since his days in Wyoming.  At first I was not too thrilled with the drive because the dread of Lexie having to sit in her car seat for 6 hours was either going to make our trip very long or now that she is getting older, she may just surprise us and be okay.  After all, she had me as her co-pilot the entire way.

Another obstacle that we were facing was getting to Okoboji itself.  Since portions of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa suffered from major flooding we had to find out how we were going to get there.  Once we started driving and getting towards the Missouri boarder, the reality of the devastation that farmers and residents had suffered.  It was almost unreal to see miles and miles of land that was once farmland now covered in water, and deep water for that fact.  Even parts of a major Interstate, I-29 to be exact, were under water and therefore cars, trucks, and even tractors were having to make some detours.

Flooding near Riverside, MO

I'll fastforward a bit.  George and I left on Thursday thinking that it may take us 2 days to get 6 hours since we were with Lexie.  She was such a trooper that we made it there in one day but unfortunately our hosts were not expecting us until Friday so George got on Yelp and began searching for a place to sleep for the night.  He came across The Inn, which was very pleasant.

The Inn

We ended up getting a kitchenette/bedroom type of suite.  It was really nice we thought especially since we were told that there were two different sleeping areas.  When we got to our room it was so hot because the air had been off and no windows were open.  That made things a little uncomfortable for awhile but it was a nice excuse to get Lexie out for an evening walk along the lake.

Lexie was more comfortable in just her diapers

A beautiful sunset on the lake

The lake was just outside our door.

Friday morning we went over to our friends, The Adams', and got our weekend started.  While we were in Okoboji, we got a very fun tour of the lake, well Lexie didn't think it was fun.  Maybe it was the lifejacket that she had to wear that was a downer for her.

She was actually calm in this picture...not very calm 2 minutes before the picture

She manages a smile

We also got to eat at some really great places and experience the nightlife, which was much like the nightlife in Lake Havasu, where I grew up.  We also took Lexie to the local Amusement Park in Arnolds Park but unfortunately she was just a tad too small to go on any of the kiddie rides.  There is always next year.

It was so great to see our dear friends and the time went by way too fast.  It's so easy to distance yourselves unintentionally once a child comes into our lives.  We must not forget our friends, our lives would not be the same without them.  Thank you John, Michelle, Shaelyn, and Tyler....we had a great time!

Celebrating Lexie's Life...WOW, 8 Months Has Flown By!

Usually I dedicate a seperate blog post to Lexie's monthly stats and accomplishments but life has been so crazy lately that if I don't combine everything...I will just have to skip it and I know how everyone looks forward to these so I won't punish you.

Okay, getting to the point.  I can't believe that Lexie is starting her 8th month!  She is approximately 21 pounds but I am not sure of her height stats at this time.  She is super busy right now.  I never realized how active and curious she was until you put her in a house that is not baby proofed.  She is pulling herself up to crawl on everything.  Last month, she starting this new skill and now I can definitely say that she has perfected it.  She pops up so fast and has absolutely no fear at all.  I also got her a tunnel that she loves to go through and play peek-a-boo with whomever will play with her.

Lexie in her princess tunnel

Even though I am absolutely exhausted by 5 o'clock every afternoon, I am thankful for the 2-3 hours naps in the morning and afternoon so that I can tend to work, chores around the house, or maybe even a quick bite.  Although, if Lexie is up when I sit down for lunch, you better believe that I am sharing whatever it is that I am eating (usually a turkey sandwich) with her.  She has become a great eater.  I have tried to start her on Stage 3 foods but she does not like the texture too much, so I will stick with the Stage 2 foods and some table food for the time being.  Her top two teeth are starting to pop through and she is being a champ about it so far.  She does like to bite George and I when her teeth are hurting really bad, for this reason, I am not overly excited for her to get more teeth.

Lexie's little personality is actually quite big.  She just loves the attention as I have been telling those of you who never get to see her and for those of you who do see her, you already know this.  She is in this stage of imitation.  She loves to scrunch up her nose and breath through it, it is hard to explain but too cute when she does it.  She also is starting to learn how to make the popping sound with her lips.  She also loves to fake cough and to laugh obnoxiously.

Now for our most recent trip to Ohio which took place last weekend and ended this past Tuesday.  It was such a busy time but we had a great time with a few celebrations and lots of family time.  On Saturday (June 25th) we baptized Lexie at the same church that George was baptized and by the same priest.

Greek Orthodox Church in Martins Ferry, Ohio

GodParents Elias and Cori with Father Papageorgiou

Lexie was a pro during the majority of the service...until...she was dunked in the water.  From that point on, things went down hill.  She got so upset that she puked two times all over her Godmother, Cori.  I felt so bad for the both of them.  During the ceremony, you are not suppose to touch your child until the ceremony is over...that was absolutely horrible not being able to comfort your baby when she is so upset.

Lexie is excited when she sees the water

She just doesn't know that it's not warm water like her baths

Not very happy here!

Getting her in her christening gown

She's still not happy

Papou reading a bible verse

Lexie puked all over her dress and her Godmother

The next day, we celebrated George's Parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary.  I think that they are one of the few people that I know that have made it 50 years!  George wanted to throw them a surprise party and were they surprised!  I could not believe that he and his brothers were able to pull it off.  It was a great time with great people and great food!

All of George's brothers, and their family, came from all over to share in both celebrations.  It was an amazing time, Lexie won't remember any of this but I will make sure that she hears about it and all of the people who came to her baptism to celebrate her life!

George with his parents and brothers