Kick!

Even though she doesn't change the expression on her face, I'm certain she likes swimming.

Shout out!

We stopped by Westside Cyclery tonight to play a little game of Hosier Daddy. 

Lil trike

Alex needs a bike sponsor.  Anyone?  Anyone?

mmmm BEER

Billy Rae took full advantage of "the offerings" at the bike shop.

cooler on wheels

I would like one of these please.

French fried taters, and mustard saaaauuuce

I told you she liked it.

Um, Jack...wacha doin?

We went swimming again, cuz it's Mama's favorite thing in the whole world to do with Alex.  

We invited Jack, they're on the same swim team.  He wants a piece of Alex.  

You can see the K-Man in the background, he's real hard to capture a still photo of these days, on a counta he moves so fast.

After swimming part du

After swimming pic.  Her eyes weren't even at half staff this time.

Grandma Sunshine

Grandma Sunshine came in for a visit.  You can see that we gave her some old fire boots and put her to work...thanks mom.

Swimming!

I took Alex swimming today.  We had so much fun.

Today gave me great hope that she's gonna do well in the swimsuit portion of the Pageant. 

Lil swimmer

half capacity

After swimming...she's all tuckered out.  In fact, she's so tired that her eyes only open to half capacity.  

Uncle T-Rav

Where does she get those great big eyes?  

Just when you think the song is over...

Did you know how many verses there were to the song?

tan lines

From Arctic temps to record highs...gotta love tan lines in January.

I think my ankles look really skinny in this pic.

HaterAid

Meet cousin Kelly.  She has hair extensions from India.  She also told her little brother that she used to have a kangaroo before he came along and ruined everything.  

Well, cousin Kelly doesn't care for babies.  Here is Alex asking her why she sips on the HaterAid.

Family night

Most of the time in Michigan was spent looking at the chicken.  Here is a picture of everyone smiling and giggling with her and her newly found facial expressions.

Later tire

Saying goodbye to the tire.

"Stop!"

I just needed a full belly laugh tonight.
I know it's a repeat entry, and I also know that I'm an awful, awful person for enjoying this sooooooo much, but just put your morals aside and laugh with me.
I especially like it when she says, "Stop!", and then I also really enjoy the noises she makes.

gone fishin'...

Dear Virtual Friends,
I'll be back to my regular blogging schedule this week when I return to America. I'm in Detroit visiting the giant tire...stay tuned.
Kennequa

bunny suit

We woke up to a surprising snowfall this morning.  I wanted to go sledding, but the chicken is not quite big enough.  Next year...I have a real good hill picked out with our names on it.  So we put on her bunny suit and made the best of it.

Future firefighter

Our little future firefighter sure had rosey cheeks when we came inside.

Famous quote of the day

"She has cankles on her wrists."

Here is the chicken showing off the cut of her jibb again.

Holy cow

I think Lori and I just look amazing in this picture.

Bumbo and the elephant

This cool little invention is called a Bumbo.  It gives Alex a whole new perspective on the world, being able to sit up like that.  Know what else is cool?  Her elephant on her wrist.  Ask her, she'll tell you all about it.

BAPA

Bapa came by today.  Alex was tired during his visit, but you can tell she likes him by the way she holds his thumb.

Two Chicks

Check out her shirt.  Thanks Hot Tomato girls!

Oh girrrrlllll...

A little break from the cutest baby in the world.
I absolutely come undone listening to these news casters.
Thanks to Johnny Cakes for bringing this to my attention.

All clean

Splash!

Alex loves her baths.

Alex is going to be just fine

This kid is gonna go places.  I can tell by the way she is smiling and telling me to eff off at the same time.  

No lie

I told you guys she was good at sucking her thumb.  

A fairy is born

Alex giggled for the first time yesterday.  It was UBER cute.  

Legend has it, when a baby laughs for the first time, a fairy is born.  (Kind of like when a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.)

I just hope that kid's parents are gonna be cool with him being gay.    

Lil' smokies

Nothing says "Happy New Year" like this spread.  Chips, Guac, Pizza, Lil' smokies and shrimp cocktail.

Thumbsucker

Alex has recently discovered her thumbs and the holes in her nose.  It's pretty funny when she finds them at the same time.

Ojo a Ojo

Alex is finally big enough for her EXERSAUCER!  

She went "ojo a ojo" with the green frog.  It was so close to her face she had to go cross-eyed to see him.

3 month birthday!

Dear Alex,

Wow.  You've never been this old in your entire life.  It's been 3 months since this picture was taken.  And by the way, this is how you came into this world.  First your head came out, then your right arm, and you took a minute to just look around while giving us the power solute.

Welcome baby Hulk! 

You have grown up soooooo much Alex.  

Just in the last three days, you've started reaching for stuff and putting it in your mouth.  And you are real chatty, especially in the mornings.  It's like you have to fill me in on what happened in our 8 hours away from each other.  You are so serious when you explain all of this to me.

"Playtime" has taken on a whole new meaning for you.  You love making faces at your mommy and me.  Thankfully we are still your favorite toys.  

You are cool with taking a nap as long as it is in the comfort of our arms.  Sometimes I try and put you down for the rest of your nap.  But when you go to sleep in one place and wake up in another, it scares the poo out of you (literally).  You've reached new heights up your back.  I'm guessing it comes out 400-500 psi.    

On another note, I was thinking, you should totally enter some burping contests in college. (Sometimes I wonder if God screwed up and made my breastmilk carbonated.) 

You are very independent already.  You rarely cry to be held or comforted.  Mostly you cry for your freedom.  If I've held you too long and loved you too close.  You need your alone time and you're not afraid to let us know.  You also cry when you've been fighting to keep your eyes open for too long because you don't want to miss anything fun.  

Oh yeah, and when you get hungry, it hits you in like a nanosecond.  

3 months was supposed to mark the time when I was going to start piecing my life back together.  I talked about how I was going to start riding my bike again, and maybe get in a few ski days.  I bragged that I was going to be excited to get back to work, and that I would probably want some time away.  I was going to start working spicy foods back into my diet, and drinking my bodyweight in beer, BECAUSE I CAN.  

The truth is, I love my time with you.  I don't want to ride my own bike, I want to teach you how to ride yours.  And I want to stick your little paws in the snow, and talk about how we're going to go skiing together someday.  When I arrived at my first day at work, it looked like I had been socked in both of my eyes.  24 hours away?!!...what if I miss something?  Or worse, what if you DON'T miss me?  But we both made it, and we are still in love.  

Actually I do still miss beer.  

Alex, BFF really wants to get you a dog that you can grow up with.  I would like to propose a different idea.  How about a Sea Turtle or a Parrot?  I hear they can live up to 100 years.  That way you would never have to experience the loss of a love.  Genius I think.

As much as I want to keep you in a safety bubble, I know you'll never learn to crawl if I don't put you down every now and then.  So keep on growing, I can take it Alex.  

Happy 12 weeks!

Love,

Mama 

 

Hulk is growing so fast

1 week
1 month
2 months
3 months

Do you have a piece of tape for Alex?

Alex wants to know if any of the Readers can give her a piece of tape.

"Why" you ask?

BECAUSE SHE IS RIPPED (as shown in photo).

family night

Day 1 at work for Mama was a fairly easy transition.  It was family night at the firehouse.  BFF brought Alex to see me at work for a couple of hours.  She wore her Christmas dress again.

Strong Wyatt

A and I have been real busy with play dates lately.  Here we are with Dave, baby Wyatt, Jes and Diesel the dog.  Wyatt is a big and strong boy.  He totally plays in his exersaucer.  He has smelly feet though.  

New trick for the readers

She is like way advanced.

LUCKY

So I had to actually be a Mom today.  This picture is not from today.  You can tell because it doesn't look like I've been punched in both of my eyes.  That's how I looked today after Alex got 2 shots.  She took it like a brave, brave warrior.  I took it like a little sissy girl.  

Then she sat in my lap the rest of the afternoon and cried and wimpered cuz she was so uncomfortable.  It absolutely broke my heart.  

I got to thinking again just how truly blessed we are to have a healthy child.  She is strong.  She is healthy.  WE ARE LUCKY.  

I just can't imagine the parents who have to really buck up and be strong for their kids who face much bigger challenges.  

Just counting my blessings that's all.  

Merry Christmas readers.

What's up Jennifer?

We're looking for an interview with Anne Curry, and we've just sent the tie to David Letterman.

The Talent

If Alex's hair were longer...

deli crew '97

Alex got to meet Christine today.  Christine, BFF and I all worked at Alfalfa's together circa 1997.  We were the best damn deli crew that natural hippie store has ever seen.  They've never made profits like they did when we worked there.

Chris was a dancer.  She claims that she never ate cotton balls though.  

Christmas dress

Alex's Great Mimi sent her this Christmas dress, just in time for a Christmas dinner.

Smartwool

The end of the night.  I couldn't stand to see her suffer any more in those tights...so I put on her smartwool socks and she fell asleep in BFF's arms.

SHAKE FACE

Big bro, the inventor of SHAKE FACE during his first attempt.

You shake your head back and forth, real fast, and make your jowells slap your face, then you snap the photo.  I decided that boys are very good at this skill.  

We suck at SHAKE FACE

The girls attempting SHAKE FACE.  We decided that it hurt our brains.  And since Joyce has to use her brain to get into college, we didn't make another attempt.  

the winner!

My facebook friend was the winner of the SHAKE FACE contest.  Look at his glasses flying off.  

He was the only one who said it didn't hurt his brain.