Week 51

Week 51 Updates:

1. Alex is starting to stand! She has been pretty good about kneeling for the last month or so but, within the last couple of weeks, she has started to try to stand up. She actually stands more at my Parent's house since I think that they have more furniture the right height for standing but last night, she opened her bib drawer and stood up for probably 10 minutes as she explored the drawer. She likes to stand on her tippy toes though which I find to be super cute!

2. She has learned to open drawers and cupboards :)

3. We started giving her regular milk (whole milk) in the hopes that we can stop giving her formula soon and much to my surprise, she loves it! She will drink several small bottles of milk a day and she will almost finish the bottle in one attempt. I guess that we won't have to buy formula anymore and go to straight milk once we run out (of formula). Hurray!!

4. Her fourth tooth is still coming, but doesn't seem to want to break through the gums quite yet...I wish that it would hurry and come already!

Week 50

Week 50 Updates:

1. Alex got her new car seat nicknamed the Throne. She is doing better in it than when we first got it last Friday, but she still is not super fond of it. Hopefully she will grow to like it (especially since she'll be in it for a while).

2. We celebrated Alex's first Independence Day. We mostly relaxed during the day and went to a friend's house for dinner. We had gotten sparklers for Alex but since its been so dry here lately, we decided not to use them. Maybe next year...

3. Alex stood up by herself for the first time yesterday. It totally took me by surprise and I think that she was surprised too. She was able to stay up for about 30 seconds before collapsing onto her bum. Hopefully she will start doing it more and getting more practice. 

4. She did pretty well playing with some older kids yesterday although she sure lets them know where she is sitting and what she is playing with. She is a very feisty little girl!

5. She continues to be a good talker and she is now using her hands emphatically when she speaks, it is so cute!

Gates and Car Seats

We have made some recent baby improvements around our house lately. Now that little Alex is getting extremely active and curious, we have finally done some baby proofing. First we bought a gate to protect Alex from the stairs (or is it to protect the stairs from Alex?) and we got some covers for all of our outlets. She doesn't seem to mind the gate, although it bothers Gir, especially when he wants to go downstairs but finds himself blocked. We also have finally gotten a new car-seat for Alex. She was starting to get too long for  her infant car seat and she was getting too heavy for Mommy and Daddy to carry around in it. So, we ordered her a Recaro baby seat (which designs seats for race cars, can you think of who picked it out :) ) which is convertible and will be able to face forward when she is ready. She's not quite sure of what to think about it yet, but hopefully it will be more comfortable for her. We (mostly I) call it her throne because it is so big! She almost takes up the entire back seat of our Jeep now and when she waves her arms, it looks like she's giving blessings to her subjects :). I can't believe that my little baby is big enough for such a big car seat and I hope that she grows to enjoy it.

Week 49 Updates

Week 49 Updates:

1. Alex is getting two more teeth in (her 2 front teeth) and since the teeth are bigger, they are taking much longer to cut through than her two bottom teeth. One has almost completely cut through and the other is still coming down. I feel so bad for poor Alex, this must really hurt!

2. Alex went swimming for the first time yesterday and she loved it! She was so happy splashing and kicking in the water, it was so fun to see! A friend let us borrow a baby floaty so that she could sit down and she was so happy and relaxed that she fell asleep! I think that we have a water baby on our hands.

3. She is starting to put her foot down flat while she is crawling so, she may be trying to stand up soon!

4. She is getting so much better at eating even though she seems to enjoy feeding Gir most of her food. Avocado is still her favorite and we have learned that she doesn't care for green beans (like Mother like Daughter).

11 Months Old and 48 Weeks

Smile!

Contemplative Alex

11 Months Old

I can't believe that my little girl is 11 months old! Seriously, where did the time go? It seems like not too long ago she was a newborn and now she is a very active baby. I am so proud of her and she is such a joy in our lives. Everything has changed and we couldn't be happier! I love this little cutie to pieces and I can't wait to see what comes next. In only 4 short weeks, she's going to be 1 years old!

Week 48 Updates:

1. We got to celebrate Daddy's first Father's Day. We had a nice relaxing day where we Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa Miller. Alex kept pointing to the screen and saying, "Daddy". She called Grandma "daddy" as well as Grandpa. It was pretty funny. We also had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Prusso. It was a great first Father's day with more to come.

2. Alex is starting to make funny faces (check out picture 1) and she cracks us up. She first made this face for Uncle Brett and now whenever I try to take pictures, she pulls this face first. Silly girl :)

3. She is drinking more water and I've been trying to slowly reduce the amount of formula that she's been drinking in preparation to start drinking regular milk next month (hurray!!).

4. She is getting better and better and crawling and pulling herself onto objects. Because of this, her reach has extended and I keep forgetting it so, she will often grab items that she was unable to before which I don't necessarily want her to. I really need to child proof the house soon.

5. Alex enjoys sleeping with her bum in the air or on her side, she almost never sleeps on her back anymore.

Week 47

Week 47 Updates:

1. Alex is ACTIVE with a definite capital A! She is constantly all over the place and I have nicknamed her Hurricane Alex. She loves pulling our DVD's off the shelf as wells as pulling out all of her toys as well as Gir's. She is constantly moving around and loves kneeling by the backdoor looking outside. She is getting really good at crawling and pulling herself up. 

2. She is so happy! When she is fed and not tired, she is constantly laughing, talking, and smiling. She is such a joy to watch!

3. Her favorite objects are her books (her Goodnight Michigan book is her absolute favorite) and she will find them and "read:" them out loud to me. SO DANG CUTE! She will also hide in the corner to read. When she is tired or fussy, she loves it when we sit on the couch together and read, it really calms her down. I am in Mommy heaven!! I hope that she will continue to love books. 

4. I think that Alex has a sixth sense about water. She can always tell where I've hidden Gir's water bowl and makes a b-line for it as soon as she see's it. It sure keeps me (and Gir) on our toes. 

5. She loves riding on Daddy's shoulders and no matter how tired or cranky she is, it always brings a smile to her face.

6. I think that she said her first word. Yesterday, she kept saying something that sounded like Daddy and I've been trying to work on it with her more. It is perfect timing especially since Father's Day is in a couple of days!

7. I am loving this stage of exploration and activity and Alex's powers of observation surprise me everyday. I am so lucky to have her in my life and I can't wait to see what's in store next.

Week 46

Week 46 Updates:

1. Alex is doing better crawling, she is doing more knee crawling than she was last week and she is less wobbly. 

2. She is going through a very clingy phase. She constantly wants to be picked up, but when you try to hold her she gets really squirmy. I don't think that she quite knows what she wants. 

3. Alex is fascinated by smaller babies. At our play date yesterday, Alex paid the most attention (and poked) the youngest baby who is 4 months old. It's funny how interested she is since she isn't that much older. Its really cute until Alex starts poking the baby in the eye!

4. She is starting to try and climb up on objects and her favorite so far is on our backdoor. She loves looking outside, especially if Gir is outside. She has pushed herself onto our oven, the back door, our bed, our coffee table, her crib, and our windows. 

5. Alex is so curious. She has had a lot of fun recently exploring  our house. She especially likes my bookshelf (she seems very interested in the Count of Monte Cristo...that's my girl!) and our DVD's. I really like it when she's in an exploring mood, she talks and laughs so easily!