Here comes the Bride!!

Dear Lexi,
Your daddy has a really good friend named Bob. Right before we got pregnant with you, we found out that Bob and his beautiful wife Lindsay were expecting a baby! Immediately after we found out we were pregnant with you, daddy's mind went into overdrive! "How cool would it be, if our kids eventually got married," daddy asked me one day. He had a plan; Bob would have a boy, we would have a boy, then we would both have girls, then the boys could marry the girls and everything would be happy! Well, as we all know, you ended up being a girl and Bob's baby ended up being a boy (Davis). But that didn't stop your daddy's excitement! He decided that you two could still get married, you would just have to wait patiently while Davis went on his mission. Then as soon as he returned, we would have a huge wedding and our families would forever be linked!
Well, we went to Utah over Spring Break and we finally got to get the two of you together! We all hung out at the pool for your cousin Taryn's birthday! It was supposed to be that magical moment when two babies fall in love, but neither of you really cared about the other baby! Then we went to the Aquarium and you still didn't care that there was another baby around! The only time you two realized that there was another baby, was when you were sleeping and you woke Davis up with your cries!! Which is alright with mommy! You are too young to be promised to someone! Plus, you have TONS of time to meet Davis!!




I love you Lexi-Ann!!
Love,
Mommy!

Milestone catchup!

Dear Lexi,

Mommy has been super busy these last few weeks and I have completely neglected your blog! So we will do a quick catchup and then hopefully stay on top of it for the next few months!! Here are some of your recent milestones...

1. You started standing (letting go of objects while already standing up) at around 9 months old. Watching you learn to stand was probably one of the most entertaining things that I have seen you do so far. You would pull yourself up on a toy and then let go! You were so super excited that you weren't holding onto anything, you would pump your arms up and down and do a little dance! I loved watching you! If you fell, you would cry a little, but then you always got straight back up and tried to stand again. It was such an adventure watching you learn this little task! I was always amazed at how you decided it was time to let go, what was your thought process? I hope one day to understand that!

2. Standing up by yourself-you started to really try to stand up all by yourself at about 9.5 months. You would go into the middle of the living room, clear all of the toys from around you, and try your hardest to stand. After a few minutes, you would get discouraged and crawl away to find a toy. After a few weeks of practicing, you finally achieved this milestone! You did the same routine as you always did, but this time you finally stood. You were so proud of yourself, but you were also so scared that you had finally done it! You sat back down so fast! It was so cute! You have only stood up twice so far, but I know that this is going to be the beginning of a ton of changes!

3. Eating! You have started to be WAY better at eating! Before, it was a struggle getting anything into your mouth, but recently, you have actually been eating the things I put on your tray! Which is great for mommy since I always stress about how much you are eating!

4. Sleep! You have been sleeping so much better!! You aren't sleeping through the night yet, but you are waking up a manageable amount!

I'm sure there are more and I will post them when I think of them! For now, I love you boogie bear!!

Love,

Mommy

The Little Things

Dear Lexi,
Watching you grow up has been one of the most entertaining times of my life. I look at you and the crazy things you do and I wonder how I am ever able to look away. You do so many things that are so stinkin adorable. I will give you just a couple examples...
1. You have started doing this really sweet thing where you crawl around, lay down, close your eyes, and then pop up and giggle. It's like you are teasing us, saying "oh! I'm so tired, I gotta go to sleep..YAWN!!! WAIT WAIT! Just kidding!" It is so sweet, especially when you come over and lay on my chest and close your eyes!

2. You give big open mouth kisses! Sometimes, if you want to give a kiss but Mommy isn't paying attention, you grab my face in your chubby little hands and turn my face towards you! Then you open wide and go MMMMMWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
3. You know a few words and that makes me smile! You know; mama, dada, ball, up, bye-bye, and boob. We have already discussed how much you are obsessed with balls, so knowing the word ball shouldn't be a big shocker. :)


I will add more as I think of them! I love you little girl!

Love,
Mommy

Tales of a Hoarder

Dear Lexi,

It has come to my attention that you are NOT very good at sharing. At Gymboree, during parent discussion time, when all the balls are handed out, you crawl over and try to steal EVERYONE's ball. You aren't satisfied with just your ball or Bryce's ball. Nope, you want your ball, Bryce's ball, Raina's ball, Lainies ball, Lillian's ball, and Kennedy's ball. You want to sit with them in your lap and slober all over them. And wo unto whoever tries to steal back their balls. The high pitched scream you scream could make all the babies cry.

So, we decided that you are a hoarder baby. You love collecting things and keeping them for yourself. But be cautious my little Boogie Bear, one day Mommy will make you understand the concept of sharing. I will do it because I love you and because playing catch is a lot more fun than cramming ball after ball into your lap.

Here are a few pictures of you hoarding apples because balls are not the only thing you hoard. Oh no, you hoard anything and everything you can get your hand on.

One apple,

Crawling!

Dear Lexi,
You are finally crawling!! I am so super excited about this milestone. I've been watching you learn to crawl for the past few weeks. You would get so discouraged when you couldn't do it, but you kept trying. You figured out how to move that little leg out of the way, you figured out how to move your arms and your legs, you figured out how to go. Now you go go go! You crawl from the couch to your activity table. You can pull yourself up. You come over to the couch, pull yourself up, call mama mama, then you plop down and head back over to your toys. I'm so excited to see you grow up, but I'm also sad about the loss of my little girl. I remember when you were a newborn, how cuddly you were, how easily you would fall asleep in my arms, how you would snuggle into me and sigh and how every day was a new milestone. You have grown so much in the last 8 months, grown from learning to smile and laugh to crawling away from mommy towards your toys. I'm going to miss my non-mobile little girl, but I look forward to the adventures that crawling will bring us.
I love you little one,


Love,
Mommy!

Christmas and California Vacation

Dear Lexi,
This year for Christmas, we continued a tradition that your Aunt Gabby and I have had for several years. Your daddy and I have had this tradition since we got married. I am talking about our tradition of opening pajamas on Christmas Eve. All three of us got a nice new pair of pajamas. We took tons of pictures, watched The Christmas Carol, and then we snuggled in bed nice and warm in our new jammies.
Christmas day we went to Grandma Matteson's house. We all gathered together as a family and opened presents. You were more interested in eating the wrapping paper then opening the presents, but you quickly learned that there were new and interesting things underneath the extremely delicious tasting paper. After opening presents, we ate really tasty breakfast burritos. Well, you just had a little bit of scrambled egg, but Daddy and I ate breakfast burritos. Then everyone took a nap. It was a pretty good first Christmas.

On the 28th, you and I flew to California. You were amazing on the flight, which was great for mommy since I was travelling alone with you. Everyone in California was so excited to meet you. They had only ever seen pictures of you and they were super excited to see you. And truthfully mommy was pretty excited to show you off. On January 4th, daddy flew in to meet us in California. You were super excited to see him after not seeing him for so long. And he was super excited to see you.

We got to visit your Nana and Grampa Givens, your Aunt Gabby, your grandpa and grandma Miller, and your grama Papineau. Along with several family friends; Misty, Michelle, Maclyn, and Brittney. We also went down to Monterey and visited with your Aunt Ammie and her family.

You had a few adventures while we were in California:
First: you got your first real taste of what dogs were. Grama Papineau had a little tiny teacup chiauau that was perfect sized for you. You two would play like you were best friends. She would step on your head and you would giggle, pick her up and throw her. She would run back and hop back on for another round. It was really cute watching you play together.
Second: We learned about your love for jelly fish. We went to the Monterey Aquarium and you just loved being able to sit infront of the jelly fish tank and watch them. You kept touching the glass and staring so intently at them.
Third: You had your first couple of tumbles. You fell off of a recliner and off of a bench at the kitchen table. Daddy and I were both heartbroken when you fell, but you didn't really seemed phased at all.

Our return trip to Texas was pretty uneventful. You were so well behaved.

That is pretty much all of our adventures to California.

I love you Lexi,

Love,
Mommy!

Pictures with Santa

Dear Lexi,
We recently went to the Mall to get pictures of Santa. Mommy was kind of worried about whether or not you would like him, but you just LOVED Santa. You were so fascinated by him, we had to almost yell to get your attention focused on the camera. It was such a great experience. I hope Santa understands baby language and can bring you everything you want this Christmas.




I LOVE YOU!!
Love,
Mommy