Lexie Lou... at 23 Months!

It seems so hard to wrap my head around the fact our BABY girl will be 2 next month! Each of our three have been so special to us, little miracles... and we treasure every day we have with them. Alexis is such a little spunky girl... she has attitude, the will to do anything and everything, and yet is the most loveable, sweetest thing!

Lex can't get enough of her "Bobby's" aka baby dolls... she loves them. She always wants to push them around, carry them and take them into bed with her. She is so girly... loves phones, purses, shoes, and accessories! She is our little diva... she learns alot of that from her big sis.

Alexis' favorite things to do are play with babies (real or fake), imitate her siblings, play with Abby, eat (anything!), give kisses (she can't go to bed without kissing everyone!), brush her teeth, watch Minnie/Mickey and gang, watch the princesses, try on sunglasses, and jump on the bed, dress up, buckle/zip (she can actually buckle into her highchair/stroller already). NO one can leave without taking her... that really upsets her. She always wants to be on the go... loves being outside, playing with friends, or just going!

Her fears to date are fuzzies and spiders... hmmm... not only does she look like Mommy, but we have similar phobias! She also poses with her chin down, walks with a bounce in her step and has similar mannerisms as Momma too!

Alexis has an amazing vocabulary and each day we laugh at how much more she says.... she says it all. She is using small sentences now as well (Zip it, Go Outside, I want it, etc). She asks WHY all the time! She really will repeat anything that is said to her... I'm so proud of her.

Lex loves to eat... she loves "fries", M's, pizza, soup, mac & cheese, and fruit snacks! She also loves her Milky! She is a fantastic eater... we are so lucky our kids like to eat! :) Alexis loves sweets but also likes the good stuff, which makes Mom & Dad very happy! Blueberries are her favorite fruit... she could eat a pint if we let her. Can't wait till summer time with lots of fresh fruits to feed baby girl!

In the last month we have spotted her bottom two molars.... so now she is just waiting on the top two. She appears to be sucking on her fingers, so I'm guessing they are on their way.

Grace is FOUR!

I look at my sweet baby girl and can't believe she is four.... how did this happen?
Grace is the sweetest angel.... I couldn't have wished for a more special daughter. So loving, sweet, caring and kind. She is truly beautiful inside & out.

Grace has such a love for her siblings and family. She is so motherly and loves taking care of those she loves. She makes a great friend... which makes me so happy & proud.

Grace loves playing outside, playing dolls, shopping, eating out, and just doing whatever makes anyone else happy. She likes riding her bike, going to school, doing hair, and helping out whenever she can. She loves to eat pizza, mac & cheese, lemonade, spaghetti, milk, slurpees, and chips. She has never been a huge eater of sweets and to this day doesn't care for them so much. She continues to learn and grow each day.... she is recognizing most letters and sounds in the alphabet, can count to 13, loves to color and make art projects, she also knows her colors (has for a while), and is big into fashion and painted nails. She also knows what she wants in regards to hair styles. She has an opinion and uses it! She loves to wear her hair plain... and also let me know that she doesn't care for pig tails any more. :( Grace loves playing with her best buds Rylie & Ema. She always is talking about them. She also enjoys Dance (tap & ballet with Rylie) and Cheer (with Ava & Brianna). She doesn't quite have her coordination down... and make me chuckle at how clumsy she can be. "Grace" falls over more than any girl I know.

For Gracie's fourth birthday we had a great day. We had the day off for spring break... so we went to Rochester Play in the morning with our family & Betts, Mimi & Cam. We played there till lunch and then headed over to Red Robin. Grace had mac & cheese... yum! For dinner we had everyone over (Doe, Betts, Pa, Mimi, Cam, Bella, Aunt Cathy, Gigi) and had pizza and cake. She had a very special day celebrating her four years with us. We love you Grace and can't wait to watch you grow... just don't grow too fast! :)

22 Months.. WOW.

We have been blessed... Babe is such a pleasure to have in our lives. I often think about what our lives would be like without her... can't imagine it. She is so special to us and really completes our family. Not a day goes by that we don't laugh at something cute she is doing. She is a doll...
Alexis' top five favorite things at this age are: 5. Food 4. Sleep 3. Her Dog 2. Daddy 1. MOUSE
Some of the runner up's are: Mommy, Outside, Brother, Gracie, and Babies!
Alexis is such a sponge and is really following all things that Jacob and Grace do & SAY! She just idolizes them, it's so sweet and she is learning so much! There isn't anything this girl can't do or say (or at least attempt!).
She enjoys letting Abby outside, taking a vitamin (min), getting her coat on , getting in the tub, pushing things (strollers/carts) and reading.

We have had a few successes with going potty... and she does enjoy the M&M's that come after. If I could get her to do it a little more frequently I think she would really connect the two. :)
How can this sweet angel be approaching 2 so soon? She is so independent I have no doubt she will go far in life. I'm proud to be her Mommy... and can't help but feel loved when I'm with her!
It's hard to see he grow up... especially so quickly. But I know she has to and that we have many more memories to create and share. I look forward to them, yet try to cherish these days as well... gosh I love her. :)

Jacob wants a brother....

Jacob informed me today that he wants a baby brother... he must have not received a memo that this baby maker is closed for business!

Babe is 21 Months...

WOW... our baby is nearing 2~ how did that happen?? Alexis has such the little personality... we love her more and more every day! She is getting so big and is so happy, funny, sweet, lovey, flirty, talkative, an adorable. She amazes us and sure has her siblings and parents wrapped around her little finger.
You would never know that Alexis has ear issues... this girl says everything. She talks all the time! She speaks in sentences (small). "I got it", "I do", "Hi, Mommy!"

She still LOVES babies, Mouse, and most recently princesses. Another love of hers is her clothing or shoes... she just cannot get enough of wearing my stuff, her stuff, Grace's stuff... Loves it!
Alexis has a love/hate relationship with food... she either loves it or pushes it away and says "yuck". Some of her favorites are pizza, mac n' cheese, fruit, carrots... and of course DIPS.

She also loves sweets... go figure!

She has continued to be smaller... most of her 18-24 month clothing is still too big. As far as shoes go... we have her in a 5 or 5.5 depending on the shoe. Hats are 12-24 Months... Speaking of heads... her hair is thickening up but still not growing much.

Her favorite toys continue to be babies, phones, keys, strollers, the kitchen (food), and anything someone else has. As far as television goes... she loves Mickey and Wiggles. BUT she will watch anything!

Lex is such an outdoor girl... she is always asking to go outside and when she gets there she always wants to "walk" as opposed to being carried and will just walk around aimlessly as long as you let her. I know she'll be a blast this year at the cottage and I'm sure she'll really enjoy it. Especially with Bella!

Her hair is still blonde... eyes are definitely brown... Doe got the baby she always wanted!

She loves to be sung too and loves music... loves to hear "Ba Ba Black Sheep" or "Itsy Bitsy Spider". She is now sleeping with her 2 Minnies, Seahorse Glow Thing, usually a baby, a blanky and buh. She loves going "nighty" and you can tell when she's ready because she starts asking for her baby or buh.

She runs pretty fast now and has even jumped with two feet a few times. She is quite the little dancer! Although she still likes to shovel her food in she is very good at using a "poon" (spoon) or "fork". She has also mastered drinking from a water bottle all by herself, which I find amazing to watch. Straws are very easy for her as well.

WOW... 20 months old!

Babe has added SO many more words this month including: juice, pizza, money, princess, Ariel, Ema, putzI honestly cannot think of anything she cannot say/repeat. It is amazing!

She also knows many of her colors, especially the basics... she loves pink and purple, of course!

She can identify and name most of her body parts as well as other people's. She is constantly pointing to my nose and eyes... and saying nose/eyes.

Alexis has continued to be a super eater... she will really try anything. She loves pizza, pasta, fruit, cheese, bars, and anything sweet! Our neighbors all joke that she is the little "Mikey" of the group... she loves food!

The WIGGLES & MOUSE are the hottest thing in this 20 month old baby girls life! She sings and dances around whenever she sees them on TV. Alexis loves her babies and is such a little mother hen, especially with her "Belda". She has also started to want to sleep with her little baby (although I say its a little hard and plastic like to sleep with, she just loves it!).

We are still having clothing issues... 12-18 month clothes fit perfectly. Everything else is still too big. Shoes are going at a 5 and hats are about a size 12-24 months. She is still our little peanut for sure... so skinny!

Babe loves her Daddy... Mommy turns into second fiddle when Daddy gets home... he has to do everything with her! She just loves to be carried around by her Daddy! What a little princess!

She is a super sleeper... she sleeps from 7:30 PM until 7:30-8 AM... sometimes even later! Then she proceeded to take a 3 hour afternoon nap. What a girl!

She is such a happy girl and has the most adorable expressions... however I will be the first to admit she can bit a bit sassy... hair pulling, NO, and hitting to get her way to name a few. She is definitely the BABY! :)

Alexis is 19 Months Old!

And to think at this age with Jacob I had a 2 month old I just simply can't get over! She is such my little baby girl yet she is getting so big and so independent I can't help but want to bottle her up!
Alexis is such a sweet yet very sassy girl. We have struggled with hitting and hair pulling this month BIG time! I think alot of it has to do with invasion of her personal space by her older sister. The only mechanism she has to fight back is to hit or pull Grace's long hair. Ouch. We just keep reminding her of what is right and wrong... hopefully she'll catch on!
Just when I thought Alexis couldn't say anymore she surprises me... I honestly couldn't even list all that she says now... BUT some of the things she says are: banana, apple, water, juice, milk, cracker, fish, buh, brother, Grace, Mama, Dada, Doe, Gigi, Tete, Bella, Brady, Rylie, Carter, more, shoe, bye, hi, yeah, no, baby, up, I Got It, Yowzers, Me, and well the list goes on....
Alexis loves Wiggles & Mickey Mouse! She sits and watches them so nice... she also loves to sleep with her little Minnie doll, can't wait to take her to Disney! In the car she often goes into a coma... while watching her movies, kinda cracks us up! She is also quiet the dancer... and boy can she shake those hips when her favorite wiggles song comes on!
She has her buh only at nap/nighttime and does so well with this. She sleeps from about 7:30 pm until 8 am... and then takes a 2-3 hour nap... very similiar to what Grace did at this same age. All three of my kids were awesome at going right in and falling asleep... which makes me very happy!
We love the little snuggles we get from our baby girl when she gets up from nap and when we watch movies as a family. Nothing like a snuggle from your last baby.... such a treasure.
And in addition to our illness last winter we have already started to get some winter type colds/chest issues. She has been on the nebulizer already once this winter... the one major downfall to these issues is that when she feels crappy she tends to not eat as much as she usually does. Although if we have one of her favorites... LOOK OUT! :)

18 Month Old Baby Girl...

Our baby is sure growing fast! Seems like just yesterday we had one infant and now we have three budding children! Time sure does fly as we cherish them and what they have brought into our lives!
Babe has begun to gain alot of physical strength... she can go up and down steps basically on her own. She also has started to run! As far as fine motor development goes she can drink from a cup and eat with utensils all on her own now! It's a new chapter in our lives as we have spent the last 5 years feeding people... its nice to have 3 independent children!
Alexis loves babies... dolls... the kitchen... and anything girly! HOWEVER... she will play for and fight for anything her siblings or Bella has! She loves taking a baby to bed with her and ALWAYS has to have her blanket a certain side up... satin side up! She is just like her Momma, who always grasped (while on her tummy) the satin side of a blanket. Can't put Alexis to bed without one under her face and another on her back... such a little princess!
Her vocabulary amazes me.... she is so vocal! She says almost anything... her favorite words are "baby", "buh" (her pacifier) and "NO!"... she can now combine words, mainly two word combos.
She loves to eat, yet still continues to be so small! She loves goldfish, cheerios, blueberries, oranges, apples (asks by name for those quiet often!), cheese (another request), pizza, soup, grilled cheese, spaghetti, milk and crackers.
Alexis is into shoes... she loves getting her coat and shoes in the morning as well as everyone elses! She is the official shoe closet checker... she is constantly in there and loves to "re-organize" all its contents! UGH...
She also loves Daddy and loves to take Abby outside... she can't get enough of either of these things... it's sweet.

Jacob's God Synopsis

The kids have been driving by a house damaged by fire on their way home from school... they have been very worried about the family and their belongings. One day Doe was explaining to them about how you just "Get Out" and that "God will take care of getting you the things you need... toys, clothes, food, etc.". She then said to Jacob... "You know who God is, right Jacob?" To which he replied with a huge grin... "Yup, Pops!"

Jacob's 5th Birthday Party!

Jacob had a haunted birthday party at the Macomb Rec Center... we enjoyed Pizza, Cake, Cupcakes, Spider Cookies, & lots of other goodies. The kids got to play, break a pinata, eat and SWIM! :) It was a busy... crazy... party, but tons of fun! Jacob got so many nice things... our family and friends are always so very generous. AND most importantly, he was surrounded by so many friends and family that love and care for him. It was a great day... and he was so appreciative.
The day after his party... he said to me... "Mom, when will I be 5?"... I said "On Tuesday." To which he replied... "Does it take God that long to change your number?" ... what a funny kid!