Alexis' First Birthday Party

The day of Alexis' birthday fell on a Wednesday. I was still battling morning sickness and Greg and I were both getting over a yucky virus that had given us trouble for a few days. Plans to have birthday cake at home changed to frozen yogurt and toppings at the yogurt shop that then changed to a five minute stop in to McDonalds for a taste of her first icecream cone. I'm glad we did something to make her birthday special, but I wish Mom and Dad had felt better and more up to celebrating.

That weekend, we traveled "home" to Oregon to celebrate Alexis' first birthday. It just made sense for us to travel to family and friends instead of the other way around (plus, I doubt many people would have made the trip to Idaho if we'd had it here). We were so blessed by my parents for hosting the party and welcoming so many people into their home. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who came! It made the party and our visit very special.

Over the summer I had grand plans inspired by none other than Pinterest for what I envisioned for my little girl's first birthday party. I had made a list of decorations I planned to create, treats I planned to bake, and party favors to hand out. Unfortunately 9 weeks of relentless morning sickness squashed most of my ideas. It didn't end up looking the way I wanted and some things didn't go the way I had planned, but what was most important was spending time with the family and friends who came to celebrate our little girl. I was still quite ill on the day of the party that I had to just take a deep breath and let others help, bake, and decorate for me. I did manage to at least create her birthday banner and her monthly picture collage.

Since I was still feeling so awful, I didn't manage to take many pictures or organize family together for pictures. But thanks to Grandma Teune and Grandma Adams I have a couple pictures of Alexis with friends and family on her special day.

The best we could get of Alexis with Grandpa Teune and cousins Tatum and Harper

It was fun to have so many kids around to play. Cousins Macie and Harper, friend Lily, and Uncle Brandon

It was so wonderful to have our friends come to celebrate! Funny how so much changes in a few years time at this stage of life. We have almost doubled in size in the last four years!

I am so thankful to everyone who came to celebrate and visit with us. I am also VERY grateful to be over my morning sickness! Happy first birthday Alexis, this time next year you will have a little brother or sister at your party :)

One Year Old

Alexis at 12 Months: I cannot believe that our little girl is now a year old. Time really does fly by. She is in the 4th percentile for weight at 17lbs and the 24th percentile for weight, still a tiny thing. She has started pulling herself up to standing position and can walk alongside the couch. Alexis loves to open and close doors, but doesn't love shutting herself into dark rooms. She loves waving to people and giving slobbery, open mouthed kisses. Whenever she hears music, she starts swaying back and forth and clapping her hands. At this point she is not much of a talker, but she will say "dada", "mama", and "all done". We recently vacationed to Disneyland and Alexis loved the carousel. She giggled and smiled the whole time. It was a lot of fun to see her interact with her cousin Macie on our trip. A little glimpse into what she will be like with a brother or sister in a few months.

2nd Baby, 2nd Trimester

In case you haven't heard, we are expecting another baby! While this wasn't necessarily something planned by us, it was clearly planned by God. We knew we wanted another baby and had planned to start actually trying to make that a reality once Alexis turned one, things happened a little sooner. Alexis will be almost 16 months older than her brother or sister.

We found out we were pregnant when I was 6 weeks along, and unfortunately the relentless morning sickness I experienced in my first pregnancy started up for me this time at week 7. We will be 14 weeks on Sunday (hooray for the second trimester!) and I am still a bit nauseous, but nowhere near as miserable as I have been the past 7 weeks. I had forgotten just how horrible it is.

The couch has been my home pretty much 24-7. The first time around I could stay in bed all day long, but now with an 11 month old to chase around I don't have that luxury. Needless to say, Lex has been able to get away with much more than she usually does...

My mom came to stay with us for few days which was a big help and allowed me to rest and be taken care of by my own mommy.

Alexis loved having Grandma Adams stay with us. I think my mom and I were both very pleasantly surprised with how quickly Alexis warmed up to her again. The day we dropped her off at the airport I cried, it was hard to imagine dealing with Alexis during the days on my own while feeling so awful.

This past week I resorted to trying acupuncture for my nausea. I'd tried several natural remedies as well as two different prescriptions over the last 7 weeks with no relief.

I have never had a problem with needles, and I've always been curious about acupuncture. I went in for an appointment on Monday and Tuesday. At my second appointment, my acupuncturist informed me that she was also a chiropractor so naturally I asked for an adjustment! Since Tuesday's appointment I have felt... "different". I'm leery about saying "better" at this point. I think it's probably a mixture of the acupuncture, the adjustment, and the fact that we are getting close to the second trimester. My morning sickness was over at week 15 with Alexis so I'm am praying it's the same this time.

And finally, I can't end this post without talking a bit about my hero and the best husband a woman could ask for.

Greg has been so incredible over the past 7 weeks of my "illness". Everyday he asks what he can do to help me, and unfortunately there is never much. He comes home from work and immediately takes Alexis for me, he cooks me meals, brings me snacks, encourages me to eat something even when I can't bare to think about food, he takes me on outings to get me out of the house even if I don't feel like it at the time, he lets me cry and cry and cry, he does the laundry and the dishes, and he will find the closest McDonalds for me whenever I need it so I can get a $1 Coke (for whatever reason the carbonation in Coke and Pepsi is AMAZING during all this). Even though I'm the one who is sick, Greg has been going through it right alongside me with a lot on his plate. If you read this Greg, I love you and I am so thankful for you. I will be my normal self again soon. And I'm sorry for posting this picture of you, but you were so cute and tuckered out from helping me so much the past few weeks no doubt!

I'm hoping to be better about updating my blog as my nausea subsides soon. We've got lots going on in the next few weeks: my birthday, Alexis' birthday, and a trip to Disney!

11 Months Old

Alexis at 11 Months: I can't believe I am actually writing her 11 month post... I can barely think about the next one without getting teary eyed. Alexis has become VERY active and busy this past month. She speed crawls everywhere and sometimes goes too fast for her own good, resulting in a face plant or somersault. She can pull herself up to standing position and seems eager to walk, but I think we still have a while until that milestone. Alexis loves food (just like her mom ha ha). I have jokingly told Greg that we already have a dog in our house because anytime we get out food to snack on she immediately stops what she is doing, crawls over to us, pulls herself up to standing, and starts whining as she watches us eat (I feed her enough, I promise). She likes to wave to us to say "hi". No words really yet, although she can mimic sounds pretty well. She repeats "all done" a lot when we ask her if she is all done with her food, but I'm pretty sure she has no clue what she is saying. I felt a tooth coming through her bottom gums so I think she will have a tooth for her first birthday. Do we really only have a month left until she is a year old?

10 Months Old

Alexis at 10 Months: Our little girl has been changing a lot this past month. She has learned to crawl and is now enjoys exploring our home on her own. Alexis has taken a particular interest in books lately and prefers books over toys. She also loves watching herself on video. Clapping is a new favorite thing (mostly brought on by excitement or when she hears music), and she loves to hold her hand up for high fives. She was pretty squirmy and silly while I was taking pictures this go around, hence the squinty faces :)

Book Cover DIY

I don't claim to be much of a DIY-er. I can't sew, I'm not artistic, and finances are tight with me staying at home, so my DIY capabilities are fairly limited. Looking around our home this week I have wanted to add new decor or repurpose our decor somehow. Alexis and I took a trip to the local thrift store for inspiration, and I am so cheap that I wasn't willing to spend $7.50 on a used frame or $5.50 on a used vase (this is why I prefer garage sales). Anyhow, I came home, pulled out my scrapbook paper and started thinking of ways I could use it with items already in our home. This is what I came up with (I may have seen this on Pinterest, but I didn't have it pinned, just a disclaimer that I am in no way claiming that this was my brilliant, original idea.

Greg and I have a lot of books, but about half of them are in boxes. I dug through them to find hardback books of different sizes that I knew we wouldn't be reading (old textbooks, gift books, etc).

Then I laid out an assortment of 12X12 scrapbooking paper.

Next, I placed the book on the paper to measure where to fold the top and bottom edges... this took me back to middle school when we had to put protective covers on every single text book. Anyone else remember those days?

I used regular Scotch tape to secure the paper to the book

I found that the 12X12 paper was not the correct size to cover the entire book, but that wouldn't be a problem since only one side/angle of the book would be showing.

Finished product...

I liked the finished product so much that I created another book stack for Alexis' room... but now I think I may steal it for my room!

Hope this inspired some of you if you've been looking to spruce up some decor in your home! It seriously took me less than an hour and that's with a 9 month old around me the whole time. Have a great week!

Puerto Vallarta

Our family vacationed to Puerto Vallarta with my parents, sister, brother, and niece. I had so been looking forward to this vacation - warm weather, beach, sand, ocean, yummy drinks... unfortunately it didn't end up being all that I had hoped for. Missed our flight out of Portland, I was sick and throwing up for two days, I slipped and fell leaving me immobile for another day and a half. Despite all of that it was still nice to be with family and get away for a while.

To start our trip we got to PDX at 3:30am for our 5:45am flight. To make a long story short, we were unaware of an international tax for Alexis and Macie and were not helped by anyone from the United Airline staff for 90mins. By the time someone actually helped us we had missed our flight. The only flight we could get out on was later that night into Phoenix. We had to stay the night there and leave for Puerto Vallarta the next morning, missing a full day of our vacation (I don't want to complain too much, total first world problems, but when traveling with two little ones under the age of two it was frustrating to say the least).

Dad and Britt waiting "patiently" for our rerouted flight information.

Our exhausted group waiting for answers... and hoping for a nap

Even though they had their moments, these little girls were troopers during our first few days of travel

Finally in the pool!

Greg taking a nap on the beach and trying not to get sunburned lol

Tequila!

 Thanks to my parents for taking us all on such a fun vacation! I'm glad you like hanging out with us enough to let us tag along with you :)

Our Month of June

On June 9th, Alexis and I road tripped it back to Oregon with my inlaws. I worked/coached at basketball camps for two weeks while staying with my family. It was great to earn some money, spend time with my family, and also see Alexis interact with her cousin Macie.

 

I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly Alexis warmed up to her Grandma and Grandpa Teune. After being home with me 24/7 and Daddy in the evenings for a month straight without anyone else interacting with her, I wasn't sure what to expect. By the first of June we were having warm, summer weather in the 80's. We decided to grab some lunch and eat down by the river.

 

The river was still super cold, I don't know how why Greg and Kevin got into the water, but boys will be boys I guess. They ended up dunking each other into the water, but I had a baby in my hands and was unable to capture that particular moment on camera.

Bright and early on Sunday morning, Kevin, Tina, Alexis, and I loaded up the truck and headed back to Oregon. I was so proud of Lex and the great traveler she was. We only made two pit stops and they were just to use the bathroom and for me to nurse. The drive home was so beautiful, Idaho has it's beauty, but no matter where I have lived or visited I always think that Oregon's natural beauty is unbeatable (even if the rain gets me down sometimes...) I was particularly excited to spend time with my niece Macie on this visit. She is 21 months old now and is talkative, curious, and fun. She could say our names very well "Mayden" and "Wexi".

 My first week of camp was exhausting. I wore Alexis in the front pack most of the time while I coached my little campers. Every evening after camp was over I did not want to move or even think. Thank goodness Grandma and Grandpa were around to help me.

 

We were in Oregon for Father's Day and for a special gift for my dad we put Alexis and Macie in their Captain America shirts (my dad's favorite) to take pictures of them to frame. Of course, it didn't work out like we had planned. The second picture is the best we got...

These little girls had so much fun together on our visit. I enjoyed watching them interact and to see Alexis playing and trying to communicate with Macie. What fun it will be once she has a sibling (that is not a subtle way of announcing anything...SOMEDAY, a sibling will be great for her).