Gotta Love Grandparents

Alexis has had her fill of grandparent time recently. My parents (Grandma and Grandpa Adams) came to Springfield a week ago to visit for the day. They hadn't seen her in over a month and couldn't believe how much she had changed. I was thrilled that she willingly let them hold her, sometimes she gets super clingy with me and her lower lip comes out and she begins crying until Mommy comes to rescue her. She snuggled up close with Grandma and hung out with Grandpa too.

The day after my parents visited, Greg's mom (Nana) came to stay with us for a night. Alexis was very happy with Nana too.

A few days after Nana's visit, Alexis and I went up to the Portland area to stay the night with Grandma and Grandpa Adams. Alexis got to hang out with her cousin Macie and her Uncle Ty and Aunt Katrina too!

Macie seems to enjoy Alexis more and more each time we see her. I think the feeling was actually reciprocated this time around. It is so neat to see them interact with one another. Macie thinks it is pretty funny that Baby Lexi will reach for her and "talk" to her now.

After a busy day with family, we hit the hay to get up bright and early with Grandma Adams to go meet Aunt Nikki and Grandma Teune in Woodburn. We all traveled to Newport to go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Alexis sure enjoyed the bright colors of the fish and watching their movements in the water.

The only picture I have of all four of us was from the souvenir picture Grandma Teune bought, so please excuse the "picture of a picture" quality.

Valentine's Day

To make Valentine's Day special this year I had to get super creative and not spend any money from our budget (times are tight in the Teune household, but God is good and we trust in his faithfulness). I wanted to give Greg a Valentine from Alexis, but didn't know how to really make it from her personally when she is too young to color or scribble. I thought I would be brave and do a little hand print. I found 75cents in our junk drawer (enough to cover the cost of the 57cent white paint at Wal-Mart.) Next I cut out out hearts using my Cricut machine and put together a little Valentine for Daddy. Actually getting a hand print from a 4 month old proved to be quite difficult, but we did okay if you don't count the thumb that didn't want to straighten out :)

We had planned to meet Greg at his work to have lunch (the Hilton had Qdoba cater for lunch). I felt a little bad that I hadn't done anything for Greg from me as a gift, but figured his daughter was the best Valentine ever. Before we left to visit him, I saw a friend post to Instagram that Dutch Bros was having a special...

I couldn't help but feel like God was looking out for me. I raided our kitchen for some canned food and we set off to get Daddy an Iced Vanilla Latte and bring him his Valentines.

Once we got home, the sun was shining so I got out the stroller to go for a walk. I saw the blanket sitting in the stroller that we always use on our walks and realized it was very fitting for Valentine's Day. We had an impromptu photo shoot...

Hope all of you had a very Happy Valentine's Day!

4 Months Old

Alexis at 4 months: This photo shoot has proven to be the most difficult in the sense that she didn't want to cooperate. The first day she refused to smile and sat looking at me stoically the whole time and fussed on and off throughout it. Then I had us take a little break and she fell asleep. We tried the photo shoot again the next day and things went much better. Alexis has been using her hands to hold onto toys, blankets, Mommy's hair, and bring everything to her mouth. She is officially a crib sleeper now and has been sleeping in her own room for quite a while. We love that she is sleeping so well, but she uses thumb sucking to help soothe... we hope this doesn't become an issue later, but for now it's adorable. Alexis continues to smile and giggle at things that Mommy and Daddy say and do. She is very close to rolling over from her back to her tummy and can lift her head up very high during tummy time now. Spitting up is an hourly if not half hourly event, so she has been able to get a lot of use out of her bibs lately. I know these next few months will bring many more changes. I am of course excited about that, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for so much change to happen to my baby!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

I was relaxing and catching up on my blog reading tonight when I realized that the last blog post I wrote was for Alexis' 3 month post. It's funny, Greg and I had been so focused on making it to the 3 month mark (the average age for colic to subside) that I hadn't thought much about anything beyond that point. Life has been so much fun with our little girl lately! I can't believe she will be 4 months old in a less than two weeks!

Her personality has really come out recently. Alexis is a VERY happy baby. If you look at her and smile she will give you a big grin in return. She giggles often and likes to talk a lot with us these days as well. I have a feeling she will be a very talkative, energetic, smiley, little girl. For this post I am simply going to post some pics of her that I've taken over the past few weeks.

She is finally sleeping in her own room in her bassinet! It was important to me that she be in her own room, I wasn't sleeping well with her in our room. She has been in her own room for probably two weeks now, and the past week she has slept through the night (average of 8 hours at a time!) 

She is getting stronger everyday and can lift her head up really well during tummy time and has also enjoyed sitting in her bumbo chair every once and awhile.

She likes to sit on the couch with us

She's learning to hold her pacifier in her mouth

And even fell asleep sitting on the couch with Mommy the other night

She has been enjoying time with friends

Started playing more with her toys

Continues to work on her expanding cheeks

And smiles big for pictures

I can't imagine what exciting changes the next few weeks have in store... I mean really, how could she possibly get any cuter?

3 Months Old

Alexis at 3 Months: Alexis is officially over her colic! Hooray for Mommy, Daddy, and Alexis! It has been eight days since we noticed a change in our little girl. Suddenly she was more bright and happy. She actually took naps in her bassinet and pack and play instead of just her swing. And most exciting of all, she only cried when she was hungry or tired, instead of crying whenever she was awake. This past month she has begun giggling every so often. She also smiles at Daddy and Mommy when she sees us.

My Workout Buddy

I have always enjoyed working out. As a child I was very active in sports which continued through high school where I gained a love of running. Personally, I like getting my workouts in early in the morning so I don't have time to avoid them throughout the day. It was much more tricky getting back into an exercise routine with Alexis as my new workout buddy. I have finally figured out how to fit it in after her morning feeding. This week we started 30 minute walks and yoga. Next week we are moving to 45 minute walks and pilates, the following week will be hour long walks and yoga, and then I will switch to some light jogging again.

It has been great to have a jogging stroller. We bought it off of Craigslist last spring and I am so glad we did. I am also grateful for her snowsuit that was a hand me down from her cousin which started out as a hand me down from another cousin!

Thankfully the stroller came with a weather protecting shield. I didn't even know they made them, but it has helped put my mind at ease knowing Alexis is staying warm and dry while we are out and about.

Another blessing is that we don't live far from a bike path. How great it is to not be on the road with traffic and having to navigate around corners!

Alexis seems to enjoy our walks. She normally stays awake for the first half of it before dosing off at the end.

I was even able to transport her from the stroller directly to her pack and play for an hour long nap yesterday. I didn't bother taking her out of the snowsuit. I think the warmth and coziness of it probably helped her nap even longer.

Yoga has been a little more tricky. She demands a lot of attention still while she is on her play mat. I don't mind at this point because I welcome the short breaks in the workout while I'm getting back into shape and working on that flexibility. Normally halfway through yoga I put her in her swing and she falls asleep giving me enough time for a shower afterwards.

I am thankful for my new workout buddy, even if I feel like she cramps my style now and again.

Christmas in Tillamook

This is my final Christmas post (I promise). Alexis was one lucky baby to have so many Christmases and to see so much family this holiday season. We spent last Saturday in Tillamook with my mother in law Mona and more family.

At our Christmas Eve gift exchange Greg was giving Ben a hard time and put him in charge of being "game commissioner" for the exchange which included Greg heckling him the entire evening. Ben was a good sport about it, but once we got together again in Tillamook, Ben had his revenge.

Two pins officially labeling Greg as "game commissioner" were on the tree when we arrived. And being the funny guy that he is, Greg embraced the title he was given.

He wore his stepsister Megan's homecoming tiara and used his peanut butter cup candy cane as a staff.

The guys hung out and played cribbage for a while before opening presents and watching the Beaver game. Unfortunately, I spent much of my time trying to console an inconsolable baby.

This picture pretty much sums up her attitude most of the day there. I keep telling myself that next Christmas will be so much better for her. She did seem to like her gifts though. She got a cute Hello Kitty from her Auntie Meg and a darling bunny that her Nana recorder a message in for her.

On another note, I am so frustrated that I didn't get myself in hardly any pictures over Christmas. I was so overwhelmed taking care of Alexis and capturing her moments that I didn't get in any pictures. To all you moms out there, any suggestions of how to make sure you get in pics? My hubby doesn't think to offer to take pictures (it just isn't his thing) do you have to tell your husband "take this picture of me with our child" or what?