Spring- Finally

It's here. It's finally here. And hopefully for good this time. I was going to take a picture of the 6 or so inches of snow we had last week but honestly, it was just too depressing and I want to pretend it never happened. So let's talk about happy things. Like sidewalk chalk! With pretty Easter colors it should be the symbol of kids in spring. I love using the living room rocks to draw on the slate and I use the rocks outside to draw on the big boulders. So chalk should be even better, right? Wrong. Its good for eating, throwing, and even putting in the rim of the Suburban wheels but I had no interest in using it as a drawing tool.

tastes delicious

and the perfect size for throwing

And the big news of the week is that I finally say a recognizable word in context. My first word is "OOOO- TAY"who knows why I picked this one as the milestone maker but it takes the bragging rights away from mom and dad for the moment. Mom has been trying to get these impressive verbal skills on video but her timing seems to be off. She did get video of me kissing my stuffed toy with the fake kiss sound. Excuse the bedhead. I had just gotten up. 

I have been very busy playing in boxes. 

Boxes turned into cars...

Cody even drew me a windshield bc it was raining that day

Boxes that act as drawers when I'm not in them

another great hair pic

and boxes that hold cookware

Would have been really funny if I closed the door and Diane couldn't find me

This weekend we were in Denver for Hayley's dance competition and Brandon's tennis tournament. Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Steve met us out there so they got to watch me spend the American Girl giftcard they got me. I love that store.

Then we made it over to Build a Bear to use Aunt Angie's gift card

mom lined them up so I could choose which one I wanted

I picked the dog, of course

helping stuff the dog

Perfect

 Quick trip to Dave and Busters

 Drew won a giant bear for me at "the claw"

and back to a spring day in GJ

We leave Thursday for Indianapolis. Can't wait to see my friends. I have some follow up doctor appointments as well. And we will have time to make my first trip to the best children's museum ever. 

Cheers!

alexa

13 months

Current stats

Weight- 19#
Height- 27 inches
Word count- 0. I still babble up a storm but the words mean whatever you would like them to mean
New Tricks- throwing a ball, giving kisses with a fake "kiss" sound, courtesy laughs at appropriate times, starting to run, better on skis
Favorite Foods- All of them. I eat lots of fruits and veggies. And I still wake mom up every 2-4 hours during the night for formula. What can I say, I'm a very hungry girl. And as I've said before, mom would miss me if she had to go 8 hours without seeing me.

I want to be held 24/7. This is how I let mom know

This is how I REALLY let her know. She caves every time

I even help her get the blue wrap ready which cheers me up quickly

My St. Patrick's Day dress

budding soccer star

Wearing my adorable dress made by Jenni Jackson. Which leaf should I eat?

We were travelling on my second Easter but the Easter bunny brought our baskets. Here I am in the same pose as last year. Wow

 2012

2013

Brandon is on the homeschool track team. I get to go to practice with him. I enjoy the warm up stretches and socializing with the team. I'm very helpful

The boys think I'm pretty cool too

We went to Telluride for closing weekend so I got one last run in. I was much more stable on the reg run so mom just had to push my legs to keep my small skis moving the through the wet snow. It was much easier on her back this time. Dad has the video on his phone. I will put a portion of it on the next entry. I got to ride the real chair lift for the first time. The ski stayed on, but my tiny foot slipped out of the boot as we were getting on. Luckily it was before the chair came so we just carried it up.

In other news, I have outgrown the baby bathtub and moved on to the laundry basket set up. Its a great transition to the big tub. Its safer because if I start to slip I can just grab onto the sides, and my toys stay within arms reach.

works standing up too

The temp finally made it back up to 65 to give us one nice day before it gets cold and rainy again. I took full advantage of it and started the day playing tennis with Brandon and Kim Black.

Then went to the park playground while Brandon was at track. Its been a while since mom has had a toddler at a playground. She dressed me in what were white sleeves until I started digging to find the best rocks to taste. Now they are more of a tan color.

first time on the swing. Good for about 2 minutes

Not much else to report. Hopefully this week will be the last of the cold weather and I can play outside a lot more. I'm ready to start camping too.

Cheers!

alexa

On the move

Here is what I have been up to.

Here I am Tuesday...

I'm very fast

Here I am helping mom with dishes on Weds

And here I am today (Thursday)

why crawl when you can walk up

I use the wires to help me. Just my height. Great design mom! And I can now fit my first pair of 3-6 month pants! Woo Hoo

So that is what I have been up to. I can now push my blocks in the cart but I haven't taken the unassisted first step. Its coming any day. And in exactly half the time it took Brandon. This house is so un-baby-proofed, who could resist the temptation to walk a little early and take advantage. Word on the street is that mom is researching baby gates right now. Big bummer. Good thing I can still have fun throwing her big decorative rocks from the planter onto the slate tiles. Wait till I'm tall enough to hit the window. 

Last weekend was our first of many trips to Telluride. Our condo is right in town so we got to enjoy the warm weather and take lots of walks. Here I am at the base of the ski slope seeing Drew off

Don't let the pic fool you. There is not much snow here yet

Very toasty in my stroller sleeping bag

So needless to say, blog updates will be very sporatic.  The easy life of babies who can't move or throw temper tantrums is over. Now, while mom is cleaning the floor because I still have reflux, I can run away and find new things to play with. Football season is in the final stretch of the regular season. With any luck I will get to watch Peyton all the way to Feb. 

Cheers!

alexa

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving 2012

Anyone with a facebook account knows about the recent posts of people listing things they are thankful for over a 30 day period. That seems long and drawn out and, well, who has that kind of time? So I am going to dedicate this post to that mission because I do think it is important to reflect a lot more than we all do. I will first share a funny thing I heard on the radio before our trip. Black Friday, the day people go out and risk being trampled to death to save a few dollars on much needed electronics, comes just 24 hours after we spend the day giving thanks for everything we have. Interesting timing. But hey, I'm all for a little materialism sometimes. Especially after a week of realizing that my parents are very stingy in the toy department. Good thing Emily, Walker and Jude introduced me to some fantastic toys that are out there. I can't wait for this Santa guy to visit the house (through the front door because mom gave our fireplace away). So here it goes.

I am thankful for...

1. My Family 

I am one of the lucky babies who have 3 parents. I am most thankful to my birthmom, Angelina, who made the most selfless decision anyone could make. She wanted me to have more than she could provide at that time so she chose a family with cool parents that I would fit into perfectly. While I didn't get a chance to review the other candidates, I think she made a great choice. However, I may retract that statement when I'm 16. I hear parents go downhill and get unreasonable when they have teenagers. I also have amazing siblings who are happy to see me every morning. They actually fight over who gets to take me out of my crib when I wake up from naps. So far, being the youngest by 11 years is the best thing ever. 

This is a dry ice bubble I made with Drew and Brandon

The 7am (5am MST)  Turkey Trot w/cousin Lindsey

Over Thanksgiving I got to meet more of my extended family. We drove the RV to Indiana and Chicago and had a blast. I still need to meet my cousins in KS and I think I have them talked into coming for Christmas. Here are some of my extended family pics from last week.

All the Keller grandkids

Hanging out w/ uncle Phil

Hayley's 16th bday on Thanksgiving

Wait till next time when we can do a 3-way braid

Visiting the Gees in Chicago

My "other brother" Connor Braeger

2. Modern medicine

We knew that I fit into this family perfectly when my routine metabolic screen unexpectedly came back abnormal and my heart had some problems all by the age of 2 weeks.  We live in a great community for medicine and also have our resources from Indianapolis so finding good health care will never be a problem. I saw Dr. Schaefer and Dr. Escobar while I was in Indianapolis. We made some changes to try to get my reflux under better control. I no longer vomit like I used to but I am up most of the night trying to find a position to sleep in. Here is my current fav. My stomach feels best when I'm doubled over. And as soon as I tip over, about once an hour, I make sure to wake up mom so she can prop me back up. And that is why we spent the night away from dad last night!

Dr. Escobar is keeping me on my carnitine for at least 6 more months to see if it helps with my height which is officially 24.5". They have this contraption that measures length more accurately so that is why I lost .2" this month. Hopefully I will start to catch up with the other kids on the 1st percentile soon so that we don't have to add endocrinology to our list of specialists. Developmentally I continue to look great so no concerns there. My new skills are crawling very fast and standing for long periods of time whenever I find something I can pull up on. Its not too surprising that I'm the family's youngest stander since I've got physics on my side. Gotta love a low center of gravity. I'm like a paperweight!

How often do you see the binky leach attached at the chest and touching the ground!

3. Our Friends

Mom did an absolutely pathetic job of getting pictures of all the friends I saw on our trip. We spent our first night in Indy at the Kersey's house which happens be the house we lived in before Colorado. How cool is that? Thanks to the Krogers for dinner and the Kersey's for hosting at the last minute. We also spent time with the Bullock's, the Ashley's, the Pierle's, Teresa, and the Schaefers (another missed photo op with Jude). We parked the RV at the Schulte's for 3 nights and mom actually got a picture there.

stealing Tom's pretzel

stealing Gina's clementine

4. For everything that didn't get its own paragraph and picture

To live in a free country, in a beautiful state, where my dad enjoys stable employment, surrounded by great friends and neighbors, as we put the RV away for winter and get ready for Christmas and ski season in Telluride...I am thankful.

alexa