Favorite Word

No..... no..... no.............

Reading...

When we read "Goodnight Moon" we usually point and name nearly everything in the room. We also look for the mouse on each page. I'm guessing that is what she is doing here. :)

Help! I'm stuck!

Alexis decided to do a little exploring during our trip to Aunt Jaimie, Uncle Matt and Baby Brooke's house a few weeks ago. She apparently really wanted to climb the stairs (which is becoming a new fun habit). On a side note, she has mastered (almost) the use of the word 'help'. Its really cute if she needs get down or reach something or get unstuck. Apparently her daddy got his head stuck in a few railings in his day...

She also loved Brooke's car seat.

BABY BROOKE!!

We finally have our new little niece/cousin and couldn't be happier. She is just beautiful and so precious. We hated leaving her and her mom and dad. Alexis just loves all these babies. Miss Brooke Elizabeth Alley was born on Oct. 26, weighing in at 6 lbs 4 oz. Mommy and daddy are adjusting well to being parents to a newborn. We spent the week in Chicago and had a great time with Mama and Papa T, Amy and Mati and, of course, Jaimie Matt and Brooke. Here are some photo highlights...

New House!! (under construction!)

Here is Alexis enjoying the view from our new home in Oakville! As you can see by the lack of floors, it is under construction at the moment. We will hopefully be living here very soon. We can't wait to have a little bit more room to roam (ahem...chase Alexis) around.

PS... We are EAGERLY awaiting the arrival of our niece Ms. Alley. Will post as soon as she makes her appearance :)

Baby Mati and Alexis

Alexis's first baby cousin came into the world on Sept. 3, Matilda Lynn Westra, daughter of Blake and Amy. As you can see from the photo above, Lexi squealed when she saw Mati. I think they are going to be the best of friends.

Chicago a few weeks back

So sorry for the delay in posting. its been a crazy few weeks. We've sold our house and are living with my family for the time being. We are working feverishly to close a deal on a great house in Oakville, but we will have to keep you posted on that. The above photos are from a few weekends ago in Chicago. We hadn't seen Jaimie and Matt in a while and decided to drive up. They were fabulous hosts, as always and took us to a White Sox game downtown. We also visited Buy Buy Baby, this great baby superstore, where Lexi found her very own rocking horse (if it wasn't $90, we probably would've come home with it.)

We are very excited that Jaimie and Matt are coming in this weekend and dually excited for the reason behind the visit. Amy and Blake will welcome Mati to the world be the end of the week! We cannot wait to meet her!

A weekend at the lake

A few weekends ago we all got to spend the weekend at our cabin at Clearwater lake. Every member of my family was there to go boating and enjoy some time together. Alexis loves the speed boat. The wind in her face was more excitement than she could handle. She even dozed off a couple of times to the sound of the engine, just like all of us kids did when we were little. We got out on the lake on Saturday evening and most of the day Sunday. Alexis even got her first haircut. Brittney was kind enough to bring her supplies and trim up our little one's mullet ;)

One Year Photos

Here are just a few of the many great photos that Tom took of Alexis for her birthday. He certainly has captured some of her greatest pictures. Check out facebook for more. :)

Citygarden Fun

After seeing how much fun Winnie had at Citygarden, Alexis just had to check it out. What a fun place! She got to play in the water and the fountains.. It was a great afternoon. We also went and saw some turtles (one of her new words) at the zoo after we dried off. Tim and I love our Fridays off together. She is so much fun.

Amy/Matilda Shower

Our busy weekend of fun started out with Amy's baby shower on Saturday morning. Amy's mother-in-law graciously hosted in Edwardsville. We all had such a great time and Lexi was really sweet and the star of the show. It probably was a good thing, though, that she slept through the gift opening.. I'm sure she wouldv'e loved to help. ;) Jaimie's shower is next,, we can't wait!

I'm ONE!!

Alexis is ONE. I can't believe I just wrote that. This year has flown by and we have made so many memories. Its hard to imagine what we did with our time before Alexis. She is such a blessing.

We had an amazing birthday party for her at Aunt Kelley's clubhouse in Fenton. There were nearly 60 people there to celebrate with her. As you can see, she loved her cake and all of the attention that she got that evening. Alexis got many, many gifts including books, stuffed animals, and scooters. She is currently in love with her Disney princess scooter and talking Elmo. Thank you to everyone that made her birthday and her first year of life so so special.

Backyard Fun

FLORIDA!!

We just got back from a great family trip to Ft Myers Beach, Florida. Alexis loved every minute of the beach and the ocean; at one point we had to stop her from crawling INTO the water. We mostly stayed ocean or pool side with some great afternoon naps in between. She is also did so wonderfully on her first flights. I couldn't get over how good she was (I was slightly worried that she would want to crawl around the plane). We'd like to thank Nini and Papa, Danny, Bobby and Jackie for coming along too. It wouldn't have been the same without you.

Learning to Swim!

We decided to enroll Alexis in the parent/child swimming lessons -- well, "get used to the water lessons" -- through the Red Cross at Kennedy Rec Plex. She is by far the youngest there, but she LOVED it. No crying, just playing with the ducky in the cool water. I bed she really enjoys it once the water gets a bit warmer. Mommy and daddy will like it a lot more when its warmer too. She's our little fishy (check facebook for more photos from yesterday!)

Backyard Swim

After having a ton of fun at the Webster Groves pool on Friday (with Kati, Shae and Aly), I decided to buy a $10 blow up pool for some backyard fun. Since daddy was working, Alexis and I had a picnic and swim party on Saturday afternoon. She loved it and mommy didn't mind getting some sun either.

Uncle Randy and Aunt Susan's Wedding!

This weekend we had the honor of being a part of Uncle Randy's wedding to Susan. It was such a great day and Susan looked beautiful. Everything went very smoothly, except for my my brother, Danny, missing it due to his extended hospital stay. No worries, though, he got to see the whole thing via live web cam and I think he's coming home today! As you can see from these photos, Alexis had a ball dancing the night away. She was so wired that she didn't go down for Papa and mama T until 11:30 that night.

Memorial Day Parties

It's been a while since we've posted anything, but Aunt Jaimie was here for Memorial Day weekend and we all had a great time. Saturday, Jaimie, Alexis and I went to Blake and Jay's birthday party, followed by a bbq/washers night at our house for Tim's 25th birthday. Sunday, Tim's parents had a bbq and had family over for the holiday and for Tim's birthday. All-in-all a great long weekend.

Grant's Farm

Tim, Alexis and I spent our Friday off at Grant's Farm. We had no idea how much fun it is there. There is so much to do and see. Alexis loved the tram ride and the goats. She just generally loves being outdoors, which is fine by me. We hope to make several more trips to the Farm this summer. Anyone want to join??

Mother's Day

Here is a photo of Alexis and me after our first mother's day together. Tim had to work, so we spent the day with my mom and family. We went to church, then the family (yes, all of them) came over to my parent's for a mother's day/ April & May birthday celebration. Good food and good fun. I have to admit that I was a little emotional just thinking about being someone's mom and having my very own daughter. A very happy day.

How Big is Alexis...?

Uptown Girl

Uptown Girl in her sweet shades!

Feeling Sentimental

I don't know but maybe its this beautiful spring thunderstorm we are having, but I am totally being a sap right now. I just really can't get over how much Alexis has changed in the past 9 months. She is getting so big and such a personality. She went from sleeping all the time and needing me (and her daddy) for everything to crawling all over the place and babbling constantly and becoming somewhat independent. I am excited to see how much she continues to change, but really.... don't grow up too too fast.. I love this age, right now.