Snow day!

Due to snow and horrible ice on the DC roads, Christopher and I both worked from home this last Wednesday. We had a lot of fun trading off playing with Alexandra throughout the day. And she did a lot of "firsts" this week. Here she is "flying" with her mom in the photo above.

The night before, she showed us that she can stand while holding on to furniture (not yet pulling up by herself, though).

Eeekkk!! This is the scariest thing she has shown us, yet! She's still not the best at going forwards (although she managed to flip over part of her rug somehow here), we watched her crawl/scoot backwards and sideways. This was the first day I really saw her pull up her tummy to crawl (instead of scooting on it).

"Hope the house is baby-proofed, Mom and Dad!"

Ninja method of crawling

Alexandra is moving around quite a bit now. I'll put her on her blanket on the floor, turn my head for a minute to do something, and the next thing I know - she's underneath her exersaucer grabbing at fallen toys. Christopher and I have decided that Alexandra enjoys the "ninja method of crawling" - she goes places, she just does it in a stealth-like way so that we don't actually see her do it!

If she's a natural ninja, this should help out her daddy when he starts to teach her martial arts in a couple of years :)

Tastey Toes!

Here is a photo of one of Alexandra's newest tricks.

This makes getting her dressed and changing her diaper a little more difficult than before.

Visit with Uncle Mike!

My brother Michael came to DC with the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference (http://www.cylc.org/JrPYIC/). We were lucky enough to have him come a day early to hang out with us first! Since it was way too cold to go to Annapolis (our original idea), we went to the Marine Corps Museum at Quantico (http://www.usmcmuseum.com/index.asp) and then hiked down to Fredricksburg, VA, to eat at Sonic (a family favorite, and there aren't any near us!).

We thought it appropriate that this is the name of the statute outside the museum.

Christopher's favorite Marine quote, engraved forever on the wall in the museum with other memorable quotes.

Alexandra and I coming out of the inside of a submarine (I think it was a submarine). She did so well at the museum! I know she had fun looking at everything (so many lights and colorful things there). We now have high hopes of taking her to other museums in the area.

Dropping Mike off at his hotel at the end of the day. I've also posted a photo of Mike and I when he was here with the Congressional Youth Leadership Council three years ago (February 2006). Look at how much taller than me he is now!

Bathing Beauty

Alexandra absolutely hated her bath when she was a newborn. It was actually quite stressful to bathe her, and Christopher and I would always do it together (we're stronger as a team!) Now, she has a lot of fun in her bath (the counter and floors are positively soaked afterwards due to all of her splashing), but she hates getting dried off/dressed afterwards. Either she's really cold or is sad that her bath is over - we can't tell which.

Look at that sad little face!

Baby food!

Alexandra started eating baby cereal right around 6 months. I decided to make my own baby food for her instead of buying the kind in jars. It's healthier (I do as much organic stuff as I can), cheaper, fresher, and a lot more fun for me! She's turned out to be a great eater, which is wonderful. Also, her sleep has been getting better too, which means that Christopher and I are (hopefully) no longer on "survival mode," but can actually feel like we have a life balance and enjoy things again. We've gotten a bit neater at eating, but here's a wonderful shot of my precious little girl after having sweet potatoes and bananas mixed with baby oatmeal.

Her eating might be tied to her sleeping better. I think a full tummy makes her tired. To illustrate, here she is on our Christmas morning (back home, so actually a couple of days after Christmas).

Baby food is awesome!

Hats!

We had a lot of fun with hats while on our vacation. Here is Alexandra in a cute pink hat that her GG gave her just for fun.

My mom also bought her this princess crown, which I personalized.

I also personalized this cute pink hat. Christopher loves this photo because our six month-old looks like a kid in it!

My french cousins sent her an adorable beret and matching scarf. Here is Alexandra (this morning, before daycare!) appreciating her french heritage.

Christmas (part 2)

Our story continues!

Alexandra had fun spending time with her grandparents while in Colorado. She learned about playing the harp from her GG.



She grew to have an appreciation of Texas Tech from her grandpa.




We had to keep her bundled up to stay warm up in the mountains (Emily says that she looks like Maggie Simpson in the photo below).




She enjoyed using the carseat that my parents bought and kept warm in the car with the cute pink blanket that her GG made.

Alexandra is quite a good traveler, so we look forward to more fun family trips together!