Down on The Farm

Okay, so it's been a very long time since I've posted but here are some irrisistable pictures of Alexa at "Down on the Farm" a couple of weeks ago. It was hosted by Parents as Teachers at the high school's agcriculture building and they had a lot of cool animals! Alexa wasn't into as much as some of the older kids but she enjoyed watching the other kids run around the most! She loved holding the baby bunnies and went straight for their ears! Poor things! Another little girl that was around was panicking saying over and over "She's squishing it, She's squishing it!" Alexa looked at her like "What's your problem?". I'll try to do better about the posting of pictures!

Alexa has grown up a lot and now weighs in at 14 lbs! Can you believe it? She's getting even longer too! She is doing great and is a very happy baby..when she's awake! haha the reason I say that is because she doesn't like going down for naps or bed time and she's used to me holding her during her naps..which is 100% my fault! Now I'm trying to break the bad habit and do the Baby Whisperer thing where I keep going back in her room over and over to comfort her...with out picking her up! Needless to say she's not very happy about these new rules but with my new found inspiration from my support group...aka Mom and my sister Michelle I know the work will pay off eventually...but that doesn't make bearing the high pitch screams any easier!

Alexa is now 4 months old and putting EVERYTHING into her mouth which is very cute and at the same time it makes me cringe because I think about all the germs! Not that that I'm a germ freak or anything it just is gross! Oh well, kids have to learn somehow...I'm not going to be that mom that keeps her trapped from the world in a bubble! We are very excited for the new arrival of her cousin...baby Hufford...Okay, I'm very excited! I just keep telling her about it! I'm really excited/interested to see how they interact with each other...I know it will be a while before Baby Hufford gets accustomed to the world and can interact with things around her but needless to say we're anxious!
Alexa is still standing up a ton..when we hold her arms for balance and loves every minute of it because she can finally see all around her! She's not really the cuddly baby I thought she would be! She hasn't really got the rolling over thing down yet but every once in a while she will turn over on her own..small victories are still victories!
She loves talking and squeeking almost like a little mouse and gets excited when she realizes what she's doing! We have started introducing the rice cereal...which is still a bit of a chore seeing as she hasn't got the technique down of using her tongue to push it down her throat instead of right outside her mouth but soon enough she will get it down!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I bet you are dying to know what's going on lately with the LaBrue crew! Well don't worry you're about to know!
We had a great Valentine's Day....we had to make the best of it! We decided to go somewhere new for dinner..big mistake! (stick with what ya know) So we went to what we thought was this fancy restaurant in Osage Beach..The Brass Door. It was supposed to be fancy but the restaurant was kind of dirty and very outdated! The food took forever to come out and when it did Kyle discovered he had a hair on his steak! My food was hairless but not very good at all! So we left very disgusted but decided to not let it ruin our V-Day. You live and you learn...and you don't go to The Brass Door! We then went to our ward Sweetheart Dance and had a blast joking around with the other couples!
We even got Alexa's V-Day on videotape..not that she knew what the heck was going on..it was more for my sake. She got a beach ball as part of her present and she absolutely loves it!
Alexa attended her 4 month wellness check up and clocks in at 13 lbs and 4 oz. She's soo interactive now and even stands on her own as long as someone is holding her hand for balance! She loves making noises with her mouth and hearing her own voice and especially blowing bubbles! She's my little motor boat!
I'm very excited because she recently has started falling asleep in her car seat in the grocery cart at Wal-Mart and stuff when before she would freak out that she couldn't see everything that was going on! Needless to say it makes trips to the store much more enjoyable now that I don't have to hold her and push a cart at the same time!

Road Trip!

Kyle,Alexa & I made the trip to Kansas City so Kyle can take care of some insurance business and I was able to visit some of my family...the Walker's and the Bell's. So Kansas City really isn't that big of a road trip but with a 3 1/2 month old baby..anywhere out of town is a road trip.
Kendall & Michelle were gracious hosts and Preston was even nice enough to let Alexa use a lot of his things like his walker which made it really nice on us to not have to pack all that stuff and travel with it! There is a lot of stuff to bring for such a little person!
We had a blast and my sister even took us to this cool overstock furniture store..inside a cave! Needless to say, we were very impressed and had never seen anything like that before!
I loved hanging out with my nieces and nephew and listening to the hilarious things that they say! How do they come up with these things? They are all great big cousins and Alexa got a lot of love from them, whether she wanted it or not! She loved watching her cousins play and was so intent on watching their every move!
We were even lucky enough to cross roads with Shannon in Kansas City before we had to head home!
We just want to say thanks to all who made our trip so much fun! We love you all and already miss you!
Now I get to tackle the worst part of coming home...unpacking!

General Update on the LaBrue Crew!

So I thought I was doing pretty good at posting pictures and then I realized I hadn't posted any cute stories or updates on Alexa. So here it is.
Alexa Renee is officially 3 months old now! I still can't belive it! It feels like yesterday we were taking her home from the hospital!
She loves to stand up as long as we hold her hands for balance! She's such a happy baby and smiles all the time! Even her cries are cute when she sticks out her bottom lip and starts pouting. I'm sure it won't be so cute when she's 3 years old but we are lovin' it right now! She's such a great baby and we couldn't ask for a better blessing!
She did great with her 3 month old professional pictures yesterday and it was wonderful having Grandma Bell there to assist and play with her during the long process! I was greatly impressed, she didn't even cry once during the whole thing...there I was stressing for nothing!
January has been a very busy month for our family. Kyle turned 24 on the 19th and I turned the ripe old age of 21 on the 23rd!
I really love being a stay at home mom and I love the fact that I can wear my pajamas all day some days! Kyle and I are so blessed and we love playing with Alexa and seeing her grow and change! She's so much more interactive now grabbing at toys and giggling! It makes all the diaper changing and spit up all worth it!

The other day I was holding her on my lap smiling at her and telling her how grateful I was for her and how much I loved her and I was so happy to be her mommy and she laughs at me and then spits up all over me! It wasn't just a little bit either it was projectile! It's so cute to see her little personality coming through! She loves being carried around and her favorite thing is to watch other people especially little kids! She just wants to know what's going on all the time!

Growing Up So Fast!

Here are some more recently updated pictures of Alexa. She is now 6 weeks old and getting bigger & bigger everyday. Kyle and I love watching all the changes she's making. She's not sleeping fully through the night yet but she does make it about 4 hour spans at a time...which is greatly appreciated. This first picture is kind of old but we are posting it per Aunt Shannon's request. Alexa and I had the luxury of Aunt Shannon coming up for a special visit shortly after Alexa was born. Shannon got some one on one time with baby Alexa and I got to enjoy Shannon's company and help in taking care of her.

Kyle took this shot after I was done folding clothes. No she doesn't really sleep in a laundry basket but it sure is cute...isn't it? This was only a few weeks ago and I'm almost sure she wouldn't even fit unless she was all scrunched up if we tried it now.

This is Alexa's activity time at Grandma LaBrue's house in Osage Beach. She loves laying on a blanket on the floor and just looking at everything going on around her. She loves to kick and flail her little arms and legs.

Kendall, Michelle, Ashlyn & Preston were nice enough to let us all raid their home for Thanksgiving. We had a blast and that was Alexa's first real trip. She did fine in the 3 hour car ride because she slept the whole way and she loved the attention she got from cousins and Grandma when we arrived. Kyle and Kendall went to witness the tragic MU vs. KU football game so we dressed up for the occassion. Here are Preston, Alexa and I cheering on the MU Tigers from the comfort of Kendall & Michelle's living room! MU should be paying us for looking so good!

Kyle's brothers, Westen & Jeremiah, came from out of town to visit for the week following Thanksgiving and we had a blast with all of them, especially Westen's little girl, Kylie. Kylie is 3 going on 12 and absolutley loved baby Alexa. I think she was kind of dissapointed that Alexa didn't want to play with her and her toys more! It was so cute watching Kylie interact with Alexa and talk to her. She kept coming up to me that week and saying "I love your baby her so cute!" Kylie got to experience Alexa on a more personal basis when she helped me change a couple of diapers....funny enough Kylie was right there with me handing me the wet wipes and throwing away the diapers!

Kylie liked holding the baby but she got bored with it after a while when she realized Alexa didn't really do a whole lot. During Alexa's activity time Kylie would do all kinds of spins and jumps to entertain Alexa and Alexa would just stare at her and Kylie would run up to me and say "Her likes me".

The following weekend was Alexa's blessing so all my family was kind enough to make the travels from Kansas City, Columbia, Arkansas, Willard, and Utah to be there for it...aren't we loved! Here are Shannon and John adoring baby Alexa while she's sleeping..her cutest moments!

Alexa weighs a little more over 9 lbs. and 7 oz. now! It really hit me how fast she is growing when she started out growing a lot of her clothes recently. Don't worry...she has a closet stuffed full of frilly little outfits yet to grow into and I'm very anxious to play dress up with her. She is getting stronger and stronger and holds up her head very well for a 6 week old. The other day she even stood up for a few seconds with me holding her hand!

During the day we don't do much except for eat, sleep, and change diapers. I am very fortunate enough to be able to get stuff done around the house while she is taking her naps. I think one of the biggest things I've learned since she was born is everyday it's all about the timing! I've never had to plan and coordinate timing so much just to go to Wal-Mart! But it's true...everything is a lot more of an ordeal when there's a little baby involved!

We have gone to play group which meets every Wed. and really enjoy that...granted it's more for me than Alexa because she's the youngest one there and she's really not playing all that much. But it is nice to have a reason to get out of the house and have some adult interaction with the other moms!