Dog meat or treat??

Lilly's stats

Sophia and I took Lilly to the doctor this morning for her well baby check up.
Weight: 22 pounds 3 ounces (71%)
Length: 29.5 inches (75%)

At the same age Sophia was
Weight: 23 pounds 6 ounces (85%)
Length: 31.25 inches (97%)

Her final works of art

School's out for summer

Well, summer is here, at least in the Alexander household it is! I say this because Sophia finished school last week and we had our first week without ANY plans at all. Thank goodness Will was home all week to ease me into it.

I cried when I picked her up for the very last time. It was like a mini graduation in my mind because she's moving on next year to a different school. She'll never see Ms. Lisa and Ms. Dawn again unless I take her there. There was a picnic on the last day of school and I took a few photos of Sophia and her friends. Here they are:

Last dance class

Sophia had her last dance class a week ago and we both really miss it. The parents were not permitted to see what the girls have been doing/learning at all, but we were invited to sit in on the last class. I took tons of videos, but will only share the best ones. I can't wait to sign Sophia up for her next class. She had a total blast.

And, I have to admit Sophia was Ms. Elizabeth's pet during the last class because she was selected three times to "go first" or be the line leader. Boy was I proud.

Here are two of the featured videos, but you can go to Youtube to see more:

Lilly turned 1 year old today.

My little baby girl turned 1 year old today. Boy, the last year fly right by me. I still remember the day we brought her home and Sophia's reaction. That hasn't changed much in the last year. Sophia is still resistant to the fact that she has a sister although she told me the other day that she wanted a brother. I told her to tell Daddy.

Lillian's new birth certificate came yesterday so it really is official so I now get the daunting task of changing her name with the insurance company, doctor's office, etc... What a sigh of relief that the paperwork went through without a hitch. And we love her new name: Lillian Constance Alexander.

Lilly's birthday party is this coming Sunday. Our theme is Barney, I guess. I got a Barney pinata a few months ago thinking it would be used at Sophia's birthday party, but Sophia has moved on from Barney to Dora the Explorer. Instead I decided to use the pinata at Lilly's party and decorate in all 4 Barney colors: purple, green, orange, and yellow. It should be cute.

Will and I took the girls to the play ground this evening and we launched Sophia's Dora kite. I must brag a bit and say that I was awesome at flying that kite. And for a brief moment I dreamt about becoming a professional kite flyer. Ha! If you look carefully in the photo you can see a brown dot in the sky. That's my kite. Pretty high up in the sky.

Lilly had a great time on the swings and she especially enjoyed riding down the slide on Will's lap.

Here's an update on Lilly's recent accomplishments:
1) She says Maa maa (it sounds the way a goat would say it).
2) She's climbing up the stairs now.*
3) Standing. She's standing up and balancing on everything. Including the frig while standing in Sadie's bowl.

* She's always been a climber. We've always called her a monkey, but now this "no fear" behavior is an accident waiting to happen. She's also climbed on top of the dishwasher door (in the down position) and can't figure out how to get down. She climbed right out of my lap onto the kitchen table too.

Give a girl a used up wrapping paper roll

and she'll really use her imagination! I happened to have one last week and offered it to her. First she used it as a telescope to look into the sky. Then it was a fishing pole that she used to fish for red gooey fish. After that it was used as an extra large chop stick. She ended with a horn. And all of this happened within 5 minutes.

A box from Nana

Nana sent a box to Sophia for her birthday. She thoroughly enjoyed opening it and immediately giving everything a test run. Lilly really wanted to be part of the process, but Sophia didn't really want her meddling with the princess costumes, bike helmet or the laptop music toy. Nana also sent a toy for Lilly and for a few moments I was nervous that Sophia wasn't going to give up the baby toy to her sister. Take a look at the photos.

Lilly likes to play in water

Sophia turns 3

I can't believe that my little baby is three already. The time has completely flown by and as of the last few days Sophia's personality has completely changed from "baby" mode to "big girl" mode. She's potty trained, she feeds herself, she can dress herself, her memory rivals that of an elephant and her vocabulary is growing in leaps and bounds. It all makes me want to cry...and beam...all at the same time.

On the night of her birthday we went to Chuck E. Cheese for our annual celebration. Sophia really enjoyed riding in the car with Chuck E. She put her arm around him to pose for photos. And when I say photos I'm talking 11 of them. She rode it over and over and over again.

When we got home she blew out the candles on her cake and opened her presents. She got a scooter, a tricycle, a bubble machine (that I can't get to work), a couple of games, and a miniature golf set. She loves all of it, I think.

Her actual neighborhood little girl party was yesterday at a strawberry farm. All the little girls picked (and ate) strawberries and then devoured the candy from their goody cups. A couple of dads came along too and one of them took photos on my camera so I could help Sophia pick berries. Take a look.

Can you say......

Diaper Free (finally) At 3!

She just made it in time considering that today is her third birthday. I can successfully say that Sophia is potty trained. Today at school will be the real test. I put her in a Pull-up and told her to tell Ms. Lisa or Ms. Dawn when she has to do a pee pee. I hope she does!

Lilly turns 11 months old

Major milestones

Both girls are hitting major milestones this week.

Lilly: She's standing up, letting go and balancing on her own. She's also drooling all over herself so we're gearing up for another rough round of teeth breaking through the gums.

Sophia: Can you say Potty Training!?! Yesterday she decided that she wanted to go pee pee on the potty - three times! Today she did a poo and two or three pees. She's incredibly proud of herself and so are we. Sophia will turn 3 on Thursday. My baby is growing up way too fast.

Playdate with Daisy

Last week we went to the mall with Ms. Ali and Daisy. Sophia really had a hard time adjusting when we arrived so we had lunch first and then hit the play area. Lately Sophia has been really clingy and wants me and only me to play with her whenever we're around other people. It's driving me crazy, but we're dealing with it.

Anyway, back to Daisy. She and Sophia are the best of friends. Daisy loves to copy whatever Sophia says and does.

Lilly was as happy as a clam playing on her own in the play area. She was crawling all over and even made a few friends of her own. A particular little boy (probably age 4) was enjoying playing with Lilly in the tunnel. Click here to see all the pictures.

When we got home that afternoon Sophia wanted to make some art with stickers and this is what she ended up designing. She called herself Sticker Face. The next day she put a Tupperware bowl on her head and called herself Bucket Head.

Happy Mother's Day

Listen to her babble

On this day she was pushing the stools all over the room.

They both help with the laundry

I've got two helpers these days. Sophia loves to pour the soap and fabric softener into the washing machine and when the dryer is done she is now able to pull the clothes out and put them into the basket. She still forgets a few items now and then, but what a huge help for me! As you can see her little sis is following in her footsteps.

Here's more of an update on Lilly:


She is pulling herself up on everything, but she doesn't seem to have any interest in walking yet. She doesn't really cruise around all that much. Well, I take that back, she uses whatever she can to "cruise" to me so she can climb into my lap.

She loves opening and closing doors and she loves flipping pages of books and magazines back and forth.

The other day she saw me getting out of the shower and she just had to crawl in and check it out when I was done. Yeah, she got her pants wet, but she thought it was fun. I found her in there a bit later too. She got in, but she couldn't get out.

She's also learning to crawl up the stairs if someone is there to help her. Thank goodness she hasn't tried to climb down yet.


I don't want to jinx it, but she's usually sleeping through the night now. Waking time is 6AM or just before. Bed time is between 7 and 8.

Babbles constantly, but hasn't said Mama or Daddy yet. It sounds like she's saying Dada, but she don't associate it with Will yet.

She loves her new name!

The Beach

We went to the beach yesterday morning after our Mommy and Me play date. There are a few playgrounds in the sand at the beach. We've never been to any of them so this was a big day for Sophia and she had a blast. She found a broken seashell that she named Slidey because she kept making him go down the slide with her. Her favorite thing was running up and down a big sand mound that someone took alot of time to create.

Unfortunately I didn't get any good photos because every time she saw me with the camera Sophia ran the other way. What a bummer!

Lilly wanted to get down and play in the sand, but mean Mom wouldn't let her. Can you imagine how much sand she would have eaten?

Library Time

Lilly loves going to the library on Thursday mornings. This 10 week session is almost half over and Lilly is one of three girls among 8 boys. Kind of a bummer. This photo was taken this past Thursday.

Haley Haley Haley

Sophia can't get enough Haley! These two certainly are the best of buddies. We see Haley every Friday night at kickball and today we had two different play dates with her. This morning Sophia, Lilly and I went to Haley's house to check out all of Haley's new outdoor birthday toys. Cameron and her mom were there too. The Slip-n-Slide was a huge hit, but Sophia really loved all the toys that allow her to move/drive/pedal. On the way home she told me that she wants to get a pink scooter and a red tricycle. She also now wants a motorized car. Haley has the jeep and Sophia loved driving it -- and she especially loved the fact that it has real keys. She was pretending she was driving to work - just like Dad. Good thing she has a birthday coming up in two weeks!

This evening Haley and Carlie came over while their parents went out to dinner. The girls played outside on the roller coaster and used the T-ball set, but Haley really enjoyed using the trampoline the most so we spent most of the time in the house.

Lilly and Carlie took turns playing with all of the toys in the house. They enjoyed some time on their backs passing toys to each other. It was pretty fun. I took care of the little girls while Will entertained the older girls. If you ask me, I got the better end of the deal. (smile)