Getting into a New Groove!

You can probably tell by my lack of postings in the past three weeks that I have gone back to work. It seems that by the time we get home, play, have dinner, bath and bed, that I am ready to pass out on the couch...not ready to spend time on the computer. So, I apologize. Here are a few pictures of Lexi and Chris' new favorite thing to do while I make dinner.

"Daddy Gymnastics"

The uneven bars
The trapeze
Daddy trampoline
The Daddy Slide
And...Lexi bench presses!

Hope you all are well, we'll try to post more often!

A Ferry Ride to Bremerton!

Last Sunday, we took the ferry out of Seattle to go see the Lynch family in Bremerton. It had been way too long since we had seen them. We had a great time catching up and Lexi was in heaven playing with their girls (Elleanor, Ainsley and Baby Emerson). Thanks for the fun, Lynchs! We're glad Lexi survived the fall off the swing set!

On the way to Bremerton!


"I love this big boat!"
We were checking out other boats on the water.

Lexi loved the swing set...even after a huge flip off the swing to land on her face. Good thing there was a doctor in the house!
Our wagon ride down the street. Ainsley, Lexi and Elleanor

Fun in the tub with the Lynch girls before heading back to Bellingham!

Big Girl Bed!

If there is one thing I have learned about being a mom it is that every stage Lexi has gone through has gone so fast. It seems like just yesterday that we transitioned her from her cradle in our bedroom to her big crib. Well, now the crib stage has ended,

AND...

Lexi now has her own big girl bed! I'll have to admit that it was/is quite emotional for me (well, everything makes me emotional since I am pregnant!) to move her to a big bed. It seems as if she isn't as much my baby, that she is all grown up. My mom keeps telling me that this is only one of the first steps in letting go. Ugh. Lexi on the other hand didn't have any trouble saying good bye to her crib and has been extremely excited about her big girl bed! So excited in fact, that we have been woken up at 5:00 (yes, AM) every morning with "Mommy, Daddy, I wake up!" Whoa, where is the kid that was sleeping until 7:30-8:00 every morning just 2 weeks ago? Hmmmm. We have decided, because we need our sleep, to institute the "good morning" light. For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is a nightlight on a timer. Lexi is not supposed (you notice I say supposed) to get out of bed until the light comes on. It did work this morning because we set it for 5:15 to give her a chance to be successful with the "good morning" light. Our hope is to gradually be able to set it later and later as she gets more used to it. We are hoping that she is merely in love with her new found freedom and that this too shall pass! Stay tuned for more updates! Here she is, the day we got the bed.

"MY big girl bed!"
So much fun to just hang out here
Wow! It is much easier to see what is happening in the backyard now. **Note I shut and locked the window pretty much for good since I took this picture!
Her first night...what an angel
Just before she fell out of bed, hit the pillows and rolled completely underneath the bed. Yeah, the next day...we got a bed rail! How can she sleep like that?

A Weekend with the Girls

Saturday around lunch time, Shannon, Vanessa and I met up in Bellevue for a "leave the kids and husbands at home" girl's get away! It was so much fun. I honestly can't remember the last time when it was just the three of us for an extended period (well it was definitely before we all had children). We shopped, ate, LAUGHED, went to a 10:00 movie (again, when was the last time that happened?), shopped more and stayed up late talking...just like old times. As we were leaving each other on Sunday, we decided that this will become an annual event. Thanks girlys for the fun, I love you both!

We pause on the streets of Bellevue for a self portrait
Vanessa loves to organize and LOVES the Container Store!
This is our attempt at being green...we bought matching water bottles! Apparently Vanessa didn't get the memo to wear her purple shirt.
The sunset from our hotel...what a fun day!

Making "Fookies" with Mommy!

Last Friday was one of those days that seemed to go on forever. Maybe you've had a similar day? We had already played outside with water balloons, went for a walk, played inside, watched snippets of Annie, had lunch and taken a nap. Surely it was time for Chris to come home...nope, it's only 3:00. Being the creative (ha!) mom that I am, I thought it would be fun to bake cookies. Oh wait, it is almost 90 degrees outside, that would definitely not help the temperature level in our non air conditioned house. So what did we do? We made chocolate NO BAKE cookies. By the time we were done, the kitchen was covered in sugar and cocoa. We sure had a good time though. Just a side note-do NOT, I repeat...do NOT use Splenda in place of the sugar for no bake cookies. Not so great!

This is the best part of cooking!
Yummy!
No, THIS is the best part of cooking!

Go Like the Big Boys!

This afternoon, Lexi wanted to wear her big girl panties again. The deal in our house is that she gets to wear her panties after she tries to go potty on the potty chair. She sat down for about 3 seconds and said "I tried!" then got back up. I encouraged her to try again to which she replied "Potty standing up" and proceeded to stand facing the potty chair, holding herself like daddy does. I quickly explained that only boys like Daddy go potty standing up and that because she is a girl, she gets to sit down. She looked at me like I was completely stupid and said "Go potty with Lexi's penis." Whoa, where did she get that? Potty training is proving to be a little bit of a challenge...

Big Girl Panties!

So, remember Lexi's fondness of the potty chair that I mentioned about a month ago? Yeah, that pretty much went away as quickly as it came on. Instead of hearing an enthusiastic "Yeah!" every time we would ask her if she wanted to sit on the potty, her response became "No nank you." At least she's polite, right? Well, we decided to pull out the big guns and go on a hunt for the coolest big girl panties in Bellingham. We talked about it ALL day and hyped it up big time! This afternoon, we headed to Fred Meyer to begin our search. There were quite a few choices (more than I imagined there would be). She chose princess panties as well as others that have flowers and hearts. She even showed her new panties to everyone in line "My big girl panties!" We're hoping that this excitment will encourage her to want to use the potty. We'll see, at least it worked for today!

The flowery panties!
So cute!
I love these things!
This is the 3rd pair she had on in about 10 minutes!