Cute Lexie Videos

The one above is from Sunday. These other ones are repeats, 

but my goodness she is so cute I had to share again.

Bonus Footage - Playing in the grass and Baby Elton in concert!

A few videos and a panorama photo of our front yard!

Click on this photo for the full effect!

Look at the camera and smile at the same time?? NEVER!!!!

29 Weeks - Better Late than Never!

(Written Saturday July 26, at 7:00 a.m.)

29 Weeks. I am sitting here, at 7 a.m. before the girls wake up, writing the blog and drinking a coffee out of a mug. A mug!!! It has been plastic cups for at least two weeks now. I opened the box with the mugs yesterday and had a moment: feelings included excitement, relief, like we are almost there. Almost turning the corner from living out of boxes and on take out, to just living.

This has been another crazy week. Josie has a fever that is hovering around 100. She is cuddly and clingy but otherwise no symptoms. Alex had an epic rash that was coming and going, so I took her to the doctor’s (it is eczema). I had a migraine that lasted from Tuesday to Friday and had to take an afternoon off to rest.

We moved on Monday and that was way more work and time than I expected. When we moved into the condo, the movers had us over in 4 hours and I was mostly unpacked by the end of the day. This time…I came over to the house with the girls and we were waiting for the movers. And kept waiting and waiting – it took them a lot longer to empty the condo than last time. It then took them a lot longer to unload the truck at the house. It seems we have accumulated some stuff! I have been taking moments since to unpack, and we’re getting there with the kitchen, and will hopefully today tackle some of the remaining rooms.  

The girls LOVE their dedicated play room – having more than just a corner of the kitchen has them really moving around. Josie is pretty much crawling. She is on her hands and knees and rocking front to back. I will take video and post it soon. She likes to kneel to play. She is obsessed with the straps on her high chair, which is awesome because she will sit in her high chair totally occupied with the straps for nice long stretches.

Both girls are really eating well now. Alex is finally on board with it, and is loving an apple-banana mix. Due to the stomach illnesses last week, we were pumping the brakes a little on new foods, but this weekend we will try cherries and green beans for the first time.

This week I noticed the girls look for each other and move towards each other to cuddle and play. And also pull hair and chomp on their sister’s baby legs and hands.

If you leave Alex alone for a second, you will find her totally rolled away from where you left her. She is FAST and can go about 10 feet while you refill your water wine. She is also sitting really well, if she is distracted, she will sit for a few minutes. Once she realizes she’s sitting, she topples over. She LOVES the full length mirror in her play room and smiles at the baby looking back at her. She is interested in everything, and is really interested in our phones (it’s amazing how young that starts, sigh). She and I had a nice date going to the doctors together just the two of us. I have to remember to do little outings with each of them solo more often, and maybe somewhere more fun than the doctor's office).

Speaking of phones – I finally upgraded my blackberry to an IPhone, which means that I can take awesome photos and videos of the girls, and that I can actually blog from anywhere now. Sweet! I’ll do some more practice runs today. Of course our new house has no cell phone service at all, so I haven’t been able to use it too much this week: we've had no internet, cable, or cell phone service since Sunday. That all changes today so we’re very excited about that! (No, it did not change Saturday, Charter is still working on it...hopefully soon!) 

Sitting!!

We've got one really good sitter and one a few days away herself, and just needing a small bit of assistance. 

Sitting up for long stretches unassisted, and almost crawling! 

Elton John baby Alex on the piano - video coming soon!

Technical Difficulties

Today's blog is written and the photos have been taken, but we don't have internet yet so it won't be posted until Monday at the soonest. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please forward your complaints to Charter. 

Dino Dave (not his real name)

I just spent countless hours over several days ransacking the house and ripping open moving boxes looking for this guy so we can have a proper photo shoot tomorrow. Success! 

He doesn't have a name yet - we're working on it. Someone suggested Dave but not sure it fits ;) 

28 Weeks, 6 month check up and a Crazy Week!

The last two weeks I have been meaning to write a "how I am doing" post, but I keep trying to answer that question in my head with no success, and I haven't had time to do one. We are busy here, busy at work, busy with moving and everything is happening at once.

We got the girls' stats at their six month check up:

Alex is 26.5 inches long, and weighs 17 lbs and 11 ounces. She is in the 75th percentile for height and weight! She is doing fantastic! 

Josie is 25.5 inches long and weighs 14lbs and 14 ounces. She has jumped into the 25th percentile from the 10th percentile, and is doing fantastic too! The doctor was very pleased with their growth. 

The girls got shots on Monday and were not themselves at all after. Josie still has the runs and Alex has been throwing up. My pamphlet said these are both normal after shots. Poor girls. Well yesterday Alex woke up with a dry diaper which is a complete no-no. She was also running a low temperature. Called the doctor and we were on "PEE WATCH 2014."  She drank her bottle but threw it up at 11. By 3 pm when the doctor called, she had just a faint little bit of wetness. Thankfully that was enough to avoid a hospital visit and IV. This morning she seems very much back to her old self, and finished off a bottle, but we are still watching her and making sure she is getting enough fluids and have added pedialite to her diet. 

I'm really not feeling too good, mom :(

Can I have this pacifier for my photo shoot?

Josie was put on a rice cereal, banana and apple diet and we are hoping that does the trick. She loved the giant bowl of rice cereal yesterday, even though frankly it smelled like cardboard. She is a weird kid and she loves the act of eating (just like her mom!)

Mwuahaha!!

Only little shy smiles today

We move on Monday. We are close to ready but you know how it is, it seems like you are almost done then those last details take forever. We had a ton of people helping us watch the girls last weekend and got a ton done. The only reason we stopped was because we ran out of boxes! So Sunday night turned into a pizza party. I was going to ask friends to come help again but it looks like James has the stomach flu (I would have bet good money this would happen - its called packtomovirusium) so I will just have him watch the girls while I pack and get things ready. Besides, with Alex throwing up its probably best to limit activity and exposure.

This was the very first photo I took. Josie is such a ham I hardly need to take many now for the blog.
The only reason I take more than a few is because she gets excited and starts squirming and moving too much!

Work is nutso - we have a case careening towards trial and we've had to bring countless motions to get the Plaintiff's counsel to comply with very basic stuff. Well thankfully all of the motions we brought were granted, even ones I brought past the date you are allowed to bring them (YEAH!) so I have to say, we may not win the war on this one (its a long shot) but winning a few battles has reinvigorated me with enthusiasm for the fight.

What else? We've had a revolving door of contractors at the house to get it ready for us, and at the condo to get it ready for renters. We have services ready to transfer, we even got the city to fix the pot hole in the street in front of the house - good ole Burbank is so good with that kind of stuff! Its been a busy two weeks of coordinating folks and being present when we need to be. 

Our lives are getting a little more boxy.

Well I am rambling and its wake up time. Everyone is just here for pictures of the girls anyway, right? ;) I would be too.  Next week our update will be coming from our new home!