Wouldn't sleep be nice

What else would I be doing at 11:21pm on a night when I have to get up at 4:45am other than blogging?  I am trying to get prepared for my trip but I am really struggling with this one.  I am freaking out a little about leaving Alexis and it is throwing my normal mojo off a little.  I can't focus enough to make a list for packing and planning.  I have been to the store about a million times trying to remember everything I need for the trip.  I still have dishes and laundry to do.  And yet, I did nothing to benefit the trip (outside of finally sending my flight info) because I don't want to waste any time when Alexis is awake doing it and I am so exhausted when I put her to bed that I don't feel like doing anything.  Work is stressing me out right now and I am disappointed by that.  I had hoped this new position would align with what I reall want to be doing with my career right now.  It is starting to a take a very negative direction and I am trying hard to talk myself into staying positive about it.  I am looking forward to seeing my mom and we have a ton of fun stuff planned.  Not looking forward to the flights and the time hanging out in Detroit on the way to London but my brother figured out the best plan.  The trip would not be doable with a toddler, at least not for me and definitely not as enjoyable, so for now, I am just trying to think about the fun stuff and how excited Alexis will be to see me when I get back.  Time for bed now (the furnance goes down to 65 at night which was 3 hours ago, my feet are cold!) and hopefully that means some sleep.  Check back here when I get back from my trip!

Time for a picnic

Art time!

Today Alexis found the dot art paints and wanted to make a picture.  She likes to draw on her hand with markers and then stamp them on the paper.  These markers were no different.  I painted her hand and foot a couple of times and helped her make a picture and then my independent toddler wanted to do it herself :)  Sometimes I wonder if working in the 2 year old and toddler rooms at the daycare made me okay with messes or I just love to celebrate her toddler-ness and let her explore, but I love these activities with her!  Her hands are still a little blue, even after washing and soaking in the bathtub tonight, but she had a blast!

These are a few of my favorite things

I cannot believe how big my Lexi is getting.   While I miss the tiny baby snuggling days, I am having a blast at this age too.  She talks all the time and cracks me up!  She loves to read still but she really likes to play the "can you find the..." game.  She has the cutest little "here it is" when she points it out. :)  Sometimes I will stop reading the sentence and point to the picture so she can say it and be part of reading the story.  She just laughs and laughs when she helps read.  We have started having tea parties.  It started when I got her a new baby that came with its own little sippy cup.  She brought the cup to me and said "drink" so I filled it with some water.  Next she started pouring the water from the sippy into her tea cup.  She does really well getting the water into the cup and drinking from the tea cup.   She has started to engage me into games she wants to play instead of me initiating them or just joining her play.  I love to see her imitate what I have been doing with her.  We get a lot of "1...2...Go!"  Sometimes there is a 3 but most times she jumps from 2 to Go.  I love to watch her play night-night with her babies and stuffed animals.  She usually gently lays them on the blanket/couch/cradle/pillow and then puts a blanket over them, kisses them, tells them night-night and then its 50/50 if she lays down with them and pats their backs or she leaves them and says "shhhh.... baby sleeping".  She is such a sweet little girl.  I love that she tries to make me laugh.  For dinner tonight we had grilled cheese and tomato soup.  I gave her a little bowl of soup and for the most part, she did very well.  Near the end of the meal, she dumped her soup onto her plate and then fished the corn out of the mess.  She started to splash in the soup and after I told her no, she did it again, laughing.  Again, I told her no, to which she replied, "just a little" and started splashing with just two fingers.  I couldn't help but laugh with her then :)
She has almost completely figured out how to get my Nook unlocked and get to her books and apps (although we have started calling it momma's orange book since she was correcting me to "book" each time I would say "nook" and it has an orange cover).  Now she has started trying to figure out my iPhone.  Such a smart girl!I love that she is starting to tell me what she wants to watch (lately she only wants Ice Age 2 - she likes the mammoth and the sabertooth tiger).   We have been working on colors, counting and potty training.  She is doing very well with her colors and usually gets things right.  She is good at the 1...2... counting and sometimes the three.  She LOVES to talk about going potty and has gone a few times on her own little potty.  Turns out I have a lot of things I am loving about this age :)

Snow Day

The last time I took Alexis out in the snow, I knew I had a snow baby.  She loves playing in the snow.  When we were out in the car on Saturday, she just kept saying, "Snow!  Momma, SNOW!"  Tonight she was standing at the backdoor, knocking (it is super cute when she knocks on the doors to get out) and saying "Momma, Emma outside, Lexi outside, snow!"  I got some warm clothes for us, put on our snow gear and headed outside.  I think she looks adorable in her snow clothes and I probably take too many pictures but I can't help myself :)

 All she wanted to do was munch on snow :)  Her top two molars are poking through and she has been chewing a lot so I am guessing it feels good on them.

 She fell down on her bottom and was rolling over to get up.  She stopped for a minute to take a couple bites.

Apparently it was easier to just sit on the ground and eat.  Her poor little cheeks were getting so red from the snow so I decided we needed to go in.  And because I decided that this was just not one of the battles that needed to be fought, this snowball also came inside with us :)