19 Months

The month started off with a parade. Justin's unit was invited to walk in the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Leavenworth. Justin was one of the 30 service members who chose to walk. About 20 of the soldiers had their families walk with them. Alexa wore her shamrock dress, adorable bow & a big smile. We had to wait about 2 hours from the time we got there before the parade actually started. The beginning of the wait was not bad. We were all in a playful mood. As time went on it got a lot warmer out and eventually we had to walk to our start location. Once we got there we were waiting in the sun. Alexa played with other children, dogs and other floats. She even got a balloon but it ended up breaking before the parade started. During the parade Alexa rotated between my arms & Justin's. She waved, blew kisses and had a few moments of shyness. Overall it was a great event. Alexa even tried her first corned beef and cabbage meal. Later in the afternoon we had Ariel's 2ND birthday party. Alexa wore one of her new Mickey dresses to match the theme. The girls had a great time. They both especially enjoyed the very large bubbles. We ended the evening with a bonfire in our driveway. We officially kicked out the spring season with a bang.

The next week we were fortunate enough to find out that Alexa does not have any allergies. At least not any of the ones they tested her for the week prior. Alexa got her last shot until she is 4. This will make the doctors visit a little less scary. The biggest thing that happened this week was Alexa transitioning to her big girl bed. I did not plan for it to happen but something told me it was time. I took the side rail off of her bed myself and put on the new toddler rail. It only goes down half of the bed. It is a slow transition but its a step in the right direction. The first night Alexa woke up on the floor. She did great for two nights after that but then went back to laying on the floor. I am fairly certain she is falling off the bed and not walking off. Either way we are working on it and I am sure she will stay on the bed soon enough.

The middle of March we also had some visitors. My Dad & Beth came out to see us. It is sooo nice to get visitors. We love seeing our family but traveling as frequently as we did last year is very exhausting. Ideally I would love to only travel 4 times a year. Anything more just makes us worn out. So Dad and Beth came in town on Friday. They were able to stay at the on post lodging. This was very convenient for all of us. They were only 5 minutes away at night. Alexa took a few minutes to warm up to them but then did great. Friday evening we went out to dinner and Alexa showed them how little she actually eats. On Saturday we drove down to the Kansas City Zoo. We all had a great, warm time. Alexa even rode her first African Sky Safari. I was nervous about her being up there but she did great with her Dad and Grandpa.

Saturday evening we went down to Legends for dinner and some shopping. Alexa had a major throw up incident in the car on the way there. Beth and I had to get her completely undressed. Justin though this was a great opportunity to buy Alexa a new Polo dress. Alexa did look adorable. On Sunday we went out to lunch before saying good bye to our visitors. It was sad to see them go but Alexa and I will be in Cincinnati in just over a month (from when this was written). Sunday afternoon we took the opportunity to clean out our cars. We vacuumed, shampooed and detailed the insides. Hopefully I can get Justin to clean the outsides next weekend.

This next week we went back to swim lessons. Monday's lesson was just Alexa and I. On Wednesday Justin joined us. Alexa is really starting to understand the instructions. She is even blowing bubbles more then drinking the water. This is our last week of swim lessons until June. We are taking April off from sports so we can enjoy the outdoor weather and in May we are taking gymnastics. This week we also had a play date with Olive and Bennett. Alexa immediate wanted to play with Bennett. She would wave hi and bring her toys. After about 5 minutes Alexa ended up sitting in Bennett's car seat. Wherever we would put Bennett, Alexa would go there too. She wanted to act like the baby. It was cute but I hope its not new habit when babies come around. Alexa really wanted to do bubbles so we did them inside. Alexa was able to blow the bubbles by herself and was very proud.

The last weekend in March we had nothing major planned. We took Alexa bowling for the first, well second time. The first time was the day before Justin deployed. Alexa was 3 months old and basically watched us with no understanding of what was going on. This time we used the dinosaur & let Alexa bowl by herself. She was actually the most consistent bowler of the three of us. She did not eat the pizza & spent the rest of the time blowing bubbles in her juice cup.

As April came the warm weather left. It also brought in another sickness scare. When I picked Alexa up from school on the first Monday of the month Alexa felt warm to me. When we got home I had her read some books and relax. After drinking some milk and being inside for awhile I took Alexa's temperature and it was over 100*. I knew this was not a good sign. With Alexa fever = sickness. We gave her Tylenol and sent her to bed early. Alexa did not improve over the night. In fact she was up coughing and crying off and on for a few hours. I spent Wednesday home with her and took her to the doctor. Of course when we got to the doctor Alexa had no fever and was acting fine. They did a strep test but it came back negative. We went home with nothing. The next day Alexa seemed to be back to her normal self so we took her to school. I called and checked on her twice, both times I was told she was doing fine. Then I got a call at 315 (I normally pick Alexa up at 330) saying Alexa needed to be picked up. They said kids in her room had Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease & Alexa was showing signs. I picked Alexa up at the normal time and found out her "signs" were actually bumps on her bottom, AKA diaper rash. I signed the sick note anyways but knew it was not HFMD. We brought Alexa back to school the next day without a doctors note and they did not argue with me. I do understand they have to do their job, however maybe they need to do more research before trying to diagnose my child. They are daycare workers, not health professionals!! OK, off my soapbox.

The next weekend we decided to go car shopping. Alexa did awesome spending 3 hours at the Mazda dealership. I am certain the salesman did not appreciate Alexa put her hands all over the showroom cars. However if I am spending X amount of money at their dealership they can handle my daughters adorable little hand prints. :) We ended up not getting the Mazda and headed to the Nissan dealership for a quick look. I think the long day was wearing more on Justin then Alexa. We had a bad experience there and ended up leaving with a salesman chasing behind us. So not a fun experience. We did however attend an Easter Bunny Brunch. Alexa wore her super adorable yellow dress. She cried & wanted nothing to do with the bunny. She did enjoy her food & the crafts. It was a really great event.

Sunday was our first family Easter. We did a small egg hunt in the front yard for Alexa. She refused to touch the eggs but wanted Justin to pick them up for her. She would then put them in her basket and walk to the next one. I am really glad we were able to get it on video.

The next week we ended up deciding on getting the Mazda. Justin went back and did all the dirty work. Alexa and I did the grocery shopping and then spent the evening hanging out. It was a great few hours of Mommy & me time.

The last weekend was a busy one for us. Friday night we did another fire pit driveway night. We had a few of the neighbors/ friends over. Alexa and Ariel played with bubbles & glow sticks. They both stayed up until 830pm. Alexa slept until 8am the next morning. It was nice to be able to sleep in a little bit on a Saturday.

Saturday morning we took Alexa, Ariel & Angelina to the posts children's festival. We say rescue dogs, characters & lots of our friends. The girls got their hands painted, got puppy balloon animals and did some dancing. We all had a great time. Afterwards we went out to lunch. Alexa was exhausted and fell asleep in her high chair. The afternoon was spent with 2 very sleep girls who took 3 hour naps. Saturday night Justin and I went out to listen to Adam's band play. Alexa stayed next door with the Acred's niece. I was told she did great.

Sunday was spent with just family time. We had our first ever family run. Justin was very encouraging and Alexa even clapped for me. We did 20 minutes sandwiched by 10 minutes of walking.

Alexa this month has started saying more words. She knows all of her body parts names, 5-6 animals sounds & lots of small words. We are working on colors, shapes & numbers.