Alexis 6 Weeks Old

Alexis is 6 weeks old today and it was my first day back at school. The students were very happy to see me back. They told me the Sub I had was mean. Which to me means that she did her job right.  It felt good to know I was missed. It's hard to believe how fast my time went by.

Alexis at 6 weeks...

She is smiling more often now.

She likes to lay on the floor and kick her feet.

She really looks like she's listening to you when you talk to her.

She really seems to light up when she sees Madalyn and when Madalyn talks to her.

It makes you feel good when this baby girl smiles at you. Just warms my heart. :0)

She bites her bottom lip a lot. 

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! The girls and myself celebrated early this morning and when Kevin came home for lunch, we celebrated again with him. It's so cold and windy, we have just enjoyed being indoors today and lounging around in our PJ's for most of the day.

Madalyn loved her balloon. She has seen them in the stores and has been asking to have one.

Madalyn got Elsa when Alexis was born as part of her big sister gift. And she got Anna today.

Madalyn helped Alexis open her valentine gift...a pink Taggie elephant that rattles.

She was excited about her gift.

After the gifts were opened, we made some valentines.

Madalyn made a special valentine for her Daddy.

My valentine treats from Kevin.

My favorite chocolate...Dove chocolate..YUM! :0)

Happy Valentine's Day from my two sweethearts.

My big girl..she seems so much older to me now that Alexis is here.

Happy Girl

Sweetheart Ball

Tonight was a Sweetheart Ball that was put on by Madalyn's preschool and it was held at our church. Kevin took Madalyn and Alexis and I stayed at home. So it was their first "Daddy-Daughter" dance. They had a lot of fun. I am glad that they got to go and have some time just the two of them. I greatly appreciate Kevin taking Madalyn. It was a special night for her.

Madalyn is ready for her first dance. 

Kevin and his girls

Even though Alexis didn't go to the dance this time, she still got dressed up for a picture.

Alexis 1 Month Old

Yesterday was my mom's birthday and it was Alexis' 1 month old birthday. My mom has been with us since I had Alexis and she has taken care of everything in the house, both girls, including me. Since I was so sick with my blood pressure I wasn't able to do much beyond helping with Alexis some. So she been doing all the house hold chores, cooking and cleaning, taking care of Madalyn, taking care of the animals, and taking the night shift with Alexis so I could rest all night, and so much more. I am feeling much better and starting to feel like my old self again. My mom went home today....so it will interesting tonight. Alexis likes to party at  night by being up at 3:0 am and staying up for about two or three hours. Kevin and I don't know what we would have done without my mom these last few weeks. So for my mom's birthday we gave her a gift certificate to get a massage at this place she likes in Greenville.  We greatly appreciate all she did for us.

Alexis at 1 month

She's a happy baby. 

She's starting to smile at you.

She loves to lay on the floor and kick her legs.

She likes to listen to music and watch her mobiles.

She likes to nap in her swing or bouncy seat.

She doesn't miss a feeding. :0)

She follows you with her eyes when you walk away from her.

She really likes listening to Madalyn talk to her.

She has been such as blessing and joy to us.  We love her and are so thankful God has blessed us with another sweet baby girl.

Kevin's Aunt Wanda made the hat and the lavender blanket for Alexis. I love the color and the blanket is so pretty and soft.

Same picture with a hat.

 Love her rolls!

Blooper: I really want to know what she's thinking here...love this expression on her face.

And I tried to get a "sister" picture. Wow! I thought it was difficult trying to get a good picture with one child, now two....the oldest one won't look at the camera for anything and the younger one either has a goofy look on her face, is cross-eyed, spits up, or gets tired of pictures and starts crying. So, I have yet to accomplish what I consider a "good" picture of both of them together.

So I did happen to catch Alexis smiling, even though it wasn't at the camera.

Sweet baby girl

First Time in Big Church

We have a new children's minister at our church and she has really shaken things up in a good way. Our children were really lacking in activities and things for them to participate in. She has really done a super job of turning things around. Since the first of January, Madalyn has been going to church on Wednesday night and LOVES it! She calls it "night church". We had not had anything in a while for the children at night.

Next Sunday, they are starting "children's church" which will take place during regular church. Kevin and I are so excited that Madalyn will have somewhere to go. Up until now, she's been in the nursery still because if you know Madalyn you can imagine that she wouldn't sit still or be quiet during church. I would be so focused on her that I wouldn't hear anything the preacher said. They can stay in the nursery until age 4 so she was soon about to come out anyway. They had a muralist come in a paint a part of our activity center to make it into our new children's church. Today after church we got to tour the new area and show Madalyn where she will be going now. We thought it started today, so Madalyn ended up coming to big church with us. She did great! She really surprised us at how well she did. However, I couldn't tell you anything the preacher said because I was so focused on making sure Madalyn was quiet. :0) Because of our new children's program we had 10-15 baptisms this morning all children except for there was one family: a mom, dad, and their three children.  These decisions were all made during our Wednesday night children's program in the past few weeks.  We have never had that many at a time, and the church was packed this morning. God is really moving through our children at our church and that makes Kevin and I so excited for our child to be a part of it.

My mom kept Alexis at home this morning. I'm not ready yet for her to get out because of the cold weather and all the germs and sickness going around. But the three of us went, and this was my first time back in church since Christmas.

Madalyn's 1st time in Big Church

Our Weekend

We had some more special visitors from Greenville on Saturday. My dad came down with my great uncle Bobby (who his wife Ann, is who Alexis was named after) and one of his sons, my cousin Mark. We had another good day with weather for them to visit. We went out to eat lunch and then just enjoyed our afternoon visiting.

This picture was from last weekend when my Aunt Susan came to visit.

Susan and Alexis

Alexis with her cousin Mark. (Mark was 17 years old when I was born. I have a picture of him holding me and he also was the first one to feed me cereal. My mom said he got more on my face and everywhere else instead of in my mouth. :0)

Alexis with her great great uncle Bobby.

Nana and G-Dad with their two grandchildren: Madalyn and Alexis

Around the House

Here are just some random pictures of Alexis.

Alexis' cord came off so she got to take her first bath in her big tub instead of a sponge bath. I was prepared for screaming, but she actually liked her bath. With the sponge bath she screamed and Madalyn hated baths until she was about 4 months old. So I was surprised that Alexis liked it, but she did cry when I took her out.

Tummy Time

Baby girl is fastly outgrowing her newborn sleepers due to her length. I've moved her into 0-3 months. Some fit better than others because she needs it for the length but she's not there yet with her weight.

Madalyn is showing more and more interest in her baby sister. She tells me all the time that she loves the baby.