Alexa's first haircut

Last weekend, Paul took Alexa for her first haircut.  He said she did pretty good but how can you go wrong if you get to sit on a duck!  I was sad not to have been able to go but glad she did so well....

Lookin' good

Alexa's new favorite things....sunglasses & a jean jacket

 Alexa's supermodel pose (Apparently she thinks Elmo PJ's are quite stylish)

First family (mini) vacation

In June, we went for our first family vacation since Alexa was born.  We were playing it safe as we only went 45 minutes away and stayed just one night but it went great and Alexa was a trooper!  We went to Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City and stayed at the Lied Lodge.  

We took a walk in the woods

and through the orchards,

took a trail to a giant tree house,

played on a giant xylophone

(which Daddy really enjoyed),

 and went swimming.

All in all it was a lot of fun and now maybe we'll be brave enough to try another vacation with a location a bit farther from home....my vote is for a beach!!

Change is good, right?

The past couple of weeks have been interesting.  I ended up being put on bedrest 2 weeks ago (at 28 weeks) due to too many contractions which were causing signs of pre-term labor.  This was the exact point and the exact reason I was put on bedrest with Alexa.  Uugggghhhh!!  I was put on medications to help stop the contractions and told not to do much of anything.  This is easier said than done when you're a stay at home Mommy of a toddler.  Well, both grandma's graciously volunteered their time to help take care of Alexa.  It wasn't easy for me to accept the help because I like to be someone that can handle things on her own but I'm glad I did because it's giving them more time to be with Alexa and Alexa is getting to experience new and different things and build stronger relationships with her grandma's.  One of the mom's I know from my MOPS group arranged some meals for us over the past couple of weeks which has been wonderful.  Paul especially appreciated this because he hates to cook.

Speaking of Paul, he has been great!!  He had kinda gotten used to not doing too many household chores (other than yardwork and fix-it projects) with me being home but he has really surprised me and not complained a bit.  With the help of grandma, the dishes, laundry, and other chores have been getting done quicker than I probably would've gotten to them.  Paul's other major project has been transforming our guest room/office into a big-girl room for Alexa.  This was more work than it normally would be because the window in that room needed replaced as well as all the siding on the outside of that room.  Grandpa Tom helped with this a few weeks ago and it looks great although I don't particularly like spending so much money on something that has an end result that looks virtually like it did before (since the problems were beneath the surface).  Oh well.  Grandma Celia and Paul painted the room a light purple and it's so exciting to have Alexa in a "girly" room.  When we were getting things ready for Alexa to be born, Paul made it very clear that he was against "girly" colors and that's why the nursery ended up neutral.  I guess that's a good thing now that we're expecting a boy because that room won't take too much of a transformation to make it work.  Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Donn got Alexa her first big girl bed to go in her new room and to my surprise, the transition to the new room and new bed have gone very smooth.  I had been stressed about this change for months and prayed about it a lot.  I guess my prayers were answered because it really couldn't have gone better.  Hopefully that continues.

I was afraid that being on bedrest would really impact my one on one time with Alexa but actually the time we do have together Alexa has been much more interested in cuddling and spending quality time with me.   She was never a cuddly baby and I could hardly get her to sit on my lap.  Now she seems to enjoy it and we spend a lot of time reading books, singing, and talking.  It's been really nice!

Since we no longer have our main computer on the first floor (and I'm not allowed to do stairs), I don't have access (yet) to all our pictures and that's why my blogging has been so behind.   Hopefully soon I get to post some pictures.

We really appreciate all the thoughts and prayers over the past couple of weeks and believe the prayers are being answered.  I'm happy to report that at my appointment this week I haven't progressed any further than last week which is great.  Hopefully baby boy will continue cooking awhile longer!