My Little Tulip

After picking Scott's mom up from the airport in Amsterdam we showed her around Amsterdam for the day. The next day we went to the Keukenhof to view the tulips. Enjoy the pics!

Alexis discovering grass for the first time.

Pretty flowers

Yes, we planned her tulip hat and outfit for this trip.

Where's Alexis?

The famed tulips at the Keukenhof.

A flower bed in the shape of a tulip.

A family in the shoe.

Alexis in front of the Anne Frank statue in front of her house. I hope she'll appreciate this when she's in school reading the book.

Walking the canals in Amsterdam.

Needless to say, she drew quite a crowd.

BOO!

NOTE: The following events are 100% true, no exaggeration. I am NOT making this up.

I've had several blog posts about my ghost. Recently, I've gotten to know the ghost a little bit more.

Let's go back to when Shannon visited. I told Shannon that Alexis had been randomly waving at things. Smiling, waving...just as if she'd seen a live person. Shannon says, "you know, kids are more likely to see ghosts." I said that makes sense. Then she said, "We'll since you mentioned it, I heard foot steps and creaks in the floors upstairs last night when I was sleeping." Then she proceeds to add, "and it poked me in the eye twice. I jumped the first time because I didn't know what it was, then it happened again and I told it to leave me alone and I heard footsteps creaking away from the bed." Great Shannon, thanks for telling me that! After I recovered from shock we tried to make since about it. We decided it was a kid just playing (kids poke at this you know). Hence the stealing napkins, knife etc.

The rest of Shannon's visit nothing happened. Then it started back once I got back from my U.S. trip.

One night after Alexis had gone to bed I saw her hair bow laying in her play area. I told myself that I needed to pick it up so Alexis didn't eat it. I remember being too lazy to pick it up telling myself I'll pick it up the first thing in the morning. The next morning the first thing I did was to pick up the bow....but it wasn't there. I searched high and low and it was no where to be found. As the morning proceeded I walked to the kitchen and stopped in my tracks when I saw the bow on the kitchen floor....an entire story below the living room. Ummmm...how in the heck did it get there when it was the last thing I looked at that night?

I tried not to think about it during the day until.......

Alexis and I were playing in here room and then I had to go pee. I told her to crawl down the hallway and meet me in the bathroom. She made it to the bathroom ( I was able to pee...a luxury these days) and then I heard her piano toy starting to play notes. I thought that it had jammed or something so I went in there and nothing was jammed. I heard the piano keys...you had to press them to get them to play. Hummm.... Alexis and I quickly left her bedroom and went down to the living room and as we got to the bottom of the stairs it went off again. AAGGHH!!

That night I told Scott my stories. After I told him he said...and I quote, "I don't believe in GHO..." Before he got the word ghost out a toy sitting right next to him went off. We both looked at each other with our mouths hanging open. I asked him if Alexis had played with that toy in a while. He said she hadn't touched it. He looked at the toy and it played again. OH MY GOSH.....the ghost is right beside him. I waved....trying to keep peace in the house.

The past week I've heard a few creaking foot steps and Alexis still waves. I'm not brave enough to take Shannon's advice and take a picture in the direction that Alexis is waving in and see if any orb-like presence shows up.

So here's the latest. I put Alexis down for her nap today with two socks on.....when she woke up she only had one sock. WHAT????? I searched high and low for this sock. Where could it go. Jacke, Scott's mom is even here to attest to the fact that she had two socks on. I know you're thinking....oh, baby socks fall off. Not these, I specifically buy these socks b/c they stay put.

Seriously, I just want my sock back....along with my knife please. I've officially decided that it's a little girl that just wants to play, I just hope her parents stay away.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

Our Little O'Cutie.

This is the famous "we're sorry" present. Before we left for the U.S. vacation Alexis would just pull up on it and and bang on it until it played music. Now, WOW! She picks up the balls and puts them down the slide. She knows where they are going to come out from and looks for them to appear. She puts the balls into the hippo storage container and even puts the balls into the holes of the elephant ears. Basically, she uses all of the features of the toy correctly. I think this is a very large developmental step for her. I really like this toy and would recommend this for kids her age.

I can't believe she's already 10 months old!

Spring is in the air!

We got back last week from my 4 weeks away from the Belgian winter. Winter is now gone and spring is in full swing. The flowers are blooming, the sun is shining and the temperature is in the 50's......finally!

Here's a brief re-cap the 4 weeks I was away.

Week 1:

Remember Shannon flew out for "Operation Visit America." We had planned on it being such an ordeal getting from Europe to America with a 9 month old that we thought we'd need a little pre-vaca to start our journey. The day after Shannon got in we flew to Nice, France (the South of France)

The Cote de Azure (The Blue Coast)

Sean Connery's House in Nice.

The Fruit, Flower and Herb Market in Nice.

We spent 3 days there touring around Nice and Monaco and enjoying the warm weather of southern France. I REALLY like the south of France. I can see why all of the Hollywood stars visit there during the summer. It was like you weren't even in France. I recently read an article that describes the South of France more like an Italian sea-side city and that's exactly right. Very relaxed, very friendly and very good food. Again I rarely say this about places I visit but, I would go back in a second.

Monaco

The Church where Princess Grace Kelly was married and then buried.

The tomb of Princess Grace.

The flag was up so the Prince was in the castle.

The famed Monaco Casino.

In the city of Eze

The Gardens of Eze

After finishing vacationing in the South of France (hee hee, I always wanted to say that) we flew back to Brussels where we met up with Scott for Valentine's Day. Alexis spent her first Valentine's Day touring around Brussels and then with a big Slumber Party with Momma, Daddy and Aunt Shannon. Alexis now refers to Shannon as Nannon. It's very cute to hear her say it in reference to Shannon. I'll take this moment to Thank Shannon for helping with Alexis and reading the Touch and Feel Farm book along with making animal sounds (sometimes in public) approximately 1000 times, each time with great energy. Alexis truly adores you!

I brought tons of teethers/toys on the plane with us and she ended up only playing with her favorite book.

Nannon and Alexis reading.

You know Shannon and I can't have an adventure without something funny happening.

True Story: We bought bathing suits so that we could take Alexis swimming in the indoor pool. We decided on something cheap...a tankini and skirt. We didn't try them on...we just bought them and went on our merry way. So, when I put mine on in the bathroom right before we went swimming, I let out a shriek and then a laugh. Shannon said "surely it doesn't look that bad" and I came out to show her. I showed off the bathing suit a little then I turned around, lifted up the skirt.....and flashed her! Yep, European bathing suits don't have built in bottoms in the skirts. *lol* Much laughter insued!!! Also, skirts billow up in the water...why are there no built in bottoms?

Getting ready for the pool!

Yes, the match!

Alexis' 1st time in the pool.

Splash, Splash

Camera timer!

Thank goodness we were the only ones in the pool that day because they would have got an eye full. Oh what we do for little Alexis.

The next day we left on our 10 hour flight. It was very uneventful! That's a good thing. We were able to get a seat for Alexis so she was happy in between both of us in her car seat. We had rude duds for flight attendants so Alexis had to smile and wave at the people near-by us. She was excellent as she always is on flights. Josh and Jookie met us at the airport in ATL and we all headed back to Albany.

WEEK 2 and WEEK 3

Just hanging out with the parents. My parents had a great time getting to know Alexis. It was nice to have a few days "off." I had date night with Shannon, Josh and Jookie one night. That was my big outing. We saw the movie TAKEN. I really liked it. Considering that this is the first movie I've seen at a movie theater in a year...it was excellent....the popcorn too! The last movie I saw was a year ago April in Amsterdam. Scott had a work trip and I tagged along (because I was 8 months preggo) so there I was 8 months preggo and sitting in the movie theater alone. Laugh!

Photo Shoot!

High-five

Alexis loved propping her feet up on my parents table.

Shannon's sister Adrianne is having a baby in April and I attended the baby shower. It was great to see old friends and have some "mommy only" time.

Me, Ashley, and Jookie

BFF's

Alexis got her first tooth while we were in Albany. We made it through the first tooth very smoothly. No fusing, no fever, no anything really. It just appeared. She a tough little cookie. I'm assuming the rest won't be as easy.

Anyhoo, it was great to be home and be spoiled. Thanks Mom and Dad. Alexis had fun too!

WEEK 4

I was meeting Scott in the airport to head out to Denver so Shannon drove us to ATL. We decided to overnight there to break the trip up for Alexis. We got our eye-brows waxed and took Alexis to the GA Aquarium. It was great watching her watch the fish. Her favorite was the alligator though. We have great pics from that but, Shannon has them and she's on a family vacation now so we'll get those next week.

I successfully made it through security by myself at the airport. They actually complimented me on my speed. We met up with Scott and headed off to Denver. Scott was upgraded to First Class so by "house rules" he got to take Alexis up there with him. There's much more room in first class than coach for Alexis. She slept the entire flight in Scott's arms and I read a book back in coach.

We continued on for our Anniversary Trip to Estes Park, Colorado. We'd been there before so it was great to just relax and forget about all of the touring stuff.

Our cabin

Alexis playing with her cousins - Chelsea and Hannah

Taking a walk.

Alexis got her 2nd tooth the first day we were in Estes Park. Back to back...wow! This is the best picture I could get!

I got sick on the back end of the trip. I must have been allergic to some tree or something b/c I was miserable. Luckily, I was better before the flight back to Belgium. Alexis got a seat for that flight too and again was an angel.

It only took her 3 days to get through her jet-lag and now she's back to normal enjoying all of her toys and exploring around the house. I tried to put up a baby gate that we borrowed but I quit after I discovered it had to be screwed into the walls instead of pressure mounted. I guess I'll just chase her around the house when she crawls out of the room.

I think that gets us caught up. Scott's Mom is coming out on Friday for 3 weeks. We're going to Amsterdam to pick her up and to see the tulips! Until then....