Finally Walking!

In the last week Alyssa has changed so much!  For one she began walking!  One day she just decided to take about 4-6 steps multiple times a day.  Then the next day it was a few more and by the 3rd day she was full on walking around the house without falling down.  I think she is really enjoying her new experience in the world above the knees. She still crawls once in a while, but for the most part she's up on two feet...except for when she first wakes up.  If you try to stand her up when she first wakes up her legs wobble and she walks like she just got off of a cruise ship.

She especially likes to walk and carry things.  She sometimes attempts to carry things that are too heavy for her.  For instance the white basket with the green liner usually holds her toys and so we have to help her dump them out so that she can carry around the basket. 

Snotty Attitude

Unfortunately I think it also makes for a more frustrated toddler.  I was in JoAnne's Fabric's a couple of days ago and she threw her first full on snotty fit in the store because she wanted to get out of the stroller and walk or crawl around.  I had to escort her out of the store on my hip with her wiggling and crying.  One lady walked by me and said, "Been there done that!" and gave me a 'bummer' look.  And I was thinking 'I'm too pregnant to be doing this.' lol  I think she actually might have been acting like this because it was a really busy day and she was super tired.  Once I got her to the car she fell asleep in like 30 seconds.  Serves me right to try to push her nap further out.  Ah well. 

Snotty Nose

OH!  Just the other day she found her nose.  I'm not talking about "Alyssa, where is your nose?"  She'll show you that, no problem.  I'm talking about "UH!  Alyssa get your finger out of your nose!"  I think she found it on accident.  She was sticking her finger in her mouth and then missed or something and once her finger was up her nose she looked at me like, 'uh, what's this?"  I laughed and probably shouldn't have because then she kept wanting to do it.  Yikes, I'm a bad mom. 

Then to make matters worse.  Today she was riding in the double stroller with Elliott, my friend Rebeccah's 1yr old, and she was attempting to feed him a cracker, but then decided instead to put her finger up his nose!  Wish I had pictures of that!

Playing With A Friend

I do have pictures of them playing together though.  Here they are holding hands and then waving to each other:

Elliott uses a pacifier when Alyssa saw him with something in his mouth she found something for her mouth.  She walked around with that ball putting it in and out of her mouth for a good 15 minutes!

We're also learning that boys are VERY different from girls.  They play with toys so much differently than girls!  I don't think Alyssa would have ever thought to try to get inside her walker. :)

My mom and grandma came to visit and help us celebrate Alyssa's birthday.  We had a mini party that included a 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 white cake with chocolate frosting that was "Alyssa Sized" and then a few cupcakes for the rest of us.

Here's a view of Alyssa's 1/2 white and 1/2 chocolate cake that I baked.  There was a minor fiasco in that I filled the cake pan with too much batter and it spilled over the pan into the oven.  We kinda freaked out when we smelt burning and I was glad it wasn't the actual cake that was burning.  So we opened the window which caused another fiasco.  All of a sudden I started sneezing like crazy and my nose started running and I was like what is going on.  We later realized that the light rain outside had stirred up the pollen and when we opened up the window to air out the burning smell it let in a lot of pollen and thus begun my allergy attack.  Well I guess it wasn't an attack per-se but I felt terrible all day because my allergy medicine has to be taken before the allergy "attack" is in full force or it doesn't work properly.  It was the worst allergy day for me - uh I hate Springtime.  But the show must go on right?! lol  Despite my allergy craziness I did manage to bake and decorate her cake.

We sat Alyssa on our table and set all of her presents around her.  She was able to reach into the bags and mostly pull out her presents which was pretty cool and she even liked opening up the cards.  And she seemed to enjoy all of the presents she was given as well...even the clothes (although she liked the tags on them the best).

Then it was time for the cake.  She wore the Princess Bib that my mom and dad had gotten her and you may recognize it from the pictures from her "First Cereal" photos. We lit her candle and sang Happy Birthday to her. 

Then we put the cake next to her on the table and right away she wanted to touch the candle.  But when we didn't let her touch it right away she cried.  So that was a bummer and we had to settle her down before we 'began again.' 

So then with the candle cooled down she was allowed to touch the cake.  She took a big touch, but then was like "uh - what is this on my hand?" 

I cut her a little piece and tried to get her to taste it, but after knowing that it was "sticky" she didn't even want to try it.  She didn't even want to try a polka dot sprinkle, but then when I had one she wanted to take it off my tongue.  Although it looks from the picture like she wanted me to lick her fingers.

Then Luke decided that he would give her a taste "Wedding Style" and so thus the chocolate face. :)  Then she started feeling tired and rubbed her nose and so then it got a little bit messier.  And then of course she got more icing on her hand and then the show was over.

And so the birthday party ended with a nice warm bath and a happily ever after.

                Happy 1st Birthday Alyssa!

This is Luke here, with my first guest post on good old Boss Lady Blog.

 I just have a quick little story to share.

Today Sabrina and Alyssa came to my work to pick me up so we could go out to lunch. As they were driving up, I looked in the back seat and noticed that Alyssa was holding a lolipop. It still had the wrapper on it but she was obviously really enjoying chewing and sucking on it. So I got in the car and said to Sabrina, "Alyssa has a lolipop?" She looked at me like I was kidding. When she noticed the look on my face meant I was serious, she looked back to see for herself.

Sure enough, Alyssa was holding a lolipop.

Luke: "Where did she get that?"
Sabrina: "I have no idea. I have never seen that before."
Luke: "Well its not like she can really go that far to get it. She is strapped into her car seat."

We just drove on to lunch really puzzled about who was giving our little girl candy without us knowing. And where was this person hiding in the back seat.

The Punchline

Then, after lunch we were putting Alyssa back into her car seat and Sabrina reached over to pick up a toy out of her seat. It was this Star Wars Storm Trooper head that Sabrina had given her to play with. Just then the light went off in her head. You see, this wasn't just any Stormtrooper head. It splits in half to reveal none other than a lolipop in the middle. Alyssa had figured out how to open it and found the prize inside.