A Brief Video of Driving and Animal Sounds

New Name for a New Family

Yes, this has switched from a strictly Alex blog to a blog for the whole family. Considering that we have number two on the way, I thought that it would be easiest. We're now at http:.//theedgertonfamily.blogspot.com. (You probably already know that if you're reading this, though...) ON TO THE NEWS!

Alexis is over 20 months old now, and she is finally beginning to talk some! She's had pieces of language here and there, but she seems to be saying a whole lot more during the past week. While sum of her favorite things to say are still "oh no" and "uh-oh", she is saying mama and dada a lot more and identifying objects on her own a lot more frequently. One of her other favorite things to do is to make animal sounds for tigers, dogs, cows, and ducks. She's not great at them (she says "mmmm" instead of "moo"), but it just makes it all the more adorable. She's starting to pick up other ones as well and will even put her hands in her armpits and make monkey noises for a monkey. Jason and I have BOTH been called monkeys, and I've been called an elephant. Should I worry about that??? :) She is also learning to count a little and says one and two. This morning she even did it all by herself when she was placing puzzle pieces on the windowsill.

She still remains as joyous as ever, with a few attempts at tantrums thrown in. One of her favorite times of day is when we pick Jason up from the train and he hides somewhere around the car. She knows it's coming, but she screams with delight every time, usually right in my ear. It's the cutest time! I know she loves me, but she ADORES Jason, as she should. He comes up with the most ridiculous games, liking getting her Elmo doll to puke up fake potato chips and having Elmo and Maardark steal her milk. For some odd reason, our daughter loves to be "attacked" by her friends. The most recent new game was to put her in a cardboard box and slide her back and forth between the two of us. She loved it! After dinner is the time that the three of us usually hang out together before her bedtime at 7:30, and she loves this part of the day when she has both of us or she gets a bath. One of my personal favorite things is when I say I need a hug and she runs to me to hug me, and then Jason says he needs one and he runs to hug him, and she just goes back and forth over and over again. I think the cutest new thing either of us has seen in a while was last night when I asked her where the pillow was (the one her baby doll has) and she found it. We asked her what she does with a pillow and she laid down on the pillow and pretended to snore. It was hysterical. Oh, and ALSO last night after she got into her pjs after her bath, Jason put her on the floor of her room. She waved and said bye bye to us and the proceeded to back into a cabinet and close the door behind her. (This is the same portal to Narnia cabinet, minus a shelf.) We just cracked up! And with few exceptions, she goes to bed with no fuss and gets up a little after 6:00 am. It works out well.

Alexis also continues to do well with EVERYONE! She doesn't have a bit of stranger anxiety (she can be a bit shy occasionally if she's tired or overwhelmed), and she loves being in the nursery at church and apparently is always a joy to have there. She loves meeting new kids and staring at them, and you could tell at Christmas that she recognizes other important people in her life. She had a blast at Christmas and did a really great job during a very long trip, although with two kids next year I don't think there's any way we're going to be gone for eight nights like we were this past year. She has had a blast playing with the toys she got at Christmas from everyone!

She's still small, but she eats well and sleeps well, and we don't have any reason to worry. I'm doing some research about potty training because my HOPE is that she'll be mostly potty-trained by the time number two comes along. We'll see if that happens. We've also been checking out craigslist for furniture for her new room, because she'll move next door. We'd like to just get her a toddler bed, but part of me is afraid that it won't work out because she's too small or will just be too young to be out of her crib when she has just turned two. We'll figure it all out, though.

Alex is great, and I'm starting to feel better. So far this week I haven't had any real stomach issues, which is nice. For a while, I was getting them pretty consistently around 10 and 5. I've also been eating something about every two hours this week, so that might be helping as well. I have my next appointment on the 4th of February, and then hopefully in March we'll find out if it's a boy or a girl! Since I had such significant problems last time, the doctor is going to do an extra special ultrasound on me to check me out really well.

The house has really come together, although we've both realized that owning a home takes a lot more work than renting an apartment. (Yes, we were prepared for that, but it's still a lot of work.) We're planning an official work this Saturday to try and knock out some final small things that we need to do, and once spring rolls around we're going to have to figure out what to do with the yard. We love owning a home, though, and daily feel so blessed to have bought when we did and where we did. The area has been great as well, even if some things are a little further away. Ultimately, though, we like being out of the city right now.

Work has been going well with Jason, and it looks like he'll take fewer trips this year. He's going to Guatemala in February but isn't sure when his other trips will be. (He's NOT going to be traveling after early July, though; I'm due July 20th!!!) I've got another class beginning in March - Rhetorical Patterns in Writing - but after that we're going to have to figure out if I can really manage to teach with a newborn and a toddler, especially because I believe there are going to be some significant curriculum changes to the English courses at Eastern. (Good changes from what I understand, but it will take a lot more time to prep for classes at the beginning.) So who knows?

And that's basically life for now. Life is good. We're very happy and are looking forward to this year! (How's that for a nice generic way to end the blog?) Oh, and there are a bunch more pictures on my facebook page.