Just a Hodge Podge of Info...

Ya know, we thought Roxie was a handful when she learned to crawl......Ha! Let me just tell you – this kid is constantly on the move and into EVERYTHING she can get her hands on. She truly is an ornery little thing. Below are just a few fun moments I’ve managed to catch over the past month or so.

I think this first set of pictures was right at the end of February. And while this was not necessarily one of those “fun” moments, these pictures make me laugh every time I look at them. This was one morning after waking her up, and as you can see, she wasn’t real thrilled about the whole situation.....

And here she is playing with Daddy at home. She just loves getting a bouncy ride on Daddy’s shoulders (and other than when she pulls his hair or slaps him in the head, I think Daddy likes it just as much as she does)......

A few weeks ago, I decided Roxie needed the old fashioned Corn Popper push toy. Even after showing her how you are supposed to use it, she still likes to do her own thing with it which cracks me up so much I decided to catch it on film.....

She’s been starting to dance every here and there – or “shake it” as we call it. I only managed to catch a second or two of her dancing before Daddy walked in and she got distracted. But here she is in breaking it on down in front of the Sing Along Stage.... (the video should still play, even if this just looks like a black screen)

In the past couple weeks or so, my obsession with adorable cloth diapers has been revived – thanks to a co-worker (thanks Jodi!). I am loving me some Bum Genius diapers! Now, whether that’s a good thing for my wallet is still out for debate, but just look at how cute these freaking things are.....

While taking the pictures above, I caught a good one of all the teeth she’s been working on. I don’t know if you can see the bottom ones very well, but there are FOUR teeth in there...

And this past Saturday, Roxie got to see her cousin Charlotte again at Charlotte’s 1st birthday party. I think she had a lot of fun with her cousin! Lucky for Roxie, the party theme was rubber duckies. And this kid loves her some rubber duckies – especially ones she can fit in her mouth! Somehow I managed to get a really good picture of her in her little dress right before these two ducks went into her mouth.....

Her and Charlotte - trying to figure each other out....

And what we thought was probably the cutest moment of the day - their tea party....

And although they seemed to be having a wonderful time with these blocks, I think the adults might have had more fun than the kids....

And to end a full day of playing - some more playing with Cameron (my friend Sarah’s little man).....

One Year Already?!

One year...... I honestly can’t believe it’s been that long since we sat in the hospital NICU on pins and needles looking at our tiny 2 pound baby girl and hoping she would be ok. It seems like so long ago, but it’s true - Roxie is now ONE year old! In fact, she’s been a year old for oh...about a month now. (I know, I’m slow getting in here.)

Her official birthday was on February 1, but since that was also Super Bowl Sunday, we decided to have a little party for her on Saturday instead. And since we are major procrastinators, and didn’t get the word out until late in the game, many of the folks invited were unable to make it. But.... we partied on down regardless and had a great time!


Her "oh-so-cute" #1 cake (made by G-Ma Laurie) with her own personal puppy dog cake in the top corner.....

Opening some presents with Daddy & Grandma JuJu.... (that tongue stuck out all day!)

Unfortunately, Grandma Julie's gift was the same one we bought and already put together the night before...... :(

Opening Grandma & Grandpa Eden's gift....

....a big, fluffy teddy bear......

Just beginning to dig into her puppy cake....

And I didn't think she'd have much interest in it......

Apparently, it's fun to put cake in your ears..... who knew?!

Back at home after partying all day. With Mommy & Daddy's gift......

And in more recent news..... it looks like the little green walker has done its job because Roxie is now walking on her own! Right now, it isn't an all the time kind of thing, but she's perfecting it more and more every day........... (click to play)

We are so proud!!! :)

Roxie's First Christmas!

Well, Roxie’s first Christmas has come and gone and we’ve been left in a sea of cardboard boxes from the many toys she accumulated!

Just a small list of what she got for Christmas:

Pajamas... A Cabbage Patch Kid... Build-A-Bear... V-tech Dancing Tower... Fisher Price Sing Along Stage... Rocking horse... Clothes... Leap Frog Bongo Drum...Etc, etc, etc.....!!

Yeah, she’s got toys for days! And, of course, a fair amount of them beep, honk, sing, and just plain make noise......all the things parents love. :) Ya know, maybe it’s because we’re still new to this whole noise-making toy thing, but we are ok with them. They make her happy, so whatever! (now, I’m not saying that won’t change in the coming years, but for now, we’re good!)

Below are some pictures from all the Christmas celebrations we had.

THE ALMACK CHRISTMAS
(Aaron's mom - Julie's - side of the family)
on 12-21-08....

A couple of proud Grandmas....

Opening her very first Christmas present ever (a glowworm from Great Grandma Betty)...

Either she was exhausted or she had too much egg nog...

Playing on the rocking horse Grandma Julie gave her...

CHRISTMAS MORNING
AT HOME WITH MOMMY & DADDY...

Well, well, what do we have here..... (she loves this thing)

Apparently, she likes to roll around on her presents before opening them....

Playing with some gifts from Grandpa Max....

CHRISTMAS EVENING
AT GRANDMA & GRANDPA EDEN'S HOUSE....

I really don't have much of a comment for this one except to say - Thank God, this wasn't Aaron's gift....

All those presents around her, and take a look at what she's playing with....
Meeting her new Build-A-Bear from Aunt Brianna....
And look who is now dressed in Roxie's "going home from the hospital outfit"..... (it was too sentimental to get rid of and this was just the right size!)

Playing with one of the "noise-makers" Grandma picked out! :)
Surrounded by just *some* of the loot.....
Grandma Laurie and Roxie..... (now known as G-ma) :)

And at last -- the family picture......

The Kid's WILD I Tell You!

That's right, this child is a wild hare! She is all over the place. I have no idea how she has the energy to just go, go, go all the time, but she does. In fact, I was actually asked once if we had to pay our babysitter double time! (nope, thank God, we don't!)

Roxie has learned how to pull herself up and does it all the time now. Below is a picture of the night she did it for the first time (probably 1-2 weeks before Thanksgiving or so). As you can see from the second photo below, she was awfully proud of this new trick!

And if that wasn't enough, she has also perfected the crawl. She'd been doing the army crawl for quite awhile and got around pretty quickly using that method, but now the army crawl is a thing of the past and has been since a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. Here she is crawling around the living room....well, and going for after the camera!

And here is a quick snapshot of Roxie on her first Thanksgiving wearing her Thanksgiving bib from Grandma Laurie.....

The look on her face in this one cracks me up....

And speaking of Grandma Laurie, Roxie's first night away from Mommy & Daddy was a couple weeks ago when she stayed with Grandma Laurie. I was so upset when she left, I had to break out the camera and get a picture of our big girl as she was heading to Grandma's house. I think maybe she was confused as to why Mommy looked so sad......

And Her First Election Day...

On November 4th, Roxie and I voted for the first time ever! (Yes, it's true, I had never voted before.) We were both nervous, but got through it just fine and were so proud of ourselves, we took pictures wearing our "I Voted" stickers! Ha!!

Roxie's First Halloween!!

Roxie's first Halloween has come and gone and she couldn't have been cuter! :)
While she didn't get to go trick or treating this year, we can't wait to take her next year. (I think it would have been a little too obvious exactly who would be eating all that candy!)

Here she is trying on her little Black Kitty costume the day we got it in the mail....

And a couple of the professional ones we had taken.....