6 Months!!

Yesterday Alexa completed 6 months of life. Since she made such an accomplishment, we had to celebrate. Mom kept her busy when she wasn't down for one of her four naps.

First, she relaxed in the pool.




Then, she sat up by herself for a whole minute while her mom took pictures of her in her pretty dress!



Her dad surprised her mom and her with flowers when he got home from work. He said that they were for surviving these past 6 months. What a nice dad!



To top the day off, Alexa went with her parents to their friends' house to make donuts! But, she was so tuckered out by then that she fell asleep before the party even started.

What a day!

Progress

This is Alexa's way of getting around these days. We love to just sit and watch her. It's hard to keep our giggles in.

Alexa is thru with 0-3 month clothes

Cassi must have taken an unscheduled hiatus from putting pics up here, so I'm making an unscheduled substitution. Alexa is finally starting to fit into her 3-6 months clothes. Yep, and just a week away from being 6 months old.

¡Bienvenido a Barcelona!

We recently found out that Brad got accepted to do an exchange in Barcelona next Spring! There was no way I was going to let him go by himself, so we're getting Alexa a passport, and she and I will be tagging along. We'll be there from January to April and then Brad will be done with school (if he passes his classes - who wants to study when you're in Europe?)!!!! Brad's law-school friend Scott also got accepted, so he and his wife, Kirby, will be going too. It will be nice to have someone to hang out with while Brad is in school. Barcelona is right on the coast of Spain. Here is a picture:



I know it's 6 1/2 months away, but we're so excited! (Hopefully it will be as cool as I think it will be.)

We've been telling many of you about how much Alexa is rolling around now. Here, you can see for yourself. She's getting very good at being able to get to her binky and her toys. She does get frustrated though when she can't get to them as you can also see.

Pop quiz: Can you guess whose voice you can hear in the background?

The End of an Era -- Nerd Alert!

Brad here. I want to say that I am very aware that this is a kind of a nerdy thing to post about. Very aware. So, no need to point that out in the comments.

We got this game, Othello, for Christmas a few years ago from Cassi's sister, Jamie. (On some internet sites, Othello is also known as "Reversi.") It's a strategy game (click here for "how to play"), and I thought I'd be able to hold my own. Not so. We played probably 12 times or so, and Cassi beat me every time. Very frustrating. So we put this game "away."

Fast forward a year and a few months. The game somehow got out last month when some of our neices and nephews (Jamie's kids) were here and wanted to play. I watched a few of their games and realized some of the things they were doing wrong were the same things that I did when I was playing Cassi. Keep in mind these kids are not quite 7 years old (Is Brad smarter than a 1st-grader?). So having learned a few things, I challenged Cassi to a rematch.

The game started calmly enough, but after just a few games, I had Cassi very much on the defensive, and I could almost taste sweet victory. I still had some lingering fears that she would somehow come back and make a fool out of me, but I held on for the win.

So, as if it's not nerdy enough to blog about winning a game of Othello, I had to take the next step a post a picture of my first win. (I was white.)

This may mark the end of Cassi's reign, and the beginning of a new era. Since my breakout game, I am 3-1 against Cassi. I leave you with Alexa raising the roof.