Food, Flower, or Fashion?

Stephanie gave Alaina a flower from her garden last week and Alaina couldn't decide what to do with it. She decided to make it a little bit of everything. In the end, she gave it to Harry as a birthday gift.

Alaina's Little House

Santa brought Alaina a doll house this year for Christmas. She hasn't played with it too much until recently. Now, she opens the house and tries to "sit" on the furniture or in the tub or on the potty. I tried to get a picture of her doing this tonight, but by the time I got the camera, she was actually playing with the doll family. It was so cute.

Alaina was fresh out of the bath and enjoying her bedtime snack. 

This is one happy little girl.

Too Many Toys?

Is there ever such a thing as too many toys?

Alaina doesn't think so... she adds more and more toys to her crib every day.

Seeing Clearly

Today, Alaina's glasses came in! Harry and I were both able to take her to pick them up and get them fitted. She did end up bending the glasses even before we left the eye doctor, but it was an easy fix. I have a feeling she and I will visit the eye doctor a lot in the next few months. 

Her glasses and her super-cute glasses case. 

Yes, she needs to wear her glasses while driving. :-)

 Taking them off; at least she is being careful and not ripping them off. 

On a side note, across the street from our neighborhood is a pony farm. One of the ponies had a baby last month and it was the cutest thing! Harry captured a picture of the baby with the mother... if you have never seen a baby pony, you don't realize how tiny and adorable they are.

In this picture, the little guy (or girl) is getting bigger, but he/she is still pretty cute. We can't wait to take Alaina across the street to meet the ponies.

Glasses

On Tuesday, I took Alaina to the ophthalmologist to have her vision checked. We had noticed that she was crossing her eyes and the ophthalmologist told us that she is farsighted and she was crossing her eyes to help bring things into focus. After the initial shock of her needing glasses wore off, we set out to find glasses small enough for a 17 month old. It was not easy. Most places don't carry toddler glasses. Finally, we found out about Horizon Eye Care off Sharon Amity Road in Charlotte. They had a whole store of toddler glasses at reasonable prices. We picked out Alaina's first pair of glasses today. I tried to get a picture of her wearing them, but she was pretty tired after trying on so many different pairs so a picture of the glasses alone is what I settled for. 

They are a pretty blue/purple with a design on the temples (Disney Princess Glasses!). I had originally thought we would get pink glasses for Alaina, but these looked so nice on her. We are now waiting on her lenses and then we will go in for a fitting. We are also going to have cable temples put on the glasses. If anybody out there is like us and needs help finding glasses for their toddler, check out this link. It was really helpful. 

Paint, Paint, and More Paint

 This past weekend, Harry and I painted another room in our house... the office. We painted it the same color as our living room/kitchen accent wall and I LOVE how it turned out.

The view from the dining room/entry way. 

Alaina sneaked in for a picture. 

Alaina loves to watch the construction across the street from the window. 

While I'm posting about paint, I figured I would share the color we painted the living room, dining room, and entry way. We love the accent wall, but we think the brown is a little too dark. We were going for more of a tan and this just wasn't what we were expecting. We may end up painting it a bit lighter in the future. 

Spending Time with Grandma and Grandpa

This past weekend Harry, Alaina, and I headed to south Charlotte to spend some time with Harry's parents. We stopped for lunch at Pinky's Westside Grill on the way and our picky little eater ate fried pickles for the first time!

Then, it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's farm. 

 

Alaina must have had a great time, because she fell asleep on the car ride home less than a mile from their house.

On an unrelated note, I made a chicken pot pie for dinner and it turned out so pretty I had to take a picture! It was as good as it looks.

 

Park Time

It was a beautiful day in Charlotte so we took Alaina to one of our neighborhood parks to play after work. She had a blast and came home one tired baby.

Happy Valentine's Day

All Alaina

Alaina was just too cute today for us not to take a lot of pictures and share them with you. 

First, check out her newest trick...

 Alaina now plugs her ears to stop sound. She LOVES to do this while eating. She started doing this earlier in the week and I would say her name and she would laugh. It's really cute, now; we'll see how we feel about it when she starts plugging her ears when we need her to listen.

Then, just after dinner, Harry and Alaina had daddy/daughter hair salon time. I put Alaina's hair in a pony tail after her second nap, but Alaina and Harry decided that hair bows were also needed. This is what they did...

Alaina and Tank

Alaina has always loved dogs. Her first loves were Jasmine (Jazzy) and Frannie at her first nanny's house. She has found a new puppy love at her new nanny's house... Tank. Here they are hanging out together.

Tank is pretty taken with Alaina, too. He waits for her at the door each morning and walks her out in the afternoon (I think it's because she brings him crackers every day).

More Paint!

Today, Harry, Alaina, and I painted an accent wall in our living room and in our kitchen. We love how it turned out and look forward to painting more next week. 

The views of the living room. Yes, that is Antiques Roadshow on the TV; we're dorks like that. 

The kitchen (featuring Alaina eating dinner). 

We also painted the stop and drop. The rest of the kitchen, living room, and hallway will be a tan color; we think the blue/gray will look really nice in contrast.

Playtime with Liam

Today, I had to work late at school so Jessica and I planned to take Liam and Alaina to the mall for some playtime before heading back to school. They both had a blast and Jessica and I enjoyed seeing our little ones play.

 

Pretty in Pink

This weekend we painted the first room in our new home; of course we had to start with Alaina's room. We had worked so hard making the perfect nursery for her in our old house and I hated leaving it. We decided to change things up a bit for her new room. She still is using the same nursery bedding, but we opted for a pink room for our growing little lady.

Her crib and her name above her bed... just like in her first nursery. We also have her Beatles quote that I made for her hanging to the left of her crib.  

Her windows, I'm not sure why it looks so smokey in this picture. I'm hoping there isn't a smoke monster at our house (yes, that was a Lost reference). 

The door to the left leads to our hallway, the door to the right is the entrance to Alaina's Jack-and-Jill bathroom.

Her closet and the entrance to her room. 

I am planning on making her new curtains as soon as I find the perfect fabric. I know exactly what I want, now it's just the process of finding it. I really hope our little lady loves her new room color.

Alaina's Babies

Alaina has become very interested in babies lately. There is a 4 month old with her at her nanny's and she has a lot of baby dolls at our house. Her favorite has to be her Bitty Baby American Girl Doll; this doll was a present from her cousin, Madison (and the rest of the Jones family... but Madison picked her out). She plays with her baby, sleeps with her, and has been taking really good care of her. 

Alaina and baby Olivia at her nanny's house. 

Alaina and her baby doll. We are still trying to come up with a name for this baby. Madison's baby is named Hannah, so we are trying to think of a similar name. We're open to suggestions. :-)

Budding Artist

Alaina has been coloring more and more lately. She loves markers, but I don't love scrubbing them out of her clothes, so we stick to other mediums. This is Alaina today, coloring with her nanny. 

Notice how she studies the color to ensure it is the perfect shade. She really has some talent.

A Day Off

Alaina and I are enjoying our MLK day here at home catching up on our rest. We are hoping for warmer weather this afternoon so we can play outside. 

Welcome Home, Edward!

Our brother-in-law, Edward, returned home from Afghanistan late last night. We are so thankful for his safe return. 

This looks like one happy family.

Christmas in Wilmington Part 2

After my brother and his family left Wilmington, my sister and her kids came for a visit. We had a blast hanging out together.

Alaina helping grandma unwrap a present.

Madison and Luke opening their presents.

More presents for Alex and Alaina.

 

  Picnic lunch at Carolina Beach State Park.

Family photo time!

Petting the neighbor's cat.

Yes, these 2 girls are related...

Luke also loved Alaina's pink 4-wheeler. 

Alaina loved the tractor, too.