back from hiatus...

Sorry that it's been so long since you've seen a post from me! It's been a BUSY few weeks, to say the least... On Alexa's 2 week birthday, we left Manhattan and started our trek to KALEO - our student summer program down in Gulf Shores, Alabama! We spent 15 hours on the road the first day...took a day to recuperate in Kentucky with Joel's family and then drove the other 12 hours down to Alabama on day 3. All in all, it was a great trip!
Here are some of the most recent pictures of our sweet Alexa Joy! She is changing by the day... These pics make her look like a little redhead, though her hair really isn't red at all... It was pretty dark when she was born and it's turning to blonde very quickly! She is a really good baby, now that we've started to figure out how to get her to sleep at night! We had a few rough nights of 2 hours of sleep or less. Whew! Never had those with Ellie, so it was good for me! :)

Alexa is a very content little lady... she LOVES to be held and cuddled. She's got beautiful little "piano fingers" and pretty lips! Those seem to be the first two things that everyone comments on about her! That and the full head of hair that she has already! :)

And as you can see... Ellie still LOVES her sister! She's the first person she asks for every morning and she gives her a million kisses, hugs and fist pounds a day. We have to be careful or Ellie will be putting a blanket or pillow over her head (very affectionately, of course!) or laying ON her with all her weight. Ha! She also is constantly wanting to cram a binky in Alexa's mouth, or pounding on her back like Mama does when she burps the baby. Ellie is already such a wonderful and motherly big sister... It's adorable to watch!

We continue to feel so blessed with our two little beauties! We've been lucky enough to have the help of both sets of Grandparents since the baby has been born. Joel's parents will leave this weekend and then I am so thankful that I'll still have the students around to lend a helping hand!

We're having a great time down here in Gulf Shores, despite the effects of the oil spill... YES, oil has hit the beach, but thankfully our students still have jobs and have only lost a few hours thus far.

I also got to celebrate my 34th birthday while we were down here in Alabama! It was a wonderful day and I felt spoiled by Joel and the other staff and students at the program... They are all too good to me! The below picture is of Joel and I at a surprise lunch that the staff threw at our favorite Mexican restaurant in town... I made Joel get under the hat with me! Is he cute, or what? :)

We have LOVED getting to live with all of the students in the same hotel. It's kind of like being back in the dorms again! This next picture is of Alexa and I having lunch with some of the girls at the program. It's SO nice to just have to run down the hall or down the stairs to get to be with everyone. It really is Joel and my favorite time of the year! We'd still live in the dorms with everyone if we could. And we love having our girls grow up around all of these wonderful college students!

So that's a little update from our corner of the world... We will be here until July 3rd and then we hit the road again! More to come soon!