Alyssa's "Second" Birthday Party

On Saturday morning we drove back home so we could have another birthday party for Shawn's family. Alyssa's "second" party was held at Incrdible Pizza in Tulsa. Having the party at Incrdible Pizza made it much easier on us. We picked up a cake we ordered from Sam's and just showed up with the birthday girl. The birthday package we purchased included the all you can eat buffet for everyone and a game card that allowed everyone to play all the games they wanted for an hour.





This picture is Alyssa with her cousins. (L-R Rhianon, Erica, Lilly, & Gwen)





After everybody ate, we opened gifts. Most of the bows ended up being worn by Alyssa on her head, as you can see in the next picture.





Then we cut the cake and ate it with some ice cream from the buffet. This cake had strawberry filling and was very tasty.





After eating cake, we all went to the game room to play. Everyone had a good time playing, including me and Shawn.

Alyssa's "First" Birthday Party

Alyssa's first birthday fell on the Friday after Thanksgiving and most of our relatives who came to my parent's house for Thanksgiving, stayed for the birthday party on Friday. Shawn bought about every first birthday item that could be found for the occaision. Alyssa had a first birthday bib, a first birthday sippy cup, and a first birthday hat. Her highchair was decorated, including a plastic mat for the floor and helium filled balloons. There were balloons tied to the backs of all the chairs. Her cake was made at Sam's with a printed top that included a picture of Alyssa that we took while we were in China. The cake also had a birthday candle that we bought in Chongqing, as well. We had first birthday, plates, cups, and napkins. There was even a first birthday party sign in the front yard!


Shawn dressed Alyssa in a purple outfit that we bought in China and Alyssa showed-off to everyone by showing how she can walk.








Then Shawn helped her open all of her presents in the living room. I have to say that she got a lot of really great stuff, too.





Next, we lit the candles on her cake. The candle we bought in Chongqing is more like a firework, since it starts out by shooting sparks straight up from the middle. This lights all the candles on the petals of a lotus blossom that opens up as the whole thing rotates and plays the Happy Birthday tune.








We stripped Alyssa down to her diaper and bib before putting her in the highchair and turning her loose with a piece of cake. The cake started out on a plate, but she turned it upside-down, dumping the piece of cake onto the tray. She also drank milk from her sippy cup and enjoyed some homemade ice cream. She didn't get real messy at first, but after the ice cream, spilling her milk and coaxing from others, she got pretty messy.








As soon as we took her out of the highchair, she got a bath in the kitchen sink. The party went very well and it was great having so many family members there to celebrate it with us.

New Pictures

Alyssa has been doing great. I have a couple of new pictures of her to post. We still haven't had much luch getting good pics of her, so I think we're going to try to take some on our own. This first picture was taken with the santa at the mall. She's not smiling, but at least she's not screaming bloody murder.





This next picture was taken at a local store. This print was included with the sitting fee, but the additional pages were unbelievably expensive, and again, she wasn't really smiling in any of them. We liked all the props, but she was in a strange place with lots of strangers around and had had about all she could take before it was over.





We bought a few items to take pictures with and hopefully in the next couple of week can get some good pictures of Alyssa. Alyssa is still very very close to walking, but hasn't taken off yet. We're hoping to get some video of her when she does. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving.

Swinging & Walking (almost)

Last weekend we took Alyssa to the playground at Lake Keystone to let her play a little and to get some pictures of her. We've tried taking her to get some pictures at the mall, but you can never get in without an appointment and making an appointment never works because you never know what kind of mood she'll be in when the appointment rolls around.


Alyssa really enjoyed the swings here. That's not really surprising, since she loves being turned upside down and swung around at home. They have a material that appears to be shredded tires on the ground under the swings which was very soft to walk on. Alyssa didn't want to touch it at all. She's not crazy about touching grass or leaves, either. I'm sure she will in time.








We also let her try the slide. It's too big to let her slide all the way down, so we started her in the middle and kept our arms around her so she wouldn't fall backwards. Her shoes kept catching on the slide and once we took them off, it went much better.


Next, we put her in the middle of a jungle gym, which yeilded a few good pictures. She loved having something to hold onto to stand with. If the bars weren't so far apart for her, she probably would have climbed to the top of it, since she climbs on every box and suitcase that happens to get in her way at home. I even got on it with her and hung upside down in the middle of it. She thought that was pretty funny. When everything started to fall out of my pockets and I was barely able to get myself back up without falling, I decided that was enough for me.








Alyssa has been getting more and more confident with her balance and standing without holding on to anything. Earlier this week, she took a few steps toward Shawn's neice and we've been working with her to teach her to walk every night since then. She can usually put 3 or 4 steps together at one time, but I'm not quite ready to say that she's walking. It's only a matter of days now, before she'll be getting into everything. It been a lot of fun watching her do this.

Halloween Costumes

Having a new baby at home has made it a lot harder to post to my blog regularly, exercise, and a few other things, but I'm not complaining. Alyssa has been such a joy and a blessing to us. When she's happy and being such a sweetie, it's the best feeling ever.


I was planning on posting these photos last week, but I guess it's better late than never. These photos were taken the weekend before last when we went to Edmond to visit my parents. They were having a Halloween party at their church and we dressed Alyssa as a ladybug for it. She was wearing a black, short-sleeved onsie, with black tights under her costume. We thought she looked like a ninja before the costume went on. When it started to get hot in her costume, we took it off and she became the ninja and we said the ladybug was just one of the ninja's many disguises.


Here's a picture of Alyssa as a ladybug:





Here's a picture of Alyssa as a ninja:





Here's one more picture of Alyssa just being her cute self: