Pictures

Daddy's Little Girl

Showing her friend how to play with her toy train

Yummy fingers

She does not like to share her mommy with other baby girls

Look at our big girl!

Just like Daddy

Alexia is a super sweet little girl! She is a blast to have around and is definitely made of sugar and spice and everything nice!

We recently found out that she really does not like to share mommy's attention with other little girls. Her friend came over for a few hours and, while she loves playing with her friend, she did not like it when mommy held her or paid attention to her. She is such a funny little girl! As shown a few pictures up, her pouty face could melt even the coldest of hearts!

Alexia's 12 Month Check-Up

Alexia

She was sad because Mama Corinne was on the other side of the counter

Finding out how much she weighs

Rolling around with Mommy and Brother
Alexia's 12 Month check up went really well! We posted all the information on an earlier post, but thought we should include some pictures!

She did really well and it was really nice that all four of us (and Mama Corinne of course, which makes 5) could be there!

Jan/Feb Blake Update

Blake had a great time playing in the ball pit!

Showing his tap out skills!

Enjoying Alexia's birthday party!
Blake has remained fairly healthy all winter! He had a 3 day bout with RSV right after Christmas, which was treated quickly and caused no issues. The only other health issue he had this winter was an ear infection, which was also treated very quickly and hasn't caused any additional problems!

We are very blessed because many of the kids with Blake's condition and other forms of cancer have gotten very sick this winter and many of them have been hospitalized at least once this winter. We thank God and everyone who prays for Blake that he has not had to spend any time in the hospital as an inpatient so far this winter!

It is so nice to have such an amazing medical team. They are very reassuring and remind us that we are doing a great job with Blake! If you had told us a year ago that we would be at this point now we might not have believed it.

Blake is thriving. He really enjoys sports and plans to start soccer and t-ball with other kids his age! Sometimes it is hard to believe he is only three years old. He seems so insightful for his age.

We sure love him and really appreciate all of the prayers and the hard work of the medical staff at Children's!

Alexia's First Birthday Party

Alexia's Friends and Family came to celebrate her first birthday!

Alexia and some of her friends

Pretty girl!

Getting ready to eat cake for the first time!

She was not the biggest fan of the frosting

Uncle Rodney and his girlfriend!

Alexia and her friend Kenneth!

Big Brother helps open presents!

She LOVES her new tea set!

And her talking tea pot!

She is a big fan of books!

Alexia invited lots of family and friends to celebrate her first birthday at Mahoney State Park! We were very pleasantly surprised at how many people were able to make it! We missed those who couldn't make it, but understand work schedules, sickness and travel issues!

All of the kids seemed to have a blast! Alexia enjoyed her cupcake, but wasn't too thrilled about the frosting. She really loved all of the gifts she got!

One Year Old!!!!!

Well, we are having some Internet issues, so we will have pictures up later!

Alexia is just an amazing little girl! She is far beyond the typical development for a one year old, physically and mentally!

At her one year check up she weighed 24.5 lbs and was 31 1/2 inches tall!!! She got her vaccinations and had a routine CBC to make sure all of her levels were normal. She didn't even cry when they drew blood from her little arm. She is such a brave little trooper!

Alexia loves to pick up books or toys, then walks up to us turns around and backs to our laps and sits down! It is so cute when she does it, we hope to catch it on camera, so we can post the video! She also has a little bit of a mean streak in her, if she finds out something she does bothers her big brother she will do it over and over again and laugh. Such a naughty little thing! :)

Alexia idolizes her brother and her daddy! She loves to chase them around the living room and enjoys wrestling them as well! She is very much mommies girl too though, she loves to cuddle mommy and read books. We found out the other day that she does not like it when mommy holds other baby girls. She really wanted her mommy to hold only her! Perhaps it is a good thing that we are not planning on having any more babies because we don't know how Alexia would take it! Luckily Blake was not jealous at all, although he still does love his one on one time with Mommy and Daddy when Alexia is taking a nap or visiting Grandma!

The past year with this amazing little girl has been more of a blessing than we are able to express. The joy of her birth helped us through the hardest time in all of our lives and she has been nothing but the best in every way! She brings exactly the element that we need in our family! We feel so complete as a family of four, each of us brings something different to the mix and it is such an amazing dynamic! We cannot wait to see what this beautiful little girl has in store for us through the next year!!!!

Hopefully we will be able to post the pictures from her birthday and her one year check up!!!!!

God Bless you all!

Disney World!!!!!!!!! Day 6

Getting ready to go back to Universal Studios!!!

We got to meet some of the Who's

Blake got to meet the Grinch

Daddy can't keep up with Marmaduke!

Blake shows off his muscles with Popeye!

Waiting to meet the Marvel Superheroes!

He got to meet SPIDERMAN!!!!!!!!!!

AND Wolverine, Captain America, Cyclops, Rogue and Storm!

Blake with SpongeBob SquarePants

Blake and Woody the Woodpecker

Who is knocking at the door?!

It is Miss Mary to tuck Blake in!!!!
We had another great day at Universal Studios!!!!! Blake had a blast going on all of the rides again! He met lots of amazing characters!!!! I think the highlight of his day was when one of the workers pulled us aside and asked if Blake wanted to meet the Marvel Superheroes! OF COURSE Blake wanted to meet them! He is only Spiderman's biggest fan!!!!!

Once we rode all of Blake's favorites from yesterday and also a few new ones like Jaws, which Blake LOVED, we were ready to call it a day! We were very happy to get back to Give Kids the World! We ordered in from Katie's Kitchen (FREE Boston Market), then Miss Mary came and tucked Blake in!

Another amazing day! What a wonderful, unforgettable trip!!! Give Kids the World and Make-A-Wish have more than fulfilled Blake's wish! He could not have imagined it better than it has been!!!!

Disney World!!!!!!!!! Day 5

We got to meet Alex and the Penguins of Madagascar!!!! Blake loves them!!!!

Blake and Daddy getting ready to go on the Woody the Woodpecker Roller Coaster!

Blake with Scooby Doo and Shaggy!

Blake and Alexia

Blake and Daddy on the One Fish Two Fish ride at Universal Studios

Another view of the ride

Blake with Mayor Clayton, the Mayor of Give Kids the World Village!

Blake with Miss Mary, Mayor Clayton's wife!

Mayor Clayton with Alexia

Blake next to the gingerbread house made by the kids at Give Kids the World!

The smaller version of the live action Candy Land game they have at Give Kids the World.

Blake on the giant teddy bear

King Blake

Blake's star is the very last star on the blue beam!!!!! It will always be there for us to find when we go back to volunteer!!!

The only clock of its kind!

Funny Puppet Day 5 was chilly (60 degrees) and there was a pretty high chance of rain, so instead of going to Sea World, like we had planned, we decided to go to Universal Studios!!!!! It was a blast! We went to both Universal parks.

When we got to Universal Studios we went on the ET ride first!!! Blake loved it and so did we!!!! It was really neat to feel like we were in the movie we grew up watching!

Blake really enjoyed the Woody the Woodpecker park at Universal Studios! He also enjoyed walking through the Curious George storybook! We went on the Jimmy Neutron Rocket ride a few times!!! Blake really liked that one!!!! We also went on the brand new Simpson's 3D rollercoaster! It was really neat!

We crossed over to Universal's Islands of Adventure side of the park and went straight to the Dr. Seuss area! We rode the Cat in the Had ride, in which we rode through the pages of the story of the Cat in the Hat, then we went on One fish, Two fish. After that we rode the Trolley Train ride in the sky.

Once we were done we went to the Jurassic Park area and rode on the Pteranodon Flyers, which takes you on a little tour flying above the park dangling from a pteranodon. We were very impressed that Blake was not scared by that at all!

We headed to the Marvel Comic section of the park and rode on the Spiderman 3D adventure about 4 times! Blake loved that ride! He is a BIG Spiderman fan!!!!

We headed back to Give Kids the World at about 6pm! We had a wonderful dinner at the Gingerbread house, then hung out at the Ice Cream Palace for a while before heading back to our villa!

Today was a great day! While Universal is somewhat less geared toward little kids than Disney World, it was still a lot of fun for all of us!