We did some more shopping this week, on eBay and some actual real stores. Alex has finally begun getting a bit long for her 3-6 month sleepers and we didn't have many 6-9 month pajamas, so I was on a major quest for some good pajamas and managed to find plenty, and all under $10 each for new, nice, rugged things. I had wanted to splurge on at least one very nice pair of pajamas from Hanna Anderss0n, but the pair that I fell madly in love with was on backorder until December, so I gave up on those. But managed to find some that I think are just precious. The last pair (the ones I bought through eBay) will hopefully arrive today in the mail in time for me to wash and pack them for our beach trip. This was my first ever experience with eBay, and I was really pleased. I also bought Beanie a little baby tiger Halloween costume and one of those neat pop-up activity toys which I've already given to her and she loves. She has one of those to play with at Nana's house, but not one at home. Oh, and I also sent away the front of Annabelle's quilt I'm making to have her name and the little ladybug embroidered on it (so it would match the other things I gave her at her shower), and I just have to sew it up while I'm at the beach and then I can give it to her. I'll post a picture of it before I give it away... I think it's going to be so cute. I got the idea from a little quilt my cousin gave Alex, which I love.

We also bought her a new car seat finally. We got the Britax Marath0n Racer. It stays rear-facing up to 33 lbs. and is good forward-facing up to 65 lbs., so as small as Alex is, we may be able to drive her to her first day of college in it! Anyway with it going up to such a nice weight and height, that means it WILL be around for such a long time, so I decided it'd be worth the investment. We have been really frugal about our baby purchases and have gotten so many really expensive items either FREE or at very low second-hand prices, that it just makes a lot of sense to me to go ahead and shell out significant money for this vital item. My friend Marie has had Britax for all of her children and loves them, so I felt very confident in this purchase and am happy so far with the seat. You can even buy customized covers for it through a lady who makes them on eBay! You choose the fabric and she makes the cover! And they look fabulous, too! So as Alex gets older and develops interest in particular things, maybe I can have a cover made for her seat that is made just for her, with fabric she loves!

Alex has been so so so active this week. She is very focused on standing, and can do it for long periods of time - like 20 to 30 seconds - and clap and wave and bounce on her knees. In fact I also found a winter coat for her, (which is an 18 month size, so for now it is an overcoat - but the sleeves work because they're made to roll up -, and by the time spring rolls around, I bet it'll be a car coat. It's white and fuzzy and has a zipper front, fleece lining, and a hood.) Anyway, I put it on her in the store and stood her up in the cart to see how it fit, and she stood there all stiff and funny. Then I pulled the hood up onto her head and her little face softened and she slowly grinned this huge, happy grin and flapped her arms up and down. It was one of THOSE moments when I just wanted to scoop up my precious child and sing for joy that God gave this perfect little person to ME. She is such a delight to be with. Ooh and we bought some nice large-enough-to-wear-for-awhile warm pink fleece slippers and some great big long sleeved white onesies for wearing under jammies and sleeping bags. I feel like i've done nothing but shop for the past 2 weeks, and that's about accurate, too, but aside from a splurge on "boutique" clothing (even that was on sale, though) for her birthday, everything I've bought has been sensible, practical, durable and necessary. Y'know?

Back to the standing... she has even gotten herself up to standing from the floor, without pulling up on anything, a few times, and she's starting that crazy crab crawling on her hands and FEET every once in awhile too.

We are just having the quiet birthday celebration with Nana and Papa next weekend... I'll have a party for her next year or the next, when she's older and will get more out of it. But she is going to get some very nice and fun toys, some awesome little clothes, and I even bought her a glamorous little party hat to wear. I'll make sure to post pictures of her big day. I can't believe my baby isn't going to be a baby anymore. I'm so excited about all of her learning and growing though... seeing her turn one and become a toddler is just not as sad as I thought it might be... she just becomes more of joy to me and to her Daddy the older she gets. I have been trying to compose a one-year-old letter in my head for a week, and that's going okay, but I'll admit just thinking about how to let her know how beautiful she's made our lives for the past twelve months makes my lip quiver and my eyes well up with tears. How do you tell your child how much you love her? It seems an impossible task. But one I am looking forward to performing anyway, because I could write and talk about her 24/7 anyway, and to know I'll be writing something she'll read for years to come and know how much I adored her from the first makes me even more excited about it. I do love her. Do you ever listen to love songs that are supposed to be about romantic love and realize that they are also very appropriate for mother/child love? I do that all of the time. I wonder sometimes if the love a man has for a woman, minus the s3xual parts, of course, isn't very similar to the love a woman has for her child, because love songs written by men about women (and I sure wish I could think of an example, but duh, I can't) also seem to capture my feelings for Alex. How she has captivates me with her beauty, completely uplifts me with her smile, how I ache when she is hurting, how just being around her makes me feel like I'm walking on air. How her lips are like wine and her skin is like satin and her smell is intoxicating. See? Don't you think all of that about your little baby? And isn't that what love songs sound like? Anyway... I'd noticed that recently and the similarities are quite amazing.

Well, I am off to do something related to getting ready to leave tomorrow! I'm leaving you with two photos of my crazy, active, always-into-something little Beanie.

Here she is "spelunking" to retrieve a toy she put in the bookshelf.

And here she is swinging at the "new" park last Sunday evening. It is not easy to get a picture of a kid on a swing!