I left Florida with a baby and returned with a little girl

I type away tonight deliriously tired.  As you can imagine, once you finally make it back, it takes days to get everything in order with the house (and yourself) after being gone so long.  Holly guacamole, that was a long trip back to Florida!  17 hours total travel time.  All things considered, Alexa did absolutely amazing.  I’ve been blessed with a smart, little, sweetheart, hug muffin who’s also a terrific traveler and expert gamer.  Today is Alexa Capri Shannon Whitehouse’s 17 month birthday anniversary and in her short life she’s traveled to New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Texas, Antigua, St. Maartin, France, Italy, and Monaco (some of those places numerous times).  She swam in turquoise Caribbean and Mediterranean waters, danced in the winter snows in Texas, climbed glacier French/Switzerland mountains, and dined at the finest French Riviera restaurants.  This is what makes it all worth it.

I knew Alexa changed quite a bit while in Europe these past few months, but being back in our Florida home just proves it to me even more.  She’s outgrown most of her toys and clothes and… well… she’s just so grown up compared to 2 and a half months ago.  I left Florida with a baby and returned with a little girl.  She says at least 3 new words a day repeating the last word of just about all my sentences.  She’s easily saying 50+ words (some in French), so many I can’t even begin to try to count, but I’ll try...  Mama, Dada, friends, girl, hi, ball, kick, up, off, on, light, cat, dog, duck, giraffe, baaaa (sheep), mooo (cow), chick, horse, pig, fish, ox (oc for a singular ox), one, two, three, five, six, eight, nine, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, nose, arm, feet, no, yes, bath, beach, love, hug, I love you, chair, juice, milk (guck), cup, clap, hat, book, blocks, stack, stairs, walk, step, shoes, apple, broccoli, cheese, the list goes on and on… She knows almost the whole alphabet and the sounds each letter makes as well.  She knows some of her colors and can match every shape.  She knows all the animals and most of our body parts.  She understands EVERYTHING we say to her and can even read.  But the most amazing thing of all, she can operate my iPhone perfectly, sorting through her pre-school apps picking and choosing the games she wants to play while purposefully avoiding my “boring” apps, already practically mastering each of her numerous pre-school games.  I’m not writing this to brag about my little genius, but instead creating a log for myself of her development.  Something I can look back on when she’s grown - cherish the memories - and also share this blog with her when/if she has a little one of her own one day.