Makinley Bell LaBrue



April 25, 2012

9 lbs. 3 oz.

21 inches

Like Mother- Like Daughter

I'm sure you already know by now...but Kyle & I are expecting a baby girl April 18th!
We're both so excited but I think Alexa is even more excited! She loooves shopping
for the "baby in my belly" and explaining ALL the things she's going to do when that said baby is going to come out... Here's a little convo we had the other day

Me: (before bed I always tell her a story about when she was a baby, last night it was about how she pooped in the bathtub when she was little)
Alexa: "When that baby comes out of your belly & we give her a bath...she's going to poop in the bath tub."
Me: "Oh really & then what are we going to do?"
Alexa: "Oh I'm going to yell "Kyyyyllle" and then I'll have him dive down in the water and scoop that poop out with a cup"

She makes me so proud the way she picks up on how I have Daddy come do all the hard/dirty work around here! She's even got the calling/yelling of Kyyyyylle down to a fine art. It took years of practice but I've reached perfection folks! She's even looves planning things way in advance...just like her Momma
Lets just hope she doesn't pick up other habits of mine!

This & That (phase 1)

So most of you know how much I enjoy my "To-Do" lists. Well on my list is "finally update blog".
Lucky you gets updated pictures & lucky me gets to cross something off my list...which makes me even happier! (It's seriously on my daily list)However, I have been a bit jaded by this blogger in the past so I'm not even going to attempt to organize these pictures in a chronological fashion. Just keep in mind that a lot of things have happened since my last post and they all took place in Summer 2011.






Alexa & I at my college graduation. Did not foresee my child attending my graduation when I thought about the future...but life really doesn't follow plans as I'm realizing. It was a blast having her there & realizing that I accomplished one of my goals!
What a great feeling when all the hard work has paid off & you get to love on the cutest girl in the world afterwards!





Cousins loving on each other on our Branson trip with the Huffords.
Alexa & Addison play so well with each other and had a blast running around the condos in the blistering heat all while still in their pajamas! Gotta love mini vacations!




Alexa got to indulge on her first Build-A-Bear experience also while in Branson. She named her bear "Alexa Bear"
(I think she inherited my oh so creative imagination)
and it is added among her "loveys" that she has to sleep with at night. Such a cute place but I can def. see how fast that place can add up!




Alexa & Ashlyn posing in their new jammies (all the cousins seem to get along so well with e/o).
Alexa & I (Cassie) took a trip to KC while Kyle went on the pioneer trek with our ward youth. Alexa is still talking about all the fun she had and loves her matching "Monkey Jammies" that her & Ashlyn share.
Thanks to my wonderful family that houses us at a whims notice all while being so entertaining and fun!









With the blistering heat our summer has been filled with lots of swimming & poolside vegging. I'm sure I'll be missing summer soon enough...but probably not the record high temperatures!









.............TO BE CONTINUED......

(Blogger is acting up again & not loading my 2nd set of pics so stay tuned for phase 2)...pretty exciting huh? Hopefully you all will be able to go on with your day to day duties as you anxiously await my next purge of pictures & LaBrue-ness

It's About Time..

To say its been a while since I've posted a new blog is kind of an understatement..

I always promise that I'm going to do better but the photo uploader

is kind of discouraging since it messed up the order of all my pics.

So Reader Beware: take the following randomness of catching up if you dare

We were lucky enough to spend Mother's Day Weekend in Branson & Silver Dollar City

with my mother-in-law, my mom & even my Grandma Weekes

Not only was Alexa very spoiled with the attention but Kyle & I were as well...

because as everyone knows with that many grandma's around and only one grandchild

Mommy & Daddy don't have to do really much of anything

Alexa looooved the catepillars/butterfly ride

The Choo-Choo train def. has been one of Alexa's favorite activities at the City

so of course taking a ride on it last weekend was no option

Alexa loooves her Daddy so much!

But with such a sweet & fun Daddy like Kyle, it's easy!

Okay now backtrack 2 weeks to Easter Weekend.

It was kind of a really rainy and gloomy weekend that through

a kink into our plans but we still had fun!

This was Alexa's 1st time dying Easter Eggs since last year she was still kind of too young

to really appreciate it. And let me tell you...she def. appreciated it this year! She looved

dying the eggs and couldn't even wait till' they dried until she started lining them up

and organizing them over & over.

I really wish I would have gotten pictures of Easter Morning when she found her Easter Basket that the silly Easter Bunny hid in a kitchen cabinet after he pooped a trail of hershey kisses

leading up to it.

The first thing Alexa said when she woke up and saw the "Bunny Poop" on the floor

she just kept laughing and saying "that bunny made a mess!We need to clean it up!"

I prompted her to find her basket but she said "Clean this up first!"

(haha hopefully she isn't taking after her kind of "neat freak" Momma)

We cleaned up the mess and she loooved what the Easter Bunny brought for her and immediatley started shoving candy in her mouth!

"This is so Weird"

As some of you may already know, as of lately Alexa looves hearing stories about when she was a baby. She asks for them all of the time, especially before bed. I'm starting to run out of

stories but interesting enough just talking about anything she did when she was a baby is riviting to her.

So tonight after we went to Culvers for ice cream I thought we should take her across

the street to Lake Regional Hospital to show her where she was born.

(Plus we haven't been back to the nursery since her birth so deep down inside I kind of wanted to go back & stroll down memory lane myself)

Walking up to the hospital I was trying to explain with simple terms the whole process of her birth in this building she's never even really been inside of since. Just going through the front door the smell alone brought back tons of memories & all of the sudden I could recall all of the exact & random details of those couple of days.

We peered through the nursery window at some empty baby bassinets & Alexa was lovin' it.

Then Kyle called the nurses on the phone (and of course they all knew him from high school & friends) and we got buzzed through the doors back to the actual labor & delivery section.

All I could really say & think was "this is so weird"

We chatted with the nurses for a little bit & showed off our very smart & beautiful little girl

Then one of the nurses asked me what room I was in, she then told me it was empty and we could go back and see it. I was sooo excited (okay this is probably weird, I know)

As I stood there looking at everything that looked exactly the same as 2 1/2 years ago...holding my little girl and explaining that was the very room she was born in, I couldn't help but think about how much time has passed since then.

Never on that October day did the thought even cross my mind that one day

I will be holding my little baby as a 2 year old replaying that day over again to her.

It was so weird and so cool at the same time.

For the first time ever, Alexa was speechless. She just sat there starring at the room

she had this little smile on her face and I knew how much she loved seeing where

all her "baby" stories were born..literally.

I searched & searched for this little dress and coming home outfit forever! I bought it months in advance & would sit there with my big belly wondering what she would like like in it & picturing myself dressing my own baby for the very first time.

Alexa has always been so photo-genic even at just a couple of days old.

I would get so excited & go through her clothes, play dress up with my little doll

& of course take tons of pictures. She's always been very easy going.

And here is my little baby tonight after our trip down memory lane.

I would hold her in my arms as an infant and wonder what she would

look like as a toddler, what her voice would sound like,

and what her big bear hugs would feel like.

Now that I have experienced all of those things I can't help but think of what she will be like in the next couple of years.

Time is going by way too fast and I feel helpless in trying to slow life down

and save all those precious moments, smiles & funny Alexa-isms that I am blessed with everyday.

I truly am so blessed & proud as a mother to have the sweetest, smartest, most beautiful & thoughtful girl in the world. Everyday she fills my heart with so much love and puts this huge smile on my face that makes me keep thanking Heavenly Father

for chosing me to be the mother to one of his very special little Spirits.

What a great night, what a great life!

Funky Bread Anyone?

Tonight as I'm making dinner, Alexa opens the fridge

and sees these and starts pointing them out...

Here's our conversation:

Alexa: "Hey is this funky bread?"

Me: "Whuh?"

Alexa: "That funky bread that I like."

Me: "I don't know what you're talking about. What is funky about it?"

Me: (seconds later....a lightbulb went off)....

Me: "Oh do you mean Monkey Bread?"

Alexa: "Yeah, I like that funky Monkey bread"

I still can't stop laughing...I guess it is now deemed funky monkey bread..

Maybe its a hint about my cooking

Girl Style

Kyle had on a shirt very similar to this one the other day

when Alexa jumped up on his lap & said...

"Oh Daddy, I love that little Butterfly you have on your shirt today"

(Nothin' like a sweet little girl to make a grown man a softee)