a.k.a (at 12 months)

12 months
10 kilograms
78 centimeters

wow! it doesn't seem that long ago, but here we are, on the first year mark. alex is so special that she celebrated her birthday 3 times. twice in slovakia and a swimming party in philippines. it's mostthe fact that mommy and daddy has so many friends and relatives, hihihi! but also, it's just proof that she's so much loved by everyone. (^.^)

i could still remember long before she was even conceived. there was only name for her -- ALEX. now, she could give the FBI's most wanted a run for their money for acquiring so many aliases in such a short time.

"alex"
yes, that's her nick name. ALEX is a nick name mommy has always wanted and so she was named ALEXANDRA.

"neri" (var. "nerinka")"
she was born on the feast day of St. Philip Neri. Philip doesn't really seem fit for such a pretty baby, so we adapted the surname instead. "nerinka" on the other hand, was coined by the nurse of alex's pediatrician. it's a slovak way of changing names for calling small children or as term of endearment (e.g., minela = "minelka", matej = "matko")

"uu maker"
it's a mystery to us how a baby who only takes milk can make such fowl smelling poopoo! we really didn't have problem knowing when to change her diaper. well one could smell it from a mile away :)) now, just imagine what happened when she started having solids... well it's not so bad, or maybe we just got used to it. 3 times a day is no joke.

"the thing" (var. "it")
so far, this is the most used nick for her between mommy and daddy, that is, aside from "alex". for example:
* "the thing" is already asleep.
* "it" is looking at us.
* look at "the thing".

"tiger"
we're not sure now where exactly this nick came from. but it's most probably from the one of the funny sounds she creates which probably mimics that of a tiger. :)

"koala bird"
this was adapted from when she was much younger but is not so much used now. "koala" refers to the way she holds on to the person carrying her, which very much looks like a koala bear hug. "bird" comes from the high pitched screeching sound she makes.

"lazy piglet" (var. "piglet")
as you may have observed in her pix (specially earlier ones), she really is on the chubby side. "lazy" is self-explanatory :) well, she didn't want to hold her own bottle for long time even when she already could. sometimes, she also didn't want to walk. she crawls instead because of the fact that it's easier for her.

"marshmallow bear"
alex has a cousin, ayie, who's only one week older than her. we used to joke how alex would bully ayie when they grow older. it's the fact that alex is bigger and taller than most babies her age. but the irony of ironies, alex turned out to have a softer physical nature. so even if she's a big girl, she's as soft as a marshmallow and as cuddly as a bear.

there's so much more that i couldn't remember them all. we come up with different nicknames for her whenever she does something so special (which is every minute of her waking hour, but sometimes even in her sleep :)

at one year:
* we think she's more talkative than most babies her age. she can say "mama", "dada", "papa" (usually, when she waves bye-bye). she also makes gibberish sounds as if she's really talking.

* her first word is "light". although she could only say "lah" in the beginning, she really knows what it means. everytime we enter some room, she would look up, point and say "lah".

* she can stand alone pretty well for more than two (2) seconds

* she walks with two hands held. then confidently with just one hand held. surprisingly, she was also able to make her first two (2) steps.

* all her eight teeth are out.