Where does the time go?

Alex had his 18 month appointment last week and it seems that he is still on the short side....surprise, surprise! He weighed 24 pounds (plus change) and was 29 inches long. That puts him at 25th% for height, and 35th% for weight.

He's growing up so fast! He has a vocabulary of about 75-100 words and will try to say anything you ask him to. Unfortunately anyone other than myself or Evan has a hard time figuring out what he's saying. Often, his version of the word and the actual word are nothing alike. For instance, we call his pacifier a Fuji. We have always called a fuji and if you ask him where it is, he knows that you are talking about his pacifier. However, HE calls it "Ta" So, if he were to start crying and asking for ta, you would likely never figure it out until he grabbed you by the hand and drug you to its location (also something he is fond of doing).

Some of his other accomplishments thus far and things that have changed are:

-down to 1 nap a day
-eats consistantly (though not always well) with a fork or spoon
-can stand on tippy toes and reach (nothing is out of reach anymore)
-loves to climb
-loves to jump
-imitates mommy and daddy constantly
(I often have a hair band on my wrist, and when he finds one around the house
he puts it on his wrist)
-loves to sing and dance
-bananas are his absolute FAVORITE.
-can open doors (now we have to keep our bedroom door locked)
-loves to play with the dogs and pull the cat's tail.
-understands almost everything you tell him to do (put this toy back, go get your ball, where is
fuji, find your shoes, get your jammies out etc...)
-still has a hitting problem for which he visits time out frequently.
-goes to bed at 8 without a fuss and sleeps (usually) until 8 am
-FINALLY sits with me and allows me to read to him at night.
-gives hugs and kisses without being prompted.
-can take his own clothes off (and diaper sometimes)
-can identify animals and the noises they make
-LOVES to color (though not always on paper)


He continues to amaze us everyday with his accomplishments. He seems to learn something new every minute. He truely is a joy to raise and we are enjoying every second of it! O.K. so not EVERY second, but even on the days when he tests every ounce of patience we have, neither one of us would change anything about him. His intensity and spirit are what make him "Alex" and he is an amazing child!

Swimmin with the fishes

Riding the Carousel

Lookin at the Walruses

Playing in the Bamboo

Watching a show with cousin Becky

Watching Shamu

OK so we didn't swim with the fishes but we did SEE alot of fish on our trip to Sea World. Alex and I joined Matt, Amy and the kids for a day at the park. It was reaaaaaaly hot so Alex was pretty miserable all day, not to mention he has a stuffy nose, is working on two more teeth and didnt' have so much as a cat nap most of the day. But, I think he still had fun! He really liked the Pet's Ahoy show (also one of my faves) and would point to all the dogs and cats when they appeared on stage. He also enjoyed watching the stingrays skim the top of the water in the interactive tank, but he kept trying to jump into the water so it was short lived. We ended the day with a carousel ride and a trip through the arctic to look at the polar bear and walruses. He liked the carousel so much that he got mad when it stopped so we had to ride again :)

videos

Ether

Well this Easter sure was different from last year. Alex had lots of fun! The Easter Bunny brought books and sippy cups and lots of eggs to find. I was suprised at how well he "got" it. He was able to find the eggs and put them in the basket with a little direction and motivation of course. Anyway, the attached videos are from the day. One is Alex finding his basket this morning at home (the longest 0ne) and the other two are Alex with his cousins helping us deflate the air mattress and finding egss out in Granny's backyard.

First Haircut

Alex was beginning to look like a little rag-a-muffin, so we took him for a haircut today. There is a place in Sanford that caters to kids. They have cars to sit in while getting a trim and T.V's and DVD's at each station to entertain the kids. Despite all of these "amenities", the experience was exactly as we anticipated it would be. Lots and lots of drama! Alex wanted none of it!! He cried and screamed and flailed about so much I was sure she was going to cut his ear off. Fortunantly, we left with both ears in tact and a much better "do." However, we were slightly put off when we walked in as discovered that a cut was $16, but by the end of our visit, we realized exactly why! Trying to cut the hair of a wiggly, hysterical, one year old, without drawing blood, is no easy feat!

Kitties, Monkeys and Ducks.

Alex had a busy weekend! On Friday, Daddy and I took Alex to the zoo. He had a great time pointing at all of the animals and walking around. He didn't quite understand why we couldn't pet the "kitties" though. He kept grabbing our hands and pointing at them, which is what he does when he wants to pet our cats at home. He also liked looking at all of the monkey's and does quite a cute little imitation of one.

Today (Saturday) Matt, Amy, and the kids came over and we went to the Duck Derby in Winter Park. Becky and Zack had a great time decorating their rubber ducks for the race, while I practiced my artistic ability on Alex's duck. Sadly none of our ducks won the race, but I'm calling shenanigans since the 1st place winner was the daughter of the guy officiating the race........what's up with that??
Anyway, I neglected to take my camera to any of the a fore mentioned outings so I will post birthday pics instead.

Walkie Talkie

Well, my little baby is not such a little baby anymore :( He has decided that walking is the preferred mode of transportation and doesn't crawl at all anymore. He has formed an attachment to the dog blanket that he sleeps with (we call it woof, mostly because it says woof on it) and carries it everywhere. I have mixed feelings about it. While it is sooo cute to see him with his little dog, I don't want to be frantic someday because woof is nowhere to be found and Alex is screaming and non-functional without it. But, I figure for now it's OK.

He also has lots of words now. Unfortunantly they all sound the same, (some variation of duh). There is "dah" which is dog, "duh" which is duck, "dat" which is that. "dlah" which is cat, and many more.

For those of you who don't know, Alex will be "1" on Tuesday the 24th! Can you believe how fast this year has gone?

A touching story of strength and courage

I'm passing this story along because it has touched me so profoundly. I never met the little boy, but I did know his mother in high school. Their 2 year battle against brain cancer is hearbreaking and inspirational. After reading this last night, I hugged Alex a little harder today, kissed him a little more, and just took the time to enjoy him. I hope that I will continue to appreciate just how lucky I am to have him in my life, and never take for granted that life can change in an instant. To truly grasp the enormatity of the situation and how brave Brendon's mother was when faced with treatment options that were sometimes worse than the disease, you have to go to the very first page of the journal and start at the beginning when Brendon was first diagnosed. I hope you all take the time to read this story and remember how precious life can be.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/brendoncoates

Giggle Box

Young Frakensteing likes toilet water...no not perfume.

Well, I have a few minutes between classes so I thought I would fill you all in on Alex's newest activities and shenanigans.

He is starting to walk in that Oh so cute frakenstein, drunk midget sort of way. It's more of an organized fall right now, but it's progress! He'll be walking all over the place before his 1st birthday! His favorite past time is to point at things and make us walk over to them so we can tell him what it is. He also has discovered it's sometimes (most times) easier to grab mommy or daddy's hand and make that hand do the things his hand cannot. Like turn a knob, or flip a switch. He will be quite a little manipulator!

On to shenanigans....

So, I was sitting on the couch doing homework this morning. Evan and I were both home, so we were kind of both keeping an eye on him. Well, I thought Alex had followed Evan into the bedroom, but I began to hear this "splash, splash, splash" sound coming from the end of the hallway. I spent a few seconds running through my mental list of what he could be doing... Is he taking the nightlight out of the socket AGAIN? no that's not it. Is he trying to climb into the litter box behind one of the cats, AGAIN? no, that's not it. OH NO! HE'S PLAYING IN THE TOILET WATER!! So I jump up and right as I look down the hall, he puts his hand in his mouth! *GASP* I wanted to dip him in bleach! But, I settled for washing his hands, applying hand sanitizer and giving him some juice to wash his mouth. So, kiss him at your own risk, you now know where his mouth has been!

FYI, His first birthday party will be 2/22 and our official wedding date is 6/13/09. So save the dates!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree.

This is a very exciting holiday season for me. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I get to share it with Alex this year! Yay! Even Mr. Scrooge (Evan) has been in the spirit this year, allowing us to get a REAL tree. That's a first for us. In years past I have had to put up a sad little table tree that Evan sneered at until I took it down. But, this year we went as a family and picked out a tree, brought it home and decorated it. We put up the superyard (a baby gate on steroids) around the tree to keep tiny hands from pulling on ornaments or knocking the tree over, but he still loves to crawl over and poke at the ornaments thru the gate. It's pretty cute. Pictures will follow when our laptop is up and running again.

No NBA Star here

Well, I have some surprising news! You guys are going to be shocked to learn that Alex is SHORT! Now, I know you are asking yourselves, "how could that be with the genetic pool he had to draw from"? We were shocked too, but we have to face the reality of the situation. My dreams of raising an NBA star have been dashed.

O.K. enough kidding. We all knew Alex would never be tall. He'll be lucky to hit 5' 5. He had his 9 month check up yesterday. He is 26 inches long, and 18.12 pounds. He is in the 35th percentile for weight and only the 5th percentile for height. Doctor says it's to be expected since both Evan and I are short. Eveything else was great! He's right on track with mobility and verbal skills. They even did some kind of vision test that measures his eyes and screens for early signs of vision problems. He passed that with flying colors too!

While not an official milestone, I have noticed a sudden increase in the development of naughtiness. He is in to absolutely everything! If he notices the baby gate is down, he makes a bee-line to the kitchen. If he notices me coming for him, he kicks in the turbo to get there before I reach him. NAUGHTY!

But, as his naughtiness develops further, so does his cuteness. He now "drives" just about anything across the floor by pushing it while he crawls. He even makes a motor noise while he does it! So precious.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So Cute It's Scary

I took Alex to a pumpkin patch yesterday and took some pictures. He discovered hay and actually really liked it. I figured he would hate it since he hates to be put down in grass, but he didn't seem to mind at all. Go figure.... Anyway, we went with my Mommy Group so I am including a group picture of all of the kids that were there. Alex was a little young for most (OK all) of the activities, but I had fun subjecting him to various things in the spirit of cute pictures. The pumpkin patch was at a church and I'm hoping that they do it every year. It will be a fun tradition to do with Alex. They had storytime with a story about how to hug a pumpkin (like a baseball if you were wondering) and a sing-a-long, and a few games and such. Plus they had every shape and size of pumpkin you could hope for. It was a lot of fun!!

As for milestones reached since the last blog, Alex is a full on crawler! He can go anywhere he desires and is lightening quick. He's also pulling up on anything and everything as well as cruising. Any toy that he can stand up and hold on to, like his activity table, he now pushes across the floor and walks while holding on to it. He'll be walking by Thanksgiving I'm sure!

10 years ago I was.......

I was tagged by Charles and Erin, so here it is:

5 THINGS I WAS DOING 10 YEARS AGO ( age 21)

1. Drinking
2. Drinking
3. Sulking
4. Drinking
5. Working at Gambro Healthcare ( and drinking)

5 THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY ( Day is almost over so......)

1. Give Alex a bath
2 Give Alex a bottle
3. Read Alex a book
4. Put Alex to bed
5. Have a glass of wine & a snack (thanks to the next question)

5 SNACK I LOVE

1. Twix
2. popsicles
3. cheescake
4. banana pudding
5. Honey Dijon potato chips
( Damnit now I'm hungry)

5 THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE

1. Pay off my student loans and pay cash for the remainder of law school
2. Travel
3. Set up a trust fund for Alex
4. Invest (well, I'd wait a few years for Obama [after he's elected next month woooot!] to fix the economy before I would invest)
5. Buy a really nice house and hire someone to clean it for me. Oh and someone to cook too!

5 PLACES I'VE LIVED

1. Evansville, In.
2. Tallahassee, Fl.
3. Tampa, Fl.
4. Edgewater, Fl.
5. Sanford, Fl.

5 JOBS I'VE HAD

1. Wal-Mart
2. Gambro Healthcare
3. One Price Clothing
4. Bealls
5. Mommy

I TAG:

1. ANGIE
2. JAMIE
3. ANYONE ELSE WHO READS THIS AND FEEL LIKE ANSWERING

Creepy Crawly

Alex is crawling!! Ok so it looks more like flailing than crawling, but it gets him where he wants to go. A few more days and he'll have it down. Also new this week, he can get himself into a sitting position from pretty much any position. That's good news becuase I don't have to sit him back up every time he falls over. He does it himself now!

He went on his first airplane ride last week. My mom and I took him to Indiana to see the family and he loved it! He did great on the plane and he really enjoyed meeting all of the new people. Of course when we returned he decided that sitting alone on the floor was no longer an option (not that it really was before the trip, but I could at least walk away for a few minutes). Anyway, so now he throws a fit everytime I try to make him play by himself on the floor. Hopefully he gets past this stage soon!

We have also decided not to do the modeling thing. We went to the meeting and discovered it would be too much money to invest in head shots ($700-$800) with no guarantee of a return on the ivestment. The owner of the company basically told me that work is very limited for children under 2. So, while it's flattering to have our baby scouted as a model I think we will hold off.

On a side note. I have lived through my first two weeks of law school with only minor stress. It might not be so bad afterall!

Superstar

Well as someone,(Alyssa LOL) pointed out, I have been slacking on the blog front lately. So here is an update:

Alex is quite a little man! He is already sitting up on his own, can roll from his back to belly and belly to back, is reaching for objects that are out of his reach, can hold his own bottle and jabbers all of the time. He's growing up so fast that sometimes it makes me sad :( Each month I proclaim that it's my favorite stage of his development only to find that each new month and new milestone soon becomes my new favorite. It is truly amazing to watch him grow and learn new things. The metamorphosis from a tiny helpless infant into a little "person" is the most gratifying thing I have ever witnessed. I don't know how we did it but Alex sure is one CUTE baby!

Speaking of cute babies, Alex may soon be a superstar! OK so maybe not a superstar but I have a meeting next week with a modeling agency who wants to represent him. Here's how it happened. A few weeks ago I heard about a local magazine who was holding an open casting call for kids of all ages to be featured on the cover. A local modeling agency was at the location looking for new talent. Well after meeting with the talent scouts my niece (who initially had no interest at all) and Alex received letters requesting that we come in for a meeting. They don't want any money from clients up front and I know it is a legitimate company because they do the advertisements for Bealls. So, Amy and I are going to check it out. Alex may put mommy through law school :)

There is not much else to report. Alex changes more each day so I will try to be better about updating this blog :)~ Alex sends hugs and big slobbery kisses to you all!

unemployed

Well, I gave my notice at work last Monday. My last day as a contributing member of the workforce will be August 1, 2008. I have mixed emotions. My job is a huge part of who I am, after all, I have been there 10 years (God help me) so I'm pretty sad to leave. On the other hand, I'm super excited that I will be able to sped so much time with Alex and not have him in daycare at all. I will start law school sometime in the middle of August. I haven't quite figured out how we are going to work it out since Evan sometimes doesn't get home until late in the evening and I need to be at school by 5:30. Hopefully I can find someone willing to watch the baby for just a few hours for us. On another note...Evan had two job interviews last week, one with Polo Ralph Lauren and one with Bed Bath and Beyond. I told him if he gets the job at Ralph Lauren he absolutely has to marry me so I can get the discount!! Cross your fingers for us and if you live close by, invite us to dinner once in a while cuz weze gonna be broke ass crackas!!

So many firsts!

Alex is growing up so fast! He recently tried rice cereal and LOVED it. I have been putting it in his bottle for a few weeks, but I decided he was ready to try it from a spoon. That boy is a natural eater. He did great with a spoon.

Alex also visited the zoo for the first time on Memorial Day! He was all cutified in his safari outfit. I like to dress him for the activity we are participating in. Maybe I should get a life! He was mildly interested in the zoo, but mostly he just napped in the stroller.

This past weekend Alex went swimming for the first time. He loved the water. I predict he will be a water baby.

Nothing else is really happening. It's getting closer to the beginning of school and I am nervous about submitting my resignation at work. I know it's the right decision, but it's terrifying to give up my source of income. *sigh*

Rolly Polly

Alex learned to roll over this week! He can't do it every time, but he's getting the hang of it. He can't quite figure out how to get his arm out from under him and when he does get it out of there and realizes that he's on his tummy he starts to cry because he hates to be on his tummy. He's growing up so fast, it kind of makes me sad :(

I went back to work last week and I realized how much I dislike it. I like the actual job, just not all the BS that goes with it. Oh and my boss is still an asshole! Oh well, two more months and I'm outta there. Hopefully Evan will get the promotion that he interviewed for a couple of weeks ago which will mean more money and a company car. We sure could use that kind of break right about now. So everyone cross your fingers for him.

And for all the ladies reading this..............go see Sex and the City!! It rocks!