11 months old!

Get your vocal cords ready for singing - Alex has just one more month before the BIG 1!! It's hard to believe that a year ago at this time we were anticipating this little guy any day - and how much things have changed since he's been here - and how much he's changed.......

We traveled this weekend - I had to take tickets at the football game Friday night, and we drove to York yet that night. We stayed in a hotel, and then drove the rest of the way to Lincoln on Saturday morning. Andy and Grandpa went to the game on Saturday, and had a lot of fun once the Huskers warmed up. Later that evening, we went to Sophie's (Christine's cousin) for her 4th birthday party.

Today we went to church and then came back home - and spent the afternoon doing laundry and re-settling - getting ready for the workweek. We were in the living room after supper - and Alex found a new way to try to get up onto the furniture......

We took his pack-and-play with us this weekend, and it hadn't found it's way away yet. Alex pushed it up to the love-seat, and proceeded to stand on top of it.


Then, just a short time after the above picture was taken, this was the next thing that happened.....(yes, that is my knee in the picture - he didn't get hurt as he fell) ;)

We're off to another week - volleyball for me on Tuesday and Wednesday, Andy's working on Saturday, and Alex, well, he's trying to keep up. ;)

Alex can read!!

Yes, it's true! Our little man, who is not even 11 months yet (although Sunday will make it 11 months), can read!

We were sitting on the living room floor, and Alex brought his book over and began reading to Andy and I. We've missed enough moments that we now ALWAYS have the camera in the living room so we can catch things like this......



We can't believe just how awesome that is - granted, the pages aren't always going the right way, and we can't understand what he's saying, but he has the inflection in his voice, turns the pages, and knows what to do at the end of a story (don't you all clap your hands at the end of a book??) :)

We are off to Lincoln this weekend, as Andy will be going to the Husker game, and we will all be attending my cousin's birthday party. Our next post will most likely be Sunday night - - Monday for sure. :)

Bye Bye Bumbo!

Well, Alexander has had his Bumbo seat for about 7 months now, and I think that it's finally time to "retire" the Bumbo - - to be put away with the rest of the "next baby" things.....

We don't really use the seat too often anymore - it's basically a holding ground for some of Alex's stuffed animals in the living room. But a few days ago Andy put Alex in the Bumbo seat just to see what would happen.

Because I thought that it was pretty funny, we thought we'd place him in it and try to get a video of his escape. Instead, he decided that he'd play in it for a while (when will I learn that he will do things on HIS schedule, not mine?!?!!!!).....



Anyway, we have officially placed the Bumbo downstairs with the swing, infant car seat, bouncer, and the 0-12 month clothing.....ah, the baby things - -

No, the next baby isn't on the way - but in a couple of years, maybe.....sorry for those of that are hoping for sooner - - just not there yet. :)

Monday, Monday.....

Today was DEFINITELY a Monday! It was one of those days that I'm glad only comes along every once in a while.......but it's over.....and I'm happy. :)

Alex had all sorts of "cute moments" tonight - but I was late with Volleyball and I didn't get to see much, but I did snap a couple of pretty cute shots.....

Alex with his toybox....pulling the toys out

A smile as he runs into the couch

Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Weekend with the Bowin Grandparents!

This weekend Alex had some visitors from Colorado - Andy's parents, Daryl and Annette. They arrived after Alex was asleep on Friday night, and left today after lunch. Alex wasn't too sure about the company at first, but after a couple of hours, he was having fun!

Andy shot this video of Alex and Grandpa Bowin playing catch....Alex LOVES to play ball with anyone!!!




We also shot this picture shortly before they had to leave. It was a beautiful day outside (though a little windy), so we went outside for a while and Alex had a chance to walk in the grass (it was the first time he didn't freak out!!)


It was a good weekend - although the time always seems to fly by way too quickly! Off to another work week!!!!

Happy Birthday DADDY!!!

Yes, today is Andy's 28th birthday!!! All together now - Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday Dear Daddy! Happy Birthday to you!!

Andy's day started out well - as he was changing Alex into his clothes for the day, Andy snapped this picture.....


What a way to start your day!!!

I snapped a "Birthday picture" of the two boys tonight - Alex was pretty tired when he came home from Julie's tonight (so our supper out-to-eat was "fun"), and it took quite a few shots to get both of the guys looking at me and smiling. That's okay - it was worth it!


There probably won't be a post tomorrow - I have Parent/Teacher conferences until 7:00 tomorrow night - - I will try to post on Friday! Until then....... :)

New Game!

Alex created his own new game tonight..... He takes one of his blocks, brings it up over his head, drops it down behind himself, and then turns himself around to retrieve the fallen block. He did this about 15 times tonight, and giggled every time! We did shoot a video of this - hope you enjoy! In the middle of the video, Alex "attacks" the pillow on the floor, he does this whenever a pillow is around....he's really gonna love it when he can finally have a pillow in bed!! Also, you'll hear Andy scream towards the end of the video (note your speaker volume) - - Alex tried to stand up, and used Andy's leg hair for leverage. Needless to say, it didn't feel too nice.



I also snapped a picture of Alex in his outfit. We still have a few warmer days of weather left, and I wanted to get him in this outfit before the cooler weather comes. Yay for Kohl's discount racks!!!
It's also pretty cool Broncos' colors!! :)

First Bike Ride!

Yesterday we showed you Alex's first walking toy, today we're showing you Alex's first bike ride!

He doesn't quite have the leg coordination down, but he does enjoy being pushed/pulled around on his bike.

Today was a pretty laid-back day. We worked outside on the cars and the yard. Andy mowed the yard as I vacuumed out the cars and washed them, then we moved into the garage, getting that cleaned out. We did get to see some football - we watched the Broncos' pull off their overtime win, and were able to watch a little bit of the NASCAR race. All in all, a good day. :)

His outfit was just TOO adorable today - I HAD to make sure that it got on the blog for everyone to see as he took a ride on his bike!!

Busy Saturday!

I'm going to try to get this done quick during halftime of the Husker game! (Let's go red!)

We had a pretty busy day today - laundry, grocery shopping, the game, cleaning, naps, etc.....

This morning we decided to get a load of sheets done to get them out on the line. Our comforter was folded on our bed, until a little 2-foot man decided that's not where it needed to be. He also found his baby monitor that is usually on the nightstand - however, he decided that he was going to be "Rambo-esque" today, and the monitor was his communication with the rest of his troop. He would bury his face in the comforter, push himself in deeper with his legs, and then pop his head out and talk into the monitor. Andy took this shot of our future army man......


You'd think that the army-man was over, but you'd be wrong. Our highchair was recalled a while back, and they mailed us this elastic thing that would fix the problem. Alex thought that it was pretty funny to crawl UNDER the highchair, but OVER the elastic thing. It would be easier to just go around, but how much fun would that be, really??

Going one way........



And back the other way........



We also purchased a toy today for Alex to begin walking with. It's a convertible walker-bike, where he is walking with it now, and later it can be a bike for him to ride on. Here's the first go at the walking - he did pretty well - until he came to the wall. We're working on cornering. That's always the toughest.


Okay, game's back - hopefully our Huskers can pull it off!!!! :)

Giggly Boy!

Okay, I had to post this for today, too! BONUS: 2 posts in one day!!

This one was just too cute not to pass along -

Last night before bed, Alex and I were on the floor playing with the pillow. I don't know what it is about pillows, but he seems to LOVE them! He'll play with them whenever they are on the floor.

Anyways, we were playing and Alex was getting the biggest kick out of me grabbing his hands. I really wasn't doing that much, but he was just giggling hysterically! Once again, we didn't think until about 85% of the way into it to grab the camera - so you're seeing the last 15%.



Lately he's really been into laughing - it's so funny! The other day he was giggling when I rolled over to get away from him grabbing my hair! I don't know what I do that's so funny, but he just finds some of the things that I do hilarious!

Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Daddy's Little Helper!

After picking Alex up from Julie's this afternoon, we decided to go to Andy's work and keep him company as he finished up on some paperwork.

Alex thought that Dad working on the computer was pretty cool, and he wanted to be Dad's "right hand man" - unfortunately, Dad didn't need too much help! Writing his daily notes is pretty much a one-man job, but Alex was there to keep him company!

It was so funny as Alex reached for this and that on Andy's desk - I just sat back and smiled as I thought "Move it away from the edge!" But, Andy enjoyed reaching out every 3 seconds to stop Alex from taking the paperwork off of his desk.


After each reach, Alex would look at Andy like "What did you do THAT for?????" It was pretty funny. After two or three times Alex started to reach, and then would look at Andy to see if he was looking. If not, Alex would go ahead with the reach. If Andy was looking, then Alex would just make his adorable ornery face.


After about 15 minutes of this going on, Alex finally decided to give up and play with Andy's radio. It was as if he was saying, "Alright - since you won't let me play with your stuff, I'll change the radio station to country - HA HA HA!!!



Be rootin' for our Huskers tomorrow! Let's beat USC!!! :)

Pizza!

We headed up to Burwell tonight to eat at the wonderful Pizza Palace! They had their buffet night, so we thought that it sounded pretty good.

And guess what the "little" man ate? Yes, pizza - that was a stupid question.....

Guess how MUCH the "little" man ate.....yes, much better question.....

1 WHOLE slice of hamburger pizza
3 WHOLE slices of watermelon (rinds excluded)
Approximately 15 goldfish crackers
1 small cup of water

Where did he put all of that? In his hollow leg??

After he was done eating, he then put himself in this position.....


It's as if he's saying, "Mom, I'm done with you - let me look and see what's over here....."

And as you can see by his shirt, most of the watermelon juice ended up on it! There I go again, putting my son in white. Oh well, I just bought a new bucket of OxyClean, it'll come out!

Mmmmm Fish Sticks!

Today, as I was driving home and thinking about supper, I had a "craving" for fish sticks. Don't ask me where it came from, but I got to thinking - is fish safe for babies? Now, I know that fish sticks aren't the top-of-the-line king salmon or swordfish - they're like a casserole of the underwater world. But anyways, I tried to remember if I had read anything stating that fish was a no-no for kids.

So I came home and logged on to the good ol' internet - and nothing jumped out at me saying it's not safe. So here we are eating our fish sticks. I wanted to get a video of Alex's first underwater-food experience - so here it is! He warmed up to them a lot more as the meal went on, the first bite is always the funniest!



(This is a YouTube video - I couldn't get the Blogger video to work - so sorry it's in a different format!)

So we hope you enjoy - nothing too exciting, just our little man growing more and more every day.....and adding new experiences to it all! :)

**Thanks for all of the advice (via phone calls and emails) about the nap situation. We talked to Julie today and she encouraged longer naps at childcare today. When Alex came home, he was going a mile a minute and CRASHED hard at about 8:30 - I won't complain - we had an AWESOME night at home PLAYING instead of napping!!!! :)

Sleepy Little Man!

I'm not quite sure what they are doing to Alex during the childcare day, but once Alex gets home, all he seems to want to do is sleep!

It seems like for the last 2 weeks or so he wants to fall asleep at about 7:00 - we can't keep him happy at all...so he goes to sleep. Then he wakes up at about 8:30, is awake for 15-30 minutes, and then is ready to go back down to bed.



Experienced parents out there (or even those that just want to offer their thoughts): Does he need to go to bed earlier? The thing is, though, that he's almost always up at about 6:30-7:00, and we really don't want him waking up earlier in the AM, so that's why we've stayed with the 9:00 bedtime. Any suggestions will be appreciated. :)

Football Sunday!

FOOTBALL SEASON IS FINALLY HERE!

Andy is so excited, he could hardly sleep last night - just kidding, but I'm not far off.

While Alex was eating this afternoon (soon after the Broncos' WON in a last-second field goal - YEAH!!!!), Andy decided that he needed to show Alex some of the common plays in football - the formations, the play options, the run patterns, etc. Instead of using the typical X and O on the board, he used Alex's puffs.....Here he is showing Alex how to, um, run a play? I don't even know what he was showing....

Alex didn't seem too interested in the plays, however. He kept eating the "tight end" or the "running back" or someone else. Andy went from 11-man ball to 8-man ball, down to 6-man. When Andy was down to 2, he switched to wrestling (???). Down to one - swimming.


Of course Alex took all of this in and will now be able to show you (since he can't talk yet) how to run a west-coast offense, an 8-man pitch-and-run, and the all-important "Hail Mary." In fact, the Huskers called this afternoon to ask for Alex's input for next week against USC....we're in negotiations. :)

New Daddy Game!

Alex is beginning to really enjoy his new-found world on two legs. He's getting much more daring and staying on his feet for longer periods of time. He's holding onto everything - going everywhere he can.

Here he is going UNDER the table - I wonder what he thinks before he does something like this...."Hmmm, I think I can fit under that - let me try it and see what happens!" I'd like to be in his mind sometimes, it must be fun in there!


Alex has discovered a new game he likes to play. Andy was laying on the floor watching the Husker football game, and Alex decided he wanted to try and get something that was on the other side of Andy. Naturally, the only way to get onto the other side is to go up and over! Alex climbed over Andy at least 15 times - and Andy didn't help the situation much because he kept moving what Alex was going for (usually the remote!)....

Here is Alex pre-climb......

And Alex post-climb......

Sorry I didn't get any pics of the middle-climb....my camera just wasn't quick enough, I guess! I did get three for you to enjoy however, and hope to have more for you again soon!

Labor Day Weekend!

We hope that everyone had a restful Labor Day weekend - however, if the rest of you are like us, you need another weekend just to catch up on everything that happened over the weekend! It was a weekend of "seats" - - read on to find out more - - -

Friday afternoon I was starting to feel better with the new antibiotics (more about me at the end of the post), so we began to arrange a visit to Lincoln. My parents lent us a car, and it was time for us to return it to them, so Lincoln (the halfway point) was a great meeting place. Plus, the weather was warm and my Grandma didn't want to sit through the Husker game heat, so she had a ticket available. Andy's never been one to turn down a good game, so he was going to go along with my Grandpa to the game on Saturday. Nevertheless, we started to get ready to go to Lincoln Saturday morning.

Once in Lincoln (and donned in our Husker red), Alex found the perfect resting place at my grandparents' - - the recliner! HONEST - we didn't stage the "pose" - we only laid the footrest out. Funny how kids figure out what to do where - -



Alex found another chair on Sunday that he really thought he'd enjoy. This one was a little more his size.


Here is a happy smile for the camera! :)


Saturday also brought a little "surprise" - a HUGE spider! YUCK!!!!!! No worries for the bug-lovers out there - the spider was safely relocated from the garage to the shed.


Alex has started this new "kissing - head butting" thing - his mouth is wide open, like when he kisses, but he comes at you with such force that sometimes it hurts! He's even made himself cry a couple of times! Here is a cute video of Alex doing this to my sister Sarah at the breakfast table.



Monday was the day to head home - but before we left, Alex found one more seat that he LOVED to sit in! Grandpa had a swing in the backyard that was just Alex's size - you can see from the smile that it was a definite favorite!


Okay - for the "me" update - - after a rough 24 hours from Sunday noon to Monday PM, I am feeling much better. I have been taken off all of the medications, and been put on the "BRAT" diet - Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast - to help to clear everything up. If this doesn't work in the next 2-3 days, then I will be sent in for a colonoscopy. SO, we are praying that this works!

Also, please keep Andy's family in your prayers - they lost a close member of their family this past weekend. Frank was a foster child who stayed with the Bowin's for a few years, and was like a brother to Andy. Although they hadn't spoken in a number of years, the loss is still close to home. The funeral will be Friday. Thanks for all of your thoughts.....