Go With Daddy to Work Day

At least that's what Alex thought!

This morning when he woke up, he had soaked through his diaper, so we went to change him. He was not in the mood to get dressed (he's had a bit of a fever the past couple of days - could be more teeth?!??), so we left him in his diaper and let him run around.

Andy went to put on his shoes so he could leave for work, and here comes "little Andy" carrying his shoes. He is adamant that his shoes NEED to be on, so Andy put his shoes on. It was hilarious! Fortunately, we took some pictures so you can enjoy as well. :)


He thought that he REALLY was going with Andy - he even tried to head out the door with him!

"Uh, Mr. Boss Man Jeff, Alexander decided that he was going to come to work with me today. Don't worry, the nursing home patients will LOVE how cute he is - and you don't have to worry about him running in front and tripping any of them. If he does, well, I can then pick them up for therapy for the next few months. So, is that okay?"

Yeah, right. Jeff would LOVE that.......

On a somewhat similar note, when all three of us (or even just Alex with one of us) are looking at pictures, every time Alex sees Andy, he says, "Daddy". If there is a picture of Alex and I, he will say, "Mommy and Daddy" - I keep saying, "That's Alex." It's just funny how Alex sees Andy when looking at pictures. He did know quite a few other people, though, without much prompting....Grandpa, Grandma, "AuShhh" - that was Aunt Sarah, and every time he saw his cousin, Noah, he said, "Bob" and held his arms like he didn't know where Bob was. He does seem to know that Noah and Bob go together......how funny!! :)

Plain Red Soup

Hello from another dreary Nebraska day - the heaters ARE back on, as it only reached 46 here today, and sun isn't in the forecast until Thursday afternoon sometime. I'm beginning to think that God doesn't want Andy's team playing baseball..... :) Perfect day for soup..... :)

Tonight for supper we had Plain Red Soup (tomato soup for the rest of the world) and grilled cheese sandwiches. *Here's the story behind "Plain Red Soup" - I am NOT a fan of tomatoes - I like ketchup, cocktail sauce, pasta sauces, etc., but I do NOT like tomatoes. I will pick them out of chunky chili or sauces, and do not eat them "fresh" out of the garden (yes, I have tried them with both salt/pepper and with sugar). I've never liked them, I don't know why. So I think that my Mom came up with "Plain Red Soup" in an effort to get me to eat it. It worked, and I like it, but still call it plain red soup. (Yes, Grandma, Alex is free to eat tomatoes - he actually LOVES them - he and Andy can have them!!) :)

So as we were getting supper ready, the sandwiches had just came off of the griddle. They were still pretty toasty, so Andy was cooling it off with his spatula. Alex decided to help "fan" it off.....it's hilarious!! :)

Once Alex had successfully cooled all of his food off, it was time to pray and then eat. WHAT A MESS!! He hasn't had much luck with the spoon, but he did manage to get some of it into his mouth. Unfortunately, his chin, shirt, elbow, fingers, ear, nose, eyebrow, and cheek were all in the way, so they all got soup on them, too. He did seem to enjoy it, though!

Then it was off to the bath. What a messy boy! Daddy and Alex had fun with his bath tonight - when I went in to see what all of the giggling was about, they BOTH had soaked heads! Andy was still in his work clothes, so it was quite funny! At least they had fun - my bathroom will dry eventually! :) Here he is "pre-cleaning" :)

Memorial Day Weekend!

Happy Memorial Day everyone! (And Happy Birthday to Grandma Annette!)

We have had a busy weekend at home! Andy's ball games were cancelled Friday night because of all of the rain - so we spent extra "Daddy time" - which we always love!

We had leftover lasagna - and this time we stripped Alex down to his diaper. You can still see the mess! :) There STILL is a cute boy under all that mess!

We also did some yard work. We wanted to get more fertilizer on the lawn, but the grass needed to be a little damp, so we turned the sprinklers on for a few minutes. When we went outdoors to check them out, Alex acted like he wanted to feel the water, too. When I bent over to show him how to do it, he seemed to get the idea......

Maybe not!

And then today - we have done some major cleaning out, de-cluttering, etc. so our garbage can was quite full. The garbage guys come on Mondays (holiday or not), and it was exceptionally windy this morning. Andy grabbed a tarp strap to try to hold the lid down to prevent fly-away garbage. The tarp strap had a different idea....

OUCH!!

Then we went up to the lake to grill out for lunch. It was a little breezy, but it was nice to be outside and watch the water. We did see a four-foot bull snake (eeewwww!), luckily it stayed quite a ways away. We drove around for a while, and then came back home. Steak is what's for supper - and then baths! Hope you all had a great weekend!!

For Aunt Elly....

And for everyone else to enjoy (Elly has just commented on how much she would like to hear Alex talking some of his "Japanese").

Andy and Alex were playing ball in the living room (which is an absolute PIT - I can't believe how many toys the child has - and how he can make such a mess in NO time!!!) - and Andy would throw the ball to Alex, and he would make some statement after Andy threw it at him.

We only get two rounds of "talking" - then he tripped on some of the toys laying on the ground. So as this video uploads, we are cleaning!! :) If anyone can understand what he is saying, please clue us in! :)

Enjoy!

Yummy!

Hello all!

Well, we have survived the monsoon of central Nebraska. It rained from about midnight on Wednesday/Thursday until early Saturday morning. Most of Friday was a downpour - and there was lightening and thunder to complete the entire picture. It was forecasted to rain all weekend, and this morning, it looked like the skies could open up at any second. But, then the sun came out, and it's 80 here now! Crazy Nebraska weather! (I finally had to turn the HEATERS back on yesterday, because the high was 50!) I hope they are OFF for at least a few months now!

Our town is having it's annual ExtraORDinary days - a carnival comes to town, there are all sorts of free meals (there was a free hot dog feed on the courthouse lawn at noon today - a fly-in breakfast at the airport tomorrow, and a catered BBQ tomorrow afternoon), and lots of fun things to do. Andy had to work this morning, so we went downtown (it's only two blocks away, for those of you who have not had the pleasure of visiting Ord) for some ice cream and to check out the rides. Most of them were geared towards older kids, but Alex was content to watch everyone else enjoy the rides. We sat on a park bench for a while under a nice shade tree and ate some ice cream. It was a really nice afternoon.

Then tonight - pregnant momma was craving lasagna, so that's what we had for supper. It wasn't quite as good as my mommy's, but it was definitely good. Alex really enjoyed it too, he had almost two full pieces, as well as most of a slice of cheesy garlic bread. YUM-O!! :)

My first full week at home with Alex was wonderful! It's amazing how his language is expanding every day! It seems like he is getting two or three new words every day - and attempting to say many others! Tonight I opened up a window that Squiggles like to sit in front of, so I called her name as I opened it. Alex was trying to say her name, and ran to all of her usual hiding places, calling her name the whole time. I'm amazed.

We've attached a video close to the time he was finished eating, and I tried to get him to say some of the words he knows, as well as a few new ones. "Bye-bye" is a new one - although he has been waving goodbye for months. Enjoy!

One other thing that Andy and I noticed today - as we were talking about his new tooth - we realized that we were NOT talking about the same place in his mouth. Insisting that I was correct (and Andy insisting that HE was correct), we found out that we BOTH were right. The little man is pushing through two top MOLARS towards the back, on either side. I think they are molars anyway - they are pretty close to the back of his mouth. Both sides have a little tip showing through. So, for those of you that are counting - the front top two and bottom front two have been in for months. There is one coming in on the top right - immediately next to his front two teeth. Then there are two other recently discovered "tips", both on the top, on either side.

My question is, "Is this 'normal'?" I know that every kid gets their teeth on their own schedules, but is it weird that he is getting molars (or at least back teeth) before the front ones have shown themselves? I guess I am already worried that there won't be room for them all! (Just one more thing I worry about - I know, I need to quit worrying!) Anyone else's kids been through a similar scenario? Thanks!! :)

Update from Wednesday!

Hello from a dreary, rainy, central Nebraska day! The rain will be wonderful for the grass, but there has been some lightening and thunder with it - I could do without that, but I'll take the rain!

Here's our update from yesterday: Alex had his 18-month appointment (almost a month late due to the ear infection), and all looked good. Dr. Julie was happy that he was cutting a new tooth, and said that all looks good. I had asked her when kids are "diagnosed" with seasonal allergies, because it seems that whenever we are outdoors, or have the windows open, his nose is running like a fountain! He also rubs at his eyes constantly, as well as his nose. He suggested some Claritin for when we know we are going to be outside, and to try only half of the dose. We tried it last night - his nose still ran, but it didn't seem to be rubbing his eyes and nose as much as he had in the past. For now, I think that we will do this only on "game days" and when we will be spending all day outside. I don't want to overdo it. She addressed a little rash that he has on his chin, and gave us a couple of things to try with that - and then came the shot. Alex hadn't slept ALL morning, despite my best efforts, and it took the nurses at least 30 minutes to come up with the ONE shot! Luckily, there was a rocking chair in the room, and Alex was content to rock with me. When they finally came in, he was out. I laid him on the table, praying that he would just sleep through the shot - wrong!! He woke up with a vengence! It didn't take him long to settle down, though, then we were off.

When we got home, Alex "helped" me fold some laundry. Actually, he threw it out of the basket, and then pushed the basket all over the living room.

Then it was off to the ball game. It was mid-60's, which would normally be great weather. Unfortunately, there was a strong wind that was going and going, and blew all sorts of crap up into the air. So, it made for a rather chilly night. The teams both played well for their first games of the season, the Juniors made a couple of costly errors, so they ended up losing, but they really looked promising. The Seniors on the other hand, still played well, but were blown to smitherines.

This morning, Alex was so very tired! He woke up a little later than usual, at 7:30, and I was getting ready. He wanted up on our bed, so I put him up there as I got dressed. I turned around, and this was what I saw:

He slept until 8:30!!! New record for the little man!

Well, he's done eating breakfast, so we are off to the church's rummage sale to see if we can't find anything we can't live without! :)

Circus, Anyone?

Well, it's Tuesday already, and my first two days at home with Alex have been very productive! He has been a little "high maintainence" - which I finally figured out why today! WE ARE GETTING TOOTH #5! My son won't be getting dentures for his 2nd birthday! :) It's coming in on the upper right side. The good news is that this tooth is almost poked through, so he shouldn't have much "misery" for much longer. The bad news is that NO other teeth look like they are anywhere close to coming in. There are a bunch of bumps, but they are all way down, nowhere close to the gum line.

Today Alex and I went to the store to get a few things for our church's bake sale later this week. As we were checking out, Alex kept pointing to those super yummy Lofthouse cookies - the ones with the frosting, and are so super soft they are hard to pass up....well, this pregnant momma decided that we should go home and eat cookies. So once we got home, I perched Alex in his high chair, basically because I didn't want my walls and carpet to be the light blue that the frosting was. I am glad that I did!

Alex decided that the frosting and sprinkles were the best part - so eat them first! He also decided that he just may want to be a clown when he grows up - - decide for yourselves......

I think that he looks awful cute with blue cheeks and chin - all he needs is the puffy red nose and curly hair - and a kooky name. We'll see!

Tomorrow begins Andy's baseball season - so don't anticipate a post tomorrow. I hope to take some pictures at the game, but that all will depend on how active my little clown decides to be. (The ballfield is RIGHT next to the highway, so I am already having nightmares!!)

Weekend Update!

Hello all of you faithful blog readers! We have been BUSY this weekend - but now I am home for the summer (YAY!), so hopefully the blog posts will become more frequent. I know, Andy has already expressed his "really little" hate for me because I have three months paid vacation.....I'm willing to take the shots - go for it! :)

We had a very busy weekend. We went to Grand Island on Saturday morning to purchase my birthday/Mother's Day gifts. I wanted to get new pots and pans as well as new silverware. We found a really great deal on both at Kohl's. (I have to keep my mom in business, you know!) The rest of Saturday we spent washing all of the new stuff, wiping out the kitchen cabinets (because as long as I was cleaning out a couple, why not go for all of them!). We threw out expired things, and realized that we have quite a bit of stuff that we had forgotten about!

Today Andy had baseball practice, but Alex and I stayed home. He hadn't had his nap for the day yet, and Andy was planning on a 2-2 1/2 hour practice. He came home quite crispy, so I am doubly glad that we decided not to go. Andy also wanted to get the lawn mowed, so Alex and I kept him company this afternoon while he did that.

While Andy was cutting the lawn, Alex wasn't too sure of the lawn mower. He seemed fine with it last weekend when we watched Andy cut, but this week, I don't know if it was a lack of sleep or what, Alex had to be glued to me whenever Andy got close. As the "newness" of the mower wore off on him, Alex began giving Andy directions. When Andy would get to the end of a line or section, Alex would point the new direction Andy was to go. Most of the time Alex would be pointing in a direction that would lead Andy futher away from us - but never fail, at the end of each row, there was Alex trying to lead Andy in finishing the lawn. What a silly little guy!

After the grass was successfully snipped, Alex and I ran around a bit. It was 70 outside, so we stayed out for quite a while. I would chase Alex, he would chase me, it was a blast! One of the things that had Andy and I cracking up was this:

Alex would trip and fall down and then raise his arms and legs way up so they weren't touching the grass. He would eventually get up on his own, but it was sure funny that he did this every single time!!

You can't see it from this shot, but his shirt was COVERED in grass! He had been playing in some water earlier, and his shirt wasn't quite dry yet. With the freshly cut grass, you can imagine what this shirt looked like!

And a smile for the camera! You can also see in his little paw his beloved rock, affectionately called, "mine." He seemed to have discovered that word this past week, because we heard it ALL WEEKEND!!! Mine, mine, mine, mine.......yes, little man, just about everything here is yours - but, come November, things will change! :)

The Questions All Around Us

Ah, the questions that surround us, the queries that keep us going, the unknown that drives innovation and exploration.

We've all asked them...

Where did we come from?

What is the meaning of life?

If a tree falls in the woods and it smashes a mime, does anyone care?

and of course...

Can a baby (or toddler) sleep standing up?

Good news everyone, we have answered one of those questions!!!

This morning, when Christine went to wake Alex up, she found this...

At some point this morning, Alex slid his legs out of bed and onto the floor, but kept the upper part of his body in bed, thus, sleeping standing up. I don't ask why, and I don't ask how. We just take the pictures.

On an unrelated topic, much rejoicing around our house today as today was the last day of school. Christine was student free as of noon today, and only has 2 workdays left, and then she's off for the summer. Yay for three months paid vacation.

Tonight, we went to the Last Resort, and cabin retreat place just north of the Comstock dam (yeah, we didn't know they had a dam either) for a retirement party for Mr. Nitchie, Sargent's longtime science teacher. We had a nice time, and Alex enjoyed observing and yelling at the lodge's dog from a distance. However, when the dog got close, Alex was not quite as happy. But as soon as he ran away, Alex would start yelling "Bob" again.

(For those curious, Elly and Neil and Noah have a dog named Bob, and Alex has taken to calling all dogs of assorted shapes, sizes, breeds, colors, and smells, "Bob".)

After a couple hours of eating, chatting, chasing a small child, and talking baseball, it was time to head home. Alex is now fast asleep, and Christine is getting ready for bed.

In closing, I hope everyone has a great finish to their week and a fantastic weekend!

And the answer is no. No one cares if a mime gets crushed by a falling tree.

No one.

Not even his family. Maybe his "Bob".

ANOTHER Weekend with Grandparents!

How lucky can one boy be - two weekends IN A ROW being doted over - - he's going to expect it every weekend now!! :)

This weekend my parents came to visit. My Dad is going to be leading the "troops" in our bathroom and kitchen remodels this summer. He needed to see it all to see what kind of timeline we'll need to be on, look at any potential "hangups", and get a general idea of what Andy and I want done. PLUS, they wanted to see their grandson! (Maybe that was the first reason, and the bathroom/kitchen was just an added bonus!) :)

Alex was hooked to Grandpa's leg all weekend! If Grandpa went downstairs, Alex wanted to go, too. Grandpa goes outside, Alex is right there. Alex wanted to follow him into the bathroom a couple of times, but that was just a little too close. I drew the line at that point. Here's a video of one of the rare times Grandpa went outside with Alex staying inside - at this point he finally figured out how to say, "Grandpa!" Yay for new words!! :)

Grandpa also did one of Alex's FAVORITE things - READING! Here's a shot of them reading a book about animals:

We also had quite a bit of fun out in Grandpa's pickup. As they were loading their things into the back, Alex wanted to climb in. He had a BLAST out there! I don't know why we bother buying toys - he LOVES the things that are just everyday - laying around! Here he is in the back, one of the few moments that he was actually sitting:

And playing through the window with Grandma:

Then it was time to say goodbye - Alex gave hugs and kisses all around - here he is "sharing the love" with Grandma:

It's always hard when company leaves - but after Grandma and Grandpa left, Alex crashed HARD! He was out for close to 3 hours! (He woke up just in time to get a phone call from Grandpa asking if he wanted a donut from Casey's - Grandpa was in Palmyra. Alex decided he'd better not - he was still full from lunch. :)

Then tonight, at supper, Alex started a new "look" - he bends his head forward just so you can barely see his eyes - and then looks up at you while his head is still bowed. We have a couple of pictures, plus a video. What a funny man!

Thanks to all of you who sent birthday wishes, flowers, and other gifts - THANK YOU!!! Thanks also for all of the Mother's Day cards - I loved reading them! We had a wonderful time - I am so very thankful for all of you!! Happy Mother's Day to ALL of you mothers out there! :)

Stay on the couch!!!

Wow - today was sure a Monday! We were all so tired this morning, it was hard to get out of bed! But today was a BEAUTIFUL day - almost 80 degrees - this crazy May weather has us all baffled. Snow/blizzard conditions one day, and 48 hours later - high 70's!! Hopefully winter has officially left us for a while!

Tonight, although Alex was borderline fussy all night, we did have quite a bit of fun with an "improv" game. He really likes to sit on the couch - and can be territorial about it at times. Tonight was one of those nights. He didn't want anyone else on the couch, but when Andy and I were up and moving around, he would want to be held. Jokingly, I picked him up and said, "Stay on the couch!" He thought this was HILARIOUS!! I got one of those deep belly laughs......so the game ensued. Andy came in from the other room to shoot the video. Enjoy!

Tomorrow night I may not be able to post, as we need to run to Grand Island to pick up a few things for both home and school. The 5th and 6th grades are travelling to the Omaha zoo on Wednesday, and we need to buy food, as they don't provide anything. We also need a few things for home, so a post may be coming on Wednesday. Have a great day everyone!

Weekend in Colorado - Most of it!

Wow - what a wild and wacky whirlwind weekend! (Could I fit any more "w" words into that sentence?!!) :)

Our plans were to go to Colorado right after Andy got off work Friday afternoon. BUT, the weather had very different plans for us. All day at work on Friday, both Andy and I were watching the weather and roads, and it appeared that everything between Nebraska and Colorado was closed. Blizzard warnings were in effect, high winds (60 mph+), and warnings to stay off of the roads. Andy and I really debated what we should do...because we didn't want to get somewhere and be "stuck". We decided to go ahead and go as far as we could feel safe going, and then stay overnight in a hotel. We could drive the rest of the way in the morning, as the storm was to end at 1 AM. We did get a couple of hours into the drive, and then decided to stop. We didn't run into anything bad, but visibility was becoming an issue, and we didn't want to "push" it.

So Saturday morning we finished the drive and got into Akron at about 9:30. We had lunch with some of Alex's great-grandparents and the rest of Andy's family. Then it was off to supper and the Rockies' game. The place we went to eat at didn't have room for all 11 of us - so we were split up and didn't get to visit with everyone as much as we would have liked to, but we did enjoy the company we had for supper. :)

At the game, Alex was a little skeptical of the loud noise - especially after a home run, good play, etc. His normal bedtime is about 8 Colorado time, and the game didn't start until 6, so he was ready for bed halfway into the game. He snuggled and we left just a little early to get him changed into his pajamas and settled down before everyone else returned to the car. We got back to Akron around 11:30, and Alex (and the rest of us) were just exhausted. Luckily, he didn't wake up too much in the transfer between car and bed, so he went right back to sleep. Unfortunately, Sunday morning, he woke up at his "normal" 7 AM Nebraska time - which was 6 Colorado time! The little guy does have his schedule - and he likes to stick to it - time change or not!!!

Today we were able to spend a little more time with Andy's family. We did snap a few shots, so enjoy!

Alex with Grandma Bowin (in their rocking chairs) - he's playing with a tape measure

Alex with Grandpa Bowin - looking at pictures

After my sleepy man woke up from his first nap - there's a grin back there!

Alex liked waving to the cars that we passed on the interstate - I didn't have enough batteries left in the camera to shoot a video - but here's a pretty cute shot.

A video of Alex playing in the car - being a little monkey!

It was a nice weekend, and as always, the time went by way too quickly. We did see some "unexpected" friends when we stopped in Ogallala for a quick bite - Pastor John and Joanne Peterson from (formerly) Timothy in Blue Springs. They said to tell everyone hello - and that they miss you all!

Happy May!

I'm not sure what Andy was doing last night with that post...I need to change my password - or remind him to take his sanity pills......just kidding.

Sorry we don't have any pictures tonight - our night was BUSY! We had laundry to do, packing, playing, inventing new games, supper, and a TON of other things to get finished! We are headed to Colorado to visit Andy's family for the weekend. We will leave tomorrow after work, and return sometime on Sunday. Therefore, if you are in the Ord area, we won't be home - you'll need to schedule another time to drop by. (Considering we haven't had any visitors in months, this shouldn't be a problem). :)

Well, we are currently in a "Winter Storm Warning" with the possibility of 5-10 inches of the lovely white stuff. The last two Fridays I have tried to schedule our annual trash pick-up at school with all of the Elementary kids - but apparently God doesn't want us to get it picked up this year! As I look at the rest of the school year, we have only 8 days left - and with end-of-the-year field trips, that number is quickly diminished to three. I don't think that we'll get it done this year - oh, well. Hopefully the people of Sargent have been responsible citizens and taken care of their garbage appropriately.....unless we take snow shovels along with us as we hunt for the garbage. (Yeah, right - I wouldn't trust some of those kids with a feather pillow and spatula - let alone a shovel!) :)

So that's the story for tonight. Just know that we are all well, and as long as we survive yet another May snowstorm, all will continue to be well.