Zoo pics!

Well, I guess that I should name this post more than just zoo pictures, but I wanted to be able to find the trip to Omaha easily on the blog - so the rest of you will have to live with the "Zoo pics!" title. :)

Here's the weekend as it happened:

Friday after Andy got off of work we packed into the car and headed to Omaha. Nothing major happened Friday night - we checked into the hotel, met up with Grandma Le, Grandpa Dave, and "Rah-rah" (Aunt Sarah). Alex was quite the entertainment for the night - he really enjoyed having an audience to show off in front of!

Saturday morning we all got up and ate breakfast (the hotel had an awesome buffet - Alex LOVED the fresh fruit and sausage links). Then Grandpa Dave went down to Lincoln to help Great-Grandma with some computer problems that she was having, while the rest of us went to the zoo. We were there right when it opened (8:30) because we knew that we would need to leave around 1 or 2 - depending on when Alex needed to nap. We headed to the Rainforest, Desert Dome, Kingdoms of the Night, Gorilla Complex, and the Monkey House. By the time we had finished walking through those, Grandpa Dave called and he was back in town already. So, we met up with him and went around to the carousel and then waited in line for the train. We took the train back up towards the front and then waited (forever it seemed) in line for lunch. We ended up having a beautiful seat overlooking the rainforest. After lunch, we went to the Aquarium. Alex was done after that. Grandpa Dave and I took Alex back to the car while everyone else looked through the Butterfly Pavillion. There was a line, and Alex was getting quite tempermental, so we took him back to the car so he could have a little "chill" time before heading back to the hotel. He was asleep within 5 minutes - and even slept as I carried into the hotel, up the elevator, into the room, and laid him on the bed. He was WIPED OUT!! He slept a good two hours! OK, on to the pictures.....

Alex and "Rah-rah" on the waterfall bridge (it overlooks the hippos - Alex was mystified my them!) They took time-out for a wave!

Alex and Mommy looking at the macaws.

There were peacocks roaming all over, and every once in a while they would cross right in front of us. Alex loved to stop and look!

Another peacock......

This is hilarious - Alex was trying to walk like the peacock!! :) (Apparently he hasn't heard the saying "MONKEY see MONKEY do! - this is PEACOCK see, ALEX do!) :)

Outside of the Gorilla complex - they had these brass (?) gorillas outside - there were a ton of kids playing on them, Alex seemed to want to play - -

But when "Rah-rah" tried to put him on it, nope!!

Alex and Daddy looking close-up at a gorilla and it's baby!

Alex and Daddy waiting in line to ride the carousel - Daddy had to be the choice because it was "Not recommeded for pregnant women"!! Seriously, a carousel???

Alex chose a tiger - he loved it!!!

Alex, "Rah-rah", and Grandpa Dave all looking at the fish (it's hard to see, it's dark in there, but there is this big tube and all of the fish swim around in the same direction - it's pretty cool!)

Some pictures from the butterfly pavillion - this one is a blue morpho.

Daddy took this pictures - it's a mimick butterfly - when it spreads it's wings it makes the face of an owl to scare predators away.

And that's the end of the zoo trip - on to the rest of Saturday! My aunt and uncle had a 40th anniversary celebration, and it was madness! :) All of my cousins and their families were there (my sister, Elly, was the only one not to make it - 8 hours in the car one way is a little much for a "weekend trip" - especially with a 1-year-old!) Luckily, they had a TON for the kids to do! Alex spent most of his time on the swing. This was about 3 hours into it - Rah-rah and Daddy were getting the biggest giggles out of Alex!

This is an "action shot" that I am super proud of!! Look at the expression on Alex's face! :) This photo is the highlight of my photography career, so far. :)

A "cousins" picture - left to right - me, Rah-rah, Sonya (Janelle's 2nd), Colleen (Vicky's oldest - the party was at her home), Ben (Vicky's 2nd - the only boy on that side!), Angie (Janelle's 3rd), Ashley (Janelle's 5th), Jenny (Janelle's first), and Heather (Janelle's 4th). It was amazing that there were no kids, flying balls, or husbands chasing after kids in this picture - there are 13 kids among Janelle's brood, and Colleen has another 2. Alex was a little overwhelmed, there were more kids there than at his childcare place!!! :)

This was taken at the hotel this morning. Andy and I just had to look at each other and ask, "What is he thinking?" His poor little head has had quite a few hard knocks in the past week, and here he is adding a few of his own - - why!??!??!?!

We also decided to go to the pool this morning before we left. Friday night we walked around, and Alex had been asking to go to the pool since then. We made time for it this morning......and here's how close Alex got to the water.........

Immediately after this picture he grabbed his shirt and said, "All done."

We did manage to sit on the edge and dip our feet into the water, but that was it. After asking for it all weekend, I would have assumed that he would have been a little more enthusiastic!

And this was on the car ride home. We left around 10:30 (Alex was up at 6:30 this morning!!! Someone NEEDS to talk to him about sleeping in!), and he was shot! Just look at the "comfy position" he chose to sleep in!! (shoes and all!)

We had a great time! We are all exhausted, but I think that now that the Olympics are over, we can get to bed at a decent time now. Alex is already quite tempermental (it's 7:45), so his bedtime will be earlier tonight - mine will be too!

Have a great week everyone!!

Away for the Weekend!

Hello all - -

Just a quick post to say that we will be gone this weekend - we are headed to Omaha! My Aunt and Uncle are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary, so we decided to make a weekend of it and head to the zoo Saturday morning! :)

Look back sometime Sunday or Monday to see the great times we had (will have) this weekend!! :)

Careful!!!

Before you read this post, let's all have a collective "Poor Guy!" for Alex - he REALLY konked his head this afternoon.....

After I got off of work, Alex and I went over to Andy's clinic because I have been having terrible cramping and back pain all day. I wanted to see if Andy could maybe put some heat on it and take care of a little of the pain. Alex has been to Andy's clinic hundreds of times - he knows where everything is....even what he shouldn't be getting in to. Well, Andy's office is one of the places that Alex isn't allowed in, because he resets the computer and that screws with the entire office computer system.

Anyway, Andy has been putting a chair in front of the door handle (because Alex knows how to open the doors there) to keep him out of the office.

Alex was running around, as usual, only cut the corner around the chair a little too close. He went flying forward, smacked his head on the doorframe.

Despite the minutes upon minutes of crying (which seemed like an eternity to me), he strongly refused to let us put any type of ice or anything cold on it. Believe me, we tried as hard as we could - but once he would get settled down, if he saw the ice pack or even an ice cube, the screaming started all over again.

So home we came and gave him some Tylenol, and he seems to be back to "regular" Alex. We took these shots as he was eating supper - because that is one of the few times he is sitting still long enough for us to get a shot! He's in the bathtub now, because he was just gross from childcare today. He must've played hard, he stunk when he got home!!! Guess that means that he had a good day! :)

I'll keep telling him to be careful with that head of his - hopefully he will start to listen one of these days! :) (Yeah, right!)

One more thing - Happy Birthday to Grandpa Bowin!

Halfway Through!

Yay! Wednesday is over -which means that the week is over halfway done! :) It seems to have been a long week, but I think that it's just more getting used to a new schedule than anything.....plus I haven't been sleeping terribly well, so that doesn't really help matters. :)

Tonight Alex saw me on my phone, and whenever that happens, he HAS to try it out. I hadn't taken any pictures of him on my phone in a while, and I was not disappointed tonight! He LOVES to see himself in the little window on the front of my phone, and tonight he really played with it - moving it forward and backwards to see how his face changed in it, up and down so he could see his eyes and chin, etc.

Here was the first shot, just a happy boy!!

Then he had to try to wave to himself....there's a little bit of hand in this shot, but he was REALLY giggling!!

Then he tried doing other things with his hands, he kept sucking on his finger, putting it up to the phone and making a kiss sound....he knows how to "blow" kisses, and this wasn't it. Maybe he was just deciding to share the spit.

And here is where he became really silly. He took the phone, moved it closer and further away, I bet he did this at least 25 times. I did manage to get a shot of his eyes, which he seemed to think was pretty cool.

So then he wanted another shot of his eyes, only this time HE wanted to push the button. It took quite a bit of trying, but he finally managed to shoot this picture.

He is such a silly, amazing little boy! Julie (his caretaker during the days) is just amazed at how he is constantly going! She said that he never stops, except for rest time and then he's out in two minutes or less. I guess it's good that he is so active - I just wish that I could have 2% of his energy! (More would be great, but I think that I would get really worn out with just 2%!) :)

A Lovey

Alex's vocabulary is constantly growing, and learning new words every single day. One of the words that Andy and I are just loving him say is the word for his little blanket, his "lovey". To us, it just melts our hearts when he says it, so we thought we'd pass it along to you. We hope you love it as much as we do. :)

Relaxing - -

Ahhh, what a nice feeling it is to come home, kick off your shoes, put your feet up, and just relax! Alex initiated his own relaxation this afternoon when we got home. Andy and I were getting supper ready, and here he was......

First with the remote (he couldn't figure out how to get the TV on) - -

And then with his books - -

Off to do some relaxing!! :)

Yikes - Snakes!

We have had a great weekend! Andy had to work on Saturday morning, so Alex and I stayed home and got some laundry finished. When Daddy got home - we all took naps and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing.

Today we went to church and then out for brunch. We went out to the Country Neighbor - and Alex ate more than I think I have ever seen him eat! On Sundays, they have only three meal choices available, and today it was Chicken Fried Chicken, Roast Pork, and Roast Beef. Andy ordered the beef and Alex got the pork, I stayed with chicken. :) It came with mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, spiced Jello (where you make it with cinnamon applesauce - very yummy - although Andy didn't care for it), and kolaches for dessert. Alex's plate was CLEAN by the time he was finished! Granted, quite a bit of it ended up on his shorts, but a lot made it into his mouth. Then it was back home to watch the race (yay Carl!) and Alex took an outstanding nap!

While he was sleeping, I took a nap, too. :) Andy was out in the garage and came across this little visitor........

Yeah, it's in a Gladware container, so you can see that it's just a baby. Andy only had it in that container until Alex woke up so they could go outside and release it together. We actually have quite a few snakes around here, and as long as they are outside, I am fine with them. They eat the bugs that I really don't care to have in my house.

Here's one of the others that we have in our window well (this was NOT the one in the container)

As Andy was mowing this afternoon, I think he came across 6 snakes around our house. They are mostly on the side of the house (like in the pictures on here) and in the backyard by our sprinkler system panel. One of them is HUGE - even for a garter snake. We always have to be careful when we're outside - even though they are harmless, it's still scary when they catch you off guard!

Here are Alex and I watching the snake in the window well.

Alex pointing to where we put the little snake.....

Every time we come home now, Alex has to walk around the house and look for the snakes. He can't go right inside, even if he has said that he wants a drink of water, juice, milk, etc. It's hard to get that boy to come inside!

As Andy was going through the fridge tonight, he pulled out a different Gladware container that had some lunchmeat in it. As soon as Alex saw it, he said, "Snake?" Such a funny, observant boy!! :)

SUCH a big boy!!!

Wow - what a week this has been already, and Friday is yet to come! It's been a busy week for all of us - I'll try to remember and pass along all that I can remember.....

Saturday night, after I wrote the "Cork" post, I decided (on a whim) to try to put Alex to bed without his cork. He went right down - no problem! I was amazed, as I was almost certain that he would put up a fight. Sunday morning he woke up a little cranky, and we decided that we were already partway into the fight, so why give it all up now and return the cork to him? SO, he spent most of Sunday cranky - which was to be expected. He almost refused to sleep for his nap, but finally fell asleep around 3:45 (he's usually wanting to be sleeping by 1). And it seemed that everything that could make him cry did on Sunday. He was upset, and decided to throw himself on the floor, and in the meantime hit his head on his hew toolbench. He drew a little blood, right up by his hairline.....but then Sunday night he went to bed again, no problem. It seems that the nights are easier than the naptimes, I would have guessed the reverse. But, now that it's Thursday, he hasn't had a cork since Saturday, so I think that we are in the clear! Such a big boy!!

Monday and Tuesday Alex and I spent as much time together as we could. It was my last two days at home, and I hate how quickly the summer went. But, there's nothing that I can do to change anything, so I will make the most of all of the time that I have with him. Tuesday we went to my Dr. appt, and all is going well. Next time she is going to transfer me to the delivery Dr., so we will see who that will be!! :)

Wednesday I went back to school - it was SO hot!! I missed my air-conditioned home, and I missed my boys!! There are a lot of exciting things happening at school this year, so hopefully that will help the time pass. Plus, there's going to be a baby coming in early November, so that will help break up the school year too! :)

Which brings us to the MOST exciting news of this post - the NEW BIG BOY BEDROOM!! We didn't want to have to buy another crib, as Alex is still in the transition-bed that his crib used to be. So, we have a twin size bed that we were planning on letting Alex have. Still in the same bedroom (Alex and Acta will share a room), but in the big boy bed! We found some matching crib and twin sets, and then ran with the theme. We picked something Alex loves, because we want him to be excited about sleeping in his new bed. We brought the bed up tonight (we didn't do the headboard and frame, because in case he rolls out, that's a long way down! AND, I can't find those bedrail things that slide under the mattress - I've looked everywhere!!!), and laid the mattress and boxspring on the floor. Alex helped us put the sheets on the bed, and take all of the animal things out of the room. (We had a safari theme). We set up his new lamp, rug, night light, pillows, quilts, artwork - it's all set up! We left his transitional bed alone, because if he wants to still sleep in that bed, that's fine. He has a while to move over to the other bed. But, seeing how excited he was setting it all up, I will be surprised if he doesn't want to sleep in his new bed tonight.

So, here are the pictures of the NEW BIG BOY BEDROOM!!!

His bed - with all sorts of sports things!!

His new baseball lamp (we have to watch this, he has tried to throw the ball in the past!)

His rug.....

This HAS to be the world's coolest pillow - the ball stays in AND.......

......it comes out!!The clothes hamper......

The new night light!

The new "art"

And Alex LOVING his new bed! There were even a couple of times that he looked at Andy and I, laid down, and said, "Night, night." If I let him fall asleep at 7, I can only imagine what time he would wake up ready to go.......how funny!!

Alex using his new hammer (from his tool bench) and helping Andy hang up the pictures....SUCH a big boy!!!!

And the "boring" transitional bed. It looks so bare - but once Alex has given it up, we have stuff ready to dress it up too!! :)

This video we shot a couple of nights ago, Alex was dancing to his fridge magnet set - it was just too cute not to pass along!! Enjoy!!

Don't forget to vote for your favorite baby names! It's been interesting to see what you all think as we talk to you and see the results of your votes on here.

Have a GREAT Friday!! :)

New Baby Name?

Hello all!

We have a new "project" for all of you - guess the baby's name! Andy and I are pretty much set on what his name is going to be, although Alexander hasn't been able to say it yet (there goes your theories, Aunts Elly and Sarah).

We just thought that it would be fun to see what you all like!! :) The "polls" close on the 30th, so vote for as many as you like, as many times as you like! :)

No, there will be NO hints from either Andy or I. If you want to talk to Alex, good luck, he's all yours if you can get him on the phone (and he doesn't hang up on you - he has a knack of doing that). :)

Enjoy!!! :)

Toads and Oven Mitts

I know, odd title - but that's what this post is about! :)

This morning Alex and I left for my Dr. appt. When we stepped outside, we noticed a little brown toad sitting at the bottom of our stairs. As we went down 2 of the stairs, he jumped, and then Alex noticed him. Alex stopped and just watched the toad. We would probably still be sitting out there watching if I didn't have somewhere we needed to be (and providing the toad would actually sit in the same place for that long....)

Anyway, when we got back home, the toad was still around the stairs, this time over by the garage door. We, of course, had to stop and look for a while. Alex noticed the toad's "neck" going in and out, and Alex tried to mimick that by pulling the skin on his own neck and chin in and out. I am constantly amazed at just how observant that little boy is!!

After lunch and naps, we went to the clinic to see Daddy. (He was having a slow afternoon, and I think Alex wanted to get out of the house - plus my shoulder was hurting....) Yep, the toad was still there. We watched him for a while, until he hopped into the grass.

Once we got back home with Daddy, our little friend was still there, but this time Andy went inside to get the camera to record Alex and his new little buddy. He (the toad) likes to crawl under the car - so I'll have to check behind the tires before I back out for a little while. :)

And now to the "oven mitts" portion of our post. Alex knows where they are in the drawer in the kitchen, and tonight it was just too cute because he had them on both arms, and they were nearly up to his armpits! Guess I don't have to worry about him getting burned (not that he's going anywhere NEAR a hot oven anytime soon!)

On a "sadder" note - I go back to work tomorrow......this summer has been so much fun! I am going to miss the extra time with my little guy, but I also feel so very blessed that I am able to have the summertime to spend with him. I am excited about quite a few of the things that will be happening at school this year, so that should help the year to go by quickly - - but tomorrow morning will be tough leaving him!!