GET 50 FREE CHRISTMAS CARDS FROM SHUTTERFLY

Two weeks ago we had our family pictures taken on probably the coldest and windiest day of the year so far.  We just got them back and I love them!  I can't wait to order my Christmas cards through Shutterfly this year.  They have the BEST choices of Christmas Photo Cards available at  http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards.  We had so many great pictures that I can't decide if I want to do a single photo card like this one:


or if I want to do a card with multiple pictures on it of the whole family like this one:



The choices are amazing!  I'm not sure how I will ever decide, but I know that I'm going to have fun creating the cards.  I guess you'll just have to wait to see what comes in the mail!! 

They also have a lot of other fun holiday/gift options.  I'm thinking about possibly doing a calendar for some grandparents with lots and lots of pictures of their adorable grandson!  Shutterfly has a lot of great selections on calendar formats as well:  http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars.

And since we just had some family pictures made, I'm thinking about using Shutterfly to do a canvas print of one or more of our pictures.  I think that one of these would look amazing hanging in my house somewhere. 

Find out how you can get 50 Free Holiday Cards from Shutterfly:   http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Took Alexander for his first Big Boy haircut yesterday. There were a lot of tears, but his hair looks so cute!

15 MONTH WELL BABY

Friday we took Alexander for his 15 month well baby check up and he is doing great. He weighs 24.2 lbs (43%), is 31 3/4" tall (65%) and his head is 18 1/2" (42%). He also had to get 2 shots. He cried quite a bit with the shots, but he calmed down pretty quickly afterwards. He is such a trooper!!


As you can imagine, he is walking and running everywhere! I can hardly keep up with him sometimes. He's a very happy, chatty little guy. He doesn't speak a lot of "words" yet, but you can tell that he is on the brink. He's starting to really try to repeat what your saying and paying very close attention to the names of objects and people. It's amazing to watch him figure things out. I also think he's very smart (I know, I'm his mom, of course I think he's a genius!!). This morning, Chris and I were sitting at the kitchen table and Chris asked him where his boat was. He went over to his bookshelf and looked at the books and then found the one he wanted, brought it to me, and he found a picture of a boat. He is an amazing genius!!!


He is also very, very affectionate these days. He loves to give out hugs and kisses to us. And really it's not just to his mom and dad. He gives them to the neighbor, the kids in his music class, and strange kids at the park. He's such a sweetie!! It is the best feeling to have him run up to you and throw his arms around your neck.

KENTUCKY TRIP

Here are some pics from our recent trip back home to Kentucky. We had a great time with all of our family. There were definitley some stressful times since Alexander had a difficult time adjusting, but overall the trip was fun!

At Opening Day of Keeneland.

"Uncle CT" with Alexander and Molly

Meeting chickens for the first time with his Grandma Oolie

Mowing the driveway.

COMMUNICATION

Right now it seems as if Alexander is really ripe for learning. He is really picking up sign language and using more signs every day. Here are all the signs he now knows and uses: milk, more, airplane, bath, banana, cracker, nap, and eat. It seems like he's using a new sign every couple of days. We started signing with him at 6 months old and I was really ready to stop by 12 months when he hadn't picked it up at all. And then he started with milk and it hasn't stopped. The last couple of weeks he has been really adding to his signing vocabulary. I can also tell that he is understanding what we say to him a lot more. This is all really amazing and helpful with communication, but we are really hitting a difficult time with him. He has started to throw temper tantrums and his mood can switch to really upset pretty quickly. I feel like at 13 1/2 months he is hitting the "terrible twos". I only hope they don't last too long.

Riding on his tractor.

Being silly with his Mommy!!!

Future QB???

SWIMMING WITH DADDY

Here's a short video of Alexander and Chris swimming yesterday.

HOTTER THAN HELL HUNDRED

This past Saturday, Chris rode in the Hotter Than Hell Hundred and did great! He finished in just over 6 hours. Yes, he rode his bike for 6 hours!!! I am so proud of him. The high for Saturday was about 95, which is hot, but definitely better than 105. He did run into a bit of wind though. I am so impressed that he really has not been all that sore. He was pretty tired, but he said his body didn't feel too bad. Amazing! The race had over 13000 participants and is the biggest one day bike race in the world. Alexander and I were his personal cheering section. He's our hero!!!

Just before the race!

Ringing the cowbell!!!

Alexander has been doing a ton of walking and is getting better and better each day. Yesterday we went to a friend's house and they have a 5 year old boy. Alexander had such a good time chasing Nico around and really showed improvement walking while we were there.

Playing at the park this morning.

Swimming at a friend's house yesterday.

WALKING

Here is a video of Alexander walking this morning. He is getting better and better and braver and braver everyday. While I was in the shower this morning, apparently he followed Chris into the kitchen from the family room. He is amazing!!!

ALMOST WALKING

This week Alexander is making huge strides (literally). He has been testing the waters walking and is really making some progress. The most he has walked on his own is 8 steps, but he frequently will do 5 steps at a time. He's getting steadier too with each day. Sometimes he'll walk back and forth from Chris and I while we're sitting on the floor. He gets tickled with himself sometimes and just smiles and giggles. It's really cute!

Here in Texas it seems that we have the world's largest grasshoppers. They are huge! And anyone who knows me knows that I am not a fan of any type of outdoor creature, including grasshoppers. But it would appear that Alexander does not take after his mother in this area. So he and I have been going "grasshopper hunting" outside. He likes to chase after them and try to catch them. Thank goodness he hasn't yet, because I'm not quite sure what we'll do then. But he really enjoys getting close to them and touching them. Then they always go sailing away and he laughs. It's pretty fun and I guess I should be glad that we aren't "tarantula hunting" or "scorpion hunting"!!

He's also been learning some new tricks. He knows where his head and belly are and will touch them when you ask him too. He knows what sound a duck makes and his interpretation of a "quack" is super cute! He also makes "vroom" sounds when pushing around his toy trucks. Everyday he makes me smile from ear to ear. He is just so wonderful and Chris and I are so lucky!!!

This coming Saturday is Chris's big bike race. We're all really excited! I think he's going to do really well. His goal is 100 miles in 6 hours! He did a 75 mile ride this past Sunday and it went great. Also, right now the forecast for Saturday is a high of 95 which would be a lot better than 105. So keep him in your thoughts this weekend.

Eating a fruit pop!

Practicing walking around the ottoman

Looking outside for grasshoppers

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME

Well, it's been a really long time since I posted anything. We were on vacation as a family for 3 weeks, home for 1 week, and then Alexander and I were back in KY for 1 week. Vacation was wonderful!!! It was so nice to see so many of our family members and different parts of the country. Alexander did great, but it didn't start off that way. We started with a cast and a fever. After we got to the beach he ended up with a rash and then a huge bout of separation anxiety which I believe was related to the 1 year molars that came through that week. He definetly went through a lot that first week, but after the teeth came through he was a much happier little guy.

Playing with his cousin, Molly.

At the beach, we celebrated Alexander's 1st birthday! It was a lot of fun and it appears that he is a big fan of cake! (I'm sure no one is really that suprised!!)

Doing the John Wall Dance while parasailing

Our week home in between trips, Alexander went to the Dr for his 12 month well baby check and to get his cast off. He was in the 50th% for height and weight: 30in and 22lbs. He had to get shots and blood drawn though, neither which was fun, but he did really well.

The week back in KY, Alexander stayed with my parents for a couple of days while I went to Ohio for a girls weekend with some girls from college. Even though it was super difficult for me to leave him (I knew he was in good hands), I had a great time on the trip and I think he really enjoyed himself as well. Regardless, I was very excited and anxious to get back to KY to him.

Now that we're back in town and getting back into our normal routine, it feels good. We really missed Chris for the week away from him. I love the fact that not working allows me more time to travel, but I miss him so much when he's not with us.

It is so hot here in Texas right now that we spend most of the day indoors. I signed us up for swimming again, so we're doing that on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. He absolutely loves getting into the pool!

Chris is still training for his big bike race on August 28. Today he did a 4 hour ride and completed 68 miles. He is doing so great!!!

That's it for now. I'm going to try to get back to posting more often.

SEND ME ON MY WAY...

On day 2 of our vacation, the three of us are in Augusta, GA for the night. It's kind of a bummer because we are supposed to be in Goldsboro, NC visiting with our good friends. Unfortunately, we started our trip a day later than we planned due to Alexander having a fever. Luckily, he is feeling much better now!!! But I felt really bad not getting to make it so see our friends, but I guess that is how it is when you have kids. Plans have to change sometimes.

Alexander has been great so far on our travels. We turned his car seat around and he's loving his new view. However, I think it may be affecting the amount of sleep he's getting. He doesn't seem to be sleeping much in the car at all. Even when we got him up at 4am Thursday morning, he probably only slept 2 hours all day! But even without a ton of sleep, he's doing great! I know that I've said this before, but Chris and I have been very blessed with a good, wonderful baby!!!!

CAST

Here's a quick post before we leave for vacation. We took Alexander to the pediatrician today where they put a cast on his arm. Unfortunately it has to be one that goes over the elbow so that he can't get it off. He should be wearing it for about 3-4 weeks and then hopefully he'll be all healed up. Consequently he cannot get the cast wet either, which affects our beach and lake vacations that we are getting ready for. Oh well, I'm sure we'll make it work.

SPEED RACER

Chris has recently purchased a road bike and is training for the Hotter N' Hell Hundred. This is a 100 mile bike race that is held here in Wichita Falls every August, when it's usually 100+ degrees. Cycling is something that he has been very interested in for a while now and has been wanting to get into. I'm so proud of him! He is working really hard in his training program and seems to be progressing really well. Just this past weekend he went for a 37 mile bike ride. This is still a far cry from the 100 miles he'll complete in August, but quite a feat none the less. He is very diligent and really seems to be enjoying this new sport. We bought a bike rack for our car and will be toting along the bike this summer on our vacation. I think it's pretty cool that he'll be able to go on bike rides all over the country this summer. To me one of the best things about cycling is the fact that you can cover so much ground in a short amount of time as which is very different than running. He'll be able to see the world in a different view.

Here's a picture of him in his "biker gear". For his birthday, Alexander gave him the UK jersey. He looks awesome and Alexander and I cannot wait to cheer him on in August!!!

TOUGH AS NAILS

On Saturday morning, we had to take Alexander to urgent care. The poor little guy has a broken arm. He did it Friday afternoon just playing as normal. He took a little tumble and tried to catch himself with his hands. He cried a little bit, but that was all. Later that night Chris and I noticed that he couldn't put any weight on that hand to crawl. We felt around on his arm, hand, wrist, and shoulder and couldn't find any tender spots. There was no swelling or redness so we decided to wait and check him out again in the morning. He slept great all night, woke up in a wonderful, happy mood but once he tried to crawl he was having the same problems. We took him to the urgent care where they took an x-ray and found a fracture. They couldn't cast it there and they didn't have any splints small enough, so the dr said to take him to our pediatrician on Tuesday so they can look at it. She didn't seem concerned about that, she told us to just try to get him to not put any pressure on the hand/arm in the mean time.

He has been amazing! He is so tough, I can hardly believe it. He has been in such a good mood the entire time, that it must not hurt unless he tries to crawl. He is still using it to eat, grab toys and play. The only time he fusses is when he tries to crawl and we don't let him. I think he is pretty annoyed at not being mobile. I feel so bad for him, but he is amazing. I can't wait to go to the pediatrician on Tuesday to hear what he has to say.

As parents this has been really hard on Chris and I. I have been so emotional and upset about "my baby breaking his arm". I just feel like I have let him down. I know that he has to be able to play and explore and I know that he will fall, but I just never expected this. As a mom, you want to protect them from everything. Yet I couldn't. It does help seeing how happy he still is and knowing that it must not be hurting much, but it still breaks my heart.

Today we went to a friend's house for a bbq and a pool party. This was wonderful for Alexander since he loves to swim and he can do that without hurting his arm. He stayed in the pool for a long time splashing and kicking with his daddy. I think he loved expending some energy that he is otherwise not using since he can't crawl. I just loved sitting on the side watching how much fun he was having. Things felt good.

A LITTLE BIT SAD...

Tonight I am a little bit sad. After 11 1/2 months of breastfeeding, Alexander is completely weaned. I have been gradually decreasing the number of daily feedings with a goal of weaning by July 1. I was worried before dropping each feeding, but he handled each one really well. My biggest concern was the one right before bed. It just seemed to be so much of what relaxes him and he always seems to be in such a hurry to get to it. Chris was gone tonight (his class is graduating and he is involved in the ceremony) so I was thinking about putting it off until tomorrow, but I decided to try it alone. I know this sounds strange, but I felt like I owed it to Alexander to not hide out in the hallway. I wanted to be in there with him. So, I went through all of our normal routine: bath, diaper and lotion, pajamas, and then instead of nursing I gave him a little milk in a sippy cup as I read him his story. He drank it happily, listened to the stories, and when I put him down in his crib he went to sleep quietly. It could not have gone any better, which I am so thankful for.

Before he was born, I really didn't think that I would be able to breastfeed for this long. I figured that teeth would scare me into stopping, but I am so happy that I have been able to give him this gift. This past year, he has been very happy and healthy and I hope that part of that reason is because of my milk. I am happy to officially have my body back to myself, but I feel a loss that my baby no longer needs me in that way. I know that he still needs me in lots and lots of ways and that growing up is a good thing, but I just feel a bit sad. This past year has been a blur and we're going to be celebrating his first birthday in 2 weeks. I just hope that the next 30 years don't go by this quickly, but I'm sure they will.

MY DADDY by Xander the Awesome, aka Alexander Burke Troyer

My daddy is awesome! I love him so much. He lets me do really cool things, especially when my mommy is not around. I get to eat food that has dropped onto the floor (he always says, "You have to eat something dodgy every now and then" and I totally agree), I get to splash in the bathtub for as long as I want even after I have soaked all of the walls and the floor, we fart all the time and then laugh about it especially when it is really stinky, and he lets me climb all over him and then tickles me. I love my daddy because when he goes to work in the morning he gets to wear pajamas! Mommy never lets me wear my pajamas all day. And he has all of these really cool patches, lots of pockets, and he carries around a pen and pencil that I like to take out of his pocket. Sometimes he doesn't like it when he can't find them to put them back, but by then I usually don't remember where they are either. He is great at playing ball and he tells the funniest jokes! He also gives the best hugs and has the best voices during story time. And I think that he might be a super hero that goes around making the grass shorter. I get told that I look a lot like him which I take as a compliment, but I'm not sure how since I have so much more hair than he has. I know that he will always take good care of me and I will love him forever. He is my bestest friend.

ZOO'S WHO?

Last weekend Chris went cross country to Florida, so Alexander and I were on our for a couple of days. On Saturday we went to the zoo that is a little over an hour from here. It is a very small zoo in Gainesville, TX, but it is very nice and very well kept. Despite the heat, we had a great time together. Since Alexander really loves to be outside I figured that this would be a fun outing for us. He wasn't really into all of the animals, but he seemed to enjoy himself. I definitely think we'll be making a repeat trip sometime.

This past week was Chris's 30th birthday!!! I can't believe that we are both turning 30 this year. We met when we were only 18 years old and it's hard to imagine that we are now in our 30's! Since Chris had to work that day (he got to fly twice!!) we took him out to dinner and then we had ice cream cupcakes for dessert at the house. It wasn't anything to big, but we are planning on having a nice weekend to celebrate that and his first Father's Day.

Today, Alexander and I had a nice day despite the fact that he refused to take a morning nap. For lunch we went over to a friend's house that we met through music class for a play/lunch date. There were two little two year old girls and a 6 month old girl. He's kind of out of his league with the 2 year olds, but he found them very interesting. You can tell he wishes that he could run around after him. And I know that it won't be very long before he is following them around. I really enjoyed getting to spend time with the other moms. This is something that I thought was going to be easier, but it seems that I haven't been able to find many moms to hang with during the day. Almost everyone we know has kids older than Alexander, so it was a great time to chat with new friends.

Then this afternoon (after the long awaited nap) we went to a local park where they have a "spray park" for kids. It is a very scaled down version of a water park for little ones. There are slides and fake animals to climb on. This is all in a big wading pool which at the center is about 2 feet deep, but then gets shallower as you get to the edge. Once again we met some moms from his music class and I wasn't too sure how much he would like it. But he loved it!! The minute I sat him down (near the edge) he started splashing up a storm! I was trying to hold onto him so that he wouldn't topple over, but he kept pushing my hands away. He eventually got on all 4s and crawled around through the water. He had a blast! We will definitely be going back there again. This kid loves being in the water. Which is a good thing since we are starting swimming lessons next week. This will be a 2 week, M-Th class at an outdoor pool through the YMCA. I'm really looking forward to being in the pool with him on a regular basis for a little while.

REAL FOOD

So for the last week I have been trying to make Alexander "real" food. I'm trying to get away from pureeing everything and starting to make him recipes. So far, he is loving it. He had red meat for the first time tonight in a pasta dish and he loved it! It feels good knowing that he is still eating healthy meals, but he is trying new things as well. And I must say, everything that I've made is super delicious! I feel like with a few more spices, Chris and I could eat this for dinner too!!

We bought a little play pool for Alexander to help beat the summer heat. He's pretty cute in it. He loves it for the first little bit, but then he gets a little sick of it and wants out. Chris and I like it because it helps cool us off a little.

He has also been "moving furniture" recently. He loves to practice walking, so he has been taking our dining room chairs and pushing them around the kitchen. He gets very frustrated when he runs into a wall and gets stuck. I usually have to help him figure out that he needs to go in another direction, but he's so happy pushing the chairs around. It's pretty cute to watch!

Watching Daddy Mow The Lawn

PLAYING CATCH UP

Since it has been so long since my last post, I'll give a few highlights and some pics.

California: The three of us went to Oakland, CA for my big brother's graduation from Berkeley with his PhD in Engineering. The trip was mostly a success except for the 2 day delay in getting there where we spent two nights in Dallas because of weather. It was not ideal, but we made lemonade out of lemons and tried to enjoy ourselves especially on the upgraded First Class flight. Alexander did really well with the change in plans which we really appreciated. Once we made it to California we had a great time. It ended up being a much shorter visit than planned, but it was still great to see all of our family! Alexander had a little trouble adjusting to the two hour time difference, but overall he did well. He's a pretty good little traveler.

With his Frostine in California

Food: He has been eating a ton of food recently. We keep introducing new foods and he enjoys feeding himself when possible. His favorites right now are string cheese and squash. I am in the process of weaning him from breastfeeding and it seems to be going well. I have a goal date of July 1st to be completely weaned. I would normally have gone a little bit longer but, we're going on a 3 week trip this summer and them I'm going on a girls trip for a few days in August. He had been down to two nursings a day and then this morning we dropped the morning feeding. It seemed to go okay. Chris got him up from his crib, changed his diaper and then brought him right into the kitchen to feed him breakfast. There was a bit of whining because he was hungry, but a lot better than I expected. The trick is just making sure he's getting enough milk from the sippy cup throughout the day and he's getting much better at it everyday.

I expected to feel really relieved, but I'm kind of sad to be weaning him. I'm ready to have my body back to myself, but I will miss the guaranteed cuddle times. He is not the cuddliest baby so it's hard to get lots of hugs and down time. But I know that it's just the way things go...

Mobility: Well, it's official. He is a crawler! He moved on from rolling to a sort of "commando crawl" which was on his belly and he would kind of drag himself along, and now he is doing the traditional "crawl" everywhere. And he is getting really quick! When he sees something he wants he does this excited little squeal and then heads straight for it. It's super cute!!! He also likes to walk holding onto our hands and he's getting better and stronger everyday. He pulls himself up onto EVERYTHING and cruises around pretty well. I'm starting to get used to the little tumbles and small bruises because I know it will only get worse as he starts walking.

Words: He is still not saying anything coherent or discriminate except for "Dada". He says (sings) it all the time, but he also knows for sure that Chris is his Dada. And he is so crazy about his Dada! It's really cute how much he loves to follow him around and Chris can get him laughing like no one else. It is so sweet for a wife and mother to witness. They really have a great bond.

Activities: Alexander and I are doing a music class this summer and we are both really enjoying it. He loves the songs and all of the other kids and I'm enjoying getting to know the other moms. He also loves to go to the park and swing in the baby swing.

Teeth: Still six teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom, but another on the bottom is breaking through as we speak. And it looks like his eye teeth are getting ready to come in on top. He seems to be handling it alright. Over the last week, he's woken up a few times in the middle of the night screaming for a couple of hours not really wanting to go back to sleep unless you hold him or are touching him. We're not sure what this is about, but it could be tooth related or maybe even related to weaning, or possible the fact that he's more mobile now. We're just really hoping it comes to an end soon, because Chris and I are super tired. We're not used to getting up in the middle of the night anymore.

Summer Plans: We have a very busy summer this year. We just had a visit from Grandma Oolie last weekend. Alexander (and his mommy and daddy) loved having her here. He had a blast playing with her all weekend and it was so nice having another pair of hands around the house to help out. Chris and I were also able to get in a date night while she was here.

In July we're going on a 3500 mile road trip. (Yes, we are insane to take a one year old for that long in the car.) We'll be heading to the beach in South Carolina, to Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan! Wish us luck as I'm sure we'll need it!!!

Here is Alexander with his favorite toys in his favorite room in the house!!

MOTHER'S DAY

Yesterday was a very wonderful first Mother's Day. Chris made pancakes and bacon for breakfast, we went for ice cream and then he made hamburgers and potato wedges for dinner. They also gave me a "Spoil Me Rotten" present which was unnecessary, but totally loved!!

Last Mother's Day when I was pregnant I thought that I deserved to celebrate this holiday. But I truly had no idea yet what motherhood was all about. I knew that I loved my unborn child, but I had no idea to what degree until the day he was born. And every day since July 16 that love has grown even bigger. I thank God everyday for blessing Chris and I with a healthy, happy, beautiful, little boy. Alexander has quickly become my world and I am so happy and proud to be his mother. Sometimes the responsibility is quite overwhelming when I think that I am teaching him and molding him into the man he will one day become. And I can only hope and pray that the decisions that we make today will only help him and not hinder him in the future. I know that Chris and I both try to be a good example to him and show him how much he is loved and how much we love each other. Motherhood really is truly an amazing blessing and I cannot imagine not ever having experienced this. With that being said, I wouldn't want to experience it with anyone but Chris. He is the MOST wonderful husband and father. Thank you for making me a mom.

I want to also thank my own mother. She has been the best example on how to be a good mom. I finally understand how much she loves me and I hope that one day Alexander will too. She has always been my rock and my biggest cheerleader. And now I can say that she is also a best friend. I love you, mommy!!

SWIMMING FUN

This has been the first week since we started swimming that Chris has not had to work nights. He was able to go to with us and watch his little fish in action. Here are a few pics of Alexander and I in the pool.

Here are also a few cute pics of him in his pajamas the other morning.

9 MONTHS

Today, Alexander is 9 months old. I cannot believe it! Time is just flying by!! I haven't had a chance to blog recently so here is a quick update:

Teeth - 6

His 6th tooth just popped through earlier this week. It's hard to believe that at the beginning of March he didn't have any teeth at all and now he has 6! It has completely changed the way he looks, making him look older. They are really cute, though!

Mobility

He is still not crawling, but he does roll everywhere. And he has gotten really good at changing the direction he wants to go by just pushing himself around. It's quite funny to watch and he's very quick.

Food

He's eating more and more solid food. Recently he's been eating chicken meals which he seems to really like and also some bread. I've been toasting up wheat bread and then cutting it into little bread sticks that he can feed himself. Yesterday, he was eating his third bread stick and the fourth was on a plate on a place mat on the table. He was in his highchair and I was in the kitchen getting my dinner ready. I heard a noise and looked over to find him holding the plate! He had scooted the place mat over and then took the plate off of that to get to the bread stick! I couldn't believe it. I guess I'll have to make sure I put his highchair a little further away from the table from now on!

Swimming

We're still doing swimming lessons and having a blast. He loves being in the pool and seeing all of the other kiddos. And I enjoy being with him and meeting the other moms.

Sleeping

We've transitioned from 3 naps a day to 2 naps a day. He's been taking a shorter nap in the morning and then a longer nap in the afternoon. I really like this schedule and he seems pretty happy on it. He still goes to bed in the evening by 8pm and I get him up at 7am. Some mornings he's awake and waiting for me, other mornings I have to wake him up. But this seems to work really well for us right now.

Fun Stuff

I took him to the park the other day to see if he could swing in the baby swings. He could and did. At first he seemed to like it, but then he wanted out. We'll try again soon because he loves to be outside and right now the weather is great. I planted a bunch of flowers in our flowerbed last week and I brought him outside with me. He sat in his stroller and supervised the operation. He would just sit and laugh and smile. He is truly such a happy baby!

Mom and Dad Stuff

Tomorrow, Chris is volunteering at a 5K race for charity so Alexander and I are going to run in it. This should be a fun morning. Next Sunday I am running a half marathon in Oklahoma City. We're going to go up Saturday and spend the night in a hotel and Chris and Alexander will cheer me on. I've been training for the last couple of months and I'm really excited. This will be my first half marathon.

Chris has been flying a ton. In the last 30 days he has flown 36 times! He's been flying evenings, though. So he has been missing putting Alexander to bed, but gets to spend the mornings with him. He's been getting home about 8:30 - 9pm, so we still get some good quality time at night, which is important.

Alexander is starting to wake up from a nap, so that's all for now.

ALEXANDER'S BAPTISM

This past weekend, family and friends joined us for Alexander's baptism. The ceremony was very lovely, followed by a great party at our house. Alexander was very well behaved, even while the deacon was pouring the holy water over his head. He kind of looked at us like he was a little concerned, but never cried. It was a wonderful morning and a wonderful afternoon for a party. We had great food and company to help us celebrate the occasion. The rest of the weekend with the family was great as well. A fantastic time to catch up and for family to spend time with Alexander. He (and his parents) are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. On Tuesday evening after everyone had left, I was feeding Alexander dinner and he was looking around. I think he was confused as to why it was so quiet!

On Monday, we took Alexander's Uncle Brian and Aunt Claire (aka The Godfather and the Fairy Godmother) up to the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma to do some hiking. They are called mountains, but honestly, after living in Idaho they look like hills. We also went to Meers for burgers. They serve grass fed, long-horn beef burgers and they are the BEST!!!! It is this little hole in the wall restaurant, but we love it! The day was beautiful and Alexander loved being out hiking around the park. And I know that Chris really enjoyed carrying him around in the baby carrier. They were quite the pair.