THEY DON'T CALL THEM THE "TERRIFIC TWOS"

So, we are definitely in the Terrible Two's.  I know he's only 19 months old, but he is in his 2nd year and really acting out.  There seems to be 2 Alexanders recently.  The first one is an absolute angel.  He gives hugs and kisses, likes to sit, snuggle and read books.  We took him to dinner the other night and he was perfection!  The 2nd Alexander is a bit of a menace at times.  He hits, bites, and claws when he doesn't get his way.  He throws temper tantrums and is super whiny. 

We are trying to get a handle on his aggressive behavior, but so far nothing is really helping.  We've been doing time outs in his crib until two days ago when Chris literally caught him on his way out of his crib.  Yes, apparently he can now climb out.  Awesome.  So then I put him on a chair in the kitchen, which he thought was fantastic and laughed and smiled the whole time.  Then I tried putting him in his room for 1 minute and he promptly let himself out (first time for opening doors as well).  Chris and I are trying to come up with a new time out area and we're going to try a chair in the guest room.  I'm sure we'll need to use it at some point today, so hopefully it will work. 

I know that he will eventually out grow this stage and he is just testing his independence, but it is really hard.  I knew that motherhood wasn't going to be easy, but recently it has been ridiculously difficult.  Don't get me wrong, I still get lots of hugs and kisses which are wonderful, but I could use a little less of the hits and bites.  And I know that this is only magnified because my crazy pregnancy hormones are making me super emotional.  Also, Chris has been working the past few weekends to try to get his paper finished and then next weekend he's going cross country.  So it's been a lot of just Alexander and I.  Luckily for us, Chris took today off so that we all get a break together.  And so far, it is lovely! 

NEW PICS

Making paper airplanes with Daddy!

Cheesing for the camera

He apparently decided that his tractor was dirty.

With his new best friend, George!

SICK

So on Friday I took my perfectly healthy baby to the doctor for his "well baby" appt and on Sunday morning he wakes up with a fever.  Now I realize that I don't know for sure that he picked something up in the Dr office, but it sure seems that way to me.  Frustrating!!!  Yesterday his fever peeked at 103.5 but today I haven't seen it go higher than 101.1.  Thank goodness!  Hopefully this is not a repeat of his 105 temp from a month ago.  He's in really good spirits though.  Not quite as lively as his normal, go-go-go self and you can see that something is not right through his eyes.  His appetite is also almost non-existent, but he is a happy little guy! 

Today is technically President's Day and Chris has the day off from work.  Unfortunately he went into work this morning at 6:30 and is still there.  He is working on his Masters thesis paper and is at work so that he can focus and make a lot of progress.  I think his goal is to be completely finished by the time the new baby comes.  I know he can make it, it just means us giving him up a little bit between now and then.  Which we don't like, but we understand. 

We had an open house yesterday and worked really hard to make the house look perfect.  And it did!  There is no way it could ever look better with us still living here.  And we had a total of 2 visitors!  Our realtor said that one could possibly be a prospect, but not likely.  Oh well!  All that hard work for nothing.  I'm sure someone will come around soon that wants to buy our house for loads of money!!!! 

OFF THE WAGON

Okay, so I know that my last post was all about my New Year's Resolution to post more frequently, but I fell off the wagon right away.  We have had so much going on in our lives (and still have so much going on) that I haven't really had the time or energy to sit down and write.  Most of you already know, but I am pregnant!!  Yay!  We are super excited and were really hoping to have our children about 2 years apart.  Well, I'd say that 25 months is pretty close to 2 years!  I'm 12.5 weeks along, due August 28.  So, you could say over the last couple of months I have really struggled to keep up with my always moving toddler and that blogging was the last thing on my mind!  I was feeling pretty bad and have been absolutely exhausted, but feel like my old self is starting to come back some now.  I don't get nearly as nauseous as I was and I'm not quite as tired, but still really appreciate nap time and sometimes go to bed around 8:30 or 9pm.  Being pregnant with your second is a completely different ball game.  When I was pregnant with Alexander all I had to do was get through a day at work (super easy when you sit at a desk all day!) and then come home and lie on the sofa, and then go to bed.  Now, my current boss doesn't quite understand why I want to just lie down for a few minutes.  But, I feel like it is all getting better.  Once I have my energy back, things will be great. 

We're also dealing with an impending move.  Of course we're not sure exactly when or where we are going, but we know that it's soon.  So our house is on the market, which is just stressful on it's own.  But now I have to make sure it's spotless at all times in case someone wants to see it at a moment's notice.  We've had quite a few showings so far, and some interest, but no bites yet.  We're having an open house on Sunday, so hopefully that will generate some more interest. 

The weather has been wonderful so we've been taking advantage and really playing outdoors this week.  Alexander LOVES playing outside so this has been great!  We had his 18 month well baby check (yes, he just turned 19 months) this morning and he's looking good!  He weighs 25lbs (44%) and is 34" long (69%).  The doc said this was still good, he's following his own curve. 
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Well, that's all for now.  I'll try to post soon and get some recent pics up.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

Happy New Year's to all!!!  Since the last 6 months of my blogging has been very sporadic and infrequent my New Year's resolution is to blog more often.  I really enjoy sharing what the Troyer's have been up to and it's a great way to look back and reflect on our family.  With Alexander growing up so fast, time just seems to slip away from us.  I look at him everyday and cannot believe how amazing he is.  Right now he loves to sing.  I couldn't tell you what exactly he is singing, but he is definitely singing...all day!  It's really sweet. 

We were able to go home to Kentucky for several weeks over Christmas and really enjoyed getting to spend some good time with family and friends.  Alexander loved playing with all of his relatives!  This trip definitely went better than our October trip in terms of his sleeping.  He slept so much better everywhere we went.  However, he still was on a hunger strike many nights at dinner.  I'm really not sure what that's about, but he seems to be a bit better now that we're home.  He is still really picky, but we keep trying new things.  He's trying to use a fork and a spoon, so this helps some with getting him to eat.  He thinks it's fun to use utensils like mommy and daddy. 

Here are a few pics that we had taken this fall.  I hope this new year finds everyone happy and healthy.  I know we have a lot going on this year with Chris expecting a new assignment, but I think it will be a good year.