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.