Alexander's birthday party!

So it's official Xander will be having a big birthday blow out on May 30th (his actual birthday) at 11:30am at the ELM Center in town. I sent out all the invites so if you didn't get yours let me know (or blame the PO b/c I never forget or lose anything......). I ahd a lot of people ask me for gift ideas so I made a list here: http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/2LP38PL1ZOL9E. Let us know if you are coming and we hope to see everyone then!

Xander is 11 months old!

The things I can't seem to believe today: It's May!, in a few short weeks my baby will be a toddler, my "baby" is walking around and would rather play by himself most of the time than be cuddled by me, he is going to be going to a big boy daycare, how tired I am.... I took some pics yesterday on his bday so I'll have to download them and post but now I am going to flop on the couch b/c that is all I seem to have the energy for today!

Going back to work after vaca is no fun!

I love what I do and know that it matters...... and yet somehow coming back to work does not have the same joyous tone as 2 weeks of doing nothing did! Luckily I had a few more days of reprieve than Frank did.... I think Xander and I both needed it! Poor little man has had a bit of a rough go recently. First the double ear infection when we came back from MO, then diarrhea from the antibiotics, then vomiting and more diarrhea from a stomach bug that we all seem to have caught, then a very long plane ride, feeling slightly better, and then more vomiting and diarrhea(return of the stomach bug or teething?) only this time accompanied by a fever and lethargy followed by ANOTHER long plane ride. The first few days we were back he was napping like 4 hours at a time! Fortunetly (or unfortunetly depending on how you want to look at it) he is feeling better but is therefore sleeping less and to top it all off is now cutting at least 2 but I suspect 4 new teeth! His 2 top incisors have poked through and my guess is that the 2 middle top ones won't be far behind! Poor Frank was up more than he cared to be with him last night while I was at work. At least when I am at home with him I can nap when he naps- although I don't ever seem to get much done that way. Frank is relegated to sleeping on the floor of his office during his lunch break. Someday soon Xander will go back to sleeping through the night, right???????????

Greetings from the land of Aloha!

Hello from Hawaii! Our vaca is almost over but we've been having fun so far!  We went on a helicopter ride, went to a luau, have spent an excessive amount of time sleeping and lounging by the pool, not to mention eating... Both Frank and I got massages and despite a round of the stomach flu fun is being had by all!  Off to the beach for our last afternoon here.  More when we get home...

Xander is 10 months old!

and yesterday on his 10 month birthday he started walking! There is something about his birthday that leads to his hitting developmental milestones so I am a little afraid to see what 12 months will bring! He is such a little peanut it is hilarious to watch him otddle around. I am so bummed that I wasn't able to get it on video but he just wasn't cooperating with the camera last night. I am sure we'll get shots of him soon though! The funny thing was that he started walking while we were out at girl's night so poor Frank missed it, but he obliged by showing off his new skill to daddy as soon as we got home.

It's going to be a very busy couple a weeks. In sad news Frank's Grandmother Linnenbringer died on Friday after a long illness. So we are heading to MO tomorrow for the funeral. Not exactly how I wanted to see Frank's family again but it will be nice to see everyone. We come back from MO on Sat morning and then I have to work sat, sun, tues, and wed nights before we leave Fri to head off to Hawaii for a week. 4 plane trips in 2 weeks will be quite intersting with a 10 month old! The thing I am looking forward to the least is the packing, unpacking, and packing again that will have to happen in the next week. I hate laundry! In some ways it is good that I am a planner b/c I have most of our HI stuff set aside so it should be pretyy easy to just chuck it all into the suitcases. It's all of Xander's stuff that is a pain. Babies require so much planning, especially now that he is eating- but not eating big people food yet!

Oh and his other big thing these days is clapping and giving hi-5s. Here he is at girl's night sitting in Amy's lap clapping away. Amy's daughter Taelor is in the background.

Well hopefully my next update will contain lots of pictures of up enjoying the beautiful Hawaiian weather! Aloha..........

Our little man...

is apparently truly a little man! He had his 9 month well child visit yesterday and weighed in at a whopping 17.5 lbs, 27 in long and head circumference of 17.5 inches. That puts him in >5% for weight, 8% for height and 25% for head size. What a peanut! Of course when we went in for his visit he had a fever, so I asked them to check his ears and sure enough he has an ear infection. The Dr said that it wasn't bad but there was quite a bit of fluid there. Normally he wouldn't treat him but seeing as he has only gained a lb in the last 3 months he wanted to see if we could clear his ears up and perhaps that would encourage him to eat/sleep better. I think he is just too darn busy to gain weight! He is either sleeping or on the move- nothing in between! So here with go with the abx again. Hopefully this time they won't give him diarrhea b/c that isn't going to help him gain weight! He started on multivitamins too. We go back to the dr in 2 weeks for a weight check and then again in 6 weeks to have his ears rechecked and if that all looks good back again at 12 months.

Developmentally though he is ahead of the curve in most aspects.

Xander is 9 months old!

Where has the time flown? I was supposed to have new stats to give you all but Xander's dr had to reschedule his appointment so now we don't get to go for another 3 weeks. Oh well... Somehow in this picture though my little peanut looks like a total chub! so cute.... Don't you just live the fro? I have no idea what caused his hair to stick up like that but it was adorable. He crawling like a maniac- I can't believe he has been crawling for a whole month- it seems like just a few days ago. He is also cruising like crazy. We finally got the baby gates up on the stairs so we can prevent the climbing. Recently he has been working on squatting and letting go while crusing- he had managed to stay aloft for a whole 30-45sec before he has to grab on again. And he cut his 2nd tooth! It's the front bottom right one- so now he has his 2 front bottom teeth. You can only see them when he smiles really big b/c otherwise they are hiding under his tongue. He has been doing a lot of tongue sucking since we got rid of the pacis. In fact his tongue seems to be permanently protruding from his mouth!