Look Ma! Toes!

Abby found her toes yesterday. It was so cute, I went in after she woke up from her nap and there she was, holding her feet like the fun new toy they were. She was pretty excited. Of course, she has been doing it ever since when she is on the floor. She has yet to get them to her mouth, but that's okay with me. Of course, Alex thinks that he needs to help her suck on her toes. He enjoys chewing on his toenails right now. (pardon me while I gag)

Look at those chubby legs!

Toes are grand!

So while miss Abby has found her toes, Alex has found new ways to get into as much trouble as he possibly can. Here are some Alexander Antics photos I've gotten in the past couple of days.

Yes, he's on a chair with a ride-on toy.
Can we say accident waiting to happen?

Rain boots in the house? Don't ask me, he put 'em on.

He discovered he can help himself to things on the counter.
So here he is pouring a cup of cheerios for himself.

Nap Wars Episode V: The Crib Strikes Back

Well, the battle continues with Alex and the toddler bed change over. It appears that he doesn't know what he wants. He will take a nap in his bed one day and then want the crib at night. We did really well for a brief couple of days, but then last night he decided that he wanted to sleep in his crib. Now this is all well and good, but ten minutes after lying in his crib, he was ready to go back to the toddler bed again. I said okay and he was off to sleep in big boy bed. Was this the end of the craziness to the night? No. He jumped out of bed and ran out of the room multiple times. Three strikes and he was back in the crib again. Now I'm not entirely sure how this is supposed to work with the crib to big bed changeover, but it has not been such a smooth ride. Today he wanted to nap in his bed again so I suppose tonight we will try it again. Abby on the other hand is still being a gem when it comes to the sleeping trials. I believe she truly enjoys sleeping. Maybe it's a girl thing, because right about now, I could use some zzz's myself.

The Rest of the Family

Well, so far you've met my family...Alex, Abby, Josh and...well...me. Now let me introduce you to the rest of my family. As many may know, we have cats. Not just a couple, mind you, but rather five of them. You are probably saying, "Five cats?!? Are you insane!?!" Why yes. It is true. There are five furry felines living in our humble abode. It wasn't meant to happen like that, but they are here for the long haul. Three years ago, we lost our precious ferret Mace. He was the best pet you could ask for. I was beyond devastated when it happened because he was much too young to be taken from us (only 5 years old). My mom, God bless her, has always used the theory that replacing a lost pet with a new one right away will take away the pain faster. So she came waltzing over to our house with two adorable kittens. We fell in love right away and our family of two became four. It was one boy and one girl, brother and sister. Being the super Star Wars nerd that I am, we naturally named them Luke and Leia.

And here they are...Leia is the top one and Luke the bottom one.
They adore each other. We call Leia her Highness or Princess because she is so prissy.She only goes to Josh for attention. Luke we call the Hippie. He is so laid back...almost likea surfer-dude. I call him Lucas when he gets into trouble. So naturally I call him Lucas a lot.

Then, after them we of course had Alex. Now while I was pregnant with Alex, Josh and I had to live with my parents for awhile (thanks mom and dad!) and they live in the country. Well, country living usually means outdoor cats. And outdoor cats lead to kittens. This mother cat had kittens and she was very sick herself and unable to care for them after they reached about 5 or 6 weeks old. The kittens also became incredibly ill. They developed a horrible lung infection that traveled to their eyes. Their eyes were so infected that they became closed and nearly blind to the world. They were infested with fleas and starving. Being pregnant only made my love of these little critters so much more and so I took it upon myself to nurse the three of them back to life. The vet said that they had almost no chance of survival, but after a bath, some medicine, bottle feedings around the clock and loads of TLC later...they made it through and our family went from 4 to 8 over the course of the summer. Now Let me introduce you to Penny...

She has only one eye because the other one popped out after the infection destroyed it. Yes...I said popped out. It was the most disturbing thing to see happen. She had her first surgery before she was even 10 weeks old and did beautifully. She is Alex's best friend. She loves him and
wouldn't hurt him for all the cheese in the world. (She loves cheese...can smell it a block a way.) I called her Penny Angel for the longest time because I truly believe she was a little miracle from God.
Then there is Jasmine...
She has only 1 and a half eyes. It doesn't seem possible. I know.
But the infection made half of one of her eyes messed up. A film grew over
it and so she has limited vision in it. We affectionately call her Stinky
because she has a severe gas issue. She could bring you to your knees with a single fart.
And last, but not least, we have Logan.

He lucked out and kept both of his eyes. But he still has problems with one eye. It drains a bit from time to time. We called him Logan because he was like a little Wolverine (that would be on of the X-Men if you didn't already know). He growled a lot as a baby and fought for food like it was his last meal. Now we call him Chicken because that is what he is. He is scared of everything except spiders. He's my hero kitty because he kills all the nasty brown recluses in our house.

So now you know the rest of our happy family. It's great having five cats...most of the time. The litter and cat food bill is mind boggling sometimes, but they are worth it. And it's scary to think that if we had a bigger house, five cats could become 6 or 7. They are wonderful animals and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Nap Wars Episode IV : A new hope

Alex in his dino jammies

Abby smilin' for the camera

Yes, the title is a play on Star Wars. But this time it's not about Luke Skywalker defeating the deathstar, but rather about Alex and Abby's new napping mayhem. It's been an interesting adventure so far the last two years with napping. There have been successes and failures, smiles and tears. But This week I think we have new hope. Abby is the easy one. She has been a little sleeping blessing thus far. She has her off days, but they are few and far between. She sleeps now a regular three times a day for 45 minutes to one hour each and then sleeps beautifully through the night a whopping 10 to 12 hours. Ahh...what a dream.

Then...there is Alex. The anti-sleeper. Since birth, we have battled sleeping problems with him. He was still waking up every two to three hours clear up until his first birthday. Naps were torture for him. He would nap, but quite reluctantly. But in the last 4 or 5 months, he has been fairly regular about them. Right now he get one nap a day that lasts two hours roughly. When Abby came along, we were very close to getting him to sleep in a toddler bed and we were almost successful, until he saw that Abby was in his crib. The diaper doo-doo hit the fan and we had to move his crib back to his room and let him go back to sleeping in there all the time. He slept like a little pro once the crib was back in the picture. Well, this week he whined nonstop for an hour at night when we put him down to sleep and I would go in the room only to find him standing in his crib with his pillow in one hand and blanket in the other. He pointed at his toddler bed, (yes, it is still in his room with his crib...tight quarters), so I said ok and got his multitude of stuffed animals out with his two blankets and 1979 Star Wars pillow. I explained to him that he had three strikes. If he got out of bed three times, then he would go back to his crib. He said okay and believe it or not, the little monkey never once got out of bed. He went to sleep within 5 minutes on his own. He did the same thing for nap the next day and we shall see about tonight. My little boy is growing up. I couldn't have been prouder of him. What awesome little kiddos we have!

Trial by Toddler

I'm finding that an almost 2 year old can be very trying. Sometimes, yes, I admit, I come very close to pulling my own hair out. This is even after I get done trying to explain to Alex that 'we don't pull hair!' It's fun, but a little crazy at times. Today Alex showed me a thing or two about how surprising kiddos can be. I went in to the bedroom to change Abby and put her down for her nap (which she later decided not to take today). I heard Alex carrying on a conversation about something. I heard the word "chip" quite a few times. But he had just eaten lunch an hour earlier so I figured he was merely talking about his lunch. No...this was not what he was doing. He had somehow gotten up to the counter in the kitchen, got the bag of plain corn chips down, opened them up, took them into the living room to his bookshelf, made a pile of chips to eat on the floor and then proceed to take the chip bag back. He went back to his little book corner and read himself some books while eating his pile of corn chips. He looked at me, smiled and said "chip." What a little monkey he can be!

As if this wasn't enough, he decided that he would fast through dinner yet again. Could be the pound of corn chips he ate, could be the fact that he hates nearly all food in general. I'm not sure. But I always thought that children loved spaghetti. I did. I've tried all in my power to get him to eat what I make him, but to no avail. With a milk allergy, cooking in this house has become quite trying. I make almost every single meal Alex-friendly. Of course, this seems to always just get me down after I make dinner, because he NEVER eats what I make. What does he eat you ask? Tyson chicken fingers and green beans. That's about it. This Friday I will be trying to make an Alex-friendly pizza with some vegan cheese that I found. I've heard it tastes pretty good, but it costs a mild fortune. I've tried mac and cheese with the cheddar version of this stuff. I thought it didn't taste half bad. As for Alex...he thought it was ok as long as he doused it in ketchup. Some days I just want to give up on the whole trying new foods thing. But I keep on truckin'. My friend Mandy just got her little one year old, Wesley switched to whole milk. I think I actually started to tear up that I don't get to do that. It's just not fair to have to drink soy-milk. It tastes terrible in case you were wondering. To all you people out there with kids that have zero food allergies, I can only say one thing. Thank God that you don't have to deal with it. It's sad and annoying, trying, and aggravating all at the same time. One day i hope to be past all of this insanity. We just keep praying for his healing and that Abby doesn't end up with the same issues. Until the day God blesses us with healing of his allergies, I guess its chicken fingers and green beans with a side of fruit for this little monkey.

Happy Anniversary Mandy & Sean!

Me & Abby's feet meet!Me & my precious girl!

Alexander smilin'!

Today, my friend Mandy and her hubby Sean have been married for 7 years. So congratulations to them! It seems like only yesterday that they were dating. I still remember the memorable morning that Mandy and I were walking to our morning art class when she announced to me that they were engaged. I remember it well because I'm sure the entire neighborhood heard me screaming for joy for them. It was wonderful news. She married an awesome guy and I'm so glad they have had an awesome 7 years. So here's to you two and 7 times 7 awesome more years!

On to family fun. I thought I would post a couple of pictures I took recently. We have an official laugh from Abby now. She laughed for the first time on Saturday night. And guess who would be the one to make her giggle? None other than her big brother Alex! He was dancing in front of her and she thought it was pretty snazzy and laughed. It was adorable! i must say that the second time around with a kiddo is different. With Alex, I made him laugh first. Now the clown of the family is Alex. He cracks us up with this crazy antics. But we love every moment of it.

Gimme a Break!

Well, it's about that time again. Mommy needs a break! I had a long week without Josh. I thought that once he was home, things would slow down a bit for me and I'd have a moment to breathe. Hmmm...I suppose children think that mom's don't need breaks, because I don't feel that I'm getting a break yet. I woke up this morning with the intent on going to a few garage sales that I had seen on Friday. I figured I would just take little miss Abby with me. After all, one kid is easier to tote than two kids. When I packed the diaper bag up and put Abby in her car seat, I said to Josh, "See you later, I'm going to Mandy's too, so I'll be back in a bit." Mr. Alexander heard this, promptly jumped off of Josh's lap from watching YouTube videos of Billy Joel (he is a YouTube addict...Alex...not Josh), and ran to the door with me yelling, "Mommy! Manny! Manny! (that's Alex for Aunt Mandy) Bye Bye!" He put his shoes on and invited himself on my trip out. One large sigh from me later, and we were off. Josh was left to a three hour adventure time slot in World of Warcraft, and I got the kids...again. Don't get me wrong! I LOVE to spend time with my kiddos. I do it all day, everyday. I wouldn't change things for all the money in the world. But as many mom's will understand, sometimes mom's need a break. So, I believe that I'm about due for a day out. I have no idea what I'm going to do or when I'm going to get to do it, but hopefully I'll go out in the near future.Actually, I'm really just hoping to get out on August 15th. That is the release of Star Wars: Clone Wars. It's a new digital cartoon movie of Star Wars based on Anakin Skywalker before he turned to Darth Vader. For all who don't know, I'm a Star Wars fan...nerd...geek...whatever you want to call it. I can blog about that another time though. I have three passions outside of family and friends and they are Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. I used to be a midnight showing, stand in line for 10 hours for a good seat, total nerd. Having kids has obviously changed that, but in my heart, I will be standing there with all my fellow nerds awaiting that moment when they open the doors and play the movie. So that will be my next outing I think. I'm eagerly waiting for that Mommy's Day Out.

Toxic Drool

Well, it's official. Alex must be allergic to dogs. I have now had two allergy tests ran on him. One skin-prick test that came back positive, and one blood RAST test that came back border-line. The allergist called me two days ago and told me I could probably get a dog as long as it is outdoors. She told me to just monitor his symptoms. Apparently anyone could test positive for allergies. But just because you test positive for one, doesn't mean that you will ever react to it negatively. She just told me to get a dog, see how it goes and if it doesn't work out to just kick the dog to the curb. Well...I can't do that. I want a dog that will stay the family pet. So we figured that one day we will actually have room for a pooch. Of course, our house is quite small and having 2 kids and 5 cats pretty much fills it to the brim.

This theory of getting a pooch when we get a bigger house, is now on hiatus. We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa tonight (my parents...not Josh's). They have 4 dogs...two indoor and two outdoor. When we pulled in and Alex got out, of course the two outdoor dogs came to say hi. Alex, loving doggies, ran to them happily and Cosmo, one of the dogs, licked him on the face. Licked him on both cheeks and his chin. Within one minute, poor Alex had big red spots on his face right where he was licked. For those who are unfamiliar with animal allergies, an allergy to a dog or cat is an allergy to thier saliva...and sometimes urine. It is NOT an allergy to the hair like so many people are led to believe. So those "hypo-allergenic dogs" you hear about aren't worth the big bucks. When a dog or cat licks itself, the saliva dries and when the dog shakes or scratches, the dry flakes of dander become airborne. It is inhaled and causes the allergic reaction. So getting licked caused the damage for Alex. It breaks my heart to think that something he loves so much, like doggies, can be toxic to him. *sigh* I'm a HUGE animal lover. So not being able to have the freedom of having any animal I want for my kids is dissapointing. I always wanted to pass along this love of animals to my children. How am I to do this now? Guess God has a reason for all of this. I just wish I knew what it was.

Daddy Come Home!

We are in the midst of a week without daddy. Josh works for an HVAC company (that's heating and air conditioning). His job sometimes takes him out of town for a few days. This isn't a big deal, but this time it is an entire week. We have never been without him for that long. And this is the first time he's been gone since Abby was born. I admit, the idea of an entire week with no second parent seemed a bit intimidating. But I'm finding that it is going rather well. Alex misses him though. He has looked out the window each evening now, looking for daddy's van to pull in the driveway. He sure does love his daddy! Right now we pass the days with walks, playing outside, and eagerly awaiting daddy's homecoming on Friday.

Now for some updating. Abby is getting so big. She spends most of her time on the floor on her tummy. She loves to watch Alex be crazy. I think she is in awe of her big brother. He brings her toys and hugs her all the time. I think she is growing on him too. I actually caught him today giving her a very sweet kiss on the cheek. It was just adorable. He is such a sweet little man.

As for Alex, he is starting to say more words everyday. Sometimes I think that is only a language that a mother could understand though. He picks up words pretty well, but they are a bit fuzzy to any other humans ear. He is learning names pretty well now too. This past weekend, he learned to say my friend, Mandy's name. It sounds more like 'Manny', but hey...at least he's gettin' the hang of it. And yesterday he surprised me by saying my brother Aaron's name. Part of me wishes he was talking really well and that I could understand everything he says. But then I know that they are only this age for a short time. I'm enjoying the confusion. There's nothing cuter than watching him have a full blown conversation in kid jibberish. He'll talk soon enough. I'm just treasuring the moment.

Mama's Little Safety Cop

Well, I have a smart little cookie on my hand. We all know that getting your wee kiddos buckled up in the car is of utmost importance. I can't agree more with this bit of safety advice. This may be a bit taboo to talk about, but, dare I say that many a mom have probably driven off and simply forgotten to buckle at least one little tike in. I never thought I would fall into this category. Since my addition of Abby to the family, I've discovered that toting two kids around can be exhausting and sometimes a bit overwhelming. So, to ease my distress, Alex has been taught to get into his car seat by himself. He's actually pretty good at it. He of course can't buckle himself up yet, but that's probably for the best. Well, yesterday after a meeting for WIC that I had to go to, I put Abigail in her seat and told Alex to get in his seat. He did so and I went to get in the van myself. Now, usually I turn around and buckle him up. I had to make a phone call to meet my brother so I became preoccupied. I put the van in reverse and as soon as I did, Alex went all nutty in his seat. He starting whining and trying to get my attention. 'Mommy! Mommy!" I said "What is your problem little man?" He proceeded to point to his undone seat belt. I, shocked at my parental slip, gasped and said, "OH MY GOSH!! Good job buddy!" He's now my little safety cop...there to keep me in line when I make that occasional mommy boo-boo.

Yes, We Have No Bananas!

Well, my son is a little thief. Well...not really, but it's kind of funny to say so. He did, however, assist me in not paying for something. We took our weekly trip to the store last Thursday. The name of this store will remain undisclosed to protect our own butts. We went to this store at a time when there were NO checkers to check us out so therefore the lines were WAY too long. Alex sits in the big basket part of the cart now due to Abby sitting in the seat part in her car seat. Well, with the car seat blocking my view of Alex, half of the time I have no idea what he is up to. I just know that I can hear him yelling all the time and can feel the cart bobbing every which way due to his constant jumping and wiggling around. Well at the checkout as we impatiently waited our turn in line, I turned around and was talking to the nice lady behind me. As we were talking, I noticed that mister Alex had become unnaturally quiet. So I peeked over the carseat and there was my little monkey, gnawing his way through a banana that I had yet to pay for. Now, bananas are paid for by the pound, as you may well know. You can't exactly pay for a banana peel. So I laughed and told the lady behind me about a now 'stolen' banana. She laughed and said it was the stores own fault for not having enough checkers. I agreed with her, hid the peel on the bottom of the cart, and went about my business as if it never happened. Oops! What can you do. It's not like the little kiddo had any idea what he was doing. He was hungry and bored. Bad combo to an almost two year old. I better move the bananas to the bottom of the cart next time.

On some more side notes, we had a busy weekend. On Friday, we went to our twin niece and nephew's 7th birthday party. Alex had a blast 'helping' them open thier gifts. Thier names are James and Linda by the way. Adorable little duo of kiddos. Then we followed by going to yet another birthday party on Saturday. My adorable nephew, Wesley turned one. Hooray for Wesley! I guess I should add that he is my friend Mandy's wee kiddo. I call him nephew, because That's what he is for the most part. Mandy's more like a sister than a friend due to the fact that we have known eachother since 1st grade. His birthday was fun, though I do believe Alex enjoyed the present opening more than Wesley.

And on another side note, the reason for a lack of postings this weekend was becuase I'm a WOW wife. For all you non-gamers out there, WOW stands for World of Warcraft. If you are familiar with that game, then you will understand my pain. Josh plays all weekend generally so the computer is far from my reach until the week days come again. So until next posting, that's all for now folks!

A Monkey & A Roly -Poly

So we are the proud parents of a monkey and a roly-poly. I am happy to say that Abby is officially rolling both ways. Front to back came quite early. She did that for the first time before she was even two months old. Last night (just barely before three months old) she decided it was time to roll the other way because she was obviously bored with the easy rolling way. Now she can roll over from back to tummy. And then today she was on her tummy and decided that she wants to scoot forward. I tried to explain to her that there is no rush in the crawling department, but she seems bent on mobility. I believe her actual crawling days are yet a few more months away, but if she follows her monkey brother in suit, then she should be fully mobile by 6 or 7 months old. It's amazing watching her develop. I thought that the second time around with kids would be less surprising. I find it just as amusing and fun the second time around.

Abigail: AKA...The Roly-Poly

Alexander: AKA...The Monkey
This was taken mere moments before he sliced his chin open.

Of course Alex is continuing to be quite the little dare devil. I fear that blood will be shed again before too long at the rate that he is going. I swear it is like raising a little chimpanzee. No place, even some of the baby-proofed areas, seem to be out of reach for him. If this says anything about how crazy he is, it says on the milestones for kids chart that only 25% of kids are able to jump with both feet off of the ground by the age of 24 months. Our little monkey has been doing this for at least 4 or 5 months already and he is only 21 months old right now. We have already had an emergency room visit for shed blood in the last month (standing in the bath tub with a basket on your head apparently isn't safe). Abby is probably going to be just as bad as Alex. But I hear that girls are a bit less crazy. Guess we'll see about that.

The Adventures of Super Bob

About a two weeks ago, we decided that Alex needed a fish of his very own so we set out on a great adventure to Wal-Mart to purchase a small, one-gallon fish tank. Alex picked everything out from the color of the rock to the fun fake plant that would go inside. We waited a week on the advice of my fish-pro friend Mandy and set out on yet another adventure to Wal-Mart to buy the lucky Betta fish that would get to live in Alex's new tank. So this is where we introduce you to Bob. A normal blue-green betta with aspirations to live in a tank bigger than the plastic cup we bought him in.
Now, what poor Bob was unaware of, is that being the fish of a monkey-like two year old, such as Alex, is a much more dangerous course of life than most fish will expect to live. Bob had been happily swimming around his new home for about a week until the dreaded day of July 8th, 2008. It was time for Bob's evening meal of gold-fish flakes (his personal favorite). Alex stood atop a very unsturdy stool while grinning at the unsuspecting Bob. He took a bit of food and placed it in the one-inch opening on Bob's tank lid. Alex's finger became lodged in the hole for just a brief moment. As Bob munched on his dinner without a care in the world, Alex attempted to remove his finger, slipped from the unsturdy stool, quickly pulling the entire tank down in a mere split second! Water went everywhere...Alex was drenched and poor, innocent Bob was helplessly flopping on the carpet while 3 of our 5 cats eagerly awaited a treat of real fish. Alex was crying, so naturally I held him until he calmed down. All the while, Bob still lay helplessly flopping on the ground. Josh went in and got a cup of deadly cold and non dechlorinated water and I scooped Bob up and chucked him in the cup. the disaster that shook Bob's world was finally coming to an end. We were sure it would only be mere moments before Bob would be floating on the water...dead as a doornail.
Ordinarily, any other fish would have died from the shock of this whole scenario. Or at the very least, they would never be the same fish. Bob is no ordinary fish. He is... (enter dramatic music effects here) SUPER BOB!
Super-Bob, we are happy to say, has come through the first Alex-disaster with flying colors. He is thus far, still alive and quite happy to eat his meals today. It's not everyday a fish can have a near death experience and live to tell about it. A round of applause for Super-Bob, please.

Adventures in Vaccinating

Well, today we had yet another fun-filled trip to the doctor's office. Much to Alex's disappointment, when I said we were going bye-bye, we ended up in the one place he dreads most. He never seems to have a good appointment experience. Today we had to go because of a vaccine reaction. You see, Alex is coming to the end of his shots. His most recent one was the MMR. I was not looking forward to it because of all the crazy things you read about. Not only is it a major shot, but it is also the first live vaccine that is injected into these poor kiddos. The statistics say that 1 in 7 kids will get a reaction to this one. The reactions take place between 7 to 10 days after the shot. And if any kid would react, it would be mine. With his history of allergies and fun trips to the hospital and ER, I was not looking forward to this. So exactly 7 days after the shot, he developed a fever that would come and go over three days ranging between 99 and 103 degrees. After many doses of ibuprofen and countless temperature checks, he got past it. No other symptoms arose during the fever. A perfectly normal Alex who just seems to run a little warm. Alas, it was not the end of our adventure in vaccinating. Yesterday he developed a rash on his trunk. According to the nurse via phone, (they must have my phone number memorized by now) a rash was also part of the MMR reaction and it should disappear by 3 days. Today the rash spread to his face and arms and itched him pretty bad. So I called to see if I could give him Benedryl. The wise nurse said it sounded like hives and may be an allergic reaction and I should have him checked. Off to the doc's we went to find out that it was infact a reaction to the glorious MMR. It turns out that a reaction like this is just what they call a non-contagious small case of the measles. Great to know that the shot that they give to protect can also cause so much misery. Next vaccine...Chicken Pox. All I can say to that is...I don't think so.

Fourth of July Fun

Alex & Wesley posing

Alex is teaching Wesley how to clap.

Adorable in her watermelon

Alex, Abby, & Wesley's first group photo

We had our first official BBQ yesterday for the 4th of July. It was very small, because...well...to be frank, we don't really have too many friends. That would be the anti-social in us. Josh and I have never been real socialites. But my friend, Mandy and her husband Sean and their wee one, Wesley joined the festivities with us. My parents and my brother Aaron came over as well. Just your run of the mill BBQ. It was dogs and burgers with brownies and ice-cream for us.
Alex had a blast this year. Having a near-two year old is a bucket of fun. He had been hearing fireworks all week and we officially call them boom-booms. At least, that is what he calls them in his toddler lingo. He was so excited to see and hear them that it was the first word he was yelling from his crib as he was bouncing up and down in the morning. "Boom-Boom! Boom-Boom!" It was quite the day for him. He even got special ice-cream that you can buy for a whopping $5.00 a pint. You see, for those of you who aren't aware of this, Alex is plagued by a milk allergy. Since his first formula was given to him at 6.5 months (with an anaphylaxis-type reaction), he has had to completely avoid milk in all forms or risk another ER visit. And quite frankly, we don't need any more of those. So the ice cream is made of soy milk instead of cow's milk. It was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.
As for Miss Abby, she wasn't phased much by the celebrations. She was just happy to be held and cuddled by everyone. It was a lovely day all in all. I find holidays to be more enjoyable with kids and I can't wait until Abby is old enough to enjoy all of the fun as well.

Shout Out to Uncle Jeremy

Alex say's 'howdy' to Uncle Jeremy

This is a shout out to my brother Jeremy. My brother is over in Iraq right now. He is one of the bravest guys I know! Anyhow, while he's out savin' the world, we are proud to say that there is another wee one on the way from his wife, my sister-in-law, Dianne. We are so excited to see what that little guy is gonna look like. So in hopes that Jeremy gets a chance to see this blog, here's to you bro! Thank you and your troops for all you do. God bless America!!

Mama's Bloggin' It

The Family

Hello everyone! Guess it's time to join the rest of the free world and start Bloggin' It! I have two wee kiddos now and I suppose this would be the best way to keep the entire family and friend network informed as to what is going on. This is a learning experience for me as it is my first attempt at a blog. Every time I talk to family, they ask me why I don't have a blog or MySpace account. So Here you go, all! I'm about to make my family go public. (well, kind of public. I'm not sure who all is going to see this just yet) So enjoy the Blog everyone. Check back often. I'll be updating with pictures and the many antics of Alex and the growing abilities of Abby! Until next time...