The Big "One"

It's hard to believe that Alex has now been in this world for a year! Time sure goes by quickly. Alex's party was a lot of fun. Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day. Things were a little chaotic but what's new. Paul fired up the grill and cooked some tasty skirt steak for the tacos. Our friend Enrique, who is from Mexico, came over early to make salsas. After the tacos we had cake and homemade ice cream. By about 4:00 we were all wiped out. Alex got all kinds of neat toys! I will try to get the pictures posted to Snapfish with in the next few days.

Murphy's Law

What a few last few weeks! To start off, Alex ended up having an ear infection around the time of the marathon. We started him on some medicine and because of his congestion he didn't want his pacifier. I thought that since he went 3-4 days not wanting it that it would be a good time to just part ways. I may have been wrong. I'm not sure if it is that it stays light out so late or that he doesn't have his pacifier, but he refused to go to sleep until about 9:30...which is when it start getting dark. He seem quite restless. Up until the cold and saying goodbye to the pacifier he went down with in minutes. I'm not sure what to do!

Memorial Day weekend we decided to tackle house projects. Of course, that hasn't gone quite as smootly as predicted. We had one door knob that needed replacing, so we went to Lowe's to get a knob. Well, we ended up having to replace all 3 knobs in order for the keys to be the same. Paul also thought it would be a good time to add dead bolt locks. After 5 hours of labor I had two knobs and one lock that kind of worked. We are also cursed by mailboxes. In the 6 years we have had the house, almost every year we have monkeyed with it. They tend to fall forward. We have now purchased our 3rd mailbox and went the cheap route. I figured we had tried expensive stuff and that didn't work....might as well go cheap this time. Once again, not as easy as it seemed. Paul lost a piece to his drill, then the pole was too short so he ended up using the old pole and changing out the box.

Yesterday was my errand day. I felt very efficient until I hit Home Depot. It was my job to pick up the numbers for the mailbox (which we eneded up not needing) and a new water filter for the fridge. I first let a guy use my jumper cables to start his truck and then once I got in the store I couldn't find a thing. I finally found an odd guy to "help" me. After 10 minutes of playing with Alex (literally) he decided to help me. In the end, I answered my own question and he just occupied Alex!

Now to today....the fancy door knobs we bought are the kind that you can always open from the inside no matter if they are locked. Of course I'm not use to that so I went to let Gus out this morning and couldn't get back in. This left Alex standing in his crib waiting for breakfast and me trying to decide which neighbor to scare. Luckily I hadn't showered the night before, and I had changed out of my pjs. I tend to shower and night and go to be with a wet head. With the natural curl in my hair, I end up waking up looking like Albert Einstein on crack!

I hope the day gets better....although I don't hold out much hope...and just so I feel better "Hey, you Space Saver Bag inventor.........You can bit me!"

The Curse of Mile 22!

Another year, another marathon. Yesterday was Paul's 4th marathon. The first year he didn't really train and ran it in 4 hours 25 min. The years following he did train shaving over an hour off of his time. The last two years he has cramped up at mile 22. This year he trained his hardest thinking he just wasn't conditioned enough. Leading up to yesterday he ran 8 times over 20 miles...including a 26 mile run. His goal was to qualify for Boston. For his age he needed to finish in 3 hours 10 min. Unfortunately, at mile 22 he cramped again! He was able to finish but not in time to qualify. It was very disappointing for him and his fans! :) He is toying with the idea of running the Minneapolis Marathon this summer and trying to qualify there. I guess we will see.

Today we are just going to relax. We are finally going to go to the nursery and buy flowers and do a little outside work. Alex has a cold I think. He has had a snotty nose since Wed. His molars are coming in which doesn't help the situation. The last few nights have been miserable. After 3 hours of screaming on Friday night, I finally took him for a drive to help him fall asleep. I've never resorted to this, but I was at the end of my rope. I hope tonight goes smoother. It's the pits when you don't feel well!

Nielsen Ratings

What a surprise! About a month ago I got a call from the Nielsen Rating Company. They wanted to know if I would participate by keeping a diary of what we watched for a week. In exchange for the diary, they would give me $30. I thought that sounded great. I've never known of anyone to actually participate in these ratings. Two days ago I received my journals and a crisp $20 and $10 bill. This has got to be the best job I've ever had! :)

Poor little Alex has bad case of eczema. It is all over his back, some on his arms, legs, tushy and cheeks. I ended up taking him to the doctor on Monday because it just kept spreading. I have a year supply of Rx hydrocortisone and also had to buy a different soap and lotion. Hopefully he will get some relief soon.

Song of the South

We are back! And from what I understand, I picked a perfect time to leave!
My mom, Alex, and I took off on April 19th to head down South to visit my family. Our first stop was the great state of Texas. However, things didn't start off all that smoothly.

Alex got a big boy car seat and I had asked Paul to install it in my Mom's car before he left for St. Cloud. Our plan was to leave at 10 am. As my mom and I were packing, I bumped the car seat and noticed it wasn't anchored in tight enough. After two hours of trying to tighten it and many angry word directed at Paul...I believe the voicemail I left went something like "If I were at the race today I would have thrown a rock at your feet so you would have tripped!"...I remembered that the EMT place did car seat checks. So, at 1pm we took off.

I was worried about how Alex would do riding. He was a good traveler as long as there was someone in the back seat with him. Unfortunatley, I get very car sick in the back, so I had to do all of the driving.

We had planned to spend a week at my aunt and uncles in TX and a week with my aunt and uncle in AR. We ended up not being able to go to AR because my cousin came down with a staph infection. I was strongly advised to not take a chance on getting sick. I was very bummed because seeing everyone was the point of my trip.

In TX, we were on the go everyday. Of course, I had a list of places we had to eat...BBQ, Mexican food, Mama's Pizza, and Church's Chicken or Popeye's. We did a lot of shopping. I even got to watch some severe weather. I got a chance to visit with a couple of my cousins and an aunt and uncle from another part of TX.

Alex hit many milestones while we were gone. He has two new teeth and is working on a molar, he weaned himself from a bottle, he can clap and pull himself up to a standing position and he drinks whole milk. I'm so glad to be done with formula

I'm glad to be home, but I really miss the South. When you hear there is 7 inches of snow as your standing out in shorts in 80 degree weather, who would be excited about returning :).

Am I part Basset Hound?

Alex has figured out that he isn't allowed to put his hand in the dogs' water bowl. He now crawls up to the bowl and takes a slurp out of it....mind you he didn't put his hand in it so everything should be ok, right?! The other day Gus got up close to his face and Alex stuck his tongue out and licked Gus's nose. I'm pretty sure Basset Hound is not in Alex's pedigree.

Sad Day

We learned this morning that my grandmother passed away in the night. My mom and dad took off to Arkansas this morning. I wasn't very close to my grandmother, but it is still sad. My dad said he couldn't see any since in me going because it would be very hectic, and I still have to have my labs done 3 times this week. My mom and I had already had a trip planned to visit family the middle of April once my testing was complete. Unfortunately, we were just a little too late with the planning, so my grandmother won't get to meet Alex :(. We are glad that she died peacefully.