Rxn

This morning Alex and I made a mad dash to see his pediatrician. Alex woke up lookin' like a one eyed monster! He woke up Sunday morning with a mosquito bite under his eye. It started swelling yesterday. I read online about mosquito bites, and he seemed to follow what the website described. This morning, however, his eye was almost closed. I decided to call Ask a Nurse, and we ended up going in for an appt. It was just a reaction like I thought, but the Dr. said sometimes they can be infected. We learned what to watch for in the future and were told that this probably would not be the last time it happened. He told me the hands, feet, and eyes tend to swell dramatically. There isn't much that can be done. We just have to wait. Until then, I guess Alex will have a "new look!"

Here are some pics. He tells himself to smile for the camera....such a ham. I couldn't really get a good angle, but you'll get the idea

.

Fair Time

Even with the sky looking like rain, we ventured out to the Red River Valley Fair last night. Of course, we mostly wanted the food. Alex munched on a hot dog, I had a pulled pork sandwich, and Paul had a bison burger. The thing I look forward to the most is the CHEESE CURDS! You can't pass up the fresh squeezed lemonade...although there was something very strange tasting with ours. Paul couldn't leave until he had deep fried oreos! Alex found those to be pretty good, too.

After feasting, we headed to the barns. Alex loved the pigs and goats. He would just sit and laugh at them and then tell them hello. He checked out the horses, chickens and rabbits. On the way we passed a hay maze which he spent a while running through. It was pretty cute. You could just see the top of his head moving around.

We weren't sure if adults could ride the smaller rides, so we opted for the pick a duck game. He thought he was allowed to pick as many ducks as he wanted. He wasn't too happy when we made him stop. He ended up winning a blow up soccer ball. I was disappointed that Paul picked the ball over some of the other things since we have tons of balls; however, Alex was delighted!

Alex and I learned an important lesson on Friday night. I was letting him help grind pepper. He thinks pushing the button and watching the peppercorns spin is very entertaining. However, after I took the top off, he decided to blow the pepper. A nice fine cloud of pepper floated into his eyes. I felt so bad. He just started screaming and rubbing his eyes. We attempted to rinse them with cold water, but it just wasn't working. Poor little fellow.

Hello July!

Once again it's been many moons since the last post. June seemed like a whirlwind. The first part of the month was slower than the end. We started out with family coming and going the first couple of weeks of June. My mom was back and forth between Fargo and Rochester for her Grave's disease. I was able to see my aunt and uncle from AR a couple of times while they visited my parents. Of course, I always look forward to RibFest which is the first weekend in June.

The end of June I was busy with a wedding. One of my best friends was married June 28! The weekend before the wedding I drove down for the bachelorette party. Even though I couldn't drink, I still had fun. I was one of the sober cabs. This was only the second time I've been away from Alex. It was nice to get a break, but I really started missing the little critter. My hormones seem to make me a little more temperamental this pregnancy. It was just what I needed to kind of re-group. I'm not as quick to get testy. The next weekend was the wedding. Paul and I headed down to Mora for the wedding on a Thursday. This was another first for us....Alex stayed all weekend with Grams! He did great. I'm not sure who had the most fun, Alex or Grams??! :) Between the bachelorette party and wedding, I finally popped out. Thankfully, our dresses were individually made which allowed my final fitting to be just before the wedding. I hated to say goodbye to my regular clothes, but was happy I had almost made to the 5 month mark before starting to show.

We also had our ultrasound the of June. It was exciting to see the profile. We didn't find out the sex this time either. Things seem to be progressing well.

Now on to July.......at the present time we are kicking it in to high gear to try to put together a big boy room for Alex. I want to transition him as soon as possible that way he will have some time to adjust. As the room progresses, I'll take pics. Right now we are looking for furniture and trying to clean out the room that he will moving to. I don't know how we acquire so much junk!

We spent the 4th with Hucks. We attended the most pitiful 4th of July parade ever last night. Usually MSUM has a nice celebration....NOT this year. The parade might have lasted 3-4 minutes and as soon as the parade was over all of games deflated. We headed back to the house for fireworks. Alex was freaked out by them. He was scared of everything : snaps, smoke bombs, sparklers. Maybe he will like them next year.

Birthday Bash

It's so hard to believe that my baby is now 2! I'm just now getting around to downloading pics which is why it has taken me so long to post about the day.

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day....warm temps, a little breeze, and lots of sunshine. I will say that we've gotten lucky the past two years with having nice weather for his party. It has allowed us to BBQ and enjoy the outdoors. It was fun seeing all the kids out playing.

We didn't do much for a theme. Alex likes Elmo, so I kind of went that direction. I decided that it's a waste of money to buy character cups, plates, napkins, etc....he's too little to know the difference. I just went with a table cloth and Gram's got a special balloon. I learned from his first birthday that there is no need to kill myself with preparation! It must be a first time parent thing. I took an easier route this year. We grilled burgers and hot dogs, had some chips and dip and the "pink fluff"! I also made cupcakes. It was tempting to make each cupcake look like Elmo but then I snapped back in to reality and went with very red cupcakes and very red frosting. Of course, we had to have hand squeezed lemonade...although I forgot tell people where the ice was, so it ended up being room temp. YIKES. I'm such an ice freak...I can't believe I would forget such an important thing like ice! :)

Apparently Alex doesn't care for candles??? He freaked when I lit the candles on his cupcake and hid his head and cried. Once I blew them out, he was fine. It was kind of funny. He is still asking me daily for cake!

Hiding from his cupcake!

First bite

Opening gifts! The beads were a big hit!

Playing with his cousins!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a very nice weekend. Friday was spent at the nursery getting tomato and pepper plants and herbs. Saturday was even better. Paul attended a b-day/beer party and then we had friends over for pizza. I finally found a way to get Paul to eat popcorn with me. It has to be buttery with freshly grated pecorino romano and parmesan cheeses!

Sunday morning we started cleaning out the garage in preparation for Alex's birthday. We took time to grill hot dogs and have a picnic on the lawn. As Alex was napping, Paul and I spent quality time power washing the garage. I found the power washer to be very fun. I got a lot of satisfaction squirting the grooves in the garage floor and watching the dirt fly out. I was covered in mud, but it was fun. Apparently you have to be careful around the sheet rock! Who knew? I was concentrating on the dirt. :)

This week will be busy getting things ready for the weekend. I can't believe Alex will be 2!

Welcome Little Birds!!!

They have finally arrived!!! I've been waiting for about 3 weeks for the yellow Finches to arrive. I've had my thistle strategically placed in two different spots. Yesterday morning I saw 3 of them in our maple tree. I really enjoy bird watching as I've gotten older. I just wished I would have cared more when I took Ornithology. I still have my guide book, and my dad gave me binoculars for Christmas. I'm set. I also saw a bird yesterday that I haven't been able to identify. I have my guide upstairs ready to go but hadn't gotten my binoculars out yet. I need to bring them up, so I am prepared next time he visits.

Marathon Weekend

Exciting, anxious, discouraged, proud, miserable, loved. These are just a few of the adjectives I could think of to describe this past weekend.

The last couple of years, I haven't been able to fully participate in the pre/post marathon frenzy. I was so excited this year because my mom came down to take care of Alex, so I could be involved. Friday turned out to be a bit of a bummer. It was cloudy and gloomy. I wasn't as pumped about the race due to the route change because of flooding. I couldn't see how cheering would as much fun. Three people I was looking forward to cheering on were injured, and I wasn't able to to attend the dinner we were invited to due to the flu going around at that household. To top it off I started getting a nasty headache. Also, Paul figured he wouldn't attempt to qualify for Boston.

Saturday, pre-race, wasn't much better. I had gotten little sleep due to my headache, and I was worried the alarm wouldn't go off. Things quickly turned around. As we got to our first cheering location, I started to get pumped. I had my cow bell and air horn ready to go. Paul figured he would start out the race slow. He was so far ahead of schedule that we just about missed him. By mile 5, his was on pace to qualify. I couldn't believe it! We made several more stops. By mile 20, he was still on pace and looking good. The course turned out to be a lot of fun. After mile 20 we headed to the Dome to watch him finish. My anxiety started to set in. Things usually take a turn for the worst around mile 22. I would have loved to have been around the last few miles, but we wouldn't have made it the finish line. The 3:10 pacer came through....and NO Paul. I knew then something had gone wrong. Of course, I was disappointed for him. So much time and and hard work is put in to training. He finally crossed at 3:24. He ended up cramping at mile 24. So close!! He said the weather couldn't have been more perfect for qualifying. I know he was upset. He will attempt again in Sept at the Bismarck marathon. It was neat to see his running buddies come over and take care of him afterwards.

We attended the annual post-marathon party at HBH. It's always fun to hear every one's experience. There were blisters, black toenails, and stiff legs everywhere. All I had to show for my day was a blister on my finger from ringing the cow bell like crazy. :) One of the ladies at the party qualified for Boston that day. She talked to Paul about taking salt tablets. I think that will be his new strategy for Bismarck.

Sunday morning I was still feeling kind of cruddy, but I was showered with love. My mom had helped Alex make me a card and had taken him out to get flowers. I had two sets of flowers and 4 cards. Paul and Alex had also gotten me some goodies. After lunch we headed to the nursery to get flowers. It was nice and relaxing being able to pick out flowers and getting them potted. We ended the day with steak and baked spuds. We were going to get ice cream, but I was too stuffed. I crawled in to bed at 8:30 and was out by 9:15. Can't ask for a much better day than that.