Smooth Move

It's official...Alex is now a BIG BOY! As of last Friday night, Alex sleeps downstairs in his big boy room. Paul and I were shocked at how easy it was. Alex was very much ready for the transition. He's been very interested in the progress of his room. During his bedtime routine Friday night we told him he finally got to sleep in his big boy room. He ran in, jumped on the bed, told us he loved us and then insisted we turn off the light and shut the door. That was that. He never made a peep. I have the monitor in his room just, so I can hear what's going on. In the morning when I open his door he greets me with a "good morning" and then scampers up the steps asking for milk. It's been a piece of cake. Some nights he plays with his wooden animals (which he loves) and then falls asleep. He pretty much puts himself to bed and down for a quick nap.

Tonight at the park Alex found himself a girlfriend. I guess once you get your own room the next step is to find a girl??!! Apparently they wouldn't do anything without the other: slide, swing, etc.

Bath Terror

Oh no!!!! We have made Alex terrified of his bath. Ever since he was little, he has had a very dry, flaky scalp. It was just poo pooed off as cradle cap. However, I'm not sure that cradle cap last until 2 years of age. Anyway, his hair never got oily...in fact, it's usually dry. Because, of this we didn't wash his hair very often but put in leave in conditioner daily. I was trying to get some answers about what the problem might be and decided we would start washing his hair once a week to see if maybe that would help. Let's just say it didn't go well. We picked Thursday nights as hair night. He flips out. He starts shaking, and screaming bloody murder and yelling about it hurting. I thought it was an act, so we tried several different methods. Now, he won't even get in to the bath tub without doing this. It takes forever to get him calmed down. I'm pretty sure it isn't an act.

I'm not sure what to do. He LOVED bath time prior to hair washing. I guess the first step is to get him to trust enough to just take a regular bath. I checked in to no-rinse shampoo last night. We might have to go that route until he is older. I don't want him terrified of the bath tub. What to do????

Momma, Momma

Things are progressing quite nicely on Alex's big boy room. Last weekend we painted the room...our last white room in the house...a safari green. I decided to create a safari room for him. I found this really neat dresser online for just over $1,000.00. Pfff...like I'd ever spend that much on a dresser!!! So, I decided to recreate it. We found an old dresser at an antique store for $75. You know the kind actually made of wood! Paul stripped it and then we painted it. We did the same thing to a brand new headboard. They are now "Coffee" by RL. It's a deep brown/black. I then was in search of drawer knobs...giraffe print in particular. Once again I did find them but refused to pay $22 a piece. I spent Alex's nap time yesterday hand painting drawer knobs. I hope to have those finished today. I believe I will skip the stenciling on the dresser. I found these really cool wooden animals at Toy R Us. They are lining the ledge in his room. I got 4 to start with and will slowly add more. My next project is a coat rack stand which I will paint with different animals prints. I plan to hang a canteen, rain stick, and safari hat from that. We will add a coupe of posters and then the room will be complete! We will probably move Alex downstairs this weekend once the big things are complete. I hope for a smooth transition.

The past week and a half Alex has really turned into a Momma's boy. He still enjoys his Dad but when we go somewhere he has to hold my hand etc. He is also my big helper. Not so much of a help at times, but it's hard to resist a little guy saying "Momma help you, help you?!" He is an excellent grated cheese sprinkler but not the best sweeper! :)

Imagine Jesus

Today while Alex and I were "rocky-ing" before his nap, I was singing 'I Can Only Imagine' to him. The words he picked up were--imagine and Jesus. So for the rest of the song and "rocky" time he kept on saying "Imagine Jesus!" I found it sweet.

His eye is improving. Now the skin under his eye is wrinkled and dry. I'm guessing it's just from being stretched. At his age his elasticity should be top notch! If his Dad would only remember the bug spray, it would be much more helpful. I came home last night to 3 more bites. GRRR!

Tomorrow we are leaving for a long weekend to Bemidji. We are attending the Lake George Blueberry Festival. It'll be a new experience for all of us. Paul is just hoping our cabin is nice. I told him as long as there weren't dead bugs and it was clean, we would be fine.

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

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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.