Weekend Wrap Up

• We are still battling colds around here.  So, we spent a some time cuddled on the couch, reading our new favorite book.

• On Saturday, Alexander's bestest friend, Addie, celebrated her birthday in princess style. 

Alexander rolled in as Prince Charming.

• Our little prince woke up in the midde of the night with a blazing earache.  He cried and cried, and finally fell asleep in our bed.  The doctor told Alexander this morning that he was surprised that Alexander hadn't been in pain for days as it was the worst ear infection he had seen in a week.  Our little man clearly has amazingly high pain tolerance!  He's on antibiotics and should be back to himself within days.
• It's another busy week for us but at the end of it all, Big Papa and Umma come home!  We can't wait! 

Inaugral Throwback Thursday

First few days of our life with Alexander.

January 2007

The days in the hospital passed by in a flurry of non-stop visitors, little sleep, and a lot of getting to know one another.

So many people excited to meet and love on our little man. 

No one more excited than Mommy and Daddy.

This picture makes me laugh everytime. 

I imagine Alexander is saying, "no more pictures, people."

Alexander meets his grandparents.

Alexander meets Auntie Joanne and Grandma Great

Alexander meets Auntie Kimmie and Lorelli

A few lady friends stopped by to meet our prince.

Kate

Kayla

Melinda

and Jo-Jo.

Alexander and Mommy hung out during the day,

and Daddy and Alexander hung out at night.

Finally, our family of three headed home.

For the final introduction of a boy

and his cat.

An amazing beginning of a new chapter in our lives.

Blog Anniversary - 5 years!

While I was home on maternity leave, I would send countless emails, filled with photos of the boy.  A friend of mine hooked me on blogs and I realized I could put stories to the pictures.  And stop clogging up everyone's email.  I started this blog so family could follow the life of Alexander.
Over the years, the followers of the blog have been loyal family and friends, and I appreciate you all.

Especially when the blog breaks are lengthy and you think I'm never going to post again.

I started this blog on February 7, 2008.  FIVE YEARS AGO!  Click here to read our first post.

Wow, how the time has flown by and how our sweet little baby has grown.

In honor of this five year milestone, I'm going to start something fun.  Every Thursday, I'm going to post old photos and stories that I didn't post. 

In honor of this new plan (and realizing I can make the posts over the weekend!), here is a little here and now.

At 13 months, Alexander was a very busy little boy

. 

One of his favorite activities involved emptying his toy box in order to climb inside of it.

At this age, however, he often couldn't climb out, would end up tipping himself over the edge, and Eric and I would howl with laughter at his stubborn antics.

 

Fast forward six years.

This very morning, I heard "uh-oh." from his playroom.

When I asked Alexander what happened, he told me he needed help getting out of his tire.

"Why are you in the tire?"

"I fell in."

"Really?  You fell in."

"No, not really,  I kinda put myself in here and now I can't get out."

 

Six years later the laughter continues.

Being Six

Every chapter is new and exciting adventure. 

I kinda want to bottle this chapter up and keep it forever.

 

Gone is our little boy who had only one friend in preschool.

 

Every night he enlightens us with stories about "his crew" and their adventures on the sand field, or his reading group at school, or his table group.  He has befriended two of the special education students who spend half days in the classroom.  He says whenever the two come in, he is quick to ask if he can be moved to one of the tables to help the student(s). 

 

He will tell you he likes math more than reading or writing. 

I'm not sure that is true.

 

He is a non-stop chatter box, in non-stop movement.  He high jacks my Ipad on a regular basis, and can be found in his playroom, watching/listening to the Ipad while he is working on Lego projects or coloring. 

 He often talks in the third person, which cracks us up.

"That's not right, Alex."  "Time to eat, Alex"  "Here we go, Alex"

 

Mary and David continue to be his imaginary play dates but they don't spend as much time in the car with us as they used to.  Speaking of the car, he loves to listen to Bon Jovi or the Rock of Ages CD when we drive around.  I kinda love it, too.

He has chores and responsibilities and doesn't argue when it is time to work.  He likes being our biggest helper boy.

 

Physically, he has sprouted overnight and is the cutest long-legged, gangly, skinny little boy. 

He is a tough little one when he falls and when he cries, we know it really hurts.

 

He has lost two teeth and has one wiggly one.  And he wants to know if the wiggly one on top will bring in more money from the Tooth Fairy than the bottom ones.

 

When he is excited, he jumps up and down, claps his hands and laughs uncontrollably.

When he is frustrated, he throws himself down and tears start flowing uncontrollably.

Whatever emotion he is feeling, he feels intensely

 

Alexander and his dad laugh about farts, poop, and other boy related topics (like superheros). 

Alexander and his mom cuddle as she reads Harry Potter to him.

 

He's growing up.

We are so lucky he is ours.

Another basketball season comes to an end

Every few months, we ask Alexander if he wants to play a sport. 

"Want to play soccer?" 

 "No, I don't want to chase other kids around."

"Want to play baseball?" 

 "No, you told me to wait until 1st grade."

"Want to do swim lessons again?" 

"Not really.  I don't want to swim in the deep end."

"Want to play basketball?"

  "YES!  But only if I can be on Addie's team."

 

So, we set him up to be on Addie's team and coached by Addie's dad.

 

Monday nights became family night, as we all attended basketball practice.

Naturally, in order to spend more time with our friends, we drove together.

The first few practices showed us not only how much Alexander loved playing

but also how much work Coach Jeff had ahead of him!

Here's what we learned about Alexander during the basketball season:

He is coachable.

He support his teammates.

And he plays mean defense because

"I stick to them like glue."

 

Not a game passed that we didn't laugh at the antics that this 5/6 year old team brought to the floor.

Thanks for a great season, Alexander.

Disneyland Day 3 and 4

And the fun keeps going!

The final two days of our adventure included early wake ups, standing in long lines, riding awesome rides, afternoon naps back at the hotel, and then back at the park for a few more hours.

Star Tours

Waiting for the Tiki Room

Nap Time.

Pool Time.

Waiting for the gates to open for Saturday's early entry

We moved quickly from ride to ride.

On Saturday night, the little man spent the evening with his grandparents so Mommy and Daddy could enjoy a date night and celebrate their anniversary.

Sixteen years of marriage and Disneyland still remains our favorite vacation site.

We enjoyed dinner at the Blue Bayou and met up with Derrick for the evening.

Derrick is a close family friend working as a Disney intern.

It was fun to enjoy the park from an insiders point of view.

 

Our adventure came to an end early Sunday morning . Umma and Big Papa dropped us off at the airport and headed back to Parker.  They will be home in three weeks and their grandson cannot wait for their return.

 

Here's one final picture from our trip.

Someone is now in love with airplanes.