4 Miles

Alex officially turned one today. I remember thinking how big Will was when he turned one…Alex doesn't seem that big. We celebrated at my parent's house. We went up to watch the unbelievable Colts win, eat pizza and have birthday cup cakes.

I'm sitting here working on this at about 10:30 pm…about the time Alex was born. I would link you back to the blog entry about it, but those archives are missing. I remember it being a warm, rainy day. Will and I went for a walk in the rain in my attempt to get the random contractions to get more regular. I remember going into the Dr. during his lunch break "Just to see how it's going" and he told me to not rush, but start getting everything together to come back in. I remember how I had asked so many people to pray he'd come in the next few days (I was very miserable because of the ICP and was considering an early induction, but scared of the required amniocentesis–Alex was due January 31st). Finally I remember how we went in and they broke my water around 5 and I was sure he'd be born well into the morning so he wouldn't be born on Friday the 13th. No, he came much faster then I expected! We are so thankful for the happy, curious, fun loving baby God has blessed us with–who is now becoming a toddler!

This is from Slate.com, "Flushed With Pride: How The Bathroom Became America's Latest Status Symbol".

In 1973, new houses with one bathroom, or a bathroom and a powder room, still accounted for 40 percent of the total; by 2005, the fraction had fallen to only 4 percent. Today, according to the National Association of Home Builders, the overwhelming majority of new houses have a bathroom attached to the master bedroom and a second bathroom down the hall for the kids, as well as a powder room downstairs for guests. Nearly 50 percent of all new houses have four or more bathrooms, and it is nearly impossible to sell a new house with only one bathroom. While social critics tut-tut this sanitary inflation, it's easy to understand the functional reasons for it: convenience and privacy. No more early-morning family lines; no more tripping over rubber ducks; no more guests snooping in the medicine cabinet.

How about the most important thing–no more sharing a bathroom with a toddler who's being potty trained!!!

(Click on either picture to see them bigger. The second one is MUCH better larger, I promise!)

Alex is up to 5 words–Mama, Dada, Hi, No, and Ki-ti. And, it might be 6,  I THINK he's trying to get "Will" out. It comes out "Wuh" (and sounds alot like "buh"). The only reason I think it might be Will was when Will woke up from his nap this afternoon, Alex got very excited and started to say that as I pointed out "Look! Will's awake!" When I'd ask him "How do you say Will?" I'd hear that again.

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This afternoon Alex was on crawling around, pushing a car and saying "Bbbbpppppssss" with the car his Uncle Karl gave him. It's a stuffed, talking car from the movie "Cars". So just now, when Alex threw it, the car said "Owe!"  Then he was walking on his knees, pushing another car.  He certainly has that concept down.

One other mildly funny thing that happened today (that I'm recording in his "baby book"). I was getting up to go mop the floor when Alex walked over to me. I told him "Go to Daddy, Alex" and he actually did! He turned right around and went over to James in the chair.  So why can't he do this when we tell him to not touch the TV/VCR/DVD player or the cat?

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Alex has moved up in size (18 month–he's into Toddler clothes, not baby cloths, Sob!) and once again is in a size we have no winter clothes from Will to pass down. Thankfully, my SIL loaned us a HUGE amount. Also thankfully, after this we have all seasons in the next sizes. Yesterday's big project was to move out the old clothes, then organize and put in the new clothes. And do lots of laundry (so much for doing it on the trip so I wouldn't have as much to do).  The boys are now close enough in size you can't tell the difference in their jeans by just glancing.  (Well, 18 month and 4T SHOULD be obvious, but it's harder then when it was 6 month and 4T…though James did try to put Will in 12 mo. sized jeans one day.)

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Sadly, right at the point Alex wants to play with Will more, Will DOES NOT .  Fairly typical, I know.  Still, sad to see. Especially when it's Will dragging Alex out of the bedroom so he can be left alone.  I know, it's going to be worse when Alex is big enough to get back at him. (What? It's not going to be brotherly love, happy rainbows and sweet puppies all the time?!? Why didn't anyone tell me?!?)

We are back! We solved the dilemma of the Colts game by staying a day later then originally planned. We didn't stay JUST to watch the Colts, but it was a nice bonus. A classic case of "I thought you wanted to leave on Saturday to have a day to recover before going back to work"/"I never thought that, I thought YOU wanted to leave Saturday" made us realize we had no problem staying and driving home Sunday. I enjoyed the time that allowed to visit James' brother and his family in Philly. But we got back LATE last night and it was hard to try to get back in the swing of things alone (with James at work). Today was a typical post-vacation "I need a vacation to recover from my vacation" day.  Too many things had to be done at once (I needed to go to the store since we had very little fresh basics in the house, yet needed to make a list of menu ideas for the week and needed to do a load of laundry so I'd have something to wear and Alex didn't sleep the last hour or so of the trip so he needed to catch up on his naps…and that was just the beginning).

BUT…enough of that.

Other highlights of the trip I didn't mention before, or some I did, but now With! Photos!:

• Uncle Teri was on a swing. The (large) tree branch broke and fell on his head. He was ok and the swing was hung on another (younger) tree.
• I mentioned the skating…here's a picture of James helping Will.
• We actually got a picture of all the grandkids in one place.
• Everyone loved a chance to wrestle with an uncle (all were willing to at one time or another).
• We had a bonfire and got to make smores on Wednesday. This was the perfect time to use the fingerless gloves Aunt Betty made everyone. It was still chilly at night then so the gloves allowed for warm hands without the fear of getting them sticky. Though someone did find another use for them.
• By Saturday the temps were up in the 70s in Philly. We were able to enjoy spending the day outside.
• Alex is starting to eat more and more solid foods. Here's a picture I call "Hill-billy Baby" as he eats covered in food and barefoot (Did I mention it was warm?) 
• The Colts WON!!! I am sad to say I had very low expectations.  And I still do, but that was a fun game to watch. Imagine if the offence and the defense could have a good game on the same day. (James & Will happy over the win.)
• On the way home, we stopped in Columbus and James got to see a friend from High School for the first time in 4 years. He took us to a McDonalds so the kids could play and they could talk. (His apartment was NOT kid-friendly so that was nice for me as well!) I was glad they got to catch up, but I was ready to be home by the time we left. I found myself leaning forward in the car–as if that would help us get home any faster!

And now we settle back into the routine.  That includes starting to get up to work out–which means I am up WAY to late! Not that the kids let us sleep in any during the vacation, but I did get into the habit of staying up later & eating too much! Those are two habits that must be broken now!

Alex didn't quite seem to know what to do with this thing sitting in front of him. He did enjoy the singing going on around him.

He quickly figured out the item on his tray was YUM-MY.  But he decided to only eat the frosting and chucked the cake to the ground. 

Happy Almost 1 Year Old Birthday, Alex. Boy did that year go fast!

Greetings from The Farm in PA!
Highlights so far:

• Meeting the newest cousin (2 ½ weeks old when we got there). Will enjoys coming up to him and “snuggling” him.
• Chasing chickens after they got out, to get them back in the cage
• Getting to see Randy & Shari’s new house & having homemade deep dish pizza
• Celebrating Alex’s first birthday (a bit early, but we had to take advantage of when we were with family)
• Celebrating NewMas (Christmas + New Years) with a Miles feast
• James staying up until 5 am New Years Day (not Eve) to launch a new web site for his company (www.mymortgagetrainer.com – check it out!) (That's more a lowlight then a highlight, but it did happen.)
• Playing games
• Watching the kids play together
• Enjoying temps in the 50s
• Playing Frisbee golf with the new Frisbees Grandpa got the kids
• Will getting to walk through the woods with each parent thinking he was in different woods (but they were actually the same)

The good news is we have several more days of fun ahead! The bad news—our scheduled time to come home is during the Colts game.  We’re working on changing that. And if we can’t get them to change the game, we might just have to leave at another time or try to find a radio station to listen to on the way home.