Tired Out

Ethan says he's too big for taking naps ... and he's probably right. Usually if he naps during the day, he has a very difficult time going to sleep that night. But every once in a while, he'll just zonk out wherever he's happened to flop down. He came in from playing outside today and laid down on the couch. One minute he was making strange boy-noises, and the next he was out like a light.



Oh, and I guess Yellow was tired out, too.

Object Transference

Alex is walking all over the place now, and he loves to carry things with him. Of course, when he finds something else interesting, he puts down what he had and carries off his new treasure. This means we frequently find baby bath soap in the living room, pizza pans in the hallway, toys in the mudroom, buckets in the kitchen, and so on. I've even found sippy cups and assorted parts in our bedroom.

He's also decided it fun to drop things into anything with an empty spot. While doing laundry this week, I found tweezers and a massager in the laundry basket from the bathroom. I lost my hairbrush for a whole day (a day that I had to go get my drivers' license renewed, including a new picture taken) because he put it down the turret of a toy castle.

But he's moving, and loving it! And he's getting to where he understands to help pick up and put away, too, so maybe someday soon I won't be spending quite so much time picking things up off the floor. ;)

First Week of School

We started school this last Monday; it's a little early, but we want to take a month off when the baby is born and still get done before the summer is half-over. Here he is, making a goofy face and holding his sign that will help me remember what year this picture belongs to:



And here with a not-so-goofy smile:


(He pointed out that his shirt and shorts matched that day. This makes me wonder - on the days he wears his favorite yellow-striped shirt with his red plaid shorts, does that mean he knows they don't match and he just doesn't care?)

And here's Alex on the first day of school, looking like he's a little buzzed on something:


You can see, if you look closely, that he's holding a lid behind his back. That's because his lesson consisted of trying empty to cabinets.


And climbing into them, then, on some days:


Boy do I need to put some shelf paper in my cabinets! :)

Cousins!

In the car seat:


Not in his car seat:


Riding with cousin Joel on a ride at the little country fair we went to:


Wiped out, sleeping at the hotel:

Vacation at the lake

Almost there!





The beautiful little lake we were at:


An early morning fire:


Stalking squirrels (that's a rifle in Luke's other hand):

Yellow got to come with us, too!


Alex loves to carry Gator around in his mouth.


Tapping the firescreen makes such lovely music!


Watching Mama and Ethan have a splash fight. (There will be no pictures posted of that. Seriously, pictures of me in a swimming suit are bad enough. Pictures of me in a swimming suit five months pregnant? Not gonna happen, folks.)


Ethan and Papa kayaking and canoeing.

Wrasslin'

This was the last day up at the cottage, and the boys were playing while we were getting ready to leave. Alex is very rough-and-tumble, and he loves it when Ethan rough-houses with him!

I have more vacation pictures I'm hoping to post tomorrow. We're settling back into a routine after being on vacation, but we're also getting geared up for school to start (two weeks! yikes!) so things are pretty busy around here at the moment.

Why Alex loves being in the bathroom while I shower

Ultrasound results ...

I had my ultrasound yesterday! The doctor's office called today and told me they wanted to schedule a 4-D ultrasound with a perinatologist (basically a doctor who specializes in high-risk pregnancies and the tests that go along with them).

That sounds bad, but it's actually ok. They wanted to do that for two reasons - they couldn't find the kidneys, and baby has a two-strand cord instead of a three-strand cord. They know the output from the kidneys is normal, which means they're there and working, and a two-strand cord is relatively common and not much cause for concern. So this is just precautionary. Or a profit opportunity, whichever. :) They will do some tests closer to the end of the pregnancy to verify that baby is growing properly with the two-strand cord.

And, the baby is ..................






very active! Quite the little kicker.








What, was there something more you wanted to know? Oh, all right then. Baby is also ..................










A BOY!

Comfort for a Crabby Boy

Alex has been having a generally crabby week. He's decided that the bath mat is a good comfort object, though - he'll go into the bathroom, pull it off the tub, and scoot around with it. While he cries.



(Sorry for the not-so-great picture, but if I had gotten down on his level the dog would have stuck his nose into the camera immediately. Silly beast.)

The Backyard

I'm very thankful for our backyard - lots of room for the boys to run, room for a garden, a playset, a fire ring, camping out in a tent ... But I'm also very thankful for the diligent gardening of a previous owner. Flowers abound, and they add some beauty and femininity that would be sorely missed (at least by me!) if they weren't there.

Test Results

Alex recently had his one-year check up, where they took blood for routine lead and iron tests. We received the following letter with his test results:

Dear Alexander:

Your blood lead level and iron level are both good. Please let your parents know.

Elizabeth Barr, M.D.

Funny doctor.

Otherwise, he's 29 inches tall and weighs 20lbs 8 oz. The doctor pronounced him in perfect condition.

Belated pictures

These pictures are from when the boys and I went to Ginnie's cottage with all their aunts, uncles, and cousins on my side of the family. It was close to Alex's birthday, so we had birthday cupcakes and presents to open. There would have been more pictures - like some of Joe and Angie, Jonas, more of Ethan and Asher, and so on, if my SD card had been in my camera instead of in my computer at home. Sheesh.

Only a boy ...

...would think this is not only an appropriate way to hang up his swimsuit, but a cool one as well:



That's right, folks. He strung the dog's leash along the closet doors and through the drawer pull, then clipped his inside-out shorts to it. Then he proudly came to tell me to come look! Look how I hung up my trunks!

His towel, though, he left on the floor. Then again, he was out of leashes, I guess.

Best Seat in the House

Alex has figured out how to get into his book basket, and now it's his favorite place to sit:

Alex has learned ...

...how much fun it can be to bug your older brother. Here he's trying to steal Ethan's snack. Just listen to him laugh when Ethan gets annoyed!




Just in case anyone was worried, Alex did have his own snack - he'd eaten it already. And I'm sorry the camera work is kind of jumpy; the dog was vying for my attention as I taped it.

Travel Plans

Today Ethan is planning on traveling to Pluto.

Why Pluto, you ask?

Simple.

"On Pluto there is no one to boss me around."

Peanuts

Ethan found an old book of Peanuts comics today, and promptly curled up in a chair to read it:


He was very entertained:


And I think it's a much better way to spend his time instead of dropping things in the toilet. So we were both happy!

You know it's going to be a good day ...

... when, as he's peeing, your child drops half of a Lego man in the toilet and expects you to fish him out ...

... your other child has a messy diaper that is so messy a bath is required to clean him up ...

... and it's not even 7:00 yet!

Happy Monday everyone! :)

Birthday Pictures