Trip to PA and TN

Alex and I went to PA and TN from Nov 4th-19th to visit friends and family. We spent a week in PA, visiting Grandpa Parini, and got to introduce Alex to Great Aunt Mary and Great Uncle Glen, and second cousin Alan. I forgot my camera the first night he met everyone, so I only have pictures with Mary from our lunch with her later on and with my dad.He also got to see his "Aunt" Kelly, my best friend, and her son Gavin who is 15 months. The boys stayed with Kelly's mom and her boyfriend, Great "Aunt" Chrissy and Great "Uncle" Willie in Allentown while Kelly and I took a quick trip to the Finger Lakes in New York to do some wine tasting and get some girl time. It's the first time I've been apart from Alex overnight! Here's Willie, who was buddies with Alex, and Chrissy and the blanket she made for Alex.We also visited my grandparents grave, old house, and the park in North Catasaqua that my grandpa used to always take me to. Alex played there for a while, and we even found a nice pile of leaves to play in and take pictures. After PA, we went to Knoxville, TN to visit with my mom and stepdad, Grandma and Grandpa Brooke. We went to the mall in Maryville, where they live, and they had this little play areas for kids, so I put Alex in there with the fish. Alex has been wanting to stand up all the time, and can pull himself up in his old stroller. He was tired of sitting I guess, and was only happy to ride in his stroller standing up and facing forward. The flights were good, only on one did Alex cry for about the last 20 minutes. We went to the pediatrician the day before our trip because he had been sick and the doc said he had a dual ear infection. So, it was 10 days of icky pink amoxicilin mixed with apple sauce twice a day, because he just puked it back at you if you gave it to him straight. But he did get better. He's been trying some new table foods, and he really liked cheese, but I think he got hives from it, so no more of that for a while. He doesn't really want to eat any of the pureed foods now, so I'm trying to get creative with giving him table foods that he can gum enough, since he still has no teeth. So, if you need any, I've got a freezer full of pureed foods. Here he is eating spaghetti at Macaroni Grill in Knoxville.Here's the rest of the pictures from our trip.
We went to the pediatrician for his 9 month checkup on Thursday, and he weighed 19 lb. 14 oz. (40%), he was 29' long (75%), and everything else looked good, including his ears. Friday I hosted a luncheon for a group of ladies from the Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group I go to. It was good--we did soup, salad, and sandwiches instead of traditional Thanksgiving fare, since we thought we'd all have enough of that next week. I made my Zuppa Toscana and Chicken Salad Sandwiches, and PB&J for the kids. It was fun with lots of little kids here and getting to know some nice ladies from MOPS. Also on Friday, I did some pre-inprocessing for a temporary job I'm going to start on Dec 8th. I'll be working for the operations group commander here on the base, basically where I used to work before I separated, for 2 months doing some planning activities. They've been trying to get me as an emergency civilian hire for months now, and it finally all went through. I'll be working predominantly from home, just going in for a few hours a week. This weekend, Andy is very busy with work, as he was out of town for a few days last week. We installed the new car seat in my car finally, as Alex was busting out of the old carrier one. Thankfully, the new stroller and seat fit in my car, though I'm not convinced Alex is going to fit in there too. We'll see tomorrow morning I guess. Alex is getting more and more mobile. He has been crawling backwards and going from sitting to all fours to tummy and back the other way. He was sitting up in his crib when I went in to get him after I had put him laying down this afternoon...it was funny to see. That's about it. We are just getting ready to enjoy Thanksgiving with friends here in Minot and I'm having an open house wine tasting for my Traveling Vineyard business next Saturday. Oh, and I've got a new online wine catalog, check it out here!