Alex's 1 Year Stats

Alex had his 12 month well baby checkup on Monday. Everything looks fine despite his little cold. He weighed 20 lb, 13 oz, and is 30 inches long. His is adjusting a little better to the cdc. They moved him into the pre-toddler room yesterday and I think he likes that better, more kids closer to his age and older, and they do more activities. He is doing fine with taking a decent nap for them on a little mat right after lunch. Today he slept for them for 2 hours and 20 mins...I can't believe that's my kiddo! Of course, that might be because they called me a half hour later to say he had a fever of 101.5. It came back down this afternoon, but it most likely was due to the immunizations he received yesterday morning. That's all the news and no new pictures right now.

Alex is One!

Alex is getting very independent these days. He is walking quite a bit--to get from toy to toy or toy to mom--and especially loves walking around with his push toys. He also will go get his snacks, bring them to me, and give them to me to open. Sometimes he gets into things all on his own, like cheerios, and my wallet...

I made Alex a monkey cake for his birthday (plus cupcakes for the party guests and a big cupcake for him to smash). I've never decorated a cake like this before, so I took my friend Lisa's advice, and made a practice one first...those pics are in the linked pictures, but here's the final version.

Alex's first birthday was Feb 17th, so he had a birthday party on Sat, Feb 14th, and was baptized on Sun, Feb 15th. We had family visiting to celebrate the weekend with us. Alex enjoyed his party and really loves his new toys--we need to build an annex to our house to keep them in. Alex went to the child development center on base for a few hours starting Wednesday. This is so mom can get her work done without trying to juggle both, while staying sane, since her temp position has been extended for a few more months. It is very convenient and seems to be working well. He is sad when he is dropped off, but does ok playing, eating, and sleeping while there. I think it will be good with him to play with, or at least around, other kids his age for a little while. Here are the pictures from February.

I also have some videos, one of him walking behind his airplane and one of the party.

Eating his birthday cake from Andrea McElvaine on Vimeo.

Pushing his plane from Andrea McElvaine on Vimeo.

Videos from IL trip in Jan--a little late!!

Airplane Rocker in IL from Andrea McElvaine on Vimeo.

Untitled from Andrea McElvaine on Vimeo.

Untitled from Andrea McElvaine on Vimeo.

Little Piano Player and Daddy from Andrea McElvaine on Vimeo.

More Mickey Plane from Andrea McElvaine on Vimeo.

Alex is a walker...ok, maybe a toddler!

Walking...ok, toddling! from Andrea McElvaine on Vimeo.

January 09

It's been a whole month so there are a ton of pictures, especially from our trip to IL to visit Andy's family there over MLK weekend. We've been pretty busy. I am still working as a civilian for the ops group here. It was supposed to end this week, but they offered me an extension, and I accepted that up to the end of April. Though I waivered quite a bit on this decision, it is just too hard to walk away from a good paying job that was handed to me with maximum flexibility as far as working from home. Andy and I have been working out together since just after Christmas and we are currently doing a program called P90X. We generally have to work out at night after Alex is in bed, but it gives us something that is fun to do together and gets us some good exercise, which is a challenge with the winter weather keeping us indoors for months on end. This afternoon it was in the mid or high 30s and light wind and it felt like spring to me.
On the Alex front, he is sprouting top teeth like crazy, and that is making him miserable and me a little crazy, as he's just about given up napping at all. He is taking one 20-25 min nap a day right now and still tends to wake up in the early early morning needing much soothing to sleep anymore. He had his first stomach flu, which he caught from me and then gave to Andy...this was not fun for anyone. He took two little steps on his own on Monday, but I'm not sure he even realized he did it. He loves getting into all the cabinets and drawers and pulling things out...sometimes he puts stuff back in, but not too much. His first birthday is almost here (Feb 17th) and we've got a bunch of family coming into town for President's weekend. We are having a party for him on the 14th and then his baptism on the 15th.
So, here's the tons of pictures from our trip mostly and others here at home. My next post will probably be of our toddler--wow, that sounds so strange!