Alex's 2nd Birthday Party

Alex loves Thomas the Tank Engine--watching the shows and videos, singing the songs, playing with the trains. For his second birthday, we hosted a party at our house for his friends and our friends, ending up with 13 children ranging in age from 0-8 and their parents.

Thomas greeting visitors to the party...

The house was decorated and ready for the guests...

Tables for the kids to eat and make their train crafts and color at...

The birthday cake...Thomas' Birthday Celebration cars chugging on a bridge (graham crackers) over a lake with big red (swedish) fish...Devils food cake with buttercream frostingThe train car cupcakes...hauling animals (animal crackers), logs (red vines), and engines with coal (raisinets and a licorice smokestack), with wheels (mini oreos)...Vanilla cake with buttercream frosting

Eating dinner with some ladies (Sophia and Maggie)...Enjoying some juice, watching Thomas...Table set for the singing and cake...Lighting the candles...Happy birthday to Alex...Enjoying his cake...Enjoying some cupcake... What a nice boy, sharing with daddy...

Happy Birthday Dear Alex...

Happy 2nd Birthday Alex from Andrea McElvaine on Vimeo.

Alex is 2!

We have had a very busy month during February. Andy's parents visited twice, Andrea's mom once, and Andrea's best friend and her new son Liam came too. Top all that off with Alex's second birthday party, and Evelyn still only one month old...that made for some fun but busy times with lots of pictures too!

While the first set of grandparents were here, we enjoyed a date night and also got to go flying with Pop while Gram kept the kids. Alex and Evelyn loved the fun and attention from their visiting playmates and we enjoyed the hands-free time!

Over the holiday weekend, Kelly and her 3 1/2 month old son Liam visited. We had a great time catching up and sharing the tribulations of having two young children. She was glad to escape the snow in the DC area, although we did have a little bit of snow here too.

Alex loved playing in the snow, and (with a little help from daddy) built a snowman...the biggest on the block. He still asks about it, although the snowman melted when it was 60 degrees two days after it snowed.

Andy went to Birmingham to run his first half-marathon on February 14th, which he did great at--ran a 1:28 and change.

Grandma visited over Alex's birthday party weekend, and thankfully, or we wouldn't have been able to make the party happen as planned! Alex was loving having another playmate around of course and I was loving all the help with the kids and around the house to get ready for the party.

Alex turned 2 on February 17th, and we had his Thomas the Tank Engine birthday party here at our house on the 20th--I'll put more about the party in another post. He was showered with choo-choo trains and other gifts at his party and all month long it seems from family and friends. He enjoyed his actual birthday meal on the 17th at McDonalds and playing with the big kids in the Playland there. His 2 year well baby checkup was on February 22nd. He rang in at 27 3/4 lbs (48%), 34 3/4 inches (62%), and a head circumference of 19 inches (40%) and is meeting all his milestones just fine. His vocabulary seems to grow every day--always surprising us with the words he knows and the phrases and sentences he can put together. He counts from 1-10, and knows all his big letters. He recognizes the printed word Alex and can say his name and tell you he is 2. He knows 4 or 5 colors and a few shapes. He likes to run, hop, dance, and play outside. He enjoys his trains and building towers and crashing everything. He helps unload the dishwasher and with the laundry. He loves to be a daredevil and test his boundaries (and our patience). He's our healthy, (mostly) happy boy!

Alex and Thomas

New Train Table and lots of choo-choos!

Evelyn just turned 8 weeks old on the 27th and is doing great. She can't decide whether she likes to sleep at night or during the day, so she tries all different variations to keep us on our toes (and groggy too). We've had a few 6-7 hour sleep stretches at night, but the norm is more like 4-5 at best. Still, she is mostly content although she is getting a little more vocal and is frustrated by the stuffy nose she has had recently (probably caught from her brother). She lifts her head very well at tummy time and although she's not "supposed to" roll over yet, she has rolled from belly to back on a pretty regular basis for about 2-3 weeks now. I still haven't caught that on video though, and she is smiling more and more, but not for the camera very much unfortunately. Her 2 month checkup is this coming week. She's almost out of newborn diapers and wearing all 0-3 month clothes now.

Tummy time...frame 1Tummy time...frame 2--rolled over!

Evey is 1 month old already!

Evelyn turned one month old on February 2nd--and the time is going so fast! She is growing almost out of newborn clothes (in length) and weighs approximately 9 pounds now. She and Alex loved having Gram and Pop visiting in early February and are looking forward to more visitors later this month. We are getting ready for Alex's second birthday on the 17th, with his party on the 20th. Alex has been enjoying more crafty activities including coloring, stickering, play-doh-ing, and even made some valentines for his family with foam decorations. Alex had his first dental appointment on February 2nd. They just did a quick exam, which he was not too happy about, but he did enjoy the toys in the office and fish and turtle tanks in the waiting room. His antics lately include "nursing" his baby doll (and other random toys) and wearing his rain boots around the house. Here are pictures from the past couple of weeks.

We had the airplane painted in January and it looks great. Here are some pictures of the plane.

Old Paint

New Paint