Peaches and Puffs

Alex has started eating!! Yea!! We tried peaches and he was like a new man. He wanted them and ate them like he had been eating all along! It was crazy! and he has been eating well every day since. Even when I switched to bananas. We also tried "melt in your mouth" cereal puffs. Well, he loves them!! and he has started "chomping" them even! It is so cute! All I can say is thank goodness!

I know he looks sad (man, really sad!), but I don't know why because he was loving it! He tried "helping" me with the spoon and therefore we got some on the nose...and everywhere else.

The cute face he makes when sucking on a puff.

Run Travis Run

We are so proud of Travis for running in his first half marathon. He did great (did it in 2 hours) and finished with ease! Awesome!! His sister Leah ran it too. She also did a super job!! Way to go Leah!
Alex and I went downtown to cheer them over the finish line! It was super cold-look at that poor lil red nose! :( But check out the precious jogging suite! He was ready if called in to run! Thanks Holly!! And don't worry, he had on layers...probably not enough, but I tried. Note to self, get that boy a heavy coat!

Alex always does that. Lil booger. Great family photo right!?

Our First Boo Boo

So Alex found out how much fun it is to jump in the crib while holding on to the side...he also found out how much it hurts when he hits his chin against the rail. The lil chompers are sharp and drew blood. Nothing a little tissue and some running water can't fix. I tried to stay calm (since I hate seeing blood) and everything was a-okay quite quickly.

Its funny because my dad was just telling me about when Chad, my brother, did this exact same thing because my sister would dance for him in front of the crib. Alex needed no such encouragement. :) He just likes to jump.

A New President

Yesterday was such an important day in history. The world watched Mr. Barack Obama be sworn in as our new President of The United States. It was really awesome to watch and you saw it Alex! Congratulations Mr. Obama!!
(Don't worry this was not how he watched it. This was purely for the picture.)

8 Months Old

We are a little late with this one. Sorry, bud. Its been a little hectic around here lately- who am I kidding, its always hectic these days. (And sorry Zachary because I know you have been patiently waiting for this- one of our youngest and most dedicated Team I fans.)

Alex is 8 months old!! As big as he seems, I was reminded that he was in my womb for longer than he has been out. It still blows my mind.

Well, you are a real hoot these days, Alexander. You are all smiles and laughs! It is so fun to play with you! You like to be face to face. You love my songs and dances. You love to be tickled! You love to "wrestle" with Dad. You keep us laughing with all your precious faces.


You are crawling- yes, real crawling!! Well, you just got the hang of it the other day!! Most of the time its an army crawl still though. So you are on the move constantly! We had to get a play yard to contain you so that I could at least eat.




They say the honeymoon is coming to an end and I am starting to see what they mean. Not that you are not a complete joy, but you are getting hard to corral and keep out of trouble.
It started when you learned how to pull up in the crib...

You can now climb and pull yourself up on furniture (or anything in your path really). You love it! You want to climb up and stand all day!! I have been considering some options- bubble wrap your head or keep you in the high chair all day...I know, I don't think either are going to work. You are pretty good at standing up (while holding on to things) but you are still working on transitioning back down smoothly and most likely end up with a sad pouty "that hurt" cry. I love the way that you smile at me when you get up somewhere, like you are sooo proud of yourself. It is sooo sweet.


No more baby bath...you are sitting in the sink. You love to play with your duckie while Daddy bathes you. The splashes are getting pretty big, so tub time is in the near future.


You are doing pretty well in the car. I can go further now without stressing too much. You like to look out the window more and you are pretty good about playing with toys or chewing on your pacifier to keep yourself happy. We got a portable DVD player for christmas (I know, I know...its ridiculous, but you gotta do what you gotta do) and you love to watch it. This helps on out of town trips.

We are working on clapping your hands but you aren't sure of it yet. You just stare at us. Sometimes when you are happy, you will swing your arms around like you might just clap, so maybe soon.

Your gummy smile has changed to a bright white 2 chicklet smile. It will melt your heart- you are a hit at the checkout line! Your top teeth are coming in and are just starting to show. You like to run your tongue over them and smack your lips.


You still wont eat baby food. You really hate it. You only like water. Ha. We even tried apple juice this month and you hated it.

You still wont sleep through the night. Just for the record, most nights its every two or three hours. Yes, I am serious. There were a few nights where you did really well- you were sick and we gave you Benedryl. Can I do that every night?

You do like to cuddle now as you drift off to sleep and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I have been waiting for this with such anticipation and it is just as wonderful as I dreamed. Your soft little head nustled on my shoulder. Your lil body wrapped around me. Can it get any better than that?! You will also give me little hugs sometimes...oh, heaven.

Happy 8 Months Alex!

My Heart Will Go On

So the big night finally came! The Celine Dion Concert!!!!!!! I have waited A YEAR for this and let me tell you, it was sooo worth the wait! I love, love, love her!

The concert was awesome!! All you lame-o's out there that are laughing can't deny that she has an amazing talent with an unbelievable voice. She sounds even better in person and makes it look so easy. It will give ya goosebumps I tell ya. Yes, she is a little weird, I will admit, as a person...but it just adds to the show. :) Lets just say her outfits were interesting and her faces kept us smiling. Yes those are rhinestones on her crotch and knee pads! ha!!
She sang all my favs but the tour was for her Taking Chances CD so there were a lot from that. I am not as familiar with the songs (cause I can't really understand what she is saying!) but that was okay. It was still a great concert overall. Lets just say I did my fair share of singing along (good thing no one could hear me)! It was so fun! and I am soo glad we went!! I will remember it always!


Yes, even Travis was belting it out!
(not really, for the sake of my husbands manhood, I will admit that this was staged)

"The Prayer" done as a techno-duet...a family favorite! :)

The lights and effects were actually really cool too. One of my favorite effects was when they put the screens around her and made it look like she was in the snow or in a snow globe. Really cool. Here is a clip I found on Youtube so that you can get a little bit of the concert experience. Someone did some good recording and must have had a great seat.



One of the funniest parts of the whole evening was when we look over and she is grabbing a baby up out of the audience. Well, you would think "ahh cute" but then you realize that the baby has on a camoflauge snowsuit on. What??! I know. Thats what I said. Only in good ole San Antonio. Then Travis and I are like, who brings their baby to the Celine concert? and why would you dress him in camo? and its not like it was snowing in the arena! ? It was weird!


So I am sure you are wondering about our little one. Well, our good friends the Elliotts took one for the team and agreed to babysit. Little did we know that he would be sick and little did we know that we would be gone for a century. I am sure thats what it felt like to Addie. (The concert was super long, with an opening act, and then we got stuck in the parking lot at a 30 minute standstill, and then when we finally get out and on the highway, we realized they had shut it down for construction!! We were so frustrated!) Anyway, Addie wouldn't let on to how bad it probably was, but I know my baby and I know he wasn't quiet, thats for sure. She did say that he decided he didn't want to eat and he only slept for like 20 minutes. But the most important lesson for me is that he survived. I had a stomach ache just worring about him. So it really is good for me to do stuff like this. A BIG THANK YOU TO ADDIE AND HER FAM FOR BABYSITTING! You are fabulous!!

*It took me a while to post this bc we all got Alex's cold right after. The three of us have gone through many a kleenex. I am happy to post we are doing better now after a long restful weekend.

No Milk For You!

Well, we found out that Alex is allergic to Milk (cows milk). We found out because I decided to try formula for the first time. I have had a bad feeling about it and kept putting it off. We had a day at home so I thought- today is the day! I just knew he would have some kind of reaction though. I thought he would throw it up or something, but instead he broke out in hives all over his body! Great! It progressively got worse through the day, but we didn't notice till late afternoon (bc of his pants and long sleeves, in hind sight we should have been checking him more intently, live and learn right?!). We took him into to the doctor at the end of the day- they saw us after hours, and after waiting for about an hour (ugh!). The doc explained that it could be worse and prescribed an epi pen, just in case of an emergency. That scared me to death. Just the thought of it made me nauseous. But hopefully we won't ever have to worry about that. I am praying that Alex will grow out of this, like most children, between 2 and 5 - and lets make it closer to 2 please! :) The doc gave him some benedryl and Alex started looking better almost immediatly. So, not too big of a deal thankfully.
This news was quite hard for me for 2 reasons...of course, no one wants their child to have an allergy and then also because formula was going to be my answer to a little break and freedom every once in a while. It will be okay, but I just had my hopes up. The formula that he can have is muy muy expensive. :( We will go to an allergist and have him tested soon. This way we can find out what he is allergic to specifically. In the big scheme of things, we are thankful that this is all we are dealing with. I can do a milk allergy.
Sooo...no milk for our lil guy! no cheese. no yogurt. you get the idea. And Mom's milk is worth the big bucks! Praise the Lord that I have been able to breastfeed him and for as long as I have! And it looks like I will get to for a little bit longer! :)

Happy New Year!

Because we didn't get to be with Travis' family for Christmas, they came for New Years and we did a late "Christmas". Honey and Grandpa babysat for us on New Years Eve, and then everyone came over for New Years Day. Travis smoked a turkey and we opened presents. It was fun fun!
The Aunt and Uncles were a little "tired" from their wild New Years Eves, but don't mistake their faces...they were super pumped about watching Alex open all his presents! :)

2008 was quite the year for us and we can't wait to see what '09 will bring! Happy New Year to you!

Christmas Joy

Alex's first Christmas...
We spent Christmas in San Antonio with my family this year. We had so much fun and loved sharing our first Christmas with Alex with everyone. It really adds a special magic to the holiday to have a little one. Such joy and wonder! Such love! (oh, that sounds soo super cheese but it really is true, ha)
Alex did great on the trip! He loved being with everyone all day and was so good! There was always someone there to play with and lots of new things to look at... But he hates to leave a party, so naps and sleeping were not high on his priority list. This made the trip quite tiring for mom, but that's okay. I survived. :)
Alex started "talking", well, babbling, on Christmas Eve. Travis and I were getting him ready for bed and he started saying "Dadadada"! We were so shocked and just stared at each other open mouthed. Then we were laughing because Alex got such a kick out of it too, he wouldn't stop! It was an awesome moment that I am so glad we were together to share. He has always made noises but not "talking" like this!
He has been sitting up really well! This was great for Christmas and makes playing with his new toys all the more fun! And new toys there are!! Lets just say, the child is far from deprived. Mom is excited about the new toys too though - this adds more fun to our days! but being the only baby in both of our families made Alex quite the center of attention and the main gift recipient this year! It was really fun to see him go from new toy to new toy with such wonder and excitement. Granted, he doesnt even get what all this is about, but he seemed to really like all his gifts! He made it through the whole LONG gift opening morning without a nap, when quite frankly, the adults were fatiguing fast! :) Like I said, hates to leave the party (I think he gets this from his mother?!).

A Few Christmas Highlights

Our family christmas gift to ourselves... we needed it for all our "stuff"! Crazy, huh?! We are officially a family now! Travis was especially excited. It is a really nice carrier and men love stuff like this, right?! :)

Christmas Eve

Hangin' with Uncle Chad ... one of my favorite moves

I have to change shirts...Auntie Jo will hold me

The first present...Uncle Vinnie let Alex get his little paws on one just to see if he could open it. The drool did make a hole but thats as far as we got. He really just liked looking at the paper, touching it, and moving it around.

Santa's helper putting together Alex's new car on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning...look what Santa brought!

Stockings...Alex got cups! His favorite! :)
Travis surprised me with an IPod nano....can you tell I was surprised! :) I thought it was going to be coasters! ha!! What a great hubby I have! Now what is a simple housewife going to do with such coolness?!

Nani and Papa got Alex an Elmo Live... too much fun!

Slam dunking like a pro!

We went downtown to the RiverWalk the next night. I LOVE the lights and the Mexican food! (These pictures are hard to take- you have to be super still to get the lights to glow. Any suggestions on settings are welcome.)

The full house...lots of family came over to visit on Saturday
Round 2 (with the Isaacsons) coming soon!