Halloween

This little rascally racoon wants to wish you a Happy Halloween!

Check out my ring tail!

 

Can't decide which is cuter, the ring tail or the mask?!

   

Here is the pumpkin I carved to go with Alex's costume. SOOO last min but i think it turned out pretty good, especially since I free-handed it and didn't use a pattern. Yay!

 

Punkin Patch 2012

Alex's new fave song

I know, I know -I'm so mean. But you have to admit, his facial expressions are funny! And at least he stopped crying! So there :P

Alix the brav

Over the weekend, I took Alex to get a flu shot. Bella insisted on coming with me, and then said she was going to work on a "surprise" for Alex. She got out her crafting box and worked diligently for over an hour on her project. In the car on the way to the doctor, she was very adament about not letting him see the paper that she had made for him. He would only get the surprise if he was good at the doctor's office. I tried to explain to her that he is a baby and he didn't know what was about to happen, so it's likely he would cry when they gave him the shot. Well it turns out I didn't really even need to warn her about it - he was an absolute rock star! He didn't cry at all, and in fact he hardly even whimpered when the nurse gave him the shot. Janine has a theory that it probably didn't bother him since they stuck him right in the thigh and he probably didn't even feel it due to the chunkiness. : /

ANYWAY, when we left, Bella rushed out to the car to give Alex his surprise.

Kinda hard to see, but at the top, it says "Be a brav boy to get this."  The aqua part says "Be brav Alix" and then it says "You did be brav!!!! I love you" And if that isn't cute enough, she even went into her piggy bank and got two dimes out, then taped them to the paper for Alex. AWWWWWW! How sweet is this girl? Seriously. I love her so much! She is infatuated with her baby brother, and it melts my heart. I am so proud of her - she is such a good helper when it comes to him. What's even better is that Alex actually smiled when she showed him the picture in the car. And of course she was all giddy and excited because he was looking at her picture and smiling. Seriously one of the most adorable moments I've witnessed between those two so far.

PS. Did you notice that Alex is rockin the faux hawk in the pic? haha. She loves when we fix his hair like that! Kinda hard to do now since his hair is so fuzzy, but I'm gonna keep workin on it. :)

PSS. I love that she said to "be brave." hahaha, LIKE babies even know what a shot is! How can they be brave if they don't even know what's comin? So cute.

True story

A visit from the Lemke girls

Last weekend, Linda, Jane, and Lois came down from Wisconsin for a visit. I seriously think I have the best aunts EVER. They are sooo much fun!

Here's a rundown on what we did while they were here: Friday we hung out and had a pizza party at mom and dad's. Saturday we were planning on going to the apple festival in Clarksville, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we ended up spending all afternoon down on Main St in St. Charles. Had lunch at the Winery of the Little Hills followed by - you guessed it - ice cream at Riverside Sweets. (duh) That evening, all us girls, including mom, Stacey, and Janine, went to the Cirque Chinois show at Lindenwood. It was kind of like a Chinese Cirque du Soleil show. SO COOL! Sunday we hit up Sugar Creek Winery in Augusta. This was probably my favorite day of their visit. Fall winery trips ROCK! Monday I was off work, and Mom, Alex and I took the ferry over to IL. My dad took the girls by boat, and we met them at Pere Marquette Lodge, where we had a picnic lunch overlooking the river. I was going to take them on a hike through the woods while my mom and dad watched Alex, but we got distracted and just spent our time in the gift shop instead. It's kind of become a tradition to buy some form of matching accessories when we go on these trips together, so we all picked out matching 'sister bracelets.' When I went to FL with them a few years ago, we all got mood rings. (so retro, right?)

Alex isn't going to know what to do with himself now that they are gone. Every time they are aound, the second he makes a peep, one of them is there to scoop him up and snuggle him. ;) He was lovin it!

Here are some pics from the weekend.

He wasn't sure what to think at first. He had just woken up from his nap and was like "Who ARE these people and why are they staring at me??"

How many aunties does it take to feed a baby a bottle? Apparently 3! :)

At the wineries. CHEERS!

Told ya we had fun! ;)

This dude kept hitting on Linda the whole time we were at the winery. She texted Leah and said "Some guy keeps hitting on me, but don't worry, we've got it under control." That was one of my fave lines all day!

Couple pix of the pretty fall foliage at Pere Marquette

This so reminds me of Ralphie from A Christmas Story with the soap in his mouth!

Melted Chapstick anyone?

Dad clearly enjoyed the picnic at Pere Marquette...

Sister bracelets!

And this is why we are starting daycare Monday...

Grumpa's getting him started at a young age. At least it's an Irish beer he's drinking. Way to represent, Alex! BOTTOMS UP!

Just kidding. That's not REALLY why we are starting daycare. It was the cigg smokin with Granny that did it. ;P

NO, but for real. Alex IS starting daycare Monday. He's going to be going to Great Beginnings in St. Peters. I kinda have mixed emotions about it. I'm sad that I can't stay home with him myself, and I feel quite guilty for just throwing him into the arms of a stranger. But on the other hand, I know he will benefit from a more consistent schedule, the social interaction will be good for him, and eventually, some structured learning will take place and that will help get him ready for school. Not to mention it will give our parents a break, as I know it was hard on all of them to take care of a little one again after all these years. Once again, we can't tell them thank you enough for watching him for us up until this point. Don't know what we would have done without you! XOXO Alex will definitely look forward to some Granny/Grumpa and  Nana/Papa time during volleyball and on the weekends. :)

Wish us luck Monday!



6 month checkup

Alex had his 6 month checkup on Friday, and guess what? He's still big. We recently got him some jammies (size 12 months mind you) that say "Born to plan football." How fitting! He is a linebacker in training, that's for sure. We've got one solid dude here. And I love every inch of him. :)

At his checkup, he weighed in at 23lbs 4oz and is now 28.75" tall. This now puts him in the 100th percentile for both height and weight. Basically, he's off the charts. Dr. Agolia said he looks great, and if he continues at the rate he's going, they are predicting he'll be about 6'3". We better start saving up now, cuz it's inevitible that he's going to eat us out of house and home when he's a teenager!

The biggest news is that his first tooth is coming in! He's still not sleeping through the night, but maybe that is because that tooth has been bothering him? Poor baby. :( We have at least managed to break him of the habit of eating during the night though, so that's a start!

Here are a few pics from the doctor's office. Not great, but I was trying to make sure he didn't fall off the table so this is as good as it gets!

The fake cough

Alex wanted to show you his new trick! He said this one goes out especially to Jason and Janine. :D

How much is that baby in the window?

His pricetag says $3. I dunno about you, but I'd be willing to pay quite a bit more to take this cutie home with me!

Sweet potatoes - good til the last drop!

Cacaws with a whole lotta ca-crazy!

Work it Alex!

Linda sent me this pic a couple weeks ago while I was at work and I about died. Strike a pose! hahahah
He's so hawt. :)