Watching the Waves

Alex and I ventured out to the ocean side of Fort Fisher today. A storm sat off the coast all day, so there was a constant breeze and we were able to see some great waves. The temperature was actually in the 70’s all day, making it a perfect beach day if it hadn’t been so breezy. So, Alex and I just walked around. I ended up with some fantastic photos:

Watching the waves crashing just below the rocks.

Alex loves to lead the way.

My sweet, sweet boy.

Feeding Kovu

Alex wanted to help me scoop Kovu’s food yesterday. He knew exactly what to do: he grabbed the scoop, stuck it in the box of food … and pulled out maybe 3 pieces. Kovu was going crazy watching Alex scoop just a few pieces at a time.

I want to do it!	Oops, I dropped a piece.
I’ll put it in the scoop …	… then I’ll drop it in the bowl.

This is What We Do

This is why I love staying at home with my baby – I get to do this all day long!

Here Mommy, read another one!

Uh-oh … Daddy caught us!

Fort Fisher in June

I was going to take Alex to the Aquarium today, but as soon as I saw vacationers parking in the over-flow parking lot, we changed plans and headed the few miles down the road to Fort Fisher instead. We’ve been to Fort Fisher several times. It’s a great place to walk on a pretty day (and it’s free!), so Alex and I tend to go there when we’re bored. This is the first time I didn’t start him in his stroller or bike – we just held hands through the welcome center and started exploring. Man, we had tons of fun! He was very interested in the old ships’ anchors and loved seeing the view of the river from the boardwalk on the back side of the Fort. What impressed me the most is that he even looked at some of the exhibits inside the welcome center. Here are pictures of the fun.

Alex had been grasping my hand pretty tightly, until he saw the huge anchors!	Wow, look at this!
Trying to climb up.	Inspecting the inside of the cannon.
My little history buff.	What’s next?

Happy Father’s Day!

Happy Father’s Day to my wonderful hubby and to our Daddies!

Tim – you are an amazing Daddy and I’m so glad you take time out for all the little things … like reading a book to our son. We love you!

Dad and Art – thank you for always being supportive in our roles as new parents. We appreciate the love and advice! I love how Alex lights up when he hears your voices and sees your faces. We love you!

 

 

Meet My New Pet, Alex

Tim, Alex, Kovu, and I ventured up to Spartanburg, SC to see Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, and friends for a long weekend. We left Thursday night around 7, getting in to Grandma and Grandpa Murff’s house close to 1:00 in the morning. Even though it was a long ride, Alex did really well! Daddy rode in back with him most of the way and kept him fed and happy. Considering that we drove from 3:00 – 8:00 on Sunday with only a brief nap, Alex did very well on the way back home. It’s great to know he does well on road trips, because we’re ready to start taking more of them!

We were too busy playing to take many pictures, but I did manage to capture this special moment. Alex was captivated by Kovu’s crate and loved crawling inside and closing the door. The moment is all the more special because he’d pulled off a sock and was looking particularly crazy with his wild hair. I love this boy!

18 Month Check-Up

Today was Alex’s 18 month check-up. Thank goodness there were no shots or finger pricks this time! He was a little nervous at first, but after giving Daddy lots of hugs and kisses, he decided to be a brave big boy. I love our doctor, and I think Alex does too, because he was definitely showing off to her by the end of the appointment.

Here are his 18 month stats:

Height: 33.5 inches … 76 %ile (gained 2.5 inches since March!)

Weight: 26 pounds, 6 ounces … 57 %ile (gained 10 ounces)

Head: 50 cm … 95 %ile (gained 3/4 cm)

He talks all day long to Tim and me, but we are still waiting for a clearer vocabulary. He definitely has some words we can clearly understand: mama, dada, dog, duck, juice, up, there, this, uh-oh, and out. He is great at using hand gestures and facial expressions to show us what he wants, and of course, there are some tantrums too. I know, it’s hard to believe this sweet little guy could throw a tantrum, right? He understand so much of what we say. I love asking him to do something and seeing the little light bulb go off in his head when he realizes what I’d like him to do. We are so excited to see what the next 6 months bring!

Showing off on the playground.

Sitting in his chair under the house.

First Hair Cut

The very top bit of Alex’s hair was the first to grow in after losing his first round of hair. That hair was long enough that it was tangling and getting in his eyes unless it was super humid, causing it to curl way up. Since this hair was getting kind of out of control, Tim and I had been discussing trimming just enough that Alex didn’t look disheveled all the time. One minute, Alex is calmly playing with his crayons in his high chair, and the next I’ve cut his hair! If you know me at all, you’ll know that once I was done and holding that baby hair in my hand that I started crying. Haha. I ran to get his baby book and we taped it in before I could drop any. We didn’t even think to take a picture of the whole process, it happened so fast. Oh well – the top row of pictures show how kind of crazy his hair was getting and the bottom two show the freshly trimmed hair. I think I did a pretty good job!

You can see how that hair can get annoying when it’s not super curly like in the next picture.
Alex was busy throwing crayons around the kitchen, so he didn’t even notice his hair cut.	It looks good!

Playing in the Rain

Alex loves to be outside. Once he sees a pair of his shoes, he starts chanting, “shoes … shoes,” because he equates wearing shoes with being outside. If he doesn’t see shoes when the idea pops in his head, he’ll just start pounding on the front door. Thank goodness for the great play area under the house, because it has been raining for what seems like weeks! We definitely need the rain, but I’m ready for a break.

We had a pretty good downpour today, so I decided to try out Alex’s new rain jacket. He looks like such a little man!! He didn’t mind wearing it, but I think he would have preferred just running around without it.

Granola Bars & Tomatoes

I have such a silly little boy on my hands these days. This evening while I was cooking dinner and Tim was working on homework, Alex decided he needed to rearrange my pantry for me. I don’t usually let him in this particular cabinet, but he knew his goldfish were in there, and he insisted. Words don’t really do justice to what happened from there …

Those goldfish must be in here somewhere.	Maybe they’re behind the tomatoes.
These make a great seat!	What?
Having trouble getting back up.	All done!

Busy Weekend

Alex had a super busy weekend! Our old neighbors from Moncks Corner came to visit with their two kids Thursday night through Sunday afternoon. Friday was supposed to be beautiful, so Tim took the day off and we headed to the beach. I'm so glad he took off, because we ended up spending close to 5 hours on the beach on what was a perfect beach day! Saturday we took the kids to the little zoo down the road and then into downtown Wilmington for a late lunch. Then Sunday, we took the ferry over to Southport for lunch. Alex was so tired, he actually slept the whole hour over to Southport, including the entire ferry ride!

Alex did a great job playing with Ashlynn, who will be 3 in August, and was mildly interested in Marcus, who is almost 6 months old. Normally he gets jealous when I hold other kids, but I guess he decided Marcus wasn't too much of a threat, because he never got mad. By Sunday morning, Alex was chasing Ashlynn around the house and giving her hugs. :-) Here are some pictures of all the fun!

On Safari.	Posing with Ashlynn.
He was so excited to watch the prairie dogs!	Reading together.
Taking a quick break with Mommy.	Cooling off.
Building sand castles …	…and knocking them back down.
Giving Ashlynn a sandy hug.	They loved the hole Daddy dug.
I have no idea what he’s doing, but I love it!	No more pictures!

Better Late Than Never

We had other visitors a while back, but for some reason, I never got around to posting the pictures! My old high school/college friend Amanda, her husband Crey (who I've actually known since kindergarten), and their daughter Cerys came for a visit. Cerys is 4 months older than Alex, so Amanda and I were excited to see how they'd do together. We went to the zoo, spent some time at the beach, and visited the USS North Carolina Battleship. Unfortunately, Alex decided that battleships are too scary and we had to spend most of the time in the museum's lounge! Oh well! The rest of the visit was much happier!