One Year Ago Today...

...Alex and I were in a different place. We were about to travel to Indiana. Today... we are missing Alex's Great Papaw.

Yes, it has been one full year. I woke up last night 10/20 at 1:50 am because Alex woke up with tummy trouble. As I looked at the clock, I remembered the phone call I received around the same time, one year ago today. I heard the Daughtry song today that reminds me of him. My heart is sad, but I prayed and asked God how he is doing. I will see him again someday.

Last weekend, we traveled to Indiana to see my family. As I had a "business trip" on Friday, we decided to make the most of it, and Alex & Mark came with me. Thursday night was a nightmare. I slept maybe 4 hours off & on total. Alex slept in his pack & play; a foreign bed to him. And we made the mistake of giving him ready-made formula again. We have now learned that his little system cannot handle the ready-made formula very well.

I took care of my business on Friday. I'm hoping and praying this is the One. And we continued to Oaktown. We arrived around 4:30, and Mimi was happy to see us. Mom & Dad met us at Mimi's house where we had our traditional breaded tenderloins for dinner. Nana watched Baby Alex on Saturday night, so Mark and I could catch up on our sleep!

Saturday was a morning full of errands. I wanted to go to Charlie's for some chocolates and to a flower shop buy some flowers for Papaw's grave. Mark and I went to Vincennes, and then on our way to Mimi's for the evening, we stopped by Papaw's grave. It was raining, so I wasn't able to spend as much time there as I would have liked. We met at Mimi's, and I tried to contain my tears before we showed up, but it was too hard. Between all of the stress in my life & the significant anniversary of this trip, I was crying pretty hard. I guess that I needed to get it out.

We ate at McKinley's for dinner on Saturday night, and I noticed Alex watching my fork to my mouth at dinner. He's been doing that a lot lately, so it's definitely time for solid foods now! No doubt about it.

On Sunday, we stopped in Indy to visit Auntie D. She was very happy to see us. She had tears in her eyes when we arrived. I think she must have been amazed at how big Alex has gotten since the last time she saw him. Our trip was WAY too short as she had to go to work, but I am so happy that she was able to see him again!

The car ride home went 300% times better this time. We still had our struggles on the way down from Cleveland, but the trip back home was much better!

Next trip home - Christmas time! (AND I'M FINALLY GOING TO VISIT LUCAS OIL STADIUM!!!)

I'm a Big Boy Now

Oh my. Where does the time go? Alex is 5 1/2 months old. The end. No, I'm just kidding. Here are some of our most recent events:

Today, we went to a Fall Foliage Festival at Mapleside Farms in Brunswick. The above picture is Alex in his Big Boy Car Seat on our way to the festival. Alex's Great Mimi bought him a car seat that we desparately needed. He has outgrown his infant carrier, and everytime Mark and I would carry him around in it, we just about threw our backs out. Alex weighs approx. 16 lbs, and that carrier weighs about the same, so you can see why we were doing some heavy lifting. Thank you so much Mimi!!

Also, in the mail last week, Alex received more mail than I did. Ha ha! His Great Aunt Barb sent him a mini Peyton Manning jersey. Oh boy! He is so cute in that thing. I'm sure he'll be wearing it tomorrow night when they play the Titans. And Pepaw sent him a GIANT tractor for his collection! I noticed on the back of the box that he can also attach other tractor "helpers" in the future to harvest his pretend crops. :-)

OK, so about the festival: We brought the stroller along, and Alex took turns being in the stroller OR he would be held as we walked around, and we'd put our stuff in the stroller instead! We first bagged our apples from many different varieties, from which I will make Mark an apple pie. Then, during the rest of the afternoon, we bought BBQ apple butter ribs, apple cinnamon ice cream, & pumpkin ice cream to eat at the festival. We took home goodies too: caramel apple pops, an apple fritter, kettle corn, apple cider, and 2 apple cider donuts. Had our Fall pictures taken at a variety of places too!

Alex is going to be a monkey for his first Halloween. Last weekend, Grandma Candi and Grandpa Greg took us out for dinner, and we visited Babies R Us afterwards where they bought him a monkey costume. It's really cute!

During the week of 9/27, Alex slept in his crib for the very first time at 5 months old. He has been in there ever since. We finally broke away from his bassinet. I think it was equally hard for all of us to make this transition. I still peak on him every night as he's sleeping in his Big Boy Bed.

Also at 5 months old, he is eating rice cereal with apples at his dinner time meal & bottle. Hoping we can continue trying Stage 1 foods in the weeks to come. Mark and I let him lick the salt off of a pretzel sometime last week, which was quite funny. He first made a face, and then he LOVED it! Grandma Candi has since also given him a pretzel too.

I finally worked up the nerve to cut his toenails for the first time a few weeks ago. Believe it or not, they were finally long enough to actually cut. Why his little toenails wouldn't grow, I have no idea because his fingernails grow super fast. I've been cutting his fingernails every Sunday since he was about a month old. Also on Sundays, I boil his bottle nipples to keep them sanitized and looking good. Functional and polished, now that's what I'm talking about for my boy!

Last weekend, I went through another clothes clean-up. So sad! We retired most of his 3-6 month clothes, unless they were long-sleeved, and I pulled out all of his 6-month clothes for his dresser drawers. Each time I do this, it takes A LOT of time, and it's sad. My little man is getting big.

And teething, oh my goodness are we STILL teething! Alex has about 2 good days in a row followed by 2 bad days where he cries and cries, shoves his fist in his mouth, and drools. We've tried EVERYTHING! Cold teething rings, frozen washclothes, Tony the Teething Blanket, ugh. I finally asked the Pharmacist at Walgreens for advice, and she recommended Infant Motrin, saying that we need an NSAID. She also recommended Hylan teething tablets, a homeopathic remedy that's been around since 1930-something. We've used the Motrin many times, and I don't think it really helps. We finally tried the teething tablets yesterday, but I cannot really tell if they worked or not. I'm going to talk to his Dr. at his next appointment on 10/23. Until then, we just keep pressing on...

He's loving his car walker and exersaucer right now! In fact, I just might have to post a second picture of him in his exersaucer after I write this post. Yep, I'm going to just do that!

Alex is eating 7-8 oz per bottle about 4-5 times per day. We're going to do his 6 month pictures soon too!

Before I close this post, I want to remind myself of a couple special little memories that I have of him:

1) the little red stork bite on the back of his neck since the day he was born
2) the way he sticks his tongue out while he is sleeping and "pretends" he is eating a bottle
3) laying on the floor and looking at the world from his level and at those sweet little innocent eyes, nose, and mouth

Ah, I love my son more than life itself - is that even possible? Thank you God for Alex and my husband. They are the light of my life and how I make it through each difficult day at work!!!