Wow! May 2010 just flew by... We've had quite a busy month starting with MOMMY FOUND A NEW JOB! After 9+ months of searching, we can finally move on with our lives. We are beginning to pack our apartment as our lease is terminated July 31. Although, Mark and I are going to try to get out sooner if we can. We recently looked at a house for rent in Hudson last Friday. It would be just perfect for our little family, but there are a lot of parties interested. I'm not surprised because Hudson is a nice, little community with a great school system. The house has 3 smaller bedrooms, hardwood floors, renovated kitchen with all new appliances, 2-car garage, fenced in backyard with deck, and a full basement with storage for all of this stuff we have accumulated. Another reason we are outgrowing this small apartment! We put in our application to rent the house this past weekend, so we shall see if we are accepted.
About our little munchkin:
1st Birthday Party:
We held his first birthday party on May 2nd, and it was just perfect. Mark and I just barely got all of the decorations up & food/beverages made before guests started arriving thanks to the help from my family at the last minute! We had so much leftover food: almost an entire box of pizza, grilled chicken salad, birthday cake, and I believe there is still some blue Hawaiian punch in the fridge from the blue ice cream punch I made for his party. Alex received mostly clothes, which is great! I won't have to buy him very much for the summer. We didn't have hardly any 12 month clothes for him prior to his party. He also received clothes in 18 month size, though I'm not sure whether he will be able to wear those for awhile. His little waist is so small that he sometimes still wears 9 month shorts/pants. He also received some cute toys at his party: a little wagon with blocks, a popcorn popper push toy, a musical lawn mower, a 2nd lawn mower that blows bubbles (won't THAT be great for a backyard!), and a Little People block set. He also received a cute bean bag chair with his name on it, and some cash. We are taking the money next Saturday to the bank to open a 529 account and combining it with the college fund we started for him. After 2 months of planning, his party was great. I only wished it would have lasted longer because we don't get our families together very often. Next year, hopefully he will have some friends for his 2nd birthday party, and we can have a children's party.
Balloons:
He also has a slight obsession with balloons since his party. We kept a few of them from his birthday party, and he crawled across the floor carrying a balloon. When they deflated, we trashed them. And just yesterday, I took him grocery shopping. There were many balloons at the checkout line, and he pointed up and said "blu". I decided to take him to the Factory Card Outlet store and buy him a new one to take home. The look on his face when we walked up to the counter and saw over 100+ balloons was priceless. It was like he hit the lottery!! We walked out with a plain red balloon, and the girl behind the counter said "Awww!"
Kiddie Park and Swimming:
Mark and I have taken many walks with Alex in his stroller over the past few weeks. We took him to the Middleburg Heights kiddie park a few weeks ago, and then again when Nana came to visit this past weekend. He is not a fan of swings, but the picture above is one of Alex's many trips down the slide. We also took him swimming for the first time on Saturday as well. He did SO well! I was concerned whether he would cry in the water, but we bought him a little intertube raft that has a mesh section in the middle where we placed his toys. We pulled him around in the pool and played peek-a-boo dunking under the water while Nana took some pictures. It was a terrific way to start the summer. I can't wait to take him to the Middleburg Heights outdoor pool when it opens next weekend.
Crib Moving:
Our "wonderful" living room air conditioner broke last night, so we moved Alex's crib into our bedroom. We had been discussing whether we would do this for awhile now, or at least until we move out in July. I remember how hot it was last summer because no air flows into his room, but he was so little and was still sleeping in his bassinet in our room at the time. It was quite the experience last night having him in our room. For the most part, he slept through the night just fine when he was in his bedroom with the occassional cry-out, but then he fell right back asleep when we did not come into his room. Well, now he cries out, and he knows we are right there, so he pulls himself up on his crib. It's going to be an interesting 2 months...
Crawling/Walking:
Alex is crawling just fine now on his hands & knees, even though sometimes he still does the "army crawl". He is becoming a master at furniture crawling. He actually got brave yesterday: While I held out a graham cracker in front of him, he took 2 small steps without me holding his hands. He will be walking within the next few months.
Food:
I am slowly getting over my phobia of Alex choking on chunky solid foods, and he is finally getting over the gag reflex of eating foods with texture. After conversations with Alex's doctor, I know it's important for his development to pick up small bites of food with his fingers and put them in his mouth. He likes small pieces of graham cracker, dried fruit pieces, and yogurt melts. We've also tried the small Gerber meals with Spaghetti rings w/ sauce and the meals w/ tiny pieces of corn, peas, turkey, pasta, etc. Nana says they smell like pot pie! I would like to eventually get back to making his food again in the Baby Cook, but we have just been so busy lately! I made his favorite bananas and cherries a few days ago, but that is all I've had time for lately. He has also gotten much better at drinking juice/water from a sippy cup. He used to be quite messy. Hopefully, we can start weaning him from the bottle soon where he drinks milk from his cup.
Ice Cream:
Alex is a HUGE fan! And who isn't? We took him to Honey Hut a few weeks ago, and he alternated quite frequently between Mommy's Cookies & Cream and Daddy's Pineapple Coconut. We also had Birthday Cake flavored ice cream a few days ago, and Alex's mouth hung open constantly yesterday when Daddy pulled out the Lemon Gelato.
I'm thinking that maybe he will no longer be in the 25th percentile for weight at his next Well Baby visit. Not just because of the ice cream though....I'm actually quite proud of how much we have increased his food intake over the past few months. He must have gone through a growth spurt at just the right time too.
Upcoming Summer Ideas:
We have a 4th of July trip planned to Indiana where I hope to take Alex to Rainbow Beach, which is Mommy's childhood community swimming pool (and hopefully they still have the kiddie pool). We'll probably come home with my usual favorites too: sweet corn and peaches.
We'll also take advantage of the Middleburg Heights community pool while we still live here. They have a great little shallow end where Alex can play in the water.
I'm hoping to attend a few family-oriented outdoor festivals in Cleveland as well, and I know we would like to visit Huntington Beach on Lake Erie w/ Grandma and Grandpa.
It would be great if we found a house to rent where we could buy a kiddie pool for Alex to play in the backyard.
Alex has plenty of summer gear for all of these activities: swimming outfit, sun hat, sunscreen, swim diapers, and a pool floating intertube!
