Marketing Scam

You know what you get when you purchase Fruity Cheerios? FRUIT LOOPS.

Random shots from the actual b-day party

Opening gifts with daddy...although LUCAS opened the bulk of the presents. And promptly claimed them as his...

The cute bib that Nana got for Lucas on his first b-day--she forgot to bring it that year, so she saved it for the next grandchild. It is so cute--the candle is actually a removable washcloth.

Alex didn't seem very interested in the cupcakes at his actual party. Maybe he knew that mommy made them (I am not renowned for my culinary skills). But I thought they turned out pretty cute. And they were edible enough for me to eat eight of them later that night. Just kidding. Okay, that was a lie, but I am so ashamed of myself.

During the party, Alex was zooming all over the place on his walker. He is all smiles when he is standing up.

One Year Old

We celebrated Mr. Alex turning one this past week. Here is a little glimpse of what he is up to these days:

-We have completely transitioned to whole milk and he seems to have taken to it quite well. I am also working on serving it cold, but daddy gives in and warms it up, so Alex still resists the cold milk quite frequently.

-He is still a bottle boy, despite our attempts to give him the sippy cup. He wants no part of that and I haven't pushed it too much since he still hasn't learned to tilt his bottle up properly.

-For the past couple of weeks we have been giving him table food--slowly adding in new things. We know he likes bread, most fruits, crackers, cheese, pasta, and sweet potatoes. He does not seem to be a very picky eater, which we are grateful for.

-One week he was loafing around on his belly, and the next he was up and crawling around. It is a funny type of crawl--I would call it crab-crawling as he sticks one leg out to the side and skooches more than actually crawling. For the past week or so he insists on pulling up on everything, but he still hasn't mastered the whole balance thing, so he frequently bops his head and we have the beautiful bruises and goose eggs on his noggin to show for it. But he keeps trying. The day of his party he used a walker and moved all around the room to visit with party guests.

-Alex still attends PT and OT twice a week, and we believe they are helping him develop in leaps and bounds. He is still behind most of his peers, but I do see him catching up in some areas, while others he continues to baffle us. We are having his speech evaluated this month and he may begin speech therapy as well. Thank goodness all this therapy is state-sponsored, or I don't know how we would afford it.

-Josh and I made the executive decision to cease the use of the helmet. His last appointment showed a huge improvement in the shape of his head. It will never be perfect, but at this point we believe (and his pediatrician agrees) that it is probably as good as its going to get and the helmet was impeding his developmental growth, which is more important at this time, so no more helmet. As a result, Alex is now displaying a nice shag hair do that I can't bring myself to cut. He also has a really great rats tail.

-He has two bottom teeth and copious amounts of drool indicate we've got more teeth on the way.

-Lucas has been taking swim lessons and we bought season passes to Wild River Country, so we have been in the water a lot lately and Alex really loves it. He will sit and splash the water until his hands are red.

-He still isn't talking much, mostly just babbling, but we do think he knows and understands several words--including bottle, brother, up, momma, dadda, and kisses. When you ask him to give you kisses, he always leans his head close to you to bop foreheads with you.

-Although he goes to bed early (sixish) and sleeps MOST of the night, we are still battling him waking for long periods of the evening where he coos and talks or now stands up and begins screaming (he can't sit back down once he pulls up). As Josh and I both cherish our sleep, this is very annoying and we try to ignore the behavior for the most part--but he is also extremely stubborn and can use his lungs very well.

-He is a very sweet boy. He loves to cuddle and snuggle.

Cake Monster

As per usual, I am way behind in my posting, so I will attempt to get caught up over the next few days. We've been super busy, and I have lots to blog about, but the biggest event was Alex turning one. It is hard to believe he is already a year old--I know everyone says that about their children and that time just seems to fly in the younger years (probably due to sleep deprivation) but with Alex it has seemed doubly weird to realize that twelve months has passed simply because he still does not seem like a one year old. His development remains behind, and I'll discuss that more in a separate post about his life at age one, but it is worth noting that he is so different because his birthday was a little different. He is not really eating much solid food yet, so I was worried he wouldn't like his cake. Clearly from these pictures, he did LIKE it, but there were very few smiles as he ate it--he seemed intently focused on the cake and since he was concentrating so hard he had little time for posing for the camera. And unlike his older brother (who delighted and giggled in the cake until we took it away--at which point he screamed his head off), Alex calmly accepted the removal of the cake and was content to sit and smear icing everywhere. Since said confection was dyed cookie monster blue, he soon resembled a little blue cake monster.

He also kept trying to eat the wax candle "1". He soon realized it wasn't the same yummy goodness as the cake, though...
Afterwards he had a nice bottle to wash it down. Notice even the straps to his highchair are covered in blue frosting.

There was the tiniest hint of a grin in this shot. Poor baby had an upset stomach later that night.

Lucas: Daddy, why do you have a ring on your finger?
Christy: (Answering for Josh who was on his phone) That's his wedding ring. He got it when he married mommy. It means he belongs to me. (snickering under her breath).
Lucas: I'm gonna get married mommy.
Christy: Oh yeah? Who are you going to marry?
Lucas: (immediately) Alex.
Christy: Alex, your brother? Uh...that's not a good plan buddy.
Lucas: Why mommy?
Christy: Well, first of all--he's your brother, and that is called incest. Can you say incest?
Lucas: Infest?
Christy: We don't want to perpetuate the Arkansas backwoods hick stereotype by encouraging incest.
Lucas: HUH? What mommy?
Christy: Anyway--also, it's probably best if you marry a girl. Most boys marry girls. (Note:I am not opposed to my children marrying WHOEVER they fall in love with--boy or girl. But this just didn't seem like the right time to have the birds and the birds discussion). What girl would you like to marry?
Lucas: Umm....Steele?? I think Steele mommy.
Christy: (grinning) Well that would be fine.
Lucas: No, mommy. Not just Steele. I want to marry Steele's mommy, too.
Christy: Really? She's already married. Steele's daddy might not like having to share her.
Lucas: That's okay.
Christy: What makes you want to marry Steele's mother?
Lucas: I like her. She doesn't put me in time out.

Who knew he had such incestuous-bigamous-cheating-Mrs. Robinson tendencies lurking under that cute facade? The BM gals better watch out...Lucas is on the prowl.

Anniversary

one boy
one girl
met in high school in 1991.
Eighteen years later, he's "still the one" (thanks Shania!)
Thanks for eleven years!!

A new "trekkie" is born

As a treat for myself I saw Star Trek on my birthday. This was actually my second time to see the movie--and today I saw it for the third time. That's how I am when I become obsessed with something--I can't get it out of my head and I want to live it over and over again (just like Star Wars, Buffy, Harry Potter, Twilight...and so on).
Growing up, I was never a Trek fan. My theory is that you can't love Star WARS and Star TREK--those worlds just weren't meant to collide. Now I will always be a die hard Wars fan (hello--I named my first born after George Lucas!), but I was curious about Trek. All the reviews were fabulous, everyone I know who saw it loved it, and it was sweeping the box office. None of this would have been enough to get me there, but it was directed by JJ Abrams...who just happens to have spearheaded three of my favorite shows on TV (Alias, Lost, and Fringe), so I had to see his incarnation of Star Trek.
And it did NOT disappoint--not even the third time through. I love everything about it--and I mean all two hours and however odd minutes. I love the ode-to Abrams tv shows that are slyly weaved into the plot. I love the way the movie is NOT shot digitally and they captured a million beautiful lens flares that make everything sparkle and really feel like outer space. I love the emotion between Spock and James. I love all the references to past Star Trek films/shows. I love the cameos by Abrams alums and Trek historians. I love that I cried in the first ten minutes and then laughed my butt off when Beastie Boys "Sabotage" was played. But most of all--I just love Spock. Oh, James is a hottie, but the depth of Spock's character just amazed me.
If you haven't seen it yet--I won't spoil it for you--but know that this is just the beginning. We can expect to see Trek movies every couple summers now--and from this point forward I am proclaiming myself smitten--the next generation of Trekkie.

Hello Charlotte!!

The ribbon cutting ceremony at my new store!!

And here is my new team. Everything with the opening went as smoothly as can be expected with these things and I am looking forward to a great year with Charlotte!

Wedding weekend in New Orleans

We recently attended the wedding of one of my best friends from high school--Laxmi. It was a grand affair--how could it be anything but since she is Hindu and her groom was Polish?? It was a fabu weekend and there was too much to recount here, but I've posted a few shots. Below--it was like a mini-reunion. Carrie, Me, Cath, and Colleen all present for the big event.

The lovely bride and groom arriving at their reception (the SECOND reception...we'd already stuffed ourselves with cocktails and horderves for an hour before the actual sit down dinner!)

Josh macking on the lovely bride.

Observations from the Big Easy

They live by a different set of rules down south...

Josh looks like a vampire when he drinks from Pat O's hurricanes...and they get you drunk REALLY fast.

It's a fitting/prophetic name.

The waiters still expect a tip if they take your pictures...sadly this guy didn't get one!

Touristy shtick is still fun...but Bourbon is nasty and I don't necessarily ever need to visit there at night again--you can feel the desperation in the air. It's too sad.

The sky is just brighter with a little big easy flair in front of it. They dig the tigers just as much as we do...if not more...go figure!

Every garden should be this beautiful....property was for sale everywhere down there (thanks to Katrina). Makes me wish we had an extra mil tucked away and then we could own a piece of history in the quarter...or we could pay off EVERYTHING. But whatever!

Henna tattoos do NOT taste like chocolate despite the similarity in appearance.

Beniets are really just a good excuse to eat straight powdered sugar for breakfast (courtesy of Cafe du Monde).