Behind Again...

I have been a bit neglectful in my blogging lately. That is because we have been busy, busy, busy... I'll let Alex tell you all about it.

At the beginning of November, we went to mom's cousin Arin's wedding reception in Kansas City. That's her new husband Brent she's sitting on. It was a fun reception - or at least that's what everybody said - I slept through most of it.
The day after the wedding reception, I got to meet two of my mom's cousin's kids. That's Casey in the middle with his mom Amy. He was born in March, exactly one month before me. Kane is on the left with his mom Courtney. He was born in February.While we were in KC, I also got to meet Gavin. Our moms were roommates at

K-State. Gavin was born just two days before me!

When we got home, I hung out with my buddy Jackson, who was in town from Nashville. His mom and my mom have known each other since they were as little as we are now! Our grandmas are best friends, too.

At Thanksgiving, we traveled to Michigan to see my Nana and Pops. Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Jeff went, too. We even took Jet dog. I had a pretty good time chillin' with my cousins Emily and Josie. I really liked watching all the stuff they could do! Emily was learning to walk and even took a couple of her first steps while we were there.

Last week, mom's work had a Christmas party. She brought home a sugar cookie for me...my very first cookie...and definitely not my last.We went to Botanica's Illuminations this weekend with mom and dad's friends Jason and Courtney......and my pal, Ethan. We both loved looking at all the lights and were very good boys while our parents had dinner afterwards. Needless to say, we got a lot of attention at the restaurant...we lost track of how many people stopped by the table to say how cute we were!

This afternoon, I joined grandma's church group at the nursing home in Goddard to help spread some holiday cheer. This is me with my Great Aunt Barb's mom Mary. Once again, I was quite a hit! I'm glad I got to make some older people smile.And, yes, I got to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Stylin'

Alex's hair had some spike after his bath tonight! How cute is that?!

Ferociously Cute!

After a visit to great grandma K's house, Alex helped us hand out candy to our neighborhood trick-or-treaters. We had a TON of visitors - we went through 3 huge bags of candy and had to turn our lights out before 8 o'clock! Alex LOVED watching all the people come and go - it will be fun next year to watch him toddle up to our neighbor's doorways to get his own treats! Hope everyone had as happy a Halloween as we did!

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

This week, we took advantage of the absolutely gorgeous fall weather we've been having here in Kansas and visited the pumpkin patch! Alex went on his first hayrack ride and we picked out a perfect pumpkin fresh from the vine. There were a lot of really fun things for bigger kids at Applejack's - I think we'll have to make a trip out there an annual event. One of the coolest things about having kids is creating new family traditions of your own. The holidays certainly bring with them lots of opportunity to do this. The anticipation of Halloween is getting me excited for all the other fall/winter holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's... It will be so awesome to experience them through Alex's fresh eyes!

Pic-o-Rama!

Dallas Trip

Last week, I had my pediatric board exams down in Dallas. At the last minute, I decided Ray and Alex should go with me. We had a pretty good time, aside from the brutality of the test itself! It was Alex's first stay in a hotel. We visited the Dallas Arboretum the day after my test before driving home. It was a BEAUTIFUL place to visit. Unfortunately, it started raining HARD about 2 hours in to our visit so we had to cut it a bit short. We could've stayed all day. We loved the fall displays and the literally THOUSANDS of pumpkins. Awesome.

Go Cats!

Alex was, naturally, born with the purple blood of a true K-Stater. We got to take him to his first Wildcat football game last weekend. He loved the sights and sounds and the Cats won 49-7! We got lots of opportunities to practice doing the "first down" and "touchdown" hand motions! Most kids Alex's age are learning patty-cake...that's for chumps. We're teaching our kid how to referee a football game. ;) Real babies wear purple.

Getting geared up for the game with grandma.

Good for a Wildcat "TOUCHDOWN!"

Halftime.

More Firsts!

Alex has had a whole slew of "firsts" lately.

His first football (thanks to uncle Tim and aunt Kelly!) and the first time in an exersaucer. We made sure to get our hand-me-down "exerciser" (as Ray refuses to call it an "exersaucer") cleaned up as soon as we got home from our trip to Michigan. It's now Alex's favorite spot to hang out and play.

His first "big boy bath." Yes, he is sitting up on his own! He has some bath toys, but doesn't really know what to think of them yet. He just enjoys having the water poured on him and tries to grab the water as I'm pouring.His first plane ride. This picture was actually taken in the airport after getting off the plane. He sat on my lap during travel - or rather, he SLEPT on my lap during travel.
His first boat ride. In uncle Tim and aunt Kelly's boat on Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful day, but man, it was cold once we got out to the big lake! His first solid foods. Green beans! Yum! Ray and I are making our own baby food - it's really easy and a lot cheaper than store-bought baby foods - plus we know exactly what we're putting in to our kiddo! We bought $8 worth of fruits and veggies, then spent about 2 hours one afternoon processing green beans, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, and peaches. We made enough food for at least a month. 1 two pack of stage 1 baby foods is $1.39. We rule. Alex agrees...

Finally and unfortunately, we're currently experiencing Alex's first cold. Luckily, he's just a bit congested with the worst of his symptoms being goopy eyes. He's taking it all in stride. Usually Alex is all smiles first thing in the morning, but yesterday his left eye was matted shut. He looked up at me with a confused look on his face and you could tell he was working really hard to open both eyes. When the left eye finally opened up, he laughed out loud - what a start to the morning! He is a bit more tired than usual...as you can see... The first nap in his exerciser... ;)

First Trip to Michigan

Over Labor Day weekend, we took our first family trip to visit Ray's family in Michigan. Alex had his first plane ride, which went pretty well. Each descent was a little rough, but luckily Alex had charmed all our nearby travelers before the fussing started, so instead of glares and stares, all we got was sympathy..."oh, poor baby, his ears hurt!"..."poor little guy...he's just so sweet." It was pretty great. During our stay, Alex got to see his Nana and Pops and uncle Tim for the first time since he was three weeks old (way too long) and met lots of family for the very first time - his great Nana, aunt Cheryl, aunt Kelly, cousins Josie and Emily, great uncles Jeff and Danny and Ray's cousin Jeffrey. Nana's house is quite well-equipped for entertaining a baby - Alex had a blast! Mom and dad had fun, too. It was nice to have full-time baby handlers/entertainers at our disposal - we actually got to relax a little! We can't wait to go back!

Alex was a little grumpy after a long day of traveling...But it didn't take long to warm up to his Nana!

Alex with his Great Nana

Aunt Cheryl with baby Alex (as opposed to dog Alex, Cheryl's baby)

Alex with cousins Emily (10 months old) and Josie (3 years old). Isn't Josie great with the little ones? She did a great job wrangling them for pictures!

Getting some lovin' from aunt Kelly