Toadfrogs and Elephants

Wade is leaving this evening for another round of research. He’s gone the entire week – thank goodness my Mom is coming tomorrow! We were busy all day trying to get small things done before he left. Alex entertained himself this morning talking to his new horse:

I managed to mow the lawn, remove the exterior extension cords, and pull a few weeds while Alex napped. Wade put another first coat of paint on the high chair, moved building supplies from the upstairs hallway to the basement, fix the electric fence, and watch Alex while I took a nap. It was a crazy busy day, but we got a lot done:

Wade, Alex, and I were initially planning to spend the afternoon at the lake. The lake trip was cancelled due to yucky weather so Wade planned a day of projects. I decided we should do something new and fun to start the day – off to the Original Pancake House we went for breakfast. Wade had wonderful French Toast and I had chocolate chip pancakes:

Somewhere along the way we invited Nate and Amy for dinner. That meant I needed a trip to the grocery. Alex managed to get himself into some funny positions in the cart but was otherwise a good shopper:

I got dinner cooked and Alex ready for bed before our guests arrived. Wade kept Alex entertained and happy so he could say stay up till Nate and Amy arrived:

Amy and Nate visited with Alex for a few minutes before Wade took him up to bed (Nate went along to get some pointers):

We ended up having a huge amount of dessert. I had make a chocolate chip cinnamon cake and my neighbor had brought over some birthday cake (very yummy birthday cake). We all ended up having a little of both. Check out our plates in the picture below:

Today was a day full of errands. Alex handled the shopping at Babies ‘R Us pretty well:

He did even better in the stroller at the mall (note the cool wooden rattle):

Then we spent the remainder of the afternoon playing with new toys.

We’re a little late in getting Alex a mirror of his own, but he still seemed enthralled:

Alex has never “discovered” his toes. This is the closest I have seen:

At 7:30 pm tonight, Wade was stripping my old high chair for Alex to use (it’s been painted once, but the paint bubbled):

Madison was trying to dig to China:

I was making baby food:

Alex was not sleeping:

so I put him in charge of folding diapers (he didn’t do very well):

Wade came home from work super excited to see Alex. Wade couldn’t wait to show Alex his first soccer ball (a mini-soccer ball):

Sadly, Alex seem more interested in the bag:

Wade says Alex just needs to sleep with the ball and it will all work itself out. I left Wade in charge of putting Alex (and the soccer ball) to bed:

Today was playgroup at Brwynn’s. We had yummy food and general chaos. The big kids tried out the pool. I attempted to put Alex in, but he was having none of it.

Alex slept most of the day away with a 2.5 hour nap and then another hour one. I have a big project at work so that worked great with me. Alex was happy to supervise (when awake) while I worked:

I remembered Alex’s doctor appointment just in time. The nurses took all his measurements and declared him “average”. He is 26 3/4 inches long (60 percentile) and 17 lb and 10 oz (55 percentile). Alex had quite a wait between the doctor and his shots. He found the paper on the table very entertaining – for a while:

Last night while carrying Alex up the stairs, I tripped and fell. Alex hit the landing pretty hard and immediately had a huge goose egg on his forehead. We gave him some Tylenol and put ice on it. He took a bottle and went right to bed. Poor Alex woke up this morning with a slightly bruised forehead. If you look closely in the pictures above you can see it (it’s on his right). I know he’ll get lots of bumps and bruises, but most of the time he’ll get them on his own – without mom’s help! I did mention it to the doctor and she didn’t seem concerned. She pointed out that at least it didn’t break the skin – then it would have been messy.

Happy Birthday Jerry!

We had a scrumptious breakfast at the Bed and Breakfast before heading out for the day. We did a little shopping and then drove to one of our main destinations of the trip – Red, Hot, and Blue.

When I lived in DC, Wade came to visit about once a month and we always ate at this Memphis styled BBQ restaurant – one of the few that meets with Wade’s approval. Also one of two restaurants in DC that serves sweet tea (the other being Chick-fil-A).

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping in Alexandria. I now have Mom’s birthday present and a fun surprise for Matt and Krista when we go visit (picked out by Wade). We made the drive to Baltimore and got in the rental car return line. The nice man receiving cars at Enterprise took one look at us and offered to have someone drop us off at the terminal. What a blessing! Taking the bus was a chore when we picked up the car. Alex did great as we waited for our flight:

He slept during take-off (again) and I chatted with the lady next to us. She has a two year old at home and is four months pregnant – needless to say she was very understanding of Alex. The minute Wade stood up, we took advantage of his seat:

We arrived safely in Milwaukee with enough time to pick Madison up at the kennel. Alex went straight to bed. I tried to watch an episode of Battlestar Galactica (our new tv show to watch together) with Wade and only made it 22 minutes into a 43 minute show. It was only 9:30 pm, but off to bed I went!

Happy Birthday Lissy!