Spring Soccer

Both Andrew and Carson played in a 4 v 4 league at Mount Vernon Nazarene University this spring.  They both enjoyed this league very much.  It is such a positive program, run by the University coaches and players.  For some reason I only have pictures from one of Andrew's games.  I might have more pictures on my phone, will have to check.  I know we missed a lot of their games for various reasons.  And I was often solo with the three boys for practices and some of the games.  Perhaps pictures weren't my focus, but three active boys were.

Here is Andrew kicking it in.

Taking it up the field

Kicking it in!  (maybe, I don't remember for sure.)

Alex's First Birthday Party

Back on April 28, 2012, we had a birthday party for Alex.  I really didn't know what kind of birthday party to have.  He was 1.  Not really "into" anything at this point, he didn't have a love for Elmo or anything like that.  Chad was going to Kmart for a few things, so I asked him to see if they had any cute birthday party invitations.  He sent me a text of a couple invitations.  We went with a pirate theme since Alex like to growl a bit at this age.  (maybe it would have made more sense to go with a lion theme then?)  Warning...lots of pictures to come!

So here is the pirate cake I made.  Pirate people courtesy of Little People.  Swedish fish swimming in the water, Swiss cake roll cannons, Whoopers for cannon balls, Werthers for gold, and Hershey's Treasures for the treasure chests.

 My sister Tricia feeding Alex his banana and avocado.

Alex doing his arm extended, tense face/shoulders, eye brow raise attention seeking behavior.  Sure to produce giggles from those around him.

Some of the cousins around the table eating some lunch.

Cousin Logan

 The Birthday Boy!!

Opening gifts

This puzzle was fun to push around and then once we opened it, he enjoyed banging the wooden pieces together

Chad's brother Alan and wife Tisha with a bunch of cousins.  Andrew, Leah, Anna, Carson, Maddie and Emma

Alex wanted to dive into the cake.  I think he just wanted to touch and play with everything.

The boys and I

Feeling a little shy during the Happy Birthday song.

 Another delema I had about this birthday party was what to do for the cake.  Most traditional birthday cakes Alex and I wouldn't have been able to eat.  Since it was Alex's birthday and  I was the one preparing the cake and neither of us could eat a traditional birthday cake...I almost didn't make one.  But I thought that might be disappointing for our guests, especially Alex's two older brothers!  I asked a friend of mine who's son has multiple allergies if she had any suggestions.  She certainly did!  So helpful.  These Ernie and Bert fruit snacks were pretty cute and creative.  And this watermelon cake was pretty cool looking.  But in the end I decided to try this allergen free cake.  I did have to alter the recipe a little bit, I omitted the cocoa and vanilla.  It turned out pretty good.  It was more like a quick bread than a cake and since I used rice flour it was a bit dry and rice flour is kind of gritty.

Alex wasn't sure what to do with this.  He hadn't had anything even close to this before.

Carson decided to help him out a little bit. :)

 Alex liked it, had fun eating it and was a crummy mess by the end.  Exactly how first birthdays should be, minus the frosting.

Andrew's Piano Recital 4/15/12

Andrew took piano lessons from January until the end of May this past year.  He really enjoyed it.  He had a wonderful teacher and he learned a lot in those few months.  Here he is at his first piano recital.  He played 3 songs; Pebbles and Stones, Old McDonald had to Rock, and Hard Rock Candy.  He was the first student to play that afternoon and was a bit nervous.  He could play these songs so well at home but I think it is more difficult to play with the teacher's accompaniment. 

Carson's cartwheels 4/14/12

Here is the video of Carson doing cartwheels that he really wanted me to take of him!  He really is becoming quite the little gymnast.

Alex videos

Here is a video of Alex on 4/12/12 @ 11 months playing with his little table.  He does his stiff arm, tense face/neck/shoulders and distinct noise.  Funny guy.

Here is Alex on 4/14/12 @ 11 months walking with the little toy walker.  This is the first time he was doing this.  Took off without any problem, I think we should have gotten it out sooner.

(Sorry about me saying "Ok, move Carson." I think I was annoyed with his persistent question of when are you going to video ME?!  Once again, don't forget the middle child.)

standing and moving

Little ones always think they are big stuff each time they accomplish something new!  And they are! The numerous things they accomplish in their first year of life is amazing!

All three of our boys have loved this toy at this age.  They can stand and play with all the different things on this little table or walk around it while holding on to the table and it is the perfect height.  We found this toy at Once Upon a Child when Andrew was about 10 months old. I am pretty sure we have a picture of Andrew at this same age playing with this toy, with the same wide open/whole face smile!  I need to find it!  Here is Alex on 4/12/12 @ 11 months.

Alex discovered he can push the laundry basket around. (4/13/12 ~ 11 months)

This walking toy is lots of fun too especially in wide open places like the basement.

Look at me standing up!

I found the remote!  Alex loves anything with buttons and anything electronic.  These Osh Kosh bibs he is wearing go way back.  ;)  My mom got them for my oldest brother.  My three siblings and I have all worn them, as well as two of my nieces and now all three of our boys!  They are in really good condition, only some fraying along the bottom hems.

Carson was building something with the couch cushions and Alex wanted to help.  I think he had been pounding the cushion with his fist. (4/19/12)



Strawberry "Yogurt"

When I was on a restricted diet while breastfeeding Alex and trying to figure out his food intolerances, this is something I would make very often.  I found the recipe on a blog but can't recall which one right now, oops.  It is called Strawberry "yogurt" but really it is more like a smoothie.  Typically when I make smoothies, I add yogurt and some milk along with the fruit.  But those two were not part of my diet and I really missed smoothies - LOVE them.  This recipe is great; easy, very nutritious and delicious. 

Strawberry "Yogurt"

1 container of strawberries

a banana or two (depending on how think or thin you like your smoothie)

an avocado

coconut milk (again, amount varies on how thick or think you want it to be)

 put ingredients in blender and blend away

This is what little man did while I prepared the ingredients.

This is what he did while the blender was on.  He was not fond of loud noises at this time (4/11/12 @ 11 months) and our blender is quite loud.  So he would crawl over, pull himself to a standing position pulling on my pant leg and fuss until I stopped the blender or picked him up.

 The end result.  Strawberry "yogurt".

My cousin Jackie posted a link on Facebook where you could help fund these cool ReCap Mason jar lids through Kickstarter.  I helped fund the project and then recieved 2 ReCap lids

 .     

I really like them.

However they didn't work well with maple syrup.  I was bummed.  It appears to be working ok while pouring but once the jar sits upright for a while the syrup runs down the jar.  Not cool.  The syrup must be too thick and collect inside the rim of the cap or something.

Works great with the "yogurt" and homemade salad dressings.

Columbus Zoo ~ 4/4/12

The boys and I headed to the Columbus Zoo over their Spring Break week.  The Columbus Zoo is so nice.  Many attractions to see.  Here were some of our favorite on this particular visit.

The bats

These monkeys all sleeping in a line, snuggling on top of this scaffolding bar.  Every once in a while you would see their tails sway as they corrected their balance to keep them from falling.

The Tigers.  Always a favorite with Carson.

The Lion.  He was pretty docile that day.

 Alex was such a trooper.  He was in his carseat/stroller much of the day.  The only exceptions were for nursing, eating lunch (actually maybe he was still in their for that) and diaper changes.  He was so happy.  I think he enjoyed watching all the people, probably didn't really see that many animals.

 Here are all three boys.  Not sure why I tried taking a picture of them looking into the sun.  Carson thought it was way too bright.  It was a very pleasant day, beautiful weather ~ a bit cool in the morning but was really nice by the afternoon.  The boys walked and walked and walked and when they were tired, we left.  Key to a good day at the zoo!



Smiles & Quirks

These photos were also taken on 4/2/12, jammies on ready for bed.

All smiles!

He got excited after the smile and had to show off a bit with his quirky arms extended, eyebrows raised, tense face/neck/shoulders.

But he could only extend one arm out, the other arm most be used to hold himself up on the couch.

Very important.

 Silly boy.

Watching Daddy Mow ~ 4/2/12

Alex @ 11 months enjoying our large living room windows to watch Daddy mow and big brothers ride bikes.  (Unbelievable how far behind on this blog I am!!)

Alex's progress

It is amazing to me the growth and development that occurs in the first year of life!  Heck, just the changes in Alex over the past few weeks is amazing!

Here is Alex doing his inchworm crawl on Jan 31, nearly 9 months.

and on Feb. 23 after mastering crawling on hands and knees

Feb 25, standing next to couch

(sorry the video is side ways)

He is starting to cruise/take steps while holding onto the couch and yesterday he figured out how to get back into a sitting position after crawling.  Way too soon he will be walking!!

Alex is 10 months!

 Alex is now 10 months old (on Mar. 2).  Unbelievable!  I realize I never posted an update at 9 months.  Maybe I will just post about his 9 month Dr. visit and post some updates over the past few months.  He had his 9 month visit on Feb. 10th.  He weighed 15# 12 oz (now < 3%) and was 25 3/4 inches (also < 3%), head circumference was 17 7/8 inches (55% -still a nice size brain).  His hemoglobin was 12.7.  We talked with our pediatrician about his limited diet (bananas, pears, avocado, cream of buckwheat and infant rice cereal) and the concerns we have.  We are wondering if Alex is getting what he needs with his limited diet and my limited diet.  Our Dr. feels that he his, he is not anemic (hemoglobin was good) and he looks healthy.  Alex might just be a petite guy.  Dr. also said he will test him for food allergies but wants to wait til he is at least one year due to some false negatives when tested too early.  Continue to slowly advance his diet.

He has had varying degrees of cold symptoms for 4 weeks now~ since beginning of Feb. (runny nose, chest cough, croupy cough, fever) he never gets completely better before the symptoms come back again.  I try to tell myself it is just him being exposed to all these viruses out there through generous carriers (his brothers) but I always go back to his food issues.  So hard for me not to.

Pictures!

Feb. 14, 9 1/2 months

crawled over to the fireplace and pulled himself up for the first time

a bit scary for me, he was unsteady and I was afraid he would face plant into the stones!

mighty proud of himself

Feb. 15, 9 1/2 months

using this mesh thing to eat a banana

the mesh thing is nice, I don't have to spoon feed him ~ which allows me to eat

but it is really messy!  he is such a clean eater when I spoon feed him!

and cleaning out the mesh thing is pretty challenging to get it completely clean.

and if you can't get it clean ~ GROSS! all that bacteria!

Feb. 17

I don't have very many recent pictures of this little guy sleeping.

When he is asleep, I am usually running around the house trying to see how many tasks I can complete.

When I took this picture, he was going to sleep on his own.

The little sleeping dog behind him (Andrew & Carson got this for him when he was born) has buttons on it to play music.  He would push these buttons and play until he fell asleep.  It was wonderful. 

Currently it is taking A LOT of work to get him to go to sleep and then you lay him down and he wakes up.

At night he continues to wake up way too frequently.  I am exhausted, so he ends up in bed with us.

Feb. 25 ~ 9 1/2 + months

He will pull himself up to many different things now.  He hasn't mastered getting down yet.  Sometimes he will stand for really long periods of time and then fuss until someone comes and helps him down.  One time his legs were even slipping further and further apart and he was doing the splits!

~  I continue to love the little noises he makes with his tongue...clicking his tongue, sucking on his top lip.
~  I love when he gets excited about something (seeing one of us enter the room) he starts doing a little             bouncy dance with his upper body...even if he is held.
~  He claps and waves and almost sounds like he says "hi", he mimics the sound and tone that we use.
~  I think he also might be saying "ma", he usually only says it when he is crawling towards me and wants me to pick him up.
~  Will NOT hold still for diaper changes, especially now that he has figured out how to turn off the light and the light switch is conveniently close to his changing table.  Not easy to diaper a baby, who won't hold still, in the dark.
~  He is such a happy little guy, just crawls around and plays.  Smiles so easily.
~  His grin remains toothless, though he can really hurt your arm with the bites he gives.
~  Gives you little pats on the back when you hold him.