Birthday gifts

Here are a few pics of Alexander playing with and wearing his birthday presents from Aunt Mel, CJ, and his Great Aunt Lorie, Uncle Tim, Katelin, Josh, Sarah, Shawn, and Noah. We're sure Aunt Mel and the other family members bought Alexander noisey stuff with the hopes we'd be annoyed. Well, the jokes on them because he's too wild to stick with something for longer than 5 minutes. The Colts Jersey CJ got him was a huge hit of course. He wore it today as we celebrated yet another Colt's victory! I have to say he is the cutest little boy in that jersey!

First Birthday Party

Yesterday was Alexander's actual birthday party with friends and family. The weekend did not start off like we had planned. Alexander had a snotty nose last week but his dr said it was just a cold and there wasn't much they could do. Well, Friday night I get home from work after picking up his cakes and Ricardo tells me he thinks Alexander is really warm. So, we break out the thermometer and indeed he had a fever. So, we got some motrin down him and put him in the tub and the fever quickly broke and all was well. Until Saturday morning that is...

We woke up Saturday morning to hear our child barking like a seal. I called the dr's office, was assured it was probably just teeth, and went about my way. Well, I figured we'd better be safe than sorry so I called back and made him a appointment before his party. Of course aside from the constant snot you couldn't tell anything was wrong. He didn't have a fever and was in a fairly good humor. Well, good thing I called because sure enough...the croup had invaded my little man. He gave us three doses of a steroid for his voice box and said there wasn't much else we could do other than the normal pain reliever, vaporizer, warm bath stuff. But, it is contagious. Even so, the dr said that since he wasn't going to be playing with other kids he could go and have fun and he certainly did! Unfortunately, we had several people with sick kids as well that couldn't go but we had a great time with our friends and family. Alexander saw his Aunt Mel and pretty much forgot about us the entire time. Thank you Steve for taking the pics because I forgot our camera during the hubub of running to the dr. We were even late to the party. But, Alexander loved his Mickey cake that Sandy, my friend from IUPUI made. Enjoy the pics!

First Birthday Stats

Height: 30.5 inches
Weight: 21 pounds 2 ounces
Teeth: 8.5 (he has one coming in)

75% for height
25% for weight
50% for head size

Alexander has always been tall and skinny...since he was born. His percentile averages have been exactly the same each time, 75, 25, and 50. His doctor said he's perfect as always and is growing nicely. She was impressed with his ability to say so many words and his attempts at walking. He'll take a few steps but that's it. I think he knows he can crawl so much faster than he can walk and we all know he is ALWAYS on the move. And, the eating...well, Alexander will eat anything and I mean anything. He likes black olives, Chinese, Venezuelan, mac and cheese...you name it. The only thing he's never tried is soda and that won't happen for a long time. He is down to one bottle, maybe 2 a day and drinks Soy Milk. We only have a few days of our last can of formula left so we're just using it up. We can't believe how fast is he is growing up. We just love seeing his new personality traits everyday and watching him learn and grow!

Some of my favs from our trip...

Our Disney Vacation!

Since so many fun things happen throughout our trip, I'll try to sumarize what we did. First off, our child LOVES the airport. He was so excited as soon as we walked in. I'm not sure if it's the people, the sounds, the large spaces but he just had the best time. He did GREAT on the flight too which was a big help, of course! Then the hustle and bustle of trying to manage all of our bags, Alexander, the stroller and keep Ricardo and Steve under control. We had 2 large suitcases, a backpack with our video camera, Alexander's rolling backback with is clothes, the pack and play, and the carseat along with the stroller to deal with. As we went to get our rental car we realized we had definately not rented a large enough car so we asked if there was anything we could get on the spot that was bigger. We just wanted an SUV but ended up with a Hummer instead. It was awesome! We finally got to our super nice condo and settled in...we had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen, laundry room, a screened in porch, and a very nice view of the woods and a retention pond. We all decided we could live in a place like that for sure minus the 4th floor location with no elevator. UGH! Friday we headed to Disney and with many prayers that it wouldn't rain, we had the best time RAIN FREE! It was cloudy and very hot and humid but no rain and that's what mattered. Ricardo and Steve rode Splash Mountain and we all went on the jungle safari ride and It's a Small World. Alexander loved the small wourld ride and even fell asleep. He even watched his first movie in the Mickey Theater. The BEST part of the day was at the end when he got to see Mickey, IN PERSON!!! I am telling you we have never seen that kid so excited. We finally put him on the floor and he crawled right towards him with the biggest smile on his face. Afterwards we headed towards the gift shop and got Alexander his birthday gift from Grammy and Grampy and Grandma and Grandpa Berkshire. He got a Mickey train set and the biggest Mickey they sold. Needless to say Saturday when he woke up, he was totally excited. We headed to the beach on his birthday and stopped at Don Pan, a Venezuelan bakery in Tampa to eat some yummy goodies! Unfortunately, the weather did not turn out as planned but we still enjoyed a few laughs and the beautiful scenery. Saturday night it was Venezuelan food in Orlando which mom and Steve really enjoyed. Alexander loved it too and also loved his birthday cake Ricardo got him at Don Pan. Sunday we headed to Sea World to see Shamu, the dolphins, and all sorts of beautiful scenery. Mom and I even fed the Dolphins which was so cool. Again, had a GREAT time spending the day together and enjoying countless laughs with mom and Steve. Sadly enough, today we flew home. After almost missing our flight, thought we lost mom and Steve's camera (found it), we made it back and again had many laughs just driving home from the airport. We honestly had a great time and Alexander just loved spending time with his Grammy and Grampy!!! He got to laugh and play and have a great First Birthday which is what we wanted out of this trip!