Alex is 8 months old!!!!!!!!

I thought Alex was going to be 8 months old tomorrow and then I realized that wasn't right because Robbie's birthday is Friday and the days just didn't add up.  Alex is pulling up on everything, though he isn't always able to get back down.  He's also starting to talk a lot.  At least Robbie will have someone to talk to soon!  When we were at the zoo last week I had given Alex Robbie's cup of water to "hold" while I put Robbie in the stroller.  I heard a funny noise only to see Alex drinking from the straw!  Alex is still doing the same "gimp" crawl, though he is starting to crawl the right way, just not very often and not for long.  He is still as smiley as ever and, if you're lucky, you just might get a big, wet, open mouthed kiss from him!

One week

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

Seven months

Eight months

All smiles!

A new tooth!

It has actually been 3 days since Alex got his first (second?) tooth.  It's the bottom right middle tooth, not the same one that came and went a few months go.  It came in Wednesday.  I dropped the boys off at church but got a phone call about half way through Bible study saying that Alex was crying and not having it.  I tried to get him to take a nap, but that wasn't what he wanted, so I took him in to study with me.  After feeding him some puffs and giving him water to drink he seemed fine and was talking and smiling at the moms around us so I took him back to the nursery.  I felt bad because as soon as I handed him over he started crying.  He was pretty cranky still when I picked him up.  It wasn't until later in the afternoon that I thought to see if he had a tooth coming in and he did!  Honestly I was getting tired of saying that Alex was teething and not getting any results so I wasn't expecting to feel a tooth.  Unfortunately Alex doesn't seem to be taking to teething as easily as Robbie did.  Maybe now that he has one tooth the rest won't be as bad.  I would love to take a picture of his little tooth, but it would take the jaws of life to pry open his mouth and a clamp to keep his tongue out of the way in order to do it.

Wednesday was also a big day because Robbie's swing set was delivered.  Matthew was able to take a half day so I wasn't by myself with the kids when the delivery came.  Unfortunately it didn't come until well after he would have come home from work after working a full day.  We still need to go through and make sure everything is included (we don't want to be short a couple of nuts and bolts as we're putting it together) and get the yard ready to go.  I'm excited to see what Robbie is going to think of it!

Eikelands visit and the zoo

Lisa brought the kids over Saturday to hang out because Erik had to go to Gainesville for his MBA program.  Luckily for us Lisa didn't realize how easy Erik's weekend was going to be or she may have opted to take the kids with Erik instead of coming here!

We met them at a playground that I went to with some of the moms in my Bible study.  It looked like there were going to be a couple of birthday parties there, too, but the playground is so big that it wasn't crowded.  Robbie and Kayleigh played together.  It was so cute hearing Robbie yell "Kaywee!  Kaywee!"  Kayleigh was good about keeping her eye on Robbie and not getting too far ahead of him.  I think we were there a little more than an hour before heading to lunch.  Lisa had never been to Rosy's, our favorite Mexican restaurant, so we went there.  I didn't ask her if she liked it, so hopefully she did.  We came back to the house and played for a while before nap time.  My kids napped, Lisa's had quiet time.  I napped, too.  I really couldn't tell you how the kids entertained themselves after nap time, but they played and were good.  Matthew went and got pizza (kids) and calzones (adults) for dinner.  Yum!  Afterward Robbie opened his birthday presents from the Eikelands.  He got a set of golf clubs and 2 folding chairs (one Mickey Mouse and one Cars).  Luckily there were 3 golf clubs in the set, so each of the big kids got to play with one.  The big kids all took a bath together before Lisa took hers back home.  Robbie was so sad to see them leave!  He keeps looking for them and calling their names.

Here are some videos taken when Robbie was opening his present.  It's pretty chaotic, but so much fun!





Alex talking.  This video makes me sad because it got cut off because the memory card was full.  He was talking a lot that night!



Matthew loves how Robbie is sitting chilled out around the 30 second mark.



Cousin love



Kaywee!



Today I went to the zoo with my friend, Michelle, and her daughter, Ava.  It was supposed to be cool today, but it was not.  Luckily I sweat a lot.  Robbie had so much fun with Ava.  I think he liked having another little person to run around with.  We were talking about our trip as I was putting Robbie to bed tonight and he said "Ava friend".  So sweet!  Robbie is a hugger and I don't think Ava really knew what to do with him when he tried to give her a hug.  He also tried to hold her hand and that didn't go over well, either.  I'm sure Ava's dad is glad she's staying away from boys! :)

Another zoo trip

We took the boys to the zoo Saturday.  It's been a while since we have gone, but it has been so hot I don't even think the animals wanted to be there!  Robbie got to be the tour guide, telling us what animals he wanted to go see.  We took these videos and Robbie has enjoyed watching them over and over and over...

Robbie wanted to see the giraffes first (though we did stop to see the lions on our way).



This was the first time we were able to get near the elephant statues because it's usually pretty busy.  I don't think Robbie was too impressed with them, though.



While we were with the fake elephants we started hearing the lions roaring (you can hear them on the video), so we headed back to see them.  One lion is in another area, so you can hear him, but not see him.

Excuse the beginning of the video, I was worried that the lion would stop before I got him on tape, so I started the camera as quickly as I could.  Also the camera doesn't take good videos when you zoom in.  I know that now.





Robbie liked walking with the bear, but I think he was afraid that the bear would get close to him.  He'll figure out how cages work, soon! :)



We were disappointed when we (finally) found the otters and there was a note saying that their "den" was open, so they weren't out.  Then one came out and they fed him some fish.  I didn't get a picture, but the last fish was frozen in ice.  I told Matt that's how I get Robbie to eat his vegetables! :)



Pictures

I'm assuming there's some food in that stick.

This one crane kept jumping.

Huge snake skin in the bear exhibit.

Robbie is reading!!

Yesterday I was putting Alex into his car seat and Robbie was standing next to his door waiting to get into his seat (I can't wait until he can do it himself!!).  He found "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" and started reading it!  At first I wasn't sure what he was saying, and then I heard him say "Blue horse, blue horse what do you see?  Green frog, green frog."  He's still not a great page turner, so he did miss pages and he never actually said what the animals saw, but I think it's a good first start! :)

It's obvious that Robbie is still getting used to his molars because at meals I see him digging food out of his teeth.  It's not a pretty sight, but it's understandable.  I just can't believe that we didn't know he was teething because he hasn't complained about his mouth hurting.  Alex still doesn't have any teeth, but he flicks his tongue in and out of his mouth and it seems like he is feeling something in his top gums while he is doing it.  I'm going to miss my toothless baby when he does get teeth.

We decided to take the boys to the park this afternoon.  Robbie does so good climbing up and going down the slides.  We definitely need to take them to the park more often, but we are also looking forward to getting the swing set for Robbie's birthday.  (Notice I didn't say that we are looking forward to putting the swing set together, because we aren't, but we'll have some grandparents in town to help put it together.)  I was sitting on the ground cross legged with Alex sitting in front of me.  He turned around and pulled up on my legs so he was standing on his feet!  He was still holding on to me, but he has been pulling up on things for a few days, so I knew it was coming.  I was just excited that I saw it and was his equipment of choice.

Thomas and Teething

Thursday afternoon I took the kids to a consignment sale.  It is a semi-annual sale and I thought it was going to be much bigger than it actually was.  I was hoping to get Halloween costumes for the boys, but they all seemed so heavy and I don't want them sweating to death while wearing the costume.  We did find this great Thomas chair for Robbie.  He was not going to let us leave the store without it and was even a little upset when I had them set it aside so we could keep looking around.  Robbie loves his Thomas chair and likes to name the trains and say what colors they are.  It was a great find!

The chair folded up

 The chair unfolded

Now that I have seen 3 of Robbie's 2 year molars coming through I've been looking for the last one (top right).  It turns out that I have been looking too late, it's almost all of the way through!  I was looking in Robbie's mouth yesterday and noticed that he has 2 molars on the right side and realized that would only be possible if the 2 year molar already came through.  Now the other 3 molars have to catch up to the first one instead of the other way around!

Robbie is 23 months old!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, in just 1 month Robbie is going to be 2 years old.  That means in 1 month I can't say that I have 2 kids under 2.  I don't really say that very often, though, so it really won't change things. 

I can't believe how much Robbie is talking.  Most of the time what he says is pretty clear but there are also times when Matthew and I look at each other hoping the other one can translate!  The other day we were getting the boys ready to run errands.  Robbie had his shoes on and the garage door was unlocked so he headed outside and then came back in when we weren't right behind him and said "come on guys!"  Matthew plays Sesame Street games with Robbie on the computer and when he wants to play he says "play Big Bird us."  When he wants to watch Bubble Guppies (or as he says, Buggle Guppies) on tv he looks for the momote because he knows we need it to turn on the show.

I'm looking forward to the cooler weather so we can play outside more and not sweat to death.  Robbie's grandparents want to buy him a swing set for his birthday and I think it's a great idea.  Robbie has pretty much outgrown the little one we bought him.

I know I said in a previous post that we saw Robbie's 2 bottom molars coming in a few days ago.  I just saw his top left molar coming in yesterday.  I knew he was advanced: he's getting his 2 year molars and he isn't 2 yet! :)  Luckily teething never really bothered Robbie.  Alex's gums are swollen so I'm sure he'll start getting his first tooth soon and I'm just hoping it will be as easy for him as it is/was for Robbie.

We just found Donald Duck had been brought home from my parents' house when we were down a couple of weeks ago.  I told my mom we were holding him hostage.  Surprisingly she didn't seem too concerned about paying any ransom.  Hopefully I'm never held hostage and my keepers call my mom!

When we came home from the gym yesterday I could tell I needed to change Robbie's diaper.  When I put him up on the changing table I noticed something down his shirt (onesie).  I couldn't believe that he walked out of Kid Zone and I strapped him into his car seat and never saw it until we got home!  I'd feel worse about it if we didn't go to the gym a lot and are able to return it.  If he had taken it from a store it would be a different story!  And I actually blame the Kid Zone workers.  If they had changed Robbie before we left this wouldn't have happened.  I wish I could have gotten a better picture, but Robbie just wants to look at pictures on the camera whenever he sees it, not be still and have his picture taken.