Happy Birthday Alex

It's hard to believe that he is 1 year old today.  How far he has come.  From just 4 lbs 8 oz when he was born to over 20 lbs now.  And from a feeding tube because he hadn't developed his suck/swallow instinct yet, to now preferring to feed himself than even eat from a spoon.  He's growing so fast!

We had a busy weekend.  On Friday we went to the toy store to pick out his birthday gift.  We decided we might as well take advantage of the fact that he little yet and won't know that we were buying his birthday gift.  The toy store was lots of fun.  I think even more fun for Dad than it was for Alex. 

On Saturday we went to have some pictures taken.  It wasn't the best photo session we've ever had.  It was nap time, there were a lot of appointments booked for the same time, and I think our photographer was a bit new.  We were surprised that she got any smiles captured.  We got a few good ones. 

Grandma and Grandpa Meiners and Grandma and Grandpa Bruzek were her on Saturday to help us celebrate.  I made a Very Hungry Caterpillar from cupcakes.  He at a big dinner and then managed to eat all of his cupcake - well almost all of it.  A bunch of it ended up on his pants, on his face, and in the high chair.  Today he got to have another one which is when the picture was taken.

I can't seem to upload any of the other pictures to the blog.  Blogger and Google are having some sort of malfunction.  Mike checked it out and sounds like its some sort of erroneous message.  I'll try again in a few days or a week and see if I can get more pictures loaded. 

11 Month Photo Shoot

These photo shoots are getting more challenging the older he gets.

First Vacation

These posts are a little out of order.  In mid-October we went to visit my sister Amy in Richmond, Virginia.  I went first to a meeting in DC.  Mike and Alex followed a few days later and met me in Richmond.  I think it's fair to be impressed with Mike.  I am.  He negotiated the airport, security and two flights with a 10 month old on his first flight all by himself.  Its exhausting - even when there are two of you. 

We had a great time with Amy.  We went to a dinner, out for frozen yogurt, to the zoo and a big park called Maymont.  Alex had a great time and got spoiled by Auntie Amy.  We're excited to see her again at Thanksgiving.

We went to a frozen yogurt place the first night.  Amy is good at sharing

Cold, but yummy

Alex is wearing his new MN Wild outfit from Auntie Amy.

 

Happy (belated) Halloween

We celebrated Halloween a couple days early with the Meiners family.  Mike's sister Deb loves Halloween and has thrown a Halloween party every year (or almost) every year that I've known Mike. 

Mike's sister Tami with Abby the kitty (6 months), Mike and Alex the monkey, Mike's sister Kim with Kyle the giraffe (3 months).

A good number of the Meiners' grandkids.  The big kids are Ryan, Kristin and Tyler.  The little kids are Kyle, Kaitlyn, Abby, Grace and Alex.  Unfortunately, we decided to try to get this picture after Kaylie and Lindsey had left.  Also missing are Samantha, Ashley and Brandon.  We have to get them all at Christmas. 

On Halloween Alex wore his skeleton sleeper to daycare.  The pictures don't show how it also glows in the dark!  Pretty fun.  And comfortable.

 

Alex was not too happy when I put the monkey costume back on. 

He got over it when we got outside.  We went trick-or-treating to our neighbors across the street and that was it.

We hope you had a great Halloween.  We bought too much candy and still have a bunch left.  Hope your waistlines are all doing better than ours!

Our little pumpkin

In mid-September we went to a popular pumpkin patch.  Most of the activities are a little old for Alex, but we had fun with the pumpkins.  Alex was just starting to stand on his own with a little support.

Alex with a bumpy pumpkin

We also took a short trip to Wabasha with Grandma and Grandpa Bruzek.  Wabasha had "Septoberfest" activities every weekend in September planned.  And the whole town was decorated with creative displays and pumpkins.