Oooh, guess what?!?

Guess what? Lots of exciting stuff today. Last night I got a present for Daddy (but I'm going to start using it now). We got a bicycle kid carrier for me to ride in and a little helmet. I'm supposed to get my first ride this weekend, so I'll make sure Aunt Tricia takes a picture.

Also, I might get to see Mommy in Florida in July or August...cross your fingers!

Finally, my Nana is coming to visit this weekend, and we get to pick her up at the airport tomorrow night! Yay!

And by the way, here are the pictures from swimming last Saturday!

BABY!

Today Aunt Tricia got me a stroller to push my baby around in. It's very exciting and sometimes I have to stop and smack the baby, or pull her out by her neck, but hey, she totally deserved it! Aunt Tricia keeps making cracks about Joan Crawford and calling me "Mommie Dearest," but I have no idea what she's talking about. As usual. Peace out! Gotta walk the baby.

It's Eva's birthday, and I'll drink to that!

Today is Eva's birthday, so I'm throwing back a couple and reminiscing over our weekend party.
Happy 2nd Birthday, Eva B! (And don't worry, Mommy and Daddy, there was no beer in the bottle. At least, not when I got done with it, ha-ha!)

Parade and more swimming!

Today, we went to Jeff's house and then walked up to the Pride Fest and parade with Stacey, Carlos and Eva, and Jeff, Mike and Josh. (Well, they tell me we walked. I fell asleep in the car, slept as I was put in my stroller, slept all on the long walk, slept the whole time we stopped in the coffee shop, slept the rest of the walk, and FINALLY woke up as the fire engine went by to start the parade.) There were lots of fun floats and music and drag queens and even gay Republicans, so now I've truly seen it all. We got some parade throws, including beads (amateurs, these people are. Aunt Lisa and Aunt Tricia have thrown away more beads than this whole parade even had to start with.) Anyway, I got the best beads, with a tiny bottle of Jagermeister strung from them. They're cool, but I know they were left over from Mardi Gras, you cheapskates!

Anyway, we had a good time, and then came home and Eva and I went swimming in my pool. Here are lots of pictures of our day...in some of them, I look really sweaty. It was a hot day, but don't worry, I had on lots of sunscreen and the water was from Aunt Tricia & Aunt Lisa squirting me with water, which I love.

Fun at the Museum.

Here's me with Eva and Hannah today at the City Museum. We had lots of fun and took lots of pictures, so I'll keep posting the best ones for the next few days!

By the way, for those of you keeping score, I'm 13 months old TODAY! I am getting much better at walking, with improved balance, but I'm still not really interested in doing it unless I get lots of encouragement before and praise afterward. I have begun to realize, though, that if I walk instead of crawl, my hands will be free to grab at lots more stuff, so I think I'll keep working on it. Also, I now have 8 teeth...the two bottom teeth on either side of the middle are just poking through, so I've been a bit cranky and drooly and feverish but all in all I'm doing ok. I can now say Mama, Dada, cracker, more, baby, Joe, juice, Stacey, yeah, bye-bye, Burt (which is short for "Burt's Bees," the fun lip balm I like to have put on me), and something that sort of sounds like Tricia. Sort of. Now, keep in mind, not all of these words are perfectly clear, (for example, Burt, baby and bye-bye sound similar), but if I said it to you, you'd definitely know what I mean and be able to tell them apart, so I'm counting them as words.

I went swimming on Thursday and I'm going again tomorrow, so I'll get some pictures of that, too. I LOVE swimming! Well, Aunt Tricia's filling in tomorrow, so I'll catch you on Sunday!

Nap time.

I got up at a little before 7, ate breakfast and played so hard, I was ready for a little nap by 8:30. My baby didn't want to sleep (truth be told, her eyes don't EVER seem to close. Creepy!), but she stayed right beside me until I woke up.

What can I say?

Whew, they finally let me out of this box! Just kidding, my secretary (Aunt Tricia) has been away for a few days and, well, to be honest, sometimes I don't feel like typing and I just dictate the blog posts to her. With her in North Dakota, it put a real cramp in my style.

I'm back, though, so I'll try to make up for my absence.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I love you!

I hope you got your card in the mail but if not, it will get there soon!

Check out my awesome super-long camo shorts, Daddy! I know they don't really match my shirt, but Aunt Tricia said it's ok, 'cause it's in honor of you and it IS Daddy's day, after all!


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Here's a close-up of my awesome shirt I'm wearing today to let everyone know my daddy rocks!

Happy Father's Day to Grandpa, Papaw and G-Love! I love you all!

Pretty in Pink.

What a great day we had! Today, we participated in St. Louis' Race for the Cure, which is the third-largest of its kind in the country! We had lots of fun, and Alexis looked great in her custom-made shirt! (They didn't have any t-shirts for little people and since Lisa and I were decked out in our shirts, we wanted Alexis to be ready, too, so we just made her one!). While we were downtown, we also went over to the Arch, too. Then we ran errands, walked Jeff's dog, Dakota, and TOOK A NAP! All of us, yay! (An even longer nap would have been even better, but beggars can't be choosers, you know.)

Hope there are enough pictures for you, Mandy!

Who you callin' Bubba?

These collagen injections are nice, but for some reason, they made my teeth look GIANT!

Doggie!

Aunt Tricia's friend Jeff is going out of town this weekend and we're getting to watch his two cats and his big, friendly dog Dakota! We visited tonight and Dakota is very nice. I'm excited to take him for walks this weekend.

Sorry no pictures this week...we're a little busy but we'll try to make up for it this weekend!

Guess what?

Yep, I had pictures taken today. They're a present for Mommy and Daddy and Aunt Tricia is mailing them on Saturday. SO, I made her get copies for the grandparents and aunts and uncles, but you can't have yours until we know Mommy & Daddy have received theirs.

Wait for it, family...it'll be worth it. The pictures are very cute, if I do say so myself!

Shots. Ugh.

Well, I had to go to the doctor today for my 12-month checkup. I ended up getting FOUR (yes, that's 4!!!) immunizations: 3 boosters plus 1 Varivax vaccine, for chicken pox. Anyway, I screamed and screamed a lot. All of the doctors and nurses were very nice, especially the medical student Dan who did the preliminary exam under the watchful eye of his supervising pediatrician. (My doctors are at University Pediatrics, part of Saint Louis University, and Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital; it's a teaching hospital, so I helped to train Dan.) Dr. Dan was very nice but a little nervous. That's ok, Dr. Dan, I was a lot nervous!

I had to have bloodwork done for some sort of standard hemoglobin level check and also to check lead levels; even though our house is refurbished, any child living in an older house has to get checked. In the hall, I saw another doctor and screamed, and hid my face in Aunt Tricia's neck. Also, Dr. Dan said I have the beginning of an ear infection in my left ear, so I have to take some antibiotics. Yucky. (And, Grandma, the little bump on my belly is nothing...just a calcium deposit right beneath the skin, like we suspected, so no worries!)

Anyway, I weigh 22.5 pounds (about the middle of the percentile for my age) and am almost 30 inches tall (near the top of the percentile!)....and my doctor said my development is equal to that of a 14-month-old, so I'm doing great.

And while we were there, Aunt Tricia read an article saying I should be getting two more bottom teeth and four molars, 2 up and 2 down, about halfway back on each side...between 12 and 14 months of age. Sure enough, the lower tooth on the right, next to the front choppers, is just about to break through. We'll get some pictures as soon as we can!

Ok, that's the health update, not much else to tell, really. Sorry no pictures, but really, it wasn't worth taking pictures of!

Kitty kitty kitty.

Here's me playing with Nana's cat Nia when we visited Nana last week.

Summertime!

I love my new pool! Today I finally got to swim in the pool Aunt Mandy got me for my birthday, and I had LOTS of fun. Thanks, Aunt Mandy!

Lots of hot air, but no water?

It's me, Aunt Tricia again. Over the course of several hours, I finally got Alexis' pool blown up, but there's no water in it. Good thing it has that comfy cushioned bottom! She got in it and played anyway, and seemed to really enjoy relaxing in it for a while. She is now saying "bye-bye" and waving this cute little upside-down wave. She's off formula now, drinking milk and having bottles only at bedtime...sippy cup the rest of the day. She's walking a bit more but still taking her time with it, though she does like to stand on her own all the time now. And she seems to be getting very big all of a sudden, though it might just be the standing that makes her seem like such a big girl instead of a little baby. She's doing great and says "ma-ma" all the time, but never when she's on the phone with her mom. Of course.

Here comes Peter Cottontail!

Here's me in the great new towel Aunt Patti and Uncle Rod got me for my birthday. Don't I look spectacular?

Famous Again!

Yep, I'm famous again! The Fostoria Focus did a story on me while I was visiting my Grandma, Grandpa and Nana Joyce.

Nana says I might even get to be on TV when I visit again later this summer. I hope this doesn't go to my head!

Aunts, I step on you.

Here's me with a bunch of my aunts at my Granddad's b-day party last weekend. What's that crazy outfit I'm wearing, you ask? Well, I got birthday cake all over my clothes, so I grabbed up my cousin Katie's cool "Members Only" jacket...I had on her hat, too (which is really Uncle Rodney's hat) but they made me take it off for the picture. Haters.

The best toy EVER!

"Care bears are coming to your town. They'll pick you up when you're feeling down. They're watching you from up above, filling your dreams with caring and love." Aunt Tricia is ready to murder the Care Bears....tee hee hee. I think I'll go push the button again to play the pretty song. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for the great toy!

Happy Birthday, J-Hop!

Happy 4th Birthday to my big sister, Jameson! I love you, sissy!

Vacation, all I ever wanted...

Ah, vacation! Well, here's another souvenir of my trip to Ohio...me and Aunt Boo chillin' in the hot tub and drinking from the crazy straw. Isn't my little orange swimsuit awesome? I cried when I had to leave Grandma and Grandpa, but I'm ok and Aunt Tricia says we will see them again this summer, so YAY! We got to visit with Nana and Aunt Mandy on Sunday in Louisville, then drove home to St. Louis. WE had some car trouble on Sunday's drive but we made it home in one piece...just took longer than normal. Then, the last 12 miles, we hit construction. YUCK! You know how it is when you're almost home and you just want to be there but it seems to take three times as long to drive the last 12 miles? Well, when you're sitting still in bumper-to-bumper traffic, it's even worse. Oh well, home now and back to school tomorrow. I'm excited!

Breakdown? Who cares?

Well, Saturday was a big day for Alexis. She drove with Grandma and Grandpa toward Louisville to meet me and Nana, but unfortunately Grandpa's truck broke down in north Dayton (head gasket, $1200, OUCH!). They were stuck on the side of the road, but Alexis is a trooper and kept on smiling. Grandma took this picture of the little traveler!

Born to be wild.

Do I really need to say any more than that? Check me out on this big old Harley!

Big smile!

Hi up there!

American Gothic 2?

At the zoo with Aunt Becca, pretending to be in that famous Grant Wood painting, American Gothic. AND, I didn't even sleep at the zoo like I normally do. I'm having lots of fun in Ohio!