Lots to update

Where to begin? There has been a lot going on around the Watkins home in the past few days. I'm pretty exhausted!


On Alex's birthday, his Nana (Justin's mom) took Alex to Stride Rite to get him his first "real" shoes. My mom met us there after work and Alex was, of course, terrified at the prospect of having his feet measured. It was interesting trying to find him shoes because he has the fattest feet I have ever seen on a baby - and I'm really not exaggerating when I say that. Those piggies are porkers! We found a couple little sneakers that would go onto his foot so Sandra got him those as a birthday gift. We had to put toys in front of him in order to get his foot squished into the shoes - he was not having any of it otherwise. He is such a little stinker sometimes. We also tried to get him into some sandals but that was just hilarious. His feet are so fat that he had fat poking out of the holes of the shoes. It didn't look very comfortable, hence the two pairs of sneakers. He really likes his shoes, too. He loves the laces on his lace-up sneakers and I feel like he's walking around much better with the shoes. Here are pictures of his new shoes:


After getting his new shoes, Sandra and I ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and Alex was hilarious! He was being really good eating some crackers and broccoli that I ordered for him. When our food came out he lunged at my french fries and kept taking them from me. Then he grabbed one of Sandra's mini burgers and sat there holding it with both hands like a big boy. He nibbled on it a bit and then threw it down in typical Alex fashion. He also kept saying uh-oh and then throwing Sandra's keys onto the floor. We have to work with him on not telling on himself before he does something that requires an uh-oh!

Thursday was Alex's one year check-up at the pediatrician. He's doing very well developmentally and everything looked great for him. They wanted to check his ears because he had an ear infection a few weeks ago - but apparently my child overproduces ear wax because they had to flush his ear out in order to see the ear drum. Awesome. So, before he even got his shots he was in a great mood. But he was a real trooper and was fine by the time we left. He is currently 30 inches tall and weighs almost 22 pounds. He hasn't really gained any weight in the past couple of months, but he has been growing. He was just soooo fat at his last check-up! Now he seems so skinny to me that I want to force feed him! I have to get used to the fact that he's not a baby anymore :(

Friday was a very interesting day. I was getting Alex ready for bed and Justin decided to clean out the gutter spouts. We've had a bit of a wasp infestation around our house and we think they've taken up residence in the spouts since the gutters have been cleaned for the most part. I was also baking cakes for Viviana's birthday party on Saturday so there was a lot going on at the same time! I was in the kitchen with Alex turning off the oven so the cakes wouldn't burn while I got Alex into bed, and Justin hobbled through the kitchen saying he needed a band-aid. I made him sit down and tell me why he was limping and all he would say was he needed a band-aid (which we, of course, did not have - hello gauze and scotch tape!). I kept asking him if he hit his head and he insisted he had not but wouldn't really tell me what happened. I could tell something was wrong with him so I made him take his boots off and then his socks - that's when I realized why he was acting like he had a head injury. He was actually in a lot of pain and just not cognizant of it - he had sprained his ankle pretty badly! It looked like a baseball under his skin over his left ankle! A wasp had flown at his face while he was on the ladder and he and the ladder came tumbling down. Both were casualties - the ladder bent and, well, Justin has cuts on his hand and a sprained ankle. It's better today after lots of rest, ice, compression and elevation :) He's pretty darn stubborn, though. But I felt kind of like a single parent this weekend because he was completely unable to walk or hold Alex while standing (and who wants to be held while sitting?) or really do much of anything. I felt so bad for him, too, because he's really helpful around the house and hates watching people work while he's just sitting there. I had to be a mean nurse and force him to elevate his foot. He's not the best patient! But it is much better and he's even using a cane today instead of crutches. That's a huge relief! He's also insisting on a wasp holocaust after his ankle gets better. I think I may need to get one of those sting/bite kits now in preparation of that!

As for Vivana's birthday party on Saturday, it was a ton of fun! There were a few hiccups late last week as far as Myke's family and some of our family attending so I ran around on Thursday and Friday rounding up Courtney's friends so that Viviana could still have a birthday party. Courtney and I had both done a lot of work preparing for this party so I was not going to let it fall apart at the last minute! Thankfully some of her friends were able to come without much warning so that Viviana was able to have her own birthday party. It was a lot of fun and I made two butterfly cakes for it and tons of cupcakes which we turned into an inchworm! I need to post pictures because it was all really cute. And she got loads of presents from everyone - she was so overwhelmed it was precious! Her grandma and grandpa gave her a little battery operated four wheeler which was hilarious to watch her on - and Alex, too! They were almost fighting over it towards the end of the afternoon. I had to distract Alex to keep him from pushing her off the thing! Overall, though, it was a great afternoon and I'm so happy it all worked out. I know Courtney was really upset that it almost fell apart because it was important to her to give Viviana a birthday party. Thank goodness for Courtney's friends. They are awesome!

Well, I think that concludes my novella. I wasn't kidding when I said a lot had happened in the last few days! I'm going to be spending this week preparing for Alex's birthday party this weekend - pirates!!!! I'm going to attempt to make a pirate ship cake and I'm also going to need to make tons of desserts for his dessert island party. I also need to get all three of us ready for Alex's one year photos this Saturday. I can't believe it's already time for his one year photos! This year has flown by!