What has turned into a monthly update.....

I’m sorry I haven’t updated this blog is such a long time – we have been incredibly busy in the past month. There are vacations, family reunions, pictures, videos, showers and, of course, Alex developments to update. My head has essentially not stopped spinning since early April. One day I’ll enjoy a quiet weekend again. But not any time in the near future. We still have quite a month planned out, so maybe in July? I think I’m going to force a date night with Justin in a month or two – we need a break!

Anyway, we had our first real family vacation the last week of May. It was fantastic! We went to Panama City Beach for a week with my parents and it was really nice. Alex did not like the sand or the surf AT ALL when we first got there. It took him a good four days to finally warm up to it all. He didn’t care for the kiddie pool at first either, but I kind of slid him in from my lap and he didn’t really respond. When he realized he was in (what I’m sure was to him) a giant bathtub, he started kicking around and splashing a lot! It was really cute – and then, of course, he didn’t want out! The sand was pretty funny as well. He was okay with it at first, mostly because we just set him down in it and let him walk towards the ocean holding daddy’s hand. But he fell a couple times and that was it – fussy! So, after that, he was okay sitting under the umbrella on the chair, but wanted nothing to do with playing in the sand. On the second day out there, my mom and dad finally got him to play with his buckets and shovels and get into the sand – and then I couldn’t get him out of it! It was really cute. But the ocean was a real problem until the fourth or fifth day. Every time Justin would wade in, Alex would reach towards him and scream. And he had a fit if we tried to wade in with him. But on the fourth day it was suddenly okay. He held my hand and led me right up to it and wanted to go in – it was the strangest thing. I guess he realized that if daddy was in there it was probably okay.

Overall – vacation was a pretty great trip. The weather was great the whole time and it was nice to have my parents there so they could spend lots of time with Alex. And Alex had a few surprises for us – he is now 100% walking. He was still 50/50 with walking and crawling, but once we got into the condo, he was done with the crawling. I absolutely love watching him walk around – tiny walking person! Adorable! We also had to leave a day early because poor munchkin got a double ear infection. I’m not sure what prompted that but it was not fun for the poor little guy. He had a fever of 103 so we packed up and headed home.

In other news, Justin’s dad’s family had a family reunion right after we go back from vacation and it was great seeing and meeting a bunch of Justin’s relatives. There were so many new people there, I have no idea who I’ve met before and who was new! But it was nice getting together and letting Alex and Maddie play out on the lawn with the little Cozy Coupe. I cannot wait until Alex, Vivi and Maddie are about three years old! They were all born within two months of each other so I’m sure there will be lots of fun play times in the future! I didn’t have any cousins my own age so I’m really excited for Alex – even if he is surrounded by girls!

I also threw Sandy a baby shower this past weekend at her house in Social Circle. It was so much fun – old friends from high school. I miss everyone so much and I really love the times we’re able to all get together. Sandy is adorable pregnant – her belly is enormous, but she’s still tiny in her arms and legs and face. Not at all like me as a pregnant women. We got to see her nursery which I am in love with (I want to have a girl so badly now) and I she got a lot of really useful gifts – which would of course happen with me being involved – Ms. Practical! Anyway, it was great seeing her sisters and her mom and getting to spend some time with Kip, Greg, Jacob and Jonathan. I miss them all so much – I hate the “growing up, growing apart” thing that seems to happen. But I love that we can all be thrown together and not miss a bit – sign of true friendship.

In other Alex developmental news, he’s babbling like crazy now. Uh-oh and dada are his favorites. He can really whine mama – rarely does he just say it. That boy learns early, huh? He will also say dog, duck, that (dat) and he knows what ball, cat, fan, up, blue, green, yellow, yes and no mean. He’s also really good at signing “all done” – he does it at every meal. He’s also quite the ham – he makes the silliest faces. Justin has him making a “Clint Eastwood” face now – he’ll squint his little eyes and stare at you very seriously. And after about five seconds he cracks up laughing. I’m in trouble with this one! He’s also completely weaned! We did it – we made it a whole year, even with me working. I have to be honest, though, I never really had any problems breastfeeding. The fact that he still has no teeth may have something to do with that ;)

Oh – and I’m currently uploading tons of videos to youtube – they take way too long to update to this blog. But anyone can see them: http://www.youtube.com/user/tullia2

I think that’s all for now – I’m sure this has made for quite a long read – sorry. I’m going to try to be better. It’s just been so busy at work and at home for so many months now…..Boo.