First football game

We can hear the band practicing from our house and Alec always notices and then says he wants to see it. When we got free football tickets, I told Alec a few days before that we'd get to see the band at the football game. He talked about it non-stop. We left really early because we thought Alec and Charlie would enjoy alot of the pre-game practicing and knowing that the game started at 6:00 we'd be ready to go home to bed fairly soon after it started.

Alec loved watching everything. Charlie loved walking down the isle banging on the seats.

We had a blast, until the band came out. He was scared of the Stanford Tree.

And then he was scared of the pre-game show, and then he and Charlie were nervous of all the screaming during the game. Especially since we returned the opening kick-off for a touchdown. We left after the first quarter while we were all still in good spirits.

Jam Packed

Today was jam packed with fun. It started off at 4:45AM when we had to wake up the kids and get in the car to drive the 2 hours to my triathlon. I wasn't as nervous for this one, but still couldn't get my hands to stop shaking as I set out my transition stuff. I started at the back of the pack in the swim b/c I thought I would be in a later wave, but they started everyone at the same time. Utter craziness. I got stuck behind what seemed like an offensive line but eventually made my way along the 500 yard swim. It was soooo long.

My friend, Amanda waited for me during transition so we could bike/run together. I'm glad she did. It was fun to talk and I think she pushed me a bit in the bike and I pushed her a bit in the beginning of the run. The 16 mile bike went well, although it was pretty hilly. The 5K run was SOO hard. It was so hot and I wanted to quit just after 1.2 miles. :) But thanks to Amanda we ran the whole thing and finished around 1.54.

Then we stayed at the reservoir for a BBQ and some swim time for the kids. Then we drove home and got ready for the Stanford / Washington Football game. We scored free tickets and went as a family. It was a blast. (details will follow in a subsequent post) Now, I'll listen to a bit of the RS broadcast then watch a movie with Chris. What a day.

Lame tutorial

Just because I already had this handout made for the How-To last night, I'll do a quick post of it here for those of you who wanted it. I didn't give any instructions for how to make each animal part because that would've been pages and pages of instructions. That said, my favorite part of the whole process is planning and designing the animals, so if you want to make one and would like someone to talk things through with, just ask!

Back to School

Imagine a mom (with her 4 kids dragging their feet behind her) pushing a grocery cart, leaping down the isles between rulers, college-wide paper, pencils and crayons swaying in tune with the music playing the familiar Christmas tune "Its the most wonderful time.... of the year." I think its my mom's favorite commercial. Even though I don't have school-aged kids who will be returning to all-day classes, I LOVE the start of a new school year. It must be the teacher in me, or maybe the memory of getting new coloring supplies. Either way, I love it.

Chris started a new quarter today. He's TAing a class, doing lots of research and hoping to sit in on a class or two. I honestly don't know how he does it. He works so hard to produce great theories and ideas that his advisor and colleagues exepct of him with minimal guidance on how exactly to do it. Its tough because you can't force good ideas and yet he keeps working at it. And THEN he comes home to me and our often toy-and-dirty-dish-littered house and I unload on him all the challenges of a mother of two little boys. Somehow he stays happy and positive and laughs and plays with the boys. And even THEN he still finds time to exercise almost daily and serve as a wolf leader in cub scouts. Incredible.

Anyways, Happy Back to School. (I do realize this is almost a month late compared to most of you out there).

This is Alec on his first day of "playschool" last year. We've not started it yet this year.

EBV

It has now been long enough that we won't scare any of our friends from hugging Alec ever again so we can unveil the scary pictures. Many of you will remember Alec's rare reaction to the common Epstein-Barr Virus. Most kids just exhibit symptoms similar to that of a bad cold, Alec broke out in a crazy rash that extended into his mouth and throat making eating very painful. The rash itself wasn't bothersome, no itching or burning but as these pictures can attest it was awful-looking.

These pictures are chronological so you can see how the rash developed: first the face then back, torso, and finally extremities. His face got less swollen as the rash progressed from red raised dots to purple patches.



Silver Lining? Yes, there is always a silver lining. Because Alec's mouth hurt so bad from the sores he couldn't suck on his pacifier (he has only ever been able to have it while sleeping). The first night it bothered him alot, he cried for a little bit, then fell asleep holding his pacifer. The next night he just held it without crying any and the following night he didn't need to hold it at all. He was completely weened. Charlie still uses the exact same kind and he has never asked to have it back. Whew! We were bracing ourselves for quite a transition but I guess all you need is a little, violent, harmless attack of EBV. Totally recommend it.

For Fun

Someone gave me a home-made hooded towel for Alec at my baby shower in Washington made out of a regular towel and washcloth. We love it and use it practically every day. I saw some in a store the other day but they were designed as animals! How cute, right? I decided to try and make a dinosaur one for my cousin's new little baby Emmett. I used 1 green towel, 2 green washcloths and 1 orange washcloth and it turned out like this:

Not bad, but I do want to make some adjustments. I'll be leading our "How-To" enrichment's group this month and will be demonstrating these hooded towels. Because I sent this dragon one in the mail, I'll have to make some more examples. I'm thinking a frog one for Charlie, or maybe a lion. I found lots of cute ideas from this Amazon listing.

First Steps

Charlie has taken his first few steps recently! He often will stand up in the middle of the room without any support and then sometimes takes a few steps towards a toy or one of us. He's learned how to do lots of climbing: stairs, slides, toys to couch etc. He's even learned how to go down stairs backwards. He leans his bum back really far before trying to put his leg on the next step below so it gets pretty scary for us observers. At his last doctors visit we were told he was "supposed" to have 8 teeth by his first birthday which is in less than 2 months. Since he only has 2 so far, we were warned for some troubled times ahead has he may get lots of teeth in a short amount of time. Oh Joy.

Also, Charlie likes to read. He'll grab a book and come bring it to Chris or I, sit on our lap and then lean back on our chest. He'll stay that way for a few pages (or more if we can make it really interesting) and then he wiggles off to go find another book to bring us and we'll repeat the process again. He seems to understand most of what happens around him and will put his head on the floor and cry if he feels he's been unjustly treated. He smiles almost constantly and simply loves to be played with. We sure love him.