Poor Max

Max had his 9 month check-up at the doctor's office today and all I can say are two little words...."Poor Max". First, he was weighed and measured. He weighed in at a grand total of 15 pounds, 7 ounces and measuring 28 1/2 inches long. Fortunately, he is average height in the 60th percentile, but, unfortunately, his weight puts him well below the chart (like sister, like brother). Besides that, he had his severe constipation problem tended to....that's probably enough said. Like I said...."poor Max". Little does he know that he has another "poor Max" moment (enema) coming later when Ben gets home because there is no way I could do it by myself. He also has low iron, but anything to do to boost his iron (i.e., oatmeal, iron supplement, etc.) causes constipation....."poor Max". And, there is pretty much nothing we can do about his passing out episodes except take an infant CPR class just in case it's needed.....and for that I say...."poor mommy". Besides that he is a very healthy 9 month old. Could he really be 9 months old already???

Circus Fun

We took Alexis to the circus yesterday.....what we thought was the Ringling Brothers three ring circus, but it wasn't exactly three rings. Last year, Alexis's first year at the circus, there were actually three rings, but apparently, along with everything else, the circus has had to downsize! Alexis had an absolute blast and it was thoroughly enjoyable to watch Alexis watch the circus. She also enjoyed the rare treat of cotton candy! Don't worry....we brushed her teeth extra last night. Surprisingly, Max was also completely entertained by all the lights and music and action. Our collective favorite part was the elephants who all pooped at the same time and then rolled in it. That was dad's presence there for sure! And I definitely got a picture of it for him (see below). The best idea I had though was to bring along the circus light from last year (might as well find some way to save money since cotton candy costs $12). Anyway, a great time was had by all of us. Here are some pictures from the day:

Proof

So here's the proof...... Alexis's teacher gave me some pics of her breastfeeding her "baby". Too funny! You can be sure this photo will one day be in the Bat Mitzvah and Wedding slide shows. She'll either find it as funny as we do or she'll want to kill us!!!

Weekend Updates

CAR UPDATE: So after paying $25 on Wednesday to list our car on AJC and add the Rodeo back to our insurance for $50 on Friday, we got a Craig Lister interested who wanted to come see the car on Saturday. Figures! They drove all the way from Jasper, GA (I'm not even really sure where that is), paid $5000 in cash and $500 by check. Hey....whatever works! So we no longer own three cars and are back to a two car family!!! Here is a last picture as an ode to the Rodeo!
ANOTHER CLASSIC ALEXIS MOMENT: Just another moment of looking at your child, but really looking in the mirror. We are sitting at dinner the other night and mumbled under my breath, I said "dammit". I can't even really remember the context, but nonetheless, I obviously thought Alexis wasn't listening and couldn't make out the jumbled under-the-breath quality of the word. But what came out of Alexis's mouth next made Ben and I roll on the floor with laughter. She says "Daaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaam, we left something at Old Ma's". Now, think of sweet little Alexis.....she uses this southern drawl that comes out of nowhere to use a related form of the word I used in a completey different, yet utterly accurate context. In reality, we didn't leave anything at Old Ma's that day, but apparently, Alexis now knows the appropriate context for the word "damn". What happened to when she used to say "oh crumbun"? I guess my baby is growing up!!!


MAXWELL'S BATHROOM PROBLEM: Poor Maxwell is still having himself a hard time going to the bathroom. We thought it was from his limited diet of oatmeal and apples, but he has since broadened his horizons since his last suppository episode and now eats prunes, apricots, pears, peas, and carrots. Way to go, Max! Unfortunately for Max, his varied diet did not help his "issue". Max has had to be violated two times this weekend with suppositories. I guess we should invest in some rubber gloves! However, this does not seem to be a good long-term solution. Guess we'll have to take another trip to the doctor where they will want another $30 copay. Shouldn't there be some limit to the number of copays you should pay for the same condition????? Maybe I should be the next president????

Prima Ballerina

Alexis had her first ballet class today. I'm not sure who was more excited....Alexis or me. She was totally pumped up about wearing her new leotard and tights, but couldn't figure out why she didn't have ballet shoes. I told her it was because we needed to borrow them for the first time. I did not tell her that really it was because I didn't want to invest in ballet and tap shoes prior to knowing if she was going to participate in the class. I could totally picture Alexis looking adorable in her brand new leotard and ballet shoes glued to my leg while never setting foot in the dance room. Luckily, she separated quite easily, and she LOVED it!!! Even though the first 20 minutes she stood there like a statue and little girls were practically running her over while "sashaying" across the floor, she finally warmed up and began to move her feet around a bit. But when it came time to put on the Tinkerbell costume and dance out the story, Alexis was the only one not wearing a costume....apparently, she did not want to look like everyone else and don the green tinkerbell fairy clothes. Little Miss Unique and Independent!!! Overall, I think it was a success and we will be going back next week after purchasing her OWN ballet and tap shoes.

The Beauty of the Free World

A couple months ago we decided to purchase a larger vehicle to accomodate our larger family so we upgraded to a 7 passenger Ascender from our 5 passenger Rodeo (thanks to our Isuzu connections!). We have now had our Rodeo on Craig's List for over a month and now having to consider paying to list it on AJC or AutoTrader. That is the background info.

About two weeks ago, we finally convinced Grandma that she needed to sell her "piece" of a car since she shouldn't be driving anyway or wasting money on car insurance. So last Sunday night we decided to go ahead and post her car on Craig's List for the grand total of $600 (like I said it's a piece). Over the course of the week, we have had about 20 responses to the posting, but no one to actually come through yet to fork over the cash for it. We had a couple scammers (like shipping it to Africa), a few people mildly interested (requesting pictures), and a few very interested (willing to take a bus to the car and drive it home) but didn't make it over to see it at a convenient time. So tonight Ben decided to get a bit more aggressive and actually call people who left phone numbers. At about 9pm, a couple actually called to say they were in the parking lot. Of course, this sounded sketchy since who really buys a car in the DARK. So mom drove him up there as his protector with 911 dialed in her phone "just in case". Fortunately, they weren't psycho, took a short test drive, and sealed the deal. They even gave a bonus and handed over $650 cash. Wahoo!!!!! No more POS Cougar acting as a trash can for Grandma's money. Clearly, however, that brings me back to my original point. Our nice, well-maintained Rodeo still sits untouched on Craig's List and her crap mobile has been unloaded for cash!

The Classic City

We are always up for a day trip to the good ole city of Athens, but every time we go back we seem to have the same thoughts........when did Athens get so classy. It has always been known as the Classic City, but 11 years ago when we started college, it was definitely NOT classy. Nasty apartments, trashy shopping centers with hole in the wall stores, and dirty streets were the fond memories of Athens. But now the shopping centers are all redone with pretty stores, cracked and falling apart streets are now clean bricked sidewalks, and ghetto living quarters have become brand new apartment complexes with all the amenities. All the restaurants that we frequented are now replaced by chains....no more Wolfgangs or Hunan (UGA student special!). It always makes us appreciate the years we spent living in Athens having the time of our lives. When Alexis gets there in 15 years (because she will, since UGA is the ONLY school that is an option for her), it will be like living in a fairytale land. It will be fantastic for her because she won't know any different, but she won't have 25 cent beer nights at the dirtiest bar downtown, she won't be able to attend drinking nights at the most disgusting fraternity house (TEP.....well, just because they are getting a new house doesn't mean that it will be clean), she won't be able to drive down Sanford Drive if she can even drive as a Freshman at all, she won't be able to cross Baxter Street because where there once was just a cracked sidewalk is now barricaded by a wrought iron fence with only a seldom break to cross, she won't be able to indulge in a grease filled meal of chicken tenders at Guthrie's because it has been replaced by some chain restaurant, and she won't be able to enjoy the beautiful landscape because all the buildings they are build now are COLOSSAL and block the views.

Even though we spent much time reminiscing with mixed emotions, we did have a blast taking Alexis to the GymDogs meet. She is completely enthralled by the girls flipping around and usually after we get home for several days she will make failed attempts to do the same all around the house. Luckily, she isn't that brave so she won't try anything too dangerous. Unfortunately for her, she missed the floor exercise because she fell asleep in my lap and when she awoke while we were walking down Lumpkin on the way back to the car, she simply could not understand why were not in the Coliseum anymore. Max screamed halfway home, but slept the other half while Alexis was tuned in to her Barney DVD so it was a halfway peaceful ride for us.

GO DAWGS!!!

Mitzvahs

I'd like to thank everyone who performed a special mitzvah this week in honor of my parent's anniversary on February 5th. It was truly a special thing to know that all over the country people were doing deeds for others. This is something that would have made my dad proud and I'd like to think that he knew we were doing it for him. My dad was one of the most selfless people I know, and I aspire to be more like that every day. I hope that everyone's mitzvahs will not just be a one time thing, and we should all become better people and perform a conscious mitzvah every day.

Breastfeeding Dolls

Today I learned an important lesson: If you ever want to get a picture of yourself and how you act, you should watch your children. It's always unexpected to get a call from your child's teacher, but today was particularly entertaining. I know Alexis is quite maternal and loves to take care of things (both real life and pretend), but today, apparently, Alexis decided to breastfeed her doll in school. Alexis's teacher called today just to share the humorous story that I'm sure made its way throughout her entire school. Alexis was "nursing" her doll and talking on the phone at the same time because according to her "had so many things to do". Hmm...I wonder where she hears that. (By the way, I'm particularly good at multitasking!). By the end of the day, all the children, including the boys, were breastfeeding their own dolls. I'm so glad Alexis can influence her friends in such a productive way. I'm looking forward to the next phone call from a parent of one of her friends asking why Alexis taught their children about breastfeeding. Of course, the teachers took a picture so I'm looking forward to seeing that!!! Gotta love three year olds!

Officially a Blogger

Ahh...I am obssesed with scrapbooking, photo albums, baby books, etc. So, what a better way to chronicle our daily lives for the kids than to take part in the new fad, blogging! Even if no one ever read it, I can always look back to a particular day and see what adventure we were a part of and see our reminisce about the journey. So today, February 3rd, 2009, is officially the first day of the Needle Blog.