Life for now

So once again there has been a huge break in my posts. A lot has been going on around here. Alex is quite the handful. Although he is a very sweet boy, he definitely has both mommy and daddy's stubborn streak (which if you know us, you know that that is a massive amount.) He is smart and when he has mind set on something, it is unwavering. He has gotten really well with using a crayon/pen/pencil and holds it correctly. He can draw and identify circles now. He correctly identifies red, blue, and yellow and counts up to 5. He is quite the neat freak and loves to clean up after himself, and does not like doors to be left open (any doors, cupboard doors, room doors, and drawers... oh and my mom's dishwasher door.) If there is one open around him, he promptly closes it LOL. It was interesting watching him with that while my mom was trying to unload her dishwasher the other day. He kept trying to close it before she was finished. Although he is still not a big "toy" child, he is fond of cars, like matchbox/hotwheels. His cellphone (which is one of our old cell phones, with battery taken out) is one of his prized possessions still. He is a problem solver, and his most favorite toys at my mom's house have to do with that. He also has become a big book fan. His most favorite is still "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish." He is also a big fan of "Mouse paint" which is how he learned his colors I think. He has a very strong vocabulary now, in both verbal and asl. He still doesn't talk around most people though. Growth wise, he has slowed a lot, and just is now growing into 18 mth clothes. During the warm front we had recently, he was wearing 12 mth short sets. Although he is very energetic, he is still quite shy around others and it takes him a good amount of time to warm up. When we go to church, he will usually sit with the nursery attendant for a good half an hour and cry before he'll get down and play/interact with any other children. His birthday is coming up quickly and I just can't believe that he is going to be 2 already!

In other news, Alex is going to be a big brother :). I'm 9 weeks pregnant now (due Dec. 2nd.) Things seem to be going well and I have an appointment in just under 2 weeks so I'm just going to keep praying that the baby stays healthy.

My birthday was yesterday and things went great. Chris did a nice job with it and I felt very spoiled LOL. Speaking of Chris, he is working at the stadium and loving his job. Tonight is his last night of school til the fall so he is very happy about that.

I think that is it for now :)

Don't share with the dog!!!

Alex was eating his lunch and of course Boni (our puppy) has to be all up beside him. Alex shares with her in every meal. Sigh... I'm glad he likes to share, but good grief, not his food! I think I'm the only mom trying to teach her toddler NOT to share. On a positive note, I learned that Alex loves lima beans today.

Go Green!

So I just heard about the coolest thing ever! It's called "The Green Bible." It is a Bible, new revised standard version, made out of recycled paper and it even has environment tailored devotions in it. How cool is that??

The delay

I'm so sorry about the delay between my last post and this one. The reason, I'm ashamed to admit, is that I seriously forgot my log in information. Wow. Ok, I knew that as I would get older, my memory would slowly start becoming less and less of what it used to be. I didn't realize that that started during pregnancy and childbirth though. When I first began to notice the change, I was pregnant with my son. Of course I wasn't upset, I had heard of the infamous
"preggo brain" but you are supposed to recover after right??? HA! No recovery here. "A" is almost 18 mths old now. Things have actually gotten WORSE. So yeah, he is completely worth the degradation of my mental function. If only I could remember what I was going to blog about...

The things we consume...

So this past I unveiled my decision to start taking red dye out or Alex's food intake. I'm sure some people might find it a tad bizarre which is why I'm choosing to blog about it now. Alex is a very sweet boy most of the time, but he has more energy then I've ever seen with a toddler before. I know that toddlers in general have lots of energy, but he literally is running from the second he gets up til he goes down at night. I've heard the word "hyper" used multiple times by people to describe him. Well, recently the topic of red dye #40 and its effects on children came up with my friends and I. There is a theory that this dye helps to cause hyperactivity in children. Many parents with children who have ADHD are starting to cut this dye out of their diet and see improvements. I feel like it can't hurt to give it a try and see if it perhaps will help Alex out.
My desire is for us to start eating clean as a family. After I started researching it, I truly think that it is a much better route for us. Eating clean is basically cutting preservatives and artificial stuff out of your diet. You can still eat meat. It should be free of hormones and all that stuff though. I think that this change will be a great one for our family. I was pleased to find out that some of the things we already eat are considered "clean." We use Classico pasta sauce for spaghetti, and it has no preservatives or artifically additives, and it is delicious!! The whole wheat pastas we eat also comply as well as the chicken we buy. We buy amish chicken so it is free ranged and hormone free. Many of the canned goods we have also follow the rules for this. We still have a ways to go, but I feel like we are on our way. The below links explain these in more details if anyone is wanting more information.


http://eatingcleanworks.com/what-is-eating-clean.htmlhttp://www.alternativementalhealth.com/testimonials/behavior.htm

My little look-a-like

Natalie told my mom that the babies in the first picture were her mommy, and Alex LOL. They are Rach and I. The second pic is obviously the one that was just taken at Mom's house of Alex. Haha, what do you think?

Some more!

Alex being goofy LOL!

The boys "cleaning up" the goldfish Brody dumped everywhere.