His Baby Shake Brings all the Girls to the Yard

Zander loves to watch Colleen & her friends get on the bus in the morning. And when Julie sits on the porch after school in the afternoon, Z will head to the window & bang until either I open the window so he can yell to her or Julie sees him & starts waving back. It's so cute!

As I mentioned before, Zander's trying to assert his independence & boycotting everything that he can't feed himself. Unfortunately, he's a bit dehydrated, but he's enjoying every bite! He tried peach slices for dinner last night & he had watermelon spears for breakfast today. Cute, but oh so messy! I read that if you dust fruit in cheerio dust it's easier to pick up; it's not, just messier!

At least he's putting all his new teeth to good work! His bottom two chompers are so cute, and he has another four peeking through the top! Daddy isn't so as happy with Z's pearly whites, since he seems to like tasting his Papa!

After an unsuccessful trip to the outlet mall in search of Alexander's first pair of kicks, we came home & tried to cheer ourselves up with some tried & true "hardwood sledding!" I remember my mama dragging Jenn & I all over the house when we were kiddos; so fun!

Although Z's anything but little Monkey Feet couldn't find a new shoe to call home, my BIL's sister gave us a huge box of her son's old shoes last time they came to visit. And although Z needs a 4 1/2 Extra Wide, there were a couple pairs of awesome 5 Wides that fit OK. So, to celebrate his acceptable shoe covering, Daddy & I decided to each grab a hand & walk Z over to the neighbor's house. Alexander LOVED walking outside! I need to ask someone to take our picture!

Oh, and D just said, "Oh, and if we ever go to Moscow, there's a circus that preforms with cats. House cats." I'm not sure where that came from? Peanut's outside, and we're never traveling to Russia!

Baby's First Shower

When I'm getting Zander's bath ready (I still wash him in the kitchen sink with the rest of the dirty dishes...), I let the naked babe stand in the kitchen with me. We've had a few too many carpet peeing incidents...


Anyway, last weekend I put Zander down next to the stove, in his usual spot while I started the water. But when he heard his daddy taking a shower in the bathroom off the kitchen, he crawled over, pushed the door open & jumped in with his papa. It was adorable!

Lately, we've imported our Louisiana road-tripping tradition in an attempt to find something exciting to see/do/hear/drink in the Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. Well, that and it's also our lame attempt to avoid all domestic duties back on Edgwood. So far we've met half our goal; our house is a mess!

Two weekends ago we decided to see where National Road would take us... we ended up at Piedmont Lake in Ohio. After a quick picnic on the lake & a pee in the woods, we were off again.

Mr. Cranky Pants really needed a nap!

Then we went to go see Bingo Bob in J-ville. Not too long ago he tripped on a bingo dobber while he was looking for his lucky rubber nickle to scratch off a Pennsylvania Lottery ticket and broke his arm. It wasn't his lucky day.

Pappy is recovering well, but he was pretty tired the day we dropped in to visit him. I wish Zander napped half as well as gramps does!

Before we could get back on the road to Wheeling, Alexander identified his newest favorite toy... the Prius steering wheel! One particularly cranky day last week, D was able to keep the little crank box happy for the particularly traumatic 30 minutes before bedtime.

It makes me so happy to those two so happy!

Oh yeah, and then those boys went out looking for girls while I stayed home "cleaning." D & the gang took Zander to the Wheeling Stern Wheel Festival last Saturday, which was an excuse for D to eat festival food and an excuse for me to not cook dinner...

When they got home, Amber reported that ladies man Zan was attracting the attention of all the little ladies. Especially this hot number. Abigail is also about 8 months. Unfortunately, Daddy has been out of the game a little too long; he forgot to ask for her number! Well, never mind, I guess that is VERY fortunate!

Banana Rama

This video doesn't really do justice to just how cute Zander's first independent banana-eating experience was! It was uber-adorable!

He started out enjoying all of his veggies, and was even a kind of fond of his little Gerber spoon. But now, he wants nothing to do with pureed baby food. Zaney is a big boy. He wants, no, he deserves to feed himself!

In an effort to please the little monkey, we've been giving him biter biscuits, Zesty Tomato Puffs, wagon wheels & of course, Cheerios. I found a fabulous recipe for making our own biscuits, and I'm hoping Aunt Jenn can bake us up a batch! Hint, hint...

For a short while Zander was waving goodbye. Of course, he was flapping his hand toward his own face, but waving none-the-less. But in the last week, he's given up the wave to perfect his "So Big" act with Daddy, which is "So Cute!"

Our Labor Day of Love

OK, actually the whole weekend was lovely!

The Vintage Race Boat Regatta started the weekend with a rumble! Zander didn't really know what to think of the noise; it kept distracting him from eating the grass!

After Zander got a little too hot at the races, we headed up to Oglebay to check out "Camp Russell." I think the settler & Indian actors were a little more Zaney's speed. You know, they were all half dressed...

They even let him climb all over their cannon!

Then Sunday morning, we went for a beautiful hike at Bear Rock Lake, near the PA border.

We saw a turtle and found a dead racing pigeon that was massacred as he raced from Athens Ohio to his home in Connellsville, PA. I don't think he won...

Oh, and a new 2nd Sheetz opened up @ the Highlands, and all the drinks are just .69 cents. That's a big hit with our fam!

Flying High @ Wheeling Park

Ever since Zaney tried out the neighbor's swing set last month, I've been searching for a local park with baby swings.

Our friends Jenny & baby Rose invited us for a hike around Wheeling Park & a picnic lunch @ the playground. Not only did Zander get to try out the swings, which he loved, but he also slid down the slide & tried desperately to climb back up... If I was a kinder mother, I would have taken his sock off, to make the trip back up a tad bit easier. But I'm not...

We tried to enjoy our picnic lunch, but there was so much to see & do, Zander couldn't sit still. The little park had soft, rubberized flooring, so I let little Z make his rounds. Hoy vey, they boy is all over the place! Z had just one bite of banana before his was on the move again!

I think we'll head back to the park after church on Sunday. D will LOVE pushing the little goof-ball on the swing!