No Soup for You!

So, the little double ear infection has, yep, you guessed it, another double ear infection. Well, actually, there's no evidence that this month's first double ear infection ever really cleared up.

Now the question is, did the little guy "catch" a new ear infection from his cold bug, or did the incorrectly mixed antibiotics that CVS fed the poor boy keep the kid from ever getting better?

Oh yeah, did I mention that CVS on National Road in Wheeling, WV mixed Alexander's first dose of Amoxicillin incorrectly? Yeah, they did. When we ran out of medicine on the 8th day, I called the store to ask for 4 more doses. I assumed they just didn't measure out a full 10 days worth of medicine (when we picked up the Rx they neglected to return my insurance card & CVS card also). At first the pharmacist accused me of giving the babe more than the prescribed 3.5mL 2x daily. I assured him that I've done this before, and that I am quite accurate when it comes to my retirement.

You know how I am when I sense some snaky business. So I pressed the pharmacist. He confused me a bit when he suggested the pedi wouldn't want us to buy another full prescription. I said, "I don't want another prescription, I just want the additional 4 doses I already paid for." That's when the pharmacist said that I'd already received the complete prescription, and that they (CVS) probably just didn't add enough water to the powered antibiotic. He assured me that they don't mix the water in by hand & that a machine does that. When I asked him what he planned to do to confirm that his machine is calibrated correctly, he dismissively said that he "could probably check on that."

Yeah, my baby was getting more concentrated antibiotics than he was supposed to. That, of course, explains his horrible diarrhea, lack of interest in eating... anything... and his overall cranky attitude.

I spoke with the WV Board of Pharmacy President & we are currently filing a formal complaint. Duh.

So, anyway, they babe's sick. What do you do when someone's sick? You feed them soup. So soup he ate!

(The first video is for you, the rest are for Alexander's Babushka & Grandy Smith).







Please note how the babes looks at the camera (Mama) everytime he spits. He's such a ham!



And for those of you who keep track, Alexander is currently 33.5 inches long, 26lbs 9.9oz and 466.898 days or 66.7 weeks or about 15.5 months old.

Fruit Cup

Having a baby changes things. In college, after a "hard night," I would need a very large fountain Diet Coke & some McDonald's cheeseburgers to get through the morning.

Although I still need the Diet Coke after a sleepless night with baby, now our "sophistication" leads us away from the drive thru and toward the Panera Bread. Crusty jalapeno cheese bagels, yum.

This video doesn't quite capture the babe's sour/sweet shutter that he does nearly every time he eats a piece of juicy fruit, dill pickle or lemon, but it comes close. It is just so cute!



We haven't quite determined if the babes is teething, suffering from yet another ear infection or beginning night terrors... We're just praying that he didn't catch Baby Owen's 103* fever @ the library on Friday...

Family (& friends) Fun Day

The Oglebay Institute is celebrating their 80th anniversary, and Alexander was invited to their Cowboys & Indians birthday party!

The chilly wind couldn't keep our little scout inside the wigwam, he was ready for a Buffalo hunt! He made his own Native American headdress before mounting his lion & heading for the hills.

The little guy was SO cute, running all around the front lawn of the Stifle Arts Center with he new little friend, Nik.



After a few hot dogs (for daddy) & cookies for the babes, Alexander & Nik tried out a the Little Sprouts Music Together drumming demonstration. Unfortunately, the cookies made our little angel a little devilish; he was all hands & tears. The instructors were lovely; so nice & warm to all the little ones!

And the party wasn't just for Alexander; Papa got in on the fun too! The Oglebay Glass Museum offered free glass blowing (molding) demonstrations last night & Papa made us this beautiful Purple & Gold paper weight.

There were a handful of free pottery classes that I was hoping to attend, but unfortunately, the baby went napless this afternoon, so escape was out of the question!

Toddler Time

What a fabulous, beautiful morning!

Up early to take a lovely, blue-haired to her beauty shop appointment.

A telephone stroll around the neighborhood with Aunt Jenn & the girls (they walked in Carlisle, we walked about Wild & Wonderful West Virginia).

Then off to meet Owen at the library for Toddler Time. Unfortunately, our little monkey couldn't sit still for much of the program... but he sure did enjoy climbing up, over and around everything available!

A couple of the other little monkeys' Mamas invited Z to play @ the waterfront park after the program & we jumped at the opportunity!

The munchkins played so wonderfully together. They took turns going down the slide; one Mama at the top of the tube to push them down, one Papa on the bottom to catch them as they slid out, and one Mama to lift them back up to the top of the slide.

And the Mamas? The Mamas played pretty nicely too. We have a lot in common (AmeriCorps, Veggies, Volunteering, Violins & everything else beginning with a "V"), and they were all so nice!

The park was so much fun, the kiddos all missed lunch, but luckily we were all packin' some veggie treats! Owen had the best snacks & all the kiddos kept running back to Kara for more. Yum.

After getting sufficiently dirtballed up, our little climber was ready for a nap. The babes was passed out before we even turned the corner to head home!

Despite all the extremely adorable baby-loos, Mama hid her inner paparazzi so not to freak out the other Mamas!

Home Sweet Home

The Flowering Cherry is in full bloom. The front porch is adorned with 4 clay pots of alysum, 3 huge Boston Ferns and 2 homemade pansy baskets. The fleur de lis is representin'. And Papa's fence has us all locked in.
And now, our abode has even more new windows! They are beautiful!

Before Baby Boris arrived we contracted with Swingline in Pittsburgh to open the babe's nursery to the world & install new windows. Boy did we get ripped off! But, I guess ignorance is bliss, or at least until you see the light.

Swingline gave us a $3,000+ estimate to replace our crazy-big front window & the 2 square windows on the staircase. And a year later in trots our Knight-in-Shining-Armor... Window World of Pittsburgh!

One third the price, and our new fabutastic windows were installed so much better than the crap-tastic Swingline windows.

Sales pitch? If you need windows in the Pittsburgh, Wheeling, Steubenville, Ohio Valley area, call Ken Fellows & request John K. for your install.

Happiness had by all.

Now, Mama needs some fabric for new curtains!

Tulip Time

Before Granny headed back East, Alexander made sure Grandma got a tour of the Oglebay flower gardens.




After the tulips, we headed over to the butterfly garden & birdwalk for a quick look-see... ah, I guess it's a little too early to see much though...

After such a fun, exciting weekend, Alexander & I were pretty bored Monday, so we headed up to the Oglebay Zoo to check things out after our volunteer gig with Faith in Action. The coolest thing we saw... Turtles.

Then we came home & jumped around the house a bit to waste time...

Pitty Party

Papa is ordering a new computer as I type... And it is not a minute too soon, Mama is about to pull her last (gray) hair out! I was unable to watch all the videos pre-post, so hopefully they are somewhat enjoyable. That's all I'll say about the un-timeliness of this post...

What better way to spend your 7th birthday than living it up with the whole fam-damnly in Pittsburgh, right? So that's just what we did!

Aunt Jenn's clan drove over the mountain & into the city Friday night to stake our claim @ the most awesomest Hilton E.V.E.R! Saturday morning we all met up at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium for a chilly romp with the animals. The zoo animals, not the related animals...

The lioness watched on as her life companion confused baby Norah forever. Rather than *roaring* like the Lion King, the Pittsburgh-bred lions made more of a Tim-the-toolman-Taylor-type grunting every time the Tiger down below barked. Craziness!



Granny & Grampy arrived at the zoo just as baby Charlotte was sitting down for a snack and the older kiddos broke loose in the Kids Kingdom. The KK was empty when the munchkins first started playing, but before long it was like a zoo!

Papa and Alexander had a blast on the huge metal sliding board; while Ethan & Sarah sped down the super-fast tube slide!




Right when the Kids' Kingdom was getting a little too crazy, Grandma noticed the Sea Lion show beginning and scooped up the boys to take a gander. Before Granny made her way to the front of the crowd, Alexander scooted between everyone's knees & plastered his face to the glass. He was fascinated by the spinning & barking sea creatures. Thank goodness Grandma was able to wrestle him back, or I think the Pittsburgh Zoo might have had to hire a new trainer!

After all the Sea Lion fun, the little guy was ready for a nap, so Grandpa carried him the rest of the way through the zoo & aquarium. Alexander LOVED the height advantage & enjoyed pointing out all of the zoo creatures the shorties couldn't see.


Before the little Nature Boy wore himself out with the Sea Lions & Sliding Boards, he & Papa kind of lost themselves at the zoo. While the rest of us ran excitedly from one exhibit to the next, my boys took in each exhibit slowly. Papa pointed out each feather & took the time to name each animal (hopefully in English AND Russian!). Oh, I just love those boys!

I'm also a big fan of Mr. Ethan and his cute little bear hugs!

After the zoo, the kiddos all took a nap in the car as Uncle Mike took the scenic route back to Joe's Crab Shack in Robinson. Mama & Papa used to enjoy the Joe's in BR; of course, who wouldn't love a restaurant that's adopted a crazy stray chicken that's moved in under their deck?

And after some milk shakes & a romp in the gravel pit, the Smith-girls' krewes love it too!

As we left Joe's, Sarah pulled on a random waitresses apron & excitedly told her that we were going to a hotel. Then she proceeded to tell everyone in the parking lot & even used the ashtray as a makeshift microphone to make sure the whole world knew we were on our way to the hotel pool.

Our little Hunter S. Thompson was also pretty excited about our swanky hotel. He wasn't, however, to sure about the hot tub...




Did I mention how fabulous the hotel Aunt Jenn booked for us was? Cause it was. Each and every evening, from 5:30-7:30pm the hotel has a Manager's Reception. I can't believe it took Mama 32 years to be introduced to the Manager's Reception, read free wine, beer, mixed drinks, Diet Coke, pizza, snacks, pasta salad, etc. And we had the best breakfast ever with made-to-order omelets and more Diet Coke on tap! And don't even get me started on the sweet suites...

Anyway, back to Ethan's birthday party. It was like the hotel was throwing him a party, since they paid for all the alcohol & snacks, but of course Aunt Jenn brought her own cake!



Before Uncle Mike & Grandma knew the full wonder of the Manager's Reception, they ordered some Vocelli's Pizza & Quaker Steak & Lube wings. The kiddos had a little picnic on their king-sized bed. Did I mention how adorable those little pirates are?

Grandma wasn't sure how much longer her oldest grandson was going to keep hugging her, so she insisted on some pictures to document the goodtimes...

The entrance to our favorite hotel had a Steelers/Penguins fish pond to keep our little fisherman busy.

Unfortunately, Ethan's birthday weekend went way, way too fast! Alexander, Papa & I had such a wonderful time with everyone. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family to spend the weekend with!

We love you all!

Poopies

You'll never believe what happened this morning.
Alexander. Pooped. On. The. Big. Boy. Potty.

Yes, it's true.

After a fabulous evening playing with the big kids. And a basically sleepless night in the big Mama's hotel pull-out. Papa was up for an early-morning shower. Alexander, of course, was unable to resist opening the bathroom door & playing shower-door games with Papa.

After thoroughly drenching his jammies, we stripped the babes bare. And wouldn't you know it, morning poo time. The choices were the white Hilton towels or the potty. Thank Goodness the little poopster picked the potty.

Fluke, yes. But, at least we now know it's possible.

Oh, did I mention he peed on the base of the fancy-shmancy toilet shortly after we did the potty salute? Yeah. Oh well, I used a white Hilton towel to clean that up...

Mama Hi-lo

At night when Papa gets home, I get a bit of a break. Alexander LOVES his Papa so much, he doesn't need me.



It took a while, but I've learned to embrace the evening freedom... minus diaper changes & bedtime & other traumatic events.

But today. Today Alexander & I ventured to the Wild & Wonderful West Virginia MOPS

Oh, the disappointment. I mean, happiness. OK, what I mean is emotional confusion when we arrived at the meeting this morning.

The babes nimbly hopped down into the Vineyard classroom & never looked back. At first I kept returning to the half door to peek in at him, secretly hoping that he'd miss me.

I heard a baby cry during the meeting, ran to check, but it wasn't my cuteso. My lovely one was happily playing, making friends & smiling at the ladies, according to the teachers.

So, I'm happy. Proud. Maybe a little "my baby's getting so big & doesn't need me." But mostly, I wanted to run to the car & call Papa & tell him how wonderfully our little man did @ daycare. meeting. When I signed up @ the Egg Hunt they offered child care, but I assured them that my little monkey was attached to my hip. A Mama's boy. Unable to cheerfully leave my side.

The Easter Firefox to the rescue

Papa still has not identified our computer *pest*, but he's narrowed the problem down to Internet Explorer & circumvented the condition by installing Firefox. So here we are... back from Easter break & ready to post.

Our little monkey had an amazingly fabulous time celebrating Easter in Wild & Wonderful West Virginia last weekend! We spent the entire vacation outside, soaking in the beautiful, cloudless, 80* days!

We started the good times by planting little baby broccoli, cabbage and onion sets. And we all know how much that boy likes to dig in the dirt! Mama just has to keep reminding him, "we don't step on anything green, except for the grass."

Then we headed off to Oglebay's Good Zoo Easter Egg Treasure Hunt with the Goodneighbor girls.

The line was long, and the little man's cheeks got all rosey in the heat, so Julie found a bench for him to relax on while we waited to get in.

For four bucks Alexander got a treasure map & a little bunny bucket to put his findings in & we were off. The map took us all over the zoo. Did I mention it was so very hot?

Although Papa was off work Good Friday, he didn't tag along on the treasure hunt. Instead he started digging fencepost holes at home for Alexander's new nature boy holding pen. This seemed like a good thing, until Papa called us at about the time we were arriving at the first treasure table to inform us that he hit & busted a pipe... at that point, he didn't know which pipe...

The little Easter Pirate was sure there'd be some treasure in the blooming daffodils... but alas all we found was a good picture!



The babe didn't get much of a nap after the zoo, so after a quick tub to get all of the sunscreen, sweat & fencepost mud off, the little guy was off to be by 6:30pm.

We didn't waste anytime goopin' the boy up again Saturday morning in preparation for his first real Easter Egg Hunt @ Wheeling Park.

Unfortunately, Papa's new found front yard pipe (which turned out to be our French Drain), kept him home again. He spent his digging a Y shaped trench to divert the old broken French Drain pipe into a new leach field. Fun stuff. Not.

But at least he got one good picture with the cuteso before he was off to work...

Mama had heard a rumor that traffic gets gridlocked, so Papa dropped us @ Wheeling Park @ 9:30 for registration. The Vineyard Church really knows how to put on an Egg hunt; that place was crazy! 30,000 eggs. 8 pound bags of candy. Thousands of little squirts.


Just as Papa was about to head back to his ditches, Baby Owen & his Daddy pulled into the parking space beside us! Owen's Daddy had no idea what was going on, and had just come to the park to swing. That's some great timing & good luck!

Before the hunt started, Alexander practiced his egg dance. He is just so cute!



The little guys had their own field of eggs to search in. All the little munchkins were just so adorable in their Easter best. It was funny how the little guys left thousands of eggs on their patch, and were more interested in playing than in filling their bags... the older kids on the other hand...


By the time the hunt actually started (it was delayed a few times to allow traffic to die down... that never happened), some of the crowd/egg novelty had waned and the babes was more interested in throwing & escaping toward the sliding board.





The boys had a great time... and so did Mama!





The the eggs the kids collected were empty, but after the hunt they were all given a ginormous bag of full-sized candy bars that only a Daddy could love!

Thank you Vineyard Church!

I know you will all be surprised, but we even spent Easter Sunday outside. Digging. We hit, and luckily did not break a gas line or two. Hoy vey & Happy Easter!

Alexander did get to go to one more Easter Egg hunt at the neighbor's house Sunday afternoon. The little monkey had so much fun checking out all of Isabelle's toys!

But then it was back to work digging ditches!





Alexander had so much fun exploring, digging & playing with all the new kids & zoo animals last weekend that we had to put him back on antibiotics to clear up double ear infections & double eye infections. That kid sure knows how to party:).