We're in CT

We decided to come up to CT early and we arrived today. We left last night driving all night. Alexander did not like sleeping in the car at night. He was miserable. Finally we turned on The Corrs because it happened to be in our CD player. He went right to sleep like magic. So we listened to The Corrs for 6 hours!!! Whatever works, right? Glenn woke up at midnight and was awake all night. We couldn't believe he stayed up. He did fall asleep right after 9:00 and stayed asleep almost until we arrive just before 1:00. It was a long ride, but wouldn't have been so bad if they slept during the night. We'll be here for a few weeks bouncing around between West Haven and Storrs.

Why Not?

Glenn's latest phrase is, "Why Not?" He says it whenever he should just say "why." He doesn't really get the meaning of it except for the why part. I've tried explaining to him what the not part means when you put the two words together, but he just doesn't get it. Be ready CT, you're going to be asked a lot of why questions.

It has been raining all week here. I guess I shouldn't complain since the NE has had rain all summer. Here's the view we have been seeing. Every time it rains, Glenn says, "rain again!?!"



Here's how Alexander folds laundry:


Alexander loves to go up to Glenn and hug him and rough house. Here are some pictures from today:

We had some friends over for a birthday party play date. They were only here for about an hour, which was enough with really little kids. There were 8 kids (which includes my two). They played inside, and then we went out on the lanai and I had our bubble machine going. They loved that! Then we had cupcakes. Here's a picture of Alexander in a gift bag:


I had an appointment with my nephrologist yesterday. My creatinine is at the upper limit of normal. I haven't had a procrit shot since October because I'm staying just above the levels where my insurance company will pay for the shot. So, I'm still anemic, but not very low. My kidney disease is just really quiet right now and it might have been because of my pregnancy. It may have adjusted my immune system, so all is good for right now. I still have problems with my uric acid, and I just finally weaned Alexander so that I can go back on medication. Then I can eat meat again. Yay! Bob will be so happy. It'll still be about 6 weeks before I can though because just going on the medication can make my body go crazy and I could get gout (which is crystals accumulating in a joint and is very painful, so I'm told), so I still have to be careful with what I eat until then. But surprisingly, my uric acid level was just slightly above normal, which is due to my diet and because my kidney disease is better.

So, good news. And we're having a fun week celebrating Alexander's birthday. They year has literally flown by. Tomorrow is his actual birthday.

Alexander's Birthday Party

We have begun celebrating Alexander's birthday, which isn't until Wednesday. Before my parents left last week, he got to open a present. Of course he was more interested in the wrapping paper (his shirt is all wet because he just had a bottle and spit most of it out- that's another story).


We celebrated his birthday just as a family today since Bob will be away on Wednesday for his actual birthday. He loved his cake, diving right in without a second thought. He didn't make any more of a mess than he does at dinner; I was impressed. He loved having us sing Happy Birthday to him. And he was quite the ham for the camera. The cake is blue, even though it doesn't look like it in the picture. And it has a crown in the middle, because he's our little prince.


The cake was good!

Glenn helped Alexander open presents, and play with them (of course)



We're having a little party with a few of my friends and their children this week to have cupcakes and play. And then we'll have a couple of family parties for him when we go to CT later this month.

Bob had Friday off, so we went to St. Augustine. We spent an hour and a half at the beach, and then I got tired of chasing Alexander around and keeping him from eating sand. So we got lunch and went to the Castillo de San Marcos, which is a fort that the Spanish used to protect St. Augustine from the British. It was very cool, and unfortunately I forgot my camera. The views of the bay from the top of the fort were beautiful. But then thunder started to rumble, so we had to get down quickly. Glenn has been enjoying his pool. He wore his goggles while in the pool this weekend, goofy boy!


For the 4th, we went to the soccer fields in our community for some free fun: bounce houses, an inflatable water slide (below), snow cones, pop corn and music. They also had clowns making balloon animals and face painting, but Glenn is afraid of clowns, so we didn't partake in those things. Then we had our neighbors over for a BBQ. In the evening, we sat in our driveway and watched the neighbors shoot off fireworks. Who needs to buy them when you can watch everyone else? Okay, I did get Glenn some snaps that you throw on the ground, and he did enjoy that. I knew he'd be afraid to hold sparklers, so I didn't even bother buying any. Today, we went to church, celebrated Alexander's birthday, and napped. It was a relaxing day!


I have quite a few sunflowers around our back yard. I told my dad I'd take a picture for him since they all came out after he left.

My parents have come and gone. We had a great visit. Glenn loves sharing his room with them, although he was very excited last night to be able to sleep in his bed again. He was sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor, or rather anywhere on the floor. He doesn't always stay on the sleeping bag. My dad came down before my mom did since she was still finishing up the school year. My dad got to see Glenn's last day of swim lessons. I think Glenn was showing off for him because he was doing more than he had done in the past two weeks. He was jumping into the pool without holding my hand. He's still not swimming, but isn't quite afraid of the water as he used to be.
Glenn going down a slide in the sprayground at one of our pools:

Alexander crawling away:


We also went to the Jacksonville Zoo with my dad. Here are some pictures:
Glenn talking with the animals:


Glenn and Papa


Glenn and the Turtle


The boys and I went to Pump it Up this morning: an indoor bounce house party place. They had a couple hours this morning where you could come in and bounce. There were 6 huge bounce houses/obstacle course/slides. We went with a couple of my friends and their children. I could not believe how Glenn could just keep going. As soon as he got down a slide, he'd be climbing his way back up. It's really a great idea, and since it's inside, we didn't have to worry about the kids getting too hot. After an hour and a half, I could see Glenn was getting tired, and it was past Alexanders nap, so we left. We definitely got our money's worth, and we only had to pay for Glenn. Great deal!

Tomorrow, Bob has the day off, so we're getting out of the house so Bob doesn't get bored and end up working. We're going to the beach down in St. Augustine, and maybe a fort after lunch. Saturday, we're going to the soccer fields in our neighborhood to meet up with friends and to go in bounce houses, have snow cones, face painting and other things all for free, being thrown by a neighborhood group. I'm sure we won't be going out somewhere to watch fireworks, because Alexander is in bed by 7:00 and it would be too loud for him. We'll probably be able to see neighborhood fireworks just sitting outside our house.

Have a safe and fun weekend, everyone!