Happy 2008!!!!!

We have gotten off to a great New Year!!!! The holiday season was sooooo busy!!!! The highlight of Christmas was having the entire Wine clan together at church in Burnsville for Christmas Eve services!!! We spent Christmas Eve at the "Lazy W" opening gifts....always too many!! Then Christmas morning we awoke to find a ton of toys and other gifts from Santa. Alex's gift to us for Christmas (and for his 7 month birthday) was that he pulled himself to standing for the first time!!! Then we were off to Webster to celebrate with the Morton clan!!! Alex met more of his cousins (Hans and Joe) and also met his Aunt Patty and Uncle Jim Marsh. Elizabeth seemed concerned that "Ali's stuck" because we put him in the pack-n-play to try to get him some sleep. But Uncle Joe sprung him, played with him, and even gave him his first taste of candy cane (bad Uncle Joe.) Elizabeth and Alex were both overwhelmed by the number of presents so moms and dads ended up opening most of them. We traveled to Buckhannon on Friday to surprise the rest of the Marsh clan so he could meet his cousin Steve (and Jessica, Grace, and Emily too!!) The holidays are definitely about family and friends for us!!

Alex has been full of firsts in the New Year. We have been trying out different foods with him, trying to make most of our own. He was not pleased at all with potatoes....they probably needed to be mashed up a little more. But he has been eating butternut squash, avacado, and carrots. Next on the list is green beans. He has also gotten his two top teeth.

What fun we had watching the WVU Mountaineers win the Fiesta Bowl!!!! Alex actually met his first real Mountaineer over Christmas. His Godfather Jordan Flynt was in from the Air Force, and came by on Christmas Day!!! We of course took lots of pictures of Alex and Jordan. My favorites are the ones of Jordan wearing the "Optimus Prime" mask from the Transformers movie. Jordan's brother Zach is on the WVU football team. When Zach held Alex for the first time he held him up and said, "You're a linebacker; you're a linebacker; YOU'RE A LINEBACKER!!!" Back in NYC we all gathered around the TV to look for Zach and a WVU win. Our friends Joe and Mike came over to watch the game with us. EVERYONE was wearing WVU shirts and had a fantastic time watching the Mountaineers pull off an upset win!!!!!!!!

We took in the last of the Christmas season in early January. We took Alex downtown to see the tree at Rockefeller Center! After a stop by the FDNY shop to play on the fire trucks we went to the Museum of Modern Art because I wanted to see an exhibit of Seurat drawings. It was Alex's first trip to an art museum. Alex loved the MoMA. He liked looking at all of the paintings with bright colors. His favorite was the Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup cans. He squealed like soup was his favorite food. I think it must have been the bright red colors that got his attention.

Alex Goes To Santaland

Happy Holidays!!!!!!

We took Alex to Macy's Santaland on Monday to meet the REAL Santa Claus. He was a good boy when he sat on Santa's lap. He didn't cry, try to pull Santa's beard or try to take Santa's glasses off. He was more interested in his own shoes (they are new and they velcro) than he was Santa. We asked Santa if he knew where Gem, WV was, and he assured us he knew the way.

Santaland, by the way, is enormous. It takes up almost the whole 8th floor of Macy's. There was the Polar Express, dancing bears, tons of toys, and even a talking tree. If you have never been to the Big Apple over the Christmas holiday season I highly recommend it. If you can stand the crowds, the amazing window displays are worth it.

We can't wait to go home for the holidays. Merry Christmas and Happy 2008!!!!

Alex is 6 Months!!!!

Happy Birthday Alex. You are 1/2 a year old. He is growing...GROWING.....GROWING!!!!! He now weighs in at 20 lbs and is 27 3/4 inches long!!! We celebrated his birthday at home in WV. We traveled in for the Thanksgiving weekend. Since it was Thanksgiving (aka the food holiday) we decided it was time to start feeding Alex some food. Unfortunately for him he didn't get any of his Papi's wild turkey. He just got rice cereal instead. He also got to meet two more of his cousins over the holiday. He met my cousin Jake on Thanksgiving Day. And he met his cousin Mike Casto the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Three days after his birthday he started sitting up on his own. He still is a little wobbly, but he's working on it. He also experienced his first snow. We awoke Sunday morning to about 1 inch of snow covering the ground. We took him out for a look around the neighborhood. He was so excited that he fell asleep. At least we got in a few pictures first.

We were deeply disappointed by the Mountaineers' loss to Pitt. No BCS Championship game this year. Oh well. At least we're still bound for the Fiesta Bowl. Let's Gooooo!!!! Mountaineers!!!!! And Happy Holidays to all!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away......a little boy named Alex dressed up like Jedi Master Yoda for his first Halloween. We traveled home to WV (too bad my Dodge Stratus doesn't have light speed) for the weekend. Cousin Elizabeth was there too....dressed as Princess Leia. Cousin Clint and Sean took turns playing the part of the evil Darth Vader.

Sean says we can't let any "real" Star Wars fans see these pictures because they would know that Yoda and Leia never really met. Oh, well!!!! How nice of our children to indulge our grown up fantasies. Soon we will have little to say over Alex's choice for his Halloween costume.

Sean brought Yoda to school on Halloween. The teachers loved the outfit....Star Wars is still a big hit with our generation. Ms. Zanelotti said he deserved a prize for the best costume in the school. No trick or treating this year.....one tooth isn't enough to chew candy!!!!

Alex is 5 Months!!!!

Alex turned FIVE months old on Thursday, October 25. He is up to about 20 pounds and is reaching new achievements every day. He celebrated his birthday by cutting his first tooth. I came home from work on Friday and Sean had me stick my finger in his mouth....there it was....his very first tooth (bottom left). That must explain why he has been chewing on everything...including his daddy's finger and his bed rail!!

He has become a very proficient scooter. He can't quite crawl but can move across the floor by scooting on his elbows and knees. He plays "fetch" with himself by tossing his toys (rattle, rings, etc.) out in front of himself just a little. As soon as he scoots over to it and grabs it, he throws it a little further away again.

I have been sick this past week, and the doctor has me on antibiotics. As a result, all of Alex's meals have been bottle fed. He is mastering holding his own bottle. With the exception of needing help tipping it up at the very end, he has it down!!

Sandra and Lady Liberty

What a great visit we all had from my best friend Sandra. She was here in the Big Apple October 18-23. After a Friday evening of pampering at a local spa with a mani-pedi, Sean and Alex met us at one of our favorite Japanese restaurants for sushi. On Saturday our friend Mike Anderson joined us to watch the WVU Mountaineers beat up on Mississippi State for a homecoming victory. On Sunday Sandra. Alex and I played NYC tourist. We took the ferry to Liberty Island for an up close look at the Statue of Liberty. Then it was on to Ellis Island. It is amazing to think about how many immigrants passed through this building on their way to the US. Alex was so amazed at the lights in the museum that you would have thought he was actually looking at the exhibits. Any history buff would have loved our Sunday outing. On Monday, I met Sandra after school for tea and then we took a stroll through Central Park. I tried to talk Sean into tying Sandra up so she would miss her flight and we could keep her and she could stay a little while longer. However, he said he was a bad boy scout and she was slippery. We were sad to see her go, but hope she will come back again soon for another visit.

Vacation Weekend

Sean, Alex and I took our first "official" family vacation last weekend....a long Colunbus Day weekend with our friend Joe Ortlieb to visit with his folks in the Syracuse area. What an absolute perfect weekend we had!!!!!

We stayed at Joe's parents' lake house about 20 minutes outside Syracuse. His parents' place is beautiful!!!! They bought an old camp about 20 yards from the water and completely re-did the place....Joe's dad is a contractor so everything was done right!!! By the way, Lake Oneida is HUGE. The view from the house is breathtaking!! Joe's family was a delight. His niece Clair (age 5) and his nephew Quinn (age 6) were great to entertain us all. His mom even gladly offered to babysit Alex (she called him "Little Bear") while we went to the Syracuse vs. WVU game.

The Mountaineers came through for us in a big way!!!! Joe had a friend who was able to hook us up with free tickets. They were even adjacent to the WVU section, which made it easy for me to locate mom's friend Kay Stoops and visit with her. As an added bonus, The Pride of West Virginia, The Mountaineer Marching Band made the trip to upstate NY as well. The band is always a treat. WV won the game handily 55-14.

Joe surprised Sean by inviting friends George and Michelle Kastrinos from Rochester, NY over for the weekend. George arrived in time to come to the game with us on Saturday; Michelle came Sunday morning.

We had fabulous weather for the weekend. Sunday afternoon we all took turns riding the jet ski with Joe on the enormous lake. He even let me drive!! Sean and Michelle cooked up quite a feast for us all on Sunday night. Late nights were spent enjoying great friends, great conversation, and great beer by the fire outside. It was so relaxing to get out of the city for a few days. What a perfect trip!!! We have all invited ourselves back to Joe's!!!!!!!