March Madness!!!

We decided to kick the March Madness "holiday" off in style by taking Alex to his first college basketball game. What a treat it was. He got to see the WVU Mountaineers beat St. John's in overtime. And since we live in NYC how lucky little Alex was to see his first college basektball game in Madison Square Garden. He was decked out in blue and gold from head to toe....WV ball cap, WV onsie, blue and gold Nike pants, WV socks......and there's more.....WV pacifier, WV spoon for his lunch, WV sippie cup, a tiny Mountianeer, and a WV basketball....AND a WV backpack for Mom to carry it all in. You KNOW you're baby is cute when even the opposing team's fans tell you how cute he is. He was so good at the game. He watched the people around us and loved the lights in MSG. He loved the St. John's band and "danced" to anything they played. (If you consider jumping up and down dancing.) He even napped from about 10 minutes to go in the second half...but woke up just in time for overtime.

We won't press our luck with his good ballgame behavior. The Mountaineers are on their own this week when they return to the Garden for the Big East Tournament. We'll be content to watch from our living room in Sunnyside.

Alex is 9 Months!!!

Oh my!!! I can't believe how time is flying by. It's so hard to believe that Alex is already 9 months old!!! We took him to the doctor for his checkup and he officially weighs in at 24 pounds (just 1 pound shy of his cousin Elizabeth who is 2 years old!!!) and he is 29 1/2 inches tall. Sean says he is in the "Shaq Percentile" for height and weight. He has cut a few new teeth and is up to 6 total now. We don't always brush twice a day, but we are beginning to brush.

We got to go home to WV last month during my mid-winter break. We traveled to New Martinsville to surprise Sean's sister Sonnie for a belated birthday greeting and also squeezed in a trip to Webster Springs to see Cathy, Joe, and Sarah and Tammy too!!! We were lucky enough to be treated to a WV snow....finally some fun winter stuff to play in. We bundled Alex up tight and took him out to the barn to see the snow and the horses.

He also got to attend his first live sporting event while we were home. It was a Lady Eagles basketball game...go figure!!!! We were treated to watch Tiffany Huffman score her 1000th career point. Afterwards I got to congratulate both Tiffany and her teammate Shauna Pritt who had reached her 1000th point earlier in the season. That brings the 1000 point club to 8 members total (Cousin Lori Cunningham, me, Aunt Jennie, Mindy Kniceley, Mary Grace Carson, Michelle Facemire, Shauna, and Tiffany.) We were surprised to see our cousin Joe Moses at the game too. Alex climbed right off of Grandma's lap and onto Joe's like they were long lost buddies!!!

Alex is becoming a real flirt. While we were home he started "blinking" at his Grandma Wine (like winking except with both eyes!!) She would just laugh and laugh. Well, Alex is a born entertainer like his daddy. Soon he was blinking at everyone, even Jennie's dog Kennedy. It was a treat when Jenn and Elizabeth came down to visit while we were home. Alex just jumped and jumped in his exersaucer at Grandma's. I don't think I've ever seen him so excited to see anyone.

Alex is 8 Months!!

It's hard to believe that our "little" Alex is already 8 months old. We measured him at 29 inches and last month we weighed him at over 21 pounds....definitely not little!! I swear he gets cuter every day. I can't wait to get home from school each day so I can play with him. My favorite toy is his Drop and Roar Dinosaur. I like it when you drop the ball down the shoot that makes it come out the dinosaur's mouth and the dinosaur "roars." He likes all of his toys, and he likes getting them ALL out at once!!!

I finally assembled his high chair. Now he can really sit up straight and eat like a big boy. We have been busy trying new foods. Sean is making some of his own purees, and some are plain old Gerber. So far we've had success with Sean's potatoes, butternut squash, and carrots (zucchini is in the freezer and ready for his next meal). We have also used Gerber green beans, mixed veggies, and apple/sweet potatoes. He is also eating oatmeal cereal instead of just rice cereal. It is fun watching him try new foods. He makes the funniest faces and blinks a lot.

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!!!!