Hanging Around the House

We haven't been doing much. Just hangin' around the house being amused by Alex. I know that all kids play with regular house-hold objects and that all parents think the things their kid does is something special. But I swear, we just sit around and laugh at him all the time. He has spend hours playing in his Pampers box. And we love it when he puts on his "helmet" (a clear tupperwear bowl) to play who we call "Space Captain Stinky!" Sean and I are easily entertained by everything Alex does. He has really started to take an interest in his books lately. He will bring them to us to read to him or simply sit and look through them by himself. He loves selecting his bedtime story books for me to read.

We took him to the doctor for his checkup. He is now 33 inches tall and weighs 28 pounds 4 ounces putting him at the 88th percentile for his age. He is a big boy.

Today was a wonderful fall day perfect weather. After we watched the Mountaineers hold on to beat Rutgers we went to the park. Alex played on the swing and the slide...his favorites. The Red Sox are 2-0 in post season play. We are watching election news closely and pulling hard for Obama. So far it's a good fall. We miss all of our family back home in WV and can't wait until we get to see them at the end of the month!!!

Smile!!!!

Now when Alex smiles he will have a mouth full of new teeth. He has doubled the number of teeth in his little mouth this month. He used to have 8, now it's 16!!! He cut all of his top teeth ( 2 molars and 2 canine teeth) within 2 days of each other. Then it took about 2 1/2 weeks for the bottom ones to come through...the last canine tooth arrived yesterday. We have been lucky that he really hasn't been fussy at all. He loves eating chicken nuggets and has fun when I brush his teeth.

Last of Summer Fun

We are back in the Big Apple and enjoying the Labor Day weekend!!! Football season is finally upon us.....GO MOUNTAINEERS!!!!! We celebrated the very last day of summer break with a trip to Coney Island. Alex loved the small waves, and once he adjusted to the sand he liked it too. We are lucky we got to see Astroland....this was its last summer although the Cyclone and Wonder Wheel are supposed to still be operating next year. It was a terrific way to say farwell to summer!!!!

My college friend Jamie came to visit on a business trip to NYC in early August. Then, we spent the last two weeks of summer enjoying our families in West Virginia. We enjoyed visiting with Jenn, Reid, and Elizabeth in their new home in Wheeling. We brought fresh seafood from NYC and had a huge seafood boil...yummy!!!!! Sandra took me to Virginia Beach for a belated birthday celebration for both of us. However, neither one of us managed to take a camera so there is no photographic evidence to prove we were actually there. Sean was nice enough to indulge my obsession with the Olympics. I loved watching the gymnastics, Michael Phelps, and the sprinters (esp Bolt). We finally took Alex and Elizabeth to the Sutton Lake for a swim....had to get them in the water before summer was over.

Now it's back to a regular schedule and school this week. We will miss the summer fun almost as much as we miss our families back in WV. We'll be home for another visit before you know it!!

Babies for Obama!!

We just finished watching the Democratic Convention and we are psyched for the big election day!!! How exciting it is to watch history in the making....yes, my dad must have rubbed off on me. Alex even enjoyed watching...he likes to clap along with the crowd, even on TV. We'll watch the Republicans next week too, but we certainly won't be voting for them. Obama all the way!!!!!

Summer Fun

Since school has been out the Wines have been busy enjoying the summer. We were "summering in West Virginia" for most of the month of July. Alex had a blast playing in his new froggie pool. Alex and I went to Ohio for a few days to visit my best friend Sandra and her family. Then I spent a wonderful few days in the mountains of North Carolina catching up with my student council friends. We headed back to the Big Apple the last week of July to visit with our friends Jeannie and Buddy who were vacationing in NYC. We gave them the walking tour of lower Manhattan and went to the Central Park Zoo. Alex was a great tourguide!!! Then Jeannie and I headed to Washington, DC to attend the big fitness convention we go to every year. Suddenly I looked at the calendar and there are only about three weeks left in the summer.....oh no!!!!!!!! We have to hurry up and have more fun before I have to head back to work!!!!

Happy Birthday Alex!!

Yes, our "little" Alex has celebrated his first birthday. Thanks to Aunt Carol and Aunt Jennie who came to take wonderful pictures....I had about 500 to look through thanks to their great photography work. The Wines and the Mortons were out in full force bringing about 30 people to Mom and Dad's for his party.

Everything was going great until he grabbed his candle before I could blow it out. Granddad Wine came to the rescue with a cup of cold water. Then he had his first lesson in color mixing....yellow and blue make green....all over his face. I know that you all will be SHOCKED (not) that we had a WVU theme....to go along with his monthly pictures of course. Grandma Sue is visiting us in NY and school is almost out!!! YEAH!!!!!!!

Let's Go Mets!!!!!

What a glorious Thursday afternoon we had this week. I went on a field trip with my school to Shea Stadium for "Weather Education Day" to see the Mets play the Nationals. OK, the "weather education" part of the day was really a bogus excuse to get kids (and teachers) out of class to go enjoy baseball. We did get to see Daryl Strawberry, who was there with the local weather team.

The best part of the day was that Sean brought Alex to the game too!!!! His first MLB game in the final year of Shea Stadium. My students were so excited to see Alex. And Alex was, of course, a complete joy for the whole day. The only down side was that the Mets managed to lose the game, boooo!!! Oh, well! I still had a great day!!