24 Jan, 3 Months old!

Well, we made it to 3 months! Alexandra is finally on some sort of schedule, we usually go to sleep around 930-10 pm and then usually wake-up around 2-3 am to do our night feeding...Typically Alexandra goes right back to sleep until either Daddy wakes us up and makes Queenie bark around 530-545 am (which then wakes up usually Alexandra, Mommy and Matt), Matt wakes up and demands attention around 6 am or Alexandra wakes up super hungry.

 Matt at 23 Months old. He is finally wearing those Size 18 Months pants and his shirts which are 18 months size as well. I am guessing he is around the 26 lbs mark, but next month at his 2 yr appointment we can get an official weight! He has started taking a parent/child swimming class every Saturday and loves going to the pool. He loves taking baths as well and since his swim class has started trying to kick and swim in the bathtub which leads to getting Mommy very wet! We also have this wonderful foam puzzle of the States which is Matthew's new favorite toy/game. We must put and take apart the puzzle a dozen times a day. Matthew is all about the Cat in the Hat TV show on PBS. He was on the Daniel Tiger show and Sesame Street a few weeks ago, but right now he is obsessed with Cat in the Hat!

Alexandra is a Drama Queen! At 3 months she is running the house. She is wearing 6 months one-size outfits but if it is a 2 piece outfit, she is still able to wear the 3 months size stuff. Her feet are still so skinny that I have to put on sock savers to keep socks from falling off. She is typically a happy child during the morning but come afternoon and near a nap time, she is a holy terror, really able to put on a show when it comes to throwing a fit.

As for me, I have applied for 2 biology teaching positions at local community colleges and reached out to friends and family for help getting contacts at various schools, but no luck yet with getting an interview. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hopeful that maybe this spring when schools start to think about their fall schedules and enrollments, maybe something will open up for me. As for on-line teaching, I finish 2 classes on Sunday and my third class ends in 3 weeks. I am hopeful that I might get a few more classes after my current classes end, otherwise I am not sure what I am going to do to keep myself busy.

Jay gets a root canal done on one of his molars tomorrow so hopefully that will go well so he can do his swim class with Matthew. Otherwise I will have to find a bathing suit that fits so I can venture out in public :)

Well, that is about all these days, Queenie is doing ok, going to have to find her a Vet soon as she is due for a teeth cleaning and needs her Rabies shots by April.

 Here is a cute picture of Alexandra, she is now wearing bibs pretty nonstop during the day as the slobbering is continuous. I am sure we shall see teeth poking through before too long. This was one of our better mornings where she was willing to smile and cooperate with me for a short time.

Now that Alexandra holds up her head and likes to be upright, we take time to put her in the exersaucer. She is not quite able jump or really stand all that well in the toy but for short periods of time, she does appear to enjoy it. I am sure before too long, like Matthew she will be very happy to spend hours in this toy, which will be great for mommy to have time to do stuff around the house.

That is about all for now. We are going to leave Matthew and Jay's birthday celebration plans to the last minute as we are not sure what the weather will be and ideally we would like to be able do something outside like the zoo or the world bird sanctuary. I am keeping my fingers crossed for nice weather otherwise we have limited options.

My 2 cents on Lance Armstrong...and an update on the kids

Ok
I am glad to finally get the truth about the whole cheating thing...but do we learn what he actually took? Did he do EPO? Did he do blood transfusions? Or was he taking caffeine or testosterone??? Cold medicine in over the counter medicines??? b/c you might recall, cold medicines got a gold medal taken away from a Romanian Gymnast so these rules and these products that are considered performance enhancing could be things that most of us take or use to help us get through a normal long run or race ourselves....so I can't get too angry at the situation b/c I just don't know exactly what he did and in comparison to all the others, was he just staying on a level playing field by doing this?

Now, I still admire the fact that he is a cancer survivor and despite the fact he did whatever that is considered cheating, he did still make it back to the top of his profession after battling cancer! He started a foundation that has done wonderful work getting the message out there about cancer and research for cancer....I have students who use the articles and writings from the websites to help them write papers and learn more about nutrition and performance, exercise physiology....so despite this terrible thing he did, I just can't get onboard with the hate that is directed at him b/c I see so much good that he has accomplished. I do agree that he should step away for a while and not be allowed to do marathons and tri's for appearance fees and possibly compete for money, but I would have no problem with him participating b/c in a world where so many are obese and out-of-shape, he is a name, he is a cancer survivor and he could still do so much good maybe helping to inspire folks to get out there and move!

I will not watch the interview, we don't get the OWN channel in our 250+ channel package, but I will continue to try and see the good that Lance has brought to our world. If the baseball guys can be forgiven, why not Lance?

Now for my kiddies! We have hit 23 months for Matthew...he is now wearing the 18 month pants that were purchased last year around this time....and his wearing his 18 month shirts but I see we are going to have to move up towards 24 month shirts here really soon! He is all about the PBS Show "The Cat in the Hat, Knows a Lot about That" I have 6 of them taped b/c that is all he wants to watch. If he wakes up at 3 am for whatever reason and I go in to his room, he wants to go downstairs and tells me "Cat in the hat?" Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any of these episodes for the ipad or itouch, so the kid is totally about the TV and watching the show.  His talking has improved so much. He is repeating quite a bit of whatever we say, making some pretty decent sentences and vocabulary, I am very impressed with the words he comes up with....not too bad for an almost 2 yr old. Haven't decided on his birthday party, thinking we might take him to the zoo for one of the days if the weather is nice...
He has a new adventure starting this Saturday. He starts Seahorses, which is a parent-child 30 minute swimming/water-play class. I am making Jay do the majority of the classes so they get some Father-son bonding time plus it prevents me from trying to fit into a swim-suit until I can lose the last 15lbs of baby weight.

Alexandra is almost 3 months...the 24th is right around the corner. Height wise we are in the 6 month sizes but realistically for 2 piece outfits, she is in the 3 month size of pants and shirts....She is getting such a sweet personality. She smiles, giggles and laughs all the time...she is trying to roll to her side when laying on the floor on her back and she sleeps pretty decently at night.

So that is about all for us. I will get pictures updated soon, and try to get a picture or 2 from swim this weekend.