Alex is ONE!!

 On May 29th, our cute little boy turned ONE! Crazy, huh? This year flew by. As someone once told me, the days are long but the years are short.

Aww, I want to go back in time and snuggle him!!

      Alex is such a fun, sweet little guy. He is all over the place. He loves to: climb, run, chew on everything (including wood chips and leaves from outside), steal shoes from the closet, help me clean, chase the cats, get into EVERYTHING, pull down rolls of toilet paper, throw his food on the floor, suck his thumb, suck his thumb while grabbing the collar of my shirt and resting his head on me, car rides, reading books, going places, people, socializing, snuggling, the outdoors...can you tell he keeps me busy?? Haha. Never enough entertainment for this little one.

      For his one year checkup, he weighed just under 18 lbs., and did great! In fact, it was the first time the dot went ABOVE his growth curve and knocked him out of the 3rd percentile. So, he's definitely growing! We love his little self though.  His height was in the 50th percentile, so he's just long and lean like his doctor says!

    Anyway, we traveled to Bakersfield for his 1st birthday party, where it was thrown at my brother and SIL's house. They did such an awesome job with everything and completely went out of their way! We stopped by Valencia on the way there to pick up the cupcakes make by my friend Amber Teague, who seriously makes the best!!

Lemon with cream cheese and chocolate mint

"Happy birthday- Fun to be One"

His "All Aboard" theme

Pushing a Hot Wheels

Playing with the boys- Alex LOVES cars!!

I think all the boys at the party were more excited about opening presents than he was.

My dad made him a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting-YUM! He also happened to grab a chocolate cupcake someone left next to him. Well, he enjoyed that too!

     Anyway, it was definitely a success as there were more than 30 people and friends who attended! Some of my family traveled from out of town as well, so that was super nice. He had a blast!! Thankfully his tummy handled the cake well.

    I can't believe we have a KID now, instead of a baby. Well, he's still my baby. Definitely a Mama's boy :). He is a blessing!!

We're Here!

   Well, it's almost been a week in our new place, and so far so good! It was hard finding a place online without checking it out in person (I spent an entire day doing this), but we are pleased with the results. We are walking distance from lots of shopping, and our apartment is probably the most luxurious we've had so far. We are in Round Rock.

    I'm also glad the moving part is done. It was stressful getting everything planned and prepared within a 3 week span. We had our cars shipped here, we got rid of a lot of our old furniture so we could start fresh, we had to find a good, affordable moving company, and to save a couple grand, we packed the boxes ourselves. It was hectic. But it's done! We saved another 4 grand by having the moving company deliver within 2-3 weeks instead of 3-4 days, so a lot of our supplies are still en route. But, it's fine. It's kind of nice living a simple life like this. No television, fewer electronics (just our phones and my laptop), and all sleeping together (though we just transitioned Alex to his new room). He misses his crib as it's still on the way. We had him on an air mattress for awhile, but it was just too bumpy for him, so we bought a new Pack N Play, and he's done really well in there. I do miss sharing him on our air mattress though because he literally slept ON me the entire night when he was with us- and I loved it. I'll take all the snuggles I can get.

    He's been transitioning to the move okay. The time change was hard on him, and he's been a little crankier than usual. I also think he's been bored with less toys and things to explore, but the change itself has been a little challenging. We're also experiencing the toddler side of him with the tantrums, tensing up and screaming when things don't go his way, and throwing things when he's mad. It's cute to see him express himself, but of course it can be frustrating at times. I just have to roll with it and know that he's just a little guy learning his own personality. This is good for him. We're slowly moving him over to whole milk and he's eating a lot better now.

     Anyway, Texas has definitely been different! The humidity is something to get used to, and we've been having on and off storms. We don't get sprinkle warnings here like California. It will just suddenly rain hard out of nowhere, then calm down and be clear again. We did have a pretty wicked thunderstorm a couple of days ago though, and it was nice. Alex is also experiencing his first heat rash spread out on his tummy and back. Poor guy. We now know it's important to take off his humid, wet clothes when we come inside and put cool, loose cotton clothes on to prevent it.

He did GREAT on the plane!! We left pretty dang early (flight left at 7:55am, we were there about 6:30am). He fell asleep as soon as takeoff started, then slept the first half. After that, he chatted, played and relaxed. We were complimented a lot on his behavior during the flight. 

Checking out our new ice cream place across the street. 

A little creek behind our place, near the shopping center. Love the big Texas skiy!

Got our new couch a few days later- now we just need to decorate!

After receiving his animal (giraffe) balloon at the Boathouse Grill.

Playground fun

Good food, but boy was it fried!

Checking out our new Bass Pro Shop that just opened up last week down the road.

Playing on our patio- definitely his favorite part of the new place.

His fun outside that particular day didn't last long due to sudden rainfall and storms. 

     Anyway, all has been well so far and Gary is loving his new job. It was nice having him home for so long, too! But he gets to choose his hours, which is nice. He's been able to sleep in a little more, and since his job is a 10 minute drive away, he's been able to have more family time.

    Also, in a separate post, I will talk about Alex's first birthday and party! Can't believe he's ONE!!