Big week!

So another month another update;) So much to tell... Summer has come and gone, but fear not we made the most of it and are enjoying the cooler weather! We had our last camping trip of the season... halloween Outdoor Adventures style! We loved it! Our little dino did an excellent job trick or treating! He walked from camper to camper and collected sooo many treats... it was insane! We figure even if real Halloween is a bust we had a great early one. Also fall has brought football and our very own Uncle Matt is quaterback of his high school football team... so Alex, Josh and I have been cheering him on.... well Josh and I have been doing most of the cheering and Alex has been terrorizing the football field! Mr. Alex has been doing a lot of growing and changing... he is more of a boy and less of a baby every day. He's been learning new words and getting better at talking little by little... he's still fairly shy, but he's famous for surprising us with a perfect "grandma" or "love you" when we least expect it! We have our 18 mon well check next week and we are excited to see how much he's grown! He's already wearing 2t and 3t clothes so we know he's big! Wonder where he got that from;)

August catch up!

Oh summer where have you gone... we can feel fall in the air lately. So while we've been enjoying our summer here's what you've missed! We took our new camper on it's first family vacation to Tawas! Alex was born to camp! He LOVED it... what's not to love? He started everyday with a walk with Grandpa Dan.. ran like crazy, got lots of icecream and many other treats, went to the beach for the first time, and got to take his first swings at the pinatta! We are definately happy we decided to go for the camper;) In fact we are buying an outdoor adventures membership so we can camp as much as we want!

Recap!

So as usual I am behind on the blogging! So here's the June recap! Alex is growing like a weed... and learning loads of new tricks... the highlights: Dancing, talking, climbing, and exploring. He has developed a love affair with the great outdoors;) He loves getting dirty, running around and rock collecting! My little baby is more of a boy now! I must say that is both exciting and a bit hard for me to believe... where has the time gone? I spend more time than ever watching out for my little dare devils saftey as he attemps to scale my furniture. Very fun;) However it's not all adventure he also has come to love playing with his stuffed animals, feeding them food from his play kitchen, putting the play phones to their ear so they can talk too, and hugging and kissing them. He loves to grab a stack of books and crawl up into my lap to read... really sweet! I even get the occasional I love you! Yep he's a little lover!



In other news we are now camper owners! We took the camper on it's maiden voyage to Mackinaw over the weekend! Alex stayed behind with Grandma Tillie... so it was a real date weekend for Josh and me=) We had an incredible time. What away to celebrate our second anniversary!

It's getting hot in here..

Sorry I had to do that for my own amusement. Summer has come to Bay City, MI!!! We have chosen to celebrate by setting up the baby pool, water table, bubble makers, and sprinkler... and a host of other outdoor fun things... Alex has chosen to celebrate by ignoring them for the most part and running all around the yard.... back and forth from deck to front porch climbing steps and so on... Hey atleast he likes playing outside! I think I will be rocking a sweet tan this summer... or as much of a tan as someone can get in SPF30! Oooh and big news the government paided up by way of 1st time homebuyers tax credit and we will be camper shopping soon and paying for our Travel trailer in good old fashioned cash!!!!! I can't hardly wait!


In Alex milestone news we have some exciting additions... Alex can eat with a fork, climb things (like my ottomen) and is a flirt he loves the ladies! He also has decided that sitting on the yards couch watching Nick jr. might not be the worst way to spend a half hour... but still by far prefers books and his teddy bear!

ooops

So I was stalking my sissy's blog today and realized I haven't posted in ages... SORRY;) I have been sooo busy. Alex is literally growing by leaps and bounds... and I may be a little biased but he is getting cuter and more fun everyday! He's an absolute angel! So what's new? Plenty, we had our 1 yr well check and my kid pretty much rocks... 23lbs 13oz ( 90%) 33" ( off growth chart) and his head was in the 90% as well. He's a gaint learning developing machine. In fact the Dr mention that she never worries about Alex because Josh and I are doing so well with him! So we are rock star parents;0) Now if we could kick the pacy and bottles we'd have the ideal toddler. Yes I said it toddler... alas I no longer have a baby anymore. As much as this undeniable fact causes me to twitch a little everytime I think about it... I also am proud of how far we have come as a family.

Happy Birthday Alex

Well not today, but yesterday... obvilously I had too much baby spoiling to do to have time to blog. I am happy to report that I was too excited and happy to feel any of those emo mommy feelings I was worried I would have. Today is a different story;) I am one part proud of Josh and I for getting to this point and having this precious little (well not so little any more) miracle to show for it. I think we have been pretty good parents so far! I am certainly one part hoping for time to slow down... I am in no way ready for the teenager who wants nothing to do with me. And of course I am one part excited about all the things Alex has accomplished this year... you think you've done a lot in a year... think about what a baby learns in the first year of life!

So onward to another year of firsts and some not so firsts! Oh and a whole bunch of parties for the B-day boy!!! I am super excited for him! He's got some exciting weekends coming up!

Birthday countdown

So Alex's birthday is less than one week away.... OMG!!! I can't hardly believe that a whole year has gone by. It's funny because in some respects it seems like it's been much longer and then on the other hand I am astounded by the fact that I'm going to have a 1 yr old. I can't hardly believe how much he has changed already. He has gone from a new born who couldn't hold up his own head to a walking, talking, havic raising toddler who is a perfect combination of Josh and me. So I am very excited to see what the next year will bring and at the same time hoping it will go a little slower than the last year has;)

let the count down begin

So I am really starting to get excited for Alex's birthday! He will be one so soon... it's CRAZY. I think this has been the fastest year of my life... I also can't believe how much this baby has changed in a years time. He is walking so well and standing on his own and hardly ever crawls anymore. He also will go get objects and bring them to you... example: I say "Alex go get your teddy bear." and he does! He actually knows toys by name now. So bring on the toddler years we're ready;)

Up and out of here

.... No I'm not leaving.... but that is the theme for the weekend! Alex has mastered the art of standing up and taking off walking! He is literally up and away he goes. Oh how they grow;) However this isn't the only new skill he's mastered in the last few days... Alex can now drink from a cup with no help from me... he blows kisses and has also learned to do the sssh with one finger to his lips! He has a new word as well NO! too cute! We are loving every second we get with this little smartie!

In other news we had a party filled weekend. Alex got a sleepover and Grandma Dea Dea and Grandpa Dan's. So lots of good husband time was enjoyed by me;)

Catch up!

Whewww I've been busy and I desperately needed to catch up with my blogging;) So what's new you ask? So many things. Alex and I went to Buffalo and had the best time. My baby boy was an absolute angel on the plane! He's the best little traveller ever! We got in tons of play time for both the kids and Phoebe and me. We were a little sad to pack our bags, but as always glad to come home and see Josh. So now we are back in Bay City and Alex has learned a new trick.... HE WALKS..... like more than just takes some steps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Granted he still crawls a lot, but he can totally cross the floor walking! We couldn't be more proud... you'd think he cured cancer;) I'm sure that's on his agenda for next week! So that's what's up in Hurley land. Whewwww what a life.

Wax

grrrrrr..... So here's the story of the day. Alex has been messing with his ears for almost a week... it hasn't gone unnoticed. We started to wonder if said ear pulling/digging was more than just a teething symtom. As we are flying to NY on Monday I thought I should probably take him to the Dr. to have them looked at just in case. So at 10 am off we went to Dr. Balinska's office. We found out that Alex has a ton of wax covering his ear drums. Eek! So now we have to do ear wax removal drops at night to help remove the extra wax. Poor guy... but the worst part was that she had to scape the wax away to look at the ear drum... he was very brave! I was horrified. Yet somehow not surprised Josh is waxy himself so it makes sense that his boy would be too!

Home... the best place ever!

So I am the kind of traveller that is always excited to go away, but at the end of said journey I am always ready to pack my bag and come home! So we are back and happy to sleep in our own beds and go about our normal day! So today has been very blissfully uneventful. We voyaged out in the snow to run some errands. I have soup bubbling away and a clean house... mostly. Ahhhh it always feels so great to be home! Alex and I both were missing Josh... lame I know but this little family likes to be together;)

So we will enjoy the week and then off to NY to the Kannistos! Away we go again! It feels a little fast but it's always so great to see them.

Wild Women Weekend!

Here we come!!! The time has come for the annual weekend away for ALL the Botkins women! And since I married Josh that now includes me.... and Alex since he will be coming with me. So we are packing up more stuff than you can possibly imagine and heading up to Bert Lake for a whole bunch of girl time! I must say as much as I love the idea of a get away I always hate leaving Josh... but he has lots of work and little time this weekend so I think it won't be too bad.

OOOh and in other news we booked our trip to Buffalo March 1-4th so Alex and I will be making another journey together;) We can't wait to see the Kannistos.

And I think nothing would complete this post better than an adorable picture of Alex on Valentine's Day! he had an awesome time with Grandma Tillie and Dziadek... and We had a fabulous time at Motorcity Casino!

TGIF

I am so excited that's it's friday... and Valentine's weekend! FUN FUN FUN! Alex is going for a sleep over on Saturday at Dziadek and Grandma Tillie's.... and that should be very fun for him. Josh and I are headed for Detroit for some gambling and a nice dinner and such. So all in all it's going to be great. Then sunday we have the Hurley kids birthday party!

OOOOH and in unrelated news I have settled on an idea for Alex's first birthday party... I think I'm going to sports theme it with cupcakes that look like soccer, baseball, basketball and footballs. I think it will be really cute and boy like! So I'm totally excited to shop for party favor and such. My first ever birthday party to have for my son;) Every cool!

The best thing about being a stay at home mom!

So I was just going about my day as usual... and then while playing with Alex this afternoon I realized the best thing about being at home. I mean I am well aware that there are many many great things about being a Mom and countless reasons to stay home... however the best of all is that I can hug and kiss Alex any time I want! Yup that's it for me... I can shower my baby with hugs and kisses everyday and I do! Oh and the close runner up... seeing him smile at me all day long! Alex is an attention seeker just like his mother and every time I look at him he smiles at me:) Any way that is my mushy mommy entry for today! I'm just having one of those grateful days.

Holy Snow!

Seriously this is extreme.... We have no trees around us so at the Hurley household there are some crazy drifts. I would normally care less, however, I had to shovel a path for the dog today and it wasn't pretty. Alex is in LOVE with the snow... he sits in front of the patio door and stares! He thinks the snow is a serious upgrade from his usual view=) So that's a plus! An even bigger plus is that Josh and I are going to go have our taxes done tonight and we are expecting a major refund... to the tune of 8 grand for buying a house!!!! HHHHOOOORAYYY! So we basically love tax season this year.

Super Monday

Soooo our superbowl bash went great! Alex loved all the yummy food and literally ate his weight in carmel puffs and blueberry muffins. All in all a successful party.

In other news I have been searching for airfare to buffalo to visit and hit the airfare jackpot... nonstop flight to Buffalo for 250 a steal! So Alex and I are counting the days til we get to see the Kannisto clan.

Superbowl!!!

WOOOHOOO Alex's first Superbowl! He will be our party's youngest Colts fan! However I think he's more excited to be spending the morning playing with Josh!

Water babies

Happy Saturday! And for the Hurley's that means water babies day.... Alex isn't so much a fan of the water... however we're working on it so we can be ready for lots of fun pool time this summer=) I seriously can not wait for warmer weather! Well I'm off to get us ready for the pool... hopefully it's warmer this week then last.

lunch date!

So today rocks already! The hubs for got his wallet AGAIN... yes it's a regular occurance at the Hurley house... and no biggie he has a stash of food at work, but today he wants us to come and go to lunch with him. I think a little extra Daddy time is the perfect start to the weekend for Alex (& me!) Plus we get to show off baby cuteness in the flesh... love it.

Where to start....

So I have never even managed to keep a journal, but since I am determained to have some sort of record of Alex's babyhood I'm going to try blogging... bear with me.

So what's new in the Hurley house.... as usual... Everything! Alex has started to TAKE STEPS! How cool is that!?! I am amazed by the fact that nine months ago he was a newborn and now he's a walking (a little) babbling ( a lot!) fast crawling baby!!! So fun too watch!

Aside from Alex news Josh's friend Eric is in town.... which usually means a night out for adult beverages... WOOOHOOO! I love being home with the babe, but a night out with adult people and adult conversation... fun fun fun!