Pictures

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Alex loves to help us "clean" the family room. If we get the dust buster out, he has to help us and usually wants it on.

Here starts the pictures from my hot air balloon ride. Jay took close to 100 pictures, but I won't bore you with all of them!!

My balloon is in the foreground. There was another balloon taking off from our same location.

Here are the balloons getting blown up. (and yes, I do know that pictures sizes changed - I'm too lazy to go back and change it!!)

And yes, I have magically made it into the balloon. Jay was nice enough to not get any pictures of me oh so gracefully getting into the balloon!! :)

The quality of this video isn't the greatest - but you can see me taking off!

Here I come in for the landing. We skimmed right over that pond and landed on the other side. It was really cool.

Alex was a trooper following in the chase vehicle.

As part of the Louisville Slugger museum tour, you get this little bat. Alex was having fun (egged on by his daddy) hitting things with the bat. This is the best I could get on video. (and yes, my child is walking around in a diaper and shoes - it's a look)

Alex then proceeded to create his first clubhouse. Inside this round toy he put: his blankies, a ball, a book, his little piano and his horse.

He then got in his clubhouse and just sat with his favorite stuff. It was so funny. He didn't want Jay or I coming close to his clubhouse and he just sat in there for the longest time. It made us very happy that two of his favorite things were his horse and his piano!!

Here he is showing off his tumbling skills. (which, by the way, he is actually starting to enjoy. He didn't cry last week and did some of the moves)

I'm Back

I think I'm really back this time. :)

We had a great week. Soltana and her family are wonderful. We went to the Louisville Slugger museum, the Louisville Zoo, and of course tailgating and the game last night. Alex, Jay and I had a great time with all of them and hope that they come back to Kentucky again.

Of course I'm a total loser and didn't get ANY photos from this past week. I know that Soltana did, so you'll have to wait until they are home and she starts blogging again. :)

As for my health. I'm doing better. I'm 6 days into my 10 day antibiotics. I'm definitely feeling much better than a week ago. I've still been getting low grade (very low grade) fevers just before bed, but they aren't high, and I'm not feeling as bad as I did. I'm still tiring easily, but even that has gotten better. Once my antibiotics are done, I'll re-evaluate. (although I now have a little red rash on my legs and arms. I think it might be a slight reaction to the antibiotic, but it seems to be working, and the rash isn't itchy!)

I do have some pictures on the camera from some various things over the past couple of weeks. I'll download them tomorrow and post some new pictures (I promise, Julia).

Soltana's Almost Here

I just talked to her and they are about a hour and 15 minutes or so away!! Yeah!!!

Now, I know my health is so exciting, so here's the update.

I took some Tylenol last night but my fever didn't break until 2:30. I then slept from 2:30-7:30. I took my time getting into work. I made it through the whole day, but around 6:00....you guessed it....fever of 100.7. :) I don't feel as bad as I did last night, but I'm exhausted and fevery. (is that a word?) Poor Alex - I haven't been a very fun mommy this past week.

Keep praying for me....I definitely need it!!

Prayers Please

I'm still sick.......

I did break down and go to Urgent Care tonight. They think I have a sinus infection (or something going on in there) I guess my eardrums are "full." So, I'm on an antibiotic, but we'll see. Something tells me that it's not a sinus infection.

I have so much to blog about. My brother and sis-in-laws visit - our trip to the zoo - my birthday (including the hot air balloon ride Jay gave me!) but I don't have the energy or brain power.

PLUS - Soltana and her family are going to get here tomorrow night! I need to be better - I can't be the hostess with the mostess if I'm sick. I promise guys - I'm trying to get better!!!!

(and luckily Jay and Alex are still healthy!!)

One Year Ago Today....

..... I held Alex for the first time. I can't believe that it's been a year. How is that possible?

I was supposed to get Alex on my birthday last year, but we had major flight problems, and instead of arriving in Guatemala at around noon on the 25th, we arrived at 10:30 pm. Our agency normally doesn't bring babies on the weekend, (I really don't blame them - they have to have their own life at some point in time) but they did bring Alex to us on Saturday. We were only there for a couple of days, but I'm still so glad that we visited. It was SOOO worth it.

Almost Back to the Living

Well - I'm starting to feel more like a human being. Not totally - but getting there.

We've had a busy week. I had some things come up with work that actually had me working on my day's off. (really not bad, since this is only the second time since January) We had tumbling again on Thursday (better, but he still doesn't like it). Friday I attempted to get the house cleaned up in preparation for our company this weekend. I was not doing well healthwise, so I was quite happy to see Jay come home from work.

My brother, sister-in-law, and their sister-in-law are at our house this weekend. One of my brother's room mates from college is running in the Ironman Triathalon here in Louisville this weekend.

We went to the zoo today. It was hot, but there was nobody there. This was the first time that Alex actually understood that there were animals to look at. He had a great time.
(oh - and Happy Birthday to me!)

I have some more pictures to post - and Soltana and her family are coming this week - so we will be having a great time. I just hope that I'm feeling a lot better by next week.

(oh - and check back tomorrow - it's a very special day in our family!!!!)

Sick...and More Sick

Well - I don't know what I have, but I feel horrible. I started with a cold about a week ago. Last night I had a fever that broke just before bed, and I have a fever again tonight.

Yuck!!! Alex hasn't been sick yet - so I hope he stays that way.

So - I don't have the mental capacity to blog tonight. (although I did respond to an UNICEF person on the guatadopt.com blog!) I leave you with this.

Weekend Recap

What a weekend!!

As I said earlier, my mom came for a quick visit. It was nice to have her here. She got to play with Alex, see his tumbling class, find out what he's like without a nap, and she made applesauce!!

Mom left Friday morning after Alex went down for a nap. He ended up sleeping for 4 hours. He was tired!!! Friday night the youth group at our church had a parent's night out. So, we took Alex up to the church along with Michelle's kids and Tami's kids and the 6 of us (our DH's included) had an adult night out.

You know - I can't begin to explain how much I needed that - and I didn't even know it!! We had a great time. We went out to dinner and then over to Tami's house to play games. It was only our 8 kids up at the church, so we went and picked them up about 30 minutes early because we were starting to feel guilty. ;) We had a great time, and I can't wait to do it again.

Saturday, I was back up at the church at around 9:30 to help set up for Vacation Bible School, then I had to run errands and ended up back at home around 2:00. We wend over to Michelle's house for dinner and Alex had a great time playing with the kids (like he always does!)

Today was a long day!! I was at church early to help put the finishing touches on our VBS. We did it different this year and had it all in one day instead of spread out through an entire week. It was a great day - a little hot (most of it was outside) - but much better than it could have been since before Thursday we had somewhere around 10 days in a row of the temps being above 100 degrees.

The coolest part of our VBS is that we decided that our mission project was to support Mayan Families, and specifically their shoe program. We had the kids bring shoes that we are going to have shipped down to Guatemala. I haven't counted the number of shoes we collected, but it looks like it may be close to 50 pairs. (our church is very small - we have around 60-70 people a Sunday) We still have some collection points around town that we need to check, so I'm hoping it ends up being more than that. Now I just need to raise the money to cover the shipping!

Sorry I don't have any pictures from the past weekend. Jay has the camera and I don't know where it it. So, here's an old one.

Hope everyone has a great week. Pray for all of those in the path of Dean - and please pray for the babies still in Guatemala. Things are not pleasant there right now. We are all hoping that things get better after the presidential election in a couple of weeks.

Interesting Day!

So, my mom decided to FINALLY come back down for a visit. She arrived Wednesday night and is leaving tomorrow already, but it's been nice to have her here.

Alex had his first "class" today. Michelle and I signed the boys up for a 10 week tumbling class. I was so excited - Alex - not so much. He really wasn't sure about everything that we were supposed to do. There were kids in the class younger than him that were doing the stuff pretty good. So, maybe my kid isn't perfect at everything. :)

Alex then decided to not take a nap today - until mom and I decided to just go shopping! (then Alex slept in the car - but then big storms came and we got stuck in Old Navy - it was a whole thing) :)

I'll have to wait to post pictures after mom gets home and downloads the pictures from her camera.

Sweet Book

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this!! We received a number of books from friends of ours/my parents when we were at my parent's home in April. Alex has so many books that some of them got buried.

One of them got unburied this week. I read it to Alex and started crying in the middle of it. I thought I'd share.

"You are my I Love You" by Maryann K. Cusimano - illustrated by Satomi Ichikawa

(the illustrations are of a momma teddy bear and her baby and are beautiful!!)

I am your parent; you are my child
I am your quite; you are my wild.

I am your calm face; you are my giggle.
I am your wait; you are my wiggle.

I am your carriage ride; you are my king.

I am your push; you are my swing.

I am your audience; you are my clown.
I am your London Bridge; you are my falling down.

I am your carrot sticks; you are my licorice.
I am your dandelion; you are my first wish.

I am your water wings; you are my deep.
I am your open arms; you are my running leap.

I am your way home; you are my new path. (this is where the tears started!!)

I am your dry towel; you are my wet bath. (and continued here as I was sitting there soaked from giving him a bath.)

I am your dinner; you are my chocolate cake.
I am your bedtime; you are my wide awake.

I am your finish line; you are my race.
I am your praying hands; you are my saying grace.

I am your favorite book; you are my new lines.
I am your night-light; you are my starshine.

I am your lullaby; you are my peekaboo.

I am your good-night kiss; you are my I love you.

My Mommy and Daddy Told Me to Blog This

Here's what Alex did today.

He woke up today just cranky. He threw all of his breakfast off on the floor, screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed. (do you get the picture?) I took him into the family room and asked him if he hurt somewhere. (I signed where, hurt) He signed hurt back to me and then pointed in his mouth. I looked in there and sure enough - he has two more pre-molars coming in!! Poor baby!! We just loved on him and gave him some Motrin and then he seemed to do better.

Then, tonight, he and I were playing. It was about 15 minutes before I was going to start thinking about getting him ready for bed. He walked over to me, help up his hands to be picked up, and then signed sleep. I changed his diaper, put him in his jammies and put him in his crib. He didn't make a peep and was asleep within 5 minutes.

I still amazed at what he can tell me!!!

(and yes, my parents insisted that I blog about this!!)

Random Alex Cuteness

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks.

I'm not sure why I was taking his picture here, but I'm sure he was doing something cute and then stopped doing it when I got the camera out.

This is what happens to Alex's hair when he puts peanut butter and jelly into it. I did notice that his hair was shinier and had more volume, so maybe he knows something about hair care that I don't.

He was running around the family room just before this shot. But, then Diego came on and he was mesmerized. (and yes, my family room is a disaster again.)

Jay got something in the mail last week, and it came packed in peanuts. He thought it would be a good idea to hold onto the box and peanuts so Alex could play in it. This was our first try - as you can see it didn't go so good.

Here's the back of Alex's slide. As you can see, it has a rock climbing wall type thing instead of steps. He's had a hard time getting up the slide without help for a long time now.

But - Thursday night that all changed. Here's a video of my big boy on his slide.

Fancy Farm

All I can say about Fancy Farm is - it was HOT and there were a lot of people there!!

As I said before, the Fancy Farm barbecue is the longest running single day barbecue in the United States. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was pretty much blown away. There were a TON of people and the food was really good.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Here are the barbecue pits. There was a whole row of them.

There were about 5 of these charcoal pits. They filled these with wood Friday night, lit them up, and burned the wood down. From what we understand, the flames were shooting about 40 feet up in the air!

Here's a picture of the people waiting for the political speechafying (yes, that's a technical term) to begin.

This is a picture I've been wanting to get for awhile. (unfortunately, Alex wasn't exactly cooperating) This is Alex with our Secretary of State, Trey Grayson. For those of you who have adopted, you know that the Secretary of State's office is an important step in getting your documents ready for your dossier.

Here's the Bingo "hall." No self respecting Catholic summer picnic would be without one of these. I would say that there were about 500 people playing Bingo at all times. I love to play Bingo - but it was just too hot - and too many people to attempt it.

Here's some Alex cuteness by the wood pile.

This next set of pictures crack me up! I'll narrate.

Look mom - what's this on the ground?

Is this a rock, or dirt, or a leaf, or a stick?

Excuse me mommy while I just walk over here and take my paci out.

Hum....this is pretty yummy!

And...in comes mommy to try to save the day.

Here's an example of some the things that the politicians do at Fancy Farm. It's all about the number of supports, the signs and the "props."

Our current Attorney General (a democrat) convened a grand jury to indict members of our current Governor's (a republican) staff on his hiring practices. Our Governor is up for re-election, so this is what his opponent brought to Fancy Farm.

Here's the only reason why I survived the day.

I have become very spoiled - I don't know how people handled the day without an RV!!

And - here is Alex at the end of the day. He was quite tired.

Alex's Vocabulary - EDITED TO ANSWER QUESTIONS

EDITED******

Some of you have asked what I'm using or how I've learned sign language. I've always been fascinated by sign language and have taken classes a few times in my life. That said - since I never used it, I never really remembered it. Just before we brought Alex home, I asked around to see what people were using. The "Signing Time" series came highly recommended - and I also HIGHLY recommend it. You can find it on amazon - or you can purchase them from their website. www.signingtime.com

I would suggest starting with the Baby Signing Time DVDs (there are two). We started right in with the regular Signing Time series (we have the first 3 volumes) but the Baby Signing Time is better for 2 years old and younger.

We've been watching the DVDs with Alex since we brought him home. It was VERY early for him to start sign language, but Jay and I started picking it up. I then just signed when I was talking (if I said words that I knew). It took 4 months (he was 9 1/2 months old) before he signed anything back to us, and it's really been the last 2-3 months that he's really taken off.

If you have a DVR, you may also want to search for Signing Time. 30 minute programs of Signing Time is now being shown on our local PBS station at 5:30 am on Sundays. We've been Tivoing them so now we have LOTS more episodes. I also look up certain signs on the internet if there is a word that we want to work on.

It's also never to late to start. My two girlfriends started doing signing with their kids when they were 13 and 18 months and they picked it up REALLY quickly.

And about the talking stuff - studies have shown that kids that sign don't speak any later than their non-signing peers. (some studies say they speak earlier, but there is some controversy around those) I don't think that signing has "stunted" Alex's speaking - in fact - I think it has enhanced his language skills.

If anyone has any other questions about signing - please email me and I'll be happy to talk to you about it. kimhartz@hotmail.com

(and Lori - you can borrow the DVDs!!)


My mom suggested that I document all of the words that Alex is signing now. So, here it is. (in no particular order and the ones marked with an asterisks are the ones that he does on a consistent basis)

more*
eat*
water*
milk*
all done*
banana*
berry*
cracker*
grapes*
cookie
apple*

cat*
dog*
horse*
frog*
bird*
cow

book*
read*
help
ball*
flower

mom*
dad*
grandma
please*
hot*
hat*
shoes
train*
car*
potty (he does it when mommy is going potty!!)
baby*
signing
time

(ok - so I thought he had more signs than this!! Jay and I can't think of any more!!)

Alex also said his first word tonight. He picked up his empty bottle - looked at Jay and said more. I didn't really hear it - Jay got excited. I asked Alex what he wanted and he looked at me and said "more" He then signed more, milk, please. :)

I have lots of pictures from Fancy Farm that I'll post later this week. I've got to get to bed. I have a 7:00 am global call for work!! :)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Today my parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary!

Congrats mom and dad (or Jack and Barb to some of you!!) for staying married in a society that doesn't put much stock in marriages anymore. Thanks for providing a good example for Jay and I. And thanks for loving Alex as much as you do. I don't know what I would have done without your support!!



(mom and dad - here's some cuteness for you!!)

Happy 15 Months!

Today is Alex's 15 month birthday. How is that possible?? Can someone please show me the pause button??



By the way - Alex signed "grapes" for the first time today and he called a peace accord for his protein strike. Jay had to work late, so he stopped at White Castle (YUCK!!) and brought dinner home for himself. Alex ate an entire Slider!! (sans onions) He LOVED them - I was horrified! How can my child eat those things? I think Jay was very proud.



We leave tomorrow morning for Fancy Farm, Kentucky (yes - that's the name of the town) The first weekend in August is the Annual Fancy Farm Picnic. This picnic started in 1880 as a typical Catholic summer festival. Over the years, they started including politicians to speak and it is now a HUGE political event that officially kicks off the fall campaign season in Kentucky. We've never gone, but Jay's boss is emceeing the event this year, so we are off. It should be fun and we should have GREAT food. Unfortunately it's a five hour drive - and it's supposed to be HOT and HUMID!!



Eveyone have a great weekend - and I hope that those of you who are waiting for good news gets it tomorrow!!

Catching Up

Now that I'm done with the vacation posts I can go back to posting about our exciting days with Alex!! (she says sarcastically!!)

Alex has had a pretty good week. We are still on the protein strike - and on the "milk in a sippy cup" strike. I did get him chocolate milk and he will drink that from the sippy cup. I hope to slowly switch him to regular milk.

Here are some pictures from the past week.

This is Alex's favorite position. On the couch with Daddy. He LOVES being with his daddy and it's so cute.

I LOVE this picture!! Do you see those eggs on the side of his high chair - yeah - he's not eating them. :)
I don't know what he was shoving in his face on this one, but I'm sure it's a fruit or a carb.

Jay took this picture on Sunday in the nursery at church. I just love his profile.

If you will remember from a previous post - he was a little messy eating yogurt with the spoon. Here's his latest attempt. At this point he had eaten the entire container of yogurt - and he wasn't that messy!! He really likes using his spoon, and he's getting pretty good at it. I guess the fork is next.

We did discover on Sunday night that Alex likes Chinese food. We went out to eat and he ate the inside of almost 2 chicken egg rolls. He couldn't shove it in quickly enough. We may have to eat Chinese every night to get some protein in him.

Alex was laughing and dancing to this toy in the video. Unfortunately he really didn't dance much on the video but he did laugh.

Guatoberfest

If you haven't heard yet - Julia and Kerry are organizing a weekend in Atlanta for use blogger buddies.

We need more people!!! If we don't get another 10 rooms pre-registered, we will lose our group rate on the rooms.

If you are interested in going check out this site.

http://www.guatoberfest.blogspot.com/

Alex and I are going to be there - so come on!! It will be LOTS of fun!!!!

Day 4: Naps!

This was the last full day of the conference. We started the day like we did most days - with the breakfast buffet.

The hotel we stayed at - the Williamsburg Lodge - was beautiful. There were these animal statue type things all over the lobby. Alex LOVED the Dog-Dog (as he calls it) We had to go visit the dog-dog a couple of times a day.

Here is Alex looking at a (we think) peacock. He's trying to sign bird. (it was easier that way - and I didn't know the sign for peacock!!)

As you turned the corner in the hallway around the gift shop, there was a group of animals that Alex also loved. We also had to go look at these animals a couple of times a day.

Alex did take a morning nap on Tuesday. He needed it - and it was nice. By the time he woke up, Jay was done with his morning meeting. We decided to go for a walk around the shops at Williamsburg and get some lunch.

It was HOT (I think I've mentioned that before). We ended up eating at a pizza place (which was very yummy) and looking through some of the shops.

We then started heading back through Historical Williamsburg but it was too hot to walk around too much. We just headed back to the room.

Alex ended up taking another nap and we pretty much just relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

Then we got ready for the eventing festivities. The last night of the conference there is the State Dinner. This is a "get all dressed up, have a nice dinner, dance, drink" type of event. This year they specifically stated that it was for adults only. Reality is that when I bought Alex's Easter outfit this year, I specifically had in mind that he would wear it to the State Dinner at SLC. I wasn't about to not have that happen.

So, we decided to get Alex dressed up, take him down for the pre-dinner reception, I would then take him out to dinner, and we would come back in time for the dancing.

Alex wore his seersucker suit (with saddle shoes) as did his daddy.

They looked SO cute!

Alex charmed everyone again. He and I then went to dinner. It didn't go so well.

I was reminded again how much I appreciate Jay. To all of you single moms out there - I don't know how you do it!! Alex wasn't much in the mood to sit and eat and I know if Jay would have been there, we could have tag teamed him and we would have both been able to eat at least a little bit. I shoved my food in my mouth as quickly as possible - I'm not sure I tasted any of it. (and I had a waitress who seemed to be oblivious to the fact that I had a cranky toddler and I just wanted to get out of there)

Alex and I then went and visited dog-dog - birdie and the animals in the gift shop. After what I thought was an appropriate amount of time, we went back to the ball room area to see if they were done.

Jay came out shortly after we got there - and THEY HADN'T EVEN BEEN SERVED ANY FOOD YET!!! I couldn't believe it. It was closing in on 8:00 and they hadn't even been given their salad yet. Needless to say - there was no dancing - Jay got out as quickly as he could - and we went back and went to bed. :)

I'm Back and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

I finished the book last night. It was amazing!! I cried when I finished. (and of course Jay made fun of me) I'm not going to write anything else about the book in case someone hasn't read it yet. If you want to discuss it with me - email me: kimhartz@hotmail.com

Today is my dad's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! He's at an old tractor auction this morning, so he's having fun. ;) Have a great day!!!!

Talk Amongst Yourself

Ok - I've tried to keep up with blogs, keep up my blog, take care of Alex and read the new Harry Potter book.

I can't do it all.....something has to give......and I've been told I have to keep taking care of Alex. ;)

So - you all need to talk amongst yourselves. Your topic is, "Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler - who is the better comedic actor and why."

I still have a few days of vacation to blog about and have more pictures.

But - for now, I'm going to be concentrating ALL of my free time to finishing the book. (I may even just stay up all night!!)

I'll be back when I'm done!!!

So Funny!

I interrupt the vacation recap to share this video. I thought I was going to die laughing!!!!

Enjoy!