A quick update..

Okay, so I know we have been going for quite some time without posting, but working full time with a toddler and keeping up the house is a lot harder than I thought.........

Alex is getting very big. We had him close to my cousin's kid who is two, and Alex was about the same size as him. He is running around like an expert now, can climb up and down on the couch on his own, can get down off the bed on his own (although he frequently forgets that there is an edge and does fall from time to time). Our current number of hospital visits for this kid is now up to 2--once for a high fever that wouldn't break, and once for a very big fall. He was in his wagon (which has wheels), rocked it, the wheels slipped out from under him, and he fell head first onto the wagon handle. He had a wagon handle bruise on his forehead for about a week.

Alex is also VERY close to talking! As scary as it sounds, he has a lot of words, he just doesn't use them consistently. He can say the following things: Mom, Dad, Nana, yes, no, ready, set, go, stop, cat, hi, what's this?, is it?, oh, please, cheese, duck, out, up touch, bad, and stop. He has also said don't touch, stop it, and where is she?. Unfortunately, I don't know if anybody else would catch what he says, because there are always a lot of "s" sounds in there too, and when asking the questions, he usually runs all the words together. Also, cheese and please sound pretty much alike, but when we ask him if he'd like cheese, then he says cheese, and when we say "say please" he'll say please (or something close to it).

We have also had some other grand events in our life this past month. Unfortunately my Grandpa passed away August 20th after a brief battle with cancer, and we'll miss him greatly. We had Alex at the hospital twice, and 2 weeks ago I had Dan in ER with chest pain that turned out to be his gallbladder. Now we are waiting for the ultrasound and meeting with the surgeon to see if Dan needs surgery. Ruby was very sick for the last week, and it seemed that either Dan. Alex or Ruby was needing pain meds, a poopy diaper (or kennel) cleaned up (Dan wasn't in this group) plus I was taking care of people at work all day long! I have been working more than full time due to staff shortages, and I think we all really need a vacation!

We did take Alex to the PNE and will post pics from that. We learned very fast that he was too young to go! It was a very short day there, especially for what it cost (does anybody else remember when it only cost $6 to get into the PNE?). It definitely wasn't worth it.

Oh and last, but not least, next week it will be official: Dan and I will be trying for another baby! (I think we're both nuts!). Anyways, you'll know more when I know more! TTYL!