Grandpa is a messy feeder

Hi everyone!  Isn't this an attractive picture?  I usually don't make such a mess when I eat but this day I think Grandpa's eye-hand coordination was a bit off.  He kept missing my mouth and he made quite a mess of things don't you think?  Grandpa said I would have been easier if I would have kept my head still while he was trying to feed me.  I think Grandpa is just making excuses.

It has been a pretty normal week for me.  I've been having to crawl longer distances to get to where I want to go.  Sometimes I think the grown ups in my house are deliberately being lazy by not pick me up and carry me to where I want to go.  Grandpa says it's because with every new skill you need to practice it to become good at it.

I love playing with my toys.  My Grandma's friend Vanessa came to visit us this last week and she brought me three new toys.  Pretty soon I may need to get a bigger toy basket.

My Great Aunt Lori

Hi again!  You remember my Great Aunt Lori right.  She is my Grandma's sister that lives in New York and had my Great Aunt Joy's wedding at her farm a couple weeks ago.  Well Aunt Lori came to St. Louis last Friday and spent a few days helping to take care of Grandma after she came home from the hospital.  She did a really good job.  She cooked lots of really good meals for everyone to eat.  Well, everyone but me.  I have all my food specially prepared by Chef Gerber.

Grandma and Aunt Lori had a really great time together.  Aunt Lori introduced Grandma to her favorite TV show, Law and Order.  Grandma introduced Aunt Lori to The Bachelorette.  Grandpa tried to get them both to watch the animated Ricky Gervais show but everyone in our house except Grandpa and I think that show is stupid.  They don't have our finely honed sense of humor. 

Grandma was very sad when Aunt Lori left tonight.  I think Grandma doesn't think Grandpa can take as good of care of her while she recovers from her surgery.  Grandpa says he probably can't cook as good as Aunt Lori but he will do his best to make sure nobody starves to death. 

I am really getting good at standing up now - as long as I have something to hold on to.  It's really cool.  I just love standing next to the coffee table and pulling off whatever is on it onto the floor.

Tonight Grandpa gave me a bath in the bathtub.  He put on his swimming trunks and got in with me and he held me in the bathtub so I wouldn't slip and drown.  He washed my hair and rinsed it with clean water from a big cup.  It felt like I was sitting under a waterfall.  Then I had a lot of fun splashing my hand in the water.

Grandma's Surgery

So Grandpa and I were talking a couple of days ago.  Our conversation went something like this:

Grandpa:  Hey Pumpkin (that's what grandpa always calls me), can we talk for a second?

Me:  Sure Grandpa.

Grandpa:  Tomorrow morning Grandpa is going to take Grandma to the hospital and she is going to have an operation.  Everything is going to be fine but she will have to stay at the hospital a couple a days.

Me:  A hospital?  That's like the place I was born right?  Is Grandma going to have a baby?  I thought just young people did that?

Grandpa:  No, Grandma's not going to have a baby.  They do a lot of things at hospitals besides being a place where babies are born.  You know how girls and boys are different?

Me:  No, not exactly.  What do you mean?

Grandpa:  Well, girls have two arms and two legs and ten fingers and ten toes.  And boys have two arms and two legs and ten fingers and ten toes...

Me:  Well, not uncle Zach.  He's only got 9 toes right?

Grandpa:  Ok...you got me on that one.  What I'm trying to say is that there are some parts of the body that only girls have and some parts of the body that only boys have.

Me:  [after a long blank look of confusion] What do mean exactly.

Grandpa:  I'm sorry Pumpkin.  I forget you're too young to know these things yet.  I'll get back to you on that later.  Much later.  The bottom line is that some of the girl parts of Grandma that you can't see have gotten sick and the doctor has to get rid of them.

Me:  Grandpa, this is TMI for a baby.  Can you just cut to the chase?  Is Grandma going to be ok?

Grandpa:  Yes, sweetie.  She's going to be just fine and we will go see her in the hospital but when she comes home she won't be able to pick you up for six weeks.

Me:  What?  Are you friggin' nuts!

Grandpa:  Alexis, watch your mouth.  One weekend with your Great Aunt Joy and you start to talk like a drunken sailor.  I knew that would happen.

Me:  I'm sorry, Grandpa.

Grandpa:  That's ok pumpkin.  Just remember to always act like a lady.  Anyway, like I was saying, Grandma won't be able to pick you up because she can't lift too much until she is all healed.  But you will still be able to go up in bed and lay next to her and after a bit she will be able to hold you on your lap.  You'll just have to be a bit patient.

Me:  Ok.  it won't be easy but I'll try.  Remember I am a baby and I inherently want things when I want it.

Grandpa:  Where did you learn the word "inherently"?

Me:  Duh...from my Grandpa silly!

So that's how the conversation went, more or less.  Grandma had her operation yesterday and everything went fine just like Grandpa said.  She picked me up and held me before she left and today I got to go see her in the hospital and I layed next to her in bed and she gave me a bottle.  Grandpa says that tomorrow morning she can come home.  Just as soon as she can poop!

Gone Swimming

Guess what I did today!  I went swimming for the very first time.  It was so much fun.  After Daddy got home from work today he and Mommy took me over to our friend Wendy's house.  They have a pool in their back yard and it was totally awesome!  I can't wait to go back again sometime.  I think all the sun and water wore mommy and daddy out because when we got home they went straight to bed!

The Week In Review

Hi everyone! So...I've been getting a little grief because I haven't updated my blog in a few days.  Grandpa told me that it is important to accept constructive criticism graciously and that one must learn to accept responsibility.  I agree with Grandpa (I always agree with Grandpa).  This is my blog and I am responsible for it's content.  But with that said I just want to point that I'm only seven months old and I haven't learned to type yet.  So if Grandpa is a little slow please cut me some slack.

Do you like my new dress?  Grandpa bought it for me.  Grandma needed some new laundry baskets and she sent Grandpa to WalMart to buy them.  Grandpa says WalMart is an evil but necessary institution in life and that one day he hopes to go an entire year without having to go to one.  Once again, I'm not sure I understand what Grandpa means by that.  I'm just glad he went because when he came home he had three new outfits for me!  Grandma says I have Grandpa wrapped around my little finger.  She also says that Grandpa has surprisingly good taste.

I've been learning lots of new things lately.  Besides learning to crawl I've learned that I can shake my head from side to side really fast.  It's loads of fun.  Everyone says that it looks like I'm saying "no", but really I just think it is a fun thing to do.  I learned that it is probably not best to do this when someone is trying to feed me however.  That's a good way to end up with squash on your cheek and not in your mouth.  Sometimes we learn things the hard way.

Yesterday I had a bath.  Baths are ok.  I'm thinking I may feel about baths the same way Grandpa feels about WalMart; that they are one of life's necessary but evil institutions.  After my bath Grandpa rocked me in the recliner and we slept for an hour and a half.  My Mommy and Grandma have started to call Grandpa "The Baby Whisperer".  They are very jealous because I can settle down and go to sleep when Grandpa holds me better than anyone else.  My grandpa makes me feel very safe.

Grandpa and I had so much fun one night this week.  We play this game where I try to take his glasses off his face.  He turns his head really quickly just when I am about to grab them and it just cracks me up.  I don't know why but it makes me laugh hysterically.  It's a real challenge to grab those suckers.  Like I said once before.  Grandpa can move fast for a big man.

I also learned to clap this week. That is fun also but I think I still like shaking my head from side to side more.

One day this week Grandma took Mommy to work and we went to her friend Vanessa's house. Do you know what? She has a cat. I'd never seen a cat before. I'm not too sure I like cats. I think I'm going to be a dog person. My Grandma doesn't like cats and my Mommy is allergic to them. Grandpa loves cats and is sad that Grandma has never let him get one.

Well...that's about all for this week. I'll try to keep the updates coming as often as I can. Say a prayer for my Grandma this week. She is going to have surgery on Wednesday. I'm not worried. Grandpa says she will be just fine.

From That Day On...I Was Crawling!

Seven months. Two days.  I can crawl -- Cha-Ching!!  Can you believe it!  I've been working on this for a little bit and tonight I think I finally got the hang of it.  Grandpa tells me I can do anything at all if I try hard enough.  I crawled over to Grandpa and Grandma television stand  to try and open the drawer.  They've got all kinds of neat things in that drawer that I could really make a mess with if they would let me.

Actually, the first placed that I crawled to tonight was over to my Daddy.  He worked very hard today and didn't get home until almost 9:00 at night.  He was kind of stinky but I sat on his lap and he tickled me while Mommy made him macaroni and cheese.  After all that excitement Grandpa took me into the living room and rocked me to sleep in his recliner.  It was a good night.

Another Busy Weekend

I don't know about you but I have had quite the busy social calendar lately.  Friday night Mommy and I got dressed up and we went to a wedding reception.  Before we left Grandpa took some really good pictures of me.

Can you believe the chair I was sitting in for these pictures is a chair that my Great Grandma used to rock my Grandma in when she was little girl!  That's a really old chair! (sorry Great Grandma and Grandma - just kidding).

Grandpa says he really likes the soft window lighting in these pictures.  Then on Sunday we had a really big party for my Uncle Zach in honor of his graduating high school.  I got to meet my Great Aunt Diane and Uncle Steve and my cousins, Erin, Tyler, Luke and Madison.  They live in Iowa but I was really disappointed with Grandpa because he let them leave without getting a picture of me with them. 

Grandpa and Mommy both went back to work today.  I'm really going to miss spending every day with my Grandpa.  We spent 11 days in a row together while he was on vacation.  He told me that he didn't want to go back to work either.  He said that if Grandma wasn't so expensive he'd retire and spend all his time helping to take care of me.  Grandpa said that if Grandma asks he's actually joking.  Sort of.

Uncle Zach's Graduation

Hi again.  Yesterday was a really big day for my Uncle Zach.  He graduated from High School!  Doesn't he look handsome in his green cap and gown?  This weekend Grandpa and Grandma are going to throw a little party for Zach and there will be a whole bunch of people coming over to our house.  That should be fun but that means there is a lot of work to do to get ready for the people.  Grandpa says Zach is only going to be living with us for two more months and then he is going away to The Citadel.  That is a college in South Carolina which is very far away.  We are going to miss Zach so very much.

By the way...don't I look cute with my hair up in a bow?

Mrs. Harper's Garden

Hi everyone!  I hoped you all enjoyed my last blog about my trip to New York.  It was really fun but I was as worn out as my Grandpa.  We both took lots of very long naps on Tuesday.  I feel very badly for Grandma however; this is the last week of the school year and she has to work very hard yet.  Grandpa is trying to help tho, he made dinner Tuesday night all by himself.  He barbequed pork steaks and made his kidney bean salad, macaroni and cheese and new potatoes.  I was so proud of Grandpa.  I thought all he knew how to cook was frozen pizzas.

Yesterday was a fun day.  Grandpa thought it would be fun to for us to pay a surprise visit my Grandma's good friend Sue and to see her amazing garden.  She was so surprised and excited to see Mommy and me get out of the car.

I have to confess that I probably wasn't the best visitor because on the way to her house I had a messy diaper.  Grandpa told me that it probably was not the best etiquette to come to someones house and need to have my poopy diaper changed the moment we walked in the front door.  Oh well, I'll try to do better next time.  Grandpa said not to worry.  It was kind of like him this last weekend when he needed to ask my Great Grandma for a plunger after using their bathroom.  Kind of embarrassing.

I really like Mrs. Harper.  She is a such a nice lady.  So is her husband George.  He carried me down the steps of their deck for Mommy and was very careful because it had been raining and Mommy said she can be a little clumsy and didn't want to slip on the wet steps.  Grandpa was right about Mrs. Harper's garden.  Mommy and Grandpa both said "Wow!" when they saw it.  Mrs Harper says she has over 180 plants in her garden.  She also said that she was glad when it rains because then she doesn't have to spend an hour watering everything.

There were so many plants to look at.  Mrs. Harper was really good about knowing all of their names.  Some of them had already bloomed and a lot of them hadn't bloomed yet.  I'm hoping Grandpa will take me back in a few weeks when some more of the flowers open up.

Isn't this one pretty! 

After we walked through the garden and saw everything we went back in the house and I played with Mrs. Harper for a little bit.    I think she had as much fun as I did. 

My New York Weekend

Hi everybody!  I'm sorry if this posting will be a bit longer but it's been a few days since my last post and this girl's got a lot of stuff to talk about.  I went to New York with Grandpa, Grandma and Uncle Zach to attend my great Aunt Joy's wedding.  My great Aunt Joy got married to a really nice man.  His name is Mark.  This is this actually the second time each of them have been married.  Aunt Joy had been married to a man but that didn't work out.  My Grandpa says he wasn't a bad man; they were just culturally incompatible.  He was very Greek - whatever that means?  And my new Uncle Mark had been married but his first wife died.  Both Aunt Joy and Uncle Mark have been been sad for way too long but now they are very happy.  You can just tell how much they really love each other.  Uncle Mark does nice things for Aunt Joy and says such nice things about her.  It's kind of funny tho, when he does those sweet things my Grandma just looks over at Grandpa and gives him the strangest look.  Grandpa says that's to be expected after you've been married for 29 years but it's a sign that he needs to work harder.  I don't get it but I trust Grandpa.

So like I said, it was a very busy weekend!  Mommy got me up before 4:00 Saturday morning and drove us all to the airport.  Grandpa had been telling me that we were going to go on an airplane but I didn't really know what that meant.  The first thing we had to do was get in this line and put all of our stuff in this machine.  Grandpa said that was to make sure Grandma hadn't secretly put something dangerous inside her cane or her luggage.  You can never tell with Grandma.  She must have looked suspicious because they pulled her off to the side and a big lady in a uniform came over and patted down every single part of her body.  Grandpa thought the security lady may have been the type that enjoyed that a little too much.  Whatever that means - sometimes the things Grandpa says kind of goes over my head.  Finally they let Grandma go and we went to this waiting area and then they let us on the airplane.  The first airplane ride was very short but it was fun.  We went way up high above the clouds; it was very cool.  When we landed in Chicago we got off our plane and got on a smaller plane for the flight to Rochester.  My Great Aunt Lori was there to meet us and she took us to her farm where they were having the wedding.

Besides the wedding the very best part of the trip was getting to see great Grandpa and great Grandma again and to meet my great Aunts/Uncles and second cousins.  I had the best time.  This is my second cousin Abby.  She's going to be one year old very soon and she is walking already.

This is my second cousin Nathan.  He is H.O.T. hot!  What's the dating rule on 2nd cousins?  Nathan seemed to like me too until I drooled on him.  Then he moved away.  Note to self:  Never drool on a boy on the first date.  Nathan never goes anywhere without a hammer in his hand.  I bet he is going to grow up to be a big strong rugged construction man.  Great Aunt Lori and Uncle Keith had a really big tent set up in their backyard for the wedding reception and when the workers came to take the tent down they had really really big sledge hammers.  Nathan thought that was so neat.  Grandpa says boys always want bigger toys.  Whatever that means.

My other second cousin is Micah.  Micah just loves my uncle Zach and my uncle Zach really loves Micah too.  They spent the whole weekend playing together.  I forgot to ask Micah what his secret is because they looked like they had a lot of fun.  Zach is starting to play with me a little bit more.  Grandpa says give him time.  He says Zach will be more interested once I'm a little older and walking and talking.

We stayed at great Grandpa and Grandma's house.  They have a very nice house that backs ups to a golf course.  Great Grandpa likes to play golf but he hasn't been able to because he has a bad knee just like my Grandma does.  They both are using canes to walk around with.  My Grandpa says that when Grandma and great Grandpa are walking together it looks like synchronized limping.  But my great Grandpa's knee wasn't so bad.  He took me for a walk in my stroller.  Don't you love our hats!  It was such a pretty day outside.  We met one of great Grandpa's neighbors.  He said it had been a long time since he'd had babies but from what he could remember, he thought I looked very healthy.  I really had fun with great Grandma.  I gave her some extra special attention this trip because she says babies always prefer great Grandpa to her.  I don't see why.  I think they are both great.  Great Grandma fed me when it was time to eat and we played the piano together too.

The time went by so fast.  I saw my grown up cousins Rachel and Phil and Matthew and Leah and Bethany and Dan.  And my great Uncle John came all the way from Salt Lake City.  They are all very nice.  The weekend was a lot of work for my great Uncle Keith and Aunt Lori.  They fed everybody really well and organized such a really wonderful wedding.  It was sad to leave but I really missed my mommy and daddy so I was ready to go home to St. Louis to see them.  Getting home was really tough.  Our flight was two hours late leaving Rochester but my great Aunt Lori was so sweet, she stayed with us and kept us company until we were sure our flights weren't going to be canceled.  The weekend was really hard on my Grandma's bad knee.  She had to have a wheel chair to help her get around at the airports.  We finally got back to St. Louis and Grandma, Grandpa and I got our luggage but they forgot to put Zach's luggage on the airplane to St. Louis.  Grandpa talked to some people and they said that as soon as they found it they would bring it straight to our house.  We finally got home it was almost 1:00 in the morning.  Mommy and Daddy were so happy to see me.  We missed each other so much.