Geek or Chic?

Lex is not a hat kind of guy. If you put a hat on his head, he might smile, but he'll take it right off. So imagine our surprise when last night at a Disney Store, he grabbed this German hat and put it on. He keeps putting it on, too! This was taken this morning at our hotel while Lex looked at a map of Disney World. So, do you think he can pull it off?

Guess who is Binky Free?

Lex has been without a binky for almost two full weeks! He went from having a binky in his mouth all day every day to never just like that. He was in our bedroom one evening when he pulled the binky out of his mouth and threw it to the side. He hasn't picked it up or asked for one since. He hasn't been sucking on his fingers much, either. Every once in a while I need to remind him not to put his fingers in his mouth, but not much. We are very proud of him!

Awesome Gift!

Saturday mornings are usually pretty lazy around our house. Jer usually gets up with Lex while I sleep in. Yesterday was different since we wanted to go to Orlando to go to Magic Kingdom. I woke up early! Good thing because at 8:30 there was a knock on our door. It was Chris with a special gift for Lex. Their neighborhood association was having a community yard sale, and their neighbor was selling a ride on Thomas Train Set! She was kind enough just to give it to Chris for Lex after Paula and Chris told her how much Lex would love it. You should have seen Lex's face when he saw it! I felt like that train was so much more thrilling than the Magic Kingdom was later that day!

Hidden Lex

The other night Lex made up a new game. He buried himself in a pile of pillows so you could barely see him, then after we "searched" for him for a while, he would pop up and grin at us! This game lasted MANY rounds before he finally tired of it. We also thought it was funny that he was hiding with his head down under the pillows and if we asked, "Does Lex need help?" We would see his little head bob up and down as he nodded yes.

Here is the video:

Jer's Photos

Before Jer got word that he won the trip to Beijing, he was working on another work contest to try to get there. This one was a photo contest where he needed to have a photo showing athletes with the Olympic Spirit. He decided that Chris and Jackson would be great models after watching them race barefoot one evening. So, he staged another race. Jer wasn't completely happy with these photos, and planned to do another shoot another day, but here you get the basic idea of his concept.

Chris and Jackson are great athletes!

Sick of Being Sick

I am starting to feel better, but this past week was the pits! I had horrible morning sickness, and I just couldn't stand lying around anymore, but I didn't feel like I could go anywhere. Jer has been great about helping out even more than he usually does, but I still felt really guilty.

I don't want to say I feel better yet. Last week I made the mistake of saying that to Jeremy, then the next day was the absolute worst!

Anyway, I am really hoping that this current break from sickness lasts and I can join the outside world again!

Jer's Big News

We posted this on our family sites a few days ago, but I wanted to post it here, too. So, if you already read this, just ignore it!

I am so thrilled for Jer. He just found out this week that he won a contest at work and he is going to the Beijing Olympics to blog about his experiences for other employees of his company! He'll be able to attend 6 days of events at the games. He will be attending the events from August 13 - 18. The company is paying for his airfare, food, accommodations, tickets, and ground transportation.

He won by writing an 1800 character count blog entry on the caregiver of his Olympic spirit. Here is one of the rough drafts of his essay (Jer added in a few more jokes later):

Sometimes I think that my two-year old son is going to kill me. Not in a Lizzie Borden way, but in an “I am so tired I think my heart is just going to stop beating” way. This kid is stubborn and will fight like crazy to get his way. My wife and I are treated to daily tantrums brought on by everything from him wanting candy to him not wanting to put his shoes on to his immense frustration when the magnets on his trains won’t click together properly.

So why on earth would my sometimes irrational child be a caregiver of my Olympic Spirit? Because he brings out my Olympic Spirit in a way I never thought possible. He challenges me mentally, emotionally, and physically. He pushes me further than I would ever have pushed myself. In his mind, there is no limit to what I can do or how much crying my psyche can take. I’ve discovered a new level of courage, stamina, and perseverance within myself since his birth. He could give Vince Lombardi a run for his money in the coaching department.

He also gives me a lot of hope for the future. For all his bad moods, he has plenty of good moods and endearing moments. He gives the best running hugs and comes up with some ingenious new ways to suck on a pacifier. He has a fearless personality which scares us now but will serve him well someday -- Carl Lewis better watch his back. Knowing that this engaging young man is going to be a part of the future world makes me happy and keeps me looking forward to the years to come.

So, that’s it. Since the day this boy has come into our lives, I’ve been more tired, frustrated, and perplexed than I’ve ever been. Yet I’m a better and happier person because of it. I am now a more honorable man than I was before he was born since I strive to be worthy of his respect and adoration. Now if only I can survive the next sixteen years . . .

There it is! We are so excited. I am very proud of Jer. He will be a fantastic blogger, and he is going to have the time of his life over there. While he is in China, I plan on taking Lex back to Vancouver because Jer's trip just happens to be just a few days after my high school reunion! I knew he would get out of going somehow! Don't worry, I am not jealous. I'll be six months pregnant by then, and there is no way I could handle the almost 24 hour flight to China! Flying to Portland is hard enough on me!

Hello again!

In Vancouver, Erin came to visit!
Karen LOVED Erin!
While we were gone, Jer drove down to the Florida Keys.

I know I've been horrible about posting lately. I just hadn't told many people our news yet, and I hate to hold back, so I just avoided blogging! I am pregnant, and it looks like all is well with this baby! With Lex, I told people almost the moment the pregnancy test was positive, but this time I wanted to wait until the eight week ultrasound showed all was well. We went last Monday and we saw a baby and a heartbeat!

I admit I was really nervous. Last November, we were in that same office for the same eight week appointment, and it wasn't good news. I could tell the Nurse Practitioner was nervous for us, too. But all is well!

I should have the baby in early November, and I'll find out the gender in June! Whoopee! We are looking forward to another child. Lex has been such a fun kid, we are bound to adore the next one, too!

I've been experiencing morning sickness (as always). Poor Lex gets bored of me during the day, but there isn't much I can do about it. Hopefully it will be over with soon. With Lex, I was sick several weeks into my second trimester.

I am including some photos we've taken over the past month.

Another Haircut

Lex's hair was getting long again, so I took him in for another sleeping haircut. This time, the girl took off way more than I asked, but I like what we ended up with!

Here are a few befores:

This is at an Easter event at my Mom's church on Saturday. Lex's hair is sticking up from the static.

Orlando Weekend

We went to Orlando for a few days this weekend. We were trying to decide between going to Orlando or going to Miami to attend "Day out with Thomas". We chose Orlando since we figured some of Lex's other idols would be at Disney World for him to see. We saw Little Einsteins at Hollywood Studios and we were looking forward to the new Playhouse Disney Live! show that now included them and Mickey Mouse. It was sort of our whole reason for going to Disney.

We were in the front row and the show started. Lex was absolutely delighted to see Mickey Mouse and hear his favorite songs from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Then, right before the Little Einsteins were going to come out, they had technical difficulties and cancelled the show. We came back for the next two shows, but they cancelled those two as well. Poor Lex! At least he loved what he did see.

Verti-Binky

Jer coined this new term for Lex's new binky preference. For a while he was into having two in at a time, and now he loves for the binky to be vertical. He discovered this last Thursday and has been doing it ever since. Oh, and we were getting the carpets cleaned, so that is why all the furniture is in the kitchen/breakfast area. We don't normally live that way.

On a related note, we were pretty successful at taking the binky away from him a few weeks ago. He was doing okay. Then he discovered his fingers. The pediatrician said to give him that binky back since we can't eventually take his fingers away! So, the binky obsession lives on . . .

Park and Sand

I felt badly on the train day that things went so badly, so we went to the park that evening to play tennis (Lex was our ball boy) and then let Lex run around at the playground. While we were playing tennis, Jer noticed that there was a dolphin swimming in the harbor very close to where we were. We weren't able to capture it on camera, but it was cool to be so close to a dolphin in the wild like that.

Unfortunately, after we all went off the tennis courts and over to the water, Lex decided that Jer and I had enough fun tennis time, and it was his chance to play. He ran over to the playground. It ended up being good he did that since we didn't realize how quickly the sun would go down.

Sleeping Boys

I thought this picture was really sweet, and just had to post it! This was taken early one morning this month. I realized that I've taken photos like this many times in Lex's young life. For some reason, I just love these sleeping photos!

Train Mishaps

A nearby park has the coolest miniature train you can ride on. I decided to take Lex there last Monday and let him ride it since he loves trains so much. We'd been on this train once before, with my nephews at Christmas. This was going to be our first time riding it since Lex's obsession really began, though.

We got to the park just as the train was going to take off on a 25 minute ride. As you can see from the photo, the train is really tiny, and you are really close to the ground as you are riding it. The train went off the track three times right in front of where we were sitting. Then the conductor, who was in his 70's, fell on his back while trying to fix the train. He was able to get up, but he really hurt his back. I felt horrible for him, but I wasn't sure if he wanted a bunch of ladies with preschoolers hovering over him and embarassing him.

Anyway, our train day was over. We'll try again another day.

Happy Belated Birthday, Alan!

Jer and Al on the beach in Virginia several years ago

Last Saturday I didn't get on here to post about Jer's brother's birthday. Sorry Al! I've found that I am not sure what people are comfortable with me posting about them, so I think this will be my last birthday wish on the blog just to be safe. I am pretty sure the adults don't mind since I don't use their last names, but I didn't know what I was going to do when all our sibling's kids had birthdays.

So, here is one last hoorah for Alan! Happy Birthday!