Christmas is almost here!

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I thought I would share a fun video of what the hot game in our house is these days. Alastair works on his noises all day to impress Daddy with in the evening. Too cute to hear him "pffffttt'ing" away on the baby monitor.

Christmas is almost here. Last week that phrase served only to intensify the feeling of panic that was building within me... This week I have organized myself into what could comparably be considered a state of zen. OK, perhaps not, but I do have my shopping list virtually completed (Radio Shack and HEB is it!) and just have a bit of assembly to complete. The house is definitely ready for Christmas, even if not all of our occupants are (you know who you are). In fact, yesterday I encountered Brown Santa while I was watering our cyclamen and what to my wondering eyes did appear? A fancy hotrod pedal car for Alastair. Kim and I are being VERY good and leaving the box alone, at least until Christmas eve when we will have to figure out if there is assembly required... Since there is a bold FORD on the box, this has Papa Bowling written ALL over it. And if Alastair doesn't like it, I expect to find Kim wheeling up and down the sidewalk making "vroom" noises.

I am also throwing in a picture of us at the Mustang Christmas party (looking a bit like we are part of a wedding party). Alastair slept over at his Grammie and Papa's and it was the first time Kim and I got to sleep in for over 15 months. Of course, I still woke up at 7:15, but found a bandanna to tie around my eyes and I was off again to the land of nod. Heaven.



I hope that you find yourself at the end of your "have-to's" so that you can enjoy all the "want-to's" that come with this time of year. I try to remember my old pal Wordsworth whenever I am getting panicky about the relentless march of days and the to-do list that keeps getting longer and longer, like when I am standing in line somewhere with a child that was done ten minutes ago. "Getting and spending we lay waste our powers," he wrote, "Little we see in nature that is ours." The Christmas translation: take time to see yourself in your family and friends this week, and don't lose the light of the season in all the "have-to's." Merry Christmas!

Tis the season!

December has officially begun and the race is on! As I report this evening, our Christmas lights are twinkling merrily outside and our tree is happily slurping up water in the living room. The cards have been ordered, some presents already purchased (a fair start), and the ornaments down from the attic ready to go on the tree tomorrow. Christmas is going to be especially enjoyable this year with our little Texas tornado to make us see the world anew through his perspective. But before I start singing "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" I'll bring us up to date from November.

After a midnight shopping run and a trip to Garden Ridge Thanksgiving morning, we made the trek west to Granny Frizzell's house. The weather was fabulously chilly (at long last!) and Alastair's winter coat arrived just in time to make the trip. Far too much food was consumed, but it was nice to have a change of scenery and make the trip. Boudreaux still has "Camp Wood Hangover" a condition that results from partying like a rock star for a period greater than 48 hours. It generally results in overall brattiness and a demand for increased exercise on an annoying basis.

The Tucker/Frizzell Clan.

Today was the Mustang Children's Christmas Party and the theme was a Texas Christmas with an emphasis on western wear. Alastair's friend Jackson lent him this adorable getup and he was the hit of the party. Here is a shot of my two favorite buckaroos. Alastair also had his picture taken with Santa, who was so enthused because he was not crying at him (the first in the last five kids) that he helped Alastair do the YMCA. Alastair, who is used to such torture from his mother (ahem), thought it was great fun.
Alastair by our Christmas tree. Proof that little kids care more about the boxes than the presents, he is playing with his favorite toy of the day, an empty Kleenex box filled with toys. We take them out, then put them in, take them out... You get the picture.

Next up: pictures of Alastair in his Christmas outfit!

Halloween Hangovers...

I think I am suffering from a Snickers and Skittles hangover... I did so well throughout October, buying great candy only if I could get it for $1 or less a bag. At home, I stashed it in the guest room closet and didn't open a single bag until 30 minutes before the first trick or treater rang the doorbell. On Halloween night, I only had a few pieces as Kim and I watched Shaun of the Dead on the couch. But boy, have I been making up for lost time!

Mistake #1: Not sending all the leftovers in to Mustang.
Mistake #2: Leaving it on the counter.

I may have given myself tennis elbow from repetitive hand to mouth movement. Ugh. Well, the problem has almost resolved itself (wrappers are beginning to outnumber actual candy) although I know I am going to be pushing the stroller all over the neighborhood from sunup till dusk this week. Perhaps I should add a few weights to the basket, since we did such a good job (sorry, Kim did a good job) buying a stroller with so little rolling resistance.

But none of you are here for my rantings. OK, perhaps a few of you are, poor souls with nothing saved on Tivo and nothing from Netflix in the mailbox. For the rest of you, an update on the life and very busy times of Alastair!

As you can see from the lead photo, Mr. Alastair was a ferocious lion for Halloween. Over the course of three weeks, he had a total of 5 costume wearing events, so I believe we got our money's worth out of the costume.Here he is at the MOMS club Fall Food and Fun Party. On this particular day early in the month, it was still in the uppers 80's and low 90's, so I made the wise decision that his insulated fleece costumes might not be met with great enthusiasm. Here is Alastair the farmer "Old MacAlastair," posing in a wagon supplied by Grant and Jackson's mom (in her former life, she was known as Becky). I seized the opportunity for a mini photo shoot with this great prop.


Last Monday, we had the opportunity to visit the Blue Barn Fun Farm with the club and Grammie Lewis. Perhaps the "inappropriate information ghetto farm" might be a more apt description. During the course of our two hour visit, these were a few choice quotes:

"Be careful because it is very snakey out here and they can fall out of the trees on you."
"We had an eight year old alligator, but it got out of its pen and the people across the street shot it."
Standing next to the milking cow, which the kids are allowed to pet: "Do any of you have leather on your shoes? Well, this is where leather comes from." Gesturing to the cow, "And this part is where hamburger comes from, though, of course not from this exact cow. Who would like to pet the cow?"
"Bunnies are really not good presents for Easter. My daugther had a bunny and their teeth are so sharp she had to get 42 internal stitches. Who would like to pet the bunny?"

I really wish I were exaggerating, but I am not. Because Alastair couldn't understand any of this, it was actually quite entertaining and the "horrified mom" factor was a bit lower than it would be if he were older. We all had a great time waiting to see what our looney guide was going to come up with next. Note to self: no visits to the Blue Barn Fun Farm when Alastair is old enough to be traumatized by the idea of snakes falling out of trees or being mauled by a bunny. Although, come to think of it, is there really an age that a snake falling out of a tree on you is not going to be traumatic?

Some highlights of the trip:Alastair riding a very skinny undersized horse. The woman leading him (again, our loopy guide) offered to sell me a fantastic appaloosa. Insert gagging emoticon here.
Alastair smacking at a baby goat. Sort of looks like he is petting him, doesn't it? We're working on this! I think he just gets too excited to remember all of our talks about "gentle."
Alastair playing in the grass at his playgroup "with hubbies" party. It's like a playdate for babies AND Daddys! Except the men get to have beer.

And I will leave you with this final shot of me minus about 8-10 inches of hair. SO glad to have a new coif. And with the reduction in blow drying time, I will have approximately another 5 minutes to get things done. Or perhaps another 5 minutes to fritter away on BabyCenter.com...

The wet spots on my shoulder are Alastair kisses.

Busy, Busy...

Where to start... In the last two weeks, Alastair has been a man on the go. He has been to the zoo twice, the children's museum, the beach, Pump it Up (inflatable kids zone), "walked" for breast cancer, and played with his cousins. Of course, we still have the normal activities like playgroup, story time at the library, and swimming at the gym. No wonder Alastair needs two naps a day! All this when Daddy was out of town for a full week. As Kim says, I take the "stay at home" out of "stay at home mom."

My new favorite pic: the boys at the beach

Alastair and Daddy check out a giraffe.

Here is Alastair checking out one the wall mounted activities in the Children Museum "Tot Spot." This place is really cool and would be fantastic for older kids, although he really enjoyed crawling up and down a fun ramp/thing for the little people and opening and closing a real Alastair-sized door, complete with doorbell and knocker.

Saturday the 6th, some of my MOMS club friends our kids/hubbies participated in the Susan B. Komen race for the cure breast cancer walk. This was really a neat experience. It was amazing to see how many people turned out in the rain to participate and it was an emotional experience watching the survivors and their families making their way through "Survivor Alley" at the completion of the walk. Alastair was "walking" for both of his great grandmothers: in support of G.G. Tucker, and in memory of (mine, probably, since he did not get to meet her) G. Nana O'Byrne. Our little group raised over $800 for breast cancer research. A feel good morning all around, worth getting up at 6:30 and we even got a nice 3 mile walk out of it.

Starting the walk... If you look for into the distance, there are thousands of people up there ahead of us. Really awe inspiring.

Our little group. There were too many people around to find all the girls we registered with, so it turned out to be very fortunate that we rode together.

Alastair and his "going on adventures" friend, Ella. (Audrey and Brian, notice I did not say "girlfriend.") Holding hands on the way home after the walk. Note the flushed cheeks and sweaty heads. It was MUGGY.

And our big excitement this weekend: a visit from "Uncle" Stuart and his kids, Cheyanne and Ethan. The last time we saw these guys, Cheyanne was three months old and Ethan wasn't walking on his own yet. These little guys were a ton of fun and I think we kept them busy. We had a nice lunch at Lupe's (hey, its a Houston landmark! And I promise Stuart suggested it) and then we did our best to tire out the kids. To their credit, they did their best to tire out Boudreaux. We played at the park (as it turns out, I can still do cartwheels, although my monkey bar technique needs work) and they threw the ball for Boudreaux until he was too tired to continue. Back at the house, Alastair took a nap (crashed is a more apt description) and the kids gave Boudreaux a bath. We were really impressed by how well behaved Stuart's kids were and even I was a little scared when he gave them the daddy look of death. They are definitely solid little citizens and perhaps Kim and I should start working on our evil looks now...

We are well into October now and Alastair has an appointment tomorrow to have his picture taken in his Halloween costume. I fell in love with a bubble chick costume at the Children's Place, but I have exercised restraint, since he will probably never forgive me for dressing him like that and taking formal pictures to prove it. Although, now that I think about it, they might make for good leverage later in life... His costume is a bit more little boyish, and even, dare I say, regal. More pics to follow, as we have about 5 Halloween parties in the next two weeks or so.

They wouldn't buy me peanuts OR crackerjacks...

Here we are the Pirates/Astros game last weekend. A great starter game for a little guy since it was a very quick game. When we left at the bottom of the eighth, the Astros were up 10 runs. TEN. So we figured it was safe to head home for naptime. Alastair really liked all the clapping, although he was a bit scared when the canon? went off for a home run. He also learned to cover his ears with hands and now Kim is convinced he is going to walk around with his ears covered well into adulthood. If that is the worst thing that happens, would it be so bad? An adult with intact hearing?



In other news, I scored at Target's 75% off summer items sale and bought Alastair a bicycle trailer so that he can ride in style. Most importantly, now we can ride our bikes again! He likes the trailer but really HATES the helmet. We went on a really nice 30 minute ride the night I bought it and then on Saturday Kim took us on what I can only describe as a death ride... Apparantly, after 30 minutes pulling the trailer, I start to peddle a bit too slow for Mr. Daddy's style. So he took over on my bike and then took off. Poor Alastair was whipping around corners much faster than I would have liked. Put it this way: I was in highway gear on Kim's (aka Papa's on loan) bike and in top gear. Peddling full out. Panting and sweating. And barely keeping up. Enough said.


And under the "bonus pics" section. This was taken at Clay's Restaurant (love that place!) and Alastair is trying out Papa's glasses. Apparently grilled cheese fingerprints are pretty tough to get off... Sorry about that.

ONE!

Yeah! Our little man has been with us for just over a year now and we are so grateful for every minute. This Monday was his party and both sets of Grands made the trip (Grammie and Papa all the way from Maine) and Uncle Bill came down too (from Kansas). In three days, we had two dinner parties, attended a another birthday party (Happy Birthday Jackson!), and hosted a party for 31 adults and 15 kids. Kim is lucky there were plenty of leftovers, since Mommy is still a bit worn out.

As you can see, Alastair was a fan of cake. He didn't poke at all at all, and just dug right in. Five minutes with him and there was nothing but a smear of icing on his tray. And if he was flexible enough, I'm sure he would have licked that off too!


This week has been more mellow and we have tried to avoid going out as much as possible. Of course the fact that the humidity fairy has visited Houston doesn't make going out all that appealing either. Alastair has been enjoying playing with his many new toys and exploring his many new books. And Mommy has enjoyed laying on the carpet next to him.

We did venture out for Alastair's one year appointment on Wednesday. He now weighs 20.5 pounds. Yeah!

I found the camera charger!

Lame excuse, perhaps, but "before and after" demonstration are so much more effective with the "after," don't you think? We have been busy! When we arrived home from our trip, we were greeted by a non functioning electric range that had shorted in our absence, thankfully not burning down the house. If this place goes up in flames this soon after refinishing the kitchen cabinets, I think I might have to get some gasoline just to make it burn a little more.

It did take 3 weeks to get the new range in and I have exhausted my creativity with microwave cooking.

I'll let the pictures tell the tale:

Before:
After:

And the new "After the After"

We are going to live with the chop block for a few months to see how we like it for the rest of the kitchen. The new range is really cool, even if I haven't made anything all that fantastic with it yet. Just a matter of time! In fact, I bought marshmallows especiallly for a new gas range celebration. I will try hard not to burn the house down.

And for those of you checking the blog for Alastair sitings, here he is enjoying his friend Hannah's party. He does very well with hats that are actually strapped down, as this demonstrates. We are almost ready for his party and he has both a birthday outfit (not his original birthday suit, of course) and a fancy hat to show off (thanks Amanda!). No sneak peeks here folks! You'll just have to wait until Labor Day, or shortly thereafter.

The Covered Wagon

It occurred to me somewhere around mile 1000 of our cross country odyssey that we were moving across the country like the settlers in their covered wagons. In our Expedition, indeed a covered wagon, I observed some similarities. The settlers took all their worldly possessions with them on their voyage. Check. They were able to prepare meals out of the back. Check. And they would bunk down in the back. Perhaps not overnight, but at 4am, Alastair and I can "bunk down" with the best of them. So, check.

Many people would not undertake a 2000 mile drive with a 10 month old. We are not these people. We laugh scornfully at them and their substandard spirit of adventure. We are the kind of people that start to get itchy feet when we have lived in the same place for more than 2 years. In fact, Kim and I have now lived in Houston for three years and have not had a good road trip since we moved from California.
(A future Sir Edmund Hilary) Scratch that, as the California trip is referred to in our house as The Trip from Hell. So, we haven't had a good road trip since we left New Hampshire.

If you haven't driven across our country, or at least half of it, in the last 5 years or (gasp!) 10, you need to start working on your itemized packing list and take some time off work. We live in a phenomenally beautiful and BIG place, where everyone speaks the same language (except in Arkansas), and accepts the same currency. Spending a week "in between" instills a sense of scale and appreciation for just how special our country is far better than watching it unfold on a light box in the living room ever will.

Before I start singing God Bless America, we'll flash forward to the present. All of our stuff has been put away, the cooler dried and returned to the garage, and the hiking boots are back in the closet, the last vestiges of Maine dirt threating to crumble down on the shirts hanging below.

The house is quiet and Kim and I are already talking about next year and the ski trip we're going to squeeze in sometime this winter.

And without further delay, the reason that you are all here (and don't try to deny it). The pictures!

The (tired) family atop Saddleback Mountain, third tallest mountain in Maine.

Alastair and Papa, chilling on the porch

Discovering pebbles in the sand

Wading in the water

Preparing to Swim (and before I get letters of complaint, the above child was only submerged to his legs, which was quite pleasant. Full submersion, however, does remind the swimmer that the ice has only been off the lake for 2 months).

Alastair meets his Great Grammie.

"Hey! This isn't an approved child safety restraint!" Alastair tries out my new purse.

Hiking a smaller mountain (but in fairness to Kim, still a mountain!)

Kayaking with Daddy

(This one is for Uncle Billy, one of our most loyal subscribers. Do you know where this is?)

Rolling in my 5.4

(With the windows rolled down so my hair can blow...)

Alastair chills in his new mock croc carseat (ice ice baby, too cold, too cold...)

We have been making up for our week on quarantine... A week with a virus, a new tooth, and two days without a cable modem. Somehow we got through it and have a new tooth, no rash, and a trellised zucchini plant whose bid for world domination has been squelched (for now).

Since then, we have been squeezing in activities around rainstorms. Like last Tuesday at playgroup, when the babies and mommies went for a quick swim before the clouds rolled in.

(Alastair on far right)

And this weekend when the whole family went to the Lewis grand's house for a dip in the pool. Boudreaux somehow managed to cut his feet (at least two pads on every foot) and now is spending the week licking his paws and laying in the same spot in the living room. I have been carrying him outside to go the bathroom. Man, that dog doesn't look big to me but he sure isn't light!

In other news, perhaps THE news, Alastair is crawling! Officially now, not that odd head down bulldozer locomotion that he patented last month. That's right, we've got trouble in rivercity. EBay has been searched and house proofing implements are on the way. Life may never be the same!

Quarantine

I was right and Alastair does indeed have hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD). Apparently, it is a very common virus this time of year and that most of us (adults) have already been exposed at some point. The good news is that although it is has "disease" in the title (scary, huh?) it usually runs about 4 or 5 days. So we're under baby quarantine till Thursday. It is transmitted through spit usually in kiddos this age, which is great for the virus, as putting things in their mouth is the official sport of babies. It usually works that way for adults too, so Kim and I solemnly vow right now not to lick anyone, at least until we know that we are out of the incubation zone. No need to thank us.

Washout...

I am beginning to be a bit sick of the rain... I love the fact that the house isn't quite so hot in the afternoons, but I think the dog is going to need a snorkel soon if this doesn't let up. Yesterday I went to the barn and Bandito easily had 30 mosquitoes on him. I brushed them off and sprayed him, but they just hovered and changed positions. Surprisingly, I did not ride.

Kim and I did get a change to go rock climbing at the gym (yeah!) and Alastair was hanging out in the gym daycare center. He felt a bit hot to me when I picked him up and a thermometer said that he had a fever. So we hung out here this weekend and didn't go to the drive-in movie (have those of you in Houston seen the Showboat Theater? This thing rocks!). The weird thing is that he had no symptoms other than the fever itself. Until today... Now he has little sores in his mouth, poor thing. So we're off to the Doctor tomorrow to confirm if this is hand/mouth (sort of like hoof and mouth for people) virus. No pics to share this week.

Onward... And Upward!

Alastair is getting his sea legs... In his crib during what I refer to as the "crib olympics" he spends at least 10 minutes rolling around and pulling up, often patting the wall the crib is next to. I lay him down, he pops back up, I lay him down, he pops back up. You get the picture. Another fun pursuit is parent climbing, which I rank somewhere around 5.6 on the YDS (Yosemite Decimal System). Alastair is a free climbing baby (no top rope for him!). The coffee table is about to be replaced by an oversized storage ottoman so that his beautiful blue eyes won't be obscured by black and blues...

Crawling is still on the horizon, but our little daredevil is still one mean motor scooter. He gets into crawling position, turns whichever way he wants to go (usually towards the dog, poor Boudreaux) drops to his belly, then pushes with his legs and squirms his way to his destination. Yesterday, he was playing happily on his blanket and I got up to put away the breakfast dishes. You know when everything is a little TOO quiet? I think that is the universal sound that tells a mom something isn't right. Apparantly, we're also going to move the magazines this weekend too. The DirecTv guide and Kim's engineering magazines seem to be so very tasty...

Busted!

In other news, the family is staying pretty busy this summer and have been keeping cool in the nearest body of water. This past weekend, we went back to Camp Wood and had a lovely time in the river. The water was moving pretty quickly in the center, and Mr. Boudreaux couldn't quite figure out why he couldn't get anywhere. I think he's still tired! Here are a few shots:

"Rolling on the River"
Grandad Frizzell floats a move

Chilling with the Fam (note swimming dog just above Kim)

And the bonus pic this post:
Alastair monopolizing the toys at playgroup

Delinquent Ramblings...

EBay is sucking up all my time. Perhaps the fact is that I am pouring all my time into eBay. So far I have sold motorcycle boots and a girth, with my electric fence charger and electric rope soon to follow. Then, I obsess over various lots of books for Alastair and if I lose the auction (those people are uber sneaky with their last 60 second bids...) then we're back to the drawing board. It is so much fun!

"Please don't sell me on eBay, Mommy!"

As for Alastair... The sitting up baby! Of course, Alastair has been able to sit up for quite awhile now, but he has just realized that he has control over making it happen on his own. This is great during playtime, not so great during nap time because he is so excited practicing his getting up that I have to keep laying him back down to get him to sleep. He is so very close to crawling now and can balance on his hands and knees for almost 30 seconds but then flops on his belly to start wriggling towards his destination. Either way, he is mobile. And soon to get a lot faster at it! I have been luring him with the remote control (the thing he covets the most) and he will launch himself from a sitting position to his knees, then to his belly, and start squirming on over.

For Mother's Day (nice to not be pregnant this time!) we went to the zoo. We bought an annual membership so that when we only stay 1.5 hours, it won't be so painful. Alastair got a kick out of the seal show, mainly because they were jumping out of the water and there was fun music (the "I like to move it" song from Madagascar). I think we'll be spending lots of time there in the fall and winter.

Here we are at the petting zoo.

And as an added bonus, a cute picture of Alastair modeling his mouse ears, sent to him by his Aunt Lara and Uncle Bill from their recent trip to Florida. For those of you without kids (or who find yourselves in the position of entertaining one) it would seems that funny hats are the gateway to hijinks. Even better than the failsafe belly "zerbert." Who knew?


P.S. Can you tell Alastair is working on a new tooth? : )

Summer's Coming

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I took an extra week off from the blog. But I'm back with video, new pics, and great tales of young Alastair. First off, we made a cross country trek (sure feels like it!) to visit the Grands in Camp Wood. Alastair was king of the house (his favorite position) and Boudreaux was king of the riverbed and squirrels. Or so he thinks... Here we are hanging out in the riverbed. Not the greatest picture in the world, but it gives you a sense of the countryside. Sort of like something out of a western movie. I kept looking for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (hubba hubba) but was sorely disappointed. (Gen to Kim: "How come you talk so much?" Kim to Gen: "Just naturally gabby, I guess.")

In the last few days, Alastair started babbling and it is a pleasure to hear him say something other than "argh!" and "aaaaaaaahhhh!" at top volume. We are currently working on "bah, ba, ba, ba" and Kim and I are placing bets over whether "ma" or "da" will be next.

Yesterday he pulled up for the first time when we were playing "baby in the basket." This is an ingenious game that is played by placing the baby in a (clean) laundry basket with some toys and then the other participant folds clothes. I'm sure you can imagine which one of us this is more fun for. Fortunately, when he decided to stand up, I was ready for him and managed to prevent him from knocking out his two teeth on the tile when the basket turned over. Perhaps we'll have to amend the game to "baby in the playpen."Since it has been getting warmer during the day and staying warm at night, I figured it might be time to try out the pool. Today was the day! Here we are at Grammie L.'s house, shortly after Alastair ripped off his swimming hat in a triumphant "ta da!" maneuver. If you look over my head, you can see it floating sadly off... After the initial shock of the water (Mom to Alastair: "isn't that refreshing?" Alastair to Mom: "ARGH!!!!") we had a great time.

Until next week, here is a bonus video of a bouncing Alastair in his favorite device on earth: the jumperoo. Click here.