we're home!

We had a fabulous time in Florida.  Stew and Brenda were gracious hosts.  It was nice to spend some time with them and to get to see Bode and Boone.  Tuesday we went to Magic Kingdom, Wedensday hung out at the resort in Orlando, and Thursday we went to Sea World.  Friday we headed back home.  It was kind of a whirlwind vacation, but a blast.  It was nice to have Saturday and Sunday to get rested up before heading back to the real world tomorrow.  I was totally in vacation mode on Saturday and missed a couple things I was supposed to do.  Oh well.  Here are a few highlights of our trip.  I will try to get all my pictures posted to Shutterfly in the next couple days.  I took over 400 photos . . . and I didn't even always have my camera.  Sometimes I counted on Brenda or Sarah to snap some shots for me!

So that was more than a few.  As you can tell, we had fun.  Took Colby to the doctor on Saturday.  Double ear infection!  Don't know how he did so well on the plane.  Must have been all the attention he was getting.  No wonder he was having trouble sleeping in Florida.  Good to be home, sad that vacation officially ends tomorrow morning when we're back to normal everyday life.

spring

We have had a few nice days mixed in with the cold lately.  We have been able to get outside to enjoy them.  Colby just loves being outside.  We have gone for several walks as well as just playing in the grass.

 Here is Becky  posing with her Hop Scotch

 Colby loving it

Emma and Becky also got to have a sleepover!  They had so much fun.

Tomorrow morning we are off to Florida to visit Stew and Brenda and the boys and then to Orlando for a few days.  Yeah!  We are so ready for a vacation!  If you can't wait until we get back to see pictures, I'm sure Brenda will post some on her blog after the weekend.

cousins

We got to see Brenda, Bode, and Boone for a little while on Saturday before they headed back to Florida.  Here are Boone and Colby.  They are sitting that far apart because otherwise they were pretty much just pawing at each other.  Oh, the fun they will one day have!

 Bode and Becky

Incredible Pizza

We celebrated Al's birthday by going to Incredible Pizza on the 19th.  It was a Saturday, and it was inrcedibly crowded.  There was a line for everything.  We met my brother and his family there.  We left early with crying, screaming kids because they did not get to do everything they wanted to do, especially pick out toys with their tickets.  So we went back on Monday night. There were no lines which led to no crying and screaming, and some high-quality toys at the end.  A good time was had by all.

six months old

Here is Colby at 6 months old

He loves to chew on his hands... if he can't get anything else!

 He loves to play with his toes.

 He has even mastered getting them in his mouth!

At Colby's six month check, he was about as perfect as can be.  He weighed 19 pounds 4 1/2 ounces,  (he was an ounce shy of gaining 1pound in 2 weeks!) He was 27 5/8 inches long (or so).  His ear infection was not gone.  In fact, the doctor said she thought it looked worse!  He got new medicine.  Hopefully this will take care of it.  Other than the ear infection, everything else was right on target.  At 6 months, Colby is so much fun.  He loves to play with his toys, putting everything within reach into his mouth.  He loves to pull hair and grab at faces.  He has a great nature and an infectious smile and laugh.  He is eating his food like a trouper and doesn't mind trying new things.  He loves to watch his big sister and laugh at her.  He does really well sitting up by himself.  He still falls over some, but it's getting much better.  He is also moving around quite a bit when laying on the floor.  One of his favorite things to do is to jump in his jumper.  He could do that for hours!  He is a great baby.  We are blessed. 

Butterfly Garden

On Saturday, the kids and I met a friend and her son in Ames.  Al was working on a paper, so we decided to go visit the butterfly garden at Reiman Gardens after lunch.  See how excited Becky was to go in?

 Well...just like the year previous, she was terrified.  She started screaming and clinging to my leg and crying as the butterflies were flying around.  I did not have time to get one picture and had to usher her out the door as quick as possible.  I felt really bad for the poor girl.  I wanted to pick her up, but with Colby attached, there was just no way.  Here she is posing by the dead butterflies after she calmed down.  Much more her speed.

 Then we visited the conservatory, after I assured her there was nothing but plants and flowers in there. 

 Here she is showing off some dance moves.

 Finally....extreme happiness.  She got to spend a little bit of her money to get a toy at the gift shop.

 Becky and Colby cuddling at the end of the day.

house update

We had a short weekend.  It was as long as it always is, it just seemed to fly by.  We went looking at houses in Altoona Friday night.  Becky loved two of them.  She liked the smallest ones because they had really cool toys in them.  We tried to explain to her that the toys didn't stay, but it didn't matter to her.  On Saturday morning, we dropped Becky off at Sarah's and headed to the Easter Lake (southeast side of Des Moines) area.  There were some great houses there, but decided that it's too much of a country feel for Al.  The rest of the afternoon on Saturday was spent getting the house ready for another showing on Sunday.  On Sunday, Al and I dropped Becky off at a friend's house and went back to Altoona to look at a house a second time.  We both loved the house and would move in a heartbeat.  The downside is that we don't have our house sold.  We aren't willing to have two mortgages.  So here we sit and wait.  We have decided we would like to end up in either Urbandale or Altoona.  Now it's just a matter of waiting until we get ours sold so we can put an offer in on one.  So no more looking for us.  We know what we want, and I'm confident that when it comes time to move, we will be able to find what we are looking for.

The kids are both doing well.  They have colds that don't want to go away, but that's about it.  I did take Colby to the doctor yesterday because he had had trouble sleeping the two nights previous.  So bad, in fact, that I couldn't lay him down in bed without him crying.  Not like him at all.  Turns out he had a borderline ear infection.  The left ear was very full with fluid and probably on its way to being a full-blown ear infection.  The doctor was unable to get the wax out of the way in the right ear to see.  Long story short, he got his first taste of Amoxicillan.  Gotta say he's a great medicine taker.  And what kid doesn't love the bubblegum medicine?  Even Becky thought it smelled pretty good.   Colby slept well through the night last night, so I'm confident he will continue to as the fluid goes down and the pressure behind his ear lessens. I sure function a lot better when I get my sleep too!

So that's an update for now.  Trying to keep everyone healthy and stay positive about the house.  We sure would love to have ours sold and at least an offer on a new one before we head down to Florida on April 8th.  Getting so excited for that trip.  What a relief it would be to have all that taken care of.  In the meantime, we will try not to stress about it.  Easier said than done!

practicing basketball

Here is Becky practicing basketball with Al.  She has so much fun doing it.  We're hoping in our next house to be able to have a basketball hoop.  Wouldn't that be fun to get a good game of HORSE going?  Can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can all be outside.

 Since it is still pretty cold, here is Colby all bundled up in his snow suit so he could be outside for a little bit to watch.  Guess he didn't get much watching in!  It was just so warm all bundled up like that!

Build a Bear

Today was the first showing of our house, so we decided to take Becky to Build a Bear since we had to go do something.  She's been asking for a while and had a gift certificate from her birthday that she could use.  And you know she needed another stuffed animal like she needs a hole in the head!  Oh well....at least most of them are packed up right now so our house doesn't look so cluttered. 

Here is her owl getting stuffed

 Becky warming up its heart

 Becky fluffing it up

 Becky and Fluffy

 Colby did well.  He just went along with it all.  So laid back!



basketball

Becky has been playing basketball on Thursday nights.  Al is helping coach.  Colby and I usually stay home because it's during suppertime.  We decided to go last Thursday. Becky was so excited we went to watch her play.  She did very well and had so much fun!

 practicing shooting baskets during halftime

 shaking hands at the end

 Colby spent the first half of the game asleep, but then he woke up and sat on my lap to watch them play.  He really seemed to like watching them run back and forth.

five months

Here is Colby at five months.  He is getting so big!  He loves talking and sometimes can get pretty loud.  He loves watching Becky be silly and laughing and smiling at her.  He is still a mama's boy, but he has realized it doesn't matter so much who holds him, just as long as somebody does!