February 2010 – Page 2 – Our Family Adventure

Hippos

Hippos Go Berserk is Ajax’s favorite book. He is such an active little guy that it’s almost impossible to actually read to him, but before bed as part of our routine, we still do story time. He has so many books, but the only one he’ll listen to is Hippos, it’s pretty funny. I’ll count all the hippos and he’ll turn the page, you would think that he would get tired of the same book night after night, but nope!

We had a quiet Saturday. I was up early and went grocery shopping while the guys slept in. We cleaned the house, did some laundry and ran to Sam’s Club. All in all a pretty good day. On a weather note, it was in the low 40s today and the snow is starting to melt. It’s so hard not to think about spring and warm weather, however, mother nature is inevitably going to dump more snow on us before we see green.

DSCN4778 — Ajax is all about rolling/chasing balls.

Yogurt

Well we unfortunately discovered Ajax’s first real food aversion or allergy: yogurt. I haven’t figured out if it was the specific yo-baby brand that upset him or yogurt/dairy in general. A few months ago I started giving him plain yogurt over the course of a few days, then added some of his fruit for a few weeks, and then I discovered that they actually make yogurt for babies!

Well, of course Ajax loved it and so we were giving it to him for almost all his breakfasts and then bam! Terrible allergic reaction, poor little guy. It’s now been a few days with no yogurt and he’s doing much better. Maybe in a few months we’ll revisit the yogurt situation, but till then we’ll stay clear of it.

I also think Ajax is getting another tooth coming in because I’ve noticed that he’s getting a little congested and appears flushed. Seems like we just went through this. Oh, I’d like to thank those of you who have been donating your coupons to me; now I just need to cut them all out (Grandpa Nader, Aunt Teri, Dara, and Grandma Dingeldein!).

DSCN4769 — Seriously we cannot keep Ajax away from the doors.

Rite Aid

Here’s my most recent Rite Aid shopping trip~!

My total before coupons/sales, you ask? $40.76. Out of my pocket, however, I only paid $6.77. I will also be getting a check from Rite Aid for $3, so in total $3.77!

Tots Day

I was off from work again today and was therefore able to stay home with Ajax and take him to his baby class! We had such a good time, hardly any meltdowns. Ajax played wonderfully with the other kids and was even content at times to play on his own. He’s all about exploring and discovering new things. The only real fit he threw was because I wouldn’t let him push this toy baby stroller on his own, as it wasn’t stable enough for him to balance and walk with and he kept toppling over.

There were other young moms there and I greatly enjoyed talking with them. So it was a play date for both Ajax and myself! We also got to stop and visit shortly with my grandpa Nader before heading home.

DSCN4750 — Ajax at his baby class riding a cow.

DSCN4751 — He was having a great time on the cow and then suddenly dove off the side!

DSCN4753 — The classroom is quite large and it's great that Ajax got to run (crawl) all over the place.

DSCN4761 — Ajax has discovered doors. You have to be careful because you will think that he's following you into/out of a room, and then you hear him laugh and realize he's closing the door...

President’s Day

Today was a Federal holiday, so I had the day off and was able to stay home with Ajax! This worked out well as my aunt is in England visiting her family. Ajax and I did a ton of running around today; I feel great at how much we got done.

The majority of our time, however, was spent at the mechanic’s shop. I had Dave’s car and it needed new tires and an oil change, so I offered to take it in for him today as he unfortunately had to work (I am such a great wife). We were at the shop for over an hour. The mechanics were very nice, all talking to Ajax and waving. Ajax got a kick out of it. Everyone at the shop also guessed his age to be a year and were shocked when I said that he was only 10 months. Ajax did great the entire time at the shop, only toward the end did he begin to fuss, but only because I refused to let him crawl on the ground.

Almost walking

Thought I’d do one more post tonight as Ajax learned how to walk using his new stand-up push toy he got for Christmas! This afternoon when I was folding laundry he flipped over the basket, used it to stand up and then began pushing it around the living room. I got so excited that I gave him his little push toy and what do you know, he pushed that around the living room too. We had to keep turning him around though, because he would just run into the wall or couch and couldn’t figure out how to turn. I know I’m a broken record at this point, but really I think he’ll be walking very soon!

Valentine’s Day

It’s Valentine’s Day, one of my favorite, yet not highly celebrated holidays. Last night my parents babysat and Dave and I finally had a real date night. Dave treated me to dinner and a movie (Book of Eli– basically a Western); we also did some miscellaneous running around. It was a lovely evening.

Today has been a quiet Sunday, my mom and I took Ajax visiting over my grandpa Nader’s house. Ajax for some reason got very jealous every time my grandpa held little Elijah (who is 6 months old… I believe). It was kind of funny, Ajax would crawl over to my grandpa and try and pull Elijah off his lap.

Godzilla!

I believe that Ajax feels that it is his duty to crush, smash and throw every object that is in his way. Dave said that yes, that is exactly what Ajax believes as he is a boy. The way Ajax currently expresses this macho attitude is to sit in the middle of a pile of toys grabbing them at random and tossing them over his shoulder, he will then spin around on his bum grab the toy he just discarded and throw it in the opposite direction. This goes on for some time with increasing intensity.

He has also discovered the laundry basket and as soon as I bring up a fresh load to be folded he dives at the basket and throws everything onto the floor. He’s helping, lol. Ajax has also had a little breakthrough where he has learned to balance well enough to push objects around while crawling on his knees, again this is another step toward walking!

DSCN4724 — It doesn't matter what you're eating, Ajax wants a taste!

Target

Here’s my recent Target trips:

I paid a total of $14.98 and received a $10 Target gift card. To get my out of pocket cost that low I rolled two $5 Target gift cards (one that I earned during the transaction and one that I had earned previously).

So less than $5 for all the above items! I’m getting better! On a side note, some cashiers feel that it is their personal mission to discourage coupon use and make it very difficult to use them. Honestly, the cashier at the store was so rude to me, it was tougher than going to court!

Bumps and Bruises

I think Ajax is on the verge of another developmental breakthrough. His sleep schedule has been a bit rough lately. He goes to sleep well, but has been fussing during the night and then waking between 4:30 and 5:30 am. AM! That’s tough because I get up for work at 5:45 and I think, oh I could have gotten a few more minutes of sleep (which is just the best sleep of the night really). Dave isn’t that phased as he’s up at 4:45 am every day (I don’t even know how).

I really feel that walking is right around the corner for Ajax. He certainly is fearless. As a result of this new found bravery and sense of discovery the kid looks like he’s been in a battle. He has red welts on his hands and bruises on his forehead. His knees are black and blue. Honestly, he falls over everything and pulls himself up on everything, even the unsteady things.

We also got hit with a pretty big storm last night, but luckily did not lose power. We got a total of 8.5 inches and the majority of schools across the state closed for the day.