Daycare Gifts and Santa Picture

Alex really enjoys going to daycare and it's obvious that Tonya loves him just as much. He came home with an entire bag full of goodies yesterday with everything from toys and pictures to homemade crafts and gifts.

A picture frame Alex "made" at daycare.

This was a Christmas card Tonya put together of all of the kids. It was pretty cute.

Alex and I went to visit Santa at the mall today. He's developed a little bit of separation anxiety lately so he wasn't too fond of sitting alone with Santa. It's not the best picture but it definitely captured Alex's sad face and feelings about Santa right now.

Walking!

And he's off!! I think we can say that Alex is officially walking now. He still takes a crash landing but he's taking a lot of steps now and will at least try walking before resorting back to crawling.

Haircut and Other Pictures

Here are some pictures of Alex from this week.

Alex and I went to meet some friends for dinner one night this week. He was so quiet on the way home that I figured he had fallen asleep but I didn't expect to find him like this. It cracked me up.

No more rat tail! Alex got his first haircut on Thursday. He wasn't too sure about the whole thing and had a pretty sad face through the whole experience. It didn't help that we had a gruff old lady who had a barely audible but raspy voice. I'm thinking a kids hair salon is not the best place for her.

Beets! Alex decided he looooooved eating grandma's beets on Tuesday and made quite the mess eating them. When I gave him some more on Wednesday he wanted nothing to do with them. Hopefully he'll like them again so he can eat my portion (Mom is not such a fan of beets!).

Birthday- Part 2

Here are some more pictures of Alex from his birthday weekend with the Lerner side of the family. Thanks for making the trip out here everyone!

Alex and Kevin with their matching sweaters- a complete coincidence!

Reading with Grandma

Playing with Jill

Snuggling with Grandpa

Happy Birthday Alex!

Alex had a great first Thanksgiving and a fabulous birthday party. It was a busy few days but lots of fun. We are so thankful to have so many great family and friends that were able to share in all of the celebration with us. There are too many pictures to choose from so I'll post a few here and some more later.

Alex also had his 12 month check up on Monday and he has certainly grown in the last few months! He weighed in at 24 pounds and 1.5 ounces and 30.25" long, both of which are in the 70th percentile- a big jump from the 35th and 25th percentiles at his 9 month check up! Getting him to eat enough has obviously not been a problem. Maybe it was just unfair of us to have him weighed after a weekend of eating Thanksgiving food and three days of getting cake.

Alex made his party debut in his tux. I think he was a little overwhelmed by all of the excitement at first.

The awesome cake my mom decorated and amazing cookies Sara made.

Cake face! (and arm and forehead and sippy cup and highchair...)

Alex's response when opening his dump truck gift- "Ohhhhhhh"

Riding his new pony from Nonna

A Lot to Say

Alex has been quite the chatter box lately. Here he is telling us one of his stories. It's a little dark but you can still hear him talking up a storm.

Swimming and a Farm Visit

Last weekend was busy but fun. Alex had his first swimming lesson which went really well. He looks calm in the picture but most of the time he was a busy little fish. Then we made a trip to the farm for the rest of the weekend. Rosco got to run around like crazy and Alex got to sit in the big truck and go for a ride in the combine with Dad and Grandpa. I'm honestly not sure which of the boys had the most fun.

Happy Halloween!

Alex had a good first Halloween. It was a little cold and windy but we went to a pumpkin patch during the day to pick out a pumpkin. Alex helped me carve it when we got home. He didn't seem to mind the goop at all. In fact, he stuck his hand right in to grab a pumpkin seed and popped it in his mouth. Luckily the seed was recovered before he could swallow it. Alex actually had two costumes this year. He wore Tigger to daycare on Friday and wore his cowboy outfit for a brief trick-or-treating walk to a few neighbors last night. I think the day wore him out as we finally decided to wake him this morning at 9:45am (8:45 with daylight's savings).

At the pumpkin patch

Our Packer pumpkin. Surprisingly no one even smashed it last night.

Tigger!

Our little cowboy!

11 Months!

Alex has another month under his belt and is just one month away from turning one! He got his first real illness this month with a bout of the flu but he's doing great now. His latest tricks include using sign language to say "more" and standing for a few seconds on his own. Here are a few preview shots from the pictures we had taken last weekend. We're excited to see the rest of them in a couple of weeks.

Beautiful Fall Day

We didn't have daycare on Monday so Beth took the day off from work. We took advantage of the beautiful fall day and went for a nice long walk with stops at a nearby fishing pier and playground. Alex was in a great mood and really enjoyed the playground. The swinging video may sound like he was mad but he was actually just being goofy. It was pretty funny. When we say that Alex is turning into a bit of a wild man, this is what we mean.

Wild Man Alex-

On the Move!

Alex is on the move on two feet. He figured out how to walk around the room while pushing this box around. Here comes trouble!

60th Anniversary

In order to celebrate Andy's grandparents' 60th anniversary, the entire Ausman clan met in Door County, WI for a nice long weekend. We stayed in an amazing house big enough for us all to stay in. Alex was fantastic in the car both ways. We all enjoyed a relaxing weekend of exploring the area, playing games, and being with family.

The whole group

We stopped in Green Bay on the way up so Alex could check out Lambeau Field.

The back of the house we stayed in

Beautiful fall colors

Watching football with Uncle Jeff

Greta and Alex in their UW gear

Family photo

A and G with the great grandparents

Aunt Sara and the babes

Greta in her diva gear

Swing in the backyard