Colleen was a lot of fun to play with because she is my age almost and I could talk to her and everything. She knows some stuff that I haven't learned yet and she teaches me about new stuff. The best thing she taught me was how to sit up by myself. It took some practice but Mom helped me and I watched Colleen do it so now I can sit up too. This is a picture of me sitting up by myself. 

This picture is funny I think. I have a new thing called a tooth in my mouth. It get itchy and it hurts sometimes so I get a little cranky. Pop says I'm like Devil baby and this is a picture of me when my tooth hurts. I wish I didn't have to have teeth. Mom says she does too. 

My dad took me to the beach and I got to go in the water. It was really COLD! but I liked it anyway. I want to learn to swim in the water like a fish. 

This is a picture of me, Kevin and Colleen. Kevin is real nice to us. Colleen has a lot of cool toys and we shared toys with each other - even if I didn't want to. 

We went for a ride in this boat. I had to wear a life jacket thing but I think it was a little too big for me. The boat was noisy and a lot of fun. 

Lots of fun happened this week. We all got to go on a vacation to a place called Michigan. Mom and Dad rented a condo and we met some friends of theirs who stayed with us too. The best part is that they brought their kids with them and we had lots of fun. Here is a picture of all of us on the beach. Mom, me, Dad, Colleen (she's 6 weeks older than me), Colleen's Dad and Mom and Colleen's big brother Kevin. We had a great time. 

My New Shirt

Grandpa gave me a new shirt. He won't tell me what it says on the shirt but every time somebody sees me wearing this shirt they look at grandpa and shake their head. I sure wish I could read.
P.S. Don't forget, if you want to see a big version, just click on the picture.

This is me riding on my cousin's horsey. Grandpa says we look a lot faster than most of the nags he's been betting on lately. 

This is my favorite toy, "Mummy". He's from a place called Luxor. 

This picture is me and my Grandma Doris. I like Grandma Doris because she smiles all the time. 

Dad and me. 

This is me with my new White Sox outfit. Grandpa says that the White Sox are going to win the World Serious if that Conteras guy would only stop pitching to the hot dog man 

This is a picture of Mom and Aunt Sarah with me and my new cousin Ava. Ava is the one that's asleep. 

Norbfest

Well, Saturday was really fun. We went to Grandpa and Grandma Allman's house for a party. The party is called Norbfest because it's a birthday party for my grandpa's dad. I thought he would be pretty old if he was my grandpa's dad but grandpa said he's not around anymore so he can't get any older.
Lots of people were there and I met some new cousins. Some of them were babies like me and we had some fun talking in the secret baby code, telling each other tricks and stuff. After a while I took a nap. Here are some pictures of the party.

This is me and Uncle Phil in our new shades. 

This is my friend Nathan and his Mom. We were all at Grandma's house for a big party. 

This is my cousin Thatcher. I think he's in jail for something. 

This is Desma and Mike and Soren. They are friends of Mom and Dad. They live up in Minnesota where it's real cold Ya Hey.

This is my cousin Jimmy. I don't think those are his real lips 

The big trip

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. Grandpa helps me and he has been away with Grandma to a place called Ireland. He says I should know it because I'm named after a river there. I think that's funny that I'm named after a river but Grandpa says it's not so funny for anyone who has to change my diapers. HA!
Anyway, I was over at Grandpa's house today and he took some pictures of me and you can see them here.
Grandpa says that you can see the pictures of Ireland if you go to:

http://www.groupchi.com/gallery/AllmanAlexaIreland05

That's all for now.

Grandpa is doing some funny stuff but I can't tell you what it is. 

Got a bit of gas. 

Too many toys! 

Grandpa Solos

Well, things have been pretty quiet around here lately - that is until today.

Mom goes to work now so I get to stay home with Dad all day. We have lots of fun together.

Yesterday, Dad had to work. He works nights and sometimes 12 hours at a time so he's pretty tired when he gets home.

Since Dad had to go back to work tonight for 12 more hours (whew!) he had to sleep today. I thought Grandma Donna would come and babysit with me but she had to work today too! For a while I figured I would be home alone with Duffy. He sleeps all day too so he wouldn't be much help. But then guess who came over to babysit with me... Grandpa!!

Dad gave him lots of instructions about how to take care of me. I thought maybe this was the first time he ever did this stuff. After Dad went to bed, Grandpa and me started having some fun. First we played in the bouncy seat in the kitchen for a while. After that, I started to get hungry so Grandpa gave me a bottle for lunch.

Of course I had to see how good he was at changing diapers. I started out with a wet one just to break him in. He thought that was easy so I followed up with a brownie a little while later. He handled that ok and he thought things were going pretty good in the diaper department. I fooled him though because I saved some up from the #2 and nailed him again with another brownie right after he got me all buttoned up. That was pretty funny.

Grandpa turned on the TV and we watched some goofy kids show for a while but I didn’t like it much. Neither did he because then he changed the channel to a show that had some girls singing. The main girl was real good. She could really sing and she had a short skirt on too. I think her name was Tina Turner. Grandpa says I can probably sing that good when I grow up but if he sees me in a skirt that short I better have my long johns on under it – Ha!

After we watched TV for a while we did some other stuff. I ate another bottle and then I got tired and went to sleep.

I hope Grandpa gets to sit baby for me again some time.

This is me learning how to sing and dance watching a lady named Tina Turner.

Babysitters

Just when I thought things were going pretty smooth, Mom and Dad sprung another new trick on me.
Babysitters!
I have a nice routine going in the evening. A couple of snacks, some playtime and hit the sack around 8:30. I was ready for a regular night when Mom said that she and Dad were going out to dinner. That was ok with me. Duffy and I could stay home alone but who was going to give me my snacks? Duffy doesn't know how to open the refrigerator so it sure can't be him.
I was starting to get worried about this babysitter thing. I thought some stranger was going to come and be with me. When the doorbell rang I was out in the back with Dad and we went in the house to meet the 'babysitters'.
What a surprise! The babysitter was Grandma Donna! She had Grandpa with her too. So then Mom told grandma a bunch of stuff about how to warm my snacks and how to change my diapers and all kinds of other stuff. Boy, you'd think they were going away for a month.
As soon as Mom and Dad left to go to dinner, Grandpa started playing with me in my portacrib. I have a music box in there and it was playing lots of tunes. After a while I got hungry so Grandma gave me a bottle. I downed that one quick and asked politely for another. It took a while to get it because Grandpa was in charge of warming it up and he was taking his time. After I finished the second bottle I was tired of sitting on Grandma's lap so I read books with Gramps for a while. We read a book about some girl named Mary who had this little lamb that followed her everywhere - even to school (which was against the rules). Grandpa says it was against the rules because nobody wanted to pick up the lamb poop all over the schoolyard.
After I got tired of that I went for a ride in my swing which I really like. Pretty soon Duffy heard the car door and woofed that Mom and Dad were home. Mom came downstairs to see us in the family room. She was laughing because she caught the babysitters making out on the couch.
Babysitters are ok I guess.

Parade Day

Saturday was the day of the big Saint Patrick Parade. Mom said I could go if I was bundled up in the stroller. I was up early and ready to go. I've never seen a parade before so this was going to be fun.
Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa went to the parade with me. We found a spot to stand on the sidewalk but I guess it wasn't very crowded because it was really cold outside. I was so bundled up I could hardly see any of the parade. As a matter of fact, I couldn't see anything so I took a nap.
After a while, I heard a terrible noise coming down the street. I asked Grandpa what it was and he said, "Bagpipes." Then these guys walked by playing some funny looking instrument and they were wearing dresses!!. Grandpa says they are called 'kilts'. I asked Grandpa what they wear under the kilts and he said, "Shoes and socks". I asked him why they were marching while they played and he said, "To get away from the sound".
After the bagpipes left, things quieted down so I went back to sleep. When the parade was over, we went home and everybody (except me) had a pizza.
I hope I get to see the parade next year.

This is me at the Saint Patrick Parade. You can't see me very well, I'm under the covers. I'm no fool, it was really cold outside. I left my shirt on top of the covers so those cute guys in the dresses would see it when they marched by. 

Just wanted to show you that I'm not ALWAYS sleeping! 

More relatives

I met some new people from my family today. Grandma Doris came to visit and she brought her some people with her. First was my Aunt Stephanie. I told you about her before. She visited me in the hospital when I was born. Aunt Stephanie lives in Wisconsin but Grandpa says she's not a 'Cheesehead' because she lives in Madison with all the hippies. I don't know what a Cheesehead or a hippie is but I want to go visit Aunt Stephanie so I can find out.

Another person who came with Grandma Doris was Aunt Sarah. She is very nice and she is going to have a baby soon. I hope it's a girl like me. Aunt Sarah and Aunt Stephanie are my Mom's sisters.

The best part was when I met my cousin Celia Mae. Celia is only 2 years old so she isn't much older than me. When I get a little older, Celia is going to teach me lots of stuff that she knows. I'm so happy to have a cousin that's almost my age.

Well, everybody passed me around and laughed a lot and took pictures like they usually do. I'm getting used to it so I usually catch a nap while they are passing me around.

I have to go now, time for dinner and maybe a swing ride while Dad does his income taxes. I don't know what that is but he doesn't seem too happy about it.

Another picture of my cousin Celia. I like Celia, she is only 2 years old so she's a baby like me.