Swimming

Alexis has become quite the swimmer lately. We bought arm swimmies for her this year and they have worked quite well. Last year, she had to hang on me all the time but this year she is able to float all by herself. She's even jumping in off the side of the pool; although most of us would call what she does a belly flop. But at least she's trying. We're still working on not drinking the pool water as often. She doesn't mind going under water either. Dean and I will throw her back and forth and let her go under. The look on her face when she comes up is hilarious--her eyes are huge and she's probably wondering what were doing to her. But she continues to say "again, again". Hopefully by the end of the summer, she'll be swimming all over.

Ouch!!!!

I was busy reading the mail the other day standing by the front door when Alexis was trying to get my attention by tugging on my leg and yelling mommy, mommy, mommy. I guess I didn't respond to her quick enough because a second later she bit me. And oh my god I couldn't believe how bad that hurt. I could have sworn she drew blood or something. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating but it really did hurt. I think I scared the crap out of her because when I yelled and got down in her face to tell her once again that biting is a no no, her eyes were as big as quarters. Sometimes I think she really knows what she's doing and she is just testing to she what my reaction will be. Lets hope the biting stage ends soon.

Bon Jour

Well it's been a while since I've updated my blog but that is because Dean and I were on vacation. We're back now so I will let you know how it was. We were fortunate enough to make our way to Paris. The fun of it was that my parents, my brother and some family friends were able to make the trip also. We had a blast. We made it around to see all the sights of Paris and since Dean and I had a harder time getting there than most (the joy of flying standby) we were able to see London for a day too. We left last Friday, the 15th attempting to get to New York and then Paris. But of course with my luck of flying standby, we were unable to get on the flight -- overbooked. So we decided to head directly to London and then take the Eurostar to Paris. It was pretty neat to take the train but since I hadn't slept in almost 24 hours, I only saw the backs of my eyelids for most of the trip. It only takes about 3 hours from point to point which isn't bad at all. To top off my unluckiness, both of our luggage were unable to be found for a day or two. I was able to get mine after a day, but Dean had to wear his socks for another day. We did go out and buy him some shirts and jeans and socks too, only to see that his luggage was there when we got back. Oh well, at least he got his bag back. Other than that, everything else went well. We were able to eat all the french bread and cheese we wanted and wash it down with wine. I couldn't ask for anything more to eat in France. It's funny because a glass of wine is cheaper than a coke. They wanted 4.50 euros for a coke which is about 5 bucks. Nevertheless, we stuck to wine most of the time. As a a group we took some excursions to Giverney which is where Claude Monet lived and completed some of his most famous paintings. (Waterlillies) We also went to the Palace of Versailles which is quite a site. It's hard to believe that the Louvre was not big enough for the King so he had to have a new palace built. It was quite breathtaking. I would have a hard time remembering where I last saw my shoes. The last excursion was to Normandy. This was probably the most emotional. You can read all about WWII and the invasion at Normandy but to actually see the beach and then the memorial with all the white marble tombstones was pretty overwhelming. There are about 12,000 US soldiers burried there and it's amazing that as far as you can see are tombstones. It really puts everything into perspective. We stayed in Paris for a week and made our way back to Cleveland on Saturday, the 23rd. Sunday and Monday were days for recovery and sleep; and to spend some quality time with Alexis. She stayed here with Dean's sister Mary for the week. I'm sure she had so much fun that she didn't even miss us. It was a wonderful trip but it is always nice to get back and sleep in your own bed. I'll attach a few pictures of our stay while in Paris.

The night of no sleep

Tuesday night was no fun. Alexis picked up the flu and it struck about midnight. Sometimes she'll wake up in the middle of the night and I'll just let her cry herself back to sleep. I tried this on Tuesday only she didn't stop crying. I then got up to get her after about 5 minutes only to find Alexis sitting on a wet vomit soaked mattress. I got her to the bathroom and cleaned up. It took all I had not to throw up myself. Dean was home so he had the job of changing the sheets. After that was done, we attempted to put her back to bed. Alexis was not going to let that happen. We brought her in with us; a no no from what I hear. She then proceeded to get sick in our bed. Dean tried to grab her and run her into the bathroom but was not quick enough and there was a trail all over the carpet and of course on my dry clean only pillow cases. (Why is anything dry clean only???? Ughhhhhh!!!) Of all the room there was for a mess, it had to be on my pillows. By this time it was going on 3am. I now only have about 3 hours of sleep in store for me. After about three more trips to the bathroom, Dean took Alexis and her mattress downstairs while he slept on the couch so I could get some sleep. That was very much appreciated. Luckily Dean and I have not gotten sick. (Knocking on wood)

Go Cavs!!!!

So I don't know if any of you follow NBA basketball at all; I mean since Michael Jordan retired and all. I didn't really follow it anymore until recently. I have jumped on the bandwagon along with half the city of Cleveland. Well the Cavs pulled out an amazing upset this weekend beating the Pistons. Dean and I were lucky enough to have tickets to the game with our buddy Ron. Boy what a game. The atmosphere was amazing; especially after the game. The streets were filled with drunk people chest bumping and yelling profanities at Detroit fans making their way back to their cars. I'm pretty sure those Detroit fans deserved every bit of harrassment that they received. The papers were saying there were more than 100,000 fans downtown (there was an Indians game going on too). It really felt like old times down in Columbus after playing Michigan. Very exciting. We begin the Finals with the Spurs on Thursday and hopefully next week will be attending both games here in Cleveland. For those of you who will be watching, go Cavs.