Best Buddies

Alek absolutley loves his cousin Ryker. I watch Ryker 4 times a week and he and Alek are best buddies. Alek is so happy when Ryker gets here in the morning. He squeals with delight and gives him kisses. He loves to help wash Ryker in the bath and always throws Ryker's diaper away and puts his clothes in the laundry basket. Whenever Ryker cries, Alek always checks to see if he is all right. Sometimes he even tries and puts Ryker's plug back in his mouth, although usually he gets it in his eye. The other day when Ryker was fussing, Alek went over to his bouncer with a toy and shook it for Ryker, then put his plug in his mouth for him. I was so proud of him because usually he tries to take Ryker's plug for himself. He also loves to rock Ryker in his carseat or bounce him in the bouncer. I'm so happy that Alek has adjusted so well to Ryker and is so sweet and loving towards him. They are going to be the best of friends.

I Love to be Outside

We have been taking advantage of this beautiful weather and spending a lot of time outside. Alek absolutely loves to be outside and gets very upset when it's time to go in. Alek loves to swing and slide. My parents set up a swing set at their house and since it's right across the street, we go there daily. We can't pass the swing set without Alek pointing and grunting. He could swing all day long. Sometimes he even falls asleep in the swing. Hopefully the good weather is here to stay since I know that Alek and I will be spending a lot of time outside.

Happy Birthday Alek!

Alek is now 1 year old. I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone by. He had a fun birthday party with his aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpa. A lot has happened in his first year. He has changed so much and learned to do so many things. He is an excellent walker now, walking forwards, backwards, and in circles. He has 3 and 1/2 teeth right now and more on the way. He's been drooling a lot lately and a little bit cranky. He loves to be outside and is upset when it's time to go in. He's still not a great sleeper unless he sleeps with mom and dad (which is usually every night) and then he does pretty well. He loves to give hugs and kisses and when he wants something he leans his head towards you so you can kiss him. He loves balloons and M&M's. He usually gets a new balloon weekly and goes crazy if he sees them at the store, pointing and grunting. He has such a sweet tooth and the sound of a bag of candy sends him running towards you. You definitely can't sneak anything past him. He's being a picky eater right now and sometimes is too busy to take the time to actually eat all of his food. He loves his cousin Ryker who is only 2 months old, but Alek still tries to play with him and loves to give him kisses. He's a smiley happy boy and he has filled our lives with happiness. Happy Birthday Alek Boy! We love you.

Rafal and I got him a bath toy and a baseball tee.
Rafal sang "Happy Birthday" in Polish and I sang it in English.

Alek's favorite gift.

Getting ready to party with daddy.

The cake was homemade chocolate with chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Alek had his own cake which had M&M's all over the top. He ate most of the M&M's and a little bit of the chocolate cake.

Grandpa singing "I'm the Birthday Boy." He's a little crazy, but we love him.

Garbage Mouth

Alek has been getting into the garbage cans lately, so I have to make sure that I close the doors to all the rooms, especially the bathroom. The other day, after his bath, I forgot to close the door to the bathroom and I went to answer the door. A few seconds later, Alek comes walking around the corner with something in his hand and then he puts it in his mouth. I go closer to see what it is and am horrified to realize that he has taken a tampon applicator out of the garbage and now it is in his mouth! He just smiles at me as I quickly grab it from him and throw it in the garbage again. I have no idea why he is so fascinated with the garbage can, but he loves to pull things out and they usually go right into his mouth. He won't eat his breakfast lately, but he enjoys a nice piece of tissue or a cotton ball to get him through the day. Every time I take something away from him and say "No, yucky!" he just smiles at me and laughs. I wonder what he'll decide to put into his mouth next.

The Have Will Travel Story Contest

I am posting this funny travel experience for a contest that my friend Rhonda is doing. You can click here to visit her site to hear more about the contest. The winner will receive a roundtrip ticket to Connecticut. I hope you enjoy my travel experience and find it funny as I do now, but did not at the time.
Rafal and I were on our way to Poland. We flew to Chicago first, then to Milan, Italy and finally to Krakow, Poland. I have never and hope to never use the bathroom on an airplane. However, when you have a 10 hour flight, it's very difficult not to use the bathroom. Since I wasn't planning on using the bathroom unless it was an emergency, I made sure to only have a little bit to drink. About halfway through the flight, I needed to use the bathroom because whatever mystery food they had served us was not agreeing with my stomach. Every time I looked towards the bathroom, they was always a long line. I wasn't about to go in there and smell up the whole bathroom, especially because they would all know it was me when I came out. So, I just sat there miserable. My stomach was making strange sounds, but I knew that I just couldn't do it. Finally we arrived at the airport in Milan. I quickly found the bathroom. I went in, but there were too many people in there and I knew that I would get stage fright. As I left the bathroom and walked down the hall, I noticed that there was a handicap bathroom separate from the other bathroom. I thought perfect. I went in and locked the door. I was so glad that I found this. No one would hear me or see me. As I was about to sit down, I noticed that the toilet was making a weird sound, so I tried to flush it and it would not flush. Fabulous. So, I decided to leave and try again later. I went to leave and unlocked the door, but I couldn't get out. I tried a couple of times, but the door would not open. I was locked in a bathroom in a foreign country. I started to panic. My cell phone wouldn't work to call Rafal and I didn't know how long it would take for him to start looking for me. The only thing that I could do was pound on the door and yell "HELP." Luckily someone understood me and opened the door. I said "thank you" and quickly left. We finally arrived in Poland and then had an hour an a half drive from the airport to his sister's house. It was so humid and of course there was no air conditioning in the car. My ankles were swollen from sitting for so long and I desperately needed to use the bathroom and also take a shower. We finally arrived at his sister's house and there was smoke coming out of all the basement windows. I thought the house was on fire, but Rafal explained excitedly that his sister Magda was smoking a pig in the basement and they would have homemade sausage. I wish I could have shared his excitement, but I had other things on my mind. We went inside, met everyone and then I asked Rafal where the bathroom was. He showed me and explained that you had to hold the handle down on the toilet for a few seconds for it to flush. I was keeping my fingers crossed that it actually flushed. As I sat down, I noticed there was a high window in the bathroom and I could hear everyone in the kitchen. If I could hear them, then they could hear me, so the stage fright came back. Then to top things off, the bathtub had just been refinished and we couldn''t use it. Wonderful. I was enjoying Poland so much at this point. I went crying to Rafal and said that I just wanted to take a shower and a s%@*. He took me next door to his aunt's house where I took a bath, since they didn't have a shower and finally in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping, I snuck off to the bathroom and finally took a s%@*! (Sorry if this word offends anyone, but it was the only appropriate word for the situation.)