A Week of Milestones

I haven't been feeling good for a few days, so I took a bit of a hiatus from updating the blog.  The bed has definitely trumped the laptop at night.  Since we have an upcoming trip to St. Louis, I actually bit the bullet and went to the doctor today.  It looks like I have an ear infection coupled with a case of strep throat...lucky me.  Damon was battling strep throat a week ago, so I wasn't too surprised that I caught it.  The doctor was shocked to find out that this is my first time having strep throat; my 30+ year run has come to an end :)  Despite being under the weather, we've had our normal busy days at the Hovey house.

Poor Damon.  His birthday celebration was cut a little short on Thursday night, as I began to feel terrible that evening and went to bed the moment after he (actually Alexa) blew out his candles.  Thankfully we were able to celebrate earlier that evening with a birthday dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory; yes, we broke the fried chicken tradition this year.  It's always interesting to go to dinner with Damon; he cannot turn off the Restaurant Manager inside of him.  The food was good last night, but the service and bussing left a lot to be desired.  I had to laugh when Damon left his chair to find someone to refill his iced tea - he became "that guy."  I was impressed that he was able to overlook the lackluster service and enjoy himself; I guess linguine with clam sauce can help you overlook these things.  On the bright side, I think this Old Spaghetti Factory experience has set the bar pretty low for me to surpass for his birthday celebration next year - - the big 4-0 in Las Vegas!

Continuing our long week of birthdays, yesterday Ani celebrated her five-month birthday (Alexa was disappointed it wasn't a "real" birthday with cake and ice cream).  It's hard to believe she's already five-months old; this year has been flying by!  Like many things, it was a bittersweet day for Damon and myself.  Five-months was the last milestone that Granty was able to celebrate - a reminder of just how short life can be.  Now that Ani has reached the five-month mark, she is able to eat solid foods, beginning with simple rice cereal.  Alexa had been eagerly awaiting the day that she would be able to feed Ani with a spoon (Granty never had solids), and thankfully Ani did not disappoint.  She was a mess!  She had no problem eating the cereal, but she's already starting to take after me - - she tries to grab the spoon and feed herself.  Damon and I are in big trouble if she's trying to demonstrate her independence at five-months.

Although the week started out with a very sad celebration, it was nice to have some happy times during the rest of the week.  I've reached the point of birthday cake overload, but Alexa is already counting the days to her cousin's first birthday celebration this weekend.

6/5: Celebrating Damon's birthday with his traditional ice cream cake.

6/7: Very eager for Alexa to give her another spoonful of rice cereal.

And this is why she was only wearing a diaper for her feeding....:)