A Photo a Week in 2015 - #20

This photo is my new favorite of Alexandra. She LOVES yogurt and eats it constantly. When she tries to feed herself, it ends up all over her face and clothes.

Twenty Months

The big 2-0, in months that is! I can't believe how much Alexandra has done in this last month. It has certainly been busy and I am sure that I will leave something out. It is amazing to watch her grow and explore her world. I was looking at some pictures of her from a year ago when she still had those baby cheeks. Now she is a full fledged kid! She has so much fun and is almost always happy. She is becoming quite independent and only gets fussy when we don't let her call the shots - for example, we make her go to bed (I know, how could we?) or get in the stroller when she would rather push it. She thinks shoes are wonderful - a typical girl and really is a girly girl. She loves putting on beads, carrying around her purse and gets so excited when she puts new shoes on for the first time.

Yesterday, Alexandra and I went to Sea World for the special members Christmas unveiling. She had been two times before and only lasted 2 hours each time. Previously she had shown only mild interest in the animals. This time we stayed 4 hours and she was very interested in the animals. She saw both beluga and killer whales, sea turtles, penguins, reindeer, flamingos, fish and dolphins. I think the highlight for both of us was being able to actually touch a dolphin on the nose. Since it was the Christmas celebration, Alexandra also got to meet Mrs. Claus and an elf. She wasn't too sure about them at all!

Earlier in the month, my mom and I had taken her to the Aquarium of the Pacific, which she also seemed to enjoy. It is clear she is an animal lover just like the rest of the family!


On Veteran's Day, I had the opportunity to watch Alexandra's swim lesson since it was a Tuesday. It had been many months since I had been to one and it was amazing to see her improvement. She had a private lesson before the parent-tot class. The big accomplishment of the day was her floating on her back without any support!!! She cried the whole time because she wanted to be in charge, but even her instructor was impressed.

This month we also celebrated Halloween. We went to the pumpkin patch where Alexandra got to see baby chickens. turkeys and pigs. She was more interested in them than the actual pumpkins. A second visit to another pumpkin place proved not as interesting. I think the most fun aspect for her was being able to wander around. Alexandra went trick or treating for the first time, but only to four houses. She went as a lady bug and was so cute. When we got home, she helped pass out candy and thought that was so much fun! She would yell after people she saw outside with a candy in her hands as if to say "Come and get it!" It was the cutest thing. During the day, she went to Dylan's school dressed as Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

Alexandra continues to be a picky eater around mommy and daddy, but did have some bites of mommy's hamburger on Friday night. She likes egg rolls that Marivel makes and eats all kinds of things with her including soup. There is not a fruit that Alexandra does not like which is a really good thing! Two things that Alexandra absolutely loves are ranch dressing and sour cream. We went out to eat for Grandma Janet's birthday and caught her slurping ranch dressing instead of dipping her pizza into the cup! Then one night at dinner, she saw the sour cream and wanted some. It was near the end of the container, so we let her have it and a spoon. She was so blissfully happy! She also loves ice in her drinks and is not shy at all about walking over to the refrigerator and asking for some!

Alexandra has added more words to her vocabulary and is trying hard to say whole sentences. She
says bye-bye all the time and then adds words such as Dya, which we assume means Dylan (Marivel's son). Sometimes it is bye-bye pane or tane when she sees an airplane.

We have some new favorite books which must be read ALL THE TIME! These include: If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Corduroy (about a bear) and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Alexandra's favorite thing to do at Grandma Janet's house is play in the yard. She enjoys waving at airplanes flying overhead. She also thinks it is so much fun to help grandma get the mail. She knows exactly which mailbox is grandmas! Alexandra also is a great helper around the house for mommy and daddy. She insists on helping with laundry and it
is perfect because she can get things out of the dryer much more easily than either of us. She also likes helping to sweep and clean. I wouldn't be surprised if she asks Santa for cleaning supplies for Christmas!


Today we went to breakfast and then Grandma Sara came over for a visit. She will be taking care of Alexandra tomorrow. Alexandra has had quality time with both grandmas this month. In October, we went to the Queen Mary for brunch to celebrate my mom's birthday and Sara, Lorel and David also joined us. Then one weekend Sara came over and watched Alexandra so that I could get some much needed grading done.

Speaking of grading, I have been so overwhelmed with it that I just finally got around to posting Month 19. Please check it out today as well. I think that is it for this month and I need to get back to my grading.

Nineteen Months

As usual, I am late in posting the blog...a whole month late this time! Miss Alexandra had her 18 month doctor's appointment and weighs 22 pounds. She is 32 1/4 inches tall. She is wearing 18 month tops and some bottoms, but for the most part the 12 month bottoms still fit better.

The big milestone this month is that Miss Alexandra can eat using a fork. She eats strawberries and melon this way. She is also getting more proficient with the spoon and likes to feed herself yogurt. I am sad that all the summer fruits are basically gone because Alexandra has loved eating strawberries, melon, peaches and grapes. She does like apples so that is something she can continue to eat. She has not really added any new foods this month.

Alexandra had her first sleepover with Grandma Sara this month when Dave and I went to the Blake Shelton concert. They had fun together, Grandma Sara has a nice long hallway where she lives and Alexandra had fun running up and down it and pushing her baby doll stroller! The next morning was breakfast at grandma's house along with Grantie Lorel and Uncle David.

Swimming lessons have continued every week and Alexandra has really progressed. She launches herself off steps and swims to whoever now. She has decided the swim instructor, Ginny, is nice and now lets her hold her all the time. Last week she even got an extra half hour of a private lesson.

Grandma Janet's backyard is one of Alexandra's new favorite places. She loves running around, helping grandma clean the spider webs and looking at the flowers.

This month, Temecula was the host to the Moving Wall, a small replica of the Vietnam Wall. It has the same names as the real one, but it is about 1/2 the size and portable. We went to visit and I just love this image of Alexandra touching the names.

Considering how late this post is, I probably have forgotten several things. But for now, I will leave you with this picture of Miss A waving bye to all her loyal readers!

Eighteen Months

A year and a half! How is that possible? It seems like yesterday that she was just turning one year old. And now six months have flown by and she is half way to two!

Alexandra is quite the talker. While there is a lot of babbling, she does use lots of real words,some in the correct format, while others are good attempts. Examples of words she can say include: eye, ice, mom, dada, duck, uh-oh, oops, hi, bye, ball (ba), more (momom), up, down, open (op), close (clo), and oh. She loves to say Hi to people wherever we go. I swear once she said monkey, but she hasn't repeated it. Same with bottle.

She absolutely loves books and is getting better about sitting through an entire story. She has favorite books that she wants read to her over and over again. The current favorites include: The Crack on the Track, Pajama Time, Brown Bear Brown Bear, Good Night Little One and The Cuddliest Cuddle in the World. Often, the first thing that she goes to in a room is her box of books.

She is a good eater. She LOVES fruit and eats strawberries, all kinds of melon, grapes, blueberries and banana. She also likes bread, hot dogs, cheese and her fruit/veggie pouches. She is funny though and picky about eating certain things with certain people. With Marivel, she will eat chicken, but when I offer it to her I get a look like "Mom you can't seriously expect me to eat that?" She is now doing the same thing with her milk and oatmeal....only with Marivel. If Dylan (Marivel's 8 year old son) is having it, Alexandra wants to try it. Thankfully she is getting plenty to eat, but I hope this is just a phase since Dylan can't be with us 24/7!

She knows many parts of the body and can point to them when asked. She knows eyes, nose, cheeks, tummy, foot, chin, bum, mouth and toes. Every night we read Good Night Little One and as I get to the part in the book, she touches the appropriate body part. So cute!

Alexandra is a good sleeper, at night. It is a funny thing that during the week at Marivel's house, Alexandra will point to the pack n play indicating she is tired and go right to sleep for a nice long nap. On the weekends or a day off, she cries and cries and cries if I try to get her to take a nap. It seems my only luck is when she gets really tired and we go for a car ride. Then most times I can bring her into the house and put her in her crib for a nap. But trying to encourage her to nap on her own just isn't happening. Marivel must have a special touch, because she does not want to nap for my mom either. Sometimes she will get so tired that a walk will also do the trick, but often that is later in the day than we would like. She is pretty good about getting to sleep at night, but we have to lie down on the floor with her in her room and transfer her to the crib after she falls asleep.


Alexandra has finally gotten to the point at swim lessons where she lets the instructor hold her without fussing. She is now the pro in the parent-toddler class. My mom really enjoys taking her for these lessons. I can only imagine how great a swimmer she will be by our next vacation in March.

She also got to spend extra time with Grandma Janet as I unfortunately got a nasty back to school bout of bronchitis. Dave was out of town visiting his dad so he could not help out. We did also spend a Sunday in Redondo, having brunch with Grandma Sara after she got back from her trip to Florida and New York. Grantie

Lorel and Uncle David also came to breakfast so it was fun to see them.

We had a neighborhood watch party at the park near our house and Miss A had fun with the slides. It was so fun to see how excited she got when she saw Dylan. She started shouting and clapping. Marivel tells me that this is the reaction she gives every afternoon when school is out and they go to pick up Dylan. In the morning, she apparently cries when he leaves.

Alexandra loves playing outside and I am looking forward to cooler weather (its been 105 the last few days) so that we can resume

walks in the evening and maybe even go to the park. For now, she really likes the backyard. Since it has been too hot to play outside, Alexandra's days include coloring, dancing (especially to Latin music), reading, playing with her little kitchen and playing with her toys. Some of her favorites right now are her little car, the baby stroller and she still loves all the musical toys. She finds several ways to amuse herself.

Miss Alexandra has decided that she likes to clean. One day, she started pulling out wipes and cleaning our hardwood floors with them. Today, she wanted to sweep the steps at my mom's house. I will have to nurture this love of cleaning, since it is something I definitely do not enjoy!

A few other fun facts about Alexandra at 18 months: She loves sitting in the big chair at the dining room table (although it is only for a short while). Alexandra gets so excited over technology and loved when Grandma Sara let her play with her laptop (it did not matter that it was old and would not turn on). She loves to dance. Her favorite song is a Latin song called "Lento." When she hears it she starts bouncing up and down. And finally, she has started giving kisses to people. She blows kisses to almost anyone, but saves her sweet little kisses for a select few.

Here are some other fun pictures from her 18th month!

15 Months

Since I have failed miserably at getting the blog updated on time for the last two months, I am going to write this one early in the hopes it will actually be posted on June 16th! Since I am finally on summer vacation, it should be easy. Let's go back to about May 25th since the rest was part of the previous blog post.

On May 27, we took Alexandra to her 1st baseball game. It was a Lake Elsinore Storm game and she had a lot of fun. She loved the mascots most of all, so we made sure she had the chance to meet Thunder, the team mascot.

Now that I am on summer vacation, our days are filled with walks, swimming, playing at the park, naps and even shopping. Miss A is taking swim lesson on Saturday mornings and loves jumping into the pool and using the kick boards. She does not, however, like the idea of floating on her back. We are fortunate that we have several nice parks in our community where she can run around.

Miss Alexandra can express herself even better now, often pointing at things she wants. She says mom, da, uh-oh and up, although not always in context.  She will see Dave either in person or a picture and say da. Sometimes she points to the wrong person in the picture, but I think she understands da is daddy. There are times that she will look directly at me and say mom, but she also says ma for more. Lately when something falls she says uh-oh and on June 11th, she started saying up when she wanted to either go up the stairs or be picked up. She understands even more than these words she expresses. When there is a container, she can follow the directions open and close with the lid. If I mention that we are going upstairs, she will walk towards the stairs. When I say bye-bye, she waves and sometimes even for hello.

The play remote control is still one of her favorite things. It was the best $10 I have spent on her to date. She loves that thing. Of course, real remotes are still even more interesting. The second she sees my cell phone now, she wants it and even throws a mini-tantrum when I won't give it to her. Other things that she loves include stuffed animals, books, her baby laptop and a musical tea pot. She plays the same song over and over, which I sing to her in a British accent (imitating the song). She loves that! She likes when we sing to her, the favorite song being Itsy Bitsy Spider!

Alexandra loves books. She will frequently take every book out of the container where they are kept, flip through the pages and then toss it aside for the next one. Her favorites include the peekaboo books, Sophie the Giraffe books, Penguin Says Please and Itsy Bitsy Spider. She "reads" the peekaboo book over and over. Unfortunately, Miss A also likes the taste of books and has been caught eating them a time or two.

With nine teeth now, Alexandra has become a pretty good eater. She loves cheese puffs and veggie puffs, little owl crackers, strawberries, pancakes, breads of all kinds, Belvita crackers and juice. At Olive Garden the other night we got her a peach-mango smoothie that she loved! Another milestone is that she can drink through a straw and does it all the time with water now.

For Father's Day, we had lunch at Fuddruckers and then Dave went and did a Go Kart race at K1 Speed in Ontario. For dinner, we went to our favorite neighborhood restaurant called Teakwoods. Everyone there loves Alexandra and she loves them. They take the time to say hi, play peekaboo with her and I honestly think they are just happy to see us because we bring her along!!

A few other things: she has started trying to stand on her head, can climb up onto the ottoman in the media room, has her own chair in the living room, and is finally wearing sunglasses (although not all the time). She has the most adorable straw hat that she happily wears when we go outside. Miss A is a total night owl, often staying up until nine and even after ten on nights where she takes a nap too late in the day. Before I go back to school in August, I will have to change this and get her to bed earlier.

Here are some fun photos from Month #15!

Week Forty Three

Because I am behind in blogging, I don't have much to write for this week. I went back to work and Alexandra was happy to have time with Marivel and Dylan again. Alexandra continues to get better and better at both crawling and cruising.

She knows how to hug. When we give her the Spanish word "abracito" or tell her to "love the zebra (or mommy or whatever), she leans in and makes her happy whimper sound. It is so cute.

This week included visits with both grandmas. Grandma Sara came to visit for a couple of hours and Grandma Janet watched Alexandra on Saturday while Dave and I went to a Toastmasters event.

She tried papaya this week which she liked at first, but now only likes mixed with pears. She loves yogurt, especially peach, but is uninterested in finger foods so far. She only has two bottom teeth, so she will be more interested once she has some upper teeth.

Sleep was quite a challenge this week. Alexandra would wake up crying and then fall back asleep in my arms. But as soon as I put her back in her crib, she was up again and crying. One night this happened three separate times. I think part of it was that she caught the family cold and was stuffed up. I think another part is just growth.

That is all I can think of for now.

Weeks Thirty Six and Thirty Seven

I am a whole week behind and then some behind!  I guess that is what happens when we are busy having fun! So I will do my best to recap the last two weeks. So much has happened and Alexandra is already another 1/2 month closer to one!

Highlights of Week Thirty Six:

• Alexandra stood for the first time in her crib! She was so proud of herself. Now she is pulling herself up all the time and even starting to cruise on the furniture!
• She had meat for the first time (pureed). Alexandra likes both turkey and chicken. She loves the chicken with apples! 

A Trip to Reno (Part of Both Weeks):

• Alexandra, Grandma Janet and I went to Reno to visit my Uncle Bob and Aunt Sarah. What a great time we had. Alexandra not only earned her 5th state (10% already at just 8 months), but she also met two Labrador retrievers and played (well more like tried to crawl in) the snow! While in Reno, we weighed her and she is 17.4 pounds! 

Highlights of Week Thirty Seven:

• Mommy was off all week which meant lots of quality girl time! Daddy had Thursday and Friday off so Alexandra got more time with him as well. 
• This week she celebrated her first Thanksgiving by sleeping through dinner! Yep, a two hour long nap right before dinner meant she missed it all. She did get pureed turkey, sweet potato and grains. We gave her a taste of cranberry and a taste of pumpkin. She did not seem interested in either.
• Alexandra went shopping with mommy and daddy on Black Friday. Don't worry, we did not even start out until 9 AM! She was a trooper and thankfully we did not really have any lines to wait in or big crowds since everyone else seemed to shop on Thanksgiving (which we refused to do).

Week Thirty Three

You know you have an infant when it takes you 30 minutes to read and grade one essay since you have to keep moving the little one from crawling into harms way! That is how my evening has been and why I am behind on my blog this week. But here it is...

Lens caps and water bottles, remote controls and telephones, restaurant menus and computer keyboards.....these are a few of her favorite things! Yes, Alexandra has become quite interested in electronics and other everyday gadgets. She still plays with her toys, but the items listed above get her attention quickly if they are visible.
Alexandra had fun crawling around on Grandma Janet's new carpet, before all the furniture was placed. She got a good workout going after mommy's water bottle!

Alexandra has decided she is okay with green beans after all. Marivel fed them to her this week and there was no crying. She definitely has her favorite foods. After eating peaches this morning, she licked her lips to make sure she got all the surrounding peaches into her mouth as well. It was quite cute to see!


This was quite a week for Alexandra as she celebrated her 1st Halloween. She wore a Minnie Mouse outfit and was as cute as can be. She was not interested in candy, but in the bag containing the candy because it made some fun noises. The only place she visited as a trick or treater was our neighbor's house (Rick & Tina) so she could show off her costume. She seemed quite intrigued by all the people who came to the house.

On Friday, we went to Irvine so she could have dinner with her Grantie Lorel, Great Uncle David and Grandma Sara. Both grandmas were there so it was another "Two Grandma Weekend." This morning we all had breakfast together before Grandma Sara got on the road back to Arizona. Alexandra will be seeing a lot more of both grandmas now that Grandma Janet lives 5 minutes away and Grandma Sara is moving to California (Redondo Beach)!

Here is a cute picture of Alexandra hanging out at Grandma Janet's:

Week Thirty Two

Another week gone and its almost November! I have a book called The Wonder Weeks that talks about certain weeks when babies make mental leaps. There is always a checklist to mark off with behaviors that your child exhibits. The last one was at 26 weeks and at the time there were very few of the characteristics that Alexandra had met. Now at 32 weeks, many of them are things she does. The next mental leap is just a few weeks away at 37 weeks!

Alexandra has been playing in her Jumperoo and loves it. She can spend at least 30 minutes amusing herself. Tonight she even started jumping while I was holding her on my lap.

As mentioned in the previous blog, Alexandra had a "Two Grandma Weekend." On Sunday, we all went to breakfast and then had pictures taken at JC Penney's. We ordered a CD of photos, so once that arrives, I will add some photos to the blog.

Being sick and having such an adorable daughter sucks! I was not allowed to cuddle, kiss or even touch her until today. Talk about mommy torture! Thankfully, my mom, Dave and Marivel all took good care of her.  I am still a less than 100% so I wear a mask when I am holding her.

Halloween is this week and I am excited to take some pictures of Alexandra in her costume. I like Halloween and look forward to it every year as the start of the holiday season. It is fun to decorate and it will be even more fun once Alexandra is old enough to go trick or treating.

Alexandra loves to practice standing. I have noticed that she is trying to get her feet under her when sitting on the floor so that she can stand up. Tonight I put her arms on the foot stool of one of our chairs and she was reaching for something on it. I let go for a few seconds and she was able to hold on. She has such strong legs that once she realizes she can do it, she will be cruising around on our furniture. For now, she will continue to practice standing when one of us is around to help.

Another tooth is just below the surface and has caused Alexandra to be fussy off and on. And she must be growing again because she is eating like crazy. Today she had 5 ounces of food, 7 ounces of juice and 30 ounces of milk! We tried apple/cherry mix today and Alexandra liked it a lot. In addition, she had mango this week which is definitely one of her favorites. She smacks her lips with that one and peaches. Dave gave her a taste of mashed potato at dinner and she stuck her tongue out at him with the look that said, "how could you daddy." Clearly she did not care for them!!!

Alexandra loves her stuffed animals. I will often play with her that the monkey or kitty is giving her kisses. After about three times of touching her face with the stuffed animals face, she grabs it and snuggles it. It is so adorable to watch. And she makes this really cute little sound of pure contentment.

There is not much else to report for this week, especially since I have been keeping my distance. I look forward to a lot of kisses and cuddles this week to make up for it!

Week Thirty

Its hard to believe that it has been 30 weeks since I first met Alexandra. Time goes so fast now and on Wednesday she will be 7 months old. She will have a lot to report for her monthly blog.

She is currently sitting in my lap and watching intently as I type. Perhaps she wants to make sure I don't forget something or give away all of her secrets! She is babbling away and perhaps telling me what to write. If only I spoke baby. In her babbling I distinctly hear "bababa", but notice a "w" every now and then.

She has started wearing some 6-9 month clothes finally. For sleepers and pants, that size fits perfectly, but the onesies are entirely too long! Oddly enough, there are still some 0-3 month clothes that fit her. Just like all women's clothing, there is no consistency in sizes. Since we have finally had some cooler days, we have been able to use some of her pants and long sleeved tops. This week it even started getting cold at night, so we are using sleepers. One of the outfits that she finally got to wear was this blue, white and yellow one from her Great Aunt Ann.

Grandma Sara visited last weekend and got some quality time with Alexandra. As I mentioned in last week's blog, it was a "Two Grandma Weekend." What fun and what a lucky girl! We went to breakfast at Coco's and out to dinner at Lonestar. We also went shopping. Alexandra was able to show off her new moves. She is getting really good at scooting. Grandma Sara helped her exercise her legs in preparation for standing some day soon. She loves to play what we call the "Up the Baby" game and made sure Grandma Sara did it with her!

This week we transitioned from her seat in the bathtub to a little ducky bathtub that goes inside the big tub. She loved it because she could sit up on her own. She really enjoyed tonight's bath and was splashing her hands and getting water every where! This girl is a water baby for sure! We figure that we will use it for a few weeks until she can sit in the tub without sliding around. I probably need to purchase a tub mat. Here is a picture of her new bathtub.

This week Marivel got a Jumperoo from a friend and Alexandra LOVES it. She has all kinds of toys that she can play with and the best part is jumping up and down. We had to put a large flat pillow underneath as her feet don't hit the ground. She will need to grow a few more inches before that can happen. Nevertheless, Alexandra is intrigued and can now entertain herself for hours. Okay, maybe not hours, but certainly for quite a few minutes!

Alexandra tried several new foods this week. She liked bananas, apricots and mixed vegetables, but HATED green beans. When Grandma Janet gave her a few bites, it was obvious that even though she ate them, she was not enamored of them. This week when Marivel tried to give her green beans again, Alexandra started crying at the first taste of them! When we went out to dinner last Sunday, we gave Alexandra a taste of baked sweet potato which she liked and baked potato (plain) that she did not like. During the week we also gave her some mashed up avocado, which she did not seem to care for at all. It is fun to see her reactions to the different foods. We have several new purees for her to try this week including: apples & cherries, mango, sweet potato & corn and pears & pineapple. Now that we are giving her stage 2 foods, there are some interesting combos!

Marivel speaks to her in Spanish and uses the word "leche" for milk all the time. When we were out at dinner, I asked Alexandra if she wanted milk and even showed her the sign for milk. She looked at me but did not really react. A lot of the time she will get a big smile with either. When I said, "Quieres leche?, " meaning "Do you want milk?" her head turned very suddenly towards me and it was clear she understood exactly what that word means!

The other bit of news is the unmistakable white of a tooth that has appeared just below her gums! It is not poking through yet, but it is definitely ready and should do so any day now. Well, that is all I can think of for this week. Be sure to visit back during the week for Alexandra's 7 month notes! Here are a few more parting shots! Enjoy!

Week Twenty Nine

Another week is gone! Alexandra had a doctor's appointment on Friday. She is 15 pounds 11.5 ounces and 26 inches long. She got three shots and handled them well.

Alexandra has been eating like crazy this week. The doctor told us to up the amount of solid food we are giving her so now she will have 2 ounces twice a day. We plan to give her fruit in the morning and vegetables in the evening. She did try a new food this week, squash, and seemed to like it. Alexandra insists on feeding herself. We get the spoon ready, then she grabs it and turns the spoon over to lick off the food.

In true "Mama-ratzi" form, I took a ton of pictures this week. I even experimented with some outdoor photos of Alexandra and then did some editing with Picasa. It was fun to experiment, although my subject was a little bit challenging on the cooperation side. She was more interested in putting things in her mouth or staring at the trees than posing for this photographer.

Alexandra has started laughing a lot more. She laughs when I kiss her on her tummy while changing a diaper. She laughs (or screams depending on her mood) when we wash her face after she eats. Every day I see more and more of her personality emerging and it is so fun!

Alexandra is becoming more and more mobile. She can scoot several inches at a time and soon will be fully crawling. She uses her arms to help move her forward.

The doctor said he felt teeth under her gums and I think a tooth will appear soon. She wakes me up several times a night with little cries that many people tell me may be an indication of teething, plus she drools, and drools, and drools.

Grandma Sara is in town and so Alexandra is having a "Two Grandma Weekend" and loving it! Extra attention and extra cuddles - what more could a girl want?

That is about it for this week, so here are some more photos from this week! Enjoy and check in next Saturday for week 30. Really? Did I just type that? Wow!!!