Thankful for my Blessings

Thanksgiving 2009 has come and gone, but let's go ahead and be thankful again today, shall we? 2009 has been such a difficult year for so many people. I took the time to count my blessings last week instead of my usual day-to-day complaints about life. This year, I am thankful for:

* My supportive, loving, committed stay-at-home Dad and husband, Mark
* My healthy, wonderful, sweet-natured, 7-month old baby boy, Alex
* My beloved 8 1/2 year old cat, Herby, who has terminal bone cancer and was given 2 months to live in August 2008, and he still has an excellent quality of life over one year later.
* My family from afar who come to visit me, often driving 13+ hours in a 2-day span
* My family who are nearby and support & love all 3 of us
* Health insurance and dental insurance
* My sole household income that somehow still pays the bills, reduces our debt, pays for Mark's school and dentistry work, and adds to our savings. (It boggles my mind that we can afford this. No, I still do not own a house. Yes, I still live in an apartment with rude neighbors. Yes, I still drive my 1997 Camry. No, I do not like my job. But this is why I still go to work every day...)

Thanksgiving Day started with a phone call to Mimi. We had not spoken in quite some time, and I was missing her dearly. Mark and I watched some of Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with Alex and drank hot chocolate (honoring a tradition of his family). Alex "got the sillies out" while watching Yo Gabba Gabba. I must admit that I now like the show. It's cute. We added Plex to Alex's Christmas wishlist. That evening, we enjoyed dinner & family time at Mark's parent's house. Uncle Scott seemed to enjoy playing with Alex a lot. I'm so happy to see him interacting with Alex. He wore his festive Thanksgiving bib for the occasion as seen in the pic above.

Black Friday started with me at Turkey Burn at the gym. Wow - ouch. A 2-hour class designed to burn off all the food you ate the day before. But for me, it's just another step in my battle to continue losing THIS BABY WEIGHT! Seriously, 8 lbs that won't budge... I lasted an hour in that class: 30 minutes of aerobics, followed by 30 minutes of cardio drills. I wanted to stay for Zumba and Abs, but I just couldn't do it. And those Biggest Loser contestants can run a 26-mile marathon? I am a wimp. In the afternoon on Black Friday, we had our Christmas pictures taken with Mark's family. Alex was very squirmy. I hope some of them turned out.

Nana and Pepaw (and HANNAH!) all came to visit us on Saturday. We took Hannah to the Candy store, and had dinner at the Olive Garden, followed by our traditional breakfast Sunday morning at Katherine's. What a quick trip. I miss my family already!

OK, now about Alex:

He has started enjoying juice from a sippy cup. We started using the sippy cup when he was about 6 months old, but I forgot to write about it. He is also sitting up for the most part - at 7 months old. He helped us put an ornament on the Christmas tree last weekend. We broke out the video camera and made a BIG deal when he placed the ornament on the tree. He likes to sit in his bamboo rocker when I cook. I will bring him into the kitchen, and I will sing: "Watching Mommy cook". ...Another one of my fine, made-up little diddys. He is going through a pinching phase, which I guess is a good thing according to my growth & development books. Pinching allows him to be able to hold utensils, sippy cups, and eventually pencils/crayons. Anyways, he pinches my cheeks, my hair, my neck, my boob, just about anything really. Sometimes it really hurts! He also seems to become scared when a lot of people are in the room at once. When we took him over to Mark's parent's house for Thanksgiving, he became scared with all the noise, chit-chat, & people in the room when we first arrived. And he did the same thing when my family arrived on Saturday.

Last, we must end on a sad note: We have officially retired the cradle swing to storage at Grandma & Grandpa's house. And we sent the family bassinet (that even my Dad slept in) back home to Indiana. We continue to retire items, and I just *sigh* as another door closes. But as they say, another door opens, and Alex opens up new doors each and every day.

6 1/2 Months Old

Where does the time go? I miss that sweet little baby who couldn't hold his head up yet. It used to be so easy to hold him and help him to sleep. And now, well he is just so long, that he goes to sleep on his own!

Alex officially sleeps on his tummy with his rear in the air. As noted by the picture above.


Let's see where to begin...
I would first like to mention something that I forgot to months ago, so I won't forget. Somehow we were able to wean Alex off of his pacifier when he was about 3 months old. When we first suspected that he was teething, he started spitting it out when it was offered to him. I think that Mark and I just assumed it hurt him to suck on his paci. So hooray for us! It still makes me cringe when I am out in public, and I see 2+ year old children with pacis in their mouths.

Lots of growing up to discuss:
Alex has been in Size 3 diapers since our visit to Indiana. The Size 3 weight listed on the package leads me to believe that we will be in this size for awhile, and for that, I am grateful because it's hard to keep moving up the diaper chain!

This baby is becoming a child. I look at him, and sometimes I no longer see that tiny baby boy we brought home from the hospital. I see a child who puts absolutely everything in his mouth, squeals with delight, stands upright in his exersaucer, and is on the verge of sitting up on his own (75% able) and crawling in the next few months (50% able -- we still have some time for that one thank goodness!)

Mommy has a slight obsession with the Wonder Pets on Nick Jr. It's a show about a hamster, duck, and turtle who save other animals by emphasizing the importance of teamwork. Quite a catchy little show, and I only wish I would have thought of the premise myself. I sing their 2 main songs each episode in my sleep, it seems: "What's gonna work? TEAMWORK!" and "Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets, we're on our way!" My favorite epsiodes are when they go on holiday to Mexico and save a crab, and the dinosaur episode, which I've only seen once and I'm hoping to see again soon. Yes, I like the show probably more than Alex does...

Toys and books:
I recently bought him a board book with stories from the Bible. The pictures are so cute! I heard Mark reading it to him 2 different times yesterday. When we were in Indiana, Mark bought him a musical toy guitar that he just loves, and Nana bought him a musical piano toy a few months ago as well. Alex has quite the toy musical collection. He also plays with his toy keys from the nurses at the hospital quite often, and he also likes Tony the Teething Blanket (though not as much anymore). His exersaucer seems to be quite a blast for him. That little stand up thing is an entertainment machine and a half!

Clothes:
We spent late Oct/early Nov pulling out socks & hoodies from his closet. As the weather has started turning colder, Alex does have a coat, but I need to find a hat to cover his ears, or at least a new coat with an attached hood. I've been to Babies R Us, Wal-Mart, and a Carter's store, and no one had anything that would fit a 6-9 month old baby! All sizes for their coats were 2T and up. Amazon.com had some yesterday, so I might just have to order it online. We've been fortunate that the weather has been mild lately, but I know it's coming!

A couple of really cute things that he has been doing lately: When we turn on a sink facuet, he reaches forward and wants to put his hands in the water. It's so cute! He also wants to turn the pages in his board books while we are reading stories (instead of wanting to put the book in his mouth). So I think he understands that you turn pages in books.

At his 6 month Wellness Baby visit, I didn't cry for the first time when Alex received his shots. Guess that means I am getting used to it? Although, she did not have any flu shots. I was a bit disappointed. We still need to decide if we will find a flu shot from a public place. Alex's doctor discussed baby proofing our apartment soon and also whether we had increased his solid foods intake. She also recommended taking an infant CPR class, which I have signed up for in December.

We had his 6 month pictures taken the day after Halloween. (He was a monkey, by the way...) We had the following pictures: our Christmas family photo, him sitting in a chair, a "Santa hand" reaching out to hand him an ornament, him in his Cleveland Cavaliers outfit, and a close-up headshot!

And now, I am taking him for another one of our many Fall walks in his stroller. This could be one of the last mild Fall days, so we're going to take advantage of it!

One Year Ago Today...

...Alex and I were in a different place. We were about to travel to Indiana. Today... we are missing Alex's Great Papaw.

Yes, it has been one full year. I woke up last night 10/20 at 1:50 am because Alex woke up with tummy trouble. As I looked at the clock, I remembered the phone call I received around the same time, one year ago today. I heard the Daughtry song today that reminds me of him. My heart is sad, but I prayed and asked God how he is doing. I will see him again someday.

Last weekend, we traveled to Indiana to see my family. As I had a "business trip" on Friday, we decided to make the most of it, and Alex & Mark came with me. Thursday night was a nightmare. I slept maybe 4 hours off & on total. Alex slept in his pack & play; a foreign bed to him. And we made the mistake of giving him ready-made formula again. We have now learned that his little system cannot handle the ready-made formula very well.

I took care of my business on Friday. I'm hoping and praying this is the One. And we continued to Oaktown. We arrived around 4:30, and Mimi was happy to see us. Mom & Dad met us at Mimi's house where we had our traditional breaded tenderloins for dinner. Nana watched Baby Alex on Saturday night, so Mark and I could catch up on our sleep!

Saturday was a morning full of errands. I wanted to go to Charlie's for some chocolates and to a flower shop buy some flowers for Papaw's grave. Mark and I went to Vincennes, and then on our way to Mimi's for the evening, we stopped by Papaw's grave. It was raining, so I wasn't able to spend as much time there as I would have liked. We met at Mimi's, and I tried to contain my tears before we showed up, but it was too hard. Between all of the stress in my life & the significant anniversary of this trip, I was crying pretty hard. I guess that I needed to get it out.

We ate at McKinley's for dinner on Saturday night, and I noticed Alex watching my fork to my mouth at dinner. He's been doing that a lot lately, so it's definitely time for solid foods now! No doubt about it.

On Sunday, we stopped in Indy to visit Auntie D. She was very happy to see us. She had tears in her eyes when we arrived. I think she must have been amazed at how big Alex has gotten since the last time she saw him. Our trip was WAY too short as she had to go to work, but I am so happy that she was able to see him again!

The car ride home went 300% times better this time. We still had our struggles on the way down from Cleveland, but the trip back home was much better!

Next trip home - Christmas time! (AND I'M FINALLY GOING TO VISIT LUCAS OIL STADIUM!!!)

I'm a Big Boy Now

Oh my. Where does the time go? Alex is 5 1/2 months old. The end. No, I'm just kidding. Here are some of our most recent events:

Today, we went to a Fall Foliage Festival at Mapleside Farms in Brunswick. The above picture is Alex in his Big Boy Car Seat on our way to the festival. Alex's Great Mimi bought him a car seat that we desparately needed. He has outgrown his infant carrier, and everytime Mark and I would carry him around in it, we just about threw our backs out. Alex weighs approx. 16 lbs, and that carrier weighs about the same, so you can see why we were doing some heavy lifting. Thank you so much Mimi!!

Also, in the mail last week, Alex received more mail than I did. Ha ha! His Great Aunt Barb sent him a mini Peyton Manning jersey. Oh boy! He is so cute in that thing. I'm sure he'll be wearing it tomorrow night when they play the Titans. And Pepaw sent him a GIANT tractor for his collection! I noticed on the back of the box that he can also attach other tractor "helpers" in the future to harvest his pretend crops. :-)

OK, so about the festival: We brought the stroller along, and Alex took turns being in the stroller OR he would be held as we walked around, and we'd put our stuff in the stroller instead! We first bagged our apples from many different varieties, from which I will make Mark an apple pie. Then, during the rest of the afternoon, we bought BBQ apple butter ribs, apple cinnamon ice cream, & pumpkin ice cream to eat at the festival. We took home goodies too: caramel apple pops, an apple fritter, kettle corn, apple cider, and 2 apple cider donuts. Had our Fall pictures taken at a variety of places too!

Alex is going to be a monkey for his first Halloween. Last weekend, Grandma Candi and Grandpa Greg took us out for dinner, and we visited Babies R Us afterwards where they bought him a monkey costume. It's really cute!

During the week of 9/27, Alex slept in his crib for the very first time at 5 months old. He has been in there ever since. We finally broke away from his bassinet. I think it was equally hard for all of us to make this transition. I still peak on him every night as he's sleeping in his Big Boy Bed.

Also at 5 months old, he is eating rice cereal with apples at his dinner time meal & bottle. Hoping we can continue trying Stage 1 foods in the weeks to come. Mark and I let him lick the salt off of a pretzel sometime last week, which was quite funny. He first made a face, and then he LOVED it! Grandma Candi has since also given him a pretzel too.

I finally worked up the nerve to cut his toenails for the first time a few weeks ago. Believe it or not, they were finally long enough to actually cut. Why his little toenails wouldn't grow, I have no idea because his fingernails grow super fast. I've been cutting his fingernails every Sunday since he was about a month old. Also on Sundays, I boil his bottle nipples to keep them sanitized and looking good. Functional and polished, now that's what I'm talking about for my boy!

Last weekend, I went through another clothes clean-up. So sad! We retired most of his 3-6 month clothes, unless they were long-sleeved, and I pulled out all of his 6-month clothes for his dresser drawers. Each time I do this, it takes A LOT of time, and it's sad. My little man is getting big.

And teething, oh my goodness are we STILL teething! Alex has about 2 good days in a row followed by 2 bad days where he cries and cries, shoves his fist in his mouth, and drools. We've tried EVERYTHING! Cold teething rings, frozen washclothes, Tony the Teething Blanket, ugh. I finally asked the Pharmacist at Walgreens for advice, and she recommended Infant Motrin, saying that we need an NSAID. She also recommended Hylan teething tablets, a homeopathic remedy that's been around since 1930-something. We've used the Motrin many times, and I don't think it really helps. We finally tried the teething tablets yesterday, but I cannot really tell if they worked or not. I'm going to talk to his Dr. at his next appointment on 10/23. Until then, we just keep pressing on...

He's loving his car walker and exersaucer right now! In fact, I just might have to post a second picture of him in his exersaucer after I write this post. Yep, I'm going to just do that!

Alex is eating 7-8 oz per bottle about 4-5 times per day. We're going to do his 6 month pictures soon too!

Before I close this post, I want to remind myself of a couple special little memories that I have of him:

1) the little red stork bite on the back of his neck since the day he was born
2) the way he sticks his tongue out while he is sleeping and "pretends" he is eating a bottle
3) laying on the floor and looking at the world from his level and at those sweet little innocent eyes, nose, and mouth

Ah, I love my son more than life itself - is that even possible? Thank you God for Alex and my husband. They are the light of my life and how I make it through each difficult day at work!!!

20 Weeks OId

August & September have been quite stressful and busy. Plus, I am going through some personal struggles. Fall always drastically changes situations in my life each year. And this Fall has certainly been no different...

Alex understands emotion:

One day last week, I felt incredibly sad. I was crying pretty hard and very upset. I held Alex, walked down the hall, and laid him down on my bed. As I cried, Alex stuck out his lower pout lip and stared at me. He would poke that little lip out, hold it there for a few seconds, and then pull it back in. He did this about 10 times in a row, all while I cried. I was amazed. He understood that his Mommy was upset. What a joy he is... the days are only going to get so much better with him! No personal struggle is too mountainous.

Alex has a new baby cousin:

She was born on 9/12. Another angel in the world to love. God is so good. I predicted that her birthday would be 9/12. I also predicted that she was a girl, so I went out and bought 3 Mega Millions tickets yesterday! Her birth caused me to look back over the past 4 1/2 months of Alex's life. I am so grateful to have spent the first 12 weeks on maternity leave because I was able to be with him all day long & watch him grow. And he grew so fast... After holding my niece last weekend, it was so hard to remember Alex being that little. He even weighed 5 oz less than she did, but his head was much bigger. No wonder I pushed for 2 hours!

Other Alex developments:

Alex was pretty grouchy last week. His eating habits and his sleeping habits have changed. It can be a struggle to give him a bottle. He squirms and seems distracted a lot. He looks around the room and moves around like crazy. He will usually sleep at least 6 hours at a time, but he now wakes up often and doesn't seem to sleep as soundly. We have been trying to get him to go back to sleep immediately, but sometimes if he becomes too awake, he gets hungry. Along with the crankiness come these non-stop grunts. He will just sit in his cradle swing and grunt. Mark said he sounds like Roscoe from the Dukes of Hazard. Ha ha!

The big news:


We started giving him rice cereal with apples over the weekend of 8/29-8/30 at 18 weeks old (for fun of course, as our pediatrician recommended). He wasn’t too sure about the taste, but he definitely understands being fed from a spoon. We also gave him bananas on 9/13 at 20 weeks old. I’m not sure yet what he likes & what he doesn’t like. He made a yuk face at first with the bananas. We video-taped the rice cereal feeding!

His belly laughing is hysterically funny. Mark can really get him laughing hard. And I love how he is discovering his voice. He says “Oh” A LOT! His squealing is quite impressive too.

Stories that he likes: Little Digger, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Green Eggs & Ham, and Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day (which is a childhood favorite of Daddy that Mommy had never heard of…)

He’s starting to outgrow his cradle swing (so sad…). Daddy had him in his car walker about 2 weeks ago, and he seems to really be checking out the toys. Even though he cannot push the walker yet, I hope it will be one of his favorites and that we can actually have some space soon for him to scoot around! (**side conversation with God here: "Please, please can we have some new space for Alex to scoot around in his car walker? I realize this is all part of your plan, but our neighbors are wearing on our patience." OK end of prayer and side rant now**)

I cannot believe how much hair Alex has lost lately. I guess that’s pretty normal, but when he was born with a full head of hair, I thought it would be impossible. I also continue to lose my hair post-partum. Wonder if we will both become bald Mommy & Baby!

I really enjoy Alex at this stage. He is so alert and curious. He has to constantly be moved around because he is exploring. He loves to hold his feet and put his fists together. He loves to be bounced around, and he loves when we play with him. We’re enjoying many walks in the stroller again too. And he seems to like football! He must definitely be OUR child!

I did finally miss one of his milestones, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Apparently, he had been reaching at objects for weeks, but I finally saw it for myself over our anniversary weekend: 8/29-8/30.

He’s still eating about 6 oz every 4 hours about 4-5 times a day. My growth & development chart shows him right on track!

4 Months Old (...and still growing...)

Alex enjoyed a visit from Nana and Pepaw last weekend! They came in on Thursday afternoon. We enjoyed Santo's for dinner on Thursday night. On Friday afternoon, Alex had his 4 month old check up. And Nana came with us to the Dr.!

Alex weighs 15 lbs 1 oz (60th percentile for weight) and is 26 & 3/4 inches long (95th percentile for height). Maybe we have a little basketball player in our family! We discussed introducing solids to Alex at his appointment. His Dr. explained that at this point, his main source of nutrition is still his bottle and that any cereal we wanted to introduce would just be for "fun". Until he loses the tongue reflex completely, she said he probably wouldn't accept a spoon. If he starts acting interested when Mark and I are eating our own food, then it would be OK to try a small TBSP of rice cereal. (I think I am secretly happy that it's not time to start solids yet. This means that my little boy is still little! Although, it's not quite a secret, huh? I just told my family & friends who read my blog.) Alex's Dr. was happy about our progress with his head development. He also had his 2nd round of immunizations, for which he and I both cried (again...) We go back for his 6 month old check-up on Oct 21.

On Friday night, we took Nana and Pepaw to B.A. Sweetie's candy company, and got both sets of grandparents together for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Although when we got to Sweetie's, they were closing in 5 minutes! We rushed all around the store looking for candy to show Mom & Dad, and I think we stayed past store closing time. I carried Alex all around the store. He was so cute looking all around. I told him that he would love candy someday. I saw that my Dad picked up all kinds of gum with old-fashioned labels. It was really cool. I bought some Bazooka!

On Saturday morning, I went for a long walk at the lake-to-lake trail in Middleburg/Berea area with Mom & Dad. That afternoon, we took them to Lake Erie and got some ice cream at the Honey Hut. Mom watched baby Alex on Saturday night while Mark and I went out! On Sunday, we had our traditional breakfast at Katherine's before Mom & Dad drove back home. All-in-all, it was a great weekend! I truly appreciate how my family has made a huge effort to visit us often at such a special time in my life!

On to more Alex developments: His 4 month old birthday was this past Wednesday, and he is officially in Size 2 diapers. (How sad...) He has found his feet and likes to grab them. He is rolling over like crazy now. In his bassinet, we use an infant positioner to keep him on his back, but I woke up this morning, and he had kicked it down to the bottom. Don't know how much longer we will be using that infant positioner!! And he likes the Noggin channel A LOT!

Mark and I celebrate our 1 year anniversary this coming Sunday. I have a surprise planned for Saturday afternoon, and Alex is staying with Grandma Candi and Grandpa Greg on Saturday night. We are having Alex's 4 month old pictures taken on Sunday, our actual anniversary. So, I will have more formal pictures for everyone soon.

He is almost 18 weeks old and eating 5 1/2 -6 oz. every 4 hours. We're officially entering the stage of only using the bigger 9 oz Born Free bottles. And yet another baby product retires to my storage...

We Might Be Teething

What a week! Baby Alex has had too many messy diapers lately. Just about every diaper change is messy. We've called the doctor twice now. Once on Wednesday, and again on Saturday. She doesn't seem concerned at all. If he's giving up on his bottle and more lethargic than normal, then she wants to see him. In the meantime, we are giving him Pedialyte in between his bottles, so he doesn't get dehydrated. And we're going through diapers, Destin, and baby powder like crazy!!

He discovered his fist this past week. When I take it out and offer him a paci instead, he spits it out and in goes the fist again. By today, he was a little drool monster. I've never seen him drool before, but the poor little guy was slobbering and his little outfit was soaked. So, Nana might be right -- we might be teething. A milestone that Mommy didn't want to reach just yet. He just keeps reaching them. Instead of being happy, I am sad to see them fly by. :-(

Which brings me to another one: He rolled over on 8/5 (at 14 1/2 weeks old)! On 8/5, I bought him a crib kicking toy since he loves to kick so much. But instead of loving the toy, he flops over onto his tummy about 4 times in a row. I get so excited and tell Mark: "Get the video camera!" And we captured his little milestone on tape. I was really happy about this milestone!

Alex was finally exposed to Yo Gabba Gabba. (Oh no!) I told Mark months ago that Alex would not be watching that show, but when Jack Black is running around with these characters, it's got to be good, right? I love Jack Black... Mark's friend Todd gave us a bunch of Baby Einstein videos. Alex started watching them yesterday. We have also added the Noggin channel to our favorites on the cable box. (And I said there would be no TV watching... I wanted toys, books, and learning with Mommy & Daddy.) But he just loves the colorful images. I guess that I will need to compromise and let him watch limited TV. We'll see how long that lasts until he learns how to cry to get his way with Mommy & Daddy.

Other toys/baby items we've been using lately: The Bumbo seat -- to teach him to sit up. He is doing really well in that little chair. What a great invention! And he finally enjoys Big Al, the alligator toy I bought for his car seat. He used to ignore it in favor of Mr. Ribbit, but now he focuses in on Big Al. Now he knows that Big Al jingles, and that's a good thing. We brought out the car walker a few weeks ago and the Exersaucer this past weekend, but he is still a little too small for either toy.

He's also babbling and laughing. I heard him laugh for the very first time when we were Indiana -- he laughed at Pepaw. And now, he won't stop. Grandma Candi made him laugh a bunch yesterday. And he always laughs at Daddy when he sings Head & Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. I've noticed that he has definitely started babbling more over the past 2-3 weeks as well.

He also loves to be bounced on your knee. He can hold his head up about 95% of the time now, so he can't stay in one place very long without wanting to be moved around. He had his first Wal-Mart experience a few weeks ago, and I carried him all over the store while he observed.

The joys of being a mother are so much more wonderful than I could have ever expected.

Upcoming events: We would like to schedule his 4 month old pictures at the end of the month, and his next doctor appointment is 8/21, which means another round of immunizations for both me & Alex to cry about!

Mr. Mom, Mrs. Paycheck, & Mr. Smiley

I went back to work last week. After 12 weeks of one of the most joyous times in my life (Thank you heavenly Father!!), it's back to the reality of earning money to live my life. Mark and I feel very blessed to have lived off of our savings so we could enjoy this special time together: learning how to be new parents, learning from each other, learning about our new baby and his needs, learning that we can, in fact, survive on very little sleep, learning that we still need time for our individual selfs, and learning that no matter what time I have to be somewhere with Alex in tow, that I will always, always, always be late! :)

Mark seems to be enjoying staying at home with Alex while I am at work. They have been having some great play time together. I think it's very important for Mark to leave the house at least every other day, so I'm going to continue to offer my support when I get home from work. Besides, all I want to do when I get home each day is play with Alex anyways...

Now, on to baby Alex: He has finally learned that there's more to life than eating, sleeping, and pooping! He is staying awake for longer stretches during the day and staying asleep for longer stretches at night. Mark has found the ultimate secret to nighttime sleep: wrapping him up in his swaddle me blanket! Our boy will sleep anywhere from 6-10 hours at a time when wrapped up in that blanket.

He's definitely making us laugh, and he's started to giggle himself a little bit. Mark said that he loves learning about his cute personality. He's definitely into music, he likes to listen to your voice when you read him a story, and he was actually watching an old episode of Full House on the TV the other day (no joke...)

Alex is a kicker! When he is awake, he kicks non-stop. He kicks when lying down & kicks when people hold him. The only time he is still as a mouse is when he's eating a bottle (and even then, he crosses his little hands in this "I'm being proper" position, and his feet dangle below). Also, we are amazed that he is already bearing a bit of weight on his legs. He likes to stand up (while supported of course) and look around at everything. Something tells me we'll be pulling out his Car Walker & Exersaucer soon. Oh my gosh -- my boy is growing toooooo fast!!!

Just this past week, he is starting to make noises: He said 'brrrr' the other day when staring at his musical star. When I say to him "talk", his mouth opens up, and he tries to make sounds. Sometimes with success, and sometimes not. But he is indeed trying!!

He also likes to stare at the pictures of himself on our walls. We tease him and say that he is being narcissistic, but really -- I think he likes the black & white frames that surround his picture.

Milestone alert: He is 13 1/2 weeks old, eating 5 oz every 3-4 hours, and he is about to roll over anyday now! Something tells me that will be my next post...

Indiana trip

We survived our first road trip -- and what an experience it was!

Let's start with Friday morning when we left around 9:15 am:

About 15 minutes from home, I make the silly comment to Mark: "Wouldn't it be just terrible if baby boy made a blowout diaper mess in his car seat while we are on the road? What would we do? We don't have any extra car seat liners." And Mark said: "Well, I think you just got what you asked for." Next thing I know, we're in the Brunswick McDonald's to solve Crisis #1 of our trip: The bathroom was so tiny and had an angled Koala Care changing table that made him keep sliding down towards me as I cleaned him up. Trying to keep my cool (I've done this a million times, right?), a McDonald's employee came out of a stall and said "Boy she's chubby, you're sure feeding her well. How much does she weigh? She's so pretty. What's her name?" I said: "HIS name is ALEX. HE weighs 12 lbs." What I wanted to say: "He's healthy lady! So what that he likes his bottle! His Dr. is happy. You want to see his messy butt?" Lesson learned: Pack Shout wipes or a Tide pen in my diaper bag for the future. (And I was positive that I had everything I could possibly need in there...)

Then, we decided to go ahead and feed Alex since he started acting hungry, and then we got back on the road. By this time it was about 10:30. Needed to fill up with gas about another hour down the road. Then another hour goes by, and we stopped to 'Noodle' in Columbus. Diane and I always joke about Noodles & Company, so an inside joke there... If you've never eaten at a Noodles & Co., go! By this time, I think we had been on the road for about 4 hours, and we were only in Columbus. Hubby & baby boy slept for about 3 hours while I drove us all the way to Indy. Thank goodness we made up some time. Stopped to feed Alex again in Indy at a Burger King, had a diaper change in the trunk of the Mazda because BK didn't have a bathroom changing table (what in the world?), and on our way again. Needed gas again when we reached Terre Haute, and Alex had another messy diaper! We usually only get one per day, but since we were traveling, of course he wanted to surprise us. He cried and cried and cried and cried until Sullivan when IT happened:

Meltdown #1: 6 hours in his car seat was all he could handle. As he cried off & on, Mark and I just let him cry. But then, he got louder, and his face started turning red, and I couldn't calm him down. Then, he started gasping for air and his face started turning blue. I scream: "Pull over!!!" On Johnson street, I pull him out of the car seat, hold him, & kiss him. He calms down, but then has these after shakes, which freak me out, so I start crying. Motherly love told me he deprived his little brain of oxygen and was now having miniature seizures. We were miles from home -- oh God what will we do? Mark told me to stop freaking out, took baby Alex, hushed him to sleep, and we continued to Oaktown when we finally made it to Magic Mimi's house (more on that later...) I've got to chill out. I'm still learning how to be a Mom.

9 hours later (I was right about my car trip length prediction), Alex meets Mimi and she says: "He's so pretty!" Everyone thinks he is pretty. Mark's Grandma Rose says that he has perfect little baby features. Rose's nursing home friend asked what HER name was too... He's a boy! He's a boy! But I'm not getting all bent out of shape -- because yeah, he is kind of pretty. Mommy is biased on his cute factor though.

So Mimi wants to feed him, and hold him, and kiss him. I was so happy that she finally got to meet him. Auntie D was there too, and she was dying to hold him as well. Then, my Mom comes in from work, and she heads straight to baby Alex. No "Hi Sweetie, how was your trip?" -- straight to the baby. Lesson learned: No one tells you that after you have a new baby, your existence is barely there anymore. So, I joke and say Hi Mom, nice to see you!! After we made it to Mom & Dad's house, I dug out my baby book to learn about a future timeline for when to expect other milestones from Alex. It seems that I was crawling at 7 1/2 months, walking at 10 1/2 months, and teething at 11 months. Potty trained before I gave up the bottle though...

On Saturday -- we spend the entire day at Mimi's. We have Oscar's breaded tenderloins for lunch that were the size of a basketball. It's not a visit home unless I have a breaded tenderloin. Barb & the girls arrive. Barb takes him and sheds a few tears. It was enough for my own waterworks to start flowing. The girls each hold him, and we had a yummy cookout for supper. We named Mimi "Magic Mimi" this evening because no matter how mad Alex was, when she took him, he calmed down and slept. We truly tried to convince her that she needed to come back to Cleveland with us.

Sunday -- we visit Tiff, Nick, and Spencer in TH. Spencer is sooo cute! He's a year older than Alex. We have some Italian Beef for lunch (yum!), and have a nice visit. Back to Mimi's Sunday night for some more Alex time with the family, and we have some Bobe's pizza. Gosh, I love their pizza. We take our 4 generations picture with Alex, me, Dad, and Mimi. In one of the pictures, Mimi is looking straight at Alex. Just like Mark's Grandma Rose did in the 4 generations pictures we took of his family. :)

Mom's friend Debbie had a granddaughter Myrah who was born 3 days before Alex, and she wanted to get the babies together while we were home. Myrah comes over, and the 2 babies cry at each other. Ha! And Myrah's already on solids -- eating sweet potatoes!! So she's of course sleeping 8-10 hours at a time. (Sounds pretty tempting huh?) But Alex's doctor hasn't even approached us about eating solids. We're positive that he's getting all the nutrients that he needs right now in his formula. So, we will continue our regimen.

Monday -- Molly comes over to visit with Alex. We had an awesome visit. I think she liked him. :) Then, Mom wanted to take baby boy to her work to show her friends. He has a crying fest at the hospital. He had hardly napped all day, and I think today was the day where he had enough of being shuffled around everywhere because he was just cranky. Went to Zander's for lunch. 3 words: pistachio ice cream! I can say with 100% confidence that this was the first public place that I noticed stares while Alex was having another crying fit. It bothered me for a brief second, and then I didn't care anymore. After we left, we have car Meltdown #2 right before Apple hill orchard. Mom consoles him while Mark and I sneak inside to get a cherry pie and some peaches to take back to Cleveland with us. He was still pretty upset as we left, so Mom takes him out of his car seat again and walks around with him out of the car. Took Mom to Cecil's to get Dad's truck, and I went to visit Papa's grave. Had a nice chat with him. I was already pretty sad, so it seemed like a good time to visit him since I knew I'd just cry again when I got there. Told Papa that I was still tired. He always used to tease me about being "born tired". Told him about baby Alex being too cranky to meet him right now. Told him what a great Pepaw my Dad was. Told him to take care of Stephanie's baby Kaia, my friend Travis, Holly's Dad, and Michael Jackson. Told him that I had been surrounded by many deaths lately, and it's been really hard. Told him that I loved him, kissed his grave stone, and I left. Had a nice chat for 2 hours with my Mom outside that evening while Mark fed Alex. And he finally slept for most of the rest of the night. Literally 6 hours in a row...

Tuesday -- going home. I think we were ready. Alex was ready for sure. He sure needs his cradle swing by this point. We have an awesome breakfast and chat with Mimi. She makes us coffee, toast, english muffins with peach jelly & blackberry jam (a new addiction of mine, which is strange because I loathe blackberries). We talk about life. Life with Alex, life in our careers, life, life, life.... I love these discussions. Mark and I agreed in the car ride home how much we really enjoyed that breakfast with Mimi. I will remember it for the rest of my life. Mimi gives us another tractor that was Papa's for Alex's expanding tractor collection started by my Dad. I love his tractor collection. It represents our side of the family.

In Terre Haute, we fill up with gas for the long trip home, and get some lunch. Long John Silvers was giving away free baja tacos that day, so we head there. Mark and I dub the "LJS incident" of which we laugh about for at least an hour together while Alex slept. It was silly laughing too; he described it as 'dating again' laughing. I think we just have been so stressed about making it through this trip, and out of our home element, that we were entirely slap happy. But man, was it fun!

Meltdown #3 happened in Indianapolis. Baby boy started making his faces again. The freakout faces. We pull over on Washington street. I pull him out, he calms down, we wait about 30 minutes, put him back in his car seat, and he freaks out again. Then, I just went ahead and gave him a cold bottle because we were trying to make it to Auntie D's to give him a bottle, but he just wasn't going to settle down. Finish feeding him in the park, and then head to D's. By this time, we'd been on the road for 4 hours, and we were only in Indianapolis.

Meltdown #4 happened at an Ohio taco bell. Mad, mad, mad. If Alex isn't sleeping or enjoying the 'Mr. Ribbit show' in his car seat, then he is mad. Mark finally gets the Pina Colada drink he's been wanting from Taco Bell, we feed Alex the final bottle we had packed (please God don't let him want another bottle), and we had another 'trunk of the Mazda' diaper change. Mark coined our ride as a bunch of traveling hilljacks. Seriously, the trunk was packed with a bunch of baby stuff, sweet corn, peaches, etc. and a make-shift diaper changing station. We laugh absurdly again.

Now, I normally don't break the law intentionally. Sure I speed like the rest of them, but when you have meltdowns #5, #6, & #7 (we will name them the 'almost home' meltdowns), you take your baby out of his car seat and calm him down while driving. You drive the speed limit instead, you put on your defensive driver frame-of-mind, you calm him down, and then you put him back in his seat. We finally get home around 11 pm. Another 9 hour trip...

Lesson learned: For road trips, I definitely need a pack n play, our pitcher mixer (if a fridge is available), extra travel size diaper wipes, nursery water, my bottle brush, and stain remover. I DON'T necessarily need a bottle warmer (Alex drinks cold bottles just fine).

All in all, it was an exciting, stressful, emotional, exhausting, elating, joyful, summer-fun filled adventure!

10 Weeks Old & Toys!

Alex is 10 weeks old, and he's going through a musical phase (he's definitely OUR child). After introducing his Baby Einstein gym sometime last week, I noticed how much he loved the musical star. He would stare at it for minutes at a time. I had never seen him so focused before. He used to be entertained with objects for no more than 1-2 minutes. Now, he will stare at that star for at least 5 minutes while I prepare a bottle. Hoorah!

Then, I also remembered him listening to Mark play guitar a couple of weeks ago, so I went on a toy hunt. I received an email from WhatToExpect.com about age appropriate toys. So, after lots of fun shopping online, I bookmarked some toys. Some were from when I was a child -- such as the barnyard animal friends at Mimi's house. So, I ventured to BRU looking for musical toys and bought him "Mr. Ribbit", which is a frog for his car seat, and I also bought him "Big Al", which is actually a tiny alligator. He also got Mallory the Monkey, but she is very big, so we will wait awhile before introducing her.

Now that Alex is becoming interested in toys, I am becoming obsessed with Craigslist! Last week, I found a gently used blue Bumbo seat for $15 (retails for $40) to teach him how to sit-up. And just 2 days ago, I found an ABCD Exersaucer for $40 (retails for $100).

Other exciting developments from the past week: He has been in Size 1 diapers for awhile now, and he is about to graduate to Size 2. (Oh my gosh...he's growing too fast). I went through my clothes last week to prepare for going back to work. So, after I finished my closet, I did some rearranging of Alex's clothes. What a journey down memory lane! His little premie & newborn clothes are now retired (how sad...), and he is officially wearing anywhere from 0-3 months or 3-6 months clothes depending on the brand.

Also part of my BRU trip was preparing for our first long car trip to Indiana! Alex will get to meet Mimi, Barb & the girls this coming weekend. We had to get some nursery water for his formula, diapers (of course), on-the-go bottle warmers, & a bottle cooler. What is usually a 6 1/2 hour drive will definitely be much longer. I am crossing my fingers that we make it there in 9.

The Jinx of July 1st

I was so excited about July 1st being a great day for once in my life. Some people may not know this about me, but July 1st is my ever eternal jinx day of bad events. It seems that every year when this day comes along, something real bad happens to me. Seriously, it's been this way since I was 15.

So overall, I was shocked that it turned out to be a good day yesterday until our power went out for no reason for almost 4 hours last night. No thunderstorms, no possible overuse of the A/C throughout our entire apt. complex, nothing. It does this all of the time -- random outages. I dealt with it fine until now. Now that Alex is here, this can absolutely not happen on days when it happens to be 95 degrees outside, hot, & humid. Luckily, it was only 70 yesterday, but it still stays so hot in this box of an apartment. We cannot open our balcony & windows because our lousy neighbors who live below us go outside and smoke every 5 minutes, and it carries up to our apartment. Just 2 of the many reasons why we hate the apartment complex where we live... but for some reason, this place is part of God's plan for us right now. And I just accept it. But it's hard to prepare a bottle with cold tap water; the formula just doesn't mix right. Not to mention, it's hard to feed a baby by candlelight. Alright, so on to the good things about July 1st:

We bought a new car! It's a 2007 Mazda CX-7 (crossover SUV). Black cherry mica color, only 13K miles, 6 cd changer, moonroof, cloth seats, and we got a great deal on it. We bought it in Andy & Holly's neighborhood - Cuyahoga Falls. (Guys, if you're reading this, it was during the day, were you home? So sorry we didn't call or stop by, but we will see you tomorrow night!) We really needed a new car. My Camry will need a new muffler system and new shocks soon, both of which are $$$. Also, we needed more trunk space for future family trips and visits to Indiana. And when I go back to work, I wouldn't have been able to drive the "toaster" instead of my Camry since it's a stick shift. (We will miss you, toaster! It was a wonderful journey.) But we love this new ride. It makes us feel awesome when we drive it. Mark compared it to a dream last night. If we can't get a house yet, then a new car will just have to do. Yay for us!

Also, I talked to my boss about my schedule when I return to work. I proposed 2 ideas, and she was fine with either one. So for now, I will be working 7-3:30 everyday, and 2 days a week at home. I am so excited! I can still see my baby boy. I hope this helps with the transition.

And it finally happened... Baby boy smiled at Daddy yesterday, and I saw it! He was talking to him and making faces, and he smiled 2-3 times in a row. My heart just melted. I hope he smiles at me soon. As soon as he's smiling like that more often, I'll take pics y'all! Don't you worry...

Eyelashes and Immunizations

I am now the mom of a 2-month old baby boy, and wow has he changed so much since the day he was born! And it's only been 2 short months!

His little cheeks have filled out, his eyebrows are starting to grow in, his eyelashes are long & beautiful just like his Daddy's, and he definitely has my eyes! Sometimes, I can see different members of our families when I look into his eyes. So far, I've seen me, Mark, Diane, Grandpa Greg, and Mimi. His hair also lightens up A LOT after getting a bath, although it returns to the darker color a few days later. And now, he actually enjoys his baths! In month one, he used to cry A LOT when we put him in the water. During the hardest part of our new baby experience so far around the 5-6 week mark when he had extreme crying/tummy issues for 2 straight weeks, we decided to try a bath to soothe him, and *poof* he calmed down. He has loved his baths ever since. We sing the 'Takin' a Bath' made-up tune all the time now, and he listens intently.

Speaking of made-up tunes, I sing many songs that don't make any sense at all. Never thought I'd be the type of Mommy who 'baby talks', but it comes so natural that I do it all day long! I even find Mark singing MY stupid songs to him. We have the following songs (all with different tunes of course): Takin' a Bath, Kiss your Paci, Good Baby, That's my Pumpkin Pie, That's OK, What's the Matter, Your Little Bottle, Baby Boy, and I'm sure there's more... (what a dork, i am). It reminds me of that 2 & 1/2 Men episode about Charlie Waffles. One of my favorite episodes, I might add. Although, I'd never in a million years sing those songs to Alex. :) LOL

Also, he can hold his head up for the most part. I find myself supporting his head less and less each day. In fact, just this week on one of Daddy & my many walks in the stroller, he cried briefly. As we turned around & headed for home, I took him out of his stroller & held him over my shoulder while he looked at the world all around us. He was fascinated!!!

The best part is: He is starting to sleep in longer intervals. In fact, he slept nearly 5 hours straight last night. Perhaps Mark and I will actually get to sleep at the same time again. Now, our schedule is designed that we sleep in shifts. When Mark comes to bed, I get up or vice versa. I miss it!

We are still waiting for any laughter, smiles, and coos in his awake time. He does all of this in his sleep though. I keep reading growth & development articles that say it should happen any day now.

Our 2-month old Well Baby visit was this past Friday: He weighs 11 lbs and 14 oz., and is 23 inches long. I am floored. Almost double his birth weight. We must be doing something right. Dr. said he is in the 50th percentile for his age. He put up with the physical aspect of his examination - she poked and proded on him, and he didn't even cry. She's a bit concerned about his head & ear development, so we have to turn his head often (to his left/our right) while he is sleeping going forward.

And finally, on to his immunizations. OK first, I must say that I am finding myself more and more curious about all things "natural, 'green', no pain meds for headaches, want to start recycling, using better lightbulbs, etc." and the like. I am even planning to make Alex's first solid baby foods myself. I really struggled with whether we should even be giving him immunizations. Just the idea of injecting a virus in his little system with the notion that his immune system would develop antibodies against future viruses disgusts me. Not to mention, I was terrified of any allergic reactions to the drugs. I knew ahead of time that he was having many shots. In the end, I felt like I had no choice. Society and the medicinal advances of today makes me feel like I had to, like "it's the right thing to do" (even though I don't feel this way AT ALL). And of course, when they were administered, both he and Mommy cried....

Father's Day

I really enjoyed Father's Day. I tried to make it special for Mark considering we really can't afford too much right now. I think he enjoyed his day, and he should. Because he is the best Daddy I could have ever asked for baby Alex. My days are so much better because of him. He's my partner, husband, best friend, and my solid rock. Without him, I could never do this alone. He has much more patience than I do. He deserved to have a great Father's day, and I hope it was all he could have hoped for.

I might be hooked on this...

I'm joining the blogging world! To keep myself accountable for journaling & updating my life. Also a good way to share with our family and friends. I used to love writing in my journals, but with spending so much time online, it just makes more sense this way...

Loving my new baby boy! He is almost 8 weeks old. I cannot believe how big he has gotten already. Hating that I have to leave him in a few weeks to go back to work. We had some formal pics taken yesterday. He was such a good baby at the studio. Didn't scream his face off. He was alert and awake the whole time! Quite the camera friendly baby. He's becoming more and more awake each day. He can follow a rattle with his eyes back & forth, but I'm still waiting for that first smile.