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!
