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...