9 Months

Here are a few of the things that Alex is doing this month!

• He has begun to stand independently.  I've noticed him pulling himself up and then after standing for a minute or two he'll let go of whatever he was holding on to.  After about 10 seconds he usually gets so thrilled with himself that he starts clapping and flailing and he loses his balance!  This happens more and more as the days go by, and I wonder if he might be walking before next month's update!!! 
• He plays peek-a-boo.  I often play this game with him, but I'm usually the one doing the peeking and the booing.  The other day he was in his carseat with a blanket draped over his legs.  He was looking up at me and I said "peek-a-boo!".  He responded by pulling the blanket over his head and then throwing it back with a little shout!  We did this back and forth until he got tired of it ..... I could have gone on and on all day long!
• He waves bye-bye.  We were visiting family in New Mexico and as we left a family dinner one night someone said "bye-bye" and waved to him.  He waved back with a huge smile!  I love this baby!!!!!  He isn't very consistent with his waves and his peek-a-boos ... he only brings them out on special occasions, but we are consistently thrilled whenever he does!
• He got his first tooth!  And his second!!!  Of course, he waited until we were on vacation to do this, but thankfully I think we experienced the worst of the symptoms a few weeks before.  We were so excited when we woke up one morning and recieved a big, toothy grin!!!

• He babbles and expresses himself so much these days.  We aren't able to make out any distinct words yet, but we can tell that he is communicating!  He says "dadadadada" and "mamamama".  I feel fairly sure that he doesn't connect these sounds with Joel or me, but at least we know he can make the right sounds.  It's only a matter of time!!!!! 

• He went on his first long road trip last week!  We drove to Santa Fe and spent a few days there and then drove to Carlsbad, NM to spend some time with some of my aunts, uncles and cousins.  The first two legs of our journey were 5 hours each.  Alex slept for most of the ride!  It was very enjoyable and we made great time!!!  The drive home from Carlsbad is 8 hours and I think Alex decided that he had been good long enough.  He cried for probably 5 out of the 8 hours we spent driving!  It was sad and pathetic and it made us wish our ears would fall off, but we survived and it made us appreciate "home" even more!  Alex was also a trooper while we were on vacation.  He was happy most of the time and let us do all the things we planned on doing.  We were on the go much of the time and he took it in stride! 
• He is developing a fun, playful, personality.  He loves to do things to get a reaction out of us!  He is also very curious and explores EVERYTHING!  He likes to be down on the floor most of the day and as long as someone is nearby he is happy to play and explore on his own.  Gone are the days when I would sit him down on the rug in front of the bathtub with some toys while I took my shower.  The other day I tried that and a few minutes later he had discovered me behind the curtain and was soaking wet! 

• He loves his Daddy!  He lights up when he sees Joel and he expects a hug and some quality cuddle time the moment Joel walks in the door! 

And here's some more just for cuteness:

8 Months!

Another month has gone by and I am still trying desperately to find the time to catch up on my blogging!  I've considered putting the blog on hiatus until I can find more time, but blogging is my way of scrapbooking and I'm scared to death that if I don't blog, I'm going to forget all the sweet memories we've made while the kids are little.  I have a baby book for each of my kids, but only one of them is filled out in detail ..... bet you can't guess which one that is! ;)  So, until I do find the time to do more blogging, I'm just going to have to be a bad blogger!  A bad blogger is better than no blogger, right?

March 4th marked 8 months as a family of 5!  I really, truly can't believe that it has been 8 months!  Alex is growing (taller and wider) each day and he is developing a wonderful and fun personality!  Here are some highlights from his 8th month:

• Alex officially began to crawl this month!  I'm pretty sure it was about 2 days after my last post that he figured it out!  It took him no time at all to master this skill.  He is ALL OVER THE PLACE!  He is constantly into the kids toys and into my laundry and exploring dangerously close to the stairs!  We cannot take our eyes off of him for a second!!!
• He has learned to clap his hands!!  He'll get a big, gummy grin on his face and then give himself a big round of applause!!  
• As if crawling wasn't enough, Alex has learned to pull himself up to standing on EVERYTHING!  He loves to stand.  At the couch, at the door, next to someone, on the stair railing, in his crib .... you name it, he will figure out a way to use it to stand up! 
• He got his first big boo boo.  :(  As I mentioned before, he loves to stand up!  One of his most favorite places to stand is at the coffee table.  Our coffee table is really quite treacherous - it has a metal frame around slate tiles.  There is nothing soft about it.  So one morning he was standing up and observing Isabel and Gabe as they played and he lost his balance and fell down, but not before banging his face on the table.  He has a huge bruise on his cheek!  The bruise is a long line from the corner of his mouth up to his cheekbone.  (It kind of makes him look like The Joker from Batman, but you didn't hear that from me!) 
• About midway through the month, he decided he likes baby food!  Hallelujah!  He went from eating a few bites at a time to finishing a whole container in one sitting!  We haven't discovered anything he doesn't like yet.  

***Sadly, I started this post right after Alex turned 8 months old in hopes that after a couple of days I'd have it completed and ready for publication.  Not so!  It took me a whole month to get back to it and in a week and a half Alex will be 9 months old!!!  It seems a bit silly to work too hard on this post when I'm going to have all kinds of new things to tell you in a couple of weeks.  So, here's the incomplete 8 month post.  Be looking for the 9 month post soon!!

P.S.  3 kids is kicking my butt!  Can you tell??

Colonial Day

This was an exciting week in the First Grade!!!  Isabel's much-anticipated Colonial Day was on Friday!!!   We've been gearing up for this day for quite awhile now.  It all started about 4 weeks ago when Isabel came home from school one day and announced that she was having Colonial Day and they could dress up if they wanted to.  She asked if I could make her a dress to wear for her special day.  Well, I could hardly say no to this sweet request, so I jumped right on the internet (God Bless the internet!!!) and began searching for patterns.  It wasn't long before I found one.  I began calling every fabric and craft store in the city looking for it and was delighted when I found it in stock at the fabric store closest to my house!  I put it on hold and sent Joel over the next day to pick it up for me (I was at work!  He would want me to assure you that he HATES any and all fabric stores!).  When I got home that night I opened the pattern and immediately wondered what I had done!!!!!  It was confusing!  It was written in a language I didn't understand!  It looked very complicated!!!  I lined up a back up outfit with a friend just in case.  The following night Isabel and I went and picked out the fabric and I got to work!!!  I had two weeks to finish my project!  I started with the bonnet and was pleased when I was able to finish it in one weekend!

 The dress took considerably longer, but I moved along steadily.  I had Googled how to read a sewing pattern and anytime I didn't understand something I Googled that too.  (God Bless Google!!!!!)  Google was able to provide me with enough information to finish the project!  The night before the big day I stayed up until midnight putting the finishing touches on the dress.

 The next morning we woke up to a foot of snow and NO SCHOOL!!!!!!!!  BLAST!!!!!  Fortunately, Colonial Day was rescheduled to the following week and I was able to find a babysitter for the boys so that I could spend the whole morning at Isabel's school enjoying her fun day!!

The kids got to experience a lot of the things that the kids from Colonial times did:

They made a game out of a cup and a foam ball attached to a string.  The object was to flick the ball up and then catch it in the cup.  We've all played some form of this game ... I can't think of what it's called. :)

They learned to play Jacks .... actually it was more like throw the ball and chase after it!

Yo-yo

 Rolling a round hoop down a hill and pushing it with a stick.  This was really hard!

 The kids were each given a piece of paper to draw a picture on......

 Isabel drew a picture of the boat from the Boston Tea Party .....

After receiving the paper, they were told that they had to pay taxes on it!  Their taxes were paid in Skittles! :)

 They put on a play about the Boston Tea Party.

Red Coats on the left, Colonists on the right.

 Saying her line!  Yes, that's right!  My girl with the horrible fear of speaking in front of people, said a line in front of a room full of people!!  WITH GUSTO AND NO TEARS!!!!!

 Throwing the tea overboard!

 Writing the alphabet in?... on??.... I don't know if you write in or on a hornbook.  :)  With quill and ink!

Reviewing the manners expected of Colonial children before taking tea in the library.

 Discussing "general interest" topics during tea.

 Isabel and Mrs. Bull.

Isabel and her best friend, Ashley.

7 Months!

This last month has been a rather big one for out littlest guy!  He has discovered so many things!- If you'll remember, last month I reported that Alex had learned to sit up!  Apparently, 6 months is early for a baby to be sitting up so well by himself.  Everytime I take him into the pediatrician's office (we've spent a lot of time there lately, someone in our house has been sick for the last 2 months) they guess his age around 8 months!  Of course if doesn't help that he's so FAT!!!!!  Anyway, once he mastered sitting, it wasn't long before he began to put has hands down and pull himself onto his hands and knees.  He usually rocked there for a minute and then ended up on his belly.  As the weeks have gone on, he is becoming better at maneuvering himself around in this position.  He hasn't quite figured out how to move his knees forward, but he is only days away from crawling - I can feel it!!  Despite the fact that he has not quite figured out how to crawl, he is very good at scooting himself across a room.  Just yesterday I put him on the floor next to me as I was checking my emails.  He babbled away for awhile and I didn't realize that he had moved away from me.  When I went looking for him, I found him sitting right on the edge of the stairs!!  We almost had our first tumble. 

-  We started baby food this last month too!  Joel has been anxious to feed him food so that he has a course of action when I'm not here and there's no milk!  I have to admit it would be nice not to have to pump so much! Well, much to our dismay, Alex is not a big fan of food.  Judging my the pudge on this boy, you'd think he'd love it, but alas he is a boy who loves milk .... exclusively!  Anyway, so we tried feeding him a couple of days in a row and after recieving disastrous results on all occasions we decided to take a little break from the food.  We tried again a couple of weeks later with apples instead of cereal and received slightly better results, but still not good enough to have us going through the process daily.  Just this week we have tried yet again and we are seeing some improvements!  Mostly he is happy to eat a few real bites if we are willing to turn the eating process into a game!  There's lots of funny voices and distorted faces and food all over us and the baby, but if it'll help him get used to the idea of eating then we're willing to do it!  Also, we have been using the Bumbo seat as a high chair and, not only do we have to push Alex's fat legs in and pry them out, but he has a very large range of motion in this seat.  We are planning to get the high chair out of storage as soon as the temperatures go above freezing! 

Alex also likes the occasional teething biscuit!

- Another great, yet surprising accomplishment this month has been pulling himself up to standing.  If your reaction to this statement is anything like mine was, you are thinking, "WHAT??  He isn't even crawling yet, how can he be standing???"  And yet, it is true!  One day I was loading the laundry basket with clothes and I had put him onto the floor next to the laundry basket so that I could have both of my hands to work.  I turned around after loading the basket and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that he had pulled himself up and was standing next to the basket!  I ran for the camera, but, of course, by the time I returned he was sitting contentedly next to the basket again.  He has done it several times since then.  He has become pretty good at pulling up on the laundry basket, in his crib, and just this morning he pulled himself up on his exersaucer.  I'm really praying that he'll crawl for awhile before the walking begins!  First of all, he's my last baby and I'd kind of like to enjoy the baby phase.  Second of all, I'm not yet prepared to handle that kind of mobility!

- Along the same lines as the sitting and the almost-crawling, Alex has learned to get himelf from sitting to crawling to belly and back to sitting.  He's so cute when he's trying to scoot his little fanny up onto the floor! 
- Besides all the mobility accomplishments this month, we've discovered some character traits too. Our other two kids were very stubborn! I thought Isabel took the cake on the stubbornness and then I met Gabe! One thing I'm learning about Alex is that he doesn't seem to be stubborn. THANK GOODNESS!!!! He does, however, have quite the temper! There is much screaming and arching to be seen when he doesn't like something, and he goes from zero to hero in the blink of an eye. So, while I'm thrilled about not having another child to battle wills with, I'm a little nervous about this temper business.

This is Alex's favorite perch!  He holds onto Joel's hair!  He gets so comfortable up there that he'll lay his head down on Joel's head and suck on his fists.  Joel's hair is usually filled with drool when he's done.  He also likes to suck on Joel's ear.  It totally freaks Joel out!!!!!! 

My boys in their matching p.j.'s!  I've been waiting forever to dress two kids alike!!

The big kids continue to adore their baby brother!  I have to chase them off with sticks sometimes!

Adventures in Nursing

As I sit here at work going brain dead from the boredom, it occurs to me that I have a story to tell you!  I was struck today by the hilarity of a situation that I find myself in each week while here at my workplace.  Ok, so it’s not exactly hilarious, but if I don’t think of it as funny it threatens to become a very “glass-half-empty” situation and nothing good comes of those.  So, I choose to take the high road!

                As you all know I have a little man at home who requires high volumes of milk for sustenance.  Before he was born we were faced with the question of how to provide him with this sustenance.   To us it seemed like a no-brainer!  I had nursed my other two kids without a problem and I would nurse this one!  The only difference this time around is that I am working part time. With the other two kids, I quit my job when they were born.  So, with this decision made I went on the hunt for a good pump so that I could still work and provide him with said sustenance.   Now here is where this story gets “funny”. 

                When I came back to work after my maternity leave, I was discussing arrangements with my boss.   There was some figuring to be done because, you see, most of the offices in our building have windows that look out into the hallway.  (NO THANK YOU!)  My mom occupied one of the only offices that did not have a window until just before Alex was born, so that was no longer an option for me.  Those who have gone before me always used our Archive Room.  It’s not as nice as it sounds.  It’s what I would describe as a glorified bomb shelter with cinder block walls, a hard tile floor and wall-to-wall filing cabinets.  Not exactly the place you want to be when trying to complete a task that requires relaxation and comfort.  However, this is the best option unless I want to either sit in the lady’s bathroom (EW!) or take my chances with the windows.  Really, it shouldn’t be this hard to be discreet!

**Another funny story to go with the current funny story:  Since Alex was born, Gabe has referred to nursing as “milking”.  As in, “Mom’s milking the baby” and “Mom, does the baby need to milk?”  I know, too cute right?  I refuse to correct him!  The other day I brought my nephew, Noah,  with me to pick Gabe up from school.  Gabe and Noah are about the same age and Noah is the baby of his family so there is no “milking” going on in his household.  After picking Gabe up we were going to meet my sister-in-law at Chick-fil-a for lunch, but the baby needed to eat so I picked Gabe up and let the boys play in the van while I fed Alex in the parking lot.  After a few minutes Noah says to me, “What are you doing sitting up there?”  to which Gabe answered, “She’s milking the baby!”  I LOVE IT!  **

                So, every Wednesday and Thursday at 1:00 pm I announce that "I’m going to milk" (my work ladies are in on the joke!) and I gather my supplies!  I have my bag containing the pump itself.  It’s about the size of a messenger bag – I could easily be heading out to my car for lunch with a laptop in tow.  I take my cell phone to keep track of the time.  I take my Nook – because it’s my tradition to read when I milk, and it’s the only time in my day when I’m sitting uninterrupted long enough to enjoy the escape!  And lastly I take the sign that I made to go on the door of the Archive Room/Bomb Shelter because even though you have to have a key to get in and there’s only one key available at a time, I’m paranoid that someone is going to barge in on me.  The sign says "NURSING MOM!  PLEASE!  DO NOT ENTER!" and has a big bottle on it (in case my intruder failed to read the words, I’m hoping the picture will tip them off!) and one of those big DO NOT ENTER signs.  So, I’ve got my supplies and I trek through the building to the cabinet containing the key to my hideaway, retrieve the key, put my sign on the door and set up shop!  There is one table in the room containing a computer, a wire basket/inbox, and a sign in/out sheet for any materials coming and going.  Unless of course, someone has recently been in the Archive Room in which case it’s very likely that they’ve left their mess all over the table.  So, I clear off the contents of the table, get my stuff out and pull up the most uncomfortable office chair you’ve ever had the displeasure of sitting in.  Most days I can block out the unclean, uncomfortable environment that I’m sitting in and enjoy my book, but there is still the occasional moment when I sit there filled with terror at the thought that whoever is walking by will hear the “WAA WAA WAA” of the pump and come to the door to investigate what is going on in there!  So far so good!  The most dramatic thing to happen to me in the Archive Room is myself knocking over the bottles of freshly pumped milk.  In which case I literally cried over spilled milk. 

        So, there you have it.  The things I go through to bring milk home to my little chunker!  I wouldn't have it any other way! :)