Holy Guacamole

Alex waved to me for the first time today as I left for work... I have been trying to get him to do it for a very long time, and it was adorable.  Also, I let him feed himself some avocado (guacamole pieces) at dinner.  He loves avocado!

Alex

Alex went swimming for the first time two weekends ago.  The pool was 92 degrees, so naturally, he enjoyed himself.  It was at Aunt Nina & Uncle Andy's pool.  He got tired of the water after about 15 minutes, so we had to take him out & bathe him.  A few days ago he was screaming & screaming when we put him down to sleep and we couldn't figure out why.  I went in for a third time to see what was wrong & took his pacifier out of his mouth.  It had blood on it.  After more than 2 months, his next two teeth (the top two, the bottom two are already in) are on their way in for real.  Yesterday, he met Ayugi & Jennie.  He ate jello for the first time.  I also gave him some pudding.  He hasn't been taking his second nap much.  He still doesn't wave at will, which worries us, since the doctor said he should be doing that by now.  He did wave with both hands a few times on the day we had Brian's birthday dinner (the 29th).  Tomorrow will be his first 4th of July.  I think he'll like the sparklers we're going to show him with Renee.  More about that later.  I need to buy birthday invitations and start filling them out to invite people to our gross, dirty house.  

Stands alone

We put Alex down for a nap this afternoon and I kept hearing this clicking sound from the other room, so sent Chris to check on him.  Chris says, "he's standing up!"  I said, "what??"  He had been pulling himself up on stuff recently but never in his crib.  He was playing with the dial on his mobile, which was the clicking sound I had heard.  I took pictures.

Octopus on wheels

Alex had his most recent well check on this past Tuesday and all is well.  He is 18.5 pounds, a little on the small side I guess, but the doctor said it's normal because he is so active - finally, justification for me feeling so worn out all the time!  We're not close with any other people Alex's age so sometimes I have nothing else to compare him to & don't realize this kind of stuff!

MAJOR milestone

Alex crawled (FORWARD!!!) for the first time today!!!  

A tooth is born

Alex has been fussy for what seems like forever, but the last 2-3 weeks have been extra trying... he was very fussy this past week, and today after his fourthmeal, I gave him a mesh feeder with some chopped up apples in it.  He was chew, chew, chewing away and finally got tired of it, so I stuck my finger in his mouth to see if anything had changed, and lo and behold, my finger was met with a sharp little tooth!  It's barely showing but there's no doubt that it has erupted! I don't know why, but it made me really excited. 

Yikes!

Today Alex fed himself 3 oz of bottle while doing hip thrusts and grunting.  It was pretty funny... and it's the first time that he's really truly fed himself.  He also stayed occupied doing this for a very long time - probably at least 10 minutes - a long time for him to be rolling around on the bed entertaining himself without fussing.  He is also getting pretty good at crawling, although it's backwards most of the time.  He can move a few feet now going backwards.  I put his binky out of his reach just slightly and he got up on his hands and knees trying to get at it.  As soon as he almost touched it, he would start crawling backward.  He can't figure out the forward thing yet; for right now he's stuck in reverse.  

Backward

Today was Alex's first Easter!  He got an easter basket this morning & another one at grandma & grandpa's.  He was fussy most of the day, but was in a good mood at the end right before bed.  He crawled (well, it was more like scooted) backwards for the first time!!  It's the beginning of the end ;) 

All that is green

Alex enjoyed his first Dublin Shamrock Festival today.  It was a lot of fun & he behaved himself for the most part.  He sat on and felt the grass for the first time, and started to pull it out of the ground.  We shared a funnel cake (I gave him a little bit of ice cream and a little bit of whipped cream on the tip of his tongue.)  It was a fun (except for the cold wind) and memorable day.  I hope it becomes an every year tradition for us.  

Bart trains & butt paste

Last Saturday, Alex went on his first BART ride.  We got off at Powell and looked over the mall for Renee's birthday.  He was extremely well behaved and didn't start fussing until we were about 3 minutes away from our stop back in Dublin.  He is sitting up by himself for long periods of time now - can sit up for about a half-hour unassisted.  We got him a play pen to be on the safe side, since we can't lay him on his mat anymore without coming out and finding him half way across the room.  He likes to sit in it and play with his toys. He likes to chew his thumb, and we are hoping that he isn't going to start sucking it.  Last night/today, he got his first real case of diaper rash due to pooping so much.  When I wiped it, he went hysterical and it almost made me cry because I could see that his little butt crack was so raw & painful.  I bought him some boudreaux butt paste or whatever it's called, and some balmex.  So far Balmex is the best only because it is so thick and doesn't melt off as fast as desitin.  

Sitting

This week, Alex has gotten really good at sitting up by himself... so combined with the ability to roll onto his tummy, I'm sure crawling isn't too far in the future.  He doesn't sleep very well, either, and wakes up several times every night.  I thought this was something that was going to improve in time instead of worsen, but I guess I was sadly mistaken!

La-Z-boy

The cure to all that ails you is definitely not sitting on your ass.

Rollin'

He finally rolled over yesterday!

One flew over the Night Quail's nest

I am never thankful for my health until it declines.  It's almost been a week now that I've been sick with whatever this is.  Every time I think it's gotten as bad as it will get, it gets worse.  As much as I hate to say this, I just want to go back to work.

Laundry

One upside to doing baby laundry - you don't have the check the pockets.

YUCK

I have been battling a cold since Wednesday, it started out as a sore throat and worked its way into a full-blown cold.  I haven't been sick for more than a year, so it's been rough.  Last night Chris let me black out, aka take nyquil and sleep while he took care of the baby.  So kind of him.... the baby wasn't so merciful.  He woke up at least 20 times during the night.  Yup, that's TWENTY, not two.  Then he cried all day, with the last crying fit having us so bewildered that we tried every remedy known to man and ended up finally laying him down in his crib to "cry it out," as people always tell us to do and claim we are spoiling him by not doing such.  He cried for more than an hour and did not calm down.  The crying become hysterical and finally I picked him up and rocked him.  He farted a million times and took a huge crap and now he has the post cry sniffles & hiccups while he rests in dad's arm while I finish cooking our dinners for the week.  Fun times!  I am also drowning in my own river of phlegm.  I worked out TWO times this week, I needed to work out every day because I am doing a 5k next week, so it looks like I am going to be screwed & will probably end up walking a majority of it. 

New Developments

Last week Alex started stroking his own hair.  He likes to rub his Uncle Brian's stubble and his dad's stubble, too.  Today he pulled Taz & Sweet Pea's fur.  He was lucky that neither of them tried to bite him.  He is cute when you hold him & he looks up at you with his huge eyes.  He looks like a cherub when he is sleeping because he is so chubby.  He tries to sit up in his bathtub now but doesn't quite have the strength.  He doesn't sleep through the night any more.  His hair is changing, it is lighter like mine and is starting to grow back in.  He has some patches of hair that are much longer than the rest.  He has my cowlick on the right front side of his head.  He likes to grab plants and try to put them in his mouth.

Random mess

I read an article in a magazine today that said people talk nicer to strangers than they do to their spouses.  I totally 100% believe this.  I have never understood why people treat strangers better than the people that mean the most to them.  I have seen it happen so many times and I myself admit to being nicer to strangers, too.  How sad.  I noticed today that the baby discovered his hand and how to clench and unclench his fists.  With purpose, not like a reflex.  I was rocking him and felt his hand reach up and grab my nose and squeeze, unsqueeze, squeeze, unsqueeze, like he was honking it.  He was also doing the same thing to his own head & hair, which made it look like he was scratching his head.  His hair is finally starting to grow back.  I think his head is a little less flat, too.  He started eating baby food/cereal at about 4 months old.  He is now 5 months old and can polish off two jars of baby food and a small bottle in one meal.  He is a good eater and will take almost anything, even the stuff he doesn't like and screws his face up at (it's a toss up between peas and green beans).  My exercise routine isn't going so well.  My workout partner got shin splints.  I already have no workout partner on the weekends, but now I probably won't have one on my work days either - fabulous!  I was horrible and did not work out all this weekend.  That's 3 days with no workout.  Pathetic.  I also cleaned out the cabinets and found a bunch of chocolate.  I ate like a pig and didn't bother to work it off, which doesn't bode well for my "lose 20 pounds by April" plan.  I have to try harder to stick to it, despite getting little to no encouragement or motivation. I am also going to try to write in here more often because it's important to me to record the baby's milestones.  I have already let too many of them slip through the cracks unrecorded. 

Concert

I am almost 30 years old & have never been to a concert.  I would like to attend one sometime before I die.  Preferably, Tim McGraw.  Just a thought.