Christmas 2010

It was Alex's first Christmas with little santa hat and all which I thought was just so cute. Now that he is just starting to enjoy grabbing things, he was able to grab a corner of the paper and help pull some of the paper off. The grandparents got him some really fun toys which he absolutely loves including this little mailbox, an exersaucer and fishtank light that looks like real fish are swimming. Funny thing about the fishtank light is it is a way to get him to do tummy time for longer since he loves to look at it. It's pretty neat how much he is changing and able to play and interact more and more each day. 

We spent Christmas Eve with the Evans family and Christmas day with my side of the family at my mom's place. We had a great time spending the holidays with both families and above are some pictures from those celebrations. Jordyn and Jackson are so cute. Jordyn really got into the Christmas spirit this year and was so much fun to watch. Apparently, she asked santa to bring her candy which I thought was pretty funny.

Christmas felt a lot different this year...seemed like it sort of flew past without much time to get into the holiday spirit. I returned to work just a few weeks before and since then have been super busy. So I didn't have the time for baking I usually do or a gingerbread house. I did manage to make two small ones for Jordyn and Jackson though. I thought I had no time when I was home with Alex on maternity leave, but now I really have no time. At least when you are home with the baby, you kind of get breaks when they nap, but now I don't even get those breaks...just go go go. I know it will get easier and easier especially as Alex's need to be breastfed lessens. I had no idea how hard it would be to work and breastfeed/pump especially with a job like mine where I am on such a tight schedule.

For Christmas, Chris and I got new hardwood floors to replace both the existing hardwood and carpet throughout the whole downstairs of our house. So the day after Christmas, Chris began demo with his sister Chelsey and Vanessa....it is a huge mess. Then Eric came over the next day and helped pull up all the floor boards sitting on top of the sub floor and the existing hardwoods. It is so hard to see your house messy and dusty and only partially useable. Luckily, Chris is super motivated and planning to start installation maybe even as soon as next week. The original plan was to have it done by the end of January....but that is a very long time to have your house torn up. Turns out we will be oven/stove less for a week...yikes.

Thanksgiving

 The turkey...I should have taken a picture of the whole thing before we cut it...it was really pretty if I may say so myself

 Our Thanksgiving feast...there was a lot of food as usual at the Evans house

 Auntie Chels, Alex and Tata

 Alex wasn't feeling so photogenic..hehe

 Alex with Great Grandma Evans

 Our poor little teething baby...if only that little tooth could hurry itself up

 kissing daddy

Nana and Alex

We celebrated a real home Thanksgiving this year with Chris's family. The home cooked food was absolutely delicious. I made the turkey for the first time with a recipe out of my Bon Appetite magazine and it tasted great. It was a Salt Roasted Turkey with Lemon and Oregano. It was a little on the dry side and we will say it is Chris's fault since he didn't take the turkey out of the oven when I told him he should. But he made up for it with a really perfect gravy. We really enjoyed the time with family and of course are most thankful this year for our little Alex.

He is so precious to me. He just started trying to give kisses back. It is mostly slobber, but cute anyway. If you try and give him a kiss, then he opens his mouth...hehe. Just as I was getting the hang of the mom thing and it is getting a lot easier for me, it is now time to go back to work. Hard for me to believe that I will be a working lady again in just 5 days. I didn't think I would be sad, but I am. I feel like I won't see him anymore since I get home from work so late. Alex's first week will be with daddy and I'm excited for Chris to get some of that special time with him because he is only this little for a short time. The rest of the month, Chris's family will be watching Alex and then he will be off to daycare. Boy how time flies.

10 weeks old!

Little Alex is not so little anymore. He is 10 weeks old now and growing like a weed. He gets heavier and heavier and although he is a long and skinny guy, he is starting to get a little belly and small rolls on his thighs. We had his 2 month well check with the pediatrician and he is developmentally like a 4 month old, length is 90%, weight is 60% and head circumference is 50%. He gets more and more interactive each day and surprising us with new tricks which is so exciting as parents. Last week at 9.5 weeks old, Alex caught us off guard by rolling from his belly to his back. Then right at 11 weeks old rolled both directions. Now that we know he can roll, we have to be extra careful about where we place him. His other new trick is giggling. Only daddy is able to get him to giggle and it is so cute. Alex loves to coo and babble and will go back and forth with you like a conversation. He always has a lot to say. I wonder if he will still talk that much when he learns to say words. His muscles are getting so strong too. He is able to hold his head up really well and loves to stand up. If you hold his hands when he is sitting, he leans forward and pushes off with his legs to stand up and then he likes to do his little squats.

It is hard to believe how quick time has gone and that it is already almost time for me to return to work in a few weeks. I feel really ready to have some adult interaction and some sort of predictable schedule about my day. I love being a mommy, but know I really need a balance between my work as a PT which I love and being a mommy.

I am ready, but only if we could get Alex to be a little more ready to part with me. Not only does he have major separation anxiety (notices immediately when I am gone and fusses), but he also won't take a bottle and we have been working on that for 7 weeks now! I am doubting that this bottle thing is ever going to happen. He is very determined when it comes to what he wants and is willing to hold out for mommy. Four different people (Nana, Grandpa, Chris and Katie) have now attempted the bottle with him and we have tried almost every bottle and nipple combination sold at Babiesrus. At the 2 month appointment, the pediatrician said we will have to go cold turkey with the bottle, but we both feel like denying him breastfeeding is so cruel and I'm just not sure that we can stomach doing this to him. 

In the picture above, he was so excited to sit up in the big chair all by himself and actually got upset with me when I had to take him out of it. 

Halloween

Grandma and Alex

Auntie Katie and Alex

Bones, eyeballs and broomstick celery

A Halloween feast

Mummy pizzas

Greg, Katie, Alex, Chris, Fluffy, Chris and Jordyn

The centerpiece...so creepy!

fingers in the dip

Alex as a pea in the pod...Jordyn's costume from when she was a baby

Jordyn and Jackson

Jordyn in her bumblebee costume...soooo cute!

Our little sailor

It's hard to believe that Halloween has just passed and it is already November. Before we know it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas. We had a great time celebrating Halloween yesterday at my mom's with Katie, Jordyn, Jackson, Eric, and Greg. The weather turned out great, not too cold and no rain, and in fact, we even sat out front of her house around the fire pit and gave out candy there drinking hot cider.

Mom went way above and beyond with a cute Halloween feast. So much detail into all the things we ate. We had bone bread sticks, mummy pizzas, broomstick celery, eyeballs out of carrots and olives, veggies and dips...the dip even had fingers coming out of it. I still can't get over the centerpiece which was very creepy. When I first got to her house, the mice coming out of it looked so real that it kind of freaked me out for a moment.

Alex wore two costumes. First we tried on the pea in the pod, but he got a little claustrophobic and crying so we took him out and dressed him as a sailor which I thought was so cute. There was a hat too but I didn't get a picture of that. Kind of funny that there is a picture of Uncle Grant in his uniform right behind my mom and Alex.

I absolutely loved Jordyn's costume as a bumblebee. It was so Jordyn. She of course, loved her costume so much I don't think she was going to be taking it off for a while. She was so excited for Halloween and got lots and lots of candy which filled up her honey pot. Katie said that went to people's doors she would say "candy" instead of "trick or treat"...so cute. At the end of the night, she was handing out candy at the door to all the kids.

My mom gets so many kids in her neighborhood that she went through 3 bowls of candy and then Jackson had to give out some of his candy that he didn't like since kids were still coming to the door. I don't get any kids at my house since I live down a long driveway and on a street with older neighbors so there aren't a lot of kids. I didn't even get a pumpkin this year. Bad me I know. I will do one next year.

6 weeks old

it's the "sad lip"

Alex is 6 weeks old! Time is flying by so quick. He isn't that little newborn baby anymore. So sad. I look at his newborn clothes and think it is crazy to think he was once so tiny to fit in them. Babies grow so quick. I swear he gets noticeably heavier everyday and probably most noted in the middle of the night when we are trying to pass him around in bed while we are half asleep.

Alex is beginning to interact more and more and it is so special to get some reciprocation of all that special love and affection we have been giving him. He coos and makes little talking noises, and very alert and stares at faces while he is talking to you. He is so expressive in his face and most of the time we get smiles but at times we get the "sad lip" which I think is so dramatic and sad...it just kills me when he throws that out. He doesn't like car rides and gave me the "sad lip" the whole way to the beach...it made me really sad too. He just started batting at his play gym toys while cooing and smiling at them which I thought was so cute. Alex is now holding his head up really well and I can carry him around without having to support his head now.

In preparation for me to return to work, we started introducing a bottle 2 weeks ago, but Alex has yet to accept it. Bottle training on a breastfed baby is really tough. Babies are way too smart and definitely know the difference. He spits it out and will sometimes begin to suck on it, but spits out what milk he gets. Chris has been giving him the bottles and says he is getting better each time which is great. I guess it will just be one of those things that will take time. I don't want to force it...I really want him to just nicely accept it.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch today with April and Zealand. It was such a gorgeous and warm fall day. I thought this farm was so cute with the perfect little farmhouse, barn and gardens. We had fun walking around the farm and looking at the pumpkins. I didn't end up coming home with a pumpkin though. The pumpkins were all fairly big and I had my hands full with Alex...so we will pick one up for the house when we go to the pumpkin patch with Nana and Grandpa Evans in a few weeks. It was fun to see Zealand enjoying himself on the tractor and haystack...I can't wait for Alex to be walking around enjoying the pumpkin patch too....it won't be long...probably next fall.