Earlier this week, Alex got a package in the mail from his Great Grandpa (aka Poppo) and Grandma Sally. They live in the Peoria area now, but back in the nineties, they moved from Illinois to a great little house on the river in Northern Arkansas, where they lived for several years before moving back. We spent many awesome vacations there, riding horses, floating the river, and removing ticks from places where the sun don't shine. Aahh, fond memories. So it is quite an ironic twist of fate that I find myself back here in Arkansas.
Anyway, about this package. Alex tried to chew his way through it but failed, so I opened it for him. It contained a letter which read:
Deer Alexander the Greater,Since you will be moved from Arkansas to Texas during your early formative years, there is a risk that your opportunity for cultural development will be diminished. Lord A'mighty, we must protect agin' that.
Enclosed please find an authentic "Deer Camp Hat" that you can proudly wear on the opening day of Deer Season and otherwise when riding in your Pickup Stroller.
Luvya' l'il feller.[Great] Grandma and Grandpa - qualified former residents of the proud state of Arkansas!
As stated, it also contained a rugged and manly camo cap that is just as stylish as it is functional.
Now I'm gonna have to find out when the opening day of deer season is. 'Til then, he'll just have to wear it when the mood strikes him.
Here're some other random pics from that day. A was in high spirits (not that that is unusual) and was looking especially cute (not that that is unusual) so he was in the mood for hamming it up in front of the camera.
We've been trying to take advantage of the mild weather we've had lately by spending some time outside. I pretend to clean the garage while Alex repeatedly rolls himself down the driveway and into the grass.
Booger was playing with my computer, aka wreaking havoc on my keyboard by trying to grab the keys instead of pressing them, and he flicked the top off of my comma key. I shed a tear because I happen to be really fond of commas. I can still use it, but it's awkward to press a little nubbin instead of a key, and it is really putting a cramp in my style. I tried to compose this post without using any commas, as a way to metaphorically "pour one out" for my missing key, but it made me nauseous and I had to put them back in. Here's to you, comma key. You will be missed...
Alex got a dose of Grammy this weekend. He recently started doling out kisses (aka schlepping one's cheek with an excessively slobbery tongue) so Grammy made sure to get her fair share.
Although feeding him has been a messy affair lately (any suggestions on how to convince a six month old that blowing raspberries with a mouth full of peas is less-than-ideal timing?), A was on his best behavior when Grammy fed him. How prim and proper my little do-gooder is. Look Ma! When Grammy feeds me I keep my grubby hands out of my mouth!
Since Poppa (aka Papa) couldn't make it this weekend, he sent a little consolation gift. I don't know how many six month olds have their own cell phone, but of course, Alex is the exception, not the rule. I don't know if you know this, but he's kind of a big deal...
I woke up at 4:36 this morning to the Alex moaning and crying. On the rare occasions that he wakes up in the four o'clock hour, (and yes, it's always 4. Never 3, never 5. Always 4.) he'll usually go right back to sleep after a bottle and some QT with Mom. So I only let him cry for a minute before I headed downstairs to fix a bottle. By the time I got downstairs and started making his bottle, his moans and cries evolved into high pitched, wailing screams that are typically only associated with such dreadful things as bloody murder. That, I thought, is not a normal whiny Alex cry. Something is wrong. I dumped the last scoop of formula into the bottle, dusting the entire counter with a thick layer of formula powder in the process, and high-tailed it upstairs.
I whipped open his bedroom door and squinted into the darkness. Not wanting to blind my already hysterical baby by flipping on the main light, I turned the closet light on and turned toward his crib. I prepared myself for the worst. Like a giant, hairy, and foul-smelling creature with beady red eyes who had scooped Alex out of his crib and was devouring him limb by limb. At the same time, a second thought flashed through my head. There better be something wrong, I thought. If he turns around and smiles at me after all of this...
Lucky for him, he had a legitimate complaint. A poor little Alex leg was projecting from the side of the crib at a perpendicular angle. He was on his belly and had somehow managed to slide his leg under the bumper pad and between the slats. He must've wriggled around trying to set himself free, and in the process, had managed to wedge himself in up to the thigh. Seeing as how the slats are about two inches apart and the diameter of Alex's chunky little thigh is at least three, I could understand why he would be less than thrilled about his predicament.
It took some real elbow grease to work his little leg out from between those slats. Poor baby. I think he was more scared than hurt, but his thigh did have a good-sized dent in it that stuck around for the next couple of hours. He was still pretty upset once I freed him so I got to console him, which, despite there being something that causes need for consolation, is one of the best things about being a parent. I reveled in the attention as he clung to me as if to say, "Thank you Mommy for making me feel better." Yeah, life is good.
So we survived our first "emergency" situation sans any permanent injuries. I gave him his hastily prepared bottle and he went right back to sleep, not surprising considering he was probably jerked out of a sound sleep to find that he was stuck to the side of his bed. Let's just hope all future "emergencies" turn out so well...
Umm, yeeaaaaaahhhhh...that third nap is officially extinct.
Alex woke up from his "afternoon" nap at 2:05 (because he woke up at 6 and took his morning nap from 8-9:40, then took his afternoon nap at 12:00). By 4:00, he was starting to get restless and sleepy so I made the awful, terrible, horrible decision to let him catnap 'til 5, then tried to put him back to bed by 7. I'm not going to describe all of the tiresome events which led up to these videos because I'm tired, and blogging after 11pm when you're likely to be up with child at 6am is just plain stupid. So suffice it to say that the camera started rolling at 8:45pm this evening. For those of you keeping track, that is precisely two hours after Alex "went to bed"...
After a second "bedtime bottle", he finally went to sleep around 9:45pm. Oy vey. Hopefully he will make up for it by sleeping until 8 tomorrow morning. Yeah, I won't hold my breath...
Just thought I'd share what a "typical" evening is like with Alex these days.
He has been starting to phase out his third nap during the day and will often stay awake for many hours between his second nap and bedtime. As a result, we have been trying to move his bedtime up a little, just to make that transition easier. Last night, he woke from his nap at 2:45 and was in bed by 7. In the past, that large of a span would have resulted in some disastrous waketime, but lately, it isn't such a big deal.
In the past few weeks, he has been very aggressive with his bedding - yanking at it, chewing on it...somehow he even managed to untie the straps that hold his bumper together so that he could chew on them more easily. A couple of times when I've gone in to check on him, I've found him with his arm slung over the top of the bumper, clinging to it like he might do with a stuffed animal. In the last two evenings, however, I've come in to get him from his nap and found him on his stomach, mushing the top of the bumper down so that he could see through the slats in his crib.
After some dinner (peas, green beans, and a bottle) we play downstairs for a while, alternating between the walker, the jumperoo, sitting on the floor with toys, and tummy time (aka "crawling practice). We head upstairs around 6, where he plays in his room while I draw his water and get his bed stuff ready. He loooooves the activity cube that Grandma B got him and that will occupy him for long periods of time. It has fun gadgets and cha-chas on five of the sides, and I usually rotate it every night so he has a whole new set of things to explore.
Even if he starts sitting down, he inevitably reaches for something on the far side of the cube and - BLOOP!! - flops over onto the floor. No problem!! He has just as much fun when he's laying down as when he's sitting up. Plus, that means he can use his feet to play with it too (seriously, he does use his feet)!
Before his bath, I usually root around in his mouth to see if any more teeth have decided to make an appearance, and sometimes I'll give him some Tylenol or apply some Baby Orajel* if he's been crabby during the day and I suspect that gum soreness is to blame. Still just the one, so far. But I did manage to get a better pic than last time. (Oh, and imagine that his face is not covered in nasty baby food residue. He was about to take a bath so I didn't do the best job with the clean up at dinner time. Sue me.)
*Babies do not like Baby Orajel. It causes confusion, heartbreaking "Mommy, what's happening to my face?" expressions, massive amounts of drool, and even tears. I tried it myself before I gave it to him to see how strong it was (par for the course), and yes, it completely numbs everything that it comes in contact with. Not what I would describe as a "pleasant" feeling, by any means. Unless, of course, you have ragged little teeth attempting to tear their way through your sensitive gum tissue. Which is exactly why I went ahead and gave it to him. Because it's for his own good. Poor baby.
Onto bathtime. Let me use last night as a "typical" example of how bathtime goes. It started out as usual. He clawed for the washcloth when I went to scrub him down, so I gave him one of his own to keep him distracted while I washed his nethers.
Then I took it away.
Then I gave it back.
Yeah, he's entering that fun phase where he is starting to express obvious likes and dislikes. He is very sure to let me know that I've been a bad Mommy, usually in the form of an escalating scream that turns his head a lovely shade of aubergine until I distract him or give him what he wants.
I let him lounge in the tub a bit before I pull him out and get him ready for bed. The inflato-tub is fab - he doesn't bump his head if he falls over, it doesn't take much water to fill it up, and he has the option to kick back and relax if he's so inclined.
Usually a simple towel will do, but on this particular evening, he was inspired to don his robe and slippers that cousin Ashley got him and wind down a little more before retiring. He looked so cute that I didn't mind letting him stay up a few minutes later. He also begged me for a pipe and some good tobacco, but that's where I put my foot down.
Once he's done stalling around, I slather him from head to toe with a thick layer of Eucerin to keep his excema at bay (although, when paired with his forked tongue, scaly skin could only improve his sideshow act). It's hard enough to get his diaper and jammies on when he isn't oiled up like a greased pig, so it becomes a near impossibility at this point. After many frustrating moments, I am able to distract him with a toy long enough to keep him on his back and wrangle all of his flailing body parts into his jammies.
A bottle later and he is usually asleep before his head hits his mattress.
My poor little baby, he has been acting slightly out of sorts the last couple of days. I'm assuming the discomfort associated with this teething business is to blame for his uncharacteristic moodiness. However, despite his ailing gums, he has managed to keep his sense of humor and was entertaining me all afternoon. When I was feeding him pears this morning (which he has been throwing up all day, btw), I was sticking out my tongue and trying to get him to imitate me. At the time, I just got his furrowed brow, an expression which means that he thinks I'm being weird and is not really sure what to make of me. But later in the day, he discovered that sticking his tongue out and trying to talk around it is pretty amusing - for all of us. The video's kind of long, but trust me, it's worth checking out (and notice the teething-induced drooling in full effect)...
Seeing him stick his tongue out is actually a small victory for us because he has what the experts refer to as a "tight frenulum". Basically it means that the little thingy that attaches the tongue to the bottom of the mouth is closer to the teeth than normal and it can prevent the tongue from coming out very far. He has a pretty mild case and it's really not a big deal (although it does explain why he had such a hard time breastfeeding).
BTW, if you look really close, you may notice that his tongue is slightly forked. Seriously. Like a lizard. At least he will have a career in the sideshow to fall back on...
As predicted, I am writing to inform the masses that little Alex has grown a little tooth! Yup, right in the front of his little mouth. It's just barely peeking through his gums - really more of a tooth sprout than a full grown chopper. I discovered it last night during his bath. He kept grabbing at my hands and trying to put them in his mouth, which he hasn't really been doing much lately. Then he chomped down on my finger and I thought, "Is it...? Could it be...?" I went on a tooth finding expedition and rooted around in his mouth with my finger until I felt a bumpy little ridge. I attempted to acquire visual confirmation. Yes indeed. I spied the beginnings of a baby-sized tooth popping through his gums.
I'm not sure whether it's customary to describe the location of a tooth from the owner's perspective or your own, but the debut tooth is in the middle on Alex's bottom left. I tried to get a decent picture of it, which is much harder than it sounds. Poor Alex was totally perplexed as I repeatedly yanked on his lower lip and flashed a bright light in his face. So even if you can't spot his tiny little toothy in these pictures, please lie and say that you can so he doesn't think his efforts were all for naught...
A was still pretty bumpy last night when he finally got up from his nap last night - no better or worse than he was earlier in the day, so I guess that's good news. And he was in a good mood when I went in to get him, so apparently he hasn't let the shots or a nasty rash affect his demeanor.
He slept in this morning (7 o'clock - woohoo!!) and when I went in to get him, he was a happy camper. You'd never know he was still covered in icky little bumps. But he was. Not quite as bad as yesterday, though, so I decided not to drug him up unless he gave me a reason to. He was actually a little giddier than usual and we had a lot of fun playing while Timothy was at school this morning.
Naps didn't go so well, however. His first nap was fine, but his afternoon nap lasted a whopping thirty minutes, whereas he's usually down for at least two hours. But then he was up and at 'em, so I guess a power nap was all he needed.
We tried for nap number three in the late afternoon, and I expected him to make up for the short midday one like he normally does. HA! Guess again, ma. I rocked him and drugged him and still only got another thirty minute nap out of him. He was pretty grumpy after he got up, so I fed him dinner, gave him a quick bath, and put him to bed. By that time, his rash had faded but was still hanging around. Hopefully tomorrow he will be the pasty white and smooth baby that he used to be (before bananas).
The probationary period for green beans was over yesterday so we decided to add banana baby food to Alex's portfolio. We were also looking forward to getting him on a three meal a day schedule, and I thought that making him eat peas or green beans for breakfast would just be cruel.
So when he woke up (at 6:40, darnit) this morning, we took him downstairs to eat his first "real" breakfast. I strapped him in and mixed 1/2 a container of bananas (yum) with about an ounce of rice cereal. He always opens his mouth wide at the sight of a spoon, which totally cracks us up. In this case, he didn't even know what the stuff on the spoon was going to taste like and he was still excited about it.
The bananas elicited the usual confused expression that appears whenever something new makes contact with his flavor-deprived taste buds. But he eagerly gulped down each bite, usually opening his mouth for another spoonful before the previous one had even been swallowed.
So he's a fan of bananas, it seems. (Does that make him a "fanana?" Or maybe a "banana fana?" I know, I'm such a dork.) We had an appointment at noon to take him back to the pediatric clinic to get his shots, so when he woke up from his morning nap, I went in to get him dressed. I noticed that his belly was a little irritated and made a mental note, but dismissed it as the result of his jammies rubbing against his belly when he was flailing around in his crib.
I changed him into his new black onesie from Grammy and the [bad apple] lounge pants that Granny B bought him way before he was born. I thought he kind of had a Woody Harrelson/yoga instructor thing going and considered getting him some baby bongos to complete the look. But we didn't have time for that. Once he was dressed, we headed to the clinic. It had snowed a tiny bit last night and it was freeeeezing cold out, so we made sure A was good and bundled.
He really enjoyed watching the fish swim around in the aquarium at the clinic. It was his first time ever seeing such a thing, so I can imagine why he'd be so fascinated.
We waited for about twenty minutes before they called us in. But A was very patient and funny and entertaining, as usual. Poor thing, he had no idea of the fate that awaited him...
We always meet with the same two nurses that run the study - Jennifer and Tiffany - so Jennifer called us back and let Alex know that he must not have prayed hard enough because his medicine had come in, and he would, indeed, be getting his shots today.
When we got to the exam room, we stripped off his pants to expose his pudgy thighs, aka "the injection sites". While Timothy, Alex, Jennifer, and I waited for Tiffany to bring the medicine, I mentioned to Jennifer that Alex's belly was sort of splotchy this morning. We took his shirt off to show her and noticed that the "little bit of redness" had turned into a nasty patch of red bumps. She poked at him for a few minutes, and as we watched, the rash seemed to spread before our very eyes. The little bumps all started to run together to form one giant, welty red splotch in the middle of his belly. The bumps that had not succumbed to peer pressure started migrating up his arms and around to his back. She had a few theories, including banana allergies or a virus, but decided to consult our pediatrician for a second (or first) opinion.
Dr. Silvey came in and took a look at him. The redness and welts did seem to indicate an allergy of some sort, although we all agreed that bananas were kind of a strange thing to be allergic to. Some type of virus could also be to blame, and if so, there was really nothing we could do about it. He suggested that we hold off on shots for a few minutes and observe whether the rash would continue to get worse. It was at that point that I had to wonder...
...were these symptoms psychosomatic? Maybe Alex used his mindpower to conjure up some bizarre rash so that he could avoid his shots again! Maybe he felt guilty for eating bananas this morning considering one of his best friends happens to be a banana (albeit a plush one) and he devised a plan to eliminate bananas from his diet and assuage his guilt, as if the rash was a penance of some sort...or maybe he is just weird and happens to be allergic to bananas.
Whatever the case, the doc came back in after a while, and although his condition had neither improved nor gotten worse, he suggested that we go ahead with the shots since they wouldn't affect nor be affected by the rash. So Alex's plan, if he had one, was foiled, and he ended up getting stuck with needles anyhow. I sat in a chair and closed my eyes while the nurses pricked him and then Timothy got to console him (which is only fair since he is the one holds him down when he gets shot). He cried for a grand total of 3 seconds, only as long as it took them to administer the shots, then he was back to his normal, bubbly self.
Other than his bright red and bumpy body, that is. He kept scratching at it so the doc suggested that the nurses give him a mega dose of baby Benadryl, then advised us to hold off on bananas for a month or so. They also reiterated to call them if it got any worse, like if his eyes started to get puffy. And, of course, to call 9-1-1 if he was coughing a lot like his throat was swelling up and he couldn't breathe. GULP. I had been taking this whole potential allergy thing pretty lightly until I heard that. For some reason, the gravity of the situation didn't occur to me until the words, "nine-one-one" were uttered...
A was practically asleep by the time we got out to the car. I gave him a bottle when we got home and put him to bed, although I was a little apprehensive about putting him to bed...alone...where I couldn't monitor him every second to make sure he was still breathing...But I sucked it up and did it anyway, with the comforting thought that I could check on him as often as I wanted to. And so, that's where he has been for the last three hours. Awww, my poor, sleepy, drug induced baby...
Looooonnng story short, Alex had bananas, liked 'em, got bumpy, went to get shots, got bumpier, got shots, stayed bumpy, got drugs, got a bottle, got some sleep. So hopefully he will awake refreshed and bump free. BTW, tomorrow's breakfast will be pears and rice cereal...
Alex got a package in the mail today from Eldo. Inside was a bunch of cute, er, macho clothing - a t-shirt from cousin T-rash, aka Ashley Kaye, perfect for a boy interested in manly things like hunting and basketball (the shirt is camo print with the words "Super Hoops" on it), an awesome army-inspired jacket from Auntie L, and a bunch of adorable things from Grammy and Poppa (some long-sleeved onesies and an "All-Star" outfit). Of course, he was more interested in whether they were edible rather than wearable...
A is trying really hard to crawl these days and seems to be making some strides (pun intended), or at least some baby steps (and again), towards that end.
BTW, check out the new head of baby orangutan hair that he is sporting. Oh, and the faux hawk was purely accidental...
We had dinner at The Olive Garden with the Primms last night and O was feeling the love. His favorite thing to do lately is to smooch anyone he can get his lips on, including Alex. He kept grabbing him with both hands and trying to plant one on him. He'd get his face super close to Alex's, then make the quintessential smooching sound - "Mmmwaaaaaaahh!" We can't wait 'til they are teenagers and we pull these pictures out. Ah, it's always good to have a little blackmail material stowed away for when you need it...
So apparently Alex has gotten himself in a little bit of trouble with the women in his life. He has recently become involved in a veritable love triangle, having captured the attention of two lovely ladies (that we know of). On the one hand, there's McKenzie. A beautiful, petite little flower with a smile that just melts his heart. On the other hand, there's Quinn, a gorgeous, strong, fiercely independent and energetic "older woman" who never fails to keep him on his toes.
Apparently Quinn was a little hurt when she witnessed some PDA's going on between McKenzie and Alex at last weekend's community group meeting. There was some hand holding and a few sweet nothings were whispered. Alex is naturally flirtatious, and unfortunately, he doesn't always think about the consequences of his actions.
Of course, as his parents, we would love for him to settle down. But he is a little commitment phobic, and at this stage in his life, he is more interested in sowing his wild oats than setting his sights on a single girl. But you never know. He may find a girl that he is willing to share his sippy cup with, someone who likes the same Baby Einstein videos, someone who adores long crawls on the beach...
As for Quinn and McKenzie, we'd be perfectly happy if he decided to be exclusive with either one. However, we don't see that happening any time soon. But don't fret, girls. There's plenty of Alex to go around...
I know you all are dying to hear how Alex's 6 month checkup went this morning, so here goes.
The nurse came in first and barraged me with questions while I stripped A down to his drawers. She asked whether he was rolling over, grabbing for things, sitting up, using consonant sounds, sleeping through the night, trying to feed himself, and pushing up off the ground when on his belly, to which I replied, "since two months, everything, yes, yes, yes, praise Jesus, and most definitely". Her response to my responses was, "Wow, he pretty much sounds like the perfect baby!" (FYI, I mostly agree with that statement. His sleep habits could still use a little fine tuning, especially at nap times, and these early mornings are killin' me. I know, I'm pushing my luck. Okay, he is perfect.) She said that, since he was "already so advanced in everything", we really needed to start thinking about baby proofing the house - plug the outlets, move anything that isn't bolted down, install baby gates, etc. Yikes! I don't know whether I'm ready for that yet...
Once we got him undressed, she measured his head, got his height, and weighed him. His head circumference is now 17.5 inches which puts his noggin in the 75th percentile amongst boys his age. His height, at 27.5", puts him in the 90th percentile, and his weight was in the 80th at a whopping 19 pounds!
The doctor came in soon after to look him over and answer the slew of questions I had for him. The brunt of our questions were related to food - what to feed him, when, how much, etc., etc. I described our usual feeding pattern - 4-5 bottles of formula a day @ 8 ounces a pop, then 1/2 container of peas or green beans twice a day. He suggested that we start to establish a three meal a day schedule similar to the one we (adults) should be on, feeding him some baby food first then following up with a bottle at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I knew that this shift in schedule would (should) occur around 6 months, but I was in denial because I really don't know how to make it happen. Specifically, how to drop the bedtime bottle (that he is quite obviously attached to) and expect him to drift off to sleep. I'm afraid that, if he fusses at bedtime, I'm going to assume that he is hungry and I will want to give him a bottle. He generally eats a full 8 ounces before bed, so he acts like he's hungry and not just soothing himself to sleep...Help! Any suggestions from the peanut gallery would be greatly appreciated...
I asked about whether we should avoid sweet foods (sweet potatoes, fruits, etc.) for a while so he can get used to eating greens, but when I described to the doc about how enamored he is of peas and green beans, he said anytime we'd like to introduce fruits would be fine. We've got a couple more days of peas and green beans before we can bring on something new, but maybe some baby banana food is on the horizon. Mmmm, now that's something I actually look forward to tasting...
So, other than that, the doc checked his ears, his eyes, heart, and lungs, all of which he said are in "awesome" working order. He commented on how cute he is, how happy (every nurse, doctor, and patient he saw got a big, toothless grin), and how healthy. What a blessing to have such a great baby, huh?
When the nurse came back in to administer his immunization shots, she told us that Alex's prayers must have, once again, been answered. The drug company that is running the study didn't send the drugs - again - and we have to take him back in sometime this week so he can get his shots. I wonder if A realizes that he is just delaying the inevitable by praying that his drugs don't come in. Guess not, since he's done it twice now. Oh well, back we will go. I'm sure I'm looking less forward to it than he is. "It's for his own good", I tell myself. Then I tell myself to shut up. But I am right. It is for his own good. Deeeep breath. I'll let you know how it goes (i.e. which one of us cries more)...
Before I talk about today's events, I need to post a few more gratuitous shots of Alex eating because, well, he's just so darn cute and I want to look at him, even if no one else does.
Okay, so we got that out of the way. Now onto this morning. We were planning to go to church at 11 and we ended up having to wake Alex a little early from his nap so we wouldn't be late. We got him dressed, threw his essential baby stuff in the diaper bag, and headed up to Rogers.
We parked and rushed to the nursery to drop A off and discovered that, somewhere between the car and the Children's Center...we lost a Puma. I panicked and retraced our steps halfway back to the car to see if I could find it. Nothing. I moped my way back to the nursery where Timothy and Alex were waiting, all the while contemplating how I would cope with my grief over the missing shoe.
We dropped Alex off and went into the service. When the service was over, we went back to pick up our poor, shoeless boy and take him home, where he could eat and get a much needed nap. We hiked to the car, which was parked no less than three miles from the church, and...what's that...black lumpy thing...in the middle of the parking lot...is it?...can it be?...It IS!! It's the Puma! Oh happy day! Of course, since they are obviously too small and will not stay on Alex's feet, the infamous black size 2 Pumas are now officially retired, having been removed from Alex's shoe wardrobe and carefully tucked away for the next child.
This afternoon, we were getting together with our community group to socialize and discuss the upcoming semester. We decided to allow the children to attend, which, on a normal meeting day, is not such a great idea. Not that they're not all wonderful, well-behaved kids. It's just that, when you have two 18 month olds, one 16 month old, a nine month old, and two six monthers, the parents tend to get a little distracted and tend not to focus on the lesson. But it is always great fun to get the kids together when we can.
It was especially fun to get Alex and McKenzie together, considering they are a mere 2 minutes apart. Hooray for birthday buddies!
Although they are only 2 minutes apart, we determined that they must be at least two pounds apart. I'm tellin' ya, that Alex is one hoss of a child. Tomorrow morning, we'll find out just how big he really is...
Joy has been warning me for some time about the distinct difference between pre-food and post- food diapers, particularly the accompanying odors of each. I thought I was prepared, but now that I have experienced the putrid fumes firsthand, I am convinced that one can never be adequately prepared for such a thing. It's just about the most heinous funk I've ever smelt. In my life. And I live with Timothy.
And, not to dwell on this vile topic for too terribly long, but peas must also harbor some sort of explosive power because, for some reason, every dirty post-pea diaper has been of the "blowout" variety. You know, the good ole, up the back, slimy green mess of a diaper, where you desperately clutch both of his feet with one hand and quickly undo the diaper with the other, scanning the proximate region for a safe spot to set the diaper until you can dispose of it, praying that one foot doesn't escape your grasp and flop directly into the sticky mess on his rear end, where you can't decide whether to wipe his back first or try to remove his soiled onesie without getting it (or him) any dirtier, and when you finally decide to wipe him down and worry about the onesie later, you can't get the dadgum wipes out of the container because they're clinging together in one mushy lump that won't fit through the slot, and you only have one free hand to work with because the other is still struggling to hold little wriggling feet that are attached to a little wriggling body, and you'd give anything for two more hands, or one even, and...anyway, here's how the story ends:
Of course, as soon as I got him stripped down and cleaned up, he rolled over and peed all over the changing pad. Better than the floor, I guess.
So we worked with organic peas this week, and A really started to get the hang of this eating thing. We're not real formal here in the Evans household - as you can see, we have drive-thru dining where "no shoes no shirt no service" definitely doesn't apply.
Hey Alex!
Whaddya think of the peas?
One thumb up. I guess that means they're okay.
So...since peas seemed to go so well this week, with no indications of allergies or any other pea-related issues (aside from the aforementioned stank), we decided to go ahead and get green beans out of the way. I wasn't sure whether the beans would go as well as the peas had, just because they aren't as sweet, and because they seem, in theory, to be a little further up (or down...?) on the "icky" scale.
We had been feeding A on the fly, either in his walker or his bouncy seat, but tonight we decided to stop being lazy and set up his high chair so he could eat like a big boy. We strapped him in, and he was delighted to find that the chair came with an appetizer, or in his case, an amuse bouche.
I sat down in front of him with a little bowl of heated green bean puree (and yes, it does taste like mushed up green beans), extended the loaded spoon, and held my breath...
...and he loved them! My child loves green bean mush!! He couldn't open his mouth wide enough for the next bite. After two smashingly successful mouthfuls, we decided that we had to get the camera.
My favorite part is when he sticks his little tongue out and licks his chops. I mean, seriously, can you believe what a good eater he is? And green beans? I guess it shouldn't really come as a surprise. I mean, Tim and I aren't exactly what you would call "finicky". I figure, if he's into peas and beans, everything else he eats should be a piece of cake. (No Auntie L, he still can't have cake yet.)
We did a few more peas before bedtime, which he sucked down like a pro, and his dad even gave him a dinnertime concert on the guitar. Mashed peas and live music. Does life get any better?
Well, he's made it to six months. I guess we must be doing something right.
Normally I'd start out with his vital statistics, but he won't have his six month checkup until Monday. So I will cover all of the other bases and then update you with other news as it becomes available.
Size: As mentioned, we won't know his official weight and height until Monday. If I had to guess his size, I'd have to say BIG. He's not especially chunky although he does hold a little extra weight in his chin. No, not that one. The other one. He's pretty much normal for his age as far as sizes go although everything tends to be too short. Short in the torso and in the legs. 3-6 pants are fine as long as they are, well, long. The best pants are the ones that are folded up a couple of inches. I usually untack them and then they fit perfectly!
He is wearing size 3 diapers, although he has been leaking through them the last few nights, so we may be in 4's before we know it. We are also trying to squeeze a few last wears out of his size 2 shoes, although some of them have already been retired to the "use for next baby" box. He can, however, fit into a whole new wardrobe of shoes that have been waiting patiently on his shelf for their turn. Today was the first day his Nikes from G-ma and G-pa B got some use. When I first put them on, he kept looking at them and touching them. I think he was trying to figure out how to get his mouth on them. But whatever. He likes 'em either way.
Eating: These days, he is eating an 8 ounce bottle of formula 4-5 times a day - usually every four hours or so. I have been giving him rice cereal a couple of days a week, mostly because I am too lazy to do it everyday, and he has been so good about eating it that I haven't been motivated to make him "practice" more than that.
Our pediatrician suggested that we start him on baby food a couple of weeks before we come in for his six month appointment so that if we have any problems, we can discuss them then. So on Monday afternoon, A got his first taste of "real" food. And the food of choice - organic peas! Mmmmm. What an introduction to the culinary world. I did taste them before I made him eat them, and they taste exactly how you think they would - like mushed up peas. (Some people might gag at the thought, but I find comfort in knowing what my child is eating.)
Now come on, who doesn't think that looks appetizing. I know I do.
When I fed him his first bite, he did his usual flared nostril, num-num-num face that he usually does when anything unfamiliar touches his palate. But he kept most of it in his mouth and swallowed it down, with very little tongue-thrusting to be had.
His flared nostril, num-num-num response followed each spoonful of pea-flavored goodness, but he ate each bite, nonetheless. I got a little overzealous when I saw how well he was doing and increased the amount of peas I was loading onto the spoon. Bad idea. It was a little too thick and Alex's gag reflex was called to action...
But that was his only gagging incident thus far and he ate half a container on his first go, so I'd say that's a pretty good start. We have been doing some peas (about 1/2 a container) every day since Monday, and will start adding green beans to his daily regiment in the next couple of days. Word is, you should introduce a new food every week so that if baby shows signs of an allergy, you can easily determine which food caused it. Makes sense. Although everyone will tell you something different, our doc suggested starting with the greens, aka the "ickier" foods, then moving on to tastier things like sweet potatoes and fruits . That way, he doesn't get so enamored of the yummy stuff that he won't eat the icky stuff later. I guess that makes sense, too. So far so good on the food front.
Sleeping: With a few short-term relapses here and there, his sleeping regime is great. My biggest complaint is still about consistency - or lack thereof. Bedtime is, on average, around 7:30, but might fall anywhere between 7 and 8. It is usually determined by whether/when he takes a third nap during the day. Typically (and I use that term lightly), he wakes around 8, naps at 10 (usually for 2 hours) and 2 (usually for 2 or 3 hours). If he only naps until 4, he will take another short nap before bed. Depending on when his last nap ends, he gets his bath around 6:45 or 7, a bottle, and is in bed by 7:30 or 7:45.
Physical/cognitive milestones: Where to start? He is sitting on his own now, which is a huge milestone that I have been looking forward to for some time. He started around Christmas, but was a little wobbly and couldn't stay up for more than a few minutes without flopping over. Now, after couple weeks of practice, he is sitting up tall and straight for long periods of time, until he reaches too far or fast for something and throws himself off balance. For example:
Poor Murph. He has no idea what he's in for. But it is so great that I can sit Alex down with a handful of toys and he will entertain himself while I clean or make a bottle or...whatever!
And...bath time is soooo much easier now that he can sit up. I bought one of those inflatable tubs that fits into a regular tub, which is fab because even if he does fall over, it keeps him from banging his head on the sides of the tub. Aaahh, life with child just keeps getting better.
He has been very vocally active in the last couple weeks, introducing a bevy of new sounds - and words even! He's been congested lately (Alex, aka Darth Vader), and instead of wallowing in self-misery over his annoying affliction, he has turned it into a source of entertainment. He has discovered that a little extra phlegm, when manipulated just so, produces a pleasant gargly sound in the back of the throat.
Even more exciting than phlegm gargling is the debut of some "da-da-da's" and "ba-ba-ba's" (really it's more like "ab-ab-ab-a"). No distinguishable "ma-ma-ma's" as of yet (although he does make this pitiful moaning sound when he's really upset that sounds like he's crying for his "mama". It's clear as day, yet I am always compelled to dismiss it as a coincidence...) He does it at seemingly random times, and he often mouths the words but forgets to vocalize, resembling a fish out of water.
So his diction could use a little work. But hey, it's a start.
In the mobility department...he is trying desperately to crawl, but he still has a few steps to accomplish before he gets there. Unfortunately the child has not been blessed with an excess of patience. He gets extremely frustrated when he's flailing around on his belly and isn't getting anywhere. His mini pushups are great and he has been known to get his hips pretty far off of the ground, but beyond that, he's not sure what to do. When we show him how to pull his knees up, he'll sit on them for a few seconds, then he'll straighten them out and catapult himself forward. Until he masters the crawling thing, I supposed he'll have to continue what he's been doing to get around - a clumsy combination of rolling, scooting, and flopping. Whatever works...
He does have a walker now, which he is still getting used to. Sometimes he tries to jump in it and to spin around like he does in his jumperoo, but mostly he just scoots around, often on accident, until he gets where he wants to go. He did discover how to reverse pretty quickly when I tried to feed him peas while he was sitting in it...
Oh, I have some news about teeth...he doesn't have any. But chances are, I will be announcing the appearance of his first tooth in the next couple of weeks because the signs are everywhere. He has been drooling more than usual, he is aggressively mouthing everything he can gets his hands on, his sleeping habits this past week have been somewhat erratic, and he woke up this morning with his very first case of diaper rash (and a pretty wicked one, I might add. Like he fell asleep sunbathing...naked...on the equator).
And personality. Geez, this kid's full of it. He's happy-go-lucky 95% of the time, the other 5% being comprised of pre-nap fussing, hunger-induced whining, and general boredom or discomfort. We've had so many people comment on what a good baby he his. Our families are constantly awed by his demeanor, and they often spend days at a time with us, being privy to his each and every whim and whimper. Every time my mom visits, she asks me where his batteries go and calls him "The Stepford Child".
He is a pleasure in public and we love to show him off. The clerks at Walmart love him and always get a smile out of him. Perfect strangers often stop us to comment on how cute ad well-behaved he is. Just today, we took him to the mall to buy him clothes for his 6 month birthday and an elderly women stopped us in the food court to comment on how beautiful he is (although her first comment was, "What a skinny little thing! You oughta feed him something!" I pointed out that his collar was hiding his second chin, and then she said he was beautiful. Old people...). We had lunch, and as we were leaving, she brought another elderly lady over to show her how adorable he is. The two of them stood there for the longest time and made silly faces at him so he would smile.
He is perfectly content to be held, jostled, and poked at by family, friends, and strangers alike. He loves to smile and laugh, especially when tickled, bounced, or tossed in the air. He loves music - especially live music - and anything that makes his mother look like a complete moron. Any annoying sound that one can produce with one's mouth will elicit a gigantic, toothless grin.
He is compelled to be in constant motion...like someone else I know...and am married to...and who I just asked to please stop bouncing his foot on the bed because it is making me seasick...As a result of this compulsion, he's not always the cuddliest of babies. But when he does settle in and lay his little head against my shoulder, I could just melt.
He is the sweetest, best, best, best baby ever, and we love, love, love him to death.
We had planned on doing church at 11 on Sunday morning, hoping A could get in about an hour of his morning nap. I had to wake him up from a dead sleep so we wouldn't be late, poor baby. Here is what I found:
Although the temperature was really mild, the wind was wicked strong that morning. So I strapped on Alex's newsboy cap to make sure his ears were protected. He looked hilarious and adorable at the same time, and I couldn't stop giggling everytime I looked at him. He had to borrow Auntie L's iPhone to make a few calls before we left, then we all got in the car and headed to church.
Timothy dropped A off at the nursery and met the rest of us in the worship center. Turns out, since Alex can sit on his own now, he is no longer a Cuddly Cub. Nope. He has moved on to the more mature Baby Blue Birds. Can you believe it?! He's a big boy Baby Blue Bird!
Anyway, after the service, we hightailed it back to the Children's Center to pick him up because - let's face it - none of like to be away from him for any longer than we absolutely have to. When we got there, he was sharing a lovely women's lap with a darling little girl. The woman asked which child belonged to us, and when we indicated that the child on her left knee was our Alex, she exclaimed, "Oooh!! He is the best baby! He has been sooo good! He is such a happy boy!" She went on and on, ranting and raving about his stellar behavior and sunny disposition, which just made our day. You might think you have a great baby, and your family might think you have a great baby, and your friends might feel obligated to tell you that you have a great baby, but when a perfect stranger says it, that's when you really feel validated.
Vicki had been wanting a family picture since Christmas, so we had planned to meet Joy after the service so that she could take it for us. On our way out of the Children's Center, we ran into Joy and the Carpenters, who were on their way in to pick up their children. We tried to take advantage of the photo op, but the kids were distracted and Alex kept trying to eat Quinn's sweater...Maybe next time.
We tried out a couple of different locations, starting with a nice bed of rocks outside of the church. The wind was blowing at around 80 mph that afternoon and the lighting was not ideal, but Joy still managed to get a good shot of all of us.
We decided to try a second location, just to have an option, and this one was inside the church lobby. Another good one!
Alex thought he was looking pretty hot and wanted to model some more, so Auntie L took some head shots of him in his newsboy cap...
And a couple more with his Auntie L...
All the picture taking left us with ravenous appetites, so we planned to meet the Primms at Las Fajitas for a Mexican fiesta. It was dee-lish. Or should I say, muy bueno.
Back home we went and sent Grammy, Papa, and Auntie L on their way. 'Til next time!
When I went in to get Alex out of bed on Saturday morning, I discovered that he had pulled his jammies open, exposing his diaper to the world. He's a bit of an exhibitionist, it appears. I took him downstairs and he showed the family what he would do if he ever had the opportunity to appear on Boys Gone Wild. They found it amusing and saw it as an opportunity to give him belly zurples.
Saturday afternoon was fairly laid back. As you can see, Alex didn't even bother to change out of his pajamas. As usual, he enjoyed lounging and laughing with Grammy, Papa, and Auntie L.
He also spent some time on his tummy, trying to develop an effective crawling technique (to no avail) and shot the breeze with the Laugh & Learn Puppy that he got from Great Uncle Danny and Aunt Nancy for Christmas. He also got a cool Spin 'N' Learn Top from his Great Aunt Susan and Uncle Steve that he really likes, and took some time to practice his walking.
Oh and you may wonder why all of the pictures that I post of Alex are so cute. That's because he makes me show him each and every one I intend to post, then he must approve them (in writing) before I can put them on the blog. When he found out about all of the "unapproved" pics on Auntie L's Picasa site, he flipped his lid. So he made her show him what was on her camera so he could "yay" or "nay" each shot. If you check out her site, you can see which ones were "yayed".
Seriously though, I don't edit out whiny crybaby pictures, I just don't have very many of them to share because he really doesn't cry much. In fact, I think that he is just as funny and cute when he whines as when he doesn't, so if I had the pictures, I'd be more than willing to post them. Fortunately, Auntie L got a good one of Alex with a rare "crybaby" face that I will post, as promised:
He looks pitiful, but he was cheesing about five seconds later. I don't even remember what he was fussing about, to tell you the truth, and neither does he. Anyway, as the day went on, we got tired of the house and decided to run some errands. The first stop was PetSmart because Murph was in desperate need of pig ears (yum), plus I thought it would be fun to take Alex in to look at the animals.
He looked pretty hard at the birds, but didn't seem to know what to think about them. Our next stop was Kohl's, where we decided to give the Kohl's shopping cart/baby seat a whirl. Alex sat up fine, although he tended to get his lean on when we would round corners. I borrowed a pillow from the home department and wedged it in beside him, attempting to keep him upright. But that just made him lean the other way. Duh. Shoulda borrowed two pillows, I guess...
After shopping and a nap, we went to Red Robin for dinner. We brought Alex's portable high chair instead of messing with the skanky restaurant one, which turned out to be a lifesaver. It is just the right size and completely cootie-free. We just threw some toys on the tray and he entertained himself until the last few minutes of the meal, when pre-bedtime fussiness reared its ugly head. We pulled him out of his seat and he forgot about being sleepy when he spied the balloon tied to the back of Papa's chair. He couldn't wait to get his mouth on it. Fortunately he doesn't have any teeth yet, cuz I imagine having a balloon pop in one's mouth might cause some post-traumatic stress...
Last Friday was Joy's birthday and we offered to watch Oliver so that she and Seth could have a grown-up evening out on the town. It's a double whammy for us because we get to do something nice for Seth and Joy and we get to hang with Oliver. They came over around five and dropped O off. Alex had just woken up from a long afternoon nap so he was rested and ready for fun.
First, O explained to Alex what noises the animals on his jumperoo make - the birdy goes "tweet-tweet", the monkey goes, "ooh-ooh-aah-aah", and the elephant goes...ok so we skipped the elephant. But Alex enjoyed hearing Oliver's renditions and was pretty much fascinated by everything Oliver did, as usual.
Around 5:30, there was a knock at the door - it was the UPS man with the Chicco walker that I had ordered with Alex's Christmas money! I frantically raced to assemble it so A could give it a whirl before it was time for bed. I stuck him in the little seat and showed him all of the cool gadgets on the "dashboard". I guess I ordered the fully loaded model because it has a steering with a horn that beeps, a gear shifter that vrooms, a key that plays music when turned, and a bunch of lights that flash. All of it is super easy to operate, so he loved being able to control all of the fun sights and sounds.
It was the moving around part that he was not quite sure of. I thought he'd get in it and try to jump and jump and jump like he does in his jumperoo. He did a little, but mostly I think he liked that he could stand up in it without having to do any of the work. We put him on the kitchen floor where it moved most easily, but he wasn't totally grasping the concept of moving his feet to move himself around the room.
Luckily his pal Oliver was more than willing to show him the ropes and shuffle him around the room. Oliver is such a sweet boy with him and Alex just loves him for it. O is definitely going to make a great big brother...someday!
After rolling around the kitchen for a while, we moved the fun into the living room. Timothy was playing Guitar Hero, and the boys were intrigued. Here they are watching Tim attempt to beat Slash in a Guitar Battle:
And here they are after he completes a face melting guitar solo. (Picture Oliver saying, "Whoa. Dude."):
It was Alex's bedtime, so I went up to give him his bath and bottle and put him to bed. When I came back down, I found O and Uncle Tim engrossed in this Thomas the Tank Engine book. After their fourth or fifth time through it, it was time for Oliver to go to bed. So we got him in his jammies and ushered him to his pack'n'play.
Seth and Joy got back around 9 after their movie was over and we all hung out for a while, talking and watching stand-up comedy on YouTube. Tim's parents were due in around 11, so when they got here, they found the four of us crowded around Tim's laptop, laughing hysterically. A little more chatting and it was time for all of us to go to bed. So the Primms gathered up Oliver and Oliver-related paraphernalia and went home, and the rest of us retreated to our beds (or couches, as the case may be).
I had a checkup with Mari at the Women's Clinic on Wednesday morning, so we decided to take Alex along to visit her. I was not brave enough to take him with me when I went in for my six week checkup, so she hasn't seen him since that fateful day in July. Timothy came along to entertain him while I got "checked up", so the three of us were sitting in the exam room when Mari came in. She took one look at Alex and gasped. "He looks to be a year old!" she exclaimed. He smiled and flirted a bit, then we got down to business. As we discussed things, Mari kept interrupting herself to say, "He is such a beautiful baby!" She must have said it four times. Anyway, she was so happy that we had brought him in to meet with her under more pleasant circumstances than the first time, as were we.
It recently occurred to me that I never officially announced that I am not going back to work - for now. I assumed most have you have inferred it, but if not, now you know. Timothy will be graduating in May and has accepted a position at the Thompson & Knight law firm in Dallas. So, as of May, we will be Texans. Yeehawww!
So we'll be living pretty frugally until that point. Which means that this Christmas, we had to get a little creative.
As I've mentioned previously, any opportunity to exploit our son in order to make or save money will be swiftly taken. So, being an art lover and an art maker, I decided to help him produce some fabulous works of art for our family members. I mean, I think he could blow his nose into a napkin and put a bow on it and they'd be ecstatic, so imagine if they received a custom work of art created by their little Alex Evans!
My first plan was to throw down some posterboard, strip him to his skivvies, and let him roll around in fingerpaints. So that is just what I did.
The experience was fun, but the resulting "art" left something to be desired. There was too much white space and the paints had a weird translucent quality that made the colors look weak. Plus, Alex didn't do as much of the work as we would've liked, and we spent most of the time trying to keep his paint covered hands out of his mouth. So we had to come up with a plan B.
Eureka! I had it. We would stick him in the jumperoo, put paint and canvases under his feet, and let him go to town. I know. Genius.
This time, I prepainted the canvases in red, yellow, and blue and used acrylics instead of fingerpaints. We made about twenty paintings and picked the most dynamic ones to crop and frame. The final products were amazing. Timothy and I were soooo excited about how they turned out and it was truly heart-wrenching to have to relinquish a single one. But alas.
I signed each of them with Alex's name and the year and noted that each was work 1 of 1. Our families went wild over them, as hoped. I even have requests for several more, which I don't mind doing since I'd like to make some for myself. I'm even considering making some to take to some local galleries and see if I can get people to buy art created by the feet of a five month old jumperoo fanatic...
Saturday morning, we awoke to discover that Santa had visited and left a cache of presents under our tree. I guess he must be working overtime this year, with Christmas having been several days earlier.
This time, Alex took a back seat when it came to opening his presents and just watched me do it instead. He did score a little paper to gnaw on, however...
Grandma B, being the talented artiste that she is, painted some adorable "Alex" ornaments for our tree. The likeness is uncanny, wouldn't you say? Alex seemed to think so.
She also painted these funny little plaques that depict Timothy and I as Alex sees us - Timothy from behind a law book and me with a camera in front of my face. Yeah, that's probably pretty accurate. Either that or me with my mouth wide open and eyeballs popping out. For some reason I am compelled to make that ridiculous face whenever I look at him. He loved the plaques though and kept grabbing at them when I was trying to take a picture.
What else...Grandma and Grandpa B got him a learning toolbox that lights up and plays music when you smack things with a hammer. He may need Grandpa to show him how to use it properly because he is an expert at such things. And $100 cash money to spend in whatever way he sees fit (a walker, perhaps?). Gee, I guess we'll just have to go shopping...
Uncle Nick got Alex the coolest thing ever. He wasn't able to come to Christmas Round II but he sent a set of "Rockabye Baby!" CD's that feature lullabye renditions of songs by popular artists like The Smashing Pumpkins, Bjork, Radiohead, The Cure, and Metallica. Can you imagine falling asleep to Metallica's greatest hits? He's been listening to Pink Floyd at naptimes and it may just be my imagination, but he seems to go down easier when they're on. I'm just wondering if it will have a Pavlovian effect, like maybe when he's sixteen and The Dark Side of the Moon comes on the radio, he'll immediately fall unconscious...
Alex isn't the only one who racked up in the gift department. Aunt Rach made us a really cool photo composition that has nine different pictures of Alex with various expressions - most of which are hil-arious. I would love to post a picture but I had a hard time getting one without a glare. I may take the picture out of the frame and scan it on my...new scanner! Yay me! A great present from Ma and Pa that I know will come in handy. And this time I won't power it with the wrong cord and blow it up like I did the last one...
I know I'm forgetting a bunch of things...well, you get the gist of it. After presents, A spent some more time bonding with G-pa, who accidentally discovered that Alex really like when you lift him up and put his belly on your head. Well, it makes him drool and squeal like a greased pig, so we are assuming that means he likes it.
After present time, Mom and I frantically ran around town to get food and gifts for yet another party. My friend Katie was having a post-Christmas/pre-New Year's get together, so we all got dressed, packed up our gifts, food, and Alex's stuff, woke him up early from his nap so we wouldn't be later than we already were, and drove to Katie's house in South Fayetteville. We were half an hour late, so the fact that there were no cars in the driveway other than the hosts should've clued me in that something was amiss. Nonetheless, me and my entourage marched up to the front door, knocked, and waited. Katie's hubby Scott came to the door, looking confused and amused when he saw us all standing there.
"Hi!" I said.
"You're a day early!" he said.
I totally didn't believe him until Katie came to the door in her pj's with the makings of sausage balls coating her hands. Oops. Apparently we were not a half hour late, but rather, twenty-three and a half hours early. Somehow both Timothy and I had misread the text message that she had sent out as a reminder the day before. I guess that preggo brain a) really doesn't go away, and b) affects the husband, too. So after apologizing to Katie and Scott for interrupting their Saturday afternoon and to my folks for dragging them to a party that didn't exist, we sheepishly left their house and took the walk of shame back to the car.
As long as we were out and about - and famished, btw - we decided to make the best of an embarrassing situation and went to Penguin Ed's for lunch. When we got there, Grandpa found a little table and chairs that were just Alex's size, so the two of them tried it out.
We didn't want to make A eat alone at the kid's table, so we invited him to join us at the big people table. Lunch was good so it wasn't such a bad thing that I'm an idiot.
After lunch, we went back home and where Grandma and Grandpa volunteered to watch A so Rachel, Tim, and I could go see I Am Legend at the theater. Unfortunately G-ma and G-pa B didn't get much Alex time while were gone because he took a three hour nap, waking just before we got back. Oh well, it's quality, not quantity that really matters.
So bed time was approaching and it was time to wind down. For my mom and dad, "winding down" means engaging in acrosports in the living room. I think they are conditioning so they can try out for Cirque du Soleil. I always thought that my mom and dad were fit to join the circus, I just thought they'd be part of the freak show as opposed to performing under the big top. (Just kidding. Sort of...)
Luckily, acrosport practice did not yield any injuries. After a good night's sleep, we had to send Aunt Rach off to Colorado so she could prepare for her first semester at the Art Institute of Colorado, where she will be earning her degree in photography. "Boohoo, don't go Aunt Rach!" we cried. Except for Mom, who wanted her to get home before New Year's Eve, when all the crazies would be tearing up the roads.
After Rach left, we prepared, once again, for Katie's party. I held my breath as the five of us approached the door, and breathed a sigh of relief when Katie greeted us with a smile and said, "It's today!"
The party was tons of fun and Alex was a trooper, despite the fact that he had to nap on the fly and that his absent-minded mommy forgot to bring a bottle. Oh and I forgot to bring extra batteries for my camera, hence the lack of party pictures (was I on a roll, or what?). It's always great to get together with the current and former Rede clan. We're so much fun. Miss you guys!
Just one more night with the folks and they'd have to head back to P-town. Grandma took advantage by getting in one more fun bathtime with Alex. To her delight, he decided to debut a new trick for her. Lately, he has been in the habit of grabbing the (pre-soapy) washcloth out of my hands and sucking all the water out of it. Kinda gross, I know, but a little butt water ain't gonna kill him. This particular night, he discovered that if he dunked the washcloth in the bathwater, it got super wet again. So he would suck, suck, suck, move to a new spot, suck, suck, new spot, suck, suck, suck, then when it seemed as though he had sucked it dry, he would dunk it in the water and start the process again. Here's a little clip...
Monday morning, the B's had to go home. Which always stinks. But we had a great, if short, visit and look forward to the next one.
We left Eldo Thursday morning to go back home. Alex said his goodbyes and thank yous for a wonderful first Christmas.
We were tempted to rent a U-Haul to cart all of our Christmas winnings back to Fayetteville, but instead, Grammy, Papa, and Auntie L volunteered to come up in a couple of weeks to bring whatever we could not cram into our car. It was a difficult task to decide what we'd be willing to leave behind, but we did it, packed the car with the rest, and set off on the long trek home.
Seth, Joy, and Oliver left around the same time we did, and we wondered whether might run into them somewhere along the way. When we got to Conway around lunchtime, Joy texted to ask where we were and to let us know that they were in...Conway! So we met up for lunch at Wendy's, where we decided to risk cootie infection by letting Alex sit in a Wendy's high chair. Unfortunately I was unprepared for such an occasion and didn't have the high chair cootie shield with me, so we had to improvise with his blanket. It was the first time we had attempted to use a high chair as opposed to his baby seat and didn't know how he would fare. We gave him a few toys to keep him occupied and he hung out in there without complaint until it was time to go.
As we were heading north, Grandma B and Aunt Rachel were southbound, en route to meet us at our house for the second phase of our Christmas celebration. Grandpa B had to work but would be joining us the next day. We had a little time when we got home to freshen up and get a nap, then Grandma B and Aunt Rach arrived and got the party started. By the look of his shirt, Alex was expecting a luau. Or maybe he just wanted to impress Grandpa B who has a penchant for Hawaiian garb (grass skirts and coconut bras included).
Lately, A has shown increased interest in all things electronic (computers, cameras), including cell phones. So when Grandma B was talking on the phone to Grandpa, Alex was fascinated by the sound of Grandpa's voice coming out of the phone and tried, without success, to unwrap the mystery.
Bathtime was always one of my favorite things as a baby, and it happens to be one of Alex's. So Grandma B was more than willing to take on bathtime with Alex and relive a little of my childhood.
Dad wasn't gonna get in until Friday afternoon, so we decided to hone our Guitar Hero Skills to kill some time before he arrived. Mom and Rach were GH newbies so we were really looking forward to making fun of their feeble attempts to land even a single note. Unfortunately, we were sorely disappointed to discover that they are both Guitar Hero prodigies and rocked out on their very first tries. Party poopers.
Dad got in Friday evening, right in time for dinner at Noodles with the Primms who were nice enough to invite us. Oliver was "psyched" that we were able to hang out together, and Alex was psyched to get to hang with his Grandpa.
Mmmmm, Noodles. I highly recommend the fried calamari. Anyhoo, after dinner, the Primms came back to our house so our boys could exchange gifts. Oliver got a little distracted when he spotted the GH guitars and played us a little tune before opening gifts. O got Alex a cool photo cube where he can put pictures of all of his friends and an Ugly Doll named Wage - Minimum Wage. Man I love those things. And Alex will too, he just doesn't know it yet. For now he just loves to slobber on it. Alex got O some shiny balls - foot, basket, and soccer, I think. He seemed to like them. I mean, what boy doesn't love balls?
Alex and Oliver thanked each other for the lovely gifts by way of a sweet - er, manly - hug. Then the Primms headed home and we headed to bed so we'd be ready for yet another "Christmas morning."
You might think that Christmas fun has to end at Christmas, but you'd be wrong. In our case, we like to stretch the holiday as far as we can and this year was no exception.
Wednesday morning, Michele Ball and her girls, Rachel and Rebekah, came bearing gifts. Tim and I got Walmart gift cards (just our size) and Alex got a very sporty and boyish basketball game that hopefully makes up for the rocking chair/baby doll situation from the day before. Of course, he still hasn't caught on to the whole "wrapping paper is not the gift" concept, but he will learn.
Only six months old and already loves being surrounded by girls... Wednesday afternoon, we had planned to meet up with all of our friends and their children at the Primms' house (Seth's parents' house, not his). There ended up being a veritable mob of kids and their folks, so let me give you a quick rundown of who goes with who. First there's us and Alex, us being Tim, myself, and Leah. Then, of course, there's Seth and Joy Primm with 18 month old Oliver who also live in NW Arkansas near us. Then we have Scott and Amanda Cooley who have the precious little girl you met in an earlier post, 9 month old Rebekah. There's Mark and Laura Day who live in Eldo, and they have an 18 month old boy named Jack and also have baby boy #2 on the way. There's Jacob and Kelly Cheshier who live in Kingsport, TN, and they have a 2 year old boy, Ethan, a 9 month old girl named Sadie, and baby #2 on the way. Joey and Jennifer Legg have Will Franklin who is around a year old, and Steven and Abbey Weems (not pictured - they came a little later) lead the pack with three "babies" - 5 year old Luke, 2 year old Emma Grace, and 9 month old Lauren.
Pheeewwww.
So that's a grand total of...14 parents, 9 kids, two fetuses, and an Auntie. And that's not including Seth's folks and their doggie Sanky (sp?), who happens to be Murphy Pup's mama, btw.
We were so excited to get everyone together because really, the only ones in the group that get to see each other on a regular basis are us and the Primms (Seth, Joy, and Oliver Primm, not Seth's parents). It was so so so much fun to see everyone and let our kids run/crawl amok together.
One particular source of entertainment for the evening was watching Ethan pull Jack and Sadie around in Oliver's wagon. The wagon was a little back heavy and had the tendency to dump out its contents when tugged too vigorously. We all held our breath in anticipation of one of the kiddos spilling out onto the ground, but none of us tried to stop them from doing it. It was a "thrill of the sport" kind of thing (check out the dads' expressions in the background). In the end, no permanent damage was done, and we all had some good laughs.
As usual, Alex hadn't slept well that day, so he had to take a power nap to keep up with the energetic crowd. Luckily Auntie L's shoulder is comfy so he had a nice place to catch a few z's.
His beauty rest paid off because I think he impressed baby Lauren with his devilish good looks. Again with the girls! I think he and I are gonna need to have a little talk...
Onto Mamaw Meador's for dinner. This year's Christmas celebration at Mamaw's was bittersweet because it would be the last one. She recently purchased a house closer to Vicki and Bill's (and Mamaw Evans' and Leah's) and this was the last time we would be having Christmas at 518 S. Parkway. She and Papaw had been living in that house for forty years, it was where Vicki and her siblings grew up, and it was where Timothy had celebrated Christmas almost every year since he was born. We were grateful that Alex had come along just in the nick of time and was able to experience at least one Christmas in a house filled with such loving memories.
We ate (a lot) and A got passed around like - you guessed it! - a Christmas ham. He's so easygoing, he didn't mind a bit. He took care to bond with all of his Greats and a handful of cousins.
He had a lot of fun sitting in this girly little rocking chair that Mamaw had, and he grabbed for Macey's baby doll right away when she showed it to him, which made his daddy cringe a little. Come on, daddy, there's nothing wrong with a boy being in touch with his feminine side. You can't pass up a pink dress shirt and you watch What Not to Wear. Gee, I wonder where he gets it...
We opened presents then played some games. Guesstures is a family fave, especially when it's Uncle Freddie's turn...
We also played Mad Gab, the point of which is to make everyone playing sound like a bunch of morons. What's more fun than that? I'll answer that question. Nothing.
It was a great last hurrah at Mamaw's. We were sad to go but excited to know we'd be starting a new tradition at the new house. We transferred A from his pack 'n' play to the car, which was his first mid-sleep transfer other than naps. I was hoping he'd stay asleep but he was wide-eyed in the car, and I wondered what would happen when I put him back down at the house. He was completely silent and stoic for the ride home, and when I laid him in the pack 'n' play, he went right back to sleep. What a sweet, good boy.
Okay, so here we are. I've finally made it to Christmas day, and I literally have dozens of pictures that I want to post. I'm trying to decide whether to post them all at once or to break Christmas day into two shorter posts...what to do? In the interest of time, I suppose I'll do the twofer and start with Christmas morning.
A had woken up around 4am, as was his usual practice while in Eldo, and after a bottle and some mommying he went back to sleep until eight. Auntie L had slept over because she was afraid that Santy Claus might not have gotten her change of address form, and she didn't want to miss out on any of the Christmas fun. After changing and feeding A, Timothy, Alex, Murphy, and I woke Auntie Leah up and we all paraded to Grammy and Papa's room to let them know that Santa had indeed showed up and that we were itchin' to see what he brought us.
A was all warm and cozy in his Christmas jammies that Grammy and Auntie L had bought him, complete with convenient trap door for easy access to the bum region (ideal for diaper changing). He sort of had an "elf goes to prison" look going with his green and white stripes, which I thought suited him nicely.
Murphy seemed more impressed by the large pile of presents that filled the den (that's Arkansas for "living room") than Alex was. He immediately sniffed out which stocking was his and couldn't wait to check out the contents. Turns out that Grandma B had sent some yummy rawhide bones and a couple of toys, along with a red velvet collar with bells and a teeny Santa hat with an elastic chin strap. We made him try them on and tried to snap a picture, but we couldn't get the hat to stay on his head and he ended up with a red and white beard, instead.
Auntie L doled out presents and A had quite a few to dig through. I'm kind of surprised Santa left so many considering that Alex didn't even leave him cookies and milk or a note or anything. But he has been such a good boy, so I guess Santa looked past all that and brought him exactly what he wanted.
Again, he was a pro at tearing things open. He couldn't wait to rip all the wrapping off of this gift!! To see what was inside!! Boy oh boy!! He just couldn't wait! He was oh so excited to see what...
...the paper tasted like.
So maybe he was a little more excited about the delicious wrapping paper than what was inside it, but his dad and I were pretty happy to see that Santa had brought him this cool high chair that straps to a regular chair at the kitchen table. We couldn't wait to try it out at breakfast, but first, there were more presents to open.
Grandma and Grandpa B sent him some fun books, a red onesie embroidered with the words "Alexander the Greater" (he is great, isn't he?), and some old timey wooden toys to hold him over until they came to visit the next week and bring the rest of his presents.
Grammy and Papa had gotten him his very first Radio Flyer wagon, which he seemed to like. And who wouldn't? Every self respecting little boy needs a red wagon!
He got lots of other cool gadgets and toys and things that make noise, one of which was a Learn and Groove Musical Table from Leapfrog. Oliver had one that he really seemed to like, so I thought it might be something that A would find interesting and added it to his wish list. And whaddyaknow, I was right (as usual). He played with it...
...tried to eat it...
...and eventually became very possessive of it. "I see you trying to mess with my toy. Back up off it...or else."
Overall a good choice, I would say.
And that's not all! Papa had someone from the church handcraft this cool high chair/rocking chair/desk and chair that converts from one to the other just by changing its orientation. It'll take some time for Alex to grow into it, but for now, it will stay at Papa's for him to use when we are there.
...and the list goes on. Shoes, clothes, stacking toys, stroller toys, etc., etc., etc. Auntie L hooked him up big time, as well. He got some stacking rings, some John Deere boots called "Johnny Poppers" (they're all the rage south of the Mason Dixon), bath toys, a musical drum toy that lets him create his own tunes, so on, and so forth.
Timothy and I didn't do so bad either. He got a few history books, an Illinois hoodie, a moleskin notebook, and...other stuff. I got some awesome dishes, a dock for my iPod, and lots of other great things that would take me a week to list. Together, we got an external hard drive, a DVD player that will play CD's burned from the computer, and...GUITAR HERO! Oh boy, that spells trouble. Many deliciously wonderful, fun-filled rockin' hours of trouble. Timothy still has a semester of school left and we're all a little concerned that having full access to Guitar Hero may hinder his ability to focus on his schoolwork and thus, to graduate. Grammy threatened to keep the game at her house to avoid such a fate, but we promised to limit our playing to just eight hours a day so we could take it home with us. Here we are practicing...
At last, it was time to try out the new high chair. Once Papa and I finally figured out which strap went with which clip and which clip fit through which slot, we got him buckled in and pulled him up to the table so he could...watch all of us eat a scrumptious Christmas breakfast while he feasted on some savory plastic rings.
After breakfast, we had some time to kill before heading over Mamaw's, so we played a little more GH (that's what you call Guitar Hero if you are awesome), A worked on some Excel spreadsheets with his dad, and we basically just laid around and played with all of our Christmas loot.
Oh, and we made Murphy clean up his wrapping paper mess. Here he is picking up the last little scrap.
Auntie L set the scene and took pics of Alex with his large stash of new toys. He is well on his way to being spoiled rotten...
Enough messing around. Time to get ready for Mamaw's. A got dressed, and luckily he got some new kicks for Christmas because the ones I brought for him to wear with this outfit turned out to be a bit too small. Kid's growing like a weed! These new ones worked out even better though. They gave his uber-preppy get-up an urban flava that made him feel fly.
Dressed, shoed, and ready to go, over the river and through the woods!
So I'm officially less than a week behind in my blogging! Hooray me! We've finally made it to Christmas Eve. Oy vey, that's seems like a year ago. Here's what I remember...
A traditional Christmas Eve in Eldo always includes a caroling expedition, whereby the sprier and more youthful members of MHC (which stands for Marrable Hill Chapel, btw) pile into several large vehicles and visit the homes of the more "mature" members of the church to serenade them with rousing renditions of various holiday favorites. It is always a fun time, which promised to be even more special this year since Alex would be tagging along.
We lazed around the house for a bit before we got ready for the day. A worked on his sitting and his pushups as we cheered him on. He has started to lift his hips off of the ground, as well, which we presume is another step towards being able to crawl. I tried to snap a picture of him in action, but that's a lot harder than it sounds.
Once we were done being lazy, we got dressed for our big day of caroling and Auntie L helped A put his shoes on. I thought they were just his regular Pumas, but they must've been his chocolate flavored ones cuz he couldn't keep his foot out of his mouth.
In order to be in tip-top shape to perform, us carolers met at Pizza Inn to fuel up before hitting the road. A had not been sleeping well while at Grammy's - waking at 4am, taking way short naps during the day - so I wasn't sure how he would fare when it came to dragging him in and out of the car seat. He took another "snap" while at the Inn, first passing out on Grammy's shoulder, then sleeping through a mid-snooze transfer to Mommy's lap.
Although his "snap" only lasted a total of about thirty minutes, he seemed to be well-rested and as bubbly as ever when we strapped him into the car and headed to the first stop of our caroling tour.
This year we stopped at several residences and forwent the nursing home in favor of a hospice. It was such a gift to be able to spread some holiday cheer to the residents.
After a long but fulfilling day of caroling, we went back to the house where, as per tradition, Mamaw Meador came over to eat supper and give us our Christmas gifts. Alex got to open his very first Christmas present, a privilege that he took very seriously. When it came to ripping that sucker open, he was a natural!!
Great Whistling Hippos, Batman! The box contained four brightly colored hippos that fit into plastic inner tubes that float in the tub. Oh, and they "whistle" when you tap them on the head (although it's really more of a "toot" than a whistle). And they are made by a toy company called ALEX. What a coincidence, huh?
He played with them on the floor for a bit, then we sent him off to the tub for the real test. By the look of that smile, I'd say they're a hit!
Tim and I got lots of good things, too, and Murphy got to rip up all of the paper, which is the best present ever as far as he's concerned.
Aunt Sylvia had stopped by for the festivities and Mamaw Evans made an appearance to say goodbye before she left for Texas.
Then off to bed we went, to visions of dancing sugar plums...
Sunday was a busy day, as it usually is in Eldo. We churched in the morning, and in lieu of leaving him in the capable hands of the MHC nursery workers, we decided to keep him in the sanctuary and pray that he wouldn't disrupt the service. He had just woken up from a nap and we knew he wouldn't sleep, so the challenge was to keep him happy enough that he wouldn't fuss but not so happy that he would be shrieking in jubilation. We gave him his raspberry and let him go to town, and to everyone's surprise, he hardly made a peep. The congregation could not believe that he stayed quiet the whole time. What a good, well behaved boy we have!
After the service we made our usual rounds to visit everyone we knew, aka the entire MHC congregation. We introduced Alex to Ethan Cheshier, a spirited two year old who belongs to our friends Jacob and Kelly. Ethan has a little sister, nine month old Sadie, so he was well aware of how to entertain an infant. He kept bending over and putting his head down, then Alex would reach out and grab Ethan's head with his hands. Alex is pretty much fascinated by people in general, but he has demonstrated a distinct partiality to other kids. Needless to say, he and Ethan hit it off.
After church, we went to the ever-popular Papa Poblano's for lunch. It is kind of like Eldo's version of La Huerta (a NW Arkansas fave) - cheap but delicious Mexican cuisine. Let me put it this way - if you are looking for an Evans, chances are you will find one (or three) there. In fact, I'm kind of surprised they haven't named an entree after Leah yet. Like "Quesa-leah's". Anyway, poor A was pooped and in need of a good nap, so we inhaled our fajitas and took him home to get rested for that night's Candlelight Communion service.
When Timothy was a teenager, he was a member of a gospel quartet called Rock Solid, along with Seth, Jacob, and Scott Cooley. The group split in 1997, citing "creative differences", although everyone knew that Seth's chocolate addiction was really to blame. (Check out Rock Solid's E! True Hollywood Story this Thursday at 10/9c for the gruesome details). The group decided to forgive past indiscretions in order to perform together at Sunday's Candlelight Communion. It was a reunion concert of sorts, and we were all very excited to see them back together, if only for one night.
Alex was such a good boy in church that morning that we decided to push our luck and bring him into the evening service so that he could hear his daddy sing. Grammy sat with him on the end of the aisle in case a mad dash into the hallway was necessary, but once again, he impressed us with his stellar behavior. He was riveted when his daddy started singing, and started at him, wide-eyed and awed. They performed beautiful renditions of The First Noel and Silent Night, which brought many audience members to tears, including Alex's Grammy. Who can blame her? Her baby boy was back on stage, and his baby boy was watching him sing. It was a weird "past meets present" thing that left us all kind of emotional.
Holding flaming things and holding Alex are mutually exclusive acts in my opinion, so Grammy had to decide which she wanted to do when it came time for the "candlelight" portion of the "Candlelight Communion". I'm sure you can guess which one she chose...
It was a beautiful service followed by a dessert party in the Fellowship Hall. Knowing that I would be imbibing (in sweets, that is) in the days to follow, I resisted temptation and forwent tasting each and every dessert on the table (like I would normally do). Alex also resisted the wide array of cakes and pies, cobblers and puddings, cookies and candies, although he did attempt to snag a couple of peppermints off of the table when we weren't looking. Fortunately, his effort was thwarted by Mamaw Evans, who told him "I don't think your Mama would want you to have that." Right on, Mamaw.
So he didn't get his hands on any sweets, unless you count Amanda and Scott Cooley's precious nine month old, Rebekah. Alex seemed to be quite enamored of her, and she of him. They make a lovely couple, don't you think? Too bad Alex isn't allowed to date until he's sixteen. Or until he can walk a girl to her front door. Whichever comes first...
Now I'm gonna have to find out when the opening day of deer season is. 'Til then, he'll just have to wear it when the mood strikes him.
Here're some other random pics from that day. A was in high spirits (not that that is unusual) and was looking especially cute (not that that is unusual) so he was in the mood for hamming it up in front of the camera.
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