Alex's First Christmas!

We headed up to MI to see our family and friends for the holidays. Here's the short version of our trip.

Here is our car strategically packed....needless to say a minivan may be in our future... : )

Alex was a trooper on the car rides. He did excellent being in his car seat for 11 hours and just cried when he was trying to sleep and couldn't quite do it on his own.

We had a great time seeing all of our family and friends. We spent Christmas Eve with Julie's family.

Here is Alex's 1 1/2 year old cousin, Isaac, taking good care of him. The minute he walked in the door he was asking for Alex and then would say "hold him, hold him".


Alex loved the wrapping paper and attempting to eat the paper more than the gifts : )


We spent Christmas Day with Eric's family where Alex got spoiled some more.

Here Alex is getting love from his Grammy.

Alex got a monkey backpack that he just loved.


We spent most of the time staying at Julie's older brother's house. Todd loves his nephew, Alex, but wasn't so sure about his early morning wake up calls. Here is bathtime in Todd's kitchen sink.


As you can see by the next pictures, the car was even more packed on the way home as Alex was completely spoiled by both families for his 1st Christmas. Thank You to all - we have been having fun exploring all the new toys. Here is Alex admiring his haul....

I'm Gonna Get You!

Sleepy time for Julie

5 Months Old Today!!!

Wow - I can't believe our baby is 5 months old today!

Just Hanging with Dad

Boys must be born with a natural attraction to remote controls...


And don't look to close at Alex's outfit - he spit up on his pj's and these mismatched items were nearby until we got him dressed for the day ;)...

A few more that didn't make the card....

Sneak Peak???

We played around with maybe doing a Christmas photo card this year and attempted some pics on our own....

Which team sucks the worst?

4 Months Old

Alex had his 4 month well check today. We are thankful that he continues to be a very healthy boy.

Weight - 15 lbs 8 oz. - 50th percentile. Alex was kicking and wiggling all over and the doctor laughed and said this is why he did not gain as much weight as in the past - he is burning calories now.

Height - 26 inches - (same as 2 month visit) - 75th percentile. The doctor said there is obviously some human error in measuring these babies - the nurse may have stretched him out farther last time, or he was squirming, etc.

Head - 43 cm - 75th percentile.

Here is a little about Alex at 4 months old:

*He loves to see the action. He loves walks now that he faces out on the stroller and is no longer in his carseat, he just takes it all in. He loves Eric to wear him in the Baby Bjorn facing out.


*He is still a very happy baby and quick to smile and giggle and has mastered the happy high pitched girly scream and has become quite the noisy baby.

*Is just starting to eat cereal and loves to try and grab the spoon and of course must put his fingers in his mouth after every bite.


*Loves Buddy and just laughs every time he sees him.

*Loves Fingerplays. He is just mesmerized by The Eensy Weensy Spider. I get to put all my years of teaching to use now ;).

*Loves to grab our faces - thinks our facial features are great toys and is mad when he is not allowed to play with them!

Just Me and My Dad

Eric has mastered babysitting duties....

Just Cause I'm Cute

We did a little photo session today after nap - his one eye has a little tear duct issue today - but oh well... here is happy Alex propped up like a big boy on the couch....


He even posed for me in this one ; ).....

Rolling Over

I was finally able to capture Alex rolling on video. His favorite place to roll over is in his crib - this is a fun trick when trying to put him down for a nap :). He also does it when he wakes up and I was able to catch him in action this morning.

Golfing

My buddies Jason, Tony and Jim golfed on Friday afternoon, the weather in HSV the past week has been gorgeous so we we teed it up and got an early start on our weekend.

Fun New Toy

I purchase a Baby Einstein Activity Center for Alex this week - (Thank You Craigslist). And he loves it! It is so fun to watch him explore...he has been quite serious his first few times in it - he studies all the toys and grabs them and is very entranced by the whole thing...

Eczema, Tongue Tied and Grandma

Alex had a busy week last week.

Last week he got to visit the doctor for a nice outbreak of eczema : (.....thankfully, the creams have worked really fast and it is basically totally gone.

He also had his ENT appointment. The Pediatric ENT said his tongue was quite tight and we had two choices: wait and re-evaluate when he is 1 year old since it wasn't effecting his eating or just quick clip it while we were at his office. He recommended just clipping it now so it wouldn't effect him learning any movements required for speech and because if we wait and have to do the procedure at one year we have to go to a surgery center and put him under with gas for the procedure. So with one little clip, Alex's tongue is free.


We also had Grandma Marti (my mom) visit from Michigan. Eric and I got to go out on a date night- whoohoo..... and Alex got lots of bonding time with Grandma....



We had some beautiful weather so we played around with the camera and did some family shots as well...



And we played around with Black and Whites....

Storytime

Alex loves nightly story time with daddy. He is just mesmerized by books. Eric is ready to move past board books and onto books with better plots : ), ...but, it is very sweet to watch them together....

Southern Culture

The types of comments which can only be heard in the South, an example of how college football dominates the culture.

A greeter at church, (appeared to be a 40-something female) making a comment to the female church-goer in front of Julie and I: LSU sure "opened a can" on Auburn last night, huh?

I chuckled while walking to our seats.


(For those of you who don't know, Auburn got destroyed by LSU last night)

Just Like Mommy

This post is for the VandenBrands... when I was younger I did not suck on my thumb or a pacifier - I sucked on two fingers - my ring finger and middle finger....some in my family may say that I did this for a little longer than recommended and yes, my parents did try to break my habit by putting band aids and nasty tasting deterrents on my fingers, but nothing could come between me and my fingers..... and Alex may feel the same way???

3 Months Old!

Alex at 3 months old: (a few days late)


*LOVES his fists - can't get enough of them. They are always in his mouth, he is a drooling mess and he occasionally gags himself with them by accident.

*Has figured out how to grab and hold his toys and of course, they go into the mouth as well.

*Just discovered his feet/toes and is quite fascinated by them....


*Loves sleeping on his tummy. He has always been an amazing sleeper at night, now he is a quite a good napper too!

*Is so much more aware of his surroundings. I used to be able to take him on errands during nap time, but now he is so alert and aware that the grocery store is just too exciting of a place to nap because he has to look all around. He is a lot more aware of Buddy and will watch him and he now looks for Eric when he hears his voice when Eric gets home from work.

*Laughs and Squeals all the time


*Loves to stand up and put weight on his legs - a trick Eric taught him early on

*Likes to be held facing out so he can catch all the action

*Just yesterday, he rolled over from his stomach to his back for the first time. He pushed high up on his arms and flipped...pretty sure he has no idea how he did it or what happened. Hopefully we can catch it on video this week.

*Here's a picture of Tummy Time - he is intrigued by seeing himself in the mirror...