Meeting the Cincinatti Blenks

Aunt Molly, Uncle Erick, Abby and Conor arrived today to meet Alex and play for a couple days in the sun! We were so glad to see them!!

 

 

 

 

Sitting up - assisted

 

Today was the first day we put Alex in the Bebe Pod. I bought one so he would have a safe place to sit up and his big brother wouldn't steam roll him while he was playing.

My Little Animated Marionette

Alex is becoming more and more animated as each day passes. He balances his awake time between staring intently at his hands and insisting we talk to him. It's so cute. We don't recall that Brandon was ever as fascinated with his hands as Alex is. And he is too funny when he gets all serious and cross-eyed as he turns his hands over and over. He also does "worry hands" a lot when he's looking around at the world. He holds his hands in fists in front of him, below the chin, and kind of mashes them in to each other. At times he works on his special talent of trying to put not one, but both hands in his mouth at the same time.

Alex also loves to blow bubbles when he is cooing and gurgling at you. Coupled with the huge, huge grins we get out of him, it's a sweet and wonderful sight to see. I've also been calling him my little marionette doll as he tends to talk to me with his whole body, bringing up his hands and legs as if they were connected to a puppet master's strings. It's so cute because he's almost, almost laughing when he does it.

He is really starting to develop such a sweet and happy disposition now. He does love to give us a good hard cry right before he drops off to sleep at night. We just pace and since we know the deal now, we just rock and gently ask him to "give it up." Sometimes it takes 10 minutes, sometimes 30, but we're starting to get in a night-time routine and he's learning.

Have I mentioned yet how much I love to snuggle when he's asleep on my shoulder? And even though I look forward to putting him down so I can get things done, I also hate to put him down because I know just how quickly these moments will be gone? Sometimes it's so hard - in a good way!

Alex and Kaison

 

 

Here is Alex with his buddy Kaison. Mandy and Kai have been coming over to visit and keep us company during the days when the daddys are at work. We love it! Kai was born two and a half weeks after Alex. Despite the fact that Kai is starting to get his own chipmunk cheeks, Alex still looks like he might steamroller him!

The 8 Week Miracle Marker

Alex is now 8 weeks old. And I am now going to consider the 8 week mark to be a miracle for my kids regarding sleep. Brandon slept for 5 hours at night when he was 8 weeks and 1 day old. Alex, on his 8 week mark, slept for 5 hours that night. And last night he slept for seven. There are only two problems as I see it... I now know he can do it so when he doesn't, I'll get frustrated. And I remember plenty, plenty of nights when Brandon didn't sleep for that long straight after the first few nights. The other problem is that I kept waking up to make sure he was still breathing! So I didn't get 7 hours of sleep yet!

Smiley Boy

 

 

 

 

Alex is now smiling up a storm, doing the full "body talking" where he'll wiggle all over in response when you talk to him. He is also full of coos and goos too.

One Month Old

Yesterday I took Alex in for his one month doctor's visit. He was 10.25 lbs and 21.75 inches long. I think he's growing just fine. In the month that we've been home Alex has proven to be a good baby. We had a brief bout with colicky like symptoms but after talking to Dr. Challey and eliminating milk and yogurt from my diet, things have improved greatly. The past two nights Alex has only gotten up twice to feed after his last feed before I go to bed. So that has helped me feel somewhat human again.

It's been interesting, wonderful and challenging to adjust to having two kids all day. Some days are great, others not so much. Brandon tends to cry when Alex cries - I guess out of genuine concern... or not to be outdone by his little brother, I'm not sure which. Those can be long, long minutes. I'm also learning to re-adjust my expectations about what I can and can not get done during the day anymore. For anyone who thinks two hours is a long time, think again. I know that on a Friday afternoon at 3pm and you leave work at 5pm, those two hours are an eternity. But when it's all the time you have between sitting in a chair nursing a baby, that just isn't enough time to do what you need to do. Add a two-year-old to that equation and it's less time. Add sleep deprivation to it and and the sum total equals hysteria. I wouldn't have it any other way right now though. The first month has flown by. Alex is about ready to smile consistently at us when we smile and him and he's tracking me and other objects with his eyes, becoming more alert and aware of his surroundings and generally showing a sweet disposition. It's good.

Alex also had his first "play date" with Mandy and Kai yesterday. Our good friends had their first baby 2.5 weeks after Alex was born so they came over for a visit during Brandon's nap. It was really cute to see the boys lying next to each other on the floor. It was cool because just 5 weeks ago we all went to dinner and the boys weren't born yet and Mandy and I were commiserating about lower back pain, the inability to find a comfortable position to sleep in and general annoyance of both of us having to have c-sections. The boys were worth it all though.