Tooth!

Ok, it's a little blurry, but here it is:

Changes and More Changes

Alex has gone through an incredible number of changes in the last week. He seems to be changed from an infant to a little boy overnight! Since my last posting (less than a week ago) he has done the following:

1. Started using both hands on a regular basis

2. Started to roll over both ways (the first time I ever saw him roll over, he went back to front to back)

3. Started playing with his feet

4. Growing leg hair

5. Started to sleep on his side during nap time:

6. Sprouted a tooth! (Which explains all the drooling.) I would post a picture of it, but everytime I pull down that bottom lip, he sticks his tongue out over it.

Yay!

He figured it out. The trick is to keep ALL your fingers sticking out.

Mother's Day and More

Mother's Day

I had a pretty wonderful Mother's Day. I didn't think I would get all excited about it, but I did. We went to the traditional Mother's Day gorgefest at the Emondson's. We ate way too many deep-fried appetizers, too much casserole, and too much pound cake. I guess that's what holidays are for, though. Alex (daddy) bought me a beautiful necklace with a mother and child pendant. It looks like those statues I like so much where the mother and child are one:

I had asked Alex for only one thing for Mother's Day: that he sleep through the night. And he did - five nights in a row!! Woo-hoo!

Garden

A little bit off topic; our garden is starting to shape up:

We have been doing it totally organic, using only compost and "tea" made from worm castings to fertilize it. We were so proud of it until we compared it to my mother-in-law's garden. Let's just say her garden put ours to shame. Those Miracle-Grow folks really know what they're doing. Anyway, last weekend we broke down and bought some fertilizer. But we're still sticking with organic-only. Someone asked us why recently and we didn't really have an answer. I guess we're just trying to see if we can do it. Not to mention that whatever chemicals you put on the ground will eventually end up in the local watershed. Plus, organic veggies are yummy!

Alex's progress

Unlike my squash, Alex just keeps getting bigger and bigger. His physical development is pretty remarkable. Just in the last week or two, he has really started to figure out how to use his hands. He will sit there and stare at his right hand, twisting it back and forth before his eyes. He is just fascinated with it. He still hasn't quite got the hang of thumb-sucking (he keeps tucking it beneath his other fingers instead of holding it out), but he's getting much better at putting his pacifier back in his mouth after pulling it out. He's also starting to use both hands to pull on the edge of his blanket and put his teething ring in his mouth. Here is Alex trying to sit up:

I made the mistake the other day of visiting babycenter.com. It's a website that tracks babies' development week-by-week. Or at least how babies are supposed to develop week-by-week. I should have known better, but I looked at it anyway to see if Alex is supposed to be sitting up (not really) or rolling over both ways (maybe so). He seems to be on-par with his physical development, but not so much with his mental or "emotional" development. What does this mean? Am I going to have a mindless athlete for a son? Or an overgrown oaf? Am I going to be Lennie's mother? I guess the more important question is: Why am I freaking out about this? I'm sure Alex is progressing at a perfectly normal rate. And even if he ends up a Lennie, I'll love him just the same. I just won't buy him a puppy.

Signs of progress ... maybe

For a while there, Alex was doing great sleeping at night, going 10 hours on a regular basis and giving Mommy sweet, uninterrupted sleep. But then, about two weeks ago, the progress stopped and he began to regress, waking at about 3 a.m. to feed and then making noises and waking off and on from about 5 a.m. on. I've been told that regression can be indicative of a growth spurt or the onset of a major milestone. I really hope this is the case. Losing sleep would be made more bearable if he started flipping both ways or sitting up or prepping for his SATs.

In all honesty, though, Alex really is making progress day by day. It's amazing how much babies change in such a short amount of time. It is so much fun to watch as he discovers new and exciting abilities and things in his environment. It's a little sad, too, to think about how quickly it's going and that each "first" is, in a way, a "last" as well. But I keep telling myself we'll have another kid, so wait and get really sad when he or she has his or her "lasts."

Just in case you needed another reason to think that babies are God's greatest gift: Yesterday after I balanced the checkbook, I looked down at Alex, sighed, and said "oh, baby, we're running out of money." (Don't worry, we aren't really; I was being dramatic.) As I said this, he looked up at me with those beautiful baby blues and gave me the biggest grin. As if to say "I love you mommy! At least you have me!"

Here are some of Alex's newest favorite things to do:

1. Scream (I know I had this on the list last time, but he's taken it to a whole new level)
2. Pull things into his mouth (pacifier, blanket, stuffed lion, Mommy's fingers)
3. Push his bottle nipple out of his mouth (then get frustrated that he's not getting food; does this mean he's ready for solids?)
4. Squat thrusts (you know the dreaded exercise - he loves it)
5. Be Superbaby (It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Superbaby!)
6. Be lifted in the air by his hands (Yes, this makes Granny very nervous, but Daddy is VERY gentle)
7. Blow rasberries
8. Pee in his eyes (Yes, still)
9. Watch sports on TV, especially golf (he was enthralled by the Masters)
10. Sport a mini-mullet (he's rubbed the hair off the back of his head, but left a tuft at the nape of his neck)

I'm glad my son isn't crookneck squash ...

Otherwise he would look like this:

The sad part is that this is the best-looking one. I guess it's good that I'm better at raising a baby than produce. Though, to be fair, the squash was looking a little sad before I even put it in the ground. Andy's peppers, on the other hand, are looking great.

This is our first stab at growing a vegetable garden (we haven't faired well with flowers in the past). Hopefully our friends and family can enjoy the fruits (or veggies) of our labor in a couple months.

On to Alex news ...

We took Alex to his first Auburn football game on Saturday. We promised him the Tigers would win no matter what (it was the A-Day game), but he still didn't enjoy it. I don't know if it was the crowd, the noise, the blazing heat, or the sunlight, but he was not a happy camper (can't you tell by the picture?). It was his first time in Alabama heat and it appears he has his father's distaste for humidity. But he did look awfully cute in all orange.

He had his 4-month checkup today and weighs in at 16 lbs, 7 ounces. He is 26 inches long. He is doing great. He and Andy have formed a bond and, while I am a little jealous, any parent (or anyone who loves their family, for that matter) will tell you that there is something special about seeing those you love the most happiest in one other's company. Here is a list of Alex's favorite things to do:

1. Clench his fists so hard it's impossible to clip his nails

2. Lock his legs

3. Smile in the mornings and tell us what's on his mind

4. Fuss in the evenings and tell us what's on his mind

5. Flirt with strangers by smiling shyly and turning his head away while maintaining eye contact (it works well with the ladies)

6. Suck on everything in sight, from his paci to our shirt collars

7. Listen to Sullivan howl and bark (it's weird, sometimes it's the only way to get him to quit crying)

8. Try to stuff his entire fist in his mouth

9. Poot loudly and frequently in the mornings, especially when he stretches

10. Drool

Another Update

Apologies again for a long delay. Here's a totally self-centered update on my life ...

Body

My body is pretty much back in the same shape as it was before I got pregnant. Except my tummy is a little poochier. And my boobs a little bigger and saggier. And my butt and thighs riddled with cellulite. Oh my gosh, my body is nothing like it was before I got pregnant! Oh, well. It's totally worth it.

Sleep

It seems no matter how Alex sleeps - whether it's 10 hours straight through the night or if he wakes up to feed twice in the night - I never get enough sleep. I don't know what it is, but I'm always tired. Right now is probably the worst because not only is it dark when it's time for me to get up in the mornings (stupid daylight savings time change), but Alex is starting to wake up hungry at 5 a.m. I would rather him either sleep through the night or wake up at 3 a.m. At least then, I would have another three hours of sleep after feeding him instead of 45 minutes.

Anxiety

My emotions have been on a bit of a roller coaster lately. I don't know if it is hormones, Andy's employment situation, or just Chuck's blood running through my veins, but I regularly have mini-panic attacks. Or is it just motherhood? I feel like I'm a hamster in a big wheel - I'm just running and running and tumbling all around me are dirty clothes, stinky kitty litter, unwritten Thank You notes, a matted Old English Sheepdog, and a never-ending grocery list. I need a haircut, a teeth cleaning, and (at the moment) a shower. You may be thinking, "Well, why are you taking time to write a blog?" Well, it's because I'm a less-than-ideal employee and I'm doing it at work. Will someone please tell me if what I'm experiencing is normal? And will it go away anytime within the next 18 years?

Momnesia

I forget a lot of things these days. My friend, whose daughter is a month younger than Alex, calls it momnesia. So if I don't call or email you back, it's momnesia. If I forget to take the grocery list to the store, it's momnesia. Or if I leave my debit card in the gas station pump on South College Street, it's momnesia. And I curse the bastard who took the card and used it at a gas station in Hatchechubbee, Alabama (what kind of a redneck name is that anyway?).

Questions, questions, and more questions

When we went to register while I was pregnant, I had a little panic attack in Babies 'R Us. I know part of it was not just the overwhelming amount of crap that's out there, but also that I just didn't know a thing about raising a baby. I now know that after almost four months of child rearin', it ain't gonna get easy anytime soon. As our four-month mark approaches, we're asking ourselves several things: When do we start cereal? Are those big, sticky poops four days apart a sign of constipation? When do we move him into his own room at night (yes, he's still in his Pack 'N Play in our room; at least he's not in our bed)? Are his 5 a.m. wakeups really because he's hungry (he usually only eats for a few minutes) or just having little fussy moments? Should we just let him "cry it out" when he gets fussy? If so, how long? What if Alex has ADD and he forgets or loses his lunch at school? Will the teacher lend him money for lunch? How many times will she/he do so before saying "forget it!"? Aaaggghhh!

Happy Baby

I've joined the ranks of women everywhere (you know who you are) and I'm now officially a total sap. I get all teary-eyed over those emails that talk about how wonderful being a mom is. It takes enormous willpower not to forward them to everyone in my "contacts" list (not so sure the director of the Alabama Soybeans Producers would get as much out of it as I do). But they are so true! I read something about how much joy a simple little smile can bring. It's incredible. Alex has started getting extremely happy in the mornings when he wakes up and Andy and I are both bending over him and saying "Good morning!!!" It makes the whole sleeplessness thing a bit more bearable. Plus he is so gosh darn cute when he stretches and twists his whole body around after being swaddled all night. The point of all my rambling is that no matter how little sleep I get or how far behind in chores I fall, it is important that I remember to take time to savor each sweet little smile. Because before I know it, Alex is going to be a grumpy 14-year-old who thinks I'm the most horrid, embarrassing, callous parent a child has ever known.