Alexander laughed out loud (or LOL’ed as the kids say) for the first time this morning. I wish I could say it was the result of some ironic joke, or even the result of tickling his feet. I actually have no idea what was on his mind that prompted the laughter. And as much as I wish I could rewrite the story of his first laugh, I have to admit it happened while breastfeeding, just before he latched on. My boobs are trying not to take it personally, but it was a bit hard on their self-esteem.
Anyway, a laughing baby is officially the most mind-blowingly adorable thing you’ll EVER see in your life. I swear it. Maybe someday he’ll tell me what struck him as so hilarious when he looked at my breasts…and then the real healing can begin.
In other news, I had my 6-week postpartum appointment the other day. Everything looks pretty good. I’m still anemic, but I’m now allowed to cut back a bit on my iron supplements. I found out I had developed HELLP syndrome during delivery. No, that isn’t a misspelled cry for assistance, it’s an acronym that stands for … Hemossssblahblah Elevated Liver Lowered …Peanuts….?? I don’t know. Do I look like a doctor? It is somehow related to the pre-eclampsia and must have happened during or after delivery. Of course, no one told me this while I was in the hospital. Maybe they figured I already had enough pregnancy drama to fill an entire “very special episode” of E.R. Or maybe the doctors decided to invoke the Freedom From Information Act. Apparently my liver enzymes are still elevated as a result of this HELLP syndrome… that or else I am secretly drinking about a dozen pina coladas a day. No worries. Things should return to normal soon. I’m feeling pretty good anyway… but that could just be the pina coladas talking.
Tim helped with the ‘Friends of the Lake’ clean-up day yesterday. He’s good at representing our household as being neighborly types. Local drama continues in the 'hood. The president of our association regularly sends out mass e-mails that include swear words and threats to quit. I’d post one of his e-mails here, but they are so over-the-top you would never believe it came from the association president. He is an angry angry man. He also never says hello, never smiles, and never wears his shirt. His reign of terror can only end if someone else is willing to be president. So far, apathy has prevailed and he remains president. Or maybe everyone is just too entertained by his rage-fueled mass e-mails to let him step down. That’s the neighborhood news.
Uncle Dave and Aunt Rachel are coming into town this week to hang out with Alexander. We told Alexander and he seemed excited. We hope he is happy for their visit, and flashes lots of gummy smiles. But all visitors should be warned that Alexander has some impressive mood swings. He may look happy in pictures we post on the blog, but individual results may vary based on time of day, hunger level, air temperature, and literally thousands of yet undiscovered baby variables. Prepare for total unpredictability. (How do you do that again?) But, more importantly, prepare for lots of yarrrr.
Speaking of unpredictability, I've gotta run.
End transmission.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Shameless Yar
Just a few pictures to turn you into a tender pirate ("yarrr").
We got Alexander's mobile installed... no thanks to the stupid french instructions. What is this, Canada? Anyway, the boy is amused.
Here he is enjoying some good times with the old man. (And with the onset of his baby pattern baldness, he will soon look like an old man. Notice the cowlick. Please, in lieu of onesies and baby rattles... send styling gel.)
And here he is sharing what appears to be the greatest joke ever told with Great Grandma. We wish we knew what the punchline was...
We got Alexander's mobile installed... no thanks to the stupid french instructions. What is this, Canada? Anyway, the boy is amused.
Here he is enjoying some good times with the old man. (And with the onset of his baby pattern baldness, he will soon look like an old man. Notice the cowlick. Please, in lieu of onesies and baby rattles... send styling gel.)
And here he is sharing what appears to be the greatest joke ever told with Great Grandma. We wish we knew what the punchline was...
Friday, September 19, 2008
Such a baby…
Hello, blogophiles. Alexander has been growing in cuteness, weight, and neediness. He’s now 12 lbs 4 oz (that’s 95th percentile – yeehaw!) and he has decided that his happiness depends upon being held upright. If he isn’t upright, he is very sad. Yes, it is an odd thing to pin all your emotions on, and we tried to explain that to him… but his wails are so convincing that I am beginning to re-evaluate my own posture for optimal comfort. He may be onto something. Being upright is pretty sweet.
Anyway, I’m saying this to explain the lack of entries lately. We are doing everything we can to keep the baby happy and I should be getting some really killer biceps soon. I may start referring to my arms as my ‘guns’.
Alexander still giving us the greatest gummy smiles, and fighting sleep like a champion. Basically, he continues to be the coolest little man that we have ever met. Yeah, he is a total time burglar but he gets away with being so high maintenance due to above mentioned gummy smiles.
Hopefully I can post an entry of more quality soon… until then I gotta run, the boy is demanding a posture adjustment.
Anyway, I’m saying this to explain the lack of entries lately. We are doing everything we can to keep the baby happy and I should be getting some really killer biceps soon. I may start referring to my arms as my ‘guns’.
Alexander still giving us the greatest gummy smiles, and fighting sleep like a champion. Basically, he continues to be the coolest little man that we have ever met. Yeah, he is a total time burglar but he gets away with being so high maintenance due to above mentioned gummy smiles.
Hopefully I can post an entry of more quality soon… until then I gotta run, the boy is demanding a posture adjustment.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
This is not just gas…
As happy has farting makes the boy, these smiles are NOT a result of gas. We swear it.
Alexander has been yarring out his mom and dad with what we are certain must be his first “real smiles”. He did this the other day when I was giving him machine-gun kisses (rapid fire mwah-mwah-mwah-mwah - much more tender than the name implies). Today, the paparazzi were on hand when Alexander was give dad big wide smile for making funny sounds for him. If Alexander likes funny sounds coming out of daddy, he is in for a lifetime of amusement. (Sorry Tim, that was too easy.)
Here are four separate smiles given to Tim today. Prepare to be yarred out,
Alexander has been yarring out his mom and dad with what we are certain must be his first “real smiles”. He did this the other day when I was giving him machine-gun kisses (rapid fire mwah-mwah-mwah-mwah - much more tender than the name implies). Today, the paparazzi were on hand when Alexander was give dad big wide smile for making funny sounds for him. If Alexander likes funny sounds coming out of daddy, he is in for a lifetime of amusement. (Sorry Tim, that was too easy.)
Here are four separate smiles given to Tim today. Prepare to be yarred out,
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
As Clean As He Gets
With the last of the umbilical cord gone, Alexander has graduated from sponge baths to actual baths. Tim and I realized there was yet another seemingly simply task that we had no idea how to accomplish. Fortunately, the boy wasn’t aware of our incompetence and had total trust in us. We managed to get through it without anyone losing an eye.
This is probably the most highly documented bath in history. Although this will ensure Alexander’s future embarrassment, we will share pictures of his first bath here for the entire World Wide Web to enjoy.
First, a "before" picture. Note that the boy is filthy and unaware of what is about to happen.
Here he is hitting a large body of water for the first time in his life. He looks a little surprised. He is probably questioning that previously mentioned trust at this point.
And then we scrubbed and scrubbed.
And the boy sort of seemed to like it… he is blurry but happy.
Alexander continued to oscillate between having fun and being in a total state of surprise throughout the bath.
(yikes... mom should have brushed her hair, or put on make-up, or gotten more than 3 hours of sleep before being photographed. Well, this is reality, folks. Laziness prevails over vanity.)
Sadly, the fun had to end – although the towel had it’s own cottony appeal.
The end result: a clean baby! TA-DA!!!
This is probably the most highly documented bath in history. Although this will ensure Alexander’s future embarrassment, we will share pictures of his first bath here for the entire World Wide Web to enjoy.
First, a "before" picture. Note that the boy is filthy and unaware of what is about to happen.
Here he is hitting a large body of water for the first time in his life. He looks a little surprised. He is probably questioning that previously mentioned trust at this point.
And then we scrubbed and scrubbed.
And the boy sort of seemed to like it… he is blurry but happy.
Alexander continued to oscillate between having fun and being in a total state of surprise throughout the bath.
(yikes... mom should have brushed her hair, or put on make-up, or gotten more than 3 hours of sleep before being photographed. Well, this is reality, folks. Laziness prevails over vanity.)
Sadly, the fun had to end – although the towel had it’s own cottony appeal.
The end result: a clean baby! TA-DA!!!
The Boy is Strong-Necked
Alexander practically came out of the womb lifting his head. Hopefully this won’t be his greatest achievement in life, but we are proud of him for it anyway. Here are a couple of pictures that document his furious head lifting skills.
No, Tim is not holding his head up and this is not an illusion. It is raw talent.
People are always so quick to try to take anything a baby does and project what that means for the baby’s future. This social phenomenon starts when he is still in the womb. All it takes are a few hard belly-shaking kicks for someone to announce the boy will be a football player (although a can-can dancer would be equally likely outcome for that skill set). So what does a strong neck mean? He’ll be great at holding up traffic due to his exceptional rubber-necking skills? Will he be the world champion at whatever the heck this guy is doing?
When all that heavy lifting is done, the boy sleeps HARD. Ignore the odd look on my face, and focus on the adorably crapped out look on Alexander’s face. When he sleeps hard like this, it is almost impossible to wake him, and he saws the tiniest little logs. Yar.
No, Tim is not holding his head up and this is not an illusion. It is raw talent.
People are always so quick to try to take anything a baby does and project what that means for the baby’s future. This social phenomenon starts when he is still in the womb. All it takes are a few hard belly-shaking kicks for someone to announce the boy will be a football player (although a can-can dancer would be equally likely outcome for that skill set). So what does a strong neck mean? He’ll be great at holding up traffic due to his exceptional rubber-necking skills? Will he be the world champion at whatever the heck this guy is doing?
When all that heavy lifting is done, the boy sleeps HARD. Ignore the odd look on my face, and focus on the adorably crapped out look on Alexander’s face. When he sleeps hard like this, it is almost impossible to wake him, and he saws the tiniest little logs. Yar.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Oh the songs you’ll sing…
Sorry for the vaguely Dr. Seuss subject… that is about where I am mentally right now. Something about spending a lot of time with a baby will make your search your mental music archives and pull out some unexpected surprises. Just yesterday, I realized I was singing the theme song to WKRP to Alexander.
I don’t know what was more surprising - that he found the song soothing or that I actually knew all the words. I didn’t even know I had ever seen the show, but obviously those lyrics made a big impression on my subconscious.
Anyhoo… Alexander continues to blow our minds with his cuteness. Sorry. I refuse to ever get over how cute he is and I will probably never ever shut up about it. These last two days, he has surprised us by staying awake basically all day. Aren’t 3 week olds supposed to sleep a lot? He does sleep well at night – although we still have to feed him every other hour. During the day, he seems to have mistaken us for much more interesting people than we actually are… because he fights sleep like crazy, as if he is going to miss something really good if he dozes off.
The church delivered several meals to us, which was nice. Although it is still a little awkward to have visitors as I have to spend (literally) 12 hours a day bare-chested in the name of adding a few more little fat rolls to the boy. We are hoping the feedings schedule might lessen a bit after his one-month appointment on the 18th,… but by then I will probably be so accustomed to this half-nekkid lifestyle that my sense of shame will be a ‘burden’ of the past.
Speaking of which, I gotta go for another feeding --- although I have enjoyed this half hour of not having a 10 lb little man attached to me.
Before I go, though, I have to post some pictures for Aunt Rachel who also believes Alexander is the cutest thing since sliced bread.
Alexander and Grandma (aka - The Woman Whose Mad Grandmothering Skilz Were the Only Thing That Allowed Us to Sleep in Alexander's First Week of Life. But it is easier to just call her grandma):
Mom and baby dozing after a comforting lullaby of WKRP in Cincinnati:
Bathtime is one of Alexander’s top five favorite activities - even above looking in the mirror and farting:
And, just in case you were wondering… yes, we still have two kitties. They are both very sweet towards Alexander, and Bear is especially protective and becomes distraught whenever Alexander cries. But when Tim and I are focusing all of our attention on the baby, Cow and Bear just fall back, hold paws, and reminisce about when they were the center of attention:
I don’t know what was more surprising - that he found the song soothing or that I actually knew all the words. I didn’t even know I had ever seen the show, but obviously those lyrics made a big impression on my subconscious.
Anyhoo… Alexander continues to blow our minds with his cuteness. Sorry. I refuse to ever get over how cute he is and I will probably never ever shut up about it. These last two days, he has surprised us by staying awake basically all day. Aren’t 3 week olds supposed to sleep a lot? He does sleep well at night – although we still have to feed him every other hour. During the day, he seems to have mistaken us for much more interesting people than we actually are… because he fights sleep like crazy, as if he is going to miss something really good if he dozes off.
The church delivered several meals to us, which was nice. Although it is still a little awkward to have visitors as I have to spend (literally) 12 hours a day bare-chested in the name of adding a few more little fat rolls to the boy. We are hoping the feedings schedule might lessen a bit after his one-month appointment on the 18th,… but by then I will probably be so accustomed to this half-nekkid lifestyle that my sense of shame will be a ‘burden’ of the past.
Speaking of which, I gotta go for another feeding --- although I have enjoyed this half hour of not having a 10 lb little man attached to me.
Before I go, though, I have to post some pictures for Aunt Rachel who also believes Alexander is the cutest thing since sliced bread.
Alexander and Grandma (aka - The Woman Whose Mad Grandmothering Skilz Were the Only Thing That Allowed Us to Sleep in Alexander's First Week of Life. But it is easier to just call her grandma):
Mom and baby dozing after a comforting lullaby of WKRP in Cincinnati:
Bathtime is one of Alexander’s top five favorite activities - even above looking in the mirror and farting:
And, just in case you were wondering… yes, we still have two kitties. They are both very sweet towards Alexander, and Bear is especially protective and becomes distraught whenever Alexander cries. But when Tim and I are focusing all of our attention on the baby, Cow and Bear just fall back, hold paws, and reminisce about when they were the center of attention:
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