Everyone's Favorite...

I dropped Alexander off at school this morning and one of the pre-k teachers was in his room. She was dropping off her own daughter, but she was hanging out for a bit as well. When I helped him walk over to the high-chairs, he gave her a rasberry (which seems to be his way of saying hi). She told me how Alexander is a favorite of the kids in the pre-k room.

Apparently, on the way to the gym (a room with mats and other toys) they have to go by the pre-k room. The kids always want to see Alexander. And now that he's able to crawl and pull himself up they think he's the next best toy.

At least we knew that we weren't the only ones to think he is the best...

Wheezing Update...

Dan & I were talking about Alexander & his lack of wheezing lately. Ever since he started having his neb treatments and we have been faithfully using a humidifier in his room every night, his wheezing has stopped.

There have been a few moments here & there, but nothing like it was. So let's keep our fingers crossed that we've figured out how to minimize the wheezing.

Week Forty Four Pictures...

Week Forty Four Pictures (Monday, January 21st - Sunday, January 27th, 2008)

Week Forty Four Pictures...

Week Forty Four Pictures (Monday, January 21st - Sunday, January 27th, 2008)

Week Forty Four Glance...

Week Forty Four Glance (Monday, January 21st - Sunday, January 27th, 2008)

• We had a fairly slow, yet normal, week
• Doing such a good job of crawling around - he really is getting faster by the day.
• He's been pulling himself up on people & furniture. He still needs a little help, but he does the majority of it himself.
• Stands well and has a good sense of balance (I've even let go a few times and he'll just stand there until he realizes and then leans forward)
• He's been sleeping well even though when I put him in his crib he'll lie down, then pull himself up, look around, then get back down, crawl to one end, look out, crawl to the other end, look out, and then lie back down to play with his pacifier. Some nights, he'll do this several times before either tiring himself out or crying for someone. Usually if he cries hard, I'll go and lie him back down to which he'll stop crying and start laughing. It's the weirdest thing.
• He had a great week at school
• His appetite for both his bottle & solids seems to be back. He's been doing great finishing his bottles and drinking what he should be drinking (we're still with Milk).
• He's been eating food/solids well too - I gave him a piece of cheese Wednesday and he loved every piece. He has had a piece with lunch every day since and loves it!
• He loves to feed himself - it's not the cleanest, but he's learning as he goes
• We've had new clothes this week and some mixing up other outfits to make new outfits
• Went to Uncle Steven & Aunt Carolyn's house on Saturday to visit.
• Got to see Grandpa & Grandma from NJ
• Was very well behaved & in a good mood, despite only one morning nap
• Practiced on the stairs at Steve & Carolyn's and did VERY well. At one point, he even pushed himself backwards to go down the stairs
• Sunday was a very lowkey day - stayed at home all day with Mommy & Daddy. Afterall, there was no football (next week!!)
• We all stayed in our PJs and relaxed. Alexander did get changed in different jammies throughout the day due to peeing when being changed.
• Still loves bathtime and splashing
• Practiced going up the stairs at home but had a hard time due to the slippery PJs.
• Daddy put up the gate up at the top of the stairs

10 Month PhotoShoot

This past Tuesday, Alexander turned 10 Months old. It's hard to believe that in 2 months, he'll be a year old. One Year! Where did the time go?? If you find the time, be sure to let us know.
To help celebrate his month milestone, we had to do our glove-shot. This is to show how much he's growing - 10 down, 2 more to go!

I originally wanted to do the pictures before work/school where I thought he'd be in a better mood, but I forgot. So we did them right before bed and that didn't really go as planned. He was tired, and really didn't want to sit & pose for Mommy. I got a couple cute shots but nothing significantly brilliant. Plus, I think being in the pj's didn't help either. We did get the crying shot - since it was often. Dan then had the idea of sitting next to the glove. Alexander seemed to like that only a little better, but it does defeat the purpose of seeing how he sits in the glove. Well, I'll know for next month to take this as early as possible.

Family Time...

Sunday is Uncle Steven's birthday, so Grandpa & Grandma from NJ came up to celebrate! Because they were up, we went over to Steven & Carolyn's house to visit and see everyone. It was nice to hang out & see his cousins since we missed Nick the last time we were there.

Alexander, despite only one nap, was very well behaved and in a good mood. He showed off all his "tricks": hi-five, waving, crawling, pulling up, standing up. He also was in awe of their cat, Bella. She wouldn't come near him but he was quite intriqued with her.

He got to play with his cousins and even crawled all around the floor. He got a lot of crawling practice in. He also practiced with their stairs. I have to say, he's really good with stairs. He seems to have the hang of it of how to go up and even the pace at which to go. At first, tried to go down the stairs face first but we would turn him around and show him to go down bum-first. And there was one instance where he knew to turn around on his own.

He even sat at the table with us to eat lunch - he of course had some squash & cheese, but he fed the cheese to himself! After a very nice visit with Grandpa & Grandma and everyone else, it was time to head home. We'll see them all soon (his first birthday) so that will be nice!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Steven

10 Months...

The difference between 9 Months & 10 Months has been wonderful. He's changing every day and with each new change, he becomes more & more enjoyable! He's had so many firsts and it all is so very cool. Plus he got to celebrate his first Christmas holiday!

New Things:
-Crawling, pulling himself up, eating big boy food, drinking milk, starting to feed himself

Developmental:
-Crawling (began Jan 2nd) and he hasn't stopped. He crawls all over the place and will now follow you into different rooms
-Pulling himself up to stand. He'll do this in his crib, from sitting down on his chair, onto your leg
-Still loves jumping, whether in his jumperoo, exersaucer or just by holding onto to your hands
-Loves to stand
-Starting to walk around the house by holding onto your hands. I think he'll walk alot sooner than he started crawling
-Says 'dada' and has started to say 'baba' more frequently. He also likes to scream as if he's telling you a story. And only in the past two days he's started to make the 'mm' sound. But I could just be thinking that's what he's doing
-Nods yes & no
-Gives Hi-fives
-Waves hi & bye
-No teeth yet
-Holds his bottle and getting much better with the sippy cup
-Loves water & bathtime, especially when he can splash
-Great motorskills (moving objects from one hand to the other & following things with his eyes)
-Still a great cuddler before bed

Sleeping:
-Wakes up around 5-5:30am
-Naps twice a day usually about an hour or so each nap, sometimes we can get a longer one out of him in the afternoon. And when driving to school, he may nap in the car to & from school
-Bedtime is 7p and he is usually asleep by 7:30pm
-He's getting much better about spending the whole night in his crib and staying asleep the whole night
-If he does cry at night, I'll go in to relax him but I keep him in his crib until he goes back to sleep unless he's uncontrollable.
-Since the week after Christmas, he's been sleeping very well

Clothes:
-Wearing a variety of sizes. He can still wear 3-6 months, 6 months and some 6-9 month
-Mainly Size 6 Months but some pants are a bit short but big in the waist
-Onesies & Shirts are 6-9 Months however I was able to put him in a 3-6 Month sweatshirt yesterday
-9 Month pjs fit better than 6 months but are definitely not easy to crawl in
-Still has yet to duplicate an entire outfit to school but we've been mixing & matching to get the most use out of his clothes. Plus with Christmas, we have a lot of new clothes to try out.
-Diapers: Pampers Size 3 Cruisers

Feeding:
-Switched to whole milk from formula full time on January 13th
-5-6 bottles a day (Typically 24 oz - 32 oz per day)
-However the past month he hasn't really wanted to finish a whole bottle. Then he got sick and really had no interest in finishing a bottle. Dr M said that as long as he was getting at least 12 oz a day & still eating other solids then he wouldn't dehydrate and wouldn't be malnutrioned. If he had less than 12 oz/day for more than 3 days then we should be concerned. Thankfully, we never ran into that.
-Morning bottle before school (he'll eat between 3-5 oz and then will push it away)
-3 bottles at school (6 oz) and a small 4 oz bottle for late afternoon
-Last bottle (4-6 oz varies at what he wants to eat) at bedtime, around 7p
-Solids - he'll have two-three meals a day:
--Breakfast: oatmeal with applesauce
--Lunch: Veggies w/water in sippy cup and a cookie
-- PM Snack: Fruit w/water in sippy cup and some puffs or a saltine cracker
-- Likes: Carrots, Applesauce, Squash, Prunes, Dutch Apple, Apple Blueberry, Pears, Peaches, Pineapple, Banana, Mixed Veggies, Sweet Potatoes & Corn, Grape Blueberry, Apple Strawberry Banana
-- So far only seems to dislike: Garden Vegetable Medley
-We'll give him water or milk in a sippy cup. He does much better when he doesn't think your watching him
-Loves to drink water out of a bottle (a normal adult water bottle)
-He's getting the hang of the puffs and has even started to put them in his own mouth rather than having someone else do it (but he can't think you're watching him)
-Loves arrowroot cookies, graham crackers & saltines
-Getting much better about trying my food: cheese, BBQ sauce, food during Christmas, ham, meatballs

SuperBowl Bound...

Bring on the SuperBowl!

Not one but both of our household football teams are heading to the Superbowl to go head to head!

New England Patriots vs. New York Giants

Since I am the Patriots fan and Dan is the Giants fan... someone in our house is going to win come Superbowl Sunday! Thankfully this match-up isn't nearly has cut-throat as the baseball competition in our area.

GO PATRIOTS!

Oh and Go Giants...

Week Forty Three Pictures...

Week Forty Three Pictures (Monday, January 14th - Sunday, January 20th, 2008)

Week Forty Three Pictures...

Week Forty Three Pictures (Monday, January 14th - Sunday, January 20th, 2008)

In procession of him climbing up and pulling himself up to stand against his chair:

Week Forty Three Pictures...

Week Forty Three Pictures (Monday, January 14th - Sunday, January 20th, 2008)

Sunday: Because he outgrew his Patriots shirt, I put him in a football onesie but at least got his sweatshirt that has a #12 on the back for Tom Brady!
He loves to give Hi-fives: