Learning new things

Alexander is 5 weeks old as of yesterday, and he's definitely learning new things all the time! He's starting to make some noises other than crying and grunting now. It's relatively uncommon still, but we're starting to get occasional happy baby noises, instead of just silently watching the world. Alexander is also getting very good at lifting his head up!

Here he is sharing some tummy time with Daddy!




This weekend Mom, Dad, and Mikaela converged on our house to help Mikaela assemble her wedding invitations. So Alexander got to spend some more time with his relatives, and learn the basics of papercrafting!



Apparently all that watching people use fine motor skills was good for him, because just after everyone left on Sunday morning, he discovered his hands. He still doesn't have enough control to get his hand to his mouth consistantly, and he can only keep it there for a few seconds before it flies away, but he certainly is enjoying chewing on his fist.


It looks like he might have some of my genetics in there after all - every time he breaks out of his swaddle, it's with his right arm first, and he always chews on his right fist, so I think he might turn out to be right handed. We'll see how that plays out.

As you can sort of tell from the last picture, he's also starting to have his baby hair fall out. It will be interesting to see what color the hair that grows in to replace it will be. Blonde, blonde, or blonde? :)

Official Notice of Protest

Alexander would like to officially file protest against this barbaric practice of "baths" that his mother keeps instituting.

And in the "my how they grow" series - the above picture was from this morning, the below from March 28th, a bit over two weeks ago.... he's going to be too big for sink baths soon!


And the hat that Alexander was wearing in the easter pictures that barely fits because his head is too big is the same one that would barely stay on because his head was too small in the "going home" picture that the hospital took the day we were discharged.

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend if you observe it, and an enjoyable spring weekend if you don't.

Alexander seemed to enjoy his first Easter. We had our first venture out of the house for something other than a doctor's visit, and took him to Easter services in the morning. He was very well behaved - fussy when we got there, but settled down by the time mass started. I only had to take him out once, to do a diaper change during the sermon. When the sermon started, I heard several other babies in the church start crying too. Aparently that is universally the least favorite part of mass among the little ones. :)

When we got back, the Easter Bunny paid Alexander a visit!




Gah, the bunny's squishing me Mom!

Bah. Enough pictures.

I said I'm tired of this!

Ok, I'll be cute. But this is the last one, hear me?

As promised

More pictures.

Assorted funny faces!

With the last batch of visitors.

My boobs Mom, mine!

With Grandad.

Aide, happy to get some attention too.

Daddy and Alexander.

Waiting for repairs

Alexander and I are currently hanging out on the couch while waiting for the washing repair guy to show up. Alexander is enjoying a nice nap, and I'm just hoping that the washer will be fixable today and we won't have to order parts in - having a working washing machine with a 3.5 week infant in the house is kind of key. Alexander seems to have taken my comment about "I hope we have enough clothes to make it until the washer is fixed" as a challenge. Fortunately, the washer broke in the early afternoon and I ran out of infant sized diapers later that day - I'd been planning to switch to cloth diapers for daytime use once we finished out the infant disposables, but knowing that it would be at least a few days before I had a working washer I opted to delay that and stick with disposables for now.

Alexander is doing well - he's getting very good at holding his head up, and enjoys looking around at the world. He's woken up a bit more to the world around him and is very displeased with the strange sensations in his tummy when he gets gassy, but fortunately his fussy spells are usually relatively short (knock wood).

James went back to work this week, and that has been going fairly well so far. Mornings tend to be a bit of a challenge as I try to juggle getting Alexander his breakfast and me mine in a reasonable span of time before we both get cranky from being hungry, but we're starting to work out a routine. It will be nice having Daddy around for the weekend though. :)

And now for the part everyone actually cares about - more pictures...

Bah, sorry, I'm a tease. My computer upstairs isn't turned on so I can't get to those pictures over the network, and I don't want to disturb Alexander to get access to the pictures. I'll try to remember to update soon with new pictures though!

Two weeks!

Alexander reached two weeks old yesterday! It seems like he's been with us for a lot longer than that some days. :) He had his weight check Monday and was up to 9lbs 11oz. Considering that he'd dropped down to about 7lbs 13oz at his 4 day checkup, it's an impressive weight gain. I guess I don't have to worry about whether he's getting enough milk!

In other major baby milestones, Alexander's cord fell off on Friday - he was 10 days old. That meant that on Saturday he could have his first real bath!
As you can see, he was less than impressed. He didn't mind it when the water was actually running over him, but once the water stopped the crying started.

Alexander also got to spend some more time with his extended family this weekend - he got to meet his uncle Phil, and his granddad came down to visit for the weekend and help tackle some more of the post ice storm spring cleanup that was needed in the yard.
Phil and Helena sent us an adorable newborn outfit, which we managed to get Alexander to wear once or twice before he outgrew it - he got to wear a dragon for his first D&D session!

And we've managed to get the moby wrap figured out - Alexander seems to like it. (That's his happy face in the first picture, really it is!)

The cats are also starting to accept Alexander a bit more. They still won't come too close to him, but they are willing to hang out in his general area now, and will come to their humans for attention even if they are holding the baby at the time. They didn't run away when we decided to get this picture, for instance!