Alexander - 10 Months Old

Alexander,

You are 10 months old now!  This has REALLY been a fun month.  You are so much more active now and are really starting to show your personality more.  You love to clap your hands and "roll it up" when we play Patty Cake.  You are a very determined little guy.  When you want something, you will not stop trying to get it until you get it, or until mommy and daddy make you stop.

You continue to enjoy playing with your friends at day care.  Chrissy says that you and Tyler are best buddies.  Sometimes you guys shut yourselves in Tyler's room and just laugh and laugh.

Unfortunately you had to have surgery this month.  It was a very minor surgery just to put tubes in your ears.  You did FANTASTIC with the surgery!  The way you were crawling around after we got home, you would never even know that you had surgery that day.  You did crash after a few hours of crawling around, but that is normal.  You have been feeling so much better since having the tubes placed and we have all been sleeping SO much better!

We have been playing outside a lot lately too.  You absolutely love to go outside!  When I have to do things around the house, you sit at the door and bang your hand on the glass.  When I finally do open the door you get so excited!  You love to walk around in the grass (with mommy's help still) and you love to swing in your swing in the yard.

You finally took your first trip to El Maguey this month!  You really enjoyed the beans we fed you as well as the cheese.  You still have some years before you can have a Margarita, but they way time is flying by, it will be here before we know it!

You have become increasingly adventurous in your food consumption.  You will try anything that mommy and daddy are eating and we usually just feed you off our plates these days.  You LOVE avocado!  Aunt E is excited that she is gonna have another guac buddy when you get a little older.

You are also very interested in drinking water these days.  You love mommy's "juice box" (aka - water bottle).  Everytime you see it, you get a big grin on your face.  The straw is still a little large for you, but that doesn't stop you from slirpping it up and getting it all over your shirt.  You also like your own sippy cup right now too.  You drink water and juice from it.

We celebrated my first Mother's Day this month (with you on the outside anyway).  It was a great day!  We started with Mass at St. Mark's with your Great Grandma Joyce and Grandma Gerry.  The priest even called us out in the middle of mass since you were playing in the holy water and I blessed you with it.  We then went to brunch with them.  Later in the day we went to celebrate with Gram and Aunt E (since she is your Godmother).  Poppy barbecued.  It was a great day spent with all the moms in our lives!  You made everyone a cute card from treat.com.  Everyone loved the pictures of you!

It all just keeps getting better and better with you in my life.  Thanks for being such a wonderful son!  I'm so lucky to be your mom!

Here is what you look like at 10 months old:

I love you Sugar Pot!

Love,

Mom

41 Weeks 1 Day

Alex,

I carried you inside me for exactly 41 weeks, 1 day.  Today you are exactly 41 weeks, 1 day old.  I can't believe you have lived on the outside for as long as you were on the inside.  Here's to many more days, weeks, and years on the outside.  I love you so much!

Love,

Mommy

Alexander - 9 Months Old

Alexander,

You are 9 months old now!  I am starting to notice another trend in my thinking. Each new age you turn, is my new favorite age.  9 months has been so much fun!  We went to the doctor last week and you now weigh 21 lbs and you are 29 inches tall.

We had so much fun this month!  We have had a mixture of both really nice warm days and some not so warm days.  On the cooler days, you were able to wear the cute outfit our next door neighbors gave you.  You had so much fun at Tim and Kim's house showing off your new outfit.  We sat in their back yard with them next to the fire and you were happy as can be!

You have gotten more interested in food this month too.  Daddy likes to give you all sorts of different foods and you are more than happy to eat them all!  On Easter, daddy gave you hash browns, bacon and eggs from his breakfast plate.  Daddy couldn't get that food into your mouth fast enough!  You kept shaking your head in anticipation of the next food he was going to give you!  Mommy wasn't exactly thrilled with dad for giving you such unhealthy foods, but all in moderation I suppose!  Here is a picture of you on Easter:

You have also been enjoying eating puffs! Every time I put them in front of you, you just gobble them up!

You have also become quite the little delinquent (hehe!).  At daycare, when the other kids are crying, you seem to find that funny.  You just laugh and laugh.  Also, the other day, Tyler had a graham cracker and you just took it from him and started eating it yourself.  Don't worry, we will teach you how to share soon!

Despite the fact that you are stealing graham crackers from him, you and Tyler have really been having a good time together at Chrissy's house.  Chrissy always tells me how much you guys play next to each other. The other day he taught you how to drive his car:

You have been crawling around like a mad man.  It's funny though, because it is not quite a full fledged crawl yet.  It's more of an army crawl.  Daddy says you are going to have great upper body strength since you pretty much just pull your whole body along with your arms!  You are getting around quite well though I must say!  You have also really enjoyed standing (with support of course).  You prefer to be standing than to be sitting, so anytime you are able to you stand.  You can stay up for about a half hour at at time!!!

Alex, life is so wonderful now with you in our lives!  I'm so happy you are my son.  Here are your 9 month pictures:

Love you my Sugar Pot!

Love,

Mom

Alexander - 8 Months Old

Alex,

You are 8 months old now!  You are such a big boy and have been doing so much to make mommy and daddy such happy parents.

We started this month of your life with mommy's birthday.  With the help of your Grandma and Grandpa, you got me a beautiful rose for my birthday!

It has been unseasonably warm this winter/spring, so we have also been doing a lot with you outside this month.  We have been doing a lot of walks around the neighborhood both in your stroller and in your Moby wrap.

Your Gram takes you out to feed the fish in her pond everytime you go over there.  Your Grandma Gerry has been taking you for walks and to the park to play with Alyssa too.  You have also been going outside with your babysitter Chrissy a lot.  She took you and Tyler to the park the other day.  You two had so much fun riding in the stroller together and riding in the swings.

We also celebrated St. Patrick's Day this month!  It was so much fun!  Daddy, Poppy and I all took you downtown to watch the parade.  Unfortunately we couldn't get close enough to actually see the parade, but there was plenty around us that you could look at.  You really seemed to have a nice time and it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day!

(Auntie Sabrina, notice the plug covers I put in . . . lol!)

You have continued to impress us with your developmental skills.  You continue to roll instead of crawl, but you seem to be able to get anywhere you need to go without a problem.  You are able to push yourself up to the crawling position, so we are just waiting for you to take off!  When you are in your crib, you reach up for the mobile.  You were actually able to pull one down the other day!  I think mommy and daddy need to move your mattress down!



(As you can see from that video, you have also been a bit of a mama's boy lately - as soon as I touch you, you want me to just pick you up.)

You love to play with your blocks, your bugs, your rattle, your cup and of course your steering wheel.  Chrissy started giving you some puffs which you loved and we have also added fruits to your diet.  You still love all your veggies, but you just can't get enough of your fruits!

You still love bath time and we have moved your tub to the actual bathroom instead of the kitchen (okay, we did this a while ago, I just forgot to mention it before).  You are really ready to get out of that tub and into the actual one, so we will probably start doing that really soon.  Either way, you are just loving bath time still!  You have so much fun playing and splashing in the water.  As soon as you are finished you are ready to get lotion rubbed on you and have your bottle and go to bed.  And you are FINALLY sleeping through the night on a consistent basis!  Amazing!

You are such a great boy, Alex!  We love you so much!  Here are your 8 month pictures:

Love you Sugar Pot!

Love,

Mom

Alexander - 7 Months Old

Alex,

You are 7 months old now!  You have continued to grow, grow, grow!  At your last doctor's check up, you weighed 18lbs 6.5oz and were 27.25" long.  At another visit to the doctor for an illness, you weighed over 20lbs!!!  You are such a big strong boy!

We had a lot going on this past month.  First of all, you were Baptized on January 22, 2012.  It was a beautiful baptism.  We had it at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church.  Msgr. Ramacciotti performed the baptism and we chose Aunt E and Uncle James as your Godparents.  You were so good, Msgr. Ramacciotti he told us you get an A for your behavior.  When he poured the water on your head, you didn't cry, you just looked up trying to figure out what was going on up there.  It was so cute and so funny!  After your Baptism we had the whole family over to our house to celebrate.  It was a wonderful day!

A couple weeks after your baptism, we celebrated your first Super Bowl Sunday.  We went over to Kayce and Matt's house and you got to meet their dogs.  You weren't so sure about the large puppy, Ellie, but you loved Gretchen!  You got so excited when you pet her!  The game was the Giants vs. the Patriots and the Giants won.  You had a great time with mom and dad and even "helped" daddy hold his beer.

We also celebrated Poppy's birthday this month.  You and your cousins had a great time together at Poppy's celebration.

You have also been enjoying hanging out with Aunt E.  She has been teaching you Yoga.  You are a pro at the Cobra position.

Next, we celebrated Valentines Day.  You gave your grandparents and aunts and uncles all very adorable Valentines with your picture on them.  Everyone loved them and said they were the best Valentines they had ever received.  Here are the pictures we took of you on Valentines Day:

We have also started to introduce vegetables to you this month.  You were not so sure at first, but now you open your mouth wide in anticipation of the veggies.  You try to grab the spoon from me if I don't feed you fast enough.  Mommy has been having so much fun making you some homemade purees!  So far I have made both peas and squash.  You are still not a fan of the rice cereal.  When I try to feed it to you you close your lips tightly.  So for now we are sticking with the vegetables.  Here you are eating some peas:

(this video is one of the first attempts that didn't go that great.  subsequent tries went MUCH better)



As you see from that picture, we have also introduced a sippy cup.  You pretty much just think it's a toy at this point, but we are working on it with you to show you that there is some yummy juice in there.

Another big developmental milestone this month is that you have started transferring objects from one hand to the other.  You do this with your bug toys, your silver cup and your blocks.  You have also started scooting a bit.  Right now you pretty much only scoot in a circle, but you are able to get to where you want by scooting to a certain position and then rolling over.  You are SO close to actually crawling!  Daddy and I need to start baby proofing the house!  You have also started to wave a little bit.  You don't do it every time, but you definitely do it at the correct time.  When someone says hi or by to you and waves, you put your hand up like an American Indian saying 'How' - then you start moving your arm up and down.

It's awesome!  And finally after a few months of illness you are finally starting to feel better and at last sleep better!!!  This has occurred only at the end of this month, so we are hoping and praying it continues and that you stay healthy.  The good thing is that at least you are building up all your immunities at a young age!

You are such a good boy Alex!  We are so blessed you have you for a son!

Here are your 7 month pictures:

Love you Sugar Pot!

Love,

Mom