Week Fifteen

Alexandra is 105 days old and just for fun we checked to see how old daddy is (since his birthday is Tuesday). He is a whopping 16068 days old today! Mommy is 15426! Its just crazy to think in terms of days instead of years once you get to be a few years old! Here she is at 15 weeks!


About Alexandra: Alexandra had a very busy week. She took it all in stride and was a very good girl this week. It has been very hot here and yet it has not seemed to bother her. She is looking forward to being surrounded by family for the 4th of July!

What's New: Alexandra has discovered stuffed animals. For the first time this week, she is "playing" with her green monkey and purple cat. I saying playing, but chewing on might be the better way to describe it! Grandma Janet got Alexandra a Bumbo Seat. We tried it out once and she seemed to like it a lot. It is perfect as she starts trying to sit up on her own.

The last several mornings have been the same routine. Alexandra starts stirring so I get up and get her bottle ready. When I come back to get her up, she has escaped from the swaddle blanket, is talking to herself and is chewing on the blanket. As soon as I say hello, she gives me a huge smile! I love her smiles. Thankfully she is letting me catch more on camera so you can see some of them too.

Visitors: Alexandra met several people this week. On Sunday, we went to lunch with long time friends Kevin & Edith. They brought Alexandra a very cute stuffed puppy dog. On Tuesday, we had lunch with a teacher friend Karen. We also did some shopping at Carter's. Not that Alexandra needs any more clothes! That same day, we had dinner with Grantie Lorel, Great Uncle David, Cousin Darren (who is leaving for the Peace Corps) and Don & Shirley. On Thursday, she met some of my fellow teachers when she attended the remembrance vigil for Darren Thomas. She met Kristy, Michele L., Michelle Z., Tony, Tim, Debbie, Jackie, Anne, Ginger and one of my former students Lindsay. She also saw Craig and Rebecca again. She was quiet and easy going until right when it was time to leave. Everyone adored her...as usual! Here are some pictures from her outings this week:

Photos: Here are some fun photos - lap surfing, the Bumbo seat and proud daddy!

More fun photos - playing with stuffed animals, daddy trying to "pack" the little girl in his suitcase, tummy time and laughing at mommy!

100 Days & A Special Tribute

Today Alexandra is 100 days old. It seems like just last week we were bringing her home from the hospital.

Presidents are often measured by how much they accomplish during their first 100 days in office. I am amazed by how much Miss Alexandra has accomplished in her first 100 days of life. She has smiled, laughed, earned her 2nd state, has great head control, sleeps through the night, loves to dance, has met tons of people and is getting good at tummy time. She is growing so fast and I know that in the blink of an eye I will be blogging about her first year and then her 1,000th day and so on.

Here she is at 100 days. I am so excited that I caught one of her big smiles on camera.

Allow me to take a moment's diversion to talk about and post a photo of someone Alexandra met twice, but sadly I did not take a picture of her with him. He passed away last night. Alexandra first met my fellow teacher Darren Thomas on May 22nd when I took her to school with me. He was one of only two teachers from my department who stopped by to meet her. She only woke up once during the entire visit to school and that is when he was there. She met him again on Friday during the three hours we worked together planning for the upcoming year. This time she was awake and she sat on my lap watching him. Even though she will not remember, I am so thankful Alexandra got to meet such a wonderful teacher and kind soul. He was more than a colleague. He was a friend. He was funny, caring and a great listener. RIP Darren. You made such an impact on so many and I will miss seeing your smiling face every day!

I am a very sentimental person. Darren gave Alexandra a book called "Brown Bear, Brown Bear..What do you see?" I just read it to her twice and she seemed to enjoy it. He also helped me get Alexandra some Northern Arizona University (NAU) onesies through his middle son who goes there. That is Dave's alma mater in case you were wondering. Here is Alexandra's tribute to him.

Week Fourteen

Alexandra is 98 days old today, so look for a special post on Monday for 100 days!

About Alexandra: Alexandra is getting good at tummy time. As you can see in one of the photos below, she really has good head control and can lift her head quite far off the ground during tummy time. She has yet to roll over from tummy to back, but I am sure that will come soon.

I continue to be amazed by what a good sleeper she is. A typical night's sleep is 8-9 hours. She has gone as long as 11 once when she was very tired. Most nights she goes for a walk with us around 7:30, gets a bottle and then is swaddled and put in bed. She does not always go right to sleep, but knows the routine and rarely complains. She might lie quietly for awhile before she falls asleep. A few times a week (or every night when with Grandma Sara), she also has a bath before bed time.

She smiles all the time, but I rarely can catch one on film. I did take a couple of cute photos during one of our walks, and caught a nice smile on camera. I also love how she folds her hands. She does that all the time when eating and people comment on how polite it makes her look!

What's New: Alexandra likes to do what I call "lap surfing" - or standing (with someone's help of course) on our laps. She has strong legs so I know it will only be a matter of months before she is standing without our help. I can't believe how fast she is growing.

Visitors: Alexandra got to spend lots of time with her Grandma Sara over the weekend when we were in Phoenix. She really enjoyed sleeping in her arms!

Her grandpa made a surprise visit to stay with us for a few days in California as we needed his help repairing a water leak. When he was not busy working on the house, he was feeding Alexandra, singing to her, telling stories and helping her "lap surf." We went to dinner at Miguel's and he took her over to the duck pond to show her the ducks. She loved all the attention from him and next time even hopes he will change a diaper. Hey, a girl can dream can't she?

Grandma Janet also came over to help out while mommy had errands to run, including a much needed massage. Grandpa Stacy made sure she changed the diaper whenever she was available!

In May, Alexandra had visited mommy's school, but slept through the experience. On Friday, she had a chance to redeem herself when mommy had a US History Team meeting. She was wide awake and such a good girl! Most of the office ladies had a chance to see her again and interact with her. She also met two of mommy's fellow teachers: Nat and Darren.

Photos: Here is our little cutie at 14 weeks!

 

Week 14 Photos:

And a few "official" 3 month photos since they were done after the 3 month blog post!

Three Months & a Happy Father's Day

Hello Readers,

Its me, Alexandra, writing to you again. Has it already been a month since I last wrote to you? Wow, time does fly when you are having fun. Instead of doing her weekly blog post, mommy left it up to me to update you all on this weeks events. I am no longer a "newborn, " but officially became an "infant" this week!

This has been a busy weekend for me. I got my 2nd state when we arrived in Arizona on Friday afternoon, I met a ton of people yesterday at a meet & greet held in my honor and today I turn 3 months old and it is daddy's 1st Father's Day!

Yesterday we had a party at Grandma Sara's house so that many of the people that she and daddy know could see me all in one place. I met tons of people, including both my uncles (Alex and Paul) and 2 cousins (Kai and Jacob). It really wore me out to socialize with so many people so I was a little cranky. As I said last month, it is hard work being cute and adorable!

Today is Father's Day so we went to breakfast with my grandpa and his wife, Kathy. I got a bunch of Disney books from them and can't wait for mommy to read them to me. Kathy let me sit in her lap and I enjoyed that and being able to look at everyone and all the things in the restaurant. It was nice to meet her and see my grandpa again!

Daddy's friends Dan and Christine came over with their 4 year old Nicolette. She colored a few pictures for me. I can't wait until I am old enough to color!

Now on to the monthly update from me. There is lots to share as I am learning and experiencing so much each day!

I love to sleep. I think I get that from mommy because she also loves to sleep. Mommy and daddy are thrilled that I sleep through the night. Most nights I go to bed at 9:30 and sleep until around 6:00. A couple of times it has been closer to 7:00. Apparently 8 hours at night is unusual for a baby my age, but I don't hear anyone complaining! Sometimes I sleep even more than 8 hours. All of the excitement of meeting people on Saturday wore me out to the point that I slept 11 hours last night! I probably could have slept longer if we had not had to go to breakfast. Mommy says that I smile a lot in my sleep so I must have happy dreams.

I have really started cooing and talking with mommy. She often tries to imitate me and I think it is so cute that she is trying so hard to speak baby! I also have long conversations with Grandma Janet when she visits.

One of my favorite things is taking a bath. Even when I am tired and fussy, a bath cheers me right up. I have this cool flower shaped tub that gets put in the sink. It is nice and soft for me to sit on. Mommy has promised to take me swimming in a pool soon.

As you already know, I have more clothes than I know what to do with....and I acquired more this weekend! Now that I am 3 months old, mommy has added some of the smaller 3-6 month clothes to my rotation. Most of the clothes are way too big, but a few fit me just fine. There is a huge bag full of 3-6 months clothes just waiting to go in the drawer when I outgrow the 0-3. I am on the petite side weight-wise so I think I will wear them for at least another month. Unless of course I have a big growth spurt. I am almost 24 inches long so will outgrow them lengthwise before I meet the maximum weight!

Mommy introduced me to apple juice and I love it. The doctor told her to start giving me a half apple juice, half water mixture to help with my digestion. At first we tried water only, but I did not like that very much. I love the apple juice though. I get 2 ounces twice a day and it is such a treat! In another month, I might get to start to try real foods like applesauce! Speaking of food, I always have to wear a bib when I eat. I prefer to wear it backwards as a cape!

Mommy took me to school last month one day to meet some of her co-workers. I slept through the entire experience, but here is a picture of me on her desk in her classroom. I opened my eyes just this one time!

My official three month photos will be taken when we get home, you know the ones with the bear and in the laundry basket that we take each month. But for now, here are some cute photos from this week. By the way, daddy thinks mommy takes too many pictures of me and calls her the "mama-ratzi." But I like having my photos taken and I know my adoring fans demand lots of photos.

I am getting very sleepy and so I am going to take a nap now. I will let daddy finish this post with a few thoughts.

Until next month,
Alexandra

From Daddy:

Hi! Daddy here.  Today is my first Father’s Day with my daughter, Alexandra, whose blog all of you have been faithfully following. Alexandra has changed my life in ways that I had not ever thought of.  I can’t believe how sweet she is (98% of the time!) and what a personality she already has at the ripe old age of 3 months.  90 days.  It goes so fast!! I know that this is just the beginning of a long journey, and one that I am looking forward to, more and more each day that goes by.  It won’t be long until she is crawling...walking...going to school...driving...dating...OK, let’s just stop right there.  I have a few more Father’s Day’s to look forward to (survive??) until I need to worry about some of those ‘D’ words!  For now, I am just very lucky to have a daughter of my own, and today is that day that I can just savor the moment, and look forward to all of what life has in store for me now that I’ve earned the honor of being called ‘Dad’.  It reminds me how lucky I am that my own father, and my step-father (whom I lost this year) were such positive role models in my life.  I hope that I can live up to their examples!  Lots of Love for my ‘Lady A’!

Week Twelve

One more week left until Alexandra is 3 months and no longer a "newborn." Next weeks blog post will be on Sunday for her 3 month and Father's Day! You can tell by the number of photos in this post that it was a busy week!

About Alexandra: Alexandra is such a sweet girl. Except for a few fussy moments, she is generally happy and calm. I can easily tell when she is either tired or going through a growth spurt based on her demeanor. That is really the only time she is fussy. There is another growth spurt/mental leap at week 12 which allows her to lean more skills.

She is a very good sleeper. On average she is now sleeping 7-8 hours at night, going to bed around 10 and waking at 6. We love that she is sleeping through the night.  She is still in our room in a pack n play. Soon we will be trying to move her to her own room and crib, but not quite yet.

She got more presents this week as Dave's co-worker Peggy sent a stuffed dog, two books, a blanket and a picture frame. Here she is with the gift that is bigger than she is!

Her head control is getting better and better. Here she is watching The Voice with us! She loves the music! Most of the time she just cuddles with one of us, so its not really "watching" but more listening.

Alexandra says, "look mommy I can hold my own bottle!"

What's New: Alexandra dipped her feet in the pool for the first time last Saturday night. We think she liked it. She did not cry or fuss about having her feet in the pool. We will soon be putting on her swimsuit and trying to get more of her body wet.

During "Tummy Time" on Thursday, Alexandra rolled from her tummy to her side twice. She has not yet rolled from her tummy to her back. She also really laughed for the first time this week. Grandma watched her all week while I had to work and said she laughed many times, but I heard the laugh for myself on Thursday.

Alexandra loves apple juice! Her doctor told us to give her water to help with some constipation that she was experiencing. She did not care for that. So he told us to also try a 50-50 mixture of water and apple juice. She drinks that right down. She gets 2 oz in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.

While she had previously batted at some objects on her play mat, she is now focusing more on objects. In her bouncy seat, we put on the attachment that has fish and water. It has bubbles and makes noises too. She spends several minutes just enthralled. And now she kicks at the fish that dangles down from the bar.

Visitors: Alexandra attended her first party last Saturday. It was Cameron's first birthday and her chance to meet our good friends Kari and Russell (Cameron's parents) and Angelo.

Today was a big day for Alexandra. This morning she met "Zuzu" who is just 6 days younger than her. She is the daughter of another "after loss" lady (Megan) that I met a year ago before we were both pregnant. It was fun to have breakfast with her and her family.

Then this evening she met several of mommy and daddy's friends at a Crawfish Boil at Kylie and Steve's house. They have a new little boy (Taylor) who is just 5 weeks older than Alexandra and it was nice for them to finally meet each other. Other people that Alexandra got to meet included: Alisa (in whose arms she fell asleep), Lory, Brian, Tracy, Gail, Patrick, Laurel, Cari, Wayne, Joan, and Sippi. It was nice to see our friends and all were excited to meet our little girl.

Needless to say, Alexandra went right to sleep when we got home as she was worn out by all her adventures and the new people she met!

Mommy: I went back to work this week. It was nice to see my students and fellow teachers, but I sure did not miss the stress and politics. At least I only had to do so for this week, plus Monday and then I am off for another 2 months.

Photos: Here is our little cutie at 12 weeks!

Additional Photos:

These photos were taken last Saturday which was technically on her 11 weeks exactly, but they were taken after I posted so are included with this weeks blog!

Week Eleven

The weeks are just flying by. It is already June!

About Alexandra: Alexandra had her two month check up with the doctor on Tuesday. She weighed 10 lbs, 14 oz (28th percentile) and was 22 3/4 inches long (44th percentile). She had two shots and took them like a champ. She did not even cry with the first one, but just got a strange look on her face as if to say, "what the heck was that?" She did cry with the second one, but only briefly.

I love her facial expressions. Occasionally she will raise on eyebrow when I am talking to her as if she is confused or surprised. I know she is trying very hard to understand what I am saying. Sometimes I put her on my knees and we have little conversations.

Alexandra likes to have her outfits changed apparently as she is now getting them quite wet through either spitting up, drooling or sucking on her clothes. She does have a ton of cute outfits, so it is nice that she gets to wear so many. And now she thinks it is fun for mommy to have to change her own clothes. She got me good a couple times over the long weekend - both shirts and shorts needed changing! Good thing she is so adorable that I don't even mind! I just have to remember to bring a change of clothes with me. She got me good at the doctor's office and I did not have a spare shirt then. Thankfully it is warm outside so it dried quickly!

What's New: Alexandra had her first out of town trip and first night in a hotel room. We went to Palm Springs for Memorial Day weekend, where we met up with Grandma Sara and Dave's relatives who were visiting from France (Lily & Hugh). She did very well and slept 7 hours straight on both nights!

Speaking of sleep, she is stretching it out most nights to 6 hours before waking up. On Thursday night, she slept 9 hours. She must have been wiggling a lot that night because when I put her to bed, her head was facing the window. Then at 3:30 when I checked on her, she was facing the complete opposite direction. Then at 7:00 when she finally woke up, she was back facing the window again! Not only that, but the swaddle blanket was completely off her and bunched up at her feet! Our little escape artist! It might be time to go back to the sleep sacks from which she cannot escape!

I had put Alexandra in her crib before to play the mobile and she had not paid any attention. I did it again this week and she was very intrigued. She watched it go round and round for several minutes. She has not really been interested in toys yet, but I am sure that will happen soon. I put a little green stuffed monkey in her stroller whenever we go for walks and I am waiting for her to actually start grabbing it. Right now, she is more interested in holding the security blanket I got her. It is made of the same material as swaddle blankets (muslin cotton), but is much smaller.

Her head control has gotten very good and most times that I carry her around now, her head is up and she is looking around.

Visitors: Alexandra had a play date with one of the ladies I met through my "After Loss" groups, Chelsea and her daughter Lisa. We met them for brunch in Palm Springs. There are so many wonderful women in those groups and I hope to meet up with a few more this summer.

While in Palm Springs, Alexandra also had a chance to spend time with Dave's relatives (cousins of his stepfather) who were in town from Paris. They adored her and invited us to Paris. Dave has never been to Europe so both of them would get a new continent if we were able to make it happen.

And finally, our friends Jenny and Tim were in Palm Springs visiting so we met up with them for a glass of wine. They have a son named Connor who is 2 years old.

Mommy: I go back to work on Monday. It is hard to believe that three months have passed since I was in my classroom last. It has flown by. I am so thankful that I am a teacher and in another week, I will be off for two more months. I can't imagine how hard it must be for women to go back to work just six weeks after giving birth.

Now that little girl is sleeping more and I am not so tired all the time, I decided to tackle a major project - completely cleaning my closet and reorganizing. If you have seen my closet, you know what a big task that is! So far, I have 10 bags of clothes and shoes for Goodwill. Many of the clothes either do not fit anymore (they are too big which is a GREAT problem to have) or the style is outdated. My feet must have grown as well because many shoes are too small.

Photos: Here is our little cutie at 11 weeks!

Pictures from Palm Springs Trip:

More fun pictures from Week 11: