Week Twenty Four

Week 24 - how is it possible two whole weeks have gone by since Alexandra turned 5 months old? It is amazing how fast time flies with a new little one.

Miss Alexandra is officially rolling both ways! She has been rolling back to tummy for over a month now, but finally this week started rolling tummy to back. She still does not do it every time and sometimes complains until the nearest adult rolls her over again. She can really get around by rolling on her side and scooting. She started off a few minutes ago on her play mat and is now completely on the carpet!

She has many toys that she now plays with including her Baby Einstein musical turtle which she loves! Other favorites include the Oball, her stuffed monkey (Keko), her Sophie the Giraffe and rattles. She loves lying on her play mat and kicking the bars to get all the hanging items to move. Her new favorite is that musical turtle and she quickly figured out how to make it play music. Here are some pictures of her and the turtle.

Alexandra enjoyed the visit from her grandpa. He was here from Thursday of last week to Tuesday of this week. She loved when he would have her practice standing. He would also tell her funny stories that made her laugh. Here is a picture of them by the fountain. Alexandra was far more interested in her grandpa than she was the water.

Alexandra is a hungry girl today so she must be ready for a growth spurt. Since she needs a bottle, I am going to turn this blog over to my mom to write for awhile.

This is Grandma Janet, guest blogging about Alexandra.  She has been growing so fast and learning so many new things.  She will soon be 6 months old and time has flown by.  Her big smiles are infectious and it's obvious that she's a happy baby!  When someone she knows calls on the phone, she looks at the phone wondering where that person might be hiding.  She loves to stand with support when she and I play the "Up we go" game.  Her little legs are very strong and it won't be long until she is standing without our help.

She loves sitting in her Bumbo or the Boppy which offer her support.  She plays with her various toys and has a wonderful time! She is getting really good at sitting up and I know it will be soon that she can do it on her own.

Yesterday when I was feeding her (actually all I did was put the pears on the spoon and she took it from there), she would not let go of the spoon when I wanted to get more for her.  We had a little tug-of-war for the spoon.  She has a really strong grip and simply grinned at me with the same devilish grin her mother used to give me when she was a baby.  It was as if to say, "I win, Grandma.  Ha ha!"

She is playing games with me as I write this.  She was in her crib for a nap and decided to roll over onto her tummy.  In doing so, she got both legs caught through the railing and was trying to scoot to roll back.  But, with no traction, she finally whimpered.  Grandma to the rescue.  I turned her back over and by the time I walked into the next room to finish this, she was on her tummy once again.  When I walked back in, I got the same cute devilish grin.  She thinks it is funny and is developing a really nice sense of humor.

Thanks for taking over Grandma. Mommy will now resume the blog writing. After I fed her, she fell asleep on my shoulder but as soon as she was put in the crib she woke up. She does that a lot. She took a nice one hour nap this morning, but more often than not, I am lucky to get her to sleep for 20 minutes. Of course, when Marivel is watching her during the week is when she takes the long 2-3 hour naps. This morning she decided to wake up at 6:30. With Marivel this week she slept until almost 8 one day. I am hoping tomorrow she will let mommy and daddy sleep a little longer. I should not complain since I know many women whose babies are not sleeping through the night even at one year.

Last Sunday, Alexandra and I went to JC Penneys to have our photos taken. Here is the link if you want to view them: http://tinyurl.com/kd5txkh. We ordered some and I cannot wait for them to arrive!

Last night college football started and my alma mater (University of Arizona) played Dave's alma mater (Northern Arizona University). Since we were a house divided, Alexandra was not allowed to wear either school during the game, but we took pictures of her representing both teams prior to the game.

Tonight we went out to dinner and put Alexandra in a dress. She looked so adorable! While we were at dinner, Alexandra was very interested in my water glass so we asked the waiter for an empty glass and a straw. We then gave it to Alexandra and she immediately knew to put the straw in her mouth. She did notice there was nothing in the glass, so Grandma poured a little water in the bottom. We don't really know if she was actually able to get anything through the straw, but she certainly is an overachiever trying to do this at 5.5 months! Here she is standing on her changing table with a little help from Grandma Janet who is staying with us for a few weeks until her new home is ready and with the glass and straw.

This turned out to be a long blog post so I will end and leave you with some other fun pictures from this week:

Week Twenty Three

I can't believe how quickly the weeks pass by and how close Alexandra is to being 6 months old. Where is the time going?

Finally her tummy seems to be better now that she is eating lots of prunes! She LOVES them. We also tried carrots this week and she did not really like them. She gave us a funny face. Tonight we introduced her to pears which she loved as well. She kept taking the spoon and feeding herself.

Last Saturday, we had a community luau and Alexandra loved it. Her nanny, Marivel, was also there with her family. Below is a photo of the two of them and one of our family. Tonight Marivel had us over for dinner and there was disco type music playing. Alexandra loved it. She was moving both her arms and her legs in beat to the music. It was so fun to watch.  I am so happy that Alexandra has someone to watch her who gives her tons of love and attention.

Alexandra has found her voice again. She went through one phase of trying to screech loudly and now she is doing it again. She rolls on to her tummy all the time. She has such great head control that she can really prop herself up on her arms. She can even make turns, but she is still not sure how to roll over to her back. She is starting to scoot, although she does not do it every time she is on her tummy.

Alexandra is definitely intent on exploring her world. Today when I was drinking from my water bottle she was fascinated. Even though she had her own bottle of milk at the time, she reached out to try to grab my water bottle. We were sitting on the couch and the TV remote was nearby. She grabbed that and started looking at the buttons. One of her absolute favorite things is to watch herself on my camera phone. I use the setting to take a self-portrait, put her in my lap and she gets so excited and starts grabbing for the screen. She is a constant source of entertainment these days.

Here are some cute pictures from this week:

Bonus picture comparison of me as a baby and Alexandra. My mom says I was about 6 months old when the picture was taken. 

Five Months

Hello Loyal Readers! I can't believe it is time to write another update for you. Didn't I just turn 3 months last week?

So much has happened this month and I am a completely different baby than I was a month ago. Well, maybe not, but I really have grown both mentally and physically. I have added 2 inches in height since July 8th and 4.5 ounces in just one week. I now weigh 13 pounds 7.5 ounces and am 25 inches long.

This month I started on solid foods. First I tried applesauce which was just okay. Then mommy gave me peas which I liked. On Wednesday, she gave me my first taste of prunes. Yummy. They were so good. I did not want mommy feeding me so I took the spoon from her and this is what happened. And yes, I did actually get some food IN my mouth!

I have gotten really good at tummy time! I roll over from my back to tummy all the time. I still have not figured out how to roll from tummy to back and so I cry until someone flips me back over if it happens when I am in my crib. Here is a photo taken this week. Aren't I cute?

I have a nanny now who takes good care of me while mommy and daddy are at work. We have a good time together playing, doing tummy time and reading books. She wears me out with all the fun activities so I am ready to go to bed earlier these days. Miss Marivel speaks Spanish to me and is starting to teach me some baby sign language. Some times her son, Dylan, is here and he hangs out with me too. He is a big kid at 7 years old. He even brought me a book that was his and he did not need any more. That was so nice of him.

Mommy had to get up really early and leave the house at 6 AM on Wednesday for her first day of school with students. I usually sleep until 7, but wanted to make sure to see her that morning so was wide awake at 5:45 to say goodbye.

I love when my daddy walks me around a restaurant after he is done eating so that I can see all the people. I am quite a "people watcher" and really study the faces of people I meet.

Here are some of my 5 month photos. As you can see, I have grown a lot and can almost sit up by myself.

And a laundry basket picture. I barely fit lengthwise now and try to sit up.

I had a doctor's appointment and shots today. That has made me cranky so I am going to ask mommy to finish the blog. Next time I write, it will be for my 1/2 birthday! See you in September. In the meantime, make sure to check out the weekly updates mommy writes every Saturday.

Love,
Alexandra

Mommy here. Alexandra continues to amaze me each week with her intelligence and sweet personality. Its hard to believe that a year ago I was just barely pregnant with her and now she is 5 months old! She has accomplished so much in the last month and while I want to keep her small for as long as I can to cuddle her, I can't wait to see what is next. She is starting to scoot a little bit during tummy time, so crawling should follow in the next couple of months. I think she will probably be sitting on her own in another month.

There is not much else to report for this week as Alexandra included much of what I would have said. Next Saturday I will update again at 23 weeks and hopefully have some fun things to report.

Week Twenty One

Twenty one weeks? How did that happen? Time is flying by and next Friday Alexandra will be 5 months old. Soon she will be crawling, walking, running. There will be no stopping her. So for now I snuggle with her in my arms at every chance I can. We finally got all of the newborn photos that we ordered, so be sure to click the tab to see them.

About Alexandra: She had a visit to the doctor yesterday so we know that she is 13 pounds 3 ounces now. She is still struggling with tummy issues but we see progress. She seems to like the soy formula and loves eating peas!

She is fascinated by faces and loves to pull mommy's hair! She has been using her high chair more this week and even took a nap in it last night! Apparently it is really comfy! 

Alexandra is really rolling over - she will go from back to tummy several times each day, but has yet to master the tummy to back. Here she is after turning over once and getting "caught" by mommy. When she is on her tummy, she likes to stick out her arms and legs and "fly" as seen in one of the photos below.

What's New: Alexandra has rolled over in her crib by herself. She is okay with tummy time on the floor, but cries until we come and get her if she ends up on her tummy in the crib. 

About Mommy & Daddy: I have not included much about us lately, but since Friday was my first day back at work after summer vacation, I had to post a minute about me. It is going to be so hard leaving her in the mornings before she is even awake. We found a very nice neighbor named Marivel who is going to watch her at our house so I feel blessed, but it is going to be hard missing out on so many little moments. I think I will be counting the days until Thanksgiving Break when I will get a week off and living for weekends and evenings in the meantime. Daddy also goes back to work after having had the last three off as part of the Family Medical Leave Act. It was nice being together as a family and sharing some fun times.

Visitors:  It was a Toastmasters week for Alexandra. On Monday we all went to the Enthusiastic Embarkers club. Here is Alexandra helping her daddy call the meeting to order. Dave is the club president.

Then on Tuesday night, we had the District 12 Governor, Michael Osur, over for dinner. He thoroughly enjoyed meeting Alexandra and even brought her some toys. As you can see, she also enjoyed meeting him!

We went to T-Mobile in Santa Ana on Wednesday, where Alexandra met some more of daddy's co-workers. Here is a photo of her with Roger, Tara and Valerie.

After that we also went to see Ayliz, her son Jason and her mom. Since that day, Ayliz has welcomed a son Jacob who will probably be one of Alexandra's playmates down the road.

Photos: Here is our cutie pie at 21 weeks!

And some cute photos from the week.

Week Twenty

Where have all the weeks gone and how is it possible that Alexandra is already at 20 weeks! There is not much to report this week after all the excitement of Hawaii. We did go to Phoenix on Thursday. Alexandra and I flew there, so she now has been on 5 flights in less than 5 months! Our little world traveler in the making! We spent two nights there and then drove home with daddy today.

What's New: After all the new things to post last week, I was not sure we would have anything in this category. But we have two things, one thanks to mommy and the other of Alexandra's choosing. Alexandra tried peas this week and seems to really like them. While she does get far more on herself than in her mouth, she does reach her mouth to the spoon and seems to like peas better than she liked applesauce.

Alexandra also started sticking out her tongue this week, specifically at Grandma Sara. She had not done that before. She is becoming more and more interested in people's faces. She often reaches for my nose or chin. She even grabbed my lips on Thursday - thankfully she has a fairly gentle touch!

Visitors: Alexandra did get to meet a few new people - Jo, Quentin and Marion, all friends of Grandma Sara. They all loved her! She also got to see Gloria again. Alexandra enjoyed spending time with her Grandma Sara. Check out the picture below of the two of them "reading" the paper together!

Photos: Here are some photos of our sweet girl at 20 weeks!