Little Lex is 8 weeks old today – going on
2 months :)

We went walking today with
some women from the 4th trimester group (technically I walked
and Lex rode). It was really nice. There were 8 or 9 of us
total, all pushing strollers and babies. We walked for about 45
minutes around this pond and afterwards we hung out and
chatted/nursed. Lex wanted no part of nursing though. He was
much more interested in looking around at everything going on.
He was hungry by the time I got back to the car though
:)

And here I am, updating this
blog, like a goober. I’m tired, but I need to feed the baby
before bed. He is sleeping in his swing now. He likes the
swing. He’s been sleeping so good this evening. I think he had
a bellyache or something, but it seemed to start getting better
this afternoon. Hopefully he will be fully happy again in the
morning.

I’ve also started co-sleeping,
which is making my nights easier. Before he was born I thought
the whole idea was crazy, but now I definitely see the merit.
I’m not sure I’ll want to do it long term, but right now I
think it’s what we both need to get a good night’s sleep. We
also need me to go to bed when I’m done doing what needs to be
done and not do silly things like this.
Lex is so
awake and alert these days. He smiles when you smile at him, he
loves his changing table, he can hold his head up very well,
and stand for awhile. He’s even walking with support (his
balance isn’t great yet, but he is very strong). He has also
started reaching for toys, batting at things, and looking at
himself in the mirror. And yet, after almost two months, I’m
still amazed that we actually have a baby. It’s such an
incredible thing! When he hurts all I want to do is make things
better. And when he smiles his big gummy smile, my heart melts.
Aww…. I love him!

Lex is so cranky tonight. I think he has a
stomach problem. He seems ok for a few minutes then starts
wailing like he’s in horrible pain. I feel so bad for him. He
won’t even nurse for more than a few minutes at a time. I wish
I could make it all better so he didn’t hurt. I also wish I
knew why he hurts so we won’t let it happen again. Wish me luck
for a peaceful night :)

What a fun family weekend.
Mandy and Andrea came up on Saturday for an afternoon visit. We
chopped up lots of veggies and had stir-fry for lunch. They
also brought strawberry rubarb pie for dessert. The farmstand
on the way to our house apparently has alluring strawberry
rubarb pie. She hasn’t seen Lex in many weeks – since he was
just a tiny baby ;) He slept most of the time, but I’m sure he
was happy to see her too.

On Sunday
Alan’s parents came to visit. His mom’s birthday was last
Thursday so we had a little birthday celebration. We went out
to a very tasty lunch at one of those restaurants that only has
six items on the menu. They always make me nervous becuause
it’s rare I find anything I like. This time I found a soup and
a salad that were excellent. Then we all got desserts to share
too. We ate *very* well for lunch :) We also did some shopping
and poking around the little shops. It was great. Then we came
home, watched a movie, made dinner, and just hung out. Overall
an excellent weekend.

On a quick baby
update, Lex is doing well. We’re working on different sleeping
methods because I’m a tired momma. Hopefully we’ll find
something that allows us both to get a good night’s sleep. And
on that note, I’m going to bed ’cause Lex just fell asleep.
G’night all!

I’ve been meaning to post this all day and
just now am getting the chance. Actually, I should get my butt
in bed since Lex just fell asleep, but oh well, I’ll try to
write quickly :)

Lex is the most
expressive baby I know. He makes so many different faces and
all within minutes of each other. He had Alan and I in tears
(of laughter) last night just watching him go. He was smiling
and gurgling and cooing at us. Then, suddenly, he started
making funny bug-eyed faces – which cracked us up. Then, just
as suddenly, back to the smiles. One face was a huge frown (a
perfect, huge, upside-down U) that lasted for about a second
then right back to the smiles. I almost think he was doing them
on purpose because they made us laugh so hard. What a
baby.

He’s also started crying like a
baby, not a newborn. For the first time yesterday he had a cry
that sounded very different. We were concerned at first, but
then we realized it’s just a baby cry instead of a newborn cry.
Of course we aim to keep the crying to a minimum :) Now we need
to work on the sleeping. He currently is aiming to keep the
sleeping to a minimum – which I’m not so pleased about. On that
note, he’s crying again so I’m outta here.

I forgot to mention that on the way home
we stopped by Queens to visit my sister’s new apartment. She
has a very nice brickstone in a good neighborhood. She even has
windows that can see the sky :) And a little tree in front of
the house. Very cute. It’s nice to know where family
lives.

So Thursday morning I said to
Alan, “I have a half-baked idea for you…” and Friday
afternoon we found ourselves driving to Long Island. My grandma
is selling her house and my parents and sister were going to
help her do some packing. I was missing the family and thought
it would be fun to surprise them. Since it was our first
overnight trip, I had no idea how much to pack for Lex – so I
packed just about all of his clothes :) Somedays he wears the
same thing all day, but other days we go through lots of
clothes. It all depends. I figured better safe than sorry (or
doing laundry). The trip down was rainy but smooth. We stopped
a few times to feed Lex. We hit rust hour traffic at one point,
so we stopped at McD’s and had dinner. By the time we were on
the road again the traffic was flowing again.

Saturday my parents got there. We stayed inside as a
surprise. My sister walks in, sees us, smiles and waves “hi”,
then does a total double-take. It was beautiful. Then my mom
walks in, sees us, and yells for about 2 minutes. Heheh… it
was awesome. Then she walks over and takes Lex out of my arms.
After his hugs the rest of us got some hugs too. Its tough to
surprise my mom – which made the whole thing that much more fun
:)

Overall we had a really nice weekend.
We didn’t get much packing done for my grandma, but I think she
was ok with that. Visiting is always more fun than working :)
She was also happy to show her new great-grandbaby off to all
of her friends and neighbors.

The drive
home took just about forever. We ended up stopped on I95 for a
little over an hour due to an accident. Then we stopped to help
a guy jump start his car (there were lots of cars that couldn’t
start after that, probably from people running the AC and radio
without the car on). Spent about 20 minutes helping this guy,
but no luck. He think he had electrical problems ’cause the
battery seemed ok. So we moved on. Our quick dinner break ended
up taking an hour because Lex was sick and tired of his car
seat. He screamed every time we tried to put him back in it. So
we hung out in the parking lot for awhile
feeding/changing/soothing him. Finally back on the road in time
to hit construction in the next city. Overall the drive was a
long one – but well worth it!

Now we’re
home and I promised Lex a few car seat free days. I think he
appreciates that. He slept sooo much yesterday. I think he was
recovering from the weekend. I was hoping it would carry over
into last night, but no such luck. Oh well.

We got Lex’s 1 month
professional pictures back today. Although they took a bunch of
poses, we only got two of them. They were all a lot of fun
though. We tried to get a proof sheet of all of them (in case
anyone else wanted to order some), but they wouldn’t give them
to us. Something about people scanning them in and putting them
online ;) In addition to the free pictures we got with our
coupon, we (by “we”, I mean “I”) ended up buying an additional
pose too. Olan Mills printed all of the poses and it was weird
sending a bunch of them back. I’m sure that a lot of people end
up buying them just because they are there and ready to go. I
thought it was weird that this lady had a bunch of pictures of
our kid and we had to send them back. Probably instead of
“weird” I should be saying “good business”.

Also, upon special request,
we set up an email account for Lex. I’m not gonna post it
online though, so if anyone wants it let me know and I’ll send
it to you. Keep in mind that he can’t read yet though, so
anything that’s sent to him will be read by us :) No top secret
stuff until he’s a little older.

I think Lex thinks he has two mommies – a
daytime mommy with hair and no glasses, and a nighttime mommy
with no hair (all pulled back) and glasses. He always looks a
little confused to see me at night.

Anyway, we had a great 4th of July. We went down to Alan’s
parents house where they had a backyard picnic with all of
their neighbors, many of whom we’ve met before. I posted
pictures (as well as another week of random, around the house
pictures) at photos.datdec.com. Check them
out.

Happy 4th of July to all! We’re starting
the day here with a beautiful sunrise. Hope you all have a fun
day with lots of grillin’ and fireworks, or however you choose
to spend your day. We’ll be spending it with a block party down
at the in-laws. Should be a good time.