Act I: Guilt
I have this
uncanny ability to make myself feel guilty over just about
anything. I worked from home yesterday. I’ve do so before and
things went relatively well. Not so yesterday. Lex was happy
until about 10:30am, then we went down hill from there. He got
fussy, my co-workers started rapid-firing emails at me, and I
started feeling ill. I found myself stressing because I
couldn’t get anything done for work and at the same time
stressing because I couldn’t play with Lex and make him happy.
All of my stressing just made Lex more unhappy. Self-fulfilling
downward spiral :( Around lunchtime I ended up sending my
coworkers an email just apologizing for my slow response and
explaining the situation. Everyone was super nice and
understanding. After that I tried really hard to make myself
let go of work and just take care of Lex. But the guilt was
there and with it the stomachache. Needless to say Lex got
happier when daddy came home :) In the future I’m just going to
take the day off from work and not try to multi-task like that.
It’s not good for anyone.

Act II:
Bathtime
I’ve been bathing Lex more these days,
instead of showering him. He’s funny though, it’s hard to tell
if he likes the bath or not. He splashs and chews on his rubber
ducky with gusto, but doesn’t laugh, smile, cry, or anything.
Just goes after those ducks like he’s on a mission. It’s hard
to tell if he’s having fun or not. Silly baby.

Act III: Nanny
Yes, I said it –
nanny. We’ve hired ourselves a nanny (oh-la-la!) She’s really
more of a mother’s helper for Alan. She’s going to come one day
a week to watch Lex and do some light housework. She seems
really nice. I met her at the salon when I was pregnant and she
gave me her name and number. I said thanks and threw it on the
enourmous pile of baby paperwork we had – figuring we’ll never
have need for a nanny. Just found her info the other day and
Alan loved the idea. Today is her first day so we’ll see how it
goes. The house was a mess to – maybe she’ll take care of that
for us :)

PS. Congrats to my
friends Ron and Laura. Check out their
website for details.

Well, yesterday anyway. It
was great. We hung out and did nothing for most of the day :)
Made apple cinnamon scones for breakfast (yummy), took a nap,
and just relaxed. Lex was really fussy in the morning and has
been off and on for a few days now and not sleeping well. He
also developed overnight a red spot on his lip that looked like
the beginnings of a cold sore (I’m prone to them, so he may be
as well). I thought that might explain the fussiness. I called
the pedi yesterday morning and the nurse said there wasn’t much
they could do at the moment, but told me to watch it and see if
it got worse, or if he got a fever or stopped eating. He ended
up taking two really good naps and by evening he was happy and
the spot was even starting to fade. Soo…

We took Grandma and Grandpa (the two Gs) up on their offer
to babysit and Alan and I went out to dinner and shopping. We
dressed up (Alan was eager to since it’s been ages since he’s
worn nice clothes) and while we waited for food I told Alan
everything I’ve learned so far about nursing school. I was
feeling sort of stuck in my progress so it was great to talk
with him, get his feelings on things, and now I have a path to
continue down. Good times. Then we went shopping at Penney’s. I
got a gift card from my mom (Mom, it came on time!! Thanks!!)
which was awesome because I really need some clothes. I was
trying on jeans (need them) and looking at shirts (need them)
when I remembered that what I really need is a winter jacket
(really need). So I ended up with a snazzy gray peacoat, red
gloves, and a nice sweater.

We got a
call from Grandpa just as we were finishing shopping saying
that Lex was crying inconsolably and they were getting worried
about him. It was great timing to call since we were almost on
our way home anyway. So we paid quickly and rushed back to get
Lex. When we got there he was sleeping in Grandpa’s lap in the
recliner and it was the most perfect thing ever. I was kicking
myself for not having a camera. (I really, really need a built
in eyeball camera. That would be super convenient!) So we hung
out for a while and chatted and let him doze. It was beautiful.
When he woke up he was all smiles again. We took him home,
nursed him, and he went right to bed (of course it was 11:15pm
by this time – way past bedtime!). So a good day was had by
all.

Oh, I can’t forget my funnest
present – a new palm TX. I told Alan I wanted
a new palm and he’s had a great time for the past few months
researching all the options and finding me the best one. It’s
like a present for both of us :) I love it. It’s got a huge
color screen, wi-fi so I can get Internet access in lots of
places, new programs, etc. It’s awesome.

And boy did he like them!
Just kidding :) I think the photos tell the real story. He ate
the whole bowl though, so they must not be that bad :) Feeding
is getting more adventurous now that Lex has perfected the
raspberry. There’s nothing like a pear shower to start the
morning off right.

We also figured out
(well, Alan figured out) that he likes everything a little more
when it’s warm. Alan started heating up the avocado and Lex
seems to like that a bit better. Still not as much as he likes
the bananas and oatmeal, but can you blame him??

We’re going to do sweet potatoes next. We are
operating under the recomendations of the pedi and the Super
Baby Food book. They recommend holding off on veggies
(besides sweet potatoes) until at least 7 months, but I don’t
really like that idea. We may start him on carrots or peas
after the sweet potatoes. We’ll see.

I’m going to have to get some eating
pictures soon. We’re having a great time with it. Tonight we
had salad with avocados in it (yummy, we always have avocado in
the salad). Lex sat next to me making hungry mouth faces at me,
so I gave him a piece of avocado. He still doesn’t like it :)
He gummed it for a second or two then made a face and spit it
out. Then played with it for awhile. I threw him in the bath
before bed to get the avocado out from between his fingers and
the banana out of his hair – must have been a good
lunch!

… is avocado! Lex didn’t think much of
it though. He took right to the cereal and bananas (who
wouldn’t!) but made funny faces today at the avocado. Very cute
faces to be honest. I gave him some in the morning and some in
the evening. Both times he ate 4 or 5 spoons of it, but made
funny, sputtery faces. He’s also been perfecting his raspberry
noises this past week, so picture that face and sputtery
sounds, with green avocado everywhere :) Good times, good
times.

Otherwise a pretty mellow
weekend. Lex has been talking a lot lately. He’s working on his
babababa sounds and mamamama sounds. Tonight he was so tired
and just looked at me with big tired eyes and said mama mama
mama… so, of course, I had to go pick him up and cuddle him.
He was hanging in his jumper and patiently waiting for me to
finish cutting Alan’s hair before putting him to bed. Such a
good baby.

I ordered a booster seat type
thing for Thanksgiving. I’m excited to have him sit at the
table with us :) We’re having two t-days this year too, one
with each side of the family. Now that Lex is eating some
solids I’m excited to have him sit with us and play with some
food. I also ordered a cool rolling toy that supposed to
encourage crawling. Its sort of dumbell shaped with lights and
mirrors and stuff, and it rolls around the floor. I thought it
looked like a pretty cool toy. I was thinking of getting him
one for Christmas, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to
hide it that long. Once it comes I think I’ll be too eager to
get it out and play with it :)

Lex got his third new food this morning.
You guessed it – bananas! He seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.
He’s now eating rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, and bananas. I
haven’t been able to pump as much milk lately as I used to, so
he’s rapidly depleting what’s in the freezer. Alan and I
decided it would be good to officially start him on solids (1
new food every 4 days). Today was bananas. Not sure what will
be next – maybe avacados (they are super healthy for babies).
We’ll see. I’ll keep ya posted.

Not much to say, just wanted
to post a few pictures of the boy. First one his my little guy
on the go in his “little guy on the go” overalls. He’s a cutie
in overalls. Next is Lex with his new football from Joan. He
likes that toy and I like the picture. Next is him playing with
Nana Pat’s birthday present. They both had a lot of fun with it
(heck, we all did!). And then its Lex with his very own
keyboard. He loves playing with our keyboards (those of you who
receive very strange IM messages are often the receipent of his
keyboard adventures) but it’s always a little risky because he
opens and closes things, deletes things, and drools on the
computer :) So Alan made him a keyboard of his own.

I was thinking of other things to write about
throughout the day, but now I’m tired so this is all you get.
They say that a picture speaks a thousand words anyway, so five
pictures have got to be better than any rambling words I would
write.