Babies are so funny. We decided that it’s
time to take away the pacifier (poor baby). He has fallen
asleep easily, plug free, for the past three nights. I was
amazed. But today I tried to take it away during naps (I wasn’t
feeling up to it the first two days) and he screamed and
screamed. I held out for almost an hour (again, poor baby), but
finally gave it to him. As soon as he was plugged he fell over
and went right to sleep. He seems to be equally tired during
the day as he is at night, so I think it’s really interesting
that he doesn’t miss it at night. He’s also been sleeping later
in the mornings (6:30 instead of 6:00) these past few days. I
wonder if that’s just coincidence. Babies are funny. I love
him.

Busy weekend. We went down to
MA this weekend to visit friends and Davis
Farmland. We met our friends Ron & Laura and
their kids there. Lots of fun. Lex is a little young I think
and he didn’t fully appreciate the petting-zoo aspect. His
favorite activites were playing in the animals water dishes,
opening and closing the gates (the baby goats liked that too),
and “milking” the fake cow. :) Then we went to see Jim &
Julie and their bunnies. Lex chased him around and loved
it.

Lex was very, very huggy all
weekend. It’s so sweet. He even walked over to Jim, said “up”
and gave him a big hug. On a side note, we went to a playgroup
today and Lex, as usual, ran around the whole time. But every
now and again he would see me from across the room and run
over, give me a big hug, then get right back to the playing.
He’s sooo sweet!

Since Lex was born (15 months ago today!)
I haven’t had any trouble sleeping. My head hits the pillow and
I’m out. Lately, however, all of that has changed. I find
myself wiped out during the day from this 1st trimester stuff,
but then I lay down and night and can’t sleep. It’s driving me
crazy. Then I’m exhausted in the morning, which just makes my
belly feel worse and makes me more tired all day. Some days I
nap, which is good, I guess. But I wake up feeling ill and
can’t sleep that night. Sounds like a lose/lose situation, huh?
Thankfully this all goes away in the 2nd trimester (please,
please, please).

It occured to me the
other day that it’s probably for the best that you don’t
remember much about your first few years of life. During that
time you take a lot of tumbles and those around you make their
learning mistakes. It comforts me to think that Lex will not
find himself later in life looking back and feeling bad that
mommy left him in his crib for an hour or was absolutley no fun
to play with for several months on end. It’s probably best for
all of us that we don’t remember those early years :)

Today we are off to look at the house again
(measurments and photos galore) then we get to visit the doctor
and poor Lex gets more shots. He won’t be a happy boy. Maybe
we’ll both nap after that.

There’s much going
on these days. Sadly I feel highly unmotivated. Lex is slowly
switching to one nap a day and I don’t think I’m ready for
that. Not until this morning (all day) sickness passes at
least. This morning I left him in his crib for an hour (happy,
chattering, bouncing, clearly ok) hoping he would take a nap
and giving myself time to quell the nausea. Blah! He didn’t
nap, and the nausea didn’t pass, so I eventually got him up and
we went for a walk instead.

Anyway, the
good news I promised you all a few days ago is that we are
buying a house! We are leaving this great state and moving to
Vermont to a cute little neighborhood. I’m having trouble
getting really excited (see paragraph above), but the to-do
list is endless. The place was built in 1979 and the interior
hasn’t been touched since then, so we have some remodeling to
do before we move in. Yesterday Lex and I went to Home Depot
and came home with a boatload of free stuff :) It was fun. I’m
trying to get excited about the remodeling at least, but it’s a
little overwhelming because we want to do about twice what we
have the budget for. Soooo… as usual, you gotta prioritize.
But it’s all good. And we will celebrate Christmas this year in
a house we own!!! With a big belly and a toddler. What more
could I ask for?

Lex and I went out for a walk this
evening. We were out for an hour and we made it half way up the
street and back. The only reason we made it back was because
Alan got home and Lex went running down the street to see him.
While we were out Lex did an excellent job of rearranging the
rocks in people’s driveways, banging on mailbox posts and
reflector signs, and throwing rocks every which way. He also
did a lot of waving his hands in the air and hollering. I kept
thinking to myself, “He’s crazy, like a….” and the only way I
could finish that thought was “like a one year old.” Crazy like
a one year old.

It’s been a long weekend and
it’s only Saturday (though the weekend basically started
Thursday). The whole family was in town to celebrate my
Grandma’s 80th birthday. Lots of food, fun, and family. I’m too
tired to write much now, but I wanted to say hi and post a few
pictures. Also wanted to point out that according to the
counter above, Lex is 1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days old
today :) I thought that was worth noting! Good night for now
and I may have more good news soon…

I love watching Lex learn and figure
things out. He’ll do something over and over as he perfects it.
Simple things like…

Up/down
One of our
new favorite games. Lex stands up and says “up” and squats and
says “douwn” This could go on for days. He’s actually been
doing it for a week or so now, but it was just in the last day
or two that he got the hang of “up”. Not sure why “up” is
harder to say than “douwn” but apparently it is. I try to use
up and down in lots of other situations too (“hands up, hands
down” or “the puppy is up, the puppy is down”), and he
understands.

Bathtime
Since
swimming lessons began, Lex has discovered that you can lay
down in the tub and swim. This is fun, but also annoying. He
used to sit peacefully and play with the toys, but now he’s a
crazy man all over the tub. Just last night he started blowing
bubbles in the tub too. Let’s see if he can transfer this new
skill to the pool on Friday.

Wild Animal Babies
His new favorite book. A magazine subscription, really.
This latest issue has a mouse in it and Lex loves it. If you
sit for more than a minute or two in the living room, he’ll be
there, at your feet, with the book, looking for a reading :)

Speaking of “douwn”, Lex just woke up
and is standing in his crib saying “douwn, douwn” Usually this
is accompianied by his little finger pointing down to the
floor. I love how smart he is!! :)

My Baby Lex blog is now about two
babies…. hmmmm….

I had my first
doctor’s appointment for B2. Alan wants to call this little one
Zig too, but I’m not so sure. Anyway, the midwife estimated my
due date at March 25th, subject to change after the ultrasound
(Oct 25). So we’ll just stick with “late March” as the offical
date :) The morning sickness is still in full effect, but I’ll
survive. Lex came to my appointment with me and was a perfect
angel the whole time. I very much appreciated that!

Lex’s newest enjoyment is throwing balls
around the house. We have lots of them in various shapes,
sizes, and textures. He is getting pretty good at throwing
them. He doesn’t like to play catch so much as throw them
across the room and run after them. Fetch, maybe, by himself.
Self-fetch?

Alan and I are also actively
house hunting. We are most like gonna be Vermonters soon :/ Not
thrilled about that idea, but our options (ie: price-range) are
limited. So, we’ll see. We are going back on Friday to look at
a house we’ve looked at once before. If my dad gives us the
thumbs-up and thinks he can make some of the cosmetic changes
it needs, we’ll most likely put in an offer. I’ll keep ya
posted.

We’ve had a very busy past few days. On
Friday night my co-workers throw Alan and I a
“goodbye/welcome/congratulations” party. My friend Andee held
it at her new house and everyone brought tasty food and their
families. Alan and I had a great time socializing and Lex had a
blast chasing a pair of 2-year old twins around. (Ok, to be
honest, I spent most of my time chasing Lex and the twins as
well). Lex even stayed awake for the entire trip home! It was
well past his bedtime before he fell asleep.

On Saturday we had breakfast with my mom and Grandma, then
went out house hunting. I’m a bit disappointed with what’s
available in our price range. We’ve looked at 6 houses so far
and none were right. We’re going to expand our range a bit and
see what else is out there. At the 3rd house yesterday, Lex
tripped over a pile of shingles (they are re-doing the roof)
and fell face first onto the driveway. Poor boy now has a big,
purple bruise right in the middle of his forehead. We were
supposed to have dinner with my grandparents Saturday night,
but we postponed because Lex was so fussy. I’m sure he had the
world’s worst headache!

Today we went
out for a nice long walk (desperately trying to find a morning
sickness cure) and to the playground. Now he’s napping and then
we’re off to the G’s for dinner. Whew! I’m sooooo glad I’m not
going back to work tomorrow ;)

So I’m sitting in the office today,
freezing, nauseous, and wishing I could be anywhere but here.
Finally it occurs to me… take a walk! It’s beautiful out. My
walking buddy had her baby earlier this week so I haven’t been
getting my usual exercise lately. So I got out into the sunny
weather and take a short walk. As I’m walking I’m thinking
about how I wish I had Lex with me, or a puppy. It’s easy to
justify getting outside when you have a dog or a kid. (Friday’s
are doggy days around here so we currently have lots of
four-legged friends under foot.) Why is it so hard to justify
taking care of yourself? Why is it easy to get out if a kid or
dog needs some fresh air (or a pee break), but hard to leave if
it’s just you. Why?