It’s amazing watching Lex learn. He is so
close to crawling, and almost as close to walking. He get up on
his hands and knees, and rocks back and forth. This weekend he
started to try and move his hands and legs, but he can’t quite
coordinate them. It’s adorable. He’ll get one leg up doing
weird things and sometimes even get his foot stuck at odd
angles underneath himself. He tries so hard. Then sits back
down on his butt. This morning he got his knee forward once and
one hand flailed out to catch him (good first try) – all in an
effort to catch this weird dancing chicken toy Grandma got him
for Christmas. I think it’s scary, but Lex finds it facinating.
The little chicken dances around singing the chicken dance song
(loudly!) and its wings flap and its cheeks light up. Very
disturbing. Lex was trying soooo hard to crawl after it though
– something he’s never done with the fancy toy I bought him
specifically designed to encourage crawling. Go figure.

We are also making great progress on the
sleeping front. Last night he slept for 9.5 hours – in a row!!
He didn’t even wake up when Alan and I went to bed. I think
we’re going to give him another night or two in the pack-n-play
in our room then try putting him back in his crib.

I’ll try to get a few more pictures posted
soon. The blog is looking rather text heavy (and I need a new
one for my monitor at work ;) ).

Last night was a good night. We had a
great party for Alan. Everyone had fun. Then we had a decent
night’s sleep. Lex went to bed around 8pm (very tired from the
party) and slept until about 12:30 when we came in to go to bed
(he’s sleeping in the pack-n-play in our room). So we got back
up, watched a show, I pumped, and Lex cried for abotu 10
minutes before falling asleep. The hardest part is that after 4
hours of sleeping I wanted to cuddle him :) So we all went to
sleep and slept until 4:45am. Alan and I decided that was too
early, so we got up and Lex cried for about 20 minutes. Then we
went back to bed and 10 minutes later he started crying again.
We let him go again for 20 minutes then decided that it was
time to nurse him (it was 5:30ish by this point and he’d gone
10 hours without eating). I nursed him in bed and we both fell
back to sleep until almost 8am. So I think we are making
progress. He may not have even woken up at midnight if we
hadn’t come into the room. I really wish we had a nursery for
him. That’s a top priority for our next house.

PS> On a completly different
note, I’m really sorry to those of you I owe holiday thank you
notes. I ordered special thank you cards and they still haven’t
arrived. I’m getting cranky. The company said they shipped
three weeks ago, and last Tuesday they told me they were in
WRJ, but I think they are full of it. I need to call again.
So… I haven’t forgotten you and I really do appreciate the
gifts and your official thank yous will be on their way soon, I
hope.

It’s been a very long week, and this will
probably be a long post, so make sure you have your cup of
coffee and a comfy chair.

Lex got a
stomach bug Friday that lasted for several days in full force,
then several more in after effects. I, of course, caught the
same bug Monday. I was home from work on Tuesday and I’ve just
felt slow and yucky all week. On the upside, Lex is feeling
much better now and I’m well on my way as well. My stomach
still hurts sometimes, but not always and it’s now slowing me
down like it was earlier.

To get the
negatives out of the way early, Lex still isn’t sleeping
through the night – he’s up 5 or 6 times a night, wide awake,
hollering, and its getting harder and harder to put him back to
sleep. On top of that, things with the old company are heating
up, which is stressful and we’re wracking up the legal bills
faster than I thought possible. We’ve always had bankruptcy as
sort of a “worst-case option”, but I found out this week that
Alan would loose his patent if we declared, so that whole idea
is right out. Which basically leaves getting things worked out
with the company, at any cost, as our only option. And… on
top of all of that, my current place of employment had a
company offsite Thursday and Friday of this week. It was
interesting, but exhausting. There’s nothing like sitting in a
meeting room for 2 full days, with only a few hours sleep, and
listening to very passionate visionaries discuss the future.
It’s exhausting!

Now for the postives,
because overall, life is good. Lex is learning so much and it’s
amazing watching him every day. He’s not quite (hands and
knees) crawling, but he’s very mobile. He scoots around on his
belly, back, and butt (that’s my boy!). He can also pull
himself up pretty good and take a few steps. The other day I
saw him transfer from one support item to another by taking,
with a few steps to get him there. Sitting on the floor with
him is fun because when he’s done playing, or just wants a
break, he’ll crawl into my lap for cuddles. And he loves
stories. He snuggles into my lap and looks at the pictures when
I read to him. (B – he loves Jesse Bear. Thanks!)

Lex has also discovered gravity and
cause-and-effect. He loves playing with long “toys”, such as
belts and the cross bars from his butterfly mat. Things that he
can move one end and they make noise or do something somewhere
else. His new favorite toy is a plastic slinky that I brought
home from work (one good thing about company offsites). The
rainbow colors, noise, and motion all facinate him. Also, now
that he’s pulling himself up (and falling down) he’s discovered
the idea of gravity. He loves to laugh at people lower than him
(someone coming up the stairs, for example, or sitting on the
floor when he’s being held by someone standing) and he very
scientifically throws his toys off of the changing table then
looks over to see where they went (accident waiting to happen!)
I think he enjoys the different sounds they make when they hit
the floor, garbage can, diaper pail, dresser, etc. He is
definitely a smart baby.

So I decided a
few days ago that the reason life is getting harder and harder,
and seemingly crappier, is because we are getting less and less
sleep. I’ve been putting off any sort of “sleep training” in
the hopes that he would just figure it out – but that’s not
looking to promising. I borrowed a book on sleep from my friend
and read through it (short book :) ). There was nothing novel
in it, but it did give me the courage to try a variation on the
CIO (cry it out) method of sleep training. Last night was our
first attempt. The plan is to put baby to bed when he’s sleepy
and relaxed, but not asleep. We used to do this, but as I was
putting him to bed last night I realized that lately we’ve been
rocking him all the way to sleep to avoid crying. So I put him
down and he cried for 10 minutes before falling asleep. I cried
for 5 minutes. You’re supposed to let baby cry for 5 minutes,
then go in and check on him (don’t pick up or cuddle, just
reassure him that everything is ok and make sure he’s not
straggling or anything) then, check on him every 10 minutes
until he falls asleep. So he cried for just 10 minutes, which
seemed awful at the time, but overall not bad. Then we went to
bed. Our plan was to get up and watch some TV or something to
distract us from a screaming baby. The book says that it often
takes up to an hour of crying before baby finally falls back
asleep. I was very nervous, but I think (hope) in the long run
it will be best for all of us. So he woke up 3 or 4 times last
night and each time Alan reassured him that everything is ok
and then we went into the living room. And every time he was
back asleep in about 3 minutes!! Often before we could put on
our sweaters and slippers and get comfy on the couch. I was
shocked! The last time he woke up we just stayed in bed and he
was out again in just a few minutes. The longest he cried was
for about 20 minutes at 5am. I think he was hungry (he’s been
eating twice a night lately) and I was definitely ready to
nurse (this is training for both of us!) so we decided he’d
done good for his first night and I got up with him. We will
try our new sleep plan again tonight and I’ll let you know how
it goes. Hopefully I will be well rested by next week :)

Speaking of tonight, we’re having a dinner
party for Alan’s birthday tonight. He’s turning the big 3-0
this year so we decided to celebrate :) We don’t normally do
much for birthdays. So now I have to go clean and get ready for
a party. It should be fun.

On that happy
note, I think I’m going to end this book. Lex is ready for a
nap and I’ve got to get busy. Hope you all have a lovely
Saturday.

We just got back from my company’s holiday
party. It was a great time! When I got home from work Lex was
fussy and he seems to have a bit of a stomach bug or something.
He keeps throwing up (or spitting up, sometimes its hard to
tell with a baby). But he seemed happy enough so we decided to
go and stay only as long as he was happy. Well, that boy is a
social animal! We were the last family to leave (with the
bosses who hosted the event). It was at the Montshire
Museum of Science. The boss had rented the whole
place after hours. We had dinner, then there were awards and
raffles (Alan and I both won gift certificates to Panera
Bread!!). Then we played with the exhibits for awhile. Lex was
getting tired but he really enjoyed the mirror display, a
spinning top display, and the Visco City display that had air
bubbles in all different substances. The thing he enjoyed the
most though was this wire-frame maze like thing with rubber
balls in it that constantly cycled around. Alan would be able
to tell you exactly what it’s called, but I can’t remember. Lex
sat and watched that thing go for a long time.

My favorite part was the awards. I sat on the
floor with Lex and my co-worker’s 9 month old crawled over to
play. He and Lex were patting each other faces, rubbing each
others heads and laughing and talking to each other. It was
adorable!! Each time the other boy crawled away (he came back a
few times), Lex would get up on his hands and knees/feet and
you could tell that he desperately wanted to crawl too. It was
great. I think if they played together for a few hours Lex
would be on the move (forward – he’s getting pretty good at
backwards these days)

My co-workers
love Lex and fought to hold him. I trumped them all and kept
taking him back (I worked all day and miss my boy!!) They
teased me for not sharing :) It was a good night. Then, as we
were putting on our coats, Lex threw up – carrots and something
green all over me, him, and the floor. We wiped him off and got
the heck out of there ;) Lex was a sleep in his car seat before
we were out of the parking lot.

A good
time was had by all.

Lex joined us at the dinner table tonight.
We had salad, he had Alpha-Bits (and avocado from our
bowls). Alan and I were chatting the whole time (lots going on
these days) and every time I looked at Lex he was either
chewing or just putting a piece of cereal in his mouth. He’s
getting so good with his pincer grasp! After refilling his
tray with cereal several times I began to wonder if he was
really eating that much or just dropping it in his seat. I
think we all know the answer to that, right?? :) Sing it with
me… “He’s got the whooole alphabet, under his butt… he’s
got the whole long alphabet, under his butt…” Yeah. I picked
him up and shook him off and it basically rained Alpha-Bits. We
need a dog.

It’s been awhile. Not much
going on really… Well, that’s not true. Lot’s going on, but
not much specifically to Lex. He’s minutes away from cutting
two more teeth and from crawling – but not quite there yet. He
can get around pretty good by dragging himself, rolling, or
scooting on his back. And he’s learned the concept of pulling
himself up, but he hasn’t started doing it on everything – yet.
He stands up in the laundry basket (no more of that), against
people, and against his dragon toy, but hasn’t figured out
couches, shelves, etc. Basically things that are at eye level
and easy to get his little fingers around. It’s amazing to
watch him learn new ways of doing things and getting places.

He’s still not sleeping through the
night, but we’ve decided he’s just very social and gets lonely
in his crib. He’s never wide awake or up for long periods of
time, just wakes up crying and looking for cuddles. It’s kind
of sweet :) I just hope it doesn’t last into the toddler
years.

I just watched a movie of Lex
that Alan made the other day. Lex is sitting here on my lap and
loved watching the movie. He’s so cute. He was smiling at
himself and laughing at Alan. How fun.

Anyway, he’s starting to fuss now so I’m gonna go. Here’s
a few more photos to keep you photo demanding people happy (you
know who you are!).

Happy New Year! We had a quiet night, just
hung out with Heroux (a friend from school) and his girlfriend
Whitney. For those of you who know him, don’t forget to wish
the new year’s baby a Happy Birthday :)

This morning Lex was awake at 5am (which was harsh because
we didn’t get to bed until 2am), but we all snuggled in the big
bed and he let us doze until 7:30 – a much more reasonable
hour. We woke to a beautiful snowfall to start the new year
off.

I could not have asked for a
better baby at Christmas. Lex loved the attention, the lights,
the wrapping paper, and even seemed to like the presents :) Now
that I think about it, we didn’t let him play with the boxes.
Oh well, he’ll probably enjoy them more next year anyway. All
in all we had a fabulous Christmas. It’s always hard saying
goodbye to everyone though.

I posted
holiday pictures on Snapfish for all
to see. Let me know if you have any trouble with them.

Monday night everyone came back to our house
for dinner and a movie (Chicago – I love that one!). I sat Lex
in the middle of the room playing with his new dragon
roll-around toy (roll-about toy? whatever) and he entertained
the crowd. We all cheered as he leaned forward, reaching for
toys, and ended up on his hands and knees – briefly – then his
belly. Then he rolled over and smiled up at the dozen or so
people clapping for him. :) Such a happy, loved baby.

They say new skills tend to
come in bursts and so far that seems to be the case with Lex. A
few weeks ago Alan and I were commenting to each other on how
it seemed like Lex was refining skills, but not really doing
much new. Then all of a sudden – lots of changes! We’ve got
teeth (not really a skill, I know), clapping, mamamamama, and
today – he pulled himself up. He was sitting in the laundry
basket (yes, we keep him in a laundry basket ;) ) and reached
over to the edge, grabbed ahold, and pulled himself right up
into a standing position. It was so fun!! Of course, that’s the
end of our laundry basket days :)

Although Alan and Lex went to bed hours ago, I stayed up
to get a few little things done (and “little” things always end
up taking much, much longer than anticipated). I finally got
all of our photos online at the Snapfish site. Try clicking here to view the photos. It
works for me, but they are my photos. Someone else let me know
if it works for you or if you have problems. Right now there
are pics from 4 months, 5 months, and 6 months. And a separate
album from last weekend’s cookie party. So when you log into
the site (yeah, you need a Snapfish account) you should see 4
albums. If that doesn’t work – lemme know!

And on that note, my fingers are frozen so that’s my cue
that it’s time to go to bed. Have a happy, happy
holiday!!

PS. The pictures you
see here were taken this evening. How’s that for fast
turnaround!?!??

Lex is the cutest little
clapper. I’m teaching him the word “clapping” and sometimes he
will clap when I ask him to. Such a good baby. It’s amazing how
the smallist, silliest things are so exciting when your baby
does them. This morning he was clapping with Grover – he had
Grover’s hand in his and he was clapping his hand to Grover’s.
He’s so much fun.