Today is a snacking sort of day. Don’t
know why. Lex has been snacking all day (the lactation
consultants call it grazing) which, in turn, makes me want to
snack (well, it’s a good excuse anyway ;). Good thing it’s a
beautiful day and there’s not much else to do :)

Titles are just too hard to come up with sometimes.

I posted more pictures at photos.datdec.com. Please disregard
the pink onsie ;) Some of the photos also have captions, but
not all of them. It’s kind of like a game to find the captions
(for those of you who are bored and care enough to read my
random captions).

We had a good weekend.
My mom came to visit and we went out to dinner with my Grandpa
and aunt Katie. Mom and I also went shopping with Lex. It’s
amazing how much attention a baby attracts. Even when he’s just
sleeping everyone wants to see him ’cause he’s such a
cutie.

For Father’s Day we did not much.
Well, Alan had two guys over to talk about a business we are
considering buying, so that made him happy. We’ve started
taking turns sleeping and taking care of Lex. Last night Alan
got a good sleep and I was in charge of the baby, so today I
spent a lot of the day just relaxing (trying to stay awake) and
feeding Lex. We’re back on our every 2 hour feeding schedule.
He started lasting longer for a day or two and I got hopeful,
but now we’re back to the frequent feedings. Oh well, whatever
it takes to make a happy baby :)

Over
the past few days I kept thinking of good things to post, but
never actually made it to the computer. Now that I’m here (Lex
is sleeping peacefully in his cradle) I can’t remember anything
I wanted to say. It’s late and I’m brain-dead. Oh well.

One final though, for those of you who want to
print photos, I can send you the original high quality version
of any photo you want. If you try to print them off the web
site you’ll get a much smaller, lower quality photo.

So we’ve decided that Lex has a big head.
We went to the 4th Trimester group today and it seems like all
the other babies his age have such tiny heads. Lex has a big
round face and an egg shaped head. He’s actually getting much
bigger everywhere… must be all that eating!! We were reading
a breastfeading guide which said that growth spurts are common
around 3 weeks. That reassured me that the frequent eating and
crankiness won’t last forever. He actually seems happier today
than he has the past few days. Yay!!

On
a separate, but related note, I think he has a Steuer head :)
I’ll have to take a closer look at some of the baby pictures
next time I’m at my Grandpa’s house, but if I recall correctly,
Lex looks a lot like Grandpa and my mom and her siblings as
babies. I think it’s so cool how a tiny baby can make so many
different faces and expressions. I’m going to try to get his 3
week pictures up tonight or tomorrow. My mommy is coming to
visit tomorrow for the weekend. Yay!!

Three weeks old today and a big day for a
little Lex. We got his first pacifier, which took some getting
used to, but now he seems to enjoy it. I’m beginning to wonder
if maybe he wasn’t really hungry every 2 hours like I thought –
maybe he just wanted to suck. We’ll see how tonight goes. We
also started using a different brand of diapers two days ago
(right when he started getting cranky) so we switched back to
the first brand today to see if maybe that makes him happier.
We also bought size 1 diapers instead of newborns. The newborn
size is a little snug, so maybe that will make him happier too.
I like it when he’s happy :)

In other
news, Lex stayed with a stranger for the first time today. My
Good Beginnings volunteer came over and Alan and I slipped out
for some alone time (well… dinner and grocery shopping, but
it’s a start!) It was a little weird for Alan and I, but Lex
didn’t seem phased. He didn’t even want the milk I left for
him, he just happily hung out and gazed at the volunteer (with
some snooze breaks in there as well).

Ooohh.. what a fun kid! :) (Can you tell I’ve had a little
more sleep today? Wish me luck for tonight!)

Lex is now 3 weeks old and he’s turned
from a sweet sleepy baby to a fussy, cranky, crying baby. Joy!
He’s also eating every 2 hours now. Since it takes at least an
hour to feed him (nurse, burp, change, repeat) I’m basically
sleeping in hour bursts all night. Although last night we
missed a feeding (we both slept right through it), so I’m doing
better today than I was yesterday. Our one salvation is a big
fan we have that makes a lot of noise. When you put Lex near it
(behind, so he doesn’t get a huge breeze) it almost always
quiets him right down. Good trick – thanks to Harvey Karp of
The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD. Let’s all keep our fingers
crossed that he is just going through a growth spurt or
something and isn’t going to be cranky forever. Please, please,
please… :)

Poor baby also has baby
acne. Alan and I were feeling really guilty that we didn’t
bathe him enough, but we got out the book and it said that baby
acne is very common around the 3rd week. So common, in fact,
that professionals who work with babies (photographers, event
planners, etc.) often don’t schedule things for that week –
just in case. So now we feel less guilty :)

Ok, Lex just fell asleep so I have to hit the shower. Not
only do I sleep in hour bursts, I also have to plan everything
else I do so that it can be done within an hour in case the boy
wakes up and starts crying again. Please let this just be a
phase…

I thought kids didn’t stat fighting sleep
until the toddler years, but I guess I thought wrong. These
past two days Lex has been doing everything in his power to
fight sleep – which makes him a very cranky boy and it makes
late night feedings very looong…

PS.
Hunt-n-peck on a split keyboard (in the dark) is hard work!
:)

As many of you know, photos.datdec.com is normally
organized by event (wedding, christmas, etc.) However, since we
have so many pictures of Lex and no real event (sleeping, not
sleeping, etc.) I decided to post photos by week for a bit.
Soo… check out photos.datdec.com to see pictures of
Lex in the hospital as well as his first and second weeks of
life. We’re working on week three now. I’ll post those pictures
in a few days. Weeks 1 and 2 include lots of pictures of visits
with family and friends.

One thing I
should have mentioned weeks ago, but didn’t, is the really
awesome cradle that my dad and Alan’s dad built for Lex. It was
a surprise for me and they brought it up the weekend before he
was born. It’s absolutely beautiful and Lex sleeps so well in
it. Check out some pictures: cradle 1, cradle 2, cradle 3, cradle 4. Once Lex was born they
even had a plaque made with his name. It was an
incredible gift that will certainly be around for
generations.

Also, in the interest of
time (time… precious time…) I didn’t put captions up with
the pictures. I think by now you all know the players. If you
have any questions or would like a witty caption for a
particular photo, just let me know :)

Lex has officially be accepted by these
great United States – we got his Social Security card in the
mail yesterday :) Yay! We’re still working on the birth
certificate, but that’s just a matter of us paying money. This
great state doesn’t give you a free copy.

Ok, so like I said, I’m not very good at
keeping up here. Time seems to go by so quickly and every free
minute I have is spent sleeping or trying to clean up the house
a bit. I know they say you’re not supposed to worry about a
dirty house, but when it gets to the point where you just can’t
find things… then it’s time to do a little cleaning :) Lex
has been eating more and more frequently lately, so I’m
sleeping in little one hour bursts – which makes doing just
about anything more difficult. But, such is life with an
adorable baby.

Sometimes I put off
posting because I want to add a photo as well and they take
longer to do. So today I decided to post a quick updates sans
photo with a promise of more photos to come (I’ve got people
begging for them now – maybe I should start charging…
hmm….) He’s sleeping happily right now in a belly pack. Sort
of an odd contraption, but he seems to like it.

We had a good visit with Jim and Julie
yesterday. They were so nice they brought flowers and pie and
food. :) Good people. Lex repaid by rolling over for them :)
Alan put him on his belly on the floor (he didn’t like that
much) and he flailed around and ended up on his back (which he
liked much better). It was pretty cool. I’m not sure if that’s
good for his age, but it made us happy anyway. We need to get
out a baby development book so we know what to expect when. Or
not. Maybe we’ll just enjoy what he does and not worry about
things he may not do :)

Lex seems to be
getting so big these days. He’s definitely looking longer and
he’s starting to be less fetal (kicking his legs out more, not
so curled up). He’s also getting more baby fat and a double
chin and jowels :) We took him to a group called 4th Trimester
a few days ago (basically a support group for new parents,
mainly mothers, and their babies – free and meets weekly) It
was fun. Lex was the youngest one there and he looked so small!
The next youngest (3wks) was also named Alexander, but his
parents call him Xander. I thought that was fun. Lex slept
through most of the group, but Alan and I met some really nice
people. It was fun watching the older babies (3-4 months) who
are rolling over, smiling, playing with toys, etc. The babies
all interacted really well with each other as well. Towards the
end Lex woke up and Alan took him around to introduce him to
the other babies. He didn’t seem to care much :) I guess we’ll
give him time to work on his social skills.

Ok, off to do a little more cleaning before he wakes up
and demands food again. I have to pay bills today and the first
step is to find them, as they have become scattered about the
house lately. We are also waiting on Joan and Jericka who are
on their way up to visit. Lex is a popular little
man!

Baby Boy Johnson is doing fantastic, so
says the pediatrician (someday I’m gonna have to look up the
proper spelling of that word!) He’s up to 8lbs 3oz and almost
21″ long. He does have a diaper rash, but we’re working on
that. Poor boy. We’re heading out to dinner with friends now.
More later.