Good-bye 2009!

Well, the year (the decade!) is winding down and I can't help but look back and reminisce. So many changes! From start to finish 2009 was definitely more ups than downs since the focus was primarily on being pregnant and bringing Xander into this world and spending the last 2+ months learning how to be parents. All changes, all challenging and all absolutely wonderful. So I can't help but say goodbye to 2009 and only hope that 2010 is even 1/2 as good. With that in mind, some resolutions:

(i) I need to lose the baby weight. Seriously. I'd like to be back in my clothes by April and running the Marine Corp marathon in October.

(ii) I need to learn more children's songs and nursery rhymes. How is it possible to not remember the rhyming tunes of my childhood!?! Seriously. Mike can't help but shake his head at my mom and I as we attempt to sing songs like "BINGO" "Old McDonald" and "This Old Man" to X with half of the words made up on the spot.

(iii) I need/want to spend more time with my husband. Alone. We try to get out for date night and we try to spend some time each night talking before bed, but it's hard. We're tired. And we have so much going on. My mom has been wonderful about encouraging us to get out without Xander for dinner or a movie. Thank you! Now we just need to actually do it more often in 2010. I whole heartedly believe that the parents have to be strong and connected in order to build the framework for the family and the home. So Xander...you have to stay home sometimes. :)

So those are my resolutions. And now a toast...to my friends and loved ones. May your 2010 bring you happiness and health and blessings beyond your imagination.

See you in the new year!

Cheers,
Vicky

Eight is GREAT!

Okay, so perhaps yesterday's excitement was a bit premature because, ladies & gentleman, our little man just woke up after 8 (yes, 8) hours between feedings! 8:30pm and 4:30pm -- count it! :) And the nice thing is that last night he was actually asleep by about 9pm and we were actually asleep by about 10pm (darn pumping), which means we've gotten 6.5 hours of sleep. So exciting!

Here's a pic from this morning. Still with oily hair, so we'd just attempted to wash it for the 4th time in 2 days! Lesson learned -- do not use Aquafor on baby hair!! Seriously.




xoxo-
V

Seven is HEAVEN!

Xander went 7 whole hours between feedings last night. That's a record! He had a bottle at 8:30pm and didn't wake up for his next one until 3:30pm. Now the caveat, he didn't actually go to bed until about 9:30pm. We're still working on that one. But we're so close to sleeping through the night that I just had to shine attention on our little man.

Now if I could just go without having to pump in the middle of the night -- that would be awesome! But at least the end is in sight for my mom and Mike having to wake up.

Here's a pic of Xander from his day with Grandma yesterday. She has the cute lil' hat from tia carmen on him because we are working on getting rid of his cradle cap and I think he had olive oil on his head. Yum!



xoxo -

Vicky

Xander: Week 9

X turned 9 weeks on the 26th. It was sort of overshadowed by turning 2 months on Christmas Eve and Christmas itself, so no pics. Whoops!! :)

xoxo-
V

Merry Christmas!

We decided to stay home for Christmas this year. It was just me, Mike, Xander and my mom. Mike and I have decided it was actually quite peaceful and nice to spend the holiday at home. While we intend to go home to TX most years, I don't think either of us are ruling the possibility of more VA Christmases out. :)

Unfortunately, Christmas Eve did not turn out as planned and church and Monroe's had to be cancelled due to my illness. By midnight on Christmas morning my fever was 103.5 and I was calling the on call midwife at the hospital again. She assured me that the fever wasn't TOO high and that the antibiotics I'd started at noon should start working soon (but if not to call them Christmas night). Well, sure enough, I woke up at 5am on Christmas morning drenched on the couch (I'd slept there to not distrub Mike) and without a fever. In fact, I felt pretty good and was able to enjoy Christmas! Yay!

Xander received so many fun things. First and foremost were our family pajamas, which we'll be opening on Christmas Eve every year (consider this our first family tradition). I have always bought myself new PJs for Christmas -- not sure why -- and this year I decided to buy for the whole family. I'd actually been dreaming of being able to do this for at least 2 years when I first came across www.pajamagram.com. Xander and Oscar got matching red, drop bottom PJs with their names embroidered on their bottoms, and while I didn't make Mike got that far, he and I did have the matching red henleys and plaid pajama pants with our monogram on them. So cute!



On Christmas morning, Xander had so many fun items to unwrap even though his daddy didn't understand why we were wrapping gifts to just have to unwrap them again! ha ha! I guess I see his point, but it was still fun. Just a few things from Santa...

his bumbo (such a big boy!)


his new lazy susan play mat for tummy time (have we mentioned he loves looking in the mirror)


Xander received some wonderful items from other family members, as well. And we are so thankful for all his wonderful grandparents and his uncle Jason and new aunt Kerry. And his cousins. :)

My mom bought Mike and I a flip video camera, so 2010 will bring video clips on the blog as well which I can't wait for!! It should arrive right around New Years, so we'll have to try it out asap.

Dinner was yummy (um, I cooked it so of course I think so!) and the day was relaxing (with lots of movie watching and carol listening). Couldn't ask for more. :)

xoxo -

Vicky

2 Months Old

Xander is 2 months old today! He is getting so big! It's so strange to think about how he's grown over the last 2 months. His newborn clothes are now put away and we were actually buying 6 month clothes this week to get him through the winter.

He has become such a funny, peaceful baby. That's not to say he doesn't cry because my child is impatient and doesn't think twice about letting you know when he's hungry or needs his diaper changed. Surprise, surprise. :) But he can spend large amounts of time just staring in the mirror on his play mat or in his swing or talking to the lil' bears on his swing. He also has full conversations with the animals on his crib bumper or the giraffe that makes his white noise. So cute!

I am so excited for his first Christmas tomorrow. I know he'll have no idea what's going on or that he even has new toys, but I can't wait to let him use his presents from momma & daddy and Santa. I'll tell you more about them on the Christmas post.

xoxo --
V

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow & 8 weeks old!

I obviously have been slacking the last week on posting. Saturday (when X turned 8 weeks old) was a massive snow storm here in DC resulting in 16 inches on the ground by the end of the day. You'd think this would be conducive to blogging, but instead I spent the time indoors with Mike and Xander and watched movies all day. So relaxing! :) Look at the snow! And my lazy men! :)




Two notable things from week 8 were Xander's 2 month doc appt (on 18th) and 1st set of shots and his 1st Christmas ornament (on 19th) from Grandma Terri.

Doc appt was great until the shots. X is growing well and is measuring in at 23.5 inches and 11lb 12oz. Both of those put him in the 60th percentile. Not bad! He got a series of vaccines in 2 shots and one oral med. Oral - easy, shots - not so much. The reaction was priceless. I didn't think X could get so red or cry so loud. Poor lil' guy! Thankfully, momma had a bottle for him so he got to quickly forget about the pain and concentrate on milky. :)

We were joking prior to the appt that Xander knew what was coming and was hiding his eyes from the reality. When we pulled into the doc parking lot, this is how we found him in the back seat (below). Whoops! Funny thing is, he was as calm as can be and we had no idea! Again, whoops!



My mom is going to give Xander the Reed & Barton holly bell ornament each year. The single 2009 bell is so beautiful, and I can only imagine a whole tree of them being so amazing. He'll be able to take all of these and start his own Christmas tree someday.



Into Xander's 9th week...

On Sunday (20th), we went to a holiday party at our friend John and Jill's house. Xander wore his winter sweater and looked quite festive!



This week has also brought a new infection for me, and I feel like crap. I'm back to having a fever and fighting the infection with antibiotics. Boo! I'm trying to ignore it though because I hate the idea of begin sick on Xander's first Christmas. So I'm going to push through and make sure that we properly acknowledge X turning 2 months old today -- Christmas Eve. And then we're going to go to church and dinner at Monroe's down the street from our house.

xoxo-
Vicky

Happy Birthday, Grandma Terri!

Mom turned 58 on December 15th. We took her out to dinner at Los Tio's -- yum! Xander bought her a very nice card telling her what an awesome Grandma she is an dhow much he loves playing with her everyday. As you can see, Xander thinks Grandma is a funny lady and loves to smile at her. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!

Getting ready for the Holidays...

We decorated the tree and house for Christmas this past weekend. Obviously, having Xander made the process a bit more difficult, but it was a MUST since we're staying home this year and since it's Xander's 1st Christmas. We even had electrical outlets put outside this Summer so that we could hang Christmas lights outside! Inside the house, Mike and Xander worked hard on getting the tree ready for ornaments...


We decided on a fake tree since we have every intention of continuing the tradition of going to TX each year and don't want to have to deal with dry needles on the ground or a fire hazard while we're gone. The tree is awesome -- seriously, it has a remote control for the lights! :) Anyway, it's beautiful.

And here's the finished product...


xoxo -
V

Xander: 7 weeks

Xander was 7 weeks old on December 12th. The pic above is the only one I took that day. Perhaps it shows off how long he is getting! :)

It was the end of a long, fun week with Grandma since both Mike and I are now back at work. I am so grateful that my mom is here watching him everyday. But I cherish the weekends and Mondays when I get to "work from home".

Sunday (6th) we had a nice relaxing day and then had some friends over for dinner of pizza and football. Their idea -- so nice of them (john and jill and scott and joanne). Xander dressed like a lil' monkey for the day to show off his sense of style for our guests. He also showed off his monkey toes! :)



Look how small his feet look in daddy's hands:


Monday (7th), Xander had a bit of a milestone. He was actually tracking Mortimer the moose from left to right while he was laying in his crib and I was holding the moose above his head. It's amazing to watch him focus so much more now and even smile! Monday was the doc appt for his diaper rash. Thankfully, not yeast! I have to say having now suffered with this yeast infection for well over a month in my nipples -- it's not fun!!

On Tuesday (8th) with Grandma Terri, Xander decided to be a supporter of the Animal Rescue of El Paso with his shirt that Grandma Letty and Grandpa Tony gave him when they visited over Thanksgiving. Xander loves his big bro Oscar, so I'm sure he's going to love all animals as he gets older. Hopefully no allergies!

Also on Tues night, we made an increase to 5 oz at night feedings. He's getting big!

Tuesday night to Wednesday morning we had our longest sleep yet - he slept 5.5 hours straight -- Wow!**Disclaimer -- within a couple of days we were back to 4oz per feeding and only occasionally 5oz at night but he's still sleeping 5-6 hour stretches! Yay**

On Wednesday (9th), Xander and Grandma took their first driving trip to Target.

On Friday (11th), we all went to the Living Christmas Tree at Church. Xander stayed in daycare (his first time away from family!) and did great while Mom, Mike and I watched the performance. It was nice -- slightly cheesy, but nice. Xander was dressed appropriately "festive" and here's also a family pic to start off the holiday season:





This week Xander also started discovering his thumbs and trying to put them in his mouth. Unfortunately, it doesn't usually work very well, but it's soooo cute to watch! Yet another "milestone", I think. Isn't everything a milestone at this young age!?! :) Momma couldn't help but capture this pic (and a whole mess of others) of X on Friday night after the concert as we were getting ready for bed.



Anyway, that's Week 7. :)

xoxo-
Vicky

Our Big Boy!

So just a quick update because I had to take Xander to the doc on Monday. All is well -- just a diaper rash that I feared was yeast, but, alas, it's not -- but I wanted to let everyone know how big our little boy is getting. At 6 weeks, 2 days, Xander is weighing in at 11 lbs, 2oz. And he's so strong (turtle time is helping!) and definitely focusing a lot more and SMILING! I swear he was flirting with the female doc. I think she doubted whether he really smiled or not when I told her until she witnesses it for herself. She said it was great for 6 weeks -- he's been doing it for about a week now!

xoxo-
V

Xander: Week 6

6 weeks on December 5th!


oh no!

and then...

fast asleep!

Well, week 6 brought with it a lot of changes. For one, I'm back at work and my mom is watching Xander everyday Tuesday - Friday. I miss him so much during the day, but my mom has been wonderful by sending me pics via email and taking such good care of our lil' guy. I think he's perfectly happy. In fact as I was getting ready to leave the first day, X first seemed uninterested and then fell asleep before I could even walk out the door! ha ha! Grandma must be spoiling him!


Bye mom!

So, we discovered a talent of Xander's this week. He can fall asleep "standing up" or rather being held up. After countless attempts to settle him for at least an hour the other night, this is how he finally went out:


If you haven't seen Oscar around Xander then it's hard to appreciate how much he truly loves the little guy and "protects" him. Oscar follows his little bro around most of the time and stands guard. Thankfully, he is not aggressively protective although we've had one incidence of humping in an attempt to show dominance over the person holding Xander (sorry, John!). Anyway, Oscar can be found anywhere X is...

Case in point, the play mat. Xander gets his daily play time and tummy (or "turtle" as my mom calls it) time on his mat each day, and Oscar stands guard so no one disturbs this play.


A few close-ups of play time just because I can't resist:




And during bath time, have no fear because big brother is always there...


to make sure that daddy is keeping Xander warm...


and washing behind Xander's ears...


And when the bath is done and it's meal time, Oscar makes sure that no one disturbs Xander's meal so that he grows up to be a strong, healthy little boy. :)


Xander's 6 week birthday is also the 1st day of snowfall in DC for 2009. We were in Annapolis in the morning for a change of command. This year, the goal was just to keep Xander warm. Next year, we will not only be keeping him warm but hoping there is enough to make snow angels, as well.


One last pic of Xander and mommy, just because (all the other pics totally have daddy in them!).


xoxo
V