Friday, September 28, 2012

Columbus Zoo ~ 4/4/12

The boys and I headed to the Columbus Zoo over their Spring Break week.  The Columbus Zoo is so nice.  Many attractions to see.  Here were some of our favorite on this particular visit.

The bats

These monkeys all sleeping in a line, snuggling on top of this scaffolding bar.  Every once in a while you would see their tails sway as they corrected their balance to keep them from falling.

The Tigers.  Always a favorite with Carson.

The Lion.  He was pretty docile that day.

 Alex was such a trooper.  He was in his carseat/stroller much of the day.  The only exceptions were for nursing, eating lunch (actually maybe he was still in their for that) and diaper changes.  He was so happy.  I think he enjoyed watching all the people, probably didn't really see that many animals.
 Here are all three boys.  Not sure why I tried taking a picture of them looking into the sun.  Carson thought it was way too bright.  It was a very pleasant day, beautiful weather ~ a bit cool in the morning but was really nice by the afternoon.  The boys walked and walked and walked and when they were tired, we left.  Key to a good day at the zoo!


Smiles & Quirks

These photos were also taken on 4/2/12, jammies on ready for bed.
All smiles!

He got excited after the smile and had to show off a bit with his quirky arms extended, eyebrows raised, tense face/neck/shoulders.
But he could only extend one arm out, the other arm most be used to hold himself up on the couch.
Very important.


 Silly boy.

Watching Daddy Mow ~ 4/2/12




Alex @ 11 months enjoying our large living room windows to watch Daddy mow and big brothers ride bikes.  (Unbelievable how far behind on this blog I am!!)

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Alex's progress

It is amazing to me the growth and development that occurs in the first year of life!  Heck, just the changes in Alex over the past few weeks is amazing!

Here is Alex doing his inchworm crawl on Jan 31, nearly 9 months.

and on Feb. 23 after mastering crawling on hands and knees

Feb 25, standing next to couch
(sorry the video is side ways)

He is starting to cruise/take steps while holding onto the couch and yesterday he figured out how to get back into a sitting position after crawling.  Way too soon he will be walking!!

Alex is 10 months!

 Alex is now 10 months old (on Mar. 2).  Unbelievable!  I realize I never posted an update at 9 months.  Maybe I will just post about his 9 month Dr. visit and post some updates over the past few months.  He had his 9 month visit on Feb. 10th.  He weighed 15# 12 oz (now < 3%) and was 25 3/4 inches (also < 3%), head circumference was 17 7/8 inches (55% -still a nice size brain).  His hemoglobin was 12.7.  We talked with our pediatrician about his limited diet (bananas, pears, avocado, cream of buckwheat and infant rice cereal) and the concerns we have.  We are wondering if Alex is getting what he needs with his limited diet and my limited diet.  Our Dr. feels that he his, he is not anemic (hemoglobin was good) and he looks healthy.  Alex might just be a petite guy.  Dr. also said he will test him for food allergies but wants to wait til he is at least one year due to some false negatives when tested too early.  Continue to slowly advance his diet.

He has had varying degrees of cold symptoms for 4 weeks now~ since beginning of Feb. (runny nose, chest cough, croupy cough, fever) he never gets completely better before the symptoms come back again.  I try to tell myself it is just him being exposed to all these viruses out there through generous carriers (his brothers) but I always go back to his food issues.  So hard for me not to.

Pictures!
Feb. 14, 9 1/2 months
crawled over to the fireplace and pulled himself up for the first time
a bit scary for me, he was unsteady and I was afraid he would face plant into the stones!
mighty proud of himself

Feb. 15, 9 1/2 months
using this mesh thing to eat a banana

the mesh thing is nice, I don't have to spoon feed him ~ which allows me to eat
but it is really messy!  he is such a clean eater when I spoon feed him!
and cleaning out the mesh thing is pretty challenging to get it completely clean.
and if you can't get it clean ~ GROSS! all that bacteria!

Feb. 17
I don't have very many recent pictures of this little guy sleeping.
When he is asleep, I am usually running around the house trying to see how many tasks I can complete.
When I took this picture, he was going to sleep on his own.
The little sleeping dog behind him (Andrew & Carson got this for him when he was born) has buttons on it to play music.  He would push these buttons and play until he fell asleep.  It was wonderful. 
Currently it is taking A LOT of work to get him to go to sleep and then you lay him down and he wakes up.
At night he continues to wake up way too frequently.  I am exhausted, so he ends up in bed with us.

Feb. 25 ~ 9 1/2 + months
He will pull himself up to many different things now.  He hasn't mastered getting down yet.  Sometimes he will stand for really long periods of time and then fuss until someone comes and helps him down.  One time his legs were even slipping further and further apart and he was doing the splits!

~  I continue to love the little noises he makes with his tongue...clicking his tongue, sucking on his top lip.
~  I love when he gets excited about something (seeing one of us enter the room) he starts doing a little             bouncy dance with his upper body...even if he is held.
~  He claps and waves and almost sounds like he says "hi", he mimics the sound and tone that we use.
~  I think he also might be saying "ma", he usually only says it when he is crawling towards me and wants me to pick him up.
~  Will NOT hold still for diaper changes, especially now that he has figured out how to turn off the light and the light switch is conveniently close to his changing table.  Not easy to diaper a baby, who won't hold still, in the dark.
~  He is such a happy little guy, just crawls around and plays.  Smiles so easily.
~  His grin remains toothless, though he can really hurt your arm with the bites he gives.
~  Gives you little pats on the back when you hold him.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Fall Photo Session

You may recall my post here which I mentioned having some pictures taken of the boys on a whirlwind weekend this past October.  These photos were taken by Stacy Wiles of Wiles Photography.  She is such a sweet person and does a wonderful job with the kids and takes beautiful pictures.  

Here are some of my favorites.











Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Good Morning!

Some mornings Alex wakes up before I am quite ready to get him out of bed.  I am running around trying to get breakfast ready for myself and Andrew and Carson.  Packing Andrew's lunch and making sure he has the necessary items for that particular day in his backpack.  Putting away dishes that were washed the night before but left on the counter to dry....  So Carson helps me out.  He loves to go into Alex's room, climb in his crib with him and play with him.  Sometimes I find them both laying down in the crib cuddling under a blanket.  
1/19/12


Carson recently asked if he could start sleeping in Alex's crib with him.  I initially thought this was not a good idea (and still don't think it is a good idea) but I asked Carson if he would give Alex his pacifier during the night when he cries or hold him and rock him back to sleep.  Carson said he would.  I think he is hired!  However he won't be able to feed him.  Shucks.  

I probably shouldn't even mention this but finally Alex had a good night last night!  He went to bed around 7:45.  Oh, I am just recalling that the evening hours weren't his best...he woke several times and needed help going back to sleep.  I last fed him around 10, we did hear him fuss around 11 but he went back to sleep on his own.  He didn't wake again until 5:45.  I was able to sleep 6 hours straight!  It has sadly been way too long since that happened!  You would think a nearly 9 month old would do that every night!  I am not counting on him sleeping that well again tonight, just feel blessed that I was able to get some much needed uninterrupted sleep last night!

Alex's little tricks/phases

There was a brief period of time when Alex would do this thing with his arms.  He would get really excited and hold his arms out straight in front of him, smile really big and scrunch up his face.  The first picture shows that, the second picture is shortly after this excited phase, a bit more natural and relaxed but equally as cute! 12/29/11 ~ nearly 8 months


Here he is wearing his "BIG GUY" shirt doing "So Big!" but ironically just a little guy!
1/12/12 ~ 8 months

Future mechanic or farmer? 
1/13/12 ~ 8 months

Friday, January 27, 2012

Bath time

For the past many months, Alex has come to really enjoy bath time.  He loves to splash and kick.  He is so excited when the bath water starts running and tries to climb out of my lap and into the tub.


I love the sense of wonder and exploration in this picture as he checks out the water nozzle.
These pictures were taken on 1/9/2012 @ 8 months.  I am finally getting caught up!

Christmas with the Kauffmans

 We spent 12/31 - 1/2 with Chad's family for our Christmas gathering.  The last several years there has been snow and all the cousins have enjoyed sledding at Grandma and Grandpa's house but not this year.  These cousins play so well together!  There are now 4 girl cousins and 4 boy cousins.  We spent time at the house, enjoying each other's company.  The middle generation were sent out to eat on Saturday for lunch while the grand kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa ~ always a special treat for all.  Andrew had a GI bug on Sunday early morning...I don't think anyone else got it.  He was doing much better by Sunday evening and pretty much back to normal by Monday.  Wouldn't be Christmas without someone being sick!

Below the cousins pile on top of Uncle Bradley on the couch.  All 8 are there, Rowan is tucked behind Alex, in front of Emma on the couch.

 Alex opening a gift with a bit of assistance.

Carson checking out Andrew's new Lego set.
(no, he isn't picking his nose despite how it looks.)
(actually, he probably is)

Rowan playing with Lucca's elephant pillow pet

Alan and Leah having some father daughter time

Chad purchased a head lamp for a night cross country race he participated in this fall.  He found that having this headlamp came in pretty handy.  He thought Alan would enjoy one for a gift.  I see night lawn mowing in his future and it might also be helpful in doing some chores at home at night.

A cousin picture
Alex, Andrew, Lucca, Rowan, Leah, Anna, Emma, & Carson

More Alex videos

I love all the different phases babies go through.  Alex has done several different mouth tricks.  I have seen him put his tongue up on his top lip and kind of suck on his lip.  Recently we have heard him making a kind of frog croaking sound, where I believe he is sucking on his tongue with the roof of his mouth.  He blows bubbles/raspberries.  He would make this chomping motion/sound with his mouth.  He also traces his top lip with his tongue, sometimes back and forth really quickly.  He displays some of his mouth talents in this video taken on Nov. 30, 2011 at nearly 7 months.



And below you can see a video of Chad playing with Alex.  I love baby giggles and Alex is very giggly in this video.  In between giggles you can sort of hear his hoarse sounding voice.  This video was taken Dec. 3, 2011 at 7 months.  (I already shared this video on Facebook, so you may have seen it there.

Christmas with the Shorts

 Chad was on call the week of Christmas this year.  For the first time we had my family Christmas gathering here at our house instead of at my parents' home.  Everyone arrived on Christmas, Sunday afternoon/evening and stayed through Tuesday afternoon.  Abby's birthday is on the 27th, so we had a birthday party here while everyone was together.  It was lots of fun to be together and have everyone here.  We mainly hung out at our house; enjoyed each other's company, played with the kids, Andrew & Carson enjoyed all the fellow Wii competitors they had, and shared several meals together.  I now have a renewed appreciation for my Mom and Mother-in-law.  All the hard work they put in to having their homes ready for family gatherings like this and all the cooking they do while we are together.  Thanks for all you do!!!  It does not go unnoticed or unappreciated - never has.

Alex happily playing with cousins Abby and Maddie

Abby 

Carson super excited about his new Cars 2 Lightning McQueen

Maddie showing her Mom and Dad her gift

Alex attempting to open a present

Alex likes his new Sophie the giraffe teething toy
(Doesn't Tricia have a cute baby bump? Due 2/2/12, can't wait to meet this little babe!)

Three cousins on a chair

Uncle Ben playing with Alex

Andrew with Grandma


Alex was so tuckered out at the end of the day.  
He fell asleep in Grandma's arms.