Alexander's Web Page

Alex is now 6 -months old.  It is really hard to believe.  We had our 6-months check-up today, and he is doing great.  He now weighs 17 pounds and measures at 27 inches long.  His weight is in the 50th percentile and his height is in the 75th.  All in all, everything is on track.

He did much better with his vaccines today than he has in the past.  Alex cried initially, but by the time the nurse was finished and I picked him up, he was smiling at the nurse again.  He is such a flirt!

This summer has been pretty unmonumental for us.  No huge milestones have been hit.  Alex still looks like he could begin crawling any day now, but he just isn’t quite there.  He can sit by himself without being propped up on anything, but only for about 10 seconds before he leans too far one way or another, and he can’t pull himself into a sitting position yet.  All of these things are right around the corner, I am sure.

Unfortunately, the  summer is over half-way finished for me.  I go back to work the first week of August.  My days at home with my little man are numbered, but I am appreciating every one that I have.

Look for the introduction of more food soon, but for now I will leave you with a belated Happy 4th of July!

We had a wonderful Father’s Day yesterday.  My parents and James’ parents and grandmother came over to our house and we had a burger cookout.  Alex’s Mimi mad yummy baked beans and his Grandma made yummy potato salad.   I made my first chocolate cheesecake from scratch.  Other than not holding its shape when I cut it, I think it turned out pretty well.

I just want to say a very Happy Father’s Day to all my readers who are fathers in any fashion.  You make a difference in the world and are appreciated!  I especially want to say a thank you to my husband.  I couldn’t have survived thus far as a mom without his support.  He is a wonderful father, and I hope he realizes every day that I appreciate him.

On June 9th, Alex had his first meal of rice cereal.  He actually didn’t get as messy as I thought he would.  He wasn’t quite sure what to make of the whole experience.  He has had his cereal every day since.  Some days he likes it, and other days he isn’t quite as fond of it.  Here is a video of the experience.  It is kind-of long, but I have to say it is adorable!  Just click on the following link.

First Meal

Here is a picture of Alex’s face afterward.  Not too bad!

Summer is finally here.  It couldn’t get here fast enough for me.  I finally get to spend my days exactly how I want to: with Alex.

Alex is certainly getting to be a handful.  The days of holding and rocking him all day are gone.  He still isn’t crawling yet, but he seems close.  He rolls all over the floor, and while on his stomach, he can turn himself around 360 degrees to face any direction he wants.  Alex loves to stand up as well (with me holding him of course).  He seems to love looking at the world from this new vantage point.  He also discovered his feet.  He plays with them constantly.  Ah, to have the flexibility of a child!  He has also moved up from the 4oz. bottles to the 8oz. bottles and gone from his size one diaper to size two.  I can’t believe how big he is getting!

On top of all that, he is getting his first tooth.  It doesn’t seem to bother him too much yet, but he is sticking everything he possibly can into his mouth.

We have had a very busy couple of weeks.  Over Memorial Day Weekend, my friend Robbin came to stay with us and brought two of her children: her 7-year-old daughter, Riley, and her 8-month-old daughter, Olivia.  We had  a lot of fun together, and Alex watched jealously as Olivia crawled all over the place!

Then last weekend we had our end-of-the-year school party at my friend Kacy’s house.  Alex went swimming for the first time!  I stayed in the water with him for about an hour and he seemed to enjoy himself.  We are definitely going to do more swimming this summer at the city pool.  I can’t wait!  I hope he learns to love the water as much as I did when I was a kid.

I also added more pictures on our photos tab.  Check them out!

Well, now that it is summer, updating this page should be easier.  Get prepared for weekly updates and come visit us any time!

I know technically I am a week late for Mother’s Day, but really I am not late at all.  Since we had the Benton family reunion on the actual Mother’s Day, we celebrated Mother’s Day this past Saturday.

James cooked us a wonderful lunch.  He grilled steaks (including a yummy salmon steak for me), onions, mushrooms, and asparagus.  We also had baked potatoes and home made macaroni & cheese.  We wrapped it all up with berry-topped cheesecake.  Delicious!

My son also started rolling over this weekend from his back to his stomach.  He is a rolling machine now!  I’ll try to get video of him in action soon.

Then today we had our first neighborhood block party.  We got to meet most of the people in our neighborhood.  It was a lot of fun.  Alex sure is going to have lots of kids to play with as he gets older.  I’ll let you guess which picture of Alex is from before the party and which is from after.  🙂

Alex had a busy weekend this past weekend.  First, on Saturday he spent the day with his Mimi, Grandfather, and Great-Grandmother (the Brantley side).  Here is a video of him with Memaw (his great grandmother).

Then, on Mother’s Day, we drove down to Georgetown to spend the day with my aunts and cousins from the Benton family.  We had a great time!  Alex got to meet his second-cousin, Bella, for the first time.  He was obviously too young to run around and play with her, but I know that he liked hanging out with such a cute princess!  Here is a picture of Alex and Bella, and I have added more pictures from our family weekend under our photos tab.  Enjoy!

Alex has also started to interact with his environment a little more.  He has a ring that he will grasp and shake.  Plus, his Great-Aunt Margaret gave him a sock monkey this weekend that he also loves to shake.  He grabs it by the red yarn on top of its head and laughs while he shakes it up and down.  Thanks for the great gift!

I should also mention that Alex is four-months old and we have yet to have to go buy him any clothes.  I want to shout out our thanks one more time to all our friends and family that gave us such wonderful baby gifts!  We greatly appreciate it!

Alex is 4 months old!  Wow!  I just can’t believe it.  Alex has picked up a couple of new habits recently.  First, he has decided that he wants to suck on his hand.  Yes, you read that right.  Not his thumb, not a finger, but his entire hand.  Occasionally he gets frustrated that his whole hand won’t fit in his mouth and settles for a couple of fingers, must mostly he just keeps trying to fit in his fist.  It is adorable to watch.  I keep trying to catch him with the camera, but whenever I get out the camera he gets fixated on the camera and forgets whatever else he was doing.

Another thing I can’t catch on the camera is his new habit of scooting.  When we place him on his back on his play mat, he is no longer content to stay in one place.  He isn’t trying to roll over or use his hands, but he does arch his back and push with his feet.  He ends up all the way across his mat and onto the carpet.  It seems like all he wants to do is be mobile.

From Alex, James, and me… Happy Cinco de Mayo!

So, maybe updating this blog every week while I am working full-time, grading papers & planning lessons at night, and trying to take care of Alex is too ambitious of a goal for right now.  I do apologize that I am two weeks behind in updating this site.

We had a great Easter, and have had a good two weeks since then.  It is just hard to believe how big Alex is getting.  I will have to get a scale sometime to check, but I bet he is getting close to 14 pounds now.

Alex is smiling more and more often (although not very often for the camera), and he talks up a storm!  No real words yet, but he loves to have a “conversation” with whoever will listen to him.

He is also getting more adept at rolling from his stomach to his side or back.  He doesn’t seem to enjoy his “tummy time” too much, so when he is tired of it, he just rolls over.  Smart boy!

I uploaded some more pictures under our photos tab.  I took quite a few of Alex and his Easter bunny.  It is the first toy that he has really showed any interest in so far.  Enjoy!

Happy Easter from Alex, James, & Amanda!

We had a wonderful Easter today.   First, we went to church.  Second, we took some pictures with Alex’s first Easter basket, and then we had Easter lunch with Mimi.  I would have to say it was a successful first Easter.  I can’t wait until next year when we can dye eggs with Alex!

So I went back to work for a week and then had Spring Break to spend with Alex at home.  I can’t tell you how great that was.  In a way, though, I almost wish I hadn’t had that extra week at home.  It made going back to work this past week even more difficult.  Alex, the trooper, is still doing great with both his grandmothers during the day.  He is a lucky, lucky boy to get to spend so much time with them.

I just can’t believe how big he is getting.  He is not quite 3 months old, and some of his 0-3 month clothes are getting snug! Pretty soon we will have to go shopping for him again.  If anyone has ideas of good places to buy baby clothes, I would appreciate the suggestions.