Big time in Mississippi

What a cutie!
Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

We had a great time at our family reunion in Mississippi! It was so nice to see everyone and have them meet Alex. The reunion started with a Friday night fish fry, followed by fun at the Shoals on Saturday and a luau on Saturday night. I will try to write more about it soon... it was really special to be there with my family.

Now we are in North Carolina and Alex has met his grandfather. Today he'll also meet his great-grandmother!

Check out pictures from our trip so far in the family reunion gallery!

Video Update

Here's a video of Alex playing in his exersaucer. It seems like whenever the camera is out, he can't take his eyes off of it.

Well, we are getting ready for a trip down south to visit our families. I think we've packed about twice as much stuff for Alex as we have for Marty and me. I hear that's pretty normal for the first trip you take with a baby.

I was looking back at my 2002 archives the other day and noticing how much more interesting this blog used to be back then. I will have to think on this and see what I can do. Of course, that was the year we moved to Munich... it's no wonder it was interesting!

Sunshine!

Wadsworth Falls State Park, Connecticut
Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

I love these New England forests! We went for a walk at Wadsworth Falls State Park on Sunday, and took a few pictures. I've posted them in the June gallery, along with some new pictures of Alex.

The weeks seem to be flying by now. This week Alex and I got together with two of our "moms and babies" groups. We were happy to see Amanda and Julia on Wednesday! And today we met Laura at Starbucks for a nice long chat. Alex is really getting around these days!

Adventures in eating

First breakfast cereal
Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

Today Alex got his first taste of something besides breast milk or formula. He had rice cereal for breakfast!

The doctor told me last week that Alex was ready for solids. We had been planning to start them after our trip down south (coming up in a couple of weeks), but judging by the response we got this morning, it's a good thing we didn't wait any longer.

We haven't bought a high chair yet so we fed him in the bouncy seat. He was so excited about his breakfast that he started kicking his feet, and the chair was bouncing and bouncing! Some of the pictures came out really blurry.

After every mouthful he would look around for more, and start yelling if it didn't come quick! And then when I put the bowl away and took him to the sofa to have some milk, he stared across the room at the breakfast table for a long time, like he was wondering where his food went. I guess he was ready after all!

If you want to see a video of Alex eating, and going crazy in the chair, click on over to youtube. And if you want to see the rest of the pictures from breakfast, they're up in the June gallery on Flickr.

A very busy week

Tummy time on the big bed
Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

It's been a crazy week here! Last Tuesday, my sister Dixie arrived to help us out for a little while. Then on Thursday, I had my gallbladder removed! You may remember that a couple of weeks after Alex was born, I had to go to the emergency room and was diagnosed with gallstones. Ever since then, I've eaten a low fat diet to control the attacks. I did great -- I never had another attack -- but recently I had started feeling kind of sick a lot of the time and so I was glad the surgery was scheduled for last Thursday.

The surgery was laparascopic, so I was able to come home the same day. I recovered at home and am feeling much better now! It was great to have Dixie here to help take care of Alex while I was unable to manage our normal routine!

While all this was going on, our fridge died. We had noticed a couple of weeks ago that the milk was going bad a lot sooner than it should have been. It kept happening faster and faster with every gallon of milk I bought, until finally we put a thermometer in there and discovered that the fridge was not cooling like it should. It needed a new compressor, which cost almost as much as a new fridge! So we had to buy a new one, on very short notice. That added some unexpected excitement to our weekend!

And today was Alex's 4-month checkup. He is doing great! He is 25 inches long and weighs 15 pounds, 11 ounces! The doctor said she thought he would be crawling before 6 months, because he's holding his head up so well and standing up so straight. She also said he has a really big head... but I explained that I do, too, so she wrote "familial" in the chart next to the head measurement. Ha!

Alex had some shots today and is feeling a little under the weather, but he was such a brave boy at the doctor's office. He was in a great mood right up to the time he got the first shot. Then he started yelling and didn't stop until after the third (last) one, when I picked him up for a cuddle. He calmed down right away and let me put him in his car seat just a few minutes later. But I think today and tonight will be long -- last time he had shots, his sleep was disrupted for a couple of days.

Here are a few other pictures from this week (click to see larger versions):

Testing... testing...

Here's a little video I made of Alex playing in his crib today. I hope this works!