Our Little Daredevil

I was looking at an article in Parents magazine that claimed to describe babies' personalities. It was saying their were certain types of baby personalities and that I would be able to identify Alex's by reading the desciptions. I think I have him pegged as an "Active" baby. The article said "Active" babies are always curious, want to investigate everything, and NEVER stop moving. That's our son!!! He is constantly on the go and constantly getting into something else these days. He appears to have no fear whatsoever, and while that can be a good thing (i.e. sitting on Santa's lap), it can also be a very bad thing indeed (i.e. trying to climb the stairs before he can even walk or pulling the nightliht out of the wall AND trying to plug it back in!) We can already see the daredevil personality coming out in him, especially since he started pulling himself to stand, and crawling at the speed of light. My prediction is he'll walk well before his first birthday, and then we'll be in for a world of trouble! He's also getting so good at crawling that he likes to crawl into small spaces and sit there for awhile looking around. He has such a typical boy personality that there's defintely no mistaking his gender...or his personality type.

                                                                                           Busted climbing on the stairs!

Really funny pic of Alex with his ninny

The kitchen is his new playground

Grandma feeding him some oatmeal

Hiding under our table

                                                                                 Playing  with an ornament on our tree

Eating his first finger food--wafers

Daniel at his Christmas program---look how handsome he is in his vest!

Dylan at his Christmas program--love the robe!

 

                                                              If you look hard, you can see his 4 top teeth coming in!

Check out my Slide Show!

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Turkey Day and 9 Months Old!

Alex exploring a newly wrapped present

We have been celebrating and preparing for a lot of firsts recently. That's the beauty of having a baby at this stage of development--they tend to do something new everyday! He just had his first Thanksgiving, will soon have his first Christmas and about 2 and half months after Christmas comes his first birthday! Alex is 9 months old today! It's so hard to believe. It seems like he looks older everyday now. His face is slimming down a little and those chubby cheeks may soon be a thing of the past. Oh they're still there, but when I look back on pictures of him a few months ago, they are much slimmer. He would really like to walk, but just can't seem to get the hang of keeping his balance without holding on. He defintely will try to take steps as he holds on to things, but it usuallyends in him plopping his butt right down on the floor and then getting back up and trying it again. Thanksgiving went well. We don't have a whole lot of pictures of him in his little outfit, mainly because we travelled a lot that day. We spent the morning and afternoon with Abe's family, eating a delicious feast, then travelled about 200 miles to eat with my family in Western, MD. We arrived at about 5:30 and everyone was just finishing! So Abe and I ate quickly and let my Dad and Grandma play with Alex on the floor. The next day, we headed out at around 3:00 AM to get some bargains. My Grandma came up to our house around 3 to watch Alex for us while we shopped. It was a little crazy, especially Wal-mart where we had to throw toys to people, but worth it! Among the amazing deals: A down comforter for $20, originally $160! Winter jackets for both of us, originally both over $100, just $30! Some cool toys for Alex originally $25-30, we got for $10! So even though we were a little sleep-deprived that day, the deals were totally worth it. Alex also visited Santa for the first time at the Country Club Mall in Cumberland. He liked Santa! He just kept staring at his beard and didn't seem freaked out at all. We were very surprised! He even smiled for the picture!We returned to B-more on Saturday and put upour Christmas tree that night. We had a 6 foot tree from when I lived in my little apartment in Dundalk, and we out it up only to realize it looks awfully small in our new house with our 12' ceilings! LOL. It's a little Charlie Brown-ish. Alec hasn't bothered it too much, aside from when I came in the living room tp find him licking an ornament. Alex likes to lick things instead of picking them up and putting them into his mouth! LOL. Well--I've gone on for awhile. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Enjoy the pics below and the slide show I'll post later of Alex's 8th month!

The only picture we actually took of Alex on Thanksgiving!

  

Alex playing with his cousin Julia--It's so cute that they are starting to play together a little bit!

 

Our Charlie Brown christmas tree

 

I love his little smirk AND his candy cane pants of course!

 

Alex is telling Santa what he wants!

 

Giggling with Elmo

 

This is TOO funny--Alex discovered that his humidifier blows out air and he couldn't get enough!

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Standing on his own two feet!

Alex is growing so fast; it seems like he learns something new everyday. On Thursday, November 13th, he pulled himself to stand all by himself for the very first time! The daycare lady told me he did it using her couch when I picked him up that afternoon. I was a little bummed that I missed his very first time, but then thought, it's always going to be the first time seeing something for us rather he did it before or not. He did pull himself up again later that night using the platform of our stairs, and he's been doing it ever since. He actually has been holding on with just one hand lately and taking a few steps as he holds on. It seems like he just hits one milestone after another. We just got used to him crawling around everywhere and now he's standing! We also tried to introduce him to a sippy cup this week, but to no avail. We will continue to offer it to him, but he's just not interested now, and he'll use it when he's ready to. He either A. throws it or bangs it on the floor or B. tries to bend all the way down while it's sitting on the floor and drink from the spout! He's getting his own little personality lately too! He does not like tp be dressed and usually fights like crazy when we're trying to change his diaper or dress him. He also whines when we tell him "no"! LOL. He's been saying "dada" for awhile now, but said "mama" finally today! Yay! He does know who I am! Of course, we're not sure that it's for real or he's just babbling (after all, he said mama about a month ago and then starting saying dada all the time and now is saying mama again), but it's cool to think that he's communicating with us in his own way. We also has some family photos and photos of Alex taken for Christmas at JC Pennys. He did really well. We got some smiles and some looking at the camera, but he's defintely harder to entertain nowdays, so we'll take what we can get at this point when it comes to pictures! His little outfit is absolutely adorable and he looks like such a little man in it!It's in the pictures above and below, but basically it's a checkered button down under an argyle sweater vest with gray pin-striped pants and shiny black shoes! So cute! Below are some pictures from this week of him playing and showing off his new skill--standing up tall!

 

                                                                 Alex's one-handed hold

Riding on Matthew's old fire-truck

I just love his two teeth smile!

Showing off his Christmas outfit with Daddy

Drinking from his sippy his-way

                            We can't believe how long his hair is getting--look at those bangs! LOL

He'll use anything to help him stand--including his beloved swing!

Alex in his new "play-corner" we set up in our living room using foam puzzle pieces as a mat

Playing and giggling near his corner

Alex turned 8 months old this week!

On Wednesday, Nov. 5, Alex turned 8 months old! I can't believe he is this old already and wearing size 6-9 and 12 month clothing! He has become quite the little comedian lately as he's been developing new skills and showing more personality. He loves to look in our stainless steel trash can abd see his own relfection and he bats at his reflection. It's hilarious to watch! He also "chases" the cats. As soon as he sees them. he crawls as fast as his little knees can take him to try and grab at their fur. His whole face lights up when he sees them, and both of them do very well with him too. Oscar will lay next to him all of the time and even lets Alex attempt to pet him in his own way. I'm glad that he will grow up with an appreciation for animals. I always had a pet growing up, and loved taking care of all of my animals as a kid. He's also pulling himself up to his knees. He can stand of we pull him up and put his hands on the edge of the furniture. He can actually balance himself quite well for awhile. He just can't ull hiself all the way to his feet yet. I think my favorite thing right now is his adorable laugh. I wish I could bottle it up and keep it. We do have it one video though. It's such a loud and cute laugh! He's just getting so big so fast. He'll be 1 in 4 more months! Below are some pictures of our favorite 8 month old!

Alex standing after we helped him get up there

Alex hanging out with Daddy--I think he's been watching the 5 dollar footlong commercial too much! LOL.

               Alex pulling himself up to his knees--mainly because he sees Oscar in the laundry basket!

Amazed by his own reflection

Still likes to stick that tongue out!

He spends most of his time crawling around on his tummy nowdays

Ms. Medy holding Julia..I love her bow!

Check out my Slide Show!

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hApPy HaLLoWeEn!

Alex enjoyed his very first Halloween this evening. He dressed up as a dragon and trick-or-treated up and down Abe's Mom's street in Dundalk! We took him down around 5:30, and got him dressed along with the boys. Dylan was bobo fett from Star Wars, Daniel was Ironman, Matthew was a cowboy, and Julia was festive in her Halloween shirt. We then put Alex in the stroller and made our way up and down Roberts Ave. with all four boys. At the end of the street, the 3 older boys wanted to continue, but I could tell by the way Alex was hunching to the side in his little dragon costume that he was done with his first trick-or-treating experience. I strolled him back to the house and he was fast asleep by the time we got back up the street. After we all had our trick-or-treating fun, we gathered inside and celebrated Mary's b-day. Her actual b-day is Oct. 28, but we decided to celebrate tonight, since Abe and I had to make a change in plans and venture home this weekend. Happy __th b-day Mary!! We're leaving tomorrow for my parents and the coming back on Sunday. I have been battling pneumonia for the past twp weeks almost, so we couldn't go out last weekend when we originally wanted to. I'm finally feeling somewhat better, despite the side effects of the antibiotic, so we decided to go on out this weekend, so everyone could see how big Alex is getting. We're also celebrating my brother's 23rd b-day, which was Oct.27. We're a year apart now until March when I'll turn 25. Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Halloween, now we look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas/Hannukah. My favorite time of year, despite the frigid temps! Don't forget to fall back on Sunday! Enjoy some cute pics!

                                                     Alex smiling in his dragon costume!

Daniel and Alex hanging out before tick-or-treating

                                                      Matthew, Alex, and Dylan hanging out

                                                      Mary blowing out her b-day candles!

                                                                      Playing before bed

                              Abe and I are convinced he'll be taking this swing to college with him!

                                                          Trick-or-treating is no joke Mommy!

Alex's army crawl in action!

Army Crawl

Alex is a little over 7and a half months old now and he's been getting up on his hands and knees and showing signs of moving forward for weeks now. Well, on Sunday, he started doing this "army crawl" type of maneuver. If we put something inetersting (i.e. a flashing toythat moves or a cat!) at one side of the room, he drags himself across the floor to get it. He can moves on his knees but loses his hold on his hands, thus resulting in pulling himself along with his belly still on the ground. I am wondering though if we count any movement as crawling or have to wait for him to be on hands and knees. It's such a gray area. We want to fill in his baby book correctly and everything, but it's not as cut and dry as we thought it would be. We're still not sure if he's said his first word. He babbles "mamama" and "dadada", but it just seems like babble. One time he looked right at me and said "mama" and has done that a couple times since then, but who knows! He had a blast playing with his cousins at Weber's Farm in Parkville on Sunday. He had absolutely no reaction whatsoever to the slide or th hayride--just stared off into space, but we know he loved it! LOL.He'll be going to his first trick-or-treating on Sunday at my Grandma's house. I can't wait to see him in his costume, and can't wait to see if it still fits--we bought it a month ago when they were on sale! LOL. Some pics from the week:

Me feeding Alex his morning bottle..it takes him about 6 minutes to drink 6 ounces!

 

                                                        Our family picture at Weber's Farm

                              Me and Alex on the silde at Weber's--he looks enthralled, doesn't he???

Abe and Julia--can you believe how big she is getting?

                                            Abe, Alex, and Matthew smiling for the camera

Dylan and Matthew playing on the tires

                                  Dylan doing his GQ pose and Daniel playing the background

                                                             Daniel showing how tall he is

Alex is showing off his two front teeth!

Alex in our front yard--where are his socks you ask?...we have no idea!