The Year in Pictures...

I wanted to post a month by month picture show since Alex just celebrated his first birthday--Enjoy!

 

 

 

                                           Waiting for Alex to arrive...March 5, 2008

Alex first ever picture--1 minute old!

1 Month Old

                                                                      2 Months old

3 Months Old

4 Months Old

5 Months Old

6 Months Old

7 Months Old

8 Months Old

9 Months Old

10 Months Old

11 Months Old

1 Year Old!!--March 5, 2009

 

 

Our Crazy Weekend...

What a crazy, but fun weekend we had! As most of you know, Abe and I welcomed a new niece late Wednesday night, so we spent Thursday night and Friday running from our home to the hospital to visit little Julia and of course her parents! She's a beautiful little girl and I have to say she looks quite a bit like her big brother Matthew--for the time being at least. We know those things change with time. It's seems like Alex changes daily at this point. I think everyone is very excited to have a girl among the children--after 4 little boys! Maybe there will be more girls to come? Only time will tell on that one. LOL. Saturday, we went shopping, which was quite an experience. Alex is starting to get bored with just laying on his playmat or laying on a blanket and rolling around, so we decided to buy him an exersaucer to keep him entertained. I am also hoping to free up my hands a little during the day so I can get some things done before the wedding and before I am back to work for 10 months again! So, we got him the evenflo smartsteps exersaucer. He's used it a little bit so far and he seems to really like it. His little feet just barely graze the bottom, but he can bouce himself from front to back and always looks surprised when he does it! LOL. This boy is spoiled and he doesn't even know it yet! We also got him a new umbrella stroller--it will have to wait for a little while, but we had a great coupon and got $60 off, so we had to get it now so we could get the great discount. We had planned on getting it later anyway, so we just went for it. Plus--he can use it for the wedding. Our oldest nephew Dylan will be pushing him down the aisle, and we don't want him to have to push his heavy,bulky Eddie Bauer stroller. It's a Maclaren Triumph in orange and grey-- Kind of pricey, but well worth the money from what we hear and it should last him until he's at least 2  or older. Speaking of the wedding--we are really getting down to the wire with everything! We met with the organist today to finalize the ceremony music, and we are meeting with the wedding planner and the dj sometime this week to finalize things for the reception. I am finishing up the program tonight and hopefully getting Abe to print it this week. We'll probably work on assembling it this week as well. I am also making a prototype of the favors tonight and assembling them tomorrow hopefully. Ms. Medy and I are going to help Mary tomorrow, so while we are watching the babies and helping her with things, we will hopefully put together the favors. My final dress fitting is July 30--ugh don't even want to discuss that one. I'll probably start putting the seating chart together tonight and tomorrow as well. Remind me never to volunteer to plan anybody's wedding! This is too much work for one day! I told Abe we should've eloped and I think I'm feeling a little more strongly about that right about now! LOL. Anyway I can sigh a big sigh of relief on August 11 and enjoy a couple of days at Ocean City with Abe and Alex. Never could we have guessed we'd be bringing a baby on our honeymoon--oh well things happen for a reason! I definitely wouldn't have it any other way. On a dark note--school will be back in session August 18 for me. That's less than a month. We now begin the search for a quality home daycare for Alex since Ms. Thresa let us know she filled his spot over the summer...Doesn't anybody do daycare for teachers, where they don't want to charge you to hold your kid's spot over the summer? Frustrating...Maybe they should let some of our students take care of our babies during the school day. I have a feeling it would be great birth control! Well anyway I am officially rambling. We just got Alex to bed finally, so we need to go and get some wedding stuff done!!! Some pics of our nephews, new niece, other family members, and of course Alex follow. Enjoy!

Daniel and his missing front teeth!

Auntie Maria holding baby Julia

Matthew laying down on the slide at Merritt Park

New big brother Matthew giving us the "thumbs up" sign

Dylan is proud of his baseball trophy!

Baby Julia wide awake and ready to meet her family members!

Our handsome little boy!

Daddy's boy

Alex trying out his new stroller..he's a little small for it yet, but it doesn't seem to bother him any!

He loves his new exersaucer!

He loves it so much..he doesn't even need clothes on to be in it (don't call SS, it's July people--It's hot!)

 

2008--The year of the babies!

This year has been the year for babies!! Alex kicked off the trend when he was born March 5. Now, a new 2008 baby has been welcomed to the universe. My friend and co-worker, Danielle had her healthy baby girl on July 10. Little Natalia Marie weighed in at 6lbs.  2 oz. and was 19.5 inches long! I went to the hospital yesterday with Mike and Melinda to visit D and meet Natalia for the first time. I couldn't believe how small she looked, and especially couldn't remember Alex being that tiny. But--he was only 5 oz more than Natalia, so he was that tiny once! Now at 4 months and 1 week, he about 17 lbs. a little over 2 feet long, and such a little character! He's laughing out loud,rolling over, taking an interest his toys, holding up his neck and back, and making vowel sounds, like "oooh" and "ahhh". He's also drooling buckets down his chin as we await that first tooth. It looks like it will probaby be one of his bottom two front teeth first. And he's still sleeping through the night--praise Jesus! LOL. He's also quite funny--he grunts until he falls asleep! That's how we know he's tired. He'll just start grunting and the grunting gets quieter and quieter until he's out cold. LOL. He was 2008 baby #1--what a leader! LOL. Makes you wonder who's going to be next??? LOL. I'm looking at YOU Chauncey or Laubach!

Natalia Marie--born July 10

Another pic of a very alert Natalia

Our Little Belly Man!

Alex with his Great- Grandma Glenrose!

Alex and Lexie taking a "cat nap" on our bed--literally! LOL.

In his cute hat!

Alex and Abe back home on Alex's first fourth of July

Good Morning Sunshine!

Such a happy boy in the morning!

My first post!

My first post is going to be about my new obsession--my beautiful baby boy's arrival almost one month ago! Alexander Gabriel was born on my birthday of all days- March 5, 2008! He weighed 6lbs. 7oz. and was 19.5 inches long-my exact mesurements at birth as well! He was also born at 10:51 P.M. which is about an hour sooner than my own birth time. Talk about a crazy coincidence! He is clearly my best birthday present ever though! So, the day started with some wierd feelings I was having early in the morning. I was thinking maybe it was labor, but wasn't too sure, so Abe and I decided to stay home from work just as a precaution. I called the doctor around 9 A.M., and she seemed to think it was probably false labor and to call back if the contractions got harder or closer together. Well, after about an hour--they had dissipated completely, so Abe and I headed to Wal-mart and walked around for an hour feeling like dorks because we had taken off of work. Around 4:30 P.M., I was sitting downstairs on the futon getting the baby's clothes ready to put in the wash (I guess the nesting hit a little too late! LOL) and I stood up only to be surprised by my water breaking! I ran all the way upstairs half naked because I was so shocked, and told Abe what had happened and we called the doctor. She still didn't seem to think my water had really broken, so she told us to come on into the office. By the time Abe finished packing his bag (Don't ask me why he didn't pack the 4,000 times I had nagged him to pack it before) I was having bad contractions and they were 4 minutes apart. So we rushed to the doctor's office, all the while I'm thinking my child may be born in the Saturn. We got there and waited 10 excruiating minutes to see the doctor. She took one look and told us that I definitely broke my water, she could see dark hair, and that we needed to get to the hospital right away. She called in the epidural while we were on our way because she thought I might be progressing to quickly to have one once we got there. By the time we got to Franklin Square, I thought I was dying and I was grabbing onto Abe and crying because the contractions were 1-2 minutes apart. When the doctor checked me I was already at 8! So, luckily they were able to give my the epidural in the nick of time. Then after a 5 hour labor, and one hour of pushing, Alex was born. They immediately put him on my stomach and he was kicking and screaming like a little madman! I don't really remember much about his first few moments, because I was in shock that he was out, but I just remember touching him and thinking he was really warm. I also remember thinking he looked too small and asking the doctor is he was a normal size. I guess it had been awhile since I saw a newborn! LOL. The doctor just laughed and told me he was fine. I don't even remember what Abe was doing during this time because I couldn't take my eyes off of the baby. It was such an amazing experience!! He's now almost a month old already and doing really great. He has my lips and chin and his Daddy's forehead, hands and feet. His eyes and his nose are a mixture of both of us. I've attached a recent picture of our little cutie!