9 Months Old!

I am late again! I hope I do not make this a habit. Work has been a little crazy for both me and Aaron. Aaron had several weeks full of overtime and then it was my turn for a crazy couple of weeks. This past month has been full of firsts for our little boy!

The month started off with a trip to Granbury for Alex. He spent 4 nights with my parents while Aaron and I went on our anniversary trip. He had a blast with my parents and the dogs.

Towards the end of April, Alex figured out how to go from laying down to sitting up. He quickly became a pro and now he is always sitting up when I go to get him out of his crib. About a week later, my little man finally started to crawl! He had been close for a while, but he finally figured out what to do. He is now constantly on the move and so are we! He is also starting to pull up on things. He is not pulling to a standing position yet but he is close. When he is on the floor he will get to where he is on his hands and feet, but he only pulls up to his knees against furniture/his crib or our legs. I'm sure it won't be long though. Alex was finally able to swing for the first time at our friend's daughter's first birthday party. The park in our neighborhood doesn't have a swing for real little ones. We also found out at the end of April that a friend of ours is 12 weeks pregnant! This is so exciting because she has had several miscarriages and had to have surgery which resulted in one ovary having to be removed. I am so excited for her and her husband. God is good! 

My first Mother's Day was very nice. On Saturday we went to Aaron's grandmother's house in Winnie for a family crawfish boil. Alex took and nice long nap that allowed me to eat! The weather was perfect for sitting outside and Aaron's uncle and dad really know how to cook crawfish. We also realized while we were there that Alex was cutting his first tooth! Sunday I woke up to cards, Aaron went and got breakfast and then we went out to lunch. It was a wonderful day.

Tuesday May 10th, Alex woke up around 11 screaming. I get in his room and quickly discover that he got sick. I get him on the changing pad and he gets sick again. My poor baby was crying and screaming. We get him changed, get the pack and play set up in our room and put him down. He fell asleep quickly, but was sick again about 30 minutes or so after we put him down.  Aaron was trying to finish his project and was working 12-13 hour days and I was working on ICSC materials for my brokers. This was not good timing. By the time all was said and done, I got maybe 2 or 3 hours of sleep and Alex was still getting sick in the morning. I tried to give him some water and that didn't stay down either. The doctor's office ended up calling in some medicine for him and they told me to try pedialyte. Thankfully this helped and after a few hours of pedialyte, he was able to hold down small amounts of breast milk. By midday Thursday, Alex was in the clear to return to daycare on Friday and I thought I was good to go back to work. Wrong! Thursday night it was my turn and then Saturday night it was Aaron's. I was praying that we would not pass this back and forth and thankfully we didn't.

Last week was crazy for me as I finished up stuff for ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) for my brokers. Luckily our house is once again healthy - still tired, but healthy. I can't believe that we will be planning a birthday party soon for our little guy. The past nine months have flown by and have been full of such joy. I love Alex more than I could have ever imagined. Now for more pictures!

Someone didn't want to give the spoon back

Trying to stand



Sticking his tongue out at Mommy



Being silly with cousin Cecelia's hat in Galveston

Having fun!

9 Months Old!!

 

Already Smarter Than A T-Sip! Whoop!

In his hat

I love the look on his face!

Happy 9 Months Alex!



Here fishy fishy fishy......

I feel so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing family. I have an adorable little boy who I would give my life for, a wonderful husband who loves me and we have an incredible family that will always be there for us. Aaron usually knows exactly what I need, even when I don’t always know/or want to admit it myself. Our anniversary trip this year is the perfect example of this.

As you know from my previous blog, we just celebrated 5 wonderful years of marriage and we like to take a trip to celebrate each year. I guess wanting to travel a lot is what happens when two geography majors get married! We knew we wouldn’t be able to take a big trip after Alex born and I was fine with not being able to take any kind of trip during his first year.  Aaron on the other hand decided that we really needed to celebrate 5 years.

Aaron wanted to go to Vegas or even Mexico for a few days but I was not willing to leave the state. After some discussion and convincing on my part, we agreed to look into the Port Aransas area for a few days of cruising and fishing in our kayaks. All I really had to do was mention a guided fishing tour, fishing everyday and how we always hear that the fishing in that area is great and he became more on board with my idea. We ended up booking a cute little cabin in Rockport that was only about 15 minutes away from Port Aransas.

I was beginning to get excited about the trip but as it got closer, I began to get nervous. My parents said they would love to keep Alex while we were gone so we made plans for my mom to come and get him, since we were going to be heading in the opposite direction. I knew he was going to be in good hands but it was still really hard to leave my little man. I wasn’t worried about how he would do during the day since he is in daycare but I was worried about night time. He has started to fight sleep some at night and especially at nap time. We had a few nights where it was hard getting him to go down for the night. He turned 8 months old on the day we left and I had never spent a night away. I had attended book club twice and those are the only nights that I wasn’t there to put him to bed. I kept thinking back to my first time babysitting. Aaron and I were watching our niece, Cecelia, and everything was going great until bed time. I would get her to fall asleep on me for a few minutes but then she would wake up and cry. Once Rachel was back, she was fine. I was worried this would happen with Alex.

Sunday morning finally rolled around and it was time for us to head out. We decided it would be best for us all to leave after Alex’s second feeding of the day. After he was done, my mom grabbed the last minute items and I loaded him into her car. I had to fight back tears as I put him in, but he was fine. I did cry a little as they drove off. I was already missing my baby boy! He did great while at my parents and I did ok too, thanks to daily pictures sent by my mom.

The weather was not as ideal as we would have liked but we still had a great time. It was extremely windy everyday. We ended up just getting settled Sunday and going around to look at some of the spots where we were thinking of launching. Monday morning we had our guided trip with a guy named Dean. He was very nice and when we head that way again, I’m sure we will be giving him a call. Aaron caught a few fish but none that were keepers and I didn’t even get that much. I still had fun though. The paddle back to the truck was a good workout. We were fighting against not only the wind (holding steady around 20-25 with gusts around 30!) but the current. Tuesday we woke up to stronger winds in the morning and around the same, 20-25, around 11 am. Needless to say, we got a pretty good workout each day as we paddled around outside of the somewhat protected areas we were fishing.

I absolutely love being a wife and mom but it is definitely hard at times. I get up at 4:30 during the week (between 5 and 6 on the weekends), get ready for work, get Alex fed and dressed, see him and Aaron out the door, head to work (45 minutes to an hour), work all day and then head home (about an hour) to take care of cooking, cleaning, running errands and getting ready to do it all again the next day. Don't get me wrong - Aaron helps a lot around the house and with Alex. I think women naturally feel that cooking and cleaning is our responsibility/duty, and I know for me, it is sometimes hard to remember that it not just my responsibility. If I didn't work, it would be different, but I do and thankfully Aaron willingly helps me with what needs to be done.Our trip was the perfect little break. I didn’t get to really sleep in, but I did get to slow down some and relax with my husband. It was much needed even though I didn’t realize (or want to admit) that I needed a little break. Now it is time for pictures!

Our cute little cabin

On our way out on our first morning, we passed this shrimp boat. My mom's name is Rhonda and my mother-in-law's name is Kathleen. Pretty crazy!



Aaron having fun in Port A

My turn!

Alex and my grandmother. He had a great time at my parents!

He loved the dogs!

Even with the paci, this is a really cute picture. You can tell he is having so much fun! Pictures like this being sent to our phones made it a little easier to be away. I hope he missed us at least a little though!