Gerber Puffs Are Fun!

Since Alex is doing so well with his food (with the exception of squash - he doesn't like squash) we decided to let him try some Gerber Puffs. They are rice puffs with a little bit of flavoring and they dissolve in his mouth. He thinks they are great. He actually thinks they are hilarious for some reason. So I finally caught him on video eating them last week. Enjoy!

Loving Baby Food...

I always thought I wasn't the greatest cook but apparently I do okay with baby food, or at least with sweet potatoes. Alex loves them. So food number 1 was a success. He will eat a full, or close to it, two ounce serving at lunch and dinner. Tomorrow starts food number 2 - squash. Hopefully this will be yummy to him too.


From the day we first tried rice cereal with him, he hated it. We tried over and over again to get him to eat it, trying different consistencies and even putting it in his bottle once, but he wasn't having it. I took some to my aunt just in case she was feeling froggy and wanted to give it a try. The doctor really wanted him to eat it until at least a year old so I was hoping he would warm up to it. Yesterday Kathy told me he ate every bite of 2 tablespoons. I was shocked! How in the world did she get him to eat it? She said he loved and it and never acted like it was bad. At dinner that evening it came out that she had warmed it up before he ate it. Ah ha! So now we know, he likes warm cereal. We had never discussed the temperature of the cereal. Kathy gave it to him warm because that is how her girls ate it, but they also ate their bottles warm. From day one we have given Alex his bottle at room temperature so we never thought to do anything different with the cereal since it is fixed with his milk. Amazing how something like that can make such a big difference! I am just glad we figured it out! He ate another good serving again today so it looks like rice cereal is going to make it on the approved list after all.


Last night I had a moment as I fed Alex sweet potatoes while he was sitting in a high chair at Longhorn. I guess it really hit me that he has gotten so big and it happened so fast! My little boy isn't little any more. It is so exciting to watch him grow and develop but it is happening much faster than I expected it to. At least he is a happy, healthy baby and for that I will forever be grateful.

Getting So Big, So Fast...

I also can't believe we have already had Alex's 6 month check-up. That has to be the fastest 6 months of my life. Our little man is growing up fast. On the 28th we saw Dr. Hood to see how big he had gotten. He weighed in at 16 lbs, 8 ounces and 27 1/4 inches long. He is in the 74th percentile in height and 29th percentile in weight. So still tall and skinny. The good news is that his head size is now only in the 54th percentile so it is average.

He got his 3rd round of shots and thankfully we are done with those until his 1 year check-up. Mommy is tired of shots! Unfortunately there was a mistake with his flu shot and he got both doses at the same time instead of getting the first dose and then going back in 30 days for the second one. Thankfully this couldn't really hurt him, just cause the injection place to get swollen and extremely sore so I was glad that it wasn't more serious than that.

Now we get to start baby food!

Those shots weren't so bad! I am a big boy!

These pictures are getting harder and harder to take since he doesn't like to lay down and when he does, he won't sit still.

Happy New Year!

I think I am still in shock that it is 2012. Where in the world did 2011 go? I don't think it has even hit me that Christmas has come and gone and we are in January.

To celebrate New Year's Eve we went to the Colliers for a get together. We packed Alex's Mickey couch and monitors and hoped for the best. (We drove separately just in case one of us hod to end up taking him home.) He ended up falling asleep around 9 and only woke up once all night despite the noise and craziness at the house. I was honestly shocked he didn't wake up more. So we all got to celebrate together and we had a great time.

Newest Family Member...

Reagan got an extra special Christmas present this year. The Sunday before Christmas she got to "open" a gift early and found a little kitten under the tree (and later we found it in the tree). Matt and I found our newest family member at Pet Smart on Saturday the 16th. We named her Lexi. I was joking about naming her Meredith because she was Grey and we like Grey's Anatomy but Matt mentioned Meredith's younger sister on the show - Lexi and we both liked the name so it stuck. She is tiny in size but has the personality of a giant cat. She is fearless and playful but loves to cuddle too. She has won the hearts of everyone in the house, Juno and Alex included. Juno has a playmate and Alex loves to pet her and she doesn't run away like Juno. She loves to sit on you no matter how she has to do it. Several times she has perched on Matt's shoulder. She is a mess. Here are a few pictures of Lexi:

Reagan and Lexi right after she got her.

Second day at the house and already in the tree.

LOVES snuggling!

Trying out Alex's bumbo seat.

Homemade baby food...

I may have lost my mind considering how busy we stay but I have decided to try making Alex's baby food after hearing how easy it is and how much healthier it is for him. So for Christmas I got the Baby Bullet and storage containers and was ready to give it a try. At Alex's 6 month check up we were given the green light to start him on baby food so it was time to try the bullet out. After only 15 minutes, 3 bananas and 1 sweet potato, I had 8 servings of sweet potatoes and 6 servings of bananas in the freezer ready for him to eat. We were told to give him 2 weeks on just rice cereal before we gave him other foods so I froze all the food until we needed it. It is good in the freezer for 6 weeks so we had plenty of time. After more than a week of trying the cereal, we gave up. He hates it. Wont eat it no matter how we give it to him. So last night we tried one of the sweet potatoes. It seems to be a hit. He didn't eat much of it, but seemed to like what he did eat. Last night I spent about 45 minutes in the kitchen and when I was done, I had 8 servings of squash, zucchini and apples in the freezer. So this food making things might work after all!

Bananas and sweet potatoes ready for the freezer!

"Hey! This isn't so bad!" First attempt at eating sweet potatoes.

First Christmas...

I know I am late in posting this but here is the recap from Alex's first Christmas. It was fairly uneventful considering he is a bit young still to understand fully what it was all about. He didn't seem to mind being held by a stranger in a red suit long enough for mommy to get a picture for the Christmas card:


I was SO excited to have both kids looking at the camera for once. Success!

His big excitement of Christmas time for all the paper he got to tear into. The presents were fun but the paper tearing took the cake. Mommy and daddy were just thrilled that even though we were running around like crazy, he behaved really well and didn't get that fussy at any of the Christmases we went to. Here are some pictures from the many places we went.

Opening presents at the Vance's house on Christmas Eve.

With his 2011 Holiday Bear from Opal.

Hanging out with big sister.

Christmas morning fun!

Trying out his Mickey couch from Nana and Poppy the day after Christmas.

Not happy about being a reindeer at Denny and Pa's on Christmas day.



Opening presents at the Whittaker Christmas.




Getting long johns from Debbers!




Worn out on Christmas Eve night but this only lasted until the first present was unwrapped.