A good day for a fort

The new tile floor was recently finished, and we haven't finished putting everything back in place. Thus, we have a great big open space in our living room. That sounds like a good place to build a blanket fort! 

Xander is 16 months old now. His babbling is really starting to get more and more sensical, which is exciting. And he's just started to try to repeat everything we say. His favorite words are mommy, daddy, and cheese, and hi. He has a set of foam letters and numbers for the bath, and he will repeat the names of most of the letters. His favorite is "z." 

We play outside at least a little bit most days. I'm sad that it's getting colder, but we have a lot of fun holiday festivity to look forward to. And he does look awfully cute in his new winter coat.

Times flies, huh...

Xander is unbelievably big!

He's 15 months old now. He's a great walker; he says mommy and daddy; and he can follow simple instructions, although he often chooses to ignore them.

We've been having so much fun. Every little thing is so amazing and new. Today he learned to walk backwards, and he thought it was great so he just kept doing it. And every time he looked at me with a face that said "What am I doing?! This is awesome!"

He's been modeling little girl hats for me these days. I've been making some for a friend's little girl (and second baby girl expected soon!). He loves to try on hats. He doesn't like to wear them for any length of time, but he got excited every time he saw me working on one of them, and he would ask to try it on.

Also, he got his first haircut recently! And this picture should be a good illustration of why he needed it:

He make a cute little girl, doesn't he?

I made a little collage of his haircut experience:

EcoSash FTW!

This morning started off pretty well, which was very nice. But, just before lunch time, we had an attack of the fussies. I dealt with it for a while, tried to keep him entertained, but eventually, I got very very tired of it. I tried pulling out the Moby wrap, which can sometimes make him very happy and sleepy, provided that he'll let me get him into it. That was a no go today. So, I decided to try my Infantino EcoSash carrier. I hadn't tried it because it looks awfully complicated. But today I was determined. So, I tied it on, got him in, got it all secured...and the most wonderful look of contented stupor came over Xander's face. Oh happy day! I proceeded to vacuum the living room, which I've been wanting to do for a while, and Xander slept through the whole thing, and beyond! I think this may be my new favorite baby thing. I'll try to get a picture later.

1 month and rolling!

Xander turned one month old recently. It really does go by so fast, doesn't it? We had some fun with outdoor pictures in our front yard.

And yesterday, Xander rolled over during tummy time! I'm sad that I didn't manage to catch a picture or two. I called Jared in just in case he tried it again, but it was just a one time thing so far. Still, we were very impressed. We've got the coolest baby!

Every day something new...

As first time parents, Jared and I get very excited about every little new thing that Xander does (or gets to do). Here are a few of the exciting things that he's done so far in his first four weeks:

Last Monday he finally lost his little stump, which meant that he got to have his first real bath.

This was not his idea of fun, but he got all nice and clean. And afterwards, he was rather worn out.

Fortunately, the next bath was very calm, and he actually seemed to like it. That was a lot more fun. A lot of people say that a nightly bath is part of their bed time routine, and if he continues to like it, I think that would be a good idea. Jared keeps saying, "Another bath? Didn't we just do that?" I'll keep working on him. 

One thing that I have managed to start working in every evening is a nice walk around the neighborhood in the stroller (I'll get a picture of that sometime). Xander really seems to like being outside (yay hurray!!). Sometimes he stays awake all the way around the circle, just looking around. Sometimes he gets lulled to sleep. Either way, it's very enjoyable. Of course, last night, he changed his mind, and decided that he would not like to ride in the stroller. But everything was okay again once he was in my arms. He's quite a sweet little guy.

Xander has also gotten to start using his cloth diapers! I'm very excited about this. Jared still finds the whole idea totally horrifying, but he's letting me do it. I've been doing 1 load of diaper laundry a day, and I'm keeping up with it pretty well. I've had to work out some of the kinks, but we've got a good system going now. I'm so happy that it's going well, and I'm looking forward to fine-tuning my stash so that it's all ready and perfect whenever we're ready for another baby. Also, I'm going to make sure that we have the best things for Xander as he grows up. I have to say, I really love pocket diapers. I didn't think that they would be my favorites, but they are. I love how quickly they dry, and I like stuffing them. And I love putting the super-soft fleecy diaper on my super-sweet baby. 

Overall, I think we've had a great first four weeks! I'm loving this boy so much!

3 weeks

Little Xander is 3 weeks old.

He got to practice lifting his head!

Getting to know you

Alexander has arrived!! And he is such a wonderful baby. Of course, we're not biased or anything. It's kind of unbelievable how much I just want to stare at him. At the same time, all I want is a few consecutive hours of sleep. But somehow, even in the middle of the night, a good long cuddle and stare is almost as restful.