Photo Drop

We're home sick today.  Little man has a mild stomach bug so the pediatrician advised keeping him home.

We're still not sleeping great, though we have an incredible night here and there to help me recharge.

Here's a photo drop of some of the cuteness that has been happening lately:

Father's Day

Though my dad had to leave, our little crew still had a wonderful Father's Day.

Though this is Daniel's first Father's Day as a daddy to a human, Zoey says he's been a daddy for four years.  She made sure she was included in his Father's Day present, having me paint her a bandanna to match the rest of the crew.

We spent our day playing disc golf and enjoying quality time together, and then spent the early evening in the pool.

This boy loves the water!

Though inside tummy time maxes out at about 5 minutes, Alexander will do 15-20 minutes straight if he's outside.

Photo Drop:

We had a great time (as always) walking with our buddies Elena, Magnus, and Paisley on Friday

 

Magnus shared a squeezy pouch with Alexander

It was his first time with a pouch and with carrots.  He loved it so much he was largely independent in feeding himself!

We are back to waking up throughout the night.  This makes for a very tired mommy.  I'm praying this ends soon and results in some great milestones!

Oh my crew!  We are so blessed!

Who needs sleep when you've got a crew this sweet?  Oh, wait.  I do...

Happy Half Birthday

I can hardly believe it, but our little boy turned six months old this week!

Zoey was excited to sing for her brother

(ignore the closet in the background...that is a project for this weekend)

This is a new face he just started making.  Silly boy!

Milestones:

Alexander has just moved up to size 4 diapers

He loves nearly every food we've tried, and eats a good one to one and a half tablespoon of food during dinner

He loves tummy time in the grass while we wait for daddy to come home

His favorite sound is dada

When he's upset, he rarely cries but instead grunts.  My dad says that the Scottish call this gurning.  We say he has grown from a psycho piglet to a little pig

His new nickname is Potatoes (as in sack of potatoes) and we love to call our babies Trodle and Potatoes.  Sounds like a yummy snack, huh?!

He still seems to love school and all the activity it involves

He eats every three hours, six ounces if it's from a bottle

He is sleeping so well!  Praise God!  He now goes down consistently around 7:30, dream feeds just before I go to sleep, and then only wakes up once to eat, usually somewhere between 3:30 and 4:30 and then wakes up for the day between 5:30 and 6:30

He takes 3-4 naps a day, with at least one being over an hour

He loves the water and his float

Memories:

My dad came down and then unexpectedly had to go back home the same day.

Though we were disappointed to see him go, we made the most of every minute we had.

Alexander reached out for him immediately

 He was fascinated by Granpop's glasses, so he had to ditch them

 Being six months old, the risk of SIDS for our little man has decreased significantly, so we have transitioned him into his own room.  We started out with him sleeping in a pack n' play while we waited for his crib to be delivered.

During my dad's short visit, he helped me put the crib together.  In total, it took 5.5 hours!  

What a big job!  I hope tonight is a good night in the new, much bigger bed.

 Alexander watched the action while playing on the floor

I was looking forward to spending Father's Day with my dad, but hopefully Granpops will get to come back for a longer visit real soon!

Mayhem & My Mama

It's been busy, busy, busy around the Martin household!

Since Memorial Day, little man took his first trip to the ER when he reached a fever of 103.1

Luckily, the doctors found nothing wrong other than slight congestion, so probably a virus.

We also closed on the Fairfax house, which was the hardest mortgage our banker says he has ever experienced.  It took nearly five months, but all the t's are crossed, i's are dotted, and we are the proud owners of another rental property.  We are extremely grateful to Daniel's parents for this opportunity!

After being sick for two days, Alexander's sleep took a turn for the worst, with him wanting to be held and rocked in order to sleep, waking up every TWENTY minutes if he was put down.  It was rough!

During this intense sleep disaster, my mom came down for a visit.  

While here, she bravely offered Daniel and me a night out.

We took advantage and had delicious hibachi and played at Adventure Zone.  It is nearly unbelievable, but I beat Daniel by two strokes!  We had a bet going on who would buy dessert, and I was given four strokes that I clearly didn't need!!!!

My mom got a bit flustered by the littlest Martin's mayhem, but in the end we all had a good evening.

That night when we got home, we all toughed it out through a night of modified crying it out.  My heart nearly broke, but it paid off with three wonderful nights.

On Wednesday night I went out for a spouse's social, and left Daniel to do our now very regimented evening routine.  Whether it was an unintentional change in the routine, the absence of mommy, or just a move in the cycle, we have not had a good night's sleep since.

On one of these nights, all the cars in our neighborhood got ransacked.  Unfortunately, I had left my keys and my wallet in my car.  Though I was blessed that the thief did not steal my car, I had to play hookie to have our house re-keyed.  I also had to get all new cards and IDs.

After taking care of the necessary safety measures around the house, Alexander and I headed up to school for our Thursday meeting and a celebration for Lynsie's birthday.  Alexander was thrilled to hang out with Dylan!

Mayhem can cease now!

Meanwhile, Alexander continues to change every day.  He is using beginning consonant sounds and sitting up stronger and stronger.  He also rocks during tummy time, looking like he's trying to push into crawling position.

His main communication is grunting, which is not the most pleasant sound, so we are trying hard to reinforce the more language based sounds.

He eats baby oatmeal as part of our evening routine and still loves fruit and peanut butter.

Photo Drop