Category Archives: Alex

All About Alex – September 2015

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alex-and-the-mustachIt’s hard to believe my little guy is two! It seems like it was only a few months ago when he was a tiny baby making little old man faces. Now he just puts on the occasional mustache when he wants to look like one.

  • Hotdog! A few months back we started watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the mornings before daycare. Alex has become a big fan. He loves to “dance” when the hotdog song comes on. For the most part, his dancing consists of stomping around the front room and attempting to sing along with it. He’s not able to actually say all of the words, but his bellowing is mostly on-pitch. It’s pretty cute.

    He’s now also become a fan of Paw Patrol. Needless to say our mornings before daycare are pretty cartoon-filled. (At least it keeps the kids somewhat entertained so I’m able to get ready for work.)

  • Just Like Brother. Alex wants to be just like his big brother so everything Leo does, Alex is quick to follow. Leo starts playing with something, Alex wants to play too. Leobrotherly-love goes somewhere, Alex goes too. Leo picks his nose or jumps off the couch, Alex
    picks his nose and jumps off the couch.

    You get the picture.

    It works out great for me when I need to get Alex to cooperate. Leo seems to understand for the most part, so he’s pretty quick to help.

    The only downside is Alex is pretty upset each time Leo goes to his dad’s house. Every morning Alex will wake up and look over at Leo’s bed. When Leo’s not there, he’ll ask, “Where’s Leo?” over and over. It’s sad, but it makes me appreciate how well they get along together. I know he’ll understand the situation a little more as he gets older.

  • Baby Love. Man oh man, Alex loves his baby Kate. I’d been a little nervous about how he would handle having a new baby in the house and having to share attention, but he’s been great. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a bit of a bull in the china closet, so we have to make sure he doesn’t squish her too much. He loves to give her hugs and super drool-filled kisses. At daycare drop-off. At bedtime. Whenever he walks by her. It’s pretty constant.Alex is also infatuated with her tiny feet and holding her hand. He loves to look at herbig-brother feet, and then compare them to his. And he likes to push his finger into Kate’s little clinched fists so she is hanging onto it. I have a feeling they’re going to be best friends (and enemies) real soon!
  • Crayons For Coloring. Only a few short months ago, Alex couldn’t be trusted around crayons. He might spend a few moments holding them, attempting a crafty_alexscribble. But as soon as he thought no one was looking, the crayons would end up in his mouth. Fast forward to Saturday morning when Leo was at the table working on some homework. Leo spent a full hour coloring and drawing on construction paper and never once put anything in his mouth. I consider it a win! Not only did his teeth stay white, he actually sat down and did one thing for more than five minutes – that’s no small feat in our household!

The Poop Master

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It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. As it turns out, managing life with two kids hasn’t left a lot of time for blogging. I’m going to try to do better moving forward, but with a third on the way in August, I’m not making any promises. So instead of dwelling on my inconsistency, I’ve decided to share my funny morning story (that’s been more of a regular occurrence than I’d prefer).

This morning, unlike most, I was able to get completely ready for work before the boys were awake. Score! As I was putting on my (minimal) makeup and combing my hair, I could hear Alex’s crib mattress creaking and tell he was up. But he was being pretty quiet, and I thought, “No harm in finishing up here since he’s so content.”

Oh. My. What a mistake…

Roughly 10 minutes later I walked into a very poopy-smelling room to find this. Look mom. I took off my own poopy diaper!

My “little helper” had very generously removed his pajama pants. And his poop-filled diaper. And tried to take care of the situation by throwing the poop out of his crib (or, as I discovered a bit later, dropping a big handful behind the crib, causing it to smear all over the wall).

He was in the process of stomping on the little poop bits that didn’t make it outside the crib, thereby grinding them into his crib sheet, as I was walking through the door of the boy’s room. (It was reminiscent of the I Love Lucy episode where Lucy and Ethel were smashing grapes to make wine. While Alex wasn’t smashing grapes, it was almost as funny.)

All I could do was laugh. And take a photo (I’ll need something to embarrass him with during his teenage years, right?). And draw an emergency bath while Alex as still contained in the poop-covered crib. While I was doing so, Alex proceeded to pee. It was clear he felt bad about the amount of cleaning his crib was going to require, so he made sure to pee right through the crib railings into a nice puddle on the carpeted floor. That way I wouldn’t need to spend any additional time on the crib, but maybe a bit more time on the floor.

Oh my little poop master. You bring such excitement to our lives!

Motherhood, the Second Time

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Throughout my pregnancy, I wondered whether I could handle another baby. I was confident I wanted a second child (I’d like to have three or four kids eventually), and I felt like I was really starting to get the hang of this mom-thing with Leo. (It only took about 4 years… that’s probably normal, right?) But I wasn’t sure how I’d handle all the challenges a new baby presents along with taking care of Leo and making sure he was still getting plenty of love, attention and parenting time.

We’re a little over a month into this new adventure, and I’d have to say I think I’ve adjusted pretty well. In fact, mothering seems so much more comfortable this time around. I can’t really tell whether it’s because I’m not “new” at the mom thing anymore and have realized there’s no need to stress over the small stuff. Or, if Alex is just a little bit easier of a baby than Leo was. I’m guessing it’s probably a combination of both.

Seriously, Alex is very chill. He cries when he’s hungry and when I’m changing his diaper. (There’s something about a cold wet wipe against his little baby butt that he doesn’t love.) Other than that, he’s a pretty content kid. I get up twice a night to feed him, but it’s pretty regular so at least I’ve been able to adjust to a somewhat comfortable schedule to accommodate it. Overall I’m probably getting around 6-9 hours of sleep a night. (I realize that will probably only be 6 when I’m back at work and can’t partake in the morning naps like I have these past few weeks.) But for now, it’s working well.

Honestly though, Leo wasn’t exactly a problem-baby. We struggled with irregular sleeping and he had a touch of colic where pretty much nothing I did could make him happy. But in reality, I know lots of other moms with babies that have struggled much more than we did. And Leo’s adorable smiles made it tolerable.

I really think the biggest piece comes from the experience I have under my belt. I’m not over-analyzing things like I did with Leo. I don’t spend every waking minute trying to read everything I possibly can on the internet so I can be super mom. I just flat out don’t have time for that. I have to be mom, and keep the house intact, and get the groceries, and spend time doing fun things with Leo. So my approach is much more fluid this time around. Alex just comes along and gets things done with me. Not even six weeks old and this kid has made several trips to the grocery store, to work, to daycare, to the park, to Kansas City and Emporia and lots of places between. He’s my mobile, go-with-the-flow baby.

The thing I’ve loved best about motherhood the second time around, is to see how much Leo loves his baby brother. I smile every time Leo stops what he’s doing to come over and give Alex a kiss. And when he helps try to sooth Alex in the car. And when he tries to play with Alex. And when he tells his daycare friends, “Come look at MY baby.” Seeing their bond, even at this early stage, is more special and means more to me than I ever could imagine. Leo’s an excellent big brother and Alex is going to love him so much!

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