Travel and gift advice

Travel:
  We took our first vacation with Alexander.  We went up to Keystone (two hours away) for a week with my parents to enjoy the mountains and do some skiing.  It was nice to have my parents there so that we were able to switch off days skiing and babysitting Alexander.  Packing for this trip was interesting.  I'm pretty sure I brought everything of Alexander's except his furniture and swing.  I had made a list of stuff to bring according to each room.  Therefore I just went in the room with a bag, grabbed the stuff, checked it off the list and I was done.  It worked out pretty well.  We used everything I brought for him except I did over pack clothes for him.  We had a great week.  Of course, Alexander's schedule got completely thrown off by traveling, being on vacation,going out to dinner and the time change.  But once we got home it was back to normal in just a couple days.

Gift Advice:
  So lately my baby monitor has been acting up and not working all the time.  I'm thinking of returning it since I kept the receipt and box.  My advice to new parents is keep all boxes and receipts for your big items and electronics.  The good thing about keeping the bigger boxes is once he is done or outgrown something, we can store back in the box.  We have also had a few electronics just stop working on us so be sure to keep boxes and receipts for simple things like wipes warmer or white sound maker.  Also they say one way to prepare for the baby is wash all the clothes before the baby comes.  My advice is wash about half.  There was some clothes we didn't use and I wish I kept the tags on them.  Most places like Walmart, Target, and Kohl's will let you return some things for store credit if the tags are still on.  The reason we didn't use some of the clothes is that we received some short sleeve onesies.  We barely used any of them since Alexander was born in the middle of winter. Now any new clothes I receive I keep the tags on them until I want use.

Other updates:

Alexander is napping and sleeping in his crib finally.  He has been doing a good job so far.  However the past two nights he has woken up every three to four hours to feed.  I feel like we are going backwards with the sleeping at night except nothing could be as bad as the first month of his life.  I'm still debating in my head if there is something I can do to help Alexander sleep through the night or if he will just do it on his own.

I'm still going to my MOPs group and love it.  I have become friends with some other moms from the group and have starting hanging out with them outside of MOPs.  Yesterday we went to the zoo and had a great time with other moms and their kiddos.  Plus I'm always gaining advice from them since most of them have a toddler and have been through what I'm going through.   I'm excited to say that I will be assistant director of my MOPS group starting next fall.

Things we are looking forward too.

Eric's Mom, Linda, is coming to come stay with for us a week next Tuesday.  Over Easter weekend, we are going back to the midwest to visit my family.  This will be Alexander's first plane trip.

No Longer a Newborn...

Alexander is 3 months old today!!  I can't decided if this a long or short time.  Some say its been short days and long nights.  I definitely will agree with that!  Alexander is no longer consider a newborn but is now an infant.  Some people say its gets easier from this point on.  I don't really know how much I believe that.  Looking back I barely remember the first month.  I remember sleepless nights and Alexander constantly wanting to eat.  I remember my mother being a saint and staying with us that entire month.  Both Eric and I agree we couldn't have done it without her.  The second month, I remember being better.  At 6 weeks, Eric's parents came and helped me get Alexander on a regular feeding schedule.  From 6-8 or 10 weeks, Alexander slept through the night.  At 10 weeks, he had a growth spurt which caused him to eat tons and be fussy all day.  Also during the second month he started to smile.  The third month was easier.  Alexander was on a regular feeding schedule. I could guess pretty good when he wanted nap.  He developed a lot with smiling, watching me around the room, being able to lift his head during tummy time, enjoying tummy time, talking to us, rolling over onto his left side a few times, and just being more interactive.  Things we are currently struggling with is him sleeping through the night and waking up EARLY in the morning.  We have gone back to one feeding in the middle of the night.  However, no matter how long a night is, all the smiles I get from him throughout the day makes up for it.  We are also currently working on a consistent nap schedule for him. 

Other Stats...
Alexander is wearing some 3 month clothes but have outgrown others (depends on the brand).  He wears 3-6 footsies.  He wears size 2 diapers. He still has his bright blue eyes but we still are not sure what color his hair will be.  Originally we thought blonde, then we thought we saw a little red in it.  Now we are thinking blonde again.  Until it gets longer it will be a guessing game.  Since we have don't have a doctor's appointment until 4 months, I don't have a length and weight this month.

This next month we are looking forward to visits from our parents.  My parents will be coming up to spend a week with us in Keystone to enjoy the mountains and do some skiing.  Then the last week, Eric's mom will be coming out to Colorado to spend a week with us.  Over Easter weekend, we take Alexander on his first plane ride to visit family in Wisconsin.  

The book was right.

So in one of my first blogs I talked about how there are nine million books out there you can read about taking care of your baby.  I've always said that the books have good information but in the end as parents you will make the best decision for your baby.  My big issue right now is getting Alexander to sleep through the night right now.  He did it before, I know he can do it again.  Lately we were putting him down at 9:30pm.  He would wake up at 3:30am for a diaper change.  Then he would wake up at 5am.  From 5am - 7am he goes in and out of sleep.  So I went to the books.  I found out the 5am wake up is normal.  They say if you can stretch it out from him getting up for the day the better because otherwise 5am will be come his wake up time.  We stretch it to 7:30am every day.  The other thing I read was that Alexander should be going to bed from 7pm-8pm.  Now Eric and I being new parents were afraid to put him to bed early because we were afraid he would wake up early.  However we also read if you put your baby to bed late when he is overtired then he may actually wake up more during the night. The book also says that the baby will not wake up earlier because of the number of hours they need.   So last night we tried it.  We had been giving him a feeding at 7pm to have those last couple hours be better for us.  Instead of that bottle at 7pm I started his bedtime routine.  I bathed him, massage with lotion, swaddle, and fed.  He was in bed about 7:30pm.  He woke up at 9pm (pacifier), 1am (diaper change), and 5am-7am on and off (pacifier).  In the end he made it to 7:30am as usually. So the book was right.  He also woke up calmly.  The book said that a baby that wakes up crying is still tired.  Alexander woke up not crying and to keep on our daily schedule we have been doing, I got up at 7:30am.  I'm excited about this new bedtime because it will give me more time at night to do things.  For example last night, I finally washed the kitchen floor which badly needed to be done.  Tonight I plan to clean our bathroom.  I'm also excited to get out the sewing machine I got for Christmas.  This also gives me more time to spend with Eric and for him and I to have "us" time.

Other updates:
I'm 5lbs away from being back to my pre-preggo weight.  P90x has been going well.  I haven't been doing their diet but Eric and I have been making better eating choices. 

Alexander will be 3 months on the 7th!!  They say the first three months are the hardest and I'm excited for surviving it!  However more about that when I write the 3 month blog.