Almost 1

So, I haven't written in awhile. You are 6 days away from being 1 year old now! Oh, how time flies. I look back at old pics of you and can hardly believe you were so little, then to chubby. You are a toddler now. You go go go all day long. You're walking like a pro & learning new things constantly. I feel like every day I wake up and you are doing something new. You started clapping a few days ago. You are always so proud when you have a new skill to show off. You are still a mama's boy, but you are really bonding with daddy now, too. You guys play and rough house and you love it. You're a total boy. You're also so sweet and lovey. You're like that sour patch commercial, sour then sweet, lol. You are the pickiest eater!! I can't even trick you into eating vegetables. You're so smart and imaginative. You're observant and rambunctious. You're totally awesome and I love every moment with you. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world to be able to call you my son. You're absolutely perfect... aside from the fact that you NEVER sleep. I swear I feel like I haven't slept in over a year. I look forward to the day that we can both just go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning. :)

I can't even begin to describe how incredible my love is for you. You literally complete me. I love you with all that I have & I can't imagine a life without you in it. I look forward to spending all of your birthdays until forever with you. Mommy loves you more than the moon and the stars, Alex Francisco.

Love love love,
Mommy.♥

10 Months Old!!

oh my boy! you are getting so big! You're so outgoing and fun! You're a happy baby and you're so photogenic! I love being able to spend every day with you. Your starting to stand up all by yourself and you're even cruising furniture. It won't be long at all before you're walking! I love you so very much, my handsome boy!

love, love, love,
Mama.♥

Your First Halloween!

Oh, your first Halloween was so much fun! The weekend before we went to the pumpkin patch. You weren't all that thrilled, but mommy and daddy had fun. On Halloween day, Grammie and I took you to HRDC to do a little trick or treating. You dressed as a dinosaur. We got all kinds of good candy. Once daddy got off work, we went to Laurel to visit Grandma and got lots of candy from her, too. We planned on driving back to Billings and trick or treating at a few houses, but you had such a fun day that you fell asleep without a peep before we even got back. :)

It was all a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the rest of your "first" holidays :) yay!

love, love, love,
Mommy.♥

9 Months Old

You are doing so much these days! You started crawling the day after you turned 8 months old and you have started pulling up. You also said mama for the first time. :) You LOVE to be tickled. It's the best way to get a good laugh out of you. You are so fun to be around. Your little personality is really starting to shine through. You are still a mama's boy, but you are really starting to love daddy too. When he comes home, you crawl full force over to him so he can give you hugs and kisses. You love to eat! I swear you are a bottomless pit. You have 4 teeth now, 2 on top and 2 on bottom. You are just absolutely amazing! Mommy & daddy love you so much!!

Love, love, love,
Mommy.♥

We Officially Have a Crawler

You started crawling tonight!! You have been getting up on all fours and rocking for about a week or two and tonight you were able to actually move & you wanna know what you crawled to? Snacks. Of course. My little chunky boy. Eek, so exciting! I guess we are in a whole new playing field now with a mobile baby! Bring it on, little man. :)

Love, love, love,
Mama. ♥

8 Months Old

You are now 8 months old and you are doing all kinds of new things. You officially have 4 teeth. Two on the top and two on the bottom. When we were at the doctor last week, you weighed 20 lbs 5 oz. You are babbling like crazy saying, "dadadada" & "babababa" & the occassional, "mamamama". You are so close to crawling! You are constantly up on all fours rocking, but aren't quite moving yet. You are able to pull yourself up into a standing position but you are not quite grasping the concept that you have to continue to hold on to stay up. You are able to go from you belly to the sitting position. You put EVERYTHING in your mouth. You have started eating finger foods. You're sleeping is getting much better. You are now waking once or twice a night instead of 5-7 times a night, which is fantastic for the whole family! You are just a ton of fun. I feel like you are learning something new everyday. It's the most amazing experience watching you shape into a little person. Your personality is amazing and you are so dang cute. I think daddy is loving that you are getting a little older and becoming a bit more fun. We are just enjoying every day with you and every milestone you have been reaching. We love you so very much and can't wait to continue watching you grow!


love, love, love,
mama.♥

7 months old

Wow, you are now 7 months old. You are starting to become quite the little person. You have 2 teeth on the bottom. You are wanting to crawl soo bad! You get up on all fours but aren't quite coordinated enough yet to crawl. I imagine it won't be long. You are finally rolling from you back to your belly but only in your crib when you want to be sleeping on your belly. Your sleep is still pretty rough but we are working on it. We have good nights and bad. You're just an amazing kid and I'm loving getting to watch you grow and develop.

love, love, love,
mama.♥

We Finally Have a Tooth

After 3 long, exhausting days of screaming, your first tooth finally popped through yesterday!
So on July 23, 2013 you got your very first tooth! My baby is growing way too fast!

At least you were finally happy :)

6 Months Old! HALF A YEAR!

You are now 6 months old. Your half birthday lands on the 4th of July! Your first 4th of July was just fantastic! We went to Laurel for the day. We started at the park with Cherish and Lucas and it unfortunately down poured. On the bright side, Cherish brought a nice big umbrella that the four of us spent about 45 minutes under waiting for the rain to subside. After the rain finally let up we decided to get something to eat. Since there had been so much rain, the vendors had water collected on top of their canopies. While we were getting our food, the vendor decided to use a stick to push the water off. It was a great idea except all the water landed right on top of you! You were soaking wet but you barely cried. You're such a trooper. After that I figured it was a good idea to head home to Grandma Silvia's, so we could go to Nickie's for her annual 4th of July party. It was a ton of fun. You just let everyone hold you and love on you. You were asleep during the fireworks but I would still say it was a pretty successful holiday.

Now onto your stats. At your 6 month appointment you weighed in at 19 lbs. 6 oz.! My big boy. You were 26.8 inches. So basically you're short and chubby but we love you that way! The doctor said you are perfect and developing great! You are now sitting on your own! You are so happy and social! You are still a mama's boy and I wouldn't have it any other way!

& of course some pictures!

Distracted...

All wore out after the festivities

mmm.. pickles

This past weekend you and I went to visit some of our family. Everyone absolutely adored you of course and EVERYONE wanted to feed you. I was lenient since we were on vacation. You got to taste pineapple, jerky, carrots, licorice, & pickles! You pretty much loved everything. You are mama's little foodie!

Just hagin with the ladies

 

My Boy... My sleepless, stubborn, yet oh so sweet little boy.

Oh Alex Jr... You are really giving mama a run for her money. You are consistently waking every 1-2 hours at night & I am just plain exhausted. Tonight we started cry it out. It makes me so sad to hear you cry but I have no idea how else to help you. We both need our rest and the way things are going we are not getting it. I love you so very much, I just need you to always know that! Besides that you are getting so big! You are quite the foodie. You will pretty much devour anything I put to your mouth. You love prunes, pears, sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, & avocados (as long as I mix them into something else). Bananas are your fave but they unfortunately constipate you so you can only have them every once in awhile. You are almost fully sitting on your own. You will now sit for about 1 minute before tumbling over. It is so amazing watching you learn new things. 

love love love,
mama.♥

"HEY! Give me back my licorice!"

Sleepy at the pool

Such a happy boy! Mama just loves you to pieces!

Yum! Yum! Prunes & oatmeal everywhere!

Using your sippy like a big boy

Light of my life!

Tongue & Lip Tie Revision: Portland, OR

Before & After Revision

Well Daddy, you, & me took a trip all the way to Portland Oregon to have your tongue and lip tie revised. It was such a long drive and you absolutely HATED being in the car seat for almost 3 whole days (there & back). You did so well though! They took you away from us for the procedure for only about 5 minutes and you were very upset when you came back but you were smiling before we even left the clinic. You then fell asleep the moment we started driving. I was a nervous wreck the whole week leading up to the procedure, but it was really no big deal at all. Dr. Ghaheri was great. He explained everything to us and was very kind (he even said you seemed like an awesome kid). Your nursing still needs work, but it is definitely getting better! You didn't seem to be in pain at all after the procedure and you never refused to nurse, which I was quite worried about. We even went to do some sight seeing at Multnomah Falls after you napped. It was absolutely beautiful & of course you just LOVED the nature! Although the trip was grueling and long, I am so happy the procedure is done & you are doing so well!|

Update (7/26/13): Well we are about 2 months post revision now. Your nursing is sooo much better despite some minor reattachment! It isn't always perfect but the improvement is definitely dramatic. You are still a lazy latcher when you are sleepy, but it is bearable. You have started solids and you do not gag or choke at all, even when you are fed chunks of fruits or veggies. You are now able to take a bottle and even a sippy cup but you have no interest in the paci, which is completely fine with me. You are just now getting your first two bottom teeth so I would imagine those top ones are close behind. I'm looking forward to seeing how they come in. I am so glad we had this procedure done. It was worth the long drive and I think if you could talk, you would definitely agree! :)

Fast asleep after your procedure

5 Months Old!

Baby boy, you are growing faster than I can keep up with! 5 months already! I can hardly believe it! You are such a joy of a child. You are learning to sit on your own and can even sit unassisted for about 10 seconds! You are chatty chatty and love to be talked to! You light up the room wherever you go and people can't help but smile and talk to you. You have the biggest, brightest, most beautiful smile! Your sleeping still pretty much sucks but I'm learning to function on next to no sleep. You started solids on your 5 month birthday. You tried avocados and weren't a very big fan, so we tried bananas instead and you LOVED them. Unfortunately they made you pretty constipated so we recently moved onto prunes. Hmm, what else? You are just developing the most awesome personality. You're fun, active, and oh so sweet. You love being outside. If you're fussy or grumpy, a little sit on the steps is enough to make you happy again! I just love you so very much, son & so does everyone else. You're growing up is becoming so bittersweet. I look forward to your next milestone but also want you to stay my little baby. Oh, you are also teething STILL! I can see the outline of your two bottom teeth but they just don't want to come through. Anyway, I love you so very much!!

Love, love love,
Mama.♥

Sleep!!

After a month and half of next to no sleep, you finally slept for 5 straight hours last night!! YAY! We seen your pediatrician yesterday and he told me to put you down sleepy but awake. I thought he was crazy and that it would never work but after laying you down about 10 times, you finally fell asleep. You are now taking your morning nap and you have been sleeping for an hour and 45 minutes when you usually only sleep 45 minutes to an hour! I am ecstatic!! :)

Tongue & Lip Tie

I'd like to start by saying that even before getting pregnant, I have been very passionate about breastfeeding my children. What I didn't know or realize is how difficult and frustrating it really can be. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I began reading. I read everything from magazines, to online articles to books. ("So That's What They're For" by Janet Tamaro is a great book by the way). I was determined to breastfeed and know everything I needed to know beforehand. I honestly thought breastfeeding would be so natural and enjoyable.

When my son was born, he latched almost immediately and ate for a few minutes. The next day however, I was not so lucky. Baby Alex began to not latch and developed jaundice. I partly blame myself because I was so tired and allowed him to sleep for 6 hours straight with no feedings, so I could sleep as well. Anyway, I ended up having to supplement with 10 cc's of formula to get his blood sugar back up. From then on I woke him every 3 hours to feed but had to use a nipple shield in order to get him latched on. I continued with the nipple shield for about a week and then with lots of practice, I able to get him latched without it.

As the weeks went by, I realized that something wasn't quite right. Although my son was gaining properly and seemed to be transferring milk correctly, things just didn't feel right. I felt as if he was pinching my nipple. It was unbearable. I would literally cringe whenever he could latch on (& my nipples came out of his mouth very misshapen), and we would just cry together whenever he couldn't. There were so many late nights that I seriously contemplated just making him a bottle of formula and handing him off to daddy just so I could get a wink of sleep. Of course that wouldn't have made a difference since he could not hold onto a bottle whatsoever. After a few weeks had passed and I knew this wasn't just normal beginning breastfeeding pain, I finally went to see a lactation consultant. Alex was about three weeks at this time. That is when I learned my precious son was tongue tied. Before that day, I had barely even heard about tongue ties and had no idea how they could affect my breastfeeding relationship. I did my research and called a few doctors and found a doctor who would snip little man's tie. I was so nervous but the procedure took about 2 seconds and Alex seemed more annoyed that the doctor had his hand in his mouth than anything else. Unfortunately, I didn't notice much of a change in the way he was latching. The lactation consultant said everything looked good and that maybe I should give it a few days and see what happened.

 After a few days had passed and still no change, I began doing more research and found information on lip ties. I nervously lifted Alex's top lip up to find that he indeed had an upper lip tie. I went back to the doctor who told me that the lip tie would not affect breastfeeding and that my son would most likely fall in the future and end up tearing it (awesome!). He also mentioned that my son had a posterior tongue tie but that he was unable to take care of it. I was devastated. I thought my breastfeeding days would soon be over. I began pumping in preparation, but luckily I was able to stick through it and am still going strong at 4 months.

I was determined to have a good breastfeeding relationship. So, I dealt with the pain and continued doing my research. It seemed as if no one really understood the affects of tongue and lip ties except for other mothers who had children with them. I could not find anyone in my area who would even look at my son's ties, let alone do something about them.

Finally, I stumbled upon a group on Facebook called, Tongue Tie Babies Support Group and lo and behold, lip and tongue ties are far from rare and far from being, "no big deal." The group had so much great information and support that I finally made the decision to find a doctor as close to us as possible and make the trip to get these ties taken care of once and for all. Unfortunately, during this time we were also battling thrush for 2+ months but that's a whole 'nother story.

Anyway, we now have our appointment set up and are prepared to take a 13 hour road trip to Portland, OR. I am a bag of mixed emotions. I am so nervous for my precious bubby, but I know it will be worth it in the end, not only for our breastfeeding relationship but also for his speech development and hygiene later on in his life. I really hope this procedure gives us some relief and allows both him and I to benefit from breastfeeding in the way that nature intended.

Lip Tie... getting a pic of his tongue was impossible.

First Zoo Trip

A couple of weekends ago, I took you on your first trip to the zoo! Of course you didn't really know what was going on but you loved being outside! We walked around for two hours with Chelsea and her family. You go so wore out you fell asleep before we even drove out of the parking lot!

My First Mother's Day!

Oh what a joy it is to be your mother. I'm so blessed, proud, and joyful that I get to wake up everyday and call you my son. I look forward to many, many more Mother's Days spend with you!