I never knew laughing could be so cute :)

Alexander first smiled shortly before he turned 2 months old.  Of course, this was the cutest thing Morgan or I had ever seen.

A few months later, he had occasional little giggles.  They were very sporadic and short, and sometimes we couldn't tell if he was making happy giggle sounds or on-the-verge-of-getting-upset sounds...but the times we could tell, we thought those giggles were the cutest ever.

But laughing totally takes the cake.  Last week Alexander laughed, really laughed for more than a second or two!  And it really is the cutest thing possible :)  Hearing a baby laugh is the best - they can't hide their emotions (and don't even try), so when a baby is laughing for a while you know they are really happy.  Which makes you even happier and willing to do silly things, like make weird sounds while shaking your head back and forth so your hair falls all over your face, so that they laugh even more.  It's a great cycle :)

Jumping boy!

We got this jumper used for $20.  I thought Alexander would probably like it, but nope, he loves it!  He was not sure how to work it at first, so his legs just dangled there for the most part :) but now he bounces himself up and down the whole time he is in there.  It's pretty cute!

Food!

So Alexander has been dying to eat regular food.  For months, he has noticed when we eat, but over the past month he has watched us eat more and more intently.  He will stop playing with toys to stare at us eat, which I think is funny, but he has been getting more and more stressed that he doesn't get anything.  It seemed like he was definitely ready to try some food, but since he is just over 5 months I wasn't sure yet.

Two nights ago, though, we decided to give him food after he was upset and crying about not getting food.  I wasn't ready with home-prepared food for him this early but I did have a can of salt-free sweet peas, so those got mashed up and strained and watered down.  The end result looked kind of gross, actually.  But Alexander certainly didn't mind! :)

He did impressively well at keeping the food in his mouth and swallowing it - he hardly got messy at all!  Now I just need to decide what to try next after the peas...suggestions?

In other news, Xander had been sleeping in his bouncer chair every night up until a week ago.  He just had a hard time sleeping more than a couple hours in his pack and play, so I had been putting him down for naps there, but nighttime just wasn't working there.  Plus when he spits out his pacifier, a few times per night, he was way closer for me to put it back in :)  Last Friday he fell asleep in my arms and I decided to just try putting him in the pack and play for the night...and he slept there all night!  Well he woke up once needing the pacifier reapplied, but then he fell back asleep there.  And he has slept there every night since, no problemo!  We are very impressed by how well he took to it...well, it only took 5 months, but he is doing well there now... :)

Basically our little boy is growing up, and while that makes me happy and he is so fun right now, it also makes me sad since he is so different from when he was younger!  I guess that's how things go, but I just wish I could have him both ways.  I mean, you just can't compare this

to this.  Both stages are too cute for words :)

Red, white, and blue in photos

So here are the promised pictures of us in our Independence Day finery. Enjoy!

Happy (late) Independence Day!

Excuse the lack of blogging, Alexander has been sick with a cold this whole week and then he got me sick :( Good thing I love him!

Independence Day was, as usual, a good chance to think about the ideals this country was founded with and all the many sacrifices that have been made for us. It has taken so much thought and effort to give us the freedoms we have. I appreciate those greatly, though I do not think of it as often as I should. The mandatory American Heritage class at BYU is generally complained about for being hard, but learning about the founding of this country should require a little effort for us, right? It was one of my favorite classes and I should read more books on this topic. Any recommendations?

I wanted to show you how Alexander and I dressed up in patriotic colors/clothing- though Alexander's participation in this was not of his choice, I'm sure he will appreciate it when he gets older :) Sadly, though, I can't get pictures of him to upload from my iPhone, as I am blogging from the road (I feel so technologically connected and cool!) on our way to Cleveland for the weekend. I will work to rectify this situation- check back soon for pictures of cuteness :)

A mother's intuition (or: a birth story, part one)

So back when I was still pregnant, maybe around Christmastime, I thought I might have little guy early.  I sort of tried to convince myself that I was probably just nervous that I wouldn't be prepared, or trying to steel myself against a 42-week pregnancy...but really I DID think he would come early.  So I got everything ready at work (to which I was not coming back, so really I took home everything I cared about and organized everything else so it looked like I was organized and such.  I'm good at putting on a show when I know what to do ahead of time.).  And when I went grocery shopping at 36 1/2 weeks, I bought a lot of meat and made a big casserole and two crockpots of meat and then froze it all.  With labeled and dated bags and everything.  Apparently my form of nesting has to do with food...which I and my stomach don't mind :)

Then on my 37-week date (2 days before actual labor started), I had some Braxton Hicks contractions while at work.  And I told a couple coworkers, who were all worried about me and thought I didn't know what I was doing since I had technically never had a baby before.  Pshah!  I knew that the contractions weren't frequent or strong enough to foreshadow anything imminent.  And I was right, since they went away after a few hours.

The next day, Friday, I found out there was an overtime opportunity at work.  People were coming in the next morning (Saturday) to organize things in preparation for a move.  I tried to convince myself, even until Saturday morning, that I should go and it would only be a few hours and we could use the extra money...but my intuition said no, and I felt like I was coming down with a cold, so I finally decided not to go in.

So Saturday afternoon around 2, I was out driving and noticed that I was feeling contractions.  For the first time since Thursday.  And they were 10 minutes apart.  I was still almost 3 weeks early, and I tried to tell myself that I was worrying over nothing...but my intuition told me to worry and be hormonal, because I was in labor!  Fun times!  But I still wasn't sure until I (potential TMI alert!) used the bathroom and saw that it was pretty bloody.  Yeah, that was a sign that my intuition and logical side agreed on.  TMI alert over...for now.

So I called the doctor, but had to leave a message since it was the weekend (and it wasn't even my doctor, since she sadly was not on call that weekend :( ).  And then I called Morgan and was crying because that's just what you do when you're in labor and not at home and kinda freaking out.  The doctor called and said I would still have a while, and she wasn't sure if I was even in labor (except I knew that I was!  I guess that's probably the safe thing to say, though, to nervous pregnant women, but I still didn't appreciate it).  So I drove home, which seemed to take forever!  And Morgan hugged me and said it was all right and that we were together and that we had everything (hospital bag, etc.) prepared and we would be fine if the baby was coming now.  Which was totally the RIGHT thing to say (doctors take note!), I have the sweetest husband :)

What Morgan didn't tell me until later (like, hours after Alexander was born) was that he didn't believe I was actually in labor until about 10 pm, when we were in triage for the second time and they confirmed that I was in active labor.  Good thing he still supported me and walked with me and did NOT tell me that he didn't think I was in labor.  You don't argue with a mother's intuition!

I'm back. No really.

So...obviously I have not written for a while.  And obviously I am not still pregnant.  Luckily the body does not do 60-week pregnancies (man that would hurt!).  Here is me a while ago, about 36 weeks pregnant:

 And then the next week, Alexander decided to come early.  Fine with me, since his head is kinda big and I'm a small person and the mechanics of that are slightly complicated.  Birth story post to come, but I needed to start with something else so that I actually blog something rather than avoiding the bigness of everything I want to blog about the past four months.  Don't worry, it will come.  Just be assured that I am smaller than the afore-posted picture, and Alexander is big and fat and healthy :)  Pictures of him will come, too.

In the meantime, I am a cooking expert!  Well not really, but last week I made a chicken pot pie using Morgan's mom's recipe.  AND I made the crust from scratch, also using her recipe (since she is a great cook!).  I was already proud of myself for doing that, but then I took the pie out of the oven - and just look at it!

  
I know!  I somehow made the perfect pie crust!  Morgan may have mentioned that it was the best chicken pot pie he ever had (and this is his favorite food!) and I was even more proud of myself.  The good kind of proud, mind you.  Man, just looking at it is making me hungry.  Luckily Morgan thought to suggest (mid-dinner) that I take a picture of it; otherwise, you wouldn't have the chance to also be salivating right now.  You're welcome :)