Before I was a Mom.....

My sister sent me an email today with the below and I thought I would post it here to share:

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that some thing so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

Did I get it all????

All the poop, that is! Poor Alex is still sick, and Mommy isn't feeling great, either! He's had a couple more episodes of projectile vomit and a few bouts of diarrhea....the last of which I just finished cleaning off of his neck, back, stomache, hands, ME...DISGUSTING! He's finally asleep in his swing now and I need to take a shower and clean myself off. Plus yesterday I started feeling really nauseus and like I am coming down with it now. Guess it was only a matter of time, with all the poop, and vomit I have touched over the last few days! Fun stuff....

6 month well, but not-so-well, visit

Alex had his 6 month well-visit today. Except it was more than a "well visit" bc yesterday he projectile vomitted in the car and this morning he had diarrhea. Fun stuff. But the doc says he's just got that darn tummy bug (again!) and other than that he is doin great! He weighed 15 lbs 10 oz (20 %) and is almost 27 inches long
(50%). He is officially out of the 5th % for everything, even his head which is now in the 10%. GOOD boy! My boy is growing up so fast ;-) I think he's gonna be a tall one!

He did "ok" with his shots....I mean, are they ever fun?! But he's a trooper. He's more clingy than usual but he's ok. And I don't mind cuddling with him!

I introduced him to a sippy cup today. He's definitely intrigued by it but doesn't quite get the concept of the mouth spout having to go into his mouth. He'll learn. Oh and he actually gave me a high-five today. At first I thought it was a coincidence but he did it a few times. So freakin cute! Right now he is happy as can be laying on the floor with Buddy petting his ear. They are so cute together! Best buds, those two!

Happy Half Birthday, Alexander Jay Eric!

I can not even believe that our lil baby is 6 months old already! He is doing new things almost every day and getting better at previously met milestones, too. He makes raspberries a lot now. He's funny, though bc he makes them to be silly but also when he is mad. And he has been expressing his anger or frustration a lot more recently! His micro-tantrums do not last long but since we were so use to him rarely crying or fussing, even the few minutes here and there are hard to hear. Something else that is changing a bit is his sleeping. He has always been a great sleeper but recently he has started to wake more during the night. Nothing ridiculous where he's crying hysterically or anything but enough to wake me up and have to help make him comfy again. We weaned him off of swaddling bc he has just gotten to long and too strong for it. So I think the sleep thing has something to do with this change. Last night was the first night we put him to bed in a sleep sack and while it took him a bit longer to get to sleep, he slept great. So I am hoping that was the solution.

Two days ago he finally rolled from his back to his tummy, something his Daddy has been working extra hard on getting him to do recently. He is now pretty good at eating solids. So far he has had cereal (although rice did not agree with his lil system!), bananas, sweet potatoes and peas. I started making some of his food which so far has proven to be a lot easier than I had thought. He is chatting up a storm lately and is loving his exersaucer and Jolly Jumper. Changing his outfits and diapers is getting more and more difficult bc he likes to roll around and grab his feet during the changes. He is really liking it when we read him books now, too. And actually we don't even have to read them, just hold them in front of him so he can see the pictures, touch the pages and last night he even started to turn the board pages himself! AMAZING! Oh, and he recognizes his name - I think he responds more to "Alex" than "AJ" so maybe we do call him that more, although I still feel like it's pretty equal.

People keep telling me that as he grows, it'll get better and better, and he'll get more and more fun. I am so torn...on one hand I wanna freeze him at where he is on each day. But on the other hand it is so neat to see him develop and learn more and more each day.

As you all know I take tons of pictures of him. I have a gidzillion folders on our computer with each week, event etc broken up. Then I have a folder that is one picture from each week bday. He is 26 weeks now so that's 26 pictures so far. While some weeks it is a real pain to get that week picture, I am so glad I have been doing this. It is amazing to look at those pictures as a slideshow and see in a blink just how much he has grown each week we've had him. I also have a folder for a picture each month bday which will eventually fill the "1st Year" frame we have in his bedroom. But the week folder tells more of his story and I love looking at it!

Here is one of the photos I took of him today. What a silly, handsome boy!

Alex's Baptism Day

Last Sunday, 12/28/08 Alexander Jay Eric was baptized. It was a wonderful, proud day for us as his parents. When we met with Father Tank a few weeks beforehand, he said something that really resignated with me. He said that we get to be present for this birth. It's such a nice way to look at it. So I guess that's why I got a little choked up during the ceremony. I kept thinking about how we were bringing him into this new life with Jesus. We weren't there for his actual birth but we were there for this one.


He was such a good boy (shocker, I know!) and didn't cry or fidget at all. He almost didn't fit into his baptism outfit (it was the one his cousin Aidan wore), but nobody noticed the top button undone in the back.


We were blessed with a lot of family of friends who came to celebrate with us.








His God-Parents (close friends of ours) seemed so proud and we are so happy they agreed to play this special role in Alex's life.

It was a good day!