A Week of Firsts

This was definitely a week of many firsts. First and foremost – this was the first week that Alex was happy more than he was upset. Yes - Mr. Alex seems to have taken a turn for the better. It really is amazing.
We ended up going to the doctor because he was having a really hard time getting back down at nights and almost sounded as though he was having a hard time breathing – wheezing, etc. And, of course, as soon as I mentioned that, they wanted to see us right away. The doctor thinks that he has some post nasal drip going on and that, mixed with the acid is causing him to be uncomfortable. So, she increased his medication and we now have a humidifier in our room. Both seem to be helping, because he is a different child! He almost never cries during the day any more except when he is tired. Which, brings me to our next first. Even though he has gotten better, he still will not sleep during the day unless he is being walked in the stroller or driven in the car. SO – instead of fighting it, I decided the other day to just walk him to get him to take a nap. Avery was taking a nap and Josh was gone, so I decided that I would just walk him in our yard. I did that for about 5 minutes and he was out. I thought about taking him out and putting him in his room, but then realized, why rock the boat? So, for the first time ever, I just left my child sitting in the middle of the yard sleeping. Now – some may think this is a bit cruel. However, you will note that he is sitting in the shade AND I have that marvelous bubble around him that my sister sent to me (and, that I use daily) AND, I decided to take advantage of two children sleeping and to sit in the sun on the deck, which was relatively near where he was. So, really, I wasn’t all that bad of a parent – I’d like to consider myself smart, actually.

Here he is looking happy! Well, not really happy because he hasn't really started smiling yet, but content...



Alex also found his hands for the first time a little over a week ago. It's pretty cute- you'll be holding him and all of a sudden you"ll hear this sucking sound - sure enough, he's sucking on his fist.


The next first was Miss Avery’s first real temper tantrum. Wow – this was a doozy. Don’t worry –I will not include a picture of this one (not that I have one anyway – can you imagine??? Now THAT would be the ultimate blogger – a mom who insists on photographing her child’s temper tantrum…). We were at the beach and something happened while she was up at the bathroom with Josh. The next thing I knew – I could hear a screaming child coming back down to the beach (mind you – the bathroom and where I was sitting on the beach are NOT close, which gives you an indication of how loud this tantrum was). When she got down to where I was, she preceded to throw her hat on the ground and scream, at which point, her father reached the end and dragged her back to the car kicking and screaming – all of this while probably 10 families turned around to see what the deal was. Lovely.
Unfortunately, that tantrum was the beginning of a pretty rough couple of days. I think that she has reached the point of, “Why the hell is HE still here??” and she is letting us know about it by whining, crying and just generally being very difficult. These are the times as a parent that you wish there was a rule book that told you what you should be doing in these situations. I’m still learning, but so far ignoring her seems to be a good way. If it gets really bad, she sits somewhere until I can tell her she can get up, but that hasn’t seemed to have any long term effects considering this behavior hasn’t stopped. And, leading to our next “first” – what is even more unfortunate, is we had some friends of ours over for dinner for the first time the other night. They brought their son Max, who is the same age as Avery and their son Travis who is the same age as Alex. Well, Max wanted to borrow Avery’s bike and Avery didn’t really like that so much, which led to her second tantrum. However, eventually, she got over it and, as you can see, she and Max had fun together…however, I’m pretty certain they think that our child is a total nightmare. Ugh.


Another first – Chili went outside for the first time ever this weekend. I didn’t have the heart to just let him out and to just see what would happen (i.e., hope to god he just never returns). Instead, I got him a leash and a collar and let him out on the deck. He loved it and just laid down in the shade. However, I think that it got too hot for even him at one point, because he nearly begged to be let back inside after about 20 minutes. On that note, I have officially posted an ad on Craigslist to try to find him a new family and I plan to post a picture of him at the local vet and the bulletin board in town in the hopes of finding him a new home. It’s time. He needs more attention than I am willing to give him and if he doesn’t get it, he pees. Which really pisses me off (no pun intended). So far - no takers.

And, last but not least - this last week was the first that I heard of my dear friend, Amers, being a seamstress (yes - I'm stretching the "first" theme, but I really wanted to include this picture because I was amazed that a) she can do this and b) she can do it with a 6 month old in the house). I received this great gift for Alex that Amy made. I was so impressed that I needed to share:

OK-off to try to get in a shower so that I'm presentable for Avery's ice cream social at daycare. I'm thinking that whole no dairy thing is going out the window tonight - we'll see how the new happy Alex handles it!