Xander is 7 months old!

Where has the time gone...It's hard to believe that my little man is already 7 months old! This is a pic with him and his grandpa this afternoon. He has his grandpa wrapped around his little finger! He especially loves climbing all over him while he is trying to relax on the couch- It's like the grandpa jungle gym! He also has his grandma wrapped around his other little finger. She's been having fun feeding him and giving him baths the last few days. Xander has finalyl decided that solid food is a good way to go and opens his mouth like a champ thses days. He has now eaten peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, peaches, and pears. The next step is apples I think. We bought a started pack of 1st baby foods in jar from the store but now that his range of foods has expanded we'll start in on the foods that I pureed from the garden. Zucchini is not exactly a first food however! He has broccoli, pumpkin, apples (from Alison's Orchard), green beans, peas, zucchini, and butternut squash all ready and waiting for him. That way we can cut out having to buy all those extra jars of baby food- event though they are awfully cute!

Xander's First Christmas!

Well I am not sure that Xander cared all that much about Christmas but he had fun eating the wrapping paper. He enjoyed very much his gift from Reba and Jeff (a color kalidescope from baby einstein) until he dropped it on his feet- whoops! Other favs were the wheels off his wooden cars and the rings from his stacker. He especially enjoyed his steering wheel but I got tired of the incessant beep, beep, beep very quickly so the sound got turned off for a little while- maybe eventually I'll turn it back on. Hopefully Frank will enjoy his dehydrator- personally I am looking forward to some strawberry fruit roll ups come next June! I got some new patterns so hopefully while the in-laws are here this week Lynn will consent to babysit so I can dissapear into my sewing room- he he he! Merry Christmas to all!

Like Father, Like son!

So Xander has developed a fasination with remote control- well actually with anything that has buttons really but the remote is his special favorite! Now he has his own remote for the TV b/c it became impossible to even change the volume let alone select a program to watch with him in the vicinity. mmmmm, boy much....

Xander's 6 month appointment

So last Friday Xander had his 6 month Dr appointment. He has caught up with his head circumference, although he still has a small head. Length wise he is now 26 inches tall so for now he can stay in his infant carseat but not for much longer- it's good up to 26 inches! Luckily I already got a new carseat for my car and my mom had gotten one for Frank's car awhile ago. Weight wise however he fell off his growth chart...he is a little over 16 lbs now. The scale at the dr's office is in decimal points so I am not sure exactly how many ozs over 16 lbs. He had gained weight since I took him in for his rash though so that is a good thing. The Dr said he looked very healthy but we'd need to keep an eye on his weight. I think he is just his father's son- skin and bones until he turned 30! He's so busy all the time now and eating is just not a priority for him! We've been working on adding solid foods to his diet but so far he's really not that interested. He hasn't quite figured out that he needs to open his mouth in order for us to put food in. Usually he needs an entire outfit change post- eating. He's doing better yesterday and today though- my mom was watching him today and she said he ate pretty well! I wanted to avoid starting fruits until he had the veggies down better (trying to avoid too much sweet stuff) but I finally gave in and offered him bananas just to try to get him to eat. He's been waking up a lot at night to eat recently so I hope he starts to get some extra calories from solids so I can get some sleep! We have to go back to the Dr in a month for a weight check. He has also developed baby exczema. I'm hoping that it is just remnants of the rash that he had a few weeks ago lingering, but the dr said tha some of the spots on his leg looked exczema like and given the family hx- poor little guy is doomed. I am sure that his dry skin isn't being helped by the constant dry air caused by the wood furnace though. I need to invest in a couple of dehumdifiers for the house. Other than that he is loving hisnew daycare arrangement. I think he really enjoys the stimulation of the other children and they love him! This week though he gets to spend some quality time with Ninny who is staying with us so she can babysit for my work days this week. I'll add some pics when i find my camera- it's buried in the diaper bag somewhere...think I need a smaller diaper bag?!? but then where would I put all his cloth dipes, LOL. PS- check out what Cassie did to Xander's paci- she seems to really like them!

Xander is six months old!

I can't believe that Xander is already six months old! Oh how the time has flown... He is sitting up pretty much unassisted now and can roll (and frequently does) from back to belly but as yet has not figured out how to roll from belly to back. He likes to get on his belly and then either spin in circles or scoot across the hardwood floor. I keep finding him in the most random spots. The other day he managed to wiggle himself into the corner between the wall and the sofa and get himselfwedged so he couldn't turn back around. Needless to say he wasn't too happy about that! I miss the days when he would stay where I put him and I am not looking forward to the very near future when he can do more than scoot! He has his 6 month Dr apt on Friday so we'll find out ht and wt then.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving with my family. The best part was that we went over and spent Wednesday night at my mom's house so when Xander woke up at 6 am, which is his new habit, I fed him nd turned him over to Nan and we got to sleep till 9:30! Ahhh the forgotten joys of sleep...wish I could get some more today.

I included some pictures of our visit down to Reba and Jeff's house last week. Xander has discovered hair as you can see from Frank's face! And he loves to give kisses although for all who think they might want some I warn you they are pretty slobbery! It was the first time that Xander had met Laura so that was fun - although I think he was more interested in opening his present and eating the paper rather than being interested in the present itself! Thank you Laura for the Curious George doll. It was fun to see him actually rip off the paper on his own present. I think he will probably be too young to appreciate Christmas this year all that much but I can just see him trying to eat all that pretty paper- fun!

Well back to the grind!

long week....

It's been a long week! Having mastitis really threw me through a loop. I didn't get out of bed for days and then all I did was move to the couch. I'd feel great and then BOOM after a couple of hours I'd be back feeling lousy again. I've had no stamina whatsoever. We went over to the seacoast this weekend to do family pics for mom's christmas card and I wanted to do some shopping as well but boy did I pay today. I barely made it to work tonight. I think that allergies on top of being ill just made me feel as if I was walking around in a fog! I felt better a few hours after taking some allergy meds. Anyway despite being wiped today we did have a nice weekend with the famdamily. Xander enjoyed going to the busy mall- he really seemed to enjoy people watching! He was exhausted by the end of the day, heck he was tired by the time picture taking was over, but he kept fighting sleep- so cute. We got some really gorgeous pics of him so that was worth it! His individual pics were much better than the ones of him in the group but you can't win them all. He wore the outfit on the right in several of his pictures. Gotta love a baby in jeans. What can I say he is his father's son!

Xander gets cereal for the first time...

and maybe the last for awhile. I'm not sure who was wearing more of the cereal me or him! He'd been super cranky all day and when it was time to go to bed he just wouldn't settle so we figured what the heck we'll try some cereal- obviously he wasn't too interested. I think he was much more interested in chewing on the spoon than in the cereal itself but at least he didn't give me the same horrible expression he did when I offered him butternut squash. I think we will stick with mommy milk for awhile longer. As it turned out the next day I developed mastitis so I am guessing the reason he was fussy was b/c my milk tasted different. It is amazing to me how quickly mastitis can hit you. I was fine all day tues, went to my neighbors house tues night and was fine until I'd been there a couple of hours and then I started to get a headache and feel achy. But even when I went home I only had a temp of 99, but then I started to feel really, really cold and started having shivers and feeling really cr*ppy! By 11 my temp was up to 102 and I called the doctor and by the time poor Frank had to drive to Keene to pick up a Rx for antibiotics and got home again it was up to 103. Needless to say I felt like I had been run over by a train. I haven't had a fever today thank goodness but the round the clock motrin that I have been taking miht explain part of that! I still feel icky- if I stand up for too long I get all woozy and my breast hurts like crazy! Somehow it seems cosmically unfair that the best cure for mastitis is to nurse frequently but that it also hurts like crazy! oh well....

I also included a pic of Xander in his newest mommy creation- I love this diaper (so cute) however it wicks like crazy so I will have to do some tweaking with my sewing! I think I can make it so the next one doesn't wick- that's my plan anyway. I just got some adorable new knits so I am going to make a bunch of serged fitteds with my new serger- thank you mom! I also love the fact that he is just having a rocking good time.

Enjoying life on the farm!

So today I got up to go to work and looked out my front window to enjoy the view (and check the weather) when I noticed that our sheep were not in their paddock but roaming the front yard willy nilly. So obviously that was a situation that needed rectifiying... so I trapse outside in my bathrobe and crocs (b/c why bother getting dressed when I am just going to be chasing sheep) and proceed to chase down the sheep rather unsucessfully. I swear one of them was laughing at me as she bounded away! Apparently I am not as speedy as the sheep. In the end I just left the barn door open and they made their way into their pen (luckily it was before I left for work).

Oh how I love Halloween!

I just have to say that I think Halloween is my favorite holiday. It is such a fun excuse to dress up and get crazy and when you have an adorable little man to dress up too - what more could you ask for! We had a very fun halloween party at the house this year complete with a pinata, arts & crafts, a ton of food, apple bobbing(which mostly seemed like an excuse for the kids to get wet!), and decorate your own cupcakes (a big hit thanks to the awesome homemade chocolate frosting by Melissa- thanks Melissa!). Xander had multiple halloween costumes (along with multiple halloween outfits which I was sad to retire but now we have Thanksgiving outfits...he he he). So here he is as a lion, a corn on the cob (my personal fav) and of course wearing his baby scrubs. The baby scrubs are a little obscured by the bib so we will have to wear those again so he can be appropriately photographed for mommy's locker at work!

Whitney gets into the Halloween Spirit!

I carved this pumpkin for a pumkin carving contest at the hospital. It was entered into the Job Related category. I unfortunely did not win a prize! Oh well... We had fun at work one night last week carving pumkins on our dinner break for the Keene Pumkin Festival which turned in a dismal 22,000 jack o lanterns. Xander, Val, and I had fun when we went on Saturday though. The church ladies from Marlborough make a mean Pumpkin Whoopee Pie and I don't even like Whoopee Pies. After we got home we had to make a little emergency trip to the Seacoast b/c my brother James had a heart attack on Sat afternoon. I am happy to report after a couple days in the ICU and little surgery he is doing 100% better and is at home. He'll be back at work by next week it looks like. I am amazed sometimes at the healing power of modern medicine! He just wanted an excuse to see us I guess and we had fun with Riley and Connor- although it truly shocks me that the Friendly's Kids menu has a dinner option that included mozarella sticks and feench fries and that's it! I realize that dining out at Friendly's isn't going to be amazingly healthy but cheese sticks and fries- seriously!

I weeble and I wobble...

So Xander has been working very hard at sitting up and he is doing a really amazing job. He can sit up by himself now for short periods of time. He does better when he discovers his feet and therefore has something extra to hold onto. Typically he is able to stay upright for a few minutes and then he just sort of falls over. So cute! We've been practicin on nice soft surfaces like the bed so that when he does tip over he won't crack his head open! In the picture below he finally gets straightened out with a helping hand from mom...and then gives the camera his hey what's going on look!

We've also been working on tummy time with varying sucess. He would much rather be sitting or standing than lying down in any postion. I have found that the best time to get him on his belly is first thing in the morning. I get him up, strip off all his clothes and diaper and let him air out, and put him on a piddle pad on his belly. Then he doesn't seem to mind it as much. My son the exhibitionist! Here he is in a good mood on his belly -picture worthy b/c it happens so rarely. The second picture I just love b/c he is working so hard to push himself up, plus the drool is so classic. He has rolled over a few times but it seems more of an accident than on purpose. He is an expert at rolling onto his side but he just can't seem to make it the rest of the way over- whether he is on his back or belly.

He has also fallen in love with the jumperoo. He wasn't liking the swing as much recently. I think it was too passive for him. He didn't mind the one at home b/c it played music but the one he had at the babysitters wasn't cutting it anymore so we tried out the jumperoo and i think we have created a monster. I am already sick of that stupid song but he jumps and gets it to play music and it sends him into hysterics every single time. I absolutely love to hear him laugh though, it is just the best sound, so i'll put up with the stupid song. now I am going to have to find a second jumperoo so he can have one at the babysitters too. I found a couple of used ones on craigslist for cheap so I'll have to find one close by.

This pic was taken by Connor this weekend in a fit of boredom, while he was shoe shopping with Frank and I. We took Connor with us to go buy new tennis shoes from Robert at Olympia Sports. Unfortunelty b/c neither Frank nor I have bought new shoes for years it took us over an hour for us to each find a pair of shoes that fit and that we liked. Poor Robert! He was great though and we each found shoes and the minute we got home I took great pleasure in throwing away Frank's old pair!

I just love how Xander will be all cute and adorable and smiling and the second the red eye flashes the eye open big and wide and the mouth goes all slack! Still you have to love those big blue eyes of his! We are expanding his collection of fruit inspired hats- he has a pumpkin hat and now an apple hat! This pic I took right as I was leaving for work tonight (sun). It's my third night in a row and I am tired... but I have the next 2 days off so that is something to look forward to. This coming weekend is the Keene Pumpkin Festival and Soccer Jamboree for Frank's soccer team. He has been coaching soccer though the Winchester rec center. My frined Val is coming to visit- she just moved to MA from GA- so we'll hit Frank's first game and then head to Keene for the Festival. I have never been during the day before-only in the evening so I am looking forward to dressing Xander up and watching the children's parade and exploring the craft fair sans Frank! Maybe I'll get some good Christmas present ideas.

Big boy pjs...

Here is Xander so cute in his big boy pjs. He's getting too long for all his gowns. Please note the giant nighttime diaper spreading his legs wide... and the fact that he has moved out of the bassinett into the cradle. Mind you he is still sleeping in our room but that is really mostly my choice b/c I am too darn lazy to get up in the middle of the night and haul my tushie up stairs to feed him! Letting him sleep in our room is more for convienance, that is my convienance, sake.

Who'd ever thought that someone else's bowel habits could be so interesting...

So I think it is pretty hilarious but there is something about being a mom that means you get to/need to pay attention to the bowel habits of your child. Who knew that I could get so excited over poop, but when your kid hasn't done #2 in 8 days you can go over the moon at the sight of it. Yeah for the poop dance! Then comes the inevitable well now I have to clean this all up...that is the less fun part. Luckily in the last several weeks of 7-8 days of not pooping followed by massive explosions, I have been lucky enough to not be the one the change that diaper. The babysitter got the first honors and daddy came in second- way to go mommy!

We, well rather I , have been having fun dressing up Xander in Halloweeny outfits. He only gets to wear them for such a short time and they are SO cute that I can't help myself, plus he looks pretty cute in orange. I am sad and pathetic but Gap was doing a casting call for cute baby/kids and I entered a picture of Xander. There were LOTS of really cute babies on there though so i am sure we have no chance of winning but there was a secret little thrill of saying hey I've got one cute kid and I'm going to try to cash in on it- that sentiment was quickly following by a horrendous sense of guilt that I was even thinking about cashing in on my kids adorableness but by then the deed had been done! Of course the really sad part about it all was that I found out about the casting call when I was shopping online at gap.com (Baby Gap is seriously addicting!). Actually I have developed an online shopping addiction over the last few days but I think after winning my last ebay auction I have kicked the habit! What is it about bidding in auctions that brings out the adrenaline- I swear i get heart palpitations sometimes, followed by the inevitable crash when I lose b/c I am too darn cheap! Ebay is for bargains right???????

Excuse the rambling post, it is now almost 5 am and I have been up for close to 24 hours and I still have to give report, change clothes, drive home, feed the baby and put away my lunch and pumped milk before I can fall into bed for 2-4 hours until Xander decides he has had enough "cuddle time" and he wants to play now mommy.... Sometimes working night shift sucks a**. TTFN.

Xander's 4 month appointment

Xander is now 15 lbs 1 oz and 25 in long! He is 50th percentile for height and weight and 25th percentile for head circumference. The Dr assures me however that even though his head is small that will not affect his intelligence. He did alright with his shots. He wasn't too happy about them but he calmed down pretty quickly afterwards. He had a fever the next day and was obviously not feeling well, but seemed back to his happy self today. Last week in general he was fussy though. He was on a nursing strike- he would only eat if we were laying down. He gets distracted very easily these days and seems to think that my nipples are made out of rubber! I think he was having a bit of a growth spurt too b/c it seemed as if he was constantly hungry. He was also apparently somewhat constipated b/c he didn't poop for 8 days- the lucky babysitter got to change that diaper! I'll have to take some pics of him in his cute halloween outfits. Today he was wearing a onesie with a glow in the dark skeleton on the front- so cute!!!!

Xander is 4 months old!

AAAAHHHHH- they grow so fast. I got his 3 month photos in the mail today and here he is already 4 months old! He has his 4 month apt Fri so we'll get to see how big he has gotten but I am estimating that he weighs about 15 lbs now. He's been having a rough couple of days but today was better. He has really been fighting sleep so getting him to nap has been very challenging and makes for a very cranky baby and a frustrated mommy. It wouldn't be so bad really except that he has been refusing to nurse when he is tired so then he gets hungry and tired which is a bad combo. Day by day...

Teething isn't much fun!

So I am really annoyed with the computer right now b/c it just crashed internet explorer as I was clicking post after writing a nice long entry which I now have to try an recreate so if my annoyance shines through I apologize in advance!

Xander has started what can only be describes as teething behavior in the last few days. He's been trying to get his hands into his mouth now for a few weeks, as evidenced by the thumb sucking pic a few posts back, but now he trys to cram his fingers, my fingers, and pretty much anything else he can get his hands on into his mouth. Earlier today he was sitting in the swing and there is a little tray to prevent him from falling out which he grabbed onto and then bent himself practically in half so he chew on the plastic edge (see pic below). I don't mind the knawing so much but the drool... I am getting really tired of having to constantly change his outfits b/c he is completely soaked in drool. The streams of drool that he manages to produce are rather impressive.


In other news Cassie has been a very bad girl recently. She discovered that chickens made wonderful playthings and in the course of the last 24 hours has managed to kill 2, maim 1 to the point of death, and maim a 2nd but we think she'll survive. That leaves us with only 1 healthy chicken! The really frustrating part was that they were just getting to the point of laying. So yesterday morning we had 5 big fat healthy laying girls and now we have 1! She has become rather destructive of late- shredding dog beds and generally dragging trash all over the yard. Part of it I am sure is due to the lack of attention she has been getting since Xander arrived and her Beagle nature, but now with the chicken killing spree we are concerned about her around the animals in general. We can't have her running around killing our livestock, especially when we start having lambs. She is already chasing the calf but he is big enough to get away. Hopefully we can get things turned around so we don't have to get rid of her b/c that would make me very sad!

I have also included a pic of Xander's diaper laundry. I just love how the sheep are in the background looking at me like I am totally crazy for taking pictures of laundry drying on a line but there is just something so homey andpretty about all those CLEAN nappies flapping in the breeze. They just don't stay that way for long. Hopefully tomorrow will be sunny so I can dry this week's load. I hate drying them in the dryer b/c it takes so long and I feel like I am just wasting energy. Besides the sun has amazing bleaching properties!

Xander is a growing boy!

So I took Xander in for a check-up this morning. He had a swollen lymph node behind his ear so I wanted to make sure that he didn't have an ear infection that he was hiding, all is well on that front, but I thought I would update all on his new stats. He is now a whopping 14lbs 4 oz, well on his way to doubling his birth weight by 4 months, and almost 25 inches long. We go back for his 4 month apt (and more shots, boo hoo) in 2 weeks so we'll see how much he has changed by then.

My baby is starting to look like a boy!

So I don't have a ton of time to post but hey I can always squeeze in a few words. Isn't it amazing how quickly the little buggers grow. Xander has decided that he really likes his swing. I think he likes to sit up and look around and he can do that in the swing- before he didn't seem to like it b/c his head was always flopping over but now that he has a little better head control the swing seems like a pretty fabulous place to be. So these are his various swing poses- the praying, the pumkin hat, and the little blondie boy. I just can't get over how cute he is!

4 Generations!

This photo is of Xander, Frank, Frank's father and Frank's grandfather - 4 generations of firstborn Linnenbringer sons. And to think I thought I was going to have a girl- what was I thinking!

This is a photo of Xander and his great-grandma Prinster, who is believed to be 96 years old, at Cousin Charlie Henke's wedding. If you thought Frank has a big family you should see the Henke crowd. We were at this wedding on Saturday and there were 300 people there and I think about 250 of them were family. Charlie has 7 brothers and sisters most of whom are married and have kids- heck I think we counted the nieces and nephews at 12. It was quite the party! Mary, Charlie's wife, looked beautiful though and her flower girl was simply adorable!

Next we have Xander, Frank, Frank's grandma Linnenbringer, and Frank's dad, Hadley. Grandma Linnenbringer is unfortunetly in rather poor health these days but she was in a good mood the day we took this photo. It so cool that Xander has 4 living great grandparents and we only hope and pray that they are still with us when Xander is old enough to remember them.

Xander is 3 months old!

So my little man has found his thumb. Usually he just tries to shove his whole fist into his mouth, and sometimes both fists but more and more now he is sucking his thumb. He has also decided that he likes holding onto his blanket and hugging it. We are on our way to Frank's cousin's wedding so I am sure we will get some pics of him all dressed up there. So I'll post some pics of him actually on his three month birthday!

Ok here are some photos of Xander on August 30th, 2008. He looks a little like a devil child due to the red eye on the pic pf the 3 of us but it was a nice pic of me and Frank so...
I love this pic of Frank holding Xander but it is such a typical Xander look. He has the bug eyed, quizzical thing going on. All that is missing is the wave of hair sticking stright up from the top of his head- which was missing on purpose after some vigorous slicking down so he didn't look like a cupie doll at the wedding.

Stomach flu is the pits!

Well we made it to Missouri all right. Xander slept through his first and second plane ride, which I guess was a good thing. We stoppped in Philly and although we didn't have to change planes we were there for an hour and a half so they let us get off the plane, walk around and then get back on. So we changed his diaper and gave him a snack and then he was right back to sleep. We took the MoX shuttle to Columbia from Kansas City, which worked out very well seeing as we'd been up since 3:45 that morning (and we spent the night in Hartford!), but not having to drive was nice. Xander has been a big hit while we have been here and there are tons of other babies to play with... Hatton is having a fertility boom- I think they said that at church there were 27 babies due this year!

Things have been good since we've been here for the most part. I developed a wicked stomach flu on Sunday, which I thought I had gotten over but on Tues it hit again with a vengeance. My poor parents-in-law must think I am a total weakling b/c everytime we come here I get sick. So I have been spending a lot of time in bed or in the bathroom. Luckily Xander seems uneffected so far, but Frank hasn't been feeling so great himself. We are just the life of the party! It's a good thing we came for a little longer this time b/c otherwise we'd be heading home about now and I don't think I could make it!

I finally figured out to get all these pics from Frank's parents new computer. I am a Vista virgin so it has been a little on the interesting side but I think I have it mostly figured out. I can't decide whether I like Vista or not, in some ways its easier and in others harder but honestly I think it is really just difficult b/c it is not what am used to. We finally convinced Frank's parents to get DSL instead of dial-up so hopefully we can do a lot more picture sharing! The pic up at the top is of him discovering the playgym. He is getting really good at tracking things with his eyes and he constantly wants to look at everything. He doesn't like to lie in your lap anymore, he wants to be sitting up. He has been doing a lot more grabbing and grasping recently so we figured the playgym would give him something to grab for. We also got him a very light rattle so he spends a lot of time holding onto that. The other pics are of him and his grandparents. He is starting to recognize people more now- he always smiles at me and Frank whenever we come into the room or pick him up. He is still learning other people but he likes his Uncle Luke a lot. The pic at the bottom was supposed to be him holding his pacifier. He had it in both hands and was pulling it in and out of his mouth, but of course as soon as I got out he camera he dropped him and gave me this confused stare! But it was still pretty cute. We had Xander's three month pics taken yesterday but it will be a couple of weeks before we get them back but we managed to get one cute shot- we didn't time things very well so he was pretty crabby when he was supposed to be cute and adorable getting his pic taken!