we're back in El Paso de Robles for the 19th Annual Hospice du Rhone Celebration!!! This time, uncle Matt and aunt JeeHee are joining us and uncle Lawrence. Daddy's wristband let's everyone know he means serious business when we go winetasting (good thing the uncles and mommy have one too!). Alexander decided to rest up before getting ready to play with aunt JeeHee and Mommy while the boys go to the tasting event.
Alexander helps daddy brew some beer!
and my Cal football!
some of you (all three of you) may have seen an amazon.com
why the special link? if you're gonna buy something at amazon.com
obviously this isn't a huge deal - I don't expect that we'll be turning around and purchasing a new tv or something from all the dough rolling into our account. but a few extra bucks now and again would be pretty cool when we're talking about offsetting Alexander's expenses.
thanks!
and check out this great deal on a PS3:
updates! see the photo page for photos for june, er, may; or go here.
but, perhaps most exciting, the return of video! you can navigate to the video link on the right side of the page or view right here our newest video! here alexander shows off his maneuverability!
[quicktime]http://dinaandphilip.com/site/media/Media/Alexander%20rocks-medium.m4v[/quicktime]
or 6 months. whichever is easier.
until about a week ago, i was telling people Alexander was 5 1/2 months old. it dawned on me last week that he's a lot closer to 6 months, then 5 so i might want to adjust his age. to 6 months.
man that went fast.
6 months ago, i was writing this:
Nov 25th, 2009
by philip.for those of you followong along at home, we had an uncomfortable night last night as contractions finally kicked in. this morning we had our regularly scheduled appointment with the doctor. we are now about 3 cm and about 60% effaced (referring to the thining of the cervix). the doctor said she expects to hear from us in the next 24 – 36 hours!
so, we’ve reiterated to him that we’d prefer him to come after thanksgiving, but, it’s up to him.
I’ll do my best to keep posting here, but as we get closer, obviously it’ll get harder.
seems like quite awhile ago - but i remember distinctly sitting, exhausted and nursing a large coffee, in Starbucks waiting for Dina to wrap up her work (she decided that this would be a good time to start maternity leave) before we headed over to my parent's house to help with Thanksgiving prep. we all know how that ended. :)
it's been a fun, tiring 6 months. some of Alexander's most recent accomplishments include:
rolling over. all. the. time. only from his back to stomach right now, but we know what's coming. sitting up. the dude loves to sit up and look around, grabbing his toys and his new favorite pastime, his feet. various versions of engaging activity - looking behind him to find you, rotating around your body when you hold him to find his topic of interest or rolling over and moving around (not crawling yet) to get what he's looking for - preferably his book, "El Coche de Bomberos"
writing his first symphony. ha! take that mozart! i kid. but still - he's a genius, right?
additionally - he's been wine tasting 3 times, had Zachary's twice and visited Arizona, Temecula, Paso Robles and Sonoma and his future alma mater, the University of California. (I don't have to say Berkeley, right? We all know there's only one Cal, right?) the kid's a road trip pro and as a seasoned traveler is looking forward to more.
but, perhaps most importantly, neither of us can imagine life without this wonderful, fun, and heart warming adventure of a boy. he's taken over our lives and we're loving every second (all 15 million so far...).
happy 6 month birthday, Alexander!
We had our next MD appt today and AAA was a true champ! (cue Rocky soundtrack - ta na naaaa, ta na naaa) He weighed in at 13 lbs 2 oz and measures 25.1 inches long (let's get ready to rumble!!!) and the doctor said that he's doing great and right on schedule with his growth! We're so happy that our lil boy is doing so well and, although there's a part of us that wants him not to grow up so quickly, we're so excited about what the future holds and relish every day with him.
Lawrence drew this yesterday while Alexander and I were streaming live.
those of you who know me well, know i've got a bit of a technolust problem. thankfully budgetary concerns keep me from acquiring every thing i want (although the PS3 is still on the target baby registry. for alex. really!) so when i saw some of the baby monitors out there, i was quite disappointed. i mentioned that i'd be setting up video monitoring myself, and that's worked great. but for some things i need monitoring as i move around the house. so i found this:
at first i was dubious. sure, it was expensive. but it had a ton of features, including DECT - a digital technology to help with interference and sound quality. but it was expensive. could it really be better then a cheap $30 monitor? everyone complained about the cheap ones audio quality and some didn't seem to work - choosing on their own to break the connection between monitor and base and then emit ear piercing sounds at 1am or just passing static the whole time.
i held off. we have a small place and i knew for a while we wouldn't need one as the boy would be with one of most of the time. but he's bigger now, sleeping more regularly and i'm getting busy with work. so i pulled the trigger and bought it. trusting that the glowing reviews would be rewarded.
man am i happy with this thing. small, convenient and efficient - it does everything i expected and more and better.
wanna not here the actual sounds in the baby's room until they get to a certain volume? no problem. want to turn the microphone sensitivity in the room down so it doesn't always transmit the white noise? done. want to talk to the baby from anywhere? sure thing. how about the temperature in the room? and while you're at it, give me an alarm if it gets too warm or too cold. easy. oh, and that DECT stuff. audio quality is CRYSTAL clear and sensitivity is amazing. and i have a ton of EM emissions in this house (not counting the wireless phones, cell phones and microwave, we've got 4 wireless access points broadcasting across all three 802.11 standards).
it works great. better then i expected. love it when a purchase like this works out!
my only regret? i didn't get this guy: http://bit.ly/9KQhi5
i'll put the $60 towards a PS3.
time flies. and just like that, 6 weeks are up. today dina returned to work and alexander and i stayed home together alone for the first time. it sounds ominous but it's not. dina works like 5 minutes from our house so if something dramatic happened she could be home quickly. this closeness also allowed her to come home for lunch, easing her separation from the boy. so what we viewed with a bit of trepidation last night, seems to have passed relatively easily.
i know it won't always be such a perfect day - he's still sleeping a lot - but i'm happy today went well.
next up... kindergarten!