Alexander rocks

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]

grocery shopping with mommy!

mommy and Alexander went to the grocery store this past monday and Alexander got to ride in the shopping cart sitting up! the cart cover worked great. here is Alexander checking it out to make sure it meets his standards. and it PASSED the inspection!

food

as Dina mentioned the other day (ok, it's been a week or something, but whatever), the boy has started eating solid food. as you can see from above, i've got the setup for creating the perfect baby food. from left to right you can see sweet potatoes about to get blended in the magic bullet (yeah, it actually does work!); finished sweet potatoes, carrots in their final state and inside the steamer, apples.

it takes a bit of extra time i suppose, although no more then it would to go to the store and buy the same amount in baby food jars, but it's cost effective and we know exactly what the boy is getting.

which, by the way, is everything - so far he eats like a champ!

rolling and babbling and solids, oh my!

yup this past week was very eventful for us. mommy saw alexander's first rolling marathon as he went rolling back and forth from his back to his tummy and tummy to his back for the width of the bed. this past week, we introduced him more vigorously to solid (baby) foods and he's had only the best cuisine (of course) = breastmilk + applesauce or peas or butternut squash or carrots or sweet potato or oatmeal! daddy's slowly increasing his caloric intake to help our alexito sleep through the night. we've had a few successful nights and some not so successful, but we're all still transitioning. speaking of transitioning, AAA is now in his own bedroom full-time! mommy and daddy have removed the pak-n-play from their room and AAA is sleeping only in his crib! mommy and/or daddy still need to wake up a couple times some nights and trek over to his room, but we've learned to do the walk to his room in our sleep! and as if these events could be topped, our little boy who is growing up so wonderfully, started actually babbling - saying "da da" constantly - and wanting to stay up last night with us and just chat away! he's finding his beautiful voice and we are just so in awe of him.

Happy 15,638,400!

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!

big toe tastes the best!

this past week AAA has deliberately been seeking out his feet (in particular his toesies) and putting them where he puts everything else: his mouth! it's pretty awesome to watch him discover himself at this stage. each day is a wonderment!

road trip!

tonight we head up to San Francisco for our good friend Matt's graduation. Alexander is very excited, if a bit perplexed at LA traffic!