Anderson Ryan Alexander {10 months}

My blogging has really been few and far between. Well, to tell you the truth, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. A lot of things have been going on that are out of my control. Health issues have interrupted my daily life and I am determined to figure out what is going on so I can get on the right path to getting my life back. For the time being, I've been so exhausted for the past few months that I don't feel able to keep up with even the little things. I missed Anderson's 9th month update for this reason and haven't done anything worth talking about this summer. It's kind of sad that my first summer in Maine was a total waste. Well, not entirely. We did go to the farmer's market a handful of times with my sister-in-law, and we went to an aquarium in Boothbay (also with my sister-in-law), and we attended an art festival a month ago…so I guess it wasn't at TOTAL waste.

Now for an update on Anderson:

This little man of mine is out of control. Between his 9th and 10th month he decided it was time to walk. Yes….I said walk. I can't believe that he is walking on his own. He is such an adventurous soul. He is very in tune with his surroundings…you can almost watch him look around and take it all in. He wants to touch, taste, and throw anything in his reach. He loves to climb the stairs and chase the dogs around. He also love to play with Amar'e and pull her hair whenever he gets the chance. It is fascinating to watch them interact. I sometimes envision how they will interact with each other when they are older. This thought puts a huge smile on my face.

Yes, I know this one is out of focus. I just love it too much not to share

Had to share this great shot of Ama'e

Anderson Ryan-Alexander {8 months}

As I sit here typing this post, Anderson is screaming at me from his crib because I am working on sleep training him. I've never had to sleep train a baby before because Amar'e and Damien did pretty good on  their own for various reasons. With Anderson, it's all different. He is in the habit of nursing to sleep. Now this habit is terrible for a couple reasons. First, I'm the only one who can put him to sleep for obvious reasons and second it makes it incredibly difficult for me to leave him with the sitter.  It would be better for everyone, including him, if he were able to get himself to sleep. It is gonna take a few trial and error attempts but I'm ready to do this. I'm not really following a method, but more like combining various aspects of different methods I've read about. Fingers crossed that it will go smoothly! (Who am I kidding? This is gonna suck!)

Besides sleep training Anderson is all over the place these days. He started crawling, yes I said crawling, last week! I'm not prepared for this what so ever. I still haven't put all of the baby proofing things in place….and he has a tooth, with another one close behind! All of this happened at the same time and so fast. 

Anderson Ryan-Alexander {7 months}

Those eyes

I totally missed Anderson's 6 month post because I probably didn't feel good, or there were a ton of other things going on but either way Anderson is 7 months old today! He is working on crawling by creeping out of a sitting positions on to his hands and knees. We will be baby proofing the house this week.  Also, he is cutting some teeth. This is making him a miserable, drooling mess! He still prefers to be held all day and needs to be nursing to fall asleep. He is a work in process….

Rocking a girly sun hat at the beach

A New Bed For Anderson….And Hopefully He'll Sleep In It

Do you co-sleep with your children? We do, but we didn't plan on it. Really, we never gave it thought once Amar'e was born, it just happened that way. She had a crib, but only slept in it twice for a short amount of time. It was just easier to have her close and not have to get out of bed to get her when she needed me at night. But now co-sleeping has changed for many reasons. Yes, we still do it, but it is much harder with two little kids and myself in one bed. Nevermind the weekends when it's both Anderw and I, plus Amar'e and Anderson. Now, Anderson has grown out of his bassinet (5 lbs ago) but  up until last night he was still in it because we didn't have a crib for him. I didn't plan on getting a crib. To be honest, I didn't really have a plan as to where he was going to sleep when he was through with his bassinet. Upon seeing our new and awesome pediatrician, her suggestion was to get him in a crib soon. Not that she is against co-sleeping, but because it's a problem that he has to be attached and nursing to sleep and to stay asleep. Most nights I was getting 3 hours of sleep if I was lucky. After so long, I was becoming use to running on 3 hours of sleep, but now it's getting to a point where I just can't take it anymore. I need to sleep and so does everyone else. I knew I didn't want an average run of the mill kind of crib. If it was going to be something we used daily I wanted it to be unique and interesting. I wanted it have character. I started to cruise craiglist for second hand cribs and came across a local consignment store offering an oval shaped crib. I fell in love! It was a bit more expensive than I was willing to spend, but when I found out it could turn into a toddler, junior bed  and then a set of chairs, I thought it was worth it. I ran down and scooped it right up….so the first half of the process is complete and we have a lovely crib for Mr. Anderson. Now to start the process of getting him to sleep in it. Of course it will be at the foot or side of my bed so he won't be far away, like I said, I don't mind co-sleeping, but he has to be able to sleep without nursing all night, and to do that he needs to be in his own space.

Night one started out amazing. I put him in his crib while he was still awake and left him to get himself to sleep (Yah right, like that going to happen). To my amazement it worked! WHAT! I turned the light low, sang him a little song ("Let It Go" from Frozen), laid him down with his little Goosewaddle blanket and walked out. Five minutes later I checked on him and he was sleeping. I couldn't believe my eyes. It worked….it really worked! Was this for real? He stayed in his new crib until 2:30 am. After he woke up it was right back to his old behavior of needing to be attached to sleep. Now this needing to be attached to sleep is unsustainable for everyone. He isn't getting sleep and neither am I! I roll out of bed feeling like someone kicked my ass and that I didn't even shut my eyes most days! So my plan is keep on keeping on. Something has to give.

My strategy is to go with what feel natural and never to let him cry or fuss for more than three to five minutes at a time. At the point of a full on crying session, I go in and pick him up to reassure him that I am still here. I sing a little song and lay him back down and try it all over again. I wish he took a pacifier. That would at least enable him to stay asleep with me. It would probably be easier for him if he was able nap in his space during the day and sleep there at night, but since Andrew is still working a crazy schedule, we don't have access to his crib while Andrew is sleeping. So until something changes, we have to make the best of it.

Anderson Ryan-Alexander {5 months}

Anderson has transformed from a squashy little baby blob to a social squashy baby blob. We have long baby conversations that include lots of screams and screeches. Oh, and don't forget the drool, lots of drool in there too! His nickname is tonka tank because he weights 21 pounds. Yes, he has tripled his birth weight at 5 months this usually takes place at around one year. In fact we had friends over recently who have a 13 month old and both him and Anderson are in the same size diapers and are within a few pounds of each other.  It's pretty much a work out carrying him around all day. Yes, he still won't allow me to put him down for longer than a 10 minutes span. If my grandmother were to see this she would say "you are spoiling that baby!"….It make me smile every time I think of this.

Anderson Ryan Alexander {4 months}

Dear sweet Anderson,
You truly put a smile on my face every single day! We spend so much time with each other these days. There is very few waking moments that you aren't in my arms. We are truly in love. You are interacting  with your environment more and more each day. You are interested in what everyone around you is doing and eating. You seem to very interested in the food that I'm eating. At times, it even seems like you want to eat the food yourself. You will grab and reach for my plate. You are a few months away from having solid food so hang in there. Your sister is totally in love with you. As she is running by you she will stop, turn around, just to rub the top of your head and say "hey there little Anderson". This is a moment I replay in my head a million times a day. Your little giggles turn me into a baby-talking fool. I love everything about you.

Love,
Mommy


Anderson is growing out of control. He is now 20 lbs and having to hold him for an extended amount of time makes my arm sore for days. He is starting to reach and grab things in front of him. I love it when he brings his hands together in hope of grasping an object. He just amazes me. He's still sleeping ALL night and is awake most of the day. I'm learning to take advantage of the time he is napping during the day to get essential things done. Everyone does a great job of helping out with him now that he is a bit older. When I have to make dinner and he isn't sleeping, I will have Damien entertain him. This sounds nicer than what it ends up being. It usually ends when Damien gets distracted by teasing Amar'e, who screams at him to stop, and in turn the baby isn't being entertained, so he cries. Yah, so sometimes it is counter-productive, but there is no way to make dinner while holding a baby. I'll take even a few moments of craziness to at least get dinner going. All I can say is that "we are getting there".

Rolls…..those rolls

Anderson Ryan Alexander {3 months}

Seriously, it's been three months since I gave birth to this beautiful human. It's amazing how much they change from day to day and week to week. Anderson is the most challenging baby I've had yet. He will sleep all night…like from 9pm to 9 am…but will be up ALL DAY,  requesting to nurse every 30 minutes and will protest loudly when not being held by ME.  He won't even allow me to put him down, not even for a minute. NO JOKE! This is extremely challenging because I have a toddler who is a custom to scheduled meals, and prompt attention, and a tween who also needs all of my attention and help with homework. Did I mention I'm also responsible for all of the housekeeping and household responsibilities?? So, everyone is still adjusting to being told "I will get that for you in a minute" or "I will help you with your homework in a minute" . My mother-in-law put it perfectly when she said that "Anderson is so in love with you." I guess I hadn't thought of it that way, but it's true we are in love with each other….head over heels.  He is now over 18 pounds and so heavy to carry in the baby carrier/carseat.  His eyes are still blue, yet somedays they look like they are getting a green hue just like daddy. I hope they stay blue though. I'm so proud to have a blue eyed, blond hair little man.  Sometimes I feel like people might think that I stole him because I'm dark-skinned/dark eyed lady, and these people don't always see me with my husband, who is green-eyed with blond hair. So I enjoy watching people's double take when looking at my little Anderson and myself. He is also my most bald baby yet. You may or may not be able to tell, but he lost all of of his hair on the left side of his head. I'm not sure what that's all about but both Damien and Amar'e had full heads of hair with minimal hair loss. I'm not sure what to make of this half bald hair style Anderson is sporting.

I kiss those lips 300 times a day……LOVE LOVE LOVE him!

Anderson Ryan Alexander {2 months}

As of January 2nd, Anderson is 2 months old. He has changed so much since the day he was born. He as doubled his weight and interacts much more now. His head control is impressive and he can lift his head off the floor when lying on his tummy. He regularly finds his hands and sucks on them. He is starting to sleep through the night. He will sleep for a five hour stretch, wakes up to nurse, and then he goes back down for another 3-4 hours. His eyes are still blue and seem to getting bluer. His hair is getting lighter. Here is our blond haired, blue eyed boy:

A Short and Sweet Story About Birth

I am going to be honest here and say I hate birth stories, but this doesn't mean I don't read some of my favorite bloggers birth stories, but it is usually long after I began following them. I think that the length of the birth stories are what I hate about them and not so much the contents. I am not going to lie. By the time I am at the end a birth story, I am a crying mess. So maybe it's the emotional engagement that it takes to get through it that makes me shy away from reading them. So with that said, I am going to make my birth story very short and sweet because this is how my labor and birth was; short and sweet.

I was due on the best day of the year, Halloween! Deep down inside I knew that I wouldn't have the baby on my due date.  During the early morning of November 2nd, 3 o'clock in the morning to be exact, I was brought out a sound sleep by contractions that were intense. I knew that this was real labor but I didn't get up or wake anyone because I needed everyone, including myself, to be rested for the upcoming arrival of the newest member of the family. I was able to sleep through most of the contractions and around 8:45 a.m. I told Andrew that I was in labor and we got everyone up and ready to go. We had a 40 minute ride to the hospital and all we did was joke and laugh the entire way. I didn't even bother to time the contractions because I knew that they were real and this was happening.

This is me in full blown labor, 7cm dilated about to get into the oversized tub. 

We arrived in smiles at the hospital at 10:30 a.m. The nurses and my midwife absolutely doubted that I was in labor. They took me in, put me on the monitor and determined I was having major contractions and at the time my midwife showed up and checked me. To everyones surprise I was just about 7cm dilated! WHAT!!!! It was about 12:30 at this point. I had planned to have some kind of medication (not an epidural) during labor but I was too far dilated to have anything, which I was totally fine with. I was able to get into the oversized bathtub for a while, which is where my water broke. My two previous pregnancies my water was broke by my midwife during labor, so this was the first time that my water broke on its own. She checked me again and I was 8cm dilated by then, and it was roughly 1:00 p.m. I got out of the tub, dried off, and sat on the bed trying to mentally prepare myself for what was about to happen. The contractions got stronger and stronger. My awesome midwife let me lead the way and only asked to be told when I was going to push. The lights were low and it was perfect. I let my body do its job and tried to work with it instead of against it. (I kept thinking of this article I had read that was about birthing from within that really helped me center my thoughts about labor pain and birth.) After a while of intensely strong contractions my body told me it was time. Within 5 minutes, along with a couple of pushes and some primal vocalizations, Anderson was born into Andrew's hands.

Andrew is the BEST birthing partner ever!!! The fact that he is almost a licensed massage therapist doesn't hurt! By chance, and permission granted by me, there was a high-risk doctor that attended the birth. She is required by the hospital to attend non high-risk births a certain number of times a year and it just so happened we were all in the right place at the right time, because she was able to capture the most amazing photos of the birth that otherwise would have never been captured.(These photo will not be on the blog) I cannot put into words how grateful we are to of have this happen to us.

Anderson Ryan-Alexander

Anderson Ryan-Alexander Larochelle

Born at 2:01pm 

November 2nd 2013 

7lbs 10oz

21 inches long

We are still baby-mooning (not the vacation kind of babymoon, but the one where a family spends time bonding with a new baby) over here and loving every second of it! Stay tuned for more photos, a short and sweet birth story, and more!