Xander on Xmas morning

Xander's first Xmas.  Santa brought him a corn popper.  

Rosy cheeks

Mama gets crafty

I made and sewed this wicked heart patch onto his cozy knit outfit I bought him from Old Navy, just to give it some personality.  It indicates love while giving him a bit of an edge.  

Proof he can stand

Here he is, watching his dad shovel snow.  

In addition to standing, he can also cruise around the furniture (albeit gingerly) and crawl everywhere.  

My little lamb

"Why, mother?  Why must I suffer these indignities?  This costume smells like cigarettes and cheap perfume, and the hoof-spats keep falling off.  I'm a human being!  I have rights!"  

We bought a tree

It was cold.  We were both shook and baled.

Merry Xmas!

It's been a while since I've posted updates, mostly because I spent November premiering my one-woman show (merchandise on sale now!), but also because Xander is jealous of my laptop.  Whenever he sees me with it, he becomes very cranky and tries to pull it off my lap.  That makes keeping up with the ol' blog rather difficult.  

But at least he still lets me dress him in ridiculous outfits.  Exhibit A.  

Xander almost stands

Here I am trying to document his almost-crawling, when Xander up and almost stands!  He's had an ear infection and a bad cold for most of this month, which made him very cranky and tired.  He's clearly feeling better now, which is a relief and a delight.  

Bath time, the aftermath

Those are not sausage casings.  Those are his arms.  

bath time

He loves bath time now.  He's just discovered splashing.  

The bumbo part 2, part 2

The bumbo, part 2

When last we tuned into the Bumbo chair escapades, Xander was unsure about the thing.  He's warmed to it considerably since then.

Xander @ 6 mo, Mama @ 33 yr.

We love each other.

Xander, liberated

Look at that floral diaper!  It's because he's not hung up on prescribed gender roles.  He told me so herself.  

Xander post-nap

He looks a little manic here, but trust me.  He's just thrilled that he's so well rested.

Big cheese

Look at that face!

No, look at it.  LOOK AT IT!!!

THAT is the face of my adorable baby.

He turned six months old this weekend.  I won't lie - I choked up a little.

One for the wallet

Here's the closest I could get to snapping his mega-watt grin.  

I know everybody thinks their baby is adorable, but my baby really is adorable.  Look at that hair!  Those eyes!  I challenge you to tell me he's not adorable.  

And if you tell me that, you're clearly lying.  And then we'll come to blows.   That's just how I roll.

He likes it

On a whim, I started introducing Xander to solid foods.  Surprising absolutely no one, it turns out my boy likes to eat.  Carrots?  Good!  Peas?  Good!  Sweet potatoes?  Good!  Cool Whip?  Awesome!

I'm saving the fruits for last because I know they will blow his mind.

When he first tastes a food, he gets this really big grin, which I keep trying to capture on camera.  But the red "on' light distracts him every time.  

When he's finished everything in the bowl and licked the spoon clean, he'll pick up his bib and suck all the dribbles off it.  The boy is loving this new phase.  It's adorable.

Grandpa Jim and Grandma Betty

Xander and I stopped by my dad's place the other day and snapped these pics.  Look at that greenery in the background!  That's the real deal, folks!  No Sears Portrait Studio backdrop for us!  Seriously, their garden is amazing.

Xander as monkey

I like to dress my baby up in animal costumes.  Don't judge me.

Fun family portrait!

Here's the three of us looking much more relaxed and far less cult-y.  

Scary family portrait

A few weeks ago, our friend Ann had a cocktail party where everyone was required to dress up.  Chris and I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for us to grab a family photo of the three of us looking our best.  We dressed Xander in our homemade tuxedo onesie, got into our finery and entreated a party guest to take our picture.

That's when things went horribly awry.

Somehow, our glamorous photo came out making us look like we were the new pastor and his family of one of those churches where they don't let the women wear pants.  Note the glazed, could-be-brainwashed stare of both me and Xander.  

Three month grin

Xander is getting a lot more smile-y, but I've had difficulty capturing his smiles on camera.  As soon as he sees the camera, he gets this wary expression on his face.

But here's a picture of him from way back in May - when he was a mere three months old - that captures a bit of that Alexander J. grin.   

I still can't get over how different he looks after only two months...

Mother's Day

Here's Xander and me on Mother's Day.  (I meant to post this way back in May.)  Look at how much he's changed since then!  He's like a different baby!

The book report

Xander and I discuss literature.

Bumbo

I expose Xander to the indignities of the Bumbo chair. The Bumbo is a nerf-like chair designed to help babies learn to sit up. Xander's thighs are a little too, er, mighty to fit in the leg holes. Just after taking this video, I discovered his legs were turning purple, so I pried him out of the thing.

Dad's arms

If only we all could be this comfortable.

Xander on a boat

Over the 4th of July, we went to visit Chris's parents in Arkansas, where Xander got to experience his first boat ride.

Fashion forward

My mother Joan accompanied us on our trip to South Carolina.  She wrangled Xander while I worked, and she was a godsend.  I couldn't have gotten anything done if she hadn't been there - and that's the literal truth.  

We were both delighted to discover that many of the clothes I packed for Xander just happened to match my mom's own clothes, which was a happy accident.  So to amuse themselves, they started coordinating their outfits.  Alas, my mother doesn't have a matching bib to go with her ensemble.

I attempt to document the rollover, with unfortunate results

While in South Carolina, Xander grew a lot.  He rolled over for the first time (although he gets on his stomach and kind of freaks out because he doesn't know how he got there or what to do now, but I digress).  

I tried to to get him to roll over on camera many many times, to no avail.  I even cheat a little in this video, but nothing.  He does demonstrate another neat trick he's learned, however.

Xander and Tommy

While in South Carolina, my friend Tommy (hi, Tommy!) came to visit us.  The voices you hear in the background are the actors and director determined to ignore the cute baby and keep working on my play.  As you can see, Tommy and I quickly abandoned such pretense.

Xander smiles!

Xander and I went to South Carolina together for the first half of June - me, so I could work on a play, Xander, so he could continue to eat - and this is my favorite video from that trip.  We're in a bathroom in the Atlanta airport, and it's my first good video of him smiling.  He also follows my finger, which is a new and important development!

Xander sings!

Xander and I sing a lil' Patsy Cline together.  This was last month when he was 3 months old.  

Xander and Norah: nappin' buddies

Here's Xander with his friend Norah. Note the twin discarded pacifiers. They're like two booze hounds on the tail end of a bender.

Norah is four months older than Xander, yet they wear the same size clothes, are the same height, and Xander outweighs her by about four pounds. Perhaps his girth signals some latent super powers. Here's hoping!

We attempt communication with the life form

In this video I attempt to get Xander to a) smile; b) coo.  He makes a little bit of noise but mostly just bops his head around and looks cute.  

Xander as Gene Kelly

I don't know... There's something kind of "On The Town"-ish about this nautical-themed onesie, and something rather tap-dance-ish about his little spat socks.

Father & son dress-alike day!

Here's Chris and Xander in their matching shirts.  Chris bought these back in January in anticipation of this day.  

Don't ask me the significance of the reindeer playing the accordion.  I could offer some malarkey about how Chris plays the accordion and Xander is dear, but I'd just be spinning my rhetorical wheels.

The saddest little cuddle bug

Xander's new hat

Here's our precious baby angel modeling his new sun hat.  This picture makes me laugh out loud.

In development news, Xander has not only found his fists, he has also learned how to drool copiously.  And when he cries, sometimes real tears leak out!  

We took him to the doctor for his two-month checkup.  He's very healthy.  His height remains in the 97th percentile and his weight is - I'm not exaggerating - off the chart.  He weighs 16 and 1/2 pounds!  At nine weeks!  There is no percentile for that size!  We're either proud or slightly alarmed, depending.  Chris and I are also developing wicked strong muscles from schlepping him around all the time.

A smile? Let's say yes!

He's discovered his hands!

Our little bundle is right on track developmentally.  Little buddy has discovered his hands exist, and they're his new favorite toy.  He sucks on them and rubs his face with them.  We're so proud!

Xander, bright-eyed

We call this his mug shot.

Sigh...

Here is Xander and his mama on the last day of his mama's maternity leave.  We thought we'd take a picture to commemorate our eight weeks together.

While I love my job and am looking forward to seeing my coworkers again, I now understand the appeal of the stay-at-home parent lifestyle.   He's so precious!  Who wouldn't want to stay with him all the time and address his every need?  

I find myself wanting to bottle time.  But since that is impossible, I turn to picture- and video-taking as the less satisfying alternative.  He breaks my heart every second he gets older.  Ah, well.  We'll always have the past eight weeks.

Video: Eight weeks, and with his dad

Xander grows.  Chris lifts weights.  

Milestone at the two-month mark:  When we put him down (put him down at night to sleep, not put him down like, "Your mother dresses you funny!"  Although she does), he'll sometimes sleep a whole four hours!  In a row!  Our heads reel with pride.

Hair update

We were told that Xander's copious hair might fall out a few weeks after he was born.  It appears to have grown longer and thicker.  

In this picture, it looks reddish.  It still gets really curly when wet.  Sometimes, we comb it into a faux-hawk (that would be a faux mohawk, for those of you who aren't up on your street slang).  Mostly, though, we don't comb it at all.

Let your freak flag fly, baby!

But how are the parents looking these days?

Video: Seven weeks, two days old

Xander and I discuss the inevitability of aging.

Head check

Just for the record, Xander is very close to being able to hold his own head up.  He's always been prodigiously strong, but in the past week or so he has gotten noticeably better.  It used to be he'd only hold his head up when he was bawling or screaming.  Now he sometimes holds it up just to look around.  When I put him up against my chest to burp him, sometimes he'll lean back suddenly to take in the sights, or perhaps to terrify his mother.  

In fact, his neck strength is progressing much faster than his mother's postpartum abdominal strength.  If only Olivia, my Pilates instructor-friend, were around!  How she would help me tone my transverse abdominus!  

Xander as Karl Rove

This is an adorable outfit given to Xander from my cousin Adriene.  He looks like a little golfer.  He looks like he should be riding around in a golf cart trading stock tips.  

My mother thinks he looks like a Republican.  Potato, potahto.  

(P.S. - Chris didn't want me to mention Karl Rove in this blog post in case someone tried to Google Karl Rove and found our site instead.  So if you're looking for Karl Rove facts and instead find yourself looking at adorable baby pictures, I apologize. )

Tubs

Remember a few weeks ago when we lamented how Xander had grown out of his froggy sleeper?  Well, apparently the boy likes to please his parents: if he cannot wear the froggy, he will become the froggy.  

That belly is not a prosthetic.  It's all him.

The Steve Martin connection

Xander's onesie is a gift from his Aunt Mandy.  It sports a quotation from Steve Martin.  Chris and I can't agree exactly where or when Steve Martin said it, but we know that he did.  We even went so far as to Google the phrase; apparently nobody else knows when Steve Martin said it either, but we all agree it's the kind of thing he would say.  

Xander discusses the environment; dances

Here we are having an important discussion about our family's carbon footprint, when suddenly Chris starts playing his saxophone.  Xander probably recognizes the sound from when he was in the womb - at least we hope so, because it just so happens that Xander's bedroom is directly above Chris's practice area, and he can hear everything his old man does.  We're operating on the assumption that he finds early jazz music soothing and not perplexing.

Video: Xander at six weeks

Here's our weekly update/fashion show.

Video: idle talk about Xander

At his open house, Xander bonded with his Aunt Celene as Aunt Jes, cousins Drew and Samantha, and his Mama talked about him like he wasn't even in the room.

Poor, poor frosting baby Xander

...Unfortunately, frosting baby Xander got a little squished on the car trip home.  

Meat baby Xander survived the trip just fine.

Xander and Aunt Celene

It's okay, Xander!  That's your Aunt Celene.  She doesn't think you're made of frosting.

Frosting baby Xander

Here's a close-up of frosting baby Xander.

Aunt Celene's cake

Xander's Aunt Celene is a whiz at cake decorating.  She makes the coolest things out of frosting.  Here is the cake she made for Xander's open house, complete with a little frosting-baby-Xander, who is wearing a cape.  (Meat-baby-Xander wore overalls.)

Xander's open house

Grandma Joan hosted a lovely lil' coming out party for Xander this weekend.  Other people got to hold the baby, but only just.

Sucker for overalls

This may be the first and last day Xander can wear these super-cute overalls, because already they're tight in the diaper region.  But he's so cute in them!  Let us acknowledge his cuteness for posterity's sake.  Then take them off for posterior's sake.  

Puddle o' baby

Bedtime is our favorite time because he's just so cute when he's crashed out!

Peace in our time

For those of you who were scarred for life by the video of Xander shrieking his head off in his new swing, here's a picture of him seemingly enjoying it.  

See?  We didn't line the thing in cactus needles!  He's fine.

That 97-cent coat!

If someone were to have told me a few years ago that I would be a sucker for babies dressed like animals, I would have laughed.  But now, I kind of want to dress Xander up as a different animal every day - bee, lion, whatever.

So it's very exciting to have this little grizzly bear coat for him!  His friend Norah has the same coat, so they're all set for Twin Day.  

And of course, it cost less than a dollar!  That's what we call a bargain.  

Xander's first excursion

Last week, a gang of us took our babies and ourselves to the outlet mall.  I got a fantastic jacket from Banana Republic - $150 marked down to $18! - and Xander got a 97-cent coat.  Judging from his expression, I think all the huge savings made him a bit over-stimulated.  

Video: Xander cries; parents ignore

I know I'm biologically programmed to feel this way, but my baby's cry is the worst sound I've ever heard.  It's like fingernails on the blackboard of my heart.  Watch this video and see if you agree!  

Video: Xander at four weeks

This adorable outfit, by the way, was a gift from Brenda and Jodi.  Thanks, B & J!  

Xander vibrates

Not that I'm schilling for Graco or anything, but we bought their Pack n' Play that has a built-in bassinet with vibration setting, nature sounds, and mobile.  Here's a video of Xander trying it out for the first time.

We're going to try and use it as much as we can in the next few weeks, since the bassinet part has a 15-pound weight limitation, and Xander is already at 12 pounds.  

The other voice you hear is Xander's Aunt Mandy.

Glamorous Aunt Mandy

Chris's sister Amanda stayed with us for a week.  Despite her initial concern that his head would topple off and roll away if she held him, she took to schlepping Xander around like a pro.  She also, like a champion, changed some very exciting dirty diapers and made sympathetic faces when he wouldn't stop crying.  And she has fabulous hair.

She also whipped up gourmet foodstuffs in our kitchen; we didn't know our kitchen could do all that.  We ate homemade peach cobbler, chocolate cake, oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies, and the occasional steamed vegetable.  It was delicious.  Come visit anytime, Mandy!

The whole fam damily

This is our first whole-family photo where no one is wearing a hospital gown.  

Who's cuter?

It's a toss-up, really.  

The real question is, is Xander gazing adoringly at his father out of pure love?  Or is he calculating his odds that he will also inherit Chris's Dudley DoRight-esque heroic chin dimple and gleaming, toothy smile?  I say both.