3 MONTHS!

He has happy eyes.  He has red hair. He has his mama wrapped around his tiny little finger.

What is Alex doing now:

*smiling and smiling every day, every hour, every chance he gets
*"talks" and really loves to do the hand motions for "Wheels on the Bus" and "Pat-A-Cake"
*sleeps through the night but is still working on consistent naps

This Year I Want to Be a Unicorn...

Sometimes I set unrealistic Halloween costume goals for myself, but after trying to explain why I couldn't make a dolphin costume and after trying to convince P to wear a store bought princess dress...well...I caved.  With a newborn, I wondered if I'd be able to make a costume this year, but it's my thing, it's what I do so I made P and B unicorns.  Call me crazy!

 A made the cutest pumpkin EVER! 

Now, B wore her costume all of 5 minutes. Literally.  Even on Halloween, we could only convince her to wear her headpiece. 

Sand and Water

A few weekends ago, we decided to take a "quick" impromptu trip to the beach.  The "quick" trip wasn't so quick, but the beach was everything 2 little girls could hope for.  We intended on going to Galveston, but found ourselves in Crystal Beach (a short ferry ride across the bay).  The water was really rough so the girls collected seashells and dipped their toes in the water while I tried my hand at some "artsy" photography.  We stayed for about an hour or so before the sunset then rode the ferry to Galveston.  We had a lot of fun and promised the girls we'd take them on more beach trips.

2 MONTHS

Alexander is still winning "Best Baby" award, but he's also winning "Cutest Baby Boy" award.  My goodness, he's a handsome fella! Our newest skills are: 

 

*Sleeping 6 hours at night! and

*Smiling!

1 MONTH

 

Life with Alexander has been a completely different experience than with his sisters.  Compared to them, he's an angel baby. 

What makes Baby A an angel in my eyes:

*He fusses when he's tired, hungry, or gassy. 
*He hates to be left alone and loves to be held.
*When he does cry or gets fussy he either: falls asleep or is immediately soothed by someone coming and holding him
*He takes a pacifier
*He drinks from a bottle
*He SLEEPS!  This might change in the future, but as of right now he sleeps.

Wait a minute, isn't this what all babies do?  Yes and again compared to his sisters, he's an angel. 

And the Number 1 reason why he's my angel baby:
*He makes our family complete.  Everyone is in love with him and here's the proof:

Everybody loves Alex!



Like Father, Like Son

Ever notice how all "dad and baby" pictures are of dad and baby sleeping? 

 

 I think I have this very same picture of Bobby with Piper and one with Brynn.  Guess daddy chests are the best sleeping spots.

 

 I caught the 2 of them in the same sleeping position.  He is surely a McRae.

Newborn Pictures

At 1 week and 2 days old, we took Alex to get some newborn pictures that weren't taken with either a cell phone camera or point and shoot.  I'm always envious of the cute newborn pictures of babies in baskets or wearing funny hats all curled up in their sleepy positions on furry rugs.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any of those kind of shots but I did get some really cute pictures of my little Guy and his proud big sisters!

First Week Home (Pictures)

After Alex and I were discharged, we spent the entire week camped out in my bedroom.  My parents came to help out with the girls so I could get much needed rest and tend to the demanding newborn schedule.  The first week home was a sweet and necessary bonding time between Alex and me.  While bonding, I managed to chronicle a few aspects of Alex's first week home:

There's a New Guy in my Life- Part 2

After much anticipation,

I introduce you to...

Alexander Bladen McRae

"Alex"



 

Alexander was born quickly and effortlessly.  My doctor was amazing and the nurses were on point.  My entire experience was amazing.  He's handsome, beautiful, and perfect.  From the moment I heard him cry, I swear my heart grew 100 times bigger.  I love my little "Guy". 

There's a New Guy in my Life- Part 1

Before I introduce my new guy, let's back up a bit to before he arrived:

August 25, 2013 (37 weeks)

September 1, 2013 (38 weeks)

That is one dangerous belly, it looks like it could knock Pip into the water!

 I made a prediction that Lil' Bean would arrive sometime around August 28-September 2. So we had Bobby's mom, "Oma", come as a "just in case".  While she was here, she cooked, cleaned, took the girls to the splash pad, and let me rest.  I didn't lift a finger the entire time she was here- it was heavenly.  Despite having contractions the entire time she was here, Oma left without getting to meet Lil' Bean. On Wednesday (9/4), we dropped her off at the airport then went to my favorite Greek restaurant Niko Niko's for dinner.  The entire day, I had the fewest amount of contractions ever so I thought that labor wouldn't happen for another week.  I inhaled my delicious dinner and we headed home.  On the drive home- no contractions. I watched television- no contractions.  I went to bed- no contractions. 

At 7:20am on Thursday (9/5) not even 24 hours after dropping Oma off at the airport, I woke up to an intense contraction.  I looked at the clock (skeptical that labor was imminent) and thought "Okay if this is for real, the next contraction will be around 7:25ish.  At 7:25ish, I had another intense contraction.  So I thought, "If this is for real, the next contraction will be around 7:30ish.  At 7:30ish, I had another contraction.  Now at this point, I had 2 thoughts: 1- I've had contractions back to back before and then they stopped.  2- The next contraction will be at 7:35ish and if it is, I better wake Bob up and start making some phone calls. 

7:35ish, I was punching Bob to wake up.  His response was to lovingly put his arm around me and tell me how much he loved me.  Obviously, he was completely zonked.  I said, "Bob, I think we need to make phone calls.  I've been having contractions and if I'm correct, the next one will be at 7:40.  If it is, we need to go to the hospital."  Bob shot out of bed, fully awake.

By about 8am, I showered, packed my last items in my bag, and Bob made a phone call to my very pregnant neighbor to come watch the girls until Latsamy could come over and take them.  We then headed to the hospital in morning suburbia traffic. Oh  joy, it was the longest ride of my life.

We arrived at the hospital and they had me go to triage and monitor my progress.  It was determined that I was in fact in labor.  Duh!?!  I arrived at about 3cm and a little over 70%, so they hooked me up and then we waited and waited and waited...and we didn't wait because labor was taking so long, but because they had no room ready for me.  They finally moved me about an hour before Alex was born.  Phew!

The Great Expansion

 How you like this 36 weeks shot taken by my little photographer Pip?  It's not perfect, but it was taken by Pip and that makes it super special to me.  Plus, I'd have to admit that's a pretty cute photo bomber crashing my pregnancy pic.

I'm 36 weeks +couple of days and I honestly can't imagine getting any bigger. It seems that all the great weight gain I did in the 1st and 2nd trimester has been completely undone in the 3rd.  While I physically don't appear as big, my baby bump is growing exponentially each week! 

I had a doctor's appointment earlier this week and my body is gearing up for delivery, but he assured me "NO baby this week!"  This I already knew.  Lil' Bean is going to be here in 2 weeks- mark my word on this.  I am almost confident that he will be making his appearance sometime in the next 2 weeks.  So by my "mother's instinct" calculations that puts him as being born on or around 38 weeks pregnant which is between August 30- September 2.

I want to clarify that this is not wishful thinking.  I don't care if he comes at 38weeks or on his due date.  I hate when people assume that I'm just ready to kick this kid out of my belly. Not so. I like to look at patterns and try to find similarities or coincidences between events.  For example:

P was born at 37 weeks, she shares a birthday with her daddy.  I hoped that she would be a Halloween baby, she came an exact week after Halloween.  Her original due date kept changing from the 12th, 19th, 26th.  I'm assuming the 26th was the most accurate due date, but who knows.

B was born at 39 weeks.  I had a feeling she would be a 4th of July baby instead of her original due date of July 12th.  Because of this "mother's instinct", I kept telling her to hold on until Grandma came and then she could come whenever she wanted and we changed my mom's flight from the 9th to the 4th.  She was born in the early morning hours of the 5th, an exact week before her original due date.

So based on these numbers and finding patterns:  A will be born at 38 weeks.  My mother's instinct was a week off with P, a day off with B, so it should be spot on with A.  Also, P shares Bob's birthday and she was first born.  A is the last, he's the only McRae male- wouldn't it be weird if he shared a birthday with his middle namesake?   We also felt impressed to fly Bobby's mom in at the end of this month.  Now A's due date is September 14th. So, I could be wrong in all respects and my theories are just that- theories.  We'll see...

Circus, Circus!

Earlier this month, my friend Latsamy threw me and Lil' Bean a baby shower.  Everything was so beautiful and awesome!  I was pretty much blown away by all the decorations, food, and the overall effort it took to plan and execute it.  It is no secret that I don't have much luck with showers- wedding or baby.  Typically, I shy away from having parties thrown in my honor because they always, always end up a complete nightmare or disappointment.  In fact, this shower is the only shower that actually panned out in less than dramatic fashion.  I ate good food and opened lots of presents (clothing and bottles) and people actually showed up...and I knew them!  I'd have to say what a way to welcome Lil' Bean into the world! Kudos to my friend Latsamy who could start her own party planning business!

The décor

The food acting as décor

More food decor

We made an alphabet book for Lil' Bean.

I mustache you a question

 

Just chatting

Me and Latsamy