3 Months old!

Alex is already three months old as of Friday 10/23! He is growing by leaps and bounds. He just successfully battled his first diaper rash. Miss Pam helped mom and dad out with that by recommending Desitin ORIGINAL, not Creamy. Worked like a charm. He is smiling all the time now and likes to talk. He is just a chatty Cathy. One interesting thing is Alex is a morning person. Brent and I really aren't so that came as a surprise to me to see Alex so happy in the morning. Every time we approach the crib when he wakes up in the morning, he just beams at us and stretches out in anticipation of morning snugs. I have to admit, he is so charming in the morning that I am starting to look forward to them myself.

We finally put his little hand prints in his baby book on his three month birthday! Alex always has his hands in fists and we've not wanted to do it while he sleeps for fear of waking him up. So, if you click on the image you will see that the right hand is especially messy. Pretty cute. We were all blue on Friday night.

This is a picture of Alex sucking on his thumb which he has discovered over the past few weeks. He seems to be more and more interested in it as the days go by. He just talks and eats his thumb.

No more to report for now. Time to go watch the Vikings beat the Steelers. And yes, Alex is already a Vikings fan!

Poopy Pants?

Alex has had an unusual amount of cottage cheese type blowouts for the past few days. He is still the happiest baby on the block... but we can't help but be concerned. Our doctor said it's most likely a growth spurt and nothing to be concerned about unless he develops a fever or seems uncomfortable.

Alex is constantly smiling. Brent had a special moment with his son this morning. I was nursing Alex when Brent bent to kiss me goodbye to leave for work. Then he touched the back of Alex's head and said, "Bye baby." Alex pulled away and looked right at Brent and have him a huge smile. It was like he was saying, "Bye Dad! Have a good day!"

It was so adorable.

We had a great time last weekend visiting Lee and Marlys in Wisconsin. Alex was a big hit and was on his best behavior. A memorable event:

We were all eating lunch when Alex started fussing. He was laying on his blanket that we laid on the floor of the living room. Before anyone could get up, Lee had hopped up and scooped Alex up off the floor! Can you imagine?! He is 89 years old and spry enough to pick a baby off the floor! I was shocked. Then he sat with Alex on his lap while eating like it was the most natural thing in the world while Brent and I looked on admirably.

Alex gave both great grandparents big smiles when we left. He seemed to really enjoy the visit. It didn't hurt that Grandma Sue sat beside him in the car smiling and talking to him.

We forgot to grab our camera for the trip, so hopefully Sue and Larry will be able to give us some pictures of the visit.

First Family trip to Duluth, MN

We went on our first family road trip this past weekend and had a great time. Alex did really well on the trip and we made sure that he got plenty of rest and snuggles. We left Saturday and returned last night. It was a short trip, but we didn't want to be gone longer with Alex just over 2 months and needing so much good sleep. Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Alex was not pleased with the accommodations!

Now he's fine... ;)

A nice lady took our picture while shopping in Canal Park.

Alex was fascinated by himself in a shop mirror.

Both mom and dad got much needed snuggle time on a lazy Sunday morning.

We broke out the Snugglie-thingy for our trip to Hawk Ridge.

It was getting chilly last night and we didn't have any mittens... but we did have some clean socks! It seemed to do the trick.

Alex and his Mobile

Alex was particularly hungry tonight. He ate 5 ounces of milk from a bottle and was breastfed! After that we played a while. He was talking up a storm. Tummy time was when he turned the corner for the worse. He hated it!! After about 3 minutes of laying belly down on a blanket, we decided that was enough. I changed his diaper and he was still crying and beat red. Then I laid him in his crib to put on his sleeper with the intent of picking him up again... and he started staring at his mobile.

This is what followed:

Alex's First Week of Daycare Complete

Tuesday was Alex's first day at daycare... and the first day I went back to work. There were many tears (from me) but we survived. It was especially hard to leave him this morning because after I fed him... he just looked at me and smiled.

In fact, he was so blissfully happy that I had to run and get the camera. He is starting to be even more alert, coo, and smile. It's wonderful.



The week went well in large part to both Brent and I being comfortable with our daycare provider Pam. She lives about a mile south of us and is in love with our son. She has five kids of her own and they all fight over who will hold "Mr. Alex Johnson" next when they get home from school. He is a big hit.

I labeled all of his stuff with "Alex Johnson" so now he has a family nickname. They all thought it was cute that I labeled his things so formally! I overheard one of her kids saying, "Paging Mr. Alex Johnson. You are late to your conference call."
Pretty cute.

I am just glad that I have a 3 day weekend ahead of me. Leaving my baby has proven to be very difficult... being a mom is by far the best job in the world.

Alex's New Swing

Tonight our family went to one of our favorite places... Target. We stocked up on essentials like formula, Diaper Genie refills, and Drop Ins. Then I started looking at swings.

We had been told on numerous occasions to get a swing in the house and were asked why it wasn't on our registry. No idea why not especially seeing how much he enjoys it! We bought Alex the "My Little Lamb" which in my opinion is the Cadillac of baby swings. This puppy has side-to-side action and front-to-back, a moving mobile, mirror, 8 different tunes, and 6 speeds.

Brent put it together the moment we got home and we couldn't wait for our feeding session to be over to get him in his new toy. As you can see from the video at the bottom of the post, Alex fell in love with his new swing. He was just mesmerized. It did exactly what it was supposed to- it engaged and comforted him.

Oh how we love this little man of ours. He is adorable!

Already over a month old...

Alex Lorens Johnson was born on 7/23/09 around 8 pm. He came into this world screaming and seems to be quite fond of it! I will never forget the shock of seeing our son being handed to me for the first time. I had carried him for so long and now there was a little person, our little boy, on my stomach. What a feeling that was... it is something I know Brent and I will never forget.

Alex was born 9 lbs 4 oz. I knew he was a big boy and frankly was grateful he wasn't bigger! He was thriving from the very beginning and we were more than proud of him. Moms always say that you don't even remember the pain, and honestly, you don't. Even that night I was just ecstatic. I loved being able to see him, hold him, kiss him, and just enjoy him. He breastfed for 45 minutes right off the bat! Hungry little man.

Feeding Alex has really been our only challenge. We learned after a week that I am not producing enough breast milk to sustain him and had to start supplementing with formula. At first it felt like I had failed Alex since breast milk is best for him, especially so early on. I have been to the lactation consultants 3 times, am taking herbs that are supposed to increase my production, and am doing everything I can to keep things going. But... I am still not producing enough. My mom had the same problem. I feel now like I am doing the best I can and that is certainly good enough. Now he gets breastfed, I feed him formula, and then I pump 3-4 times a day as well. Fun, right?! But he's worth it.

At least he is no longer the "Baracuda baby" that we dubbed him early on. He is much more gentle now that he isn't hungry 24-7.

Alex is starting to communicate which is really fun for us. He is moaning softly when he looks around, and moaning pitifully when he's crying out of exhaustion. It's adorable. Brent is waiting for the smile. He is already starting to recognize us... we have to be extra careful now when we check on him in the bassinet. If he sees us, he wants to be held.

What else? I feel like there is so much to say about Alex. He is hot-bodied like me and has my loud, crazy hiccups. He is inquisitive like his dad. I think he looks like Brent but may have my nose. His hands have already grown. He likes butt pats (something Brent discovered God Bless him). He loves to eat and hold my hand. He hates bathes. He loves his new wipe warmer that Sue got him. He doesn't like wet diapers but doesn't seem to mind poopy ones! He likes to sleep with his arms thrown back above his head. He is a charming little baby.

Here are some pictures to prove it...



Day 2 snuggling with mom at the hospital



Taken 8/6/09. He looks so big in this one!



Taken 8/18/09 on a trip to Stillwater with Georgia and her friend Abby. This was Alex's first picnic!