The Mobile Myth

So Alex has finally discovered the joys of his mobile!
!!!YEAH!!!

Cute and fuzzy animals all slowly swirling above to the tune of "Rock a Bye Baby"

What baby could ask for more?

Thats the problem!

HE WANTS MORE!

When it stops, the tears start!

Up to this point whenever I tried his mobile he never seemed to really notice or care, so how excited am I that he is starting to develop more skills than just pooping and eating! The biggest benefit to this new development is the possibility of self entertainment! You know what I mean, time not spent holding the baby! Time to wash a dish! Time to eat a small meal! Time to write a blog with 2 hands!

So, because his mobile lives upstairs attached to his crib, I pulled out the little teddy-bear mobile that came with our pack'n'play for our living room, only to discover absolutely no motor of any kind on it! Do you know that what means? It means for ten minutes, ten long minutes I stood at the pack'n'play and spun the mobile!

I would spin, he would be mesmerized.
It would stop, he would start to cry.
I would spin.

Did I mention the longest I ever got it to spin was three full seconds!
What a load of crock! Who even designs a mobile that doesn't spin on its own?
Graco that's who!

OK. Fine. I'll go get the one up stairs! What it only attaches to cribs? Whatever I've got c-clamps and gumption! So after a lot of fiddling, some swearing and an ever crying baby, I have it somehow vertical and attached, albeit not osha approved, and we are finally ready to go!

WIND, WIND, WIND, WIND, WIND,

Step away to the twinkling sounds of "rock a bye baby" and a calm happy baby...

.............


2 minutes later the music stops, the mobile stops, the tears start.

This went on for about another twenty minutes, very few dishes got washed, hardly any food was eaten, and if I ever hear that stupid song again .......

So I feel duped.
Duped by the mobile people who trick you into thinking how cute it would be to have a cute little mobile that matches the cute little animals on your cute little sheets and crib bumper (which by the way adds another dupement as the bumper is only for looking, not using as it will kill your child through suffocation.)
Duped into thinking that this little wind up thing will actually help Alex's mental development.
Duped into thinking that my son will ever be able to left to play on his own!!!!!

So that was yesterday.

Today Chris surfed the web and found me a battery operated mobile that has 4 types of motion, 3 types of classical music, and goes for 15 gloriusly long minutes! It even brags about all of the developmental skills it will give your baby! And its not even pastel !!!

40.00 dollars later , a trip to Target two suburbs away, and we have a Xander all content and staring in wonderment, and a calm and happy mom using two hands to eat a sandwich.!!!
Whoo Hoo!

Catchin' up

So I thought it would be fun to do a small "How we got here!" photo show:

So thats us at about 1:30pm on 1/30/08!

I'm still in this whole disbelief mode that this all just happened!
- that this crying, slimy, little red faced baby just came out of me!
- that I'm a MOM!
- that Chris is a DAD!
uh...... now what do I do?

Well you take them home!

Thats Alex on day three! All swaddled up after a yet another diaper change, and ready for yet another nap. At this point he is feeding about every two hours and sleeping when he's not feeding, and well sometimes even when he is feeding.

This is him all grumpy like after his first at home bath!

When limited to only a couple of photos per blog I probably could have chosen a better one to represent how fast things change in eight weeks, but its just such a cute one I couldn't resist!

[ go ahead and try to tell me that this is just not the cutest picture ever, I dare you!]

1 Month!!!

Well thirty days after his birthday he is finally starting to stay awake for longer than twenty minutes! He's also starting to not be so grumpy in the face
- more of a pondering one.
pondering about that ceiling spot . . .

Easter!

Who can resist the chance to take naked pictures on holidays?

I could have emptied my entire photo album, and I might do so anyways, but Alex said that would have been a little much. I think he's just shy...

Hello World!

8 weeks ago today the scariest thing in my life happened, I gave birth!

(holy cow! I know!)

5 minutes later an even scarier thing happened , I was hit with the thought:

"?! Now what do I do !?"

Well so far so good, Little Alex is still alive!
We have had lots of sleepless nights, dirty diapers, crying sessions, and spit-ups;
but I think I am gonna keep the little guy anyway.

I have learned a lot about him in the last two months:
( mainly all the ways to keep him from crying)
His favorite hobby is staring intently at that spot on the ceiling.
(which spot I am still not sure of, but darn'it if he doesn't keep looking anyway)
Not sure what his favorite color is yet, but he does sleep in my bed.
I also think his personality is starting to show up more and more,
but Chris thinks its just gas.

Xander's biggest accomplishment these past few weeks is that he is starting to sleep for longer periods at night and any mom will be able to tell you how much a difference that extra hour is, in my case its sometimes only a half hour, but still....
- now all I have to do is get him to actually sleep in his crib.....
(somehow I am thinking world peace might be easier)

I am hoping that this blog will be a way to keep my long distance family and friends informed about how little Xander is doing, and well it just seems like the 2008 thing to do, I mean everyone else is doing it, and we wouldn't want to feel left out or uncool would we?

Well I hope you enjoy the future postings, and if not well just keep it to yourself.