Month Six

AJ is six months old now. Time is going to fast for me. I can not believe how big he is. I had to get rid of his 6mo clothes because he has out grown them so fast. In fact he is in 9-12mo clothes. Took him in for his well baby appointment and he is 27 inches and just under 20 pounds.

He got to go on his first family vacation. We took a week and went down to Panama City. We stayed at Tyndall AFB which was really nice. It was a two bedroom house with a full kitchen and a washer and dryer. AJ didn't really like the long drive. He wanted out of his car seat and didn't sleep all that much. Not like the girls did at that age. We hung out at the beach for a day and did some shopping another day. AJ did not like the waves in the water so he didn't do much swimming. Sam and I did some boogy boarding until I was to tired from getting pounded by the waves then it was Alex's turn to play with the girls. Ashley and Sam got to ride on the sling shot again like they did last year. It was a real relaxing trip except for the parts where AJ didn't take a nap, sleep through the night or the crappy bed Alex and I were sleeping in.

I don't know what is up with this boy but he has decided that he doesn't want to take any naps, or a least not good long ones. I can't put him in his swing anymore because he's to big for it and he is always trying to lean over the edge. I am afraid that he will flip right out of it. If he does take a nap it is only for 30 minutes. Very rarely will he take a longer one. He is still however sleeping through the night so that is a major plus.

He is trying to crawl. He almost gets into the crawling position and if he does when he moves he just falls on to his stomach. I know that one of these days I am going to put him down in front of the couch and go in to the kitchen for something, turn around and find him crawling after me. He has figured out how to roll places.

Alex has been home for the last couple weeks and I think he and AJ really bonded. Now if Alex is around AJ doesn't want me. He will act like he wants to go to me when I put my hands out but then puts his head in to Alex's shoulder. It is very cute and totally makes Alex's day. I really don't mind he and Alex need to bond, especially since Alex will be leaving soon.

Birthday Girls

I am now the mother of TWO teen age girls. Sam turned thirteen this past July. With that came facebook. One more thing for her talk to boys on. Mom and dad were here for that week and we made sure that she had a great birthday. I made her favorite, lobster and steak. Mom and dad got her a full length mirror, duct tape and a few other things. Alex and I also got her some duct tape, bracelets, and a poster of her favorite character on the Big Bang Theory show, Sheldon.

Of course the day after Sam's birthday is Ashley's. She is 14 now. I can't believe it. In just a few days she will be going to high school and starting seminary. It just seems like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. Mom and dad had to leave on her birthday but they were able to give her the gifts from them. They had also got her a mirror, duct tape and other things. We had gotten her a few things but the big gift this year was a cell phone. In fact both girls got one. I don't know how well we thought this through but I let it be Alex's decision to get it. At least now I have something big to take away when they get into trouble.

Like I had mentioned Mom and dad came down the week of the girls birthdays. The night they got here AJ cried when he saw mom. He even cried the next morning when he saw her. I was hoping she didn't take it personally and want to go home. Dad, on the other hand didn't even get a whimper from him. After he did warm up to them he wanted to be around them all the time. He and grandpa did some serious bonding. Grandpa was trying to feed him anything and everything that he shouldn't be eating like ice cream.

We had a great time with them while they were here. We all went to see the little white house where president Roosevelt died. We had a blast at the wild safari animal drive thru. We rented one of their vans and I got food for the girls to feed the animals. Sam thought it was great and so did Ashley until the animal stuck it's tongue out to try to get the food. Ashley kept screaming. Drove me crazy. Dad and Alex also went to play golf and then afterwards Dad took everyone minus Alex rollerskating. He was telling the girls that he was going to skate circles around them and he did. He even fell a couple of times. That was funny. Mom tried to skate but she instead stayed with AJ while everyone else skated. When everyone was done Mom, dad and the girls played miniature golf while AJ and I hung out.

It was a great week spent with them. I sure wish we could do it more often.

Month Five

How much can one little person learn in just a month. Not only has AJ learned to sit up but we are also standing assisted. He has been going to town in his jumping toy. Just acts like a crazy boy. He is eating more solid foods and loves peas, green beans, carrots, squash, sweet potato, all fruits except bananas. His favorite thing to do is suck on pickles. I have another pickle baby. Since we have started learning many new skills we have decided to give up a few things like sleeping though the night. He is only waking up once a night and goes right back to sleep after a bottle and diaper change.

AJ has learned to love to sing. We sing wheels on the bus all the time. I love it when he sings with me. We have started going to a baby reading time at the library. He really loves watching the kids in the group. We have been experences a lot of first this past month. He loves to go to the pool and jump around in the water. We went to the Wild Life Animal Safari with grandma and grandpa. Can't wait to see what happens in the next month.

month 4

So much has been going on with AJ the last few weeks. On the 15th of this month he tried cereal for the first time and loved it. He is so funny when he eats. He is always smacking his lips. On the 18th he rolled over for the first time, back to front. He has only did it twice since then but I know that it is only the beginning to crawling. He now weighs 17lbs. I can't believe how fast he is growing. I don't remember the girls growing this big this fast.

Sam's soccer team took first place in the championship. Her team was the underdog team in their age group. They were the smallest and youngest of all four teams. They had a rocky start at the beginning losing most of their games. She was so excited to show me her trophy.

I know that we have a lot more coming up in the next few months. Next week AJ will receive more shots at his next well baby check-up. The girls will be celebrating the last day of school. After that both girls will be going to girls camp. Sam for the first time. I don't know what I am going to do with out the girls for four days. Alex is going to have to help out a lot that week.

month 3

AJ is growing in leaps and bounds. At his last check up he was 15.5lbs and 24.5in long. He did very well getting his first set of shots. So much has been happening since he hit the three month mark. On the 23rd of April my mom came down to meet her new grandson. She was so excited to see him and we were excited to see her. That Thursday Alex's sister Kat surprised us with a visit from California. Dad came on Friday and then we celebrated AJ's 100 day celebration.

The 100 day celebration is a Korean tradition that celebrates a milestone in a baby's life. You invite people over for food and well wishes for the new baby. It was Suk's day to spoil and pamper her new grandson. We had a lot of people over at our house with tons of food. It was great to share this special day with friends and family.

The next day at church we had AJ's blessing. Mom and dad bought him the cutest blessing outfit. It looked like a white tux with a newsie hat. Dad asked Alex if he wanted to take AJ to the front of the chapel for the blessing and he agreed. The bishop had Alex hold the microphone while dad gave the blessing. That is one thing I love about our bishop is that he likes to include the non members in everything they can participate in.

The girls were out of school that following Monday which was really nice so they could spend as much time with their grandparents. We all went to Callaway Gardens for the day and got to see the turtles in the lake, the butterfly house and get our feet wet in the water. AJ got to play in the lake for the first time. He really loves the water. He had discovered splashing while I was giving him a bath last week. I now have to have his bathtub in my bathtub to contain all the water since he was getting the counters and floor wet in the kitchen.

A couple of weeks ago I started to transition him from breast milk to formula by adding some formula to his night time bottles. Since I started doing that he has been sleeping through the night. I also have him sleeping in his crib in his own room now. He is the youngest of all my kids to sleep through the night and to sleep in his room at such an early age. He is has also started teething. I just can't believe how quickly he is growing. It just seems like yesterday I found out that I was pregnant.

The girls have a lot going on to right now. Sam is finishing up soccer season. She just has a couple of more games to go. She has really been loving it and wants to continue playing this fall. Ashley is getting ready to complete middle school and go on to high school next year. That also means starting seminary. I am so nervous for her to go to high school. I just don't want my kids to grow up.

We did get some bad news this last week. Alex came home and told us that he got orders for Ft. Polk, LA. We had talked about what would happen if he came up on orders since we wanted to stay here until Sam was done with high school and we decided that he would try to go to Korea. Well he checked on that and even the possibility that we all go to Germany but it was all a no go. I didn't prepare myself for what would happen if he couldn't switch it to Korea. I decided that he is going to Ft. Polk alone and we would visit as much as we can. He will be in a CASH unit and they deploy. My luck would be that shortly after we get there his unit deploys and I am stuck in a place I don't like with the kids. Plus the girls are established here in school and they have friends. He said that he is going to put in a transfer to here as soon as he can.

Week 10

I can't believe how much time has flown. Our little man is 10 weeks old now and is getting bigger every day. He is already up to 15lbs and already wearing 3-6mo clothing. He is such a happy baby always smiling and giggling at us and his sisters. It is great when he looks at you and can recognize your face or turns his head to a familiar voice. I think that he is already starting to have favorite activities with different people. With Alex he always smiles and laughs when he plays patty-cake with him. If I try the way Alex does it then I don't even get a smile. With me he tries to stick his tongue out because that is what I have been doing to him. He loves to talk with everyone and is getting pretty vocal about some things. Like if Sam plays with him then walks away he lets her know that, that wasn't cool. Ashley is becoming more confident with him. Usually if he starts fussing then she stresses out.

The girls have been such great helpers with him. Not only with AJ but also with doing their chores and getting ready for school. They usually let us sleep in unless there is something I forgot to sign for school and they have not fought once in the morning. That there is the best part. On mornings that I'm not up to see them off to school they leave me notes on our white board. It is really sweet and totally makes my day.

Poor Alex is trying to relearn how to balance work, wife, big girls and a little baby and still get some rest time. He's been trying really hard at helping me with AJ. Now that Sam has started soccer and the girls have their young women activities there are times during the week that we don't see each other. That part does make it hard but it is not forever. He is taking the week of spring break off so we will be able to have some good family time.

Alex and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary last week. It was nice to go out just the two of us. His parents were able to take all the kids. We did leave the girls there over night but AJ is just a little to young to do any sleep overs at the grandparents house just yet. We went to dinner and then saw the Hunger Games. Great movie.

As I mentioned Sam has started playing soccer on a city team. She is having a blast playing. They have her playing two positions, defender and forward. She's pretty good at both I just wish she would be a little more aggressive at handling the ball. Ashley didn't want to sign up with Sam did but after seeing her play she wants to play now. We'll have to wait until the fall season to sign them both up. It will be great to have them both on a team again.

Week Four

I can't believe that AJ is four weeks old now. He is getting bigger every day. I swear he is going thru a growth spurt now. He is eating all the time and sleeping for longer periods. There has been a lot that has been going on the last couple of weeks. Last week AJ and I had to go to Atlanta to see the pediatric urologist to see if he was going to be able to have a normal circumcision done or have to have something fixed. It was a two hour drive for a five minute appointment to find out that everything was ok and that it could have been done while we were at the hospital. I figured that they would find nothing wrong but it is better to be safe then sorry.

I did end up really sick this last weekend. I ended up with mastitis which hurts like crazy and I had a high fever. I ended up going to the doctor on Monday and ended up on antibiotics. I feel way better now and was able to get all of the sleep I needed since I started taking care of the baby my self.

We did end up getting AJ's circumcision done this week. I had to go and take him myself since Alex wasn't able to come for moral support. He had meetings all day. I felt so bad taking him in for it but I know that it is what we wanted. He was a trooper for the whole deal. He calmed down after I got him and fed him. He did get even with the doctor though the last time he checked him out. After the doctor opened his diaper he peed in his face. It was so funny that everyone in the room got a good laugh. The thing that will make the whole day memorable is that it happened on Valentines Day. What a way to spend his first Valentines Day.

It is amazing to see how he changes everyday. He is a wake and alert more and has more control over his head. He loves to look at himself in the mirror which is a total uncle mike and uncle Brandon thing. He smiles more while he is awake and I just love seeing his dimples. There is one thing about him. He loves to grunt in his sleep. I think he is just trying to compete with daddy. I am so glad that he sleeps so well at night through all of the noise that Alex makes.

I am still happily surprised that I have a little boy. I love snuggling with him every second I can. I hate that he is growing so fast. I just want to keep him little just a little bit longer.