AMAZING Weekend

The Jenkins' Family had a busy weekend!!

Saturday we had a birthday party to attend. A friend's baby (Caleb) had his 1st birthday party and we were able to help celebrate.  Although the birthday boy was feeling a little under the weather, Alex surprisingly did a good job.  

At first Alex was a little hesitant, even cried when new people approached and got a little too close to him. They were nothing but smiling faces, yet they were new ones, and Alex seems to be a slow to warm up child.  After he got used to his new surroundings, and realized that his Mom and Dad were there, he started to loosen up a little and seemed to have fun! 

Here is the Birthday Boy Caleb!!!

Alex and his friend EJ (Jessica's nephew). Alex is so funny with his hand on EJ's shoulder. Like they are old friends from waaaay back in the day!!!

I just love Alex's expression in this picture!

The birthday part was just so awesome, Caleb's Mommy, Meredith, did such a great job with the decorations and planning! Everything was too cute and you can tell she invested a lot of time making her little boy's day so special!  Now, I have to start planning Alex's 1st birthday!!! I only have 5.5 months to get things together!! Thank goodness for Pinterest!! Hope to get most of my planning ideas from there!

Caleb's first birthday party theme was "Little Man." So all over there were mustaches, bow ties, glasses, and just fun things around as decorations.  They did a photo booth where people could get dressed had have their picture taken. Such a fun and creative idea!

On Sunday Jason was kind enough to take Alex and Joel to Grandma Carol's house!! I had a few hours in the morning to sit in a quiet house. True, I just caught up on housework but I will have to admit, it was so nice to be able to finish a task with no interruptions!! I cleaned the kitchen (except for the floors), got 3 loads of laundry done, folded, and put away the clothes!!! I even cleaned some of the carpets!! Even though I didn't get the chance to relax, I was still happy just to get the time to myself.  I will have to admit after a few hours I missed my baby!!!


After the boys came home from their visit, we went over to my Dad's house for the afternoon! Connor was happy to see Joel, and I got to sit and chat with my Dad.  Poor Alex was scared of his Grandpa D though. My Dad thought it was because he hadn't seen Alex in about a month. I didn't want to break it to my Dad that Alex was really afraid of his loud voice. My Dad is loosing his hearing and talks very loud.  Every time my Dad talked Alex started crying. Then when my Dad laughed, Alex would jump.  After a couple of hours Alex definitely warmed up and realized that there was nothing to be afraid of. Next time I will just ask my Dad to lower his voice - because he really doesn't realize that he is being loud. 

This is a picture of a picture so the quality is not very good. But here is Alex, Grandpa D and myself on Sunday! Good times!!

My Dad got us lunch/dinner and we all ate some City BBQ. Have to say it was some good barbeque!! Alex was exhausted after our long weekend. We even skipped bath night and saved it for the next day! 


It is so nice having fun family weekends! We really had a really nice time together and it was perfect timing with having the wintertime blahs...

Nothing better...

There is just nothing better than being a Mom... 

I thought that when I first met Jason that life couldn't get any better... The love I had for him was more than I had ever felt for another person! I didn't think I would ever meet anyone who was as kind, caring, and funny... Although we had our struggles in the beginning with having a long distance relationship, the choices we made to make our relationship work were worth it. 

Then we were given the chance to create and now love this amazing little boy. The love I had for Jason grew even stronger once Alex was born. It's a new love, a new understanding, of what it means to be a family. To look out for one another and care for each other even when times get crazy and hectic. Jason is not only my husband but now the father of my child, which makes me even so happy, yet brings some anxiety because he is just that much more important in my life now. His safety and well being is now my concern because it's my job to protect and care for him even more now.

The love I have for Alex is a love that I have never experienced before. It's a kind of love that brings excitement, joy, worry, and sometimes hurt (yes, the saying IS true, love hurts). The way a child changes your life can just be overwhelming when you sit back and really think about it. The constant excitement of watching him grow, or even just sleep peacefully is a rush for me. I now hurry home from work just to see what Alex is up to! I just can't wait to hear how his day went, if he had fun, if he discovered something new. The constant worry about his health and well being comes from a love that is so deep inside of me. Constantly worrying if I will be able to provide enough for him - not just his basic needs but to be able to go above and beyond for him emotionally, physically, and financially. Death actually scares me now. Will I live to see my child grow into an adult?? 

Having a child not only changes the way you love, but the way you live. There are no more bad days anymore. Every day is a day to be cherished! Having hope for the future is what keeps my days so full of joy. The anticipation of being able to do fun activities with Alex and Jason as a family is too much to handle. I don't want time to speed up but, I will have to say that I can't wait to get the finger paints and play dough out, and plan that first trip to the Zoo!!!

 

Happy 6 months Alex

It's hard to believe but my baby is already 6 months old!!

We celebrated his half birthday by singing lots of fun songs and eating some green beans!! 

It's just amazing at how fast time is going! 

Alex's latest thing is fake coughing when he is not getting the attention he feels he needs, sitting up unassisted, eating both fruits and veggies, holding his toys and of course throwing his toys, and just all around being a fun (and funny) little boy. 

This weekend my Mom was in town, and we had such a nice visit! It took Alex a few hours to get used to the new voice and face but once he warmed up he was trying to give MiMi hugs and kisses! We went out for a family dinner and although Alex started a little fussy, once he got into his high chair he was just having a ball looking at everyone and being apart of the group! He sat up and ate his sweet potatoes like it was a typical Saturday night.  He even had a little hummus with the grown ups! We attempted to take him to run errands with us, but that just turned into a scream fest! Right in the middle of the electronics department in Target, Alex is screaming and hollering!! It was actually funny because he just learned how to project his voice and actually scream.  The first few days he was teaching himself how to scream he wasn't really sure of himself - he would make his voice get louder, then would stop and take it up a notch.  Now he does it with perfection!! 

Alex had his six month check up on Monday! Luckily my Mom was still in town so she was able to go to his appointment. Of course being the concerned Grandmother that she is, she even had questions for the Doctor. We found our Doctor because he is somewhat of the town's celebrity Doctor. he is highly recommended and even is the pediatric expert on one of our local news stations. At first when I was searching for a pediatrician I was very hesitant to go to him.  I knew he was very popular, in a large practice, and was somewhat of a tv celebrity. I just wasn't comfortable and was concerned that we wouldn't get the attention that we needed. When I started asking for referrals from co-workers and/or friends it seemed like everyone referred him to me. Even my husband and mother in law suggested Dr. Mills. I did a facebook poll and of course Dr. Mills was top on everyone's list. So, we tried him out. I figured that if I wasn't happy with him after the first visit we would go somewhere else.

Well, little did I know that Dr. Mills would become such a huge part of Alex's early life.  On a routine "weigh-in" appointment when Alex was just 10 or so days old I pointed out a dry patch of skin on the back of Alex's head. As Dr. Mills was examining it more closely, he noticed a "ridge." The doctor called in some colleagues and everyone was perplexed on what this bump was on my baby's head. I knew after being in the hospital for delivery that when the doctor starts bringing in teams of doctors, it's not a good sign. After 4 doctor's examined Alex's head, to be cautious, he ordered us to be admitted to the Children's Hospital where we stayed for 5 days! 

After we were discharged from the hospital we saw Dr. Mills 1-2 times a week for the next 2 months. I can't tell you how odd of a feeling it was the first time when we didn't have a doctor's appointment scheduled.  Looking back I can't even imagine going through such a scary experience without the guidance and knowledge of such an experienced Doctor. He definitely proved me wrong by giving us all the attention we needed! He is always so kind and gentle with Alex, and Alex was just so interested in him.  Dr. Mills gave Alex a great exam report and he is growing just as well as to be expected.  Alex is surprisingly in the 90th percentile for height - which just makes me laugh since his father and I are not the tallest people (Jason is average, but I'm definitely not).  Socially Alex is doing great, giving eye contact, babbling, making funny sounds when talked to. We are just so happy to see our boy grow so well... 

Alex got a high chair this weekend which is just too fun to watch him in. He plays in it with his toys and he loves to eat in it!! It think he enjoys it so much because he is able to see what's going on! Plus, he enjoys us fetching for his toys after he's done throwing them down. 

 

Let the truth be told....

I recently purchased a "fancy" camera to capture all of our family memories/experiences.  As Jason and I are experimenting with the new camera, he takes a few pictures of me... Of course I was looking a hot mess. I had my mix matching pajamas on, my sweatshirt had bleach stains on the front of it, and my hair was in a scrunchi that I have had since I was probably in the 6th grade... But, truth be told, hot mess and all... I need to loose this baby fat!! 

I attempted to join this weight loss challenge with some girls at work... I made it 3 weeks until I just said, "forget it, I'm hungry!"  I probably could have made it longer if I wasn't feeling so darn stressed and could just stop snacking at my desk! Instead of snacking on the "right foods" I was snacking on cheese its, pretzels, and other "crap." So when the stress piled on, so did the snacking.  I did loose 3 pounds in the 3 weeks that I was participating.


We are eating better at home. At least I'm attempting to cook more so that we don't rely on take out and/or pizza when we run short on time.  Not going to say that my recipes are the healthiest but, it is much better than the meat lovers pizza Jason tends to enjoy!! And at least I can substitute some olive oil instead of a stick of butter! 


I have this gym membership that I am being charged for monthly, so my best bet is to just hit the gym a few times a week and work at getting this weight off... Does that sound very fun right now? No, sure doesn't. Especially since by the time I get off of work I only have 2 and a half hours to spend with Alex before he goes to bed.


So, the only thing I can think of is to get rid of the cheese-its sitting on my desk and hit the grocery store this weekend and get some fresh veggies. Maybe I could start doing some exercise dvds at home, and hope that it doesn't bore me too fast! 


Can't wait for spring so that I can take Alex out in the stroller and get nightly exercise like I did when he was first born!! 

Working for the Weekend

Is it me or is this week flying by?? Maybe I have just been so busy at work that it is making these days fly by!

Can't wait for this weekend.  Not only am I expecting a package to be delivered today with my new "hobby" but we are going out to dinner with some close friends! My new hobby, aka my new camera, should be delivered today! I'm very excited because it's a more professional camera - not just a point and shoot. Not only will I be able to take some great pictures of Alex, I'd like to maybe get back into snapping photos as a hobby.  I will take the pictures, and Jason will construct & paint my frames! Maybe by the time we move we will have a gallery of our favorite things!! I'm sure it will take me months to figure out how to use the camera but, I'm hoping that I can find a class to help me out!!  

Looking forward to dinner with friends this weekend! Jason and I have really only been out together two times since Alex was born! It will be nice to get out and have some adult conversation over sushi and hopefully a couple glasses of wine! I really need to make it a point and get out more with Jason and our friends.  It just is so hard when you get caught up in your family/home life! We still need to use our complimentary stay at the Hilton Garden Inn for our 1 year anniversary!! By the time we get to use it Alex will be walking  :o)

Uuuuggghhh, cold season strikes...

Here I am so concerned about Alex getting germs from others, I never even bothered thinking that he could give me germs!! 

He was hoarse last week, had an off-and-on cough/sneeze, and was a little snotty... It never developed into anything but as I was picking his nose (yes, I pick his nose - not with my fingers but with the aspirator or a qtip) I never thought to wash my hands. I'm constantly washing my hands but, I just never thought about it after caring for him.

Well, I think my baby gave me his cold! I'm hoping I can do mind over body and just have it pass. But I'm thinking that Jas is going to have to help out this weekend so I can get some rest (aka a nap or two). I am just feeling run down  :o(

It's February already?

Time is just flying by... 

I can't believe this time last year we were just starting the pregnancy journey - discussing if we were going to find out the gender of our baby!! Of course I wanted it to be a surprise, but Jason wanted to know! We compromised and ended up finding out that we were having a boy!! I thought for sure he was going to be a girl... Sophia Irene was what we were going to name her (both of our great grandmothers names).

It is so amazing to see Alex grow and learn new things! He has been eating solids for the past few weeks and it is just a hoot to see his reaction on the new tastes.  So far we have discovered that Alex does NOT like sweet peas... 

Sweet potatoes are of course a favorite along with green beans!!

He is starting to use his hand more to grab and reach for things. His new favorite is to touch your face, and unfortunately grab your hair.  When he grabs your face he tries to pull it close to his mouth so he can attempt to eat your face!! It's a little sloppy but, too adorable.

Such a joy to see him grow!!