4 Months Old

Alexa is 4 months old today! Here are some of the things that she is doing at 4 months:

*grabbing her links when she is in her bouncy seat and trying to pull herself up

*crying when I put her in her crib for a nap

*sucking her hands and fingers

*playing with her teething book and anything else she can put into her mouth

*cooing and experimenting with all the noises she can make

*eating 5-6 ounces each feeding, sometimes more

*laughing

*smiling when I get her out of her crib in the morning

*sitting up in her Bumbo and looking around

*going for stroller rides without her carseat so she can look around

*hanging out with mom all day long and loving to be held or carried in the carrier (facing outwards)

*splashing in the tub so much we need to transport her from sink to big bath tub

*wearing size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes

*still battling thrush since 2 MONTHS OLD!!, ready to be done with that!

*turning her head to find mom or dad

*taking morning and afternoon naps

*holding my hand when she takes a bottle

*grabbing my collar when she takes a bottle and when I put her in her crib

*not sleeping through the night, but usually only waking up one time

Buddy Walk

The girls with the babes. I like how Ella and Alexa are looking at each other.
Rylie, Olivia, and Grace all bundled up ready to walk!
The whole group of family and friends!

Saturday morning Alexa and I met up with Grandma and Grandpa Roedema for breakfast at the West Side Cafe and then we were off to Millennium Park for the Buddy Walk through the Down Syndrome Association of West Michigan in celebration of Wyatt Lovell our friend Kelly and Jason's week old baby. It was great to have all our friends gather for a wonderful cause to support and walk for Wyatt. The Krispie Creams and Corner Bar hotdogs were an added bonus. I feel like this will be a fun tradition.

Spit Happens

Wow...this is how much Alexa would spit up when she was a teeny tiny baby and we put her on Zantac for reflux. We hadn't been giving it to her because she hadn't projectile vomited in awhile- she had three bath this day one after a poop blowout, one as a bedtime routine, and one after this. Aghhh! and I just cleaned the floors too. Go figure. At least it was daddy this time- sorry sucker!

Art Prize

Keith and I headed downtown to start taking in Art Prize. It was such a humid night. We figured we are so close we will just see little bits at a time. We stayed by Gerald R. Ford Museum and Grand Rapids Public Museum. We really wanted to see the Water Prize since it is associated with Mars Hill. Alexa did great and liked looking around and listening to the music. Friday morning I watched Katelyn and learned how busy it is with two kids to look after. Friday afternoon my mom, sister Al and the kids headed down to the new Carol Roeda store in Easttown. I ended up getting a few things for Alexa's nursery. I could spend hours in that store! However, with a little babette that doesn't want to be in her stroller and another that wants to grab and look at everything- we were in and out. We also went next door to Marie Catrib's to pick out some food for supper. Marie came right up to Alexa and talked to her and she smiled so big for her. She pacified her for a bit. Later that night, the girls had supper with some warmed spice wine (in the midst of screaming babies and bathing and feeding 4 kids) while the guys went out to Founders for dinner and drinks.

Frederik Meijer Gardens

I finally had a chance to visit Frederik Meijer Gardens with my mom, sister, Katelyn and Alexa. It was nice to take some time to look at all the beautiful gardens and sculptures on my own time. The only times I have gone to the gardens in years past is with 28 2nd graders on a field trip. Needless to say, this was a lot more relaxing. The Chihuly glass sculptures were amazing and looked so pretty displayed throughout the gardens. It was neat because there was also a lot of Art Prize exhibits up to look at as well. Looking forward to going back again and getting some pictures of Alexa in the pumpkin patch. She slept the entire time we were there. After Frederik Meijer we went to Robinette's to have lunch and donuts. The pumpkin spice donuts are delicious and I will be traveling back there to get more before the season is over. :) What a fun day!

Bobbing in the Bumbo

Lately Alexa loves to sit upright so she able to look all around. She is quite a nosy baby and likes to be tuned into everything that is going on around her. She loves to sit in her Bumbo chair and look at Sofie the Giraffe. She is trying to grab things and gets very excited when she is successful. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of her listening to her daddy play music on the guitar. She likes to sit in the Bumbo and watch us eat dinner too. She does not like being put in her carseat when she is awake or just to sit and watch from there. I learned this really quick when we were out for dinner on Saturday night. Keith and I went downtown East Grand Rapids to grab and bite to eat and she needed to be held upright watching us eat the entire time. Oh yeah, and she peed through her outfit while we ate and got called a boy two times. I don't understand what is wrong with people- if you aren't sure about the gender of a baby then don't say it and don't ask! Try to gather some clues: look at the baby's outfit. As you can guess, it was a very romantic Saturday night date- those have been few lately. Keith and I talked on the way home over a crying baby about how things have changed since we had Alexa. Our nights revolve around bath time and putting little girl to bed...then going to sleep ourselves. Speaking of sleep, it would be nice to have her sleep through the night. Cutting a tooth and a cold = no sleep for mom or baby. Last night she was up about every two hours just wanting to be held. Around 4:30 I finally put her in her swing because I figured out she would sleep better in an upright position because her little chest is so congested. I feel terrible because there isn't much you can do to help. So I write this post with ample amounts of caffeine flowing through my body and a fussy, fussy baby. I added in a picture of Wilson too. He has had a rough few days too. He got stung by a bee on Saturday and has an ear infection. I feel like all I have been doing lately is medicating my "kids"!

Sunday Afternoon Stroll

Last week Sunday was a beautiful day and Keith and I wanted to go for a walk. The only problem is lately Wilson will bark, bark, bark when we go on a walk without him. Willie's short legs and a hot day make him tired after going around the block and we wanted to go farther since Alexa was sound asleep and we knew we had the time. Then came a brilliant idea...well maybe not, but an idea the same. We thought we could let Willie walk and do his business and come back to the house and let him continue the walk with us in style- stroller style. We strapped Wilson into the jogging stroller that we were borrowing for Alexa. (Side note: She is still too little for it, so I guess my good intentions of going for a jog with her to lose all my remaining pregnancy weight won't come to reality-this year at least.) Wilson was a little uneasy at first and actually tried to jump out as soon as I would get too far ahead with Alexa or if he couldn't see me. But, after awhile he was actually enjoying the ride. When we were making our way huffing and puffing up the most gigantic hill on Atlantic, Wilson was sprawled out in the stroller taking it all in. Even though it worked fairly well, Keith and I will probably never do it again due to onlookers thinking we were crazy to be pushing both a real baby and our firstborn (Wilson) in a stroller. Oh what people do for their dogs!

What was that??

Doesn't she look like a Kramer in this picture?

One of my favorite things to do is get Alexa out of her crib each morning. It is easy to judge if she will be carefree or a crabby pants. Usually she has a huge grin when she first sees me, but yesterday she actually belly laughed. Yes, I know it is tough to believe since I am the only one to witness this, but it is true! When she did it, she almost scared herself with the noise that she made and had big eyes as if the think, "Did I really just do that?" When Keith got home, we tried to recreate the "big event", but didn't have any luck. We figured some key factors are: hands out of mouth (lately...very tough to do), first thing in morning, can't be TOO hungry, must make crazy-not scary- noises and faces. I even tried to video tape it, yeah right! Hopefully in the near future others will be able to hear it too because it just melts MY heart.

Fun with Maci

It is crazy to see how much Alexa has grown in a mere three months. It really put it into perspective when her cousin Maci was wearing her newborn outfits and I had to think back to when she was so tiny because the last three months have seemed to fly by. It looks like Maci is wondering who the giant baby is and when she will be able to eat her own hands. Lately Alexa has been sucking on her hands non-stop and is a drooling mess. Pretty sure she is cutting teeth. Looks like someone needs a bib.

Exersaucer Overload

A friend of mine told me it was time for Alexa to try her exersaucer so once I got off the phone with her I tromped down to the basement and dug through the boxes to haul it upstairs. After dumping out the pieces and noticing that springs and screws were involved, this good idea had to be put to a halt. The pieces were sprawled on the floor for a couple of days as a hint to Keith that the exersaucer project just became HIS exersaucer project, by default. Keith and I took off for work and even Tommy (who was staying with us) tried to put it together and stopped. Good intentions, right? Finally Keith with help from Tommy and a few brews from Oregon put the contraption together. Wow was all I could say when it was put together- that should really keep her busy. The first attempt she cried. Second attempt, with more blankets to support her body, she was a little overwhelmed. But, lately she is really liking it especially when her head or hands accidentally hit a button to make noise or light up. She only can handle it for a little while because it's stimulus overload. Wait until she figures out that she is surrounded by an array of toys. I wonder when I will get sick of hearing chimes or the barking dogs or howling monkeys or the little high pitched annoying voice telling me what colors she is pushing?? Until then, she will be exercising in the saucer.

Best Friends

Here is a tribute to Willie, he deserves some credit for being such a good dog. He was our baby. We were always thinking of him, taking him special places, buying him treats and toys, walking him whenever he wanted, and rushing home from work to see him. Now things are a little different and he is the last priority. Sadly, that is what happens when you have a kid- they take up a lot of time! Wilson does help out with Alexa by sniffing her diapers so I know when they are dirty, waking her up when someone is at the door so she doesn't sleep through the excitement, watches Baby Einstein with her so she has a friend, guards her toys when she is playing on the floor, warms us up when she is laying on my lap by getting on my lap too, runs to the nursery in the middle of the night when she cries, and is sure to sniff out good places to stop when we are all on a walk together. So here's to you Willie- you are a good boosh buddy.