Hello Crew: Five Months

Age:

Five Months old!! Where is the time going??? 

20 weeks in, 20 weeks out!

Stats: 

16 pounds 2 ounces

26 inches long 

Favorites: 

• Starting to take interest in the binky.. although sometimes he just chews on it.

• Loves to roll over onto his belly, which is great for getting those air bubbles out!
• Loves when we sing songs to him. He opens his mouth really wide and gets a giant smile on his face! 
• Loves to be in water! Whether it is the bath or the pool he loves it! He is splashing a ton in the bath tub. We have to keep extra towels around to dry things off, like the counter, the mirror, the floor, ourselves..haha it is so fun though! 

• Crew loves to watch his cousins play and talk. He always looks so interested in what they are doing. 

Least Favorites:

• Doesn't like rolling from belly to back.. or he just gets stubborn and doesn't do it and cries instead. 
• Still a little unsure of his carseat at times. I think he just doesn't like being in the back alone. 
• Does not like loud screaming, like from his cousins! Haha 

Sleep:

Sleep is so random. One night he does great and only wakes up 2 times and other nights he wakes up every two hours. This morning he woke up at 8 but came and snuggled with me in bed and ate and he went right back to sleep until 9:30 then we switched sides and he ate/slept until 11. That was crazy to me because he never sleeps that long without needing to be awake for a few hours. Some nights he even wakes up and doesn't want to go to sleep for an hour or two. Thats always a little frustrating! Lately he does not like to nap anywhere but moms arms. Which means he doesn't nap for very long which makes him very tired by 4pm and then maybe, possibly, hopefully he will lay down somewhere other than moms arms to nap. Most days I just try to enjoy it because I know he will only be this little once and before I know it he won't want to nap in my arms or nap at all. 

We did transition him from the bassinet in our room to the crib in his room. It has felt really nice to have my room back for some reason. I guess it feels more like my relaxation space again. We just decided that since he was getting so long and rolling so much it would be safer for him to be in the crib and I think he is really liking it and for the most part he is doing really well!
Even though I realllllly dislike getting up early, I love when he wakes up for the day and I go in there to get him and he greets me with the biggest smile. It makes my heart burst and makes the lack of sleep so worth it! 

He likes to eat my hair sometimes! 

Eat:

We are still exclusively breastfeeding. I love those moments in the day where he needs to eat and it just reminds me to sit and relax with my little guy for a few minutes. It is our time to bond and connect. I especially love when right in the middle of eating he stops, looks up at me with those big blue eyes and gives me this shy/sly little smile. Its almost like he is saying hey mom I love you, thanks for feeding me. It is one of those heart bursting moments again. 

Play:

• Crew has started to try and pull his knees up like he is going to crawl. It blows my mind that babies are inherently born to know how to do these things. He has never seen anyone crawl but he just knows that is what he is supposed to do and that is the next step in trying to move. 
• He also stands on our legs as we hold him up and just loves to stand and look around. Andrew has leaned him agains the table in the living room and he will just stand there and hold himself up. It's amazing to me how strong he is! He has and continues to progress so much and it is amazing to watch as a parent. 
• He has started to grab and reach for Zoii more. He usually will just watch her and see what she is doing but now if she is close enough he will try and touch her fur and even grab it. Which Zoii isn't too fond of so she just moves away from him! Little does she know what is coming! haha poor dog. She is pretty fascinated with him too. Always trying to lick him or see what he is playing with. Zoii was licking Crew's foot the other day and he actually started to laugh at her! It was ADORABLE!! ah heart burst again. I swear this kid is going to make my heart explode, and I LOVE it! 

• A few times he has blown bubbles and I even got him on video mimicking me doing it. I love to blow bubbles at him and he has now learned to do it back. Could he be any cuter? 
• He still LOVES staring at his dad. Andrew will just be sitting on the couch, we could be watching TV, eating dinner, or just talking and we will catch Crew staring at him, sometimes he will even be smiling. Crew loves his dad a whole lot! 
• At the end of June Andrew's dad, Richard came out to Idaho for the weekend. It was actually his birthday so we all decided it would be a lot of fun to go to Island Park and rent a can-am 6 seater and just ride around for the day. We found the best little camp site and just hung out for the day taking turns riding and watching babies. Crew loved being outside all day and did great just napping in the carrier or in the car seat. He just LOVES the outdoors. I made a little video of it, if you want to watch it just click here. 

• This past month we went to St George again. This time for the Fourth of July. It was a LONG drive. Now that Crew is getting older and not sleeping as long this drive is hard! He does not like being in his carseat for so long! and this time we brought his cousin Ryder along. Ryder did great watching movies but if Crew was sleeping and Ryder made a noise or screamed Crew did not like it! I guess we don't make high pitched screams enough at our house ;) haha. but overall it was a lot of fun. Crew got in the swimming pool for the first time and did awesome. He just floated around with us and was so relaxed and chill. He also did awesome with fireworks. He never got scared his eyes just got huge watching them. And then he got fussy because it was way past his bed time so off to bed he went! It was a great first Fourth of July for him! I actually made a video of this trip too so if you want to watch it just click here. 

• If you want to see the CUTEST clip of Crew laughing at Andrew's hiccups you can click here as well. Haha I like to get lots of video and I really like making these videos of the things we do so stay tuned for lots more since all of our family is coming to visit! 

Crew you are the chillest best little baby ever, and I love you more than you will ever know!! 

love,mom/alex 

p.s -today was Andrew's last day of class for his bachelors!!! YAY we are so excited for him and proud of all of his hard work. Way to go!! We love you!! 

Hello Crew: Month Four

Age: 

Four months! 

Stats: 

14 pounds 2 ounces
25.25 inches long
(although we think he might be a little longer because it seemed like the nurse didn't stretch his leg out the whole way.) 

Favorites: 

• Kicking, wiggling, smiling 
•  Being around his cousins. I think he likes to hear all the noise and see them running around. He is always so curious of what is going on. and his cousins love him! It's adorable! 
• Loves to Facetime with his Grandparents! Again he is always so curious of the noises and where it is coming from. 

•  He likes to be (gently) tossed in the air or swung from side to side. 
• Loves being outside! He is always so happy being outside. 

•  Pulls everything to his mouth these days. Wants to eat whatever is near him 

•  Staring at dad. We always catch him staring at Andrew. It is so cute! 

Least Favorites: 

• He is starting to not like the car seat as much. Still does great if he is sleeping but gets  frustrated when he is awake and has to stay in there. I think part of the problem is that no one else is back there with him. We put a mirror up so we could see him and he could see us and I think he liked that a lot more. 
• Loud Noises. I think they scare him
• When his belly hurts/ he is gassy. But who can blame him, that is the worst. 

Sleep:
On a normal night he wakes up about 2 times. He naps about 2 times during the day. Once around 11 or 12 and usually sleep for about an hour and then again around 4 and lately he will sleep for 3 hours for this one. There have been a few times I felt like he was sleeping too long and wouldn't want to go to bed that night so I had to wake him up! On 6/22 he slept in his crib for the first time. At night he sleeps in the bassinet next to our bed so that I can just sit up and grab him when he needs to eat. But now that he is starting to roll and he is getting so long, we figured it might be time to start the transition from bassinet to crib. Nap time he has been sleeping in his swing so when he went to sleep in the crib today for nap time I was really happy with that! 

Eat:

Still breastfeeding. For a couple days we tried to give him some rice cereal to see if that would help him sleep but he was just not having it. So we stopped and he has been better at sleeping so I'm not too worried.

Play: 

He has really started to latch onto things when he grabs them. It seems more like he is doing it on purpose now instead of just on accident. He will grab onto some of his toys a lot better these days. 

He really enjoys sitting in his bumbo too. I will put him in there and he will just watch me make dinner or clean and he seems to really enjoy being able to sit up and really look around.  He rolled from his belly to his back and has rolled from his back to his belly. He actually will roll onto his belly and then not try to get back to his back but instead he will just cry because he gets frustrated. What a funny little boy! I will lay him down and he will pivot so that his head stays in one spot but his body will go all around. He will do a complete 360. It is crazy that he is already moving so much! He also really likes us to hold his hands and he will stand. His legs are so strong! 

We went on a lot of trips this past month. Crew went to Yellowstone for the first time. We went with my sister Justina and her family. It was a lot of fun to see the amazing things that Yellowstone has. Crew did great most of the trip. It was nice to get out a few times and walk around and then he would sleep when we drove for longer periods of time. We saw lots of hot spots and a lot of elk and buffalo. We even saw a mama bear and two cubs which were just the CUTEST! I loved seeing them. That was Crew's first time in Montana and Wyoming.

We also went to St. George for Crew's second time. It was memorial day weekend and we got some friends together, Andrews parents, Andrew's sister Anna and her family, and Andrew's Aunt Julie and her fiance Val and went and played for a few days. We played in the pool, some people hiked Angel's landing, ate a lot of food, and just enjoyed each others company. Crew was loving getting held so much, especially by grandpa. Richard would just carry him all over the place and Crew loved seeing all these new things and would even fall asleep a few times. 

Crew and Ryder had matching outfits! and it wasn't even on purpose. 

On the day Crew turned four months old we went to Yellowstone again to see the places we didn't go the last time. It was a shorter little family trip for us and was nice and relaxing. We saw some really big hot spots and some geysers like Old Faithful. Recently I have decided I want to make more family videos to remember these trips we go on and just to have fun family home videos so we made one of our Yellowstone trip. I hope to make a lot more and maybe even some of just everyday life stuff.  If you want to go watch the video click here.

 Our ward (church congregation) had a pine wood derby and chilly cook-off. It was a ton of fun watching all of the guys compete and eat good food. Andrew really wanted to do good but ran out of time to make an amazing car. But he didn't get last so thats impressive ;)
 

 Four month picture!

It has been a fun month and I am sure it is just going to keep getting better. I love watching this little guy grow. It is so fun watching him learn new things and experience the world.  Hopefully I will start blogging more about our adventures and not just these monthly updates that are super long but for now they work :) 

Until next time,

love, alex 

Hello Crew: Three Months

I am a little (okay, really a lot) late in writing this but I thought I should still do it to keep track of the progress our little man is making. So all the information and pictures are from month 2 - month 3. 

Age: 

Three months! 

Stats: 

 Based off home calculations, he was..

12 lbs 8 ounces

24 inches long 

Favorites: 

• He loves his toy Zebra. If he is crying in the car we just give that to him or shake it in front of his face and he is mesmerized and stops crying. 
• He loves to lay on his play mat and look at all of his toys. 
• He is constantly eating his hands or trying to put things in his mouth. This has led to lots and lots of drooling. 
• Loves loves loves to be outside. and new places. He likes to just look around and check everything out. 
• Such a smiley and happy boy! He is a great baby probably 90% of the time. The other 10% he is either really frustrated because he is hungry or tired and we waited a little too long or he has a little gas that we need to work out. 
• He loves looking at Andrew. We always catching him staring at him and then he will randomly smile at him too. It is the CUTEST!!
• He likes to listen to me read him books and he looks at the pages a little.  

Least Favorites:

• Does NOT like a bottle... I pump and then try to feed it to him in a bottle or have Andrew feed it to him and Crew is just not having it. 

Sleep: 

It changes OFTEN! One night he sleeps great and the next he is up every two hours. A usual night is that he wakes up to eat every 3-4 hours. He typically will go to sleep around 9 and wake up around 9. 

Eat:

Still loves to breastfeed. It is going well except for the random times it hurts like crazy and I don't know why. But Crew does so good. Like I said before he does not like a bottle which makes it difficult to leave him for any longer than 1 1/2 to 2 hours, so I haven't other than one time to go to the movies after he went to bed. 

Play: 

Like I said before he loves his play mat and all of his hanging toys that make noises. He is starting to grab at them and pull them towards him. He is a little wiggle worm. Always moving and kicking his legs. Will roll onto his side but not all the way onto his belly just yet. 

I got my one wisdom tooth out at the end of April. Andrew was great at taking care of Crew so I could rest a little after the procedure. 

Crew also got to meet Andrew's birth mom when she came to visit us at the beginning of May. Crew loved being held and bounced by her, he even fell asleep in her arms which takes a lot of work! 

It was my first official Mothers Day in May. I loved having my little boy to cuddle with. I am so grateful I get to be his momma. Kinda scary at times but also one of the greatest opportunities I have ever had. He has enriched my life more than I possibly could have imagined. GAH I just love this little boy and I LOVE watching him grow. He is changing every day and I love watching it happen but also just want it all to slow down. I honestly can't believe we are close to four months. Before I had Crew I told Andrew I knew that the first three months would probably be the hardest for me and to be honest they were really hard BUT they have also been amazing. I can be having a really hard day and Crew will give me the biggest smile when we make eye contact and it just makes my heart burst and makes that day 1000 times better. and if I'm being honest I think he is the cutest baby EVER! 

 I love you little man.

love,alex 

Hello baby: Two Months

Age: 

Two Months  

Stats:

11 lbs 6 oz and 23.5 inches long.

Some of the 0-3 month clothes are getting too short... 

Favorites: 

• He loves going outside these days. Usually around 7:30pm he gets fussy and if we just go sit outside or go walk around outside he loves it. He just listens to all the noises. 
• He went on his first road trip this past month, on April 10, for Spring break. We went to St George with the Sorensen's and friends. He did awesome in the car! We actually never stopped for him exactly, just for other things we wanted to do/ needed to do along the way. He was also an amazing baby the whole trip. He slept pretty well (definitely still had his off nights but who doesn't) He actually slept for 6 hours straight one night for the first time! He had fun getting lots of love from Grandma, Grandpa, and everyone else there.  
• He loves moving. Always on the go or wanting a new position. He has to be able to look around. Loves looking at the light coming through the blinds. 
• Loves when mom or dad talks with him. He gets so smiley. 

Least Favorites:

• If you don't burp him you can almost guarantee he will spit up. Burp him and your fine. 
• Hates 7:30pm. He always gets fussy around this time. I try to wait to put him to bed at 8-8:30pm but sometimes I just have to put him down early. This is the time we have started taking him outside, when it's nice, and he really loves it.  
• Not being able to look around. He is always changing where he looks. 

Sleeping: 

• Most nights he goes down between 8-8:30 and sleeps for four hours then wakes up to eat. Then it's back to sleep for three hours, wake up, eat, then back to sleep for three hours. He is usually up with the sun, unless he has had a rough night and then he will eat and go back to sleep. Sometimes we snuggle and both go back to sleep for an hour or so. He has slept for 6 hours straight twice. Once when we were in St George and the other time was the night of April 20 (his two month Birthday) But both times after sleeping for the 6 hours he was awake for 2. Not fussy, nothing wrong. Just awake. looking around, wanting to play. Now the night of April 21 he slept for 7 hours! AH I freaked out when I woke up and saw the clock. Then I proceeded to plead with him to go back to sleep after he ate. And he DID! He slept for another 3 hours and then was up for the day at 7 (with the sun). Lets just hope that happens again and it isn't just a one time thing. 
• Most days he takes at least one good three hour nap. Then usually another one later that can be anywhere from 1.5-3 hours. then he usually needs a little cat nap around 6 or 7 so that we can make it to bed time. The schedule is a work in progress. Especially when we have places to go during the day. 
• He still sleeps great in his car seat. Especially if it is moving. Makes going anywhere, like grocery shopping not too intimidating.

Eating:

• Loving breastfeeding and that is fine by me! So convenient and beautiful. 

Playing: 

• Loves being in his swing. He will now sleep in his bassinet so the swing has been more of a play time thing and sometimes a nap time thing. Again, he loves the movement and being able to look around. 
• Loves making faces with mom. It is so fun! He is reacting to me making noises and talking to him. He usually gets this great big smile on his face and starts making noises too. I LOVE it!

While we were in St George Andrew was able to bless our little man. (In our church you give a baby a name and a blessing within the first few months of being born) It was beautiful and perfect. We were able to do it at the house which was perfect because then we were able to have my family on speaker and other family members on facetime. It was amazing having family and friends there to support us and especially to support Crew. I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives that love us and already love Crew so much. He is one loved, blessed, beautiful, happy little man.

 I love you little guy.
love, alex

Flashback: Maternity Pictures

A week before Crew was born we took maternity pictures, so on February 13. My sister Justina took them and I am so pleased with how they turned out. It was fun getting Andrew in some pictures and I'm glad we have these photos to look back on that time and see how big I was just before he was born. It is crazy to think he was in my belly and then a week later he came out. It's amazing how he fit in there.

It's crazy how low he is in this photo!!
He must have gotten tired from all the picture taking. 

Looking back I realize I really enjoyed pregnancy. I had my aches and pains but it really wasn't that bad of an experience. I enjoyed that time Crew and I had to bond. It was like our own little secret, feeling him move and grow. Pregnancy is an amazing wonderful experience. God is amazing. The human body is incredible. It is still amazing to me that we are able to create human life within ourselves. What a miracle. Every human, every baby, is a miracle. and I am so blessed and happy to have my own little miracle in my life :) 

love,alex

Hello Baby: One Month + Newborn Pics

Age: 

One Month  

Stats:

9lbs 12 ounces and 22 inches long. 

Starting to fill in 0-3 month clothes nicely. 

Favorites: 

Bath time, being held and cuddled, looking around (especially at bright lights and dark objects), swinging, eating, being with mom or dad, being swaddled, being in his car seat. 

Least Favorites:

Being cold (like being taken out of the bath), being hungry, going to sleep, having air bubbles stuck inside, being swaddled (he loves it but he hates it). 

Sleeping: 

Usually sleeps for 3 hours.

Eating:

Loves breastfeeding and not too fond of a bottle/formula. 

Playing: 

Loves laying on play mat and looking around. Holds his head up really well. 

All those pictures were taken when Crew was 11 days old. 

Now this last one was taken when he was exactly 1 month old. 

I love this little guy so much. He is the cutest thing ever and I love watching him change and develop. Today I was having a little chat with him and he was looking right in my eyes and he got the biggest smile on his face. It only lasted for a second and I have no idea if he was actually smiling at me or if it was gas but it was adorable and completely made my day. I love him so and I am so happy he is apart of our little family. 

love, Alex