Welcome to my page for my son, Alex!
After having a special needs child, we originally decided that we couldn't handle anymore children. However, about four years after Chloe was born, when things were becoming a tad easier for us, I decided that I wanted to have another baby. It took Ross a few months to feel the same way, but eventually he did, and we started trying. Alex was the result and he was born on January 23, 2007. The only one of our children to be born in the United States :) Alex is now two years old!
Alex hasn't had much of a life yet, but the things that I remember are:
~ Alex being born. Oh, it was dreadful! I mean, I was excited because I actually got my own room after the birth whereas in England you share with five other people. Also, the nurses would take care of your baby overnight so that you could sleep, and there was no stigma attached to it. In the UK, the nurses helped me out once or twice and even that was very much frowned upon. You were to take care of your own baby as soon as it was born. So it was just nice... unfortunately the labor did NOT go well. I was induced - for the third time - at 39 weeks. Everything started well, I got my epidural and things were okay for awhile. Then they realized - as my epidural was wearing off - that Alex was 'stuck' on my bone. I don't remember much of the next half an hour or so as it was pretty traumatic, but I do remember that they called all the doctors and nurses to rush in - they thought they might have to do an emergency caesarean. One of the nurses was holding one leg, Ross was holding a leg, a nurses was pounding on my stomach trying to push Alex out that way, the doctor was inserting both of his hands into me down there to try and grab Alex and free him from my bone. Oh, it was horrible :( All I remember doing was screaming because it hurt so much. The doctor finally freed Alex, though he said that if it had been another 5-10 seconds, he would have had to push Alex back into me (which apparently is even more painful) and do a caesearan. Fun! So, I had 30 some stitches 'down there' after this, and the leg that the nurse was holding back wouldn't move properly for about two weeks because of how they had been holding it. It was simply not a fun experience.
~ In addition, because Alex had been stuck, he was born with bruises all over his face. His whole head was puffed up, and it took a week or two for it to puff back down again. Poor Alex :( Alex was a big baby, nine pounds and one ounce, but he certainly didn't look like he weighed that much!
~ After Alex and I recovered, everything went along smoothly. I had no post-natal depression, and I got to stay at home with Alex for as long as I wished too. I was a happy bunny :)
~ Since he was about six weeks old, Alex liked to lay on the floor. He was not happy being in the bouncer, or even being held sometimes. He liked to be able to get down on the floor and play! He started rolling back and forth early, and he started crawling at around six - seven months of age. It took him awhile to learn how to sit though - he started off with laying on his side and gradually went further up. He started walking in mid-January right before his first birthday!
~ One thing that I definitely don't want to forget about this age is how funny he is when he gets yelled at. He sticks out his lower lip so far you can't help but laugh! We all do it, and then we have to hide our faces from him so that he knows that we're not laughing... oh gosh its funny! He's such a funny baby :)
~ Well, Alex has said some words! He now says 'uh-oh', 'bye', 'mum' and 'dada' not always appropriately ;-) Well, the bye and uhoh always are, but sometimes he just babbles still with mamama and dadada so yeah :) He is seventeen months old right now! Oh, the funniest thing the other day was when Alex - who is obsessed with any and all balls that he can find (soccer balls, baseballs, footballs...he is obsessed!) - found a soccer ball and was trying to copy me by kicking it back to me! He is soooo small though so he just kept falling over. It was sooo funny! I probably shouldn't laugh, but I just couldn't help it... so cute!
~ 3/17/09 Alex is now talking somewhat. He is so cute!! When he says bye to someone, he says 'Bye, see you later!'. If anything happens, he immediately says 'uh-oh'. He replies NO to just about every question you give to him. Yesterday he answered 'yes' to something, and you should have seen his expression of shock! So funny!!! He is also the sneakiest child EVER! He is so good most of the time, but if you turn your back for even 30 seconds, you can bet he is into something that he shouldn't be! Yesterday I went into the bathroom to grab something quick and by the time I came out, he had climbed the stairs, gone into our bedroom, and was trying to get into a box that I have in the closet. honestly!! ;-) and of course, once he knows you are there, he acts completely innocent and will hand over the offending item that he has as if he is doing you a favor! LOL Or if I talk to him from across the living room and tell him,'I can see you!' (so that he doesn't get into anything naughty) he will yell back,'I see you!'. So funny!!!
~ Alex is a happy, laid-back, relaxed little boy and I absolutely love being with him!
~ June 25, 2009 Alex has mostly stopped saying the above things, though he does now say 'What's that?' about everything. Still, he is behind, so we have contacted our doctor about getting him some special help. I think between that, and the daycare that he will be going to in September, things will be okay. I think it will be better for him to be around kids his own age as they generally teach each other better than adults teaching kids! But we'll see how it goes... aside from the speech, he seems to understand most of what we say to him and he communicates with us mostly in grunts. I realized the other day that I response to his grunts as I know what they mean, and that could be part of the problem too! So I am now not responding to them (or trying not too) and trying to force him to use his words... anyway, we'll see how it goes :) I'll also mention that he has definitely hit the 'terrible 2's' and oh boy can he screech! We are ignoring the screeching though in hopes that it will go away soon. We shall see :)
and so it goes... this page will be updated as new things arise in Alex's life :)
