Happy Thanksgiving

Family Fridays: Baby Smiles

Alexander has smiled occasionally from very early on, and since he turned about one month old he was even smiling responsively once in a while. But this past week he has really started to get smiley, and I finally got a photo of a couple great baby smiles.

And because everybody loves him so much, our friends had a sort of combination baby shower and the one month old party that are common for babies here. Our friends were thrilled to see him and hold him. They argued a bit about it, but they seemed to finally decide that he looks more like Aaron (his oldest brother) than Andrew (his "little" big brother). One lady proclaimed he was her new little toy and no one better take him. Alexander did really well and let everyone hold him very nicely.  It was of course strange that he wasn't wearing split pants, was only wearing one light sweatshirt when it was almost 70 F outside, uses a pacifier, and only drinks mommy's milk. Since they were friends, I think they seemed more fascinated than appalled. However, it was very important that his sweatshirt constantly get pulled down into place, even though a Onesie was always covering his tummy.

The little guy had a busy week and got quite tired out.

Big smile

Everybody loves me

Andrew loves me

Aaron loves me

Tired out after the party

Sometimes I love my cozy little bed

Alexander at One Month

Alexander is already one month old already. Amazing!

Here in China, at one month the baby can finally come out of the house. Sorry, but we already had to take him over a thousand miles by train, the trip ending on his one month birthday.

Don't worry though, he is a sturdy healthy chap, weighing in at 11.5 pounds and measuring 22.75 inches already at one month.

He is a very easy going baby most of the time. He already smiles and returns smiles occasionally. He loves to look at faces and can track them well, especially mommy's face. To look at mommy he will contort his whole body and almost double over backwards. Too funny.

We call him by the full name Alexander, not shortening it to a nickname. In fact on his Chinese birth certificate that is the only name that is on there, Alexander, and it just barely fits. But we've applied for his American paperwork so he can officially have middle and last names too.

Right now his hair is brown and his eyes are blue. We wonder if either of these will change. The 1 foot 10 inch height listed on his passport already has slightly. :)

We're so thankful Alexander is in our family.

Family Fridays: Train Ride

To get the baby's American Certificate of Birth Abroad and Passport, we had to travel to Guangzhou. Nate, Aaron, and I also needed to have some paperwork stuff done at the consulate as well, so we decided to try to get it all done at once. We choose to take a 26 hour sleeper train ride to keep costs down with taking all three boys. We stayed with friends in Guangzhou who were extremely kind and helpful to us. They said they were impressed that we tried the train with three little kids, but I think maybe that meant they thought we might be a little crazy to try it. We may have thought the same a couple of times, but overall the trip went quite well.

It was a long time on the train. but really all three boys did very well. In fact, Alexander seemed to love it. :) Somebody basically held him the whole time, the train had a nice gently rocking, and because we were so close we were able to take care of his needs even faster than normal. Aaron and Andrew loved going through tunnels, eating special snacks, and a few special activities. Color wonder markers and mini Oreos from doting grandparents are highly recommended for times like these.

After the first train ride there, our friend met at us the station and helped us take the subway back to their house and let us crash. We all slept so well that night, even Alexander slept 7 hours in a row, which is a record for him. The next day our friends made sure we ate well and we all got to catch up a little before heading to the consulate. Having our friend go with us a a big help, not only finding the place, but also keeping an eye on the older two boys while we were there dealing with paperwork. Afterwords we stopped at an Ikea for a hot dog which is a special promotion they run here. My husband says that's the best things they've ever sold. We got to visit a little bit more before heading back on the next train.

We got through the train stations by me wearing Alexander in a carrier on front and a backpack on back, Nate wearing Andrew on his back and a backpack on front, and Aaron holding my hand and wearing a little backpack full of toys and treats on his back. This is the first time we've traveled that he has been carry some of his own things and he was thrilled to be a big boy helper.

I will say we've never been quite so glad to get home to this apartment though.

Anyone know why you can't
take balloons on the subway?

Grandparents Grand Visit

Wow, I have some catching up to do. We have been really busy since Alexander was born. One of the fun things that has been keeping us busy was when my parents visited at the end of October. We all had a great time together and the grandparents had a great time spoiling the grandkids.

It is kind of late, but here are a few pictures of some of the fun we had.

Grandpa John meeting Alexander John

Building with Andrew

Grandma reading to three grandsons

Chutes and ladders

Making sugar cookies

Watching a movie

Tiger toss

Coloring

Sidewalk chalk

Two curious monkeys

Bedtime stories

Grandpa's Saturday morning chocolate chip pancakes

Grandpa reading to three grandsons

Grandma found matching outfits

Walking together

Coloring while waiting for pizza

I'd like dinner too please!

Painting

Reading Mcguffey lessons to Grandma

Snuggled up

Workbook fun

Playing checkers

Twins!

Aaron and Andrew sure like playing with them a lot. Here they are giving them a bath.

Don't worry, we won't forget to let you know when the real baby arrives on the outside. I'm sure it will be even more fun.

39 Weeks (Pregnancy Update)

No baby on the outside yet, but we're still doing well. Everything looked really good at my checkup this week. All of baby's and my vitals are measurements are still great. The baby is head down in the ROA position, one of the two best positions for a baby to be in at the time to birth. Interestingly, all three of my babies have settled into this position during the final weeks of pregnancy.

I have been having contractions on and off, but they don't stay close together for long and then quit all together. This is also quite similar to the time leading up to the birth of my second though. I am hoping the baby will decide to come sometime during the next week that my husband has off for the holidays here. But we'll have to see, babies don't always like to come when it is convenient.

Linking up to My Pregnancy Journal at My Joy-Filled Life.

Family Fridays: Small Miracle

No baby yet, but we did just have a different miracle. We lost power for at least 24 hours, at a time when I have the freezer fully stocked for after the new baby. I was really worried about losing a bunch of food, and especially thought the ice cream cake I made for the baby's b-day was probably long gone.  However, this morning just as we were trying to decide whether we should call and bother our friends again or buy an expensive generator from possibly not the greatest source, the power came back on. Then when I checked out the freezer a little while later, everything was still fine!!! The ice cream cake was just barely getting soft, a single popsicle was still frozen solid, and the only thing that seems to have softened up much at all was banana bread which is fine. Amazing! We're really thankful.

Family Fridays: 37 Weeks (Pregnancy Update)

I think this is going to be a rather boring update, but I guess that is really a good thing. My checkup today was again very normal and boring. My weight, measurements, BP, and baby's heart rate were all fine. The most exciting part was walking to the bus stop and watching everyone stare at the waddling white lady, but we generally get stared at everywhere anyway, so it isn't that big of a deal.

I am very glad that the baby is full term now, but I know that it could still be a while for the baby to come, and that's fine too. We're basically ready for the baby to come, and I am pretty ready for the baby to come. But we found out that Nate has a week long break from classes that starts a couple of weeks from now, so that would actually be a convenient time for the baby to come.

I am still working on a few little projects here and there, but don't have anything that has to be urgently completely before the baby is born at this point. Baby's got diapers, clothes, and a place to sleep and newborns really don't need much else besides love and care.

Looking forward to enjoying my older boys now and meeting this new little blessing whenever the right time is.

Latest baby creations

How did my first baby get this big?

Baby's Moses basket style bed