Or, Alexander rather!
I haven't posted for a few reasons:
1. I find it difficult to type a blog post one handed, as that's about all I've had available for three weeks. I can write about a paragraph at a time before baby beckons! The truth is, I started writing this post three days ago and have just been chipping away at it!
2. The theme of this blog is supposed to be our "adventures in vineyardland", not just our "adventures in parenthood." And while it IS the middle of winter and while our growing family IS part of our adventure, I am sensitive about having every post this winter be about the every movement of our adorable baby boy. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to write about how his precious little sneezes make my heart go pitter-patter (as any proud new mama would), but I am not so delusional to think that all of my grape growing and wine loving readers really want to read about every milestone our little baby hits. Although many of you out there might! So I'm doing my best to stifle my urges to gush about our baby too much in this forum while still giving some baby highlight posts amongst my vineyard adventure posts.
I think we are in for a big surprise this spring. And I thought we were busy last year! Now we are adding more vines to tend to and a baby to the mix! It is going to be one busy year.
So besides the eating, sleeping, and pooping that our Alexander has mostly been doing these first few weeks, here are some highlights since he was born on January 14th.
I'll spare you the details of our birth story...I'll just say that it was long. As a result of a prolonged labor, I got an infection at the very end of my labor which meant Alexander had to go to the NICU for a few days to get antibiotics as precautionary to make sure no infection spread to him. Which it didn't and we were so thankful to bring home a healthy boy after just a few days!
This was our first family picture taken just before the nurses swept him away to take him to the NICU. My tears were tears of joy, mixed with exhaustion and some anxiety, because at that point I didn't know what was going on and I didn't want them to take my baby away!
And this was how we saw our baby for the first two days. We were able to hold him and I could feed him, but he had to stay hooked to all the wires to keep tabs on his vitals, which remained strong the whole time.
This was our announcement picture. I was sneaky just posting a picture of his sweet face as I didn't want to unnecessarily alarm everyone with pictures of all his wires without giving an explanation!
The dogs have been adjusting well to their new little brother. They have been very curious and seem to already be developing a protective demeanor. Every time I let them in from outside, they immediately walk around the house scouting out all the spots the baby could be...the bouncy seat, the swing, the crib. Once they find him and do some chaperoned sniffing, they settle down and rest, often on the floor in front of the crib if he is sleeping to act as the crib guardians. It's pretty sweet.
This picture still scares me! Look at the comparison of their heads! Tux could swallow him whole! This was taken when Alexander was only a few days old. Tux and Belle are loving their new little brother! Maybe too much! I'll admit, it has been a struggle keeping the dogs at a comfortable distance from the baby, since they like to get their noses right up in there. Thus the reason the dogs have been spending a lot of time outdoors!
These were some pictures taken around 2 weeks.
He's been a really good sleeper this past week...he even slept 6 straight hours two nights in a row! Good boy!
And he's been eating like a champ! The doctor was impressed by his weight gain in just the first two weeks. Keep it up little fella!
My goofy boys!
Guess who he'll be rooting for this Sunday? His daddy's team!
Last but not least, we have had a lot of questions about what nickname we are using. Although Alexander is a great name by itself, it is four syllables and it's realistic to assume it will get shortened...something we gave a lot of thought to before he was born. So here's the story for those that don't know.
When we started talking about names, Aaron and I quickly learned that I was partial to more unique names and Aaron partial to more classic names. I loved the name Axel. It's unique, without being a made-up name and, in my opinion, extremely masculine! Axel is actually a very old name and more commonly used in some European countries, like Germany. I pictured a rough and tumble kid named Axel running around the vineyard in his lederhosen or helping daddy with some projects out in the garage.
As a compromise, Aaron suggested that we name him Alexander and use Axel as a nickname, satisfying his desire for a more traditional official name and my desire for him not to potentially be one of four Alex's in his kindergarten class. And we both loved the sound and strength of Alexander Schram. We just wanted to take some time to try out Axel after he was born to make sure it was a suiting nickname for him. When he came out practically with a mohawk, an edgier nickname seemed warranted! Naturally, people have assumed we will call him Alex, so I figured now would be a good time to address our nickname intentions.
So if you see me using Alexander and Axel interchangeably in future posts, now you know the story behind our non-traditional nickname. It's nice having some versatility with a name!
Speaking of names...someone is calling mine! I better run. Until the next time my two hands are available again...