krisalis

The Force Is With Him
Originally uploaded by krisalis.

“When nine hundred years old you are, look this good, you will not!”

When I walked into the living room this morning, Mark was watching a TV show about the 30th anniversary since the release of Star Wars, and talking to Alexander in his best Yoda voice, whilst holding my sweet little boy’s ears out like Yoda’s.

Alexander didn’t seem to mind.

So I took a photo.

Update: Lucian sent me this brilliant version of my youngling, poised for action. Love it!

Alexander loves the bath so much, that we thought he might enjoy a dip in the (heated) pool. This is a little glimpse of my water baby’s first swimming experience. He’s 9 weeks old.

Little Guy

Originally uploaded by krisalis.

He gets more handsome every day.

I’m gradually trying to work my way back towards some semblance of fitness after a good 6 or more months of little exercise output beyond walking and the occasional prenatal yoga DVD workout.

I started shuffling around the neighbourhood streets within 2 weeks of bringing Alexander home from the hospital. We didn’t go far at first, and I certainly didn’t go fast. I slowly worked my way towards picking up the pace and increasing the distance covered. Once I got the all clear at my 6-week post-partum checkup, I upped the walking intensity a little more and started wearing workout gear and running shoes for my exercise walks. I also started walking 2 or 3 times a day. The weather was still relatively cool, so I walked with the stroller and the dog to the pharmacy, to Blockbuster, to TCBY, to Starbucks, to the ATM. Rosie loved it. Alexander slept through most of these outings. I got some fresh air and some exercise. All good.

Then Katie gave me a new challenge, and I tried jogging. She took me to a local track, and had me run the straights and walk the curves for 8 laps, which is 2 miles. The first few laps felt so strange. My entire body felt out of whack – I was uncoordinated and all the sensations of running felt completely unfamiliar. It was bizarre. I lumbered along through the workout, feeling flustered. I repeated the same workout a couple of days later, and this time, jogging felt a little more natural.

Last week, I joined a 6 week kick-start program at a gym. I’m going 3 times a week for an hour at a time, and working on basic fitness items to increase core strength and get my body moving again. My Mum takes care of Alexander while I attend the classes (have I mentioned how awesome my Mum is? ‘Cause she’s pretty freakin’ awesome.). The classes are hard work for me, but the instructor keeps things at a level that is manageable, and sets goals for me that are within my range.

The instructor took measurements of my bod on the first day, and will repeat them at the end of the 6 week program. I’m hoping to see some results!

It’s so wonderful to be back to working out again properly. My mood is so much better on days I get to go to the gym. I need to move.

Month two was soooo much better than month one.

Alexander started smiling socially at 5 1/2 weeks, and has been practicing this fabulous new skill every day since then. Alexander gave his first big full-on grin to Mark, around 6am one morning, right after I had finished nursing. I handed Alexander over to his sleepy-eyed, scruffly-headed Dadda, who greeted his boy with a cheery good morning, despite his obvious tiredness. Alexander rewarded Mark with a huge smile. Very special.

Our boy still doesn’t nap regularly or for very long during the day, and he gets pretty cranky in the late afternoon as a result. However, his night-time sleep is pretty decent, and he is starting to go for longer stretches at a time. Last Friday night, Alexander treated us with a sleep stretch from 10.45pm – 3.45am, which he subsequently repeated on Monday and Wednesday of this week. Needless to say, this thrills me beyond words.

Alexander is becoming more alert for longer periods of time during the day, and he’s getting noisier and more wriggly too. He babbles happily on the boppy after feeding, or lies on his back kicking his little legs in the air and waving his hands around, or wiggles and squirms around on his belly. In the past week, he has started sitting quite happily in his little infant seat, watching the action unfold around him. Simple tasks like loading and unloading the dishwasher or washing machine or folding laundry have suddenly become opportunities for Alexander’s entertainment. As long as I’m within his line of sight, and talking to him, he’s quite content for anywhere between 10 – 20 mins. I’ve taken to giving him a running commentary of what I’m doing as I do it – “These are daddy’s trousers. They need ironing. I’m going to fold them up and put them in the basket. This is mummy’s t-shirt. It’s purple. Mummy likes purple.” – and Alexander sits there, drinking it all in, occasionally talking back in little grunts and burbles. Alexander is still not at all impressed by the infant swing. So many people have waxed lyrical about the wonderous effect of the swing on their baby – but so far, that cuts no ice with Alexander.

This month, Alexander’s hair started falling out. He’s still got plenty of fine, red hair on his noggin, but there are definite patches where the longer hair has fallen out, and is being replaced with shorter red-blond hairs.

The two month doctor’s check-up went well. Alexander weighed in at 13.1lb, which put him in the 90th percentile for weight. He measured 23″ long, which is 70th percentile, and his head circumference was 39.7cm, which is 50th percentile. The boy had five immunizations at the checkup, which was no fun at all. Alexander was grungy all afternoon after the injections, even after giving him some infant Tylenol. He slept fitfully last night, but was more or less back to normal again this morning, thank goodness.

It’s so wonderful to see Alexander’s personality starting to emerge. I love to see his face light up when he smiles.

Two months is better than one.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Originally uploaded by krisalis.

Bonnie (aka Bonster Monster, Bonnie Bear, The Barn, Barnab, Barnaby, Bon Bon, Bonita) passed away peacefully at home this afternoon. She was 13 years and 2 months old, which is a pretty good innings for a labradog.

Favourite hotel – Zurich Hilton

Favourite food – everything. Especially things that are not really food.

Number of operations to remove items she should not have eaten from her stomach – one

Number of nights Bonnie spent being sick because she managed to eat something she shouldn’t have – too many to count

Favourite exotic animals to chase – tie between monkeys in Bukit Timah Nature reserve and chamois at 2000ft in the French Alps.

Favourite day-to-day animal to chase and bark at – squirrels

Second favourite day-to-day animal to chase and bark at – cats

Favourite airline – Air France (We put a sign on her crate that read “Je m’appelle Bonnie. Je suis gentille. S’il vous plait, soyez gentil avec moi.” )

Places Bonnie has been swimming – Lake Geneva, Lake Austin, Lake Travis, the pond in Singapore Botanic Gardens (she lurched in without warning, taking Cole in with her. Neither dog could get out, so I ended up getting in and lifting them out, much to the amusement of the Singaporean onlookers. In the process of lifting the dogs out of the water, I dropped my Dad’s electronic car key in the water. Oops.). the sea at East Coast Parkway, a fountain on the Champs Elysees, numerous fountains in Chamonix. Basically any place there was an open body of water she could access, she went for a swim.

Number of doors destroyed/maimed by incessant scratching – at least 12

Number of farts produced during her lifetime – enough to fill the Alaskan pipeline.

Rest in peace, Bonnie.

We’ll miss you, you great big hulk of stinky old farty, woofy, scratchy, huffy, almost-always wet dog. Say hi to Cole and Misty from us.

We loved you.

This morning, towards the end of my workout, I think I overdid it a little. I started seeing black spots and had to sit down for a while to cool off and catch my breath. One of the members of staff at the gym brought me some cold water and kept checking that I was ok.

“The last thing we want is to see an ambulance outside the gym!” she said.

And suddenly, all I could think was that if I went into hospital, I would get some sleep.

“Don’t worry, I’m totally fine”, I reassured her.

Mother’s Day Card

Originally uploaded by krisalis.

Mother’s day card from Rosie and Alexander. Mark says Rosie wrote it, because Alexander can’t write yet!

It says “We love you mummy! Have a great day. love, Rosie + Alexander. ps please walk us”

Rosie and Alexander also gave me a massage, which I get to have this afternoon, and an iPod sports kit. Mark is going to lend me his nano, so I can work out with it and track my distances etc. Very cool!

I’m a lucky mumma.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you Mothers out there. Especially mine.

Multimedia message

Originally uploaded by krisalis.

Alexander does this thing where he lies in his crib, wide awake, staring into the monitor. It’s rather eerie.

Smile

Originally uploaded by krisalis.

Alexander first started smiling about 2 weeks ago when he was 5 1/2 weeks old, and now his smiles are getting more frequent and bigger and they are soooo adorable.

A few new pics are up on flickr.