First Thanksgiving

       Alex celebrated his first Thanksgiving! Wednesday evening, we headed to Bakersfield where we stayed the night and visited family. Alex had so much fun hanging out with his cousins, aunts, uncles,  great-Grannie, and Nana and Papa. He spent a lot of time with Uncle Quinn and had a blast with him. Thanksgiving day, my dad was sick! First time ever he's been sick on a holiday. So, I helped out in the kitchen and made the stuffing and green bean casserole (all from scratch). Quinn and the exchange girls, Elene and Tanaya, helped out with meals as well. We were sure busy! But Alex was in good hands while we cooked a good chunk of the day. He ate bananas with Quinn that morning.

Yummy!

Smiling at Quinn!

     After a fun, busy day, we all had the delicious food that evening. My brother Devonn, his wife Carla, and their three kids came over and joined. My sister Jazmine and her cousin Tiffny also joined for a bit before heading out. Lexi (4),  the youngest of the three kids, was SO excited to play with cousin Alex. Seriously. And Alex absolutely loved Lexi. He would look at her and just laugh. She could be talking or just hanging out and he would laugh just by looking at her. So when she played with him, it was the best thing ever. She wanted so badly for him to sit in the highchair and eat, so we put him up there and she helped with giving him some mashed potatoes and a little bit of pumpkin pie with whipped cream. He pretty much lunged at the spoon it was so yummy!

      The cousins also took turns playing with him, and at one point, overwhelmed, he put on the saddest face and cried. I took him to soothe him, but he stretched for Gary. Okay, fine, kid! Here's your dad! Anyway, dad made it better, of course.

     I'm so glad Alex is an easy traveler. When he's not sleeping, he just sits there in his car seat relaxed and/or talking to himself, just content. 

All tuckered out! He prefers his thumb to the pacifier, which he stopped caring about around 3 months. 

      

     Anyway, my brother Devonn took a lot of really good professional photos, so once those are sent I'll post them! But for now, here is a good family picture!

We all seem to be smiling the best in this one! Cousin James is holding little Alex.

      Anyway, we headed home that evening since Gary had a half-day at work the next morning (the stock market has a rule about not being closed for 2 consecutive days), and passed out that night!

     So, a few more updates while here! Alex is 6 months old today! His checkup is on the 5th, so I'll update his stats then.

   He is also on the move!! Like crazy! He crawls so quickly now, climbs up on everything, can pull himself to standing, and is just so cuddly and sweet. 

  

Crawling!

  

Um, we had to lower his mattress last night! Grabbing the mobile isn't supposed to happen!

Another reason we lowered the mattress. This is him crying after he stood up and didn't know how to get back down! Eventually he'd fall backwards and slam his head on the other side. We taught him to fall on his butt.

He loves this booster seat!

Exploring!

As you can see, he also started solids because he kept grabbing at our food- and he's learned to swallow his spit instead of drooling everywhere.

Yum!

Are you sure I can play with this?

Okay, awesome!

       

     Anyway, we'll update more later after his 6 month stats! 

Halloween, Updates, Etc.

 Alex's first Halloween! He definitely makes a cute Tigger!

Our Trunk-or-Treat theme was Hundred Acre Wood

   For Halloween itself, we watched the new X-Men movie, then went down the street to the coolest house in the neighborhood- Boney Island! This house was completely decked out. All of the skeletons were singing and dancing and/or talking. It was complete fun entertainment and definitely family-friendly! Apparently this family has been doing this since 1997. And the treehouse? Coolest treehouse I've ever seen. There were light shows and all sorts of fun things.

     Anyway, this boy has been improving everyday! He's ALMOST there on the crawling! He can move a few feet, then launches himself forward. He knows the leg part and just needs to coordinate the arms better. I'd say next week he'll get it and will definitely be on the move by Thanksgiving. He can also sit up (with assistance getting there). He now sleeps from about 8:30pm-7am, then goes back to sleep around 8am and sleeps until 10:30. We didn't get the fun extra Daylight Savings hour, but oh, well!

I'm working on it!

Still playing around with solids (once or twice per week). Definitely loves the carrots!

I get to face forward in my stroller!

Happy guy!

  Also, for my birthday on the 25th, Gary and I took my dad and the foreign exchange students around the Subway stops in Los Angeles- including Little Tokyo, Chinatown, and the Hollywood area. My mom stayed home with little Alex, so it was nice getting out with my hubby!

Us!

 Anyway, I've been working on getting back into shape, but decided to not be so hard on myself. I joined Total Woman Gym and Day Spa and I'm loving it. The daycare staff are SO sweet and good with Alex. I go in the afternoon when it's pretty dead so usually it's just him and maybe another kid in there. That way they can focus on him and not 20 other kids too, LOL. Of course, you can't just show up with your kids- you typically have to call and make an appointment (you know, to prevent too many kids), but it's still nice having mommy time without watching Alex at the same time. I've started running again, but slowly. I've also been using the Stairmaster, then Elliptical when my knee is starting to act like a jerk. My favorite thing to do is hit the weights though. It's not a Gold's Gym when it comes to weights as there aren't as many, but it'll do! 

Okay, time to rest! The flu has hit me. Gary received his flu shot, so fingers crossed he hasn't caught it. Luckily Alex seems to be okay so far!