Alex is 11 weeks old today!

Wow - how time flies!

Alex is 11 weeks old today and he is just changing and growing every day!
We don't know how much he weighs or how long he is because we will not go in for another check up until 4 months...but we can tell you this:

He is so thin, his newborn shirts still fit him, BUT he is so long he need pants that are size 6 months! So, he will be tall like his daddy. His face has filled out and he smiles and coos all the time. He has started to chuckle every now and then...I am sure this little man will be a laughter growing up with Jonathan and me. We love to laugh A LOT!

Enjoy some of the new pictures below and look for another update soon.

Two month update

First and foremost, for those of you who thought we were the lucky ones with a baby sleeping through the night at 7 weeks, it was a short-lived success. Alex is still waking between 2 and 4 AM for a feeding...we hope that will disappear in the next 6 weeks. It should according to our Babywise method...we'll see! We don't follow it exactly because we do not let Alex cry it out - come on...he's only 9 weeks old! He is doing great with his schedule of eating, playing and sleeping and he does sleep anywhere from four to six hours at a time during the night.



As for big events over the last couple of weeks, we have celebrated two...our anniversary on October 5th and a Toast to the Tinker Tot in Houston last weekend. For our anniversary, Nana, Grampa and Aunt Angie came to take care of Alex while Jonathan and I went our to celebrate a VERY exciting and successful first year of marriage! Jonathan surprised me with an incredible dinner at the Chart House, which sits 650 feet in the air inside the Hemisphere. It really was the most incredible view and rotated 360 degrees every hour.

The food was fantastic and over a bottle of wine, we toasted to our awesome first year of marriage and bringing Alex into our family within that first year...and to making the next year VERY ORDINARY! No moving, no new jobs and...no siblings for Alex just yet (hee-hee!)! Of course, we are not in charge, but that is what we hope will be in store for the next year - just a lot of perfectly plain fun.

We stayed at the Hilton on the River walk and were planning to go to brunch Sunday and return home around 1:00 or 2:00 PM, but alas, Mama missed the little guy and we returned home in time for breakfast tacos with the grandparents and auntie!



The following weekend we went to Houston for a Toast to the Tinker Tot hosted at Nana's and Grampa's house. It was a wonderful time to celebrate Alex and for many of our family friends to meet the little guy for the first (or second) time. Ma Ma and Pa Pa made a trip in from Abbeville and were able to get some more precious time with Alex. One of the biggest moments of the party was that Elizabeth Mills, my dear friend who is "not so comfortable" with little ones held and played with Alex for a few minutes!!

When we returned home this week, we had to prepare for a big doctor's appointment on Tuesday. We took Alex for his check up and...his first set of shots. He got two sticks in each thigh and he handled them like the little champ he is. He screamed bloody murder for about 30 seconds and then calmed down. He had fever and was a little fussy most of yesterday, but today he seems to be back to his normal happy self. At the appointment, we weighed and measured him and he has a healthy growth curve so far. He is still only in the 22nd percentile for height to weight, but that's okay!
Alex weighs 11 lbs, 5 oz and he is 23.5 inches long!

Look for more photos later today...he's waking up as I type...

Wow...what a couple of weeks it's been!

Well, first the stats: Alex weighs 10 lbs, 5 oz. as of Tuesday this week. We aren't certain, but think he is about 23 inches long. We will go to get his shots next week and update you then. Second, the celebrations: Alex is smiling in response to mom and dad's faces and voices on a regular basis and he can now support his head for more than a minute at a time. He is really strong in both the neck and the legs. He started batting at dangling objects and grabbing my hair and necklace this week.

And....the biggest celebration of all....at 7 weeks and 4 days...Alexander Reece slept a full seven hour stretch last night with only a brief period of waking/fussing for about 10 minutes at 3:00 AM! WOW!! It is remarkable. And for all you who doubted "my book", it is this philosophy followed pretty diligently that allowed for this success! Now, we know the key will be consistency in the schedule moving forward. Of course, we are very flexible as to the "where" he eats or sleeps because we are a family on the go... but rest assured, Alex eats, plays and then sleeps at just about the same time every day and he is so content and happy because of this.

Well, to catch you up on the last two weeks, we spent 8 of them traveling to New England for Alex's first vacation. He was (I'm not just saying this because I am his mom) AWESOME! Never once, did he cry or scream on all the ups and downs of the southwest flights that ultimately got us to Providence and back. We went on a small prop plane to Nantucket, and he slept in the sling on my lap both on the way there and on the SCARY ride back....on our return to the mainland, the storm that was moving up the East Coast was in full force and we almost were not able to return at all...

We had a 9 AM flight to Providence, where we would have taken off at 10:50 AM for the return to Texas, but we were not able to leave Nantucket until 12:00 noon and even then it was a treacherous ride. We could see absolutely nothing but the beating rain and dark clouds enveloping our tiny plane. I hate to say it, but for about 10 minutes, I truly thought that we were going to die like Carolyn and JFK, Jr. By the grace of God, we did not and the pilot landed us in Providence expertly. We had missed our flight of course and after much deliberation and re-routing, we were able to get to Austin, where Angie picked us up. We had a late dinner with her and then she dropped us at our car in the San Antonio airport. I think it was 11:55 when we walked in our door!

The trip (the first half was work for JT) was so much fun and a much needed refresher for the Tinker clan. Tiffany joined us for the first half of the trip to keep me company and help with Alex while Jonathan attended the ASTRO convention in Boston. Tiff, Alex and I stayed the first two nights in Barrington, RI with Aunt Kay and Charlie. We visited the Breakers and other mansions in Newport and lunched at the NY Yacht Club. Then, Aunt Kay drove us into Boston and Tiff and I toured around (mostly shopping) with Alex in tow. We had a great time!

We ended the trip with a retreat to Nantucket. Jonathan arranged the Cape Air flight to and from the island and found a delightful B&B where we had a comfy two room suite right off Main Street. The island is so picturesque and quaint, just the way you imagine it would be. We walked to the wharf and sampled home made pistachio almond ice cream, browsed the boutiques and galleries and of course...had WONDERFUL food every night we were there. Alex took it all in stride - he already knows mommy and daddy's secret love is traveling and he seems ready to join in the tradition!