Smiles

Xander is now six weeks old. Six weeks is some sort of milestone not just for baby but for Mom also. I am now out of my official "healing" stage and can resume much of my former life activities. So, the first thing I did was reinstate my gym membership. (I am learning that nursing doesn't help you loose all of the pregnancy weight). Xander is now much more aware of things around him, people and their eyes especially. He makes various noises now, and I think we are starting to recognise his different cries, one for hunger, one for tired, etc. And Grandma Betsy received Xander's first non-gas-related(i.e. real) smile!

We went on our first trip to the beach as a family last weekend. Chrissy and the kids came to visit for spring break and treated us to a few days in Manzanita. Xander pretty much slept the whole time, but in the arms of his cousins , none the less. We had a nice bonfire one night, did crosswords, made nice dinners, walked on the beach, and watched movies. It was great to get away and relax in a different environment than our house.

Grandma Betsy made her voyage back to Alaska this last week. We were sad to see her leave but we know that she needed to get back to her life in Homer. We actually sent her off on Tuesday only to discover that Mt. Readout had blown again and her flight was cancelled. We managed to get her for a few more days and Xander got to have more Grammy time, which he was happy about. We also were able to go to Betsy's favorite Lebanese restaurant on her departure night.

Lyrik and I have been taking advantage of the gorgeous spring weather the past couple of days. We spent much of Saturday getting our yard somewhat back in shape and Sunday we went to Sauvie Island to sunbathe and picnic. Xander is growing rapidly, he is about 12 pounds right now, moved up a diaper size, and really is starting to fill in all of the clothes we got as gifts. He's been doing pretty good with our "routine", and last night he even slept for a six and a half hour stretch! He usually starts out in his crib for the night, sleeping about 4 hours, then wakes up to eat and stays in bed with us for the remainder of the night. It seems to work out well, but I can't wait until the first stretch in his crib lasts 6 hours or more consistently.