Forever

For a long time there were only 

your footprints & laughter in our dreams 

& even from such small things, 

we knew we could not wait to 

love you forever.
-Brian Andreas

Alekzander @ 2 days old

Sweet Celebrations

For his 3 month birthday, Alekzander celebrated at the Melting Pot with four of my Charlotte favorites!  We are actually there celebrating Caitlin's birthday... and the fact that the five of us could finally share a glass of wine together after five years.

Alekzander was the perfect gentleman; he got snuggled, admired the fondue flame, sucked on his fingers wishing that they tasted like chocolate, and finally fell asleep allowing us some fun girl time!

Alekzander & His Dates:  Rebecca, Carrie, Caitlin, Jenny

13 Weeks + 1 Day = 3 Months

Drowned Rat

Syra, our big goofy dog who reminds us of Dug on the movie Up, gave new meaning to the term "drowned rat" today. It is raining, so she probably smells like a wet dog, but I'm mad at her now, so I won't even go near her.

While Alekzander and I were playing "Baby in the Mirror," his favorite game, Syra stole Alekzander's (and Cyrus') mouse!

{In the Markovitch family, we have a weird attraction to cute mice...they seem to find themselves in suitcases, the freezer, peeking out of a roll of toilet paper, rolled up in a ball of socks... anywhere is a good hiding place for a mouse! Not real mice, by the way, just cute stuffed mice, or rather ugly plastic rats...but the sentiment is all the same.}

The Mus (a Swedish mouse from Ikea - you may have seen him in Alekzander's Valentine's Day picture) was hanging out with the farm animals on Alekzander's playmat... and when we left the room, Syra stole the mouse. Now... she's not a dog who takes care of her toys. So apparently, while we were playing in the other room, she decided to carry the mouse down to her cage and begin devouring it, tail first.

A few minutes later, with Alekzander diapered and ready to nap, I came downstairs to let the dogs out. Kaila went right out into the yard, but Syra hung out on the porch and dropped something white. Right away I saw it was Mus... so I rescued the wet, slobbery mouse, put Syra in her cage with no treat... and gave the mouse a bath...

In just a few minutes, the poor stuffed toy lost its tail and became a drowned rat ... twice. I guess a trip to Ikea is in order...

Skills

Modesty or humility aren't traits I possess when it comes to my son. I have to tell you, I think Alekzander is pretty special... and for a 3-month old, he has a lot of skills.

Here are a few that I think are pretty spectacular.

1. Drooling. He drools like a 6-month old! You can see the puddles on his playmat.
2. Blowing bubbles. I guess this goes hand-in-hand with excess saliva! What better thing to do than blow bubbles.
3. Push-Ups. His head control and neck strength are honestly great.
4. Babbling. At times, it sounds like he knows all of his vowels, plus a few important consonant sounds like "mmmm" as in "Maaaa" and "/g/" as in milk guzzler.
5. And today... he rolled over! Twice. If you do something twice, I don't think it can be considered accidental. Of course he wouldn't do it again this evening, and he may have been slightly advantaged due to the placement of his playmat on two circle rugs, but still... he went from belly to back by pushing his head, neck, and shoulders up really high, tucking his left arm and tada! A baby roll.

He also learned to Skype tonight with his Gruffalo (aka Grandpap Tony). They both thought it was pretty exciting, though Alekzander was a little vain and preferred to look at himself in the mirror!

Isn't he special?

Simple Errands...

Simple errands are not simple anymore. I spent the morning stressing out about how I was going to get my car to Griffin Bros. to get its oil changed. Normally, a 10 minute excursion to drop the car off less than a mile from my house and then a 10-15 minute walk home.

Today though, I had to wait until Alekzander woke up from his first nap, feed him, dress him, bundle him up (although it was nearly 55 and sunny when we finally got out of the door), get him in his carseat, double check to be sure that I could get the jogging stroller out of the car and opened, reload the stroller... and then we were finally on our way. Alekzander HATES the stoplight leaving our neighborhood, and of course it was red when we pulled up to it... so a little fussing and we finally moved again... only to sit at a standstill due to a large funeral procession (going the oppposite way) complete with about 25 Harleys and 4 police cars. Alekzander wasn't too fond of the motionlessness or the noise... we made it to our destination and I got him out of the carseat, carried him inside, and then waited for the guys to: 1) acknowledge me, 2) say something ridiculous (but not inappropriate), 3) find me in the system, 4) send me on my merry way.

My merry way meant laying Alekzander down in the back seat next to his carseat, walking around the back to juggle with the jogger, get Alekzander loaded in and THEN I was off. I tried jogging a little since I had the jogging stroller, but my pants wanted to fall down... I can't fit in most of my clothes still, but my lovely (bleach stained) sweatpants that I chose for this special occasion didn't want to stay up on the walk home! Alekzander fell asleep during our walk, so I extended it by doing a mile loop past the house. He was still asleep when I "wheelied" the stroller into the front door... but when I tried to take off his hat, he woke up... I put him up in his crib hoping that he'd resume his nap, but no luck... Ironically my car's oil was changed by that time and I was notified by the jovial manager at Griffin Bros., "We're kicking you out." So... I changed my pants to an equally attractive pair that tied around the waist, rescued Alekzander from his non-napping crib, loaded him back into the jogger, and headed back to Griffin Bros.

I found my car, parked the stroller in front of it, unloaded Alekzander, walked inside and waited for about 10 minutes while the guys helped other customers. Meanwhile, Alekzander and I are both sweating, because it was now sunny and 60...and I still put him in his winter hat (because he's been tugging on his right ear). Once I paid, I put Alekzander in his carseat, wrangled the jogger to the back of my vehicle, collected my belongings out of the stroller (waterbottle, chapstick, pacifier (for Alekzander - not me), phone, wallet, spare key), and pulled away... to go to the grocery store for 3 items for dinner... another wrestling match ensued between me and the carseat and the shopping cart, but Alekzander just looked at me and smiled.

At least he enjoyed a simple errand that turned in to our grand adventure!

Living with a Saint and a Rock Star

In my house, I am surrounded by greatness!

For the last 5 years, I have lived with a saint...

• Defined as: a very good, kind person; or a person of exceptional goodness.

Recently, Andrew accompanied me to a massive consignment sale that was 50 minutes away from our house... on a Friday... even leaving work a little early. He also attended a couple's baby shower with me where we only knew the honored guests...and he played and won at two of the shower games and entertained the guests with his wit and silliness. I know that not all husbands would willingly go to either of these events, but my husband went to both with a great attitude. There are other daily saintly occurrences, the greatest of which is his loving and playful interactions with Alekzander.

For the last 3 months, I have lived with a mini-rock star...

• Defined (by me) as: a very good, adaptable, happy, easy going baby.

For all of the events that Andrew and I went to this weekend, our sweet boy was with us. He coo-ed with delight, entertained our friends with his cuteness, took little cat naps, played with his hands, and sat quietly in our laps...never once fussing. I was beyond proud of him... I love that he is so easy going even when we missed naps and stretched feedings. Aside from his happy disposition, the boy has a little wild side to him as evidenced by his love for playing Superman, "ski jumping" on Dad's lap, and rocking out with his new Bandstand toy.

I consider myself incredibly lucky to have two great boys whom I love so much.

Consignment Sale-ing Away

Come Sale Away!

Come Sale Away!

Come Sale Away with me... Lads!

Now that I have some Styx stuck in your head (you're welcome)...

Off to our first consignment sale and not knowing what we were getting ourselves in to, all we knew was that we should be there on time if only to wait in a long line of anxious, excited women in all stages of motherhood. We arrived about five minutes before the doors were supposed to open thinking we were one of the first 25 people to arrive... we didn't, however, see the long line of people snaking behind a few rows of cars in the parking lot. We made our way to the back of the long line a couple hundred deep. The crazy thing was that this wasn't even the BIG sale day; this afternoon's sale was just for 1st time shoppers to this particular sale!

Eventually we found ourselves, slightly overwhelmed, looking at tables and tables of toys and racks upon racks of clothing inside a large open building about the size of two football fields (the camera phone pic above doesn't do the size justice since it wasn't from all the way in the back and what looks like the other side of the building was just a divider up high marking the mid way point to the other side!). My main job was to go to the end of the two football fields and scope out the "big ticket" items while Ashley started looking at the baby clothes. As you can see from the list below, we found most of the things we were looking for, and more than a few things that we didn't know we needed.

Other than me having an excursion with Alekzander and dressing him up with a baby tie and cool sunglasses (to make Mom laugh), the highlight had to have been watching Alekzander "voice" his opinion about the clothes he did and didn't like. I showed him each item Mom picked out and he looked each one up and down and then either coo-ed in excitement or visibily shook his head no and made no sound at all. Because he obviously has the capacity to decide on clothing at such a young age, we honored his decisions by actually putting back one or two items that we thought he'd look cute in.

After some sanitizing and washing, Alekzander is already starting to enjoy the spoils of the massive consignment sale...and although I hate to admit it, I am sure we'll become consignment sale veterans over the next few years.

Don't forget to enter your guess on the Priceless blog entry for the contest! :)

Priceless

Infantino front 2 back carrier ($35)

swim diapers ($9)

7 hats ($30)

'running' shoes ($6)

swim trunks ($10)

humidifier ($45)

9 outfits ($125)

6 onesies ($15)

1 pair shorts ($6)

Playskool Step Start Walk'n Ride ($13)

Fisher Price Dancing Bandstand ($45)

Playskool Fill 'N Spill Fish ($15)

Vtech Move & Crawl Ball ($20)

Electronic Fun Sorting Cube by Parents ($20)

2 plush Chick-Fil-A cows (free w/ entrance)

Retail value of everything we got at the consignment sale - $427

Time spent with Ashley and Alekzander - PRICELESS

=======================================================

Contest time!!  Using the list above try and guess how much we got all of our great consignment sale finds for (pre-tax) and leave a comment with your guess.  We guessed on some items for the retail value but have it around $427.  Leave your guess by next Friday (February 26).  The closest answer wins one of the Chick-Fil-A stuffed cows (Alekzander's keeping the other one).

TOTAL SPENT ... $74!!!

Grandpa Swistak was closest but he has declined the prize (ChicFila Stuffed Cow) so it will go to Mike & Lucy's little Norah!  (Lucy... I was going to mail it but Ashley said she would hand deliver.)

Date Night

Andrew and I were lucky enough to have a 'date night' last night thanks to Alekzander's ATB (Aunt Tessa Bug) and Ryan. After a napless day, we brought Alekzander over to Ryan's place (Uptown), and quickly redecorated his bachelor's pad with Alekzander's cute giraffe Pack&Play. I also put Alekzander's baby cooler (for his bottles of breastmilk) into Ryan's immaculate bachelor refrigerator stashed with beer and Propel: quite the juxtaposition.

I think Andrew was more nervous about leaving Alekzander than I was. He gave all the detailed instructions while I gave Tessa the general rundown. It was kind of cute though that he cares and worries, even just a little bit! Alekzander gave Tessa his 'old-man-pouty lip' seconds before Andrew and I walked out of the door. It was as if he knew that we were leaving and wanted to make us feel loved. He was a rock star while we were gone, though he chose not to catch up on all of the sleep he missed during the day. We didn't call our competent babysitters even once, though I did keep checking my phone to make sure they didn't need us... and of course I thought about Alekzander quite a bit, but it was great to get out and spend time with my hubby.

Andrew always has a plan. So like always, we set out with an agenda. The only glitch was that our date coincided with the Syracuse/Georgetown basketball game. Andrew was awesome because he didn't take me to a sports bar so that he could watch it. But I was awesome because I let him check the score while we waited for our food at Mez! Ordering off of the food menu was easy (Mediterranean Pita Trio Appetizer and Gnocchi side)...but ordering wine proved to be a little difficult for me. After a year of not drinking any wine, I have forgotten what I liked and everything that I kept trying, I didn't like! Luckily we had a sweet waitress who kept offering to bring me tastes of different types of wine. After 3 of these tastes, and a sip of Andrew's wine, I already was feeling a little silly, but finally decided on a "thought-provoking" red Malbec from Argentina.

After we enjoyed our food and wine, we headed over to Howl At The Moon, the dueling piano bar at The Epicentre. With my Mez wine courage, I walked up to the piano with our request slip... Crazy Love by Van Morrison - our "first dance" song at our wedding - for which we got a nod of approval from the pianist. We were entertained by the Howl At The Moon performers and some bar patrons who had no inhibitions and good lyrical knowledge for some 'oldies but goodies'!

If we were Cinderella and Prince Charming, when the clock struck 11, we switched relational gears from husband and wife to father and mother. We took our chariot back to pick up the littlest prince and found a sweet, sleepy baby and two people (ATB & RT) who have also fallen under the spell of Alekzander's sweetness.

Post Date: Our prince with an infamous "party ball"...

Mommy's Other Love

Story Time

There's a first time for everything. Alekzander went to his first "story time" at the library thanks to Brooks' mommy inviting us. I was a little skeptical...First, would we be able to get out of the house, dressed and fed, by 9:15? Second, would he sleep during story time? Or cry? Third, what can a 12 week old REALLY get out of story time?

We were able to make it to the library on time for Lap Lovers and even sat awkwardly for a few minutes looking at the other parents and babies in the circle before the fashionable, young librarian came in to read! Alekzander may have snoozed for 5 minutes in the car, but once we got to the "Story Room," he was wide awake. All the other babies were out of their car seats, so he went along with peer pressure and came to "sit" in my lap... There were two cheesy, but admittedly cute opening songs before the themed reading started. Today's theme was farm books. We learned about animal sounds, sang Old McDonald (while the librarian SKIPPED pages in the book, don't think I didn't notice!!!), danced the Baby Hokey Pokey, listened to some more books, and even shook a shaker egg while singing another song. Alekzander definitely didn't sleep, nor did he cry. He was quite vocal and coo-ed and squealed his baby excitement several times. He was also very interested in all of the other babies. I loved how much he loved it!

My mommy lessons of the day: A skipped nap is not the end of the world, especially if socialization is involved! And... even though Mommy isn't the most social person in the world, Alekzander may be!

After all of our fun this morning, my sweet boy is snoring in his car seat...probably dreaming of farm animals and new friends.

Will You Be My Valentine?

2010 Olympics - Opening Ceremonies

Continuing a tradition (or is it starting one when its the 2nd time you do something?) we got together with the Williams' (Blake, Lauryn and now Carter) for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.  Almost magically it started snowing here in Charlotte to give the ground a white 3" blanket to help get into the mood of the winter Olympics.  We wore our Czech (Andrew), Polish (Ashley) and US (Alekzander) shirts in the spirit of the games and had food and drinks from all over the world.

I can't remember the official count but I believe Blake and I represented 8 Countries via beers (US, Belgium, England, Germany, Czech Republic, Japan, Austria and Jamaica).  Don't worry about Canada... I'll get some 'imported' Molson or Labatt to honor our friends to the North.

I personally liked the opening ceremony but felt bad for Canada at times since they had to follow the disgustingly expensive and extravagant show that China put on in 2008.  It seemed fitting in level of grandeur with it being the winter Olympics and being hosted by Canada, and other than the torch malfunction near the end, seemed to go without a hitch.

Here are some helpful links for following the action over the next few weeks:

Schedule/Results
http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-schedule-results

TV Schedule (All Stations)
http://www.nbcolympics.com/tv-listings/index.html

Team USA

http://www.teamusa.org

 

Let The Games Begin!

Here are some designs I altered for Olympic t-shirts for each of us (the names below the images are on the backs of the shirts)... more pictures to come.

 

Play Time!

Alekzander: "Norah, I have hands! Do you have hands?"
Norah: "I think so. I have a tongue. Do you?"

Today Alekzander had his third play date with his little friend Norah. She is two weeks older than Alekzander, so she can teach him a lot about life! Her mommy, Lucy, a friend of mine from grad school, can also teach me about what to expect from my sweet little one. Today was the first time that both of the babies were awake at the same time, so they were able to interact a little bit. Norah was extremely concerned about my little wiggly friend who was hiding under the nursing cover and kept trying to figure him out when he emerged.

Lucy and I have enjoyed sharing mommy time together, and though its not shown in these pictures, we're confident that Alekzander and Norah will enjoy playing together one day as well!

Sweet little friends!

Sunshine In My Eyes

Whenever there is a chance to soak in some sunshine and Vitamin D, Alekzander and I can be found outside! Today was one of those rare, spectactular sunny February days. There's not a green leaf or blade of grass around, but the sky was as blue as blue can be. With the sun high above us, it was close to 50, practically perfect after cold, gray days. On days like this, we like to sing this song (its an original!):

"There's sunshine in my eyes; Sunshine in my eyes again. There's sunshine in my eyes; Its gonna be a great day!"

We took advantage of some peace and quiet in the backyard around lunch time and later snuck in a walk with Daddy and the dogs. All the fresh air tired us out. Sweet baby fell asleep in my arms seconds after I finished reading him his nightly Bible story.

I fall more in love with him every day!

Shared Joy

There's no crying in football...unless you've just won the SuperBowl and are sharing that moment with your baby boy.

I barely made it through the SuperBowl without falling asleep; even the commercials hardly kept me awake (although the Troy Polamalu and TruTV commercial and Doritos' House Rules commercial were pretty humorous). But I was energized when the underdog's victory was confirmed with 3 minutes left in the game after Peyton Manning threw an unfortunate interception leading to the final touchdown for the Saints. Across the country, celebrations began, if they hadn't already started. New Orleans was back - as a city ravaged and rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina, the Saints' win helped affirm the revival of the city and its residents and all the hope that surrounded them. Who wouldn't be happy about the Saints' win and what that win stood for?

It may have been at that time - or a few minutes later - that my tears started flowing. I'd like to blame it on post-partum hormones, but my spirit would have always been moved at the sight of Drew Brees and his son. Perhaps the moment and its sweetness was magnified since I now have a son of my own, but tears were definitely shed as I watched a proud father share a priceless moment with his little boy.

Of course I don't know Drew Brees and am not even a Saints fan, but moments of shared joy get me every time. Whether its sharing joy with my neighbor as we watch her 3-year old "dance" at her dance recital, or as I watch a handicapped stranger race in a local 5k event, or as I watch students perform choreographed moves on stage, my eyes always well-up with tears of joy and pride for these people. They may not know that they are bringing me joy - or that I sense their joy, but the moment is special and sweet.

Even sweeter is when my son, only 2 months old, can bring joy to others simply by being! More than once, whether it was my mom, or other "mom" figures in our lives, I have watched eyes well-up with tears of joy just by looking at my son as he joyfully observes his little world. If only we can have more joy-filled moments in our hectic days...and acknowledge the joy multiplied.

Photo from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/07/drew-brees-son-baylen-cel_n_452946.html

Helping

If anyone wonders why my house isn't spic and span and my laundry isn't always folded and put away, it is because I have an adorable distraction that provides too many photo ops!

Jogger Version 2.0

So that the jogger wouldn't swallow Alekzander, and so that our little prince would have the comfiest of thrones to ride around in, I bought him a JJ Cole Body Support and JJ Cole Reversible Strap Covers. Quite the upgrade!

On our walk yesterday, five days after Charlotte's BIG snow of 2010, we saw three kids playing in a cul-de-sac... two of which were wearing shorts and t-shirts! It was nearly 50 yesterday which was a heat wave compared to the weekend! Alekzander, however, was bundled up in his stylish Gap sweater from Ryan and his all-purpose knit hat and cotton blanket from Mia.

Precious Pie

Wouldn't you love to eat something called Precious Pie? Or at least love to love something called Precious Pie?

For me, Precious Pie would be a combination of all the most wonderful things and types of pies... like as comforting as pumpkin pie, as sweet as cherry pie, as welcoming as apple pie, as lively as key-lime pie, and as delicate as chocolate mousse pie.

Alekzander has earned the nickname Precious Pie from me because he is all of those things and more. He smiles and coos in response to this silly name, which makes me want to use it even more.

Today we had a major play session and my sweet finally let me capture a smile on the camera!

Wouldn't you just want to eat him up?!

Double Digits

Our big man is 10 weeks today! I watched a live c-section on the Today Show yesterday and actually shed a few tears thinking back to 10 weeks ago as Alekzander was welcomed into the world by a team of doctors and nurses. Its amazing to think that 10 weeks ago Alekzander couldn't do any of these 10 things:

1. Nurse effectively

2. Smile in response to a silly mommy or daddy

3. Coo and talk

4. Do push-ups on his play mat

5. Sit up tall in his Bumbo

6. Grasp toys in his hand (on purpose)

7. Take a bath (and enjoy it, too!)

8. Stay awake for 2 hours straight

9. Kick and flail his arms and legs playfully on the changing table

10. Make and maintain eye contact

While all of these feats amaze me, my favorite two skills that Alekzander has learned are #2 and #10. His wide, gummy smile and baby blues melt my heart, easily 10 times a day!

Sweet Smell and Sacrifices

Sweet baby boy has a new smell... instead of a fresh, sweet baby, he now smells of hyrdocortisone cream (majorly souped up/prescription strength) to help with a sad case of eczema. Surprisingly, it isn't a bad smell at all, though after 4 applications a day, I'm sure I'll tire of its new sweetness. For about a week, Alekzander has had a little rash of pimples that appears across his left cheek, ear, neck and shoulders. More of an aesthetic annoyance to me than anything else at this point... It breaks my heart that his perfectly smooth skin isn't quite perfect right now, but I'm a girl, and I worry about things like that... boys are "rough and tumble" and I will have to get used to that quickly! We originally thought it may have been an allergic reaction to something, but the doctor saw it last Monday and guessed it might be a flare up of eczema. Since it didn't go away on its own, a call to the doctor resulted in two prescriptions for hydrocortisone cream and lotion to treat eczema. Though we saved $25 co-pay to the doctor, the magic lotions cost $66 after insurance was applied. Quite expensive for cream (I won't even pay $10 for a face moisturizer for myself), but I quickly realized that this is just the first of many times that we will spend a little extra money to make our son happy and/or comfortable. And a small monetary sacrifice is just the beginning of the great lengths we'd travel for the good of Alekzander.


So for now, we slather and rub while he chills shirtless with his cool "sleep pants" like his Da.

Announcing...

January Month in Review

We'll try from time to time to include photos from the month that didn't make a blog entry but are blog worthy... here are some from January.