A Long Short Week

Well, we made it though Xander's first week of daycare with no problems.
Angie sends home a sheet with Xander's info for that day, when and how much he ate, naps and dirty diapers.
It's really interesting because he sleeps a lot while at daycare. XANDER NEVER SLEPT MORE THAN 20 MINUTES during the day at home! He's slept for as long as 3 hours at a stretch at daycare. Now if we could only figure out how to pull that off at home too.
Nights have been interesting because it's a lot of playing with Xander. He's growing so fast and now that we don't see him during the day it feels like he's growing even faster.

Xander's First Day Away

This past week was a big one for Xander because on Tuesday Tracy went back to work and he went to daycare.

Last Monday, March 24th, was Tracy's last day home with Xander so her and Haley (who had the day off from school) spent all day spoiling him (like I would have).

Neither Tracy or I slept the greatest on Monday night. I'm sure we were both kind of worried about how he would do and what would happen.

I was up early like usual with Xander, only this Tuesday I couldn't take him back up to Tracy when I had to get ready.

Tracy and I tag-teamed him and got ready really early. So early in fact that we had to wait around to even leave the house!

Tracy went straight to daycare while I dropped off Haley at school. I came a few minutes after Tracy so we could both see him off for his first day of daycare.

I can't even imagine what that was like for Tracy. I thought it was hard enough leaving him after a week, but after 10 weeks it must have just killed her.

It was nice being able to email Tracy during the day again at work, but I could tell she wanted to go check on him. Angie, our daycare provider, sent her an email at about 10 that morning telling Tracy that everything was going well. I think that really helped sooth Tracy, and she went out to eat with her coworkers that day.

I went and checked on Xander for Tracy around 2:30 so one of us saw him the first day, and he was doing great. He is a huge hit with the other kids, so he has lots to keep him busy.

After work we didn't want to put him down, sohe was extra hapy after that! All in all, it was a good frist day for Xander. I hope many more are to follow.

You can see the pictures of Xander's first day by going here: http://picasaweb.google.com/pander69/XanderSFirstDayOfDaycare

Our Visit to Daycare

Yes...sad but True. I am slowly getting ready to head back to work on Tuesday so I decided that it was better for both Xander and myself if we took a trip to Angie's to see what we could expect on Tuesday! So around 10 AM on Thursday Xander and I made the trip to daycare! When we walked in the kids were very excited to see us as Angie had been working with them all week on what to do with a new baby coming! She was even trying to teach them to say his name correctly! Right away Angie's little girl who is about 3 came over to say hi and tell Xander how cute he was! She was also giving me a brief update about what little boys to watch out for. So we told Xander that Connor bites so to stay away from him and there is another little boy who loves to cry all the time so he is very noisy and Xander probably won't get much sleep around him! All very good things to know!

Xander also got visited by another little boy who decided it would be fun to use both hands and go crazy with xander's hair! Apparently he is not use to babies with that much on top! Angie quickly grabbed him and tried to explain that Xander probably doesn't want him playing with his hair. Connor quickly joined the excitement and decided it woudl be fun to try to grab Xander's cheeks! I don't think Xander knew what to expect with all the attention and kids touching him as he didn't make a peep the entire time! Maybe that is a good thing and with all the scrambling about he will actually decide that naps are not the enemy and will get on a good schedule!

After about 40 minutes we decided things were going good and we would head off and pray that Tuesday would be a good first day! I haven't decided if I am going to make that first day visit at noon to see if things are going okay yet or not. I guess we will see how hectic that morning is and see how well I do! I am not sure who will have a more stressful day...me or Xander! Wish us luck!

Being Lazy

I've been lazy lately and haven't gotten Xander's pictures up for the last month until this weekend.
It's not good that it's taken me this long cause Xander is changing fast. I'm going to try to blog and upload photos at least once a week, if not more from here on out. If I don't do it, let me know.

Go to http://picasaweb.google.com/pander69 to see all of Xander's pictures.

Xander's First Easter

Xander reached another holiday milestone on Sunday, March 23rd when he celebrated his first Easter.

Xander was up bright an early on Sunday morning, so early the Easter Bunny almost didn't get a chance to visit us!

But the bunny did get to come and left Haley and Xander each a basket full of goodies. The Easter Bunny didn't make it easy though; he hid their baskets and Haley had a heck of a time finding hers.

After we found the baskets and the eggs we hopped in the Envoy and headed to Lake Benton to have dinner with Grandpa and Grandma Nordmeyer, Great Grandpa Nordmeyer and Todd, Pam, Kayla, Luke and Briton.

It was a nice dinner where we all ate way too much and lounged around afterwards. Xander should have been in heaven since he had plenty of people to hold him, but he was a little fussy at times.

When we got home Xander and I laid on the couch, where he of course went to sleep around 6 and didn't get up till much later.

Overall it was a great first Easter for Xander. Let's hope they all go this well.

See the pictures of Xander's first Easter at http://picasaweb.google.com/pander69/XanderSFirstEaster

Getting ready for the bunny

On Saturday, March 22nd, we spent part of the day getting ready for the Easter Bunny.

We all did Easter eggs and had a good time.

We had got Xander a Baby's First Easter outfit and Tracy got him some bunny ears, so we had to take some pictures.

Go to http://picasaweb.google.com/pander69/HereComesXanderCottontail to see the fun.

One Last Victory Lap

On Thursday, March 20th, Tracy took Xander to visit his new daycare where he will start on Tuesday.
He was a big hit with the other kids and Tracy said it went well (She may blog about it later), and after that she brought him to my office for one last victory lap before he goes to daycare.
Sunshine was really excited to see him cause he missed the other two times he had been there. Sunshine was with us the whole time we went around the agency, which was cool, and everyone commented on how big he is getting (they don't know the half of it).

Irish Smiling

I am a big fan of St. Patrick's Day, even if we don't get to celebrate like we used to.

Everyone in the family wore green that day, including Xander. He was double dressed, wearing a Little O'Cutie onesie and a Baby's First St. Patrick's Day outfit.

Tracy took pictures during the day and Haley and I got some cute shots that night.

Go to http://picasaweb.google.com/pander69/StPaddySDayFun to see the pics.

5 a.m. Wake Up Call

Xander has decided that he is going to take after his cousin Carter and join the battle against sleep.
Xander is more of a reserve soldier though because he will go to bed around 9-10 and sleep till 3:30-4 with only one wake up for a bottle.
It's after that that things get interesting and why I am blogging at 5:26 a.m.
I really hope that this doesn't last too long. Tracy goes back to work on the 25th and things could get interesting after that.

First Day Away

On March 9th Tracy and I had our first day out without Xander since January 10th, the day he was born.
Tracy wanted to go to Sioux Falls and do a little shopping so we took Xander and Haley down to Tracy's parents and then took off.
Everyone said it would be one of the hardest things to do, but I found it rather nice. It was probably easier since we were leaving them with her parents and Haley is so good with him.
We had a nice day walking around the mall and other stores in Sioux Falls, not having to lug a car seat around.
Did we miss him? Of course.
But was it nice being able to have our first real sit down dinner together in two months? You bet it was.

A Little Lamb on the Side

Last Thursday, March 6th, Tracy took Xander to get some Easter pictures taken. Photoworks, one of the local studios here had a special going on for Easter.
Some of you may ask why she did that. Yes, I'm becoming a photographer, but here's the kicker.
They had live animals.
When we had gone to the cities to see my family back in February we had found Xander a Pooh outfit that was a white polo with a baby blue sweater vest and kacki's. It was perfect for an Easter photo.
Tracy had originally planned to get his photo taken with the bunny that they had advertised, but when her and Xander got there they asked her if she still wanted the bunny or if she wanted to use the two-day-old lamb they had.
She couldn't resist. She took the lamb.
It is a very cute lamb with a black and white face that was excited to see Xander. Tracy said that the lamb got a little too close to Xander's personal space when he tried to jump in the little bassinet with him. There are some great pictures with the lamb nuzzling Xander. You could tell that Xander wasn't too into it from his scrunched up face.
The other set were with the lamb laying down in front of the bassinet, which were really cute too.
Tracy said that Xander wasn't the most cooperative person that day, but they got the pictures done and he looked real cute.

Haley and I Go At It Alone

On Monday, March 3rd, Haley and I attempted something very tricky.
We gave Xander a bath alone.
Tracy and I are working to get back (or in my case in)to shape, so she went to the Y to get a workout in.
We needed to give Xander a bath, so Haley and I gathered up our supplies and headed into the bathroom.
Both Haley and I had been on water detail, where we just keep him warm, so I took the lead and we got going.
Things went really well. He only cried once and it was more of a yelp.
We got him clean and dry and in his pajamas without any major problems.
I'm very surprised we were able to pull it off!

Xander's Wilmot Shower

On Sunday, March 2nd, we headed from Sisseton to Wilmot for a wonderful shower.

Becky, Arne's wife had called about doing a shower for him and we were lucky enough to have an open weekend while Rachel and Carter will still home. Seth and Meredith were also home, so it was nice to see them too.

Around 2 everyone started showing up and there was quite a crowd. Many people from Sisseton came, mainly from the clinic, and all the relatives on my side from Wilmot were there, and some from even further away.

The ladies played a few games, guessing the baby food, a baby letter game and some others while I entertained (or tried to keep Carter busy) in the basement.

There was lots of food of course, all good food, so no one went away hungry that day.

After lunch it was time to open all of Xander's gifts. Of course he was being held by various people the whole time so he was in a great mood.

We got tons of great gifts from everybody, lots of things we can use now plus a bunch of clothes for later. It's nice to get clothes that will work for later because he is growing so fast!

Thanks again to everyone that came and celebrated another special day with us.

First Trip to Grandma and Grandpa Oey's

On March 1st we piled into the Envoy and made the journey to Sisseton for Xander's first trip to Grandpa and Grandma Oey's house because my family wanted to have a shower for Xander that weekend.

We took off on Saturday morning and got there early in the afternoon. Tracy went to a scrapbooking afternoon with Rachel, leaving Haley, Xander and I to head out to the house.

It was a fun afternoon. Carter still isn't sure what to think about his new cousin, but he is very good with him. He always wants to hold him and he also can't let grandma hold just Xander.

Grandpa and Grandma Remund made the trip up to Sisseton for supper that night.

Aunt Heidi got to see Xander on Saturday too when she came up to get some medicine for Dennis. She thought he looked just like I did at that age.

After supper we hung out and played with Xander. I think he likes being the center of attention.

Emily came out that day to play with Haley and those two always have a good time.

When it was time to go to bed Xander didn't go down right away, but he slept real good, letting mom and I have a nice night also.

We got up the next morning and got ready to head to Wilmot for the shower.

First Trip to Grandma and Grandpa Nordmeyer's

On February 24th Xander made his first trip to Grandpa and Grandma Nordmeyer's.

Trudy, Dave, Sara, Abby and Isabelle spent the night after his baptism on the 23rd, so we went down to have dinner with them that day.

Everyone was still excited to see Xander even though they had seen him the day before. He got passed around all morning and was one happy camper.

Grandpa Ron came up to have dinner and he was able to see Xander for the second time.

Everyone had a good time, but we had to go home a little earlier than we would have liked, but Haley had a volleyball clinic she couldn't miss.

Xander's Baptism

On February 23rd our families came to Marshall for a very exciting event. We had Xander baptized.

We were able to find a weekend where many people were able to come for the special event before Haley's volleyball season.

We were lucky enough to have it on a Saturday night so that everyone could enjoy the evening and not have to rush home.

Our families were able to make a day out of it, coming in the early afternoon before the service at 5 p.m. We all hung out and enjoyed the day and Xander was spoiled as usual, never being put down.

Church was at 5, but during Lent they do not do baptisms during the service, so we had a private family service after church.

It was nice because everyone was able to be right up at the altar. Rachel and Scott are his godparents on my side and Trudy and Dave are his godparents on Tracy's side. Scott wasn't able to make the trip, but Rachel and Carter flew out special to be with us.

It was a nice quick service, Xander was very good during the entire thing, never fussing at all. He did give a strange look with the water, but I think it was because he's used to warm water when we give him a bath.

After the service everyone came back and we had some delicious food and hung out for a while again.

We tried to take a few pictures of Xander in his outfit, but he decided it would be more fun to throw up on it. Oh well.

It was a great day and we want to thank everyone that was able to make the journey to Marshall to be with us on our special day.