Mommy turns 30, Axel turns 3 months

The Szolusha's have been so busy I can't seem to remember much about last week except grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning. Oh, I just remembered....I was sick with a cold and the focus of the week was getting better before my 30th birthday weekend. Ok, so in a nut shell Axel and I laid low as much as possible taking plenty of naps together and then I somehow managed to prepare for the weekend.

I just have to say that I feel very blessed for my wonderful friends and family. This weekend just reiterated how loved the Szolusha's are. Gamma Susan and Grandpa Brian wanted to do something special for my birthday so of course I requested for them to come early to watch Axel in order to allow Keith and I to go on a long ride. Somehow the two of them managed to arrive by 9 a.m. and Keith and I were headed out to King's mountain and then Half Moon Bay via Hwy 92.
A whopping 97 degrees was forecasted for the day. We were lucky to avoid the heat for most of the ride by changing our route and riding along the coast on Hwy 1. Keith did a great job of reminding me how out of shape and in shape he is by crushing me up King's Mountain. You know you are weak when your legs are burning but you aren't breathing. I had to keep reminding Keith that I needed to not go above 200 watts because I wanted to make it up West Alpine on the way home without having to get off my bike and walk :) He is in much better shape this year because he didn't have to drag me around and wait for me on the climbs during his winter training. He did Kings in his big chain ring to keep himself occupied. When we arrived at our favorite coffee shopt I enjoyed a very yummy latte after quickly "pumping and then dumping" my precious milk down the toilet. It was very hard for me to see my child's food supply go down the toilet, but I knew the milk wouldn't last in the heat on the way home.

Keith and I headed out and enjoyed each other's company along with the cool weather along Hwy 1. West Alpine was a bit of a challenge for me as the temperature increased by the minute. By the time we climbed the 2000 feet my feet and buttock were on fire. The wind was like hitting a wall of heat and only made us warmer. Descending Pagemill usually cools us off, but because the wind was so hot and thick I felt like I was going to pass out....and I wasn't even pedalling :) Luckily we arrived home safely and with sun burnt shoulders by 2:30 p.m. before the worst part of the heat hit.

I thoroughly enjoyed a cold shower before re-entering the heat of our house, which was a whopping 90 degrees. For those of you who don't know we rent an old little house with no AC or heat with lots of huge single pane windows which allows the house to be really cold or really hot depending on the outside temperature. I couldn't believe we were going to have a house full of people in a few hours with the weather being so crappy.

Shannon and Ryan arrived around 4pm while Axel and I were finishing up our little 30 minute nap. Shannon and Ryan helped me set up, Keith and Brian ran last minute errands and mom watched and played with the Ax man. Gamma had already prepared everything else while Keith and I were out riding so I thought it was only fair that she got to play, sing and dance with the little guy.

Keith braved the elements and managed to grill for over an hour during the hottest part of the day. Our friends and family were real troopers not complaining about how hot it was, but instead everyone had smiles on their faces as we all enjoyed some good food, drinks and company.

It seemed everyone had a good time and the day and night flew by. I felt so loved having such great company. Axel was a true champ dealing with the heat and the house full of people. He wore his muscle shirt that Gamma and I created and a big smile all night long.



On Sunday, the 28th, which is my actual birthday Keith made me a delicious omelet and then headed out on his bike to get to his race on time. Axel and I followed shortly after in the car. I brought my kit and bike just in case hoping that I could somehow race, but not thinking that it would actually happen. I didn't bring any food or drink that I would normally have when racing because I knew I needed a miracle to be able to race. Well, a miracle happened and I was able to race because one of my teammates, Holly, wasn't feeling well. She watched Axel and I took her place in the race. It was great because her registration money didn't go to waste and Axel had a great time playing with Holly. I want to give a shout out to Holly who was awesome for not only watching Axel but for also helping me get set up on the trainer, letting me eat one of her apples and giving me some drink mix. I am so very lucky to have such great friends and teammates.

Keith had a great race, from what I hear, since I was unable to watch it. His race was right before mine. Our race had a stacked field again (just like the Memorial Day Criterium I did a month ago) with lots of Pro women in the field. I was a bit nervous but had prayed consistently for the past few days about whether I should race or not. I asked God to give me a sign by letting me be excited when I woke on my birthday rather than tired and fearful. I was actually quite surprised that I woke up excited. I thought it was a little ironic that I ended up racing after I decided not to race because Axel is just more important. I knew I had a guardian angel since God somehow managed to give me my miracle by allowing me to race, by allowing me to have fun and by allowing me to stay upright. I was a bit frustrated for not having the fitness to contribute to the race and having to suffer just to stay in the race, but I am happy that I had a safe race. Unfortunately, one of my teammates went down in a pretty big crash and is now dealing with a broken pelvis and wrist. Plese keep Lucia in your prayers for a painless and quick recovery.

Last night the three of us enjoyed a nice relaxing evening watching Bolt and eating cookie dough ice cream and ice cream cake.

Axel is still getting stronger and stronger by the week.

I finally had the camera on hand and was able to get a good picture of him propping himself up on his arms while on his tummy. I think I managed to capture that on Tuesday. You can almost see him smiling at himself in the mirror. He continues to be more fussy and the chewing and drooling continue to occupy most of his day. You can see from the picture below that he is getting better with learning how to use his hands to help him satisfy his chewing needs, although often he is lazy and just wants to chew on our fingers or his fingers still. It seems not much has progressed in his teething except for the increased fussiness and chewing. I can still feel his two bottom teeth just below the gums so I can't imagine that it will be much longer. I am positive I will be posting pictures of his two bottom front teeth before he is 4months old.


I have also been working hard at trying to capture his poutty(sp?) lips face because I think it is the cutest thing in the world. Here is a picture of him just finishing with the cute pout face. So you can at least see his cute big lips.


Well, I hope you all have a great week and I will be posting Axel's 3 month photos later in the week after we take them tomorrow on his official 3 month birthday!

Happy 1st Father's Day to Daddy!!!

This week has been fun for the three of us and I am happy to say that we actually had our first "family" day since Axel's arrival. Keith had a shut down week at work which means that he had the entire week off of work (except for all of the emails he has to answer on a daily basis :)

With Keith home, I was able to ride almost every morning, which I absolutely love. For those of you who don't know I am a morning person and am most brilliant in the a.m. before my brain and body become mush in the afternoon :) Axel seems to take after mom and be quite the morning person himself so Keith was able to have much better quality time with Axel since he is most interactive in the a.m. It is so cute how Axel looks for daddy now and follows him around. It really helped make today, Father's Day, even more special for Keith, now that Axel and him have a better bond.

Yesterday, the physical therapy department had it's annual picnic in Morgan Hill. Keith and I arranged the entire week so that we could go and he could potentially take the day off the bike. He did his big 100 mile, 10,000 feet of climbing ride on Friday so that I could ride in the a.m. before the picnic but because I came down with a cold we ended up spending the morning working and playing in the yard/garden. We enjoyed yummy chicken and salads at the picnic and played catch together for the first time. Keith played baseball and I played softball for years, but because of our love affair with the bike we have never even thought about playing catch before. My good friend June watched Axel during those 10 short minutes. It was also really nice seeing my work friends and catching up on the past couple of months while watching all of their children run around.

This week Axel and I had our first Costco adventure. I am excited to say we successfully managed to lift everything into the shopping cart without any major injuries. Axel slept the entire time and didn't feel his legs gently tap the grocery cart a couple of times. Good thing he hadn't napped all day so the hour an a half round trip time was the perfect nap length for him. He only cried as I lifted him from his car seat to the carrier because he didn't want to wake up just yet! Good thing for mommy!

Axel continues to get stronger and become more and more of a little person every day. I have a couple of new pictures of him sitting in his Bumbo chair and him enjoying looking at himself in the mirror.




Now in regards to Father's Day......

It is actually kind of funny because Father's Day should be all about Keith and unfortunately Keith has been helping out me more than ever because I came down with a cold Friday night. Gamma Susan woke up with a cold last Saturday which I caught because of the huge sleep deficit I was in due to Touis' fox tail incident. Luckily, Axel is still not sick, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that he stays healthy.
Keith stepped up and took over night duty for the entire night last night!!!

Axel slept in his pack n play and Keith slept on the couch while I slept in the bedroom. It was extremely nice of Keith to do this but because I refused to take any medicine I couldn't fall asleep. After finally falling asleep for 2.5 hours Axel woke both Keith and I up with a loud couple of yells as he was dreaming. I tried to go back to sleep but after lying awake another 45 minutes worrying about my milk supply I finally decided to pump at 3 a.m. I did manage to fall asleep after pumping but again woke at 6:15. So much for resting and getting a full nights sleep, but somehow I do feel like I managed to get more rest than I normally do although I was almost up more than I normally am. Keith then refused to let me make him breakfast so I was treated to a yummy eggs and potato breakfast while I made yummy lattes. You can see below Keith had some fun getting Axel to do a man's pose this morning because Axel and him had their first father/son night watching a movie together without mommy.


Keith is now enjoying his Father's Day bike ride while Axel and I play and await for his return home. The little guy is sleeping now so I might try to get a few minutes of sleep myself before daddy gets home.

Happy Father's Day everyone!!!

To Grandmother's House We Go!

With the turning of another week old comes many more wonderful memories. Wednesday and Thursday were a little quiet last week with mommy working hard on getting Axel into a routine. He actually did a fabulous job. By Friday he was taking 3 naps a day, two 45 min naps and one two hour nap, and four 4-5oz bottles during the day. I was really excited at how easy it was to discover Axel's natural rhythm and to start working my schedule to compliment his schedule. Unfortunately, easy comes, easy goes and the routine was short lived.

Here is Axel taking a nap with Louis and Touis as well as on his tummy. I know that I shouldn't let him sleep on his stomach, but I didn't think it would harm him while I am keeping an eye on him so he has officially taken 3 naps on his belly by himself while I am cleaning or cooking :)






Friday I worked hard at getting the car packed and helping Keith get ready for his race on Saturday. I had decided it would be a good weekend to go to Gamma Susan's house since Keith would be gone most of the day on Saturday and had planned to ride on Sunday as well. Unfortunately, just as Keith was going to bed Friday night, Touis went into a sneezing fit that turned into foaming at the mouth and blood oozing from his nose. Yep, another fox tail. Keith took Touis to the vet and they told him it was going to be a two hour wait so Keith and Touis came home for the night. Let's just say no one in the house except Axel got much sleep so when 4:30am rolled around and Axel was requesting a feeding I decided to fed him and then take off to Sacramento. You could probably guess that Keith wasn't planning on racing and took Touis back to the vet in the morning to have the fox tail removed.

Axel and I arrived at Gamma's house just around 7am. Gamma was so excited that we were early and ready to spend the weekend with her. Gamma organized a little brunch with Auntie Shannon, her boyfriend Ryan and Grandpa Brian. We had a lovely morning together. Auntie Shannon and Ryan left at 1pm to get ready for their camping trip and the 4 of us hung out together. I took advantage of all the photo opportunities since I hadn't been doing as good of a job with the picture taking the week before. Here you can see Grandpa feeding Axel and Axel with his Grandparents.







I also wanted to point out how much Axel has grown and how much older he looks. You can see in this picture of Axel sleeping on Gamma how much longer and thicker he is if you compare it to the picture in his one month posting of Axel sleeping on Gamma.





On Sunday I rode to great grandma Goldstein's house and Gamma Susan and Axel drove there. I was really happy that the Goldstein's were able to meet Axel. G-Grandpa was really sick for awhile, but is doing much better now. You can see in the photo how skinny he is, but we are not suppose to talk about that :) We all had a good time, but had to leave after a couple of hours because of our busy schedule for the day.





Gamma, Axel and I went on our usual walks together. I have been putting Axel in the carrier facing outward for a couple of weeks now that his neck control is better. You can see in this picture how much Axel loves being outside and going for walks. He still falls asleep if the walk is over 30 minutes, but if I walk slow enough and for under 30 minutes he enjoys looking at the beautiful sky and trees.



Axel continues to improve in his strength and acheived a few major milestones this week. He is now able to sit in his chair unsupported as well as lift up his head, pushing up with his arms while he is on his tummy. I have a video of the second day he was attempting to push up. I will try to download it. It is amazing how much more he can push up after practicing for just a few days. Axel also continues to love to stand and he is using his hands more and more. He likes to not only just look at his furry friends, but also manipulate them with his hands and even put them in his mouth. I also think that I can feel the beginning of his bottom center tooth starting to break through his gums so I am guessing the little guy will have his first tooth within a couple of weeks!









Now with all of these wonderful milestones and cute pictures comes more tears. For some reason Axel seems more fussy and cries/screams when he wakes up. He hasn't screamed or cried at night for almost 2 months now so it is a big surprise to hear him belt it out for a minute or two at one in the morning. He also tends to cry a bit more during the day when he wants something. In the past he would make a little noise or let me know with a facial gesture or two, now he just cries or screams for a minute or two until I figure out that he is hungry or bored with his current activity. I am hoping that this is just a phase and that he will go back to the more "mature, adult-like" communication :)

I may be able to post again soon because Keith is home for a week due to a shut down at work. There should be lots of fun times with daddy!

Thanks for reading!

2 dogs + 2 kids = Fun Times

My best friend, Jen, from college came to visit with her almost 2 year son Colin this weekend. Let's say it was a little more exciting around the house than usual. It is funny because often when people come over they think a lot is going on because of the 2 monkeys and baby Axel, but we discovered that has no match to 2 children with our 2 pugs!

Before I get too much into the weekend I would like to back track to last Wed, bath day. Axel and I have a funny little story that we would like to share. Mommy is still kicking herself for not getting photos, but your imagination will just have to fill in the visual. So I was rambling on asking Axel what outfit we should choose for the day when a loud explosive sound came from his cute little butt. I was congratulating Axel with verbal applause about going poop, when I heard a big splash on the floor. It took me a couple of seconds to register the sound and to look down at the nice plate size of baby poop on the floor. Axel looked at me surprised and like he was about to cry when I started laughing hysterically. I felt so bad having heard Axel go number 2 a half hour previously and making him sit in it as I was setting up all of his bath equipment, I quickly cleaned everything up and told him how proud I was of him. Mommy also decided she really needs to learn how to fold diapers in the middle of the night so we won't have an out of the diaper explosions again. Lets just say almost every morning the diaper cover gets soiled with baby poop because of mommy's lack of folding skills at 2-3am.

Luckily I am proud to say that last night Axel made it all the way until 5:30am before needing his diaper changed. This is very exciting because all of "the books" tell you that you shouldn't have to change the diaper at night starting around 8 weeks and Axel is already 10 weeks. I have tried this off and on always failing with Axel fussing in bed for over an hour before I cave in and change his diaper. It was great to have him sleep quietly and drop the cute little noises he typically makes with a wet diaper!

Axel also appears to be changing his sleep patterns a little. I am not sure I really want to say this out loud because I am afraid of getting jinxed, but here goes. Axel appears to be sleeping in two, four hourish increments. This means I am getting up around 1:30 and 5:30am. I am still working on my ability to sleep and it does seem to be getting better. I am only getting up 3-4 times instead of 4-6 times per night. It is still hard because I hear Axel making noise, which wakes me, which then leads to me checking on him, and a bathroom break. Luckily, Keith is only waking me one time instead of two times so all in all I am feeling a bit more rested. It is funny because I decided to stop taking naps last week to see if that would help my ability to sleep and I have to say that all it did was absolutely exhaust me more. By the time Jen and Colin left I had to take an hour nap to function for the rest of the day. Luckily, Axel is in a growth spurt right now so all he is doing, it seems, is eating and sleeping himself.

Axel and I picked up Jen and Colin on Friday from SFO around 11am. We had quite the time watching ourselves figure out how to fit all of their belongings into my little car. We first had to install Colin's car seat and after packing the trunk with their giant suitcase we realized that we had to unpack the trunk to repack it with their stroller. To our surprise the big suitcase fit in the back seat next to Axel and Colin and after 20 min. we were finally ready to go.

After getting home we had a nice walk into town for bagel sandwiches. We then walked to Safeway to pick up meals for the weekend. Jen and I made chicken Parmesan with spinach spaghetti while Colin had fun playing with the doggy door and Axel slept. Dinner was quite tasty. I learned that if you grill the breaded chicken on the griddle first it turns out even better than just baking. Thanks Jen! Jen also taught me that you can marinate ribs in the oven, or precook them before throwing them on the grill. We ended up keeping the ribs in the oven the entire time and just cooking the sweet potato fries and asparagus on the grill, but it is good to know that you don't have to grill ribs for over an hour if you precook them first in the oven. I found all of this new found knowledge quite funny coming from the girl whose mom brought her gourmet cooked meals almost every week during college. I guess we all start cooking at sometime in our life.

On Saturday, the four of us drove to Half Moon Bay to eat lunch with Keith half way through his bike ride. We then enjoyed a nice walk along the ocean. It was Colin's first time seeing the ocean and he seemed to enjoy running along the path while Axel slept yet again!




Axel is making huge gains in strength and his ability to interact. It is so cool to see how quickly the mind and body changes. Axel can now hold his head up in his Bumbo chair and when he is in the infant carrier. I have also been facing him forward when he is in the carrier because he loves looking around at all of the beautiful trees and flowers in the neighborhood. He is starting to pick things up with his hands and he seems to analyze his toys and surroundings much more closely than before. You can see from the picture below that he was having fun looking and playing with his friend I named Snuffleupagus. Don't ask me why I named his stuffed animal this because he looks nothing like the real thing. I think I loved watching Axel's eyes light up when I say Snuffleupagus so I had to name something Snuffleupagus. See are you not smiling now after reading Snuffleupagus three times!



I am sorry about the lack of pictures. I have gotten out of the habit of taking pictures every day. I will make sure I am more deligent with the picture taking so you can see more of what I am writing about.

2 Months + 2 days = 9 weeks

Yes, another Tuesday rolls around and Axel is yet another week old. We are working harder and harder on getting into some sort of routine. Tuesday morning is blog morning, Wed. is bath day, Thursday we try to walk with a friend, Friday is clean, clean, clean and Saturday and Sunday morning Axel usually hangs out with daddy while mommy rides her bike.

This weekly routine definitely isn't set in stone, but on a more serious note we are trying to get into a daily routine. Axel has typically been a good sleeper. He usually goes down between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. and wakes between 2 and 3 a.m. and then again roughly 2 to 3 hours later. I then bring him to bed for an hour and then we get up after daddy has made breakfast. (It just happens to work out that breakfast is made by the time I can finally manage pulling myself out of bed. Axel is quite the morning person and wants to play and coo while mommy pretends to play and coo back with her eyes closed. So much for being a morning person myself!)

After getting out of bed we then play in the car seat while mommy pumps and eats breakfast. We then say goodbye to daddy and mommy tries to do a bit of cleaning, while Axel joyfully watches and talks and sings to mommy. If Axel is in an "active alertness" stage we do tummy time. If Axel is more in the quiet alertness I try to read to him. Some days, like today, he is taking a morning nap. Other days he stays awake until 11 a.m. and then sleeps for 2 hours or so and then stays awake most of the day except for a short nap in the late afternoon. I am hoping as he gets older the naps can be more scheduled. It is hard when he is so young. Yesterday, for example, he took 2, 2+ hour naps. I tried my best to play with him and keep him awake, but I truly believe when a baby needs to sleep, they sleep. The only bummer about his long naps is that he doesn't eat as much, which means he gets up every 3 hours at night to eat.

I have made Wednesday bath day. I forgot to include pictures of his first bath a few weeks ago so I made sure to take lots of embarrassing pictures this past week. I hear having naked pictures helps embarrass your children when they bring over their girlfriends :) Anyway, Axel absolutely loves the water. Gamma Susan said that Auntie Shannon and I really loved baths and thought that Axel would surely love them too. Yep, she was right.

As I was taking pictures throughout the week I noticed Axel loves to rest one of his arms on the sides of his car seat, swing, tub and mommy's arm. I think it is the cutest and funniest thing that involuntarily he is Mr. Smooth. I can't wait to see how he is when he can actually control his arm movements :)

Lately, when Axel has been "cat" napping in the evening, daddy loves to take funny pictures. You can see here that Daddy wanted to get Axel with the bottle of beer. I chose the picture where it looks like Axel just got done taking a sip and is enjoying the effects of his beer with his eyes closed. Sooo cute!!!

This past week was a big week of birthdays. Axel's two month check up fell on Gamma Susan's birthday and Cousin Kendra's 30th birthday. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except for Axel received his first round of immunization shots and therefore wasn't himself so mommy wasn't able to send out e-cards like she had wanted (sorry gamma and Kendra).

I was very glad that daddy was able to get the day off and join us for Axel's Dr. appt. I was a bit nervous about the whole immunization process and wanted Keith there to back me up. Luckily we have a very understanding pediatrician so there was really nothing to worry about. Keith and I decided to only give Axel the vaccines that were absolutely necessary at this point in time. Therefore, he received DTaP, prevnar and Hib. We postponed the polio vaccine, rotavirus and Hep. B. I just think he is way too small to be injected with so many different vaccines. He will eventually catch up on the schedule by the time he enters school so I am not worried about him being 1 in how many thousands to catch polio or Hep. B. At any rate, seeing Axel in pain from the shots was extremely difficult for me. My heart melted as he screamed. Luckily, he stopped screaming as soon as I was able to pick him up. Daddy was happy to see Axel pass one of his first tests of manhood (2nd to his one-day-old circumcission). He did not run a fever and only needed baby Tylenol once for tenderness around the injection site. He was definitely sore, but healed very quickly like a champ. It was frustrating, though, to have my happy baby leave and the very fussy baby return for a few days. I couldn't put Axel down the entire day on Friday without him screaming. I had to rock him in my arms with the pacifier in his mouth. Axel also barely ate the following 4 days. Today is the first day it seems he has his appetite back, which makes mommy very happy.

From Daddy:

"I was happy to be able to take a Daddy-day off of work to go with Axel and Mommy to his 2 month pediatrician appointment. The pediatrician gave Axel the seal of approval at his checkup. Axel is on a normal growth pattern and weighed in at about 10.5 pounds and 22 inches long. He's much bigger than his <7 pound birth weight and he is very alert, cooing, smiling, moving his arms and legs, and holding his neck up strong. I was a little worried about his 'right-looking' preference since he seemed to really like to keep his head turned to one side, but the pediatrician ruled out neck issues and said that we go and see a 'physical therapist' to make sure that he is strong looking left as well. Well, Mommy happens to be an excellent physical therapist and had already started helping Axel work on turning his neck and looking strong to the left. I was amazed to see that it only took one day and Mommy had helped Axel become an ambi-neck-strous looker. He's now really good at tracking his Mommy and other things that make him happy all the way from the right to the left. He really seems to like to look at the bright light coming through the windows and blinds as well. We're still working on him paying attention to Daddy when Mommy is in the room - nothing makes him happier than Mommy.

Every morning, when I am getting ready for work, Axel is smiling and happy, fixated on Mommy and whatever she is doing. I try to get a few smiles out of him, but he really prefers to find Mommy and smile in her direction! Of course, that makes sense. Mommy is his favorite thing in the entire world. Whether it is holding him, nursing him, playing in the little jungle gym, or reading 'Peekaboo' books to him, Mommy is making his life wonderful at almost every moment. I have been enjoying my small stints as Daddy, or stand-in-mommy when I have been able to provide relief duty after work so that Mommy can get some exercise or other activities completed. Axel has been more happy in the past week to be held by Daddy, burped, fed, changed, and to just plain hang out with Daddy and the doggies in the evening. 6:15pm-8pm may no longer be Axel's fussy time, let's hope. "

Axel has been working on his standing more and more. His leg strength has by far surpassed his neck strength. He loves to stand and look around. I feel as if he wants to be a part of the action and that he feels bigger, like "one of us" when he does. Often if he is a little cranky I stand him on my lap or sit him on the table in front of me and he immediately smiles, coos and looks around. This is why everyone called him "little man" at the party we went to last week (see the last posting). On Sunday, when Axel turned 2 months, I took a few pictures to put in his scrap book. I thought for some reason he would look much older than he did for his 1 month photos, but I was surprised to see he looks practically the same, just a little more "filled out".