Grammy Goodrow Comes to Town

We were very happy to have Grammy Goodrow (Keith's mother) visiting us for one week. It was the first time for her to meet Axel and the first time for Axel to meet anybody from Keith's side of the family. Grammy Goodrow got to spend time with her happy, cute, and talkative little (almost) 4-month-old grandson. Keith was really excited to spend some time with his mother who was traveling all the way from his hometown in Massachusetts to spend time with her boys. Grammy Goodrow brought with her years of childrens' educating experience and her buttermilk pancake and peach pie recipes that we got to enjoy throughout the week. We always love our family time, especially when they come to visit us.

Lets start where we left off. Tues. afternoon Axel and I picked up Grammy from the airport. We had fun circling SFO for about 30 minutes before hunger and sleepiness set in for both of us. I was headed towards the cell phone parking lot when Grammy called to let us know that she had just arrived (30 min late). I thought it shouldn't be too much longer until she gets her luggage so I decided to continue driving rather than park. Unfortunately, I then had to become super mom and feed Axel while circling SFO. I developed quite the "kink" in my neck for the next couple of days because of the contorted way I had to sit in order to feed him and still drive at the same time. It was the longest 15 minutes and Axel, Grammy and I were all ecstatic when Grammy was safe in the car and feeding Axel the rest of his bottle. Grammy was amazed at how easy going and happy Axel was. She was shocked that he was smiling at her and that he let her feed him. Little did she know that I have been working hard at having him around as many people as possible and having anyone and everyone hold him and feed him. No one wants a fussy baby :) The rest of the day was pretty mellow. Axel and I hung out while Grammy went for a run and got settled in.

Wed. was pretty low key as well. Keith took the day off of work so we were both able to get out on separate rides and Grammy went for her run and Axel had fun playing with who ever was around. Axel, Grammy and I also went on a nice 5.5 mile hike through the hills of Los Altos. Thursday Grammy had plans to meet up with her best friend from 7th grade!!! It had been over 40 years since the two of them had seen each other. They had a great time at lunch and catching up.

Friday Grammy and I took Axel to his 4 month wellness check. Axel weighed in at 12 lbs 12 oz and 2' 1/4". Unfortunately, the Dr. agreed with me that Axel likely had a little stomach bug that caused the low grade fever and loose stools. She thought his poor sleeping was due to his stomach bothering him. Axel has also developed quite severe acid reflex that causes him to spit up all day long. The Dr. put him on some medication to help decrease the acid in his stomach, but Axel doesn't really like the mint flavor and spits most of it out so I am not sure how much he is actually taking in. The good thing is after implementing the medication and raising the head of his bed he is finally sleeping 7pm to 10:30 or 11pm and then again until 2am and then again until about 4:30 or 5am. It is funny that he is eating 3-4 times a night, but the Dr. also thinks that he is in a growth spurt and that I should continue to feed on demand and worry about his sleep schedule after a few more weeks. Saturday Grammy watched Axel all by herself while Keith and I got out for a nice ride in the not so nice cold, wet fog. We quickly climbed out of the fog as we left Half Moon Bay, but it stayed cool the entire ride. It was so cool that the top of the dirt trail Keith took me on was wet/muddy which made for some nervous riding on my part. The Purissima trail was definitely as beautiful as Keith said it was. It was really hard to stay seated over some very steep sections and it was mentally challenging for me to get through the muddy sections. I am glad that I finally rode it and I am sure that I will ride it many more times in the future.

Saturday evening we hosted a little get together and had Keith's MIT buddies over to celebrate Mark's birthday. Eileen bought Keith and Mark the same birthday present in hopes to provide entertainment for the rest of us. It was a bit of an inside joke. All of you who attended our wedding will "get it". For those of you who weren't there lets just say that we didn't have typical wedding music :) You can see from the picture below how much fun we had. Now we were unable to have a true light saber dual because batteries were not included. I forgot to mention that Grammy and Keith made a homemade peach pie for Saturday evening as well. You can see from the picture below how gifted Keith is at baking. This is his very first home made crust and pie and it was the best peach pie I have ever eaten and one of the prettiest pies I have ever seen :) Sunday Grammy watched Axel again while Keith and I went for another ride together. Grammy continued to brag about how good Axel was and how she couldn't believe what an angel he was. The 4 of us went out for dinner on Sunday night which was our first time out as a family. Axel and I went out to eat way back when Grandma and Grandpa Burgess came out to visit, but Keith was still on his commute home from work. You can see from the pictures below how much fun Axel had looking at the trees, cars and flowers around our table. I also included a close up picture of Grammy and Axel. We are beginning to think that Axel's eye are not going to change color. We think that Axel may have inherited his blue eyes from Grammy Goodrow :) This past week has been the most drastic changes in Axel's behavior and fine motor skills. It is amazing to see him fine tune his ability to reach for objects and manipulate his hands. His attention span has also increased drastically. He absolutely loves the alphabet, numbers and reading. Vocally he is even more talkative than he was before he came down with his stomach bug. Here is a video of him rambling on. We are not quite sure what he was talking about, but we do know that he is always very convincing :)

Axel will be 4 months on Friday. I hope to take his photos and do another short post so check back soon. For now I leave you with my precious sleeping baby......oh, how I wish he would sleep more :)