Alexander James Russ

Alexander James Russ

born September 21, 2009 9:15pm

8 lbs 6 oz

20.75 inches long

37 cm head

Alex was slow off the start (4 days late) but quick once he got going. Emily checked in at about 7:30pm and he was born 1 hour and 45 minutes later. He shares his birthday with his great great grandfather James Widdison. Upon hearing about his middle name, Emily’s grandmother said, “You couldn’t have named him after a better man.”

When I told Lila that we had chosen the name Alexander she fell on the ground in despair and told me that she didn’t want that name. It wasn’t the one she had picked. I asked her what name she had chosen, and she told me she wanted us to name him Danny. Sorry, Danny, if we had only known that Lila was pulling for you. I told her how upset I was when my younger brother was named Blake, but now once I got used to it, it is now one of my favorite names. In the car on the way to meet her brother, Lila told me, “Dad, guess what? Now I love Alexander. I just had to say it a few times and now I love it.”

Meanwhile, Abby still calls him Alex-the-zander, and laughs at herself for not being able to say it correctly. Zack on the other hand can’t say it at all and so he can’t even remember it. On the phone to grandpa, he said, “We got a new name for our Chubby, but um, I just can’t remember it. What was that name that we got for our Chubby?” For those of you who don’t know, Chubby was his prenatal nickname that Lila bestowed upon him.

Little RussSchool

After agonizing about it for a LONG time I finally decided not to send Lila to preschool this year. For lots of reasons, I decided to do a little preschool called "Russ School" at home for my 3 little rascals. Because of the baby coming it's been a little hit and miss, but the kids seem to really like it and I think once things settle down around here I'll really enjoy spending time with them, doing projects, and watching them learn.

We took the classic first day of school pictures (and I have to confess that one of the best parts of doing this preschool at home is that I don't have to fight anyone to get dressed or care about what they wear!)
Our first project was to make little people for us to use when we sing our "Hello" song.


The next day (which was actually like a week later, but who's keeping track) we had an introduction to "Shapes". We had different shaped pancakes for breakfast and they thought that was really impressive.


Then we practice drawing shapes on our awesome whiteboards (thanks Aunt Tami).

I didn't get good pictures, but we also played the Hokey Pokey with some shapes on popscicle sticks. The highlight of the day was our "Shapes Spotlight" where we went into the bedroom and used flashlights to find different paper cut out shapes around the room. Something about a dark room and a flashlight is really thrilling!! :)

Tomorrow we're going to learn about circles. Oh, the excitement!!

And yes, for those of you religiously checking our blog for an update... tomorrow (the 17th) IS my due date but I'm still plenty pregnant. We'll keep you posted!

p.p.s. Happy Birthday GG

Super Princess

It's a bird... It's a plane...
It's...

SUPER PRINCESS!!!

Super Princess keeps appearing out of no where in our home. We're currently investigating her "secret identity"... we'll keep you posted on any leads!