Wild Hair

Well last week on my birthday I decided to chop my hair off. Never in my life have I had such short hair, been so impulsive, and loved such a rash decision. It is great. I love it short...partly so Alder's spit up doesn't gets in it anymore, but mostly I think I love it because its just totally different. When the stylist cut around 6 inches off I did not even have one ounce of "mourning." I guess its true what people say about having a baby and cutting your hair off. All to say that several friends and some family have requested to see pictures. I took this by myself and I feel very vain putting a picture of me on the blog, but know I am not and this was the best I could do.

My First Friend

Alder just keeps growing everyday and I stand amazed at how quickly he is changing. He is just wonderful. Although a very intense baby he is seemingly happy. He loves to interact with me and others. He is very intense about this and can do it for a rather impressively long time just smiling and "talking." He also has this toy called a whoozit that has all sorts of bits and bobs hanging off it with bright colors and it squeaks and he just loves smiling at it and trying to reach for it. One thing that I have enjoyed recently with him is when I am trying to get him to sleep he has started this kneading motion with his hand on my chest. I believe it is his way of trying to get to sleep and I feel wonderful because he must feel so safe and secure. It just melts my heart. This past weekend our friends Hannah, Joseph and Winston stopped by to say hi. We sat outside on the porch and enjoyed the fresh spring air and warm sunshine. Winston was loving Ally and riding her like a horse. Winston seems to be entertained by Alder as well. Winston is Alder's first real friend. We are blessed to have such great friends like the Martins.

March Pictures-Alder 8 weeks old

Alder sees Ally

So today Alder was hanging out in his swing (which is rare as he does not love it) and Ally came to "check on him" as she usually does. Until now Alder has not noticed her, but today he did. I cannot wait for the two of them to become big buddies. I look forward to looking out in the backyard and the two of them playing, Alder chasing Ally around the house, and the two of them snuggling during story time. Ally already tends to be the second mama. She runs into his room when he cries, puts her paws on the crib and changing table to watch him, and like me, tends to sometimes tune out his crying spells when going down for a nap, etc. She knows him as "baby" and will go into his room or over to the swing (or wherever he is) when we say "find baby Ally, find baby." She is pretty smart. Haha.

Rolling Over

Alder is rather advanced...just kidding!!! This week though when wonderful Yaya was here she went in to get him out of his crib and found him on his back (he sleeps on his tummy). From very early on Alder has loved being on his tummy and pushing up his upper body and now that has led to rolling over. I know he does not mean to do it, but he is just so strong that this is what happens. I took this video and by the end of the video he starts fussing because before I could even start recording he had already rolled over twice ( I kept having to pick turn him back over to try to video it). He was 7 weeks on Thursday and I cannot believe how much he has changed and keeps changing everyday.

Alder at 6-7 weeks

A Good Night's Sleep=A Fluke

Well, Alder does not seem to think sleeping through the night is something he wants to do anymore. Too cool for it I guess. So I have fallen back into that fog of early motherhood once again. Bless his heart though he's just so precious and I do not mind the middle of the night feedings. Sleeping during the day is a whole different story. Honestly, I do not have as much patience when he does not sleep during the day as I do at 4:00 in the morning. I cannot figure it out. He fights it and fights it. After crying himself to sleep for oh... 20 minutes, wiggling himself all the way to bottom of his crib laying now sideways and completely under his blanket he will then manage to wake himself up after 30 minutes or so. He will wail and scream and I have to start the process all over again. Yesterday though I just had to take some pictures. I went in to wake him up to nurse and found him at the bottom of the crib hidden by the blanket (this was not the first time) and when I pulled it back he was waking up in a pool of sweat. His hair was soaking wet and beads of sweat were pouring off his head. His little day gown was wet and his face was beet red. No telling how long he slept like that. I picked him up and he was just smiling at me. Now how come he did not wake himself up from that? Oh well...I hope that he will get the whole sleep thing, both day and night, down soon.


This is Alder completely covered under his blanket

A Good Night's Sleep

So I awoke the other morning at 6:30 to suddenly realize that "oh my gosh Alder slept through the night....is he still breathing?" I ran downstairs to his room and sure enough my little boy was just beginning to stir. I picked him up and he looked at me, smiled, and started moving his mouth like he does when he is hungry. I sat down to nurse him and thanked the Lord for this great gift and at the same time it dawned on me that I myself felt wonderful. I felt rested. Since getting pregnant and then having Alder I realized it had been a long long time since I had slept through the night. Life has changed. The fog I have been under for the past 6 weeks seems to have lifted. He has continued to to sleep through the night and I pray he continues to do so. For now though I count my blessings and even (as crazy as this will sound) miss the middle of night feeding and that sweet time I had with him. Yes....I truly miss it and I think mostly it is because I am mourning the fact he is getting older.
I took this picture that morning...he was so happy and still had sleepy eyes.

Trip to Chattanooga and Smiles

Alder's 4 week checkup

A Baby Shower

Over this past weekend Alder and I were showered with love and gifts at a shower in our honor. My dear friends from high school went out of their way and over the top to honor little Alder and I. It was a wonderful day and it was great to see so many friends. Alder loved meeting everyone. The pictures are of me, Alder and the hostesses. The other picture if of me, Alder and Mrs. Mary Alderman. It is her husband that Alder is named for. It was wonderful for Mary to come and introduce her to her namesake. Thanks girls for the great day! We loved it and are so grateful for such amazing friends.

The latest pictures of Alder...

Bath time with Daddy

The other night Alder had his first bath with his Daddy. He absolutely loved the water and was completely relaxed. I am sure it feels rather comforting since he lived in fluid for 9 months. He is such a joy. I just melt watching him and Jared together. Jared is a wonderful father and such a great help. So far Alder is proving to be a good baby. He sleeps well at night only waking once to feed. He nurses great and I love this time we have together. The daytime is proving to be a little more challenging as he does not like taking his naps. He would rather stay awake and I guess see the world going on around him. He can keep himself awake literally for hours. I wonder what this means as far as what type of person he will be someday?

Alder's Exercise

The other night Alder was having his first tummy time on his changing table and really and rather impressively was keeping his head up for a bit. He seemed to really enjoy stretching. Of course we loved cheering him on. He is just wonderful and such a joy. I have loved everything about him...even his poopy diapers.

More of Alder...

Alder Wingfield

Baby Wingfield Arrives: Mr. Alderman Rhys Wingfield

We are so thrilled and overwhelmed with joy to announce the birth of our first born child. We had a little boy on Thursday, January 17 at 5:45 in the afternoon. He weighed in at 9lbs. 8 oz. He is very healthy and wonderful in every way possible. His head is full of beautiful black hair and his eyes look almost black. We have named him Alderman Rhys Wingfield. Alderman is named in honor of Dr. Wayne Alderman who is an amazing man, professor, mentor, and an incredible man of God and has meant so much to Jared and I over the years. Rhys is an English/Welsh name that we fell in love with while living in England and it means "breathed by God." It is pronounced "rise" We are calling him Alder.
Words cannot express the great privilege I feel to be his mother. I have posted one picture for now but will post more soon. I must run off to nurse. You can for now see more pictures by clicking on the link to the right called "Joseph, Beth, and Teddy Wingfield" Beth has posted some pictures there. Love to you all.
Alder's Mom

No baby yet, just some Christmas pics!

Christmas Post

I have finally sat down and figured out how to put multiple photos onto a slide show. I know I needed to learn before baby comes because I am sure there will be many pictures to post. The slide show mostly consists of pictures of our house after requests from English friends to see where it is we now live. We had a wonderful Christmas up in Chattanooga, but are back now in Birmingham really just waiting for baby. We saw the doctor on Thursday and he said I have made some progress so who knows when this little one will come. We will keep all of you updated. We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a very happy New Year!

Time is Flying...

Well, I cannot believe Thanksgiving has come and gone so quickly and we are now well into the month of December. Where did the year go? Jared and I feel like it was only yesterday that we were in England awaiting my family's arrival for a Christmas visit, decorating a small tree in our 264 sq. flat, and shivering to death in the wet cold of the England winters. Anyways, here we are now settled in Birmingham and excitedly preparing for our baby to make its way into the world. I am 34 weeks today and cannot believe we are that close. We finished our childbirth classes last night and I think we feel more confused than we did before :) Oh well. We will keep you all updated as time nears for baby's arrival. Please pray for a happy, healthy baby and a very easy labor and delivery. Love to you all during this Holiday Season.

The picture above is from our Thanksgiving holiday. My brothers, Dad, and our good friends Chip and his son John Kelley all went to go see Beowulf in 3D. Pretty funny. Jared, my Mom, Catherine Kelley, and I went to go see a different movie and I am told we didn't miss anything too special.
Lots of love,
Meg