Dear Etrain

Dear Etrain,

I'm determined to keep going on these posts from your early years. They were just so precious and I'm sad that it's already over. But looking through all these old photos (and videos! yay, I found videos finally) makes me smile as I think back to all the wonderful memories.

First let's talk about that photo above. How adorable are you?! And those eyes. That's the comment we got all the time..."those eyes", "he has such beautiful eyes", "where does he get those gorgeous, blue eyes.". You lucked out kid. You got your dad's eyes. As a baby you did lots of eye popping...meaning your eyes were often wide open like they are in that picture. Of course, I loved taking photos of those gorgeous baby blues. I still do, but oh man it's a challenge to get you to look at me while taking a picture.

I also want to note in this photo...this is your first of the monthly photos I take of you in that chair. It's so strange to think that you needed to be propped up against that pillow in this photo, and now you crawl up on your own and say cheese for me.

So, as may be able to tell, in the month leading up to you turning 3 months old, I went sort of picture crazy. I started to feel guilty that I didn't line up a photographer to take newborn photos of you the way most other moms had done. So in addition to you just being adorable, and so easy to snap a million photos of because you'd just lay there, I also tried to pose you while you slept...the way I imagine professional photographers must do. I'm no professional photographer, but I'd like to think I did well in getting some great shots - many of which I've printed and have up around the house.

The past month started out pretty awesome. First, you turned 2 months old on Valentines Day, and you were the sweetest little date. Two days later was my birthday. Dada  and Auntie Ansley showered me with wonderful surprises and gifts.

So this was my day today. If this is how 35 starts I think its going to be a pretty awesome year! Special thanks to my man, my bff and to all the wonderful friends and family that showered me with suprises and love this weekend. #besthusbandever #bestbirthdayever

A post shared by Alex North (@alexnorth) on Feb 16, 2015 at 8:03pm PST

The photo below was a whole series I took. Yes, I was bored one day, and thought it'd be fun to get you to hold all the letters of your name for me. As you can probably tell, you were a bit tired of my game after a few letters.

What's my name? #goodthingtheresonlyfiveletters

A post shared by Alex North (@alexnorth) on Feb 19, 2015 at 2:37pm PST

Here I go taking photos of your feet again. They were so tiny and cute!


You may notice we have you in a lot of surf themed clothes. Dada loves to surf and I know he really hopes you'll fall in love with it one day, so you guys can surf together. Anyway, our friends know this too, so they got you a bunch of surf related clothes. Your bedroom was/is even decorated in a surf theme (sort of).


Dada and I wanted to get out of the house one day, so we decided to stop at a random park. The park wasn't really by our house and I can't remember, but you may have needed a diaper change or were hungry, which was why we stopped at this particular one. Anyway, I had bumped into an old friend and was saying hi to her. When I got back I found you and Dada like this. He's always being silly and I love it.





Yes, I placed your arms like that (like I said, trying to pose you). You kept moving around, but allowed me to move you too. I was surprised what a good sleeper you were for me that day. Side story: As always, I love you, son, but I've talked about your crying before. It was no joke. You much have had tummy troubles or something. Believe me, I tried everything to help you with that, but not much worked other that bouncing you. You had a very particular way you liked to bounce that would get you to stop crying. We had to hold you by your underarms, with our arms straight out in front of us and bounce. You could tell if we tried to rest our arms/elbows on our legs or something - you'd break into full tears again, unless you were dangling in just the right way. Oh wow, did my arms and shoulders get a workout with you. I tell you this story to just point out that I was very grateful for your naps. Not because I didn't love you or want to be with you, but the crying was a lot. And the dangling/bouncing was hard. SO, I really didn't want to wake you up from this nap, and I'm so glad I didn't.


Later in the month, Dada had to do his first night away since you had been born. I hadn't had a night alone with you yet, and wasn't really looking forward to him being gone. He only needed to go to L.A. so he invited us to go with him! He had a meeting at the agency in L.A. the day before and you and I went along for the ride for that too (it was just nice to get out of the house). During the meeting, you and I found a nearby park/plaza sort of thing. You were a bit fussy because you were tired so I just found a quiet spot to park the car and let you fall asleep in your car seat...and take pictures of you, of course. When his meeting was almost over, Dada invited to come into the agency and say hi, while they finished up. You were the cutest in the room.


I don't think we stayed the night that night because my photo log shows a that I had a little photo shoot with you on a blanket we usually had at home. Also, I found this video your dad must have taken (I didn't know I had it until today).


The next day, we went back up to L.A. we must have made a little day of it, because I remember going to lunch at a tasty spot in Manhattan Beach, then stopping for some coffee. While we were waiting I got some silly shots of you and Dada. Again, look at those baby blues!



Later we checked into our fancy hotel and got settled for the night. We still kept you up later in those days so before bed you and Dada were hanging out and I got some more photos of you. Those cheeks are just too cute to handle. And the sweet smile on your face while you're looking at your daddy just makes my heart melt.

This must have been around the time when you discovered sticking out your tongue. Turns out I started to have a lot of these moments pop up in photos. Love it.