New Pictures

Aidan's 10.5 months now, and oh boy is he a handful! He's always into everything, but it's so cute it's easy to not get frustrated. He's truly inquisitive about the world around him, and it's awesome to see him learn how things work. His big brown eyes just light up when he discovers something new!

He had his first real playdate with a friend close to his age. They played nice the whole time!

He loves it when his daddy lays on the floor with him to play before bedtime.

He's teething so he loves to chew on everything, including bottles of Gripe Water.

You can see 2 teeth here, but he has 4 more hiding up top!

He loves his puffs, and they stick to him if he isn't wearing a shirt ;)

10 Month Letter

Dear Aidan,

I have no idea where to start! You're 10 months old now. I swear I feel simultaniously like I've known you all my life and that you just got here. Such conflicting emotions but I guess every mom feels that. You do new things every single day, so I'll make a laundry list of them in the interest of quickness:

• You walk, kind of. You hold 1 handed onto anything and everything and haul butt across the room. Hands, walls, couches, etc.
• You say mama, dada, baba, buhbye, and hey
• You eat everything. Pizza, pasta, etc etc etc. We feed you veggies and all sorts of healthy items but in reality you want whatever we are eating, and we give you bits of it not only to keep you from screaming but to expose you to plenty of foods!
• You FINALLY mastered thumb-pointer finger grip. You still prefer to SHOVEL food into your mouth but you're just an enthusiastic eater and I love that about you.
• Favorite foods are still anything apple, pastas, breads, any fruits, carrots, broccoli, okay... everything! LOL
• You are in size 4 diapers, 12 or 18 month clothing.
• Your favorite toys right now are your Fisher Price music learning table, Fisher Price Roll Along Bongo Drums, and any and everything you can fit into your mouth
• You have 6 teeth. 4 up top, 2 on bottom and you are most definitely working on some more.

And really, I couldn't love you any more than I do. You're simply the most awesome baby ever. Your great great gram passed away this week, and you were an angel (maybe her angel!) every time I took you to see her. You were quiet and respectful and you smiled at me while I cried for her. At the funeral today you kept yourself quiet and when I showed her to you in her casket you reached out and tried to eat the roses she was clutching. You fell asleep in your stroller and while you were awake you literally stole the show. Everyone wanted to love on the "most adorable baby ever".

You have the most amazing personality ever, and everyone can see it. Thank you for giving me the honor of being your mother.

I love you,

Mama

9 Month Letter

2 weeks late, as usual. Mommy is just way too busy sometimes!

My dear Aidan,

You're now 9 months old. You are 21 lbs. 30 inches long. When we took you to your 9 month well-check you had a double ear infection! I'm so happy we went because you weren't showing any signs at all. No fever or fussiness or tugging at your ears. I guess you're too tough for an ear infection to get you down!

You are steadily growing. Size 4 diapers, 12-18 month clothing.

You're favorite activity right now is cruising the furniture, I swear one day you're just going to let go and toddle across the room! You've also discovered that you can push your bumbo chair in front of the couch and then CLIMB on top of it to climb up on the couch. Unfortunately you still try to climb off of the couch face first.. so we are always on our toes!

You're favorite foods are.. well, anything! Puffs, yogurt melts, cheerios, all stage 3 baby foods, grapes, strawberries, melon, crackers, wafers, bread.. you eat it all plus more. You're still averaging 30oz of formula a day, plus 3 solid meals plus snacks.

You're favorite toy right now varies, but you still love Sophie and the Fisher Price Roll Along Bongo Drum thingies.. you chase those all over the house. You also love to blow raspberries!

You go to bed between 8-9pm, and on weekdays wake up by 7:30am, weekends you sleep in a bit and don't get up until after 9am (yay!). You still take 3 naps a day usually, sometimes only 2.

You're going to be a boy, in all meanings of the word. You love dirt, leaves, trees, grass. Your favorite things to do outside is to play in your baby pool, go for a walk in the stroller, and crawl around playing with dirt. I must admit I LOVE this about you. I'm not a girly girl and I couldn't imagine having to play pretty princess. I'd rather hang out outside anyday.

You have your first girlfriend.. not really, but it's cute. Little Maxine is a younger woman by about 6 months, but she sure has eyes for you, little man.

All in all you're steadily making my heart grow more and more every day. You're my favorite man, and I wouldn't change a thing about you.

8 Month Letter

Dear Aidan,

Oh geez, boy. You have mommy busy! Even now I'm writing your letter 2 weeks late. Soon I'll be composing your 9 month letter!

You are still the light of my life. I can't think of any saying to describe it, other than that. You absolutely radiate love every single time I come home from work, and every time you see your father. You've gained a long laundry list of things you do, and do well.

• crawling, real, fast, full on crawling
• pulling up to stand on anything you can get your hands on
• eating more and more table food. you are a ninja and grab things off of our plates without us noticing until we see you chewing!
• saying Mama now, but only occasionally and not really directed at me
• you point at what you want
• you reach out to people for a hug
• eating between 32-40oz a day plus 3 meals of solids (which I'm about to up the solids some, you've been out-eating my servings for a while but I just now noticed)
• you're starting to "dance" when you hear music you like, you semi-jump and wiggle your whole body

As you can see you're growing in leaps and bounds. You're everything I ever dreamed I would have in a son. Keep on being amazing, it helps mommy through rough days.

Love Always,

Your Momma

My Apologies

I'm so sorry for not blogging a lot lately. I'm really trying to work on it. Things just got a bit overwhelming there for a while. We were all sick, work got busy which took it's toll on my moods, and Aidan is teething and starting seperation anxiety (even with me sitting right there, he wants constant attention it seems like!). Time on the computer at home has been limited to say the least.

Oh well, things have smoothed out some so I'm back in the game.

Updates on Aidan:

• 7.5 months.
• 2 bottom teeth, 2 top teeth pending (they are visible through the gums but not yet broken through)
• army crawls like a pro
• gets on hands and knees and hangs out, rocks back and forth a lot
• loves to stand now. on the couch holding onto the back, on the floor holding onto the cushion, on our laps holding onto our shoulders, etc
• loves to jump on people, not so much in his jumperoo. he will happily sit on our laps and kick his legs for an hour, easy, making himself bounce up and down
• still eats like a champ. 40oz of formula a day plus 2-3 solids a day
• sleep is still good.. usually 12 hours a night.
• bedtimes are getting rough though with teething + seperation anxiety. he has a big issue when i lay him down and then leave the room! we're working on it though.
• he gives big huge belly laughs now when he gets excited. he also FINALLY is starting to take interest in holding his own bottle. I still feed him but afterwards I let him play with it and he can now hold it up on his own and suck.

Adventures In Teething

Oh good lord Aidan is teething his top 2 teeth, at the same time. Last night in our house around 6:30pm the world ended.

He was rubbing his eyes, obviously tired. I fed him his bottle at 6:30 to prepare to bedtime at 7. Screaming insued so I laid him down closer to 6:30 than 7. Hysterical screaming. Not good. I'm game with letting him fuss lightly for 5-10 minutes because it will always fall asleep, but this.. this was full on "oh my god I'm dying" screaming. I got him right back up. Bounce, rock, play.. screaming through the whole thing. He looks like he has two peas shoved in his upper gums, they are super painfully swollen.

He wouldn't take a teether, and wouldn't calm down. Motrin, here we come! Gave him a dose and held/bounced/walked around for 30 minutes to let it take effect. Tried to lay him down again. Hysterical screaming.

Got him back up, gave him 2 teething tablets. He calmed down for about, oh, 30 seconds. Hysterical screaming in my arms. Took him outside to walk around, he was quiet outside but still groaning and rubbing his eyes. After about 20 minutes tried to lay him down again. Hysterical screaming. (Are you seeing where this is going yet?)

Got him up again. Rubbed some baby orajel on his top gums. He proceeded to make all sorts of funny faces, and even cracked a smile at one point. But 10 minutes later, hysterical screaming. At this point I will not lie. I was so distraught I had tears in my eyes. My child NEVER behaves this way. I could see in his face how miserable he was and all I wanted was to make him feel better but nothing was working! Poor little butt was clinging to me so tightly I could have let go and he would still be hanging there.

I ended up bounce/swaying in a circle (directly in a circle, like a carosel) for 20 minutes while he nodded off slowly. At this point it was 9. I was shot. He was shot. The cats were so far in hiding I wouldn't be surprised if they were in another country. Mike was sitting on the couch cheering me on giving me updates on if his eyes were closed everytime I turned to where he could see him. After 20 minutes he was asleep... My arms were numb and my back ached. But by God the child was ASLEEP! I laid him down, and he slept through the night. Now I'm praying that those two teeth come through today.

Now some pictures, he's 7.5 months now. Sitting on his own (but he prefers not to). Up on his knees rocking all the time. Army crawling like a pro. LOVES to stand, he is even trying to let go of the couch/chair/hands/etc to try it on his own.. and can do it for a few seconds before falling into a happy, giggly pile. Usually a very happy, smiley baby!

Thankful On Thursday

Today I'm thankful for many things.

1) Aidan army crawling all around. It makes things so much more fun to see him more mobile and getting into things!

2) My best friend having a healthy, perfect little baby. Maxine Ember was born 6/16 at 5:24pm 7lb 9oz and 19 3/4" long.

3)Aidan napping longer and more regularly now that he's scooting all around. All the activty wears him out and the extra napping helps keep him happy.

4) Mike, so working hard and helping to provide our family with what we need.