3 Weeks in the Life of Aiden

Even though it's only been three weeks or so since my last post it seems like it's been an eternity.  I still just can't get over how quickly time flies and how quickly Aiden is changing and evolving into his own little personality.  We have had a very busy past couple of weeks.  I'm trying to get out more and make friends with other mommies.  Aiden will have a lot of little friends to grow up with!  Aiden first noticed the bugs hanging out with him in his car seat a couple of weeks ago as well as the crib mirror we finally hung up.  It was so cute to see his little eyes light up as he realized he had some little friends with him.  I was so glad the camera was so close!

He has also found his fingers and hands and will suck on them to soothe himself when he's getting sleepy or just because they're there.  Now if he could just find them when he's screaming and needs to go to sleep.  I'll let him cry for 15 minutes or so hoping he'll find them, but alas he does not.  I give him the pacifier and he immediately relaxes and can go to sleep.  He hasn't figured out that he has his own pacifier attached to himself.  

   

Bedia is getting used to sharing her area rug and can't help but lick Aiden when he's playing on the floor.  She continues to do so well around him and knows to be gentle. 

Well, hello Mr. Bee

So we've been in Maryland for 2 1/2 years now and it took me having a baby to get me to the library.  Our county library puts on a program for kids under 2 called Babies in Bloom.  The leader sings songs that are also books and they use little instruments, very fun.  I went to check it out and as Aiden gets older I think he'll love it.  He was a little too young to really enjoy it, not to mention he was sleepy.  I love this picture of him attempting to hold the tambourine looking at me with a look of "what the heck is going on here?"  It was so noisy with a room full of toddlers and babies and he did so good just taking it all in. 

We blessed Aiden at church on Mother's Day.  My parents and brothers came out for the event.  Aiden looked so cute in his little white suit.  We forgot to take the camera to church, so we took pictures as soon as we got home.  He was so sleepy, so we were lucky to get a teeny, tiny smile in one picture.  It was nice to get to see my mom on Mother's Day.  It took a while for it to sink in that I was now a mother and got to celebrate as well.  While Mammaw and Pappaw were here to babysit, Jameson and I went to see Ironman 2 with my brothers.  It was nice to be out without having to worry about the baby plus it gave Aiden some quality time with his grandparents.

 

Aiden has had pretty good head control since he was born and he's to the point now where he can hold his head up and pretty steady while holding him.  He can also lift his head about 90 degrees off the floor and is starting to try to push his chest off the ground with his arms. 

Who is that?! 

My favorite part of the day is when Aiden smiles at me, or at anything for that matter, but especially at Mommy!  I'm always looking for new ways to get a smile out of him.  He's most smiley in the morning, but in the evenings for Daddy we'll try to put on a show.  I've been trying to teach Aiden to open his mouth wide to breastfeed.  Babies are able to mimic their parents, so I say "open wide" and then open my mouth wide like an "ahhh."  Well, me being me, when I do that I naturally sing a note.  When I sing my note Aiden lights up and gives me a big smile.  The higher the note the better!  He stares at my mouth and then back to my eyes as if trying to figure out how I'm doing that.  It's the cutest thing and Daddy caught him on camera.

C above middle C is a favorite

Happy baby with full tummy and tired Mommy

Aiden and I napping together

Our future Boilermaker - GO BOILERS!!

Smiley, Happy Baby

So, Aiden is now 2 months old.  He's changed so much in just a week.  It's amazing to me how quickly he changes and how much he learns everyday.  On Monday the 26th he rolled over from his belly to his back for the first time.  The first time I thought it was a fluke and I told him that he wouldn't do it again, but he sure showed me.  He promptly did it as soon as I rolled him back over!  Aiden and I went to our first Mommy and Me yoga class on Friday.  One of the girls in my breastfeeding support group teaches out of her home and a group of us got together to do some yoga and pilates.  We had a good time.  He especially liked it when I did push ups on top of him and gave him kisses when I reached the bottom. 

Trying to smile for Daddy

Kisses from Bedia

On Saturday the 1st he first held onto a toy by himself.  He didn't know what to think of this noisy thing coming from his hand. 

Hey Mom, look what I've got!

He has been smiling at me for a couple of weeks now which is still just as awesome as the first time he did it.  He hadn't smiled for Daddy until Sunday on his 2 month birthday.  Jameson is out of town most of this week for work in Indy, so I tried to give him as much Aiden time as possible over the weekend.  I even left the house for an eyebrow appointment so it was just the two of them for a couple of hours. 

Happily smiling for Daddy

Isn't he the cutest?!

Aiden went to see his doctor today for his 2 month checkup.  He's doing great and growing big and strong.  He weighed 12 lbs 4 oz and measured 26 1/4 inches long.  He's going to be a string bean, as Dr. Ginsburg put it.  Jameson and I are thinking he'll be center on Purdue's basketball team or the quarterback on the football team!!  He's still in the 99th percentile for his height, but has dropped to the 65th percentile for his weight.  He's going to outgrow those 3 month clothes soon, I think.  He'll be out of his infant car seat soon, for that matter!  He was such a trooper for his 3 shots and drink of rotavirus vaccine.  He cried for the shots, of course, but calmed down quickly after Mommy held him and soothed him.  We had to run to Walgreen's for some medicine, because the infant's Tylenol that we have has been recalled.  Poor thing was hurting and I didn't get him relief quite quickly enough.  So, he's been a little cranky today and sleepy too.  It's a lovely combination. 

I haven't written about Bedia lately, but she's doing great.  We went back to puppy class after having to take a break with bringing home Aiden.  She's such a smart dog - too smart for her own good sometimes.  She does really well with Aiden and is very gentle with him.  She loves to lick his feet and hands and sometimes his face or head.  It doesn't seem to bother Aiden too much.  She's growing big and strong too.  She weighs about 80 lbs and is still growing.  She can place her head on top of the dining room table and if she gets any taller on the top of the kitchen counter.  She still has some growing to do as she's only 8 months old.  She can easily put her front paws on top of our 4 foot fence in the back yard.  She does crave a lot of attention and if we aren't giving her an adequate amount she'll grab something she knows she's not supposed to have and parade it in front of us.  It's as if she's saying, "Look what I've got.  Now put down the baby and chase me!"  Earlier today I was upstairs putting Aiden down for a nap when I heard her drop something, and it didn't sound like any of her toys.  I immediately came downstairs and she was waiting for me in the center of the living room with the TV remote hanging out of her mouth.  As soon as she saw that I knew what she had, she ran the other direction around the table.  So, she's a little stinker when she wants to be. 

This was a month ago, but I love this picture of her standing over Jameson.

Our big girl

Has it been 7 weeks already?!

Well time certainly flies, as is evident in my lack of posts the past month.  I had no idea it had been that long since I last posted.  The fact that Aiden is now 7 weeks old just boggles our minds.  He's almost 2 months old.  Where has the time gone?  I'll do my best to catch everyone up with what's been going on here.  There will be lots of pictures, don't worry. 

Pappaw, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Chris and cousins Benjamin and Logan came for a visit shortly after Aiden was born.  Mammaw was here for a little over 2 weeks and she went back with the rest of the family on St. Patrick's Day.  Aunt Stephanie was so excited to meet her nephew.  Cousin Benjamin couldn't have been more bored at our house since we had nothing for him to do!  They did go to D.C. one day and he had fun. 

Aunt Stephanie & Baby Aiden

Pappaw holding his 3rd grandson

Proud Mammaw and Pappaw - too bad we live 10 hours away :(

Mammaw and her grandbabies

It was really nice to have family here with us when we brought Aiden home.  I was put to the test after everyone left and Jameson was back at work.  It was just me, Aiden and Bedia.  That first day all I did was cuddle my baby and watch TV.  Since then I've managed to find ways to be productive as well. 

2 weeks old - sleeping a lot

3 weeks old - still sleeping a lot

At 3 or 4 weeks old Aiden was pretty much sleeping through the night, but recently we've switched up his routine to make it more predictable.  For all you Mommies out there, we're trying the Babywise approach now.  We didn't start it until around 6 weeks, but he's doing pretty well.  During the day he's very predictable, which is very nice for trying to be productive.  We can better plan things around his schedule or bend it to fit around our needs.  It's been a little frustrating because now he's not sleeping through the night like he was.  He can go 8 hours, but he wants to go 7 pm to 4 am instead of 10 pm to 7 am! 

Aiden loved his first real bath.  He really loves the water and doesn't fuss at all.  I still haven't tried bathing him by myself yet.  That's my next goal.  He has a little bit of cradle cap right now, but it's not bad.  He gets a sponge bath with pretty much every dirty diaper.  We've been fighting a yeast infection for a month now.  It's almost all gone, but it's a stubborn thing.  It doesn't bother him at all thank goodness.  He also has a clogged tear duct that causes his left eye to get all goopy and glue itself shut in the mornings.  The doctor said that it could take up to 7 or 8 months for it to go away!  That's crazy to me, but I massage his little tear duct every day to make it unclog. 

Until Aiden was 4 weeks old we didn't want to give him a pacifier, but he really liked to suckle to soothe himself.  So, instead of using Mommy as a pacifier all the time he spent a lot of time sucking on Daddy's little finger.  There were many an evening that Jameson would lose feeling in his fingertip from his son's strong suck.  There are still times now that he would rather have Daddy's finger. 

Jameson's moms came for a visit at the end of March and were able to stay for over a week.  We hadn't seen them in about a year and a half so it was really nice to have them all to ourselves for a while.  They couldn't have had a better visit as they got to hold and love on Aiden the whole time.  He makes their 9th grandchild. 

Grandma Jan's first time holding Aiden

Grandma Char's first time holding Aiden

Could they be any happier? :)

While they were here we made sure to take them around to see some sites.  It's not that often that they'll have the chance to get to Maryland for a visit.  We took them down to Annapolis to see downtown and the Naval Academy.  Aiden did great on his first day trips and I think Jameson and I handled ourselves pretty well.  We changed a couple of blow out diapers in the back seat of the car which was exciting. It was my first time nursing him in public and it went pretty well. 

We were lucky to visit D.C. during the Cherry Blossom Festival.  Jameson and I had yet to catch it since we've been here.  They were stunning and we were there on their peak day.  There were cherry blossom petals blowing all over the city from the breeze.  It was a gorgeous day.  Aiden did awesome as we toted him around in the stroller and in the baby carrier.  Jan had never been to D.C. before so we went to some of the monuments but didn't even scratch the surface of those.  They will definitely have to come back so she can see more.

Aiden had the most adorable Easter outfit that I couldn't resist.  The Easter Bunny didn't visit this year, but we're looking forward to next year.  Mommy had her fair share of candy though.  I went through 4 bags of Starburst jelly beans in about 3 weeks. 

It even has a cotton tail!!

Some of my favorite pictures are those of Aiden and Daddy sleeping together.

Occasionally there's a good picture of me with Aiden

Aiden has a lot of fun in his swing and on his activity gym.  He loves to look at his "fishy friends" (as I call them) as he swings.  He'll do tummy time on his activity gym for a little while and then he starts to get mad.  I'll flip him over and he'll gaze at Mr. Butterfly who sings to him and lights up.  He's had very good head and neck control since he was 2 days old and it's only getting stronger.  When I'm burping him in the nursery he holds his head up and steady to gaze at the Minnie Mouse painting behind me.  He also loves music.  He loves to dance with Mommy and likes it when I sing to him.  When I can't remember the words to lullabies, I just make something up!   

April 15th was a big day.  Not only were we trying to get taxes in the mail, but Aiden smiled for the first time at me.  I had been trying to get him to smile for a week or so and there were times that I thought he had smiled but wasn't sure.  On this day I was sure and I almost cried it made me so happy.  I just melt when I see that toothless grin! :)

I can't believe it took me so long to take a naked baby picture!

So, all in all Aiden is just perfect and we're so blessed to have such a good baby.  We're looking forward to my family coming to visit in a couple of weeks to bless him at church.  Pappaw Tom is planning to come see us next month, and we're all excited for his visit.  I'll do my best to try to update on a more weekly basis, because he is certainly changing quickly.  I weighed him today at our breastfeeding support group and he is now 11 lbs 10 oz.  I want to measure his length and see how long he's gotten.  You can see in the last picture that he's a long, skinny thing.