4 Months!

Aiden and I flew to Indiana for a visit to take advantage of the time off during my maternity leave. All our flights went smoothly with no delays or cancellations, unlike Christmas, but flying alone with a 4 month old was still a challenge. Luckily there was a wonderful stranger sitting in front of us on our second flight from Utah to Indiana that was kind enough to walk Aiden up and down the isle to give me a break. Yes, I did in fact give my baby to a stranger. Do I feel bad about it? Not really. It was much needed and she was so nice. In fact, she rocked him to sleep for me. He was so fussy, wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep, I think he could feel the stress oozing from my pores as the flight wore on. I also originally booked window seats which I've decided was a mistake. The aisle is better for getting up and not disrupting anyone else. Despite the struggles flying it was totally worth it to get to visit the grandparents and family.  Our flight to Indy was also an evening flight, not the best timing, but our options were limited. Our return flight was early and that was definitely better. 

I made this outfit for him for Halloween, just for fun because he was due then. But, of course it's been too big until recently, so he wore it in Indiana in February. 

 Bouncing with Aunt Sarah...

Playing with MeMe...

  These are two happy guys. 

 We drove down to Bedford to visit Papaw and Karen. Of course, there was a yummy batch of divinity waiting for me that Papaw had made, YUM!

 Taking a ride with Homer and lounging with Aunt Ali

 He got a Hawaiian turtle from Maui! 

 Naps with grandpa and baths with granny are always the best...

 This pretty much defines teething, very sad, I know. BUT his first tooth poked through his lower gums on Thursday, so at least we have proof of progress now. 

I completely spaced taking pictures Friday evening, but I was surprised with a little birthday party. My parents and sister came to Hamptons and Papaw drove up from Bedford. It was so thoughtful and wonderful to celebrate with family (it's something that doesn't always happen when you live far away).  I got some delicious strawberry cake (that I didn't get to enjoy at our wedding). It was a great evening and the perfect end to our trip. I'm constantly reminded and try not to take for granted that Andrew and I have two amazing families :)

It's always good to be back at home petting Elly cat and napping with dad. This was my last week off before heading back to work on Tuesday.

17 Weeks

There's lots of drooling, teething and chewing going on in our house lately. 

He's waiting patiently while I take pictures of his room, see below :)

This was two weeks in the making. We finally got Aiden's room rearranged. The long dresser is now in the closet. The closet has new shelving. I removed the closet doors and tucked them away under the bed, so now all the dresser drawers can open, and I'm thinking I'll put up curtains for the time being. This arrangement gave us more functional floor space and now the headboard of the bed is not up against a window. 

A few airbrush onsies using the Crayola airbrush toy... $12 well spent!

These two are ready to watch the IU game together. 

16 Weeks

Aiden's hanging in the laundry basket while I swap the washer and dryer. Doing house work with him is not very efficient, but we're learning.

Blowing bubbles is his new skill. I'm pretty sure he thinks this is talking because I do it to him so often. 

"Thanks for my dance and wiggle puppy Great Granny, it makes me so excited I sometimes knock myself over!"

He's chatting with that turtle.

Exercising those leg muscles with Emily. 

While Emily was visiting this week we also managed to knock out a craft project and make her a meal board using a frame from Goodwill and Fat Quarter of fabric. The fabric couldn't have been a better find. This was a very quick and thrifty project for less than $10. 

After starting off the week with a very fussy Monday and very few naps, we've tried some new tactics to make the days go smoother. Aiden was only napping about 20-30 minutes at a time and seemed so tired all day. So after a little reading and talking with Andrew we decided to try to swaddle and lay him down sooner than we had been. We've been tracking his eating/sleep schedule with an app on the ipad and after looking at his typical routine the last few days we started laying him down just 15-20 minutes earlier and oddly enough he falls asleep sooner with less fussing. It's subtle but makes the day much more pleasant. Now he's napping 35-50 minutes at a time. I spend less time wrestling him to sleep and have a little more free time to get some things done (ya know, like shower). We met with several of the mamas from birth class twice this week, went to a Bring Your Baby Matinee with Kathryn and Max, and Aiden went to Discovery Bay while I got a great workout in on Friday.

15 Weeks

Enjoying some quality daddy time during the long weekend...

Andrew and I enjoying some quality time without our little one... it was very good for us :)

We took a walk on Saturday and Aiden was very serious about it.

Aiden is a very happy baby when he wakes up in the morning (around 8am)

The Zomicide miniatures, individually painted by Gabe

Aiden taste testing some fingers besides his own... 

Our week began with the end of the very cranky phase. Yay! Of course, just as we were reaching our breaking point. We went to a Bring Your Baby Matinee with Kathryn and Max on Tuesday. Max slept through the whole thing. Aiden was pretty talkative aside from his 20 minute nap, he's still learning movie etiquette. On Thursday we picked up Emily and went to Capitol Hill to see the Frye Art Museum, unfortunately I think half of it was blocked off because they were setting up a new exhibit. We ate delicious food at a little Mediterranean restaurant and then picked up a few cupcakes from Cupcake Royale. Lucky for us, Andrew has the day off Friday so we had a great three day weekend together. Friday I went to the gym in the morning and then met up with a few of the moms and babies from birth class that afternoon. Saturday marked a milestone for Andrew and I. We dropped Aiden off at our gym's day care and spent a little quality time together wandering Redmond Town Center, picking up lunch and then grabbing a drink at Malt & Vine. It was a much needed break and Aiden didn't seem to mind the change of scenery. Sunday skyped with DziaDzia Meme and played Zombicide and ate blueberry phankugen with Debbie and Gabe. It was a great week!