Birthday Lunch

Happy Birthday Travis!

Quarter of a century. That's how old my husband is. It is so crazy to think, 10 years ago Travis was 15 years old, getting ready to meet me while we were both in high school. Little did we know where we would be in a decade.

The main goal of this weekend was for Travis to relax and do whatever he wanted. Friday night we just took it easy and were in bed by 10. We slept in a few hours past when we usually get up during the week. Travis wanted to clean his truck, so he took care of that.

Saturday afternoon we went to a BBQ restaurant with lots of outdoor seating. A few friends met us out. Sadly, we had to leave when the band started. It was too loud for Aiden. He didn't cry, but I could tell it was bothering him.


Sunday was another take it easy kind of day. Aiden rode Callaway...

Daddy gave lots of love...


And we even took a dip in the kiddie pool we got from Sara and JR...

Basic Maintenance

Gotta keep those nails trimmed, or else risk losing an eye to the little razors.

Olympic Grill

Travis and I went out to dinner with Ariel last week. We chose a Greek place so I could have a few of the things I wasn't allowed when I was pregnant. Sad thing is I didn't get one out of the two things I wanted. Feta. That's okay - next time - I got my wine!

Auntie Ariel decided she wants to learn what it takes to care for her nephew. Step one? Feeding.


I am pretty sure I will never have my old body again, but it sure would be nice to get some semblence of it back. UGH.

And here's Travis SCARING THE CRAP OUT OF MOMMY.

Dinner was delicious. I left with a very full tummy. Aiden did pretty good the whole time, but I could tell he was a little uncomfortable in the heat. Funny thing is he seems to fall asleep easier in the heat than in the AC.

We sat on the water for dinner, the harbor side of the island. It always amazes me how big the oil platforms are. There was one "in the shop" right across the water from the restaurant that was a MONSTER. When I say it was in the shop, there is a oil rig repair warehouse on Pelican Island. I always see workers welding crap over there.

Another amazing thing to see is when the cruise ships whip a U-turn in the tiny Galveston harbor. That driver better get a nice check. The training required to do that maneuver has got to be intense. I can't image cruise ships come equipped with a rear view mirror.

Roll anyone?

Just one example of where those 13 lbs in the 90th percentile live.

2-Month Check Up

Aiden will be two months old September first. !!! To "celebrate" we went to the doctor's office and let them jab him with needles. UGH.

I look forward to Aiden's doctor appointments to a certain extent. I like getting to find out his growth stats and I like double checking my parenting methods with the doctor, but I DO NOT like when they take his blood or give him vaccinations. Travis and I made the decision, while I was pregnant, to follow the recommended schedule for vaccinations. I work in a lab that is working to get a vaccine put on the market for human use, so I fully understand the importance of vaccinating your child. It was a fairly easy decision for us to make.

The part I'm not at all enthused about is the actual vaccinating. At this visit, he had one oral and two shots - one in each leg. Aiden was a trooper though. He cried for about 30 seconds. It may have been a short 30 seconds, but let me assure you he was pissed! When I dropped him off at the sitter's, with all sorts of fever/rash/irritability instructions, he was being a little fussy. I'm not sure if that was from the needle sticks, or the fact that he was an hour late for a nap due to all the poking and prodding at the doctor's office. I hope he does okay today. If he ends up with a fever, Travis said he would go home with him this afternoon since I took the morning off for Aiden's appointment.

So! The stats...

13 lbs, 2 oz

23.3 inches (my boy's almost two feet tall!)

39-inch head circumference

I'm a little irritated that I never found out Aiden's head circumference at birth, which means I have no number to base that stat on. He is in the 90th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for length. I talked with the doc about his eating/sleeping schedule and she agreed that all is well in my methods. I was a little worried about his lack of bowel movements (yes that's what this blog has come to), but the doc assured me that he is normal. Just like his mommy! ;)

As for the developmental growth, Aiden is right on target. At this age, we're excited that he smiles in response to people and can hold his head up well. Yay! My personal favorite new thing he does is when he is hungry and knows food is coming, he purses his lips and pulls his arms into his chest. This causes his little fists to push up his cleavage. It's adorable and I love it. He has little man cleavage. Bwahahaha!

Mobile Uploads

Fighting sleep

Rinsing off


Grocery shopping with Mommy

All tuckered out.

So freaking cute I can't stand it

Going Down

The tree in front of Ariel's house:

And just because it's cute, a photo of how Ariel takes Toby for bike rides:

Continued Ike Clean Up

There has been a little bit of a stir in Galveston about the Live Oak trees that died after the salt water flooded the island during Hurricane Ike. The city has begun cutting down all the trees that appear to be dead on the city streets. There is an estimated 11,000 trees destroyed on city property and 30,000 on private property. Rumor has it that these trees take years to recover from such stresses, so many of them may still be alive.

It is sad that these trees are all being removed, but many of them have been deemed dangerous. In the event that another hurricane or just a storm with high winds were to hit Galveston, any dead trees would pose a falling threat to anyone within their falling radius. That generally includes the city stree, sidewalk and in most cases a house or two.

Some owners have taken matters into their own hands and protested that the tree removal is murder. I'm not sure what I think, as there are important points to both sides. It looks like some of the trees may be replaced if the funds are raised. The Live Oaks really do give Galveston Island it's personality. Not to mention that they disguise some of the less attractive parts of town.

A Date with Kate

Holding hands:

Kate even got all dressed up!

Tummy time - Kate's winning...

I just can't get enough of this little guy

Saturday Morning from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

I think he likes it!

And hope he continues to like it...

Aiden's First Real Bath from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

First Real Bath

Daddy made sure the water temperature was perfect while Aiden waited patiently.


He didn't seem to mind the water - I hope that keeps up!


Dry and ready for bed!

After a night of perhaps one too many

Bring on the belly shirts!

Aiden's umbilical stump finally fell off. He is freaking 6 weeks old, people. I feel like I've been waiting years for our little friend to make his exit. Now we can give him his first real bath!

Though, it was a bittersweet moment. It was the last remnant of "us". Lately I have been battling with the idea that Aiden is going to grow up. I know, I know. DUH. The other day, Aiden was holding Travis' finger. Travis' tanned, scarred and scraped up finger. I love his hands, don't get me wrong. They are the hands of a hard working man. But it was so strange to see such a stark contrast between Travis' labored hands and Aiden's pale, unscathed, baby soft hands.

I realized that Aiden is going to grow up and have to go through some hard times. He is going to fall down and scrape his knee. He is going to deal with mean, name-calling, little kids. He is going to have to deal with peer pressure. He is going to live through heartbreak. He is going to go through the stresses of college, getting a job and buying a house. And there will be nothing I can do to stop it or make it easier on him. Life will ravage us all. That's just the fact of life and I need to accept it. My little man IS going to grow up. I suppose that is why we brought him into this world, right?

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We have been so fortunate in the way of being surrounded by giving friends and family. Every week we get a minimum of one package in the mail addressed to Aiden. Travis' boss' niece (got that?) sent home a bag of goodies - all things we had registered for and not yet received. And my favorite this week? Baby Cookie Monster and Baby Elmo stuffed animals from my cousin Mike and his wife Karen. SO CUTE.

Other "milestones":

First sandals (thank you Sara!)

First outdoor grilled dinner (yay for no mosquitoes!)

And just the cutest hands I've ever seen - untouched by the ravages of life.

Sleep Deprivation

I don't know how parents of kids who wake up every 2-3 hours at night do it. I am miserable. I have a permanent headache. Now I'm having trouble waking up for Aiden's ONE night feeding and when my alarm goes off in the morning. Travis and I have been at each other's throats a little lately because we are both exhausted. Travis works hard labor, so he REALLY needs his rest. I'm just suffering from plain old sleep deprivation. I've been getting 5-6 hours of sleep a night. Travis can't help me during the night because I'm the only one who can provide the breastfeeding. He could get up to change Aiden's diaper and hand him off to me, but I'd have to get up to wake Travis up, and that completely defeats the purpose of him helping me in the first place.

It's interesting to see how much I've changed physically since I got pregnant. By the end of my pregnancy, I chose the elevator over the stairs every day. Otherwise I would have to leave for work 20 minutes early to make up for all the breather breaks I would have to take in the stairwell. I also was not allowed to carry heavy boxes. These two issues equate to some serious muscle atrophy for Nikki.

My lab at work is currently moving to a new location on the floor above where we currently reside. That means I spent all week moving things off the shelves and out of the drawers from one lab to the other. I went from bending over to pick up my infant being the extent of my physical activity to moving an entire lab. I'm not used to using the stairs, let alone bending over and squatting repeatedly to move items.

Another weird thing? I'm not used to wearing shoes. LOL! The entire time I was gone for maternity leave, I relied soley on flip flops. Plus, I was unable to wear the vast majority of my shoes, including all my ballet flats, for the last few months of pregnancy. I am now limited to tennis shoes for a while because of the blisters that have formed on my heels. I can't tell if the soreness on the top of my feet is from the pressure of wearing shoes, or muscle soreness from moving stuff all week. Either way, I've turned into a weanie!

I didn't realize how much recovering I still had to do.

Rough Week

I don't know if it's because of the transition to day time with the sitter, or because he has not pooped all week, but Aiden has been a cranky monster for the past two nights. He is fine when Travis picks him up after work and he's fine for about 20 minutes when he gets home. But after that, he just cries and cries and cries. It's not until I get home and comfort him that he calms down. I don't know if he it's just that he misses me or if I know what to do to settle him down. I do know one thing - Daddy is a cranky monster too, by the time I get home.

I'm hoping tonight goes a little smoother. Oh and I plan to call the doctor to see how long it is safe for a baby to go without having a bowel movement. He hasn't had one since Monday!!

I think this is the first week in, oh I don't know, 6 weeks, since I've been able to appreciate the phrase "TGIF" again. For the past month and a half, every day has been the same for me. I couldn't have told you the difference between a Tuesday and a Friday. Half the time I only recognized the day because my dad sent me a text saying TGIF. Or Alexa clarified things when I thought it was Friday for an entire Thursday. Starting this week, I appreciate Fridays so much more. It means two full consecutive days with my son are just around the corner!

I almost forgot...

about the Babysite! I loaded some photos. I plan to get some more up there eventually and maybe a blog post. Oops!

Test Run

Yesterday I took Aiden to the sitter in the morning so I could get an idea of what the schedule will be like. I'm a little excited to find out that I can get to J's house 10 minutes earlier than I thought. That means I get to sleep in 10 minutes!!

To help keep my mind off of not having my baby, I dropped by Nadya's for an hour. Then I left to get my hair cut. After that, I made a trip to the grocery store. That was probably the best thing I got out of this. A cart without a carseat makes for plenty of space for groceries!

I was happy to pick up Aiden a little after 11am and head home. I was EXHAUSTED. It is going to be so hard to go back to work. Not only because I will be missing precious time with my son, but also because of the lack of sleep. Up until this point, I have been getting 8 hours of sleep when you subtract the time I spend up with Aiden at night. But once work starts (tomorrow!) I will only be getting 6 hours of sleep, minus getting up with Aiden. And the kicker is that since I am breastfeeding, I have to limit my caffeine intake! I'm allowed up to two cups of coffee a day, but I have found that even if I drink the coffee immediately after nursing, it still seems to affect Aiden's sleep after the following feeding. So basically, I can't have caffeine. How am I suppose to survive this?!

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SO! A couple benefits of not being pregnant that I realized recently: no more Charlie Horses every single time I stretch out my legs and less frequent trips to the restroom. I have actually found myself holding it longer than I should. I have to remind myself to go to the restroom now. LOL!

While I technically can sleep on my stomach now, I have not yet done so. I read that sleeping on your stomach while breastfeeding can diminish your milk supply. That is one thing I do not want to jepardize yet. It also feels weird. I laid on my stomach at Nadya's one day and it felt wrong. I'm not sure if that's because it's been so long since I've had that sensation or if it's because I still have belly pudge that pushes in when I lay on my stomach. Either way, I'm going to wait for now.

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Aiden is a pro at holding his head up now. When I hold him upright on my shoulder, he can hold his head up all on his own, no problem. When he's on the floor for tummy time, he can hold his head up for a minute or so before it starts to fall. I love it!

He started a new thing yesterday that has me freaked. He has started moving around his crib while he sleeps. Yesterday during a nap, he managed to somehow flip himself over onto his stomach. That was scary because he was swaddled and couldn't lift his head up. I knew something was wrong when his cries were muffled in the baby monitor. Then, during the night, he managed to work himself out of his swaddle all except for what was around his neck. Every time he lifted his arms, it tightened the blanket around his neck. To top it all off, he was all the way in the bottom left corner of his co-sleeper. That worries me because the co-sleeper has a short side. I don't think there is any way for him to wiggle himself over the side in his sleep, but it's something I have to keep an eye on.

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Guess what? Shannon stopped by this past weekend! She got to meet Aiden finally. Hooray!

Secretly Spying

Spying with the Baby Monitor from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

The Week in Photos

Dinner at Auntie Ariel's

Kate and Mommy

Kate'n'Kaboodle

Big yawn! Aiden wearing his conductor outfit. He was so hot we had to take it off...


A stop at Fish Tales

Last day with Grandma before she heads back to Illinois.

More Babies!

Last week I got to go visit little Luke - son of Linsey and Zach. That's when I realized how much Aiden has grown in the last month. He is a MONSTER compared to Luke.

Luke, 1 week - Aiden, 4 weeks

I was talking to my friend Chrissie from Illinois about Aiden's weight and she said that her daughter Audrey weighed 11 pounds when she was three months old. And she weighed that much for two months thereafter. If I am remembering correctly, Chrissy from Texas said that her six-month old son Mattie weighs 15 pounds. HA.

It was nice to catch up with Linsey and get all the details on her delivery. Zach had a few gory details to add. I think I'm a little thankful that Travis was so engrossed with Aiden immediately following the delivery. He didn't pay much attention to my clean up. LOL! Anyhoo, Linsey still looks great and is enjoying her maternity leave with Luke and Zach. The baby slept the entire time I was there. He is so sweet! I cannot believe the number of babies that surround me. =)

Aiden has been growing developmentally also. He can hold up his held 90% of the time. I need to break out the Bumbo so he can start taking advantage of that. Every morning he talks to me and smiles a bunch. I LOVE IT. I had to sit Travis down last week so he could see how well Aiden can talk and interact. When I get ready in the morning, I prop him up on a pillow on the bed. He follows me as I walk around the room. He also loves to stare at the ceiling fan. Ha! Aiden and Dad's first conversation:

My adorable sleeping baby.

This past Friday, Grandma Carol played babysitter for the night while Travis and I went out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. It sounds like everything went pretty smoothly. It gave me a little peace of mind about sending Aiden to daycare for the first time next Wednesday. I feel good that he will do well with someone else in charge. I know he's been around my mom before, but I don't think he's spent that much time with her yet. Grandma is leaving for Illinois this week. The last of our family to leave. I'm already looking forward to Grandma Brenda's visit in October and Grandpa Greg's possible visit at Christmas!

This past Saturday we went to get our photos taken professionally, partially courtesy of Alexa (thank you!). I could not believe how many prints we got for the price we paid. And the pictures are amazing. Here's a taste...