10 Things that Scare Me

In no special order other than how they spilled out of my cranium:

1. Bugs stuck in my hair.
2. Outliving my child, husband, a good friend or any other family member for that matter.
3. The unknown (that includes whatever is in dark, what might go wrong during risky activites like skydiving or bungee jumping, etc.)
4. Someone abusing my child without my knowledge.
5. Never being able to sell our house.
6. Stray dogs.
7. Scary movies. I don't even waste time trying to watch them anymore.
8. Sitting in my car with the doors unlocked. I feel like a sitting duck.
9. Speaking of ducks, uncaged birds really freak me out.
10. The thought of having to deliver another child or two (a requirement if we go through with the plan to have more kids).

Have a fun and safe Halloween!!

Hoo-hoo-hoo!

Oh boy

Costume Party from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

If you get a chance, check out the video of us carving pumpkins with Aiden on the Vimeo website. I love that kid.

I miss fall in the Midwest

Both of my parents sent me a picture of the fall color changes back home. I miss all the pretty colors of autumn!

From Mom

From Dad

Little Landry

Sunday afternoon we headed up to JR and Sara's to see the new house and spend more time with the new addition to the family. I still cannot get over how small Landry is! We brought dinner over because I know how much I appreciated it being done for us.

I'm sure it was a combination of the busy weekend and the glass of wine with dinner that kicked my ass. I was fighting sleep the whole hour-and-a-half ride home (they moved to north of Houston just before Landry was born). I would have loved to just pass out, but I wanted to help keep Travis awake since he was driving. It's the little things.

Sara and her little girl

JR and Logan

To get you in the Halloween mood

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Featuring: Robert, Ariel, Travis, Aiden and I.

Oktoberfest Galveston

Saturday was another busy day. Aiden and I slept in until 7am by accident. I got a new cell phone and it has a horrible battery life. If I do nothing but text message during the day, the phone will die by 10pm. I've started charging the phone on my ride home from work everyday - something I never had to do with my two-year old phone. Anyway, point of the story is my phone died before morning, so my alarm didn't wake me up for the 6am feeding. No biggie really. I was glad to sleep in until the sun was coming up!

We planned to be at Oktoberfest at noon, just in time for lunch. But just as we learned the Thurday before when we were packing for the weekend, getting out of the house with a baby takes some time. We packed everything (except Callaway) up in the car and arrived at the festivities around 12:30. We grabbed beers (the guys all got liter-sized beer mugs!) and congregated to chat for a few minutes.

Travis, Aiden, my brat, a liter-beer and I

Rachel, Scott and a liter-beer

Linsey, Zach, Luke and you can just see a liter-beer over Linsey's shoulder

Nadya, Alexey, Kate and look at that tiny beer in Alexey's hand!
I don't think Alexey got the memo.

Then Aiden gave Luke a stare-down that made him let out a blood-curdling scream and then cry. It was so sad! My son is a bully!

We spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between the beer and food stands. We checked out the Cake Wheel and various tables with goods for sale. Of course you can't forget the German Oompah band.

Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi!

Ariel's Birthday Party

So it turns out that overnight stays with a baby are as hard as all the magazines say. Ariel's birthday was last week and to celebrate, her and Robert threw a party at their house. Because it was a normal party with single people and many people without children, it naturally did not get started until around 8pm. I am no good at driving at night, no matter the time, so Travis and I opted to stay the night at her house. Which worked out great because we had plans to go to Oktoberfest on the island on Saturday.

Since we live off the island, we had to pack the car Thursday night. We had to pack for Aiden, Callaway and for ourselves. Babies may be small, but they require (maybe not require, but to make life easier for all it is a necessity) all sorts of large equipment. We brought the play yard for Aiden to sleep in, a play mat for Aiden to play on, his stroller in case we wanted it at Oktoberfest, plus his clothes and diaper bag.

Somehow we managed to fit all this stuff, plus Aiden and Callaway, in my car Friday morning. I dropped the dog of at Ariel's on my way to work so he could play with Toby all day. Many thanks to Ariel and Robert putting up with our whiny dog!

Anyhoo, we had a grand ole time at the party. I haven't been to a party like that in ages. It was weird to see all of Ariel's friends that I haven't seen in at least a year. Plus there was a keg. Ha! Ariel has some friends that play in a band who played for us all night. Good times were had by all!

Robert!


Blowing out her birthday candles.



Cake face!!

Funny thing happened. Out of everything we had to pack in advance, we forgot the dang baby monitor. I was prepared to drive back home at the beginning of the party so that I wouldn't spend the whole night walking back to check on Aiden, when Ariel told me to wait. She called a couple friends and arranged to have a SECURITY CAMERA AND TV brought to her house by a friend. LOL! Travis taped the camera to Aiden's play yard and then set the TV on the back porch for anyone and everyone to watch when they were bored.

Everytime I walked by I told who ever was close enough, "Check out my baby burrito!" Because they know me so well and would really care to stare at a pixelated, black and white video of my son sleeping.

Stories of Saturday's festivities to come...

Hoo-hoo-who's he gonna be?

Just a taste of Aiden's Halloween costume.

Happy Birthday Ariel!

My brother is just too cute for words. I hate, hate, HATE that I have missed so much of his life by living far away in Texas. I have to live vicariously through my dad and his photos.

Alex had his senior Homecoming dance this past weekend and it sounds like he had a pretty good time. He went out and bought a new outfit and I am impressed with his taste! I think the green is a great color on him. He didn't have a date for the dance. Instead, he and a group of friends from the cross country team went together. Check out the high schoolers.

GQ?

Big pimpin'.

I found out yesterday that my brother was diagnosed with Iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS). Basically, the tissue that stabilizes the knee during running is inflamed. He is not allowed to run for one week. In the mean time he will train on his bicycle with the team. He told me that the team just finished with the peak of their training season at 70 miles per week. 70!! That's just ridiculous. I can't even run ONE mile without dying. Literally dying, I'm sure.

He can run 3.1 miles in 15 minutes, 22 seconds. Nuts, I tell ya. Nuts.

This would be weird

Hiccups are cute

This morning I sneezed after my last bite of breakfast and ended up with a lot of cereal in my hair. I'm just sayin'.

Hiccups from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

Landry and Logan

This morning on my drive into work I noticed about 3 million grackles covering the power lines and trees. Creepy really. Not sure if it's supposed to mean anything, but I am glad they aren't crows! Do you see all the black specks on the tips of the branches in this pic? Those are all birds. I think you should be able to click on the photo to blow it up a little. I took it with my phone, so it's not of the best quality.

Since the Murano is back in the shop today, I had to drop Travis off at work. He goes to work at 7AM. I don't usually leave for work until 7:30AM. That equates to me arriving at work when the sun was coming up. It's a peaceful time really. Unless you take a million cackling grackles into consideration. Eesh.

So this past weekend Travis and I went to visit Landry (and of course Sara and JR) in the hospital. I cannot get over HOW TINY that little girl is. I know Aiden was not even a pound heavier that she is when he was born, but man I cannot believe he was that small!! After holding Landry, I went out to the waiting room to feed Aiden. When I picked him up out of his stroller I could not get over how absolutely monstrous he was compared to her. I might as well have been lifting a medicine ball out of that stroller.

Anyhoo, I'm an idiot and left the camera's memory card in my computer at home, which means I was unable to get any photos except for this one with my cell phone. I'm hoping to visit them soon at home and I will bring a fully functioning camera.

Landry looks SO MUCH like Sara. It's crazy. In the first photos I saw of her it seemed like her hair was more red than it was when I visited. Although, that could be because of the low lighting in the hospital room.

Maybe it's because she is still so tiny and I don't have a good photo with me of Logan when he was first born, but I expected Landry to look more like Logan. Maybe it's because she looks more like her mom and Logan looks more like his dad? At any rate, she is precious!

Side note: The spell check does not recognize Aiden's name, but it does accept Landry's. LOL!

PS - Happy Birthday Stephanie!!!

PPS - I threw up another website in the side bar I like to check occasionally. You may have heard of it: People of Walmart.

Yard work and a trip to the store

After all of Travis' hard work, I sure hope everything survives the fall weather! Yesterday morning Travis left for Galveston at 7am to dig up a bunch of plants at his boss' house. He moved and is planning to transplant a bunch of his greenery from the old house to the new one. He told Travis he could take any of the leftovers he wanted, so that's exactly what Travis did. He took 10 waist-high palms of several different varieties to spread throughout our yard, plus two non-palm plants.

When Travis got back to our house in late morning we laid out the plants the best we could. Then I had a webcam conference with my dad (who is an architect that ends up doing a lot of landscaping for some of the fraternities and sororities he does work for) to go over our layout. He had some great ideas, so we rearranged a few items, had lunch and Travis started digging. He spent the rest of the day working in the yard and didn't come in for dinner until dark. He spent 12 hours breaking his back for the sake of our home's curb appeal.

And I couldn't be happier! It looks GREAT. I really hope everything survives. We have avoided planting anything new in our backyard for years because we were worried about what Callaway would do. Now that he has gotten past his digging phase, I feel confident about putting some plants back there. Everything that Travis planted is large, so I doubt it will interest Callaway in any way. I'm not about to tempt fate with flowers or ground cover - but maybe in the spring!

The flower bed lining the front of our house has been in bad shape for months. In spring of 2008, we had several plants die after Terminix sprayed for termites. Then after hurricane Ike we had several more plants die. Since then we've had nothing but a grey exterior. It was time for something that would pop! I'll try to get photos up soon. This week is going to be crazy. Actually, this is just a busy time of year. I LOVE all the holidays at the end of the year - so warm, so cozy, so familiar.

While I appreciate his dedication to our house and all the hard work he does, I told Travis he needs to spend all evening with our son to make up for more than two days without him. He worked for his boss all day Saturday and then in our yard all day Sunday.

I had some long overdue grocery shopping to do, so I spent a couple hours at the store Sunday afternoon. Since Travis was still working in the yard, Aiden had to come along. When I was 15 minutes into my shopping trip, I realized I had left Aiden's pacifier in the car. No big deal, really. He mostly only uses the pacifier when he's going to sleep. But it never hurts to keep one handy when I'm in public! (PUB LICK. Teehee.)

All was well until I was in line at the cash register. Of course, it was Aiden's nap time so he was starting to get cranky. THEN the formula wouldn't ring up. So the cashier called for the manager. Who did a price check. All the while, for some reason I can't quite comprehend, I had THREE bag boys bagging up the goods. And there were A LOT of goods. I have needed to go hard core shopping for three weeks now. So every 10 items, one of the kids would look up from his teenage chatter and say "Is this still the same customer's stuff?" ??? YES IT'S MINE!! Am I still standing here? Have I paid yet? Is the manager even back from doing the price check on that formula that I would just leave if we didn't need it so badly?! Pay attention!!

All this time, I'm pushing the cart with Aiden in it back and forth trying to keep him as calm as possible. I smile waveringly at the long line of people that has formed behind me (because of course this is the only non-express lane open). While the cashier was standing there doing nothing, I asked her if she could ring up the heavy stuff in the bottom of my cart that I had already mentioned to her several minutes prior. When she asked one of the three stooges to scan it I could have just slapped her. I don't think he has much experience with the scanner because it took him FOREVER to find the bar codes. To do this, the cart had to be still. You know, the cart with my crying baby in it.

The manager finally comes back with the formula and starts asking me all sorts of stupid questions, like will I being paying for this with cash. What?! Why does it matter?! Are you not going to give me the formula if I need to pay with a check? Just ring the damn formula up and let me get the hell out of here!! Then the cashier asks for my Kroger card. The one I gave her at the BEGINNING of all my groceries, that instead of scanning and handing back to me she set next to her on the counter. I point over the conveyor belt at the card that is mine, JUST SITTING THERE, and say yes I have a card. IT'S RIGHT THERE WHERE YOU PUT IT.

Ugh. Having a crying baby in public can be stressful. I'll remember the pacifier next time.

Drunk in Public

Have you ever heard that stand up comedy routine by Ron White about being drunk in public? He tells this story about how he got a ticket for being drunk in public. Problem is he wasn't drunk in public, he was drunk in a bar. Until the bouncer threw him out in public, that is. Every time he uses the word "public", he enunciates each syllable so it comes out more like PUB LICK.

For some reason I think of the way he said PUB LICK every time I remember that I breastfed Aiden for the first time in PUB LICK. !!!* On Sunday, Travis and I went with Ariel and Robert to a pumpkin patch on a farm west of Houston. They had horses, peacocks, a petting zoo and plenty of pumpkins for sale. It had rained a bit the preceding days, so the land was quite mucky. That's a great word for it. Every time I took a step and nearly lost my shoe to the mud, it definitely made a *muck* sound.

After spending several hours outdoors, we were all famished. To solve our dilemma, we decided to stop and try out the $20 deal at Chili's (we're big fans of Chili's). Our time at the restaurant corresponded perfectly with one of Aiden's feedings. Instead of sitting all by my lonesome out in the car, I decided to rough it in the restaurant. Rest assured that I kept myself pretty hidden from PUB LICK eye. I sat in the corner, placed the baby car seat in front of me on the table and took full advantage of the Hooter Hider. I'm not sure that even the server knew what I was doing.

Aiden is extremely efficient at breastfeeding now, so it never takes longer than 10 minutes. Then we supplement with a three-ounce bottle, which I trade off with Travis so we can share the feeding duties. Despite hiding myself all but completely, I am proud of myself for finally breastfeeding my son in PUB LICK.

*Just so you know, whenever I use three stand alone exclamation marks, you can assume I'm raising my eyebrows in amazement or disbelief during that pause.

Oh the faces that boy makes.

"Dad, what exactly are we doing here again?"

Don't you just love his dinosaur hoodie?


"Hee-aww! Hee-aww!"
This guy was my favorite animal there by far. I couldn't stop saying "donkey" with a british accent like Shrek.



Some of those pumpkins were bigger than Aiden!!

Our new family.

Ariel and her family (sans Toby)

In the petting zoo.

Even though he was freakin cute, I still have a slight fear of birds. Ariel handled this one alone.

Welcome Landry!

Landry Bell Luck

6 lbs, 15.8 oz

20.5 inches long

Born at 9:39am on October 15, 2009

Red hair and the word is she looks like Mommy!

Congrats JR and Sara!!!

** Update **

Mom and baby are doing great. Here's a better photo of Landry's face:

His Life at School Begins

Monday was Aiden's first day in the daycare. It was so much scarier dropping him off there than it was on his first day at the sitter's house when he was only 6 weeks old. I'm not exactly sure except for the fact that he is no longer the only baby. At the daycare they are allowed up to four babies per teacher.

His first day didn't go so well. When I dropped him off I gave the teacher a piece of paper with his schedule, but I didn't go over it with her.

1) Because I thought that would make me a psycho mom.

2) Because I had so many other things to take care of that first day that I didn't have much time in the end.

On the evening of that first day I decided that I am willing to be a psycho mom. They didn't keep him on his schedule at all. He only slept two out of the four hours he was supposed to have and it was mostly little naps here and there. They also did not give him enough to eat at two out of the three feedings. Oh! And also, he came home in someone else's diaper. That's not really a big deal though.

I can't get mad at them yet though. Even though Monday night was miserable because Aiden was ridiculously cranky and tired, a transition time is to be expected. Travis said he fell asleep after they'd been in the truck for 5 minutes. We left him in his carrier on the kitchen table and he didn't wake up until I got him up two hours later for his last feeding of the day. And man was he pissed. Usually after he gets a few stretches in he is a smiley boy when he wakes up from sleeping. This was an Aiden I have never met before. He kept grunting and fussing and all the while flailing his arms and legs. I tried to get him to eat, but he kept falling asleep. Eventually I gave up and just put him to bed.

Tuesday when I dropped Aiden off, I had a quick chat with the teacher, explaining that it is okay to wake him up for feeding time and to keep him AWAKE during feeding so he gets a full five to six ounces of milk down. That second day went MUCH better. He was still exhausted after only having three 45-minute naps, but I think since they were longer naps that Monday's, he was in much better shape come the evening time. Aiden still fell asleep during his last feeding, but at least he wasn't a cranky-butt and we were able to get in a bath.

I think it will take some time for him to get used to the new sights, scents and sounds of the daycare. Hopefully he adjusts quickly. I need my little happy man back!

Halloween Friends

A few of the items that were in the care package from my dad...

Hip Hop Devil from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

Hip Hop Ghost from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

Ariel's Favorite Holiday

It's been a busy month so far, filled with Halloween activities. My dad has been compiling some things to send to us for a few months now, including birthday gifts and Halloween goodies. Alex included an Illini t-shirt for each of us.

I'm sort of known for my ability to kill plants. There are a few that I've managed to keep alive, but you can tell most of them are not happy. My main problem is not knowing how often to water the plant. There are some, like aloe vera, that do not need to be watered frequently. There are others, like my flowering plants, that need to be watered daily. And I am REALLY good at forgetting to do that. Partially to be funny, and I'm sure partially because he knows I could use it, my dad sent me a box of six Aqua Globes. Yes, sirree. As seen on TV!! I plan to test them out tonight.

Also in the care package from my dad was a bunch of our old Halloween costumes. We couldn't help but try them on. My dad wanted to be a part of the fun, so we talked via Yahoo Webcam. We were talking to my brother at this point...

Cleopatra Ariel

Ummmm....

That was late night #1. We had planned to carve pumpkins that night too, but time got away with us. We postponed the pumpkin carving until the following evening. Late night #2 ensues...

Aiden got in on the carving before he went to bed. Check out that mischevious smile. LOL!

Top Left: Haunted house with large bats flying over head, by Travis. Top Right: Dragon, by me. Bottom Left: Scarecrow with a pumpkin head, by Robert. Bottom Right: A detailed bat (hard to see because of the light), by Ariel. Robert bought us flickering LED lights to use instead of candles. They are da bomb.

Ariel and Robert supplied the beer and wings for dinner. Gotta love Wing Stop. I got a total of 11 hours of sleep between these two nights. I think Travis and I were in bed by 9pm the night after pumpkin carving. It's so hard to catch up on sleep. At least it was for social reasons. Makes it a little more tolerable. UGH.

RIP Cody

My dad's dog of 13 years had to be put down today. He's been fighting with tumors for years now and they finally took their toll.

We got Dakota as a puppy when I was a freshman in high school. He spent the next 13 years by my dad's side. He was a good dog. One that will be missed.

A Decade

Who would have thought that 10 years after my first date with Travis, I would be taking our son to his first day of daycare? Landmark date all around.

Travis and I went on our first official date October 12, 1999. I was a senior and Travis was a sophomore. Teehee. It's crazy to hear the number 10, but at the same time I feel like I've been with Travis all of my life. When you think about it, we've actually been together for almost half our lives. Woh. We usually go out to dinner at Olive Garden to commemorate our favorite restaurant when we were in high school. We can't go tonight, but hopefully we'll find time this weekend or maybe even later this week.

I also mentioned up there that today is Aiden's first day at daycare. I am so much more nervous about this "first" day than I was when I brought him to the sitter's house six weeks after Aiden was born. I sort of feel bad, like I'm starting him off in his school career already. He will spend the next 18 years of his life in a place like this daycare; and hopefully for another four years after that!

I was sad to pick up Aiden for the last time at his sitter's last week. It was such a homey atmosphere. But, things were still not the way I wanted them to be there. When I told the daycare teacher that we don't rock Aiden to sleep, she sort of freaked out a little. In turn, that freaked me out. The normal teacher, the one that I talked to before we made the official decision to switch to them, has today off. She didn't seem fazed in the least when I told her that we don't rock Aiden to sleep. Needless to say, I will be calling to check in at lunch to see how the first nap time went. Oh man the anxiety.

Aiden had a rough weekend. I dropped a cell phone on the side of his head while I was breastfeeding him first thing in the morning. I held my breath while I waited for the scream that never came. I think that scared me more than a cry would. Later that day I scratched his face with my thumb nail when I was picking him up. It only had a small welt for a little while, but I felt horrible nonetheless. Then, this morning when Travis was getting Aiden ready for school, he dropped a soft toy on his belly. Again, he didn't cry, but we can't help but feel bad when we do these stupid things. I'm proud to say we have not dropped the kid yet and I hope to never do so!!

Smurf Apartments

Every day when Travis gets home he walks around our yard and picks the many mushrooms that have popped up over night at our house. This bunch was strange because they created a path from the driveway to the tree. I bet that happened for a reason. Wonder what it is?

Crazy fool tried to kill us!

Last weekend I made a trip to Babies R Us (I started pulling together the items necessary for the Halloween costume I'm making for Aiden) with the baby in tow. Right around the time I hit the part of the highway that has has no shoulder due to the ongoing construction, I came across some psycho attempting to drive a car. I run across people like this on the road occasionally and I always make a point to drive by them as quickly as possible to avoid their bad driving.

I thought this one would be no different. I noticed he was swerving back and forth between two lanes, so I decided to make my normal psycho-avoiding-maneuver. I drove at my normal speed in the left lane, while he wobbled around in the center lane. As soon as I was just behind him, I floored it to try to pass him before he tried to swerve into my lane. I couldn't believe it when he started to pull into my lane. No blinker. No warning. Not even a glance over his shoulder. Just straight up swerving.

I slammed on my brakes to get out of his way. Since there was no shoulder, I couldn't swerve out of the way at all. Of course there was someone behind me, but thankfully they were far enough back that they had time to react to my quick braking. I made it out of his way, all the while laying on my horn. I was in complete disbelief, trying to get my breathing under control when I opted for the opposite lane. Seconds later, the dumb ass was running into the concrete center dividers that I had narrowly missed being rammed into just moments before. I know he was inundated somehow because there was no over correcting to pull away from the concrete. Instead, he hovered on the wall, burning up the rubber on his tires for a moment before slowly pulling away.

No way was I going to pass this sucker. I got nervous when an impatient driver rode his ass for a few moments before flooring around him. I wished I could scream at that driver to avoid the crazo, but he made it by unscathed. I was only a few miles from my exit, so I stayed in the far lane, far behind Intoxicated Man. I wasn't about to risk my life or my son's life again.

It was about 2 in the afternoon, so the fool could have been drunk (although some people don't care what time of day it is for that). Or high. Or who knows what else. I even had a flash back of an episode of CSI: Las Vegas where some guy has a wooden stake stuck in his head that is causing him to drive erratically on his way to the hospital. No matter the case, this man should not be on the road. I was ready to call the police to report bad driving for the first time in my life. I don't know if it is because I have a child now, or just the level of this man's idiocy, but I wanted to report him before he killed someone. I was so frustrated when I realized he was driving with paper plates. I couldn't even tell what kind of a car it was except that it was a Buick. No way was I going to get any closer to find out.

Ironically, I passed a cop who was sitting on the side of the road at that moment and even deliberated for a moment on whether or not I should pull over and talk to him. I quickly decided that the bad driver would be long gone by the time I got to the cop. Not to mention I did not want to risk pulling over on the side of the high way with my son in the back seat.

The fool got away. I just hope he made it to his destination without hurting anyone. I like to think he got pulled over on his own.

A Day with Auntie Ariel

This past Thursday Aiden's sitter called to let us know that her youngest daughter had the flu. I didn't want to risk Aiden getting sick, so I made an emergency request with my sister Ariel. She has never babysat a baby before. I was a little nervous about the whole thing, but Ariel was super excited about spending the day with her nephew. She asked that I call her on my way there to make sure she was awake before I arrived.

I stopped by the sitter's first to grab the diaper bag that I leave there all week to bring it to Ariel's. On the way there, I called Ariel, but she didn't answer. Big surprise. I sent her a text message and continued my trek across town. When I got to her house, no one answered the door. I knocked again and waited a few minutes before using my key to let myself in. I set Aiden and all his gear down in the living room before going to knock on her bedroom door. Five minutes later she's rushing to the door asking if I called her. Ha! That girl sleeps like a ROCK.

I took a few moments to give Ariel the run down on baby basics (diapering, how to make bottles, etc.) before rushing off to work. I was SO NERVOUS all day. I ran around like a madman trying to finish my work so I could step out a few minutes early to relieve Ariel of her sitter duties. I wasn't worried that Ariel would hurt Aiden. It was more that I was worried he would start crying and she wouldn't know how to console him.

When I walked in the door to her house I realized I had no reason for my fears. Aiden was laying on the couch having a good ole time. Granted, he was supposed to be in the middle of a nap at that point, but at least he was happy. Ariel forgot about giving him his pacifier at nap time to help him go to sleep. Next time she'll remember though.

One time, in the foggy first weeks after Aiden was born, Ariel went with me on a trip to Target. I wanted to get out of the house and was finally allowed to drive. I was nervous about the whole thing, so I asked her to help me out. When we got in the car, Aiden immediately started crying. That's when I realized that it was feeding time. I was hoping he would make it until we got to the store, but didn't want to risk an entire car ride with a baby screaming in the back seat. I asked Ariel if she would sit back there with him and feed him his bottle - we could burp him when we got to the store in 10 minutes.

Unfortunately, the trip ended up having a crying baby the whole time anyhow. I was super stressed but convinced myself that I could make it all the way to the store before I got in back to help Ariel out. I didn't know what was wrong with him though. Was he mad someone besides Mommy was feeding him? Did he not like being fed without being held? It wasn't until I hopped in the back seat with Auntie Ariel in the Target parking lot that I realized Ariel didn't quite know what she was doing. Turns out, she was worried about him choking on the nipple if she put it all the way in his mouth. Instead, the poor boy had to suffer for 10 minutes with a bottle just out of his reach. Makes me sad just thinking about it three months later!

Ever since then, Ariel has prided herself with her knowledge on how to bottle feed a baby. She's a pro. She even knows to burp him every now and again. Which is good because I forgot to remind her of that when I dropped Aiden off last Friday.

In the end, everything was fine. Ariel even said that she was bummed I got there early because she didn't get to spend enough time with little Aiden. I hung out at her house for a couple hours before heading home so she could fit in some more baby time. Ariel told me that she would do it again in a heartbeat. That makes me feel so much better about the possibility of such a thing happening again. Although we won't run into this exact situation again since Aiden will be starting at the daycare next week. If one teacher gets sick at his school, there should always be a back up. Phew!

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

About a year ago, a book that Stephenie Meyer was working on got leaked somehow. When I first read about this, I didn't immediately go find the book to read it. I felt like it went against what the author wanted so it felt wrong. The book is the same story as Twilight, but from Edward's point of view. With all this talk about New Moon coming to theaters and me re-reading it, I had vampire on the brain. Rachel and I went looking for Meyer's copy of Midnight Sun, the title she is giving Edward's version of Twilight.

As soon as I had read the first page, I was hooked. I had to read it. Unfortunately, there were two crappy details. One, the book is only available online. Since it is not cost effective or good for the environment, I did not want to print out the 264 pages. Two, the story is not finished. I already know how the story ends. I've read the whole saga already. But I don't know it from the vampire's point of view. I began obsessively reading the online story and finally finished it this past weekend.

I WANT MORE! When will Meyer ever finish this project?! I'm worried that she never will as a punishment to the one who leaked the copy. I hope she doesn't go this route. I NEED MORE. How do I get so rolled up in books? It's ridiculous. I know it drives Travis crazy when I get engrossed in a story. I guess now he knows what it's like for me when he watches football...

(Don't groan too loud...) More baby pictures!

Meeting the adorable baby in the mirror.

Morning routine.

Daddy doesn't need as much time as Mommy to get ready in the morning, so he gets Aiden ready for the day. He wakes him up and picks his outfit out every day. I'm so lucky!


New table centerpiece.
Sometimes I put Aiden on the table in his Bumbo so I can get stuff done in the kitchen and still keep an eye on him. I put him up off the floor so Callaway can't get him with one of his drive-by-lickings. Callaway has trouble resisting the scent of leftover milk on Aiden's cheeks.




Tummy time.
The other day I decided to take the pillow support off his tummy time mat and he instantly put his elbows under him (like this), like all this time that pillow has just been in his way. He even started pulling his legs up a little. At what age are kids supposed to crawl?

Dinner with the Ramby's

Saturday night we went up to Chris and Alexa's for dinner. Chris grilled two chickens for us and they were delicious! He was also trying out the new smoker that he made. Crazy welder man. I'm really excited about the leftovers - chicken salad made from baked or grilled chicken is the best!

Blair smiled for the camera, like he knew that is what you are supposed to do when someone points a camera at you. LOL! Blair and Aiden seemed to make friends. Blair was amazingly accepting of him sitting on Mom's lap. I can seem them being really great buddies whenever Aiden learns to walk. Which should be next month at the rate he seems to be going. JK.

I'm pretty upset with his new found love of the TV. This photo was taken in front of Chris and Alexa's TV. His eyes are locked on the Buckeye's game. Eesh.

Strange things on my street

One of the most difficult things I have had to get used to since moving to Texas is the Texan mentality. With this comes cowboys. There are times when I am driving down the street and there will literally be a cowboy riding his horse down the side of the road - wearing a cowboy hat. We didn't have such things in Illinois. So the other day when I got home from work, there were a million horses trotting down my street, clogging traffic. The worse part about the whole thing is Travis spent the entire time egging Callaway on to herd up the horses. (Please note the covered wagons.)

Horse Parade? from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

The Dance... sort of

Wibble Wobble from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

My baby is three months old!

Besides doubling his weight since birth, my little man has changed so much in the past three months. Lately, Aiden has been doing all sorts of new stuff. They are minor things, but when it comes to the slow day-to-day changes, I notice these things. Like how he has this loud jibber jabber when he gets tired. That's how he lets us know it's time for him to go to bed.

Sleepy Jibber Jabber from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

A really fun new "advancement" is he seems to touch things in interest. Most of the time his hand lands on something by accident. But once he gets a hold of a toy, he will spend a good amount of time concentrating very hard on the object:

He's getting really good at holding his head up. Every day he spends time in his Jumparoo, on his tummy time mat and occasionally in the Bumbo. He also does this thing where he tries to pull himself forward if you give him something to hold onto, like your hands. That means I can pull him from lying down into a sitting position without the Bobble Head Effect.

You probably won't be as entertained by it as Travis and I are, but I need to get his Wibble Wobble dance on video. When we hold him in the standing position he eventually gets tired and starts to wobble. Brenda had some Bob Marley going on the TV and she thought he was dancing to the music the first time she saw it. Teehee.

Travis and I have decided to move Aiden from the at-home sitter to a daycare. It was a tough decision, but I am confident with it. We had a difference in opinion with the sitter on many matters when it came to raising a baby and I was not ready to settle. I am pretty nervous about him starting at a big daycare, but I think it will be good for him. Let me say right now that I'm not looking forward to the runny noses that come with being in close proximity to a million other kids. I do not do well with mucous.

He starts at the new place in two weeks. The sitter didn't act too weird about us leaving her. I just hope the next couple of weeks aren't too awkward. I am sad for Aiden though. He loves his sitter. Whenever I drop him off in the morning I spend a few minutes catching up on what Aiden has been doing at her house. He always lights up when the sitter starts talking. She is such an animated person. I hope he finds someone that he likes as much as her at the daycare. The teachers seem nice enough. I hope Aiden agrees!