Mila: 9 Months

It's been a LONG time - a long time since I've posted and a long time since I posted a Mila Milestone entry.  The last one was when she was 4 months old.  BAD MOM.  You can also add a note to my Bad Mom Resume because I forgot to feed my daughter yesterday.  She was being super cranky while we were out shopping when I realized I was TWO HOURS LATE feeding her a bottle.  Gah.  Poor thing. 

Her 9-month check up with the doctor was last week.  It was my favorite visit so far because there weren't any vaccinations!  Wahoo!  Here are her stats:

• 15th percentile for weight, 85 percentile for height
• 18.5 lbs
• 7 teeth with 1 on it's way
• Infection in both ears

I knew something was wrong with her ears so I made sure to point it out to the doctor.  It was bad enough that she would have noticed anyway.  It's so hard trying to decipher what might be wrong with a tiny human who can't speak yet.  I forgot how frustrating it can be.  She's been rubbing her ears a lot for the past couple weeks and periodically had a low grade fever, but I kept thinking it might be related to the teething.  The last appointment she had I was worried about an ear infection for these same reasons, but there was nothing wrong with her ears at that appointment.  I was so sad she was in pain that could have been fixed and I did nothing. 

Yesterday and today she is in much better spirits.  She has this gravely chuckle whenever she sees Travis, Aiden or I.  She thinks Aiden is hilarious.  I usually put Mila to bed whenever she gets tired in the evening.  During the week this can be as early at 6 pm (because she refuses to nap at daycare).  On the weekends it's usually between 7 and 8.  When I put her to bed early, I can focus on Aiden at his bedtime.  But when I put her to bed at the same time as Aiden, I can read them books together, which is super cute.  The downfall of simultaneous bedtimes (nap or at night) is they just sit in there and laugh at each other.  Saturday I walked in when I heard them giggling over the baby monitor.  Mila was standing and she fell onto her butt (on purpose) and they both started laughing.  It's pretty darn cute, but a little frustrating.

Mila is a blast.  I love her.  She is so sweet.  She loves hugs.  She loves to be held, unless she wants to explore, and then it's 'leave me be, woman'.  I was gone two weeks ago for a work trip.  Mila had learned to pull up on the bath tub a couple days before I left.  When I got back, she was pulling up on everything.  A few days later she was cruising around tables and furniture. Saturday she stood unassisted for the first time.  Now she does it all the time.  She pulls up on something, then lets go to put a toy in her mouth.  She is growing TOO FAST.  

Oh!  She is a GREAT eater.  She eats all the purées we offer her.  I refuse to feed her that nasty, watery meat mush you can get in a jar, but we have been offering her the meat we all eat since the doctor's approval last week.  She loves eating potatoes, puffs, frozen bananas, steak and all the fruit and veggie purées I offer.  I haven't really run across anything she doesn't like yet.

I just took all the pictures off my phone, so here are the only three photos I have of her with me:

She loves the musical magnet farm that Aiden used to play with.

In the nice weather, we've been going outside more recently.  She likes to pick up every speck of dirt, plants and sticks she can get her hands on.  The trick is to keep a close enough eye on her that she doesn't ingest them all.

My dad asked for a photo of us together.  Mila was a little grumpy because of her ear infection/teething when I took this shot.

 And a quick comparison:

Neither baby has had a hair cut by this point.

Never Again

Whoopsie!  I totally forgot to post about our road trip to Illinois.  It was pretty horrific, so honestly I think I was just trying to block it out for sanity reasons...

The drive TO Illinois wasn't anything extraordinary.  We left the area by 7, after a full day of work.  Ariel, Travis and I were supposed to share the driving responsibilities, but an hour into Ariel's first turn threw that out the window.  She got pulled over because the license plate lights were out on the truck (we had no idea).  She was mugged a while ago and has never gone back to get her license renewed.  I don't really understand why, but that's how it goes.  She's been using her Passport as a photo ID in the meantime.  When the cop pulled up her driver's license on his computer, it turned out her license was expired.  He was really nice and let her off with a warning, but that took her off the drivers list.  Less sleep for Nikki.  We stopped at the first truck stop we passed and bought replacement bulbs so we wouldn't get pulled over again.  The entire trip took us 17.5 hours.  Before kids, the trip took us 16 hours, so I didn't think that was so bad.

The drive back was a horrific nightmare that easily competes with the Hurricane Ike evacuation.  Here's a quick overview of the Ike drive: 4 humans, 3 dogs, 3 cats (One of which was mewling incessantly and peed all over herself.  After the Benedryl she drooled all over her cage as well.)  Two hours into our hungover ride back, all the luggage fell off the roof rack into traffic on the Interstate.  Imagine all the headache/nausea-ridden people chasing down suitcases before a semi ran over it.  Good times.

But this trip may have been worse.  I think it was because it lasted three times as long.  The drive back from Illinois took us 22 hours and here's why:  We left at 5 pm and I was the first to drive.  It was POURING rain, so we had covered the bed (with all our Christmas presents, luggage and Ariel's new moped) of the truck with a giant tarp.  The radar on weather.com showed a giant red rain cloud over our entire route.  We decided to change our path so our entire drive would not be in rain.  

Two hours into our trip (still in Illinois), all traffic was being directed off the Interstate.  All of it.  No cars going, no cars coming.  We stopped at a gas station for dinner and to see what was going on.  When we got out of the truck, we noticed the tarp had split in half and all our belongings were soaked.  No tarps for sale at the gas station.  Traffic was being redirected because there had been a hazmat semi accident/chemical spill TWO DAYS PRIOR and they were still cleaning it up.  I remember saying, "Starting this trip off with a bang."  There was no advance warning about what we were supposed to do.  How hard is it to get a road sign out there?  We were redirected onto some tiny two lane road without street lights.  Because it was so late, it was mostly 18-wheelers out on this winding, dark, wet road.  SO SCARY.  Three miles later, we were back on the Interstate headed to the nearest Walmart for a tarp (20 miles away).

It was 45 degrees out and we weren't up for spending the remainder of the trip soaking wet, so Travis picked up some rain ponchos when he got the new tarp.  My hands were numb by the time we got the tattered remains of the old tarp off and the new one on.  That stop took us an hour and a half.  Three hours later we stopped for gas and noticed the second tarp had tore in half as well.  We gave up on it at that point. 

Travis and I took turns driving 50-60 mph in the torrential down pour.  It finally let up when we got to Mississippi.  We made a stop for gas at some point.  Aiden had to use the restroom so I took the time to check Mila's diaper.  At some point unbeknownst to us, she had a complete poopy diaper blowout.  I couldn't believe none of us smelled it.  Maybe it was packed under her well enough we didn't notice?  Maybe we were all too stressed to notice anything aside from the task at hand?  Thankfully I had an extra set of clothes for both kids in the cab of the truck.  I threw Mila's clothes directly into the trash since I knew the stain would set before we made it home.  I didn't want to carry her through the gas station, so she got a bath by baby wipes in the parking lot.  Between cleaning her and her car seat I think I used half a pack of wipes.

Back on the road again... I think it was 7 am when we stopped for breakfast at a Waffle House.  The kids were both awake (Aiden didn't sleep much) and I wanted to give them a chance to stretch their legs.  We had a greasy breakfast, refueled the truck and got back on the road.  About an hour after breakfast, Aiden decided it wasn't sitting well with him and regurgitated the entire meal.  Thankfully he complained first so I had a bag handy, but some of it made it down his front despite our efforts.  Stop #352.  Wipe bath #2.  Hoping there were no more stops for clothing changes or our kids would drive the rest of the way naked.

That was it.  I think.  Travis, Mila and I were all on the tail-end of horrific colds during the drive.  Ariel was on the front-end of her's.  Aiden made it through it all without ever getting it.  We hadn't slept all week because Mila was teething, so she thought waking up between 4 and 5 every morning was necessary.   Needless to say, it was the worst drive of my life.  I was absolutely exhausted and thankful I had taken Monday off from work to unpack and do laundry.  I was hoping to take a nap that day, but of course I didn't.  I took a couple breaks to read though.  

I think, at this point in the kids' lives, the longest road trip we will tackle is 4 hours.  When they get older, perhaps we'll try it again.  I remember taking lots of road trips when I was a kid and I remember them fondly.  Though most of them were in an RV, so we had room to sprawl out.  No different than being stuck inside on a rainy day at home, really.

See why I was blocking it out?

More Training

I had more training all last week.  I learned a lot for my job and I think it has made me more confident. This training was local, though it was still rough to plan out.  The training center is 40 minutes north.  Travis was a trooper and helped me with the kids all week.  He drove them south to Galveston before heading to work north of our house every morning.  Since my class started at 7:30, I was able to get back down there at the end of the day to pick them up right before they closed.  I feel really bad that the kids spent so much time at the daycare last week, but it was only for one week.  Well, I guess there was one day I wasn't able to pick up the kids on time.  Thankfully, my friend Linsey was able to get them for me.  She already has a big kid car seat in her car for her son and we leave Mila's car seat at daycare every day.  I felt bad asking her for that help last minute, but Linsey was totally cool with it.  It worked out that I got home right before Linsey got to the house.  

The training itself was pretty interesting.  It focused on chemical handling and disposal, various safety issues, First Aid and CPR.  I swear, CPR rules change every time I get re-certified.  They're either changing the number of compressions, number of breaths, or taking out giving breaths altogether.  Although it looks like they recommend doing that again. 

It was a big week for Mila.  Her second tooth broke through; right next to the other on the bottom front.  She was a little cranky, nothing extraordinary.  So different than Aiden.  She also has taken to sitting up on her own!  If she has to lean over to reach a toy, she usually topples over, so it's not 100%.  I feel like she is growing up so fast!

At this point in our lives, Travis and I have begun to lean towards not having any more children.  We aren't throwing out the idea entirely.  At any rate, if we do have another it won't be until Mila starts Kindergarten.  We plan to move to a different home before then.  That means we would have to store all this baby stuff  for five years and move it to a new house.  Meh.  Not worth it to me.  So now we are storing all the things Mila has outgrown (except for the clothes I've been giving to a friend) in bags marked "Garage Sale".  This will be the first garage sale we've done as adults.  I recall my parents having a few, but I was just a wee one with no responsibility.  Honestly, I find the idea a little daunting.  But it should be worth it.  It can't hurt to earn a little cash back on all these items!

These molars are killing me

The chitlin has been quite the handful lately. For the past several weeks he has been nothing but cranky. Lots and lots of crying. It was to the point that I was wondering if we were doing something wrong.

By the end of Christmas break, Aiden was just like this. I assumed that he was overwhelmed by so many people being in his personal space. I was starting to wonder if that was the deal again with Brenda staying at our house, but it didn't quite make sense to me. Brenda is only one person and she's not a in-your-face type of person.

Now I am convinced that Aiden's bad behavior and attitude can be attributed to teething! And croup.

He has been chewing on his fingers like crazy for the past week. I swear I checked his gums on Monday and nothing new was there. But today, when I was getting him out of the back seat for daycare, I noticed some new teeth poking through the gums! Two top molars (his first real molars to emerge) are working their way out. They aren't out all the way though, so there's still some more cranky attitude time ahead of us.

I know it would be horrible for him, but sometimes I just wish all his teeth would come out at the same time, like Kate's did. It would be a miserable couple of months, but then it would be over. Instead, we have to deal with an already independent, and therefore difficult at times, child who has been teething for over a year now.

He still has a gap on the bottom where his canines should go. IT NEVER ENDS.

As for the croup, he seems to be getting much better. The doctor said it usually lasts for 5 to 6 days. He started coughing Saturday night, so that means it should be over soon. We had a good morning yesterday, but the evening was horrific. Travis wondered aloud how I had dealt with him all day long when he was already frustrated after 15 minutes of being home. Thankfully, he wasn't like that the entire day.

I'm thinking I deserve a trip to the chiropractor this week...

Best Screamer in Class!

This past Sunday evening, Aiden and I went to watch Ariel, Travis and Robert play softball. They play in a league on a team for Ariel's work and it's a weekly thing. I used to enjoy going. I would sit outside, drink a beer and eat a pretzel while they played their one-hour game. Things just aren't the same with Aiden. I've actually decided that I'm going to stop going, unless I have a friend to go with. Otherwise it is entirely too stressful for me to enjoy any of it.

Aiden is a toddler who only learned to walk six months ago. It is this shiny, new thing that he is still perfecting. Which means there is no way to get him to just sit in one spot while we watch the game. Sometimes I can get him to stay in a certain area, but I still have to follow him around so I can catch him when he falls down the concrete stairs or cover his head when a rogue softball flies our way.

On top of this, I have to keep an eye on my purse and Aiden's diaper bag. That doesn't leave room for much game watching. This last trip was a doozie. We had FOUR balls hit within feet of where we were standing. Two were pop-ups from a game and two were from a team that was practicing throwing the ball back and forth. None of them hit us thankfully, but it was a close call each time.

Then, in the last five minutes of the game, Aiden was running and fell. He wasn't able to get his hands in front of himself in time to fully catch himself, so he whacked his forehead REALLY HARD on the concrete sidewalk. There was an audible thud and a delayed cry while he inhaled the maximum amount of air his lungs would allow before letting it out in a horrific scream. Ugh. It was heart wrenching.

There was no blood. That was good, but at first I couldn't tell where he had hit himself. Honestly, it wasn't until the next evening when he came home from daycare with a bruise blossomed on his forehead that I realized he'd hit his head and not his nose. I was stressed out from all the chasing and trying to get Aiden to eat the crappy food they serve there and keeping an eye on our stuff. I'm not going back again unless I have someone to help me. Or if it's a championship game.

Tuesday, Aiden came home from daycare with a goose egg where his forehead was bruised. Turns out, he fell down again and hit his forehead on the floor. I don't know if it was a really hard hit again, or if it swelled up easily because it was already damaged. Either way, it's a sad sight. Now every time he taps his forehead on something, severe sobbing ensues. This morning he was trying to fit through a door that wasn't open all the way and his forehead rubbed the door jamb. Just rubbing it resulted in a good cry. Poor guy.

The last week was pretty rough again with Aiden. The molars that had been trying to work their way through his gums finally broke all the way through. There were weeks with just the points of each molar coming out of his gums. Thankfully, there is no longer little patches of tissue in the middle of each tooth. YUCK. Since yesterday, he seems to be in a much better mood because of it.

His teachers did inform us yesterday that Aiden is the loudest kid in the class. He yells the loudest when they are outside and he cries the loudest when he is hurt or mad. He seems to have developed this horribly high-pitched keening. Gah. It's the worst when I'm holding him. Ahhh, parenthood!

Maah!

Ever since the time change, the sun has moved back directly in front of us for the drive into work every morning. That means Aiden SCREAMS until I get the sun visor up in front of him. I got lucky and it was cloudy a couple days this week, so I didn't have to swerve like a madman trying to one handedly unfold the visor and set it in place.

On Tuesday, during the drive in, we had the visor in place while Aiden read a book. That kept him entertained while his view of the road was obstructed. He was quietly reading, when he sweetly asks from behind his wall, "Momma? Momma?" Ugh, adorable.

He has been so great since his four molars broke through the gums. He still has his moments, but that is totally doable. I will take that over 24/7 angry cries ANY DAY. His molars are still pushing up, so there are times when he needs a little Ibuprofen to quiet the random outbursts of tears. He likes to play by himself again, which is wonderful. It makes preparing dinner much easier for Travis and I.

I have noticed lately that Aiden likes to ball up his blankets and cuddle up on the pile on his tummy. Tuesday night I talked with Travis about putting a pillow in bed with him. I'm pretty sure he's past the suffocating-in-his-sleep stage, but we are still worried about him using such an item to help propel himself out of his crib. I understand that IS a possibility. We went for it anyway. We found the flatest pillow we could and through it in one end of the crib. He LOVES it. He just curls up on his tummy, head on the pillow. I'm sure it's a nice change from his hard, flat mattress.

Just within the past month, I have noticed a few developmental increases in Aiden. He is suddenly able to hold a crayon like you normally hold a pencil to write, as opposed to the caveman grip he used to do. He also is able to scoop yogurt out of the cup and feed himself with a spoon. It's still a big mess, but he is getting so good at it. The only downfall with that is he absolutely refuses help from us (like when he gets to the hard-to-reach bottom bit).

Aiden has also started to copy words we say. I can point to something and repeat the name of the object, then sometimes he says it too. Of course, it's Aiden's version of the word, but it is still obviously an attempt to copy me. Just the other day he said "maah" for milk. That was huge for me because I had noticed that he has made no effort to SAY the word for anything we taught him the hand sign for. Milk is one of those. Now he makes the hand signal AND says "maah, maah".

He's growing into such a cute little guy! I love it!

Aiden: 14 Months and Growing

This kid is OUT OF CONTROL! I just mentioned to Alexa the other day that there are so many small steps he is making in his mental growth that are not really blogworthy. But! Maybe if I put a few of them together into one post, it will be worth reading.

First, I have really been meaning to get a photo of Aiden with Mr. Lion. This photo was taken during his nap on the ride to Louisiana this weekend. This stuffed animal is a gift from Rachel that is just the perfect size for Aiden to carry around and sleep with. When he gets tired, the first thing he does is search for Mr. Lion. Lately, he's been chewing on his face and mane, which leads me to wonder if those 1-year molars might be working their way out.

Here is a short list of words Aiden uses on a fairly regular basis. Although, they are all his form of the word. No perfect English just yet...

• Shoes
• Bye
• Light (as in the one on the ceiling)
• Momma/Dadda
• No (and the head shake to go with it)
• Yes (sounds like 'nine' though - weird)
• Callaway

When he's hungry, he does the hand sign for hungry. He likes to meow at the cats. And whenever he farts or poops, he waves his hand in front of his face and says pssshhew! Occasionally he'll copy a word I say, but he hasn't picked them all up in his daily usage so far.

Aiden has two books that have sounds and hand movements to follow along with and he is excellent at that. His favorite includes a bunch of animal sounds that he copies to the best of his ability. The other is a 'wiggle your fingers, touch your nose' type of book. He steadily amazes me with his consistent learning.

Pointing has also become a favorite game with our son. He points at everything and usually says "ooo" at the same time. I try to figure out what he's pointing at and relay the proper word to describe it. Although, sometimes I'm pretty sure it's just a distraction method he uses when we're trying to get him to do something he doesn't want. Like when I say, 'let's go change your diaper' and Aiden points behind me at something that must have my attention now. Ha!

This past Saturday, Aiden was ecstatic to find Travis at home when he woke up in the morning. I was holding Aiden and we walked into the bathroom to watch Daddy in his morning ritual (brushing teeth, cologne, hair, etc). Travis and I were crying from laughing so hard when Aiden copied his entire hair routine: splash water in hair, squirt gel in hands, smear gel over hands, run hands through hair. Aiden copied every step along the way.

What to Expect the Toddler Years told me to expect our toddler to start copying us soon. It was right.

There are a zillion more small things, but I won't bore you with hours of reading on my 14-month old. I just wanted to put it out there how much fun it is to raise a kid. Constant amazement.

Luke's ONEderland

Aiden got invitation to attend his friend Luke's first birthday party this past Saturday. Aside from a few teething-induced break downs, I think Aiden had a blast. Thankfully, Luke is getting bigger and better at defending himself from Aiden the Bully.

The party was at Luke's grandma's house in Galveston. She is an artist, so her house follows suit exquisitely. It is a warm, inviting home in a friendly neighborhood. Luke's grandma watches him during the week while his parents are at work, so the place is set up nicely for babies. He has his own "baby kennel" filled with toys, where he and Aiden spent the beginning of the party.

After a few bites of appetizers, we headed out to the yard with the babies in tow. I forgot to bring Aiden's swimming trunks, so he got a pair of Little Swimmers from Luke. The boys splashed around in the baby pool for a while. There was a moment where I could tell they longed to be one of the "big kids".


We had burgers and hot dogs for dinner, then gathered in the family room to watch Luke open his gifts. Of course, Aiden had to be a scene stealer and bully his way into Luke's new toys. Sheesh.


After singing Happy Birthday, Luke dug into his personal chocolate Mickey Mouse cake. I think he did a pretty good job of tearing into that, with a little help from Daddy. Of course, he had icing in his ears by the end of it, so it was straight to bath tub for little Luke-man!

We kept the evening short, so we could get home to have Aiden into bed close to on time. He has been so cranky lately, due to the teething, that we did not want to push our luck with a late night. THANKFULLY, that tooth broke through the gums Saturday morning. It's still pushing through, so he's had a few not-so-nice moments. It is amazing how much better he's getting though. Sometimes I forget that the teething monster is not our normal Aiden!

Happy Birthday Luke! (I'm a little early - his birthday is on Thursday.)

8 Months Old

New tricks:

• Aiden can wave. We're working on waving during the correct situation, as opposed to whenever it seems fun.
• He is an expert at going from sitting to laying on his stomach. Can't do the reverse just yet.
• He can put the spoon to his mouth with food on it. It's a slow process though, so a lot of that food ends up in his lap.
• He loves clapping.
• We are working on drinking from a sippy cup.
• We are also working on the pincer grasp.

A couple nights ago I let him go at it with a spoon and some pureed broccoli. Oh man was THAT a mess. He went straight from the high chair to the bath after that one. I was proud of him grasping the concept of using a tool to get food into his mouth though. He'll just need some time to hone the skill.

Drinking out of a sippy cup is also a slow moving task to learn. Sometimes he will drink from the sippy cup, but only if it is juice. He doesn't seem very impressed with water. He also will only drink from the sippy cup if it is upside-down. If it is right side up, he flinches away like he doesn't like it being in his face. Not a big deal except that it is harder to get juice into the mouthpiece when it is upside-down and the pressure-release hole drips on him the entire time. We'll figure it out. Eventually.

I'm stoked he has been working on his pincer grasp with CHEERIOS! I LOVE Cheerios. This is the first food I can fully share with Aiden. Anything else I give him has to be changed in some way to make it edible for a baby. I've been offering him Gerber cereal puffs, but they only have sweet flavors. Funny enough, that is a little bit of a turn off for Aiden. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of Cheerios as a replacement. I read it in a magazine and immediately rolled my eyes at myself.

A couple nights ago Aiden tried cheese bread. I read that he can have hard cheeses now and I found another article that recommended melting cheese on a slice of bread or bagel. The dilemma for me was should I cut it up in little bitty pieces? Or give it to him whole? I ended up cutting it into slices, so they were the same size as his biter biscuits. He seemed to like it and as a plus, he didn't choke!

Yesterday he was playing at his toy table. One of the stations is a book that has one flip page. When turned, the page initiates music to play. Aiden got SOOO annoyed with the book at that table when he couldn't get the "next page" to turn. =( Poor guy! He's just figuring things out, like books have multiple pages of turning delight, when BAM! Life throws him a curve ball and gives him a one page book. That is glued to the table. Ugh, the NERVE!

The Teething Monster

That's what I am living with - the Teething Monster. One second I have my sweet baby boy, the next I am dealing with tantrum city. A regular Jekyll and Hyde scenario. I am so glad that he has finally taken to the teething feeder. So far he has only accepted it with frozen pineapple inside. The next thing we're trying is frozen peaches.

Aiden definitely prefers salty over sweet. He LOVES veggies, but struggles with fruits. We tried giving him apple cinnamon cereal puffs and he would have nothing to do with them. Hoping it might be the flavor and not the puff itself that deterred him, I bought cheesy carrot flavored puffs. Turns out he loves them! He is definitely like his father in this regard. Travis will choose Ramen noodles over cake any day.

---

I am proud to report that I feel (almost) back to normal! After a year and two months of loaning my body to Aiden, I am finally my own person again. Throughout the pregnancy, I was careful about what I did and did not eat and drink. I took vitamins, ate my veggies, drank lots of water and avoided caffeine and alcohol. After I had Aiden, but while I was breastfeeding, I had to continue with the regimine with a few exceptions.

Once Aiden's feedings were spaced further apart, I started drinking caffeine again, but only immediately after he ate. That way the caffeine would be out of my system before his next feed. I also partook in an adult beverage every now and again, but not without consequences. I almost always had to pump after drinking, which is my ALL TIME LEAST FAVORITE THING EVER.

But now? Now I can have coffee whenever I want. Tired at 3pm? It's okay! Drink some coffee!! Tired at 5pm? It's okay! Drink some more coffee!! Also, I can have a beer or glass of wine with dinner now. Which is pure awesomeness. Aiden's feeds always seemed to fall right at dinner time, which meant water with dinner for Mommy. Nowadays, I'm all over that booze. ...JK... But seriously, it's nice to have my body back to myself. At least for now! ;)

What have I been up to lately?

I have been pondering this question recently and every time I think about it, I can never come up with an answer. Travis and I have not been on any trips, we haven't attended any large events or parties. I think this about sums it up:

I remember being little and feeling bad for my parents because they didn't get to hang out with their friends every day like I did. Little did I know, that work was a large part of my parents social life. Don't get me wrong, they had friends and we went to their houses occasionally on the weekends for dinner and cookouts. But they didn't get the daily climbing-trees-with-your-friends like Ariel and I did. Now I understand why.

The whole process of taking care of a family takes up ALL OF YOUR TIME. I usually get off work at 5pm. When I get home, I spend until 7:30 taking care of Aiden (feeding, baths, play time, etc), then I usually spend another hour after he's gone to bed taking care of the house (cleaning up dinner, laundry, etc), and THEN another thirty minutes taking care of myself (shower, brush teeth, etc). By the time it's all said and done, we sometimes have time to sit on the couch and watch a show, but usually I'm ready for bed by this point.

SO! Aside from the daily run around that is my life, I have been fighting a mad case of dry hands. Not sure what that's about since I am pretty sure that we life in the most humid place on earth. Travis applied for a weekend job at a couple places in hopes of making some extra cash to pay off the remainder of our hospital bills. We have both been making an effort to find ways to cut back on our monthly expenses (refinancing the cars, changing Internet plans, downgrading our satellite plan, etc).

On the weekends, I spend most of Saturday (while Travis is at work) doing odds and ends around the house and I always find time to take Aiden for a walk. Sundays, Travis and I do a couple things around the house, go grocery shopping and then either go for a walk or we go to the disk golf park.

Yesterday, a couple of our friends happened to be going to the disk golf course at the same time we were. They planned to have a BBQ afterward, so they invited us over. It was so nice to get out and do something different than normal. I really enjoyed the change of scenery.

For the past couple of weeks, Aiden has REALLY been battling with teething. I can SEE his bottom, front left incisor and it feels sharp, but the dang thing just will not break through! It's going to be the death of me, I'm sure of it. Aiden wakes up every morning between 3 and 5. If we are lucky, he goes right back to sleep after we put the pacifier in his mouth. If the cards are stacked against us, then we get to sit up with a cranky baby for 20-40 minutes after we've given him Tylenol and Orajel, waiting for him to calm down enough to go back to sleep. By then, there is usually only a few minutes left before my alarm is set to go off, so I just lay in bed for a minute before peeling myself off the mattress to start my zombie day.

I keep feeling OLD because I'm ready for bed every night at 8, but after laying it all out there, I'm not feeling so guilty about that anymore. Ugh, is it time for bed yet?

Throwing Fits

Aiden has GOT to be teething. Every day I keep waiting for a tooth to spring up and every day I am disappointed. I just feel like if the dang thing would come out, then maybe he could calm down for a day or two. He has been a cranky mess off and on for two weeks now. The most stressful part is his new ability to throw a fit. I'm talking about throwing his head back repeatedly and forcing out a cry. He does it every time I place him in his high chair and whenever his bottle is finished.

At first I was worried that he might still be hungry. But I would think after 7 ounces of milk, Aiden should be fairly satisfied. His eating has been hot and cold. One day he will finish an entire bowl of rice cereal, the next he will take one bite and then throw his head back screaming. When he cries after his bottle I have found that if I distract him for a minute or two, he will completely forget about his fit and begin playing with his toys.

He has also started biting everything. It's not a mean, get-back-at-you type of bite. It's more like a I've-got-an-itch-I-can't-scratch type of bite. He will vigorously attack toys - toys that don't even fit in his mouth, like his activity table. Who bites a table? I mean unless they have a shard of enamel trying to force it's way through the tender skin of their gums, right?

I keep getting anxious because I can't quite figure out what is wrong with him. Aiden has always been very easy to read. If it's not his diaper, then he is hungry or tired. Even then I usually know when he is hungry or tired because that happens like clockwork every four hours during the day. If it's not time for bed or a meal, then he is probably just bored with his toys and we do what Chrissy calls a Station Rotation. Problem solved. Or at least problem used to be solved. Lately, none of that helps. Usually he just wants a teething ring and for us to hold him.

I worry Aiden is getting spoiled, what with his fits and all this holding. I do not want to reward his anger with attention, but I do not want to limit these things if he is sick or hurting. He cannot speak to describe his anguish, so I just have his cries to decipher.

Enjoying coffee at the moment because I CAN

Guess who likes Biter Biscuits?! He's not crawling yet, so much as he is creeping, but I couldn't wait to give him something to gnaw on while Travis and I eat our dinner. His teeth/gums have been really been bothering him for the last few days. Check out this biscuit face...

I have officially stopped breastfeeding. My body is still adjusting, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I am super upset about how fast we are going through formula now. Although, the good news is Aiden has started to like rice cereal and he's eating food three times a day. That means his doodie is starting to look like adult-doodie. It cracks me up because now I know when he is dropping a deuce because he gets quiet and still, then the smell hits me. Because of this, we have decided to take him off of the rice starch formula. Good news here is the regular formula is $5 cheaper. And at one tub of formula a week, that's huge savings in a year!!


Travis and I have started a new ritual for our weekday evenings. We take turns making dinner every night and whoever is not cooking, feeds Aiden his bottle and gets him ready for bed. Then we all sit at the table together to eat dinner. Aiden gets a biter biscuit or a piece of frozen fruit in the teething feeder while we eat our meal, then we feed him a little bit of pureed food. He is still mad for green beans and we are trying to get him accustomed to fruit. It seems to be a little tart for him, so he has constant food chills. I laugh EVERY time. Never get tired of that.



Aiden is sitting up so well these days. He still cannot be trusted to sit by himself, but he has almost mastered the skill. I don't know what's wrong with me because I never mentioned this ability to the daycare. I guess I just assumed that they would figure it out. But last week when I was picking Aiden up from school, his teacher asked me if he had ever sat up at home before. Oops! Well, now they know and can work on that with him during the day too.


This weekend was AWESOME. I ended up not getting to sleep in until Sunday morning because Travis went out Friday night. I am thankful I got to do it though!! Travis and I ran some errands Saturday and did a little cleaning around the house. Then we had our friends Allison, Jerry and their daughter Elise over for dinner.


After dinner, we threw Pinocchio on the TV and plopped Elise down in Aiden's chair. When we bought it I was super excited that Aiden could use it as a rocking chair when he was a toddler (right now he uses it in the swing). Elise was a little nervous about leaning back in the rocking chair, so we just reclined the seat for her so she could enjoy the movie. Her favorite part was the Wish Upon A Star video in the bonus features. That girl is so smart it amazes me every time I see her. She will be three in June and can speak VERY clearly. Her vocabulary is insane, she can feed herself with a spoon and she is socially outgoing. That's the fun part for me because there is no warm-up period like there is with most kids.


We stayed up late drinking mimosas (leftover from New Year's) and chatting it up. Aiden was in bed, so we were able to devote our full attention to adult conversation. The best part is I was able to enjoy it all because I knew I would be able to sleep in the next morning. I woke up at 8am feeling completely refreshed. Travis was yelling at me to go back to bed because this was my first chance to sleep in. What?! I DID sleep in! TWO hours!! And if you consider that I usually get up at 5am during the week, that means I slept in THREE hours. Holy cow.






When I got up Aiden was just going down for his morning nap. Travis hopped back in bed and flipped on the telly to catch up on football while I worked on a celebrity crossword puzzle. We didn't get out of bed except to bring food back until Aiden woke up at 10am. Travis went over to the neighbor's house to watch the Cowboys play the Vikings (they lost - boo) and I vegged out more, this time on the couch.


I had to run into work for a moment at 4pm, while Travis took Aiden to the park to play disk golf. I drove straight there after work to walk with the guys for a bit. All in all it was a great weekend!

Teefers

I'm pretty sure Aiden is close to sprouting a tooth. He has been more cranky than we have ever known him to be and he does this new thing where he chews on his tongue. I've been giving him Tylenol when he seems especially annoyed. I still need to double check with his doctor, but I'm pretty sure we can't give him Orajel until he is 6 months old. That's only a couple of weeks away though!

We have mostly been relying on cold teething rings and cold, wet washcloths for him to chew on. Although the washcloth seems to gross him out a little. A texture thing maybe? Last night I heard this weird squeaking noise on the baby monitor right after we had put him down for the night. I went in to see what he was doing and found him CHEWING on his pacifier. The squeaking noise was his wet gums rubbing on the rubber pacifier (Rachel - it was reminiscent of you putting on nitrile gloves).

I can't wait for him to turn 6 months. I'm gonna get my hands on some of this! You can see the tongue-chewing thing here:

Aiden's Close Up from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

Baby-sized Recovery

Tuesday night, we had plans to have Jenna and her kids, Brian and Jandi, over for dinner. Actualy, we had plans for Jenna to bring us dinner. LOL! It's been so long since we have had a chance to spend any time with them, so we decided to go ahead with it despite Aiden's fever. Plus, the kids had not met him yet.

Aiden was sleeping when they arrived, so we caught up on what Jandi and Brian have been up to recently. Brian's football season just ended, which means they are about to have A LOT of free time on their hands. Jandi reminds me of myself at her age, carrying around two books at a time. My favorite place to go during the summer was the library. My dad usually kicked us out of the house during the day. The library was cool in the AC and they had the entire Nancy Drew series. Doesn't get any better than that, right?

Back to the present... We had to wake Aiden up for his dinner at 7:30pm, like always. Thankfully, he wasn't horribly cranky. Jandi and Brian were enthralled with Aiden. They couldn't wait until he was done with his bottle so they could try to make him laugh.

Jandi awaits her turn to hold the baby...

Finally!

I woke up at 2:30am and checked Aiden's temperature before immediately offering him Tylenol. His temp had dropped to 97.9F. Woot! I was glad to have all day Wednesday off for Veteran's Day so I could keep an eye on him all day.

Aiden had some fussy moments in the afternoon. I'm starting to wonder if his teething is really affecting him. I ran out and bought some teething rings just in case. He is drooling like crazy and his hands are constantly in his mouth. He's got this rash that comes and goes on his chin (from the drool) that is driving me crazy. I try to keep Vaseline on his chin all the time, but there is only so much they will do for him at the daycare. When it flares up, the doctor said I can use 1% hydrocorisone cream, but I haven't had to do that yet.

Taking the teething ring out for a test drive.