2008 - so far

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Mango!

I bought a bag of frozen mango chunks yesterday and Aiden just tried them. He had banana mango mash for breakfast and made lots of yum yum sounds.

Yucky

Aiden just grabbed my hair and put it in his mouth. He got a strong "yucky" face, let go and moved on to more tasty items like the pillow and his own hand.

The Pants

Breaking News: Teeth

Okay, tooth. Actually the VERY beginning of a tooth. I just felt the tiniest little sharp point where his right bottom tooth will be.

Mama Made These!

I've been getting into the culture of chic cloth diapers but can't stomach paying $35 for some of the more popular models. I own a sewing machine and I know how to read so I thought I'd try making one.

I came across a pattern for flannel pocket diapers requiring one pin to close. Rita's Rump Pockets are EASY to make and turn out trim, soft and cute. The soaker pattern uses an old wool sweater. I bought the sweater for about $5 at Goodwill and I think I'll be able to make four soakers out of it...not bad! I'm also working on a pair of wool longies (cargo pants style) using the sleeves of the sweater...I need to add the elastic and the cargo pocket. I also need to hem the pants. As with any sewing project, I learned a few things about each pattern and the next models will be much improved.

Right now Aiden is field testing the diaper and soaker. He had prunes and sweet potatoes for breakfast. I'll let you infer what I mean by "field testing".

Friday Extravaganza

The Passing of the Keys
This morning we noticed Aiden passing an object from one hand to the other. He was just sitting in his bumbo playing with the plastic keys (and working on a dirty diaper). He dropped them on his right, bent over to pick them up, passed them to his left hand and passed them back to his right. Dr. Ally told us to expect this at his 4 month appointment and we'd been waiting.

Bad to the Bone
We went to Kid to Kid the other day and I found three items for $11! Aiden scored two new pairs of Baby Gap pajamas and a seersucker romper. The jammies had a "spring 2008" tag inside meaning they're pretty dang new, they retail for about $20 each so I was excited. Our favorite new item is the skull suit you see on the left.

Jumping for Joy
Mr. Man is quite mobile. Have I already mentioned this? He doesn't crawl but he does roll and he moves fast. Because of this we've had to find ways to contain him a bit. A jumperoo has been the answer; we found it on craigslist for $10 and Aiden loves it. There's no way to describe how much he loves it so I will take a video next time he uses it.

Sleeping Arrangements
Mr. Man is quite mobile. We put him to bed on his back but he's always in a different position in 5 seconds or less. Frequently we find him sleeping the short way in his crib. Last night we got a good picture to illustrate this.

Granana!
Aiden's Great Grandmother Sue (Granana rhymes with banana) and Great Aunt Liz are coming for a visit in September. Adam and I have tickets to see Jim Gaffigan (he's a comedian) so Sue and Liz will be supervising Mr. Man in our absence. We'll also be doing other things during their visit but I'm fairly certain this particular weekend was chosen because they'll get some solo time with Aiden.

The Road Trip
You may remember we drove to McCall the other day. By the time we got home Aiden had spent a good chunk of the day in his car seat and was anxious to get out. He started rolling around like a crazy man the moment we took him out and he played with intensity for a good 30 minutes. We took a few videos; I will edit and post them a little later.

Spur of the moment

We are driving to mccall right now. Adam starts his new job on monday so we thought it would be fun to

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Here's a pic of Aiden sleeping in his crib. You'll notice his foot hanging out.

Aiden is still doing pretty well with sleeping. We need to get his play yard set up so he can start practicing for taking naps at Lorna's house. I'm hoping to get that up in the next few days.

Laundry!

Our dryer has been poorly vented and not drying well since we bought this place (bad, I know). Today we cleared a huge blockage of lint and now it actually dries things the first time through. We do a lot of laundry so it's nice to have the dryer finally working properly!

Aiden Loves Brutus

Knock on Wood

Aiden has done VERY well with naps today. I've rocked him a little with the pacifier in his mouth, a teething ring in his hand and a blankie. I put him down in a good mood and he cried the TINIEST bit...more of a single wail followed by a few whimpers. Last time he slept about 90 minutes, I think he'll do the same this time. It's probably a coincidence but we just changed his sleeping music from a lullaby CD to the local NPR Classical Music station (90.3 FM in Boise). Coincidence or not, I won't be changing the music again anytime soon. It's my new lucky station.

I like this new toy

Cell phone pictures

Aiden sleeping in a crowded restaurant in Seattle.

Test

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Home Again

We got back from Seattle last night. We were there for Adam's cousin's wedding. Aiden was a good traveling companion and a big hit with the family. He had a little trouble sleeping in the hotel but we figured it out and he got nearly enough sleep.

We got home yesterday at 3pm. By 6pm he was sleeping soundly in his crib! We heard a few peeps from him during the night but it wasn't as bad as we expected. We were just sure he wouldn't sleep in his crib after a weekend of sleeping on shoulders and drifting off to sleep while nursing.

Today we are going out to the school to look for the sunglass clips that go with my spare glasses, I think they're in my desk drawer. I lost my prescription sunglasses in Seattle and I absolutely cannot live without shades in Boise. I hope I find them but I really hope someone finds my sunglasses as the clips are pretty dorky.

I will post pictures of our trip when I have a chance.

Weekend Fun

Today we went for a picnic at a park her in Boise. We found a nice shady spot to enjoy our lunch and then the sprinklers started. We quickly moved ourselves to a sprinkler free sunny spot. We covered Aiden in sunscreen and put up an umbrella for shade. We all had a lot of fun.

Also today Aiden got a big scratch on his foot. We aren't sure how it happened, we think it may have happened in the exersaucer. We did finally get to use the pirate bandages I bought for Adam's stocking a few years back. Aiden looks like quite a tough guy with a big skull bandage on his right foot.

Right now Aiden is playing on the floor with Adam. He's rolling around and around and around, wearing himself out for a nap. Every day he gets more and more interested in playing. I think we'll have one active little boy on our hands.

$10 Outfit

Today it was 106 degrees so we went for a walk at the mall. We stopped in at the Disney Store to look at toys and stumbled upon a huge sale. I saw this pair of baby overalls and they were on sale for $7.50! The matching hat was $3.00. We bought the outfit and Aiden will wear it as soon as it comes out of the wash.

Now I just wish we would have bought one for next summer!

Sleep Training

Aiden started waking up in the middle of the night last week. He had been sleeping through the night for months so this was quite a change for us. I discussed it with Dr. Ally on Tuesday and she suggested we let him cry and really focus on teaching him self soothing. She assured me that Aiden can go 12 hours without eating at night. The last two nights have been pretty calm. We braced ourselves to let him cry for 20 minutes or more but he hasn't really woken up at all. I think it may be due to the fact that he's had good naps the last few days and we've insisted upon the naps even when he thinks he'd rather have us around to play. There's less crying at every nap/bedtime so that's a good sign.

Allergy Update

Dr. Ally thinks Aiden's rash was due to the heat and not related to the avocado. She told me an allergic reaction to food would have appeared as welts or eczema. He just ate some more avocado bits with the safe feeder.

Weigh In

We're just back from Dr. Ally's office. Aiden was pretty cranky there because this is his usual nap time (my bad for scheduling it at this time) but Dr. Ally said everything looks great. His newest stats are as follows:

weight - 15 lbs 10 oz
height - 25.5 in
head circumference 43 cm

Food Allergy or Heat Rash?

I think Aiden might be allergic to avocado. He ended up with a little red pinprick rash on his arms and legs. I also think it could have been a heat rash though so I'll ask Dr. Ally what she thinks when we see her today.

Right now Aiden is playing in his exersaucer. He LOVES that thing. His favorite toys are the animal noise buttons and the slot machine. The saucer has a little book on it with a picture of an animal on each page. Aiden is always frustrated with the book though; he starts screaming and crying every time he tries playing with it.