Top Ten of Week 10...

Early on when we brought you home waaaay back in the first week of your life I said the following odd and frighteningly curious thing in my sleep, as reported by your Mom: "And now for the Top Ten things about being a parent: Number 1: The Dingos!"

Okay, for the record, I don't want to feed you to the dingos, and I actually can quite easily list the top ten things about being your parent for each and every day!

But, for symmetry's sake, I will list the top ten things about week 10 of your life, as seen by me. And there won't be a dingo in sight. But there will be a puppy or two.

# 10. Mother's Day!

Sunday was your mother's FIRST mother's day! How cool is that?

You and I printed out a this picture of you and her and put it in a very nice frame that a little birdy told me that she really liked. And it was true! She really liked it!We also got her something pretty cool: Remember that sand dollar necklace I was telling you about? Well, we took the necklace back to our jeweler friends Gabriel and Becky and had an amethyst, your birth stone placed in the sand dollar pendant!

(The cool thing is that, as with a natural sand dollar, there are 5 holes in it...spaces for five stones maybe? or three stones plus a garnet and an opal? Who knows!)

But, the necklace was finally ready yesterday, so we picked it up, and it looks very pretty!

Mother's Day was a lot of fun: we celebrated with your Mommy, your Mimi, your Nanneh and your Great Grandma! Unfortunately, we were having so much fun that we didn't think to take very many pictures, so you'll have to use your imagination. But, it was a lot of fun for you, I think: all the mommies and grandmommies and great grandmommies, plus Aunt Sham and Great Aunt Nessa, were fawning over you all day long!


#9. S-M-R-T!

You are getting to quite a little clever little boy. This week we've seen some major accomplishments in the world of grasping, as seen below!
And you're kicking your little legs like crazy too! Your mommy was telling me that it's a sign of development that you're not just kicking both your legs at the same time anymore...you're starting to do the bicycle: kicking your legs alternatively.

This makes it quite difficult to be one of your socks, as evidenced below:

#8. Your smiling face!

Your smiles and laughs just keep getting better and better.
#7. Mimicking!

To date you are getting very reliably good at sticking your tongue out at your mother and me when we stick our tongues out at you! This is called mimicking, and also a sign of a very smart 10 week old! (either that or you are part lizard!)

Good news too: by the pointiness and length of your tongue, I think you inherited my tongue!
7. Adorable yawns that lead to...
6. Adorable naps with Toby!

5. or Adorable Naps with Daddy!



4. or LONG night's sleep in your crib!

I know there are no pictures of it, but that's because we're not crazy enough to try to take pictures of you while you're sleeping in your crib! But, let's just say that week 10 was a very successful week for you sleeping in your big boy crib for extended periods of time.

For most of the week you actually slept upwards of 8 hours and only woke up once in the night for milk. Usually we'd feed you around 10 and you'd sleep til 5, or 5:30.


This is incredible! Please, please, please keep it up!

2. Long walks around the neighborhood

Part of being a big boy for you has been your acclimation to the car seat. At first, you hated that thing. But over the last couple of weeks, we've noted that you really have take a liking to it. You can sleep in that thing for long after we've gotten out of the car. And we don't need a bilbo to make it happen either!

(picture taken by your Godmother!)

But, the best part about you being able to sleep in the car seat besides no panic-ridden car rides and ability to eat a meal in a restaurant without having to take you out too often is this:

We can take long walks around the neighborhood again! We just plop you down in your car seat, plop your car seat in the stroller, saddle up the dogs and take long walks. We've done this twice now and you've seemed to enjoy them both! You smile at the sky and look at all the trees and eventually, normally by the time we take the right off our street, you zonk out and sleep the rest of the way.

We love walks, and so do Toby and Preston and, believe me, they need them...they were both getting a little soft around the middle!
#1. Facing Outward!

We've really noticed one huge big mega change this week: you no longer prefer to be held over our shoulders: you want to see the world and be held facing outward! Sometimes you fall asleep in this position, but mostly, you seem to like to take it all in.



You're an attentive little guy, and as such, my shoulder isn't really the most interesting thing you like to see!


So you face outward, and we'll continue to look upward and forward to all the fun that week 11 will (and has already started) to bring!

Week 9: A Week in Pictures

Your friend Brooks' dad has this to say about how quickly all this baby stuff seems to go by: "the days are long, the weeks are short."

It's so true! I look back on the 9th week of your life and it felt like it zipped by, though it was filled with many firsts, set backs, cutenesses and victories!

On Saturday morning - aka party day- you put on your finest duds. But, we soon realized that these khaki shorts were already too small on you, and you hadn't even worn them yet! They were marked 'premie' and were a hand-me-down from somewhere. But you rocked them for the moment you wore them!

So it's not that you were all dressed up with nowhere to go. You were dressed up AND we had somewhere to go. First party of the day: you, me and your Mom went to your Auntie M's and Uncle Jeremy's Wedding Shower up at Blue Mesa Grill (which just so happens to be where your Uncle Jeremy and my first jobs were in High School). You had a lot of fun. I had a lot of food. You chilled in your car seat for a while, but then you had to get out, so I Moby wrapped you and that's where you chilled for the rest of the shower...and for my 3 trips to the buffet!

Then, after a brief trip home and some planning with Nanneh for the main event later on (see below), we went deep into Richardson to help your friend Brooks celebrate his first birthday! You and I creeped into one of Brooks' mommy's photographs and put on our best party faces. I hope that at your one year party you have at least half as much fun as Brooks did at his!

Then it was time for the main event. Since Auntie M's sister was in town, that weekend was jam packed with Shields wedding stuff. Saturday evening was Michelle's bachelorette party, Jeremy's bachelor party and...your first sleep over! You, Preston and Toby spent the night at your Nanneh's and Baba's house and you did really well. In fact, your Mom and I were probably more stressed about it then you were. You had a blast hanging out with them...but, I must say, for only weighing about 11 pounds, you have quite the set of acoutrements that go with you if you need to spend the night somewhere: a freezer pack of frozen milk, bottles, bottle sanitizer, pack and play with bassinet, clothes, pajamas (back ups on both (and back ups on those)), the vibrating blue chair , diapers, butt cream, wipes, burp cloths and blankets! You'd almost need a sherpa to help get all that stuff over to Nanneh's house. But you've got a Daddy, so no Sherpa needed!

You did really well at Nanneh's and your Mom and I came to get you the next morning. Then we went to stroll around the Cottonwood art Festival with Aunt Sham and Scott. You liked art..or at least the bright colors. But it was hot as blue-blazes out there, and holding while it's hot means that daddy sweated through his shirt. This summer's going to be a hot one. I may start wearing mesh. Or just keep a clean shirt in your diaper bag.

But, seems that taknig you out of your element, well, took you out of your element. Sunday night was pretty much a disaster. We thought we were smart and didn't re-set up the bassinet/pack-n-play, in which you've been sleeping (right by our bed) for a long time. You'd been sleeping so well in the cradle that we didn't even want to tempt ourselves by setting the pack-n-play back up. But Sunday night was kinda miserable for everyone. You were fussy and really anti-being-horizontal. You would sleep perfectly well on someone's shoulder...but lay you down and you started screaming like crazy! So, no one got much sleep on Sunday.

But, day by day you got better and better, and after every storm there is a rainbow.

See, after a storm Monday night, a real rainbow actually came out (and a metaphorical one).

We bathed you (which you were happy with):And dried you (which you also seemed happy with (and you also grabbed my beard):

And you slept pretty well! It took a few days to get your rhthym back, but by the end of the week, you performed an amazing sleeping accomplishment!

But first, I need to tell you about a downer. You seemed to be in pain a lot this week. You were grabbing for your ears and slobbering everywhere and chewing on my shoulder and pretty much uncomfortable for a good part of the time. At first we were worried it was an ear infection (it wasn't) or a reaction to the infant tylenol we gave you last thursday (it wasn't). It turns out that you're exhibiting all the signs of teething! This process can begin months before you even pop your first tooth, so hang in there buddy, it's happening. Here's the email your Mom sent me when she made the discovery:

"Here are some symptoms of teething :

• Drooling
• Chin or face rash
• a little cough
• biting (his fist or our arm)
• Pain
• irritability
• refusal to feed (crying at the boob, which he did this morning!)
• Diarrhea (I don't know the difference.)
• lo-grade fever
• wakefulness!!!!
• Ear pulling
• cheek rubbing
• Gum hematoma (i haven't noticed this)"

So, in sum, you're teething. And if that list of symptoms is indicative, then I may be teething too, because I've been exhibiting quite a few of those as well.

Despite the teething, you have a lot to smile about still. In fact, you smile at me! Regularly and cutely! The morning is your favorite time of day and the best time to get some good smiles rocking. Yesterday when I was working from home, I was able to capture a whole series of your incredible smile! You've also perfected what we call "moon-eyes," when your bottom eyelid goes straight and the top one arches over. It's really adorable. Heart-meltingly adorable.

You even brought those cute smiles to Daddy's office on Wednesday for lunch! You and your Mom surprised me with a lunch visit. It was so nice to see both of you...and made those lonely days at sea a little shorter!

But, of course, the biggest accomplishment of week 9 happened last night: you spent the night in your big boy crib! All by your self!

I put you to bed about 10:00 and held your hand and the pacifier and sang to you until you fell asleep at 10:20. And you slept in the crib until 3:30! That's awesome! 5 hours!

Then your Mom fed you and you slept in the crib from 4:15 to about 6:30!

And then you leaked out your diaper all over the crib...

but don't worry, we have a washing machine and have already washed all the crib stuff to try to recreate this amazing event again tonight.

You can't outsmart us that easily, little buddy. After all, we've been parents for a whole 9 weeks!

First Shots and Fun at the Doc

Yesterday was your official 2 month check up with the Doctor.

There was a little pain involved (like the three immunizations you got), but the bigger pain in the butt was playing the waiting game. That's the biggest hassle about the doctor's office, waiting, waiting and waiting.

But, waiting can be a lot of fun: all you need is a camera and a really cute baby in a stinkin' cute mood. Luckily, your Mom and I had both!

You were all smiles and giggles at the doctor's office, as if you had no idea what was about to happen (which you didn't!).

When we first arrived though, we got straight to the good parts of the visit: checking your weight and height.

To put this in perspective, remember that you were born on February 27 and weighed 7 lbs, 1 ounce. Then you lost a bunch of weight and then beefed back up, much to everyone's delight.

Then, on March 11, 2010- when you were about 2.5 weeks old- you were 7 lbs, 11 ounces.

And then, yesterday, we got you nekkid, plopped you and your smiling face down on the baby scale and...

and..

Well, before I spill the beans, let me just tell you that we knew you had grown...we can just tell by the clothes that no longer fit you and the way you fill up your blue chair now. But, if I had to guess, which I did, I would have said that you weighed in at 10 lbs.

But, you surprised everyone by weighing in at 11 lbs and 3.5 ounces! Way to go!

And you grew height wise too! After starting out at 20 inches tall on your birthday, yesterday you were 22.75 inches tall!

Your height and weight put you squarely in the 50th percentile for height AND weight. As far as those two categories go, you are completely average.

But only in those two categories. I mean, could a regular smegular average baby have THIS much fun while waiting in the doc office for a series of increasingly painful shots?

You even got to lay down on the exam table and have some fun there too, chomping away on your pacifier (as long as we held it in your mouth.) I even managed to snap a picture of your eyes, which were looking mighty blue yesterday!

But the good times couldn't last forever. Finally the nurse came back in and it was time for your shots. Let me just say, that it looked pretty painful. She had to give you three shots into the muscle in your legs. Both legs got pricked...and each time the nurse thought it was good idea to tell us "This one is going to hurt him... This one is going to hurt him... This one is really going to hurt him."

And it did hurt you. You screamed your little head off, but I was right there holding your hands and looking at your uvula and trying to soothe you.

But, as soon as she was done, you got three Snoopy band-aids and I picked you up and...you stopped crying! And now you're on your way to being immune from some nasty diseases like Polio and Measles!

Your mommy was smart and waited to feed you until after the shots and you happily ate and then immediately crashed out on her shoulder.

And you stayed crashed out for a good long while. You slept as we put you in your car seat, slept as we drove to the Diagnostic place, slept as we waited for your X-ray, slept as your Mom and I got to put on led shields, woke up and screamed a little while they X-rayed your spine (to make sure everything was normal (because you had some curious-looking butt dimples), and then fell asleep in our arms immediately afterwards.

And then, low and behold, you slept in your car seat from about 4 o'clock until about 9 o'clock (except for when you woke up during dinner in a bit of pain and we gave you some baby Tylenol).Your Mom summed it up thusly: "Aidan, you had a big day today!"

A really big day for an increasingly big boy!

2 Months Old!

Yesterday you turned two months young, and we had a lovely day/evening with you! We played, and talked to you, sang songs and you slept... a lot!

Your mom fed you at 5:30 pm and- though you were awake for some of this time- you didn't want food again until 10:00pm!

And then you slept- in your cradle, alone!- from 10:30 pm to 2:00 am!

Way to go champ! You sure are maturing fast for a little 2 month old!

Don't get me wrong, you were still fussy a bit, and cried some too, and didn't want to not be held for a little bit. But, for the most part, WOW! We are so proud of you!

I can't believe that 2 months have passed since you entered the world and changed your Mom's and my life. 2 months is a long time!

I really dislike that I have to be away from you while I'm at work, but it makes it extra sweet when I get to come home and cuddle with you and play with you and feed you in the evenings (and early mornings).

Being away from you and your Mom while I'm at work is made a little easier with phone calls (where I get to talk to your Mom and hear you talking to her in the background...but sometimes your talking is actually crying or screaming, and I can't hear your mom...or much of anything for the rest of the day out of that ear).

And other days, being away from you guys while at work is even easier because your Mommy sends me pictures of you!

Check out the series she sent today, of my little boy, which I will call:

"Aidan, 2 months, 2 sneezes."

Your mom's caption may have been more to the point: "Look how cute he is!"

But, you were sneezing in a few of these pictures..can you guess which ones?

In other news, your Mother reports that you have started mimicking her. She'll stick her tongue out at you and...eventually...during moments of extreme concentration, you'll stick your tongue out back at her! I'm going to try this activity tonight!

Please review the pictures again to see how happy you were today...because I fear tomorrow you might not be too happy with us.

Tomorrow you get your first innoculation shots with the Doctor...