Month 4 week! Daddy and Aidan's day of fun!

Through some clever finagling, I managed to swap my telecommuting day from Thursday to Friday, since today (Friday) was a half-work day (due to Independence Day weekend), I could work from home til noon, and be free to be with you 100% just in time for your Mommy to go to work!

And the day started off with a bang. I was upstairs working when I hear your Mom whisper-yell (a skill all parents need to learn s they can yell at their spouse and get their attention without waking the baby)...she told me to peak into the nursery...and this is what I saw:

Your Mom saw it too...that shouldn't be visible above the crib rail, should it?

No way!
You're on your tummy!

This was my first morning to see the evidence of you doing what you've secretly been doing all week in bed! You were sleeping on your tummy (and blending in quite well to the crib sheets too...we've got to stop dressing you in baby camouflage)!

Video of the son rise.

I was amazed with you, but then again I'm pretty amazed that I was amazed, because we've been super amazed with how grown up you're becoming all week!

Last night as I was reading you your bedtime stories, you reached out and were grabbing the book! Holding on to it...

The other day we were bathing you and you grabbed on to the bath toy and just held on to it!
Even you look amazed at that!


And Daddy and Aidan day proved to be no less amazing! Today as we were playing tummy time the second I put you down on your back, you rolled immediately over to your tummy and stayed there for a long time, just looking around, scooting in a circle and watching your dogs play (or laughed at them for looking so forlorn).


Becoming a dad makes people overly sentimental...and we can't help it. This morning, I just lay down next to you on your multi-colored play mat and was talking to you, playing with you and having a really good staring contest with you. You smiled and laughed and looked confused and farted. You went through just about all your awesome faces. And then iTunes played a mean trick on me (about as mean as playing a "cotton: the fabric of our lives" commercial in front of a menopausal woman.) ITunes played the song that Ben Folds wrote for his son, which goes like this:



And while the song was playing you just stared at me...looked deep into my eyes. And I sang to you. And by the time I was singing the second round of "Everybody knows, it hurts to grow up. And everybody does. So weird to be back here. And let me tell you what, the years go on and we're still fighting it..." ...and then the part where he says "you'll try and try, and then one day you'll fly away from here." I started seeing you growing up before my eyes...growing a head of hair, falling asleep at a carnival and me fireman carrying you home, you leaving for college (Go TUFTS (if we can afford it), and I started tearing up. Twice in one week this happened to me. Stupid Toy Story 3 made me do the same thing when Andy was leaving for college, and now here I was welling up. But, college is not for 17 years and 6 months, so let's make the most of every minute we have together.

So, it turns out your old man is kind of a softy. Don't tell anyone. Okay, fine, tell whoever you want! I ain't ashamed!

I dried my single tear, you farted again and drooled all over the place and we decided to go downstairs so I could feed you. You got pissed at me and screamed at the top of your lungs. Thank to an insider tip, I figured out that you were telling me you needed to be burped, so we walked around and I patted and rubbed your back for about 20 minutes until--- burp! -- a teeny tiny burp. Was that it? Perhaps! So I took you downstairs, and you downed your entire bottle in one go! Amazing!

While you sat in your new green chair (thanks Uncle Taff and Aunt April!), you were playing with "Green Man" (also known as the notorious Crinkle Frog!), and you were holding on to him by his handle. Yes, actually holding on tight! I picked you up and you picked Green Man up! You held on to him for a good long time.

Then you napped like a pro...from 2:30 til 5:00!

During dinner, you were having a conversation with your Mommy and me...we would ask you questions and you'd reply (of course it was all gobbles and garbles and jibber jabber baby flabber fun stuff). Your Mom said, "I have a feeling you're gonna be a talker, just like your Daddy!"

To which I replied, "That Aidan...he always has to have the last word!"

And then your Mom added, " Like you." Totally disproving her point, since she, in fact, had the last word.

I even tried my hand at bathing you for the first time tonight, in honor of Daddy/Aidan day, even though your Mom was here. Normally I'm towel boy/dinner man, so while your Mom bathes you, I fiddle around with dinner and then when it's time to get out of the tub, I swoop in and catch you with the towel. But tonight, we switched it up. Your Mom and I cooked dinner together, ate (at which we had the aforementioned conversation), and then I got to bathe you! I did a pretty good job, I must say. You were shining like new.

And I was beaming. We put you in pajamas, read you a story, then picked you up to put you in bed and, while your Mom was holding you, the lullaby was interrupted.

You had to amaze us once more before bedtime: you threw up all over your Mommy's arm and your shoulder. I was on clean up duty, and your Mom asked me to check the floor, and I didn't see anything there.

The lullabies continued...and I looked down and noticed two new white spots on Preston's back, where he didn't have any white spots before. Good aim son! Now that's amazing!

To finish off this amazing day, your Mom and I sang you "The Rainbow Connection," and then a riveting Beatles medley consisting of "Golden Slumbers," what we could remember of "Carry that Weight" and "The End."

...and in the end
the love you take
is equal to the love
you make.

Wise words. Today I felt the love; and even though I feel the love every day since day one when I first saw you and you held my hand, this was extra special because it was Daddy and Aidan's day all by ourselves (unless you count the dogs...which, apparently, you did...because you puked right on one of them).

And thus wraps up the week marking your 4th month on the planet! Happy monthi-versary week, Aidan!

I can't believe how much you've grown in just one month.

Here you are at 3 months:

And here you are at 4 months old (on the dot!)

Let's see that again. 3 months: 4 months!
I know as the weeks go on, you will only get more amazing! I love you, son.

Month 4- Roll Over Minutes...and talking. A Video Spectacular!

On June 19th you started showing signs of wanting to roll over from your back to your tummy. When I went to your crib in the morning, you were on your side! Around the same time, your Mom started finding you on your tummy in your crib, so you've been rolling over in your sleep.

We captured the magic of you rolling to your side on the 19th:

Through the two and half weeks since that 19th, you've gotten better and better at rolling over from back to tummy! Your Mom called me two days ago at work and let me know that you'd done it before her very eyes! We are so proud of you!

Your Mom was able to capture this video on June 29th of you rolling over like a big boy!

But, of course, you're still learning! Here's another video of you rolling over from your 4 month Birthday! It's actually exceedingly cute. There's even a hat involved.

And, as I think I told you before, nearing the end of your third month here on earth, you started making some really funny noises: high pitched squeals, cooing, garbbling, aghas, coughs and the like. These are significant because they're not cries at all. Granted, sometimes they turn into cries, but for the most part, they remain as sort of your own primitive language. You gabble in the morning before we come to get you and sometimes even talk yourself to sleep. You cough when you want our attention and you jibber jabber to us while you're playing. You got a little more interested in the camera whenever I tried to film this phenomenon, but I think we captured a bit of your silly noises...and a lot of my silly noises made trying to coax a silly noise out of you!

A Year Already!

I know old news is a bit boring, but this is the one year anniversary of some of the best news I've ever gotten!

I can't believe it's been a year already!

4 Months Old and Time for the Tummy?

Over the past couple of weeks (ever since Father's Day), you've been trying and trying to roll over from your back to your tummy. I took video that I need to show you still... but it seems now we'll have something to compare those early rolls to.

This morning your Mom found you sleeping in your crib...on your TUMMMY!

We didn't put you like this, so clearly you had to do it yourself!

You rolled over from back to tummy all by yourself!

But, if a tree falls in the forest and no one's there to hear it, does it make any noise?

Wrong question: if a baby rolls over in the night and no one's there to see it, does it still count?

Well, there's no real need to consider this question anyway: During tummy time today, your Mom put you down on your back and you just started rolling over all by yourself... you rolled over from back to tummy to back to tummy all by yourself! And your Mom saw it ! And then videoed it!

I feel this way every day I'm at the office, but today especially, I can't wait to get home and see you and your awesome rolling over!

You greeted me with such a HUGE smile this morning before I left for work. Now I know why! You taught yourself something new!

4 Months Old- Swimming!

You turned 4 months old today. We can't believe how lucky we are to have such a sweet little 4 month old baby. I can't believe how fast it's gone!

And it's been a pretty monumental weekend already! You've 'found your voice,' so to speak! Making non-crying noises all the time...just a chatting and gurgling and squeaking and grunting and coughing away. (The coughing isn't because you're sick...it's a vocalization that you just use sometimes!)

You even mimicked me, blowing raspberries. You just smiled and smiled when you figured out how to do it!

To celebrate your birth-iversary (and because it's summer in Dallas), we took you to Uncle Jeremy's and Auntie M's apartments to go swimming!

Again, you didn't really LOVE swimming, but you certainly didn't hate it. You just kind of liked it!

And, your Godmother, Aunt Kari, was there with her excellent photographic eye to capture the swimming fun and all the post swimming cuteness!

They are just fabulous pictures of you that totally capture your burgeoning personality!

Happy 4 month birthday, beautiful boy!

Father's Day and Rolling over!

This week of your life (and yes, unfortunately, I've lost count of the weeks!) started with a bang. On Saturday morning I went into your nursery and saw you happily chatting up the ceiling and smiling and then...you rolled from your back to your side! I was amazed! I called your Mom in to come take a look at it!

We practiced this skill some more during tummy time during the day and again later that night at Uncle Jerkface and Auntie M's...but you just couldn't get the weight to tip right and take you the next step in rolling over.

But you really seemed to be enjoying rolling from your back to your side!

The next morning was Father's Day! And we had your Baba and Pops (and everyone else) over to celebrate being a father.

It was extra special because it was my First Father's Day and I got to celebrate it with MY dad and father-in-law...and my son! We fathers enjoyed a major major breakfast spread and took lots of pictures of us enjoying the day.



We got the Grandpas some cool pictures for Father's Day.

Here are the two pictures we printed out for Baba (can you guess who Baba is holding?):

And here are 3 we printed out for Pops! Do you know who Pops is holding in the pictures? Do you know who the man holding me in the first picture is? That's MY grandpa (Pops' Dad!)




After the Granddads left, you and I were able to enjoy some good Daddy and Me time. First you napped:

And then, later in the day, when your Mommy went to the market to pick up Daddy's special sushi dinner, you and I went swimming in the blow up pool and had a great old time!

Then, your old Man had a killer idea. We've been told that the more naked a baby is the more free he'll feel. And I wanted you to feel super free to roll over all by yourself. So after swimming, you got super naked and we did some naked tummy time outside:There were even a few waterworks, which is to be expected when a little boy is neked!

But you were content to just suck on your hands, make cute faces and look at the clouds.

But then I saw a mosquito and we had to move the naked tummy time party indoors, where we would really try to get you to roll over! You didn't quite roll over all by yourself, but you got exceptionally close!

And you were really enjoying yourself despite not rolling over!


You even tried to recreate my world famous pose.

Aidan:
Daddy (in April 1982):
I think you got your Mommy's tushy!

Then Mommy came home with the sushi (which kind of looks like it would sound or taste like tushy, but it doesn't), and we took a couple of family pictures together!


But, clearly, you were tired after a long, long day and our first Father's Day came to a close...for you at least. Your Mom and I stayed up for at least a few more hours.

It was a great First Father's Day! Your Mommy printed me this picture! But, I didn't need a present at all, really, because (as Sonny and Cher said), I've got you, babe!! (and I've got your Mom too!) (and sushi!)