Gathers no moss

Aidan rolled over yesterday! It is the start of a new era. The era of the mobile baby. He can't really get around much yet, but I know that one day I'll turn my back and he'll be across the room. I've got to be on my guard from now on!!
Aidan is crying, so more later.

Dreams

During the first few sleep-deprived weeks after Aidan was born I would often startle awake thinking that I was still holding Aidan and had forgotten to put him down before I fell asleep. That never actually happened, thank goodness, but I've heard from other moms that they've woken up thinking the same thing. I guess its just the anxiety of parenthood.
However, my dream last night took it to another level. I woke up, or really only half-woke up, and thought I was holding Aidan. I got up, went into his room, and leaned over his crib to put him in bed. But then my hands touched him, and I suddenly realized he was already in his crib. It scared the crap out of me, and it woke Aidan up. It was freaky. I hope it doesn't happen again.

Travel and Frustration

Aidan got to meet one of his great grandmothers this past weekend. (I don't have any pictures at the moment, but as soon as I get some I'll post them) It was really neat, especially since I don't have any grandparents still alive. In fact, I only really knew one of my grandparents...both of my grandfathers died before I was born, and my other grandmother died when I was very young. So, I'm really glad that Aidan got to meet his great grandma while she's still around. And he loved her! I think Aidan is her 16th great-grandchild (wow!), so she knows how to entertain babies.
The reason Aidan got to meet her was becuase Nick's sister was getting married. It was a very nice ceremony, although I missed the main part of it. Aidan spit up all down the front of both of us at the same time that he had a major poop! Of course this was during the middle of the ceremony, so I had to run out and clean up and run back in. I got back in time for the pastor to introuduce the newly married couple and then leave the church! You can't put new, cute clothes on a baby without them spitting up, pooping, or both.
So, besides his great grandma Aidan also got to meet for the first time: his aunt, uncle, 2 great aunts, and a great uncle.
Next week we'll be in Erie and Aidan will then get to meet another aunt and cousin for the first time! He's such a well-travelled baby.

Now to get to the second part of the post title...frustration. Not mine, but Aidan's. Aidan now grabs at anything that comes into his line of sight. Me, my hair, Nick, Nick's glasses, the cat, plants, toys, magazines, etc... If he can't grab what he sees he frowns and lets out a sort of shriek/grunt/cry. It is the frustrated baby noise. At the moment it is very cute, but I get the feeling it won't stay that way for long!

I need to get my shower in before the Aidan-meister wakes up.

Full Body Smiles

Full body smiles are one of the cutest things babies do. When they are just so happy they can barely contain it. Happiness is in their eyes, their mouth, their hands, and their toes. They pull everything in for a moment, then let it all loose with one huge, drooly smile. I love it! Aidan's at the age where just another person looking at him is enough to make him ecstatic. It's a shame that we outgrow this happiness. I guess that's why we all love babies so much...so we can enjoy those moments of pure happiness again.
Aidan really enjoys being around other babies now, too. He doesn't really interact much with them, but he's very happy to listen to them and watch them. We were at a mommy & baby yoga class this morning, and Aidan had a great time lying on the floor looking around. A few of the more mobile babies crawled over, and one even tried to latch on to Aidan's head! It will be a lot of fun, although a lot more tiring, when Aidan can interact more with these kids.

Full little tummy

Aidan had his first taste of rice cereal today. When I've read about rice cereal in books I always pictured something similar to Rice Krispies. I now realize that's a bit silly. It's really much more like oatmeal.
Anyway, Aidan seemed to enjoy it. He spit some of it out, but some of it he seemed to swallow. He even seemed to be "chewing" it, or moving it around with his tongue after getting a spoonful. I tried to breastfeed him a little bit afterwards, and he didn't seem interested. I wonder if that's becuase he was full or becuase I thought he was full and didn't try very hard to keep him eating. I guess we'll find out if he wakes up soon needing to eat!
Although we fed him in the evening tonight, I think I might switch it to the afternoon. He sleeps pretty much through the night already, so we don't need to fill his little tummy any more. However, I would like him to go longer in between afternoon feedings becuase I'll be at work soon. Then he won't have to have as much formula.

Be careful what you wish for

I've been feeling sorry for our cats, who have been largely ignored since Aidan was born. Of course, they also completely ignore the baby and all of his things. Its almost as if anything that smells like baby is invisible. Today, though, the cats suddenly became visible to Aidan. Bradbury jumped on my lap while I was holding Aidan, and Aidan's eyes suddenly widened. Then he smiled and reached out to touch the cat. It was amazing! Of course Bradbury didn't like it and immediately left the vicinity. He wanted attention, and now he's in for more than he bargained!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the daddy's out there! A special shout-out to Nick, my husband and first-time daddy to Aidan. We've started out the day by opening a few presents and having a yummy breakfast of cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs. We're going to just hang out the rest of the day and have a cook out later tonight.
This is a strange father's day for me, though. For the first time, I don't have a father. I didn't have to buy him a present and I don't have to call him. I wish I could, though. I really miss him.

You load 16 tons and waddya get?

Aidan had his 4 month doctor's appointment today. He weighs 16 lbs 4 oz and is 27 3/4 inches long. What a big boy! My arms are getting tired carrying him around in his car seat. Pretty soon we'll have to upgrade to a car seat for bigger kids that can still be installed rear-facing. I hope they're not too expensive.
Aidan also had 4 shots today. He was very brave and only cried for a few minutes. But boy was he furious for those few minutes! It was awful...he was looking right at me and screaming his little head off. Hopefully he's forgotten about it by now!
Last time he got shots he slept 12 hours that night. I wonder if we'll be that lucky again? Although, when you're breast-feeding, skipping a feeding because the baby is sleeping is not that lucky!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 4 month birthday to my baby boy, Aidan! Tommorow is his 4 month checkup, so we'll find out how chunky he really is. I'm guessing 16 lbs 5 oz. He's a big 'un! He'll also be getting 4 immunization shots tommorow. I feel very bad for him. At least he doesn't know it until it hits him. Literally.
The picture above is Aidan and his buddy Teag.

Sidebar aside

So...as you can see the sidebar is strangely oriented. How do I get the text to start at the top of the page instead of at the bottom of the posts? I looked at the template, but I have no idea what part to edit. All I succeeded in doing was making it wider.

Daddy Day Care

I'm going back to work next month. Nick is going to stay home with Aidan and maybe work part time. If he works part time, we need to find day care. I have no idea how to go about this. The hard part is that Nick's schedule may change week to week. What we need is somewhere we can drop Aidan off and pick him at odd hours. Somewhere very flexible. If we could find someone locally who was watching kids in their house, that would be ideal! I just have no idea how to find someone that does that.
I also need to decide what to do about breast-feeding. Should I continue while I'm working? That would involve pumping while I'm at work, which might be a huge pain in the butt. I know its best for a baby to breastfeed as long as possible, but it seems like it might be too hard to do. I could always continue nursing in the mornings and evenings, but supplement with formula during the day while I'm gone.
What a boring post this is!

New Hotness

I need a new name for this blog. Now that I'm a mom, and I blog mostly about my son, the name of the blog should reflect that. Any suggestions? (That question is basicaly rhetorical, as I have no readers of my blog!)
On the homefront, Aidan is sleeping. He's taking a really long afternoon nap. I don't know why, but he is exhausted. He's been sleeping for nearly 4 hours. And last night he slept 10 hours straight through the night!!! Wow! I, of course, did not sleep through the night becuase I was worried about him. And I had the fan on and kept thinking I wasn't going to hear him when he woke up so I kept getting up to check on him. Silly momma.
Oh! He's awake now!

Raspberries and belly laughs

Aidan has discovered how to blow raspberries. He does it all the time now! Even when he's angry. Its just part of his noise repertoire now. In fact, he was mad yesterday and was yelling and blowing raspberries. He ended up spitting all over me, which I thought was pretty funny (if I didn't think it was funny, being a mommy would be pretty tough!). Anyway, I was laughing pretty hard and Aidan stopped crying and stared at me. Then he let out a big belly laugh! It was amazing!! Then his laugh got me laughing even harder...we were just cracking each other up. Aidan had been making some laugh-like noises before this, but this was unequivocally a real laugh.
My little boy is learning to do things every day! He's already growing up, and he's not even 4 months old yet. Its very exciting, but it also makes me a little sad. I can't wait for the times we can go outside and play on the playground or wrestle around, but I'm also going to miss this short period of time when I'm all he needs.
In other news, I'm in the process of looking for a job. I've applied to a ton of jobs online. Now its time to sit back and wait. The suspense is killing me!