First Plane Ride!

At the ripe old age of three months, little Aiden took his first airplane ride (four of them in all)! Just Aiden and myself headed down to California so he could meet his great grandparents and the rest of the family. I spent countless hours researching best practices of traveling with infants and stocking up on tricks/distractions just in case he was an unhappy camper. In the end, he was a dream to travel with (just like everyone said he would be) and had no problem staying happy, taking naps and checking out the world from way up in the sky. I fed him on the way up, gave him drops of water on the way down and he flirted with any passenger within eye-shot when he wasn't napping. Looking back, I realize I was way over-prepared and over-concerned.

I snapped a few shots of Aiden as the first plane started to move and the engines geared up for take-off. He was QUITE unsure of the situation at first and expressed major concern with his little furrowed brow but never with a cry. He was such a brave little traveler!

Aiden was a huge hit with the great-grandparents (everyone else we visited). He was pretty overwhelmed by large (read loud) groups of people so we spent many hours hanging out in quiet corners.  Unfortunately, I was so caught up in the moment during our visit that I failed to get photos of him with everybody (boo!) but there was a group shot taken that I will try to get my hands on. :)

Two (and some change) Months Report Card

Little Aiden recently had his two month check-up and here's his stats at 2 months and 8 days:
Weight: 13.12lbs (73rd percentile for weight-age)
Length: 24.75" long (93rd percentile for length-age)
For Weight-length-age he's in the 7th percentile.

His length and height are not the only things growing. His head of hair continues to longer and shows no sign of falling out. It's long enough to make a baby mohawk!

 

A Newborn No More

I can hardly believe that my little baby boy will be eight weeks old on Monday! I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but each day there was a little less newborn in Aiden until one day there was none. He's a baby now. The adorable cheerio face (seen here) has given way to equally adorable smiles. The newborn squeaky noises have been replaced with coos, oohs and ahhs. And the dry-eyed cries of yesterday now feature big, wet tears. It's bittersweet to witness how much Aiden changes on a daily basis but I always look forward to seeing what new trick he has up his sleeve!

Six Weeks Young

Aiden turned six weeks old yesterday and is getting cuter by the day.

Unfortunately, it was a rough day in Aiden's world. He spent most of the day looking like this...but luckily he STILL looks cute even through his big, sad frown.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Nana, Aiden and I started off the new year with a nice walk in the very cold (but sunny) afternoon!

Tummy Time!

Aders Potaters got some nice tummy time on daddy's tummy today....and then they both fell asleep. :)

Aiden's First Christmas!

 

 

We joked that this was the ultimate fake smile...but we know he really meant it!

Aiden meets Nana!

Both Aiden and Nana were thrilled to finally meet each other! Here are some photos from her visit:

The Fam :)

Here's a family snapshot we took today. At 25 days old Aiden is holding his head up quite well and very curious about his surroundings!

Aiden meets Grandpa and Great Grandma!

Bob meet Aiden. Aiden meet Bob.

The last few days have been pretty gray, rainy and windy. Today the clouds parted, the sun came out and we decided to take a family walk. This meant after months of sitting in the basement, Bob (the stroller) was able to take Aiden for his first ride!

I love how Bob is so easy to push, turn and maneuver. Aiden seemed to be equally happy with it and was lulled to sleep almost immediately by the smooooth ride. He remained asleep for the entire walk around Irving Park. :)

My Favorite Expression

Each morning is kind of the same routine. Aiden wakes up cranky and hungry so I feed him. Then, after a good solid burp, I lay him back down next to me in bed and we just hang out. This is the time when he makes his 'cheerio face'. His mouth turns into a little ball of lips and his eyes get huge. It's perhaps the cutest thing I've ever seen and I cannot get enough of it!!

Aiden meets The Moby Wrap

After many attempts I finally got The Moby Wrap on correctly and Aiden positioned comfortably. Shortly after that, he was out and I could make dinner! It was a small miracle. :)

Aiden's First Bath!

Well, this isn't actually his FIRST bath. There was a slight camera issue the first go round and somehow taking photos was forgotten the second go around. So this is actually the third bath...but the first documented one! :)

Aiden is huge fan of bath time. He thoroughly enjoys himself while we clean him up and he even lets us give him a faux hawk at the end!

Two Weeks Old!

Hello from a swaddled, cozy Aiden!

Cozy time with Mima

One Week Old!

Kimberly Laird is not only an amazingly talented photographer, she also happens to be my sister! She took a special trip up from Eugene today to photograph Aiden and I cannot rave enough about the beautiful the images she created. I am so thankful for the perfect way she captured Aiden as a newborn so we can remember this phase of his life forever. Thanks Sis!

For more of Kimberly's photography click here to visit her blog.

 

Good-Bye Glow Baby!

After a quick trip to the hospital to have Aiden's billiruben test taken and after the Christmas tree was picked out, we headed over to the doctors office for his first check-up. 

He was such a good boy on the drive over and very well-behaved while we were in the office. He seemed pretty thrilled to be in a room that wasn't in our house as he was wide-eyed and looking all around the room while we waited for the doctor to come in.

The results from the earlier test were in and we got the great news that his billiruben number is much lower today! This means the Wallaby light did it's job and we can say goodbye to Glow Baby.

Aiden's stats
5 DAYS OLD
WEIGHT: 8 lbs 9 oz (3 oz over his birth weight)
HEIGHT:  21 inches (3/4" longer)
BILLIRUBEN: 12.3 (down from 15.9)

Here's a few shots of Aiden at the doc's office. You can still see a light yellow hue to his skin but that will be going away over the next few days.

Aiden ventures out into the world and finds a tree

Aiden's first outing into the big world was today as we took him to his first doctors appointment. Along the way we stopped to pick up a Christmas tree! It was pretty rainy but we managed to find the perfect tree and take a family photo without getting too soaked. Even Mima was there! 

Later this evening Aiden sat quietly by the tree while I hung the lights and decorations. Christmas tunes played in the background. It was such a simple moment in time but I will forever remember it whenever I decorate a tree and think fondly back on these early days spent with Aiden.

At a whopping 5 days old, here's a few photos of my little helper: