Hello, Family!

Aiden and I ventured to Eugene last weekend. We had such a nice visit with the family and Aiden slept the entire drives there and back, which made the trip super easy!

First, we stopped at Grandy's house and spent many hours exploring his porch and fish pond, and playing with all of his dogs!

 
Then we ventured on to Mima's house where Aiden discovered many new tables, chairs and furniture pieces to climb up on. Unfortunately, all these unfamiliar obstacles caused many bumps and bruises as Aiden tried to pull himself up on them. Despite his war wounds, Aiden managed to spend many happy hours playing with Mima and all her cool toys!

And Aiden didn't pass up the chance to enjoy Mima's beautiful gardens. He spent a lot of time crawling around the grass, pulling on tree limbs and trying to eat bark. All of this was thrilling in his world and left him quite happy--as you can see!

In celebration of her 84th birthday, Great Grandma Berggren came over for a lovely afternoon of chatting, playing and eating delicious food. Happy Birthday Grandma!

David's First Father's Day

Per this new dad's request, we headed out on a day of hiking, waterfalls and quality family time.

Harvest Time Continues...

With the weather warming up, Aiden and I spend a little time each day watering and weeding the garden. I've tried to encourage him picking leaves rather than digging in the dirt but figured this whole concept was ost on Aiden.

Today I learned it wasn't. I found him in the corner harvesting spider plant babies. Ha ha!

Little Helping Hands

Aiden joined us in harvesting red kale from our garden today. It was the first bounty we received from our gardens this year! While Aiden did manage to pick two leaves, he spent most of his time digging up handfuls of dirt--dirt that is still wedged under his fingernails despite a good scrubbing. He certainly isn't afraid to get dirty!

Bath Baby

I snapped a few candid shots of Aiden during bath time this morning. The only thing he loves more than playing with his rubber duck IN the bath is trying to reach and play with his rubber ducky while OUT of the bath.

Happy and Healthy at the Six Month Mark

Aiden had his six-month check up today (a few weeks late) and all is looking well. He not only crawls (increasingly fast) but also pulls himself up on whatever he can find and stands. We're having to baby proof things around the house much sooner than anticipated! :) Here are his stats:
Weight: 17lbs 8oz, 38th percentile
Length: 28", 86th percentile
Head: 17.5", 70th percentile

It was a beautiful day today so when papa came home from work, we spend some time hanging out in the yard. Aiden is definitely an outdoorsy kind of baby. He loves pulling grass, playing with mulch and, of course, chasing the cat (or an empty beer bottle). Here's are a few videos I took today of Aiden showing off his latest skills:

Water! That Falls!

It's an amazing year for waterfalls (read it's still raining a lot)! Aiden and I took a trip down to Silver Falls State Park yesterday for some hiking, picnicking and sightseeing. We hiked all around 170ft high South Falls and walked behind the shorter but equally magical North Falls. Aiden was completely thrilled by the spectacle of falling water and the sound of it crashing onto the ground below.

A Little Morning Playtime

Baby Swing Love

Fun in the Sun at the park this weekend:

Stealing Some Sun

The weather has us down lately. The rain and clouds are never ending and we're into June. The forecast today was more of the same dreariness but we woke up to yellow rays of light...could it be sun?! It was! So Aiden and I headed out for a walk. We stopped at Hydro Park so Aiden could try riding in the baby swing. He went for a (very short) ride in a similar swing while in Mississippi but was scared and very unsure about it. When I set him in the swing, he was quite serious and unsure about it. But after a few pushes he was thrilled with the whole situation, smiling from ear to ear. (And yes, he was still in his monster pajamas. There was no time to change into real clothes--we might have missed the sun!)

Big Boy Crib Time!

While we were in Mississippi, Aiden's crib arrived. Papa promptly assembled it and was ready for sleep training to begin! These days Aiden is going to bed and napping in his crib like the big boy that he is. We haven't made it through a whole night in the crib, he usually ends up back in our bed by morning but, overall, progress is being made. He isn't a huge fan of being alone and has taken a liking to snuggling with the 'big guy' (a gift from the sweet Yvette) as he drifts off into dreamland...

PAPA!

Aiden is all about mama right now, there is no question about that. But he sees me all day, so when Papa gets home from work it's all about Papa! Aiden lights up and is thoroughly happy to discover Papa walking into the room! It's such a sweet moment and I love these snapshots of it.

Aiden meets Food

Aiden had his first taste of rice cereal and the verdict is in...not good! He made (hilarious) sour frowny faces after each bite and looked around at all of us like we had gone mad. Pretty funny.

I am happy to report the overall concept of eating was not lost on him. After I (attempted to) fed him four or five times he grabbed the spoon out of my hand, flung the food off and stuck the spoon in his mouth. Rubber spoon was much more to his palette's liking than actual food.

Here's a video of the first few bites:

Hard to believe....Aiden is 6 months old today!

It's hard to believe it's been half a year since Aiden came into our lives. He continues to bring light, love and happiness into our lives!

Aiden is still on Mississippi time which is making for very early mornings these days. But despite my heavy head and tired eyes I sang him the 'Happy Birthday' song this morning. When the song was over he looked at me, put his mouth on my arm and blew--giving me the first official raspberry. We both had a good belly laugh and proceeded to play with toys as the sun came up.

Here are a few beautiful photos Aunt Kim took of Aiden on our visit to Mississippi:

 

Mississippi Cousin Visit!

Aiden and I traveled by plane, train and automobile this past week to visit Aunt Kim, Uncle Dustin and the cousins Lawson, Naomi and baby Quincy!

Aiden LOVED having playmates his own size and developed a not-so-secret crush on Naomi. The cousins went for walks, played with toys, ate meals and took naps together. It was a beautiful moment in time and we sure wish the cousins lived closer so we could spend more time together.

Aiden Aims to Crawl

Aiden is wasting no time in this quest to crawl. He's been pushing up onto all fours recently and I finally caught it on video. This past week he was able to combine getting up on all fours and moving (albeit backwards) which was quite thrilling to him until he ended up under the couch.

Here is a sneak preview of his latest tricks. We were having some fun at his friend Lillian's house down the street and as you can see, Aiden is very smitten with Lillian who is just off camera. Boy does it start early! :) The tongue move he does while exerting himself is pretty hilarious.

Roll it and Pat it and Mark it with a B!

Aiden has been working on rolling over for a while now. He was a pro at getting onto one side but then his arm would get in the way and hold up the works. Last week he finally conquered that nemesis of an arm and completed a roll all the way onto his stomach! He was stunned at first, but thrilled by his triumph. He sat there holding his head up, looking around and thoroughly enjoying the world from this new vantage point for quite a long time.

In the past week, he has perfected the roll and even done a few double rolls landing right back on his back. If there is a toy nearby, he takes aim and rolls towards the toy. Sometimes he reaches the toy, sometimes not. But when he does, it's major icing on his little cake!

Friends in Low Places

Aiden spent some time with one of his best friends today. It's the friend who makes an appearance in the bathroom every morning like clockwork. Their encounter today was much like it is every day...

First, they catch each other by surprise!

Then their eyes open wide in amazement that their friend has arrived!

Then they hide. These babies are a little shy.

The shyness starts to wear off and they remember how fun it is to spend time with a friend.

They have so many stories to tell each other about the adventures of the past day.

 The stories are hilarious--they can so relate to each other.

 The happy mornings they spend together are priceless.

While the laughter between friends continues, I think to myself, 'What a lucky baby to have such a great friend in his life, and how nice to start off every day with so many belly laughs.' As I laugh along with the two little guys I find myself thinking about the day when Aiden looks for his friend in the mirror only to see himself. Aiden probably won't remember his friend on that day, but I will...and I will miss him so.

Big Bumbo Boy

Aiden loves two things these days, his Bumbo chair and chewing on ANYTHING he can get his hands on (including his hands).  The Bumbo chair gives Aiden the extra support he needs to sit up and provides a 'big boy' view of the world that puts a smile on his face every time.

There is something inexplicably telling about this first photo. It's almost as if you can see Aiden of the future in the smile and expression of today's Aiden. He's starting to give us glimpses of his personality--along with the laughs come grunts of frustration and cries of boredom. One thing is undeniable, his smile lights up any room and melts my heart (over and over again).

Without fail, the initial Bumbo smile takes a back seat to intense hand-chewing which, in turn, will generates another set of smiles. Here he is going to town on his hand...

Three Months? Check!

Aiden's favorite thing to do these days is hang out on his Infantino play mat (a gift from papa) and check out all the colors, patterns and textures the mat has to offer. He's working on rolling over although his little arm always seems to stop things just before they get good. He is a major fan of the pacifier so we have one tethered to him at all times...it's a life-saver! :)

Here's a glimpse of Aiden during his play date with a play mat recently:

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!