Laughter

Aiden's giggle is my favorite sound these days. Words like milk and baby combined with silly noises really get him going! The video is not the best quality, but the audio sure it. :)

Weekend with Mima

We had a wonderful weekend visit from Mima that included a lot of book reading, snuggling and a brisk walk to the park. On the walk we stopped at the basketball courts where David taught Aiden some ball skills and at the park where the roosters were more of an attraction than the play structure. Weekends with Mima always go by way too fast. We miss you already!!

Our little man is 14 months old

Bathtub Fun

Aiden and Fiona meet again

Aiden recently went to visit his friend Fiona for six whole days! Here are a few images from the trip:

 

First Snow of the Season

Aiden catching his first glimpse of falling snow...

He thought the cold flakes landing on his hair and nose were so much fun!

Grandpa's Old Timey Hat

I reckon this is what Aiden would look like if he were born a hundred years ago.

Christmas 2011

I love this photo by sister took of all of us:

A Day at the Museum

As part of a Christmas gift, Nana recently took Aiden and I to the Oregon Children's Museum for an afternoon of fun. Despite the large crowds and being a bit shy around so many other kids at first, Aiden has a wonderful time. He was wide-eyed and curious about everything he saw. He wasted no time experiencing what each room had to offer!

A few of the hightlights included digging dirt, climbing tree forts, crawling through tunnels, reading a book with Nana, shopping in the grocery store, taste testing a muffin, picking flowers, building in the building room, sitting in the water fountain, playing with the huge light bright, the light table and driving the bus with a big steering wheel. Unfortunately the day ended with a big fall from the bus drivers seat which left Aiden's head smashed into the wall and produced a few tears. But overall is was a wonderful afternoon full of much discovery and many laughs. Thanks Nana!

A Grandy Afternoon

During our trip to Eugene we stopped in to visit Grandy and celebrate Christmas. The highlight of Aiden's visit was meeting the chickens. Once he entered the chicken coup and realized he was on their territory he had to look back at us to be sure this was cool.

In no time he was running after the chickens and the chickens were running from him!



After some quality chicken coup time Aiden was thrilled to be back inside and roaming around Grandy's house looking for trouble. :)

Christmas at Mima's

Christmas Town!

Last night we joined forces with Aunt Megan, Uncle Steve, Cousin Alex and Nana to stroll down Peacock Lane where every house is decorated to the nines for Christmas! It was such a festive night and the fact that it was chilly out and we were all bundled up made it feel extra Christmas-y. Aiden was quiet (can you say Christmas miracle?!) and wide-eyed trying to take in all the lights. Cousin Alex feel asleep. But they were both decked out in their Christmas best outfits--red,white and green with reindeer on the feet and butt! Here's a few highlights from the night:

Growing like a Weed

Aiden had his 1 year doctor check up today. He was shy at first but by the end of the appointment he was dancing on the table--the sound of crinkly paper under foot was too fun to resist. He didn't like laying down for his weight and height to be measured, and he really didn't like getting his three immunization shots but he was a brave boy through it all.

Here's the numbers round-up:
Weight: 20.75lbs |  39th percentile
Length: 31.25"  |  92nd percentile
Head: 18.5"  |  75th percentile
Weight-Length: 12th percentile

Aiden's 1st Birthday

One year ago today was the most magical day of my life. David and I welcomed our little baby boy into the world and into our lives. He filled up our hearts with more love than we ever imagined was possible and changed our lives forever.

Over the past year we have watched Aiden grow and start to become his own little person. Somewhere along the line crawling turned into walking and walking turned into running. Sitting turned into standing and standing turned into climbing. Nursing turned into grazing and grazing turned into (major) eating. Cries turned into coos and coos turned into screams. But no matter how big our little man gets, I will always see my little newborn snuggled up in papa's arms when I look at him.

Aiden was born the day before Thanksgiving last year, I will always remember eating Thanksgiving dinner at the hospital with my mom and sister. Having so much to be thankful for, the three of us shared what will undoubtedly be my favorite Thanksgiving meal ever.

This year Aiden's birthday fell on Thanksgiving which made him our Thanksbirthday Boy! He got his very own cupcake and was quite bewildered when we all started singing to him. Equally bewildering was the flame burning atop his "1" candle. After we sang the birthday song twice (we missed video taping it the first time and the second time around the recording came out blurry = FAIL) and blew out the candle, his fascination with the candle didn't end. He was more into trying to eat it than the cupcake. When he got around to trying the cream cheese frosting he was not sure about it...

After a few pensive moments, he decided frosting was delicious!! He had a grand old time dipping the candle in the frosting and licking it off.

After the frosting was all gone (he wanted nothing to do with the actual cupcake), it was time for presents. Great Grandma Berggren delivered the big thrill of the day in the form of a bright, red fire engine! Aiden was content to play with the wheels and bell but when Papa showed him how to ride it, he was the happiest kid on Earth!

The big day seemed to end as quickly as the past year has gone by and before I knew it, I was tucking my one year old son into bed. Happy First Birthday Adien! We love you so very much!

Happy First Halloween from Dino-Baby

Aiden was a big, green dinosaur for his first Halloween.

We met up with some of Aiden's friends for a Halloween-inspired All-Baby Birthday Bash. Since the kids are all within a few months of each other one party with a book exchange served as a birthday party for all. But Aiden wasn't the only dinosaur that showed up that day....one of his friends arrived with the same costume! Too cute. :)

Fall has arrived...

...and so has a certain green froggie. We love him and think he's the cutest. :)

Pumpkin Patch

There has been quite a lot going on in our world lately. Aiden started walking. David and I got married. We've been camping--twice. We finished our previously unfinished basement. I have, literally, thousands of photos to go through and countless posts to bring you up to speed. Until then...

Aiden, cousin Alex, Aunt Megan and I took a trip out to Sauvie Island Farms today to spend some time in the pumpkin patch! We all had so much fun visiting with the farm animals, trying to climb the hay pyramid, playing with pumpkins and shopping for gourds. Here's a few shots from the day:

It is no secret Aiden loves wheels. He'd rather play with the wheels on the stroller than his toys most of the time. I've never seen his eyes light up as much as they did when he saw this tractor--it was love at first sight. Aiden certainly has country boy blood running through his veins. His first instinct was to pick his teeth with a corn stalk.

This was one staircase Aiden could not master.

Picking out pumpkins was pretty serious business for Aiden.
No pumpkin could live up to the cool factor of that tractor.

Cousin Alex got really sleepy!

Aiden was NOT a fan of the cow whose loud moos brought tears to his eyes more than once. But if I was holding him and the cow was quiet, Aiden was intrigued enough to not cry for a few minutes.

Aiden searched for just the right gourd and picked it up. But the gourd was tricky to hold.
And eventually the gourd took Aiden down with it.

Aiden was all about the mini-gourds and had no time to look at the camera.

 

 

Aiden, cousin Alex and I :)

Sun, Swing and A Smile

What more does a boy need?

9 months in and 9 months out

Today marks the day that Aiden has been out in the real world as long as he was curled up in my belly. Now that I've spent 9 months getting to know him it's hard to remember a day when I only knew 'of' my little boy.

Aiden and I woke up early today and spent a few moments with papa before he left for work. During this short time Aiden took one step, twice. Our jaws hit the floor. When they say babies grow up over night, sometimes it's literally true. Aiden's days as a bear-crawler are very numbered. So are his days of having only two teeth--he's been teething and digging in his mouth like crazy!

Aiden's favorite things right now are:
- Anything that involves the cat, Poof!
- Cruising around with his cow wheely bug
- Eating Puff crackers
- Bear-Crawling at an alarmingly fast speed
- Eating dirt

While we spent some time on the porch basking in the morning sun, I captured 'Aiden: The Nine Month Old' in all his glory.