More Aaron

So, it's been another while since we have posted about Aaron. He is getting so big. I'll skip the small talk since it's late and just post some pictures and videos.

These are his crazy and tired wiggles. He starts forcing the laughing when he is tired. Don't worry, a nap soon followed this video.



Here he is just before bed with Jo. My two cute babies.




This is the same night as the picture above. He had a haircut the day before.

Potty Boy

We've started potty "training" Aaron. I say "training" because he already knows how to do it--we just sit him on the potty and he does his thing. He really seems to like it; he sits there and unrolls the toilet paper (or he did until we moved it...), looks at himself in the mirror, talks to me, blows raspberries, and whatever else suits his fancy. He seems to understand what it's for too. He will usually wait to go until I put him on the potty, unless it's been too long. We certainly don't catch everything, but there have been far fewer poopy and wet diapers to change lately, which is awesome. I figured he probably won't be totally potty trained for a while, but at least he will be used to the toilet and understand what it's for.

And since all the grandmas will want a picture, here's a recent unrelated one:

Yeah, it's still cold here, but that day it was a little warmer and I just couldn't resist seeing those little chubber legs and feet (I changed him into long pants and socks just after taking this).

One Night of Sleep

We finally enjoyed another night of sleep. It's amazing how much better everyone feels and acts.

Lately, Aaron hasn't been sleeping very well. For more than a few nights, he woke up whining or crying every hour or two all night.

Last night he slept for about 9 hours straight, which is almost unheard of for him. He didn't eat so much yesterday so I fed him earlier than normal today at about 5:15 am. After eating and a diaper change, he went back to sleep until 7:45am. All said, he got about 12 hours of sleep last night. I don't remember the last time he got 12 hours of sleep with only waking up twice.

I'm not sure if our new-ish schedule or sleep routine are starting to work, if he was finally so exhausted from his crazy sleeping that he just shutdown for 12 hours, or if it was a lucky fluke night. In any case, it was a good start to the week.

Here are some pictures of our well rested 6.75 month old boy-- baby.

Smiles are always cute



He's so big!

We're Back, By Popular Demand!

Happy 6-month Birthday to Aaron!

All right, so it was actually on the 11th, but when am I ever on time with birthdays?

I have to say, so far I don't like 6 months. Aaron hasn't been sleeping too well; there have been several nights--actually, it was almost every night--the last two weeks that he woke up every single hour. That is noooo good. I think it's been due to some kind of stomach virus and then later from the vaccinations he got. And now from...who knows.

But on to what we've all been waiting for: the stats.

Height: 28 1/2 inches; 96 percentile

Weight: 17 1/2 pounds; 50 percentile

Head: 17.4 inches; 61 percentile

Aaron isn't really a big eater, and his weight percentile has actually been going down a little. So basically all his food is going into height and head. 

He's kind of starting to sit up, but not very well:

As for crawling, well, it could be a while. For a while every time I tried to get his knees under him during tummy time he'd just face plant and laugh. He's doing a little better now; he doesn't stay in "crawling position," but he doesn't laugh anymore.  And if I lift him up a little he goes on his hands and knees, but not supporting any weight. In other words, if we lived in zero gravity, he'd totally be...almost crawling.

I was going to put up some recent pictures of The Boy, but Blogger is being stupid. So here's  a little video. Aaron got some blocks from Grandma Hart for Christmas, and he loves to chomp on them. He really goes to town; afterwards there are puddles of slobber on the block and Aaron's shirt is completely soaked. It also makes a funny little squeaky sound, which you may or may not be able to hear. (Please ignore my voice...I have the absolute worst baby talk voice.)

Skiing and Bear Attacks

I've been trying to convince Alex to go skiing with me ever since we started dating. Finally last year, he said he'd go. Unfortunately, I was pregnant at the time, and skiing wouldn't have been the best idea. So I've been looking forward to it for an entire year. Yesterday, we finally went; my mom has been in town for the week and tended The Boy for us, and we went to Alta for a day of skiing. This is the longest we've ever left Aaron; second was when we went to see The Dark Knight about a week after he was born. Looking back, that seems crazy.

There was a huge storm yesterday. The roads were awful and it took us about two hours to drive there (normally it only takes about one). It was sooo worth it though. Because of the storm there was lots of fresh powder (and it was nice and dry, not all sticky and wet), and since it was Thursday there were hardly any people there at all. I started skiing 22 years ago (holy cow!) and this was the best snow I can remember skiing on. The snow kept falling for the first part of the afternoon, but after a while it cleared up and ended up being a gorgeous day. Freezing cold, but beautiful.

This was the first time Alex had been skiing, and he did awesome. I don't know that powder is necessarily the best snow to learn on, but Alex said it was great because it really cushioned his falls...

Me

Alex

Just to demonstrate how good the snow was: this was one of the runs. In the middle--not on the side. You may now turn green with envy.

The sun did this cool halo thing; it looked like there were two suns.

Sunset as we were getting ready to leave.

In other news, there have been reports of adorable fuzzy blue bear attacks in Provo today. The bear allegedly mauled it's victims with snuggles and grabby hands. Here is a recent picture of the bear:

5 Months

Today is Aaron's five month day. He's been here for five months. Looking back, I can't believe that it has been only five months. It seems like longer. I feel like so much has happened.

I've come to except the fact that baby time is not the same as normal time. It's like cat or dog years. One year for me is like 10 for Aaron. Five months ago I was pretty much exactly the same. He's totally different after 5 months. Anyway, here are the pictures.

Just barely home from the hospital



Taken yesterday just before bed time

Look at the difference! In just 5 months he goes from being just a little tiny head baby to big monster baby (a very cute monster baby) (these parentheses are for Jo). Also, notice his hair color. It's a lot lighter than it was in the beginning.

The previous post mentioned the last crazy sick month we've just had. For an update on that, Aaron and Jo are doing much better. I got lucky enough to escape with only a hoarse voice and mild sore throat (so far(more parentheses, can you handle this!?!)).

To any readers, forgive the silly parenthetical statements, they are for Jo. If you want to know more, see her blog.

Belated Updates

Whew, it's been a while since we updated this thing. I guess I'll do this in chronological order.

We spent Thanksgiving with my mom, stepfather, and my brothers and their families. It was great to see everyone. All of the kids had changed a lot since the last time I had seen them. We had Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday before the real Thanksgiving at my mom's house in Statesboro, GA. Then we stayed the rest of the week in some condos at Hilton Head Island, SC. It was beautiful. We were right by the beach. The trip wasn't exactly relaxing (Aaron was a little crazy; turns out he was getting sick and developing an ear infection at the same time...), but it was nice to be somewhere new and see my family.

One of the highlights of the trip was Bartender Joe. We went to a place called "The Earl of Sandwich Pub" for lunch one day. The waiter/bartender was a guy named Joe. He was bald, had a goatee, lots of tatoos, and lots of piercings. Despite his downright scary appearance, he was very friendly. Aaron started fussing a little bit while we were eating, so Joe came up and started talking to him and playing with him, and made him smile. He even held him for a few minutes (he really wanted to); he said that although he doesn't look like it, he loves babies and wants to "eat up their little cheeks" (or something like that). It was so funny. I only wish we had gotten a picture.

Aaron at the airport in Savannah, looking pretty tired.

The view from the balcony at Hilton Head. The ocean was just beyond the trees.

 

Alex chilling with our nephew Todd.

Grandma Elaine with cute babies Derek and Aaron; Derek is only a month younger than Aaron.

When we got home, we took Aaron to the doctor. He said he had a sore throat, but that there wasn't anything we could do except give him Tylenol. Two days later he was getting worse--coughing, throwing up, sounding really congested, not eating--so we took him again. Again, the doctor said we'd just have to let the cold take it's course, but now he also had a full blown ear infection. Personally, I suspect he had been developing the ear infection for a while; he's been acting extra fussy since about a month ago, and at his four month check up the doctor said he had some fluid in his ear but he didn't think it needed to be treated. Bah! Next time I'm just going to insist on antibiotics at the first sign of redness in his ears. 

Aaron, the day we took him to the doctor, in a crazy outfit.

Anyway, we were also told not to give Aaron any more Tylenol for a few days, since he had been on it for a week already. Poor little guy. On top of everything, I got sick too. This is really the worst cold I've had in a very long time. And the only thing worse than taking care of a sick baby is taking care of a sick baby with an ear infection who can't have Tylenol while you're sick. Alex has been the best though; he spent his whole day off the Monday after we got back, and the next Friday, AND all weekend taking care of Aaron so I could rest most of the day. I don't know how I got so lucky. I hope I feel better tomorrow, though, because it's back to the grind. But I'm optimistic; Aaron seems to be doing better and I'm entering the having-to-blow-your-nose-every-five-seconds stage of the cold, which usually means that the end is in sight.

We also got visits from my dad and Alex's mom last week. That was fun. Alex's mom was only here for a few minutes, though, but it was still nice to see her.

Aaron with Grandpa Sorensen

Playing with Grandpa.

In other Aaron news, he has recently discovered his feet and how delicious they are. I'm not exaggerating when I say we have been looking forward to him eating his feet for a year!

Mmmm, feet...

And finally, there's the business of NaNoWriMo. Yeah, about that. We did it the first two days, but that's when Aaron's mysterious (ear-achey) fussiness began. We could've done it if we had more waking hours, but we decided that 20 was enough...