Stuck...

Here is the end result of another one of his flips. He looked at me like, "Hey...my legs are stuck! Why don't you put that stupid thing down and help me out a little!"

Isn't he cute???

On a (complete) Roll!

Yay, Aidyn!

Aidyn has been trying for a few weeks to turn over, but only makes it to his side. Or...he'll get almost over, but then his shoulder gets in the way. Well, not anymore! He finally figured out to just "heave" himself over really good, and he's able to get over his shoulder. He is so smart!

Aidyn rolled over (almost with no help) on Saturday at my parents' house. He finally did it this afternoon on his own while we were eating lunch after church. After his afternoon nap, I brought him upstairs with me to work on VBS fliers. He was on his mat. When I turned around he was laying on his tummy with his head up and looking around. I couldn't believe it! I ran to get my camera and turned him back over to see if he'd do it again. He did! (see the video below)

Since the video he has managed to roll over 4 more times! Looks like I'm going to have to find somewhere new to put him while I take a shower. Hmmm....

*Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom first.

Stay tuned for pictures from the Crawfish Boil we attended lastnight! I have some pics, but I'm waiting on a friend to email me some that he took.

More Babies?!?!

Furry babies that is...

This past fall, Ben and I noticed a groundhog had "moved in" to the weeds and brush growing in our backyard on a bank of grass. One day I came home to see the groundhog in the backyard and was shocked. I called Ben and told him that either the groundhog was a mommy and pregnant, or a new bigger groundhog (assuming a guy) had moved in.

Well, I don't know that the "daddy" has hung around...but we definately have babies. I have seen the mommy groundhog once and the baby several times. Last week, I looked out the back window and saw 2 - yes, two - babies! Ahhh.

But, guess what?!?! I looked into the backyard yesterday and saw 3 baby groundhogs!!!! We have a live trap that we originally planned on using to try and catch the the ONE we saw. Now, there's no way we can put that trap out with a mom and 3 babies! It's funny how I didn't care much about catching the ONE and getting rid of her. But now that I know babies are involved, 3 at that, there's no way I'd set that trap up.

I've been trying to get pictures from our back door (through the window) for a while. If I open the back door, they run home. Here was the best I could do.

The first pictures shows one of the babies standing on some steps in our backyard. It is standing up looking around...how cute!


This second pictures actually has all 3 babies in it. You can also see our neighbor's garden behind us. I keep meaning to research groundhogs because apparently they only eat grass and clover. I have watched them several times walk through the garden, but they never stop to "snack". They are always eating grass. I guess that's why our neighbors haven't tried catching or killing them either.

If you click on the pictures, they will get larger and you will be able to see the babies more clearly.

Melt Your Heart

Aidyn's giggle, although random, is my favorite sound ever!!!!! EVER!

Sometimes something that makes him laugh, will not work the next time. So we're learning and trying it all. Luckily, today I got him to laugh by tickling his ribs with my nose. I tried getting it on video, but as you'll see...tickling and video recording at the same time is very hard. Regardless, the noise is available and it is a precious noise! Love him! :)

*Dont forget to pause the background music at the bottom of this page.

No More Birds

Thankgoodness!

Our chimney guy came last week to clean out the chimney. Unfortunately, we had to cover the fireplace back up before he left with plywood because we don't have a cap on the top of our chimney. The average size, according to him, for a chimney is 13in x 13in. 13 inches seems awfully small, I think. Ours is 35in x 17in. He ordered our cap and returned today.

He is an older man, probably in his 60s. He had NO ONE with him. Our house is 2 stories, 3 if you count the attic that is like a room of its own. How did he get this massive cap up to the chimney? A ladder! That's all...a ladder. No pulley system or anything! I couldn't believe it.

A placed a ladder at the back of the house from the ground to the top roof. We have a smaller roof from our side porch, but he totally skipped it and just went for the top. He carried the cap up with him. I'm still in shock. However, we now have a nice, beautiful cap on our chimney to keep out rain, birds, bats, and other small animals. I'm soooo glad. Now we can remove the plywood ifront of the fireplace inside and we don't have to stress about birds or bats living in our chimney. Such a relief!

I can't wait to get shutters for our windows! We have 18 windows...so we'll have to do a few at a time. And hopefully in the future we'll get new siding also.

Financial Update

Our new financial plan of "cash only" has been working great so far. Our first Sunday of trying this, we went to the bank and withdrew a specified amount of money that was supposed to last us a week. It ended up lasting us two weeks!!!!!

We made a grocery list and dinner menu the day before (Saturday) to last us two weeks. I like to only go to the grocery store once every other week of possible. Every now and then we do have to make a quick stop, but we try to get everything we need on our one trip.

We cooked dinner EVERY night (including the weekends) for 2 weeks. The only two nights we ate out were nights when Ben had church softball. Since he has football weightlifting until 6:00pm every night, and softball starts at 7:30pm, we didn't have much time to cook, eat at home, and clean up. One night we drove thru Pal's (YUM!!!) and the other night we had Pizza.

Here was our menu for those first two weeks:
Sunday- Beer Can Chicken
Monday- Roast
Tuesday- Pal's Hotdogs
Wednesday- Shrimp Stirfry
Thursday- Grilled Chicken
Friday- Steak
Saturday- Ham

Sunday- Lasagna w/Ben's Parents
Monday- Smothered Pork Chops
Tuesday- Rocky's Pizza
Wednesday- Hot Dogs
Thursday- Grilled Chicken
Friday- (can't remember, ha)
Saturday- Cookout at my Parents'

I LOVE cooking dinner. It's so much cheaper than eating out and I don't know if I'm just crazy, but after a while...eating out gets old. Plus, Aidyn is at that "inbetween" stage where he isn't the best to take out to eat. He is not quite big enough to sit in a high chair (since he can't sit up on his own yet), and he doesn't like sititng in his car seat. This means that he either fusses or someone ends up holding him while they eat. At fast food places it isn't a big deal, but at nicer restaurants...it isn't as much fun.

Here is our "menu" for this week and next.
Sunday- Applebees
Monday- Pizza
Tuesday- Ham
Wednesday- Grilled Shrimp
Thursday- ? (High School Graduation)
Friday- Spaghetti
Saturday- Crawfish Boil at a Friend's

Sunday- Amigos
Monday- Pork Chops
Tuesday- ? (Church Softball)
Wednesday- Hamburgers
Thursday- Grilled Chicken
Friday- Lasagna
Saturday- Ribs

Yum! We have started trying new recipes as well. One we are wanting to try (if you watch Food Network) is Tyler Perry's Baked Mac & Cheese with Bacon. It looks soooooo delicious!

Almost There

Aidyn is continuing to try rolling over. He hasn't made it yet, but he's almost there. Putting diapers on is beginning to be harder because he's constantly rolling over on his side. It's quite the challenge...and he isn't even trying to roll over or crawl away yet. That will definately be challenging!

Here are a few pictures of his attempt today. He can almost get over but his shoulder and arms get in the way. He tries using his feet to roll over, but hasn't figured out how to roll "over" his shoulder and get his arms out from under him.

4 Month Check-Up

Aidyn had his 4 month check up this morning...1 day after his 4 month birthday. He normally sleeps until about 9-10am in the morning, so he was very tired when we got him up at 7am. (I guess I should clarify that he sleeps that late, but not straight through. He usually eats atleast once, sometimes twice, after going to bed.)

He usually wakes up when we get him out of bed, but not this morning. He slept the entire time while I changed him, took his PJs off, and dressed him. He finally woke up as we were putting him in his car seat. Ofcourse, he fell asleep on the way to the dr and slept until we went back into a room.

The nurse listened to his heart, breathing, measured his length, weight, and head circumfrence. We talked to her about several concerns we had and then we just had to wait on the dr to arrive. We always try to get the first appt in the morning if possible. That ensures no wait and not having to be in rooms full of kids (sick or healthy). This morning his appt was at 8am. We got there at 7:40am (before the nurse or dr). But luckily we didn't have to wait long at all.

Aidyn is in the 50th percentile for his height - 25 inches. He's grown 4 inches since he was born. He's also in the 50th percentile for his weight - 14 lbs 14 oz. He's gained 7 lbs 13 oz since he was born. Aidyn's in the 35th percentile for head circumfrence - 41.6 cm. His precious brain (hehe) has grown 8.6 cm since he was born. Wow...he must be a genius! ;)

Dr.Gill "predicted" that with both my height and Ben's (and Ben being the shortest person in his family)...that Aidyn should be a little taller. His prediction is that Aidyn will be about 5ft 11in. He laughed and said, "We'll see how good of a predicter I am in about 18 years." We both hope he's right!

Aidyn received the same vaccines as his 2 month appt. 1 oral vaccine and 3 shots. He did great! He did cry more than his 2 month appt, but only for a minute or two. Ben quickly picked him and gave him is pacifier and he calmed down. I took a bottle to feed him, like we did with his first shots, but had decided to wait and feed him when we got home since he was doing ok. That was the plan...until...the nurse said we had to wait 10 minutes so they could check his legs where they did the shots. With that, I went ahead and fed him. He did a great job and I'm very proud of him!

Here he is at home. See is adorable chunky legs? And his little Charlie Brown band-aids? He did so good at the dr!

Concerns Today:
Cradle Cap- Dr.Gill suggested continuing with Selsen Blue (or other dandruff shampoo) on Aidyn's head for the cradle cap since it keeps returning. He said to keep using the steriod cream if it gets worse and "scabbed" like it has.

Dry Skin- Aidyn has a dry spot on his left shoulder. The dr said to keep baby cream on it and that we could even use the steroid cream that we have for Aidyn's head. He said that Aidyn must have sensitive skin and that we just need to keep cream (not lotion) on him. He also suggested putting Vaseline on the dry spot.

Reflux- I explained to Dr.Gill that Aidyn's reflux and spitting up seems to be worsening again. We thought maybe his weight gain (he's gained 2 lbs since beginning his meds) and the increased amount that he's eating is causing the Prevacid not to work as well. I asked if we needed a larger dose or needed to increase to twice a day instead of once. He recommended that we start with Rice Cereal in Aidyn's bottles. The bottles shouldn't be thick, but not just the regular liquid (like water) consistency either. He said if that didn't work to give him a call and we may increase the Prevacid to twice a day.

Teething- Aidyn should begin teething at anytime. He has started drooling quite a bit and constantly chews on his fists and fingers. He is probably already beginning to teeth, even though it could still be a few months before a tooth actually appears.

Eating Enough? I have been concerned that Aidyn may not be getting enough to eat. Even though he usually eats all of 5.5 oz bottle, there are times that he will only eat 3-4 oz. We started by making 6oz bottles that he never finished and we were throwing formula (money) away. We decreased to 5oz. Once the water and formula is mixed, there is actually 5.5 oz. We learned that the average or expected amount for babies at this age is to eat 26-32 oz of formula a day. That's great to know! Aidyn has been averaging 25-30 oz on a given a day...so he's right on track. :)

Beginning Solids- Aidyn will begin with the Rice Cereal as I mentioned in the part about his reflux. After doing cereal for a while, we'll start on other solids. First will be vegetables. Vegetables are to be given twice a day (lunch and dinner) for 3-5 days before beginning a new vegetable. This will let us see if Aidyn has any reactions or allergies. After Vegis we will begin adding fruits. Fruits will be given once a day (breakfast or early morning). The same will be done...3-5 days before adding a new one. A paper given to us from the dr says to follow each "meal" with the bottle. However, our lactation consultant says the opposite. Begin with the bottle so you can sure Aidyn is getting enough to eat. The other foods are just supplemental but not required at this point. That is what we've been doing with the avocado and will continue with. Bottle first and then solids last.

It won't be long, I'm sure, before Aidyn is sitting up and beginning to crawl. We can't wait!

4 Months Old!

Wow, Aidyn was 4 months old yesterday! We had a busy day and as I laid down in bed lastnight I realized, "Oh crap! I didn't take Aidyn's 4 month old picture!" So, I figured one day late wouldn't be too bad. He's growing up so fast!

Splish Splash!

Aidyn loves his baths and loves splashing in the tub. I know I've posted several pics of him enjoying his bathtime, but I was FINALLY able to get a quick video of him splashing away today. His bathtub has a little angled seat in the bath that he can lean back in and sit. He is so funny in the bath always trying to eat soapy hands and splash the water around. I can't wait to try him in the swimming pool this summer!

*Remember, you'll have to go to the bottom of the page and pause the background music if you want to hear the sound from the video without any "interruptions".

Isn't he the cutest thing ever?!?! He's going to love the pool!

Thank You "Doctors"!

I felt very good last week when I watched "The Doctors" tv show. They were talking about issues parents needed to be aware of with illnesses, starting solids, milestones, achievement, etc. You name it, they probably discussed it at some point.

I was very excited, though, to see them talk about the benefits of feeding babies avocado. The nutrionists on the show (a guest) explained how avocado is very high calorie and good for babies. It isn't high calorie like a candy bar, soda, or fast food meal...obviously...but full of very healthy calories. This made me feel even better about starting Aidyn on this particular food. I still haven't figured out if it's a fruit or vegetable. Fruit since it has seeds on the inside and grows from a tree? Doesn't it grow on a tree or bush? Haha...shoot, I don't even know. That's pretty pathetic. But anyways.

Here are a few more pics of Aidyn's avocado lunch today after his afternoon bottle. He is doing better about swallowing, but I also haven't been very consistent about giving him the food everyday. Now that we're on a "set schedule" (or have been on THIS particular schedule for 2 weeks now), I'm hoping to make this a regular thing...avocado after his lunch bottle everyday.

He had that stuff EVERYWHERE! It was on his chin, lips, cheeks, fists, clothes, bib, diaper, and even up his nose! It was definately time for a bath to get all cleaned up.

I can't believe he'll be 4 months old tomorrow!

Crochet

I've never played Crochet...well, until our Memorial Day wkend cookout (on Saturday).

Since Ben was going to be out of town, I had already invited some friends over tonight to watch the new season premire of Jon & Kate plus 8. My dad had golf plans on Monday, so my parents had a cookout on Saturday evening.

All of my mom's family came (except for 1 aunt and her family). Apparently my dad claims to be the "Crochet Champ" and he wanted to see who else he could beat. If you know Ben very well, you'll know that he's SUPER competitve and that doesn't even truely explain it. Ha. I mean, super super super competitive!

So, when my dad mentioned that he was the champ, Ben took that as his invite to play. ;) It ended up being my dad (48 yrs old), Ben (26), me (26), and my 3 cousins Courtney (12), Chase (11), and Joni (9).

It came down to the wire at one point between my dad and Ben, and ofcourse Daddy was beginning to sweat. :) Buuuut, he did win, again. We had a good time playing, and I loved spending some time with a few of my cousins. Here are a few pics our of game:

Just getting started here.


Halfway through the game. I was "stuck" in the back of the group with the kids most of the time. I wasn't very good. :)



My dad headed towards his victory.

Babies Galore!

On Saturday, I threw a baby shower for my friend Aimee (with my mom's help and her mom's help). Aimee is due the end of June. Her daughter's name is Mattilda, named after her daddy, Matt. I think it's a super cute idea! We had a good time and Aimee got lots of great things! I can't wait to meet Mattilda.

Aimee and her husband live in Nashville, or actually right outside of "the city" in a small town, but are planning on moving back home soon. I hope soon is sooner than later. I can't wait for Mattilda and Aidyn to grow up together!

Another friend of mine, Cassi, is also due the end of June...same due date as Aimee's. Two more of our teachers at school are also pregnant (due in July and October). And there is a girl on my street that is due the beginning of June (very soon). After her son is born, that will make 4 babies on our street since January 26th when Aidyn was born. There must be something in the water!

Brotherly Love

Here are a few pictures of Aidyn's "brother" trying to give him some love.

If you look closely, you can also see where Aidyn's cradle cap began coming back. We've since been putting the steriod cream back on his head once, sometimes twice, a day. Since it isn't a "major" issue, I didn't want to make an extra trip to the dr since we go this Wednesday for his 4 month check up and shots.

Scary dogs!

After my tenure reception last week, I was sitting on my parents' back porch with them. My dog (the black one, Malachi) and my brother's dog (the tan one, Peanut) began playing. My mom copied the pictures into a file for me and I didn't realize until I got home how mean MY DOG looks. Poor Malachi! He is precious, and looks so vicious with his teeth in some of these pictures! I just had to share.

Malachi is a mut. I tell everyone he's a Lab and Chow mix. His face and hair is like a Lab or Retriever, but some of his coloring (and especially his tongue) is like a Chow. I got him when I was in college after my 16 yr old cat died. He has lived at my parents' ever since.

Peanut is a Boxer and Pittbull mix. When my brother first got him, it scared me knowing his breed. He was a new puppy, and the goofiest thing we'd ever seen. He is a beast now, but still goofy and super sweet. I forget sometimes that he's still a puppy (1 yr old) because he's so big. When Aaron moved back home last year, Peanut moved in also.


Look at Malachi's teeth! Oh my goodness!

All done and shaking hands. They are good friends! ;)

Tired Boy

Well, just an update from last week's post. Aidyn normally sleeps about an hour (sometimes a little more, sometimes less) inbetween each feeding. Last Friday we left my school at 1:45pm. He slept from the time he got in the car until 5:00pm!!! I couldn't believe it. He was supposed to eat at 4:30pm, but I figured if he was sleeping that much, he must've been exhuasted!

I fell asleep on his boppy. Towards the end of his nap he started sqirming and I just knew he was going to wake up. Nope. However, he managed to wiggle his way off the boppy and onto the couch, flat on his back. Here are some pics. I have no idea how he managed to stay awake through all his "moving" from the stroller to the car seat, to the car, home, walking inside the house, out of the car seat and onto his boppy, and eventually onto the couch. He must take after his daddy!

As you can see, he isn't even laying on the boppy here. He's actually down "inside" of it.

Exhasuted

Aidyn and I got up this morning with a busy day ahead of us...or busier than normal.

He ate dinner at 10:30pm lastnight (at the softball fields where Ben was playing church league softball). Slept the 30 min. ride home and was happy, awake, alert, and ready to "play" when we got home. So, Ben played with him until midnight and we all went to bed. He woke up at 4am, our new normal, ate and went back to bed. Woke up at 7am, not hungry - again, so came to bed with me and slept until 9:30am. He still wasn't hungry then, so I got in the shower. (See the post below about his play time while I was in the shower.) He finally agreed to eat at 10:30am (still, our new normal) and off we went.

We had to run by the post office, get gas, pick up lunch, and meet my friends for recess at school. Haha...my teacher friends, obviously. :) After recess, we all ate lunch together and I got some things from my classroom that I needed to start making preparations for next fall.

We left school, went by the country club to check out a room I'll be using tomorrow for a friend's baby shower (that her in-laws reserved for us to use), and stopped by Wal-mart on the way home. We left school at 1:45pm and the poor guy is STILL asleep. It's now 4:25pm and he should be eating in about 5 minutes. I hope he wakes up so we can stay on schedule.

He's had a busy day seeing lots of fun kids at school (my kids from last year and this year, plus lots of teachers) and been running around town. Still out cold in his boppy...

On the Move

I posted a picture a week or so ago of Aidyn laying on his side, beginning to roll over on his own. When I got in the shower this morning, I laid his Baby Einstein mat on our bath rug in the bathroom, laid Aidyn on it, and jumped in the shower.


When I got out of the shower, about 10 minutes later, here is how Aidyn was facing. How in the world he got his body turned AND his legs on the totally other side of those soft toy bars is beyond me. All I could do was laugh and run to get my camera.

Tenure...finally!

As a teacher, tenure is an achievement that many look forward to. Lucky for me, I graduated in December 2005 and was able to pick up an interim position that next spring. I mention this because you must have 3 years of teaching completed, along with principal recommendation, to receive tenure.

Had I not been fortunate enough to have that spring interim when I first graduated, I would NOT have been able to receive this "assurance" of a job this year due to my maternity leave in December. Luckily, I had 1 month (yes...1 month) more than the necessary amount needed to attain teaching tenure. Phew! That was definately cutting it close.

I do not think I would have loss my job or that it would "be in danger" in the future, but even still...it is nice to know that now I feel "safe".

Ben and I went to a reception given by our school system yesterday while Aidyn stayed with his Papaw, my dad. When we got there to pick him up, I couldn't find them. I asked my brother where they were and he said that Aidyn was out back swinging. Swinging? Here is where he was:

My dad built my brother and me a tree house when we were younger in the backyard. It has a ladder climbing to the top and an A-frame coming out the side with 2 swings. We loved it and spent many afternoons and summer days playing with all our neighborhood friends.

My parents are now making plans to put in a baby swing, steps, and other fun "parts" so that Aidyn will soon be able to play on the treehouse himself. I can't wait to see him have fun were I used to growing up!

Hair Pictures

Well, just like I predicted, when I asked Ben to take my "before" picture...he rolled his eyes. Needless to say, he did it, but he thought I was being silly. So, for what it's worth, here's my hair before I got it cut tonight.

He took several pictures and I hate to say that this was the best one. When I got home he actually commented that he liked my hair and thought it looked good. Ben has never been the best at complimenting. He tries though. So that was good for him. He did actually volunteer to take the after shot, so I guess he "coming around". I got my hair cut and eyebrows waxed. It was great and very relaxing!

I started to go put make-up on and a nice shirt, haha, like the before/after shots of anything you see on TV. They always have no make-up, no smile, and a bland shirt on to begin with. Then they get dressed up, smile real big, and put make-up on for the afters. Even if the transformation isn't "oustanding", there's still a better difference, haha. But...I didn't. Hahaha (Good thing because I really would have gotten an eyeroll from that, ha)

Ben snapped this wonderful shot as I was trying to read the people article on Jon & Kate plus 8...that's another post of it's own.

New Hairdo!

Tonight I am skipping church (shame, shame...I know) and getting my hair cut! Ben is the youth minister at our church, so I feel bad when I'm not there or doing something else. But, I've been dying to get my hair cut for weeks now, and finally they were able to fit me in. Right now my hair is shoulder length and I'm ready for something new.

My plan is to get a short (about chin lengthed) layered bob-style hair cut. I hope that makes sense, haha. I can't wait! I go at 6:15pm this evening and I am very excited! I promised a friend I would take a before/after picture. I assured her that I am going to make Ben take my picture before I leave. I know he will, he'll just probably roll his eyes and laugh at me in the process, ha.

Oh well...who cares? I'm just glad to finally get a new do! :)

New Yardsale Toy

Aidyn tried out his new toy lastnight while I was cooking dinner. Ben was still at football and I had to get started on dinner. Aidyn had just eaten and been changed, but he was NOT interested in laying on his Boppy. Nor the playmat, swing, or Bumbo seat. Ugh! So...

Even though I haven't had a change to really clean it, we tried his new "walker". It came from a friend at church, so I knew it wasn't really dirty. It had just been in their attic and needs to be wiped down good. Since Aidyn can't really pull anything on it into his mouth, I wasn't worried.

He loved it! (For about 15 minutes) and then he'd had enouth. Since he can hold his head up great, but not support his back yet, I had to stuff one of his blankets down in the seat with him to support his back and tummy. Hopefully he'll be sitting up within the next 2-3 months and he'll be able to enjoy this new toy even more!

Avocado Update

Aidyn is doing really well with his Avocado. I haven't really seen an improvement in sleep yet, but we've only been doing this for 4 days now. Because it's high in calorie, he is supposed to sleep longer since he shouldn't be as hungry at night.

He did however sleep until 5:15 am this morning!

For over a week now we've been on the same schedule, which has been WONDERFUL! Eating at 10:30pm, going to bed, and waking up at 4:30am. He'll eat and then sleep until 7:00am. When he wakes up then, he isn't hungry...weird. So I've been putting him in bed with me. We'll lay there and "talk" for about 30 minutes and then he'll go back to sleep, usually until about 10-10:30am. And we start the 3hr feeding cycle again until the evening.

Yesterday and today, though, he's been off schedule. Lastnight he ate at 8:45pm instead of 7:30pm like he should have. He wasn't hungry at 7:30pm. He was fussy after he ate, and as much as I didn't want to, I went ahead and put him to bed at 9:30pm...an hour early.

He woke up at 12:45am, but I was hoping he'd still sleep until 4:30am like "normal". Our new "normal" I gave him his paci and he went right back to sleep. He woke up again at 3:00am. Fussy but not crying like when's hungry. I went in, covered him back up (he'd kicked his blanket off) and gave him is paci and off he went again. He slept until 5:15 this morning! Wow!

So...essentially, he ate at 9:00pm and made it until 5:00am - that's 8 hours! Yay!

Hopefully we'll get back to a "regular" schedule that we can stick to. It makes things so much easier!

First Solids...Avocado!

Instead of starting Aidyn on rice cereal, our drs suggested started with Avocado. You peel only a portion of the skins off (because if you peel the whole thing it will go bad) and scoop out part of the fruit. Or is it a vegetable? Haha, I don't know. But anyways. You slowly mix it with water until it is the "right" consistency...not to watery, but not too thick.

I scooped out 1 tablespoon of avocado and mixed it with 1 tablespoon of water. Here is what it looked like. Mmmm....


I asked Ben to take Aidyn's picture as he ate and to video the "adventure", haha. We waited about 45 minutes after his lunch time bottle to do the avocado.

All done. Here are some "after" shots. I got about 2-3 spoons full into his precious tummy. In the end he seemed to kinda spit up some of his milk, so we stopped then.

I still haven't figured out how to load videos from our camcorder...but luckily my digital camera has a video setting. Here are our videos of Aidyn trying his first solids...Avocado. You will need to pause the background music at the bottom of the page for sound.

His facial expressions totally crack me up!

Bouncy Seat Finale?

I'm beginning to think that it may be the end of our bouncy seat for Aidyn. Every time I put him in it, he kicks so hard that he kicks the bar out of the "sockets" that hold it up right. Either that, or he pulls it down with his feet.

I put him in his seat the other day while I dryed my hair, and once again I looked over and this is what I saw.

The bar will not stay in the holes anymore if he starts kicking at it. When I try standing it up more so infront of him, he kicks until it gradually falls, OR he'll grab the middle toy with his feet and eventually if falls down.

I know there's a weight limit on the seats; I just can't remember what it is.

New trend or trick?

The lactation consultant, Gloria, recommended giving Aidyn his reflux meds in the evenings to see if that was part of his sleeping issue. I think she may be on to something.

He definately isn't eating more like we had hoped, or atleast not regulary. He still eats about 4 oz each feeding. Since Tuesday, he has maybe eaten 5 oz 4 times.

Wednesday night Aidyn ate his last bottle at 10:30pm and slept until 4:30am. That's definately the longest he has slept. Lastnight he wouldn't eat for Ben's mom while I was at the house warming shower, and so I finally got him to eat 3 oz at 9:30pm (an hour early). He also slept until 4:30am this morning.

He did actually eat 5 oz at 7:15pm tonight and hopefully will eat well again around 10:15-10:30pm and sleep until 4:30am (or later if he'd like) again. I really hope the meds are helping and we're on to a new sleeping schedule.

If he continues to sleep until the same time everyday (4:30am)...we hopefully can begin to get on a "real" schedule. Boy, wouldn't that be great?!?

Constipated?

My poor Aidyn had not had a regular BM since last Saturday! On formula, he usually has one every other day. He was "due" for one on Monday, but nothing. Tuesday...just a very little bit. Wednesday, nothing. Thursday, nothing. He has been more cranky than usual and continues grunting and straining. By Thurday afternoon I had had enough. I felt really bad for him. So... once I again I called the dr's office.

They first asked if I had tried juice. Ofcourse I hadn't because I didn't know what kind or if Aidyn was old enough. I know some peds suggest starting solids and juice around 4 months, but just didn't want to try it without asking. The nurse recommended infant apple-prune juice. She said to mix 1 oz of juice with 2 oz of water...a total of 3 oz. Then, we have to give 1 oz 3 times a day. Morning, afternoon, evening. Oh yeah - and it has to be warm, not cold.

Next she asked if I had tried "rectal stimulation". Huh?!?! I love my son more than anything, but I wasn't about to stick my finger in his butt. Luckily, that wasn't what she wanted. Instead (even though it wasn't much better), she suggested putting vaseline on a q-tip and VERY VERY slowly and VERY VERY easily, turn and push the tip into his rectum like taking a temperature.

We tried that when Ben got home from school yesterday...no results. I was leaving for a house warming shower, and Ben was going to football pracice. Since we have breastmilk stored in my mother-in-law's freezer, we asked her to give Aidyn that for his next 2 bottles. That tends to "clean him out". And before I came home, I stopped by the store to get juice.

We had no results with the breastmilk (yet) and so we went ahead and did 1 oz of the juice mixture before going to bed. Do you have any idea how hard it is to store 1 oz of juice? I mixed the juice/water, fed Aidyn 1 oz, and then divided the last 2 oz into separate small jars and placed in the fridge.

As of this morning, still nothing. Ben was out of school today and I was heading to visit my kids for Field Day...so once again his mom was keeping Aidyn. Before she picked him up, we did the q-tip one more and 1 oz of juice. Luckily, when I went to pick Aidyn up from her house at 4pm, he had used the bathroom. I was sooooo proud! :)

Ben's mom said that Aidyn definately had a "pellet" at first (which is the sign of constipation) but then the rest was normal. Whew! I am so glad. The poor guy has been struggling all week long!

I'm so glad he's feeling better!

YAY Aidyn!

Well, just a quick update.

Yesterday was a loooong day. Aidyn didn't want to eat or nap. I'm supposed to be trying to get him to eat more and he didn't want to. He totally quit spitting up with the new medicine schedule...until about 3 hours later and it started back again. I think I may agree with Gloria (the lactaction specialist) that his reflux dosage isn't enough anymore compared to his weight.

On a better note....Aidyn slept 6.5 hours lastnight! He ate at 10:30pm and didn't wake up until 5:00am. He is in a much better mood this morning. He ate 5 oz at 7:30pm lastnight, but only 3 oz before going to bed. I guess he wasn't hungry. Who knows?

This morning when he got up at 8am, he only ate 4 oz again. We set in his room and just "hung out" a while in the rocker while he was feeling good. We read our daily proverb (Proverbs 14 since today is the 14th) and then came to the office.

I laid him on his playmat while I checked my email and when I turned around to check on him, this is what I saw. I JUMPED UP and ran downstairs as quick as I could to get my camera. Luckily, he didn't go anywhere. :)

He has been trying to roll over for a few weeks now but just can't seem to. Granted, he isn't all the way over, but that's a good start! A few minutes ago he rolled to the other side, but when he heard me say, "Good boy!" he rolled back on his back.

Let's hope his great sleep and good morning is a sign of a much better day to come. Yay, Aidyn!!!

Returning Visitor

Well, Mr. Cradle Cap himself came back yesterday. We applied steriod cream lastnight and the ointment today. Aidyn has begun scratching at it already. Let's hope the steriod cream works this time. If not, we have his 4 month check up in 13 days. Looks like we may be back before then.

He also didn't have a good day today. I can't decide if it's still the teething issue like we thought or he just doesn't feel well. He is supposed to be eating more, and he actually ate less today. A few times he ate 5oz, but mostly 4oz and once only 3oz. Ugh!

He did better with the spit up, but then because he's eating more...I swear I think he's spitting up more. Who knows. I'm going to give him until Sunday (that's definately 3-4 days) and try some avocado if he still isn't sleeping. Today he didn't want to eat or sleep and so the result has been a very cranky baby all day. Let's hope tomorrow is better.

It's 9:45pm and he's in the bed (even though he should eat again at 10:30pm), so I'm going to lay down myself. I think this is a record.

Chicken Recipe

Several people have asked me about this recipe. You should be able to look it up online, but here it is incase you can't find it or just don't feel like searching for it.
The chicken recipe that we used for Mother's day was found on the internet. Ben watches the Food Network a lot and I believe he saw this recipe on there and then looked it up.

Big Bud's Beer Can Chicken
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper
2 smashed garlic cloves
1 (12oz) can beer
1/2 lb bacon
1 (2-3lb) whole chicken

Our recipe says that prep time is 20 minutes, but it actually took a little longer than that.

Preheat oven to 450'. Wash chicken with cold water adn pat dry with paper towels.

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Rub 1/2 on the inside cavity of the chicken. Gently peel the skin away from the chicken, but DO NOT cut it off. Pour the remaining dry mix under the skin and then use your hands to spread it out. You want to get the ingredients down into the chicken as far as possible. The skin stays on and is able to hold the taste and juices in the chicken.

Open the beer can and drink about 1/2 cup...haha...or pour it out as I did. Drop the smashed garlic cloves down into the beer. Place the chicken, "standing up", on the beer can and in a large saute pan. We used a metal cake pan.

Place 1/3 of the bacon in the top cavity of the chicken and drape the remaining 2/3 of the bacon over the top. Attach with toothpicks so it doesn't fall off while in the oven.

*Because we were going to church, we did the dry rub and bacon inside the cavity the night before. We laid the chickens down in the pans and placed them in the fridge overnight. I really think this helped the dry mix seasoning and bacon "set in". In the morning, all we had to do was place the chicken on the beer and put the bacon on top of the outside.

Place chicken in oven for 10 min on 450' and then lower the oven to 325 and cook for another hour. The chicken is done when the outside is golden brown, the bacon is cooked, and the chicken reaches 165' in the thickest thigh region.

I preheated the oven and put then chicken in for the first 10 min while I was putting my makeup on. When I went down to reduce the oven to 325, I realized that's what I had accidently set it on the first time. Oooops. So in all reality, our chickens (we had 10 lbs total instead of 3) cooked for a little over 90 min on 325'. I'm not sure what the reason was for the first 10 min on 450' was, but if you need to put the chicken in and leave, I would just set your oven on 325 and cook it a few min longer. Worked for us.

*Our 2 (5lb) chickens served 11 people. We had enough left over for Ben to eat lunch the next day, but that was it. I guess you would want to figure about 1 lb per person when trying to estimate what size chicken to get.

Not so "Magic"

Well, here is Aidyn's eating progress since talking to Gloria yesterday. After eating at 10pm lastnight, he didn't quite make it to 4-5am like I was hoping. Oh well.

2:30pm - 5 oz
7:30pm - 4 oz
10:00pm - 5 oz
2:45am - 5 oz
6:45am - 2 oz
10:00am - 4 oz

As you can see, we are not on a set schedule yet. He eats every 3 hours except during the nights and early mornings. When he first woke up the morning he didn't want to eat, but play. I finally was able to get him to eat those 2 oz at 7:00am.

We'll keep fixing the 6 oz bottles today and if he doesn't do more than 5 oz...then that's what I'm going to start fixing. It kills me to throw away formula. Espcially since now we're going to be going through it even quicker with bigger bottles.

Progress...

After talking to Gloria today, I fixed Aidyn's 2:00pm bottle with 6 oz. The formula makes twice the scoops...if that makes any sense. 1 scoop for 2oz, 2 scoops for 4oz, and 3 scoops for 6oz.

Aidyn has been eating 4 oz for a long while now. At 2:00pm, he ate 5oz. I figured that's a pretty good start. The only problem was when 5:00pm came around, he wasn't hungry. He refused to eat. I tried again at 6:00pm, nope. Finally, at 7:30pm Aidyn ate. This time he only ate the 4oz. We were at the park watching our church's softball team play. Ben's mom was feeding Aidyn and we tried to get him to eat more but he wasn't interested.

He got fussy and then eventually went to sleep. He was supposed to eat at 10:30pm, but when we got home at 10pm he was fussy and ready to eat. I went ahead and fed him and he ate 5oz again.

Ben and I decided to find the halfway point on the formula scoop and make a mark. This way I can start making 5oz bottles instead of 6oz and then throwing away the last bit. I am going to continue with 6oz throughout the night and tomorrow. If he continues to only eat 5oz, than that will be our plan.

There seems to be a "magic touch" to the 10-10:30pm feeding time. For whatever reason, when Aidyn eats during that 30 minute block, he always sleeps 4-5 hours. Since he just ate 5oz, and it was the "magic" time, I'm hoping he'll sleep well. I'll let you know in the morning. :)

Aidyn's Eating Plan

Well, this maybe actually should be entitled "My Plan for Sleep".

Aidyn is 15 weeks old and still not sleeping through the night. The lactation consultant at our pediatrician's office, Gloria, said to contact her if Aidyn was was not sleeping through the night at 10 weeks. Well, everyone I talked to said that switching to formula should help because it takes longer to digest formula. Maybe for some kids...but not Aidyn. I decided to wait instead of calling her, but he continued getting up every 3 hours during the night.

At Aidyn's 2 month appointment, Gloria had told us that instead of starting with rice cereal, she likes for parents to start with avocado. I forget the exact reasoning, but I remember Ben and I discussing later how it made sense. I have also talked to many parents that did the same and it worked.

I decided I was going to call her last Friday. Wouldn't you know that Thursday night Aidyn slept 5 1/2 hours. He must've known I was calling. I still did and left her a message. Since she had been out of the office for a week, I figured she would be swamped with messages and breastfeeding issues. She must have been, but she finally called me back this afternoon.

Here is our plan for Aidyn:
Step 1
Increase his 4oz bottles to 6oz and get him to eat as much as possible for 3-4 days.
Aidyn has been eating 4 oz since he was 2 months old. I kept thinking he should be increasing his intake, so I increased his bottles to 5-6oz. I explained this to Gloria and told her that he sucks the 4oz bottles dry in no time, but when I increased them...he wouldn't eat hardly any more. I felt like I was wasting the formula after trying that for several days and having to pour it out, so I went back to 4oz bottles. She said that it is possible that with his reflux, he is more comfortable eating smaller, more frequent meals. This is why he is still waking up at night to eat. If we can get him to eat more during the day, he should stop waking up at night.
Step 2
Instead of giving Aidyn his reflux meds (1 prevacid tablet) in the mornings, start giving it to him in the evenings between 5pm-7pm. She thinks that the meds may be wearing off and that is causing him to wake him in the middle of the night. Many times he will wake up but won't want to eat and this could be why.
Step 3
If eating more (if he hopefully will) and changing the meds time doesn't work, we will start adding the avocado. We will try this for 3-4 days.
Step 4
If Aidyn STILL isn't sleeping through the night at this point, she wants his dr to see him again. With his continual weight gain, Gloria thinks that Aidyn is not getting enough of the meds anymore. She said if the pediatrician won't increase the dosage, she recommends seeing a pediatric gastro-specialist to get a 2nd opinion. She said that many times the specialists will give higher dosages or a more specfic meds.

Today is Tuesday, May 12th. Aidyn is already scheduled to go back for his 4 month check-up and shots on Wednesday, May 27th...2 weeks from now. If he is not sleeping through the night by that point, I will ask to speak with Gloria at his appointment and see what she recommends.

I hope the increased bottles and change of time of the meds will work. I really don't want to have to go visit a gastro-specialist. But...maybe the dosage is the issue. Just like with adults, the amount of meds you take most of the time depends on your weight. And, as Aidyn continues to grow, his dosage amount will also have to increase if we want it to work effectively.

After talking with Gloria, I increased Aidyn's 2:00pm bottle to 6oz. He hate 5oz, so I figure that a start.

Teething Already?

A week or two ago, Aidyn began drooling more than usual. When my mom was over at the house, she was holding Aidyn when he grabbed her finger and pulled it to his mouth. Instead of sucking on it like he normally would do, she said he began chewing on it and trying to bite. She suggested that maybe he was beginning to teeth between the chewing and drooling. I just said, "OK", and didn't think much about it.

Well...that is until yesterday. Aidyn was in a good mood most of the day but still a little more fussy and whiney that normal. Lastnight was terrible. He screamed and cried for about 20 minutes until I finally got him to go to sleep. I put him in his swing and told Ben I was getting in the bathtub. I've been "dreaming" of sitting in a nice, hot bath for a few weeks now and just haven't seem to be able to for whatever reason.

I had been in the tub for about 10 minutes when I heard him start crying again. I knew Ben had him, and I wanted to enjoy my bath, so I just ignored it. Ben's a good daddy and I knew Aidyn was fine. Well...15 minutes later when he was screaming bloody murder, I got out of the tub. We put a little bit of orajel on his gums but that didn't seem to help. We changed him. We rocked him. We put PJs on. He acted hungry (it was only 30 min until he was supposed to eat anyways) but then refused to eat when I tried to go ahead and feed him. All he did was scream and cry. The ONLY thing that seemed to make him happy was a freezing cold paci.

We have a small mini-fridge in Aidyn's room where I used to keep the pumped breastmilk and now his prepared formula. I had 3 pacis lastnight that I was constantly rotating from his mouth to the freezer compartment and back again.

Eventually, after a solid hour of screaming and crying, he went to sleep - without his 9pm feeding. I held him a while longer and then put him in his crib where he slept until 12:30am. So far he's been in a fairly good mood and acting like he feels ok. I sure hope we don't have a repeat of lastnight. I told Ben that if he did that all day today, I'd probably be in tears when he got home from school.

Let's hope today goes better. Ben plays softball tonight at Winged Deer in Johnson City with our church softball team. As long as the weather is nice, I'm planning on going. That is, ofcourse, as long as Aidyn is feeling up to it.

Videos

I have several videos we have taken of Aidyn with our camcorder that we got for Christmas. However, I can't seem to figure out how to get the videos to upload onto our computer. I've read the manual, followed the directions, and nothing. It's very frustrating.


Yesterday afternoon when Aidyn was in a such a good mood, I got two videos of him sitting in the chair and talking to me. They aren't anything fascinating, but ofcourse I think they're totally cute! These were taken with my digital camera. When he started talking I thought, "Hey...my camera has a video mode. I know how to upload onto the computer with it!" So I grabbed my camera.

Hopefully we'll get the video camera figured out soon!

Future Heartbreaker

Aidyn has decided he LOVES to sit up and would much rather sit up than lay down. This can be a problem since he can't sit up on his own yet. He has his bumbo seat, but it causes him to spit up after a while...and he isn't fond of his bouncy seat anymore. I guess it doesn't sit up enough for him.

Here are a few pictures of him sitting in my rocker in his bedroom. The first two are from Mother's Day and the last two he is wearing his new pants his Aunt Brenda bought him. They are 3-6 months. Fit perfectly around his little tummy...just a little long. :)

What a handsome little man!