And It All Begins...

I am totally loving the fact that Aidyn can crawl now, but no kidding...we are definately having to watch him more and more carefully.

The other morning, as I went to fix his bottle, I came back and he was playing in the fireplace. Ah! Luckily, we don't have a working fireplace, but still! We do have gas logs we'd like to install this winter, and we have real logs just sititng in there to make it kinda "look" like it works.

I went upstairs and got one of our old baby gates that we used with our dog, Macie, and blocked it off. Since it isn't quite big enough to fit snuggly, it's just leaning up against the fireplace opening. And, since Aidyn thinks it's fun to try and pull up on it (which he'd end up falling back with it on top of him), I had to put one of our dining room chairs infront of it.

What'll be next? Probably our stairs!

What in the world?

On Monday afternoon, after the rain finally quit, Aidyn and I went for a walk. When we returned, I pushed his stroller to the side of the house so we could go swing for a minute. As I did, I noticed a strange thing...

...an opossum in our trap!

At first I wasn't sure I was seeing clearly. Really?!?!

When we left on Friday, the trap was empty (no food, snacks, trash, etc) inside it. It was simply sitting next to the house waiting to be carried downstairs and put back into the basement.

Oh well, looks like we caught another one! I sure hope it wasn't too hungry...there's no telling how long it'd been stuck in there!

A Hole?

Aidyn recently noticed a hole that we have in our floor downstairs. When we bought our house, there was originally a set of french doors that separated our living room and what is now our dining room. We initially intended on replacing the doors, but since have decided to leave them out. It makes the downstairs area seem much more open.

Where there once was a small door stop, we now have a small whole in the floor. I always knew it was there, but never paid it much attention until Aidyn became obsessed with it the other day.







Lately, it seems as though it has become one of his favorite things to do, sit and play with the hole in the floor. Go figure.



Now, please don't take this the wrong way...but he's kinda like a dog. Why bother buying toys when he'd rather play with cups, magazines, empty coke bottles, spatulas and pots? Or a big empty box...aren't those always the best "toys" ever? haha

Weekend Get-Away

As I mentioned in my last post, Ben was off from football last Friday. Since we didn't go on a summer vacation this year, we decided to head "up the road" to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, TN for the weekend.

Our original plan was to arrive around 2-3pm, check-in at the hotel, and spend the afternoon/evening and dinner at the Tanger Outlets. Since we ended up at the dr with Aidyn, we didn't arrive until closer to 7pm.

We decided to go to the hotel, feed and change Aidyn, and go shopping. We began our "adventure" at KT's Bar and Grill. I wasn't sure what kind of mood Aidyn would be in, so we asked to sit out on the patio where there was a guy playing his guitar and singing. The less quiet Aidyn is expected to be, the better. And ofcourse, the more happening around him to keep him entertained, the better.

Here's a quick picture of him in the high chair "dancing" to the music. He loved it and was such a good boy all through dinner!

We left dinner and Ben put Aidyn his the backpack carrier. We only had time to visit 2-3 stores, so we knew the backpack would be easier for tonight than the stroller. Once we got back to the hotel, it was time to feed him and go to bed...or so we hoped.

Here he is playing with a pack of diapers that he just dumped out of the bag. Fun, fun.

Ben and I debated to whether or not to take the pack-n-play and ultimately decided not to. I'm still not sure if it would have made a difference or not.

However, Aidyn's "normal" routine goes as follows:
Bath (on Sunday or Wednesday only)
Lotion, Skin Ointment
Clean Diaper and PJs
Bottle
Rock a few minutes
Laid in his Crib
(Lullaby music and dehumidifier)

Normally, we just lay Aidyn in his crib. Sometimes he's asleep already, and other times he lays and talks to himself a few minutes and goes to sleep on his own.

At the hotel, it took us over an hour (both nights) to get him to sleep. I couldn't just lay him in the bed and walk off. He'd climb/fall off. Ben and I were visible so he thought we wanted to play. There was no rocking chair. Etc, etc, etc.

However, other than our crazy bedtime "routine", our weekend get-away was great. We were able to stroll up and down Gatlinburg on Saturday evening after we ate dinner at No Way Jose's. We found lots of good deals at the outlets for ourselves (and a few for Aidyn).

When we went out walking Saturday evening, it was cool and almost like a "mist" in the air. Aidyn was tired (as were we) of being in the room, and he definately wasn't going to bed anytime soon. So, after much "deliberation" between Ben and myself about whether or not to take Aidyn out into the "mist", you can see we ended up going. In the end, I was glad with our decision. We saw many parents out with their children (some not bundled up at all!!!) and Aidyn enjoyed "people watching".

He had his pajamas on, with his orange fleece sweatshirt over it, a baseball cap on to keep his head dry, and he was wrapped in a blanket. Needless to say, I do not think he got cold. :)

The view from the balcony before we left.

We ended the weekend by "sleeping in" (if you want to call it that) until 7:45am when Aidyn woke me up. We showered, packed up the car, and had a WONDERFUL breakfast at Flapjack's Pancakes. Ben and I each had the "#2 breakfast":
3 buttermilk pancakes
2 scrambled eggs
2 pieces of bacon
1 side of hashbrowns
1 large glass of orange juice

(Even Aidyn had a bite or two of pancakes!)

...all for $15.00 total. Yum-o!!!!

Hopefully we'll be able to take another "weekend get-away" to a different location after football is over and before the basketball season begins. It won't be long.

Oh yeah...

I forgot to mention that I also called the Pediatrician that was on call Sunday afternoon, Dr.Pearson, and he agreed with our decision. Stop the Amox-clav, try a teaspoon of children's Zyrtec (for allergies) and keep an eye on the wrist. With a breakout as bad as Aidyn had, I definately wanted a dr's opinion.

If it isn't one thing...

...there's always something else.

This past Friday was Ben's only "off week" for football. Since we didn't go on a summer vacation this year, we decided this weekend would be a nice opportunity to get out of town. We didn't go far, but we decided to go to Gatlinburg, TN (about 2 hrs from our house) for the weekend.

Ben took Friday off to get some things done and run errands. I was only working a half day. Our plan was to leave after lunch, check-in at the hotel around 2-3pm, and then spend the evening at the Tanger Outlets for shopping and dinner. But as you know...things never go as planned.

Aidyn woke up with a huge welp (sp?) on his wrist and thumb. Both were pretty red and looked swollen too. If you remember my post about the blisters on his feet...well, this was just the same. Ben called the dr and they wanted us to bring him in to be looked at...at 2pm - the time we were supposed to be leaving. Great.

So we did. Aidyn is much more important that getting to a shopping outlet, haha, but we were pretty annoyed. Not with Aidyn, but the poor kid always seems to have something going on, I feel SO bad for him! But anyhow.

The dr said it did not look like spider bite. He felt like this thumb was due to chewing or sucking (Aidyn doesn't suck his thumb or fingers...but he DOES chew on them). He thought the welp on his wrist looked like an allergic reaction to something, but just incase it was an infection (that he didn't want to get worse) he prescribed amox-clav. Aidyn was to take 1/2 a teaspoon twice a day for 10 days. If the spot got bigger, worse, or he ran a fever, we were instructed to call back.

Aidyn had his first dose (1/2 tsp) around 8:30pm Friday evening. His wrist and thumb had already started looking better. By Saturday, his thumb looked much better. The spot on his wrist wasn't any smaller, but it wasn't as red. However... (here comes the fun part - yeah right)

Saturday afternoon/evening, we noticed Aidyn had 2-3 "patches" of white bumps on the back of his legs that resembled misquitoe bites surrounded with red, almost swollen, skin. We weren't sure what had caused that since he'd had pants on all day and been with us. He had slept in footed pjs the night before, in the same bed as me, and I had no bites. So, we put different pjs on and went to bed.

This morning, Sunday, when Aidyn woke up...he was covered in those bug-bite patches. The back of both legs were covered. He had new patches on the back/underside of both arms, small dot on his chest, small spot on his right cheek and ear lobe, and the entire left side of his bottom. I decided NOT to give him his morning dose of the Amox-clav incase that was the reason for this break-out.

Wouldn't you know, that by the time we got home (3 hrs later), the only spots left were his cheek and left leg. Aaaaand, by the time I got to my parents' for a quick visit (about 2-3 hrs later), they were ALL GONE! I have not given Aidyn anymore Amox-clav, and the patches have not reappeared. I definately think that was the problem.

The red welp on his wrist is slowly getting better, but not as quick as I'd like. However, since it looks identical to the "blisters" he had on his feet a month or two ago that healed just fine, I think we'll stay home from the dr office and just keep a close eye on it. We'd probably be in more "danger" sitting in a waiting room full of sick children then just staying at home.

Whew!

Atleast the breakout is gone and no more...that was my biggest concern.

...and he's off!

Aidyn's finally crawling!

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. Since I have class on Thursdays, we invited them over for dinner lastnight. Aidyn has been crawling for a day or two, but I don't know if you'd call it a "real" crawl. He crawls on one knee and pushes himself with his other leg. It's halarious!

While I fixed dinner lastnight, he managed to crawl across the room, through the kitchen, and over to the dishwasher. Luckily, it was empty.

Once I had it refilled, I kept having to move him away from it....and there he'd come again. :) I, finally, ended up having to shut it and finish loading it later.

Here is a short video of him doing his "peg-leg" crawling as I like to call it. Yay, Aidyn!

When the youth came over tonight for church, he was doing better at crawling with both knees and not the "peg-leg", haha. I'm glad I videotaped a little big lastnight, like my dad said, "Before he figures out the 'right' way to do it." Too cute!

Apple Festival

Our hometown has it's annual Apple Festival the first weekend of October every year. I hate going (as does Ben) because it's a 2-lane road, Main Street, with tent vendors set up on both sides of the road in addition to thousands of people visiting and "shopping". There are lots of food related items with apples and then all the rest of the tents are random things such as shirts, homemade dresses, jewelry, woodwork, and any other items you might see at a "festival".

But even thought I hate it, I went twice this year. Luckily, since we live 2 blocks from the "big event", we can just walk. So, on both Friday and Saturday evening this year, Aidyn and I walked down around 6:30pm when the crowd has died down and most people are gone. I like going then because you can actually push a stroller and "stroll" up and down the street looking at stuff without being stepped on, pushed, shoved, or knocked over.

The first night it was a little cool, and since Aidyn was getting over a cold, I didn't want him to get sick...so I bundled him up...just a little, haha. He isn't wearing a snowsuit (I promise!) but it's like a one-piece GAP outfit. It's like a sweatshirt and pants all connected. It wasn't quite that cold when we left the house, but by the time the sun went down about 30 min later, I was very glad I had put this on him.

We didn't find anything worth dying over, but I did myself a peice of Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake dipped in Chocolate! Ohhhh....yum! Doesn't it look great?!?!?! It was worth all the money I paid for it - which was too much for it, but who cares! :) I even gave Aidyn a small taste and he LOVED it!

Ben also took him down Saturday afternoon to "bum around" for a few minutes.

They bought me a beautiful badge lanyard (sp?) for my school badge. A friend of ours, Sharon, had a booth at the festival of jewelry peices she had made. I love it and have had lots of compliments on it at school this week! Thanks Ben and Sharon!

Close Call

This past weekend was Apple Festival in the town where we live. Since there are thousands of people that come in from out of town, the local schools always close on Friday. This year, they also decided to shut-down on Wednesday and Thursday for a shortened Fall Break. This meant that Ben was out of school the end of last week.

Now, we (teachers) aren't supposed to have our phones out during the day while we're teaching at school. However, I just happened to have mine on my front table last Thursday morning when I recieved a text from Ben that said, "Did you get my message?"

Ben NEVER texts me at work so I knew it must be important. I looked back and he had sent another text message earlier that said, "My son just catapulted himself off the changing table!"

I almost died! We texted back and forth for a while...and I ended up explaining to my students why I had my phone out. They almost died as well, haha, and they're 8 years old! Apparently, Ben was changing Aidyn's diaper when he decided to turn around and get socks out of his sock drawer (about 3 steps away). While "away", Aidyn managed to turn sideways and push off the wall with his feet, causing himself to do a backflip off the changing table and land on the floor.

Ahhhhhhh! What?!?!?!?!

Ben reassured me that he was ok, had a very small knot on his forehead, but was at the babysitter's now. He had eaten and played "normally" all morning. After texting back and forth with both Ben and Kelly all day long, I felt ok about him being alright.

Well...

...until I actually talked to Ben on my way to class and listened to him describe, in detail, what actually happened. By then, I was like 10 min from my class but so sick I thought I was going to throw up. So, I called the dr. They wanted to see Aidyn "right away" to check for bruising, x-ray for internal bleeding, and more. Talking about freak'n somebody out!

I practically did a u-turn in the road, called a friend from class to explain why I wouldn't be there, and headed to my parents' house to pick up Aidyn. When I called my dad to tell him I was on the way, he also said that Aidyn was fine. Once I got there...I was able to tell the same thing. But, since I'd already called the dr, I went ahead and took him.


While at Mom and Dad's (and the dr office), he was climbing all over the place, playing, and laughing. Here are a few pics I took while we were waiting for the dr to arrive. We were given the first "walk in" appointment at 5pm. However, the dr was finishing up her rounds at the hospital so we still had to wait.

He looks real hurt and upset doesn't he?

Dr. Farmer poked, pushed, and pulled on him and said he looks fine. No fever, bumps, or bruises and he was eating and playing all day like his normal self. She assured us that it wouldn't be the last time he fell or got hurt. I'm just glad everything was ok...and Ben especially is. :)

We're getting there...

One day last week, Sunday maybe (I can't remember), my parents came over to drop off some spindels they'd bought to fix our steps going upstairs. Last year, when we bought our new king-size bed furniture, we had to remove the hand-carved spindels that were originally to our house...our 106 year-old house. Yes, we all almost cried when we had to cut them in half.

But anyhow. While my parents were at the house, we were trying our best to get Aidyn to crawl. He's been trying SOOOO hard! He was doing a great job scooting himself with his feet, but by the time I got my camera, he'd worn himself out. Here are two short videos.

We're getting closer!

*Some of my friends (at work and church) keep "reminding" me that I will be sorry when he finally is crawling, haha...I'm sure they're right...but we're still excited about his progress!

Who's that?

Since all of our bedrooms are upstairs, we put a mini-fridge in Aidyn's room when he was born. This kept me from having to take many trips up and down the stairs to the kitchen and back when he was younger and eating regularly throughout the night. We also kept an empty bottle or two plus formula in his bathroom for the same reason.

Wednesday night, after his bath, I sat Aidyn on the sink countertop next to the mirror while I fixed his bottle for bedtime. I looked over as he turned, saw himself in the mirror, and started smiling and giggling. It was the cutest thing ever!

He's seen himself plenty of times but usually Ben or I am holding him and so he normally just focuses on us. This time it was just him. Since I actually had my camera with us, I grabbed it to take his picture...

...but like always, as soon as he saw it, he was more interested in me and the camera. I've always said I want to mount a small mirror on the floor in a "playroom" for my children. I think it's a great thing for them to see themselves and others on their level. Since we don't have a playroom, maybe I can get a smaller one to put in his room on the floor.

New Teether

Aidyn's new favorite "teething device" is the cap to the Tylenol bottle. Go figure. I swear he isn't a druggie...ha. Where he was sick last week, we'd give him tylenol to help with his throat, mild fever, and fussiness. He always loved chewing on the cap when we'd put the lid back on.


Now that the bottle is empty (it's a small bottle we've had since he was born)...I've left it in his room to chew on while I change his diapers in the morning. It seems to keep him pretty occupied and less concerned about trying to climb off the changing table...more about that issue to come later!

Random

Sometimes I find myself taking photos of random things Aidyn is doing. Some turn out cute and others I end up deleting. The other night Aidyn was trying his best to crawl. He is ALL OVER the place...except he doesn't crawl, haha. He somehow mangages to scoot while sitting or push with his hands and feet or roll to where he wants to be. He cracks me up how determined he is to get from one place to another, yet still doesn't quite crawl.

After trying to get back to the couch the other night, he ended up just laying down on the blanket as though he'd given up. Poor kid, haha. He looks as though he's crying...but I promise he isn't. ;)

Sniffles and Coughs

Last Thursday, Aidyn began having a runny nose. Wednesday was when he cut his tooth (or when we noticed) and so we weren't sure if the runny nose was part of teething or not. By Saturday, it had turned into a terrible runny nose, congestion, and coughing like crazy when he'd lay down to try and sleep.

I was up with him from 3-4:30am Saturday night/Sunday morning. The minute I'd lay him in his bed (which is flat), he'd start coughing and wake himself up. As long as I held him (with head elevated ofcourse) he'd sleep fine. I was exhausted!

Needless to say, by the time morning rolled around and time for church, he was still sleeping. I almost NEVER wake him when he's sleeping...and after the night we'd had, I definately wasn't waking him then. He and I ended up staying home all day Sunday. No morning church, no Sunday lunch, and no evening church. He would actually play for a few minutes, but then revert back to sitting on mine or Ben's laps and watching football.

Since he didn't feel well Sunday, but it was the first day in almost 2-3 weeks it wasn't raining (literally!!!)...I decided to take him for a walk since he loves to be outside. Here's a quick shot of him all bundled up ready for his walk.

He NEVER wants to sit still and he never watches TV...so we knew he definately didn't feel well. He didn't seem to be running a temperature, just yucky feeling. He actually ended up sleeping all night Sunday, with is bed elevated, and I thought we were headed for better.

Monday - runny nose, 100.6 fever, not much eating, still yucky feeling. I was up every 1-2 hrs checking on him (due to coughing or whining) but when I'd go in his room, he'd be asleep still.

Tuesday - runny nose...but not as bad, fever down to 99.8, eating a little better, not much. Slept much better, only waking up once or twice during the night.

Wed - NO SNOT (that I've seen) since I got home almost 6 hours ago. No fever, but still kinda whiney. However, playing and eating better...so I think we ARE headed in the right direction now. We hope.

A few people have said maybe it's also been a part of his teething...we'll see. As long as he doesn't run a fever any higher than 100 and doesn't seem reaaaal sick, I'll just assume it was teething and/or a cold.

Messy, Messy

I've been working with Aidyn more and more on learning to use a sippy cup. I normally just a put a few ounces of water in and let him "play" with it throughout the day. Sometimes, I'll also add an ounce of apple juice.

He still tips the cup up and bites the "spout", but he has figured out that by doing so liquid comes out. So....I guess we're getting somewhere. Unfortunately, I think most of it normally ends up running down his chin instead of in his mouth.

We've also started giving him teething biscuits. I've "experimented" with different ones and so far his favorite are the Gerber ones.

"Mmmm...this is soooo good!"

The first several times, he wasn't sure what to do - whether it be the cookie, a rice cake, or other teething "biscuit". However, the other day...he went to town on one! So much so that we had a mess EVERYWHERE! Needless to say, he was enjoying it!


Unforunately, I was not watching his every move and when I looked down, he had bitten a huge chunk off and it was in his mouth! Talk about a heart attack! I NEVER, EVER leave him with anything like that, but since he'd never really been a fan of them, not to mention not actually trying to eat it, I wasn't too concerned. I assumed he would knaw on it a few minutes and then throw it to the side like usual. WRONG!

He since has done the same thing to his rice cakes and other cookies. I know they're made for "crawlers" and not all crawlers have teeth...but now I'm totally afraid to even give them to him. Seems like every time I turn around he's bitten a big piece off and he's trying to actually eat it. They're made to "dissolve" fairly easy...but I'm not to trust worthy of that, yet.

Pack-n-Play Fun

In the baby book, Babywise, the author's suggested putting children in their pack-n-play for 5-10 minutes each day with a few toys to play on their own. I don't really think that's any different than putting Aidyn on a blanket with a few toys to play by himself while I clean up, cook, watch TV, etc...and since our pack-n-play has become a storage area for blankets, haha...we've not really had that opportunity.

We've been slowly "retiring" different items to the attic (well, actually the hallway infront of the attic door, haha). Maybe one day we'll actually get the items carried upstairs. We've had to retire his bouncy/vibrating seat, swing, and I feel the stationary bouncer is on it's way.

So, this weekend, I cleand out the pack-n-play, lowered it, and put Aidyn in to play and entertain himself while I vaccuumed and straightened up downstairs. He was probably in there playing 10-15 minutes...he did really well!

Birthday Pictures

Here are just a few cute pictures I was able to get on Saturday...

Good Morning!

Hmm...where'd that tooth go?

"Eeeeee!"

Put food on this thing!!!

Aaaa, what a great nap!

8 months old!

Aidyn was 8 months old last Saturday, September 26th. When I went to get him out of bed that morning, this is how I found him...

...just sitting in his bed, relaxing, and playing. What a sweetie!

He still isn't crawling yet, but he is doing many other things. Last week, Wednesday I think, our babysitter noticed his first tooth was beginning to come through. Today, a week later, you can feel and see the top of his first bottom, front right tooth. Yay!

He has also learned many new sounds and words and loooooves talking! One of my favorite things is to sit him in the floor, crib, or pack-n-play with toys and listen to him play and talk to himself. Precious! He is now "saying" ma ma ma, da da da, ba ba, gaw gaw, and maybe another one or two...I'm not sure.

He has learned to pull up all by himself in his crib, on our ottoman downstairs, and apparently on Kelly's coffee table (our babysitter).

I can't believe he'll be 9 months before Halloween, 10mo for Thanksgiving, and 11mo the day after Christmas. Aaaaahhhh!!!

Are you serious?!?!?!

Tonight was Fall Festival at my school. All teachers are asked to work one 45min-1hr shift to help out with all of the games, ticket booths, food, etc. Luckily, I was able to sign up before all of the early shifts were taken.

However, since I had to work 5:30-6:30pm, I stayed at school and was able to get LOTS of copying done. I actually got all of my Friday practice TCAP sheets for the year copied, all of my daily morning morning until Christmas copied, and all of that filed away. Yaaaay! I feel so much better. :)

Unfortunately, by the time I finished my shift, went to my parents' for dinner and to pick up Aidyn, and made it home...I was blocked out of my driveway! Yes, totally blocked!

We live right below the football stadium in our town and each Friday lots of people use our driveway for parking. Not a big deal, we don't mind AT ALL. It's always the same people (friends & family). The only difference is...I'm usually already home, so a driveway full of cars doesn't bother me.

By the time I got home tonight, the road infront of my house was packed from one end of the street to the other...I figured it would be. Tonight was Homecoming. I also was afraid my driveway might be full...people not realizing I wasn't home and pulling on in and parking.

What I didn't anticipate was that my driveway would be ALMOST totally empty (I guess because they were calling for flash floods, haha, no one wanted to go to the game tonight).

My practically empty driveway...look at all that space!

So, an ALMOST empty driveway and then ONE car parked at the bottom, the bottom. Did you hear that...t h e b o t t o m ! ! !

So here I was, sleeping baby in the backseat, no place to park on the road in front, and no access to my driveway. What the heck was I supposed to do?

Luckily, I guess, I recognized the car. It belonged to a girl that used to attend our youth group. A very nice girl, haha...just not sure what her thought process was tonight. While driving around texting different girls trying to get ahold of her, Aidyn ended up waking up, and luckily it wasn't raining.

I ended up being able to squeeeeeze in behind her with only a portion of my tailend hanging out the end and walked up the driveway with Aidyn in the carseat still and all our things. Gooooood thing it wasn't raining.

I was finally able to get ahold of someone to move the car...after Aidyn and I were inside. I was feeding him and getting him ready for bed, and now I was the one blocking someone. Oh well. Luckily they weren't ready to leave yet so it wasn't a big deal. After the Homecoming halftime show, peope left. I was able to move my car and park on the road close to our house.

I TOTALLY don't mind people using our driveway at aaaaaaaaaaall...I don't even think I would've been too pissed off had the driveway been packed. However, to pull up to an empty driveway with one car at the bottom...argh!

*Now that I've calmed down, haha (you're probably thinking, yeah right!) I appreciate you allowing me to vent. I was so frustrated, at the time, that I even took pictures. I'm totally ridiculous I know, you don't have to tell me. ;)

Homemade, Handmade Swing

When Ben and I got married, his grandfather MADE us a wooden porch swing to go on our porch. Unfortunately, after having the gutters and soffeting redone on the house, we were unable to find a support beam to drill the swing into. Soo.....for 2 years its been sitting in our basement. :( It's terrible, I know!

Ben's Poppy finally realized and took it upon himself to build a frame.

We now have our swing proudly "displayed" next to the porch beside our house. Since apparently Moses is returning with his Ark soon for a new set of animals...we haven't been able to use it much, AT ALL. But, I didn't manage to get outside with Aidyn the other night and try it out when the sun was peeking through.

**Ooops, I think that's supposed to say Noah, not Moses. Hahahahahahaha. Oh well. Thanks, Dad for the reminder. :)

Ben came home while we were out there and I got a few pictures of them together as well!

For those of you that think Aidyn looks like me...think again. ;)

Haaaay Mon...

...play those bongo drums!

My mom and dad offered to come keep Aidyn the other night while Ben and I went to eat dinner...in peace and quiet. :) Wouldn't you know that once we got there I wasn't even that hungry or interested in eating. Go figure!

But anyhow...when we got home I saw a new toy they'd bought Aidyn...bongo drums!

They light up when you hit them, play music with other percussion instruments being heard, and are very colorful and light weight. Aidyn loves them!

You can also push a button on the middle and they'll fold up into one call conga drum that rolls around the floor. When this happens, the music changes to fast, "rolling" music. So cool!

Camera Hog

Just for your amusement...

...a few more of Aidyn's "poses" he likes to pull when he sees me pull the camera out.

What a ham!

What do I do with this?

The other day, I decided to buy Aidyn some "cookies". I couldn't find the Gerber teething biscuits like I remember feeding my cousins and other kids when they were small. All I could find were infant "rice cakes"...so that's what I got. It dissolves in water, which is great. However, since it's like a HUGE rice krispie, Aidyn wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

Since he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, it didn't take long. Unfortunately, since it apparently didn't taste so great (I wasn't trying, haha)...it didn't want it. We'll keep trying.



I also bought him some of those little "rice puffs" that easily break down and dissolve. Since he LOVES sweet potatoes, I bought that flavor. So far, he isn't a fan. I've only tried them a few times...but I want to start working with him on finger foods, so I figured that was a good start. Whenever we have baked potatoes (which is atleast once a week), I've been putting pieces of potato on in highchair tray. He is able to pick the pieces up, but then loses them within his fist and he tries getting it into his mouth. :)

Prayers Needed

One of the blogs I follow, The Muellers, posted about a young girl in her church that fell into a fire pit this weekend with hot embers still burning. Please check out her blog below and keep this young girl in your prayers.

http://crystalmueller.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

Lowering the Crib

It's that time...

Aidyn has finally learned how to pull up in his crib. He still isn't crawling, but we're getting closer each day. Or atleast that's what I keep telling myself.

Yesterday we had three visitors. First, Ben's mom came by when I was getting my camera downstairs to take Aidyn's picture standing in his crib. I took her upstairs with us to show her his new trick. While watching, he got so excited and started bouncing up and down that he almost flipped over the front! Scary!!! She insisted we needed to lower his crib.

Lastnight when he stood up, the bed rail was at his wait...now it's at his armpits which is MUCH safer!

Then, lastnight, my parents came over for dinner. They said the same thing. So....my dad and Ben worked on lowering his crib before bedtime.

Yesterday afternoon: I tried getting a video of him pulling up and standing. But by the time I sat him in the crib, sat down in the floor, and got my camera turned on, he was already up!

Here is is tonight before we put him to bed...

I don't want to even think about the possibility of him climbing out of the crib one day. I know it's coming...but hopefully not for a LOOOOOONG while. The thought scares the crap out of me! So dangerous!

Snow Baby

One of our latest purchases (well...Ben's purchase) was a snow hat for Aidyn. Because, we all know that it usually comes a blizzard in September! hahahahaha

But anyhow. When we were at the mall Labor Day weekend, we just had to go in BabyGAP and check out the clearance rack. While in there, Ben saw this snow hat that apparently Aidyn will "need". Since they might "sell out" according to Ben, we had to buy it that day.


Now, I just hope it comes a blizzard, because if not...we've wasted some good money on a goofy snow hat. I will have to admit that it's cute nonetheless, haha.



Even though he kept trying to take it off. It's a little warm in September for such a hat, haha.

Itchy, Itchy!

Aidyn cannot go outside for getting eat up with misquitoes. I can't decide if it's just something in his skin or a mix of that and the lotion that we have to keep on him constantly to keep his dry skin under control.

When he goes to the sitter, my parents', or Ben's parents' we always send some light track pants. It seems that every time Aidyn goes outside, he needs pants on or he comes back in covered in bites. It's terrible!

Well...on Monday, I decided that no longer than I'd be outside to scrape the grill top and light it, he'd be ok without pants. How bad could the bugs get him in 5-10 minutes max? Boy, was I wrong!

When I went to get him and take him in, there was a misquitoe on his head and neck. When I woke him up Tuesday morning to get ready for Kelly's (our sitter), he was covered. I felt SOOO bad. After asking EVERYONE we know to make sure they put pants on him to go out, I neglected my own "rule" since I didn't think we'd be out long. He had 2 bites on the top of his head, 1 on the back of his head, and 4-5 bites on each leg. Ouch!

Looks like even I'll be putting those pants on him (or wrapping him in a light blanket) even if it's go step out for just a second.

Cutie!

My mom and dad bought Aidyn this shirt...at Target I think.

Isn't it cute? Isn't Aidyn cute?!?! :)