Aiden goes to the Zoo

So it was a absolutely beautiful day here in Nashville, so I decided Aiden was going to go on his first trip to the Zoo. I had only been to the Nashville Zoo once previously, and several new exhibits have been opened. Our Zoo is a beautiful well laid out place, and the first time I was there I thought it would be a good place to just go for a walk. An annual membership only costs $55 and will get me, the wife, and Aiden in as many times as we like for a year. My goal is to get down there once a week or more to go for a stroll and see the animals. It gives me a chance to get some needed exercise, and a chance to get Aiden out of the house and experiencing animals, and other people. He was more interested in the other people that were all around him, rather than the animals way off in the distance. But it was still a lot of fun. The pictures below are of Aiden staring down a meerkat. A couple of pictures of us in the bird Aviary, where I actually managed to get one of the birds on my hand, but it flew off before I could get it up close to Aiden for a picture. And the two of us outside the elephant exhibit. There are three elephants in the background of that shot, but they are too far away to actually see them in the picture.

All told we spent about 2 hours down there and uncle Jonathon came along and pushed the stroller while I carried Aiden, and took the pictures for us. Good times had by all. Now hopefully he will sleep all the way through the night after such an exciting day.

Checking In.

No, Sorry... no video's for you today. But I wanted to pop in and say howdy to anyone who makes a point of checking this site on a regular basis. I know it has been over a week since my last update... It just seems that things keep getting busier and busier. You would think that with only working 15 hours a week I would be able to find the time to sit down and type up a update once in awhile. But the fact is, Taking care of Aiden really is a full time job in its own right. You know they always say that, but until you have done it, it really doesn't hit you.

People without children can sit back and go "you stay at home with your kid? Sheesh, what a life!" And that is kind of the way I thought about it before Aiden joined us, think of all the free time you will have. But the truth of it is, at almost 9 months, you can't let the child out of your site for a minute or he will have fallen and bumped his head, or gotten into the dog's food, or who knows what else. With as few naps as our little one takes it is hard to get the laundry done, let alone do much of anything else. I haven't gotten to go golfing in eons, and the little things you used to just do "whenever" now have to be planned out around the baby's schedule. And heaven forbid you get home with a load of grocieries, bring the baby in, unpack everything, and realize you forgot the butter. Running back out just isn't as simple as it once was.

Not that I would trade any of it for anything. Being a parent rocks! I just didn't know what I was getting into way back when. It's an adjustment. It really is.

All that to say that yes I still have videos I need to upload, and yes more pictures will be coming, but I will just have to get to them when I can get to them. It is hard to set deadlines when your day is filled with the smiling face of a nine month old. :-)

Update

It is well past time I got these photos up from the rest of Aiden and Daddy's journey last week. It has been a pretty busy week since we got back home, so getting time to update things has been kind of tough. So the first set of pictures are from our visit with Daddy's Dad, and then a few more from visiting Aiden's Mimi. There is video, but I will have to go through that and figure out what Blogger will let me upload in a day or two.

Right now our big project is getting Aiden to sleep in his own room. Yeah, we're finally doing it. It's tough because we kept him with us through the acid reflux and exzema, primarily so that we would feel like we were getting some sleep since we just had to get up and walk a couple of feet to the crib and get him settled down. But then suddenly we have an 8 month old who is not sleeping through the night and has not spent any measurable amount of time in his own room.

So, everyone has different theories on getting baby to sleep in their own room. It basically boils down to two general ideas, the "cry it out" or Ferber method and the no tears method. After very little research, but lots of advice from friends we opted for the Ferber method. We started the process on Monday night, unfortunately things didn't go so well, as daddy thought he would help mommy get some sleep by taking his book and reading in the chair next to Aiden's crib while he cried it out. An hour long marathon cry ensued, until Aiden finally gave in to exhaustion and fell asleep.

The following night we went with the so called plan, putting him down, sleepy but awake, and walk out of the room. 5 minutes after he starts crying, go in and comfort him and settle him down, repeat this 5 minute process until he falls asleep, second night is 10 minutes, and so on.

Well I can't tell you how each individual night has gone, but tonight I put him down, he cried for about3 minutes and has been quiet ever since. Last night he cried for about 10 minutes before quieting down... then I made the mistake of going to take a peak and make sure he was okay, he saw me and started bawling.

Each night we have gotten him down somewhere between 10:30-11:30 and he has slept until about 5:30 each morning, with the exeption of Saturday morning when he slept until 6:30. He may have slept later on Friday as well, but a HUGE Lightning crash at 5:30 woke him up and scared him.. we're trying not to give in and bring him over to our bed in the morning for more sleep, but that thunderstorm warrented a little extra attention. Saturday morning after a bottle at 6:30 we let him cry it out again in his crib until he fell back asleep and slept until 9. So we are getting there.

Hopefully before too long we'll have that baby who sleeps blissfully for 11-12 hours straight in the night. I dare to hope. :-)

Enjoy the pictures!!

Pictures from Mimi's

So here are a few pictures from our trip to Indiana. Aiden and daddy are up visiting Mimi and Papaw Danny while mommy is away on a business trip.

The first picture is from our Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house Sunday, and then Aiden decided to help pack by getting INTO the bag. After that we have a few pictures from the last three days in Indiana.

We'll be home before we know it, but until then lots of pictures to be taken. He's doing well this week with mommy away, but he has been more clingy to daddy than usual with her being absent. He's a happy boy, but I am sure he misses his mommy.

Walking video

This video got downloaded about a week ago, but I wanted to add another video to it of Aiden singing. Unfortunately that file is too large and I have not been able to get it to upload to blogger properly, so you just get the one of him walking for now..

After finalizing this post I will be uploading several new pictures from our visit to mimi's house. :-)

The Bone

Somehow thew other night when Aiden spent some time with his Grandparents he got a taste of one of Daddy's least favorite things: Bones. See I am not big on bones in my food... they get in the way and are messy. Not much fun. Give me a boneless chicken or steak any day of the week. If the following image is any indicator, Aiden won't have that problem.

Yes his cheeks are all red from his excema... he is still very itchy and irritated. We are doing the best we can to keep him moisturized, but nothing seems to cut down on the itch. Right now he is asleep but still scratching his head. We've got an appointment to see the pediatric dermatologist and hopefully they will call us about a cancellation before the actual appointment. There never seems to be enough we can do to comfort this stupid rash.

Aiden is also getting to the point where he knows he can pull himself up into a standing position so that is what he wants to do... pretty much all the time. It has led to a pretty grumpy baby here recently as we can't hold him up all the time. Hopefully he will either get himself standing or recognize his limitations before too long and be a little less vocal about his disatisfaction with not being walking yet. hehe.

VIDEOS!!

Hard to imagine that not so long ago Aiden wanted nothing to do with laying on his belly. He HATED tummy time. Now not only is he on his tummy, he is crawling all over the place. Nothing is safe. Every time you think you have baby proofed an area, he finds something else to get into.

So here are two videos for you, the first one is him scoot/crawling across the floor... the second is... well lets just say it is a run in with the Humidifier.

Enjoy!!

Road Trip!

So we had a nice little visit up in Indiana with Aiden’s Mimi and Grandpa over the weekend. Our plan was to go up on Saturday and return Sunday, however, with the weather we did not go until Sunday and came back Monday.

It was a really nice visit and we got to see their new house which is beautiful. Unfortunately, Aiden has broken out all over with his eczema returning with a vengeance. He is so itchy right now it bothers him most of the time, not just when he is tired. He has found that he can scratch his wrists and ankles against the carpet by making odd swimming motions with his arms and legs. I guess it is good that he is getting swimming down early, but it is painful to see your child uncomfortable.

Monday night was about as bad a night as I can recall in recent memory. Aiden just would not settle down regardless of what we tried to do. His itching is so bad his cry is a cry of pain, not just discomfort.

We are on the “priority waiting list” to go back to see the pediatric dermatologist for a follow up appointment, but their first available appointment right now is not until March 25^th. So we will see when we hear from them. Until then, it is just doing our best to keep the baby comfortable. It’s all we can do for now…. Keep him moisturized and try to comfort him as best we can.