Unconditional

One of the things you come to understand with parenthood is the true meaning of the term "Unconditional Love". It is something we talk about in church constantly, God loving us Unconditionally, and you think you know what it means. But until you have a child and you hold that baby in your arms, I don't think you truly comprehend what it is to truly love unconditionally.

Sure we all love our parents, siblings, spouses. But there is something different about the love for your child. The feeling that no matter what they do they are always utmost in your heart. It is the feeling you occationally get standing over the crib watching the little one sleep and nearly being choked up just looking at this precious little piece of you.

It even changes your perspective on other people's children. My work brings me into contact with a LOT of small children, and what once was something to be tolerated, is now an opportunity to share in the joy of parenthood. Where once I did my best to ignore the crying baby waiting in line, I now find myself engaging with the parents, asking how old the baby is and revelling in their accomplishments with them for the brief time we are together.

There is a book that mommy's parents passed down to her that she read to our little man tonight, and the repeated phrase that a mother sings to her child goes: "I love you forever, I like you for Always, For as Long as I live, my baby you'll be."

Until 11 months ago I would have thought that was kind of cutesy. Now it is touching and meaningful. All because this little child came into my life. Yes, now I know the meaning of Unconditional Love, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there. I had a good one, with my mom in this morning and then wife's family over for a cookout this evening. Aiden got in the pool with his cousin and had a good old time splashing around, and I got to watch golf. As a bonus Father's Day present, I get 18 more holes of golf with Tiger and Rocco tomorrow. One of the advantages of being a stay at home dad is I will be one of the few guys lucky enough to be watching TV when that playoff goes on.

Aiden made father's day a joy. Ammazing that he is almost a year old. He's such a happy active and curious baby boy. I could not love him any more than I do, it's pretty wonderful.

Enjoy a few images and video. :-)

Little Swimmer

We all know that Aiden loves the water. So we decided we needed to have some summer fun for him outside. It is getting to the point where it is just too hot to take him over to the zoo (not to mention the outrageous cost of gas and the long drive across town to get to the zoo) so we decided to purchase a little swimming pool for the little man. He now has a 6" deep inflatable frog pool on our deck. Below is a video of him having a ball in that.

Then this weekend mommy took Aiden to a pool party at a friends house. They had purchased a pool at Target that was an inflatable family pool. About 8 feet across and 22 inches deep. After the party, mommy decided we needed something similar for our family. So Monday we went out and purchased a pool of our own. We opted for a rectangular one hoping it would stand up better to our slanted back yard. We got it all inflated and set up. It does dip on one side and we lose a significant amount of water, so daddy will have to do something about that, but we now have a 10 foot by 6 foot little pool in our back yard. Daddy took Aiden for a swim in it yesterday afternoon and then mommy took him in the evening. Unfortunately the other was at work each time Aiden went into the pool, so no pictures to share from that yet, though they will come soon.

In the meantime, enjoy these 5 pictures and the frog pool video!

picture & Video Time

Walking....

So Aiden is really starting to practice the walking around. It won’t be long before he has it down. At this point he can navigate from one piece of furniture to the other around the living room. It is that silly looking “toddle” with his hands way up in the air for balance, but he is going 10-15 steps without falling down.

He has also begun to master the art of catapulting himself over the dog. Our Golden Retriever has her moments with Aiden. Sometimes she is willing to put up with anything he wants to do, from grabbing her tail to trying to pull her ears off, to grabbing her mouth and nearly jabbing an eye out (incidently the same things he tries to do to Daddy most days, minus the tail pulling). Occasionally, particularly if he catches her napping she won’t be too happy about his idea of playtime and will growl at him and wander off. At which point he watches her for a second, squeels and takes off in hot crawling persuit.

Today he was sitting next to her while she was laying down, and he decided to use her as a prop to help him stand up. He then decided rather than going around her, the easiest way to get from point A to point B was to go straight over her. So he started climbing, kicking a leg up and eventually managing to slide himself over to an artistic face plant on the other side of the dog. I don’t think that was the landing he was expecting, but he got up and wandered on, all the while the dog just watched him.

We need to get better about having the video camera on hand at all times. I spent about 45 minutes with him today trying to get him to walk for the camera, but of course he didn’t want to do that, so I put the camera back away, and then he started walking again. I just need to have it next to me all the time so that I can video these moments.

He’s also got a new friend. We finally have a regular visitor to our Hummingbird Feeders outside the window in the living room. I was trying to feed him today and he just wouldn’t pay attention to me or his food, he was staring out the window at a little green and white hummingbird who has taken to drinking from our feeders. I am pretty sure it is a female, but I couldn’t testify to it, I am just happy to have a bird coming to our feeders. She has found both the one hanging on the window and the one on the back porch and is the only bird we have seen so far this year. But aiden thinks she is fascinating, hopefully we will see more soon!

ROUTINE!?

Are we finally starting to see the emergence of a Routine in the baby’s schedule? It sure seems that way. Aiden has started working into a pretty good schedule of going to bed somewhere between 9-10pm and sleeping (with a grump or two in the middle) until about 8am. At that point he has a bottle and plays until about 9:30-10am when it is time for a morning nap. Daddy usually curls up on the couch with him and we nap together until 10:30-11 when it is time for breakfast. Either a thing of veggies or fruit and about ¼ cup of Oatmeal Cereal and it is time to play some more. Another nap around 1, and 2:30 is time for lunch, same menu as breakfast, but reverse if he had fruit for breakfast he gets veggies for lunch. He’s added an afternoon bottle, usually about an hour or so after his lunch, and dinner is between 6-7. Maybe another brief nap before he gets a bedtime bottle around 9-9:30 and starts all over again.

This has started to establish over the past week or so, and while he has a bad night or two for the most part he is sleeping pretty well. Things are looking up.

God has a way of sending us little reminders of how lucky we are. As much as Aiden has seemed to have issues with his eczema and acid reflux, he is really a great baby. Coming in to work today I saw some people wandering through the resort with a young boy probably no more than 18 months old who was strapped into a wheelchair, he was obviously happy and full of life, and he greeted me as I walked down the hall, but I couldn’t help but think those parents sure weren’t expecting that when they found out they were pregnant. My thoughts and appreciation go out to parents whose children demand more than they were prepared to expect. I am not sure if I would be as capable as many of them are. Our little one is perfect. He is healthy and energetic and I am thankful every day for that. As much trouble as it seems he can be throughout the day, he really is wonderful, and when I get home from work and he is asleep, I can’t wait for the next morning so I can hold him and play with him and see what kind of new things he is ready to accomplish.

More Video!

Got three videos for you tonight...

First is Aiden taking a few hesitant steps. He doesn't do it on a regular basis yet, but every now and then we can get a couple of steps out of him.

Second one is Aiden Clapping. He discovered this talent on Saturday, and has been clapping ever since... it is pretty cute.

Finally, a 2 minute video of Aiden playing Hide and Seek in our throw blanket. This is a very funny video, we like it a lot.

Enjoy!!

A couple of milestones

We've had a couple of milestones to brag abut really quickly. Both happened on Wednesday...

First mommy and I were each on one of the couches in the living room, when Aiden stood up on his own, and took three hesitant little steps. He hasn't repeated the performance yet, but we count that as his "first step" all on his own. Next week he'll be running... Yikes!

He also made it up the stairs completely on his own for the first time Wednesday, a feat he has since repeated several times. Now each time he goes up the stairs one of us is standing behind him very cautious to make sure he doesn't fall. But yesterday morning I was sitting and watching television while he played in the middle of the room. I saw him head over toward the front door (to pull the dog's tail) so I turned back to the tv. I look back in that corner, and no Aiden. I start looking around and Oh dear, he is halfway up the steps. So we're having to put the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs to make sure he doesn't go on any field trips on his own. For the most part he doesn't try to go up the stairs if one of us is not upstairs for him to go find, but yesterday for some reason he thought it would be a great idea.