Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Seven Weeks

Oh my! Time is flying and Aaron is changing so much every day. He really is a lot of fun right now and I will miss him so much when I'm not here all day. I went to work a half day last Friday and a half day Monday. I was amazed at how much I could miss him in just a few hours. AND, that was when Jory was keeping him. We'll see how I do when I drop him off at daycare Monday! Say a prayer for me!

Here's what Aaron is up to at seven weeks:
Smiling: He smiles A LOT now. He smiles on purpose and he also smiles when you smile at him. These are big smiles and his eyes smile, too. They are wonderful! I'm sure I'll never get them on camera, though. Here's what happens when I try.

Bathing: He loves his baths. I was actually dreading bathing him because being naked is not something he enjoys and sponge baths were painful for me. But he surprised me. He does that a lot. He loves to look in the mirror while he's being bathed and he seems to really enjoy the warm water being pored over him. He really doesn't like bath time to end, but he loves to be wrapped in a towel!

Learning: He is constantly working on a new task. After spending days figuring out how to hit the rings on his bouncy seat he went right to trying to grab them. Tummy Time Torture has also paid off because he can roll from his tummy to his back. Of course, he won't roll back to his tummy so you have to roll him for him to finish tummy time. I swear he COULD roll from his back to his tummy, but he won't. He rolls from his back up to his side and all he would have to do is flop over, but he won't. I believe it is because he does not care to be on his tummy, thank you very much.

When he is trying to learn something new he concentrates really hard and can focus on it for a very long time. He gets frustrated and will grunt and fuss while he's trying to master his new thing. But he does not want you to help him. That will really make him mad. I am already seeing an independence in him. I can't imagine where he would get that (HA!) and I'm not sure how to feel about it!

Playing: Aaron is so fun to play with now. He can interact with you and his awake time is a blast. He loves to sit up on me when I'm laying on the floor. He can hold his head up now and he just loves to look around. He will also play by himself for periods of time as long as someone is in the room with him. I don't know how he knows as soon as I've left the room, but he does and it does not please him.

Aaron loves, loves, loves to be outside. He also loves to go new places. He just takes in all the new sights and sounds. He is very easy to take out and that is nice. He doesn't like to go clothes shopping, though. I would tell you that story, but it's still too painful.

Changing: Aaron is doing a lot better with having his diaper changed and being dressed. He's still not a fan of being naked, but he'll tolerate it without screaming if you hurry. Obviously, he still pees occasionally when we are changing him. I am not sure why since most of my friends didn't have this issue to anywhere near the extent that we do. It's pretty funny, though. Especially when it happens to Jory because he runs out of the room hollering things like, "It's everywhere! It's everywhere!" Or, "He peed on the wall! He peed on the wall!"

As far as looks, he's getting a lot more hair in the back and he's lost most of the fuzz in the front. He is growing very quickly. He is SO long! People comment constantly on the size of his hands and feet. If he were a dog I'd be sure he was going to grow into a very large dog! He had a lot of dry skin - especially on his head - and that is mostly gone now.

He "talks" to himself a lot now and he can be awake in his crib and content himself with conversation until he falls asleep. That's a nice improvement on his nap times. The talking can be a little disconcerting when it wakes you in the night, though. It took me a while to realize that he wasn't awake, he was just babbling in his dreams!

I know he looks petrified in this picture, but this is just his Big Eye look. When he gets focused on something, his eyes get really wide and he will just stare at it.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Dear Aaron,

Please stop peeing on us when we change your diaper. Thank uuuuuu.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Six Weeks and a Big Accomplishment

This is Aaron holding a ring on his bouncy after he grabbed it. This is very big for Mr. Aaron! He has been trying so hard for days to grab that ring! You should have seen how hard he would concentrate. Once he succeeded, he didn't let go.
This is another picture from his six week birthday.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Very Big Visits

This is Peyton Elizabeth Hartley. She is six years old and a Mommy in the making. She was SO excited when she heard that she was going to have a baby cousin. And she waited so patiently all those months for the cousin to arrive. She wasn't even deterred by the fact that is was a boy cousin. Then she waited patiently for a whole month for her Daddy to take her across the country to see her baby cousin. Oh and the horrible 4 1/2 hour wait in the airport - she was even patient during that. But when she woke up the morning after they arrived and found out that Aaron was still sleeping for another hour, her patience ran out. It was time for her to see that baby!She was SO sweet with him! You just wouldn't believe how gentle she was! And so helpful! She bathed Aaron, fed him, did tummy time with him (bless her heart), held him, watched him while I was able to get stuff done and just generally occupied him. It was wonderful for us and so fun to watch. I am just thrilled that she got to come.Now, clearly, Aaron wasn't always sweet for her and I hated that, but it didn't slow Peyton down. And even when he cried, she soothed him so sweetly. She's a natural.


We didn't just spend the whole weekend looking at Aaron, though. This picture was taken at the zoo! Aaron's first big outing! He slept through most of it, but the rest of us thought it was pretty cool.




Peyton even let her dad hold Aaron once. He seemed to like his Uncle Doug alright.



At the end of their visit, we embarked on quite an ambitious journey. We took Doug and Peyton to the DFW airport. It's about two hours away and we weren't sure how that would go. Aaron loves riding in the car, but that's quite a trip for a boy that's never ridden for more than ten minutes at a time. He did SO well! He fussed a little at the beginning, but then was quiet the rest of the journey. He was so good that after we dropped off Doug and Peyton we decided to go eat. I love Abuelo's and there is one just ten minutes past the airport in Hurst. We'd come that far, why not go a little further, right? And, gosh, if we're going to be in Hurst...

Look who got a surprise visit from Aaron! Mimi and Grandad were so thrilled to see him that they thought they'd just keep him while Jory and I went to eat. Aaron got a little fussy, so Grandad put him to sleep. How precious is this?

We ended up spending the afternoon there and it was super nice for all of us! What a good day. We then hit the road for a long drive back to Tyler. Aaron did well until the last 20 minutes. At that point, we'd been gone for ten hours and he'd spent a little too much of it in a car seat. He proceeded to let us know that he would prefer to be home. On the one hand, it's awesome that he only cried 20 minutes out of a ten hour day. On the other hand, have you ever been in a small car with a screaming baby for 20 minutes???

Anyway, while those are two very exciting visits in one weekend, we also had another big event last week. Our first play date!


This is Charlotte Hovis and her mom, Jennifer, invited us over Thursday. How nice is that? Aaron and Charlotte didn't notice each other much, but the Mommies had a GREAT time!


I need to do a good update on Aaron. He is changing so much and I feel like there are new discoveries every day! I get waylaid, though, by the fact that I'm only on the computer when Aaron's eating. That means that any updates are done one-handed and it's a tedious (and time constrained) process. I promise to get a good update done this week. In the meantime, here are some cute pictures.I love this! Doesn't he look so thrilled to be in Daddy's arms? He loves his Daddy. In fact, the sleeper he's wearing in this picture says 'I love Daddy'! I think it's SO cute! (Plus it's Ole Miss colors!!!)


Here he is all clean from his bath. He loves to be wrapped up all snuggly in his towels!




And this is actually a picture of the mirror. He loves bath time because of its prime location in front of a mirror. There's always a baby in there!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

5 Weeks and a Visitor

Today was Aaron's five week birthday. It was also a big day because Kathy came to visit him from Houston. Quite a drive just to see the prince! Doesn't she look so thrilled to hold him?Kathy is one of my favorite people in the whole world. I would have expected Aaron to share my delight regarding her visit. He did not. After a night that was not horrible, but not good, Aaron proceeded to be cranky most of the day. I do believe Kathy heard him scream more than she saw him smile. Did she even see him smile? I don't know. I swear he can be such a delightful child, just not on demand, apparently. See below picture of Aaron screaming at the woman who drove four hours just to hold him.



In any case, I LOVED having Kathy here AND she made us an awesome dinner and babysat a fussy boy so that we could go register such boy for daycare. I do hope she comes back some time! I also hope Aaron doesn't display this behavior every time we have special visitors, because we have a SUPER special visitor coming to see him Friday!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Big Things

Aaron found his thumb! I don't know how I feel about that, but it is so cute anyway! He found it yesterday and has been having a hey day with it today!Here's a better look at the outfit he was wearing yesterday. 'Chicks Dig Me'! HA! Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Tom sent that. How cute?



And would you look at this hansom man all dressed up?


I needed a date for a luncheon today where Ruth Graham was speaking and he was more than happy to oblige!
Really, I was planning on a babysitter (also a big step), but that didn't work out at the last minute due to circumstances beyond control. My Sunday School teacher's wife told me to throw him in a sling and bring him. I was super nervous that he'd get fussy, but I prayed real hard and God provided. We even had a table by the door if I needed to slip out. But Aaron was such an angel. He slept through most of it and was sweet when he was awake. Plus, he stayed curled up in the sling the whole time so he was pretty protected from germs!



Aaron is changing every day. He's finally putting some meat on all those long limbs and he's really holding his head up well. He holds things a lot more and he's developing some cute expressions. And, his eating and sleeping is showing signs of a pattern which is very nice. We are still struggling some with bottle-taking. Pray on that for us!




PS - Aaron peed all over the wall last night while Jory was changing him. I found that to be hilarious. Jory was exceptionally unamused.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Oh My Gosh!


Is my baby really a month old??? Oh my gosh! Is time going to continue to go this fast?


Here are pictures in his Birthday Suit today...

10 lbs, 3 oz; 22 in long









And one month ago today...

9 lbs, 8 oz; 21 1/4 in long





Here are some cute pictures from his birthday morning...

And a classic Aaron picture for his birthday!

Friday, April 10, 2009

SUCH a Great Day!

This is my friend Leslie. I call her Saint Leslie. First of all, she drove from Fort Worth today to visit me! Oh, I have been craving visitors. I tell people to visit me. But, honestly, they think I'm napping or feeding or just trying to care for Aaron and that they would be in my way if they visited. So, they drop off food and duck out and I'm left craving a friendly adult conversation. Enter Saint Leslie.
Leslie stayed for eight hours today and we talked the whole time. Granted it was 100% about babies, but that's all I've got right now and she suffered through it with a smile on her face. She also helped me with the baby carrier so that we could get out and do stuff. Like shop and eat at a restaurant and go to a bakery. I had so much fun and I so enjoyed spending time with her.
THEN, she gave Jory and I a huge gift. She told us to leave. To go out for as long as we wanted to wherever we wanted! Oh my gosh! Jory asked if we could just go to the bedroom and take a nap, but in the end he and I went to a restaurant and we had an adult conversation and there were no baby interruptions! WOW. I LOVE being home with Aaron, but I love my husband, too, and we have missed our time. This was so nice.
I am not sure Leslie understands how happy we are right now. In fact, Aaron is having his evening meltdown that normally sends Jory into a state of frustration and me into a state of hovering and instead I am updating the blog and Jory is singing to Aaron. We are like entirely new people! What a wonderful day!
To top it off, we are making some progress on bottle feeding. Don't let the below picture fool you into thinking we've got him taking a bottle - we've got a ways to go, but there was obviously progress. I attribute it to Saint Leslie.

And here's the requisite sleeping picture for the day. Isn't he precious?