The Week

Well, it has been a crazy busy week as I have wound down at work. Now with 39 minutes left, I have finally gotten everything passed off and closed down and I have time to update the blog. (Should I really be going out by using the firm's computer for my blog?)

We have been diligent about taking pictures this week, so you can see Aaron in a lot of 'Mommy's Favorite 3-6 month outfits' before he has outgrown them all. The above pictures were taken today - his last day of school. I dressed him in my favorite 'Country Club' outfit to make a lasting impression! HA! As you can see, mornings are still our most fun times with Aaron. That's when he talks the most and is the most active. Mornings are very, very fun and that makes the fact that they come very, very early worthwhile.We had to pack up this red polo onesie. It had hit its limit, but we got a lot of use out of it as it contributed to a lot of my favorite outfits. It was Dillon's and has held up very well. I am saving it for another boy to look adorable in.

The M&M onesie pictures are taken at night when Aaron's not quite as playful, but still adorable. Last night, though, Jory was pretending to eat Aaron's stomach and Aaron laughed and laughed. Real laughs. It was hilarious!

This weekend Aaron will move from his infant car seat to his convertible car seat. Can you believe that? I have friends that were able to keep their baby in the infant seat until she was a year old. Of course, she was not Shaq. I have an appointment next week to have the installation inspected and to make sure I know how to move it to a different car and get it reinstalled correctly. We will be taking it to Colorado in a couple of weeks so we want to make sure we've got the installation down.

Speaking of Colorado, I am so excited I am giddy! This is going to be an amazing, wonderful trip and we just can't wait. What a great trip for Aaron's first! We are excited about this trip for several reasons and the anticipation grows every day.

I think that's it for now. I'll do a better update later in the week as I make the wonderful transition to Stay At Home Mom. We are all so excited to start this new phase (though I was sad to take Aaron to his daycare for the last time). We will have to visit Grace as Aaron loves Miss Karen and Miss Donna so much.

It's Gone!

Four and a half months after Aaron's birth, I was finally able to say goodbye to that last pregnancy pound that had been hanging on! I am thrilled to lose it. Next up: finding my abs!

Another thing that is about to be gone is Aaron's 3-6 month wardrobe. Some pieces have a bit of time left, but the days are numbered on many of them. I remember being sad when I put away some of his 0-3 mo outfits, so I am frantically dressing him in my favorite 3-6 clothes while there is still time. You will have seen most of these outfits since they are Mama's Faves, but hopefully you'll love seeing him in them again.

This is a Winnie the Pooh short one-piece. I love it and I LOVE the socks. Aren't those great?!? I will miss this one!

Don't you love this onesie? It says 'Squeeze Me'. Jory's Aunt Ann got it for Aaron. This is right before bed tonight. Tired boy! He's started to rub his eyes when he's sleepy and it is TOO cute!

Nothing Small About Him

I love this onesie from Bryan and Angela that says 'Small Miracle'. I think it's precious and I love the light blue on him. I put it on Aaron a lot.

Of course, as you can see, he's not a small miracle. At least not relatively. He was born big and he kept on going. At his 4 month doctor's appointment, he was as long as an average 7 month old boy. He weighed as much as and was developmentally on track with the average 5 month old.

I continually comment on how big Aaron is. I've been doing it since he was born. Jory started to think I was saying it was a bad thing. I don't feel that way at all. In fact, I've always been pleased that he was more substantial than most newborns. He never had a fragile feel about him. I am just generally fascinated by his size compared to others his age. Jory hasn't seen him as being that much bigger and has wondered at my comments about Aaron's size.

Then, the other night we were at a wedding and there was a very small baby there. He was so fragile looking and just so tiny. I asked (not his parents) if he was a normal size for his age. I was assured that he was very average. Jory heard this and asked how old he was. When the answer was 'three months', my husband burst out with "our child is Shaq!"

"Shaq" has now upgraded from Rice Cereal to Oatmeal and he LOVES it. He really loves it - can't get enough! He is also much more active with rolling, sitting and pulling up. He is also getting really good at eating off of a spoon and all of his food is going into his mouth.

Overall Week Grand Finale

Look at the Aggie Overalls! Kimmie had them made before Aaron was born. She said that if he was a girl she would have lace added to them! But, he's a boy and he sure looks like one in these! We thought he looked very cute!

Aaron had an awfully big day! Susan and Big Mom came and we celebrated Big Mom's birthday with a cookout and a big ole cake! Meredith, Scott and Aunt Jane were here and Elizabeth came with her two little ones. Of course, neither one of them is very little any more! Lucas is talking and running and just a big boy! And Baylee is becoming such a grown up. I promised her that she could come over the first week I am off work and we would make a cake together before she goes back to school in August.

Tonight we are going to a musical that Jane is playing the piano in. Big Mom, Susan, Meredith and Elizabeth are going, as well. We are really looking forward to spending time with family. And Aaron is really looking forward to spending more time with Brooke!

Overall Week Day Six

I already know this isn't going to be a favorite since it's not bold colors, but I really like these overalls. They say Heaven Sent and they are Wishes and Kisses, so the shirt is very soft and the whole outfit seems so comfortable.

Aaron got to stay home with Daddy today. We had to get our water heater replaced and Jory stayed home to meet the plumbers who were supposed to be here at 8:15. Let's suffice it to say that by the time they got here and got their work done there wasn't a lot of sense in Jory trying to start his work day. They had a great time. Aaron is a rolling fool now. He rolls to his stomach and back to his back and is very proud of himself. He's also 'blowing raspberries' and he gets tickled with himself!

Overall Week Day Five

Our little guy is such a morning person! We love the mornings with him. It is his best time of the day and he is so much fun with laughing and talking and playing. In these he is looking at Mama and smiling while Daddy takes the picture.

Overall Week Day Four

This is another Winnie the Pooh overall set from the shopping trip with Grandma Sheri. I absolutely adore Winnie! Plus this has a matching onesie underneath it that I really like.

We are still doing baths without the netting and Aaron is still loving it. It's gotten even better because he has learned how to kick his legs and splash. He gets awfully tickled with himself. It makes for a longer cleanup time than we'd like, but you can't beat how fun it is to bathe him!

This has nothing to do with Aaron, but we have a huge oak tree in our backyard. It's estimated to be 100 years old. It is huge and gorgeous and just amazing. Besides its aesthetic benefits, it covers our yard in shade which has HUGE benefits. This tree is so awesome that people who visit take pictures of it. My brother put a picture of it on his Facebook page. Anyway, as you can see, a huge limb fell off of it.

This happened while Jory and I were home for lunch yesterday, so we got to witness the spectacle. Thankfully, there was nothing for the limb to hit, but it does now take up half of our yard. I've been super focused on how much limb removal was going to cost and I didn't even think that maybe there would be more than limb removal involved.

YES, the tree has to be removed. Apparently, it was struck by lightning at some point and it is structurally unsafe. Jory is devastated. This is really quite a huge deal. Not to mention that having a tree of this stature removed costs a few bucks. Anyway, I am thankful that our family had captured so many pictures of the tree. I had never thought to do that.

Overall Week Day Three

I LOVE these overalls! These were Dillon's and I think he wore them for his first professional pictures. They are one of my favorite outfits, period. Of course, my husband informed me this morning that they have about 600 snaps and 18 buttons.

How cute is this Munchkin? I just could eat him up. He was being a sweetheart this morning which was nice since he had a bit of a rough night. He woke up screaming because he had flipped over to his stomach. We know that he can do this, but he hardly ever does because (I assume) he has no desire to be on his stomach. And he's never done it in his sleep. I have no idea why he didn't flip himself back since he has repeatedly demonstrated his ability and willingness to do that. Instead he just got himself all mad. I felt really badly for him. He was propped up on his forearms, so he was in no danger, he was just mad.

Last night we took the netting out of the baby bathtub and he had his first submerged bath. He LOVED it! He giggled the whole time. It was so cute and it was so much easier to bathe him that way. I am definitely a fan.

Overall Week Day Two

This is a Wishes and Kisses outfit from Walmart. Grandma Sheri got it for Aaron and I fell in LOVE with it because the T-Shirt underneath the overalls is SO soft and the outfit itself is just so easy to get on and off and also is so comfortable for Aaron. We now have two Wishes and Kisses outfits and I think Grandma Sheri is always on the prowl for any new ones that hit the shelves. I am seriously a huge proponent of Wishes and Kisses.

Here's a picture of Aaron grabbing his feet. He's pretty into that right now. He is also into pulling himself from a sitting position to a standing position. This is not normal for a 4-month-old. I checked. I believe that this coupled with the continued lack of Tummy Time is guaranteeing that Mr. Aaron will skip crawling and go straight to walking. It doesn't help that this is exactly what I did and I am pretty sure that my parents have been praying for 30+ years that I would be given a child every bit as precocious as I was. Something about paybacks. I don't know.

Overall Week Day One

Aaron has so many cute overalls, so I decided to do a Theme Week and dress him in a different pair each day for a week. Yes, he has that many. This is what he wore to church today. It's brand new via the Shopping Trip. It's actually a Winnie the Pooh set, but you can't really tell that in these pictures. I think it's super cute and I love the matching polo shirt that goes underneath it.

Mr. Aaron's pretty tired right now. He misses a nap every time he's in the church nursery, so we're hoping that he's about to take a marathon nap. Right now he's just sitting in his bouncy talking to Daddy. He's got an awful lot to say. He was the Favorite Baby in the nursery today. He just played and laughed and laughed and laughed. People comment so often about how happy he is. He really is. It is just wonderful.

Uggg

Aaron is not cooperating with Picture Taking today. That doesn't make it widely different from other days, but I really want to update the Blog today and I can't do that without new pictures! I'm also pretty irritated with myself because I haven't taken any pictures this week. He wore a new outfit to school every day (courtesy of a shopping trip with Grandma Sheri) and I didn't memorialize them. Not to mention my lack of picture taking means that I need to get Aaron to cooperate today so that I have something to put on the Blog. And the poor guy is pictured out today. We went to the Rose Garden this morning and had a session with a professional photographer. We should have access to the pictures in a week and we are so excited to see how they turned out.

Aaron has had a big week. He has slept through the night the last four nights! Technically, sleeping through the night is going 7 hours or more between feedings. So, if he eats at 8 and doesn't eat again until 3 then he slept through the night. That still means that Mama is getting up once to feed him, but it's not bad at all. Our pediatrician and all the well-respected books will tell you that this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he is now eating cereal like a champ each night at 6pm. That's fine. They're wrong, but it's fine.

I have noticed that Aaron's skills on his stomach have improved marginally at best over the last three months. That is certainly because if you add up the time that he has actually been on his stomach in the past three months it is probably less than the time he is supposed to be on his stomach each WEEK. Clearly I am failing in my job to improve his skills and I have been catering to the fact that Aaron hates Tummy Time. So today I grew determined to force Tummy Time. And I SWEAR TO YOU, I put him on his tummy three times and three times he immediately flipped over to his back and laughed at me. What am I supposed to do with that?

Aaron's favorite 'toy' right now is a burp cloth. He loves burp cloths and they make him very happy. They are essential to decent car rides and quiet mornings. If he has a burp cloth in his hand you will be unable to get it away from him. You may try. You will fail. The other morning Jory was putting Aaron in the bath and Aaron noticed the washcloth which is incredibly similar to a burp cloth. He grabbed it and Jory was unable to get it back. This was the washcloth that is strategically placed during bathing to prevent coffee being peed in. So Jory moved Aaron's hands so that while they were holding the washcloth, the washcloth was still appropriately placed. And Jory asked Aaron to leave it there. He actually did and I actually laughed out loud at him. Three minutes later, I heard the following: "Whoa! You were supposed to leave the washcloth there! Now look what happened! You tee teed in my coffee! You tee teed on Mommy's tooth brush! It's everywhere! Look at this mess! We had a deal!" I really, honestly almost died laughing.

4 Month Doctor Appointment

I can't express how well our doctor's appointment went today. The doctor was very impressed with Aaron. He said it was a perfect exam. Aaron has hit all of his milestones and the doctor was extremely pleased with how vocal and social Aaron is.

Aaron is a big baby. As soon as the doctor walked in he said, "he's long". And he was. He is 27 inches which is the 97th percentile. He is 15 pounds, 10 ounces which is the 65th percentile for weight.

Aaron is growing and changing before our eyes! Every single day brings something new. And - OH! - he is SO much fun! He is a Very, Very happy baby and such a JOY! He is smiling all of the time and is a very easy going, patient baby. And he just has so much fun with everything. He is 'talking' up a storm and he's kicking his legs like it's going out of style. He's started reaching for things that catch his eye and he tries to get to things. He hasn't figured out how to be mobile yet, but he sure wants to be. He is making his jumper bounce like crazy and he can spend oodles of time under his activity gym, but he also loves just sitting on Mama's lap telling her all of his thoughts and concerns. He is fun, fun, fun.One of my favorite things right now is our babysitter, Brooke. She comes on Tuesday nights for date nights. I LOVE her. Even better, Aaron LOVES her. He really, really loves her. When we get home she is holding him and he is perfectly content with that. He doesn't even try to reach for Mama. That is pretty unusual if I am in the room. Brooke plays with Aaron and they have such a good time. And he is so good for her. She says he doesn't fuss at all and he eats for her and goes down to sleep for her. It is so nice to be able to go out and not worry about how Aaron's doing!