We finally found a food he doesn't like

Believe it or not, these pictures are of Aaron eating applesauce! I would have bet very good money that my son would love apples. So much so that I am beginning to doubt Aaron's relation to me! HA! We've tried applesauce well over ten times now and the reaction is not getting any better. Jory says maybe he got his fill in the womb!

Fun Day

Kimmie and Papa John drove down from Fort Worth today to spend the day with Aaron. We had such a good time and Aaron was so sweet! No Stranger Anxiety with these folks!

They brought all kinds of cool stuff! Aaron got his very first ball and he had so much fun with it!

Papa John had a very cool Blackberry - much better than any of those silly toys!

Of course, there was an Aggie Hat!

We went outside and had some swing time on this swing that Papa John hung up just for Aaron.

Riding with Daddy

Yesterday Jory had to take some reports to the Dallas area for work. He asked Aaron and I to ride with him. What a nice perk of being home! This is Aaron at Corner Bakery, where we went to lunch in Las Colinas.

Ball Pit

When we visited John and Terri this weekend, they had this kiddie pool in their house. They fill it with balls and it becomes a ball pit for kids! How fun is that?

Weekend Trip

This past weekend we embarked on quite the ambitious trip! We drove the 5 hours to New Braunfels to see our dear friends, the Curtises. It took us 6 1/2 hours to get there including stopping at Cracker Barrel for dinner. It took us 5 1/2 hours to get back including stopping at the Dixie Cafe for lunch. So we made really good time. Aaron was just so good! He slept most of the way back which was really nice. He was awake more going down, but he handled it pretty well.

It was well worth the drive. We had such a nice time. Our one regret was that the time there was too short. We don't get nearly enough time with John, Terri and Dean!

Five days ago, Aaron moved firmly into the Stranger Anxiety phase. This was quite a shock to us as it happened suddenly. We are adapting to it and hoping it is short lived as it is quite inconvenient. But, as you can see, Aaron warmed up to John and Terri. He actually let John walk away with him to where he could not see me. He stayed in John's arms for a long time and we were so happy to see that.

Okay. How cute is this little guy? We haven't seen Dean for over a year and I just couldn't stop talking about how adorable he is. The next time we see him, he'll have a little brother or sister! We are hoping to plan another get together in early spring.

He's a Travelin' Man

It has been a busy week! On Thursday, Aaron and I went to Fort Worth so that I could spend some Girl Time with his Aunt Carolyn. He spent the afternoon with Grandad, Mimi and his cousin Emma. That was really a test run to see how Aaron would do with so much time in the car (2 1/2 hours each way), because on Friday we were leaving for New Braunfels (5 hours one way)! Aaron did incredibly well driving to and from Fort Worth, so our confidence was boosted as we headed down to see John, Terri and Dean. We asked for a lot of prayers as we embarked on such a trip and we must have gotten them because Aaron was AWESOME! We were so proud and thrilled and THANKFUL. We had a wonderful time with the Curtis family and I will post more about that later this week and show some pictures of Aaron with Dean who is just too cute for words. This picture was taken at Chilis in Buda, 45 minutes from New Braunfels. That is where we headed to on Saturday leaving the Curtises for a little while so that we could go meet the Scullys! Meg Scully is someone whose blog I found while I was pregnant. She was due a couple of months before I was and it always seemed like she was thinking and feeling the same things as I. I really took to Meg and she let me latch on to her and depend on her a lot as we travelled the pregnancy journey together.

Now we both have boys (and hers is SO cute you would not believe it if you saw him in person!) and I could not be so close to her home without trying to meet up with her in person. She, Matt and Brennan were gracious enough to meet Jory, Aaron and I for lunch. It was wonderful. She is just as precious in person as I would have imagined (and she brought us the best cranberry cake ever! I am going to beg her for the recipe after I get done updating this blog).

It was truly a wonderful experience to get to meet them. Meg has meant a lot to me over the last year (WOW - has it been that long?). I remember anxiously checking her blog every thirty minutes for an update when I knew she was having her baby. And she has been so supportive and such a kindred spirit. Saturday was a blessing for me and for Jory and Aaron.

Running Partner

One activity that seems to keep Aaron stationary is going out on runs with Daddy. We are getting great use out of the running stroller from Grandad and Mimi. Now that the weather is nice, we go out most evenings when I get home. Aaron loves to be outside, and seems to really enjoy the new sights, sounds and smells he encounters when we are out. He must be comfortable in the stroller, because he normally gets very sleepy before we can get all the way back to the house. Most of the time he handles the bouncing around pretty well. But sometimes he is sleepy and wants to be home. Then Daddy gets to pick him up and carry him home while pushing the stroller.

Surprises

On Saturday I had Aaron dressed so cute in Aggie Stuff for Game Day. My camera batteries died, though, and I didn't get any pictures. Which I was just fine with. Because after the Ags, who were favored by 5 1/2 , lost by 48 POINTS I declared that Aaron would not wear any Maroon on any Saturday for the remainder of the season. He may just not wear Aggie stuff at all for the rest of the season. No one argued with me. I'm not completely sure I'll let him wear Buckeye stuff on Saturdays either, though. (What was THAT?). So look for a lot of Red and Blue. Hotty Toddy!

Who said crawling would be cute and fun? Crawling is HARD work - for Mama! I swear to you that I do not need to workout any more. I am the Cardio Queen chasing Munchkin and removing him from the things he's not supposed to be into. Wow. Really, crawling is a huge improvement because he is no longer fussing in frustration all day. Being immobile was really hard for Aaron and I kept thinking I wanted him to be able to crawl because having him frustrated all the time was not fun. So, I got what I wanted and Aaron sure is happy. No more cries of frustration here. But I am busy.

7 Month Update

Yesterday Aaron was 7 months, 4 days old. That is the day that he was sitting on the floor with us, leaned over, put his hands on Jory's leg and pushed himself to a standing position. He then took one arm off, balanced himself and took the other arm off. He stood alone for several seconds. This was such a fun game that he has taken to doing it everywhere, on everything. He is very proud of himself!

Aaron is now a 'Cruiser' - he walks while holding onto the furniture for balance. He has also picked up a lot of speed with crawling and is getting harder and harder to keep up with.

He has taken to saying 'Mom' all the time. He has never said 'Ma Ma'. He says 'Mom'. He also says 'Da Da'. These 'words' are part of his constant babble. He is very talkative.

He is also very curious. It is amazing to watch him notice new things and have to figure them out. He has figured out how to open drawers and cabinets, too!

He is taking 'Big Boy' baths in the tub and he loves it! Such a fun time for him. Of course, now he's trying to pull to a standing position in the tub which makes Mama work extra hard.

Aaron is still an excellent eater. Since the last time I posted about food he's tried several new ones - corn, sweet potatoes and lima beans. He loves them all. Sweet potatoes, lima beans and butternut squash are his three favorite, in that order.

Aaron is now sleeping 12 hours a night - 6:30pm until 6:30am. He takes about 3 hours worth of naps during the day.

7 Months Old!

Isn't this picture great? You can see his two front teeth! Aaron is seven months old today. He's about 19 pounds and 28 inches. His weight is average for his age, but he's still very tall for is age. Developmentally, he's slightly ahead of his age.

The last two nights have been cool enough for Aaron to wear footed pajamas. I think footed PJs on babies is sooo sweet!

Tough Guy

Aaron got the second half of his flu shot today. We were blessed to be able to get it - there have been a lot of supply shortages here. He did AWESOME. Not only did he not cry, he didn't even get a pouty face. A lot of times he gets a pouty face while he's trying to decide if something hurt enough to cry over. Not today. Such a trooper.

I've been working on child-proofing the house. It's an extraordinary task. The most important job right now is to cover up any wires or cords. If there's something plugged into the wall, Aaron goes for it! He can get across a room in record time if he spots an electrical cord. I'm also working on moving medication and cleaning supplies. That's not a huge concern quite yet since he hasn't started opening cabinets, but I assume that will happen soon. You have no idea how unsafe our house is. Really! I'm surprised people have brought their children to visit us - and that they've survived. We would definitely fail Child Safety 101.

Aaron is quite the chatterbox. He's learning more sounds and it's so sweet. And when he waves Bye Bye he says "Ba Ba". I don't know if it means anything, but it sends me over the moon. He also says "Da Da" and we sure love that!

Real Motherhood

Did you see that kid sitting in the cart at Walmart today? The one with no socks on his feet? That was my child. He takes his socks off. I put them on and he takes them off. We can do that all day long or I can realize that it is 88 degrees outside, he's not walking yet and the world will not stop turning if we go grocery shopping barefooted. So that was my kid.

Did you see that car in the parking lot that wasn't locked? Probably not since there's - thankfully - no flashing sign that tells you that I no longer lock my car door when Aaron and I get out of it. Ever. Nope. I've tried to hold Aaron, my purse and any child paraphernalia while locking the car before entering a store. If I manage to do it, I can almost promise you that I won't be able to find the keys to unlock the car when I get out of the store. And that time I'm going to have more stuff to juggle. So I don't leave anything I don't want stolen in my car, I pray for protection and I leave my car unlocked.

In case you are wondering, Aaron is perfectly sweet today. No meltdowns reminiscent of my afternoon yesterday. Just a bad day, I guess. It is really so rare for him to scream and it is almost unheard of for him to scream and for the reason to not be obvious. Yesterday it wasn't. Maybe one of those new teeth was hurting. Maybe he just needed to develop his lungs. Or maybe his little body was so tired from all the learning he has been doing. Today he took off in a Full On Crawl. We just sat there, stunned. Jory said, "WOW. That was most definitely a crawl." Lord, help us.

PS - Did you notice in the pictures above that I have reclaimed my Living Room? Aaron has a box of toys in a cupboard and his car and that's it. Other than that, the Living Room belongs to the Big People!

I Have No Idea Why

I promise I would fix it if he would explain the problem more clearly.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I love one piece outfits. I fell for them this summer and Aaron has been wearing almost nothing but one piece short outfits for five months. Then "fall" came and he grew a size and we were woefully lacking in the one piece department. I have lamented this to my husband several times. Enter Mimi. We received a package of outfits from her and Grandad on Saturday and you can't imagine my delight! I immediately got this in the wash so Aaron could wear it. I love it. I love it even more because it is Ole Miss colors (Hotty Toddy!). Plus it's got cute little dogs on it that you can't see very well in this picture, but it's just great.
I love boys in plaid and denim. I love this! This is also from Mimi and Grandad and I just think Aaron looks way too cute in it.
I love little kids in hooded coats. I think it's so sweet. And do you not LOVE this? This is a winter jacket (and matching cream-colored pants) that Kimmie brought to us the night before Aaron was born. It's a cow! There are little cow ears when you put up the hood! Oh my gosh! I just absolutely love this. Of course, it's not actually cold enough for it, I was just getting impatient. The Munchkin Man sure is keeping me busy now. I'll do a better update later this week - I just had to get these pictures on here because I love these outfits!

The Heavens Opened and the Angels Sang

I have been cautiously optimistic for a couple of weeks, but now I feel like I can say that Aaron has dropped his middle of the night feeding! It's a good thing, too. I really need the extra sleep now that AA is quite mobile.

You can't tell in these pictures, but this is just the sweetest outfit. It's a one-piece sweater outfit that says 'Little Star'. Aaron got so many compliments on it at church. The picture below is from last Sunday's Shrimp Boil.