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!

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.

Happy Easter!

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!

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?

The Only Time Aaron Cooperates with Picture Taking

Four Weeks Old Today

Look what Aaron found!

It's himself in the mirror! I've been putting him here each morning while I get ready and today he finally noticed the baby staring back at him!

Here is he examining that baby.

Here he is on a hooded blanket his Great Grandma Sandy made for him. It's a really light color and so nice. He loves it.

BUT, he doesn't love having his picture taken! Do you have any idea how many shots I have to take to get a few to post on here?

Today he was working really hard at rolling over. Here he is attempting it.


I get to see this every morning! How blessed am I?

Three Weeks Old

I am sure there is a time when I am supposed to stop celebrating Aaron's birthday each week, but I'm not ready yet. And as long as he keeps getting weekly birthday cards from his grandparents, I feel like it's alright. Right? Here are some pictures from today.

I have to give a huge thank you to Erica, the NICU nurse who visited my blog and advised that Tummy Time could be done on an exercise ball. Who knew? Aaron LOVED it! And he did exactly what he was supposed to do - he pushed up SO well. And there was NO fussing - until I took him off the ball. He yelled at me for ENDING Tummy Time! Oh, I was so happy. And you could just see how much he was enjoying it. I couldn't get pictures, but we'll do it with Daddy here so that he can snap some.

Look at this! A real live Jack in the Box! Our friends Adam and Stacy sent it to Aaron, but Jory and I have been loving it! I hope Aaron likes it as much as we do!

Aaron has been doing great with muscle control. When he is sitting on my lap, he can hold his head up on his own. I can't believe how quickly he is changing and developing. He is holding things more and more and having more expressions every day. This is such a fun time!

Happy April - we're looking forward to a wonderful month with our precious boy!