May 31, 2010

Back to Work

I’m officially going back to work on June 7th. It’s hard to believe 3 months have already gone by. I’m only going back part time (if you can call 10 hours a week part time) and luck for me, my hours will be super flexible. I will be able to do most of the work at home in between playing with Aedan. I will have weekly office meetings with the lady that owns the company, but they will be at her house and since she has a baby just 4 weeks younger that Aedan, I will be able to bring him with me.

I will have team meetings and/or school and therapy observations each week so I needed to find a flexible place for Aedan to stay a few hours a week. Jon’s sister-in-law recommended the lady that they have been taking our nephew, Cooper, to for the last 4 years. They had nothing but wonderful things to say about her. I meet with her this morning and it looks like everything is going to work out. She can be flexible with the days and times that Aedan will come and she is comfortable taking care of a baby his age. It looks like for the summer she will be watching him two days a week for about 3 hours at a time. It doesn’t seem like much, but I know it is going to be hard for me to drop him off the first few times. Hopefully he is not a grumpy baby the whole time he is with her. :)

-Lauren-

May 28, 2010

Aedan and Daddy’s Day Out

Today I had a lunch meeting for work (more on that later) and since Jon was in town he volunteered to watch Aedan. He decided to take Aedan out for the first time without me. Jon has taken care of Aedan tons of times but they usually just stay home. Today he took him out to the Greenbelt for a hike and then out to lunch with some good friends. Here are a few of the pictures he sent me while they were out.

Thatcher (Aedan’s future best friend) and Aedan tired from the hike.

Aedan & Thatcher

Aedan happy and having fun

Aedan Happy

And not so happy :)

Aedan not happy

I think they had a fun day together!

-Lauren-

May 26, 2010

Aedan’s First Weekend Away

We had a good weekend visiting my family in Plano. We were able to fit everything in our new car perfectly. Aedan did fairly well on the drive up and the drive back. He cried for a little while before he feel asleep each way, but since he hates his carseat I was worried he would cry much more than he did. I seriously thought about bringing earplugs for Jon and I. :)

packed car

He was a little more cranky than usual over the weekend. I think it was because his naps have been (and still are) out of whack. He slept well at night despite being in a new place. In fact my parent’s babysat Friday night, after Aedan went to sleep, so Jon and I could go out and they didn’t hear a peep from him. Jon and I went on a double date with my good friend Amanda and her boyfriend Chris. They took us to a yogurt bar called Yogilicious. It was yummy and fun. In fact I would love some frozen yogurt right now.

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On Saturday we hung around my parent’s house. Aedan got to meet a few of my mom’s friends and take a few walks to the park near their house. I can’t wait until he is old enough to play at the park.

We left Sunday morning and as soon as we got home Aedan was all smiles. My mom had tried to get him to smile ALL weekend, but the only time he would smile was in the early morning when I would get him up or when he was with Jon or my sister upstairs. I think he was a little overwhelmed being in a new place. Plus my parent’s have a lab and Hiro LOVES it there, so he was more hyper and made the house louder than Aedan is used to. Hopefully next time we go up there, Aedan will be his normal self (even though that still means being grumpy for part of the day…I think he gets it from his daddy).

Aedan did love to look at my sister. I took him into her room Saturday morning to wake her up and he just lay there staring and chuckling at her. Then throughout the day he would just stare and smile at her. Too cute!

Speaking of being grumpy, Aedan’s nap problems have not gotten better. He is still doing wonderful at night (8/8:30pm to 6/6:30am every night straight) and I am so thankful. But he used to take great naps as well. Now he wakes up 45 min into his naps and will only go back to sleep if I put him in his swing. I have tried just about everything (feeding him – he is not hungry, rocking him back to sleep – as soon as I lay him back down his eyes pop open and he is wide awake, putting him down earlier and later for naps…). I’m pretty sure he is having trouble transitioning to a new sleep cycle since it is every 45 min like clock work. Basically I have been putting him in his swing and if he falls back to sleep in 5 min or so I let him finish his nap there and if he doesn’t go back to sleep we play until its time to eat again. He still goes down for naps super easily, in fact now it only takes me about 5 min of sitting with him and then I put him in his crib still awake but drowsy and he is out in just a couple of min. Is this just a phase? Any advice?

-Lauren-

May 21, 2010

A Couple of Issues

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This little guy has decided that he no longer needs to take long naps. He has been doing GREAT at night and sleeping 10+ hours consistently. However during the day we are on an eat/play/sleep schedule and he eats about every 3 hours. He used to eat and then stay up for 1 to 1.5 hours. Then he would take a 1.5 to 2 hours nap. This week he has decided that a 45 minute nap is all he needs. Sigh. He is not hungry when he wakes up and clearly not grumpy (see above picture) so I guess he is getting enough sleep.

He has also decided that he doesn’t really like bottles anymore. We had been giving him a bottle at least once a day since he was about 2 weeks old and never had any problems. It was great because Jon could help out with the feedings (including the night ones). Well over the last few weeks Jon has been working a lot so I have been doing all the day feedings and Aedan hasn’t been getting up at night so we haven’t had to do any night feedings. :) Since it is harder for me to pump and then get a bottle ready, I have just been nursing him. Over the weekend we gave him a couple bottles and he just acted like he wasn’t hungry. I have been trying to give him a bottle everyday since and he will drink about half of what he normally would and then acts like he is not hungry. I know he is still hungry so then I nurse him afterward and sure enough he eats more.

Other than the nap and bottle issue he has been such a great baby lately. He is happy and all smiles most of the time. We are headed to my parent’s house for the weekend, so hopefully he will keep up the good mood.

-Lauren-

Update: I wrote this post yesterday and last night I tried giving Aedan a bottle before bed, and wouldn’t you know he took it like he had never had a problem. Sigh. Oh well, I guess I worried for nothing. I am hoping he keeps taking the bottle without a problem, especially this weekend. I know there will be a grandmother and an aunt that would love to feed him!

May 20, 2010

Weekend Recap (a little late)

Since Aedan had his check up and shots on Friday he was pretty sleepy most of the day. We decided to take it easy and just relax at home all afternoon/evening, which was perfect since it was a stormy day. I am happy to say that Aedan was fine after having a long afternoon nap. He slept great that night and was back to normal the next day.

On Saturday, Jon got up with Aedan and let me sleep in a little (so nice!). He pretty much took care of Aedan all day. One of my good friends from school was having a birthday/graduation celebration Saturday afternoon. Originally they were going to have it at their condo’s pool, but since it was supposed to rain they decided to have a late brunch at Z Tajas (yum!). The 3 of us were going to go to the pool party, but once it got moved we decided it probably won’t be the best idea to take Aedan to a nice restaurant with a large group of people. Jon stayed home with our little guy and I was able to have some time with my friends which was really nice.

Jon had to work for a few hours on Sunday morning and then he had a soccer game. Aedan and I were pretty lazy and just hung around the house. Sunday afternoon we headed over to Jon’s sister’s house for our nephew’s 5th birthday party. Jon was going to bring our Baby Bjorn carrier in with us so he could carry Aedan around, but I told him I was pretty sure we won’t have to carry Aedan around at all. Sure enough as soon as we walked in the door Jon’s dad was there wanting to hold Aedan. From there I think he went back and forth between Jon’s two sisters. :) The party was during Aedan’s nap time so we only stayed for about an hour, but it was great to see everyone.

-Lauren-

May 18, 2010

Enjoying the Morning

This morning Aedan got up early from his nap so we decided to enjoy some outside time before it got too hot. At the end of the video Hiro is barking at our neighbors, I need to figure out how to edit videos so I can cut that out.

 

Oh yes you heard right, Aedan slept from 7:30pm to 6:30am last night and the night before. :)

-Lauren-

May 14, 2010

Two Months

Look who is already 2 months old!

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Aedan here is what you have been up to:

  • You are weighing in at 13lbs, 12oz! Yeesh!
  • You are wearing size 2 diapers. Some of your 0-3 month onesies are too small in length since you have a long torso, in fact you have started to wear size 3-6 months in a few brands. You still wear size 0-3 months in pants, although since it has been so warm here, you have just been wearing onesies.
  • You spend a lot of time on your play mat and really like it. You still love to look at the fan, but you are also are more interested in your toys too. We started handing you little teething rings and you grab onto them and then wave your arms around. During tummy time you kick your legs so much that you scoot off the mat. I have a feeling once you start moving around, you may never stop.
  • During your first month you wanted to be held just about all the time, but now that you can focus on more things you like to sit in your bouncer and just look around, especially outside.
  • You have been sleeping great at night…you go to sleep between 8 and 8:30 and have been sleeping until 5/5:30 every night for the past week. We have even had a few nights were you sleep until 6:45/7. On the nights that you wake up around 5/5:30, you eat for a few minutes and then go right back to sleep.
  • You love to be outside. When we take you anywhere outside you throw your head back and close your eyes like you are taking in all the sounds and the feel of the wind.
  • You have been smiling a lot lately, although you smile more at Daddy than Mommy, which makes me a little sad (I mean come on, I did all the work!). You also started looking at yourself in the mirror above your playmat. It is pretty cute because you start chuckling and smiling at yourself. 
  • You chuckle at a lot of things like Daddy talking to you, Mommy playing peek-a-boo, and being tickled on your belly…it is too cute (I need to get it on video).
  • You are not so thrilled about riding in your carseat. I picked up a little mirror that goes on the back of the seat yesterday and this morning on the way to and from the doctor’s office you seemed to like it (maybe riding in the new Forester will help too). :)

-Lauren-

Update: Aedan’s check up went really well this morning. He is definitely a chunk; apparently I serve whole milk. He got the DTaP and Rotavirus vaccines and cried for a little while but was fine by the time we left. He has been pretty sleepy since we got home, but he missed a nap this morning so I kind of expected that. Other than that he seems fine. :)

May 13, 2010

Things We Love Part 2

Last month I made a list of the things we used pretty much everyday during Aedan’s first month. I can’t believe I am already making a list for his 2 month!

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We moved Aedan to his crib when he was 5 weeks old. He was getting too big for the newborn bassinet part of our pack and play, and since he was already sleeping right outside our room, we decided it won’t be much different to have him sleeping down the hall in his room. He has a little bit of reflux, which makes it hard impossible to get him to sleep flat on his back. When he was in the newborn bassinet his head was tilted up a little bit and that really helped him sleep. We tried different things out in his crib, like adding a wedge under the sheet but he would just slide down. Then I found some reviews for the Boppy Newborn Lounger. A lot of people said their babies with reflux were able to sleep well on the longer. So we picked one up and he has been sleeping on it ever since. It’s nice because it props his head up, but unlike a regular Boppy the center is filled in so he can’t slip down.

boppy

Aedan hated his swing until a few weeks ago. One day Hiro woke Aedan up from a nap early so I calmed him down and put him in his swing while he was still swaddled up. He fell right back to sleep. Now I use it whenever he wakes up early from a nap or when we get home from running errands and he has fallen asleep in his carseat. As long as he is calm and swaddled and not hungry, he is pretty content in the swing (if its on the fastest setting).

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We have also started to use Aedan’s bouncer more as well. He loves to be outside and the weather has been so nice. At least once a day I take the bouncer out on the front porch and Aedan sits in it and just looks around while I read or play with Hiro. The bouncer also comes in handy when I am drying my hair or putting on my makeup. I have gotten pretty good at bouncing the seat with my foot. :)

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We have been using our Baby Bjorn carrier a lot lately. It is so easy to just strap it on and wear it when we take Hiro to the park or on a walk around the neighborhood. I also like using the carrier when I go grocery shopping. His carseat doesn’t seem to fit very well in the shopping cart, plus it is getting pretty heavy to carry around. We just started having him face forward in the carrier, I can’t tell if he likes it better or not yet, but either way he likes being in the carrier.

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Last but not least we have figured out that bouncing on a yoga ball pretty much cures everything from being fussy to needing to burp. I’m pretty sure Aedan would be perfectly happy just to be held and bounced 24/7. Jon sometimes puts Aedan in the carrier and then watches a soccer game while bouncing on the ball.

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Thanks for all the helpful advice about tomorrows shots! I’m planning on waiting and seeing how he does. Since he is only getting 2 shots instead of 5, I am hoping he will be fine without anything afterward, but we’ll see.

-Lauren-

May 12, 2010

Our New Car!!

I have been as been driving a 2004 Mazda 3 wagon for the last 4 years. It has been a great little car. I drove A LOT doing home and school based therapy for the last 4 years and the gas mileage on my Mazda has been wonderful. Since it is a wagon the back seats fold down and provided lots of room for transporting larger items. It has had plenty of room for road trips to visit family or go on vacation and Hiro has always been comfortable in the backseat.

However, when we found out we were having a baby, we knew we were going to need to get a bigger car. I really wanted to get an SUV. My Mazda was the first vehicle I owned that had not been an SUV and while l loved it, I was ready to get back into and SUV. We started looking around and narrowed our pick down to a Subaru Forester with the new body style. We have been looking off and on for awhile, but we needed to get my car paid off first. Plus we had a long list of things we wanted the Forester to have and we had not found one that met all our requirements until now.

On Sunday I was bored and decided to look at cars online while all my boys (Jon, Aedan and Hiro) took a nap. I didn’t find anything in the Austin area so I decided to search in the Dallas area since we are planning a trip up there in a couple of weeks. That is when I found this 2009 Forester in Denton.

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I knew it was prefect! I showed it to Jon and he was impressed too. Monday morning he called and talked to the dealer and everything was looking like it was going to work out. Today Jon was going to drive up to Denton and trade in my Mazda and buy the Forester. But a good friend suggested we go by the Subaru dealership in Austin and let them know we are headed up to by a 2009, but would be interested in a 2010 if they could give us a good deal.

After spending almost all day at the dealership and lots of negotiating, Jon came home with one a 2010 Forester in my top color choice (dark gray).

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Both cars had everything we wanted. The 2009 was an XT Premium and the 2010 is an XT Limited so it has a few extras that are super nice. It was a difficult decision and I would have been happy with either, but in the end we got the new one. It is a step up from the used one, and we got a great interest rate on our loan. The dealership also gave us more than we expected for my Mazda. 

We took the new car out tonight to meet some friends for dinner and I have to say, I LOOOOOVVVVEEE it! I’m pretty sure Aedan and I might just have to make up some errands that we “need” to run tomorrow.

The timing is perfect, since we are driving up to Plano next weekend. Aedan’s carseat was already a pain to get into the Mazda, I had no idea how we were going fit all of our stuff, plus Aedan’s stuff and Hiro’s stuff in my car for the weekend. Now his carseat fits great and we don’t have to move the front seats way up to fit it in (so nice). We should have room for all our stuff for our first weekend trip with Aedan!

-Lauren- 

May 11, 2010

Two Month Check Up Advice

Aedan has his 2 month check up on Friday and I am looking for some advice. He is going to be getting his first set of vaccines. Since we are doing an alternative vaccine schedule, he is only going to be getting 2 of the 5 recommended shots (we will have an extra appointment when he is 3 months old and get 2 more of the 5, then we are delaying the 5th vaccine for a little later).

Here is were I need some advice…I have heard that some people give their babies a dose of Tylenol (obviously we would do the generic version due to the recall stuff) before going to the check up. Do I need to do that? What about after the appointment, will I need to give him Tylenol throughout that day and night to prevent a fever? Or do I only need to worry about giving him something if he develops a fever?

-Lauren-

May 10, 2010

Aedan’s Schedule

It took about a week for us to get a routine down and now that we have it down, it is great! Aedan is on a pretty regular schedule during the day and sleeping great at night. He is getting more alert during his awake time and is so fun to play with!

Here is our typical day

  • 7am: Aedan wakes up and eats, then we play for awhile
  • 8:30-10:00: Aedan takes his first nap
  • 10am: Time to eat again
  • 11:30-1:00: If we are home Aedan takes a second nap, but we are usually out running errands or having lunch with friends so he sleeps off and on while we are out and in his swing when we get home.
  • 1pm: He eats again, and then its play time until Aedan is tired (if we ran errands he usually tired by 2, but if we stayed home then he stays up until 2:30ish).
  • 2:30-4:00: Afternoon nap
  • 4pm: Time to eat again
  • 5:15-6ish: Aedan takes a little catnap
  • 6pm: Time to eat (he eats about every 2 hours in the evening, which helps him sleep longer at night so I am all for it).
  • If its a nice evening, we go for a walk around the neighborhood or just sit out on the front porch.
  • Around 7:30ish Aedan gets a bath, which he likes, until we wash his hair/face. We usually end bath with hair washed and Aedan worked up into his mad cry (face red, and mouth open with no sound coming out; which means we are in for a loud scream soon).
  • After we get him dressed, swaddled and calmed down, Aedan eats again and falls right to sleep as soon as he is done, which is usually between 8 and 8:30. He has been sleeping until 5/5:30ish every night, then eating and going back to sleep until 7.

Obviously our days don’t go exactly according to the scheduled times. I just watch Aedan and when he starts yawning or getting fussy we go get ready for a nap. I change his diaper and swaddle him up and then rock him for about 5 minutes. Once he is completely calm I just hold him for about 5 minutes and by then he is pretty relaxed and drowsy. I put him in his crib and usually he is asleep without crying in a matter of minutes and if he does cry, its only for a minute or two.

May 9, 2010

Happy Mother’s Day

We love our mothers and grandmothers so much! We hope they know just how special they are to us.

This year I got to celebrate Mother’s Day for the first time as well! Jon got up and fed Aedan for me last night and got picked up lunch for us this afternoon. I also got my first Mother’s Day card, signed by all my boys (Jon, Aedan and Hiro).

This afternoon Jon and Aedan are going to spend some quality time together (aka Jon has baby duty) and I think I may go out and do a little shopping. Jon also said I could make a list of things I’d like done around the house since he knows how much I love a clean house. :)

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Mother’s Day and a great weekend!

-Lauren-

May 6, 2010

Baby Smiles

We have had a pretty good week around here. Aedan is doing great and is on a pretty regular schedule, which makes it much easier for me to plan my days. He has also been sleeping more at night. He usually goes to bed around 8:30 and doesn’t get up until 4ish. He eats and then goes back to sleep until 6:45 or 7ish.

Today we went to lunch with a girl I work with and her baby who is 4 weeks younger than Aedan. Oh my goodness, her baby looked so small compared to my little chunky monkey! Aedan has his 2 month check up next week and I think he is going to be in the 12lbs range!

Here is a little video I shot during “playtime”. When he is looking up he is usually staring at the fan, but this time he wasn’t under the fan so I am not sure what he is staring at. Anyway, its a longer video, but I had to share the cute smiles and grunts for the grandparents. :)

-Lauren-

May 2, 2010

A Weekend Visitor

This weekend we had a little visitor. How cute is he?

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This is Jon’s sister’s dog, Jordan. His family was traveling over the weekend so he came and stayed with us. He and Hiro met over Thanksgiving when we were all in Tyler visiting Jon’s parents. Jordan was just a baby then.

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He and Hiro had a blast this weekend. It was pretty funny to watch a 75lb dog play with a 5lb dog. Jordan is still a puppy and has LOTS of energy. Usually Hiro is the crazy dog who wants to play nonstop when around other dogs, but this weekend I think Jordan gave him a taste of his own medicine. Hiro has been sleeping ever since Jordan left this afternoon. :)

Jordan did really well all weekend. He learned how to use the doggie door and was even able to take a walk without a leash around the neighborhood. What can I say, Hiro is a good teacher.

Usually Jordan sleeps in a crate at night, but he cried too much when we put him in it since Hiro was out roaming around the house. We didn’t want him to wake up Aedan so we let him sleep with us. It was pretty funny. Apparently he likes to sleep all the way under the covers at the very bottom of the bed. We couldn’t figure out what he wanted a first when he kept coming up to our face. Finally he wiggled his way under the covers and crawled to our feet and fell fast asleep.

I tired to get some pictures of him playing with Hiro but they were moving too fast. I did get this one, during the few moments that Jordan felt like he needed a rest (a rest for him lasted about 2 minutes tops). Haha!IMG_2567 

It’s has been such beautiful weekend, last night Jon and I ate out and enjoyed some hamburgers out on the restaurant patio. Aedan did great and just sat in his carseat looking around. He loves to be outside and is so happy just listening to all the noises and looking around. This afternoon we are going to do some cleaning and then I think we may have to eat dinner outside again tonight.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

-Lauren-

May 1, 2010

Good Morning

*I fixed the video so it's not private anymore. :)

Here is a little video of Aedan. When we unswaddle him he does a little stretch routine that is too cute. Of course since we were trying to record it, he didn’t do it as much but I thought I would post it away. I’ll get a better video soon.
-Lauren-