this week last year

Here is our little munchkin this time last year doing his favorite PopPop impersonation - 3 weeks old (look at all that dark hair that disappeared!):

Not too far from this recent expression:

only lasts so long

My reoccuring thought lately is "Wow, people kept saying that the little baby days only last so long, and they were right!" I realize that I can only dress him exactly like I'd like for so long, hence the tan pinstripe vest and tie ;) I also realize that having an ornament of his handprint only makes sense for so long (but if a 20 year old Aiden is reading this, I'd get a huge kick out of a handprint ornament as a present). Since there are only so many years of tiny baby hands, I picked up some colored sculpy (since painting them delicately isn't in the works this year like it was with my uber helpful mom who patiently helped put two coats on all the ornaments that we made last year). Aiden was reeeally excited to stamp his hand and he let me press, press, press all over his hand. Then he really stomped on it to get a footprint too. Then I just had to figure out how to distract him before he destroyed them. He did gouge the center of his footprint and instead of rolling it all out again, I just stuck a few petals and leaves for a poinsettia. I also made a ski/sled ornament frame for when we get some of his school photos back. It was a nice little dose of craft therapy.

Look at those big boy feet! What a comparison:

o xmas tree!

Today was tree trimming day! This time last year we were so thankful because my folks jumped out of bed at 5am and got us a great "faux" tree during the Black Friday rush as an early xmas present (Thanks!). It is sooo easy to put up since it's in three main pieces and is very easy to pop right up. Aiden took a nap and J pulled it up from the basement for me (along with the very nicely packed box of ornaments that my dad and J packed up for us last year - double Thanks!). I finished putting on breakables and then when Aiden woke up he helped with the mushy animal friend ornaments. He was so excited to see the sparkly tree after a good nap. It's funny to think that he was snoozing in my arms as we put up the tree last year, and this year he was running back and forth carrying ornaments. The little hand and foot print ornaments that we made last year with sculpy nearly made me cry. They are sooo teeny tiny in comparison.


And here is a good 'ol nostalgia setting flip video:

Xmas Tree! from LB on Vimeo.

then and now

Then: Turkey day last year where my folks celebrated with us and my mom cooked more good food than we could eat! I missed you and the baked brie. Thanks for a great first turkey day!
Here is Aiden's getup last year:
Now: We cruised up to to Dracut, MA to celebrate with J''s Great Aunt and her family. There was even a friend visiting from England for his very first thanksgiving. Then we cruised over to visit Nana in her rehab center - We are so thankful she is getting back on track!
Aiden wins the best dressed award at our turkey dinner:

happy turkey day!

We are so thankful for all the good things this year has brought. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

pajama jam

I am thankful for our family pajama jam time - Here's a video from tonight (J's baggy MC Hammer pj pants are too legit to quit) - It's the Jingle Bell Rock!

honorary doctorate

We went back for another round of experiments at the Brown Infant Lab. This time they were keeping tabs on his eye movements in order to determine whether he follows the eye of a speaker on the video. They would flash photos of Elmo to get his attention, then they would flash a talking woman on the screen that would then look down at an object. They were keeping tracking of his eyes with this scanner camera in front of him. It kept track of his eye movements very precisely and he wore a headband that helped track his movements. Their study is trying to track children with "normal" development versus children at risk for autism. He sat in my lap and was good at paying attention for the longer 6 minute experiment this time. He earned his very own honorary doctorate - tshirt this time!

scoops n kicking

Aiden has been taking his own scoops with his own spoon for a little while now. I would bring out the camera and he'd start flinging it around, but today he remained calm and kinda continued to eat like a big boy... I mean "kinda" in that relative sort of way because he is getting that food in his mouth. That is yogurt.

Here he is also "kinda" kicking. He can really give a good kick when he feels like it. Sometimes he'll line up and really bend it like Beckham....

And while we're in the video spirit, here is a ode to the giraffe tunnel, a new favorite, but it won't replace the awesomeness of the choochoo train or the zebra tent. Thank goodness we have plenty of living room space in this house!

Here is a montage called ode to my favorite toy. It's a ball-wack-a-xylophone thingamajig.

carousel ride

We took a ride around Roger Williams Park with my family, and Aiden took advantage of the cruise to snooze. Throughout the summer everytime we'd drive past the park he'd be asleep, so the carousel wasn't an option. This time I assumed it would be closed for the winter, but it was heated for the winter! And Aiden woke up just in time to take the last ride of the day.

Here is what Aiden looks like a few minutes after waking up from a nap when you walk into a shiny, flashing carousel house:




He took a few looks at the giraffe and the spinning and all he wanted to do was cuddle daddy...so sweet.

birthday brunch

We had a chance to celebrate my grandma's 85th birthday and an early thanksgiving with Gigi, GABZOy (Great Aunt Bonnie Z. Ov), GURGO (Great Uncle Roger G. Ov - who was also celebrating a birthday), and the universal cousins, Tim and Pete and their girlfriends, Amy and Jaime. A birthday brunch was a good excuse for some cinnamon bun french toast aaand moist splash cake. We even braved the cold for a bit to take a stroll around Brown's main greens. It is always so, so nice to visit with family. Happy Birthday Grandma and Uncle Roger!











Birthday Brunch! from LB on Vimeo.

school photos!

Phew, this time the vest made it on over the shirt! But, we still got one wide mouthed bass impersonation (see shot two - second from left). I think he's just checkin out the guys' camera. I liked one of them enough that I may have to throw down some mula (cheapest package is $28). I still think we're missing a page of photos though because everyone else had two different backdrops. But at least the fake trees, concrete foam wall, AND fake leaves made it into these shots. Score. Next time I'm hoping for the fake crayons. Big improvement over the white bean bag chair debacle (see right). I can't wait to get this year's class photo even though it won't include that Kyla character (I still see her occasionally and she is huge! There is a great photo of her squinching up her face while eating pumpkin seeds - They made a yes/no list asking do you like to eat seeds? Kyla's photo was the top of the poster under No!) I can't believe Aiden will be one of the big kids now - where did my baby go!?
Click to see them larger (although not by much):

I like this one:

boogie oogie

It's that time of year again! What time of year? Time for dancing elves!
This year JibJab upped the ante with some more groovy dances - I couldn't decide which made me giggle more:

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I needed a good giggle this morning, and I was excited to see one of these from J's cousin in my inbox. I just couldn't help uploading our own ;) After a great weekend, this week started off track somehow and we're still trying to get back on track. Poor Aiden had a low grade fever at school on Monday, and to top off a bumpy Monday I had to rush him over to the doctor. His ears were clear, so they suspected maybe a UTI... so after about an hour of entertaining him in the germy doctor's office, they "bagged" him to collect a sample (Imagine a bag with stickies to keep it on with his diaper over it...) He wanted to rip it off as you might imagine, but they did eventually get a sample from him. All clear there too, all good news, and his fever never went above 101. He's back on track, and as we were falling asleep last night we found out J's poor Nana fell and broke her hip. He's jetting up there today to keep her company before her surgery. Aiden and I are sending good wishes... It's always something...but this too shall pass...

art with aiden

Here is an updated art gallery from Aiden's first year! Classic Fingerpainting while bzzz bzzz bzzing:

Using sponges and balls to apply the paint!

The Aqua series:


Glitter art - or should we say glue squeeze art and then the teacher is really good with glitter:

Finally, art at the restaurant on his sticky placemat:

night out

J and I went out after dark without a baby and actually saw a movie together! Yep, that's right, Aiden had his bath, got in his jammies, and the babysitter came over around 6:30pm. He had a great time with Miss Kim, his old teacher, reading stories and playing. With all the excitement and showing off his toys to her, he put off actually falling asleep by about an hour, but he was sleeping as snug as a bug in a rug when we got home. I half expected that he'd be up cranking. It's nice that he knows Kim or at least she knows him well enough.

It seems so strange that this was the first time we had been out after dark without Aiden. It was probably the first time I'd been up past 11pm willingly in over two years. We are lucky that we get to go to lunch nearly everyday and that is really good couple time for us, but seeing a movie is such a luxury. We had originally planned to meet some friends that were going to go out dancing, but we chickened out because that seemed like it required way too much energy and it was rainy and ucky. Let's not forget that this also meant I was up waaay past my normal bedtime of 8pm.

I thought it would be good timing to celebrate weaning, but we'll call it the half weaning celebration (since Aiden is still nursing in the morning and evening). He did take milk from Miss Kim before bed though so that's a good sign of progress. But regardless, being pump free is such a luxury. I even had a drink at the restaurant, which is probably my first in over two years. We got a big kick out of it when she carded us, that only means we're getting old when we are sorta confused and flattered when we are carded. My drink was blue and girly (complete with gummy fish!) and tasted just like pineapple - just the way I like em. A bonus was that J's pomegrante martini was sorta girly too and came with a watermelon rock candy swizzel stick! Perfect.

We went out for comfort food since it's that time of year where you want rich buttery yum. We drive past the Grist Mill frequently, so it's tempting us all the time. Surprisingly, there were actually a few little kids there near our table, so we felt right at home. The last time we were there it was our anniversary while I was pregnant. It was the very first time I had heartburn while pregnant. This time was a completely different story. Oh my goodness it was tasty. I had baked casino style sole fish, which means it was covered in a bread crumb and bacon mixture. Anything in a baking dish like that, that comes out piping hot, gets a double yum in my book. J had a steak which was still mooing which is just the way he likes it. Perfect.

We hadn't really planned for a movie, so we went with whatever was showing at the right time (that we both had a chance of liking, which meant that James Bond was out). We ended up at Role Models with Paul Rudd. I almost hate to admit it, but we both thought it was hysterical. Disclaimer: This movie may not be quite as funny if you aren't a giddy couple that hasn't been out together in a long, long time. It had a nice little message about parenting built in too. One of my favorite parts was the high tech, new age "strip" photo booth. I was addicted to these in high school and college, and even though I was out of practice (note: the last photo we missed the cue), it was so fun to giggle at the camera. Perfect.

It was a simple perfect night for us.

santa's in town!

Santa came to town today! Yep, we're in the holiday spirit already around here! There was a kid's show complete with santa's arrival at the mall. The same mall where we happened upon this very same event last year during our first family outing. This time last year Aiden was a teeny tiny little ball of baby sleeping soundly in his little chair. This year he was a half napped, sleepy boy ready to giggle, squack at santa, and run all over the mall. He was partly mesmerized and partly bored with the Raggedy Ann and Andy kid's show. He bounced on dad's shoulders and we realized we'd picked the perfect spot to stand with our friends because we were already in line to see Santa.

We ended up being the fourth family to visit Santa. Aiden tentatively walked up the ramp to Santa (he was funny about the ramp because I think it was a new sensation to walk upwards). Santa wasn't really "in the groove" yet and his red face makeup was rubbing off a bit, and Aiden wasn't too excited to see him. But we did manage to get a decent shot after the ninth take. Aiden didn't melt down completely, but it wasn't his idea of a good time. He again nearly melted down when mom tried to be friendly with the Grinch. He actually pulled out the quiver lip and nearly cried, so after that we stuck with saying hi to inanimate objects (like this great giraffe at the toy store - where santa found a great hippo shape sorter!) Here's the video rundown:

First Santa Visit! from LB on Vimeo.

drawing

Aiden loves to draw. The teachers talk about how he just loves to sit with a big boy crayon and scribble away. Or better yet if they bring out the big guns - the markers - he just about loses his mind. (It blows my mind too that they give my itty bitty baby markers - oh where, did my itty bitty baby go?) We have numerous new batches of art that come home from his table time art projects.

His love of all things paper leads him to strut around the house pointing at any scrap paper he sees until he has quite an impressive stack of papers. Our friend had brought over some Barack'o lantern-presidential-election-roohaa templates to inspire our pumpkin carving (all of which we thought required pretty advanced carving skills) and this particular sheet that says HOPE is Aiden's favorite. He snagged my pen and all I kept thinking is that I HOPE he doesn't poke his eye out with that pen. I really did keep a close eye on him and he was being really good about it, until he started poking the paper and that's when the pen was snatched away...but at least he had a chance to decorate his HOPE.

NOTE: You'll notice that I think we have a leftie on our hands! I tested it out and even when he picks it up with his right hand, he ends up transfering it over to his left.

Also, I gave Aiden a haircut with a pair of safety scissors (little bit by bit) and he has a little boy forehead bowl cut now! He just kept looking up at me as I snipped away, as if to say, "Mom, don't they have professionals that do this sort of thing?!"