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?!"

new recipes!

I feel like I had purees and combo purees really figured out and now he's already finished with them! Geesh, now it's like a trial and error to see what he will eat. He used to literally gobble every last bit of his purees and he'd smack his lips and open wide like a wide mouth bass. Now we're lucky if we can get him to use a spoon. If he does he usually wants to hold it, which means he wants to fling it around and occasionally he'll get it straight in his mouth. Most of the time he wants to eat things that he can hold.

His favorite big boy foods include the easy stuff like pastas (I found a great one that is actually made out of lentils), rice, cooked carrot sticks, green beans, cheese, and pulled chicken. But I needed to try to get some more veggies in the mix. He would actually eat raw broccoli 'trees' but I also tried these organic broccoli pancakes from the frozen section and he really seems to like them. They are still pretty smooshy but he can pick them up after a few rounds in the toaster to crisp up the outside. They're kind of like potato pancake consistency. Then the other night our friends had us over for dinner and we discovered that he loves lima beans!

I think we're going to go with soy at school for a little while and once he's drinking the right amount (bc it's easier to digest) then we'll transition in some milk and check for the intolerance again. I found out that J was lactose intolerant and I had these gluten issues, so we're prone to this type of trouble (which is part of the reason I was so gung-ho about breastfeeding exclusively) I think that for the short term the soy is fine, but we're going to go with a blended approach. Everything in moderation, right? I think it will eventually work itself out.

I made some new recipes too - One that I modified from weelicious.com is a spinach polenta cheese ball - I'll attached it below (J and I actually like it too!). Then we discovered he loves to eat things that are in bread form, so I made a new yummy pumpkin pear muffin that uses organic agave nectar as a sweetener instead of sugar.

Polenta Balls (makes 30-40 “bites” or 8ish cups)
1 9oz bag of leaf spinach - to steam
1/2 cup squash soup or other flavorful low sodium soup
1 Cup Monterrey Jack Cheese, shredded
2 Tbsp Parmesan
1/2 Tsp Italian Herbs
2 cups dry polenta to make fresh or 1/2 Tube (9 oz) Polenta (I've heard Trader Joes makes a good organic one, but I haven't tried it)

1. make polenta (2 cups dry to 6 cups salted water - no butter, etc needed) Stir and simmer for 30 minutes, then splash with 1/4 cup soup, mix and let sit
2. steam spinach and combime with 1/4 cup soup in food processor
3. in big bowl mix polenta with spinach, parmesan cheese, and spices and let mixture cool completely.
4. combine with shredded cheese while forming into little balls and serve or freeze (I've used freezer safe containers and muffin cups in the tin to freeze them)

Pumpkin-Pear Bread (makes 1 9×5 inch loaf or 6 small loaves)
1/4 Cup Agave Nectar
1/4 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree, preferably organic
1 Ripe Pear, peeled and mashed (it’s ok if there are small chunks) or a little over 1/2 cup pear puree
2 Large Eggs
2 Cups Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Ginger
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.2. Cream the butter and agave with a standing or handheld mixer.3. Add the pumpkin and pear purees.4. Beat in the eggs one at a time.5. In a separate bowl sift the flour and remaining ingredients.6. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture a little at a time until combined. Do not overly mix or beat the mixture.7. Place in a 6 individual greased loaf pans or in one 9×5 inch greased loaf pan.8. Bake for 20 minutes for small loaf pans or 1 hour for single loaf.9. Cool for 10 minutes and then run a knife around the loaf pan to help release on to a cooling rack.10. Cool and serve.
*A regular weelicious Mommy made muffins instead of the bread which cooked for 15-20 minutes and replaced maple syrup for the agave. They are delicious!

onesy day!

How fun! My aunt pointed out that today is one day for Aiden!

Today is Nov 11th or 11/11 ..... and Aiden today is 1 year, 1 week and 1 day old. Cool huh?

At what time today was Aiden 1 year, 1week, 1day, 1hour, 1 minute, 1 second old?

Let's see that would be 6:41am, right around the time I woke up this morning, while Aiden slept soundly. In fact, he slept all the way up until after I left for work. I miss him when we don't get to play in the morning, but he has off from school today (Veteran's Day and teacher professional day) and gets to play with Daddy! I am hoping to get home to visit at lunch and meet with this guy that is going to help us put in a new mantle. All I want for xmas is a mantle to hang our stockings from ;) otherwise, how will santa find them?!

no more bush

Happy Monday morning! Last week was a productive week...for our country and for us. J and I were voters number 291 and 292 at our local precinct (at 8:45am) and we literally walked in and out within five minutes. Other people I know voted over a week early and waited in line for over an hour. We went to be part of history, but the biggest impact we probably made while voting was supporting the school bake sale. Pumpkin bread never tasted so good. We won't get into the carefully calculated political theory, but J has a book deal with Princeton in the works on the morality of voting.
This weekend J topped off his accomplishments for the week by pruning down the big butterfly bush (when we pruned it back last spring it only caused it to grow larger, so this time we weren't shy about it). Aiden and I cruised the neighborhood and when we arrived back J had finished taking the whole bush out. His joke which really amused me: "No more Bush, OBAMA!"

halloween cont

The Workshop Halloween Party was complete with all sorts of animal drama.

Here's a series from the Nature channel where a kitty tries to kiss a hippo:

Then there was a dinosaur meltdown...

Then a witch and her bigger kitty showed up:

chipmunk cheeks

This weekend so far has been full of fall festivals, hot cider, and nursing. I have my panties in a pinch over this soy milk stuff. There is mixed research and inconclusive evidence on whether it is as nutritious or has anything that could effect a baby's normal development. When the doctor brought it up I initially asked is that safe and she assured me that he wouldn't be drinking it in high enough dosages to effect him in any negative way. Made sense at the time, but then I thought about the huge percentage of his diet this milk is and will be. Verdict is still out, but I have auntie-nutritionist-connected-to-high-profile-dietitians on the case so that she can give me sound advice and a second opinion.

So therefore, I've been "messing" with my supply by allowing Aiden to eat with me during the day instead of giving him milk. We did half heartedly give him about 2 ozs yesterday morning, and I wiped out a few ounces of pumped milk... but the rest of the day I just nursed him... happily I might add. Part of this is clearly me having trouble giving this up. I admit it. I will get over it. Awareness is the first step to change.

The biggest issue though is that every couple hours I get what I would describe as a 'charlie horse'-muscle-cramp-tenderness that is almost as bad as contractions. It goes away pretty quickly and there is no dilation or signs that I'm actually going to give birth through my nipple or anything... but geesh, ouch. and another thing they don't explain well enough. 'They' meaning the other pregnant women/moms that hide the yicky details of all this baby care schtuff.

I guess if I'm going to whine I will also throw in that Aiden (aka. Alvin the chipmunk) has decided that his cheeks are not only cute but useful for storing up extra semi-chewed food. Yep, he will smash as much chicken in his mouth as possible (with a face of glee and satisfaction like it's the best thing he's ever tasted) and then do some half chews and sip his water. Giving us the impression that he's cleared this food away and he is done eating. The tricky part is that sometimes even 30 minutes later without me being aware, this kid still has half chewed chicken in his cheeks. Then he gets overzealous about nursing with half chewed chicken in his mouth he ends up trying to chew and nurse at the same time! ouch.

Aiden's calling... love it when he sleeps in...

saving time

Now that we are running after a toddler the vast majority of the time that we are home, we've found that it's really important to try to save time. All the walking a couple weeks ago, also caused us to dismantle what we affectionately called the "baby prison" gate from the living room surrounding the couch. It is now in the big barn room to cover the wood stove and drum set. Partly because we found that we were more inclined to let him wander and learn new things than being contained in one area. The barn room is now baby proof too!

Instead of installing hooks to keep the cabinets shut, that inadvertantly causes you to take a little more time opening the cabinet (we know this because the old cabinet doors already had them with the previous owners) and you have to put holes in the doors or risk scratching them (boo!). Instead we found this great baby proof cabinet box from onestepahead.com - It's called the Clean Guard. It also allows Aiden to access the harmless things in the cabinets that make great new toys to explore.

I've been making batches made our traditional pumpkin muffin recipe - but I switched it up in an effort to save my mommy time and made them into pumpkin bars! Instead of taking time to split them into muffin cups I saved time by just smearing the whole double recipe into a 2 inch tall edged cookie sheet. Woohoo, just as good (maybe better because they are all like muffin tops) and time saving!

I've been making batches of pasta that I can just splash with a little water and reheat a bit instead of waiting for the water to boil and the pasta to cook. And I don't have to worry about it being too hot for our little guy.

I'm guessing that to save some time on milder days when transfering the baby from school to the warmed up car, it will work to use a blanket in lieu of bundling him up just for the quick jump to the car. I was day dreaming that on these chilled evenings it would be nice to have a heated stroller so that we could still cruise. Although we're lucky that Aiden is such a hot box because he never seems to get cold. Good circulation that he did not get from his mama.


Night time diapers (by Huggies - they are great!) are actually saving us time because we don't have to wash the sheets all the time when our little one would get messy. It's nice when he sleeps that well but geesh these diapers are brillant.

Anybody have any other good time saving ideas?

milk update

We are getting into a new routine of big boy foods (I've already made my last batch of purees and they are almost gone... the rest will be used to add to sauces for pasta, etc) and big boy milk. Aiden wasn't immediately sold on this whole milk idea... In the first two days, he probably consumed about 16 ounces total (which is the amount he's supposed to drink per day!) This past weekend it was hard for me to hear Aiden call for "Mama, Maaaama" when daddy tried to give him the milk, but I knew that my main goal is to just get off the pumped milk, then baby steps to weaning him off the evening and morning feedings. So, pretty much he would refuse his milk on Sunday and I ended up nursing him. Then Monday rolled around and I had hope that the teachers wouldn't have much trouble getting him to drink it. They're experts after all, right? He loves his big boy sippy cups for water, so we went straight over to those for the whole milk. He would make a funny face with every sip, but he did manage to take about 4 oz total that day. Right when we got home, he wanted to nurse like crazy with me and I was glad to relieve things a bit because I'd gone down to just one pumping session that day. Then we headed out for dinner to celebrate his birthday and that seemed to help distract him from wanting to nurse, but he was still not interested in the milk. We thought it was because of all the fun distractions like his new coloring placemats and the sizzling fajitas. J tried again when we got home and still a no go.

We ended up turning down an election day party invitation on Tuesday because this "whole milk transition" was on the whole not that sucessful...yet... so we wanted to keep up with our routine and trying to keep up with the "successful weaning strategies" we needed our bedtime consistency. We promise we are not as high strung as all of this sounds ;) I just didn't think my milk spitting baby and my pump were invited to the party. Tuesday the teachers managed to get him to gulp another 3 oz or so from an open cup. He was determined to be a big boy and wanted to hold the cup himself, which meant the majority of the milk was soaked up by his sweatshirt. But this was the day that the digestive "issues" (I will spare you the gory details, but if you're a mom/dad/pet owner/etc just use your imagination) became more obviously related to the milk. We thought it could've just been a little tummy bug (they are going around here), but when we explained all the details to the doctor (rumbly, tumbly, change in texture and frequency), she thought that it is a sensitivity to the lactose.

So at the one year checkup yesterday she recommended soy milk (pumped up with vitamins good for kids), which we just tried last night and it seems he likes it a bit better, but he's still not gulping it right down. Altough I just called school and he took about a half hour, but he eventually drank all 5 oz of his morning soy milk from his sippy cup or the open cup...and he ate all of his chicken - yeah! (we'll see how he does this afternoon with the broccoli pancake he seemed to like last night) He's determined to be a big boy lately. He won't let us feed him or even tip up his sippy cup if he seems distracted...He will only eat if he holds the spoon and things he can pick up himself. This is like a whole different ball game compared to our little running back that would eat nearly everything and is now refusing to play the eating game!

I'm a little relieved and a little stressed at the same time. I am happy to report that yesterday was the first day that I didn't pump at all and it was such a relief! My pump and I have a love hate relationship right now, but I think over the next few days we'll end up as "just friends"...and we all know how well that usually ends up. It's a breakup that was a long time coming. It's simple things like not having to carry that darn thing around. I still feel like a baby nursing machine, however, because Aiden clearly only wants to eat with me if I'm around. We joked with the doctor that cold turkey may be the only way to go because if he gets hungry enough he'll drink/eat the other stuff. But I think that is only a solution if I can go on a vacation! I was even up with him at night and he wanted to eat and we don't even want to go there with a reversed schedule at one year old! oh the saga continues... But one thing I know for sure, this too will pass...

almost tripled

Since I was pregnant I've been receiving weekly messages from Babycenter that sends updates entitled: Your Baby This Week.  But just this week they changed the title to Your Toddler This Week!  They indicated on their website that "most toddlers have tripled their birthweight by their first birthday."  Well, oh geez, I thought Aiden will have that covered despite those chubby little knees slowly shrinking away as he learns to run.  But to my surprise, on the same scale they've used since he was just a few days old, he was 3 ounces below tripling at 24 lbs. 6 ounces (with a full diaper on even).  It was like a whole different world as he sat nicely on the scale watching the lady write down his weight.  He babbled as we talked to the nice doctor who gave him a new book about trucks to take home.  

His four shots were not-fun-at-all and I could see his pupils shift before he let out a scream.  I held him so he was comfy and tried to explain the "ouchy" with as many words as possible (mainly to make myself feel better, but also to distract him).  He had two nurses give two in each of the chubsters.  One of them must have really burned and you could see the redness, but he was quickly back to his giggling when the nurse brought him two big stickers (one with a squirrel and the other with a beaver).  Then it was over to the lab for a finger prick blood collection which went surprisingly well because she had doggies and other animals hanging up everywhere.  He let her hold his hand  to squeeze out the blood and clot the prick only protesting occasionally because he wanted to point at the doggies as he barked at them.   He even showed the doctor how if you ask what does a doggie say, he'll respond with his woofwoof noise that he makes while tucking in his lips.  It's amazing how quickly he's grown, but he's still my Baby AB.  Toddler AB just doesn't have the same ring to it...

tv message

I had a surprise for J and Aiden, and I think I really confused J when I insisted that they hold tight before leaving for school to watch me tivo through the prior day's noon news. I'm guessing that J thought it might be something about the election (which is historical, but we won't go there on this simple blog)

Channel 10 News at Noon wished Aiden a happy birthday and it's simple things like this that give me a smile ;) It was strange to hear them announce his full name. I know it's crazy but I had flash forwards to his graduations where his name will be announced.

your daddy's words

Here is your proud daddy's birthday message to you on his guitar buddies' online board -
Topic: Aiden is one today!
"Happy Birthday, Aiden! A year ago today you were a helpless little poop-maker, but now you walk, talk a little, dance, use baby sign-language, brush your teeth, and can do all sorts of fun tricks! You know how to cover your eyes and play peek-a-boo when I ask, "Where's Aiden?". You say, "Woof! Woof!" whenever you see a dog. You point out every ceiling fixture in the grocery store to me. And you can get on your horsey all by yourself! "

cot day

Yesterday Aiden started sleeping on a cot at school in preparation for moving over to the toddler room in three months. I was in shock when I called about how he did with his milk and she said that he'd just fallen asleep on his cot. He hardly ever even sleeps on his tummy! I told her I would have to see it to believe it, so she sent me a photo ;)

brushing

We finally got the camera out after bathtime and even though he noticed the camera he still got in some good brushing. He's getting better at giving us the brush and the sign for "all done" when he's finished.

12 months!

Dear Aiden,

This month was such a treat. You held onto your babyhood, but we realized how much you've grown over the last year and how much you really understand now. You turned into a little boy running back and forth across the house using the "more" sign to mean "I want". You want more of everything. My favorite is when you ask for more hugs. And a close second is when you ask to brush your teeth more - You are such an independent little guy and it helps that you've always been really into teeth. Dad thinks you might want to be a dentist because you just love to shake that toothbrush around in your gummy little mouth (which has 9ish teeth popping through now!). This month also gave us little glimpses of how determined you are and will be. You've always had your preferences, but now you realize how you can get what you want. There will be more test of wills over what you want versus what we want. But I hope you'll always remember that even though we won't let you step on the cat or eat her hair, we still want you to be happy ;) Not all moments will be quite as picturesque and idyllic as these photos at the duck pond.... but at least when you're fussy because we won't let you have "more" of something, I can just look at these photos some more.

All your walking this month caused us to dismantle what we affectionately called the "baby prison" gate from the living room surrounding the couch. It is now in the big barn room to cover the wood stove and drum set. Partly because we found that we were more inclined to let you wander and learn new things than being contained in one area. Although we were surprised that you're still able to sit in your baby bumbo, I attribute all the running, dancing, and bouncing to you losing some of that chub that used to be so chompable on your knees.

Right around half way through this month we got in the habit of turning on the tv to Sesame Street when we get up in the morning. It's so cozy in the big warm bed in the chilled house on these fall mornings, so you usually get a fresh diaper and then you plop onto the bed for some cozy time. That Elmo really gets you beeboppin and everytime he starts to dance you start pointing and bopping. There was this particular episode of Elmo where they were talking about cameras. I kid you not, Elmo held up the camera and you said "Mama!" Oh, that's my boy.

You are obsessed with drum sticks. You started learning to not stick them in your mouth, but you want to hold them all the time. You do not want to give them up even after a good solid round of drumming with daddy...where he tries to wear you out and we're sure you've had enough, but eh no... must keeeeep drumming. Let's hope that you pick up a sense of rhythm from your dad. You're good at imitating us and you especially like to play with all your new toy phones (which we have you convinced are the same as our phones because we talk on them too):

Here is the phone video in case the other link doesn't work for you:

You are still excited by your birthday balloons. When we took you to the balloon store you temporarily lost your mind and kicked with joy as we picked out a big choo choo balloon and brought it home with us in the car! One of them popped in the car and you didn't seem scared, but you really looked at me for an explanation. At your party I'd also put up some streamers and balloons all around the house (mostly so I could convince people to move into different rooms and spread out!) The night before, we blew up balloons and tapped them back and forth, which looks to be a new favorite game. It was only the morning after your party, that you discovered that you can destroy the balloons with your pincher fingers!
You are learning how to really play. If we say "Where's Aiden!?" you'll hide behind your hands, and then reveal yourself with a giggle. Daddy loves playing this with you and even better is when you go running around to hide around the corner, then when we come around, you jump out, roar and giggle at us. Your other favorite treat is to open the mail with us. You want to carry around two fist fulls of paper every where you go. Good thing for all that junk mail. I sometimes wonder if by the time you have kids if there will even be any paper junk mail.

You are learning to make friends. Not in the traditional sort of way where you actually recognize that someone has something in common with you or you want to share a coffee and talk about something interesting. Your "friends" at school are any kids that happen to be around you that are around your size. We got an incident report from school around the middle of this month that read, "Aiden was playing with his friend and his friend bit him" AND left a mark above his left elbow. First question I had was, "He didn't bite back, did he?" and the teachers assured me that you never seem interested in biting, you just yell and then get really babbly. Yeah, give em a good lecture, that's my boy. I like to think that your buddy Tyler (the only current room biter I have witnessed) was just giving you a nibble because he was so excited. It's like his version of a high five...or something. Anything to make myself feel better.
Your newest friend (who I think will be a true friend that hopefully does not bite) is Sophy kitty. She will not only let you pet her nicely, but she seeks you out and purrs up a storm when you stroke her. You are always petting her and looking at us for our approval (or smirking wondering why we're suddenly letting you get away with petting her). We trust you to pet her like a big boy and not grab her ears, although just yesterday you tried to use her as a step stool to climb over the gate to get at daddy's drums.
I noticed that your little mattress at school actually has a head imprint on the bed because you still like to sleep like a little baby on your back looking up at the fun stuff on the ceiling. You also still put your little fingers through the knit holes in your blanket. I think I try to hold on to every little remembrance of what you "used to do" as a baby so that I can hold onto those itty bitty baby days. It is hard to do when you come running over to me at pick up time instead of crawling because you've discovered it's quicker and more efficient. And even harder when I called your school at lunch today and she shared that you fell asleep on a cot by yourself! I'll have to see that to believe it!

I can't wait to see more of what you can do as you learn more and more... Love, MaaMaa

one!

playtime videos

Aiden is so thankful for all his new birthday toys! Thanks! Here he is having some fun playtime with a few of the new toys. We are bringing new ones out slowly so that he gets excited for something new each time!

Playing with New Toys! from LB on Vimeo.

Ride Em' from LB on Vimeo.
The best toys of all are sometimes the simplest - as is the case with balloons!

Playin with Balloons! from LB on Vimeo.

whole milk day

Today was whole milk day. I've talked about whole milk day to my coworkers and friends. I asked the ladies at daycare whether they've ever had a kid that had trouble switching over and they informed me I was the only person that had switched from straight breast milk to cows milk in their experience. I read online about what you should do to switch from solely breast milk to cow milk. I read sad stories from moms that said that "giving up" breast feeding was emotionally draining. I read stories about how the kid wouldn't have anything to do with cow's milk and they had to try versions of soy or other random stuff. I decided after ingesting all this to not think about it too much and to just go with the flow.

I am going to choose to look at this as an opportunity for Aiden's digestive system to learn something new. I'm happy I was able to pump milk for him three-four times a day at work since going back last January. I was eager to throw the pump out the window or at the janitor when he walked in on me, but I have to say I'm thankful that it went so smoothly. I learned to type, talk on the phone, and pump all at the same time. I have to say I'm proud of that.

Our doc originally said that we could start whole milk at 11.5 months, but I wanted to wait until after all the birthday/halloween excitement to be sure we didn't ruin that if he had a bad reaction to the milk. I started dropping a pumping session around 10am about a week ago, but my supply maintained itself and I would just get more on the next session. I would end up with almost the exact same 13 ounce amount each day. As I type this, J is feeding Aiden his third whole milk cup today. He seems to like it and his only initial hesitation was the temperature. It seems he likes it a little warmer than the fridge.

I kept busy today and I think that helped distract Aiden from wanting to eat with me. I was away for the first full whole milk cup at a quilt show (goal one is the wean, goal two is to make a quilt by this time next year). We cruised the neighborhood in the stroller and hit the playground. Then we went over to the indoor Monster Mini Golf which was beyond over stimulation (everything glow in the dark, black lights, growling statues, and even a dayglow hippo!). I'm hoping that we can keep ourselves preoccupied tomorrow too. So far so good...

It is a super power:

halloween videos

Carving Pumpkins! from LB on Vimeo.

First Halloweeen Night! from LB on Vimeo.

halloween card!

Aiden loves cards! Here is the Halloween card from Gran and Pop that he giggled at and tried to imitate. Thanks to everyone for all the fun cards lately!

happy halloween

Here is our DinoAiden migrating through the house with a roar! At the end of the video, you'll notice the hippo hat/carcass sitting on the table next to him. We may try to get him to wear it again to visit our neighbors tonight, but it doesn't stay on for long. Although at the school party last night, he kept it on for almost 10 minutes (I forgot my camera, I know crazy, but my friend did get some I'll post later). I think we got lucky because he was tired and very calm just curious at why all his teachers looked like witches, cats, and devils! I've said all along that he's a hippo surfer, so that when he won't keep the hippo hat on, he's just a surfer ;) We were excited to meet all the big kid teachers and we made a point of visiting the Butterfly and Ladybug room to get a better idea of what to expect when he moves over there in three months.

Here he is sitting nicely eating a choochoo cracker:
But here is what he usually looks like when we put the hippo hat on:
He does like it when I wear it and bop at him, but no photos of that ;) I think I may eventually convert the hippo hat into a hippo stuffed animal or maybe save it until next year when we might be able to reason with him to wear it.

Here is another halloween costume in Ohio - bzz bzz, It's Baby A BEE:

Baby A BEE Bumblebee! from LB on Vimeo.

pumpkin carving

You better believe those feet were kicking!
No guts to squish, but we carved some pumpkins that Aiden loves to carry around. They are made out of foam! He can use his gross motor skills to tote them around and sometimes attempt to bop the kitty with them. His favorite parts are the flash lights that go inside them. He loves to shine it around and giggle as the kitty chases it. This kid was really pretty excited about the pumpkins overall and most of the photos he is squealing with excitement (with his mouth open clearly taking after his mother).

Here he is offering the pumpkins to Sophy kitty:



You get only one guess at which pumpkin mom made and which dad made.

new playground

Right before the birthday party weekend, we took advantage of what we thought might be the only nice weather that weekend (turns out it was beautiful all weekend!) to get over to the brand new mini playground next to the school. They created everything in a smaller scale than the big playground right down the way. We aren't looking forward to being cooped up this winter, but we're glad that we'll have this little playground for the rest of fall and next spring. I think it will be the perfect size for Aiden when the weather turns back to strolling weather.

first year soundtrack

We just got some awesome new kid's music albums from my friends now that Aiden is paying more attention to what he's listening to and loooves to dance. He just cracks us up and I have a feeling his silly dancing is only goin to be more fun in the next year. These albums were my friend's solution to listening to the "wheels on the bus" too much. They are so awesome I've actually been listening to them even when Aiden's not around. They are Catch That Train by Dan Zanes, Ralph's World Happy Lemons, and You Are My Sunshine by Elizabeth Mitchell.

This same friend had given me the idea that she had cd party favors at her daughter's first birthday. I didn't use any kids music since most of the guests didn't have kids, but all of them loosely relate to the first year/playing/having kids. It's a mix of new and old music that both J and I like (talk about a challenge to mesh those music tastes together!). Mostly, they are songs that will always remind me of this first year (for instance, Frank's sister singing The Circle Game at his wedding).

Here is Aiden's First Year Soundtrack:

1 Lullabies, j.Brennan
2 DareYouToMove, Switchfoot
3 InsideOutside, Delirious
4 Bubbly, c.Caillat
5 CloserToYou, Wallflowers
6 ComingHome, j.Brennan
7 IceCream, s.McLachlan
8 HereComestheSun, Beatles
9 MyBabyBlue, j.Haitt
10 TheseHands, j.Brennan
11 PlayWithMe, Extreme
12 Birthday, j.Brennan
13 SweetChildOMine, GunsNR
14 316, VanHalen
15 OurHouse, CSN
16 CircleGame, j.Mitchell
17 SeasonsOfLove, Rent
You can click the links to access the samples on Itunes.

birthday rundown

The Mass Birthday Train Stop picked up 24 adults and 8 kids on a beautiful 70 degree sunny day (thank goodness people could enjoy the patio too!). Lara and Aiden went for a pre-party walk around the neighborhood (which did not lead to the birthday boy nap as expected, but he did squeeze a nap in just in time). He woke up just a bit after the first guests arrived and came downstairs with a look of concern wondering why we let all these people in our house.

Two sets of J's aunts and uncles, his Nana, and his cousin and her family were the first guests to arrive. They had lotsa hugs for the birthday boy when he wasn't running back and forth across the house. He was also excited to see both his teachers and even his teacher that left a while back. I'm hoping they had a nice time and it was just a small way to thank them for being so sweet to Aiden.

Based on my mom's party planning, I upped the menu quite a bit. We had almost the same menu as we did in Ohio and probably just the right amount of food. J originally wanted to get everything catered after he heard how crazy I went inviting people. I'm so glad that we were able to make our own train inspired foods ahead of time and save the trouble (I was happy as long as I had time to make deviled eggs-yum, and a throwback to this time last year when that is all I wanted to eat). Aiden enjoyed a little bit of choo choo wheel pasta salad, but his favorite part was the cake. When everyone sang to him and we brought out the big Thomas cake he literally squealed. I think it was one of my favorite moments (although it's hard to say because I had so many happy moments - I don't care what people say, going crazy for a first birthday is so much fun for moms like me! I openly admit that it was a party for me anyway - but geesh, don't I deserve to party!? All moms deserve a big celebration at the end of the first year especially!).

I thought we might get away with just giving him a cake without frosting to avoid the mess, but J had other ideas that it would be fun to let him smear again. So he went at his little mini pudding cake with less of a look of concern than his cupcake in Ohio. And somehow the mess mat below him shifted just enough to spread the crumbs around the kitchen... oh our boy smelled like cake the rest of the day, but I managed to get the frosting out of his nose and ears.

While he finished up his cake and lounged in his chair, we pulled him off to the side of the kitchen to watch other kids play his party games. We had "pin the one" on the Thomas the Train. It was more of a hit than I expected! (The other big kids had already created their key chain coloring and foamy train sticker card making.) I think it was just enough, but I wished I had more to play because they loved it so much. Aiden was so funny lounging in his high chair chompin down cake while he watched them play. Too funny. I can't wait until he's old enough to play too...

Aiden only had two guests younger than him (both around 8/9months), but the other kids were so sweet to him. There was a hilarious moment when we asked his cousin Daniel to give him a kiss and he ended up pinned down on the floor giving me a look like "what's up mom, can you back me up here, this kid is much bigger than me?!" Daniel was such a sweetie pie and even helped eat all the candies off Aiden's choo choo cake. The other kids were excited that it was such a beautiful day and they could get in a good run around outside to burn off all that sugar.

When it was time for presents Aiden was fascinated by the cards! His auntie said that we could of all just purchased cards for him and he would be happy. He would have one card in each hand and when I'd open another, he'd look at each one and debate with himself on which one to put down. The cards with sparkles on them usually won. He was super excited banging on the boxes too. There was a moment that he started clapping and everyone started clapping with him. He was so thrilled. Luckily, my friend grabbed my camera for capturing a few of those moments. Here he is with his new cool kid hat for the winter from Emily - Thanks!:

We truly hope that those of you that weren't able to join us know how much we appreciate you sending your good cheer (more thanks coming for the fun presents too!) Thanks to everyone for making it such a great year! We love you.
More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/gp/94324507@N00/A6w912

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