water firsts!

The past few days have been all sorts of water fun!
We visited the Newport Beach that J and I hung out at the summer we met here in RI. It was Aiden's first visit to the beach although he is used to playing in the big sandy area at school. He stomped through the chilly ocean, squinted at the bright sun, and then took a snooze as we walked along the cliff walk.
First Beach Trip:

FirstBeachTrip from LB on Vimeo.
Or visit:http://vimeo.com/1457631
Then his first swim class was this Saturday morning (Daddy jumped in with him because of my hurt foot, so I was all over the camera. Although I was super jealous of the other couples that could swap time back and forth... one of the couples had a almost nine month little boy and I recognized them from our birth class! I have a feeling we'll get a chance to get to know them better). The teacher used songs to "introduce the child to the water through play". There was just all sorts of cuteness and I taped over 2/3 of the class, but here it is cut down to the favorite moments.
Our Little Frog's First Swim class:
FirstSwim from Lauren Brennan on Vimeo.
Or visit:http://vimeo.com/1455435

oops mommy's ouchie

Thursday morning I was taking off from work, and before my family arrived I wanted to make some new batches of foods for Aiden. I was using both of my food processors and I was especially excited by my newer one that makes big batches. I had a huge two ice cube tray batch of apricots ready to pour and I thought that if I removed the blade it would cause the apricot to overflow into the center. So, dummy mommy managed to drop the blade on to her foot! It sliced a less than inch long cut across the side of the ball of my foot. I think that it must have hit it directly because it also bruised a bit right away. Well, I tried not to scream because I didn't want to scare the baby, and J rushed into help me with the baby in his arms. I think Aiden thought we were getting ready to paint with red on the tile. The daycare sheet highlight could say, "Today I explored with red 'paint' after it poured from my mommy's ouchie"

Anyway, I wrapped it and it seemed to stop bleeding. I wasn't going to let it stop me from having fun with our visitors! I dealt with labor pains for three weeks I can deal with a little cut (ha!). By the time we were back from walking around it had bled through my sock. Then the next morning just a little bit of blood. I cleaned it a bunch and kept it in my sock and shoe on the beach - talk about nerdville. It really wasn't bothering me more than feeling kinda bruised and the cut looked healed over. But when we got back from running around Newport, the cut looked really mad with red streaks and kinda puffy. It was definitely worse. We found an urgent care and while J took good care of the baby with the girls, my uncle (thanks!) took me on the quickest, most efficient visit to an urgent care. It was less than 30 minutes with the most time spent on determining for sure that I could take this antibiotic while breastfeeding. Yep, it was infected, which he said would have been hard to avoid with a blade contaminated with apricot. When he said it, he made apricot sound like some sort of elicit drug. The doctor was very professional, but kinda a funny guy. I researched for myself on LactMed at the National Library of Medicine and it looks like the breast milk is safe and my supply should be maintained without too much worry. Oopsie, kinda a pain, but it will all work out...

jammin

Part of the Ohio fan club came for a visit! Aiden wasn't sure what to think at first because he'd just woken up from a little cat nap when they first arrived, and he was playing shy by cuddling in to mommy. But when Daddy and Uncle Bill set up a jam session, he just couldn't stop dancing! We took them on a walk through campus and we're looking forward to some fun in Newport.
Here is the rock out set up by the auto flip (the actual music was better):

baby of the week

I sent the ladies over at my favorite little baby shop (the suppliers of my bella bands and labor massage class) a thank you and Aiden's smile was on their newsletter this month ;) It coincided with my sweet and thoughtful husband going there on his own to get me a gift card (another early bday present which didn't stay a surprise for long). I think we're goin to go get some baby feeding gear.

cruising

Trying to cruise with his hippo walker today! (Thanks M, J, and K!) Up to now the only cruising was sideways along the gate or ottoman. Daddy spotted him well ;) My favorite part is when he sits back while still holding on to the hippo.

first teeth!

So it's official! The first two teeth have cut through the gummy layer! One on the top and one on the bottom?! Seems odd, but the other side on both the top and the bottom is just right under the teeny layer of gum that has stuck around for a looong time. I remember the doctor talking about she could feel his little tooth buds a looong time ago. His teacher noticed the top one today, and I'm not sure I would've even noticed it since I was really only looking on the bottom lately. It reeeeally bugs the poor little guy for me to feel them, so I try to minimize it. He's had his little bouts of ouchy, but so far he's been able to handle it pretty well.

showered with love

It's summertime in full swing! Feel likes the swing is getting faster and faster, but we keep trying to get out as much as possible. It seems like we plan way in advance for everything lately, so ages ago we had invited some new friends over for brunch and planned to visit J's Aunt Mary. J's Aunt Mary is nun, and let's just say that when we arrived with our smiley bundle of boy and a batch of brownies made by J's Nana we were the hit. The nuns were openly declaring (after no more than two minutes), "We looove him because he is sooo good." He would just grin and bounce. I think his favorite part was riding on one of their walkers, a close second to when one of them gave him her cane. He likes it when someone lets him play with what he perceives to be a big kid toy.

Our new friends are the parents of Aiden's little girlfriend at school, six month old Bella. Their teachers have mentioned numerous times that they are empathetic towards each other and if one cries the other gets upset or tries to help. They were so cute yesterday. They like to reach out towards each other and hold hands! It can't get much cuter than that. I didn't think to get any photos of them playing, but I'll have to get the camera grooving next time they come to play. Bella is a real doll baby.

Bella's mom gave us photos of the book that Aiden's teachers made with all of his classmates - Here are a few pages:

The line, "When it is time for nap, I distract them by trying to clap" was pointed out as Aiden's trick.

i love daddy!

A quick shot series of Aiden as Daddy came downstairs - ooh excited!

Coinciding with J's birthday last week, Aiden developed a case of daddy clingyness. It doesn't matter how hungry he seems, but when daddy walked in the room he pulled away and giggled at daddy. Daddy would point and say eat your numnums and he would giggle again and take another snack before looking for daddy again. If he wasn't there he would call out, "daaadaaa", then look at me with an inquisitive "dada?!" We've come to beleive (and we might just be crazy parents) that he sorta understands the difference between mama and dada. He really seems to associate them with us, but at the very least he associates them with two very different things. Mama means I need help or food or comfort, while Dada means I want to play or I think that is funny. Daddy clingyness also translates into the night time tummy troubles that have cropped up lately. Aiden is lucky to have such a patient and comforting daddy.

the prince and the pea

Aiden's been more and more excited to feed himself. He can pluck even the tiniest peas up and pop them in his mouth. He usually wants one for each hand, but it definitely seems that he favors his right pluckers. His high chair isn't looking as much like a big throne now that he sits up and reaches out over his tray. He really seems to like veggies more than fruits lately.

We've tried a bunch of finger foods and his favorite definitely seems to be the cheerios, but peas seem to be a close second. We went to lunch the other day with my friend and she had puffs for her little girl. He didn't seem to keen on them and made a face like it had a strong flavor. I decided to try one to see if strawberry apple puffs were really strong, but that couldn't be farther from reality. They are tasteless blobs that must expand in your tummy.

I think it's sometimes just the texture that throws him off. He will keep eating, but sometimes the first reaction looks like a deal breaker. Here he is not so interested in his peaches, which he did finish after all.

happy birthday daddy!

It's J's birthday today! I put together a website for him (mostly for his professional schtuff) and set up a little special flash treat of baby smiles. I'm still learning, but here it is:

http://jasonfbrennan.com/myfamily/photogallery.swf

tubby time!

Yesterday was the first time we really filled up the bath and pulled out all the bath toys for some true tubby time! Aiden's always loved the bath, even on those cold winter days when it was more of a sponge bath. We usually just pour water over him with a cup and the tub only fills a tiny bit. One parent (usually daddy) is on cup duty monitoring how warm the water is and keeping the water flowing to keep him warm and occupied...while the other parent is scrubbing with the soap, putting on the penguin visor for head rinses, and making sure he's all clean and fresh. It's been a rare occasion when we haven't been able to give him a family scrub, but I do realize this isn't necessarily a two person job.

Bath time is usually pretty quick, but as Aiden gets more active and independent we realized that he'd probably really like to splash around. It's a nice way to cool off on these hot days too. This bath time included bubbles, whistling hippos (thanks J!), and foam letters (thanks B!). We took him out before his toes and fingers became too wrinkly, but I'm betting he'd like to just stay in there all the time.

Here's some tubby time video. The flip auto video on "playdate" features these little cheesy clip art snippets, but I still think it's fun. It pieces together the video in random ways and I think it's fun to see what you get. You'll see the first underwater shots of Aiden's feet with the ultra underwater cover - It leaked, but the camera survived! Tested it without the camera and it remained sealed... who knows - I don't plan to use it immersed again (at least not without backup and not to 30 feet like it says you can!) but it's a good cover for taking the camera to the pool or beach.

yum yums

Aiden's big boy eating now includes cereal os and chicken! He really works to pick up his own os and when he gets them in his hand sometimes he places it on his tongue and gnaws on it like he has a chicken bone in his mouth. Serious gnawing for a little o cereal. We also added in some chicken, sweet tater, and apricot delight which he seemed to like just as much as everything else, although the first sniff wasn't so hot (wish I had a photo of that expression on his face). It's hard to find something he doesn't want to gobble right up.

Still no official teeth for him to chomp with, but those little tooth buds are right there. It feels like teeth are wrapped in a thin layer of cellophane. Yes, he does bite occasionally and trust me they don't have to cut through the gums to feel like razorblades cutting me. I try not to squeak when he does it, or yell nooo, instead I promptly sit him up and say ouch, that hurts mommy. He usually looks at me with puppy dog eyes and I only have a split second to check my wounds before he wants to eat again. If cows can do it, I can too...My new motto as I manage to keep up with all the pumping and nursing. I can see whole milk on the horizon...although it IS a long way away!

Here Aiden is telling us a story about how awesome cereal is:

swim class signup

I signed Aiden up for his first swim class this morning. It starts Aug 2nd, just a day before he turns nine months. It's for munchkins 6-36 months with a parent. I'm hoping they will let us catch a few shots with the new flip camera covered in its new underwater cover (coming soon!). Stay tuned!

collages

TGIF! Click on them to see them larger.

your own food bits

You've been holding your bottle for yourself for a while, but today I tried to see what you would do with some banana chunks if I just put them on your tray. I put down some pretty big chunks and you immediately picked up the slippery bits and put them straight into your munchy mouth. You barely gave me a chance to grab the camera. I just caught the first official self feeding ;) Although you acted liked you do this all the time, you were happy to see us get excited.

8 months, 1 week, 6 days

playing in the new kitchen

It's technically not a new kitchen, but it's completely refaced (they layered the front with a new facade, not just veneer) and completely reorganized!
BEFORE:

AFTER:

artsy shot

Yes, those are elbow patches on Aiden's new wedding jacket (hopefully it will still fit in September for F and M's wedding). He is a baby professor. Can't help myself.

boohoo the weekend is over

Aiden says boohoo the weekend flew by... I swear that Aiden's smile came right back after the photo, but my camera was blocking his view of the kitty cat and he wanted my help chasing after her. This was a nice weekend (and it's not over yet - we still have bath time!)... We got going early and celebrated by eating breakfast out. J just found out he just got a new grant (no strings attached to a nice chunk of change - connected to his book that will go to the editor in the middle of August).

Yesterday we went to our old stomping ground for their Taste of the Square event. We had some treats (yummy meatball sandwiches and popcorn laced in something yum), got to know strangers, cruised into the ModMama shop (I drive past every day and was very curious about, turned out to be an overpriced stroller haven with cute little girl clothes), visited the bookstores (one of which I found out my new boss now owns!) and hit Jerry's Art-a-rama (some awesome deals on drawing stuff). All along the way Aiden was making friends by smiling and clapping at people (even when he was tired). We're enjoying getting out in the nice weather this summer...

blue baa baa

Aiden has been super vocal lately. Our favorite is when he says Aww and Eh at the kitties or at the fireworks. I tivoed the fireworks on TV with the Boston Pops and let's just say Aiden was mesmerized. He doesn't usually pay much attention to the TV. I'm not sure if it was the music or the big booms, but he immediately started clapping and gurgling oohs and aaahs. He has zurbert weeks that leads into new noises that he likes to make for the next week. This week's Dobeedohdohdoh is one of my all time favorites.

In precrawl mode, he does a lot of squirming around and scooting backwards. His newest trick is hiding things by sitting on them. He even did this with a stinky teether biscuit (which he thinks is a toy now) this morning. I'm really betting that his first word is going to be kitty or he's going to really crawl (forward!)toward a cat for the first time. His latest crawing exercise is to push with both feet crossed and belly scoot just enough to grab something. He's usually just yelling for us to lift him up to standing so that he can take off in pursuit of the kitties. He will take deliberate steps, one foot in front of the other while we hold his hands. He wants to do this, until he's all tuckered out, all the way around the circle that is created by our living room, kitchen, and dining room. It's the same circle that I would walk for "exercise" when I was so, so pregnant and the same path that GranGran would hold Aiden over her shoulder to calm him when he fussed and say "if you're talking, we're walking"...

Second to the kitties, his new favorite is the big blue ball. Daddy had this ball on his shopping list for a while because our big exercise ball is just way too big, and we found the perfect blue baaall last weekend. It's already a new fixture in the floortime toys. Here he is giggling at the blue ball:

1st teether biscuit

Aiden's been starting on small bits of "table" food, and he does pretty well. Some of his purees are a little chunky so you can see him munch on them and swallow. Also, he likes to be occupied with something while we eat dinner, so we gave him his first teether biscuit on Thursday. It was an organic deal that doesn't really taste all that great, but he's discovered it makes a great instrument/toy to wack. I think I'm going to make some of my own from my friend's recipe and see if they taste better. Here's the munchkin playing and gnawing: