July 28th 2008
10 months
Aidan is 10 months now. Right top incisor has finally cut through. It has been a while. His bottom teeth came out so fast, but the upper ones do not seem to be in any hurry. Left one is still a giant bump. For a little baby Aidan has some big teeth though, I think he has his daddy’s teeth, I guess we will find out soon.
Aidan is showing more interest in walking forward, however if he wants to get somewhere fast his preferred method is crawling. He is so fast! He uses furniture to move around and he walks straight with our help of course.
We started learning words a little bit. We point at things and name them; we have done it for a while now. Aidan likes to say ‘dada’ and ‘dog’ – most popular words in our household. However his ‘dog’ sounds like “dak”, the reason we know it is ‘dog’ is because he only uses it when Charlie is around and he often points at her. When we went to Nana’s house on Friday, he pointed at Nana’s bulldog and called it a “daaaaak”. Now we know that he understands what a dog is!
Aidan loves to play with Jason! I think it is because daddy’s play style is so much more fun than mommy’s. With mommy it is mostly toys on the floor, shapes and words. With daddy, it is the “Super Baby” game, where Aidan goes flying around in the sky!-Commonly known as Airplane. Daddy often uses Aidan as a dumbbell, yes…needless to say, Aidan loves it!
We have not started any table food yet, cannot move past stage 2. Stage 3 is still to chunky and the gag reflex is pretty strong.
Aidan Jay @ 10 months, 1 day
News posted by Lena and Jason at 9:01 AM | 
Comment
June 30th 2008
9 months
Friday June 27 Aidan turned 9 months and we went to the doctor for check-up. Luckily Aidan was only due for a Polio shot. He did great as always, did not cry at all. Even when the nurse stabbed him with a needle (there is no other way to describe it) he just cringed and made a whiny sound. It seemed like he was going to cry, but then decided that it was too much effort.
He is 22 pounds, 29 and half inches long. I guess now we can say ‘tall’, because he stands up.
The doctor was very happy with his development.
Aidan is cruising and crawling all over the place. We keep moving things around the house, because he discovers new ‘toys’ every day. Of course, the ‘toys’ he discovers are not for babies.
I guess the biggest was dog bowls. He went crazy splashing the water around, he was all soaked as well as the floor around. He had a lot of fun! Now, we have to pick bowls up whenever Aidan is on the main floor, because it is the first thing he goes after!
Next big thing was tub faucets; he figured he can turn water on. So now we have to keep him out of our bathroom or he will waste all water (he prefers the hot water faucet).
He also loves his tub and all the objects he can throw in it and then try to get them out. Needless to say he is not allowed to go in his bathroom either.
We have a fake plant in the basement, and it has moss in the pot, instead of dirt. Of course it is super fun sticking one’s hand in there grabbing as much moss as one can and throwing it all over the place, including one’s mouth.
Anything with knobs is great fun too…I can go on forever!
Aidan started using his thumb and forefinger to pick up small things. He loves to use his forefinger to poke Charlie’s eyes. Yesterday he was digging in her eye and she did not even bother to move, since her head was on my lap. I guess she figured that it was better to lose an eye than move off my lap.
Aidan has lost all interest in Jumperoo and Excersaucer. Who needs that when you can move around on your own! Excersaucer is used to throw toys in and climb underneath it.
He still loves to play with balls. He seems to prefer the purple one. He throws them and then chases after. He throws them on the couch/table etc and then retrieves them.
Remote controls are popular too. We just let him have those. Large dog bones are good fun, especially if he can get them from dog’s mouth. Charlie just gives them to him.
Aidan has learned to give things back if we ask. He has also learned to do ‘high five’ and even wave ‘bye-bye’ sometimes. He makes kissing sound if you ask him for a kiss, and will happily blow raspberries all day long if prompted. I am trying to get him to place objects in certain places. He did pretty well with the remote control. He usually takes it off the side table, so I asked him to put in back, which he did after a couple of tries. He sort of understands 'no', if we say 'Aidan NO' he will stop and turn around and wait for our reaction.
We are still waiting for top teeth to cut. The gum is all big and swollen, but they are not cutting yet.
Aidan Jay @ 9 months, 3 days
Milestones posted by Lena and Jason at 11:56 AM | Comment
June 10th 2008
Among some other things...
I forgot to mention that Jason got his laser eye surgery done and I got my wisdom teeth pulled. We are doing great.
The surgery did not even feel like a surgery. It was a 10 min thing. Laser does all the work. I was able to watch it and it was a bit uncomfortable when the doctor was lifting the flap, but otherwise seemed very simple.
Jason's one eye is 20/20 and the other one is 20/40 right now. We were told that it takes about three months before the eyesight balances out. Jason will get another surgery to correct the 20/40 eye.
My experience with teeth pulling was great. I had IV sedation. Only one tooth had to be cracked, the other ones came out without any problems. I was a bit sore, but nothing major. I was able to eat normal food and brush my teeth next day. Took prescribed pain medication for 2 days only. All in all, it was nothing like the horror stories everybody was telling me.
Aidan Jay @ 8 months, 13 days
News posted by Lena and Jason at 2:44 PM | Comment
June 9th 2008
8 months
Our last update was in April… Time flies!
A lot has happened during May!
Aidan got two bottom teeth and now is getting ready to cut two top ones! So it was not a cold that I thought he was having last time I posted.
He did great while the teeth were cutting. No problems at all. I am hoping top ones are as easy. Right now they are just huge bumps in his gums; I am expecting those to start cutting in a couple of weeks. He has been a little bit on a sensitive side, but it could be his age too.
Talking about age…He is 8 and a half months and pretty much mastered crawling! This is crazy, because just a couple of months ago I was complaining about his lack of interest in belly-time and sitting. Now he absolutely refuses to lie on his back, which makes diaper changes extremely uncomfortable for Jason and me. Just imagine putting a diaper on a baby who will only stay still if he is on all fours!
He loves crawling after toys, so we play ‘catch’ a lot, but without actual catching, I guess it is more ‘chase the ball’ game. Most of all he likes to go after tennis balls that belong to Charlie. Those two will be playing together in no time.
Speaking of Charlie…She is so amazingly good with Aidan! She does not bother him much at all, but will come over and sniff him. He usually gets all ticklish and makes funniest faces! Every now and then he will try to climb on her, she would just lie there. The other day Jason told me that he had to separate those two, and I assumed that the dog got too excited, but it turned out that Aidan was the trouble maker.
We have to keep an eye on him all the time now. A couple of days ago I caught him licking the refrigerator. I guess seeing his own reflection was intriguing for him, so he figured that it may taste good too. There he was going up and down the refrigerator licking it.
Did I mention that he is ‘cruising’ too? He walks around using furniture and anything else he can find. That puts him in a perfect position to grab any object off the furniture. Remote controls and my laptop are most fascinating, as well as phones. Toys are not interesting at all, since they are easily available on the floor.
Aidan is maturing emotionally as well. I like to call it ‘mature immaturity’. He has become whinier if you like. Now he gets upset when one of us leaves the room, or when we would not let him lick refrigerator for example. Sometimes he will get all upset if we try to take a toy away, or pick him up while he is trying to get somewhere.
He is still pretty much on the same schedule. Up at 5:30 am and down for the night around 9pm. He eats every 3-4 hours, takes naps between each feeding. He does not particularly like to nap, since it involves lying down. We pretty much have to force him to nap. We lay him down with his head jammed against something soft (that’s the only way he likes to sleep) give him a pacifier, give him a rag and hold him down, while trying to gently pat his butt. Meanwhile Aidan screams as if were killing him and throws his body around trying to roll over and crawl away. In about 10 min he gives up and falls asleep. I wish there was another way to get him to nap. Unfortunately if we do not do this, he will not take a nap and will turn from a happy smiley baby into a very cranky baby, and believe me cranky baby is not fun. Night time is the only time when he just passes out.
We have moved Aidan to his own room; so far it’s been OK. He wakes up around 3 am and as long as we give him his pacifier he goes back to sleep right away.
We have also started new day care. Our original care provider quit. She is having some health issues, which may cause black outs, so having an infant in care was not a good idea. Luckily we were able to find replacement pretty quick. It is another family care in our neighborhood. They have the whole basement of the house remodeled for daycare, with a separate kitchen and dining area, huge play room and a sleeping room. Very baby friendly with minimum furniture and tons of toys. Right now they have Aidan and a three year old girl.
Aidan Jay @ 8 months, 12 days
Milestones posted by Lena and Jason at 2:49 PM | Comment
June 5th 2008
It's been a while...
It has been so buzy around here! I have tons of new photos to upload! We are all doing great and I promise to post all the updates soon!
Aidan Jay @ 8 months, 8 days
News posted by Lena and Jason at 12:59 PM | Comment
April 18th 2008
Aidan is 6 months
We’ve been crazy busy around here and I have not had a chance to post. What has happened since the last post?
Aidan is 6 months, well 6 and a half now. His 6 month check-up went great. He got all his shots and cried for like 2 minutes only. He is still on a taller side for his age and almost average in weight (just a bit more).
We have introduced solids! He loves bananas, who does not? He enjoys eating of the spoon and gets all upset if we eat in front of him and do not offer him anything. He does not like his sippy cup at all, but ‘drinks’ from a regular cup with pleasure. I am using quotation marks because there is not much actual drinking happening yet. Every now and then he sucks the formula in and even swallows, but it is a hit or miss at this point.
Aidan is getting better and better at seating; we have to keep an eye on him though.
I guess the biggest thing that happened was my mom’s departure and Aidan started day-care. He is the only baby now, so he gets all the attention. He seems to be doing pretty good. First day he did not take a single nap! Boy was he tired and as a result slept like a rock all night! He is doing better now, takes naps here and there.
The down side of the day-care is that Aidan is having his first cold. He is sneezing a bit and has lots of snot. No fever though. He seems OK, so I am not worried. He eats well, pees, poops, takes naps and plays. I am hoping he will get better by Monday…
End of April and most of May are going to be the busiest time for both Jason and I. Aidan will go to day-care for full three weeks, while Jason and I are in Emmitsburg.
Once we get back to our normal schedule Jason will have his long anticipated Lasik Eye surgery and I will get my wisdom teeth pulled. We have it all scheduled around day-care and work schedules, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes according to the plan.
Aidan Jay @ 6 months, 21 days
Milestones posted by Lena and Jason at 11:21 AM | Comment
March 19th 2008
More March photos
I have added some more photos to the March Album. There are some photos of Aidan licking Jason’s wine glass. He is hilarious! Now we cannot drink anything without him trying to intercept the cup/mug/glass and shove it in his mouth! He has not figured out how to drink yet, but slobbering it up is good enough for him.
Aidan Jay @ 5 months, 22 days
Art posted by Lena and Jason at 9:11 AM | Comments ( 1 )
Comments:
April 1, 2008 12:41:07 PM posted by Page and Natasha Dyer
Wine connoisseur in training??? Aidan is just tooo adorable...
Trip to Gettysburg
We went to Gettysburg last Saturday. Check out some of the photos. It was fun and weather was great. Aidan was on his almost best behavior.
Aidan Jay @ 5 months, 22 days
Photos posted by Lena and Jason at 9:06 AM | Comment
March 6th 2008
March photos are here
We took a couple of pictures when Aidan took a bath in a big tub. We have a soaking tub in our bathroom and I have been wanting to take him in with me and see how he would do in a large tub with lots of water. He did pretty good for a first time, just like in his tub. He did swallow some water.
Aidan Jay @ 5 months, 9 days
Photos posted by Lena and Jason at 8:25 AM | Comments ( 1 )
Comments:
March 7, 2008 04:07:04 PM posted by Olga Eselson
Lena, you look amazing.
More photos in February Album
I have added some more photos! The ones that I added are of our typical dinner time. Aidan does not like to sit in his chair even if it is ON the table (where he can see everything and everyone).
Aidan Jay @ 5 months, 9 days
Photos posted by Lena and Jason at 8:23 AM | Comment
Walk in Frederick
We took a walk in Frederick at the end of February and I finally uploaded photos. Every time we go there I forget to bring my camera, so this was one time I did not forget it.
Anyways, here are some pictures of the Painted Bridge downtown Frederick. It is pretty cool and looks absolutely real. It was just a simple gray concrete bridge. A bunch of artists painted it. Here is a link to more info http://bridge.skyline.net/history/
Aidan Jay @ 5 months, 9 days
Photos posted by Lena and Jason at 8:17 AM | Comment
February 27th 2008
Aidan is 5 months old!
He has changed so much! Every time I see him when I come home from work he looks bigger! His face changed too. Of course he is getting cuter and cuter by a minute.
I figured it would be easier to just list things he loves:
Jumperoo
ExerSaucer
Own reflection
Shiny things
Watching anybody moving around
Touching Charlie
‘Drinking’ from our mugs (he figured everything except sucking the liquid in and swallowing)
Sleeping with his face pushed into the wall
Being carried around
Going to the antique stores
Grabbing everything he sees
Putting everything he grabbed in his mouth
Standing (we help him balance)
He now laughs out loud and giggles. He smiles all the time too.
Aidan Jay @ 5 months
Art posted by Lena and Jason at 4:26 PM | Comment
February 7th 2008
Back to work
It has been a while since I posted…
I have stopped breastfeeding Aidan. We have been supplementing with formula since day one, so it was not a biggie for him at all. He actually preferred the bottle lately, so I do not think he is missing the breast. I did it slowly so I was not in any physical discomfort or so I thought…Until I suddenly found myself incredibly unhappy. I could not understand what was going on. I was so overwhelmed with sadness. It took me a while to figure it out. Oh my, I was so cranky and grouchy…I finally looked it up and realized that it is common to feel very emotional after weaning the baby of the breast, plus the hormonal changes…So I am happy to report that I am back to normal self, I think.
I am also back at work! I feel a little bit guilty saying it – but I love being back at work! I have never seen myself as a SAHM, but now I know that for sure. I am doing only 3 days at the office and 2 from home. My mom is watching Aidan, so I do not worry about him at all. She actually told me that both Aidan and Charlie do much better when I am not around…hmm…
I have found Day Care for Aidan starting April. He will also go there 3 days a week. It is a at home day care. The lady who will take care of him does it from her house and she is in our neighborhood! I hope it works out.
Aidan is doing brilliantly. He is incredibly handsome (don’t all moms think that their baby is the cutest?). I got him a jumperoo and he likes it. He spends 10-15 min in it. He has figured out how to jump, but has not mastered it yet. He loves all the toys there, but gets frustrated that he cannot put any of them in his mouth. Tummy time is still not even remotely pleasant time for him. We try our best to encourage it, and it works for 5-10 min, after that he gets very upset. He just hates being on his stomach, if we lay him on his belly with arms to the sides; he will not relax his neck and put his head down but scream bloody murder until we pick him up or roll him on his back. He loves to stand! Oh my, how he loves to stand! Of course he cannot balance himself yet, so we have to hold him up. He cannot wait to walk! However, he is not interested in sitting up at all. I keep telling him that he first has to roll over, than sit and than stand and only than he can attempt to walk, but you think he is listening?
Aidan absolutely does not fit in his tiny bassinet, but I keep putting him in there…His feet and head almost push the sides out. He can actually rest his legs on the side. He sleeps like that sometimes, with his legs up. I just hate the idea of him waking up in the middle of the night in his own bed and needing his pacifier and no one around to give it to him. This will make him cry, which will make me get up and go to his room looking for his pacifier in the middle of the night…May be I can cut holes in the bassinet for his feet?
Aidan Jay @ 4 months, 10 days
Art posted by Lena and Jason at 1:35 PM | Comment
January 23rd 2008
Four months
Yesterday Aidan had his 4 month check. Everything looks good. He is still tall and lean. He is measuring average for his weight -15.1 lb and head circumference. As far as height goes, he is 26 ¼ inches, which puts him in 92%. If he keeps growing like that in the next couple of months we will have to get him a forward facing seat, because he will outgrow our large infant car seat. He also got another set of shots.
He has been a handful lately – refusing to take naps during the day, which causes him to get cranky by the night time. He has been pretty good about sleeping at night, but he likes to wake up every now and then. So far I was able to put him back to sleep by giving him his pacifier. Even our NP said that sometimes they regress and demand night feedings again, and she advised not to feed him. Jason and I both laughed when I told him about it, since we both know that mommy is quite lazy and would not get up for that sort of nonsense.
As far as general development goes he seems to be doing fine. He grabs his toys, my hair and daddy’s ears. He does not like his pacifier, unless he is falling asleep or already asleep but wants something to suck on. Basically pacifier represents sleep to him, and as I mentioned before sleep is not an option for this one. Even when he is tired and his belly is full he will fight the sleep.
He is still not interested in rolling over, he does that only on occasion and he does not roll on his belly, just the side. Belly time is still fun for 5-7 min only. He loves his play mat and exercises on the ball. He loves to be carried around and talked to. He is happy to see anybody who can potentially carry him around and will smile and wait to be picked up, if nobody picks him up he will cry and stare at the person of his choice and if this person makes eye contact with him he will smile again and cry again until he is picked up. I believe the dog taught him that trick.
We finally went out for dinner last weekend and learned that we should try to go out for breakfast and lunch, because dinner is not good time for Aidan. He actually did pretty well while we enjoyed our appetizers. He liked all the lights and shiny things around. He cannot seat yet and he hates being in a car seat, so one of us had to hold him –upright and facing out only-while everybody else ate. Not a big deal, since there were 5 of us – Terry, John, my mom and Jason and I. I was seated on a very comfy couch which had pillows, so feeding Aidan was very easy. When our entrees were served Aidan got bored by the view and one of us had to walk around while everybody ate. By the time we finished our entrees Aidan was tired and cranky and pretty much inconsolable. We all took turns comforting him, which led to more screaming, so we had to leave without dessert.
Aidan Jay @ 3 months, 26 days
Milestones posted by Lena and Jason at 2:30 PM | Comment
January 13th 2008
3 months
This is belated update, but as they say - better late than never!
What is new this month? Let's see...Little by little Aidan is figuring out what his hands are for. He loves to grab his bottle now, to the point that it is almost impossible to feed him without 'crazy hands' interruptions. He loves his little play mat that grandma Terry gave him for Christmas. We do some baby exercises on the ball which he loves as well! Anything that has to do with moving around is a big hit with Aidan. More than that he loves when you move with him, which means no sitting down for any of us. He has learned a lot of new sounds: he grunts, squeal and does 'jungle cat' sound and a very high pitched 'dolphin call' among all.
He wants to be carried around at all times- facing out only. Loves his own reflection in the mirror, would hang out in the bathroom all day long if he could. I think he wants to walk, I think he will skip crawling, since he hates being on his stomach. He loves to sit on your lap (we have to support his back, but his head is perfectly fine) and watch football or commercials with women on TV.
He has become super curious, will look around if he hears any interesting noises, likes checking out what Charlie-dog is doing. If we support him by his armpits he will put all his weight on his legs and stand like a big boy!
Needless to say I am totally in love with him!
Aidan Jay @ 3 months, 16 days
Milestones posted by Lena and Jason at 10:21 AM | Comment
January 1st 2008
New Year
Our New Years was pretty low key. We made some food, drank some wine and made it past midnight-which is a huge accomplishment!
Sunday before we had Grandma and Grandpa Porterfield visit us. They brought some more presents for all of us. We like it!
Aidan Jay @ 3 months, 4 days
Holidays posted by Lena and Jason at 10:26 AM | Comment
December 25th 2007
Christmas
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Grandma and Grandpa Fisher. We got to see our nieces and nephew and everybody got to meet Aidan. Kids were very sweet with Aidan.
Aidan got lots of new clothes and a play mat. Jason got an autographed Steelers helmet and I got a new camera lens and a photo printer among lots of other great stuff.
As always food was super yummy!
Aidan Jay @ 2 months, 28 days
Holidays posted by Lena and Jason at 10:17 AM | Comment
November 29th 2007
Two month check-up
Today we had Aidan’s two month check-up. He is 12 lbs and 7 oz which puts him in a 60%; he is 25 1/5 inches long which is a lot and puts him in greater than 97%; his head circumference is 41 cm which puts him in 75%. Claire the NP who we see said he looks older than a two month old baby, because he is so much taller than most of his age group. She also said that he holds his head up much higher than babies of his age! I guess all that torture of tummy time paid off. He actually does not mind tummy time that bad.
Aidan also got all his two month shots, so we are giving him infant Tylenol all day today (recommended by our NP), because one of the vaccinations is almost expected to cause fever. So far he has been good.
Aidan Jay @ 2 months, 2 days
Milestones posted by Lena and Jason at 10:01 AM | Comment
November 27th 2007
2 months
Well, our baby boy is two months old today! I took a billion of photos, here are 6 that I liked best (I could not choose one). Aidan has his two month check-up tomorrow, so I will update his height and weight soon.
Every day he is more and more interested in the world around him. Now he likes to stay awake when we are in a grocery store – he loves looking at all the colorful things on the shelves. He loves Costco the best, I think because their shelves go so high up that he does not need to move his head in order to see stuff.
For a couple of days Aidan has been enjoying ‘reading’ his first book “It looked like spilt milk”. He likes looking at the pictures – white shapes on a dark navy background. Yesterday he studied a box of Cheerios for about 15 min, very interesting!
He is most definitely a morning person, just like his dad! This morning when he woke up I was on the phone with my mom (who is by the way coming back on December 1st) Aidan just laid there right next to me SMILING and cooing! He is so precious!
Aidan Jay @ 2 months
Milestones posted by Lena and Jason at 11:22 AM | Comments ( 1 )
Comments:
November 28, 2007 07:51:55 PM posted by Masha
Hi !
Whats a cute baby! ah :-)
Wanna kiss him and hug and play with him, and you know, to be nanny :)
So cute, so amazing, so precious!
Thank you very much for so many pictures!
But you know, i want more!
Can i be his nanny? Lets u will send me invitation ;-) I'm ready to leave my job :)))))))
3 months
Let’s see what is going on now…
Aidan is over 14 pounds now, he is wearing 3-6 months clothes and they are a perfect fit. Seems like most of the weight is in his cheeks!
Aidan has been sleeping through the night for a while now. He is actually trying to go to sleep around 8-9 pm, but I wake him up at 11pm for last feeding. He is up every morning by 7:30-8 am. He does not like to nap during the day very much, so we have to make sure he does take regular naps. Naps range anywhere from 10 min to 2 hours and there is no rhyme or reason for that. He regularly naps only in the morning after his first feeding, but everything else changes every day.
We are very lucky to have such an easy baby (while he does get very tired and cranky by the end of the day, which often causes crying), he is very much predictable.
If there was somebody to talk and play with him all day long, he would probably never take a nap! He loves when we talk to him. If nobody is paying attention to him he will start calling out “au auuu auu” while looking at one of us.
He learned how to rock himself in his chair, he figured that if he moves his legs together the chair will rock. Now that looks like a major workout to me, lifting your legs up to your stomach while reclining, but he loves it and rocks himself all the time.
We still have him sleep in the bassinet in our bedroom, but he does not fit in it anymore, so we are talking about moving him in his own bed in his own room. We just need to get the monitor.
Aidan Jay @ 2 months
Milestones posted by Lena and Jason at 10:05 AM | Comment
