HAPPY HOWL-O-WEEN!

It's The Great Pumpkin, Aidan!

Aidan enjoyed his first pumpkin carving the night before Halloween. 

What is that stuff??

Are you sure I should put my hand in there?

This is actually kind of fun!

Here is the finished product - I kind of like to go overboard with my carvings.  This year it's a haunted house!

Day with Daddy

My mom had to spend the day in San Francisco on Saturday, so I got to hang out with Daddy!  Here are some events from that day.

We hang.  We cool.

This is what happens when Daddy watches me - mismatched socks, pants on my head, and a spoon for a toy.

I'm a model, you know what I mean?

All in all, we had a super great day!!  It's fun to hang out with daddy, cuz he lets me do what I want!  

Sup?

My mom's been really busy studying for her Architecture exam, but I wanted to say hi to all you who might be checkin' in.

Eight Months

Time just keeps ticking away, as it tends to do.  One minute we have a newborn and feel about as helpless as he is, then the next we have a little boy who is only 4 months away from being one year old.  I guess I'm feeling a little nostalgic for the "old days," but of course am excited and anticipating what's to come.

In the past month, Aidan has mastered crawling, pulling up on furniture, and "cruising" (baby-speak for walking around supported by furniture). 

He can follow me all around the house, and now seems to go looking for trouble!  He can find the littlest things on the floor that I can't even see, and they immediately go to his mouth.  I have to constantly keep an eye on him, because next thing I know he'll be putting the cord to my cell phone charger in his mouth, or trying to climb up on a stool that will easily tip over on top of him (which happened, but it's a very lightweight stool so it didn't hurt him).

In the food department, Aidan decided that he doesn't like pureed foods so much anymore, and prefers to eat small bites of food.  He gets so excited when Ben and I eat, and we often share little pieces of chicken or veggies with him in order to prevent a tantrum!  He loves to eat the little puffs (similar to Cheerios, but dissolve easily), and in the past few days has learned to pick them up with his index finger and thumb and put them in his mouth.  It still takes a few tries to get the puffs in, and it's so cute to watch him try to connect hand to mouth.

I weighed Aidan yesterday and he has tipped the scales at 20 lbs 6 oz!  He can only be in his current car seat until 22 lbs, but will still have to face the back of the car until he's a year old, so we have a dilemma of what to do once he reaches that 22 lb mark.  I guess we'll jump that hurdle when we get to it.

Some recent pics

Check out my chompers!

Everybody's got a little Captain in 'em.

Standing with the help of the couch.

Bath time in the sink.

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Crawford

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Crawford for coming to visit me last week and for bringing me books and toys to play with!  I love to read my books and play with the blocks everyday.

See you soon!

Oh, the things we can do!

It's been awhile since I've posted, because we've been on VACATION!  We spent a full week away from home, starting on Friday, Sept 12 in Cambria.  We rented a house right on the beach for a four night vacation with the Powells.  Ben, Aidan and I got there Friday evening, and the place was perfect.  A huge wall of windows faced the ocean where we got to see the beautiful sunset every night (as long as it wasn't cloudy).

Aidan enjoyed the sound of the ocean and was interested in the sand and rocks.  When we sat him down in the sand, he'd just play with it and feel it with his fingers.  He never tried to eat it, which I was surprised about.  He did, however, like to try to eat driftwood and larger rocks.  I'm guessing they had a nice salty taste!  He also loved watching the birds fly around.  All in all, it was a good trip.

During the trip, Aidan brought out the tricks and started to really crawl.  He did pretty good on the hardwood floors as long as he didn't have pants on.  Unfortunately, he had his first accident - he was trying to crawl and banged his mouth on the floor and it started to bleed.  Of course, I began to freak out and cry, thinking he broke his nose (I don't even know if that's possible for a baby), broke his brand new teeth, or other massive issue.  Turns out he only hurt his upper lip and it was a little swollen and red, but otherwise he was fine.  I told him to never do that again!

Aidan can also pull himself into a standing position from the ground, especially if there is some sort of electronic device on the ottoman or couch that he really wants.  It's fun to see him climb up and look around at the world like he's never seen it before.  He's such a little explorer and wants to feel everything!

Here is a video of Aidan crawling.  We are so, so proud of him!

Wow

Just as I published Aidan's Seven Month Update, he decided to pull himself into a standing position on the ottoman to get the computer.  Then he fell down, but did it again right away.  I guess this means he'll be driving next week, and going off to college next month?

Seven Months

Hurray!  Aidan is seven months old today.  And boy, is it starting to go by really fast.  Just in the past two weeks, Aidan has accomplished so many new things it's unbelievable.  In addition to learning to sit up on his own, scoot across the room, crawl a few feet and pull himself into a kneeling position, his first tooth has arrived.

On Tuesday morning after feeding Aidan, he was grabbing for my fingers and sticking them in his mouth when I noticed something sharp.  After probing a bit, I found that it was a tooth - his bottom right tooth.  It's pretty hard to see, but it can definitely be felt!  It's so very exciting, and Aidan is always sucking on his bottom lip to feel it.  It probably feels very strange and foreign to him.  The bottom left tooth is probably not far behind, because there is a nice sized bump there.  I'm expecting it to come through any day now.

Aidan is finally sleeping great through the night.  He's been sleeping well for awhile, but now it's very consistant.  He goes to bed around 7:30pm, wakes up to eat around 4:30am, and goes back to sleep until 7:30am.  Just this morning Ben was saying how we could set our clock to Aidan since he's always up at 4:30!  I really don't mind getting up once to feed him since it means he goes back to sleep till 7:30am.  I am feeling more human now than I have in many, many months.

We're going on a week-long trip starting tomorrow to Cambria, which is near Hearst Castle for those of you unfamiliar with the area.  It'll be Aidan's first time at the beach, and first experience with sand.  That should be fun...I imagine he will be getting a bath nearly every night.

Aidan has also started on meats, though so far he's only had chicken.  He is getting very good at eating his pureed foods, and often has such delicious combinations as peas, sweet potatoes and chicken, or apples, chicken and acorn squash.

At Aidan's 6 month checkup, he weighed 19 lbs and was 27 inches long, both of which put him in the 75% (75% heavier and longer than other babies his age).  So he continues to be a big boy!  A very mobile big boy, too.

Here are some recent pictures.