Nap time

So, I have a quick minute to update while Aiden is napping. We have been one busy group the last couple of weeks. First, I celebrated my 24th birthday on the 13th...thank you to everyone who made my birthday special!!! We also have a new addition to our house. A 75 gallon salt water fish tank. We obtained it from a co-worker of Nathan's and are SO excited to have been given such an awesome gift. There is still lots to do to get it up and running before we can get more fish, but Aiden sure loves it LOL! This upcoming week will be my last full time week, then I will officially become part time...WOOHOO!! I am still not sure if that will mean that we will be together as a family more or not, but I am so happy to be able to be home more.

Aiden is still not walking, but he sure has gotten brave in the last few weeks. He has no hesitation when he wants to get to something. If it is close enough, he will let go of whatever he is holding onto and reach for the next thing. If he is too far, he quickly drops to the floor and crawls over (mostly on hands and knees now!) Today he is 11 months old...not sure if he will be walking by a year at this point. We have started planning his first birthday which has got to be the most overwhelming thing. Not the actual planning part, but that my little baby is going to be 1 YEAR OLD!

I will post more pictures soon.

I want DADDY!

Aiden has finally done it...last night, he did not want anything to do with me, he just wanted Daddy. It was so sad!! I had a massage after work (my only gift to myself that I enjoy once a month...thanks to insurance! hehe) so Nathan was on nighttime duties. Mind you, Aiden is now 10 1/2 months and Nathan has yet to give him a bath by himself =) When I got home, Aiden was all clean, in PJ's and done with dinner. We played for a little while then it was to bed...we thought. He wanted nothing to do with bed. After about 45 minutes of crying, Nathan brought him back into the living room to calm him down (sometimes he just needs to know we are still there and will be out in seconds with us around lol). When Nathan handed Aiden to me and walked away, Aiden instantly started crying and reaching for Daddy! I was very sad that my little man has grown up to have a preference and that Mommy just wasn't cutting it =( I will get over it, plus there will be many other occations that I will get the cold shoulder from Aiden as he gets older!

Also, we are very proud of Daddy's accomplishment of taking care of Aiden from when he woke up to when he went to bed...WAY TO GO!! =D

First steps!

Aiden has officially taken his first steps!!!! They weren't very stable but they were steps! I had got home and he was excited to see me, so I went and picked him up (Nathan was folding laundry on the couch and Aiden was cruising it). Well, he was excited to see me, but more excited to cruise the couch. So, I put him down next to the other couch...not the same. He cruised to the end of that couch, let go, and took about 3-4 steps towards the other couch before falling! It was SO cute! He fell, the started crawling right to the couch with no regard to his huge accomplishment. Before we know it, he will be a toddler!!!!!! I still can't believe how fast it all happened! We are so proud of our little man!

Mr. Too Cute

As Aiden continues to show a personality, the cuter he gets! He is so proud of himself when he can get up on things and stand by himself...he is even working on mastering how to get off the couch! We can't believe how quickly this has all happened and, even though we are eager to see his new accomplishments, wonder where our little baby went. He is drinking with a sippy cup during most every meal and is doing well with new finger foods too. He is one smart kid. When there is food out of his reach, he will bang on the table to move the food towards him =)

He loves playing with ANY phone we give him...pretends to talk to Grandma or Grandpa (from California, at least that's who I tell him is on the phone lol). He has pretty much mastered sitting from a stand and pushing himself into a sitting position. Only minimal falls to report still.

So, just some cute pictures to share with everyone. Hope you enjoy!!

10 months down!

My little monster is 10 months old today! There are days that I look at him and still see my little baby, but then there are days that I look at him and see a little boy. He has such a wonderful and animated personality. He is very particular about things too...a lot like his dad =). He will occationally waive goodbye while saying "ba-ba" and even blow kisses. He is doing very good with his sippy cup but still prefers his bottle, it's much easier. He has not experience too many table foods yet, but we are in no rush to get there. He does good with the basics (cherrios, puffs, pieces of bread, rice) but is weirded out by new textures and will gag on foods. So, a little more time on that is needed.

We did experience Aiden's first "bad" fall injury. While playing with his favorite x-mas present (an activity table) he bent down to grab a toy. After picking the toy up and trying to pull back to a stand, his hand slipped and he hit his mouth on the side of his toy (which is plastic). He was very tired so he cried a lot and after I calmed him down, we noticed that his mouth was bleeding. There were no cuts or anything, which was the first thing that I assumed since he has 7 teeth, but his gums bled a bit. It was all short lived and he has no evidence of his fall. But I guess that was a good warm up for me of the many falls to come. =-)

Otherwise, we are all hanging in there with our hectic schedules and loving life!!!!!

Some good news

For those that don't know, I took a 3 WEEK maternity leave after having Aiden. A week before Aiden was born (2 weeks before my due date) our CFO left the company which was a huge deal as we are a small, family owned business and the CFO had been with the company for about 20 years. Needless to say, that put me in a poor position of first impressions. I had one week with the new CFO before going into labor. So, that was the set up of a short maternity leave. Until Aiden was about 5 months, we would only have a babysitter for half days when Nathan was working but after 5 months, I was back to a full schedule at work. Thinks have been SO busy since then. I never would have thought that with Nathan working 10 days a month (some of which fall on weekends) that we would be so stressed with me working full time. We don't have too many friends and family nearby that are available to babysit either.

Anyways, to get to the point, Nathan and I have been talking for some time about our future family goals (another baby, medic school, etc) to where we decided that I needed to reduce my hours at work. Seeing as my position should be done by two people (about a 60 hour work week if my job were to be done at 100%), I figure there would be NO way to go part time. I have been looking for some time but would be losing quite a bit by leaving. I have been at my current job for over 2 years, so I would lose vacation, pay, as well as benefits and seniority. Plus, I enjoy the people I work with and would be sad to leave.

We finally decided that asking wouldn't hurt. After a very scary conversation with my boss, it was decided that in about a month I will be a PART TIME employee!!!!!!! I have not been so excited! I know that this will be for the best for our family and give me the open door for new opportunities in the company as well as in my personal life. I guess my commitment to my job (including the non-existant maternity leave) has finally paid off. =-) I cannot wait to be home with my family more!!!

Cruising

Well, we officially have ourselves a cruiser. Aiden is now all over the house! Our once nervous little boy that would not venture beyond the area rug in the living room has been pulling himself up on the dining room chairs, criusing the couches, and even crawling down the hall to find you. So far, he has made out with minimal falls and tears. We are now working on sitting down from a standing position. This seems to be an issue at nap/bed time mostly. He can get up but not down so he will cry for help, but then cry when you leave him after laying him back down. I know it will soon pass, but this has been a very draining week for me! I still look at him and see my little baby, but he is such a big kid now! I think I am in denial...this week was the first time he got a bath in the tub without his ducky LOL!! He sits up all by himself and is always happy to be in the water =) He now stands by the tub while it is filling up and bounces with the biggest smile on his face because it is BATH TIME! Too cute!

With the way things are going, by my next update he will be walking...oh, that is a scary word!