8 Months

Aiden was 8 months on a couple weeks ago.  Still hard to believe. 8 months sounds so close to 1 year old.  Literally in a week I swear he changed from baby to little man.  His mumbles are sounding more like vowels and we are still waiting on confirmation from words.  He could hold a bottle if he wanted but is lazy and would much rather me do it for him.  Aiden still cannot sit up and I am trying not to worry but I really think he is till so weak that is is very hard for him.  We are working on it hard though. He still loves his jumper and we have inreoduced the walker but it is not a big hit yet.  You try to make it bounce too and get frustrated that you cannot make it move.  I knew he would love it because he wants to be standing always.  I really think we might skip crawling and start walking.  He is still loving food and I think green vegetable are his favorite.  He loves spinach, avocado, pears, and peas.  You ar enot such a fan of meat but I don't think I would like meat ground up and pureed either.  Below are your monthly stats.

Height: unknown-but over 30 inches
Weight: 16 lbs. 8 oz.
Clothing size: 6 month or 9 month depending opn stride length.  You are still pretty true to size
Shoe size: 2
Meals: still every 3 hours like cloclwork.  2 food meals and day with 4 oz. formula and 7-71/2 oz when just getting formula (still no teeth!)
Diaper size: 2

                                                                            Happy!

                                                                      :( Sad

You are obsessed with your rubber ducky so we have to give it to you when you are getting fussy and you instantly cheer up!

Weekend in Review

This weekend was a pretty busy one for us.  Spring always seems much busier than Fall to me.  Saturday was spent at the ballpark for a baseball tournament and Sunday we decided to make a day traveling to Shreveport.  We went and ate at Posada's and then braced the rain to go to a few stores at The Boardwalk.  We then met some friends at Buffalo Wild Wings and went to the Centurytel for Zac Brown Band concert.  I have been wanting to see him for a long time and was thrilled when I found out he was coming so close to home.  I just hate it for him that it wasn't sold out.  I think having a concert on a Sunday night was probably not such a hot idea.  I just want to take a minute and tell you how good I thought they were.  First of all, he may be the only artist I've ever seen that I actually think sounds better live than on the radio.  The harmonies from his band are disgustingly good and they can all play their instruments like you would not believe.  You can truly tell all they want to do is get up and jam.  No messing around.  He played for over two hours. By 10:45 I was ready to go but refused to leave until I heard "Colder Weather" which of course he saved for the encore.  Monday morning was rough but totally worth it.  I didn't take many pics but here are a few snapshots.

 they did a number when they were suspended in the air.  It must be hard to do that and play guitar!

My dad sent me this pic.  I guess he wore himself out playing on the floor! We are so lucky to have both sets of parents available to keep our little man hen we need them!

Academy Awards

I found the Oscar's a tad bit boring Sunday but I did watch more red carpet than the actual show.  I was happy for the women winners but couldn't believe The Artist swept the event.  I haven't actually seen the movie so I can't judge but who would have thought to make a picture like the olden days would be such a smash hit.  I am still waiting for George and Brad to win one of these days.  I wanted Viola Davis to win for The Help so bad but was also glad Meryl gor her 3rd win in 17 attempts.  That is some kind of impressive.  Now, let's talk fashion. 

Overall, I thought everyone played it pretty safe.  There weren't many dresses I just hated and not a ton I just loved.  There were only a small handful that I thought knocked it out of the part.  Here are my best dress nominees:

Meryl Streep in Lanvin.  Loved the color on her(which matched her award perfectly) and the belt to accentuate her waist. 

Angela Jolie in Versace.  I know she wears black all the time but this dress looked amazing on her and I loved the slit up the side to add a dramatic flair.

 So did Jennifer Lopez have a fashion no-no with the top of the dress?  I didn't see it but apparently it was one of the most tweeted about topics of Sunday night.  I thought she looked stunning in Zuhair Murad.

 AND THE BEST DRESSED IS............Gweneth Paltrow can do no wrong.  She is consistently on my best dressed list and last night she did not dissapoint.  This dress by Tom Ford was so incredibly classy and I thought the cape just took it to the next level.  The dress was extremely plain but fit like a glove and I love the huge diamond bracelet and large rings to add some glamour.  Perfection.

Stacey and George were by far the couple of the night.  He looked sharp as always and she looked radiant in a metallic gold/brown dress.  Her skin tone really allowed her to pull the Marchesa dress off flawlessly and her height didn't hurt the flow of the gown either.  Loved the hair as well. 

7 MONTHS!

Aiden turned 7 months on Saturday. I just can't believe it.  It seemed like the first 3 months were relatively on track.  But the last 4 months have flown by.  He is just getting so much fun.  He is so alert and I have officially become that parent that whips out the pictures whenever I see you (I am really trying to work on that!).  I can't wait to see what the next few months have in store.  Here are our milestones:

Weight: 15lbs. 13 oz.
Height: Unknown (tall!)
Diapers: size 2
Food: loves everything.  He 's eating solids twice a day and formula every 3 hours still when he hasn't been feed food. Consumes around 7oz a feeding. 
Clothing: sizes 6-9 month.  Right on schedule.

Aiden still cannot sit up unassisted but we are working on it.  Since I've noticed he's about a month behind, I am hoping by month 8 we will have mastered it.  I am almost positive he can say "hey".  Whenever we see him, he keep repeating it over and over. He loves to roll and is so close to crawling.  He can also move to an object if he really wants it. 

Head update:  We went to the specialist Wednesday and great news! No surgery.  The sutures in his head are not fused like originally thought.  The doc did recommend helmet therapy and we went to get scanned immediately after out appointment.  Unfortunately for insurance to approve this we have to work an extra month with Aiden to try and strengthen his neck and torso muscles even more.  We may also even have to go to physical therapy because the muscles on his right side of his neck aren't as strong and that is what is causing so much preference to the left side of his head which is where the flat side is.  We have a follow up in a month for another scan of the head and a fitting for the helmet is they deem appropriate.  A helmet is alot better that stitches.

Randomness

I have been finding it so hard to blog these days.  I never want to hear one person who doesn't have children say they have no time.  I used to be one of those people but the truth was I had tons of time-especially to do whatever it was I wanted to do.  If I had no time it was because I just didn't want to do something.  But that being said, I guess it is better to be too busy than not busy enough-especially in the working world.

We did nothing to celebrate Valentines last night but I will give credit to my hubby for booking us a night away this Saturday.  Can't wait.  SLEEP!!!!!!! Everywhere I went Monday and Tuesday was craziness.  I ran into Walgreen's to get something and there wasn't a parking space to be found.  I won't even talk about the Hallmark store.  Even Brookshire's was crazy with people buying flowers and food to cook.  I just kinda think Valentines is a bit overrated.  Anyone else feel this way?

I am really ready for Spring.  I am starting to see clothes I feel I must have but am still holding out cause I know we will have several more cold spells.  More than anything, I can't wait to break out the sandals.

I have been doing a bootcamp 3 days a week at 5am.  Wow it is really early.  Although, the best part is when I come home and have about 30 minutes to myself with no noise.  You can get alot accomplished in that time frame with no distractions.  All I have to say is I better see some amazing results come Spring/Summer.

We went to Phoenix last week for a meeting and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.  I am dying to go back on a real vacay.  Spa anyone?

If you haven't been watching The Voice then shame on you.  The talent is so sick this year and I am loving all the judges even more this year.  How is Christina racking up all of the talent on her team so fast?

Rihanna definitely wins the best dressed award for me at The Grammy's Sunday night.  She looked insane in her dress that she helped design I might add.

R.I.P Whitney.

Half a Year

Half a year sounds so much longer than 6 months to me but that is exactly what Aiden is.  I just can hardly believe it.  Leave it to my hubby to put things in perspective. Quote: Aiden was in your stomach longer than he is old.  So really he is still a young little man.  Since I didn't blog about 5 months let me just catch up quickly. 

5 Months

-you have rolled over 1 time: literally
-started you on baby food twice a day.  you love it! why was i concerned you wouldn't? you were a big baby when you were born so obviously you liked food.
-diapers: i moved you to size 2.
-weight: unknown but at the end of December (approx. 5 1/2 months you weight 14 lbs. 2 oz.)

-height: unknown

-you still eat every 3 hours. 5-6 oz. except when you eat food about 3-4 oz.
-clothing size: 3-6 months but 6 months are fitting great in stride

                           Couldn't get a smile outta this fellow.  Maybe because his outfit was so big it looks like he's wearing bellbottoms!

6 Months

-you finally decided a few days before your 6 months checkup you would rolled over.  I knew you could if you wanted but I think you are lazy.  You get very frustrated when you can't roll from stomach to back and just give up and start crying. There are several times in the night when you wake us up because you have rolled onto your stomach and can't get back over.  You also can find your passy very well at night in your crib and have been self-soothing yourself. you are also trying to sit yourself up when laying in the nap nanny and we are working on you sitting up.

-you wake up every morning in the best mood and are a really happy baby.  we love making you laugh and my heart just melts when i come home from work and you smile at me.
-weight: 14 lbs. 8 oz.  You are still settling in right around the 8th percentile but the doctor is not as concerned anymore because you are gaining steadily
-height: 28 1/4 inches long. you are almost at the 100th percentile.  you are so long.  when i put you in pants they looked cropped because you are so long.
-you have loved every food we have given you which makes me very happy.  i have also been making most of your food and you really seem to like fresh fruits and veggies.  i hope it continues. 
-you have started trying to talk so bad and have learned to make even more new sounds. 
-we have a teething boy on our hands.  your drool is out of control and you chew on anything you can get your hands on.
-you still hate to take naps.  you fight it so hard. scream, kick, and cry til you finally just pass out.  we then have to sneak you to your crib and hope you don't wake up.  nights are a different story.  you usually go down between 8:30-9pm and wake up between 7-7:30pm. 
-you still eat every 3 hours but the doc says that's why you can sleep so long at night.  I'll take it!
-bottle size: 6 oz every 3 hours except when you have solids then about 4 oz.
-clothing size: 6-9month

-diaper size: size 2

-you love your jumperoo and also to look at yourself in the mirror. if there is a tv on, forget about it.  You are suckered in just like your daddy. 

-we took you to church for the first time and you loved the nursery.  you were so busy checking everything out you couldn't even take a bottle. 

-Dr. king and slusher are both pleased with your progress and say we should continue to feed you whatever you want to put the weight on you. 

-heart update: still taking all 3 of your meds.  in 6 weeks we will look at the VSD (hole) in your heart and see if it has closed any.  From there we can come up with a game plan: do we do surgery of try and let the hole continue to close if it has begun to?  We are cautiously hopeful.

-in other news, at the 4 month checkup I expressed concern over the flat side of your head.  Dr. Slusher said let's give it til  6 months and hopefully with him not on his back so much, it will round out.  If not, we could get a helmet.  At his apt. last week, she thought his head actually looked worse.  She thought we should get x-rays done of his head.  What we found was very surprising.  The sutures in his skull in the back of his head were fused nicely like they were supposed to be and should allow the helmet to shape his head nicely.  However, the sutures in the front of his head had not fused correctly.  Usually, when this happens, a ridge forms on the head but to look at him he looks normal so you wouldn't even know.  We have an apt. in Feb to go see a craniofacial surgeon in Shreveport to review the x-rays and also fit Aiden for the helmet.  I asked Dr. King about this and he could see it immediately because of the way his ears didn't line up correctly.  He suspects that he has craniosynostosis which may require a surgery. hopefully, it is just a result of his flat head in the back. more to come...

                                                       Christmas Eve Church Service

                                                   So glad I captured a smile!

                                                                  Sporting the hood!

                                                        Ready to eat in our high chair

4 Months!

I can hardly believe that my little man is four months old.  How far we have come and we still have so far to go at the same time.  Last week was a big week for us.  On Monday, we got our first of five Synergist shots to prevent RSV.  He will get one a month through the season which ends in March.  This shot is really thick but he did great.  Friday we had our 4 month checkup with Dr. Slusher.  He weighed in at 12.2 lbs. and 25 1/2 inches in height.  We dropped from the 25th percentile to the 10th in weight and increased from 95th percentile to 97th in height.  It has been a rough 2 months on his weight.

First, we decided he had a slight milk allergy and switched to soy formula.  Then I decided he may be allergic to soy and switched to Alimentum, which of course is basically the most expensive formula there is.  On top of that, he won't drink the powder.  He wants the ready made formula which is really expensive.  The doc and me still can't decide if he was allergic to soy or just has really bad reflux which makes him refuse formula.  For now, he seems to love the formula and is eating really well so I will pay whatever amount of money to have him eat and put on weight.  Since Aiden's needs to put on some serious weight, the doctor wants us waiting to try and solid foods for another 2 months.  She did want us to add 1 tablespoon of rice per ounce of formula and make it like a slushy. This would make his bottle 35 calories per ounce vs. 20 calories and ounce. Needless to say he hated that and could only eat a couple ounces which doesn't do us any good. So we have put that on the back burner for now until we can come up with an alternative.

Aiden absolutely hates tummy time and is still not rolling over.  He is not the least bit interested.  His neck strength is a tad weaker than what she would expect so we are trying to spend more time on our stomachs.  He just gets so mad though that all he does is lay there and cry.  No lifting of the head at all.  Any tips please pass them on!  Other than that, he is progressing quite well I guess.  He absolutely loves books, music, and Baby Einstein.  He is not that interested in toys and is ready to move onto the next thing fairly quick.  I heard him laugh for the first time last week.  So adorable. 

Milestones:
-Weight: 12 lbs. 2 ounces
-Height: 25 1/2 inches
-Clothing size: He can still wear some newborn if it is a shirt or gown and a couple of 0-3 months as long as not too short in the stride.  They fit him great across your body.  However, he can also wear 3-6 month clothes if they are a onesie. Pants are too big for him.
-Feeding schedule: 5-6 ounces Similac Alimentum every 3 hours.  I do not believe we will ever break him of this.  He's always starving.  He also get a rice bottle every other feeding.
-Medicines: Lasix-0.5ml b.i.d.; Digoxin-1.0ml b.i.d.; Captopril 0.75ml b.i.d.
-Sleeping Schedule: 8:30-9pm til 6-7am.  Occasionally he will wake up early but in general is a great sleeper.  Naps are fairly irregular.