Day 263: Dada, Mama, Nana, Hi-Da

Hello everyone and welcome back to tales of our little man! Well as the title would suggest his vocabulary has become a little more comprehensive. Pretty much all day long we hear, "dadadadada" and the occasional, "mamama" but the most distinguisable is "nana" which of course is his version of "NO" and now "Hi-Da" which he says when he is waving at himself in the mirror. LOL! He's such a ham! Any opportunity he has to wave at someone or something he loves. I tell ya this kid is a terrible flirt. Perhaps the funniest part of it all is that he hasn't quite figured out that inanimate objects don't wave back and he becomes very frustrated when he's continually waving and try as he might he just can't seem to get that exercise machine or vaccuum cleaner to wave back, huh go figure.

So what could be more fun then learning lots of new noises and words? Well that's easy - learning how fun it is to make your voice echo in the fun hallways in Las Vegas! That's right the Wolf family traveled to Vegas in celebration of Christina's 21st and the fact that we all haven't been together in a quite some time. Aiden loved it! The food, the lights, spending time with his family and finally meeting his Uncle Nick and Aunt Crystal. Although I don't think he enjoyed anything more than playing with Dylan - they did so well together and watching Aiden's face light up everytime he saw his cousin was priceless.

As if traveling and talking weren't enough the boy is totally mobile and working on giving his mommy a heart attack every day. He's still just doing the army crawl, every now and again he'll venture to an actual crawl, but then gives up because his way is simply faster. He's also venturing into the world of pulling up. He tries it on everything and I mean everything. For us it's a whole new world of baby proofing. Just when I thought things were starting to look safe and alright, there he is showing me more and more things to put away, push back or simply hold down while he tries to test it.

Today was also a first for him when he hiked his butt up in the air and managed to put himself in the sitting position. He truly is so smart and strong, it's a blast watching him! On a sadder note our little dude has gone through a couple of hard times, too. A few weeks ago he suffered through the stomach flu and I have never felt so helpless in my life. Watching him go through that and being able to do very little for him was awful. But he amazed me to no end. Just by seeing him you would have never guessed he was so miserable - the kid is all smiles. Then when we tried to venture out the other day my little man had a total melt down, very unlike him, and spent the rest of the afternoon fussing. So Dave and I took him to the doctor and he has an ear infection in both ears!

So if by some chance it doesn't seem that his appetite for life is strong enough then his appetite for food more than makes up for it. This kid can really pack it away! I don't know where it goes! I mean if he see's it, he wants it and if it is not in his mouth within seconds oh the noises he makes to let you know he's dissatisfied are hilarious! His face turns red, he grunts and groans, but perhaps the funniest part is when he starts hitting his tray and his mouth is wide open. Oh and if that's not enough, now he helps you - but pushing the food furthur in his mouth, getting it on his hands and smearing it everywhere - ahhh he's a hoot!

Well hopefully these pictures are enough to curb everyone's appetite for a while, sorry the blog was so random this go around - it's been a crazy few weeks. Hope everyone is doing well, we love and miss you all. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts! =0) Oh and Happy Easter!

Day 227: The kid with the never ending tummy

Wow I don't even know where to start this blog off! First let me apologize, I know it has been much to long since I've posted one of these, but believe me it has been really hectic around here! With that in mind I think I will do an overload of pictures so you can see what Aiden has been up to!








First of all the kid can eat! We were really worried when we had his 6 month checkup and he had lost a full pound and wasn't even on the growth charts. The solution? A few weeks in Albuquerque with family and friends to feed him the things that a mom would usually freak out about. Biscuits and gravey, alfredo sauce - heck anything he see's he wants and tries. And once we returned back to Seattle our trip showed to be successful - he had gained a pound and a half and is finally back on the charts!

In addition to the plethera of solid foods he is getting he has also slowly started to give up the boob and much prefers formula to it. While it was hard at first for me to accept it, starting to slowly get myself back has actually been kind of a blessing in disquise. I feel a lot more freedom in being able to entrust him with others, knowing that if I'm not there to feed him they still can. Then of course there are times I just sit there in pure amazement watching how independant he has become. He holds his bottle by himself, reaches for his spoon and nobody, I mean NOBODY, is fast enough at feeding him - the mmm noises he makes are hilarious!


Socially the kid is a ham! He loves all the attention he can get. I've never seen one baby with so many expressions on his face when he smiles and he does smile ALL the time - it's awesome! Over the past couple of weeks he's really started to get into laughing as well. Throw him up in the air, take him on the swings in the park, pretend like you're going to drop him - he is quite the little thrill seeker! And once that camera is out to snap a picture, there he is putting on his best smile for mommy!

In addition to every thing else Aiden is sooo close to crawling. He's go the scooching down to a tee and with that alone is completely mobile, he also can roll with the best of them and this week he's mastered the sitting up by himself. He even caught himself yesterday as he started to flop to the side and pushed himself back to normal. His noises are also become more wide ranged. For example his newest noise sounds remarkably like the gurgling noise some make when rinsing their mouths out. He also for the first time ever started sleeping through the night last week - we're just hoping this is not a phase (keep your fingers crossed for us!). It feels like I now have a competely different child then I did the last time I wrote a blog and I have to say that though part of me is sad that he really doesn't need me as much, this is way more fun!


So I hope this satisfies everyone's hunger for Adien facts and pictures for at least a little while, I promise to be a bit more diligent (granted I'm not chasing someone around the house)! We love and miss you all and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! =0)

Day 178: Moving along

Welcome back everyone! Hope the Holidays found everyone well. Things here were completely chaotic! We started off the huge windstorm where we lost power for an entire week, there was an entire tree blocking our street - it was a mess. Let me just say I had no idea how much I depend on the simple things that get me through the day and it drove me batty! So by the end of one week we were done living in our downstairs and left for Portland early to be with Robert, Jade, Dylan and our good ol' friend Electricity. After we returned home it was another week or so before we had our phone and internet back, or belive you me I would have had another blog up sooner! Anyways, Christmas was a lot of fun, with good food and company, which is always nice.

While in Portland we also started something that I kept telling myself I wasn't ready for... solids. And while I could have kept putting it off, his continuous yelling while we were eating, showed me that he was serious, and I had to be ready. So I'm making all of his food and we started wtih bananas and from there we've tried avocado's, pears, apples, potatoes and sweet potatoes, which are by far his favorite. It's hilarious to watch him eat and he becomes really demanding if you are not fast enough for him!

We're still continuing on with our mommy and me classes at the hospital, which are always helpful in getting us good information on the different stages on his development. Our play group also continues to be a lot of fun to go to. It is really nice having a group of mothers to relate to and to have kids that Aiden will get to grow up with. This holiday season we had our first play group Christmas party and hope to continue the tradition every year. =0)

We're also planning on starting "water baby" classes come spring, when the weather isn't so cold outside and perhaps some kind of baby Gymboree class pretty soon. Though truth be told this kid exercises himself plenty during the day!

Over the past couple weeks he's been working hard on pushing himself up on his knee's. And it seems like everytime I lay him down on one position he manages to completely turn himself around and move 3 feet away. Then it happend today - as Dave was trying to change his clothes, he put him in the crib and up he popped and actually moved himself - holy cow! Aiden is no longer immobile and we have got sooo much baby proofing to do, before we know it he'll be crawling everywhere! He also has become so much more vocal. He screams in delight over things, loves to laugh at the dog and loves to grab your face and tell you "ooooooo!"

(Just so you know this outfit is courstesy of Aunt Natalie and it says "Pimp my stroller!" lol)

Things with David are going well right now, work is really starting to pick up as he heads into another project milestone. Him and Aiden have a lot of fun together and Aiden gets a huge kick out of pulling on his facial hair. I can also really see how much he looks forward to David every day. By 7pm he's pretty much ready for a change of parent scenery and his somewhat fussy mood changes completely the second David is home.

Things with me are also going well. My MRI results came back and showed nothing abnormal, we're still waiting on blood test results which hopefully will also show nothing out of the ordinary. I guess hormonally speaking I'm just a post partum mess, but I'm slowly and surely becoming more like my old self.

Well sorry again that this took so long, we hope it finds you all well. Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers, as you are in ours! Love and miss you all! =0)

Day 138: What I would trade for sleep

Well by reading the title you probably can imagine what the last few weeks have been like. However, instead of dwelling on my lack of sleep I've come up with a better solution - the What I'd Give Up game. Here's the top contendor's for what I'd give up if I could get a solid 8 hours of sleep:
1. Shopping for a month
2. My spoon full of peanut butter with some chocolate chips for 6 months
3. Flowers for a whole year
Yeup - if you know me.... that's a big deal! =0)


Other than the sleep issues things have been going well. As you can tell from some of these photo's Aiden finds the Holiday season kind of exhausting, running from store to store, airport trips and house preperations - it's enough to tucker a little guy out! He had his 4 month visit a few weeks back and braved through his shots. His funny little rash still hasn't gone away and I'm contemplating another doctor's visit - we'll see. I talked to the doctor about his night time state and his explanation was that he was hungry and to start him on baby cereals - bad idea - lets just say I miss the days of being alloted sleep in 2 hour incraments. Needless to say no more cereal for a while - his tummy just isn't ready and quite frankly neither am I.
Developementally Aiden has changed leaps and bounds these last few weeks. He is really starting to reach for things, play with his toys and get really excited about things. This weekend we discovered that the only thing funnier than watching mom and dad brush their teeth is when mom looks at him and says "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,yes,yes,yes," when he is so passionately persisting otherwise. I swear his first word will be "No"- it already sounds like he's working on it! However, not all developments are what we consider exciting. For example, to my surprise the other day, when frustrated with me, Aiden let ou that scream - you know which one I'm talking about - David and I call it the annoying child in a restaurant scream (because that's where it's usually heard). Oh joy, oh bliss.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year. Christina came up to visit us for the holiday and we all had a blast cooking and playing with Aiden. For David and I it was particularly special, as last years Thanksgiving brought the news that Aiden was on his way! During Thanksgiving weekend we also went and got our Christmas Tree (he loves staring at the lights and decorations!) and Aiden got to sit on Santa's lap! And if any of you out there were watching the news last week, you would have seen that we got quite a bit of snow. So much so that David actually had to work from home for 3 days because the roads got so bad! However, it was very exciting for us to be able to take Aiden out in his very first snow!
David is also doing well. Work is, of course, keeping him super busy, but even so he still manages to be a huge help. Aiden responds to him more and more each day. Today when he walked in the door everything I was doing to entertain him came to a halt as he was mesmerized by him. The other night we had his Microsoft Christmas party the other night and felt very fortunate because Natalie babysat him. It was so nice to have some adult time and know that he was in such trusting hands.
And things with my health are still being worked on - I go again next week to the neurologist to see where we go from here.

So other than all that we are all just getting really excited for the holidays, though we can't help but be a little sad that we won't be there with you all. So please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers, we love and miss you all! =0)

Day 117: Oooo grruup oowaaazooo

Hello everyone! Hope the beginings of the holiday season is finding everyone well. Here things are as hectic as ever! As you may have guessed by the title of the blog our little man is really talking now! It's so nice hearing him wake up talking to the bugs on his mobile rather than his cries everytime. It's actually become quite the game with mommy - start really gabbering it up once she gets on the phone, but when she puts the phone to his mouth so he can talk to the person on the other line - quiet as a mouse. I even managed to squeeze out a great laugh the other night - who knew that eating your own feet could be so humours? Wow I have a lot to learn from this kiddo!

Halloween turned out to be espeically fun! He of course, had to be a dinosaur and I must say he played the part well (doesn't it look like he's going to eat that cute little chicky?!)! And it was really exciting this year to buy 4 pumpkins instead of 3 (one for each member of our little family). Our play group seems to be going really well, last week we had a doctor come in and talk to us about signing to our babies. I found it completely fascinating and ended up buying his bookset and now David and I are really making a conscious effort to sign to him the activities we are doing with him. Dr. Garcia said by the time a child is two they can know up to 200 words in sign language - making the "terrible two's" a little less terrible because there is more communication. So we'll see how it goes and where it takes us!

The other day David, Aiden and I went to Costco and as we were leaving the guy who checks your receipt inquired about his age. When I told him 3 and 1/2 months he said, "Awww he's not a newborn anymore, he's a baby..." Thanks Costco man for depressing me. His little comment started a whole whirlwind of thinking for me. It's crazy to think that this time last year we didn't even know we were pregnant yet and were just about to find out. So much time has passed already and it makes me want to hold on to him just how he is even more.

It really does feel like he is growing by leaps and bounds every day. Lately when I change him he is grabbing my arm and making sure I notice him. The noises he makes are nothing short of hilarious and he really wants to be talked back too. The second he hears David's voice he is searching for him and wants to be with him. It even alloted me a much needed girls night out the other night! I tell you pedicures + wine = a ton of fun! However, we have also had our bout of scarey mommy moments. Last week he developed a funny rash so I took him in for what I call a "paranoid mommy visit." The doctor told me that sometimes with colds kids will get a funny rash - I swear they need to write a book about these things! Then the other night, while checking on laundry the door from our kitchen to our garage actually suctioned itself shut behind me. Try as I might to open it, nothing worked. So here I am, practically barefoot, locked out of my house, husband not do home for some time, with my darling baby asleep in his crib and it's wet and cold outside. I freaked out! I ran over to the neighbor, who of course wasn't home, then to our other neighbor (the one who hates us) and freaked him out because I was in such a panic! I don't know how he understood a word I said between all of my tears. I called David, who started home immediately (in rush hour), he called Natalie (who has a key to our house) to no avail - it was a mess! However, lucky for me our mean neighbor came over with crow bars and pried open the door for me (David later discovered that the hinges had warped) and now he is the mean neighbor no more!

So now we are just anxiously awaiting Thanksgiving when Auntie Christina gets to come and visit with us and he can wear this cute little outfit some more! He has his four month appointment next week, so I'll be sure to write another blog shortly here after. Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers. Hope you enjoyed the pluthera of pictures this time, take care and enjoy your holidays!

Day 97: Finding his voice

Hello everyone and welcome back! Sorry this post has taken so long, this last month has been very hectic! As most of you know we took our trip back to Albuquerque where Aiden got to meet a lot more of his family members and some of his self proclaimed "Aunt and Uncles." What a lucky boy he is to have so many people who want to be part of his life! So this blog will include a bunch of pictures from his trip for you all to enjoy! For those of you who we got to meet up with, it was sooo nice to see you! And for those we didn't - we apologize, things tend to get really hectic when we get home and next time we come back let's get together! =0)

On our trip we were pleasantly surprised at how well Aiden did on the plane. Our great little man slept during take off, ate, played, slept and ate again during the landing - oh and managed to make the first few rows and the flight attendant fall in love with him - he's pretty good at that! Besides meeting people constantly he also got a trip to the zoo with his cousin Dylan, had a great Baptism (and party) and almost got to see balloons (if only it weren't rained out!). His Baptism was particularly special as we got to have Father Ark perform the ceremony - he was the one who married us. David and I also took the opportunity of having some alone time. We spent the night at Sandia casino and though I cried and cried as I left, I really did have a good time and managed to only call my mom once as she watched him. We also managed to sneak in a movie while we were in town, the alone time was nice to have - thanks mom for the babysittiing!

Then on the way home we were lucky enough to have Matt and Talia come home with us to spend some quality time with us and their God-son. It was so nice having them around as we discovered Aiden may have broken a tooth! Crazy - I know, but what was even weirder is it looks to be a canine tooth, not one of the middle ones that typically comes first. So needless to say my little man has been a lot more fussy and now after this vacation his sleep pattern is way off - alloting me 2 hour periods of rest - oh how I miss his 5 and 1/2 hour stretch of sleep!

Developmentally Aiden seems like such a different little kid every day. On our trip he had quite a few firsts, like his first real tear (totally heartbreaking) and his first laugh - directed at his daddy! Now he's trying really hard to sit himself up, but then once there he really wants to stand. This week has especially been fun as he has really found his voice. I really noticed it the other day when while doing tummy time he rolled himself over and then began to talk to the fan for the next 20 minutes - oh how exciting it is to be little! Then this morning he had bundles to share with daddy and even cried when David had to walk away for a second. And while nothing is as fun as listening to him talk, there is nothing as rewarding and heartwarming as seeing him smile.

Other than that we are doing well, trying to get back into the swing of things. As always we are thinking of you guys and miss you. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! =0)

Day 62: Look at that smile!

Ok so really be honest - is this not the greatest smile in the whole wide world??? =0) Yes it's true, I have turned into one of those moms!

These last couple of weeks have been incredible. Aiden has started to really smile at us, his range of cooing noises are hilarious and he really seeks out our attention now. Today he went to the doctor for his 2 month appointment (crazy, huh!?) and weighed in at 12 lbs, 9 oz., 22 and 1/2 inches long and you can tell. His double chin and fun little jelly rolls are too cute - not to mention so many of his clothes have become to tight! Unfortunately at the two month appointment is also a big series of shots, so his poor little legs are quite sore today - but he's really being a trooper!

For me my health is still somewhat up in the air. My blood pressure seems to be going down and getting there (thank you for the prayers), so hopefully it continue's down this path! However, my headaches are still giving me some troubles. I'm trying to get into a headache specialist, but doubt I will be able to be seen before our vacation coming up. Really I just want the reassurance that it's nothing serious and just hormonal and a way to relieve the pain would be nice! So thank you everyone for your prayers, please keep them up! =0)

David is doing well as well. He's really gotten back into the swing of things at work, only now to have a vacation! For those who don't know we are going back to Albuquerque for a few weeks to get Aiden Baptized and to enjoy our family, friends, the balloon fiesta and food (oooooooh yea green chile...!). So that means we get to enjoy the first time juggling of a baby on a flight - wish us luck (and a prayer for the flight - I'm a very nervous flyer)!

Well sorry this was so short and sweet, but thank you for following along! Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we look forward to seeing many of you soon!