Smile parties

This week, Aidan is growing bigger than ever and is smiling tons and tons! It is very exciting!

On Saturday, we had a visit from a nurse that was part of California's "First Five" program for healthy families, and Aidan checked out a healthy 11 pounds 10 ounces! So, he is now about a third bigger than he was when we brought him home from the hospital! (So amazing!!!) He continues to amaze us as we enjoy him. He has a lot of fun doing baby exercises - especially practicing standing up while Mommy holds onto him: check out this picture! he can stay standing like that for over a minute!

He also has been really getting into smiling! We now play smiling games, where Mommy smiles at Aidan, he smiles back, and it keeps going (a great tit-for-tat game :P ) This morning, he played that game with a two-headed Mommy&Daddy monster (we were all hanging out in bed together), and he seemed to love it. Here's a picture of Aidan and Daddy smiling at each 0ther - so cute!

Aidan continues to *adore* the blinds next to his changing table (he likes rotating fans and other clear dark/light things, too, but the blinds are his favorite). Here's a picture of him gazing at them - such a silly kid! :) Mommy and Daddy are going to have to buy blinds when we move to NYC so that we can keep this guaranteed calming method with us!

Bottle

This week we have been working on introducing the bottle, and things are going really well! At this point, Aidan has mastered breast-feeding: he has an excellent latch, which means that he has been getting the food that he needs and he can do that in a way that does not make Mommy uncomfortable; Mommy has figured out his baby signs telling her that Aidan is hungry; and they both have been enjoying working on developing Aidan's double chin and baby rolls!

Now that this is going well, Aidan and Daddy have started to develop the new skill-set of bottle feeding. The first couple of times, Mommy left the house while Daddy introduced Aidan to the new, weird bottle nipple, since we've heard that babies can smell their mommies 50 feet away, and (quite understandably) don't want to try a bottle if they know their mommies are right there! Aidan just mouthed the bottle nipple the first time, but the second time caught on after a little while and sucked down a mouthful of expressed breast-milk from the bottle! By the third time, Mommy had managed to express a bit more for him, and he swallowed it all down quickly as well!

We all have to keep up with this, as it is a skill that (like most skills) requires use to maintain, and we don't want Aidan to forget how to bottle feed! But we think it is a good expertise to keep up, since it will give Mommy a chance to have some time to herself to work on completing her dissertation, and will give Mommy and Daddy a chance to get out of the house together (skiiing, anyone?) when Grandma and Grandpa (or others) are around to babysit. Here's a photo of Daddy and Aidan exploring the world of bottle-feeding!

Extended Family

Last week we all had a lot of fun, visiting family and having fun excursions. First Grandma Ross and Uncle Jon-Michael Ross visited, and we all went out to a do-it-yourself pottery place to make ceramic hand and foot -prints for Aidan (they were so cute!).

Then, over the weekend, we saw all of the Ruane aunts, uncles and cousins, and had Aidan's first beach day! As of this weekend, Aidan has officially met ALL of his immediate-extended family (Grandpas, Grandmas, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins)!

We have been so lucky to have our family visiting so often - we have had visitors almost all summer, and it was been wonderful. It has been so much fun to share our little bundle of joy with you! Here is a picture of our first beach day at La Jolla Shores beach, and a shot of the Ruane cousins - Aidan, Elsey, Rae, and Miya (what cutie pies!). We have loved seeing you all, and are so glad we have had that opportunity before we head off to NYC (we will be leaving San Diego for New York the last week of August).

Smile

This weekend Aidan had the beginnings of his first responsive smiles! On Friday, he was playing the "Gimme Five - Hooray!" game with Mommy on his lion mat, when he smiled a big huge smile after he batted Mommy a "high five" with his tiny hand a couple of times. He seemed very proud of himself! And then over the weekend once while he was nursing, he pushed Mommy away to stare at her for a few minutes, and then gave her two gigantic smiles in a row! Mommy smiled back after the first one, and then melted at the second, which seemed to confirm that the smile was directed to her (rather than being the results of gas). (Aidan has an absolutely gorgeous smile. :) )

Mommy and Daddy finally were brave enough to clip Aidan's finger nails this weekend. We all survived well, and now Aidan's face is protected from tiny (but previously very sharp) nails! This is great, because it means that Aidan no longer has to choose between wearing mittens all the time or having a scratched up face. Hooray!

Aidan is also getting better and better at lifting up his head while doing tummy time. Here's a picture of him on his lion mat while lifting up his heavy head - what a strong baby boy!

New family

Being a new family is amazing - intense and wonderful, both! We have a few more weeks left in sunny San Diego before we head across the country to New York City. Wish us luck!

Mommy

Mommy is so proud of how well we are all figuring each other out. Aidan is doing so well at nursing that he is starting to develop a double chin! :) Mommy naps with Aidan whenever possible, and when he is awake, we dance around the house, read baby books, look at cool grandma toys, play hand games, and do tummy time (Aidan can already raise his head up off the floor and scoot, if you give him something to push off of!). Our days are amazingly full!

Daddy

Daddy has figured out all sorts of amazing things to make our family happy. He discovered that Aidan likes being walked around while we do mini-squats, and likes going down-stairs better than upstairs (we do have to go up eventually, though!). He also found out that Aidan can be entertained for ages when Daddy asks him to "Gimme five" and says "yeah!!!!!!!!" when Aidan bats his big hand with his tiny little one. Even just Daddy talking makes Aidan calm down, which makes Mommy and Aidan both very happy!

Welcome, visiting family!

We loved having all of our family come help us as we started to figure each other out, and celebrate our new family together. It is wonderful to have an excuse to see you all more often!

Birthday visitors

Grandma Ross flew in from Hawaii as soon as she heard the news and met her first grandchild on on his birthday! (Daddy convinced the nurses to be flexible on visiting hours so she could say hi when she got in at about 10PM - hooray!) Aunt Frances was there to help Mommy through labor and celebrate afterward, and Julia brought Mommy sushi on dry ice from Los Angeles - What angels, all of them!!!

Due Date

Finally, Aidan's due date arrived, and he showed up exactly on time! Mommy walked around Seaworld on Friday afternoon, drove to the hospital with Daddy and Frances on Friday night with contractions, and Aidan was born at 11:27AM on Saturday (7/7/07 - lucky boy!). He was 8 pounds 9.9 ounces., and 20.5 inches long. We fell in love with him immediately. :)

Baby Shower

We had a lot of fun getting ready for Aidan's arrival, especially at our baby shower on Memorial Day (5/28/07).

Our first peek

Here is our first ultrasound (11/30/06). Wow how he's grown!!!