eleven MONTHS
I'll be doing monthly updates like this for Aiden's first year. Aiden is currently 51 weeks old! Things have been understandably a little busy the last while, so forgive me that I'm not on any kind of blogging schedule for now. (:
Here's how our eleventh month has been!
MOMMY
Body:My baby hairs are starting to resemble somewhat-intentional bangs. It'll be a while before I think they look good because I only like bangs that are at least chin length. And right now they look pretty similar to that time I cut my bangs just a few days before picture day, First Grade, 1997. The ones around the nape of my neck are almost starting to think about being long enough to go up in a bun. And then there's those pesky locks of hair all over the rest of my head that resist gravity and just flop up toward the sky. Like Alfalfa. Lots of little Alfalfa hair going on. It's like I want to look normal but the forces of humanity/slow hair growth have other plans for me. There's something about having hair sticking every which direction from your head that can make you feel unsure of who you are as a person.
Exercise/Weight loss:
Total pregnancy weight gain: 36 pounds
Total weight loss: 40.2 pounds
Weight to lose for pre-baby weight: 0 pounds (goal met)
Weight to lose for pre-wedding weight (last goal): 2.8 pounds
The three of us have been able to go on a couple of walks around our neighborhood recently (: Aside from that, I have been keeping really busy around the house, chasing after Aiden, and of course playing with him physically so that we both get lots of exercise! I think that's how I'm down 3.6 pounds this month! (: I can't believe I have less than 3 pounds to go until I'm at the weight I was at our wedding. I had been starting to think that maybe it wasn't a realistic goal and that my pre-baby weight was kind of where my body most naturally wanted to be. But I broke through that plateau! I don't know if it's since Aiden nurses less as time goes on that those hormone fluctuations are helping me lose the last of the weight? Whatever the case, it's exciting to be this close to my final goal! I'm really excited for Spring to truly be here so I can exercise outside while Aiden plays in the grass. He could watch me jumprope and lift weights! (:
Emotions:Generally Speaking, I've been remaining happy and positive despite how crazy this last month has been. Between trying to declutter the entire house, home improvement projects, planning Aiden's first birthday, writing the blog (which, if you're a writer...you know this kind of thing takes sweeeeeet time), not to mention regular housework oh and, you know, taking care of an adventurous growing boy(: - it has me really worn out some days. But I am trying to take it one day at a time and accept help where it is offered - and that alone is a stretching process for me. I took a nap last week for the first time in (however long?) and while it felt nice to get some much needed sleep, I couldn't help but have this feeling of disappointment because I could have/should have not taken a nap and continued working instead. You know, work until your hands bleed. Or until you want to jump in a lake and become a manatee. Whichever comes first. I have to keep reminding myself not to overload myself too much, because soon Aiden will be one and he will never be this young again. I try to remember that in a month or so things will settle down again and while I will still be busy, at least I won't be so busy that I want to take a nap at any given moment haha. I'm also hoping that when Spring comes I'll be able to paint outside some of the time too. I used to really be into art - and I still am in the sense that I love creativity and the sheer emotions behind art and photography, so I would love to get into painting and have some of them hanging around the house. And of course I'll have more options/opportunities for taking photos of Aiden when we can be outside without snowsuits on (: But yes. When I don't think about how busy and how tired I am, I am a positive vibes only kind of person. Peace. When I do think about how busy and how tired I am, I want to sleep. Which is also peaceful. So, I mean, you know. 'Nah-ma-stay in bed and stuff. (Backstory on the picture at the top of this section: I had just been crying - you'll read why at the end of this post - when we arrived home. I brought Aiden to the front seat with me for a hug when he started smiling like this. I was all puffy from crying and here Aiden is just hamming it out. haha. I love him!)
AIDEN
Height/Weight:
At eleven months, Aiden is 29 1/4 inches long and weighs 20 pounds 7 ounces! This puts him in the 34th percentile for height and the 38th percentile for weight! And his cranial circumference is in the 90th percentile! (: Gimme some fin - noggin - duuuuuuuude. (I can't believe how much weight he's gained this month! He hasn't gained over a pound in one month since he was 4 months old!)
Refresher course:
+ At ten months he was 29 1/4 inches long and weighed 19 pounds
+ At nine months he was 28 1/2 inches long and 18 pounds 13 ounces
+ At eight months he was 28 inches long and 18 pounds 7 ounces
+ At seven months he was 27 1/2 inches long and 17 pounds 13 ounces
+ At seven months he was 27 1/2 inches long and 17 pounds 13 ounces
+ At six months he was 27 1/4 inches long and 17 pounds 6 ounces
+ At five months he was 27 1/4 inches long and 16 pounds 13 ounces
+ At four months he was 26 inches long and 16 pounds
+ At three months he was 25 1/2 inches long and 14 pounds 10 ounces
+ At his two month check up he was 24 1/4 inches long and 13 pounds 7 ounces
+ At one month he was 22 inches long and 10 pounds 8 ounces
+ At birth he was 20 1/2 inches long and 6 pounds 14 ounces
2 weeks / 7 weeks / 15 weeks / 20 weeks / 24 weeks / 29 weeks / 34 weeks / 38 weeks / 42 weeks
47 weeks / 51 weeks
(the teething saga continues)
Hair/Eye color:
Routine:
With the recent time change things have been a little all over the place as far as a schedule or routine goes. He is still on the old time and I'm not. I wake up at 7:30, and he sleeps in until 8:30 or so so that can be nice, but then when I'm wiped out at 9:30pm he still has a good burst of energy left in him haha. It also makes all of his naps an hour or more later in the day which just takes some adjusting for me to get used to. I'm sure after a little while he will fall back into his old routine and start waking up and going to sleep at the usual time.
With the recent time change things have been a little all over the place as far as a schedule or routine goes. He is still on the old time and I'm not. I wake up at 7:30, and he sleeps in until 8:30 or so so that can be nice, but then when I'm wiped out at 9:30pm he still has a good burst of energy left in him haha. It also makes all of his naps an hour or more later in the day which just takes some adjusting for me to get used to. I'm sure after a little while he will fall back into his old routine and start waking up and going to sleep at the usual time.
Sleeping:
He still sleeps better than he has in the past, but his nighttime wake ups have gone from 2 times a night to 3 times a night since last month. (Remember, a couple months ago he was waking 5-7 times a night.) But lately I've been so worn out that I fall asleep so fast when he wakes up to nurse that I can't even comprehend the loss of sleep, if that makes sense. Like I'm so tired at night I'm actually not even sure if he wakes up 3 times a night. All I know is that it feels like more than twice, so for all I know he could be waking me up 5 times a night and I wouldn't even know it. With the recent time change, he is still on his old schedule, except in overdrive. He used to take his afternoon nap at 2pm, which adjusted for the time change would be 3pm...except he normally doesn't go to sleep until 4:30 or later. You would think with all the crawling and exploring that he would wear himself out but I think he's developing FOMO (fear of missing out) and so, he doesn't seem to nap as easily in the day. If we go on errands he will sleep in the car seat for 15 minutes haha. Some days I'm so tired that it's as early as breakfast time that I'm ready to call it a night. haha. Speaking of which I should really go make my third cup of coffee for the day. I can feel my eyelids sinking down into my skull haha. Fascinating.
Although - I will add that yesterday Jason was home and needed to sleep (which worked out well because it was Aiden's nap time!) and Jason took Aiden so they could take a nap together. Aiden didn't want to sleep of course haha, so I could hear him crawling all over the bed and babbling and playing. But after about 10 minutes or so it got totally quiet. I went to check in on them later, and here both Jason and Aiden were - asleep - Aiden resting his head, arm, and shoulder over Jason's chest. It was so cute. I stood there and watched them sleeping like a crazy person for a few minutes to soak up all the cuteness and blessings in my life.
He still sleeps better than he has in the past, but his nighttime wake ups have gone from 2 times a night to 3 times a night since last month. (Remember, a couple months ago he was waking 5-7 times a night.) But lately I've been so worn out that I fall asleep so fast when he wakes up to nurse that I can't even comprehend the loss of sleep, if that makes sense. Like I'm so tired at night I'm actually not even sure if he wakes up 3 times a night. All I know is that it feels like more than twice, so for all I know he could be waking me up 5 times a night and I wouldn't even know it. With the recent time change, he is still on his old schedule, except in overdrive. He used to take his afternoon nap at 2pm, which adjusted for the time change would be 3pm...except he normally doesn't go to sleep until 4:30 or later. You would think with all the crawling and exploring that he would wear himself out but I think he's developing FOMO (fear of missing out) and so, he doesn't seem to nap as easily in the day. If we go on errands he will sleep in the car seat for 15 minutes haha. Some days I'm so tired that it's as early as breakfast time that I'm ready to call it a night. haha. Speaking of which I should really go make my third cup of coffee for the day. I can feel my eyelids sinking down into my skull haha. Fascinating.
Although - I will add that yesterday Jason was home and needed to sleep (which worked out well because it was Aiden's nap time!) and Jason took Aiden so they could take a nap together. Aiden didn't want to sleep of course haha, so I could hear him crawling all over the bed and babbling and playing. But after about 10 minutes or so it got totally quiet. I went to check in on them later, and here both Jason and Aiden were - asleep - Aiden resting his head, arm, and shoulder over Jason's chest. It was so cute. I stood there and watched them sleeping like a crazy person for a few minutes to soak up all the cuteness and blessings in my life.
Eating:
He's starting to like yogurt and a few other foods too. He likes cereals, chicken, strawberries, rice, meat, tomato pieces, bread sticks and granola bars. He likes juice too! He nurses for probably about 80% of his food still, despite my offering him food at every one of my meal times. He still isn't totally convinced on solid food. Haha
Clothing sizes:
I'm so thankful that he has made it through this Winter still fitting in his 6-9 month zip-up snow suit! It's been really easy getting him ready for going outside in the cold. But I know next year it will be getting him dressed in all the layers of snow pants, jackets, mittens, boots, and scarves. (: What an adventure! haha. 12 month pants are still way too big on his waist, but his 9 month pants are getting too short. Sometimes it looks like he has high waters on haha. He usually wears 12 month onesies and shirts, but mostly because his head is too big to fit through 9 month ones. Otherwise he would still fit in those! Some of his long sleeve 12 month shirts are getting short on his arms. He's basically just a skinny, long-legged (and armed) rolly polly baby (: And I discovered recently that he still fits in some of his 6 month jackets and even some of his 3-6 month onesies. (: He's my tiny teeny!
I'm so thankful that he has made it through this Winter still fitting in his 6-9 month zip-up snow suit! It's been really easy getting him ready for going outside in the cold. But I know next year it will be getting him dressed in all the layers of snow pants, jackets, mittens, boots, and scarves. (: What an adventure! haha. 12 month pants are still way too big on his waist, but his 9 month pants are getting too short. Sometimes it looks like he has high waters on haha. He usually wears 12 month onesies and shirts, but mostly because his head is too big to fit through 9 month ones. Otherwise he would still fit in those! Some of his long sleeve 12 month shirts are getting short on his arms. He's basically just a skinny, long-legged (and armed) rolly polly baby (: And I discovered recently that he still fits in some of his 6 month jackets and even some of his 3-6 month onesies. (: He's my tiny teeny!
Developments:+ Aiden took his first steps! On March 1st, (11 months and 1 day old) he took 5 steps! We were standing him out in front of us and he would take 2-4 steps several times but 5 was his record for that day. He thinks half the fun is falling forward into your arms, so he generally doesn't walk on his own unless you set him out in front of you. And then you need to be close enough to catch him in case he would just let himself fall forward. He also took three steps toward Jason from a toy he was standing at all on his own without being told to walk. (: We are so proud of him!
+ He will stand on his own (without holding onto anything) a lot more now, but only if he was near a piece of furniture and happened to let go. (In other words he doesn't go from sitting to standing without holding onto something yet.)
+ He still has 6 teeth but his two canines are getting close to coming through (I hope!). They have made the tips of his gums white from being close to breaking through. I know they've really been bugging him because lately he has been crying and he never cries unless he is physically hurting. My poor guy. :( I really hope they come through soon.
+ He points at everything. He wants words for everything. He says "da" (that) when he points at objects. Sometimes he will baby babble repeat what we say to him. Today I said "bulldozer" and he said "buh-dgh". Which sounded a lot more like "bulldozer" than you might think. Haha
+ I think his imagination is developing a lot too! Sometimes he will just flop out on the floor with a pillow or blanket and lay don for a few seconds like he is pretending to sleep (:
+ He also copies things - for example if Jason is rubbing my back, Aiden will crawl over and rub (well, pat) my back too! Haha. He also helps putting clothes in the wash and he helps with the dishes too. (:
+ He will play peek a boo with you! Like he will be the one to hide his face behind a curtain or blanket and pop up. He loves it when he makes us laugh!
+ He is trying really hard to figure out light switches. He knows the switch is linked to lights, and he knows how to turn the light off, but he always gets stuck at how to flip the switch on. But maybe that's for my benefit. Haha
+ He's also recently tried flushing the toilet for fun and he has thrown a few washcloths in the toilet. Thankfully the toilet was already flushed when he has done these things because I'm the lucky one that got to fish them out. haha
+ I guess this isn't totally new, but he is definitely into the stage now where he loves to unload things. Bookshelves, dressers...you name it. If there's something in it that he can take out of it, he will. This includes the cat food dishes. This also includes eating cat food from time to time...
+ Recently I also cooked salmon at home. It turned out not so great. It was cooked - but it was not great. But Aiden loved it. So I mean that's a compliment, right? But this is also coming from the kid that eats cat food. And I've already set cooked bread on fire before, so...I'm pretty sure this just means he's a kid that eats cat food and salmon that could have tasted way better if anyone other than me had cooked it. Compliment taken.
General Preferences:+ Switching through music videos on Youtube/pushing buttons on laptops. Haha
+ He's still my little snuggler! There's nothing he loves more than waking up from his nap and snuggling with me or falling asleep snuggled up with Jason (:
+ Sitting on his monthly update chalkboard. I have no idea why. But if it's on the floor, he sits on it! haha. If it fits I sits.
+ Toy trucks, anything with wheels, even if it's a "walking dog" (with wheels) he makes truck noises when it goes. Even surfboards are capable of making truck noises. haha
+ Climbing the stairs ...and getting into the cat food
+ Splashing in the tub! He knows how to make the entire bathroom floor sopping wet if he really goes crazy haha
+ Peek-a-boo and other suspenseful games (:
+ He loves when there's lots of exciting activity going on!
+ Going on walks in his stroller and seeing the neighborhood (: The walks we took last year he was still too young to fully sit up in the stroller, so this is fairly new and exciting to him (:
+ He loves the show on Netflix called All Hail King Julien. I think it's hilarious that he likes it so much because 1) Jason was the one who originally showed me the Madagascar movies and 2) in the show there's house/trance music and that's just about all I listen to when I work out and if you'll remember with me for a moment, I worked out through the 36th week of my pregnancy. So he heard a lot of that kind of music before he was even born haha. He always dances to it when it plays. And he laughs at the little lemurs! And of course both Jason and I find the show humorous too haha
+ Don't get me wrong though, he also enjoys country music and children's nursery rhymes and folk music. (:
What we've been up to:+ We started cloth diapering (again!) When I was pregnant, I had every intention of cloth diapering mostly for the cost-saving benefits and because they're so cute! I knew, however, that I would have him in disposables as a newborn because of the whole, you know, getting into the swing of being a mom and waking up every 2 hours thing. Haha. I barely did any laundry when Aiden was first born, let alone did I have the time for cloth diaper laundry! So, twice, once when Aiden was several weeks old and again when he was a few months old I tried out the cloth diapers on him. I had done all my homework, prepped them, yada yada, and yet within a half hour of putting them on him he had leaked through them! After going through a few diapers with the same result, I decided disposables were way easier and never really looked back. Cloth had crossed my mind a number of times since then, so I decided it was time to give it one more shot. I don't know what I'm doing differently, but there has only been one leak with his cloth diapers this time around and it's been two weeks! I'm only going to do cloth when we're at home and I still put Huggies on him for over night, but I have been enjoying using cloth diapers and Aiden seems to be happy and comfortable! I love matching his diapers with his clothes for the day too. (:
+ We've also been going sledding lots in our own backyard making a couple different sledding hills out of the pushed up snow from our driveway.+ We've had a few Spring days recently with weather up in the 50's and all the snow melted! (:
+ And then the next day a big snow storm moved in and we got a foot of snow and everything was wintery and white again. :( Wah. If nothing else I guess Aiden can get another couple sledding days in at our house haha
+ We haven't done anything else to the bathroom upstairs. We did install a diaper sprayer since I'm using loth diapers on Aiden again. But the one wall remains unpainted, trim boards lean against walls, and the room remains windowless. haha Three months and some of that might change if we go about this project like any of our other projects. Haha
+ I've still been working at purging the house of all our excess. I went through most of our "paper" category and the recycling from all of that that alone filled our entire recycling can - twice. (The one that gets taken out to the street.) And I still keep finding more stuff to get rid of. Every day boxes full of things keep going out in one way or another, and it's starting to make enough of a dent that Jason sees the difference in how much cleaner the house feels. It's hard to have a messy house if it's not full to bursting with stuff. Less stuff=less mess=less complicated life=less stress. Because of this, (in the paper category as an example) I have been able to find and gather all of our important documents and keep them in one place. No more wondering where in the world someone's birth certificate (etc) is.
+ Due to the aforementioned, I have had more time to clean things that need to be cleaned (door tracks, floor cracks, countertops etc) instead of constantly shoving things in closets. I've also had time to read and get back into some more faith based things instead of being a Martha so to speak. I've also had more quality time with Aiden and I spend less time stressing over the state of the house. This entire process has completely shifted the way I look at things (objects) and has allowed me to instead look at life. Yaaaaaaaaaaes. Don't get me wrong - it's still a stressful process, but I know in the end it will all be worth it.
+ Aiden and I went along to watch Jason play hockey on his team over in Canada. After the game was over, Jason took Aiden out onto the ice and Aiden loved the feeling of being carried by someone gliding so effortlessly on skates. Well, Aiden loved it until the Zamboni got "too close" (too close here meaning on the other side of the rink) and he got a little freaked out and that was enough of that haha. It was cute seeing him so excited before then though! (:+ Aiden celebrated his first St. Patrick's Day! He has this little flower thing that looks kind of like a shamrock so we went with it. My little reddish haired, blue eyed, I'm-not-sure-if-he's-even-Irish leprechaun. (:
+ We had a visit from Aiden's Uncle James and Auntie Mary Beth! They came and stayed with us for two nights while they prepared to head home across country. We really enjoyed their company and it was the first time he got to see his Auntie since last July! So he got to make some "new" friends. (:
+ When we were in the garage the other day, I showed him Aiden inner tube that he used at the beach last Summer and he looked at it in such a way that he was trying to remember where he had seen it before! Silly boy. I'm excited for him to use it again this year. I think he will have even more fun since he was only a few months old last Summer haha. My tiny baby!
+ While out shopping for party supplies, Aiden got to play with a balloon for the first time! He had so much fun with it. We definitely need to get him one (a helium filled one) for his birthday. He loved pulling on the string and seeing the balloon come down and bounce back up.
Aiden, uncertain of how he ended up with these weirdoes, looks on, questionably.
+ We went on our first walk of 2016! It was on the first day of Spring but it obviously didn't feel like Spring at all (: It was 34 degrees and windy so it was actually rather miserable in a way haha. But it was nice to get out of the house because both Jason and I are going crazy with cabin fever. I mean I can live with waiting for summer not coming for another few months - I can handle that. But if it could warm up enough so that I could go outside without feeling the early symptoms of frostbite that would be awesome. I'm not sure how many times recently I've said to Jason "Why do we live here?" and then we've also had conversations like this:
- -
Marlyssa (yours truly): "Have you ever wanted to just drive, like, just wake up one day and say 'I'm gonna drive today', with no destination in mind at all, like Texas?" Jason (unwavering husband): "You wanna do that? Let's do that." And then I say, "OKAY! WE'RE MOVING TO TEXAS!" Jason: "Now we're moving there? I thought you meant like a road trip." Me: "Well you didn't let me finish. I hadn't gotten to the part where we don't come back."
- -
and ones like,
- -
Me: "No! Don't change that song! It sounds like Hawaii."Jason: *changes song back to Hawaii*Me: "Doesn't that sound nice? Don't you want to go to Hawaii?"Jason: "It would be nice to go there."Me: FINALLY! YOU AGREE! WE'RE MOVING TO HAWAII!Jason: "I meant for a vacation..."Me: Well I simply un-understood you. Did not understand you. The opposite of understood you.Jason: You mean misunderstood.Me: There it is.- -
Even Bath & Body Works want me to go to Hawaii. Note the snow and sled in the background.
I've been singing every Hawaiian song I know which is basically just Mele Kalikimaka and Aloha-Oe. If you are sensing an underlying pattern, it is because I like living in warm places. I am like a reptile. I like the sun. I just like to be warm. Just ask my space heater.
+ Speaking of going on Spring walks - we went on our second walk just recently too, and obviously it was just as chilly out, so Aiden was wrapped up in his layers of clothes and a blanket. I asked Jason if he (Aiden) would be warm enough and Jason said,
"Oh yeah, I got the blanket tucked under his feet and legs so it's like he's slipped into a blanket sock!"Me: "You mean, like a sleeping bag?" *laughter* *starts ferociously typing conversation into the phone*Jason: "Oh jeez, this is getting written down."(He married a writer, yet my taking notes of all the hilarious things he says is still surprising to him. He gets points for keeping the mystery alive.)
+ When we went on one of our walks we were all bundled up but I grabbed socks to use as mittens for Aiden since we were in a hurry to go. When we got back home, he still had the socks on his hands and he was crawling all around the living room and stopping from time to time to flop his hands around with the socks on. He was having a blast! Haha
+ This last Sunday was Palm Sunday. Last Palm Sunday....Aiden was born! (: It's kind of funny how with the way Easter falls, on Sunday he will be celebrating his second Easter before he's even one year old. (:
+ I've been planning his birthday party like a crazy person! There is so much to be done and I have gotten so much prepared. Most of the decorations are made, now it's mostly down to set up and I may need to figure out some games or activities that could be inside friendly just in case it's raining (or if there's still snow) on the day of his party. I have been having so much fun making the decorations and planning it. I still can't believe how fast his actual birthday is approaching. I've had a few cries about it already and I'm sure there will be even more to come. I just can't believe it is so close to being a year to the day that Jason and I walked out the door of our house, just the two of us, for one last time...but what an amazing almost-year it has been.
--
And now, a delightfully interpretive song played with a tambourine that I should buy off of eBay someday so I can dance to folk music with my people.
this is what I mean by all the crazy short alfalfa hairs on my head. haha (:
that moment when you're about to realize your parents are insane
wait for it
there it is
he knows how to use his brows for communication skills, just like his momma
timeline of events:
see mud,
touch mud,
Hommmmmmmm
ultimate happiness level acquired.
less than a week now until Aiden's first birthday
As always, you can check out more of our adventures (with frequent updates)
by following me on instagram - @marlyssa
Happy eleven months, Aiden. You probably won't remember this without the story, but, recently we went sledding twice in the same weekend! Can you believe it?! The snow was melting fast and your daddy and I wanted to make the most of what was left (at that point) of winter before it was gone for the rest of the year. We packed everything up including our sleds and your little red plastic Peanut sled. When we got to the sledding hill an hour later, Daddy called from the back of the truck, "His sled must have blown off the truck on the way over here." My heart sank. I felt silly - it's just a sled. Here I am in the midst of getting rid of things and living with less and learning to see things differently (since we can't take them with us anyway) - and yet I was standing there all up in knots about your little plastic sled flying off the back of the truck and thinking about it being broken into a few dozen plastic shards somewhere along the highway. We went sledding anyway. We had fun anyway. But whenever I thought of it, my stomach wrung itself into a little knot. On the way home, both your Daddy and I kept an eye out for a little bright red sled, possibly sitting somewhere along the country roadside. We came all the way to town without seeing it. "It's gone," I thought. I had to start asking myself questions from a more psychological/spiritual angle. Why was it bothering me so much that your sled was gone? There were more sleds identical to it. In fact, just a week or two before, I had seen one in the clearance section at the hardware store. But it wouldn't be the same one. Was it because I hadn't asked or given permission to myself to let the sled go? Compared to the piles of boxes of things in the garage that I knew I didn't want or need, none of those things made me feel this way - this knotted up, torn up way. I kept telling myself - "Live life with open hands, Marlyssa. Open hands." Maybe this was a lesson from God that while it may be easy to get rid of things that I know I don't want or need, I still have this attachment to earthly things that for one reason or another I feel like I need when yet...I still can't take any of those things with me when I die. I think that is a good lesson to learn. I recalled other things in life that I've loved but had to let go of because they were lost or broken. "Open hands. It could be a lot worse. It's just a sled." I was deep in thought. We were on the stretch of highway just beyond our house. "There it is, right there!" Daddy called out. And there it was. On the side of the road, on the side of the highway just beyond our house, sat your red plastic Peanut sled. Daddy pulled over. It was in one piece - unbroken, despite flying from the bed of the truck on a stretch of road with a 50mph speed limit. I burst into tears. I finally realized what had my stomach so tied up in knots. It wasn't the loss of the sled so much as it was you. You Aiden. I haven't asked you to grow up, but you are. I can't say I've given you permission to grow up, but. you. are. I don't know if I'm ready for you to grow up, Aiden. I don't know if I ever will be. That little red Peanut sled represents memories from your first Christmas, your first Winter, countless sled rides to the mail box every morning and in the afternoon on our little sledding hill. It represents you being just a little too little to take charge of the sled by yourself and you trusting me to help you have a fun time in the snow - which based on all the smiles and laughter we've had together - I'd say you've had some pretty fun times out there. Oh Aiden, I have to pinch myself over and over when I realize that you won't be a little baby forever. Since this is the only season of life I have experienced with you so far and since you are my first baby, you being a baby is all I know. I just can't imagine you any other way than a baby boy, my baby boy, and yet here you are - so close to your first birthday. They say change is God's next (as in chronologically "next") best thing for your life. It's God taking our blessings and giving us something even better. When I started this monthly blog series for you, there were 215 months left until your 18th birthday. Now there are only 205. Oh Aiden, I'm so glad you're such a cuddly, snuggly momma's boy. I don't think I could take it if you were growing up and wanting to cover the face of the earth with your footprints without me. Thank you for taking me along on this ride. You have changed me in so many ways. And here all along I thought it was only you that was growing.
I love you Aiden. Thank you for being my precious baby boy.
I love you Aiden. Thank you for being my precious baby boy.
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