There's A Pulse...

Yes, my blog is still alive. 

It's just been in a heavily sedated state for the past few months.

And A LOT has happened since my last post. There is wayyyy too much to catch up on everything, but here are the big highlights...

We took a big family trip to Disney World!  Aric's parents, siblings, their spouses, and children all met us in Orlando for their every other yearly trip to Disney. Aidan had a love/hate relationship with the trip. He loved the rides and shows, but wasn't too keen on all the new people that wanted to love up on him. The trip was right in the peak of his stranger/separation anxiety.... great timing, huh?! :( By the end of the week; however, he did come around somewhat. Phew! Aric and I loved it (despite Aidan's antics)!

I'm not so sure about this Disney World trip...

He never sleeps in our arms so this had to be documented.

Ok, I guess Disney World isn't so bad... ;)

Aric finished his 2nd year of medical school! WOOHOO! Now he is on rotations at different hospitals working in each field of medicine. It's still a ton of work and very time consuming, but he enjoys it much better than classes. It's ever so slightly better than classes for Aidan and I, but we still don't see him nearly enough. *sigh* Such is the life of a med school student's family...

Celebrating with some great fam and beer...

And margaritas...

We made our BIG move from FL to CO!!! I have been looking forward to this for a loooong time since the day we left CO 2 years ago to be exact. Packing sucked. Driving was ok.  But so far, it has been AHH MAZ ING to be back with both sides of the fam. The wonderful mountain air and views aren't too shabby either! ;)

Dear CO, get a more COLORFUL welcome sign. Thanks!

Finally, there's 1 more very big life-altering (soon-to-be) change in our lives. That change deserves it's own post so it will remain a secret for a couple more days... most people that read my blog already know anyway. Hint: I now have something in common with Beyonce... well, besides our sweet dance moves! Hehe.

A pretty obvious hint...

1 Year Old!

(just a couple of months late... don't worry about it)

My very sporadic blogging continues. I just can't seem to stay on track with it. Ugh! 

Anyway, back to Aidan's loooong overdue 12 month post.

Stats

Birth Weight: 7 lbs. 4 oz.

Now (at 12 month check-up): 22 lbs. 8 oz.

Birth Height: 20.25 in.

Now (at 12 month check-up): 30.5 in.

Food: Still some baby food, but mostly anything we eat! He loves fruit, meat, and yogurt! He is really good at drinking out of his own glass and loves him some almond milk! 

Sleep: I really don't want to jinx this so all I'm gonna say is we're all feeling A TON more rested these days! :)

Milestones: Woah! So many!

 He is awesome at signing these days... he can sign about 10 words. 

He can say "Dada" and the occasional "Mama." There are a few other words that he tries to say, but only Aric and I can tell what he's saying.

He is walking. Has been for awhile now so he's an expert and running all.over.the.place!

There are more, but those are big highlights.

And now... a photo bomb of Aidan's 1st Birthday Party!

The only pic we have of the CU themed decorations. Go Buffs!

Birthday cupcakes made by me. They were no Cake Boss, but they were yummy! ;p

Aidan and Dad. Aren't they handsome?!

Me and my favorite little guy!

First taste of cake...

He didn't love it... to say the least.

One more crying pic 'cause they are quite funny and cute. :)

Our 'Lil Buff!






I have to give a big thank you to my friend,  Marissa, for taking these awesome pics at the party AND for helping with the cupcakes... they would have been very sub par without you! Thanks Girl! :)

I'm A Weaner...

... a breastfeeding weaner that is! Two weeks ago today was our last nursing session. I'm gonna write this post in Q&A form even though no readers actually asked questions about my nursing experience. I am hoping this format will keep my rambling to a minimum (because I could go on and on about this).

How long did I nurse?

I am so, so proud to say that we made it to a year!! Anyone that has even tried nursing one time knows that it is quite a feat! We had our share of issues in the beginning, but we were old pros by the 3rd month. Ok, I'm done bragging... : p

What was your weaning game plan?

I dropped one feeding per week. This was suggested by everyone and their mother (literally) as the best and easiest for both mom and baby to wean. Aidan dropped a few feedings all at once during the nursing strike he had when he was 10 months; he was down to 3-4 feedings per day after the strike. To read more about his nursing strike, click here. The first feeding I dropped was the mid-day feeding. Most days it took quite a bit of coaxing to get him to nurse during the day so this was an easy one to drop. After about a week without that feeding, I decided to work on the morning feeding. Again, most mornings he wasn't all that interested in nursing so that one was also easy to drop, [I disliked dropping this session because I could no longer pop him on the boob and relax in bed for a bit longer in the AM. ; p]

Finally, it came time to drop the middle of the night feeding. This one was kind of rough... there were definitely some sleep deprived nights and some tears involved, but we got through it alive. I could write a whole new post about these middle of the night feedings, so I'll cut myself off here for this post.

The last feeding to go was the bedtime feeding. I was worried that this one would be as hard as the middle of the night feeding, but it actually went pretty well. Although, we did have a couple nights of confusion on Aidan's part. He would hand me his pacifier and just lay there waiting, as if to say, "Ok mom, I'm ready to get my bedtime snack." It was pretty cute! I just gave him some water, put his pacifier back in his mouth, and then cuddled him for a bit. That's all it took. He never cried to nurse and went down just as easily as he did when he would nurse before bed.

Overall, I think our weaning game plan lead to a great victory! :)

Now, about me... how did weaning affect my body?

 More specifically, how did it affect my boobs? It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Yes, there were about 5-6 days of severe discomfort. I didn't have much engorgement, but there was definitely some tenderness. Ouch, ouch! I took some meds when it got really bad and just waited it out. By day 6 of no nursing, there was a big improvement in the tenderness. On day 8, they weren't tender at all and had deflated shrunk down to their pre-pregnancy size. This might sound crazy, but... I sooo missed my tiny boobs and I love that they are back! : D

I think the weaning process also had a small affect on me mentally as well. I had some *ahem* hormonal moments. These 'moments' weren't any worse than my most tame PMS 'moments'. <---- From my perspective, Aric's opinion on this might differ slightly. ;)

Do you miss nursing?

Yes and no.

I miss the cuddles. Aidan is way too active to cuddle with his Mama, so I lost most of the scarce snuggles I did get from him when we stopped nursing. I miss the ease of nursing... pop him on the boob and BAM, he's fed. 

I don't miss my big boobs... AT ALL! I don't miss having to watch what I eat or drink. I can drink coffee anytime of day and if I want to I can have a [or 4] glass of wine at dinner and not have to worry about his bedtime feeding. 

Overall, our weaning experience went really well! I hope I can have a similar experience with our next one.... [which won't be for awhile]

Here's a little teaser for my next post about Aidan's 1st Birthday...

"Hey Everyone... I'm ONE now!" :)

If anyone has any other questions about my breastfeeding or weaning experience, feel free to ask!

Blog Award!

My first blog award.... *drum roll* The Worst Blogger Ever Award! : p

I'm joking obviously, but seriously.... To say that I have sucked at blogging is one of the biggest understatements ever made.

I don't have a good excuse besides good ol' laziness. I have had absolutely zero.nada.zilch desire to blog for the past month and a half. The really sad thing is that I have had so many great topics to blog about yet I still didn't do it. Eek! : (

I am still feeling lazy, but I am going to try to blog more often. For awhile that might only mean once a week and maybe if I'm feeling really ambitious you'll see two posts in one week. : p

I might be back tracking and playing catch-up for a few weeks with my posts so I hope you'll all humor me.

I am looking forward to my return to my commenting role of the blog world. I still love reading blogs so don't worry I have been keeping up with every one's blog. I need to get back to commenting though.

XOXO. Much love to anyone that has stuck with me as my blog collected layer upon layer of dust... : D

11 Months!

Aidan is a month away from the BIG 1 year! I'm only a few days late posting this since he was 11 months officially on Sunday.

He looks more and more like a toddler and less and less like a baby everyday. Bittersweet. He is getting more interactive as well and we are having so much fun together. :)

Stats: 

Height: I'm not even going to try to guess, but we will get an update at his 1 year appointment.

Weight: same as above

Food: Still nursing about 4x a day, but it is still a struggle... just holding out for 1 more month!

Sleeping: Ugh! I don't even want to talk about it. The past 2 months have been rough... he sleeping from 6:30ish-6:30ish with anywhere from 2-5 wakings. :( I am hoping that teething is a big part of this sleep intolerance Aidan has.

Milestones: Overall, he is so much more interactive these days. But here are some of the biggies.

Teeth

Aidan got 3 new teeth last week! As I already said, this has been rough on the sleep schedules in this household. I can tell that he has at least 2 more that are working their way to the surface so hopefully they will come through soon.

You can barely see the third tooth, but it's there. He has 2 teeth on the top too, but they were impossible to get on film.

Mobility

Aidan is not even close to walking on his own, but he is crawling and cruising the furniture like a pro. We bought him a push toy that he can walk with and he is getting better and faster with it so walking is just around the corner. Yikes!

Cruising the kitchen chairs... one of favorite past times. :)

Kisses

This is my favorite! He gives the best, slobbery, open-mouthed kisses when you ask for them. It is the sweetest thing ever!!! It melts my heart everytime. Yes, I ask for kisses all.the.time now! : p

Giving Dad a study break smooch! : D

Mommy Monday

I am LOVING the stage in development Aidan is in right now! :)

I love it so much so let me count the ways...

I love how interactive he is these days. He imitates all the sounds Aric and I make; my personal favorite is when he imitates sneezes and coughs. It always makes me giggle.

I love most of the time how curious he is about ev.ery.thing! He wants to touch, see, move, open, close, rip, and most of all, eat anything that crosses his path. He has become totally enthralled with the toilet lately much to his parents dismay. Yuckola!

I love his new interest in books. Up until very recently, Aidan enjoyed gumming and turning the pages of books but not too much else. He has now come to enjoy listening to me read and looking at pictures before he tries to shove the book in this mouth.

I love how great of an eater he is. Despite a short-lived nursing and eating strike around 10 months, Aidan will eat anything we offer him. I'm sure when he's older we will go through many picky phases, but for now he enjoys all things food.

I love how active he is. He is non-stop all.day.long! He crawls like a pro and is pulling up and cruising around any and all furniture he can find. He very much enjoys doing 'laps' around the coffee table. Oh.so.adorable. Also makes for a tired baby = good nap... me likey this a lot! :p

I love that he doesn't walk quite yet. Hehe. This contradicts the above, but his Speedy Gonzales-like crawling and cruising is more than enough to keep me busy right now. When he starts crawling... the 'A' household will never be the same. Eek!

There are an infinite amount of things I love about my days with my handsome guy so I can't actually count all the ways, but these are some of the highlights.

Happy MLK Day All!!! : D

Stop taking pictures and finish feeding me Mom! ;p









I know I have been neglecting my blog recently... I keep hitting speed bumps, with the most recent one being that the power cord to my laptop doesn't work so my computer can't charge (I'm using Aric's). UGH! I am hoping to get a new one this week. Also, I am going to introduce a new weekly featured post this Friday! It's something I am a little nervous to blog about because it's a sensitive subject for me, but I think it will be interesting and hopefully helpful for others. Get ready for it! Did I peak your interest enough?! Haha!