Mommy Monday

 My Dear Friend Sleep, how I miss you!

Aidan has only slept through the night a handful of times in his life. Yes, my [almost] 11 month old! :( The long nights of sleepy tug-of-war Aidan and I have been playing has been quite the adjustment for this girl who could easily sleep 12 hours pre-baby. Not only has it been an adjustment on my sleep pattern, but it has been hard on Aric's school work and my confidence as a Mama. Luckily, Aric continues to do very well in school despite the [lack of] sleep he gets, but it has changed from the first semester of school which was pre-Aidan. For some reason I still seem to blame myself for Aidan's sleep habits even though I have done EV.ERY.THING to help him sleep better. 

I can definitely understand why sleep deprivation is used as torture device in the military world.

Someday when he FINALLY sleeps through the night I will celebrate, cry happy tears, get rid of these garbage sized bags under my eyes, and tell the whole story. Right now my mind is too clouded by this repeating thought.... "Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep." ;p

No matter how bad the night is, I always end up with a big smile on my face when I get to see this little face...

Our little Firefighter. :p Sorry for the poor photo quality; this pic was taken on my phone in bad lighting.










Please excuse the choppiness of this post. Last night was one of the less than restful nights... 

Mommy Monday

New Year, New Look...

I decided since it's now 2011, [WOW!] a new look for my blog was in order... you like? It's definitely more 'me' than the last one. I'm more of a solid colors and muted prints girl so the new digs suit me well!

Any who, Happy New Year All! I know a resolution blog post isn't very original, but I feel that a couple of the resolutions I have this year are important for my Mama-hood journey so I thought they would be good for Mommy Monday.

{one}

Be more confident in my parenting choices and intuitions. Before Aidan came long, I felt very confident about my parenting skills. Well... fast forward to Aidan entering the world and yeah, that went out the window! I still second guess myself a lot! :( I need to remember that I DO know what I am doing and as long as I do what is best for Aidan, I am doing the right thing. 

{two}

Be more easy going. I think this will help Aidan and I a ton! If I can be laid-back about more things, our days will go more smoothly and will be much less stressful for me. I need to remember that babies don't follow a strict schedule and it's ok if things don't go exactly as planned. Also, I don't want Aidan to be rigid like me... I want him to be go-with-the-flow like his Daddy so I need to set a good example for him.

{three}

Be more optimistic. This will help with both the other two resolutions and life in general. It's been proven that optimistic people live longer so that's motivation enough to look on the bright side of it all!

I'm sure these resolutions are going to be a bit challenging for me at times, but resolutions are supposed to challenge us, right?!

Here are a few pics from our New Years Eve Day Trip to the beach... something I never thought I'd do on New Years Eve growing up in CO. By the way, it was about 5 degrees in CO on New Years Eve.... yowza!

Aidan on his 'throne.' :)

He had to 'warm-up' to the cold sand and cold water, but he enjoyed the beach! 

I love this pic! (Aric added that cool effect)

I hope everyone has had an awesome 2011 so far!

Pic Overload!

 Merry (late) Christmas All!!!

Our Christmas card picture.

I know I am late with this Christmas post, but it was a busy weekend and then I got sick early this week.  :(

We are enjoying the last few days before med school takes Aric away from us again [UGH!], so this is going to be an (almost) wordless post.

Here are some of my favorite pics from Christmas! : D

Aidan and Dad after Christmas Mass.

Mama and Aidan. :)

Looking sharp... :)

Opening one of his MANY gifts!

Santa was good to Aidan! We def couldn't fit all of his gifts in one pic!!

Finally... all Christmased out! : p

I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Christmas!

Double Digits!

Aidan is now 10 months (as of yesterday)! Wow, time has flown by!! He gets cuter, he is learning more and more, and he is so much fun everyday! :)

So handsome! :) 

Stats

Weight (guesstimate): 21 lbs. 4 oz.

Height: Not sure, but at his 9 month check-up he was 29 in.

Food: Nursing about 3-4 times a day, but still not as interested in it as he used to be (during the day). 2 solid meals a day, but not eating as much of that either. :( I think he's teething which is making him less interested in eating.

Sleep: about 10-12 hours with 1 or 2 wakings. He is doing so much better than he was 2 weeks ago **knock on wood**. He regressed back to newborn sleeping... I was so tired!

Milestones: Not much has changed since his 9 month update, BUT he has learned to clap!!! It is the cutest thing ever! He does it all the time now!


A couple of in-action clapping pics... 

Side-note about teething... I hate how much of  a guessing game it is! I have been thinking and saying he is teething since he was about 5 months old and he only has 2 teeth! Hmm... something doesn't add up. He has so many teething symptoms lately and still no new teeth. Come on teeth, hurry it up! : p

Mommy Monday

Nursing Strike = Blog Hiatus

Please forgive me for neglecting my blog this past week. With Aric finishing up finals, a visit from Grammy and Papa [Aric's parents], and last, but definitely not least, Aidan's recent nursing strike I have been just a tad bit busy. Whew... I'm tired just from thinking about it all again!

First off, Aric is d.o.n.e. for the semester!!! That means we get him all.day.everyday for 2 whole weeks. It is going to be ahhhmazing. : D I am definitely a happy wifey!

Aidan [and Mama] are so happy that Dad is done for 2 WHOLE weeks! Wahoo!!

Aric's parents made a surprise trip down here bearing suitcases full of presents from Santa for all three of us. It's been great to have some family here somewhat close to Christmas since it will be our first one away from everyone. We all were quite spoiled by Santa this year... and that's just from one side of the family.

Look at all that 'loot' behind us! Thanks Grammy, Papa, and Grandpa Guerrero!!

Finally, Aidan's nursing strike. Yeah, not fun! I was blind-sided by it. One day he was nursing like he always has and the next he was fussing and pushing me away when he should have been eating away. By the third day, I was sure he was weaning. : ( I know 10 months is a great run for nursing, but I really had my sights set on 1 year and was not prepared for our nursing relationship to end. After talking to the pediatrician and consulting the all-knowing interwebz, I was slightly relieved to hear that it was more than likely a nursing strike and not weaning. 

Since Aidan refused to nurse during the day [he nursed like a champ during his normal night feeding], I had to return to the the dreaded pump. Ugh! I was pretty sure that I was not going to pump everyday for the next 2 months so I started to prepare myself for Aidan to wean. Fast forward to today, Aidan sort of 'snapped out of it' and started nursing regularly again [thank, thank, thank you]. He isn't completely back to his normal nursing sessions, but we are making progress. I will not push him to continue if he decides he is done with nursing, but as long as he seems to want to I will keep at it. Praying for 2 more months of interest so we can go straight to whole milk. Wish us luck!

Truer words were never said... and look at his face, "Who me? I would NEVER keep Mom up at night!" : p

If you read this, you must have stuck with me through the hiatus. Thank you for forgiving my absence! <3

'Tis the Season...

... for gift-giving! I changed the lyrics a bit.

I currently have an obsession with Babycenter.com. It is a place where I can go to waste time get advice and camaraderie from other mamas with children the same age as Aidan. It was mostly for fun and entertainment... until a few days ago. I am part of a close knit group of awesome women on there and we have developed great friendships.

We recently decided to do a Secret Santa for the moms and babies of the group. I was so excited as I usually am for Secret Santa gift exchanges! This one; however, turned out to be extra special.

The Mama and Baby Girl I 'played' Secret Santa for are two great people. I won't go into much detail because their story is not mine to tell, but they have had their share of struggles. I really wanted to do well with their gifts! Mama requested any red clothing item for her Girl... easy, right? Wrong. Non-Christmas red baby clothing is hard to find. I looked and looked and found some plain shirts and onesies that were red, but they just weren't good enough. I wanted to find the perfect red something.

Store after store... I saw nothing that caught my eye. Then finally... I found it! I don't know why, but it just seemed like 'her.' It was a super cute red, corduroy dress with a Scottish dog on it. I am SO not good at explaining things, so just trust me that it was oh.so.cute! I excitedly bought it, shipped it, and anticipated the response!

I was not prepared for the response. The beginning of the post started with the sentence, "Ashley!! I love you!" {I'm elated} She explained that her late Aunt that was very dear to her gave her a skirt with a similar Scottish dog on it when she was little and she wore it all.the.time. She was so touched!

My stress over shipping it a day late was quickly washed away when she let me know that they received the gift on her late Aunt's birthday! WOAH! Goosebumps rushed over my body... Coincidence or Fate? Who knows, but I believe that all of this is why I got the feeling that the dress was so perfect for her Girl when I found it.

As I tearfully read her grateful response, I was overcome with one of the best natural 'highs' I have ever had! The kind of high you can only get from doing a good deed even if it was by complete accident.

I am sooo very happy I sent such a perfect and special gift to such a special girl. It's so true when they say that it's better to give than to receive!

The totally AWESOME t-shirt Dr. Aidan received from our Secret Santa! Love it , A! Thank you! :)

I hope this post does not come off boastful. It was not written or posted in that spirit at all. The extra specialness of my gift was an accident and I know that, but I thought it was great story to tell and thought it might spread some Holiday cheer! Happy Holidays All! : D