An End and A Beginning

Today our little frog is TWELVE weeks old. Twelve! So hard to believe. It's crazy how fast time has passed and equally crazy to think that only twelve short weeks ago (and about 14 hours) Aiden was still hanging out in my tummy. Oh how life has changed in such a short time period. Here is our little man 12 weeks ago and today. He's really filled out and his hair has some nice shag to it! :)

Twelve weeks also means back to work. It's a bit bittersweet. The end of my time as a stay at home mom (that's what I'm calling my maternity leave), and the beginning of my time as a working mom. Luckily I love my job and the people there so I don't dread going back...it's just hard to imagine my new normal right now.
Currently my biggest concern about returning to work is if I will have enough food to eat throughout the day. Hah. The whole nursing a baby thing has upped my appetite, and right now I just wander into the kitchen and find something to munch on when I get hungry. I'm not quite sure how much food to pack so I may end up wandering cubes tomorrow to collect whatever crumbs people will offer.
Aiden will be in the fabulous hands of my dear friend Christi until the end of the summer, and A just loves her and her kiddos. Makes me smile every time I see them together.
Pretty sure all signs point to it being time to go back, including my phone. I have successfully managed to fill it with pictures and videos of Mr. A over the last twelve weeks....and I mean literally when I say fill. I have to delete a photo now every time I want to take a new one.
Oh Aiden. I was never the girl who dreamed of being a mom, but this little man has rocked my world.

Hook 'em...

...horns!

(We also have a matching hat to go with this outfit but June in Texas isn't really hat weather.....)

Spin moves

At 6:30 this morning Ryan looked at the monitor and saw Aiden in the same position I'd put him in a hour earlier, with his head at the top of the crib. A mere 18 minutes later, I saw him on the monitor like this:

(this is what I call the bottom of the crib)

Remember how I mentioned the 90 degree moves the other day? Forget that! This kid has progressed to full 360s. After finding him at the bottom of the crib, we watched him kick himself back around to the top.

He busted out his spin moves one more time (that I'm aware of), again taking less than 20 minutes to work his way from the top to the bottom. (Note that he also worked both hands and one leg out of the swaddle in this process....it just may be time to move on to the sleep sack....)

He looks like he's going to roll half of the time when he does his kicks so if he progresses in movements the same way he progressed from doing 90 degree wiggles to scooting 360 degrees, we should be intentionally rolling all over the place by the end of the week. :)

Happy Dad's Day!

This post comes a little late, but I didn't want to miss mentioning Ryan's first Father's Day. After the dedication, Aiden put on this little number in honor of his papa.

This little shirt has a special story behind it, one I realized that I've never shared on the blog. It goes all the way back to 11 months ago when I discovered I was pregnant. And so the story goes.....I went to a concert with some friends on Thursday evening. When I got home, I took a pregnancy test. I stared at the result (see picture of Aiden above) and then went to the drugstore and bought two more tests. I took another and got the same result.....and took the third one in the morning, just to make sure. Three checks for pregnant. It would have been a good time to tell Ryan, but he was out of town - out of the country, actually - in Guatemala on a missions trip. So instead I went shopping and bought this shirt.  I stuck it in a congrats bag that I handed over to Ryan when he got home on Saturday afternoon. The myriad of expressions that crossed his face - confusion, surprise, pure joy - when he opened that bag and figured out what that little shirt meant.....that moment holds a special place in my heart and this shirt reminds me of that wonderful, fabulous moment so I just had to share.
Happy Dad's Day, Ryan! Looking forward to raising this little guy with you!

What a Weekend!

Mr. A made some strides this weekends....in the last two days, he lost most of his bobble heading and is holding his head up super well. He also looks like he may be dropping a feeding (knocking on wood as I type this....) so maybe he wants me to get a little sleep when I go back to work in a week and a half. (!!!!crazy it's already time!!!!)
Mimi and Dado were in town visiting this weekend so Ryan and I had our first outing since little man arrived, leaving him with my parents for 4 1/2 hours so that we could attend a baby shower for Miss Liliana Adele. So cute and fun! Can't wait to meet your little gal Mitzi and Danny!
Most importantly, we dedicated Aiden to the Lord today. I don't think I can say it better than my dad so I'm just going to quote him: A lot of people think this (dedication) is about immediate salvation for Aiden, but it actually about all the rest of us dedicating ourselves to bringing Aiden up in a manner that he will chose Christ and His salvation at the right time.
We were abundantly blessed by friends and family this morning that pledged to help us make the right choices as we raise up our little guy to be a man after God's heart. Thank you Father for your blessings poured out through your people!
Aiden wore Daddy's dedication outfit from 29 years ago, which was made by Grandma (so A's great-grandma!) Schweizer. The undershirt was a little big so we had to switch that out, but, if I may say so, he looked cute as a button in the rest of the outfit! By the end of the morning, Mr. A was tuckered out so he took a nap on daddy's lap while we were out to eat....

Soccer player in the making?

Aiden LOVES to kick. Just loves it. And even if he doesn't kick, he loves to roll his legs up, with what must be pretty strong ab muscles these days. For instance, yesterday when he was helping mommy with laundry:

He has also become pretty good at using those kicks to wiggle himself around, about 90 degrees from the place he starts. For example, I put him down on his playmat today, and originally his head was under the star (that thing in the picture with red and green points...) but look where the kid ended up....

As you can see from the blurry legs, he's kicking away at those toys, which he seems to prefer over swinging at them. In fact, if he's looking at something and liking what he sees, he doesn't try to grab it at all....just starts pumping those legs up and down. He may just be preparing to follow in the Schweizer family soccer player tradition.....

On the days we can't swim outside.....

....we wear this! It's a bit overcast today....the original forecast called for rain, but it looks like that may pass. But in honor of the supposed-to-be wet day outside, we will wear our Speedo inside. (thanks for such a fabulous outfit Sara!)

Take that, you silly shot

First round of shots = mission accomplished. I mean there was a bit of wailing that hurt mama's heart for a minute, but it wasn't too long, in part because the sugar coated pacifier seemed to ease the pain pretty quickly afterwards.
It was nap time when we got home already, but Aiden passed out pretty quickly. I couldn't decide which of these pics from today was my favorite so I figured I would share them both - little man zonked out on the boppy (that he's gotten a bit long for....) and little man sleeping in, what I like to call, the "man pose."
Sweet dreams!

The Stickiness of Motherhood

Literally.

It includes running your hands through your hair, a few hours after it is freshly (so you thought) washed, only to realize your baby has made a sticky mess of a knot in it somehow. Reasons for the sticky mess include a baby who likes to stick his hands in his mouth, thereby causing him to drool (see drool illustration below):

Progress on the Playmat

We started out feeling like this about our playmat:

But then Lylah came to visit and we learned that the playmat is our friend. (beware - beginning of video is slightly risque)

And now we are happy chappy about our playmat:

Fun, Sun & Then Some

Ah, what a fabulous weekend. Where to start......This weekend I was reminded that a good life becomes great when shared with those you love. Even sitting at home with fussy babies was better when shared with a dear friend.
While Aiden did not keep up his extended sleeping stint (we've reverted back to 4.5 hour blocks), Lylah slept like a gem. By Sunday the babies decided to get on the same schedule (unlike Saturday where they were completely opposite) so we had some fun in the sun and took the babies for their first pool experience. Oh man, those kids were cute in their suits.

We also celebrated two months of life for little man....which of course means pictures with Buddy. (This month was at least ten seconds longer of sitting up and before he was snuggling with Buddy's leg....progress, progress.) It also only made sense for Lylah and Aiden to take pictures together with Buddy. Pretty sure those kids are going to make a cute couple one day.

(notice - Aiden is ready for football season.....hook 'em!)

We miss you already Lylah (and Lauren and Josh)! Come back soon.

Two month size update: On Saturday Aiden weighed in at 11lbs, 14.5oz and measured 22.875 inches. That kid is getting so big so fast! Slow down Mr. A, slow down!