Aydin's 1st 6 Months

Jesse made this for me today; made me tear up a little.

5-5-5

Sherry tagged me to post the fifth picture in my fifth picture folder and this is it. This is Jesse and my hike up Horstooth last spring. I was about five months pregnant with Aydin at the time.

I tag:
Bethany
Martha
Michelle
Marissa

Recovery

The pictures below pretty much show what Jesse has been doing for the past seven days. He had surgery last Friday to re-attach his patella tendon to his patella. His surgery went well, but it was pretty invasive, so he ended up being a LOT more sore than he had expected. He's been feeling much better the past couple of days though . Anyway he is supposed to stay off of it for 2-3 weeks so he has been living on our couch. Aydin is loving all of the daddy/baby play time! Aydin has been trying some different foods the past couple of weeks. Her favorite: carrots. She is also a fan of blueberry and apples (as seen below.) I was a little afraid her face would be stained blue, but we got it all off eventually ( :And the following picture is totally random, but it's so cute I had to post it.

1/2 Year

She's 6 months old now! 6 months is so much fun. Her personality has come out in full force now. She has been full of it since the day she was born, but it is so fun to watch it progress. She keeps us entertained for sure. She is sitting up, rolling back and forth, and talking! Last week she just started to get so vocal and laughing more. She also has figured out that if she rolls around enough she will eventually get to where she wants to be. She can't crawl yet so she just reaches and rolls back and forth until she's there. Hilarious!

I made this car seat cover a couple of weeks ago. I love it! I'm going to make another one for summer.

Right now I am getting the house all cleaned up and reorganized. Jesse has to have knee surgery on Friday, and I want it to be easy for him to get around. He tore his patella tendon from his knee cap playing basketball a week ago. He didn't think he'd really hurt it, just tweaked it, but after a doctor's office visit and an MRI it was confirmed. This is the first surgery he has ever been in, and it seems like it is fairly invasive, so we are a little nervous. The recovery requires two weeks home from work, 6-8 weeks in a brace that holds his leg straight, and who knows how long for rehab afterwards. This is going to be a little rough I think. On the funny side it's his right knee (and his leg has to stay straight) I am now the taxi driver...and he is so tall that we had to unbolt the front passenger seat just so he has enough room. We'll see how these next few weeks go.

Trip to Idaho

We used to go to Idaho every other Christmas to visit my dad's family. We hadn't done that in a while so this year I decided to plan a trip up there. Obviously we couldn't go for Christmas (both of our families wanted to be a part of Aydin's first Christmas) but I thought an after Christmas trip might be a possibility. My dad rented a van and we packed up and left early, early on the 28th. The usual twelve hour trip (sometimes 10) ended up taking about 15 hours with the nursing and diaper changing stops, but Aydin was a real trooper. Aydin loved meeting all of the family members. She was such a happy baby the whole trip! She has been all about reaching out for stuff. Everything goes straight to her mouth.Before we left to come home we were able to drive to Kennewick, OR and meet up with Luke and Sherry and the kids!! We got there around five p.m. and had to leave the next day at noon, so we didn't have a lot of time together, but it was worth every minute of the long drive there and back to Nampa. When we got there we had dinner and then spent the rest of our night together trying to get the kids to sleep. ALL of them were too wired from the excitement of being in a new place together. The next day we, of course, got in some shopping! We had thought there wouldn't be much to do there, but they had a great mall. The navy coat and sunglasses from one of the above pictures were what we came away with. It was so great to see them again. We've missed them! It was one of those trip that I won't forget.
Since she has started sitting up she doesn't like her carrier car seat anymore because it doesn't let sit upright, so while we were in Kennewick we bought her a new car seat. She loved it!! She also loves her new bunny. She got this bunny for Christmas from Jesse's aunt, and she has been completely attached to it ever since. We give it to her when she is trying to fall asleep, and she'll stick the ear in her mouth and hold it until she's asleep. SO cute!

Christmas with Aydin

Aydin's first Christmas was so much fun.  She really seemed to enjoy it and did so well with all of the activity and driving.  We spent Christmas morning with my family and then drove up to Arvada to spend the afternoon with Jesse's family, then back down to my parents house for the rest of the evening.  She had so much fun tearing the bows off her presents and chewing on wrapping paper; I don't know why we even bought any presents for her, but she loved all of the books and toys that she got.  As wonderful as Christmas always is, I think having a baby to share it with makes it so much better.

Update

So at her 4 mo. appointment the doctor said that we need to start her on cereal. I know everyone has a different opinion about when that should happen, but I'm kind of on his side considering how fast she's growing. We gave her some rice cereal for the first time a little over a week ago. The first time and the next few times were pretty messy to say the least. I don't think any of the cereal actually made it to her stomach. It was everywhere!!!! But she LOVES it. She is doing so much better now; she eats pretty much all of what I put in her mouth. She still thinks it's funny to blow bubbles and spit just when I put a mouthful in which is a mess, but I kind of think it's funny too.

Also, she started rolling over last Monday. She goes from her back to her stomach, and we can't hardly keep her on her back anymore. She will roll over and then look at us with this huge smile like "did you just see that!?!" She is pretty proud of herself, as are we. We were wondering if the thunder thighs might hold her back, but nope. I have some video of it, but I haven't had time to figure out how to get it on here, so I'll try to work on that tonight and add it later.

She is starting to really like Abel now. He is a little (I mean a very little) bit more interested in her, but she lights up when he walks by and she'll reach out for him and grab his fur. He just watches her and waits until she's done abusing him with her loving hair pulling. They'll be the best of friends....someday.

Nap time is going to be in her crib from now on ) : and we are on our way to working on a transition from bassinet to crib at night too. I think we might try that next week. So sad, but she is getting way to big for the bassinet. She can't really stretch out like she likes to do in the morning anymore. I love having her sleeping next to me at night, but it has to happen sometime. I was just hoping we might have a couple more month of that left, but she's running out of room.

And now for a little news about someone other than Aydin: I am a college graduate FINALLY! I finished my last course about a month ago and grade are finally in the books. That felt like it took forever, but it is such a relief to be done.

Christmas Tree & ER Visit

I'm still coming off my "scared mom" adrenaline high and I can't sleep so... Aydin had her 4 month check-up today; perfectly healthy, size of a 6 month old, shots, and all... 4 hrs. later she started wheezing. It started happening just when she got excited, but by nine she was doing it a lot. I called a friend from church who is a nurse and when she heard Aydin breathe she suggested a trip to the ER. I know the ER is just like a doctor's office that's open late, but the thought of having to take my baby there was so scary. Of course by the time we got there she was miraculously healed, smiling, cooing, and very excited about meeting all of the nice nurses and doctors. We got her all checked out, perfectly healthy with just a low, low, low grade fever. No idea what caused the wheezing (cough.shots.cough) I don't know.. she's not sick AT ALL what else could it be?

Anyway... we went out Sat. to cut down a Christmas tree. We got a great picture of us all bundled up and ready to go look for one...found the best tree ever...tried to take a picture...the batteries are completely dead...great. Anyway here it is, and now I know why people don't choose the cute scrawny ones; half of our ornament are too heavy. So we have a very droopy tree, but I still love it!!

1st Thanksgiving

We went to my parent's house for Thanksgiving this year. Aydin was in a great mood the entire time. Amazing food + happy baby + family = a great Thanksgiving Day! She is so funny lately; she has found her voice. We have had a few laughs, and she "talks" all of the time. I tried to get it on video a couple of times, but she just looks at the camera and smiles (and stops talking) I'll keep trying though, I'm bound to catch her off guard some time.

Picture Post

Finally sucking her thumb!!!

this could be SO bad

This seems like a good place to ask for advice so... I tried to give her a bottle for the first time last night. Tried again this morning. When I put the bottle in her mouth she looked at me like I was crazy, and then made the most disgusted face. She wouldn't even close her mouth. It doesn't help that she would never take a pacifier. Did anyone else have this problem? What do I do. I really want to see the new Bond movie (and enjoy it without a crying baby sitting with the guy next to me!) HELP!

Halloween Costume

I LOVE this costume. My mom made this for her in one night. She was the cutest little caterpillar. She had a ton of fun and got a lot of candy for mom and dad. Actually, I think she hates Halloween now after like ten costume changes and the party at the church. She hasn't been feeling well and all she wanted to do was go to bed. She is so congested. She has been sleeping in her car seat to keep her more upright. We've tried saline drops, and the snot sucker. Any other suggestions?