100 Days Old!

Happy Baek-Il, Aiden!!!

In the past, due to the lack of medical information, childhood diseases and because of Korea's seasonal temperature differences, the death rate for children was extremely high. Many children died before they reached their 1st birthday. Because of this reason, it is Korean custom to celebrate a child's Baek-Il, or 100 day birthday. Today, April 29, 2011 is Aiden's 100 day birthday. I know that if my mom were here, this would be a big day filled with celebration, family, good food, and great memories. But since she's not, Aiden, my brother and I had a little mini-celebration for my little man. One of the traditions associated with a child's Baek-Il is the giving of gold jewelry to the child. My brother lent Aiden his Baek-Il jewelry to commemorate the day. The three of us had a special lunch and enjoyed some family time with one another. Here's a picture of Aiden sporting some bling. =)

Sorry the picture isn't bigger! I didn't have my camera on hand, so I had to use my phone. In case you can't tell, Aiden is wearing a 24K gold pendant and matching bracelet. We couldn't find my brother's tradition Korean dress, wouldn't Aiden have looked cute in it?

These are the kind of times I miss my mom the most. She would have loved celebrating this traditional Korean birthday with Aiden. But I know she's looking down on him from heaven, wishing him lots of love and luck for his future.

A rare picture of Aiden and Mommy. I realized that I spend so much time taking pictures of Aiden, trying to capture him as he grows up, that I barely have any pictures of Aiden with Mommy and Daddy!

Tummy time! Aiden loves doing tummy time on his boppy. His stamina is a little better since the boppy helps him prop up a bit.

Aiden also loves his Bumbo seat! Thanks to all my peds PT/OT friends for giving it to him at one of my baby showers. Aren't the sunglasses cute? I know, he looks confused... I promise I only kept them on to take one picture... or two.. ok, I took five.

My happy little boy. Seeing him smile is the one of the best feelings in the world.

Haha! I just had to post a picture of Aiden passed out. He sleeps just like his Daddy, all sprawled out!

Another cute one on the Bumbo. His head and neck aren't quite strong enough to hold his head up for long periods of time, but he's getting there!

Aiden is growing so fast! As much as I love watching him grow and change, I'm sad he's not a little baby anymore! I'm trying my best to cherish every little snuggle and coo!!

We're taking Aiden to a pediatric ENT at Hopkins on Wednesday for a consultation for his mild stridor. When he was about a month and a half we noticed that he was a noisy breather. The pediatrician attributed it to some mild congestion he had at the time, but now that the congestion has subsided, the noisiness continued. We're hoping that it's what the pediatrician thinks it is, a common upper airway issue that Aiden will eventually grow out of. She didn't seem overly concerned since it only occurs once in awhile, does not interfere with his ability to feed, and he is growing well. We'll keep you posted on the results of the appointment.

I return to work on Monday with a mixture of emotions ranging from sadness and anxiety to a feeling of uncertainty. I know it'll be hard to leave my baby Monday morning and miss out on his first smile of the day, but I know he'll be in good hands, waiting to give me a huge grin when I come home.

12 Weeks- Aiden found his fingers!

I can't believe that Aiden is already 12 weeks old. Vic and Aiden sent me flowers to commemorate the occasion; don't I have a wonderful husband! I definitely love having beautiful, fresh flowers to look at every day!

It's amazing what a week will do. Here are some recent pictures of my little bug.

Aiden is getting stronger and stronger during tummy time! He can now prop himself up for at least a couple of minutes at a time and turn his head side to side to follow his toys.

Haha! I love my little chubby monkey.

This is how I am greeted every morning. How can you not love that face!!

Aiden on his changing table before a diaper change. I am still trying to figure out what in the world is so funny! =)

A couple of weeks ago, Aiden met Uncle Mark and Aunt Josefina's son, Logan. Cousin Logan was so sweet and gentle with "Baby Aiden", as he calls him. =) I see lots of playdates in our future!

Since I'll be going back to work in a couple of weeks, Vic and I decided that it was time to make the move into his crib. Vic's mom will be watching Aiden on Mondays and we figured it would be so much easier for her to get him up in the morning if he was sleeping in his room. Aiden was a champ with the transition. Me? Not so much. I must have gotten up at least a dozen times to check on him.. as if he would roll out or something. One thing that does baffle me is how Aiden manages (while tightly swaddled) to shift himself from a horizontal position in the crib to a vertical one. I'll have to sit and watch one night. I think Aiden is enjoying his new bed, he's all smiles every morning when I come in to get him up.

We're still sticking strong to our 3 hour daytime routine. The "Baby Whisperer" recommends switching to a 4 hour routine when the baby turns 4 months. We'll try that in a few weeks. Aiden still consistently eats about 4 ounces/feed; to me it seems like he should be eating more now. But he's gaining weight and is happy as a clam, so I guess 4 is enough for now. Our nighttime routine hasn't changed. Aiden still gets up at midnight and 4am for a feed, not sleeping through the night yet. I tried to increase the volume of his daytime feeds to see if it would make him last longer through the night, but to no avail, 4 ounces and he is full. The nighttime feeds don't bother me much anymore, I'm so used to it I'm not sure what I would do with longer than a 2 hour stretches of sleep at night.

Aiden is becoming quite the talker, much like his Mommy! He's now able to make sounds that incorporate vowels like "ahh" and "baa", as well as the usual "coos". He and I make sure to have lots of daily conversation and storytime to increase his vocabulary. =) So far, I'm finding that he likes to hear me read Peter Pan. Hopefully he'll grow up to have a great imagination like the characters in that story!

Something new that recently developed, Aiden discovered he has fingers!! Now they are constantly in his mouth. He's not a big pacifier fan, unless he's going down for a nap or bedtime, so fingers it is!

It's amazing how big he is now. He's not an infant anymore! In a way I'm sad that he's growing so fast, I'm trying really hard to cherish every second. I absolutely love being home with him every day to see him smile, hear him talk, cuddle with him and help him grow and develop. It's going to be really difficult for me to leave him when I go back to work. But I know that he'll be in excellent hands, Grandma on Mondays and Daddy on Wednesdays, so how can I complain.

We're planning on visiting my parent's house in Florida for a weekend in May. It will be the first time we've gone there since my mom passed away, so it should be an interesting trip. I'm definitely nervous about flying with a baby, so any advice anyone can give is greatly appreciated!!

More to come! Until then, fingers rule! =)

11 Weeks- Smiles warm my heart!

Aiden will be 11 weeks on Tuesday, approaching the three month mark, and is as cute as ever. Here are some recent pics:

Look at my big boy sitting up. Yes, Daddy positioned him perfectly so he wouldn't tip over. =)

Mommy's milk does Aiden good!

Visiting the Cherry Blossoms! Thank goodness Vic has long arms.

On one of our first walks of the Spring season at Centennial Park.

Aiden received his first round of vaccinations at his 2 month well-baby checkup and although he did scream bloody murder for a second, he was a trooper. Poor thing.. 4 shots and an oral vaccine all at once! That's enough to make anyone cranky! Aiden weighed in at 10 lbs 0.2 ounces and 22.75 inches. He had a little cold awhile back with some lingering congestion, but I'm happy to say (and hear) that it is much better. Hearing your little baby squeak like a pigeon can be unsettling.

It's amazing how much babies change day to day. I was looking back at some of his older pictures and was surprised at exactly how different he looks. He's definitely filling out, look at those cheeks, and is getting more and more interested in his environment.

Aiden is definitely morning person, just like his mommy. We start our day at around 7am with a morning feed and Aiden is all smiles. Sometimes it takes awhile to down that bottle because he's smiling and cooing so much! He's much more responsive, cooing and babbling to conversation. He especially enjoys talking to Mommy about the plans for the day... or he's just mesmerized by the ceiling fan. =)

Nighttime is getting better and better. We put him down around 8pm after a bottle and he sleeps until around midnight. He eats again and (on a good night) sleeps until around 4am. Then he's up again for another feed and back to bed until around 7am when we start our day. I like the predictability of his schedule and as much as I try to change it up to get him to sleep longer, he always wakes up at those exact intervals. Well, at least it makes bottle prep easier! I automatically wake up about 15-20 minutes before him so I can minimize the crying. =)

We're on a 3 hour schedule during the day (thanks to the 'Baby Whisperer'). So it's feed, play, nap and repeat. =)

Although I still have some time before I go back to work, it makes me so sad to think about leaving him. What if I miss something!!??

More to come!