Life is getting back to normal

We've had a ruff couple of days around here. Aiden has been sick... real sick. It started about 10 days ago with a runny nose. Nothing big, just a little annoying when he tried to sleep. Then Sunday morning it erupted, literally. He coughed so hard that his morning feeding came back up, twice! The first time required a clothing change for mama and baby. The second time required interrupting Dad's shower, dissembling the activity bouncer, and pulling out the carpet cleaner. Luckily it wasn't worse and after he figured out how to cough things were a little cleaner around here. He would cough and then cry a little sad pathetic cry. He was so miserable. Then Sunday night the fever started. It hovered around 101 but would go down with Tylenol. He still wasn't better Monday so we made an appointment with Dr. Pepper (yes that really is the name of our amazing doctor). She was worried it might be pneumonia so Aiden had to have a chest x-ray. That wasn't fun for mama or baby. He had to be in a vertical vice with his hands stuck over his head. Thankfully no pneumonia, but she said it might get worse before it got better. Worse did happen in the form of a temp of 103.3 at 11 o'clock at night. Ryan and I were pretty worried. Ryan and I took turns sleeping on his floor for a little peace of mind. By the morning his fever had broken and it was back down to 98. HURRAY!

He is still coughing but he is feeling much better.

Here are a few shots from last week before he got sick.

Sitting

A little video of Aiden's new trick... sitting.


sitting from Kelly Kuntz on Vimeo.

I'm a big boy...

He still doesn't have teeth (fine by me!) but he is crazy active! At 5 and a half months he can sit alone for extended periods of time. He usually only tips over when he is reaching for toys a little too far out of his reach. If he falls down he just rolls to where he wants to go, as long as it is counter clockwise.


Video coming :-)

Awhile ago I asked Ryan if he read the blog. He quickly and firmly said "nope".

Then the other day he says... "you know the last time you posted a picture of Lula was in April"

"What you read the blog?"

Most Dads would have said "great post" "thanks for capturing the memories" nope not mine. He wants to know where his princess is.

Here ya go honey... your princess sleeping on my pillow. Nope, she's not spoiled.

an afternoon at Nanna's house

Aiden spends two days a week with Ryan's mom Nanna and his cousins Colter, Cameron and Ethan. Nanna had to get her friend Rosie to help her because four boys and one Nanna is TOO much! Two months ago...
Colter is really into cameras lately.

Last week I had to reschedule a session due to bad weather so I had all my gear with me when I went to pick up Aiden so I had an impromtu photoshoot with the boys. By the time I got there Ethan had already gone so I only got three of the boys. Aiden was all about eye contact and smiling, I guess a little competition brings out the model in him :-)
Aiden 5.5 months, Colter 2.5 years, Cameron 4.5 months
Even the babies thought the two year old was crazy.
Yeah one good one... thanks Nanna for holding the crazy two year old down ;-)

because I can't leave the whiney video at the top

I had to add another with Aiden playing with his rattle. I call this "flapping his wings". If your hand gets in the way watch out because it hurts! He's only nailed himself in the face once, and he wasn't too happy about it.


Untitled from Kelly Kuntz on Vimeo.

oh man

I'm thankful for a healthy baby boy with strong lungs to cry, and a desire to be with us at all hours of the night. But little Aiden Mommy and Daddy will be a lot more fun if you let us sleep at night!

After sleep training Aiden about 6 weeks ago we finally have him sleeping through the night and 3 solid naps a day. That is until last night. Damn. If some gypsies were stroll'n the street last night I would sold him... Aiden woke up at 1:30 am, and he would close his eyes the second either of us picked him up, but when we put him down he screamed. Then if you tried to comfort him he freaked out. At 4 am we were spent! I fed him and he gave us an hour of sleep. AH! Three hours of sleep is crazy.

Just to show you that Aiden isn't all smiles... watch the whiney video ;-)


Whining from Kelly Kuntz on Vimeo.

adventures in rice cereal

I've been holding off on giving Aiden rice cereal because our pediatrition told us to wait until he was 6 months old, and he sleeps through the night just from nursing. Lately he has seemed famished right before his next feeding and can't get the food fast enough, so I gave in and decided to give it a try. Things went great the first few bites were so enjoyable he was begging for more.
Then after about 10 bites, when Dad put down the camera, the gagging began. I would barely get the spoon to his lips and he would gag as if I was the grossest thing in the world. I'll have to admit baby gagging was pretty funny. After 10 minutes of gagging and no food going down I dumped the rest of the cereal in a bottle and he finished it the old fashion way. So it wasn't the cereal that was gross... just the spoon.

After the cereal Aiden thought he'd wash his dinner down with a beer. Notice the death grip (both Aiden's and Daddy's)

I've offically gone crazy

Daylight savings has been rough on us. So when I finished proofing a family session I decided to lay down for a nap. Lula and Bailey came up and joined me. After an hour nap I woke up looked around and jumped out of bed. I looked on the floor and then ran over to the other side of the bed. I was frantic. Out of despiration I called out for Aiden. Then I realized that he was at Nanna's, where he had been all day and every Tuesday. Wow. I guess I was a little tired!

remember to cherish everyday

Caution grab a box of tissues.

While working and watching Oprah the other day she shared the story of the Baby Eliot and his parents. Here is their story




I'm always asked "I bet you have so many pictures of Aiden..." and I always respond "not enough". I will make an effort to document more, to experience more, to love more, to cherish everyday more. Thank you Matt, Ginny and Eliot for reminding me to cherish the 157 days I've had with my healthy baby boy and everyday yet to come.

His first Halloween...

I'm a lame mom. I'm right in the middle of crazy holiday busy season (excuse number 1), I'm cheap (excuse number 2), and he won't remember (excuse number 3) are a few of the reasons why I didn't plan on a Halloween costume for Aiden. The guilt began to grow the more and more people asked what Aiden was going to be for Halloween. I started thinking about what we currently had that could make a costume... and we found Farmer Aiden. Still lame I know. Aunt Jen invited us downtown for trick-or-treating with the cousins. Craziness! Aiden taking in the scene.Some of the costumes were AMAZING making me feel like an even lamer mom. People would peek in the stroller and you could see the look on their face... "oh... he is not dressed up". We had fun though, Colter was impressed with his loot.

Ryan and I are lame. As a couple we've never dressed up for Halloween, and the last time I donned a costume was in college. We make really good candy givers, but that is about it. Much to our surprise we got invited to three Halloween parties!... what?!? We opted for the low key dinner and Scene it with babies sleeping upstairs with the Pitmans.

How cute is Charlie Brown! (I tried to pull together a Linus costume last minute, but I couldn't do it... because I'm lame)

Farmer Aiden getting so big sitting by himself.
and standing with some help
Next year we'll have a better costume... promise!