Cleaning party

Friday evenings are usually spent cleaning the house and doing laundry. I don't want to have anything to do come Saturday & Sunday except spend all my time with my kiddo. During the week I only get about 4 hours a day with Aaron when he's awake.....it really sucks. So I live for my weekends, and don't want to have to spend all weekend doing household chores.

So come Friday evening, Aaron & I get to work.

Bjorn'n it up!

Speaking of cleaning....these Medela quick clean steam bags are amazing. You can throw bottle parts, pacifiers, breast pump parts and cups in this bag with a little bit of water and microwave for easy sanitization. I use it about once a week to clean pacifiers and such. 

Aaron has had a little bit of a cold this past week, so I decided to sanitize his pacifier and the bulb syringe I got from the hospital (which is awesome, by the way). 

Did you guys know you shouldn't put rubber in the microwave? MAJOR blonde moment. I was on such a sanitizing frenzy that I didn't really think about what I was putting in there. If it can microwave pacifiers, surely it could microwave the bulb syringe, right? WRONG. I pulled out a melted mess. I have a spare, I just hope it works as well as the one from the hospital. IDIOT! (said in my best Chris Farley voice) 

Stay tuned for my weekly Do's & Don'ts post ;-)

First attempt at homemade baby food

I'm really gung-ho about making Aaron's baby food. On Sunday I made sweet potatoes. I baked 4 sweet potatoes in the oven, then pureed them with my immersion blender and a little water. I bought these handy ice cube trays with lids so I can freeze the baby food I make and then put into baggies once frozen. Each little cube is about 1 oz. I just pull a couple out of the freezer, warm up, and voila! - homemade baby food!

And Aaron actually really liked it. He's very interested in feeding himself. He kept trying to grab the spoon. Once most of it was all gone, I decided to let him try feeding himself. A bath immediately followed.

I also gave him a taste of banana Sunday. I put a chunk of banana in his mesh thingy and let him gnaw on it. It looks like he might really enjoy this treat, right?

MMM.....this is interesting, momma. What is this??

 Wrong!

I know that was not very nice of me. But that was funny! We'll wait a bit before we try banana again. I think we'll try avocado soon. MMMM!

5 months!

Aaron is 5 months!

Valentine's Day

I've never really cared about Valentine's Day. All I want to do on that day is be with my hubby and son, eat a delicious dinner, have a glass (or two) of wine all while lounging in my pj's. Valentine's Day is just not a big deal to me. But I did get excited for Aaron to give his babysitter a Valentine. And it was really cute when Aaron handed his daddy a Valentine card that morning. And next year, when he's older, it will be cute for him to give his friends Valentines, too. Maybe I am a softy after all.

The next day Aaron went to his grandma Nickel's for the day. Grandma Nickel loves taking pictures. I think these are so cute! My little Valentine :-)

Ash Wednesday

I get nervous taking Aaron to church....will he behave, or will he be in a bad mood and cause others around us to be annoyed? I don't think I have to worry about that anymore. Aaron was so good at Church last Wednesday. He was happy, and talked to everyone around us, and squealed a lot! I guess he really loves going to God's house. He was pooped after all the "singing" he did that he fell asleep on the 4 minute drive home. Love that little cross on his head. 

Lent - 40 days of penance, prayer, almsgiving, Filet-O-Fish Fridays....mmm, lots of Filet-O-Fish! I still haven't really decided on something to give up. Last year it was the "F" word, and I didn't even make it out of the church parking lot on Ash Wednesday before I failed at that one. In my defense, there are TONS of people that go to my church, and the parking lot is just a nightmare to get out of. This year I'm trying to be more understanding and pray more....be more like my Grandpa Bosch, if you will. And to not only limit this to 40 days. Do you have to give something up for Lent? I don't think so. Maybe you can just be a better person, and do more kind deeds for others. And "get to church" more....like Mikey B would say.

Peace be with you!

Hi....we're over here!

As a new parent you quickly realize how you kind of become invisible at times. Everyone is so in love with the new bundle of joy, and the baby gets all of the attention. For me that's fine because I hate attention. But I do feel for the daddies out there who have really been kicked to the curb. I know I'm at fault for giving all of my attention to Aaron at all times. If only I could stay up past 8pm, then Bryan and I could actually spend some quality time together. I'll get energy again, right? RIGHT?!

I'm also finding that there are rarely any pictures of Aaron and I. So I'm making it a point to get snapshots of me and my son every chance I get. And I'm also making Bryan get some pictures, too, even though he hates pictures. We'll look back and be glad we have these. And Aaron will have proof that we existed ;-)

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Jay!

Last weekend we celebrated Grandpa Nickel's birthday. Aaron had a lot of fun with his grandparents. I didn't get to take as many pictures as I wanted because Aaron was kind of a handful that night, but I did manage to get a few cute ones.

Aaron & his Grandpa Nickel 

Cheesin' it up with his Great Grandma Nickel

Happy Birthday!

Starting Solids

Let me take you on a picture stroll of Aaron's first experiences with rice cereal.

1st time eating it - "OMG, what did you just put in my mouth? Poison? It's poison. How could you do this to me?!"

2nd time - "Oh no you didn't just put that crap back in my mouth again. How dare you!"

"Hmmm, wait a second.....maybe it's not so bad..."

"Hey! I think I might like this cereal stuff!"

He better like solids because this mama can't wait to use these hand-made baby food jars. 

Thank You, Auntie Caitlin!!

Eating cereal is going pretty well. He doesn't make as many funny faces anymore, which was the part I really enjoyed. We're just feeding it to him at night. I'm trying to figure out a good feeding routine. If I wait until he's too hungry then he just gets mad that it's not instant satisfaction. There's never an exact science to this whole mommy-hood thing - which is good, but then also problematic when you're OCD and want to know how many tablespoons to feed your baby, and at exactly what time, and how often, and  for how long, and when do you try something new? I need literature on all of these things! I know my mom is just shaking her head right now as she's reading this. She's probably saying to herself, "how did I keep you alive?" in a sarcastic tone. Am I right, mom?! :-) But in all seriousness, I'm figuring these things out. I'm just a new mom.....who just so happens to be a self-diagnosed Type A/OCD personality. I'm sure with my second child we'll just go right into the bologna sandwiches.

Keep on Rollin'

So if you're tired of the same old story.....just roll over like Aaron does - all.the.time!

It's getting harder to change diapers. I'll just keep rollin' with the changes, I guess :-)