Heart-Breaker!

Yesterday Alden and I went grocery shopping.  He loves to ride in the cart and see everyone.  The weekly trip to the store is a way for us to get out of the house, but still beat the heat by being inside with the air conditioner.  Alden is really patient with me because I still have to walk up and down each aisle to find the items on my list.  I have yet to figure out the store's layout.  The funniest thing happened yesterday while we were there.  I was buying orange juice and milk and not really paying attention to what was going on around me and I heard a very loud, very excited squeal.  I looked around and saw another shopping cart with a little girl riding in the seat.  She looked to be a few months older than Alden because she had a lot more teeth, but she had found Alden and was squealing and about to climb out of her seat.  Alden was looking over at her and interested, but not really making a sound.  Every time someone walked by and blocked her view of Alden or if her mom started to push her away this little girl would let out a bloody murder scream.  As soon as she would see Alden again, she was back to her giddy squealing.  Her mom and I were laughing really hard.  This went on for several minutes until finally I needed to go down another aisle and her mom had to distract her when a bag of chips so Alden and I could slip away.  My son is seven months old and already having to break hearts.  I'm proud, yet worried for him to be a teenager :)

The pool finally opened yesterday evening for the first time this week.  It's been a long week without it and makes me very nervous for winter in Utah.  What am I going to do to wear this boy out?  The past few weeks we've been working with Alden on crying himself back to sleep and only eating once at night.  He's done so very well, and is really good about just having the one feeding.  He can even usually put himself back to sleep and only a few times have we had a rough night.  I'm very happy and just hope that moving doesn't upset our little routine that we've gotten into.

Here is the little heart-breaker getting ready for the pool last night

So excited to be back in the water

This picture was from a few days ago, we all love it when Dad comes home

Alden getting ready for bed - sleeping in "big boy" pajamas

One of Alden's favorite games is the ride on Patrick's shoulders and sneak around the corners.  I'll be making dinner or doing dishes and Patrick will hide behind a corner and Alden will peer around and find me.  He sits there very quietly until I look around and find him and he lets out a squeal and he and Patrick will disappear to another corner and we repeat this process over and over until I'm finished with the chore I'm doing.  Alden gets a kick out of this and I enjoy hearing his laugh!

Alden got out of the bath a few days ago and his hair was in a little mohawk curl on top of his head.  It dried like that and stayed that way throughout the next day.  You can't really tell from these pictures what his hair looks like, but I thought they were good anyway.

What a stud!

7 months old

Alden is 7 months old today.  We just got back from his doctor's visit and he is fast asleep.  We are way over due for his morning nap, but he was such a good trooper and flirted with all the nurses.  He got his shots and even stopped screaming as soon as they were done.  I can't believe how big he is getting and all the fun things we do together.

At 7 months Alden's measurements are:
Weight: 20 lbs 14 oz
Length: 26 inches
Head Circumference: 44 cm

Alden measures on the upper end of weight and then average for length and head circumference.  He's happy and healthy which makes me so happy.  Alden loves to read books and he babbles on and on telling me stories :)  He can crawl when he really puts his mind to it, but he does the "inch-worm" and is really fast.  I can't take my eyes off of him for a second and his across the room into the next mess.

It's been a few weeks since I've posted anything, but I haven't really been able to think of anything that we've done.  Last weekend we went to see my family and switch our cars so we can use their bigger vehicle for the next few weeks.  We need the bigger car because this Saturday we are going to the airport to pick up Devin, Mercedes, and Lucy.  We are so excited for them to come out and visit.  Alden will get to spend a week and a half playing with his cousin.  He's finally at the age where he's interested in other babies and children.  We're going to have so much fun.

This is one of the last time Alden and Lucy were together before we left Utah

The pool here at our apartment complex has been closed the past several days for cleaning so I've been having to get creative to entertain my very active little boy.  He loves to get going and doing things and has to wear himself out or he can't sleep at night.  He's been taking dips in the bathtub as a substitute for the pool.  Hopefully it will be back up and running very soon.  Other than that, we just play all day around the apartment.  We only have a few weeks left here and are trying to enjoy every minute of it before Patrick has to start school again.  Patrick did just have his final presentation on Monday and did very well.  He's enjoyed his time at work and has received very good reviews.  We're very excited to see where we will end up next year.

I don't have any new pictures, but here is one of my favorites from when Alden was little.  I think he's less than a week old in this picture.  I can't believe how much he's changed! Alden we love you!!

Finally

Alden finally cut his second tooth!  This one has given us a lot of problems as noted in the last post, but last night was amazing.  It pretty much made up for the past four nights of me having to sleep on the couch with him most of the night.  He's been really needy and cuddly and I was wondering how I was going to get him back to sleeping in his own bed when this was all done.  Well last night was the night.  He was asleep by 10:00 and then woke up a little after 3:00 to eat a little then went right back down (in his own bed) and slept until 6:00 and was only awake for a little bit then went back down (in his own bed) and I didn't hear from him until 8:20.  I almost had a hard time getting back to sleep after the first wake up because I usually don't get to go right back to sleep :)  I'm glad that he's no longer in a bunch of pain.  It was awful to know that he was hurting and there was nothing I could really do for him.  He would rub his hands on his cheeks like he had an itch or rub his eyes with both hands.  That's how we knew he was in pain and his teeth were giving him troubles.  Every time I went to pick him up this week his whole face has been red where he's been rubbing it. 

Today has been a great day so far.  We've been able to play, run some errands, do housework, and even baked some muffins.  It's amazing what getting sleep at night does.  I feel like a human being again and I'm able to play and be the mom I want to be to Alden instead of feeling like a zombie all day.

One of Alden's new favorite games is rolling on the floor or bed with me.  He's getting really fast and rolling over so I will lay down and roll either towards or away from him and he'll either roll away or chase after me.  He laughs the whole time and it exhausts him.  We have a lot of fun spending our days together.

Alden loves to pull himself up on anything and loves to stand.  I helped him stand up in his bed, but he stood and held on by himself for a long time.

I thought I would also add this picture because Patrick took it and thought it was really funny.  Alden uses his feet a lot to grab and play with toys.  He especially uses his big toes, and sometimes they cut the back of his heels when his toenails are too long or sharp.  So I was cutting his toenails when Patrick walked in on us.  He thought it was hilarious how I had Alden's arms pinned back and out of the way.  (Also note the drool spots - it was the end of the day and that's all his does all day long)

Happy Birthday Patrick!

Today is Patrick's birthday and we need to celebrate.  We went to the soccer game a week and a half ago to celebrate, but since today is actually the day we need to do more.  I've been trying to think of food to make and how we can make today special, but Alden is cutting his second tooth.  And this second one is giving us a run for our money.  I've been up more in the past few nights than I thought possible.  I'm pretty sure it was like this when he was a little baby, but I must have already blocked that from my memory because I can't remember.  I'm so tired and I keep trying to tell myself that this will pass eventually.  So in the mean time, Happy Birthday Patrick.  We are grateful for you and all your hard work.  We love you and will celebrate somehow!

This picture was taken during our engagement pictures - it's one that represents us perfectly

Blueberries

This week we had family night on Tuesday and we went and picked blueberries with our friend Logan.  It was so much fun.  An older couple lives just a little ways out of the city and has a beautiful house with a large blueberry and blackberry garden that they open to the public on Tuesdays and Saturdays.  They had hundreds of blueberry bushes and we got to pick as much as we wanted.  It was $2/lb, so I thought that was a great deal for fresh fruit.  Alden loved being outside and it was fun to sit and talk while picking.  Now I have a little less than seven pounds of blueberries that I'm trying to come up with ways to use.  Since we're leaving in less than a month I can't really store them, so they need to be used.  So far this week we've had several blueberry dishes.  But we love them and it's fun to come up with uses for fresh fruit.  We've had a blueberry cobbler, blueberry syrup, and blueberry muffins.  If anyone has any ideas or favorite recipes I'm open to suggestions!

Alden kept on wanting to taste the leaves

Alden and Dad

Look how many we picked so far

Such a good helper - he's holding the basket

Alden recognizes the camera and loves to have his picture taken

Happy Birthday to Me

This past Saturday was my birthday.  We had a fun and busy weekend.  Saturday morning we got ready rather quickly for a Saturday morning and jumped in the car and headed to Charleston for the day.  Patrick had gotten tickets for his birthday to go to a soccer game that night.  The Charleston Battery was playing Bolton. So since we were using his birthday gift on my birthday we decided to make a day of it.  We stopped by Mt. Pleasant to visit my Aunt Stephanie and Aunt Faith's families, but it's summer and their lives are busy so we just visited for a little bit before heading to see downtown Charleston.  I have never been and wanted to do some exploring.  Of course we picked the hottest, most humid day to go, but we still had fun.  We walked up and down the old streets admiring the beauty of the city.  We'd like to go back and take a guided tour but we were running out of time because we had to get to the soccer game.  Alden was a trooper and did great traveling and riding in his stroller in the heat.

This is how Alden traveled most of the time in the car - it was a miracle

We visited the Battery

Alden and Mom walking along the coast near the Battery

We visited Rainbow Row and looked at all the old houses.  Rainbow Row is a street that has all the homes in different colors.  Next time, I want to take one of those horse drawn tours through the town.

We also saw old Cobblestone streets and visited a street market.  We had a lot of fun looking at all the unique and hand made gifts and sampled some tasty treats.  The soccer game was also fun even though the Battery lost.  Alden was so exhausted from the day that he even slept through the first half.

My mom got me a breadmaker for my birthday.  I've been wanting one for a long time now, and I found one really cheap so she got it for me.  I'm working on perfecting my rolls, but we have so far enjoyed it.  Patrick got me a DVD that has three older Tom Hanks movies.  I love the older movies that Tom Hanks is in and can't wait to watch them.  Two of them are some of my favorites already, but one I haven't even seen yet.  It was a great weekend. 

Patrick snapped a few pictures of Alden and I waiting for the rolls to come out of the oven.

The finished product

One tooth!

Yesterday on our drive back home, Alden grabbed my hand and started sucking on my fingers.  I quickly pulled them out since this happens more times a day then I can count, and felt something on his gums.  He has been drooling a ton and everything goes to his mouth, but this isn't new and I haven't felt or seen teeth in months.  But yesterday I did some investigating and I'm pleased to report that Alden does have a tooth.  It's on the bottom and it appears to have barely broken through.  But it's there right under the gum with a little piece poking out.  He's growing up too fast.  This week, he turned six month's old.  Time sure does fly when you're having fun.

I also just posted all about our adventures over the past few weeks, so make sure to read below.