Countdown to One Year

Aerin's first birthday is less than two weeks away. I can hardly believe it. She does something new practically every day. She's "talking" so much more now. Andrew is convinced that she said "Mama," when he was watching her, but I have my doubts. Really, I just don't want to have missed her first word.

Aerin is so close to standing without support and walking. She's stood for about 2 seconds so far and she tries every day. She just loves being on the move and getting into things. She loves books and will quietly listen to one and a half. She can turn pages and likes to pound on the pictures that she likes.

Unfortunately, Aerin is still teething with no actual teeth in sight. Her favorite teethers are her spoons, which have rubber coatings. She can hold a spoon herself and just chomps away. I think she'll be feeding herself early. Her pincer grasp is coming along - I anticipate she'll be ready for finger foods next month.

We had a very nice visit with Aerin's Marx Grandparents, who doted on her and bought her lots of fun toys for her birthday. They agreed that even Aerin's pictures don't do her justice.

The cut in this picture was self-inflicted when Aerin pulled her hat off and threw it on the floor. She'll wear headbands, but not hats for some reason.

On a sad note, Andrew and I would like to offer our sincerest condolences to the Robertson family, who recently lost their daughter Kate. She will be very much missed and we pray that whomever took her is quickly brought to justice.

Aerin's Former Mobile

...and her success therein.

Aerin's Mobile

Posts will be forthcoming. In the meantime, please enjoy Aerin's attempt to destroy the mobile it took me months to find...

11 Months Old

Aerin is 11 months old today! I swear she picks up a new skill every single day. She can feed herself the bottle now - she finally figured out that she has to hold it up to get the milk and she now has the strength to do it. She still prefers to be fed, though. She really, really wants to stand on her own and walk. I'm both looking forward to and dreading that day. Aerin likes hanging out in the clean laundry hamper and she figured out how to get out of it, which was an unwelcome surprise for me (though she was very proud of herself). She's kind of picking up on the baby signs - she knows "uppy" and will also respond to "Do you want to go to Momma (or Daddy)?" by reaching out to the person asking. It's very adorable.

Aerin got to meet her Great-Uncle Tom, Great-Aunt Amy, and Cousins Hallie and Rachel this week. They unfortunately couldn't hold or touch her because of allergy issues, but it was a lovely visit all the same. I think I can officially declare that Aerin's stranger anxiety is gone, not that it was all that bad to begin with. She was very happy to be with her family and was all smiles for them.

I finally sent out birth announcements, which I've been wanting to do practically since I got pregnant. I've heard from people I haven't spoken to in a while, which is such a nice part of birth announcements. My OB from Roanoke, Dr. Martin, called. She took care of Aerin and me until we moved to back to Richmond and it was so nice to speak to her and tell her all about the baby she helped to survive. Aerin and I were so blessed to have the very best medical care from start to finish.

Progress

Aerin is quite the athlete. She can pull herself up in her crib, even though we've lowered it as far as it will go. She's very good at falling and what we call controlled landings, where she slowly lowers herself down. She doesn't even look at us when she falls anymore. Since we always smiled at us when she did look, I think she decided that falling isn't a big deal.

Aerin made her first conquest last weekend. I took her to a baby expo at the Richmond Raceway Complex. There were some areas where you couldn't take strollers (which struck me as odd, but I'm sure they had their reasons). Since I had Aerin in her new stroller, I had to stand at the entrances to the areas to get closer looks. One of these areas was being watched by a gentleman and his little boy, who couldn't have been more than 4 years old. To my surprise, he came right up to Aerin with an expression on his face that can only be described as enthralled. He went to touch her face, but his father and I both said no at the same time. He went for her hand, so I suggested he touch her feet. He grasped her little foot like it was a precious jewel and stared raptly at her for a good 5 minutes. I have never seen anything like it in my life. In my experience, little boys either aren't interested in babies or dislike them. The father was watching with a bewildered expression that I'm sure was similar to mine. He told me that the boy had never done anything like this ever before. I finally had to go and the boy would have followed us if his dad hadn't physically prevented him. Aerin was pretty unimpressed for her part. She smiled briefly when he took her foot, then went back to examining her surroundings and playing with her stroller toys. It seems she is unaware of her great and terrible powers. Poor Andrew. He's going to have a rough time of it as she grows up.

We finally got rid of the Behemoth, which is what we called our old travel system. We went for the Cadillac of travel systems with all the bells and whistles (hey, it was our first baby and a micropreemie). The stroller weighed approximately 2 tons and took up the entire trunk of both our cars. It was very pretty and comfortable for Aerin, but the second she outgrew the carrier/car seat, it was retired. We got a Peg Pérego Pliko Lite stroller and a Britax Decathalon convertible car seat. Those who know me will be shocked to learn that both are in gender-neutral patterns (the stroller is black and green and the car seat is grayish with multicolored stripes). We plan to use these for our next baby, so it just made sense.