Aiden: 11 Months

Thursday, July 28, 2016

We were helping out in the church nursery the other week, and a more seasoned mom was telling me about a friend of hers who had NINE children. This individual said that ten months was always his favorite age, and I guess he would know. I have to agree - this past month was just so much fun! She's such a little human, and so interactive. Ugh, I just want to squeeze her and kiss all day every day!


"I'm 11 months old?? You're killin' me, Smalls!"



  • She realizes she's a part of her environment, not just a spectator. It's fascinating to watch her explore and take in new things.
  • I worked in church nursery with her one morning, and it was crazy to watch my girl interacting with other kids and playing with toys. Where did my baby go?
  • She's such a sweet, happy baby and she loves to laugh.
  • Speaking of her laugh, sometimes she erupts into baby giggles (oh, my heart), but a lot of time she just has these breathy "ha ha"s. It's hilarious. 
  • She's started crawling up the stairs at Nonna's and Grandma's. Of course, we're always close behind.
  • She can really wave now, opening and closing her fingers. We've noticed she rarely waves hello or goodbye, but will do it at the most random times. Making it even more adorable.
  • She's curious about everything, which means she's constantly getting into everything. Her favorites are pulling books off shelves, pulling candles off the entertainment center, pulling everything out of her diaper organizer (and trying to eat her diapers - weirdo), pulling all of her clothes out of her drawers (and putting them back again), trying to eat the ottoman (and anything else she can grab and put in her mouth), turning Adam's XBox on and off... it's exhausting and fun!
  • She always gags on her food... and then laughs. She finds herself hilarious (so do we!).
  • Speaking of food, she is still a great eater! She loves scrambled eggs, bananas, watermelon, mac and cheese... anything! Thinking about it now, I really can't think of anything she won't eat!
  • Recently she's decided she wants to share. As much as I love for her to feed me her half-eaten, mashed up food - it's pretty gross. She also wants to share all her food with dogs. ALL of it.
  • She loves to play "hide and seek". We'll put a blanket over our head and she'll come rushing over to rip it off. (It's also my handy dandy tool when she goes crawling down the hallway and I'm being lazy and want her to come back to her room. Just throw the blanket on my head and back she comes!)
  • The other day, she accidentally slammed our (heavy) wedding album on her hand. She didn't realize what she had done and she gave us the most ridiculous look. Adam and I could not stop laughing. (Don't worry, she was just fine!)
  • On a similar note, she loves opening and closing books. Usually, when you ask her to open (or close) it, she will. Such a genius! 
  • We all survived our first weekend away from her! She spent two nights with Nonna and Papa and two nights with Grandma and Grandpa. I'm sure she wasn't spoiled at all
  • She had her first post-Kawasaki fever... and we didn't freak out! I was interested to see how I would react, and I'm glad I didn't have terror flashbacks or anything. It was just a little bug, and she was quickly over it. However, my mom, Jude and I all got strep within the same week! 
  • She loves my jewelry - especially earrings and necklaces... anything she can pull.
  • She's a crawling machine and has started to stand on her own! She's also started doing this silly bear crawl. Hard to believe it's only a matter of time until she'll be walking around.
  • She just started clapping and dancing, and - oh my gosh - just thinking about it makes me want to go wake her up and eat her little face off!
  • She went to Story Time with Grandma, Aunt Meagan and Jude - so I decided to find one near our house. We went a couple weeks ago, and she had a blast! (Now, if I can just find some mom friends in there...)
  • Jude is her bestest friend in the whole world, and watching them together is the greatest thing, ever. Recently, he thinks that Aiden lives in a birdhouse at their home. He goes up to it and says "Aida house." I giggle every time I think of the story, because it's the CUTEST THING, EVER. Can't wait for the next Baby Causey to join the party in December!
  • She still nursed in the morning and at night up until last week. I still haven't accepted it, to be honest. She just decided on her own that she was over me at night. Then this past weekend I found out I'm allergic to penicillin and broke out in a National Geographic-worthy full body rash. They put me on steroids and told me I couldn't nurse. So that was the end of morning feedings, too. Once I'm off the meds, I'm going to force her to nurse one more time so I can soak it in. (Am I crazy? Mayyyybe!)
  • She's weighing in at 19.5 pounds and 28" tall.

Here are some videos of the fun we've been up to this month:
Jude + Aiden = BFFs (kinda): https://vimeo.com/175636927
Her first attempt at sharing - oops: https://vimeo.com/174534466
She loves the water, and keeps dunking herself: https://vimeo.com/175207221
Sweet dance moves! https://vimeo.com/176246249

I mean, there are no words. This chick dominates every moment of our life and every inch of our brain space, and we wish there was more she could take up! We love every thing about her. She is the greatest and we are humbled by God's goodness through her everyday.

"Blessed"

Monday, July 18, 2016

This is my favorite thing to read as of late. And since I can't paraphrase better than this guy wrote, I'm just gonna leave this right here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-dannemiller/christians-should-stop-saying_b_4868963.html?


Parents Weekend Out

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

I remember planning this weekend when I was pregnant thinking I would probably be ready to leave Aiden for a few nights when she was ten months old. Turns out, I was right. I was probably ready to leave her - but I still didn't want to. Alas, we pulled the bandaid off and headed to New York on Thursday, June 30 for the #Greerzba wedding festivities!

Brent was the Best Man in our wedding, and Adam was one of the chosen few who made the short list of Groosmen for Brent's. The wedding was at the Wagner Vineyards in Lodi, NY. Where, you ask? It's about a 1.5 hour drive from Rochester, in the Finger Lakes. It was a beautiful part of the country, and we were excited to check out a new place.

The wedding took place on Friday, and I felt like an honorary groomsmen (sorry, guys!). I was staying at the Boys Cabin, with Brent and the other groomsmen and basically followed them around all day. The other wife, Emiley, is pregnant and spent most of the day relaxing (well deserved - she has two little boys at home, too!). Before we knew it, we were getting dressed to head out to the big event.  


Beautiful backdrop for a wedding.


The Greers! We were so honored to be there for their big day. 


Emiley and I got a little chilly - thank goodness for husbands with jackets!


The beautiful bride! It was my first time meeting Julie, and we hit it off right away. Can't wait to see her again now that the wedding craziness is over. 


After a quick two nights in Lodi, we got up Saturday morning and headed back to Rochester for the quick flight to NYC. Adam had never been to The Big Apple and I was beyond excited to be there with  him!

We dropped our luggage off at the hotel and headed out to see a few of the nearby touristy spots.

Up first... 30 Rock and Times Square! (Adam was such a good sport letting me take all these pictures of him.)


Grand Central Station


Once our room was ready, we headed back to our basecamp for the next two nights - the Waldorf Astoria! My mom was sweet enough to cover the difference from the original hotel where we were planning to stay - my "commission" for sending her so much travel business. :) A girl I work with happens to live in NYC and was making me a list of must-visit restaurants and bars, and once she heard we were staying at the Waldorf she called and had us upgraded to a King Suite! 

We felt very fancy! When the Front Desk gave us our key it said '15V', and we weren't really sure what that meant... until we got off the elevator. (Getting fancier!)


Our room has double doors!


Anddd that's the last picture I took of our room. Oops! It was so beautiful and the bed was insanely comfortable. I don't think Adam was able to really appreciate it, because he's never seen a typical NYC hotel room!

I noticed my first night in Lodi that I forgot the outlet adapter for my breastpump - nooooo! I panicked, but Amazon Prime saved the day and this was at the hotel when I arrived. (How fancy is that envelope? I'm telling ya - FANCY.)


We met up with Christine for a drink at The Crow's Nest and then over to Tonic. I love a good rooftop bar situation, and both of these fit the bill.


For dinner, we headed to Lombardi's. "Apparently" it's America's first pizzeria. 


We walked around Little Italy for a bit before we tapped out and headed back to the hotel. We couldn't hang - we were exhausted!


Check out this view from our hotel window - the Chrysler Building!


The next morning we headed to Little Collins for a quick breakfast. This was toast with pb&j...and coconut flakes! So simple and delicious.


We navigated the Subway (hooray us!) and made it to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I had seen the memorial before, but the last time I was in the city the museum wasn't built yet. 


The museum was a must for every American. So heart-wrenching, but also so interesting. You will spend the entire time crying or choking back tears.


After about two hours in the museum, we made our way to the water so Adam could see the Statue of Liberty. He had no desire to actually go (thank goodness), so a quick look sufficed. 

We then made our way to Grand Banks for cocktails and lunch. It was adorable - a restaurant on a boat! And I had literally the greatest cocktail (wine-tail?), ever - The Skipper Key.


On Pier 25, after lunch. That's the Freedom Tower in the background. 


Being so city and figuring out the subway.


We specifically made our way to the Upper West Side just to grab some cookies at Levain Bakery... until we came upon this line. The cookies are good, but not that good! It was a bummer, but we just moved on to Central Park.


Central Park was beautiful and fun to walk through! We saw a fun little roller skating club, and they were a blast to watch.


Someone told them it was our anniversary, so the hotel sent up a bottle of champagne! We felt so fancy sitting in our robes drinking champagne. (It was also the first time I saw Adam in a robe, which was hilarious.)


Downside to traveling with just two people, there's no one to take pictures!


We did find someone to take our picture in the lobby - A for effort, I guess.


We grabbed dinner at a pub recommended by Nathan and Meagan, The Long Room. We really just wanted some normal, cheap (ish) food - and the pub did the trick! Adam wanted to see Times Square at night, so that was our next stop.

This is Adam's "you're the worst at taking selfies" face. Haha. 


We ended the night at Refinery Rooftop. It was a beautiful bar and a beautiful night - what more could you ask for? Oh, maybe this view of the Empire State Building!


I loved seeing the city lit up for the 4th of July!


The Waldorf Astoria! I'm so glad we were able to stay at this historic hotel before it gets turned into condos next year!


We were up bright and early (like 5:15am, barf) on the 4th of July to head home to our munchkin. I told Adam I was nervous how she was going to react to seeing us, and she did not disappoint. She was in her carseat and Adam opened the trunk to put the luggage in. She saw him and immediately started crying! But in a " Daddddy! It's YOU!" kind of way. We had to get her out for some snuggles before we made the trek back home.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, until dinner at the Causeys with our patriotic little babe!



I may or may not have mentioned how much I missed Aiden every thirty minutes, but it really was an amazing weekend. Adam and I had felt so disjointed lately. It's hard to make time to work on your marriage when you work full-time and have a baby, but man is it necessary. I honestly don't know how people do this whole marriage thing without putting God in the middle of it. So a big shout out to Jesus - thanks for pulling our hearts closer to you, and closer to each other.

Here's to hoping

Here's to hoping I can jump back on this blog train. I'm not even going to try to catch up from the last real update I did, so here is just a random collection of recent events.

Adam's first Father's Day! We are so thankful for this amazing leader of our family.


Celebrating with my dad... and his dad! (And Mitch? Get outta the picture!)


This little chick continues to make our lives and hearts so full. I mean, those little piggie tails? Can you even handle the cuteness?


Our neighbor has a beautiful garden and let us come pick from it! Really makes me want one.


Our neighbors on both sides have little girls, and it's so fun that they're finally getting to the age where we can do things together. We went to the Riverside Sprayground with Finleigh a couple weeks back. Lots of fun!


Aiden loves the water!


Too cool for school! (Please hold, I'm going to go eat her face off.)


And finally, we celebrated Kelly's birthday with Baby Chicky's first boat ride!




Aiden: Ten Months

I can't believe our girl is in the double digits - ten months old. In the past month, she's really gone from being a baby to a curious little maniac!




  • She's become very vocal. If she's not ba-ba-babbling, she's probably letting out an ear-piercing shriek of excitement. We mostly hear a lot of ba-ba and ya-ya. With the occasional da-da. No ma-ma...yet.
  • She does this thing where she blows air out, like she's trying to make spit bubbles - but without the spit. She usually does it when she's concentrating really hard. It's adorable.
  • Our little water baby had a big month - her first time in the pool and to the beach! She loves them both.
  • She's still so ticklish, and will start giggling if you even get close to her belly. 
  • She likes to blow raspberries on my arm, and successfully gave me a hickey. 
  • She has a cowlick on the back of her head, which gives her the cutest bedhead in the morning.
  • She eats like a teenager. I'm pretty sure if I put food in front of her all day, she wouldn't stop eating. We haven't really found anything she doesn't like - except apple sauce and raspberries. We gave her a lime, and I had really high expectations of a YouTube-worthy sour face... of course, she liked it.
  • She sits like a proper lady in her highchair. NOT. She always has her knees up, and when we're out to eat she can somehow maneuver herself to sit in the high chair completely backwards.
  • She could probably win a gold medal in the Baby Crawling Olympics. The girl can get around. She's also been cruising around the furniture, and every once in awhile she'll let go and stand for a few seconds. Until she realizes what she did and plops down.
  • She's slowly transitioning from a bird-flapping wave to an actual wave. It's really cute. She'll stick her hand out and just stare as she tries really hard to wave only her hand and not her whole arm. 
  • She gives out (few and far between) kisses! I've only gotten a handful, and Adam hasn't gotten any. It was his only Father's Day wish, and she didn't deliver. 
  • She has figured out she can take her headbands and hair bows off. Sad day for this mama.
  • Her favorite games include: "Let's pull all my diapers off the shelf and try to eat them" and "Quick! Mom turned her back, let's go splash in the dog's water bowl and try to eat their food." We also enjoy the frequent game of "catch". I roll her a little ball and she'll throw it back to me. (Using "back to me" loosely.)
It is so fun to watch her explore new things. You can tell she's really trying to figure things out now. We are so proud of our happy, smart, beautiful, curious little girl. Watching your baby get older really is bittersweet, in the best way. On one (small) hand, I miss my completely dependent little cherub. On the other (much larger) hand, it is absolutely amazing to watch your little human grow and learn. We thank God daily for our little Aidy Grace!

Surf City

Our long-awaited family reunion in Surf City, NC is now over, and we're still trying to adjust to normal life (a month later). With 34 big personalities in one house for seven nights, I think we were all a little nervous on how that would play out. Surprisingly (to probably all of us), it could not have gone better!

Even though check-in wasn't until 3pm on Saturday, June 4, us Bakers hit the road at 4:30am. We figured it would be best if we could slowwwwly, gentlyyyy, quietllly move Aiden from her crib to her carseat and let her get in a few more hours of snoozing. Of course, the second she realized I had picked her up she woke up. She screamed getting put in her carseat and the first 10 or so minutes. Then she was OUT until about 7:45am.

I think we did ok!


We made a few pit stops to break the trip up for her, and she did amazing. We were so excited and proud! The trip was supposed to take seven hours, and even with our multiple stops we made it in nine. It was actually a pretty enjoyable ride!

Our first stop was Waffle House in Lexingston, SC. Adam was so excited - Aiden's first Waffle House experience! Of course, our little garbage disposal loved it.


Our second (and final) stop was at a Rest Area where we hung out and watched some geese for awhile.



We finally arrived at 99 Oleander Ct right after 1pm! The cleaning crew was still there, but - as you can see - there was a place for us to hang out while they finished.


View from the porch... take me back!


Slowly but surely, everyone made their way in! I think the final crew arrived right around 7pm.

We spent the week doing a lot of relaxing... it was exhausting. :)

Aiden loved the beach, as long as she was in her little pool. The first time down there, she tried to eat a handful of sand. We can all guess how well that went. Once I stuck a paci in her mouth, she was set. (We usually reserve pacis only for naps and bedtime, but it helped keep the sand and salt out of her mouth. Win!)





The beach is exhausting!





AG and her godfather




Uncle Mitchhhh


Waves with daddy




We loved being able to re-create this photo - 15 years later!


Spent some time walking the beach with Aiden on our last night. I also got leg extenders!




The guys went golfing one morning and fishing another time. The only "excursion" Aiden and I participated in was a trip to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehab Center. Anna told me about this probably a year ago, and it was the only thing I really wanted to do. Michael, Maggie, Emma and Brody joined Aiden and I for the day - it was pretty cool!


Tuesday night we surprised Granny with a bunch of family pictures.


Gigi with her great-grandbabies.


The whole crew.


Granny/Nana/Mema/Gigi with the grandkids and great-grandies.






And as the best ending to the best trip, Jeff proposed to Katie on Saturday night!! We got the FaceTime call a couple hours after had made it back to Atlanta. Let the celebrations begin!!


 
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