You know you're a dad when...

(from the jojos archive)

When I signed into Amazon this morning, I was greeted with new recommendations. Usually, I really like this feature — it seems to do a good job of recommending things I actually would be interested in (or already have). But, this morning it really gave me a jolt. Have my buying habits already changed that much?"

Fun weekend

(from the jojos archive)

Can I possibly have another cold?! I'm starting to think its allergies. Aiden is feeling better. He had a fun weekend with his grandparents and got to see all his birthclass buddies on Saturday.

6 month checkup

(from the jojos archive)

Aiden is 18 lbs. and 27 1/2 inches so he is getting long and thin like his parents. We put off the 6 month shots until next week when he'll hopefully be over this cold.

Sick day

(from the jojos archive)

Aiden's sick. Poor little guy.

Happy Valentines Day!

(from the jojos archive)

Happy Valentines Day to both my beautiful babies. I love you guys. My life just keeps getting better when I'm with you.

Reading Corner

(from the jojos archive)

Now that Aiden is proficiently rolling, we can no longer prop him on the couch. Sitting him up on the floor is still sorta dangerous because he doesn't put a hand out to catch himself when he goes over so his head bonks the hardwood floor. We pulled out some carpets to give him some padding but he is allergic to the wool. So we have ordered some Flor carpet squares to create him a play rug near his cubes of books. He really likes the freedom to roll around and discover his toys and books on his own. I left him (briefly) sitting up in his Boppy recently and when I came back he had rolled on his belly and taken out a book. He looked like he was happily reading it to himself. (Does anyone ever read these posts? I haven't gotten any comments in a long time... )

Zero and a half

(from the jojos archive)

On Friday afternoon we took Aiden to the park. He loves the swings. The mom pushing her daughter on the swing next to us asked how old Aiden was. When I told her he was 6 months old, she asked her daughter if she knew how old 6 months was. Then she explained that 6 months was half a year. The little girl exclaimed, "Oh, so he's zero and a half?!" Today Aiden is officially zero and a half years old.

February photo album

(from the jojos archive)

We just made the February ofoto album. Enjoy!

Already a (laptop) user

(from the jojos archive)

Now we are all sick. Jon went back to bed after letting me sleep in. Aiden, however, has been up since 6am making up for lost time on Daddy's masters paper.

More desktop backgrounds!

(from the jojos archive)

Back... by popular demand... Aiden and the prunes. This version should be big enough for your desktop background, dad.

And a quick baby update: he's sitting up like a champ -- he stays up until he gets really distracted by something. Solid foods continue to go well. He's tried rice, oatmeal, prunes, sweet potato, avocado, and banana and loves all of it. Its loads of fun. the latest motor skill he's perfected (other than sitting up) is feeling things with his fingers. he used to just grab everything, but now he's gently stroking everything with his fingertips: the carpet, our hair, his toys, the dog. its very cute.

He'll be six months old this week. can you believe it?

(and... don't miss mamma jojo's new entry below)

Cold & Mouse Season

(from the jojos archive)

I'm sick. It's hard to find the energy to watch Aiden when I feel bad. Thanks to Jon staying home for awhile this morning, I got a few more hours of sleep. So far he and Aiden seem to be feeling fine although Aiden has been sleeping a lot more today than usual. Aiden was supposed to be in an infant cognition study today at Duke. I guess we’ll do it next week.
On a good note, our mouse problem may be solved. About two weeks ago we discovered that a mouse had eaten through the bottom of the dog food bag in the pantry. We keep his food in a plastic bin but there is always the last bit of the bag that doesn't fit. Once Jon pulled out the bag, we realized this was just the beginning. I also had a big plastic bin in the pantry with all of my maternity clothes that weren't out on loan. (I know, who keeps their maternity clothes in the pantry? Our house is getting pretty full these days!) This would have been mouse proof, but I didn't get the lid shut all the way after I tossed in that last pair of pants I'd still been wearing. Taking out the clothes we found dog food nestled in with shredded sweat pants and mouse poop. So GROSS! Anyway, that has all been cleaned out, bleached and sealed up. The shelves, floor and walls have been bleached too. The dishwasher has been pulled out, wall sealed up, floor scrubbed. But our mousy came back. Somehow he is getting INTO the dishwasher. So we set a trap in the pantry a few days ago but have gotten nothing. This whole time I'm cursing the cat. He has been camping out in front of the dishwasher for a few months but has not caught anything. Until last night. This morning there was what looked like (according to Jon, I didn't look) an eaten and barfed mouse on a napkin on our kitchen table. Not exactly how we wanted it done but it seems like Theo has earned his keep for a little longer. Kitty has been sleeping soundly on a chair all day.