6 weeks old

Aidan is growing and changing quickly--it seems like he suddenly became more active in just the last week. He has taken an interest in the swing all of a sudden--I think he can finally see the mirror on the mobile, and he loves to sit and look at himself.
We went on our first long car ride to Harlan this past weekend to visit Grandma Gries, Crystal, Nate, Ashton, Brayson, Kevin, and Allyson. He did great in the car because he slept the whole way :). When we got to Grandma's, he met his Aunt Crystal, Uncle Kevin, Allyson, and cousins Ashton and Brayson. Brayson is 7 weeks older than Aidan, and Ashton is 2 1/2 now.... and being a typical 2 1/2 year old, he loves to run and scream, and he got a little excited to see Uncle Mike, so there was lots of running and screaming--which was a little overwhelming for Aidan. He finally calmed down after his crazy cousins left, and he slept 6 hours straight--that's his longest stretch ever!

On Saturday, we went to the Amazing Pizza Machine in Omaha (the original plan had been to go to the zoo, but it was WAY too hot and humid for that, so Crystal organized an indoor activity for us). The Amazing Pizza Machine was fun--they have a large buffet, games, go carts, mini golf, and such... I spent most of my day eating because I'm not really into arcade games :)

Here are some pics from Harlan:

Aidan's 1st exciting trip to Harlan
Grandma with all her boys--Ashton was being, well, Ashton... so this is the only picture I got with him in it.
Mike and Aidan at the Amazing Pizza Machine--they both made faces for the camera.
Aidan and Brayson hanging out for the first time--Aidan doesn't quite have control of his arms yet, so he kept hitting Brayson in the face :/ Brayson handled it pretty well.

Back home in Nevada, I took some pictures of one of Aidan's favorite activities--raising his arms up in the air. Yep, he LOVES to do this and will do it for long periods of time.
I went into my classroom earlier this week to arrange the furniture, and I took Aidan with me--and it was pretty difficult to get much done. He did a great job laying on the floor for about 20 minutes (and he was cooing, kicking, and smiling the whole time, so I spent about half that 20 minutes taking pictures and talking to him)... then he was pretty fussy the rest of the time--I think my poor diet of sugar and fried foods from the weekend caused some tummy aches for him :(... I was there for 3 hours and worked for maybe an hour total out of that whole time...so I didn't get nearly as much done as I was hoping to. We went back today, and I did a little more, but I still feel like there is so much to do :/ I officially go back the 15th, and kids start the 18th.

I took this picture while he was laying on the floor--I think it looks like he is skipping and doing a happy dance :)

Aidan has also begun to grasp things, so I ordered him 2 rattles off Amazon, and they arrived today! We helped him get the rattle grasped in his hand, and he started waving it around. I don't think he quite gets that he is making it make noise, but we had a lot fun watching him learn and do something new :)


And in news that not all about Aidan, I had my 6 week appointment yesterday, and my body has healed pretty well! I feel great, and as soon as I can make some free time for myself, I plan to start exercising again :)

Charles has lost more weight--he is down from 18lbs to 15lbs, and he's looking trim and healthy.

Mike and I are pretty well unpacked from the move. Mike is really excited to get going on the landscape--he has designers working on a plan for our house. We hope to get in the planting beds this year--which would be a huge improvement on the landscape of 1 bush that we have right now :/

A baby, a house, and 6 weeks of updating...

It has been about 6 weeks since my last real blog update, and it has probably been the busiest and most eventful 6 weeks of my life, so a lot of updating will be done in this post. Last I blogged, I was 41 weeks pregnant...

Aidan Michael Entner was born on Thursday June 9th, 2011 at 6:00 PM at Mary Greeley in Ames. He was 7 pounds 3 ounces, and he was 19 1/2 inches long. My contractions began that morning at about 2:30, but I had an ultrasound and nonstress test scheduled for 7:50 that morning, so I just waited until my appointment to see what I should do. When we got to the appointment, Dr. Leeds told me that I was 3cm and 80% effaced, so he gave me the option of going home or having him break my water to speed up my labor... so I chose to have him break my water. And, being a naive first-timer, I honestly thought that I wanted to do labor naturally--that plan went completely out the window when Dr. Leeds told me that the contractions I was feeling, which by the way was the most horrific pain of my life, were only mild contractions... so I said yes, please to the nice medication. The epidural was one of my biggest fears going into the labor process, and it turned out to be nothing to worry about. I did, however, end up throwing up for an hour after getting the epidural because of the medication they gave me during the epidural insertion. Once the vomiting stopped, I took a nice 3-4 hour nap, and woke up at 4:30 feeling a lot of pain in my hips. Dr. Leeds came in at 5:15 (...and Mike was out of the room getting a cell phone charger...), and he let me know that I was at 10 cm and ready to have the baby! When Mike got back to the room, our nurse, Abby, was getting me ready to push, much to his surprise! Pushing was much easier than I thought it would be--the whole delivery was completely different from what I expected--the room was quiet and dim, it was just me, Mike, and Abby, and I didn't feel a thing! Aidan finally made it to the edge, so to say..., so Abby went to get Dr. Leeds, but he took a little longer than expected, so while he was getting all his gear on, Aidan's head and arm came out--but he caught him with his hand--and he still managed to continue to get dressed with his other hand! Aidan had a meconium poop in the uterus, so he was taken over to the peds nurses right away, and he didn't cry! I was really worried when he wasn't crying, but it turns out he was completely healthy, breathing, and awake--he just was content and not crying :) Finally they gave him to us, and it was love at first sight :)

He has some crazy swirl colics :)


Getting to go home was quite an ordeal--we were cleared to leave at about noon, but we didn't actually get to leave until about 8:30 PM because we had to wait until Aidan peed to leave :)
Finally home, meeting the kitties


First bath...
Cuddling...

Sleepy smiles...
In his bassinet...

I can't get it flipped the right way...


In his big boy crib...
Tummy Time...
First bottle with Dad...

4th of July in Clear Lake...
Avery was very interested in the baby :)

Holding onto his pacifier...



The bjorn puts him to sleep, so we can be seen pacing the house in the bjorn when he won't go to sleep
Upsidedown again, sorry :)

AND we moved in the middle of this baby adventure!!

Mike peeling off the wall stickers the previous owners left--he loves those things!

Aidan hanging out in the new house while Mom and Dad clean...
Painting, Painting, and more Painting

And we did some cleaning too...

And some unpacking (and building...)
Saying goodbye to our duplex :(

And THAT is what we have been up to the last 6 weeks... now that we finally have the internet, I promise to blog more often :)