Photo Shoot

The weekend of my shower, my friend Heather took hundreds (literally) of pictures. These were of the shower, some family photos and photos for Aiden's adoption announcement. These are on a website that is password protected. I don't want to assume that anyone wants to look at hundreds of pictures of my son (well, I assumed for some of you!). Let me know if you would like to see them. I have slowly started emailing a few people, but Aiden is sick with a horrible cold and we are leaving in the morning for Florida (how fun will flying with a sick baby be?!?) so I have lots to do and am exhausted after a rough day with the little one. I am not taking my laptop and doubt I will have access to a computer. But have no fear, I will get the password out when we return home Sunday. To hold you over, here are two of the pictures (obviously there is still a little editing to do). There were so many great ones!

Chúc mừng năm mới!

Happy New Year! We celebrated last weekend at a local celebration. Aiden was not feeling great (this was post shot weekend), but he did okay until the end...which is of course when I tried to get pictures of him in his ao dai. Thank goodness Heather took pictures of him in it a couple of weeks ago.

The US and Vietnamese national anthems were sung

The Dragon Dance

Zoe and Grace both tried to help with Aiden- he was SO tired

The only halfway decent picture of Aiden

Favorite Photo Friday

Finally feeling better after those yucky shots (and getting so close to some teeth!)

Adoption Keepsakes

I wanted something special to keep Aiden's G & R outfit, his bottle from the orphanage, etc. in. I found an Etsy store that had the perfect keepsake box. I was so excited when it arrived in the mail the other day. I would highly recommend Hope Studios! Here is the finished product:

There is a map of Vietnam decoupaged on the bottom of the box

I also wanted to show off the beautiful shower gift my aunt gave me. I cried when I opened it. I can't wait to get it up on the wall.

8 months

Happy 8 months (and 2 days) Aiden Bao!

I had this post started 2 days ago, but the days following Aiden's vaccinations have been rough...very rough. It breaks my heart to hear my son moaning at night on the baby monitor. He went on a hunger strike for 3 days. Today seemed to be a much better day overall. We even made it to Gym*boree with Aiden's Papa! Never again will he get 4 shots at once.

Aiden had an exciting 8 month birthday.

• First he got his certificate of citizenship in the mail. He wasn't too thrilled...I think he was hoping Obama might have started sending the letters and certificates right after he got elected. I told him he would learn all about inaugurations on the 20th

• Aiden got to meet his great aunt and uncle and his cousins (my cousin and his children- not sure what type of cousins that would be...cousins sounds good). They weren't able to come down for the shower because of all of the snow in the Chicago area.
  



• Aiden's growth and development seemed to explode this month (although I think I said the last month too- he just keeps me in amazement all of the time!



• Aiden has gained almost a pound since he has been home. He is now 17 lbs. 2 oz. (14th percentile)
  


• He is 26 inches long (4th percentile) and his head is 44.5 cm. (38th percentile)
  
• 6-9 month clothes are starting to fit better than 3-6 month clothes, although his short little legs are still too short for 6-9 month pants
  
  
• The boy pees- a lot. He wears size 2 diapers during the day (the 3's fit, but seem so big on his little behind). I have tried lots of different diapers at night and have ended up buying size 3 overnights. It's the only thing he doesn't soak through when he sleeps through the night.



• Aiden is using his legs more and more in his army crawl. Both at the same time, but it seems to work for him. He is SO close to a regular crawl
  
• In the couple of weeks, Aiden has figured out how to go from sitting to his tummy. He is working very hard to go from tummy to sitting so he spends a lot of time in this position:
  

• Aiden's eating has gotten much better. Before his hunger strike started, he was taking 30 ounces of formula a day. He was eating about 2 jars of baby food a day. We tried puffs and cheerio*s last Thursday. When I tried them a week or two before that, you would think I was trying to poison him. Something just clicked this time.

• His favorite places to play right now are the kitchen and the bathroom. Toys pounded on those floors sound much better and louder than on the carpet! The moving toys go faster too.
  



• His favorite toys? Anything he can pound on the floor. He also loves his monkey (of course) and has just figured out the jumper*oo. He also LOVES music. One night when we were still struggling with jet lag, I discovered he loves Jack's Big Music Show. I have DVR'd some shows and he loves to watch one everyday.
  
  
• The Baby Einstein videos don't hold his interest as much as Jack....or as much as Xuan Mai. Oh, some of those Xuan Mai songs are like the Wiggles gone wrong. Yet he loves them and Mommy can tolerate most of them. Luckily he only watches about 15 mintues of them. I only have 2- does anyone have a good Xuan Mai video that they can recommend?

• Aiden also loves the cat. It is such a love/hate relationship. Um, all of the hate would be from the cat, although she is getting a little more tolerant. Aiden just shrieks and laughs when he sees Tess and then the chase begins.
  
  
• Mr. Bao can now stand on his own if I stand him up. I know it won't be too long before he is pulling up. Here he is showing off his latest trick (with one of his favorite videos in the background)
  


• Aiden is still giving open mouth kisses. Now if I ask him for a kiss and make a kissy noise, he will give me a big ol' smooch. I love it!

• No teeth yet, but the drooling and other teething symptoms seem to have gotten worse in the past week. It is hard to get pictures of him without a finger in his mouth.
  
  

As I said in the last post, my love for this little man grows everyday. In some ways, I wish he would stay this age for a little longer. He is so much fun. But I can't wait to see what he will learn to do next. I can't to see his first tooth come through. I can't to watch him crawl or wave bye-bye (another work in progress). Everyday with my son is a new and exciting adventure!

So, how's it REALLY going?

I have been asked that several times in the past month that we have been home. Aiden is such a happy baby, I guess people wonder (and need to know) if he is like that all of the time. Honestly, he is. Of course we have had some rough spots, but all in all, things seem to be going well.

I think I was surprised at how long (and it really wasn't too long) it took for me to bond with Aiden. I loved him at first sight. It felt like babysitting for the first couple of weeks but I still loved him and that love grew stronger everyday. It amazes that the love I feel continues to swell. One day I feel like I couldn't love this little boy anymore and I am proven wrong the very next day. As the love grows, so does the attachment. I know we have a ways to go with attachment, but I don't see it being a difficult road.

Aiden has such an easy going disposition. He likes everyone...really he loves everyone. He loves to study faces and listen to different voices. If I hadn't come to know what a happy, adaptable, laid back baby he is, I would probably be concerned with how content he is with others. As content as he is, he eventually wants me. He knows I am Mommy. Besides my parents, I have only let 2 other people give him a bottle. I noticed that with all of these people (other than my mom who was in Vietnam with us), Aiden holds his bottle with them. He doesn't do that with me, doesn't even try. The other day one of those people tried to give him a bottle when I was sitting right next to them and it wasn't gonna happen. He needed that bottle from his mommy and that made me feel very good!

I am so glad I have 8 weeks at home to spend with Aiden before I go back to work. I may go stir crazy with this cold weather, but I am happy to be stuck inside with my son! I can't wait until it gets warmer out so we can do things outside. We did enroll in a Gym*boree class. I have fun with Aiden there. And there is one other mom that is easy to talk to...it's just hard. I am finding it hard to relate to some of these moms. Some of it could be personality, but some of it has to do with me not being able to relate to pregnancy or breastfeeding stories. I don't go out of my way to discuss adoption or point out the fact that Aiden is adopted, but eventually in conversations in that setting it comes out. It's easy to talk to friends about things, even though almost all of them haven't adopted. It's not as easy with strangers even though we all have babies. Anyway, back to how things are really going...

The last 2 days I have gotten a feel of how difficult the attachment process could be if Aiden had a different personality. His 2 bottom teeth have still not come through. His gums are so swollen- I can't imagine how much they must hurt. On top of that, he got 4 vaccinations yesterday. The combination of the two have made him clingy and restless. Clingy as in, some part of my body must be touching part of mommy's body at all times.

Tonight he finally passed out at 9:30 after only having two 20 minute naps today. He hasn't had a full 6 oz bottle since 11:30 this morning. I think he has eaten a total of 5 ounces since then. And he gets mad when I try and offer him a bottle- he arches his back and screams. It's been hard. I have been on the verge of tears once or twice tonight. I can't imagine how I would have felt had this happened 3 or 4 weeks ago. I know it would have been a lot harder for me to deal with emotionally. We will get through this, that I know for sure. And we will continue to bond and attach. I have a feeling I will wake up tomorrow and yet again be amazed that the love I feel for Aiden Bao has grown. I am living out my biggest dream- I am a mom and it just so happens I am a mom to an amazing little boy. So yes, things REALLY are great!

Looking Back: Ben Thanh Market in Saigon

The Ben Thanh Market is an open air covered market. You can find anything and everything there. It was a hot and humid walk there and even hotter inside. We met up with another family from our travel group and we were all a bit overwhelmed and ready to get out of there. I am not sure how Susan, who was 30 weeks pregnant at the time, was even able to be in there for 5 minutes. It was that hot. Quite an experience. I bought a few souvenirs, a jade bracelet for myself and a silver bracelet for Aiden.

Walking to the market

The number of flowers was amazing

I braved the sights and smells of the food area to get a few pictures



Have to keep the food cold...or, yet another reason not to get ice in your drinks (I didn't get pictures of him transferring it from the scooter to the ground then to his shoulder)

Sneak Peek

You can go to Heather's blog to get a sneak peek at the pictures she took last weekend. Aiden looks pretty cute and you can tell how much he loved Devon! I think the feeling was mutual. I will have more to share soon...off to cuddle with my poor baby who got 4 shots today. It was not fun for Aiden or for Mommy!

The Love Affair

Of course Aiden loves his mommy. But there seems to be another...mammal in his life. Aiden is in love with the monkey that his Auntie Kelly bought him. It was love at first sight about 2 days after we came home. The love connection only grew from there. Grew so much I went and bought a back-up monkey. I have never seen anything like it. Oh wait, yes I have. It was the love and affection a sweet little boy showed his glo-worm. I think he eventually moved on to monkeys as well. Aiden just oohs and ahhs when he sees his monkey. He makes the cutest little baby noises at it. The boy LOVES LOVES LOVES his monkey.

Drooling with anticipation

I'll start with a little peck on the lips


Oh, that was nice

Oh yeah, I'm goin' in for the kill-where have you been all of my life?

Yep, I really, really love this monkey


I love my monkey....morning

...nap time

...and night time