Happy Birthday To Daddy!!

Today was David's actual birthday. Somehow the day flew by just like any other Sunday...

We woke up,

We love our morning snuggles!!

Ayden gave his daddy one more present,

It was a double photo frame with pictures of Ayden for his desk at work...

And we had more quality family time which consisted of breakfast, watching an episode of Heroes on Netflix, and a birthday massage for David :).

Then we finally got ready for the day. We went to the grocery, took a short nap (well... Ayden and I napped while David watched part of a movie) and then headed out to my parents house to finish cleaning up from the party. We also picked up some containers for the backyard vegetable garden we plan on growing this summer.

David filled them with some high quality farm top soil and loaded them into the back of the car. He actually tipped one on it's way in and when he started to get mad about it he stopped and recalled a quote from a book he's currently reading. "Laugh at your mistakes and you won't repeat them." It's a pretty good quote to keep in mind if you ask me! Right after he said it we paused, looked at the mess, then each other and... laughed. No big deal, it never pays to sweat the small stuff!! I hope that we can continue to model those kinds of reactions for Ayden so that he too can learn not to sweat the small stuff.

Once our future garden was all packed up, it was nap time for Ayden so we took the opportunity to drive around a couple of neighborhoods in our town to see if there are any interesting houses for sale. We didn't really find anything but it's always fun to look.

While I was making dinner, Ayden was really sucking on his fingers. He's been exploring his hands for a while but now it seems he's intentionally trying out different finger sucking options. It's cute but I know finger sucking can be a difficult habit to break. It'll be interesting to see if he finds an option he likes and makes it a habit.

Tonight we are leaving one of Ayden's arms out of his swaddle.  Since he'll start rolling over soon I think it's time we start weaning him from it if we can.  We'll see how it goes...

I am so looking forward to this upcoming week because we have nothing extra planned!! That means we can fall back into our normal groove which will be so nice :).

How do you feel about finger vs. pacifier sucking? We're on the fence... If a baby needs to suck, they're going to. A pacifier can be bad because it can get lost or fall out and wake the child up yet good because someday it can be taken away. With fingers, on the other hand (haha, pun intended), the child can always find yet they can't be taken therefore making a very difficult habit to break. Dilemmas, dilemmas...

Also, any advice on swaddle weaning?  Whenever we go without cold turkey, unless he's on his tummy, Ayden still startles himself awake.  I'm okay with tummy napping, but definitely want him on his back at night while we are sleeping too.  I've heard that leaving one arm out, and alternating which arm is out each night, is a good way to do it so we're giving it a try.  I'm open for other suggestions as well!

~Sarah