Warm and Fuzzy

My little morning helper:

"Mommy, I think you should wear this gloss today!"

I spent a lot of time savoring moments today.  I think I do this a lot everyday, but today I was very aware of it.  I really love being a mother of a baby and my baby is growing up fast.  I'm sure I will continue to love every age and stage but there is just something about having a baby that is so special. Every mother says it but it's true, it goes by in the blink of an eye.  I am so glad that I will always have this blog to refer back to.  I have written about the good, the bad, the ups and downs, things I've loved and things that I would have been even happier without experiencing.  I think that the first year seems to go by faster than any other because you are so busy being tired and learning the ropes that you are often too distracted to just live.  Ask me in five years if this is actually true because the first year (almost) is all I've experienced so far...

Though I look back at posts and videos from when Ayden was a newborn and sometimes miss the sweetness of it all, I am also loving the little person that Ayden is becoming.  He is starting to communicate likes and dislikes.  He reaches his cute little hands up when he wants to be picked up.  He  initiates games and repeats sounds back and forth with us.  He is starting to give "kisses" spontaneously and seeks comfort from us when he is hurt.

I often find myself admiring his fuzzy head.  When he was a newborn, he had a lot of fuzz.  He had fuzz on his head, on his cheeks and across his back.  He ended up shedding it all, as most newborns do, and I missed all the fuzz.  Over the past few weeks, the hair on his head has really started to come in again and it is just as cute and fuzzy as I remember it being when he was a tiny newborn.

It is much thicker than you notice at first glance because it is BLONDE.  We never would have guessed that we'd have a blonde haired, blue eyed baby.  I'm pretty sure his hair will darken over time but still, never would have guessed...

Ayden has grown out of the comfort of nursing pillows.  I still used one when we were at home because I enjoy being hands free.  He's big enough now to rest in my lap and still be able to reach.  He is actually quite fidgety when he nurses and will even stand while still latched on and the pillow made it worse.  I used to read or mess around on my phone while he would nurse and now I have to put everything down and focus on him and keeping him situated so that I don't get frustrated.  It has been a blessing in disguise, though, because without my phone in my face I spend more time stroking his fuzzy head, singing quietly to him, and looking into his big, blue eyes in an attempt to keep him still enough to fall asleep.  It is actually quite wonderful.

Getting so big.

Today was an ideal Friday.  I cleaned out our refrigerator, which is a task I've been wanting to do for weeks.  I used to keep it so clean and organized and that habit has fallen by the wayside since Ayden's arrival.  I spent several years working in retail and love for my refrigerator, pantry and cabinets to look like the ones you'd see in a retail store with all the label facing front and everything in rows.  It didn't take long and made me feel so good!  Totally worth it.  I also meal planned, made a grocery list and went to the grocery.  I also spent some quality time with Ayden.  We read books several times today, played outside, in his room and in the kitchen.  He took wet things out of the dryer while I was trying to put them in ( a new favorite game) and we practiced going up the stairs.  Tasks seem to take twice as long these days as he makes messes while I try to clean them up but somehow I don't care a bit.  I can see him learning and having fun and isn't that what life is all about?

Here are some clips from our day to enjoy but be warned, it is 5 minutes long :).

~Sarah