Aiden has a very distinctive mad face that he makes.  He sticks his neck out really far and scrunches his face up.  Poor guy.  And of course I think it's hilarious and take pictures.

Nonna (grandma in Italian, my mother) sent us a sling to use.  It's so great.  

He loves  it and it frees up my hands so that I can read, or do the dishes, 

or  the laundry, or type.  He sleeps "like a baby" inside it.

                                           He has a silly hat with ears that he wears that we think is too cute.

It  seems like all we do is take pictures of the little guy.

Maybe we do... STOP JUDGING!!  Man.  People are so rude :)

His cousin Korbin was not too happy about Aiden when he first got here.  He got pretty upset when Ellie held Aiden.  But as time went by he seemed to get used to the idea and towards the end of their visit was happily giving the baby kisses and trying to

 touch him all the time.

Ellie and Korbin went home on Tuesday. Good thing too 

because we had a huge snow storm in Chicago all day Wednesday.  Toby got called off of work and they closed the mall where he works. Now everything is covered in sheets of ice.  Not so fun. 

I feel like I have read a million books on babies and sleep habits and breast feeding and what to do and what not to do... and yet I still feel like I've learned nothing.  

Sometimes Aiden is wide awake at 3am after a feeding and has no interest in going back to sleep, even though the lights are dim and the room is warm, his belly if full, he's swaddled, clean diaper, we're singing... nope.  He just wants to cry, fuss or scream sometimes.  Some people have said "let them cry" and then I've read that newborns can't soothe themselves yet so you have to rock them and let them suck on a pacifier or your finger and sing and swaddle them.  I guess we'll figure it out eventually.  At least by baby #2 :)

Bath time has become one of my favorite times of the day.  I take him in the tub with me and fill it to about ankle level and we just sit and float.   It's warm and comfortable and he rarely fusses.

I don't know yet what we're going to do about employment.  I don't think I want to go back to work downtown.  I make the same amount of money I'd be paying in childcare... that seems silly.  I'm looking into nannying a few days a week, or waiting tables.  We'll see.  I still have a few weeks to decide.

Here we are a few days after we brought Aiden home. Most of these pictures are taken by my sister who is a professional photographer. She and her son Korbin came to help out with the little guy. It's been very nice to have someone to hand the baby off to in the morning so I can go back to sleep for a few hours.

My sister is selfless, beautiful and amazing. Her son, Korbin, is just adorable. His smile lights up the room and brightens my day. We can only hope that Aiden grows up to be like him. We'd love for them to be best friends! :)  

(Ellie wrote this.. although I agree with all of it except for one thing)

Aiden is here!!

Aiden Shawn Minor was born on Sunday, January 20th, 2008 at 4:52pm. He weighed a whopping 6 lbs, 7 oz and was only 13 inches long.
Everyone is doing great. We're all getting adjusted to the new schedule the little guy is setting for us.

Wedding reservations!

My sister-in-law Beth has been communicating with the owner of the resort where we'll be having the wedding. They would like to get some deposits on some cabins/condos this weekend if possible so they know we're serious about having the wedding up there.

The cabins/condos for Pottawatamie for the wedding are a 2-night minimum.

So we thought we'd have everyone fly in/drive up Friday morning, have the rehearsal dinner and other fun stuffs on Friday (like go the winery, volleyball, pool, beach, grilling... etc) , more fun stuffs Sat. morning, wedding on Sat. afternoon/early evening and then everyone check out Sunday morning.

There are two studios. One is a cabin (#10), and one is a pool side villa (#24). They are both $160/night. Toby and I will be in cabin #11.

There are also one bedrooms available. They are all pool side villas (23, 27, 29, 21, 22). They are $170 or $180/night. Two-bedrooms are either cabins (#2, 3 and 7) which are $180/night, or two bedroom condos #26 is $190/night and # 28B with a lake view is $300/night.

You can check them out at: http://www.pottawattamieresort.com/life/accomodations.aspx

Beth is arranging the reservations. It's half the total as a deposit to hold it. Also, if you decide later that you can't make it, you can cancel and get a full refund within 30 days of the wedding. So if you're unsure please make the reservation now so the space is there for you if you need it!

I've attached the map so you can see it. Click on it to make it bigger!



For reservations contact Beth at: ElizabethMorgan@comcast.net or call her at (253) 278-4677.

THIS IS GOING TO BE SOOO MUCH FUN. TOBY AND I CAN'T WAIT!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!! Here we almost 9 months pregnant. 35 1/2 weeks to be exact.
The lady who teaches our birth class at Northwestern says that at 37 weeks a baby that is born is considered full-term. Even just a day before is still pre-mature.
So technically he could join us in the next few weeks. We're pretty excited!!
Todays plans involve napping, some laundry and later on we'll be playing games and eating crazy-good food with our good friends and neighbors the Goviers.



Here is the little guy at his first Christmas! I've gained 53 pounds... which is a little more than I should, but Aiden likes potatoes and chocolate. What is a girl supposed to do?? Geeze.

Baby Shower Registry

Oh my goodness! Toby and I are completely overwhelmed by all the gifts we've been getting for Aiden. Not to mention soooo grateful. We're going to have the best dressed little guy in the world.

We've also found some awesome stuff at the thrift stores and garage sales in our area, so we thought we would list what we've gotten so far.

We've had two beautiful baby blankets knitted for us. One by his (hopefully) future nanny Katie Govier and one from my grandmother Lore. Lore also made a matching cap and some booties. Sooo sweet. We found another knitted blanket at a garage sale that I'm sure someone lovingly made and then we have several fleece blankets we've gathered, including one that matches our room stuff that Katie VanEaton sent us. Little moon on it. Love it :)

My neighbor Melissa has two boys and gave us a box full of stuff including a boppy nursing pillow that attaches in the back that she said is great.

Yesterday we got a musical melodies bouncer in the mail from the Warrens! I think it plays 5 different songs and rocks babies to sleep. My mother found me a really great electric breast pump. Beth sent us a steam sterilizer that we can use in the microwave for bottles and such since we don't have a dish washer. I see that coming in VERY handy.

Claudia sent us a bassinet and lots of blankets and washclothes and bibs and adorable onsies and hats and all sorts of stuff. So did Toby's sister Stephanie. Adorable clothes and some burp cloths and bibs and blankets.

My sister Ellie has a client who dropped off 4 boxes of baby clothes ranging from infant to 12 months. I guess she is bringing a suitcase full when she comes in Jan. and my father who will be here Saturday is also dragging a suitcase of babyclothes around with him on his business trip. (hope they check his bags at the airport. That would be funny)

My dad is also planning to buy us a crib when he is here.

Some friends gave us a car seat with a little infant booster pillow and some other friends just recently gave us a high chair for when he's a little older.

At the thrift store we gathered up a lovely diaper bag. Toby thinks it's too girly though for him to carry around!! We got a whole bunch of chewy books and little toys. A DVD of baby Da Vinci and Baby Mozart.

A friend of mine gave us a baby bath tub and my friend Sheryl has found all sorts of stuff at the Evanston resale shops like monitors, a baby scale and all sorts of blankets and clothes for me and the baby.

Leroy and Jaynelle bought us a wipes warmer while they were here, not to mention the adorable onsies and outfits they brought with them to dress their newest grandbaby.

Believe it or not I did NOT list all the gifts we've gotten. Some ladies at Chipotle got Aiden some little "daddy's helper" onsies. He's gotten clothes from just about every relative in the mail and they are all ADORABLE. Thank you soooo much. It's hard to believe that in just 5 1/2 weeks-ish a little guy is going to be wearing them. He's also gotten lots of chew toys and play matt thingies. He's got a winter jacket for 6 mths, mittens, socks of all sizes, a bag of assorted shoes...

As far as what we still need:

We're planning on using cloth diapers at home, but he'll probably sleep in pampers (or whatever brand) and go out in them. So diapers are always good. Wipes. Toys. Books. Towels. Baby-sitting :), bottles, plastic baby ware (plates, bowls, sippy cups, baby spoons), baby-proofing stuff, bath stuff (like toys, shampoo, soap, lotion), baby music, humidifier (they have one at Target that's a frog that we love)...

We're registered at Babies R Us. The registry number is: 51528077 or you can just go in by our names. We've also found some really great stuff at IKEA that we like.

If you're coming to the baby shower please don't feel like you have to get us anything!! We really just want our friends to come and share in the joy and fun and play games! It'll be a blast!! But if you do insist on getting something, we LOVE stuff from thrift stores and second hand items. It's our way of recycling. Seriously. Just go to a thrift store and pick up a toy or something little. Seriously. I'm not kidding. We'd love it!!

Also, if you're planning on coming to the shower on Jan. 3rd, we'll be finishing up the baby pool, so bring $10 if you want to buy in. The game is posted two posts down if you need a reminder!! My friend Missy is going to be collecting the money for that, so she may email everyone to remind them.

Wedding stuffs

We think we've found the perfect wedding location and as soon as we're sure, we'll put a link to it up on this website so people can go to it and start reserving cabins and lodges or campsites or whatever for the weekend.

Our plan is to have everyone fly in Thursday night, Aug 7th and then we'll have a full day of festivities and family fun on Friday. Rehearsal and rehearsal dinner Friday night and then the wedding will probably be around 5pm-ish on Saturday.

So... more later :)