A Month of Firsts

I remember when Sheri and I started dating we celebrated plenty of early relationship milestones: 1st tutoring session, which led to the 1st mixtape, which led to 1st DTR (Define the Relationship, which arranged the 1st dinner date, where we tried our 1st hand hold, finished the night with our 1st kiss, introduced each other to our parents, celebrated our 1st month anniversary, etc. Nearly 7 1/2 years ago everything between she and I was new, each activity built on the previous days adventures to create the continous 'development phase' of our relationship. It laid the foundation for the couple we are today.

The past month brought those emotions flooding back. Only this time as a collective unit, Sheri and I began passionately defining our relationship with our SON... and wow has it been a month of firsts:

1. First introductions (one month ago today we were meeting our son, after 9 months of anticipation he absolutely blew our expectations away)
2. First night sleep (we're fairly certain that first night in the hospital with a solid 6 hours of sleep will hold the nighttime record for weeks to come - couldn't have been more convenient)
3. First car ride (not even a peep - slept the whole way home while dad nervously navigated roundabouts and avoided landcruisers)
4. First diaper change (for us this was after getting home, since the hospital staff handled them for us... since then we've had several HEAVY loads, Sheri still holds the record for most obscene diaper)
5. First stroller ride (Aiden can't get enough of the fresh air and sunshine - especially early in the month before temps started climbing in prep for Doha summer; the ladies have a Stroller Fit club that looks like a mini marathon training boot camp at the pace they cruise around the compound)
6. First bath (our little man loves the water, some of his cutest faces are during the bath - which is a far more organized and less hectic activity these days)
7. First accident (dad's shorts recovered nicely after being the first to get sprayed during a diaper change - Aiden has still hit himself more than other folks, although he did manage to get our friend Cassie as she helped out at the hospital)
8. First photoshoot (mom and dad suddenly feel like poparatzi, snapping hundreds of photos a day of our supermodel; who can blame us - he's adorable and seems to ham it up for us when the lens cap comes off)
9. First trip to the mall (our new favoriate hang out - he can usually last 1.5 or 2 hours in his stroller as we pick up groceries and the occasional ice cream cone from 31 flavors)
10. First Easter service (technically it was a Good Friday service since we have a Fri/Sat weekend, but he was a champ and slept through the whole service, stuffy air, enthusiastic music and all)
11. First ESCAPE (Aiden decided he had enough of staying put at night, and between his 3am feed and 7am wakeup managed to wiggle out of his blanket, back out of his anti-roll over pads and turn 90 degrees - getting a head start on the 3 point turn)



12. The biggest first of all: his 1 Month Birthday (spent mostly napping and hanging out in his swing while mom and dad did some spring cleaning, installing the new 'baby food' freezer, finishing yard work, and folding our 1000th load of laundry since brining Aiden home, or so it seems!)

On a weekend when the World celebrates the most meaningful miracle, we're so happy and thankful for the intimate miracle he's recently blessed us with.

It's BED Time

Mommy and Daddy finally got comfortable with the thought that our little man could make it through a night in his nursery, under full remote supervision of our sophisticated collection of baby monitors that would make the UK government proud – full audio, video, and physical motion detection all with associated alarms should something go wrong. As many parents can testify, this was a tough transition – but a necessary one if we were to get enough sleep to avoid physical shutdown (more so for Sheri who was sleeping next to the Moses basket and was more susceptable to the little grunts and noises – think Beevis and Butthead only really cute!)

He is averaging 3 hours between feeds during night time hours, occasionally stretching to 4 hours… and has been super active during the days, which is great for dad who fits some playtime in before work and is happy to takeover duties in the evenings (diapers, burping, and baths, oh my!). In addition to the normal routine, he does offer up the occasional surprise wake up at 5am demanding special attention – ie. we bring him into our room for some snuggle time before admitting defeat and getting out of bed at six.

We’re closing in on his one month birthday (where did the time go) – which will hopefully celebrate with lots of playtime and naptime with rumors of a photoshoot for our month-by-month frame. So be assured that more photos and videos are inbound to the blog and Flickr (we have been sneaky new photos onto Flickr without associating with a blog post – so if it’s been a week without a post, keep an eye on Flickr). For some reason posting photos is much more convenient than writing creative and witty comments.

Special congratulations to Nadia and Katie who both gave birth last night to beautiful babies! Aiden has so many friends he can’t wait to meet.