Idle Hands are the Blogger's Workshop

"What happens when a new dad is home for the weekend with some extra time on his hands?"

"Lots of unnecessary blog posts?"

"Yes, that's right.  And what happens when that same dad also has a new camera to play with?"

"Lots of unnecessary video montages to go on the unnecessary blog posts?"

"Exactly."

  

Aiden Jammin': Part II

   Bailey after a bath

The Polls are Closed

The Pennsylvania Primary may not be until April 22nd, but here at the Jones Abode the ballots are in and counted.  The race to be named "Who Aiden most resembles" has been a dead heat throughout much of the voting season, with some dark horse contenders making quite a splash with voters.  In the end, a late surge by the front runner was able to clear the path for a decisive victory.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves.  The results of the voting for "Who does Aiden most resemble?" are:

In fourth place, with 1 vote-  "Neither"

Of course, someone just had to do it...

     

In third place with 5 votes- "A Keebler Elf"

Not a bad showing for a fictional character that lives in a tree and sells cookies.

In second place with 11 votes- "Jen"

A very strong competitor- with any luck she'll be made "vice-who aiden most resembles."

The winner with 20 votes- "Rob"

Apparently chubby cheeks ARE hereditary.

Congratulations to all the contenders on a well fought race.  Start preparing your campaign strategies now for "Who Does Aiden Most Resemble 2012"...

Like Father Like Son

It's never too early for some father-son bonding- and thank goodness that this little apple has not fallen far from the tree.  Who knew that at this young age Aiden and I would be able to enjoy such a diverse and exciting array of activities?  

He's learning quickly in all of the most important areas of "guy bonding."  He is already a devoted Phillies fan ( sorry Aiden, it's a blessing and a curse.)  And I just can't stop him from coming up with new theories about "LOST", ( the latest: they'll find out it's all been a reality TV show hosted by Jeff Probst ). 

 Sometimes, though, I think he's just humoring me, (during reading time I'm almost sure that he's only in it for the pictures.)  But I can't complain, for the most part he has been gung-ho about anything new that I can come up with for us.  Then again, my interpretation of "gung-ho" is for him to open his eyes and gurgle.  

The great thing is, I just know that we've only scratched the surface here.   I can't wait until our time together can include things like climbing trees, playing in the dirt, falling out of trees, and chasing Bailey around the house, ( you know, guy stuff.) 

  But until that time comes,  I am content to just have him sitting next to me on the couch, making funny noises while he sleeps.          

Good boy Aiden.  Good boy.

ENJOYING A GOOD BOOK

TAKING A NAP

ROOTING FOR THE FIGHTIN' PHILS

WATCHING "LOST"

In Your Face

I know that there are some individuals out there that have been saying, 

"When can we see some close up pictures of Aiden?  Like, really close up?  Like, maybe even where we can see right up his nose?"

To those individuals I would like to say:  Your time has come.  

2 Weeks

Aiden was born 2 weeks ago today. Not much time in the grand scheme of things I know.  Still it's funny how different he seems, not just from 2 weeks ago, but even from yesterday or the day before.  It seems like every day he is a little bit more aware, a little bit more interested, and a little bit more chubby.

 It's been easier to take pictures of him with his eyes open lately because he has been spending more of his day awake.  Sometimes when he's awake he is very alert, but also very calm- just sitting back and taking it all in.  Other times, however, he is a man on a mission : EAT! BURP! POOP! REPEAT!  It's fun to watch him drift in and out of the day, never knowing what you might get the next time he opens his eyes...

e

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Oscar Night at the Jones Abode

It's that time of year again!

That's right, tonight is the night that we gather dutifully around our television sets and pay homage to the best and brightest Hollywood stars.  

For those unfamiliar, the yearly ritual goes something like this:

-turn on TV

-watch host's opening speech accompanied by obligatory funny/touching movie montage

-chuckle

- watch presentation for "best music in a documentary short film"

-change channel to watch "Seinfeld"

-spend the next 2 hours flipping between Oscars and just about anything else, usually barely missing the most interesting presentations 

-fall asleep just as they say "And, the Oscar for best picture goes to..."

This year, however, things are going to be (somewhat) different.  I'm not going to promise that there won't be any channel flipping in the intermediate stages, but I definitely want to be coherent for the best picture announcement.  The reason: 

 Juno. 

 Aside from being one of the better movies that we have seen in a long time, it's also about being pregnant!  When we saw the movie Jen was pretty heavy with child, and I don't know if it made an already funny movie even funnier but it sure didn't hurt.  

Seriously, this was a really good movie and we've got our fingers crossed that it will emerge victorious for those pregnant and recently pregnant everywhere.

 

Enjoy some Juno related clips from You-Tube to get you in the Oscar spirit...

-  Juno trailer

- "All I Want is You" music video

- "Anyone Else But You" - Michael Cera and Ellen Page

The Many Faces of Aiden

Despite the fact that Aiden is many months away from uttering his first word, it is surprising how expressive he can be.  Of course, at this point his facial expressions have more to do with what's going on in his diaper than his perspective on the world.  Still though, it's fun to watch his features change from serious grimace, to goofy smirk, to enraged howl all within the span of a couple minutes. 

Here is a sampling of Aiden's repertoire complete with interpretive captions:

working hard

 

silly

meditating  

        inquisitive

irate 

 

  cozy

total relaxation

 

    delirious

 

    sneaky          

     sneezing   

comatose

just chillin

    

First Snow

Today is Aiden's first snow!  Technically it did snow and ice on the day he was born, but since we were in the hospital and not even next to the window-I say it didn't count!  Aiden has been sleeping all day as you can see from the pictures.  Bailey has been pretty amusing today.   This morning when he went outside, his feet froze and he laid down in the snow.  He was shivering and crying when we brought him in- it was pretty pathetic.  So I got some of Aiden's socks (don't worry- I am not giving them back to Aiden) and put them on Bailey to go out.  This was a great idea until he started running and the front ones started falling off.  I am sure they make boots for dogs and as ridiculous as that seems, I can attest that Bailey could really use some on a day like this.   Well, I hope you are all enjoying this snow day!  We certainly all are!

the backyard

Aiden's room has the best view

Apologies....

As you can probably tell from the creative posts on this wonderful blog, Rob has obviously been the author this past week.  Well, Rob returned to work last night so I should warn you that he will not be able to update as frequently.  I will try to keep you all informed with pictures and events in the life of Aiden.  However, I wanted to send my apologies that they will not be as entertaining as my husband's creative posts.  Just don't say I didn't warn you!

Blue Steel

So... we may have to rethink Aiden's future career path as a male model. 

 As this picture taken by the hospital clearly shows, when the flashbulbs are popping he may not exactly be at the top of his game.  His future still seems bright, however, as he clearly excels at impersonating miniature sumo wrestlers.  Don't worry Aiden, there is more to life then being really, really, really ridiculously good looking.