2008 Year in Review

With Christmas drawing near once more, it is hard to believe that our not-so-little bundle of joy, almost one-year-old now, was still a package waiting to be opened at this time last year. While time flies it is almost hard to remember life before Aiden (although there are times we whimsically recall the two words we may never say again... "I'm bored"). So this year, while we're minus a Christmas tree (an attempt to preserve Mom's sanity), Aiden's goofy smile continues to light up the house.

On January 19th, 2008, Aiden entered the world and suddenly "the Scanga family" was born. The winter was spent largely indoors taking care of our helpless, little newborn (lucky for us and our bitter distaste for cold weather). As spring approached and warm weather made its joyful return we took full advantage of the great outdoors as well as our quaint little town. After an hour or so of packing diapers, emergency pacifiers, blankets, warm clothes, cool clothes, change of clothes, and anything else our stroller could hold, we marched the two blocks to town like warriors armed for battle (we may as well had posted "new parent" signs on our forehead).

With the onset of summer and a slightly more confident approach to parenthood, we ventured beyond our small town hoping to infect Aiden with our love for travel. In the course of three months Aiden traversed the streets of the Big Apple (riding a ferry to Ellis Island and meeting the Today Show family) navigated the city of Seattle (passing mere feet from flying fish and the world's first Starbucks), beheld the natural wonders of Yellowstone (we're not sure which he liked more, Old Faithful or the hood of his backpack carrier), and spent time with family in Missoula, Montana (enjoying the outdoor market and his Great Uncle's wedding, not to mention the hotel pool).

While the fall brought our adventurous summer to a close, it opened a whole new chapter of family fun at home. The weekends were spent hiking and biking through picturesque fall foliage (for all you "Office" watchers), frequenting our local, kid-friendly coffeehouse, and attending events like the Fall Festival where Aiden could play in a tub of corn kernels and excitedly observe a whole array of farm animals. As we move into winter again we frequent the local YMCA and seek out other fun, indoor activities.

So that's our year as a family, now a quick update on the individual players...

Joel began grad school this past summer. He is pursuing a Master's in Technology Education through Boise State University (an online program of course). The course work can be very demanding, but he loves what he is doing and cannot wait to integrate everything he learns into his current position. He continues to teach sixth grade science at a local elementary school where he truly loves his job.

Kim enjoys staying home with Aiden during the days, although most of their time is spent on the go. This fall they began Water Babies classes at the local YMCA. Aiden loved the swimming and Kim enjoyed her interactions with the other moms. They also joined the Moms and Babes group at the local hospital where Kim gets some adult time while Aiden learns to play with the kids ("learns" being the key word).

Aiden began the year in a sleepy haze, but his personality bloomed in the last eleven months and he now possesses more than we sometimes know what to do with! Physically, he moved from rolling to sitting, crawling, and finally, around 9-and-a-half months, he took his first solo steps. While he utilizes crawling to get places fast, he can walk the length of the house, stop, turn corners and is ready (a little too ready for Mom's liking) to really take off. Emotionally, he seems to grow jollier all the time, making us burst with laughter nearly every day. Socially, Aiden may be considered a busybody. He enjoys trips to the grocery store (where he smiles and waves at every passerby, demanding their attention), going out to eat (where he once more smiles and waves at both customers and staff), and finally spending time with both grandparents (where he is sure to find an adoring audience every time).

It was a joyful and challenging year, and we look forward to many more to come. Thanks for all your support and we will continue to update you as Aiden grows and changes.

Love,

The Scanga Family

Fall Fun

Aiden is greatly enjoying his very first fall. Yesterday he went on a hike with mom and dad at a nearby state park. He loved sitting on the bridge and playing with the leaves.

Aiden's newest milestone: crawling. He started clumsily crawling last week and is nearly a pro now. He is able to explore the world around him and is getting into trouble already... heading straight for cords, outlets, and anything else he should stay away from. His true passion, however, remains walking (with a little help from mom and dad... or anyone else willing to lend a hand). Most of the time he uses crawling as a means to climb on our lap, grab our fingers, and take off in a near run around the house. So while crawling has allowed some independence, we are still anxious for him to walk without our help. We'll keep you posted on his progress!

From Our Picasa Web Album

Aiden's First Teeth

I forgot to mention on the last post that Aiden also cut his first two teeth on vacation in August. They are his bottom middle teeth... if you enlarge this picture you should get a pretty good view of them. He is currently working on his top, front teeth.

Aiden's First "Words"

Here is the proof of Aiden's first "words". We don't know if he understands what he's saying, but it's still music to our ears!

Vacation

We are finally back from Aiden's first official vacation. We flew to Seattle, drove to Montana, drove again to Yellowstone... and did it all back again. It was a lot of hours in both plane and car, but Aiden did great! The top picture is (obviously) us in Seattle and the bottom picture is Aiden watching Old Faithful. He loved all the people in the city and also really enjoyed the natural wonders of Yellowstone. While vacationing with a baby is much different than vacations past, we really had a great time and can't wait to show Aiden a lot more really cool places!

Some new milestones in Aiden's development...
Aiden sits really well on his own now. His favorite thing to do while sitting... play with measuring cups.
While on vacation Aiden began to say "mama".... well, more like "mamamamamamama"! We're not sure if he knows what it means... but it's very cute nonetheless. Also he is starting to say "dada", although it always comes out "nnnda, nnnda".
Finally, we are teaching Aiden to sign and had him sign back "more" and "all done" yesterday for the first time. He is very proud of himself and it is really cool to see him communicate in a way that is not grunting or crying!
Aiden is now eating a wide array of fruits and vegetables. His favorite foods are oatmeal, bananas, carrots, and avocado.

Joel began teaching last week and also started his newest grad school class. He is doing an online program in educational technology and really loving it. Aiden and I are spending a lot of time outdoors and trying to get involved in a few new activities.

Thanks for following Aiden's development... we'll try our best to update more often.

The Scangas

Aiden @ Six Months

Aiden is six months old today! It seems strange, at this point we can hardly remember a time without him as part of our family.

We wanted to thank everyone for your support over these last few months, we could not have given Aiden the life that he has now without the help and support of our family and friends.

We compiled some pictures and video footage from Aiden's birth to now. Enjoy!

Aiden Meets Meredith Vieira!

Aiden had the privilege of meeting Meredith Vieira today. He did a lot of laughing and smiling so Meredith got quite the kick out of the little guy. As you can see in the picture he couldn't keep his eyes off the morning show host.

In the video I caught a quick clip of the exchange between the two.

Aiden Two Months Old

We just wanted to show Aiden's growth since he came home from the hospital. On the right is Aiden currently (about two months old) and on the left he is about a week old (and a lot more scrawny!).

Aiden's new stats are as follows. As of his two month doctor's appointment, he weighs in at 13 lbs. (75th percentile) and 25.5 inches (97th percentile). So needless to say, our tiny son is turning into a big boy! We are really enjoying watching him grow and although it's sad to see him leaving the newborn phase it is a lot of fun to see all the ways he is changing.

Here is the first of many short clips of Aiden we posted to YouTube. In this clip he has the hiccups.

Baby Scanga Arrives

Hi everyone!

We are happy to inform you that Aiden Ellis Scanga was born January 19, 2008 at 8:21 AM!

He weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20 inches long.

We will let the pictures (attached) speak for themselves, but he is areally cool little guy with a nice head of hair!

Kim is recovering well after her 12 hour labor that went relatively smoothly.

I'm sorry this communication for some of you is coming a nearly a week after his birth. We just got home from the hospital last evening. Aiden had a case of jaundice, so we had to stay a few extra days while he lay under a light. He seems to be doing much better now, and is enjoying his new home!

You can see more pictures of the little guy if you click on this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/joelandkim

We hope you all get a chance to meet him soon!

With love,

Joel, Kim and Aiden