The Wilhelmsen Botanical Blog

Well, Aiden celebrated his first Easter this past weekend. On Saturday we went to Mueller Park and he got to watch his dad, aunt, uncle, and other relatives fly kites. It was his first time being outside for 3 hours and his temperment wasn’t much different then when we are indoors at home. I believe this was due to the cold wind because Aiden really enjoys being outside when it is warmer and he is snug and cozy in his stroller. He even got to be part of an Easter egg hunt (grandpa Brian held him while I gathered his loot which consisted of 3 boiled eggs, one plastic egg with socks in it, a nerf football, a book, a little soft bunny, and two sqeeky toys).

Sunday we went to church and then in the afternoon we went to my mom’s for Easter dinner with Erica, Matt, my mom and my dad. He mostly just enjoyed being held by everyone and swinging with mom in grandma’s swing.

  Well, yesterday afternoon Brandon, Aiden (who was asleep in the car) and I had an adventure.  I will write about it, but I must preface it with some other information first.  When I bought my car in 2003 I had hand picked it for it’s make, model, and awesome gas mileage.  What I didn’t know then is just how amazing this small little car is.  You see, despite it’s small size it has been capable of things that one might say were the job of a truck.  In preparing for our wedding we fit 4 eight foot 2 by 4’s in my car, we have crammed it full of boxes and Brandon’s drum set when moving things back and forth, when we were preparing Aiden’s nursery we attached a diaper changing table to the bike rack, but I think our most amazing feat was our adventure yesterday when we drove home with a love seat attached to the trunk of the car via the help of our bike rack (see attached photos).  We safely drove the 20 blocks home with the couch still intact and now have the love seat in Aiden’s room, where it will be put to good use after we get some foam upholstery cleaner and clean the surface.  (Couch was found for free thanks to this web link http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/zip/)

Over the past several months I have heard a great deal about a social networking tool called Twitter. I finally decided to try it and I do love it. I encourage everyone to take a look. Instead of me trying to explain its merits, check out this short video about the service!

http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter

Hope to see you on Twitter!

Last night, Erin and I went to see a production at Pioneer Theater. On our way there, we grabbed some food at the local grocery store.

We were walking out of the store and trying to cross to our car in the parking lot when a man in a car drove into the same lane as we were in. He stopped the car as we were walking, and for a second it was like a silly game of Red Light/Green Light. We couldn’t tell what his intention was because he had failed to use his turn signal. I was frustrated by this and opened and closed my fingers, as if to signal a light while yelling, “Use your turn signal!”

As we walked past, he rolled down his window on his way into a parking stall and shouted angrily, “You want to talk?! I’ll talk!!!” We found our car and I got Erin inside. I emptied my hands of groceries as he stomped toward me, yelling. I had a nice adrenaline dump as he did so because he looked ready to fight.

I can’t remember what he hollered at me, but it was something to the effect of me being a jerk (in quite a few more words). I told him that we had no idea where he was trying to park, because he didn’t signal. He screamed a few more obscenities at me, and deciding that a fight would be a bad idea, went to go shopping.

I am amazed that some people are wound so tight that they’d fight so quickly. He was clearly not interested in “talking.” I was glad I was not pressed to defend myself as we were trying to hurry to the show. Hopefully he was just having a bad day and it was not his normal temperament. Anyway, it turned out to be a good evening with my wife.

     Well, I guess that it is about time that Brandon and I have something to rave about since we are constantly ranting about the status of the world, politics, and various other things.  As you may or may not know there was a writers strike, this has caused that there will not be a new season of 24 until next January.  It has also shortened this years season of Lost by 3 episodes.  This had Brandon and I kind of bummed and wondering about what we would watch in the evenings.  Well, we came across 3 new shows that we like. 

     The first was in the fall, it was called, “Samantha Who.”  The premise is that this girl (played by Christina Applegate) has lost her memory and now has to experience life and figure out who she is.  It was a fun concept and well acted.  The 2nd show is Eli Stone, it’s premise is that a lawyer is having visions, he is diagnosed with a brain anuerysm, and his old friend also tells him that it is possible that he could be a prophet.  It is a new and unique concept with a lot of wit and fun characters.  Lastly, we have recently started watching New Amsterdam, the concept of this show is that the man is a homicide detective who in the year 1770 was given a gift that he would not die until he met his true love and that when he met her he would feel it in his heart and that once they were wed he would age normally and die.  This show has been intriguing, they do flashbacks from his past and he works on various cases during the episodes.  So, if you are at a loss for what to watch, look up these shows and watch them.  New Amsterdam is on Monday evenings, and Eli Stone is on Wednesdays after Lost.  So there you are! 

Yesterday I was reading my friends blog about her new addition (he is just a little bit older then Aiden) and in it she spoke about how her little one has a bit of reflux and an unsettled stomach. It is interesting because I am sometimes at a loss for what to write about in these journals and I will read her page or someone elses and then I will realize that I have stories about something similar.

Aiden is doing well, he seems to have a bit of a bubbly belly. He needs to burped every 5-10 minutes of eating or after every ounce, and he is constantly gassy. He spits up regularly but is gaining weight at a steady pace so the pediatrician called him a “happy spitter.” (Which is basically a baby who spits up but still gains weight.) She wasn’t concerned and he isn’t on any medication for it. We do use Mylicon to help break up the bubbles in his tummy and that seems to be working pretty decently.

The only other thing is that he is constantly sniffling and snorting. He has pretty active mucus production. I called the pediatrician about this as well and aside from sucking the gunk out of his nose regularly (which we were already doing) she suggested having him sleep at a 15 degree angle, using saline drops, and a humidifier. Basically she chalked up all of the snorting, grunting, sniffling, burping, spitting up and farting to the fact that the his nervous system isn’t fully developed yet and that the nerve endings are still just firing randomly. Things are getting better though. So his nervous system must be continually developing. Babies are definitely a new adventure that I never expected, an adventure that changes every day!

I thought that I had better write an update. Since I last wrote I decided to breast feed for all of the feedings except the 7:00 and 10:00 feedings with me pumping at 10:00. This will allow for Brandon and I to go out on dates and not have to worry about feedings, because Aiden can be bottle fed the breast milk. It has been going smoothly.

We also went to church today for the first time, we spent the morning getting ready and according to the time on our clocks we would have been only about ten minutes late. Well, when we got there people were leaving the chapel and there were already kids in the nursery. I was very confused and so we asked what was going on. We were informed that it had been daylight savings time and that we were supposed to turn our clocks an hour ahead. DOH! I have never had a daylight savings fopah wherein I have arrived an hour early or late to something. I have always worried about it but things always work out and generally someone reminds me to change my clock. Not this time, and it wouldn’t have been a problem if it weren’t 3 weeks early! In fact, at the relief society activity yesterday they were mentioning that daylight savings was 3 weeks early this year but no one stated that it was last night.

Anyway, Aiden was awake for most of Sunday school and Priesthood meeting. During Sunday school he was very happy and making all sorts of happy baby noises. He is a squirmy kid though and likes to look around, especially up at the ceiling or at any lights that are near by. I watched as the other new babies (ranging from 1-4 months) slept soundly the full two hours of classes and was envious because 9-12 is generally Aiden’s awake time and we will have to keep him entertained. It’s ok though. He is a mostly happy baby and seemed very content at church. We will just have to take things as they come.

Lastly, Aiden sure is cute and growing like a weed. Wow! He looks a little bit more grown up every time I see him. We are going to get his picture taken this week because I have a coupon for a free newborn picture package. I plan to get his picture taken once a month (for at least the first year) to document his growth (plus I have coupons for some great package deals) and to capture his cuteness on film. 😉 That is all for this time. I will write more as stories arise.