Family Pictures

My First Photo Shoot :)

21 Days Old

3 Weeks Old

Three weeks old already, I can't believe how fast the time goes. It is funny because even though it has only been three weeks since he was born, we totally can't even remember life without him. We have had another good week home together. We took our first walk in the stroller with the dog (it went surprisingly well), went to the mall for the first time, and visited both dad's work and school. We also had our first three way explosion, it involved peeing and puking while mom and dad tried to change a explosively poopy diaper (a very entertaining experience, unfortunately not caught on film). Health wise everything is going well. We went to the doctor on Tuesday and Aiden weighed in at a whopping 5 lb 8 oz. The doctor said everything continues to look good and we don't need to come back for a few weeks. The really exciting news in our lives is that we FINALLY finished the nursery. It feels so nice to have all the work finally done and it turned out great. We are getting the crib and dresser on Monday so after it is all set up I will post some pics. Hope everyone had a good week and as always GO STATE!!

Naked Baby

Mom was torturing me trying to take pictures but I got her back by peeing on her bed :)

Migo & Aiden




My first walk - man the sun is bright and yes those are my socks on my hands because I keep scratching my face.


Just taking it all in.

He's soooo cute!!

My awesome Aunt Jen took these pictures of me this weekend.

2 weeks old !!

It is hard to believe that Aiden is already 2 weeks old!! The time has gone so fast. We have had an exciting last week. They moved Aiden to a crib at the hospital over the weekend and took the feeding tube out of his nose on Sunday. Since he keep eating well throughout the weekend he was discharged on Monday!! We were so excited to bring him home and be able to really start our lives together. So far things have been good. We had lots of visitors at the beginning of the week but the last few days it has been just the three of us (and the dog and cat of course) and we have been able to get into a little bit of a routine. The doctors want Aiden to eat a minimum of every 3 hours so that means setting the alarm and having to wake him up in the night if he doesn't wake up on his own. Generally he gets up by himself and he is getting better at staying awake for the whole feeding. He is also finally gaining weight. When he left the hospital he was 4 lb 15 oz. At the doctor this week he was back to 5 lb 1 oz, so hopefully he will be back to his birth weight next week. His umbilical cord also fell off on Thursday so he had his first proper bath yesterday, not his favorite thing but not too terrible either. Overall it has been awesome having him home. Migo seems to be adjusting fairly well and Kindred doesn't seem to really care one way or another. Aaron and I however are totally in love. It is so nice to be able to have him home and be able to hold him and cuddle him whenever we want.

Look at me in my big boy crib!!

We like to think that the birth of Aiden had something to do with MSU being 2-0 and U of M being 0-2. As you can tell he feels very strongly about the subject.
GO STATE!!


Finally home!!


The first family pic at home.


My VERY proud cousin Caleb holding me for the first time.


I LOVE my bouncer seat that Aunt Michelle got me. It vibrates and makes ocean noises - very relaxing after at day of eating and sleeping.


All clean after my first bath.

Mmmmm afternoon nap.

1 Week Old !!!

Hard to believe that Aiden is already 1 week old!!

This week has been fairly hectic for us, between being at the hospital, finishing the nursery. With Aaron being back to classes and work, we have been running pretty nonstop. I guess this is my excuse for not putting up pics sooner :)

We are fortunate that Aiden has been doing great this week. He continues to breath on his own without any problems and is a much happier baby now that he is eating. He is doing every other feeding through his NG tube and the other feeding either breast or bottle. He seems to be getting the hang of breast feeding but just has some trouble staying awake long enough to get the amount of milk they want him to have. When I talked to the doctor today he said that once he gets a little better at eating he will be good to go home, so we are hoping for sometime next week. He has also spent the week under the UV light for a little bit of jaundice (very common for premies) but was finally taken off the light today and has actually graduated to a crib!! He is much happier now that he doesn't have to wear the sunglasses and we can actually put little tiny clothes on him. All in all it has been a exciting week for all of us :)

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Just relaxing and catching some rays

These two pics are pre-feeding

If you couldn't tell these two pics are post feeding.
mmmmm milk ... soooo good

I look just like my dad and I love it when he sings to me!!


Hanging out with Uncle Brad

Sept 2nd - 2 days old

On Sunday they took Aiden off the CPAP machine and we finally got to hold him. It was awesome to finally be able to hold him and just really get to be close to him. I probably could have held him all night long if the nurses didn't make me put him back in his isolet. I was also discharged from the hospital on Sunday and leaving him there was not easy. We are lucky to live close and be able to spend a lot of time there still. The nurses in the ICU are also awesome so I know that he is in good hands.

They still hadn't feed him but he loves sucking on his pacifier.

Sept 1st - One day old

Aiden had to keep his breathing tube in for most of the day on Saturday so we couldn't hold him but we did spend a lot of time holding his hand and just admiring how amazing he is.

The little peanut

My favorite - little tiny toes !!


It is crazy how big my hand looks next to him. All the ICU nurses keep talking about how big he is but he seems pretty little to me :)

The Unexpected Arrival

AIDEN JOHN SHELLE

So much to our surprise our little boy decided that it was time to make his appearance last Friday (Aug 31st). As we thought that we had another 6 weeks before his arrival we were fairly overwhelmed and unprepared, but are so glad to finally have him here. My water broke at home at about 3 a.m. on Friday and he was delivered at 6:48pm. The whole process was very chaotic as there were LOTS of medical staff there to make sure that he was doing alright throughout the event. Since he was just barely 34 weeks he did have breathing trouble after birth and had to be taken to the RNICU and had a breathing tube placed.

Luckily he is pretty big (5 lb 6 oz, 19 in) and he has been doing well. They removed the breathing tube on Saturday night and put him on a CPAP machine. He was taken off the CPAP machine on Sunday and has been breathing on his own since then. They started tube feeding him on Monday and as soon as he starts tolerated that he will be moved to a bottle. We are hoping that if he keeps doing well he will be able to come home in the next 2 weeks. There are several milestones that he has to pass before he is sent home so it just depends how fast he can do that.

He is however (not that I am bias) the cutest baby ever!! Every thing about him is so tiny and perfect. He makes the funniest faces already and when he opens his eyes if just melts our hearts. He also seems to have a bit of a temper and lets you know when he wants your attention. Overall Aaron and I are totally in love with him and can't wait to have him home with us.

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AUGUST 31ST

BIRTHDAY !!

This is right after he was born when he was still in the room with us. The RNICU staff was all there to check him out and get him stable before they took him upstairs. We didn't get to hold him before they took him but Aaron was able to follow him upstairs to make sure that he was doing good.

This is the first pic once Aaron could see him in the ICU. He looks a little rough (although still cute) but everyday he keeps looking better and better.

The VERY proud daddy.

Aaron did an awesome job through the whole thing. He has given me so much support throughout the experience I couldn't ask for a better husband!!

He's so tiny!!

Finally sleeping peacefully after quite an eventful day.