All About Aiden

Aww, Aiden is my buddy. He loves to cuddle, loves to give kisses, and I am happy to oblige. I love him SO!

Aiden is a talker. Always has been. It's always been lots of fun to "talk" back and forth with him. It's just that now we can actually understand some of what he says. The following is a list of random words I've noticed him using a lot lately. Clock
Night Night (nye nye)
Hi
Bye Bye (guy guy)
Light (yite!)
Lola (yola)
Kitty Cat (key ca)
Doggie (ga ge)
Daddy
Momma
Round and Round (rourourou)

Animal sounds:
Cow: Moo
Duck: wackwackwack
Horse: Nay
Cat: Meow
Dog: woof woof

He also can point to any body part when prompted. (well, MOST: like toes, knee, arm, fingers, hair, etc. Can't identify forearm, ankle and the like. YET)

Can verbally identify the following body parts:
Eye: eye
Nose: no
Ear: Eee
Mouth: Ma
Haie: Air

I think it goes without saying, he's absolutely perfect.

croup

Croup: "a throat condition, occurring usually in children, characterized by a hoarse cough and laboured breathing, resulting from inflammation and partial obstruction of the larynx." For some reason, the main side effect of croupe: a bark-like cough, isn't listed in the definition. I don't agree with this definition. The bark cough defines the illness.

Yep, our kids have croup and they are miserable. So sad and miserable. High fever, no energy, hurts to cough, hard to breathe, no appetite, feeling crummy, etc etc etc.

I love them so much and want them to feel better! Looks like we'll be dealing with this through the weekend, and that's a BUMMER.

So while the kids are sleeping, I will too. Because I doubt they will sleep through the night. The coughing will be back, and the fever too. Poor babies.

Trick or Treat!

Good Times

Tonight we took the kids for a walk.

I'm ashamed to admit that tonight was the first time that Addison really rode her bike that she got for her birthday (IN MAY). It's just been SO. HOT. I have no other excuses.

Anyway, check out my ADORABLE children:








Yes, I let Addison dress herself. Our deal is... school days and any other time that "mommy says so", she has to wear an outfit that I pick and she agrees on. Any other time, she gets to wear the outfit of her choice, as long as I agree on it.

OMG!

There was just an elephant on the tv, and Aiden started walking around with his arm out like a trunk and roaring like an elephant.

That settles it. He's brilliant.

First Day of School

First day of school was a great success!

I dropped Addison off in her classroom first, since I expected Aiden to have a rougher time. To our surprise, Mrs. Haedge wasn't there- she lives in Steiner Ranch, one of the main areas devastated by the wildfires. Nobody knew whether her house is safe or not, I hope it is. These wildfires have caused so much devastation and tragedy. Ugh.

So, today Addison had Ms. Amy, her teacher from the 2 year old class! Yay! We love Ms. Amy! Addison had no problems with first day jitters, she marched herself right in and didn't look back! I DID get a great big heartfelt hug and kiss before she left me, though :-)

After big sister was successfully dropped off, Aiden and I walked down to his room. We put his backpack and lunchbox in his cubby and walked him to his little chair. He did GREAT! There were at least two VERY LOUD AND UPSET babies already there (I say at least two, because that's all I remember seeing, but the sound of the cries were much louder than only two kids!). The poor teachers had their hands full! As much as I wanted to stay, I knew it was best to let the kids and teachers just close the door. So I gave Aiden a big hug and kiss and told him I'd be back soon. I snapped this picture from the hallway.
Right after I took this, he started crying. :-( I walked away, and when I walked back by on my way out about a minute later he was done crying and eating his goldfish.

When I picked Addison up, she told me that she had a GREAT day. Aiden was very happy to see me, and his teachers said he did great. They said he did have a few minor moments of tears, but that they were short lived and as long as he had his teddy bear and paci he was happy. We weren't in the car longer than 2 minutes before he was fast asleep. He woke up while I was transferring him from the car to his crib, and he hasn't slept a wink since. Ohboy.

Aiden is EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME now, so I only got pictures of Addison this morning. Aiden IS in the second picture here. This was the best I could do.

Meet the Teacher

Last night I went to Bethany School's Open House, and this morning Addison got to meet her new teacher, Mrs. Haedge! It's pronounced Hedge, like hedgehog. The Hedgehog is their class mascot :-)

I LOVE her teacher and am THRILLED with her style of teaching, her curriculum and the year ahead for Addison!






















Aiden tagged along (he didn't get to meet his teachers, they don't do that with the "baby class") and made himself quite comfortable. He looks like such a big boy in this picture!!



I can't believe this is my baby girl's last year in preschool. She's even in a totally different wing of the school. Where the "big kids" learn. And my BABY boy is starting school this year too?!? I don't know if I'm ready for this!!!

Bath time

If I'm being honest, I'm not sure why I'm doing this. I'm exhausted. But I feel like it's been so long since I've posted.

Here are a couple of pics taken during bath time lately...









































Of course I need to blog about recital, but I really wouldn't know where to start. So I'm going to sit on it for a while and blog when I'm ready.

So Much Love

After taking a few pictures the other day, I realized how long it's been since I'd used my camera! So, I ended up taking A LOT of pictures that day. Like, a lot. Here are just a few of my favorites:

To Lighten the Mood

The blog has been so down in the dumps lately with all of the sad illness updates. Here are some photos of the cutest baby ever to put a smile back on our faces.

eating dirt

I consider it a victory that he made it 11 months before tasting his first handful of dirt.

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Playing Hardball

Aiden used to be so good. I mean, he's still good. REALLY GOOD. But lately he's gotten into the very bad habit of taking forever to/resisting falling asleep. I nurse him, he drifts off, snaps out of it, sits right up and wants to feed on the other side. Fine, I oblige. Same thing happens, he dozes off and suddenly awakens. Repeat. And repeat. AND REPEAT. I'm not exaggerating.

So tonight I decided I'd feed only once on each breast and he'd have to self soothe after that. He fell TOTALLY asleep, I laid him in his crib, and he immediately sat up and cried. He's been standing in his crib for 25 minutes now. I keep checking on him (love the jack and jill bathroom- I can check on him without him seeing me) and there he wails- standing in the crib, staring at the door he wants me to walk through.

I wonder how long I will let this go on. He is hysterical. But I really want him to figure out that it's possible to just calm down and go to sleep on his own.

...shhh.... what is that? I hear NOTHING.

:-)

Catching Up

Did you know I was rear-ended last Wednesday? On my way to work, lady slipped on some ice and bumped me while I was sitting at a light. No damage to the car, but my neck (which was already hurting due to stress) completely froze up within 15 minutes. The next day was the worst- I hurt and was loopy from the muscle relaxers...

But, aside from that, which I have now recovered from (hopefully)... WE ARE ALL HEALTHY!

Hallelujah!

Aiden update: He is full on crawling now. And he's getting fast. Every morning when I go into his room, he's standing in his crib waiting for me. He pulls up on the coffee table, couch, stairs. He just wants to WALK! And climb! He still says mamamamama and he babbles babababa gagagaga. Still haven't heard dada yet, though :-(

Addison update: I'm having a hard time believing she's going to be FOUR in a few short months. She's growing up way too fast. Words I'd use to describe Addison: sweet, smart, strong willed, empathetic. She's awesome. She still loves dancing and asks me to show her/teach her moves all the time.

Just wanted to drop by and share SOMETHING to hold you over until a moment of genius strikes me. When that genius does strike me, I will first come here and share my wisdom and wit with you all- my loyal readers. Thank you for your patience.

I now bid you good night.

CEREAL!

So, you know they suggest introducing rice cereal anywhere from 4-6 months. I waited til 6 months with Addison, and decided to wait just as long with Aiden. Tonight while he sat in his bumbo watching me make dinner, I just saw it in his eyes (and in his voice- he was telling me he wanted some!) that it was time to start him on solids.

And boy, did he LOVE it! Of course he made a few "yucky" faces, trying to figure it all out. But once he got the hang of it, he fussed for more, and smiled after he got it! He took larger and larger bites, and hardly any missed his mouth- there was no spitting it back with this kid!

So funny how I felt like the time was right... and it totally was.



Forgive the lack of pics. We took a million, but none of them really turned out :-(

Aiden is SIX Months!

I can't believe that six months have already passed. Seems like he's been in our lives forever. At the same time, it seems impossible that it's already been half a year.

Have you EVER seen a sweeter baby? It's impossible. He is, hands down, the sweetest ever.

THIS Baby

It seems like Aiden is changing daily... not even daily... hourly. It's crazy. It's happening so fast!

So he's now sitting up, reaching up for me when I come to pick him up, he grabs EVERYTHING within his reach... just so much more interactive.

I LOVE HIM!

Jumping Baby

It's the little things...

So I was just folding and putting away laundry and was thinking about my kids, my life, and decided that I needed to stop and put my thoughts in writing, because I know that I will never remember these little details of our life without somehow preserving them- and what better place than here?

1. Addison says the funniest/ cutest things these days. For example, if she sees something that she really likes (a new Barbie for example), she will say "OH. MY. GOODNESS. LOOK. AT. THIS. HOW CUTE!!"

2. She also says "it's MY turn to talk!" when she's throwing a tantrum (tantrums are taking place DAILY lately) and I'm trying to reason with her. "It's YOUR turn to listen!!"

3. She is SO. PARTICULAR. Everything has to be just right, or it will no doubt lead to a hysterical fit. Barbie's hair has to be just so, and "just so" changes from day to day and I never, ever know what "just so" means. She will completely melt down over the craziest things (again, changes day to day). Today she had a 15 minute meltdown because I poured her juice "too high", whatever that means. Oh, and she is super, crazy, big time obsessed with her clothes...

4. Which leads me to this story. Today we went to Target to get her a new jacket. This cold front quickly alerted me to the fact that she doesn't have one that fits! So, we were at Target and there were 2 other moms in the girl's section, and they both were really enjoying the interaction between me and Addy. I would pick a jacket out, and she would always dismiss it with a reason along the lines of "I don't like that ruffle there" or "it would come to 'here' on my leg and I need it to come to 'HERE' on my leg" or "that's not the right color purple". Then she would counter my offer with an "OH. MY. GOODNESS. Look at this! It's SO cute!" long, fancy Holiday dress. I'm afraid that she's turning into a high maintenance fashionista very quickly! (For the record, we finally DID agree on a jacket, and she has pre-selected her Christmas dress. And I am certain she will not forget this.)

5. She's finally LOVING Aiden! Oh my gosh, it's the cutest thing EVER. He barely laughs for me, but he seriously gets the giggles when he is playing with her! He loves to sit in his swing, and have Addy run back and forth in front of him. He gets the biggest kick out of it! He also thinks it's funny when he grabs her hair. She thinks it's funny too (although the first time it really hurts her will be very dramatic. Just a hunch).

6. Speaking of Aiden. Oh my goodness he is the most precious, amazing, awesome baby EVER. His smile is contagious. He is super laid back, go with the flow, happy ALL THE TIME. I love him! (duh, right?)

7. He's finally sleeping more. He sleeps from about 8:30pm-1:30am, then wakes up again at 4:30 then 7:30. Believe me this is an improvement. I would have never thought that I'd be happy to type those words.

Oh, and also. Here's a picture that Holly took during our holiday card shoot. Look at my amazing, sweet family. How did I get so lucky?

Halloween Fun

Some pictures from our Halloween weekend: (I'll spare you the details of the weekend. But we had FUN!)