Kicking off Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day is supposed to be the start of summer, right?

Today it was FINALLY sunny and warm. Aiden, Sophie and I went for a long walk and by the end me and Aiden were sweaty and hot and Sophie was in the basket of the stroller hitching a ride because she didn't want to walk anymore. I decided it was time to break out Aiden's little spray pool for the first time and let him play in the water.

At first he was not into it. At all. He cried and lifted his feet up in the air. So I turned off the spray part and let it sit out to get the water get a little warmer and tried again. He LOVED it. The little pool has a mirror on the bottom and some little toys that float around. He played with the toys and splashed around until I made him get out. I think this summer will be fun!


After he got out of the pool we ate some strawberry ice cream and watched some "yo gabba gabba" on TV which Aiden really loves lately.



Aiden was not happy when I put his clothes back on to get him ready for his afternoon nap, but eventually he settled in and went to sleep.


Hope the weather the rest of the weekend is this nice! Crazy that 2 days ago there was heavy rain and thunder and lightening!

18 Months

Aiden is 18 months old today. It is exciting to watch him grow up. He is getting bigger, taller, and looking older. It's a little sad too, I have recently realized that I don't have an infant anymore. The last few weeks have been full of activity for him since being cast and brace free during the day. Things are starting to click for him - crawling faster, pulling up, sitting and more easily transitioning between the 3. He has been putting so much energy into crawling, etc. that he completely stopped saying mama for a few weeks - but he is back saying it so all is good. His legs were really weak coming out of the cast, but they are getting stronger and he is able to put some weight on them, walking shouldn't be too far off!

He suddenly started eating crackers, puffs, pasta, toast and other finger food - 2 weeks ago he gagged on everything, then one day he ate solid food just fine. Maybe because he finally got some teeth? He has 2 all the way in and 2 more popping out in front. My plan to get him off the bottle has not yet worked, he still does not take a sippy cup or straw. I keep trying though, someday we will be bottle free ;)

Aiden is off all medication - no more daily breathing treatments! Yay! We have been taking him out a to a few more places and he loves it. He loves seeing new places and new people. We are still pretty careful about where we take him, but it is nice to be able to get out of the house. Aiden loves the outdoors, I can't wait for the weather to get warmer so we can be outside more. I think he is going to love playing in his baby pool!

He loves reading his books and playing with his toys and he is starting to use them like they are supposed to be used - he puts the basketball in the hoop and uses the hammer to pound the little toys on his tool bench. It seems like he does something new and amazing everyday.

The other day Jeremy found Aiden's first diaper and it reminded me of just how far he has come. It is the tiniest little thing - and it was WAY too big for him when he was born.



This was one of the first outfits that we put him in - when he was a little over 3 months old and weighed almost 5 pounds. You can see him in it here. It is so small - sometimes I can't even put into perspective how teeny he was in those first few weeks.

He has grown so much and is doing so good. He has done so much better than we were told he would when he was born, or before he was born for that matter. He is our little miracle :)

Little Miss Sydney's 1st Birthday Party

Aiden's cousin Sydney turned 1 year old and we were lucky enough to help her celebrate at a park on a sunny Saturday afternoon. There was BBQ and cake and lots of family and friends to help make her 1st birthday special. We had a great time and all 3 of us came home totally tired and ready for bed :)

The birthday girl and her mommy - Jeremy's sister Kim

Aiden played with his toys on a blanket under a tree with me and Aunt Lisa

Pink polka dot cupcakes!

The boys played some baseball...baseball is becoming very frequent in our blog ;)

Even Grandpa Steve took a turn at bat

Aiden watched the big boys while playing with a little bat of his own

I tried so hard to get a picture of Aiden and Sydney together where they both looked at the camera, but that just wasn't happening. I did catch this - Sydney leaning over to give Aiden a kiss on the cheek. It was the sweetest thing, and what did Aiden do? He got a weird look on his face and pushed her away! Typical boy...

This was right after the kissing, Sydney is pointing at him like "that's the little boy that wouldn't kiss me!" and he has a little smirk on his face ;) They have such little personalities!

Sydney blowing out her candle after everyone sang her happy birthday

Aiden watched her blow out her candles very curiously

Time for Sydney to eat her birthday cake - looks like she is taking some dainty little bites and keeping herself clean...

Hmmm.....maybe not ;)

Grandma Trish was taking Sydney for a ride in her birthday present and let Aiden hitch a ride on the top of the car

Then they got in the car together - looks like Sydney let Aiden do the driving!

Sydney loves to steal Aiden's binky, she doesn't use binkies and doesn't put Aiden's in her mouth, she just wants to take it from him - ha ha!!

We had fun at the park, it was nice to see everyone and celebrate miss Sydney's first birthday!

Mother's Day

Mother's day this year started with this...

Jeremy made me a delicious breakfast of french toast, scrambled eggs and hash browns - YUM! He and Aiden got me flowers and a skirt and necklace from Anthropologie.

And it ended with this...

Enjoying many peach bellinis at my sisters house :)

And here is what happened in between...

Aiden and Chase played with cars together

Jeremy, Dave and Uncle Mark played baseball with the boys

Logan

Tanner

Chase

Jeremy

While the big boys played ball, Aiden played with Nana Robyn and Rex

I tried to snag some family pictures

Giving Aiden loves for letting me be his momma :)

I think this one was the best - Aiden wouldn't smile though!

Did I mention that me and Sara drank bellinis????

Mostly, we just hung out, ate good food, chatted and celebrated the mommas

It was a fun day - rain and all!

Bubbles

Grandpa Steve and Grandma Trish gave Aiden a bubble machine and since it was such a nice day today we decided to go outside and give it a try. He laughed and smacked the bubbles. He loved it, it looks like Jeremy did, too :)





By the way, can Aiden look any more like his dad???? Check out that first picture - same ears, same hands, same smile, same everything!!! Aiden is Jeremy's mini-me.

Thoughts on my second Mother's Day...

Today is my second Mother's Day. I started thinking about how my life has changed and all the things that I have learned in the 17 months since Aiden was born. I know I still have many more lessons to learn and many more journeys to have, but I think you can all agree that we have been through a lot in the past couple years! Here are the 10 most important things I have learned so far:

1. I AM NOT AN IDIOT. I know my son. I know what is normal and what is not. I know what he needs better than anyone else. When doctors or "experts" tell me what they think about him, I don't have to agree just because they are a doctor. I see Aiden everyday and know his entire life history - he is more than just what his medical chart says. Don't get me wrong, some really great doctors, nurses and therapists have helped my son, but sometimes I just scratch my head at some of the things that "specialists" say.

2. Motherhood is all about DOING WHAT WORKS FOR YOUR CHILD. When I was pregnant there was a lot of things I said I would/would not do as a mother. I said I would never give my baby formula, but my milk supply was never enough to sustain him after I tried everything - so bring on the formula! I said I would only feed him healthy food - no butter, sugar or processed foods - then Aiden had trouble gaining weight and I put butter, cream and maple syrup into his sweet potatoes for extra calories and I give him ice cream sometimes. I realized I just have to do what works for Aiden - not what I thought I would do or should do as a mother. I also learned that what works for one momma may not work for another momma - there is no "right" way.

3. Sometimes I AM AN IDIOT. Seriously, since having Aiden I lost half my brain. Perhaps somehow it was removed during my c-section (c-section, another thing I said I would never do - only natural childbirth for me, ha!). I was in an understandable fog when Aiden was in the hospital, but I thought it would get better. It hasn't. I talk to myself (in baby talk, when I am alone) in the grocery store isle - "now we need some lettuce, it is green!". Sometimes when I am at work trying to concentrate, the only thing in my head is "old MacDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O", "with an oink oink here and an oink oink there"....you get the idea. Sorry Kay (my boss) if your reading this. It isn't all the time, and never when it is something important ;)

4. Little MIRACLES HAPPEN everyday. So do big ones. Do you know how many weird looks I have gotten when I express faith in Aiden's abilities and when I insist that he will do something? I know the good and the bad. And I choose to focus on the good. I don't think there is anything wrong with that.

5. KIDS ARE MESSY. There is nothing you can do about it. When your son chooses to use the spoon to feed his forehead instead of putting it in his mouth (see example below), you just have to watch and laugh (and take pictures). Ditto when he flings the whole thing on the floor a few seconds later.


6. MY MOTHER ROCKS! I have always loved my mother and knew I had a great childhood. But, I never fully appreciated everything she did for me until I had a baby of my own. She made clothes for us, she made all of our food (fast food was not something I remember!), she played with us, she taught us so much, she gave up having extra money and new things to be a stay at home mom for us. I don't know how she did it all!

7. LIFE CHANGES. Jeremy doesn't play video games anymore. I don't spend every Saturday at the mall. I still stumble into bed around 3am, not because I have been out drinking - but because I have just rocked Aiden back to sleep after his middle of the night bottle.

8. YOU CAN'T CONTROL EVERYTHING. This was/is a hard lesson for me to learn. I can't force Aiden to eat all his dinner. I can't force him to fall asleep at 8pm. I can't somehow make his hip stay in the socket. I don't know what effects Aiden's early start in life will have on him, and I can't control what they might be.

9. POOP HAPPENS. And it gets on you and your favorite shirt. Your baby pees on you. And there are boogers, too. Yet somehow, you don't really care.

10. You will NEVER LOVE ANYTHING AS MUCH AS YOU LOVE YOUR CHILD. An unconditional kind of love. There is nothing better than the sight of Aiden smiling and the sound of his laughter. It makes me happier than anything else in the world.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers out there and the Grandmothers, the Great-Grandmothers, the Mothers-to-be, the Mothers-in-law, the women that want to be Mothers someday and the Mothers of pampered pets :)

Spring Training

This afternoon we went to the park with Uncle Chris and Aunt Lisa. We had a little picnic dinner of sandwiches and then the boys played some baseball while Lisa and I laid on a blanket on the grass with Aiden and chatted. It was a really nice way to spend the afternoon and evening outdoors enjoying the perfect weather! Aiden hates grass and will do anything not to touch it, he also hates the bright sunlight, but refuses to wear his baseball hat ;) He loves the outdoors and fresh air though.

The brothers doing their "little league" pose...how cute they must have been when they were little playing baseball together!

Look at what a hottie my husband is. I love watching him play sports. He is actually pretty good at them, I on the other hand don't have an athletic bone in my body (but I try). At least that means there is hope for Aiden! Ha ha!

Chris must have just hit a home run!

Aiden relaxing on the blanket with me and Lisa. He is showing off his little fangs :) I love his little "vampire" teeth!

One more of daddy!

After the ball playing was over we decided to go get some frozen yogurt. Jeremy sat down to eat with Aiden on his lap and could barely get a bite for himself because Aiden kept grabbing at the spoon and opening his mouth to get some. I think Aiden ate more of the yogurt than Jeremy did!

He got chocolate frozen yogurt all over him! But he LOVED it.

So we finally gave in and got Aiden his own little cup of frozen yogurt - strawberry banana - and he ate the whole thing!

Daddy with his little boy. They are so cute.

After we ate all our yogurt we went home to take a bath and go to bed! Aiden loves to be out of the house and gets so excited seeing new places and new people. We are really excited that the weather is getting warm so we can be outdoors, and that cold/flu season is coming to an end so that we can take Aiden more places.

By the way, I have been pretty busy lately working on some special projects and forgot to update the blog with the latest on Aiden's "hip journey". We went back to Shriners on 4/29 and Aiden got an x-ray, his doctor said his hip is looking really good and he is out of his brace now during the day! Yay! He will still wear it at night for the next 3-6 months, but it is not bad at all. Aiden has spent the last few days crawling very quickly around the house and is pretty much pulling himself up. We are so happy to have a squishy baby back!