Adventure walks

Aiden and I have been going on lots of walks lately, I am commited to taking advantage of the outdoors before the summer heat hits and it's A/C city for us. I stumbled across the idea of adventure walks from this blog and thought it was a great way for Aiden to tire himself out and work up an appetite for dinner. He walks through the neighborhood and I follow, letting him stop and play when he wants to. I try not to tell him no unless he wants to do something dangerous. I love that it gives him a little bit of freedom to decide where to go and explore the world around him "on his own". So far, he prefers to stick close to home and just walk up and down the street. Over and over. And over.

He is so proud that he can walk on the sidewalk all by himself and likes to stop and pick up the occasional rock, leaf or dandelion. He especially loves to stop and jingle the keys on the mailbox. It all makes him feel like such a big boy.

 Every so often he looks back to make sure I am still there. Which of course, I always am. 

A short bloom

Because they are so pretty,

And they just don't last long enough,

I felt the need to take a lot of pictures of my beautiful pink and yellow peonies this year.

I love them. And it is not fair that they only bloom for 10 days out of the year!

(Aiden thinks they are pretty fascinating, too)

The world according to Aiden (well, inside the house anyway)

(hint: click on collage to make it bigger)

1. Books are much cooler when they are balanced upright on the coffee table, hey I wonder how many of them I can fit on the table at once?
2. My toes are cool. Time to sing "head, shoulders, knees and toes", but my version is "head, nose and toes".
3. All pirate ships belong in water. No matter how small the water bowl may be. Sophie doesn't need to drink anyway. All pirate ships need a captain. If the pirate captain can't be found, he can be replaced by a Lego mechanic guy.
4. Saggy pants that show your undies (or diapers in my case) are awesome. I see all the the teenage boys do it. And Uncle Buck does it, too. It's the style, yo.
5. Little animals like to be lined up across the shower door. They must be facing toward the shower so they can watch my mom and dad while in the shower, animals are little pervs.
6. Lego houses that my mom makes me are fun to carry around. For hours. The little tree she made is a great thing to put in the middle of the dark hallway for my mom and dad to step on.
7. Zebras (or eenyas as I call them) like to sit in the shower and read, also with the book upright.
8. Hey, this upright book thing works on the carpet, too? That is rad.
9. Listening to music and clapping my hands is awesome! I love to watch "yo gabba gabba" and sing along. My favorite gabba song is "keep trying". I have added it to my repertoire and sing it to my mom and dad.

And last but not least, 10. My bottle is cool. I don't care what you say. I'm not givin' it up. Get those sippy cups outta my face.

this one wouldn't fit into the collage ;)

Peek-a-boo

Aiden has been really into playing in the front of the house lately. His favorite thing? Hiding behind the rock pillars and going from one side to the next playing peek-a-boo. He just cracks himself up. Just another way to stay entertained while we are confined to the house!

A little hike

We are all going a little stir crazy inside these last couple weeks. Not only has the weather turned very winter-like again, but Aiden has been sick with croup, an ear infection and mild pneumonia. Needless to say, we have not been able to go anywhere, even outside to play.

Yesterday the sun finally came out and Aiden finally started feeling better and acting more like himself. We decided to take advantage of the mild temperature and bright sun and get a little fresh air. We needed it. What started out as a short walk ended up with a little hike up the hill by our house. We have lived here over 5 years and never walked up there before. It was nice to see a different view of our neighborhood. Aiden loved it, he went 4 wheelin' in his red push buggy!

On the way up the hill...

 

 

The view of our 'hood from the top...

Sophie's break time...

Is it just me or are these pictures with the beige grass and blue sky & clouds kinda cool?

 

Aiden doesn't like it when the car stops, don't we all feel like this when we are stuck in traffic?!?!?

And the next one is my shadow, because that is all you are going to see of me since I have Shingles and a sweet red rash across one side of my face...

My little cutie...

On the way back home Aiden wanted to get out of his little car and walk with us. What? Is there something wrong with letting your 2 year old cruise down the middle of the road?

It's a closed road and blocked so no cars can come through :)

 The end...

He is mine

I am still a member of several preemie boards where mothers and fathers get to ask questions, vent and generally just get to know other parents of premature babies. The other day, there was a post from a woman that had a baby new to the NICU and she was asking for stories from other families that had been through the NICU experience. She wanted to know when they breathed a sigh of relief,  knew for sure that their baby was going to come home, and when they finally felt like a Mother. It got me thinking about when that time was for me.

Not only do I remember the day that I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but I have a picture of it.

This was the day that I finally felt with confidence that Aiden would be coming home. This day I started hearing doctors and nurses talk about preparing to send him home. This day, I finally got to feed my baby without a tube. This day, I really felt like his mother for the first time since his birth. This day, I finally felt like he would make it home with us - we were done with his hernia surgery and his reanastomosis (putting his intestines back into his body) - he was all together now and our last hurdle was done with. This was the day that I knew without a doubt that Aiden would come home with us. And it took such a long time to get there.

Honestly, Jeremy took these pictures right when I was thinking "He is mine. I finally got to feed him. He will be able to come home soon. No one will be able to tell me when I can or cannot hold him. This is my son Aiden".

It is so weird to see this pictures again. Sometimes, the whole NICU experience seems like it was just a dream.

Around here...

It's been a rough week. Aiden got his first real illness. He has had a couple really mild colds, but this week the caught THE CROUP. I officially hate THE CROUP. So our house has been full of this...

Multiple breathing treatments and the reappearance of "bubbles the fish" (aka the nebulizer), children's advil, 15 minute steam treatments in the bathroom, letting in the cold air at night, menthol baths and humidifiers on full blast.

And also a lot of this...

Cuddling with Aiden in jammies all day, trying to make him feel better. We have been in and out of bed most of the day, watching all Aiden's TV shows. I feel so bad for him, he coughs so much that he just cries all day - which in turn makes the coughing worse. Luckily, his little lungs have been handling it better than we all feared. Breathing treatments have been a big part of that I am sure. I hate that I can't just make it all better for him and I feel so helpless, even though I am doing everything I can for him.

On a selfish note, I have some serious sleep deprivation going on and I can't even tell you when the last time I got to wash my hair was. Sickness sucks for the kids and the parents. The doctors visits, the worry, being up all night, the constant care - different medicine, trying to get him to eat and drink, etc. etc. Which leads me to another thought that I had this week...

Dear Mom,
I cannot tell you how bad I feel now for all the times I faked being sick to get out of school and made you drop everything to take care of me when there was really nothing wrong. I am especially sorry for the times that I faked it enough for you to take me to the doctor's office. I now know what a huge pain in the ass it is, and I feel really bad for making you go through it when I knew there was really nothing wrong with me. Please accept my apologies, I was a little jerk :-)

They're not too big and they're not too tough...

Will someone please tell me what it is about this show...

That makes Aiden stop what he is doing and stare at the TV like this?

Is it the bizarre non-animation? The highly annoying songs that get stuck in my head constantly? The fact that the animals reward themselves at the end of every show with celery? What?

Oh and bonus points for anyone who knows what show that is ;)

Everything I know...

Every time someone says that I am a good cook, I learned how to cook from my mom.

Every time someone says that I am a good mother, I learned about motherhood from my mom.

Every time someone says that I am creative, I learned sewing and crafting from my mom.

Everything I know, I learned from my mom.

It's true.

My Mother taught me about life, about love, and how to take care of the people that are important to you. She taught me kindness, and selflessness and that your family is always the most important thing. She taught me that sometimes you need to do things for yourself and sometimes you need to do things for others. She taught me that sometimes you just need to make chocolate chip cookies. She taught me that you don't have to be a millionaire or famous to have your dreams come true, that sometimes all it takes is a good marriage, babies and a vegetable garden. She taught me that even though you fight, you can still love and laugh. She taught me that you have to fight for the things in life you want and fight for the ones you love.

Others have helped along the way, but my Mother has always been there for me.

Happy Mother's day to the best mother a girl could ask for. Thank you. Seriously.

Mom and her girls

Holly and Momma

My favorite picture of us

The first time Nana held Aiden

Happy Mother's Day to ME!

Mother's day is tomorrow. 

I want to thank this little boy for giving me the greatest gift ever. Making me a mother. Finally. 

I love him so much. Even when he is screaming at me because he does not want to eat.

I wouldn't trade a single moment with him for anything in the world.

He is the light in my life and reminds me every day that miracles are possible.

Thank you Aiden for being my little boy. I love you.

Such a simple thing...

I can't even count how many pictures I have of Aiden just walking around. It seems so simple, but just the sight of Aiden walking, something so "ordinary", still makes me stop and watch. And smile.

Tales from the backyard

Since the weather turned nice Aiden wants to be outside all day, every day. He wanders around, exploring the backyard and entertaining himself with the littlest things. Like rocks. And bark. Dirt in general, really.

(You can click on the collage to make it bigger)

He spends the afternoons pushing his winnie the pooh airplane across the lawn, throwing gravel and bark, trying to climb up his slide and pushing cars down it, running between the branches of the weeping elm tree, filling his dump truck and watering can up with rocks, and hiding out in his little climber - peeking through the windows at us. Sophie follows him around the whole time. He loves the outdoors and loves getting dirty, and we love watching it all!