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!

The sweetest thing...

Last night Aiden woke up at 2am. I tried everything to get him back to sleep and nothing was working - I didn't know what he wanted. Finally, I gave up trying to put him back in his crib, we climbed in bed and I tucked him in under my arm. He cuddled in and so softly in his sweet little voice said "Mama", closed his eyes and went to sleep. He wanted to cuddle. These are the times that I don't mind being awake at 2am.

Celebrating Earth Day

Since it was earth day Aiden and I went down to Home Depot and picked out some plants to add to our backyard. We looked around a bit and I decided to get some berry bushes. Since Aiden has been so into berries lately, I think that it would be really cool to be able to make his food with home grown berries. We got blueberry, raspberry and strawberry plants.

After we got home I put Aiden in his little car and we went outside to plant. He just hung out in the car while I planted. Aiden loves the outdoors - every time I tried to go back inside he started screaming! So we stayed out for a couple hours just wandering around checking things out. I blew bubbles for him and drove him around the patio. He grabbed at all the plants and laughed. Notice his cute little earth day shirt - it is a little earth with all the different seasons on it ;)

Sophie joined us outside and found a tennis ball in the yard...it must belong to the kids next door. She ran around the yard hiding from me, because she knows she is not allowed to have tennis balls, she gets crazy with them....just ask Chris and Lisa's couch. Seriously, look at the crazy look on her face!

We put the bird food into the "trunk" of his car and drove over and filled up the bird feeder.

Aiden helped by sprinkling bird food on the ground :)

So that's it, that was our little way of celebrating earth day. Spending an afternoon outside planting and feeding the little wild birds. And I was so happy to have a day without rain!

By the way, I keep trying to get a picture that shows off Aiden's new teeth - but he keeps hiding them from me...this picture shows one! 2 teeth popped through at the same time about 3 weeks ago, his first teeth were his little sharp ones on the sides. Yep, he has little vampire teeth. He is taking the whole "Twilight" trend a little too seriously if you ask me, and apparently, he is on "Team Edward" ;)

Happy Earth Day!

Milkshakes

The other day I had a craving for a strawberry milkshake, so I went to the store and bought ice cream, ripe strawberries and whipped cream. I got home and realized that my blender broke. 2 years ago. So I got a little creative and made milkshakes in Aiden's babycook. Such a versatile little piece of equipment ;)

I made Jeremy a chocolate shake and then made strawberry for me. I realized that I made waaaay more than I could eat. OK, I made more than could fit in the glass. So I made a little shake for Aiden.


I figured this would be a good opportunity to try (again) to teach Aiden how to drink from a straw. I am determined to get rid of bottles soon. So we had a little dessert and straw lesson.



At first he wasn't sure about it - he liked the milkshake, but was not a fan of the straw. Pretty soon he started to get it, but he still needs to work on it. Oh well...guess that means I will have to make milkshakes more often!!!



P.S. The babycook made really good thick, perfectly smooth milkshakes :)

Easter 2010

Easter this year was at my Grandma Marlys' house. Even though it was cold, rainy and not the lovely spring day we were hoping for, we all still had a good time! We managed to get an egg hunt in before the rain started and had a wonderful meal of grandma's famous "coke" ham, twice baked potatoes, chinese chicken salad & fruit salad (complete with bunny marshmallows)! Aiden played with the toys in his Easter baskets and watched the egg hunt - I am sure he will be racing around with the boys next year competing for all the eggs!

Aiden with Great Mama...

The egg hunt starts!

How many adults does it take to help Chase find his egg ;)

Keeping Aiden out of the wind while the boys look for eggs...

It's a race to get the eggs! There IS money in them ;)

Family picture!

Chase finding his egg!

This little hopping chick was a big hit! All the kids loved it!

So cute!

Aiden was cracking up at it...

Mr. Blue eyes!

Aiden opening his Easter basket

Aiden reading his new book, Chase playing with a farm set (I think he was making the cow and the pig kiss). Chase and Aiden noticed each other much more than usual!

All the boys playing on the couch!

Finally, time for dessert - Great Mama's famous lamb cake and carrot cake cupcakes!

Great Mama with her boys!

Coloring the eggs...

Saturday Aiden and I colored Easter eggs with Aunt Lisa. We had fun getting creative with the eggs, I think we are going to make this a yearly tradition!

Getting started...

Aiden helped pick out which stickers to use on the eggs :)

Excited for his first time dying Easter eggs!

Aunt Lisa making an egg pretty...

The eggs all done!

We made an egg for everyone - notice the baby A and baby B eggs, Aunt Lisa & Uncle Chris are having twins - a boy and a girl! Next year we will have 2 more little ones to help with the egg dying! Yay!

Here is Aunt Lisa 19 weeks preggers with the kiddos (sorry Lisa but, I think this picture is cute and had to post it)!!!

Aiden trying to grab and throw the eggs. He is into throwing things nowadays...

After we were done Jeremy came home and Uncle Chris came over we ordered a pizza and watched a movie :)

OK one more...aren't the eggs just too cute???

I will post pictures of Easter soon, get ready for lots of pics - we got a new camera and Jeremy took 283 pictures!