6/28 - Back from MO and lunch with an old friend

We are finally back from Missouri. We had fun but are glad to try and get into our routine again and slow down a little. Our plane ride back was uneventful which was good. The picture above are Kassie letting Aiden listen to her iTouch. He loves listening to head phones and it's cute that he knows what to do when he sees the earbuds now. The picture below is Aiden opening a present from Aunt Pat. It was an Iowa State football. He's loving throwing things so it was a perfect gift.

The video above is Aiden playing catch with his football.  The video below was taken when playing with Aiden. He has started to do belly laughs quite often and it's so cute. You can't help but laugh too. I was playing peek a boo downstairs with him and he thought it was pretty funny.

The picture below is from the new airport in Branson, MO. It was a nice airport but it took us forever to check in. Thankfully Grandma Hoyt had Aiden and let him walk around the airport pushing things. That always keeps him busy. Grandma Hoyt had to help Aiden push Brad ... he was a little heavy for Aiden to push by himself.

We got back last night at home around 10pm. We let Aiden play with Bronco for a few minutes and then put him to bed. We woke him up this morning and went to Sunday school. After that, we drove to Annapolis to see an old friend of my from club gymnastics.

The picture above is her son, Brenden, playing with Aiden. The picture below is of Eileen and myself. It's been 8 years since we've seen each other and it was so good to connect again.


We needed to let Aiden burn some energy after lunch to after a quick trip to Whole Foods for cherries, we went upstairs in the outdoor shopping center and let Aiden walk around. The picture below is Aiden such an activity. He's all over the place when possible. He's glad to be back home playing with his toys with lights!


We took the video below today when he found a shopping cart to push. He's so cute. The family we just visited decided Aiden should be the next e-trade baby. You never know!! 

6/24 - Vacation in Missouri

We are in Branson and things are going well. The airplane trip went fairly well although Aiden didn't feel like napping much so he was a little fussy when we got here (and clingy to Brad and I). Th picture above is from the Atlanta airport where Aiden was making some phone calls. The picture below is from after we got to the time share. Each time share is a separate house for the most-part. That's great ... unless you have an infant and want to be near them at night. Right now, one of us (Brad or I) have to go back to the room with Aiden at bedtime and hang out in the room. It's working out okay but I was a little lonely the first night. Last night was Brad's turn to stay in and I got to play games with the rest of the family and that was fun. The other men came over and hung out with Brad and they watched baseball so he wasn't lonely either.

Because Aiden wakes up so early and everyone else stays up late playing games, Brad, Aiden, and I ar

e normally up for 4-5 hours before we see anyone else. We have spent the past two mornings going on long  walks and letting Aiden play. We had to go back to 2 naps yesterday since he woke up really early (5:45am) and didn't get much sleep the day before but today we are going for one nap. The video below is from yesterday when we were hanging out at the room in the morning and Aiden was drinking his sippy cup.

We went to the pool yesterday late morning. Aiden hasn't been in one for a while so he wasn't sure what to think. It was also the first time in his baby swimmer thing. He liked it. It was nice outside.

Yesterday afternoon we went down the Riverside and walked around. Event though it was 5:00pm it was extremely hot outside and Aiden's little face turned red just riding around. 

This morning Brad and I went walking and took our camera since we saw this little helo yesterday on our walk. We had a nice long walk this morning (1.5 hrs). It was nice and we got back just as the temperature was starting to rise. I need to get back to the room so we can go swimming this morning. We are having fun and enjoying the family. I wished we lived closer to all our family.

6/20 - Trip to the mall & more clapping

Aiden has been practicing is clapping lately. We have also been practicing with the ball and how to roll and throw it. I get so excited when he does throw it that I clap and say 'yeah.' Well, that has led to Aiden clapping after he throws the ball. That's what is going on in the video below.

Today was a great day. Brad fixed pancakes for breakfast and Aiden loved them (as did I). We went to Wal-Mart this morning to get some stuff for our upcoming trip to Missouri. We got home and then Aiden was very tired and he ate lunch and went down for a nap. The transition to one nap a day has been much harder than I thought. It's still a work in progress. Today he napped for 70 min and then started crying. I went in and made sure he didn't have a dirty diaper and turned on his nighttime CD. He managed to stay in there (although awake part of the time) until he reached the 2 hour mark.
When he woke up we packed up the car and drove to the mall which is an hour away. I wanted some maternity shirts that had sleeves. We were successful in shopping but more importantly, Aiden played on the mall playground and had SO MUCH FUN. He was so fun to watch. He was a little nervous at first but then got comfortable and we had to follow him all over the place. In the picture below, Brad was trying to get Aiden to come through the tunnel but Aiden decided he would run off somewhere else.
The video below was taken with my cell phone but you can see how excited Aiden was to be playing. Surprisingly, he was only knocked down once!! There were a ton of kids there but they were pretty good with him being so little and young.

Tomorrow we have church and then I have to leave early and go to work for a few hours. We then have to pack everything up for an early plane to Branson, Missour on Monday morning.

6/17 - Clapping finally

It took Aiden a long time to learn how to clap on purpose. He just did it a few days ago. The video below me grabbing the camera while he was in the middle of a clapping episode. He had all these slots in his baby book filled in with dates except for clapping. He has hit his hands together before not really on purpose. I don't know why he is so slow in this category but am excited about the clapping now.

Brad has been working a lot for the past 1.5 weeks. He has only managed to make it home before 6pm one day out of 8 so I'm not too excited about that. He typically only sees Aiden for an hour at most usually. Hopefully things will slow down soon. The video below is of Aiden eating his dessert and me talking about his dislike for veggies now.

The pictures below I took today. I have a sinus infection again and have felt like poop all day. We got these flash cards for Aiden and I was showing him corresponding 'real' things around the house. He had fun with them. He thought it was really funny scattering them all over the floor. He then started stepping on them and he actually has pretty sweaty feet so they were sticking to his feet. 

Aiden napped for only 50 min today. It was killing me seeing how I was so tired to begin with. He is doing one nap a day since Sunday but the last 2 days have been 1 hr or less naps. He's so exhausted by nighttime because he hasn't napped much. Hopefully he'll start napping longer very soon.

6/14 - Bike trailer

This weekend has been very nice and pretty relaxing. We weren't running around everywhere for once. Yesterday we went to the store and Brad had softball in the evening while some of the girls came over to our place and had fondue and watched a movie. It was fun. The picture above was taken this morning ... the boys were hanging out. The picture below was taken on our way outside to go biking. Don't worry, we don't let him just go down the stairs. He comes up very well but we are teaching him to go down. We make him do the first couple on his own and try and practice at least once a day.
We went to church today and worked in the nursery during service. We came straight home because Aiden needed a nap. Today was his first day taking a single nap. We fed him lunch when we got home and he slept from 12:45 to 2:20ish. He had about a 1.5 hr nap ... hopefully he'll draw that out to two hours. He was EXHAUSTED tonight and we let him go to bed 20 min early. Hopefully this one nap a day thing will work out better and we won't have to be tied to the house as often. If he's too grumpy and tired though we'll go back to 2 naps. The picture below is from our new bike trailer. Brad put it on the bike today and I took Aiden for a ride (and Bronco) while he mowed the yard.  

Aiden isn't a huge fan of the trailer yet. He sits back a little too much for his liking and the sun was shining in his face. If we can fix those things I think he'd enjoy it a bit more. He'll get used to it ... he has to!!! 

After the bike ride, we went upstairs on played on the deck in the pool. He didn't really want to get in the pool so he played the animal water dishes instead that were on the deck. Aiden is getting picky with food and it's driving me nuts now. Hopefully it won't last too long but something tells me I should be prepared for these kind of protests and starvation games for the next couple years.

6/12 - Aiden on the treadmill

The picture above is actually from Aiden's first birthday on our way to daycare. We were sitting at the stoplight and I wanted to take his picture for the first time in the forward facing seat. The picture below I took today and sent to Brad. Aiden found a paint brush and thought it was the most fun toy ever.
Yesterday we bought a new pack and play because our old one was recently recalled. I opened it once we got home and set it up to make it's what I wanted. I put Aiden in it for a few minutes and he played with his spoon in it.
Today Brad left work early (4pm) and met me at Panera to see some friends who came in from Williamsburg for the evening. We visited shortly with them and their daughter and then came home. It was Aiden's dinner time but after dinner we went downstairs and played. Aiden got upset when Brad left (see video below) but since he follows my ADHD pattern, he found something else to occupy him.

In this video below, Aiden decided to get on the treadmill and Brad decided to have a little fun with him. Just watch the video below. It's pretty funny.

Tomorrow Brad has softball in the evening and I am having girls night at our place. We will be fonduing and watching a movie while the boys play softball. It should be fun. Until next time ...

6/10 - Blood draw tomorrow

These are old pictures but I didn't have anything else. The one above is from Aiden's birthday when he decided to teethe on my leg. He's been doing that a bit more lately. I think his 1 yr molars are coming in and they are causing him lots of discomfort over the past few days. The picture below is Aiden thinking he wants noodles from Brad. After Brad gave him a taste he remembered he doesn't like noodles.
Aiden had his 1 yr well baby appointment on Friday (we actually went in to get his eye checked out and they did his appointment then). He was 28 inches which places him in the 5th percentile which is where he's been at since he was 6 months old. He also weighed in at 21 lbs, 5 oz. This places him in the 30th percentile. When we look at the weight for length, Aiden is in the 90th percentile which means he's very symetric. He's small but small all over so he's pretty balanced. By Aiden's first birthday, he had 8 teeth!!

Aiden has taken off the past few days with walking. He walked across the entire kitchen tonight!!! He'll be running around the house by this time next week. In the video above, you can see that Aiden can climb up all the steps in our house. We are trying to teach him to go down. He doesn't really get it yet. He does know how to climb down off the bed and couch so it's just a matter of practice. We will continue to work with him. On Friday, I think we will start trying to transition to one nap a day by moving his morning nap by a half hour each day until it gets to 11am. I'll keep you updated.

Tomorrow I am supposed to take Aiden to get his blood drawn for a lead test and a hematocrit test. We'll see how that works out.

6/7 - Videos of Aiden walking

Today Arin and Mike, Aiden's godparents, dedicated their baby girl, Grace. They all looked beautiful and things went well. Grace is such a sweet baby. After church we went out to lunch to celebrate. The boys had to hurry though because they had a softball game a 2:00. They were a few minutes late but had fun playing.
The team isn't that good but they have fun playing against other churches. We have fun going to watch daddy play. Aiden hates hats but we tried again today with a ball cap. He didn't like it. He doesn't like sunglasses either and I keep trying those as well.

Aiden has been taking a few steps but it's hard to get on video but we finally did it today. Aiden has been taking 2-3 steps on his own before he sits down but the past 2 days he's started taking about 5-6 steps. He's gonna get this walking thing soon (I'm not sure if I'm excited about that or not). 

6/6 - Birthday Party

Brad got home last night and it was so good to see him. Aiden even got to say hi before he went to bed. Today was fun. We had a birthday party today for Arin and Aiden and we had lots of fun. Aiden watched daddy blow up balloons this morning as he played with the toy we got him for his birthday.
Arin, Mike, and Arin's parents came over along with Andrea and Brigit. It was a small but fun group. We enjoyed some yummy food and then it was time for Aiden to take a nap. While he napped, we had cupcakes and watched Arin open her presents.
Arin and Mike got Aiden a present and it was a bubble lawn mower. Aiden LOVES it. Brad took it out of the box right away and he was off down the hall with it. 
In fact, he loved it so much that when I grabbed him to do the birthday cake, he threw a fit and cried his little eyes off. He had huge tears coming down his little face. I tried giving him a paci and hugs and he didn't care about that. The only thing that made him better was allowing him to play with his lawn mower again.
Once he got a hold of it the second time he wasn't letting it go (see picture below).
Once we finally convinced him to come try his cake (his lawn mower had to be next to him), he was okay. He was a little unsure of the cake and didn't want to get messy. You can see from the short videos below the progress of cake eating. Brad actually had to pick him up and set him down on the plastic to eat the cake. He went from standing up and eating the cake to sitting down, to taking the fork and playing.

Aiden enjoyed eating his cake for the most part. He went straight from eating to the bath!!




After our company left, Aiden opened the other presents that Aiden didn't open on his birthday. His favorite were the Iowa State Football that makes noises and the Gator chomp toy.


Aiden is pretty worn out today. The shots yesterday really wore Aiden out and he has been really tired yesterday and today. Aiden's appetite has been down for the past 2 days and he's been taking longer naps than normal. He has also decided he likes no veggies which is breaking my heart. Hopefully this is just a stage. We are still going to try but he doesn't like a lot of the veggies he was eating just weeks ago.

6/4 - Pool

Yesterday was a fun day for us. Arin watched Aiden in the morning so I could put in some hours at work. Aiden and I headed home in the afternoon and the weather was so nice I put him in the pool. We added some air to the pool and then some cold water .... very cold water. It almost felt like an ice bath so I wasn't going to put him in it. I decided to forgo the bathing suit because ... I'm the mother and I can decide that. haha.  
He put his hands in it and I then I lift him over the edge and stood him up in the pool. He didn't mind standing in the ice water. He saw some black ants and was amazed by them. He was talking up a storm and pointing every time he saw them.
Tonight I thought it might be fun to try and take a picture or two of Aiden with his cow. The last time we did that was 9 months because he was all over the place. We tried for a while (see picture above) and this as close as I got. If he turned around then he would push the cow over or steal the index card and crawl off. 
The picture above is playing with his card from Aunt Pat and laying in his favorite pillow. He got this pillow at Christmas and hasn't had much interest in the pillow until now. He's realizing how to use it and lays on it in the living room everyday now. It's so cute. I'm too nervous to put it in his crib yet.

The video above was taken tonight. He turned over his night stand table and then decided it would be fun to push it around the room. As you can see in the video, he decided to go out of the room and eventually did laps around the house while I washed dishes. Tomorrow Aiden will be going to the dr at 9:45am to get his eye checked out since he had yellow stuff coming out of it yesterday and a little today. 

6/2 - Aiden's 1st Birthday

At 2:25 I year ago Aiden was pulled from pelvis after he refused to come out on his own. I can't believe it. I had to work all day today but Michel celebrated his birthday at daycare! The

 picture above is from his birthday celebration. She made smoothies and then an apple spice cake and gave Aiden some. They even took pictures before and after the candle was lit and then gave me 8 x 10 pictures. It was so cute.

Aiden had fun opening 3 of his presents. He opened a new alligator car, a new outfit, and an Iowa State bear that plays a song. He also had fun playing in the boxes. We rolled around on the floor tonight and played for a good while which is when the picture below was taken.

The video below is from Aiden opening his alligator car. He actually tried taking the paper off and then had lots of fun playing with his new truck while I made dinner.

6/1 - Almost 1

The picture below was taken at the mall on Friday when we went to the Apple Store. The store didn't open until 10:30 so we played on the playground for a bit. Aiden was by far the youngest but had lots of fun watching the big kids play. 

I can't believe this time last year I was in the hospital trying to get one last night of sleep before Aiden joined us. At 2am my doctor came in and broke my water and then things took off. In some aspects it seems like it hasn't been a year. In others, it seems Aiden should be 5!! Things really did go by fast. The first three months were slow and horrible but after that, things seem to just be a blur. I went to the hospital today to visit a friend who had a baby this morning (a scheduled c-section with my doctor ... that should be SO much easier and less stressful). The newborn diapers were sitting on the baby cart and I couldn't believe how small they were. It was even crazier to think those diapers were falling off Aiden who was so tiny (5lbs 12oz by the time we left the hospital). Aiden had fun today. The picture below is Aiden trying to crawl into the baby cart at the hospital. We are preparing for a little birthday

 party for Aiden and Arin on Saturday. I am going to bake Aiden his own cake!!

When we came home from the hospital, Aiden played in his box while I got dinner ready. 

After dinner, Aiden got his bath and then he played in his room while I got his stuff ready for daycare tomorrow. He really likes daycare and I think we are going to try and keep him it for a bit after the new baby is born even though I won't be working. It's great socialization for him and he has fun. Michel is great with him and hopefully he'll stay a good 'baby' as he turns into a toddler.

The video below is from tonight. Aiden got 2 birthday packages today but I didn't want to open anything until tomorrow. Even then, I only want him to open one or two presents and wait for the rest until Brad is home with us. I did finally open the boxes and he played with the presents inside for a bit. He'll have fun opening 2 tomorrow. Saturday should be lots of fun for him. 

After Aiden went to bed I went downstairs and turned his seat around in the van!! I'm so excited. I hope he likes facing forward and it makes car riding more enjoyable for him. I'll keep you updated on that.