6/5 - Aiden's party & Eli kinda crawling

The first pictures is Aiden sleeping with his new crane. He got it from the Hunters and I wouldn't let him take it into bed with him. When we checked on him before we went to bed, this is what we found. Too funny. I'm surprised it didn't make noises when he picked it up off the floor and into his bed. I wish I had a camera in his room ... who knows how much he actually sleeps.This second picture was taken about a week ago when we had pictures done of the boys. They totally didn't cooperate but this picture cracked me up... Eli was trying to get Aiden and Aiden wanted to be everywhere but the red dot which is where he needed to be.

This next picture you can see Eli's two bottom teeth that have come in. They are coming up pretty fast. Eli has been a total booger the last few days. He's done nothing but cry and it almost seems like he's colicky again or teething. Unfortunately, I don't think it's either but I hope he gets back to normal soon.Yesterday Aiden and Eli were playing on the activity table. Aiden thought it would be fun to

dance and talk on the phone. He's too cute. Eli was actually pretty good yesterday which was a great relief. In the first video, you can see Eli starting to crawl. He does a shoulder roll to crawl. It's pretty inventive and not too effective but it does eventually, move him in the forward direction. We have found plastic eggs and balloons to be the most enticing bait for him!
The picture with the Cars container is one of Aiden't latest presents. He got that this morning from Brad and I. He LOVES it. It carries all his little matchbox cars. In the video below, Aiden is finding his eggs that Nana gave him. They talk and make noises so that it's easier for him to find them. They are fun and Eli really likes to go over them too.

Aiden and Brad played trains this morning and built a tunnel with a paper plate. I told Brad

last night I didn't think I'd have enough cake for everyone so he had the idea to make cupcakes and use them as fish bubbles! What a great idea. Aiden's fish cake turned out great and we made the fish bubbles into a #2 for his age.

The house was very festive after Aiden woke up from his nap. He woke up to more than 2 dozen balloons and lots of streamers. He had fun running around the house with all the balloons.Aiden officially understands presents and that they need to be opened. I'm not sure he understand cards but he likes when there are stickers inside! He actually lets me open the cards before he opens the present so that's good.

He got some matchbox cars (which he loves) and this cool police car that, when you shake it, makes it run. As he was opening his next present, he started hoarding his cars behind him so his BFF Kaden couldn't play with them. It was funny. You can see the little pile behind his back and the one in his hand.

He's a little obsessive about some of his toys. You can see below that his lined up his Cars cars and was putting them on the carrier (Mack).
His cupcake eating was pretty funny. He didn't want to get dirty. The video below is a great record of the events. He doesn't like getting dirty by food ... I'm wondering if that will ever change.

Overall, it was a great day and a great gathering with great people.

6/2 - Aiden's 2nd birthday

It was Aiden's 2nd birthday today. We had a pretty good day despite some bumps in it. We started off by letting Aiden open 2 presents. He had fun opening 3 matchbox cars and then got made when he opened the present above. It was wrapped in race car paper and he thought there were cars inside. He was pretty bummed when he found out it was a shirt and shirt. It was pretty funny. We then went to the playground for a while. It was pretty hot outside so we stayed for almost an hour.
After Aiden started to get pretty cranky, I knew it was time to head home. Both boys feels asleep in the car on the way home. Thankfully it's a 10 min ride to the playground so they didn't get much sleep time. We left the playground at 11am so it wasn't like I was pushing things close to their nap time.

After some good naps (even by Eli for the most part), we went to the hospital to go to the breastfeeding group. Eli still weighs 19 lbs, 13 oz (for the 3rd week in a row). We came home and played for a bit while Eli cried for 30 minutes. I'm very tired from Eli right now because he's waking up early the past 2 days and wants to cry through most of his nap times. Very frustrating and draining. We watched a morning TV show that we submitted a card to (Sprout) and got to see his card on TV. I taped it below.

Arin and Mike Hunter (and Grace) came over tonight to celebrate Aiden's birthday since they can't be here for his party this weekend. Unfortunately, Brad couldn't make it because a guy at work didn't want to switch flights with him because he "didn't want to work that late." Too bad a co-worker wouldn't help Brad out on his son's birthday! We had pizza (which Aiden doesn't really like) and then let Aiden blow out a candle on his cupcake.
As you can see, Aiden is pushing his cupcake away and crying because he doesn't want the candle in it. Once I blew the candle out he was fine. Aiden and Grace split the cupcake. Mike was a huge help tonight because Eli was so fussy. He kept him entertained and was holding him while we were doing the cupcake thing. He then got to open a present from the Hunters. He realized right away it was a truck and got REALLY excited.

Once he opened it, he wanted to play with it ASAP. He was so cute and jumped up on the couch as Mike was taking it out of the package. He was saying "share" and "please." Just too cute.
Aiden didn't even want to let Mike look at it long enough to figure out how to use it. He loves his new crane! It makes some pretty cool noises.
After Aiden played with the crane for a while, he decided to go back to playing with Grace. They were sitting on each others lap in his little Cars chair.

The video below is pretty cute. It's a video of Grace pushing Aiden off her lap and Aiden kinda liking it. They are too cute together now that they can both "play" some.

I think Arin got a pretty good picture of Aiden and Grace giving a kiss to each other. Here are the Hunter's and Aiden. I need to put monster Eli down around 7pm because he was to fussy.

I did manage to keep Aiden up until Brad came home so he could say Happy Birthday and goodnight. I look forward to more fun times to celebrate Aiden's birthday!

I am also hoping Eli is just teething right now. I finally got a picture of his bottom 2 teeth. I'll post that next.

6/1 - Eli's 2nd tooth & Memorial Day

The past couple days have been pretty darn good. Family time is becoming extra valuable with Brad's pending workups and deployment starting in a month and a half. It is official that we got orders to Jax and we will be moving in the next 2.5 weeks! That's a really fast turn around but we need to get there pretty fast because our house needs some work (carpet, re-sod lawn, and a fence) that need to happen ASAP (the first two before our stuff arrives).
We've been able to lounge around some in the mornings the past few days because Eli has learned to put himself back to sleep in the morning for the past 3 days (not counting today though). It's been awesome!! He's normally up at 5:45 and I hold him off until 6:30 but he's but himself back to sleep until 7:00-7:15 for the past couple days.
Eli is being interested in petting Pouncer these days. Pouncer is such a good kitty and lets Eli pet (read: pull out gobs of hair) him. Eli is a sweaty little boy so his palms are wet which doesn't help the resulting hand of hair. Eli is getting much better at feeding himself too. He inhales his mum-mums now and can even get a few puffs in his mouth! He got his 2nd tooth on Sunday.

The main sunday school teacher for Aiden's class was gone so I stayed and helped out. He was really clingy at the beginning but loosened up once he realized I was staying. Below you can see Aiden and his buddy Kaden playing with a puzzle. Aiden is pretty darn good at puzzles and will dump 2-3 out at a time and still put them all back. He has little patience when the pieces don't fit (because he has them upside down) and starts to get whiny. He eventually figures it out though.
Apparently every sunday they make this chair train. Aiden was having a blast with it.
After we got home and got some naps, we went outside. Aiden proceeded to rake some leaves and show me that the bird feeder was empty. He told me "seed" and "birds" and ran to the bird feeder. He's totally an animal lover. He got to touch a toad for the first time the other day and followed it around petting it until it finally jumped under a bush that Aiden couldn't reach.


Eli hangs out with us in his stroller. He likes watching but I'm sure he can't wait until he goes exploring with us.
On Monday, we hung out at home. We had the morning to ourselves and then in the afternoon, friends came over. Aiden was fixated on his stool on Monday. He HAD to take it to bed (he used to climb up into his bed and then slept with it on his pillow). After his nap he brought it out of his room with him and put his chair and stool together. I can see he's gonna have a Lazy Boy on his Christmas light in the next couple years.
We also spent some time coloring as you can see below. Brad and Aiden were coloring. Aiden loves to color over anything that you draw and we are trying to teach him to draw around thing because "it's not nice to draw over other people's art work." We'll see if it works ... he's doing pretty good for just trying that for 2 days.

Aiden also decided to do some puzzles. I got out a new puzzle for him that some church friends gave us. He paired all the mommies and babies (he was using the words "small" and "big"). I then put it all together and told him to use it as a track. He did and then I started testing to him so I grabbed the camera. This is the second take ... one the first round of questions he got ADD and started playing with his cars and gathering new cars.

After we tired out from the puzzle, the boys played ball on the kitchen floor (the kitchen is the only place Aiden can play/throw balls). Eli LOVED it and I think that is maybe the new way to make him try and crawl (he did lots of rolling during this) and Aiden loves throwing balls. He doesn't realize he's getting really good and pretty darn accurate and runs up about a foot away from you and then tries to throw it. Thankfully he has soft balls but we need to get him out of that habit.
We had some friends over for memorial day and did a cookout. It was fun but I'm glad we had helpful company because it's just getting harder for us to "entertain" and we outside. Aiden needs someone constantly watching him so he doesn't get run over or go into poision ivy. Eli needs attention because he gets tired of just sitting in the stroller while I chase after Aiden (Brad was cooking burgers). Thankfully, Andrea was great with Eli and entertained him and also fed him. It all worked out because the Burger family is so helpful with the boys.
Below is Becky. She helps teach Aiden's sunday school and she is Aiden's baby sitter on the rare occasion we go out! She is so great with him. Here they are playing. Aiden had a blast going "under the bridge" of Becky's leg. Becky just graduated (she will graduate next week) and we are hoping maybe she can come down to Florida for a few days at some point while Brad is gone. We'll have to see if that works out.

Eli has been a stinker pants for the past 2 days and hasn't wanted to nap. He's spent lots of time screaming the past 2 days unfortunately. I can't believe Aiden turns 2 tomorrow! Wow time has flown. It has been so much fun with him. Tomorrow we will be having dinner with his godparents, the Hunter's, and we have a play date at the park in the morning. In the afternoon, I might even go to the breastfeeding group. It looks to be a busy day.