One little monkey...

Jumping in his bed =-)

The end of summer

It's official...summer is gone. Fall is here and although it is one of my favorite seasons, it means less time outdoors. This last week we had a break in the rain with somewhat warmer temperatures, so Aiden and I headed to our last park visit for the year. We were the only ones at the park that afternoon and had fun swinging, going down the slide, kicking the ball in the field, and just cruising. We will miss you summer...see you next year!!!!!!

Halloween 2009

Of course, Nathan worked on Halloween this year, but Aiden and I were able to enjoy the day and sneak a visit to the station to see Dad in too! Aiden was a firefighter (thanks to Kristen who gave me the outfit lol) this year. It was too funny because he kept trying to say costume when I was explaining to him it was time to get changed into his firefighter costume and go to the station! After our station visit, we headed out to Gma & Gpa's house. We carved pumpkins with Uncle Brian which Aiden thought was too cool. I have a video of Aiden taking the seeds out. He would have to get everything off his hand before he would get more out HAHA. There was also a Duck game on Saturday against USC (which the Ducks won!!!!), so we hung out to watch the game with the family and some friends...Aiden had a blast!!!

He was not feeling his firefighter helmet though, so his outfit was just not complete. But the next night, he was all for wearing the helmet and saying "cheese" for the camera!!! So, lets just pretend that he is wearing black pants instead of his brown pj bottoms in these pictures and you get the idea =-)

Oh yeah...

Just in case you wanted proof =-) Baby #2 is due on May 16th!!!

Seattle Trip

With Nathan's schedule so busy, we haven't been able to do many fun family things lately, but he was able to get some time off and we headed out of town! A very good friend of mine and her family live in Bremerton, WA and we have yet to go visit them. We drove the 4 1/2 hours there and had a GREAT time!!! We came up on a Tuesday and just visited that evening, then went out for an adventure on Wednesday. Of course it was raining, but we made the best of it. We took the ferry to Seattle, visited the Seattle Aquarium (the boys loved touching the starfish and splashing in the water!), walked around Pikes Market, saw the guys that throw fish, got coffee at Starbucks (haha) then headed back to their place. Unfortunately, we were not able to stay longer and left Wednesday evening (got home at midnight but drove straight home and it only took 4 hours). Kristen's son Braydon is about a year older than Aiden but the boys played very well together and made Kristen and I laugh lots!!! We can't wait for our next mini-vacation =-)

Bad day...what's that?

My life is not all that exciting these days...I feel joy in very small accomplishments and don't have much "adult" conversation topics anymore, but I have to say, that no day is a bad day. Even when I am bummed out, Aiden is always to my rescue! Everyday he does something new that amazes me and makes me smile. Here are some of the recent Aiden moments at the Kunasek house:

- Aiden spent 10 minutes of his "quiet time" before bed running circles around his bean bag chair "singing" and clapping with only the occasional stop to show me the "dog, woof woof" on his pj's.

- About a month ago, I put Aiden down for his nap in only a diaper as we have done a number of times before...that day was special =-) He took some time before settling down for his nap so I planned to get him up promptly when he woke for lunch. When he first made noise, he seemed uneasy so I went right in his room to find him standing up NAKED with a diaper full of poop and pee all down the side of his crib! Why this made me laugh...he was freaked out by the poop in his diaper LOL!!

- When he wants to, and only then haha, he will point and tell you where your nose, ears, eyes and mouth are.

- He is working really hard at getting up from the floor with no hands. He will be on his knees, will bend one leg but can't seem to get all the way up without touching the floor but NEVER stops trying. He probably does this about 5 times a day!!

- Along with that, he is trying to get from his hands and knees to just his knees without going to his side for support...this may not make much sense, but basically he looks like a bucking horse! =-)

- I put Baby Einstien movies on for Aiden while he is eating a snack and I am showering. The other day, I asked him what he wanted for a snack and he promply signed "cereal" to me. I was pretty confused because I never all Cherrios "cereal" nor have I ever signed "cereal" to him...it didn't take me long to realize that he picked it up on his own off the movie. Crazy kid!

- Aiden mimics EVERYTHING right now! If I say "no no no" he repeats it. If Nathan coughs, Aiden covers his mouth and "coughs". He will take my phone and walk around the living room "talking" and laughing just like we would!

- I love that Aiden enjoys music. He doesn't care too much for TV but we do have cartoons on in the morning and he will always stop to dance when the songs are played. As well, we "rock out!" in the car everytime we go anywhere. He claps and kicks and "sings", it's lots of fun!!

- With football season here, Aiden is getting use to mommy yelling and jumping randomly LOL what is even better (especially since Nathan does not like sports) is that whenever football comes on (commercial, news, a game or even on the internet) Aiden will cheer "GO DUCKS!" about a hundred times =-) I LOVE IT!!!!


Being a mom is amazing and I am so lucky that Nathan and I have such a wonderful little man in our lives and that I am home to enjoy it!

Camping

I think this picture sums our camping trip to Waldo Lake this year perfectly...Aiden was completely mesmerized by the fire. He would not let this rock leave his sight. The dirt is clearly seen under his nails so you could only imagine how dirty he got! He is such a good camper and loves being outdoors. I have a ton of pictures but the best was the video of Aiden cruising around with Uncle Brian. A note, this was the first time EVER that Aiden was not afraid; of Harley (the in-laws dog)! =-)

Are you ready?!?

It has been a very busy month for us. I will sum up some of the small events and post more on the larger ones. Nathan, Aiden, Brian (Nathan's brother) and I met some friends at the sprint boat races in early September. It was a beautiful day and lots of fun! Aiden loved the boats...I was afraid he was going to be scared since they are pretty loud but instead, he would cheer, clap and yell at the end of every run. LOL Uncle Brian also thought that a popsicle would make Aiden very happy (see picture). Although his face was stained blue for the rest of the day, he did enjoy his treat =-)

We also had Aiden's 18 month check up...I KNOW, he is already 18 months old!!!!!! He only grew a 1/2 inch bringing him to 32 in but gained about 2 lbs bringing him to about 23 lbs! Developmentally, the dr is VERY happy as most of his skills are months above the expectation for his age. After his three shots, he even waived and told the nurse "bye bye" with a smile =-) We are so lucky to have such a happy little man!

Nathan has been working a lot so that has left me and Aiden home to find new ways to stay entertained...his most recent excitement has been climbing the couch. Funny thing is that he still isn't tall enough to get up without help, so I have been "helping":


He also loves this because he gets to watch daddy working outside. As well, I struggle to keep clothes on him...usually he is without pants after a diaper change. Eating is messy too, so he usually is down to a diaper during meals lol.




Don't worry, the second picture is just ketchup =-)

Congrats to Chelsea and Cody!!!!

I was so lucky to be part of one of my best friends weddings on Saturday. Chelsea is an incredible person and has found a great man to be her husband. I am so happy for the two of them!!!! The wedding was beautiful...and I cried more then I wished. I didn't get many pictures but will hopefully be able to post some or the link once they get the pictures from their photographer after they return from their honeymoon in Aruba. Congrats again Mr. and Mrs. Olson! =-)

Bed time

Every night, Aiden goes through the same bed time routine; however, the nights Nathan is home, we seem to get off track. Aiden will get through dinner, bath time, pj's and milk with no issues...but as soon as I say "time to go to bed Aiden, give daddy a kiss" we have a 10 minute delay. Aiden will instantly go to Nathan and cuddle with him or lay on his shoulder. He looks out the corner of his eye and as long as he can see me, he will not leave that position. But, if I get out of site, he will pick up his head or sit up and as soon as I come in the room, will go right back to cuddling with daddy. As frustrating as this may seem, it is actually my favorite part of Nathan being home. It shows me how much Aiden loves his daddy and what an awesome dad Nathan is to stop what he is doing and enjoy these 10 minutes of down time with Aiden. It is incredibly precious and I am slightly jealous that I don't get those moments. =-)

Speghetti, Sprinkler and Popsicles

These days it seems that Aiden loves to eat anything that gets him messy...I guess I should be grateful he is eating I guess. He has always been a good eater and still is, just as long as he can feed it to himself. So, I have given up my attempts at keeping him clean during mealtimes. He eats in just a diaper and eats anything that he enjoys (of course, leaving the messiest for dinner so he can get a bath after). And I have to say, he is LOVING IT!!



He is also SO excited for summer activities. We take walks every morning before his nap, play out in the yard or park in the afternoon, and on the especially hot days, we play in the sprinkler and eat popsicles for a special treat. He is such a good little guy too...set down a towel or blanket and he will sit and eat his treat until it is all gone before getting up. =-)

And the words keep coming...

I know they say that when toddlers start talking it never ends, but I am absolutely amazed at how much Aiden has been talking the last few weeks, although, I am sure that only Nathan and I understand most of it! =-) Aiden enjoys trying to say what you are saying too...this is where it isn't clear what he is saying but you know he is saying whatever you just did. So, it is time that I start documenting the words/phrases that he has got down.

Aiden enjoys animals a lot. He has a few books with just animals that are always laying around and he loves for you to read them to him. He says:

dog (with the "woof woof" too lol)
cat
peacock (don't know about this one)
duck
pig (with a finger up his nose saying "oink oink")

We also started doing sign language with him after his birthday, so he is now using signs for:

please
more (speaks it too)
ball (speaks it too)
milk (speaks it too)
bath
eat
drink
"all done" (speaks it too)
Baby (speaks it too)

Of course he knows "mama" and "dada" as well as:

Grandma
Grandpa
Bye Bye
Uncle (although this is more of a noise then a word LOL)
Uh-Oh
Truck
Car (he LOVES cars!)
Vroom-Vroom
Mine/My
firetruck (I swear we did not push this one)
"See ya"
Grapes

Those words are all frequent in the house. He has started trying to say helicopter, airplane, stroller, walk, keys, horse, and a few others. The words he uses don't sound like the actual words, but he knows what he is talking about and they do sound different LOL. I am so grateful to be home with Aiden and able to experience this exciting time with him!

Vegas baby!!

In June we were able to take a family vacation to Las Vegas to see my brother Trevor graduate high school! I am so happy that I was fortunate enough to attend all three of my siblings graduations (two in Vegas and one is SD) while living in Eugene...as well as I am SO proud of all of them for graduating!! We had lots of fun in the very warm weather and loved seeing family while we were there. We took Aiden to the pool for the first time. Give us a break...Eugene isn't warm enough to go swimming LOL He had lots of fun with dad, grandma, and Danny!

For Trevor's graduation present, Nathan really wanted to take him to the shooting range to shoot an AR, so we met Trevor and my step-dad Billy at the range. The pictures tell it all =-)

Although we had lots of fun, it was a sleepless trip. Aiden was NOT happy with the hotel idea and spent most of the day (and pretty much all night) letting us know! We were able to get a precious picture of him though =-)!

Trip to San Diego

Aiden and I were so fortunate to be able to take a trip down to San Diego at the end of June for a mini vacation and visit with the family...guess that's one of the benefits of not working anymore! =-) We had lots of fun and were able to do much more since our trip was about a week long. Aiden and I went to the beach for Aiden's first visit with Gpa, Mimi and Aunt Leah with only minimal complaining from Gpa ;-) A short but sweet trip (let's face it...I am not the tan SD girl I once was!) but Aiden thought it was too cool...sand, water and toys, what more could he want!





It was very nice to see everyone at the family BBQ. Aiden had lots of fun playing with his cousins. We were glad to be able to visit with "Aunt" Carynne and Hailey since they are quite the busy bunch. In all, we had a wonderful trip!!! I am so glad that Aiden is able to experience all these adventures in his life. Someday he will be able to look back on these photo memories and see how much he is loved!

Summer Time!!!!

It's here and we could not be more excited! Now that Aiden is more active, keeping him in the house all day because of crappy weather is miserable. Luckily, we have been getting some beautiful weather the last month and have been able to enjoy lots of trips to the park and time in the pool. Aiden has always been a water baby and LOVES being in the bath, pool, lake, or any other body of water he can. He also recently discovered that the park has a water pump at the sandbox, so now I have to be sure to bring a change of clothes because he is always soaking wet by the end of our visit. So, here are some pictures of our fun in the sun!!