Toddler...scary!

It is so weird to me to consider myself the mother of a toddler. The word is much more intimidating than the actual actions of which makes him a toddler. It is actually really cool that Aiden is walking and has this very expressive personality. It makes me very proud when I see how much he has grown in the last year and that is in no way intimidating...just exciting!!

Anyways, I just love this picture of Aiden. He makes me laugh when he does stuff like this. What is more funny, is that he was sitting on the floor with the remote pointed at the TV and nothing worked (or at least the TV didn't turn off), so he decided to stand up and try again. Still no results, so he walks the remote over to me to see if that worked. I turned the TV off and he just lit up!! He knew exactly what the remote did and was so satisfied that he figured out how to get the job done. LOL

We took Aiden to his 1 year appointment on Tuesday this week. He is now 30 inches long and 19.6 lbs. When he was born, he was 20 inches and 7.9 lbs. The doctor is very happy with his progress and always has wonderful things to say about Aiden's attitude and how we are with him. I have to admit, it is hard when we go to the doctors because Aiden always gets upset and is not generally a crier, so it definately affects me (guess I shouldn't speak for Nathan). Plus, I always have to be the bad guy when he gets his shots and have to hold him down.

Our baby is now a toddler...it's bittersweet for sure, but we sure do love him!!

Happy 1st Birthday Aiden!

That's right...today is Aiden's first birthday!!!!! He was such a little trooper. He was so patient with everyone, especially mommy and daddy. We had a party at a pizza parlor up the street from our house and had a good turn out of close family and friends. I don't consider myself to be a complete weirdo about germs (I agree with the thought of a little dirt never hurt) but I could not handle Aiden touching the floor at the pizza parlor! He has been walking everywhere but when he falls, he will just start crawling. So we allowed minimal walking and a lot of passing around from person to person. =-) Aiden had lots of fun playing with the cake for sure!!!! I actually felt like we were at our wedding...so many people to visit with and a lot to do hahaha We were so happy that we had so many wonderful people with us to share Aiden's big day.

























Aiden looked SO handsome and even wore shoes all day!!! Today was the first day he walked with shoes on and did very well. We also had an AMAZING cake made from a fire captain's wife. You may not be able to tell from the picture, but the cake had incredible detail and was all edible! We were happy that Aiden was able to get such a cool personalized cake...hopefully we don't have to meet too high of expectations =-) Because the cake was so cool, we ended up having a small, simple (and free!) cake for Aiden.



It was a great day! Aiden has brought so much joy to us this year, we are just so excited for all the continued memories we will make as a family!

Impressed

Yes, I am impressed with myself =-) Finally figured out how to post videos!!! WOOHOO! hehe

So, here are some recent video's of Aiden. One is of him getting on and off his horse on his own and one of him walking.

Only two more weeks

I am still amazed at how quickly time can pass and all the daily accomplishments Aiden continues to make. Each day he looks older and learns something new. The joys of motherhood are indescribable! As exciting as each new thing learned is, it also reminds me of how much he has grown up in the last 11 1/2 months. I am not too emotional of a person (rarely cry at anything except the occasional chick flick lol) but I cannot recall a week that has gone by where I haven't had at least one moment of welled up eyes. Not out of sadness or hormones, but out of pure love and joy for my son. I know these days of Aiden's face lighting up when I come home from work, or the times he lays his head on my leg while I am sitting on the couch, are limited so I will continue to cherish every memory!

It is now two weeks until Aiden's first birthday. The invitations are out, reservations made, and the cake has been chosen...am I ready? NO!! It's his first birthday!!!! What kind of mom is ready for her first childs birthday?!?! I am so excited to experience it, but it is definately a scary thought. It sure didn't feel like a year, that's for sure. Aiden has been walking a lot more often recently. The other day, he was standing at the couch when I came into the house from work, and he walked all the way to the door to greet me. That was the furthest he has gone independently, which was about 10 steps. He is all over the place though. He still finds crawling to be the best option since it is quickest =-)

All in all, he is one happy, healthy and loved little guy. I have a couple cute video's I have to figure out how to post...I will work on that one.

Pictures

Ok, so I promised pictures...here they are =-)

Aiden was not too interested in eating dinner, but found making a mess if dinner much more interesting. Needless to say, the onesie was unable to be salvaged LOL As much as I enjoyed watching Aiden try and eat like a big boy, Nathan was not too sure about the mess hehehe
As most parents know, toys are subject to regular switch outs. So, we have a basket in the corner of the living room with a variety of toys. This also allows me a place to keep all the toys at the end of the day so I can see my floor again. Now that Aiden is so mobile, this basket usually ends up tipped over with every toy in it all over the floor. So much for a neat place to have the toys stay.

Saved the best for last...my most favorite picture! Aiden has these two balls that he bats around the floor and chases after. They ended up under a toy that has three legs. As the smart kid he is, he just crawled under and grabbed the balls and crawled out the other side. I have a picture of him under the toy; however, this was the next picture after I asked him "Now, how did you get through there silly?" He laughed SO hard and I just about melted when I got this picture. He is such a joy to me and could not imagine what my life would be like without him. I am definately one proud momma!

Nap time

So, I have a quick minute to update while Aiden is napping. We have been one busy group the last couple of weeks. First, I celebrated my 24th birthday on the 13th...thank you to everyone who made my birthday special!!! We also have a new addition to our house. A 75 gallon salt water fish tank. We obtained it from a co-worker of Nathan's and are SO excited to have been given such an awesome gift. There is still lots to do to get it up and running before we can get more fish, but Aiden sure loves it LOL! This upcoming week will be my last full time week, then I will officially become part time...WOOHOO!! I am still not sure if that will mean that we will be together as a family more or not, but I am so happy to be able to be home more.

Aiden is still not walking, but he sure has gotten brave in the last few weeks. He has no hesitation when he wants to get to something. If it is close enough, he will let go of whatever he is holding onto and reach for the next thing. If he is too far, he quickly drops to the floor and crawls over (mostly on hands and knees now!) Today he is 11 months old...not sure if he will be walking by a year at this point. We have started planning his first birthday which has got to be the most overwhelming thing. Not the actual planning part, but that my little baby is going to be 1 YEAR OLD!

I will post more pictures soon.

I want DADDY!

Aiden has finally done it...last night, he did not want anything to do with me, he just wanted Daddy. It was so sad!! I had a massage after work (my only gift to myself that I enjoy once a month...thanks to insurance! hehe) so Nathan was on nighttime duties. Mind you, Aiden is now 10 1/2 months and Nathan has yet to give him a bath by himself =) When I got home, Aiden was all clean, in PJ's and done with dinner. We played for a little while then it was to bed...we thought. He wanted nothing to do with bed. After about 45 minutes of crying, Nathan brought him back into the living room to calm him down (sometimes he just needs to know we are still there and will be out in seconds with us around lol). When Nathan handed Aiden to me and walked away, Aiden instantly started crying and reaching for Daddy! I was very sad that my little man has grown up to have a preference and that Mommy just wasn't cutting it =( I will get over it, plus there will be many other occations that I will get the cold shoulder from Aiden as he gets older!

Also, we are very proud of Daddy's accomplishment of taking care of Aiden from when he woke up to when he went to bed...WAY TO GO!! =D