Christmas 2009* Christmas Day and Day After

Even though Aiden had no idea it was Christmas morning it was still THE BEST feeling in the WORLD to wake up and get to see his smile and smother him with kisses and wish him a merry christmas! We woke daddy up next and headed upstairs to see the rest of the family. We didn't dig into presents because we wanted to wait til Ron got there so he could share in the festivities! In the mean time Aiden quickly found his pickle ornament! In Mike's family it's a tradition for his mom to hide the pickle ornament while everyone is still sleeping then we all look for it. This year there we 3 pickle ornaments... Aiden's, a girls one and a boys one. Alissa found the girls one before i did. Such a bummer! She got some beautiful hand made mittens, I was jealous! Aiden of course found his and Mike found the one for the guys. Its always fun to find it first and get the pickle prize! It's such a cute tradition and i intend to follow it every year!

We spent the rest of the morning opening presents which i FAILED to get any pictures of! I was not on top of it at all this Christmas with pictures, im SO mad at myself! Aiden got spoiled once again. He received a DVD player system for the car. Two screens that attach to each head rest, its pretty awesome. Wish we hadn't gotten so much stuff or i would have sat in the back seat with Aiden and watched Santa Buddies on the way back to Manhattan, but the car was completely PACKED FULL! Mike's parents got us a CAMCORDER! I was sooo excited! Its adorable and Ill probably do a post soon all about it! Too bad we dont have any videos of Aiden's first year of life but I did take a million pictures. I shot a lot of video footage this weekend and I love love love the camcorder. Now I just need to read the instruction manual and figure out how to upload them.

After eating lunch it was time to head back to Manhattan to spend the rest of the afternoon with my dad and siblings. The plan was to go to my grandparents house and eat and open presents with my dad's side of the family. But once again the weather ruined our plans and dinner was canceled because my aunt and uncle couldn't make it and it was safer for us all to not be out on the roads. We ended up just going out to my dads and hanging out with him and my siblings! It was so good to finally see all them!! We hadn't seen my niece Harper since the day she was born so I was DYING to hold her again. She is still tiny and  beautiful! Pax and Aiden embraced as soon as they saw each other, it was SO cute! We opened more presents, ate and played an intense game of Trivial Pursuit- Pop Culture! It was a great time! After getting stuck on my dads STEEP  driveway and having Mike, Josh, Tony and my dad push us up it, it was time to head back to our apartment. I was very eager to sleep in our own bed and just be HOME.

We finally made it up to my grandpa and grandma Long's on saturday. We had already planned on spending that day doing Christmas with my mom's side but pushed it back a little so we could go spend some time with them. The boys had fun running round and round and round their house and we were all exhausted from chasing them. It was a good time and i always love spending time at their house. Grandma had quite the touch with little Harper and had her fast asleep in minutes. I guess you never loose your mothers touch.

The rest of the afternoon we all got REAL COZY in our tiny apartment! My grandpa and grandma ekart, my mom and her boyfriend, my siblings and the kiddos relaxed ate tons of snacky foods, watched movies and opened MORE presents!

It was a WoNdErFuL Christmas and we were able to travel and spend time with ALL our loved ones! It was perfect and we are so blessed to have each other and all our family and friends!

Christmas 2009* Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Schuessler house...

Were a bunch of bums just laying around! The weather was getting pretty frightful out so we stayed inside and enjoyed the beautiful view! We all stayed in our pajamas until it was time to get ready for church, our excuse was Aiden was still in his so it was okay for us all to stay in ours :) We decided to go to the 6:00 mass in Washington so Ron could join us but because of the weather he decided to play it safe and stay in Manhattan. We all bundled up and braved the cold and WIND and made it to church safely. Aiden was pretty well behaved during church. As long as i was feeding him puffs and giving him anything and everything he wanted to play with he remained pretty quiet the whole time. phew!! After church we headed back to the house and ate dinner. In prior years family members would stop by after church to visit and have some drinks but the weather really put a damper on things this year! So we all watched Aiden play for a bit then started Christmas Vacation once he was in bed. A tradition in Mike's family as well as mine!! That movie never gets old to me... too bad Linda and I were the only 2 that made it through the whole movie!

Christmas 2009* Dec 22-23rd

I can't believe Christmas is actually OVER!! All the presents, all the wrapping, all the laughs, all the food, all the games, all the family and all the FUN and its all over and back to work tomorrow. BOO!

On the 22nd we took Aiden to see santa at the mall! He handled it exactly how i thought he would! The child before him flipped out so i was holding aiden and turned him around quickly thinking he would see  that and have the same reaction. NOPE! Being the BiG boy that he is we let him walk up to santa. Bad idea he was way more interested in the pretty christmas tree and the huge bulbs. So Mike redirected him towards santa and put him on his lap. Aiden just STARED at him, just like he does to most strangers.  He'll just stare you up and down and with in five minutes he loves ya! Santa didn't get there til 3pm which is during aiden's nap time so he was extremely tired. We had to try forever to get him to smile but the sweet lady working finally got one and they captured the pic! (i didn't get it on my camera though) I thought for his first time seeing santa (last year doesn't count since he was 2 weeks old) he handled it perfectly and hopefully next year he will be the same way!

We left Manhattan on the 23rd. The weather was suppose to get bad so we decided to forego the annual ginger bread party with my besties from high school and head straight to hanover when mike got off work. The weather ended up being fine but better safe than sorry and now that we're traveling with a baby we can't take any chances!! We spent the evening with mike's grandma, parents, siblings, aunt/uncle, cousins and their children. It was a great time as usual. Little Aiden was up until 11pm! He was SO good though and just played with the kids and explored great-grandma's house!

I will finish my christmas posts tomorrow!!

Growing like a weed!

Here are Aiden's measurements from when he was born to today at his 1 year appointment!!

"Birth"Day 12/12/08:
weight: 8 lbs 11oz
height: 20 3/4 in

1 Month checkup 12/13/09:
weight: 9 lbs 4oz
height: 23 in

4 Month checkup 4/13/09:
weight: 15 lbs 3 1/2 oz.
height: 26 in
head: 43cm

6 Month checkup 6/12/09:
weight: 17 lbs 5 1/2 oz
height: 27 in
head: 45 cm

9 Month checkup 9/21/09:
weight: 19 lbs 12 oz
height: 28 in
head: 47 cm

1 year checkup 12/14/09:
weight: 21 lbs 2 1/2 oz
height: 30 1/2 in
head: 49 cm


Dr. says he's perfect... which of course we already knew that :)

Happy 1st Birthday Aiden!!

Our little monkey turned 1 this past weekend! Im still in dis belief that he is really a year old and im pretty much in denial about it. He is my baby and he always will be! We celebrated on his actual birthday which was saturday. The morning started with chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast then some playing and a nap. Nana Jana and auntie sarah watched him while Mike and I went and picked up some food and the balloons for the party. We had the celebration at my dads house, there is so much more room there. I was very pleased with how everything turned out, the decorations, the monkey cupcakes, aiden's great mood, lots of food and our amazing family and friends who were there to help celebrate. It was a perfect day and Aiden had a great time. He received lots of nice new toys and clothes, his favorite being the car he can ride on or push from behind and it has lots of fun NOISY buttons for him to push! All day i just kept thinking about how a year ago i was being induced, giving birth, holding him for the first time... and now he is a toddler! Time goes by so fast! Our lives have changed so much and we are loving every second of it. Aiden is truly a blessing and im honored to be his mom. I can't wait to see what this year brings and how much he'll change, he is so smart and and funny and always a joy to be around!!

yummy choc chip pancakes!!

sprucing up papa's old school high chair!

the banner i made with pics birth-1yr

the birthday boy!! so handsome!

the table

close up of his monkey, invitation, and monkey book

monkey cupcakes!!

with mommy and daddy "opening" gifts

his new favorite toy!

yum!! 

The BIRTHDAY FUN has BEGUN!!

It's officially Aiden's 1st birthday WEEK! The big day is saturday and we can't wait!!!! Today he received his first package in the mail... it was even addressed to him. I was SO confused and figured it was our x-mas cards even though i thought i had sent those to my work. Anyways, aiden had fallen asleep in the car so i took him straight to his crib for a nap, unloaded the groceries then opened then package. I knew immediately when i saw the box what they were. I was like a kid on christmas and RIPPED the package open, i had no clue who had sent them but i so thrilled. They were COWBOY BOOTS, his FIRST pair!!! I have been wanting to get him some for awhile but i just kept forgetting. I was so happy i almost cried, i immediately started searching for a name because i still had no idea who they were from. I looked at the receipt that came with it and saw my friend's name... Casey Schnitz. Of course, i mean WHO ELSE would send him boots besides his small town, pig farming, adorable auntie casey!?! She is such an amazing friend and has always been so good at remembering birthdays and always finding the most perfect gifts. She completely out did herself again and we are so thankful, she is the best! I wanted to wake him up from his nap SO bad but he isn't feeling well so he definitely needed to get some rest. As soon as i heard him wake up i brought him into the living room and put the boots on. He was NOT happy and refused to try to walk in them and just started bawling. Oops, i should have known, he was still pretty out of it. So we had a snack and mike got home from class and later this evening we gave it another shot. He was a little clumsy at first but figured it out pretty quick. He looked adorable, even in his filthy shirt and sweats. He'll be wearing them ALL the time, thank you so much casey, we love you!!

"HAIRCUT"

Aiden had his first "haircut" on friday! Mike had scheduled an appointment with our friend Jodi and we decided to take Aiden along so she could trim the back of his hair. His hair in the back is the only thing growing! Which doesn't surprise me because my hair does the same thing. The back grows at rapid speed and in curls and the front and sides dont grow at all... sounds like we could have killer mullets if we wanted to! HA! Well my sisters have been tormenting me to get it cut because they think it looked like a rat tail. I agree it was getting pretty bad but i had become quite fond of  his hair and i love playing with his curls. With his birthday coming up and his 1 yr pics we decided to get a little trim.  He did pretty good and just chewed on a comb will jodi did a few snips, he kept getting distracted by me wanting to get pics so i put the camera away so his ear didn't get cut off :)

BEFORE :i love his little curls

BEFORE

ha ha, you can see how LONG it had gotten!

Jodi put his hair in a zip lock baggy and ill put it in his baby book!

Thanksgiving #2

We were fortunate to have 2 Thanksgivings! On saturday we headed to my dads house and spent the day with his side of the family. Nothing beats my dads cooking... it was amazing. After dinner auntie sarah got BOTH boys to take naps while amy and I started on the dishes. After relaxing for a bit myself it was time to head to Peyton's first birthday party! 

Aiden was curious about this new place we were at so he spent most the time wondering around the mccain's home and getting in their kitchen cabinets. He helped peyton open one gift but then it was off to explore again... this is what happens when they start walking, they dont want to sit still for anything!! Im anxious to see how he does at his own birthday party this coming weekend! 

After the party we went back out to my dads house and had to say goodbye to everyone. It was sad since I wont be seeing Pax and Amy again until miss Harpers arrival and they wont see Aiden again until Christmas :( They wont be able to make it to his first birthday party since amy will probably be coming home from the hospital that day and they want to spend some time together as their new family of 4! 

Thanksgiving

We spent Aiden's FIRST Turkey Day in  Hanover at Mike's grandmas house. We had a nice  dinner and afterwards the boys headed to their "dungeon" to play pinocle and have a few beverages and us girls got out all the black friday ads and chatted around the table. Mike and I had to head back that night because we both worked friday and Aiden got to spend the night and spend the next day with grandpa Don and uncle Joe!  

With Grandpa Don & Grandma Linda

All the boys!

Family pic

OUR LITTLE TURKEY!

I hope mommy has bad days more often

Sometimes its necessary for some good ol' milk and cookies! This was thursday night when mike was working and i had had a bad day at work. I decided Aiden and I needed a little treat... double stuff oreos! I tried to just give him a bite of one of mine but even that made a mess so i put him in the high chair took his shirt off and just gave him one. He kept looking at me like "are you serious, are you really letting me have this" He only had ONE  (wish i could say the same for myself) and that was enough since he went straight to the bath then it was bed time. I definitely think he enjoyed our little treat as did I! 

Doing his new "lip" thing

He would take a bit then CHUG his milk!

Look mom!!