HI! WOW! and UH-O!!

Its been awhile since I have done a blog post that was actually ALL ABOUT AIDEN!! Its definitely time to update you on what our little man is up to these days!

Lets just start off by saying he is definitely a toddler! (Which makes me so sad and secretly i whisper in his ear every day that he is still my BABY and always will be) It seems like every time I look at him he looks older and bigger :(

Aiden is still very easy going. He is almost always in a great mood and rarely gets upset. He does have a temper though and does NOT like to be told no. Some days I feel like I just say no no no all day long and I hate it!! I try to tell him no and re direct his attention to something he is allowed to play with but most the time he could care less about ALL his toys.  I mean the kid is completely spoiled and has too many toys but will spend an entire day playing with an empty water bottle or his FAVORITE an empty puffs container. He is SO silly! Whatever makes him happy as long as its not the remote, my cell phone, the lab top or the cords behind the tv. Mike and I both decided we need a new tv stand and a new desk ALL with DOORS so he can't get into them. HA!

Aiden is becoming more interested in some of his toys and its so cute how he will go in his room and actually PLAY. Ill find him in there looking at his books or crawling around his laugh and learn kitchen, its so adorable. Today he was being awfully quiet in there so I took a peek and he was playing with a cup (see i told you) and he was pulling out his dresser drawer putting the cup in it then pushing it back in. Then he would pull it out, take the cup out and start all over. No idea what he was thinking but he was having such a good time! Also when I was doing some dishes in the kitchen I heard him saying UH-O! in his room. He has NEVER said that  so i had to go check out what was going on. He was just playing and I have no idea why he was saying Uh-o but he was and said it ALL day long. It was the cutest thing! His other favorite words right now are HI! and WOW! He also says mama, dada and will repeat you if you say baby and pretty. He tries so hard to say other things but they just don't come out quite right yet. Im not concerned at all. He "talks" all the time and one of these days it'll all just come out perfect  :)

this post could get pretty long so Ill just make a list now of some other things he is up to!

*Pacifier- Aiden RARELY has his pacifier. We use it for bed time and as soon as he wakes up I say "spit it out" and he takes it out of his mouth and puts it in his crib. He's such a good boy! I don't leave the house without one though... just in case, there is always one in the diaper bag for emergencies. I do give it to him though for long car rides because he doesn't always fall asleep any more and even gets bored with his dvd player.  Im glad he isn't dependent on it at all and I think i could take it away completely and he would be fine. I think its harder for me! He looks like a baby with it in and as I have already pointed out I want him to be a baby forever! :)

*Milk- I switched Aiden to whole milk right around his first birthday. He loved it right away and I didn't have to ease him into it by mixing it with formula or anything. I was happy. He drinks it cold with meals but I warm it up first thing in the morning and before bed. I don't think he really has a preference at all its just what we do!

*Bed time/night time/nap time- Aiden hasn't always been the best sleeper. These days he is going to bed around 8. He wont let me rock him anymore :( so we just lay him down turn his music on and he's out. He usually sleeps until til 6 or 7 and on a rare occasion 8am! We still have some nights where he'll wake up crying and we just have to go in there lay him back down and turn his music box on. Not horrible. He was taking 2- 2 hr naps a day but now its usually just one in the afternoon that will last a couple hrs and sometimes he'll lay down in the mornings for about 45 min to and hour.

*Meal time- Aiden is a good eater and everyone is usually shocked at how much he can consume! He still doesn't like veggies all too much but we have found ways to get him to eat them. I was concerned awhile back but then I read about other foods that can give him the same nutrients and I also read about serving sizes and it all put my mind to ease. He is definitely a healthy little boy!

*Aiden's babysitters include my grandma and our friend Heidi. Heidi has a 3 yr old son Hunter and is expecting. Aiden LOVES Heidi and Hunter and they are always having play dates with lots of other kids and moms.  I love that she always has them outside when its nice, does art projects and I know he is learning when he is with them. We're very lucky!

*Aiden is becoming more shy and its adorable. It doesn't last long and he warms up to people very quickly but he can be quite bashful at first.

* He still LOVES bath time and will yank at his shirt and diaper until I take them off then he runs to the bathroom. ha ha  ha!

obviously I could go on and on and on but this is getting LONG. Most importantly our guy is happy and healthy and so much fun! My love for him is SO unexplainable, Im honored to be his mommy. Im going to be better about these updates ALL ABOUT AIDEN... this blog IS suppose to be all about him :)

Weekend in El Dorado & CHUBBY CHECKERS!

Okay I really mean CHUCKIE CHEESE but ever since my dad called it chubby checkers one time I always refer to it as that because its so hilarious. Last weekend Aiden and I headed to El Dorado to visit my sister Amy, her husband Josh and my ADORABLE nephew Paxton and niece Harper. We had to drive in some pretty terriying fog on the way there.  Seriously I can't even explain how scary it was. Doesn't help there were SO many morons on the road. No, I do not feel bad saying morons because thats what they are. Who PASSES (its a 2 lane highway!) in ThIcK THICK ThIcK fog and who doesn't have their dims/lights on!!! (um about 80% of the people on the road that day!) I didn't even take drivers ed and I STILL know these things, its COMMON SENSE! But thankfully we did make it safely and I was so happy to finally be there.

After getting Aiden dressed and letting him  check out his cousin harper and play with pax for a while I started packing up the car to head to Wichita. We were going to meet our other sister Sarah who lives there and do a little shopping and then head to chuckie cheese!

(let me point out that we live in an apartment right now so Aiden loves going to auntie Amy's because he can RUN from one side of the house to the other, he loves it)

Miss Harper was WIDE awake and ready to go!!

 Packing up the car... what a PAIN!! I never thought I would say this but a mini van would have been amazing that day! We had 2 toddler car seats and 1 infant car seat to fit in the back of Amy's honda accord. I have always thought that car had a super roomy back seat until the day I had to fit 3 car seats in the back of it. After tugging and pulling and safely securing all 3 seats we were on our way!

We first went to the mall to do a little shopping. I swear people were looking at us like we were crazy with 2 strollers and harper in a sling. We had it all figured out though!!

Shopping was a success and now it was time to head to chuckie cheese!! As soon as we pulled into the parking lot we knew it was going to be CrAzY. Seriously who goes to chuckie cheese on a saturday afternoon with  1yr old, 2 yr old  and 6 week old children...

WE DO!!!

We walked in the door and there was a line. Found out there was a 15/20 minute wait. Great. Amy was ready to skip out but Sarah would not let that happen. (Im pretty sure she was more excited than the boys!) At this point aiden is squirming to get down and explore and Pax is in tears. He caught a glimpse of Chuckie Cheese himself and was terrified! The wait went fairly quick, we ordered our pizza and were seated. PHEW! The pizza came up pretty fast and we were all so starving by that point I don't even think we cared that it didn't really taste that great at all.

The boys were eager to go play so we let them loose! I really didn't get that many pictures because I had my hands full with Aiden and I was trying to capture video as well! It was just packed at chuckie cheese. Hundreds of people and kids and birthday parties... I was super overwhelmed! Aiden just wanted to RUN and I had never seen him run that fast in my life. It was hilarious and I really wanted to just let him go but he would take off and either fall on his face or run into a complete stranger. So i tried to keep him busy with the rides and stuff. I think we were really only there a couple hours but it seemed like an eternity and I was ready to go as was amy... and for sarah, Im sure you can guess. We had to pry her and Pax away. It was nap time anyways and the boys were fast asleep before we hit the highway. My camera had died but i took cute pics of them sleeping with Amy's. Harper on the other hand slept through chuckie cheese and was wide awake for the car ride home, silly girl. We spent the rest of the night relaxing, went to dinner at the mexican restaurant and after putting the boys to bed us sisters enjoyed some wine and watched The Hangover. Very FUN (exhausting) weekend!!  Im excited to go back again with Aiden the 2nd weekend in february to help Sarah watch Pax and Harper while Amy and Josh go to VEGAS!

Sweet tooth

I have been CRAVING something sweet lately. Its like ever since I was pregnant I can't have a meal without a little treat afterwards. Its really awful actually, especially when you're trying to watch what you're eating. These days stores offer plenty low fat, low sugar "healthy" goodies that wont sabotage your efforts but this weekend I really didn't care and just wanted to make some yummy treats for me and my boys! More like my boys, co workers and whoever else would like to take some of these cookies off our hands, we have MORE than I know what to do with!! I wonder what would happen if i froze some... hmmmm.

Anyways...  here is what i made!!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

The ingredients include applesauce and whole wheat flour. I found the recipe on this healthy living website. They really aren't THAT good for you so I might as well just make regular chocolate chips cookies but they do taste great and Im glad I gave them a shot. I think ill use half a bag of choc chips next time, don't get me wrong I LOVE chocolate but I think there were just too many, thats all I could taste!!

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies: 

Aiden's new favorite snack is craisins. My sister Amy had some in her purse for Pax while we were  out to eat one night and we gave some to aiden to try. He loved them. He has always like raisins so i decided to buy some at the store. I bought 100 calorie packs to keep in the diaper bag and a bag to keep at home. (Those things are not cheap! )

So i saw the recipe in a craisin ad in Taste Of Home magazine and have also heard my co worker Megan  rave about them so I decided to make some since I had all the ingredients. (minus the white choc chips which Mike so graciously picked up for me after work last night. Love him.) They are super easy to make and are quite tasty!

Here is Aiden enjoying some of the choc chip cookes... quite messy but well worth it!

I have the day off today and its super cold and insanely WINDY so Aiden and I are cooped up in the house all day! Plus he's not feeling very well so unless we go to the doctor we're not going anywhere! Wish I would have saved the baking for today but guess Ill tackle the laundry instead. FUN :)

HAPPY MONDAY!!

Pancake Sunday!

This morning I was VERY excited to bust out some of my christmas gifts. Each year my dads girlfriend Kelley goes above and beyond in our stockings. She doesn't actually even use a stocking for us girls because it wouldn't all fit. Her and my dad fill it with anything and everything, stuff you would never think of but use on a daily basis. This year I got a pancake pan called ZOO friends, it was the CUTEST thing and I couldn't wait to make Aiden some fun pancakes!

Seriously how cute is this pan?!?

I almost forgot about something else she gave us and almost started spooning the batter onto the pan with a measuring cup! Silly me... good thing Mike reminded me! 

Check out this nifty thing!! 

You poor the batter in it and squeeze the handle and the mix comes out. You decide how much at a time making either large, medium or small pancakes. I was wondering how i was going to fill each one by hand knowing they would need to be flipped before I was done. I could have lowered the heat but thats me being a very amateur cook, I use HIGH HEAT for everything! 

I did the monkey, hippo and crocodile first, they were my favorites :) Im officially obsessed with this pan and had so much fun this morning making Aiden's breakfast. Of course he could care less and had no idea what was going on. Im sure he was thinking " mom why are you showing me my food and talking to me about it... just FEED ME!! " He'll appreciate it more one day.

MMMMMMM!!!

So I COULD just end this post now making you all think that this was a perfect breakfast and I made perfect animal pancakes for my perfect son but that definitely wasn't the case. Yes the pictures above were the first three pancakes I made and they did turn out great but then I got cocky and decided to them all at once...

Ha Ha Ha! I think it had something to do with the HIGH HEAT thing I was talking about earlier.  So that batch when straight in the trash and I stuck with doing 2-3 animals at a time after that :)

To make matters worse, Aiden must not have been feeling well because he threw up his whole entire breakfast ten minutes after eating it! POOR BABY!!

The joys of motherhood...

I wouldn't change it for the WORLD though!!

THANKS DAD AND KELLEY FOR THE FUN STUFF, WE LOVE IT!!

Happy New Year*

Happy New Years everyone!! There is nothing better than spending the first day of 2010 with my boys in our pajamas playing and watching football. I've decided to reflect back on the past year... I have so many things to be thankful for and i'd like to share a few with you! 2009 was THE BEST year and we feel incredibly blessed.

1. Technically Aiden was born in 2008 but the majority of his first year has been in 2009 :) To be able to carry and give birth to a child is an absolute miracle and it truly changes your outlook on life. We are so fortunate to have had a healthy baby boy and Aiden has made this past year unforgettable! He has brought so much joy to our lives and i can't describe the LOVE you have for your child. All the sleepless nights, crying, diaper changing, bottle washing etc. doesn't compare to all the smiles, laughs, hugs, kisses, milestones and MEMORIES we have created this past year. Thank you Aiden for making this year the best year of my life, I love you more than you'll ever know!!

 2. My best friend and boyfriend Mike. We are incredibly lucky to have him in our lives and I don't tell him nearly enough how much I appreciate and love him! Im thankful for his PATIENCE and all his help with Aiden. Im thankful for how HARD he works in school, his job and at home. Nothing makes me happier than seeing Aiden's face LIGHT UP when his daddy walks in the room. Thank you Mike for  being and amazing boyfriend and dad and for making this year the best year of my life!

3. Im thankful for both our families. All of their support and everything they do for us! I am most thankful for  their love for our son. He has no idea how lucky he is!!! Thank you all for making this the best year of my life, we love you all and we appreciate all you do!

Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy 2010!!