Having fun in Lancaster

Snow and shopping with my mom and sister. Two of my faves

Aidan's enjoying Aunt Cait's basketball game with Lauren (and her adorable baby bump)

Computer time at the library

not so interesting update

I've been really bad at blogging lately. Maybe it's because nothing too exciting is going on right now.
@ Work: I've been busy at school since it's end of marking period time as well as time to start thinking about where I want my students placed next year. It's crazy to have so much control over what kind of classroom they go into. But, I guess besides their parents I know more about them than anyone else. Heck, for some of my kids I think I know more than their parents. There's the typical cold going around and a nasty stomach bug. Let's keep those germs at school kiddos.
@ Home: Are you sure there wasn't a tornado on my street lately? With all the strong winds outside lately things are strewn all over the yard and every time we put them back they end up in another corner. It just makes me want to redecorate (aka landscape) the back yard. The inside isn't looking so great either. The dining room table has become a dumping ground for everything, yes, even the Christmas lights we took down weeks ago that haven't made it into the attic. It's really time to clean that room up. Aidan's awesome at cleaning up after himself, now if only we could get control of the clutter {that word makes me shudder}.
Sean: He'll be 30 on April 7th this year!!! CRAZY!!! He's been busy with work lately but has been the best daddy and husband ever getting up with Aidan the few nights he hasn't slept through the night in the past two weeks. He made dinner last night and took care of Aidan tonight while I went to Pilates. Love him.
Aidan: Wow. What can I say? He's awesome. He cleans up after himself just about all of the time now. If he gets some books out he'll put them nicely back on the shelf before running off to get into something else. Many times he'll clean up without even being asked. I guess this is because from the time he was walking I would have him help clean up with me so he knew that his toys had a place other than the middle of the floor. He's just awesome. I can't believe it's time to start planning his 2nd birthday party this year. I'd love to go more low-key this year, but I think Sean will want to do it up big, as usual. Love that kid, so much.
Me: I'm doing well. I've been really tired lately and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's my body going through withdrawal since I haven't been up all hours of the night aimlessly surfing the internet. I literally have been asleep by 9pm at least twice this week. I've been so exhausted I can't even remember what time I've been asleep, but I know it's been early and at least once I was asleep before Aidan. I really want to drop a few {5-10} pounds before summer comes, but can't seem to get the motivation to eat well and work out more than a couple of times a week. I love going to Pilates every Thursday night, but the rest of the week I find it hard to do anything. Sean got me Wii Active and it's fun, but I can't seem to get into a routine of doing it. I'd love to do it early in the morning before work, but I just love to sleep and love my bed and can't get up until I absolutely have to. Maybe once it's warmer out I can start walking with Aidan again. I also know that I need to eat better. Damn those Girl Scout cookies too. If anyone comes across a secret for losing that ring around my middle section PLEASE let me know! Thanks.
Toby: Just went for his annual vet visit. He lost weight, which is sort of a surprise but not really. Not only is he getting more snacks thanks to Aidan, he's also got a new workout routine thanks to Aidan. That poor dog gets chased more often then he'd like. He's not even safe on the couch since Aidan got smart and now lifts his toy lawn mower onto the couch to scare off Toby. He's doing well though. He's lost a little vision but it's hard to tell how much. He's always had one bad eye, but now the other is getting some calcification as well. He goes in on Monday to be put under for a dental cleaning. While he's in they're going to remove a small bump from his side as well. (might be something from when I found a tick on him) Wouldn't we all love to be put asleep for dental work? I know someone who would. Anyway, hopefully it doesn't cost an arm and a leg and all goes well for Toby. You know, I keep telling this dog he's going to live forever, and I only wish it was true because we can't imagine life without him. To think of the day that Aidan asks where the dog is and I have to tell him he's not coming back just makes me sad.

My thoughts on life right now:
This was a LOOOOOOONG post, but now you're caught up on things you didn't even care about.
I'm so happy tomorrow is Friday.
I enjoy going to pilates, but really miss Aidan during the short time I'm gone.
I love my life.

choo choo

Lately Aidan has been completely into trains. It all started with the GeoTrax set we got him for Christmas. Now he loves watching Thomas and a new show on Disney called Chuggington. I'm wondering if a train table would be worth it? And where on Earth would it go in this house? It'd be out with the bench and in with the table in the living room. hmmm....he would love it though.
He's also really into Clifford the Dog, but thankfully our dog Toby playing with him satisfies him quite well. Is it normal for kids to be upset to the point of tears when their favorite show is over?

My thoughts on life right now:
I had all intentions of not making my kid a "TV kid", that is until I realized how much he likes it and most of the shows can be pretty educational. Plus, he loves music.
Story time is also important to us as well, not all TV time here.
We should definitely take him on a train ride this spring.
If you could only hear him now, he's singing along with Thomas.

Could he be any cuter?

It only took 21 months...

but I finally got around to hanging Aidan's wall letters. We ordered them from Pottery Barn Kids within a few months of Aidan's birth after deciding we wanted them for his room. (Yes, it took us that long to decide...typical when it comes to decorating.) Anyway, I'm really pleased with how they turned out. They're a little more off-white than I expected, especially since we ordered white. But they do look very nice against the throw-back Phillies colors.

My thoughts on life right now:
Another thing crossed off the to-do list! :-)
I can't believe I hung wall letters just months before his 2nd birthday.
Thanks go to Deanna for holding me accountable for hanging them since I've been talking about it for so long.
Time to take some pictures with my camera of his completed nursery, you know, since it won't be long before he's in a big-boy bed. Time flies.

mmmmmmm...Ice cream at Aunt Steph and Uncle Brian's

Aidan's 1st ER visit

Aidan made his first visit to the ER today with a very positive outcome. Here's what happened:

Aidan and I were outside kicking the ball around in the in the culdesac enjoying the warmer than usual January temperature. He ran over to get the ball and took a bit of a spill, landing with his left leg twisted a bit. I stood him up and that's when he cried. He immediately fell back down and that's when the worrying started. I stood him up again, he walked a few steps and then fell again. I decided the best bet was to take him inside, strip him down and see if anything was red, swollen or bruising. Well then he freaked out. My kid loves it outside, so much that even if he did have a broken leg it could wait until it was too dark to play outside any longer. Upon coming inside Sean and I noticed his left knee was a bit more swollen than the right so not having any experience with this before, we called the pediatrician. The nurse said that since he's so young and unable to tell us how bad it hurts, and that children his age get what are called "toddler fractures" because of soft bones, it was best to take him to the emergency room. Being lucky, we've never had to take him anywhere so I asked for a suggestion of where to go and she said Dupont Children's Hospital. So after giving him some milk we were on our way.

First of all let me say that everyone at Dupont was great and so was the atmosphere. We pulled into the parking lot and although it was dark out we saw an amazing playground...how NOT scary. There were wagons all over to use for transporting the kids and even a fish tank in the waiting room that Aidan really enjoyed looking at. We signed in and got called back to triage within 10 minutes. Then we were taken to a room and put him in a gown (which he loves). Sean was registering Aidan while I was getting him changed. He was pretty happy that he had a TV to entertain him, especially when I put tennis on. Not long after we were taken to radiology where I held his hands and cuddled my head near his while Sean held his foot and leg in place for him to get four x-rays. He did very well for a little guy. When we returned to the room he made himself quite comfortable coloring, reading a book, and watching TV. The doctor even had a snack of grahm crackers and apple juice brought to him. At one point he was laying back watching TV as if nothing at all was bothering him. All the while Sean and I were worried there could be a small fracture and how on earth would he/we deal with a cast. Luckily for all of us the doctor returned not long later and said that she and a radiologist-in-training had looked at the films and everything looked fine. A senior radiologist will look at it this morning and call if he sees anything, but it looked good last night. Aidan got a little motrin and we got him dressed and discharged. He walked out of there with just a little limp, but he was fine otherwise. Whew!

Enjoying the fish tank.

Watching TV.

So cute.

"This isn't so bad Mommy & Daddy."

My thoughts on life right now:
Thank God for the wonderful facilities and people we have available to us.
Thank God Aidan is fine and so adaptable.

Enjoying a tennis match with Bear and cell phone in hand

weekend recap

This recap is a little premature since I've got off tomorrow! Woohoo! All weekends should be three days long.

Friday evening Toby was scheduled for a grooming appointment and I had plans to drop him off and either browse around the nearby Target or bring a book and hang out at Dunkin' Donuts until he was done. It was going to be a nice, relaxing end to my fairly hectic week. Well, since I'm a wonderful wife, I agreed to bring Aidan with me while Sean went to the Sixers game with Colby. No big deal really, I knew Aidan would love the little animals in Petsmart and he'd cooperate long enough in Target for me to look at the few things I wanted.

Little did I know just how tricky having the dog and the toddler would be. Getting them in the car wasn't too bad, neither was getting them out of the car once we arrived. The hard part was separating the two of them at drop off. Toby didn't want to go behind the swing door when he realized we were leaving, so we had to wait until he was back there. Aidan didn't make it an inch out of the doorway of the glass door back into the store before sobbing, no wait, hysterically sobbing. One might have thought I just gave away the dog forever. Thankfully there was a bench next to the doorway and I let him stand on it to see that Toby was inside and okay. The tears didn't stop until we got to the guinea pigs. They peaked his interest and helped him forget about the dog. The cats really amused him...he especially liked when they were looking at him rather than at the volunteers on the other side of the cage. He even "pet" them through the glass before we left to visit all the fish. Of course he wanted to pet the fish too, but I suggested that we just wave instead. Good thing, a worker came by and warned me that one of the tanks on the bottom was full of little biters! Seriously? None of the tanks have lids. Why on earth would they put the biters on the bottom? Are they trying to teach nosy kids a lesson? Anyway, the fish were fairly entertaining to a little boy who loves animals that move. The birds were fun too, but they didn't move all that much. On the way out the door the sobs almost came back to get us. All Aidan kept saying was "dog" in various forms---question, statement, worried, sad; he just wanted the dog.

We got to Target three minutes later and he was still asking for the dog. This time pointing to the seat next to him as if to tell me he wanted him back in the car with us. Poor guy. Luckily we made it through most of Target before needing to pull out the ever-soothing Cheerios which manage to leave a Hansel and Gretel type trail behind us. Awesome Steph met up with us toward the end of our trip and we certainly enjoyed her company. She also suggested stopping at the local pizza place for dinner before Toby was done. Heck, Cheerios on the go can be dinner sometimes, she'll learn. Anyway, we went over for a slice and of course as soon as we got it I got a call saying Toby was done. So after enjoying some pizza we said goodbye and Aidan and I went off to get Toby. I'm not sure who was more excited, Aidan or Toby. They were so happy to see each other. We visited all the other animals once more then were on our way home. Both boys were asleep not long after hitting the road.

Saturday we went to Jack's 1st birthday party. For a little guy he gets around so well! We enjoyed some great company and food. Aidan loved seeing some other kids and it was nice for us to hang with adults.

Today Sean and Aidan took care of me for a couple of hours while I fought a migraine. A hug really can make me feel so much better. Once the migraine was gone we decided to go to the diner nearby for breakfast, except when we got there we both ended up ordering our typical diner lunch and immediately regretted it. Oh well. Aidan enjoyed his french fries, few bites of chicken, and finished off his pudding. The rain was terrible, but great for getting some cleaning done. We went through our clothes and managed to come up with four bags to donate. I'm sure we could have gotten more but Sean likes to keep things...he'll always be prepared if we need to give an army t-shirts. No really, I'm pleased with how much he did today. Tomorrow hopefully I can organize the rest of our room and maybe one other room in our house. Most importantly tomorrow I'm going to enjoy the time with Aidan.

My thoughts on life right now:
Time goes so fast.
Aidan continues to amaze and amuse us.
It feels good to have gotten some things done this weekend.

So sleepy.

So excited about the guinea pigs

Going to check out the fish at Petsmart.

Every day when we get home he wants to play in the tiny piles of snow we still have. Spring will be so fun this year.

Sleep, or lack thereof

Lately in the last month or so Aidan's sleep patterns have been pretty irregular. His naps have ranged anywhere from an hour to over three hours...we've even had to wake him up so that the nap isn't too long. At night he's been waking up once, twice, or more. Not every night, but three or more times a week. I'm hoping that it's his teeth coming in. He's got one eye tooth that isn't completely in yet and he could be getting his two year molars since his teeth have always been early. Hopefully he starts sleeping better soon.

I have to thank Sean for getting up with him most nights. I really, really appreciate it and I appreciate my sleep. I just wish we were all getting good sleep.

He's never had a set bedtime, I'm wondering if I should try some kind of sleep solution like putting him in his crib awake (GASP!!!). But neither one of us want to hear him cry himself to sleep when he's spent 20 months falling asleep in our arms.

My thoughts on life right now:
We NEED sleep!
Teething sucks.
Cry it out? I don't know. I'll probably cry the whole time too.
They're only this little once, right?

Christmas & NYE

Well, if you didn't notice, I skipped a Christmas blog completely. Not because it was bad, it wasn't. It was AWESOME. We were just so busy and enjoying time with each other so much that I didn't take the time to blog. The long and short of our Christmas:

Christmas eve we went to church and then headed over to Steph and Brian's for some good food and company. Aidan went to bed pretty late and we stayed up late putting together a table and chairs set and FP Geotrax train track.

Christmas morning: we woke up late, and woke Aidan up at 10! He wasn't happy about that, but couldn't have been happier once we brought him downstairs and he saw that train set. Honestly, we could have skipped out on all the other gifts because that's all he cared about. He loves it! We had to fight with him to get him to open other gifts. I guess it was a good thing that he loved the things we got him, because when he would take a break from the train he'd get into the gift he just opened. He was a lot of fun. He was the same when family came over to visit. He would open a gift or two then want to play with it right away. Later on we got dressed and went to Aunt Linda's to join the big crowd for the annual Christmas dinner and Pollyanna. It was lots of fun!

NYE:
I was in my friend Danielle's wedding. She married the love of her life Jason. It was a beautiful wedding and a great reception. Pictures to come soon on Facebook. We really did have a great time and I LOVED my dress. Danielle looked beautiful.

My thoughts on life right now:
This was a stinky post.
If you want to know more details about our Christmas, just ask us!
Maybe I should have just forgoten about the post altogether! haha.
Malibu Rum isn't as forgiving as it used to be the day after a wedding...or maybe I'm not as young as I used to be.

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My sleepy boy. From car to floor.

Our little boxer

Aidan thinks he's at Tokyo Mandarin with Uncle Colby

Mommy's Little Helper

I'll admit, I love taking Aidan places. Is it always easier? NO. Is it more fun? Sometimes. Do I hate time away from him? Absolutely.

After work today we made a stop at the library to return books and pick a few new ones out. Then after a quick stop home we went to Acme. He was whinier than usual for a good bit of the time, but he was still very good. It's funny that he is aware of certain things in the store. For instance, when we're at the deli counter, he points to the cheese and wants a slice or two when I get the usual pound. Then when it's time to check out he casually points toward the drawer since that's where the stickers come from. If the checker doesn't give him one by the time we're just about done, he points even harder and looks at me like "Mom, can't I have a sticker?" I can't imagine how he'll be once he finally talks...he'll be asking for cheese and stickers before it's even our turn! He's adorable when we leave too, always sure to wave goodbye. Lately he's been getting antsy sooner than usual but he's also been good with walking with us. So as you can see from the picture he was my little cart pusher, except he didn't want any help, which could have been quite interesting in a pretty crowded Acme. What a silly kid.

My thoughts on life right now:
Acme is always crowded unless it's raining out.
Aidan is so fun.
I can't believe how fast he's growing up.
MUST get the almost 500 pictures online from Christmas and Danielle's wedding before next week!

The new Mr. & Mrs.