Eventful Morning!

Aiden never cries for us in his crib in the morning anymore. Usually, he's just talking away to himself. I know when he's ready to be gotten because he'll chant "mommy" over and over again until I appear.

This morning....he was CRYING. I immediatly assumed that he was sick so I rushed in there. Well...in a way he was sort of sick. He had peed and pooed through his diaper so much that it was all over his crib AGAIN. AND, to top it all off, he had his leg stuck in between two bars of his crib. I had to get Luke up to help me get his leg out.

What a way to start the day!

SCARED of the firetrucks!

This evening Aiden and I headed into Front Royal to visit some good friends of ours (who we haven't seen in FOREVER). It also happened that the fireman's parade was tonight too and our friends live right on the parade route.

Obviously, given that it was a fireman's parade, there were a lot of fire trucks. Well, let me just tell you that my Aiden does not like the sound that a firetruck makes. He spent the entire time crying (and waving- it was hysterical to watch) to all the trucks as they drove by. The thunderstorms passed and despite the noise, we all managed to have a good time!!

Busy, Busy

I've been very MIA lately. Not because I don't LOVE to blog about my life, but because we have just been so busy with life. The past two weeks have been a whirlwind, literally.

Two weekends ago Aiden's cousing Teaghan turned one. It's so hard to believe, really. My sis and her husband had a really nice picnic for T at the park and all the kids just had a blast, running all over the place together. We had a great time.

This past weekend, Luke and I were actually able to get out together for a concert with some friends. We had the greatest time. He's been working so much lately that I feel like I never see him, so it was nice to get out together! Luckily, we have a great babysitter in Luke's mom!!

I too have been extremely busy with things. During these last few months I have been giving life lots of thought. What do I REALLY want to do with my life?? I thought about possibly doing some teaching (I've always thought about it). Maybe I will get back into marketing/web design. Maybe I'll go back to school and finish out what I started 9 years ago (going the medical route). Well after much thought, I have decided to take my aquatics training to the next level. I am starting my own business, and I will be offering lessons/fitness training out of a facility in Winchester!!! I am SUPER excited about it. I can make my own hours and most importantly, spend more time with my family!!! I still have lots to do, but it's moving forward nicely!! I'll keep you updated!

Now...with regards to our little man. BOY OH BOY...he's a little parrot! He repeats (or at least tries to repeat) everything you say. His vocabulary grows by the day and it's truly amazing to witness. He's learning so much and we are really having a great time together. I have been busier lately with lessons than I was early in the summer so we don't get to spend as much time together. The time we do get to spend together is precious, especially when daddy's home too!!

I'm learning not to sweat the small stuff....Life is good!

My Good Deed

It's been forever since I've given blood. Probably since high school....and I've only done it once. It's one of those things that I rarely think about (shameful, I know) and I'm sure I'm not the only one out there. The other evening some of the neighbors and I were sitting outside and one of them suggested that we come to her church for a blood drive they were having. I disregarded it at first (again, shamful, I know) but as we started to really talk about it, it got me thinking. One of the neighbors was telling us how her grandfather had doner cards inches high from all the times he had donated his blood and she repeated to us something he use to say to her as a little girl. He said "Donating blood is the one thing you can do for someone that they can't do for themselves." Those are pretty powerful words! So I decided that the following day (yesterday) I would head up and donate a pint!!

Off we went..yesterday afternoon. Aiden was having a very off day to begin with and I hesitated bringing him with me, however, I didn't have anywhere else to take him. We got half way there and he was still screaming and crying and I thought about turning around, but thought, NO..I'm going to do this!

Rebecca (my neighbor who's church it is) was there and informed me that there was a nursery where the kids could sit and play while the parents went through the proces (by the way...forgot how long it can take). Well...Aiden was not having any part of this trip. As soon as I left him in the nursery he began to cry. And not just the whiny cry...the I'm dying, can't breathe cry. As I lay there on the cot with a needle in my arm, I could hear him down the hall, crying his little eyes out. I'm surprised my bag didn't fill in record time from high blood pressure. I felt so bad for the other people who were trying to donate in peace and here I was with a little banchee, disrupting the whole lot of them.

When I was finished we sat at the snack table together and he was happy as a clam...eating cookies and drinking out of a "big boy" bottle....ahh my little clingler!

I guess I shouldn't feel that bad though...I did do a GOOD DEED after all!!

Christmas in July at Jellystone

About a month and a half ago I was over at the Sweeney household and Jessica was telling me about this awesome place she found online to have a little mini vacation. After explaining all the details to me I went home that evening and checked it out and it looked awesome. Turns out I was SO RIGHT!!!!

We headed down to Jellystone on Friday stopping for lunch along the way. We got there around 2:00 and checked in to our cabins. The Sweeney's got one and we got our own. They were close to each other which made everything very convenient. For those of you who know nothing about this campground...it's really great! There is a fishing pond, putt putt, a huge waterslide, two pools, a big playground, laser tag, and these really cool bouncing pillows (Aiden's favorite thing). This particular weekend was also Christmas in July. Santa was there to hand out presents to all the good boys and girls. Of course Aiden began to cry the minute Santa stepped into the room. So much in fact that I had to remove him from the scene. Nat Nat (what Aiden calls Natalie) was very upset by Santa's presence as well. Needless to say, Santa was sort of a bust, but the kids got some cute gifts (compliments of mom and dad) and apart from this they all had a really great time. Most of our time was spent at the playground and the bouncing pillows. There was a sand pit around the pillows and that's where Aiden spent most of his time. He did bounce quite a bit too.

At night, we put all the kiddies down together in the Sweeney cabin and the adults sat around the camp fire, roasting marshmallows and enjoying some adult beverages!! We all truly had a great time. We only needed one more whole day to make the trip better. Next time we'll have to stay three nights!!

Enjoy the pics!

Grammy's Visit

October 2008.....this is the last time I saw my mom. That's WAY too long if you ask me, but due to circumstances beyond our control we couldn't make it happen any sooner. She came for a week. Last time she saw Aiden he was just crawling around and now he's walking, running, babbling, AND SAYING NO ;(

We had the best time with her. We did a lot of relaxing in the back yard and on Friday before the 4th, we had a little birthday party for Aiden and Teagahn. Mom missed Aiden's first birthday and she isn't going to be here for T's so we decided to have a little party for both of them while she was here. We had some friends over and cooked out and Aiden and T got to open some gifts and have some cake! We had a great time.

We did a lot of swimming and Danielle and T hung out almost everyday. Aiden LOVES his cousing T. They are so funny together and they are growing closer and closer everyday.

I miss mom tons already. Aiden loves his grammy and I can't wait until October when we will be able to see her again. Until then we will spend lots of time on Skype talking to Grammy & Grampy James!

The N Word

While Luke and I couldn't be happier that our little seed's vocabulary is increasing every day, we're finding it a HUGE annoyance that the big "N" word has finally made it's big debut. Although he's not saying it THAT often, it's still being said none-the-less.

The way he says it is actually pretty cute. It's more like "nyoooow". Here's our beautiful babe in action!