Trying to be fun

We are back to being at home all day with no car because some things didn't work out with Seth's ride to work. So, we decided to make the best of it and have some outside water fun. I just let the kids get soaked in their clothes (Nora's wearing pj's) and they had a blast. They kept busy for a good hour before we came in for lunch. 

This pic cracks me up. The glasses are ridiculous and he kept saying, "one man in the tub."

Nora was having a blast playing with chalk

Aidan wearing goggles and yelling, "To infinity and beyond" as he ran up and down the driveway

Sweet tired baby who skipped her morning nap...looks like she will be down to taking just one nap before she turns a year. She loves to play more than she loves to sleep.

Our Table House

Life.

I feel like life is going by at a record pace. I am having a hard time keeping up.

Things have been good.

We closed on our house 2 days ago.

We moved out of our dirty cramped apartment 2 weeks ago.

It feels wonderful.

Our new house. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, backyard, garage, and space to breathe. We love it.

We are slowly, and I mean SLOWLY moving in. We actually just got all our storage unit stuff today. I had mastitis this week and some sort of sinus junk, so it is just taking time...and I am okay with that. I will show some more pics once we get more settled.

Here are some things I am loving right now in these days:

 1) Nora's love for her babies (she holds them and lies on the floor with one in each arm)

 2) Doll stroller fun-and watching this little naked sweetie walk around pushing her "day-dee"

 3) Siblings playing together nicely

 

4) Dressing up and laughing together after a long cranky day

 5) Magnets and my new refridgerator

 6) Sweet baby learning to walk (and dressed by her Daddy)

Nora is working on her molars and it has been an interesting week of napping. Both kids have had stuffy noses and been a little on the cranky side, but we are all enjoying being together and having some sense of normal return after such a crazy few weeks of traveling, packing, and moving.

My boy

I can't believe how big my little boy is getting. He will start preschool in about 2.5 weeks and I am so excited for him. This summer he initiated the idea of doing the summer reading program at the library. He was so excited to earn a "gold medal" at the end. We, of course, did all the reading to him, but he was great at reminding us and was so excited to earn each of his prizes. We were so proud of him when he finally completed it.
All of the change in his life has been hard. He seems to be one that likes routine and structure and finds security in those things. We have greatly changed his "normal" in the last year with welcoming Nora into our family, moving far away from all he knew, and then moving again after just 9 months. He has even expressed dislike about the upgrade to our van and wants our "old car" back. He just likes things to stay consistent. I remember that as a baby he was that way too. He had to have things at the exact same time every day. He couldn't go 10 minutes past his bedtime without having it throw his entire sleep off. And even though he is apprehensive about change, he has no fear in jumping right in when it comes to new social surroundings. He loves people and has such wonderful independence and charm. He doesn't know a stranger and talks to anyone. I love his openness and absolute acceptance of all people. He has wonderful people skills and I love seeing him interact with such absolute innocence and delight.
So even though he has been my greatest challenge this past year, he has also brought me immense joy. I am so enjoying so of the new things he says or does and the ways in which he is growing up and learning to do more for himself. He is not my baby anymore.

I love you Aidan!

So He Says....

Me: "Which stamp do you want me to do?"
Aidan: "You can do the old one, cause you're old."

Aidan grabbing my bra and holding it up to himself:
"I'm going to be a mother and put this on my boobs."

Mita (Seth's mom): "He likes ice and salt. He has my genes."
Aidan: "You like ice and salt on your jeans?"

Hearing the ice maker in the fridge:
Aidan: "What's that?"
Me: "The ice maker."
Aidan: "Oh...it's dancing?"

"This is my wand. It tects (protects) me from the bugs." (Holding out some long wooden object)

Me: "Aidan, do you need a punishment?"
Aidan: "I want to eat a mint!"

"I'm being so fankful (thankful)." (Says this while hugging himself)

11 months

Nora!

In just one month we will be celebrating your 1st birthday. Can't believe it.

You have been such a fun personality recently. Oh so fun. You are starting to mimic noises, say words, and engage with us on a new level. You make all sorts of silly sounds and love to get our attention. You say "baby" (day-dee) "mama", "dada" (kind of...sounds more like baba), "tasha" (from backyardigans), "thank you" (a few times), and you seem to try to repeat other words, but not super clearly yet. You absolutely love your baby dolls and usually give them big hugs first thing each morning.

You are still an eating champ. You eat pretty much anything as long as you can feed yourself. You do not like any sort of baby food anymore, but eat everything we eat for the most part. You beg for food all the time and probably eat more than your brother does on a daily basis. Oh, and you have now tried peanut butter and eggs as of a couple weeks ago...no problem there. You are still breastfeeding about 4 times a day although you have started drinking milk out of sippy cup too. I am hoping you will be weaned soon, but at the same time enjoying these last few precious moments of nursing/cuddle time we have.

Besides cutting your 8th tooth on our drive to PA this month, you also started working towards walking. You have now taken up to 10 steps (as of today) on your own and want to walk everywhere holding our hands. You love your walkers...oh, you love them. You are also trying to master standing up in the middle of the room. You can stand pretty steady for long periods of time if you aren't paying much attention, but your cautious nature always gets the better of you and you carefully lower yourself to the ground.

You have started sleeping through the night (mostly) now that we are in our new house. We no longer interrupt your sleep at 11pm, so that has seemed to help. You did wake every couple hours last night, but you have been overtired, not napping well, drooling, chewing on your fingers, and being a little more clingy. I think you are working on your molars. Fun times for us all.

You are still such a delight and such a happy easygoing baby. We have really enjoyed seeing you transform into such an independent older baby. You still love to play and keep yourself entertained pretty well. You have such a love for stuffed animals and toys that if we let you hold something at a store, but have to take it away you cry in the most brokenhearted way. For instance, just yesterday, you were holding maracas at the library storytime and when the time came to put them away you lost it. You did not want to give up such a fun toy. You quickly got over it, but it really made us laugh because your brother has never cared for any toy in that way.

Well, this is already overdue, so I'll stop here. Love you more than words can express.

Mama

Pennsylvania Trip 2011 Days 5-9

Tuesday morning of our vacation was pretty relaxing. We spent time playing outside, playing games while the babies napped, and just enjoying being together. The guys and Steph went out for the afternoon to have some "internet" time and the Mommas stayed home with the kids. After dinner, we played more games, and the guys went to see a late movie.

Wednesday morning the ladies (sans my mother) went out to explore downtown Mifflinburg. We had a blast at a local thrift store we loved and each secretly wished we could buy nearly everything in the store. We went home for a quick lunch and then drove out to another nearby town to spend a few hours at the pool. The kids had a blast at the pool and all the adults enjoyed the water slides. We even tried to play a little 2 on 2 sand volleyball.

 The boys making "pirate" faces

 The "kid" house in the woods

Finger painting with Mimi

After soaking up all the sun, we drove to The Purple Cow for some soft serve ice cream. I had peanut butter and it was delicious. The boys played on the little playground while Nora napped in the car. We went home that night, had dinner, and had some fun blowing bubbles with the kids.

Thursday, we built a fire in the morning and roasted marshmallows. Aidan was in sugar heaven. He loves marshmallows and has been asking a lot to go camping so he can roast them. Then the boys finger painted, had a water balloon fight, and played outside all morning. The afternoon was rainy and we stayed inside except for a quick errand to town to get some food for our dinner. After the kids went to bed we spent some time sharing together as a family and praying for each other. Then Seth and I spent some time reading before going to bed.

 Showing off his water balloon

 Sitting at the campfire

Friday morning was our last morning together. The boys and my mom played all morning. The girls went in to town for some more thrift store shopping. We had lunch and then packed up and headed out for some ice cream at the The Purple Cow and a visit to a local park. We played until everyone was tired and then got in the car to begin the long trip home. We drove until about 8:45 that night before stopping at a hotel. The kids loved the hotel, but didn't fall asleep until almost 10. Nora was up a few times in the night, but Aidan didn't even notice he was so tired.

We woke early Saturday morning, ate breakfast, and headed out to finish our journey. We got stuck in more stand still traffic and stopped for lunch at Mimi's Cafe. Then we had our final stop at Ikea in Charlotte. Aidan had a great time at the kids play area and we walked through the entire store with Nora. We were so exhausted it was hard to even look at things, but we enjoyed it. We got the kids settled back in the car and drove the last 2 hours home.

We had a great trip, but it was exhausting at the same time. So blessed to have such wonderful family and glad that the little cousins were able to have some time together.