a year in review

I sit here and watch aiden playing and I just can't believe what a year has brought. He has grown so much and it is amazing all that he is doing.

He is talking so much (I'm gonna try to not repeat what I put before - but I can't promise) some of his words and phrases are: here, please, help me, woah, eww, more, apple, boots, ear, eyes, blocks, ball, Elmo, sit, play, book, bath, eee-ya (I think he is saying hi-ya), thank you, cheese, ow (which he then proceeds to get a kiss for his boo-boo), night-night, yay, mine, no, waffles

He likes to sing along with jingle bells - he'll even say some of the words with you - like bells and way - and when we pause for the 'hey' part he will say it - same for the laughing all the way - he'll go 'hahaha' and when you ask him what Santa says he'll say 'ho ho ho'.

He still is a very picky eater - bread, pizza (although i can get him to eat green peppers on a pizza!), cheese, banana, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, sometimes he'll eat apples, eggs, pancakes, waffles.

Sometimes he is able to tell me when he has to potty - or just after he went. He actually peed in his potty today while waiting to take a bath. So I think we'll be potty training soon!

One thing that he has learned this year that I'm not too happy about is hitting and fighting. I know he hasn't learned that at home and I totally think that is from day care.

The hardest part of this year was having Adam gone for half of it. I get to talk to him every day and Aiden usually gets to talk to him on the weekends. I'm very excited for him to come home in 16 days!!

I hope everyone has a fabulous 2012!

the hardest thing

so i posted a status update tonight on FB "I think the hardest part of not having Adam here is spending every night at home alone" there is so much more in that statement than the obvious.


when news went out that adam was going overseas MANY people responded with something along the lines of - we'll (i'll) be here for you, if you need anything let me (us) know, etc.


i have asked various friends for help and they have always been willing - but it would be nice if - for just once - someone would call or (even better) stop by for a surprise visit - to check on me and hang out - have dinner, watch tv or a movie. 


i have had a total of 1 friend who would come over - just to hang out.


i LOVE aiden with all of my heart - but even with him here - i honestly feel like i'm more alone - because besides work and the gym - i have NO adult interaction, and it's honestly really starting to wear on me..... who am i kidding, it's already taken a toll.


i miss my mom and dad so much - i wish they were still here.


i think the time of the year isn't helping much - this was my mom's favorite holiday.


i can't even stop crying while writing this post.

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18 month appt (at 20 months)

well we are a little late going to our 18 month appt because we switched doctors.  LOVE our new doctor! aiden is doing good - he is 33" tall (above the 50%) 26.4 lbs (above the 25 %) and head is 38.5" (above the 50%)

Dr was a little concerned about the drop in his percentage for his weight - but not too bad - we talked about his picky-ness and how to get him to eat some things and new things for him to try.  we also put him on a multi-vitamin because he his picky.

we also had to have a breathing treatment because he was wheezing - it got him breathing better - didn't prescribe meds or a machine yet - we are going to keep an eye on him to see if he will need it or not - but she thinks we are just catching the tail end of a cold - just need to keep the humidifier going and vicks rub and keep him out of the cold as much as possible.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

 sunday the 30th we (aiden, grammy and myself) went to the pumpkin patch - we had a fun time and got some great pictures!

on the hay ride 

aww - mom... 

aiden says 'weeeeee' 

grammy got some GREAT pictures here! 

aiden loved the tire horse 

he got himself a pumpkin! 

halloween morning - at day care

going trick-or-treating! with his blocks and pulling the wagon himself

okay - now we are ready to be pulled in the wagon!

end of the night - with all of his loot!

A little update

Aiden and I have been very busy - we go to work/school and when I pick him up in the afternoon we go to the gym. I think aiden really enjoys going to the gym - which since we are there 5 days a week is a good thing!

I've also signed aiden up for gymnastics - we had our first class last week and aiden had a lot of fun. There was some waiting around but not too bad. He really liked the balance beam - he even walked on it forward - a lot of the other kids walked sideways on it. And he liked this big pit filled with foam squares - he didn't want to get out. I hope to have some pictures after this weeks session.

We (finally) have his 18 month checkup this Friday (@ 20 months) we switched doctors so we had to wait for an opening. I'm excited to see where he is in the charts and see how things go with this new doctor.

Test

I'm just testing this post from my iPad - yup I should be going to sleep....

NO!

this has got to be aiden's favorite word right now... and it's actually kinda funny when he decides to say it....

i start to sing - he yells NO

i start to dance - he yells NO

i start to bounce him on my knee - he yells NO

any time i try to do anything fun with him he tells me no.... ugh - what to do :-P

don't know how to do it

i don't know how single mothers do it... adam has only been gone a little under 3 months and it has been a really LONG 3 months....

blog #2

well i've started a second blog and just thought i would share in case anyone cared.... it's for my weight loss journey!  so check it out and follow if you want

http://fat2healthymom.blogspot.com/

stats

thought i should update with some things that aiden is doing now...

he is 19 months old and his personality is really starting to come out!  he is very head strong and wants to do EVERYTHING himself!  if his food is in a wrapper - he wants to open it - he wants to put the top on his sippy cup (he wants to put the top on everything! if it has a top - he has to put it on!)  he doesn't like me to do anything for him.

he is definitely talking and saying more - and he understands a lot! he now says mommy and daddy instead of momma and dada - banana used to be nanas but now he has started to say nanny. he has also started to try to say aiden - here is a list of other words he is saying:

• bye bye
• hey
• dog
• ball
• milk 
• more
• bath
• shoe

that's all i can think of right now.... he does tend to leave the ending consenent off of his words right now though.

he is learning his body parts!  he knows:

• nose
• eye
• ears
• tongue
• belly
• feet
• hair

he knows that his socks and shoes go on his feet and if he takes either of them off he tries to put them back on by himself.

he knows the song "If you're happy and you know it" and participates! it's so cute.... oh yeah - there is another word he knows - when i say "if you're happy and you know it shout hooray!" and he jumps up with is hand in the air and says "ray!"  it is so cute! i'm trying to get a video of him to show - but it just hasn't happened yet!

he's sleeping pretty good and eating good at day care (at home - not so much!)

he's becoming a little man!  we still haven't had his 18 month appt - we switched doctors and really had a time trying to get that all resolved - so we don't have his appt. until november! i'm excited to see what percentile his is in now!

okay i think it's time for me to get to bed! 

the zoo

gosh i have been doing a horrible job at updating this thing! i just don't know how to do it all and i really am starting to question WHY i'm working right now.... i just can't get it all done on my own... i really don't know how single mom's do it! 

a couple weeks ago aiden and i went to the atlanta zoo and had a GREAT time - here are some of my favorite pictures!

Looking at the pigs!

Watching the giraffes!

"What is that goat doing under there?"

Riding the carousal like a big boy!

We are keeping busy during the week with school/work and then going to the gym - and then it always seems like our weekends book up fast!  I guess we do that so we don't miss adam too much....

sick baby

i get the call from day care around 3:30pm - aiden is sick... he has a slight fever and a rash around his mouth (BTW - they had a child with hand, foot and mouth disease in his classroom) so i go pick him up and take him right to immediate care...

he had a fever of 103 and yes he definitely has hand, foot and mouth disease and it's the worse case that nurse has ever seen (or so she says) and they also do a strep test and a flu test... no flu - but aiden has strep! he was given and antibiotic for the strep - but there isn't anything to give for the HFMD - i've been doing some over the counter stuff for that... it seems to be helping a little.

he was pretty miserable - he ate a little and drank a little and then went to sleep

he has a rash around his mouth and on his genitals and both look pretty bad... he also has spots on his hands and feet - but also on his arms and legs... it's pretty bad. but it looks like the rash is starting to heal... i just pray that it doesn't scar him.

we did get to see grammy and poppy a little bit - they came up to do some work on their house.

i miss my mom and dad - i really could use them about now!

pictures from water babies

i got one of the grandma's sitting on the sidelines to take some pictures for me! here we are singing and splashing

and here we are practicing kicking.... aiden doesn't really like this part
climbing out of the pool for his toy
jumping into the pool!
throwing his toy into the pool....
ready to jump in after it!

i'll take it!

so aiden and i finished lunch and we were relaxing in the living room watching sprout (i was waiting for noon to put him down for nap) well - after chillin for a little he stands up and starts to walk back to his room - he turns around at the gate and says 'nigh-nigh' so i said okay and got up to follow him into his room - we walk into his room and he walks right up to his crib - ready to get in! i turn on his music and put him in his crib and he goes right to sleep.... i guess he was ready for nap!

water babies

aiden and i went to our first water babies class today! he did pretty good... after 20 minutes he was done though and started to fuss. at first he wasn't really sure about what to do - which surprised me because he usually LOVES to splash in the water - and when i wanted him to splash - nothing. but he eventually got into it. he did GREAT climbing out of the pool and he even jumped in a few times! can't wait to see how it goes on wednesday.

i'm going to take my camera on wednesday and hopefully there will be some bystanders around like today that can take some pictures for us!

tantrums

what an evening.... i picked up aiden from day care and we went to Kroger to get groceries (we had no food in our house!) well - we made it about half way through the store before the huge fit began... i tried to calm him with snacks (didn't work) so we made a bee line for the checkout.

yes i was that mom with the screaming baby in the grocery store

yes i was that woman who when through the express line with WAY MORE than 15 items (i was in a hurry to get out) i couldn't just leave without getting groceries....

we got home and everything was okay - well the tantrum started again and it lasted about 30 minutes - i let him know that i was there if he needed me - and i also ignored (which he follows me - but doesn't want me to pick him up or console him - it's weird) once he was done he grabbed his sippy cup and drank his milk - when he was done with that he crawled up into my lap - we eventually went back to get ready for bed and tantrum #3 began... still hates changing diapers and clothes... but once we were done he calmed down quickly. and we brushed his teeth and then he was ready to sleep...

i just pray this milestone doesn't last too long!

an update...

aiden is growing up SO FAST! he is trying so hard to talk... we're basically getting the first syllable of words - he wants to do EVERYTHING for himself - he helps to undress and get dressed (with his shirt) - he tries to put his socks and shoes on

day care said that he spent a good portion of the day today in ms. laci's room - she said as long as i am okay with it, she would like to start transitioning him. once the bigger kids move up to the prek room - he'll move up! my big boy!! i also asked how he has been doing so far this week (you know - since adam has been gone) and she said he is doing great! and that he is becoming much more independent at school and he wants to help all the time.

adam is doing well - he is enjoying himself and working hard. if anyone wants his mailing address - just let me know! hopefully i'll get some pictures to post up soon!

our big news

now for something that i have been holding off on talking about on here. i wanted to wait to see if it was going to go through...

this wednesday (july 6th) adam is leaving for blount island in florida. he is going for training and then on sunday (july 10th) he will drive to camp lejeune in jacksonville, nc and he'll be there all week. and then on saturday (july 16th) he will fly out to dubai and spend the night there and then he'll head to afghanistan. he is going over there to be a civilian contractor and he'll be doing the exact same job he did in the marine corps (diesel mechanic) working for the marine corps as a civilian.

he will be overseas for about 6 months at a time and then he will come home for a couple weeks and we are looking at him doing 2 years over there... it'll be 2 years for the rest of our lives.

please keep him in your thoughts and prayers - and i will keep you all updated as well.

Vacation 2011

we spent a week in south carolina for our vacation and had a BLAST! this was the first time that aiden went to the beach and got to walk around and play in the sand and water....



he LOVED the water! he actually fell face first into a wave and thought it was the best thing in the world and kept running into the water.


we also got to meet cousin ryland for the first time - aiden did really well playing with him!


aiden comes from a long line of marines - so we thought it would be cute to take him to the yellow footprints on parris island and get a picture!



and here we are on the waterfront in downtown beaufort! someone was ready for his nap!


we were very busy - aiden loved being outside (no surprise there) and loved the water - we went swimming a couple times and he loved the water - he's our little fish. grammy and poppy bought him a little pool and sandbox for the house and aiden loved it all.

adam and i also took a day trip to savannah which was nice. i've been wanting to go there for a while - it is so beautiful!

we ended our week with a 4th of july party (on july 1st!) and we had a great time! adam and i left on saturday morning and aiden is still in SC with his grandparents. it was really hard to leave him - but i know that i will be able to get a lot done in this week and a half that he is gone.

Night Time

i can't believe after all our trouble in the beginning with sleep that we have such a good sleeper who loves his night time ritual. when it seems like aiden is getting tired (fussy, rubs his eyes, yawns, cuddly) i say to aiden "night night?" and he will say "nigh nigh" (SO CUTE!) and then he always wave bye bye to the dogs. after we get PJ's on we sit in the rocker read a book and brush his teeth - he LOVES brushing his teeth - I do the finger toothbrush first so i get it all clean and then i give him this funky oval shaped toothbrush we got from the dentist and he "brushes" his teeth (really he sucks off the training toothpaste) and then when he's done he gives me his toothbrush and then turns around and curls up or he'll reach for the crib.

once he's in the crib he'll lay there a little bit - sometimes he rolls around - sometimes he sits up and plays and talks. he has 2 blankets a stuffed dog and his seahorse in the bed with him. the other night he played and talked for at least an hour before going to sleep - crazy boy!

aiden loves his routine... sunday night we went to Stone Mountain to see the laser show - which doesn't start until 9:30 - i was a little nervous about how he would do - because when he gets really tired he gets CRANKY! he had a BLAST! he loved the music - he was up dancing and just having a grand time. he did good in the car too - i just got elmo on (we only do DVD's for long trips) and gave him some juice and little man was probably asleep within 30 minutes. when we got home around 12:15 am i got him out of the car - gave him to daddy and he put him in his crib - not a peep... and it really didn't look like he moved all night until we woke him up at 6:15am.

he's getting to be such a big boy - i really LOVE that little guy :)

my sick little boy

aiden isn't having a very good memorial day weekend... he has been sick since thursday - i'll save you the details. although it is starting to get a little better - we aren't out of the woods yet. he doesn't have much of an appetite - and what he does have an appetite for - he can't have (milk products) i can tell he is getting tired of pedialyte so we've been supplementing it with others (poweraide, white grape juice, sprite) we did call the doctor on saturday - but he said to continue what we are doing - giving him fluids. i wanted to take him to urgent care today - but they were closed - he wasn't so bad that i wanted to take him to the ER so we'll just see how he does and adam can take him to the doctor tomorrow if needed.

this is the worst part about being a parent...

let's talk about aiden

it's been a long time - but i've been trying to hold off posting some important information until it happened... and it still hasn't - but i know it's coming... so sorry - you'll have to wait a little more for that - until it is official!

let's talk about aiden!!

all i can say is WOW! so much has changed since this little man has turned 1! he is really growing up... i'm going to try to list all the new stuff that is going on in this little man's life - it will not be in any particular order whatsoever...

• he LOVES to brush his teeth! which is great news - every night before bed i brush his teeth first with the little finger brush and then he brushes his teeth with this cool toothbrush we got from the dentist.
• he gives kisses - sometimes, even when you ask. this has also become a night time ritual - after he is done brushing he will look up to whoever his rocking him with his mouth open to give a kiss. (after this he has been reaching for his crib - he's ready to go to bed!)
• he is such a climber! there is no safe place in the house now it seems - as of today he can climb up on our couch on his own. he loves to climb up and slide down (which he knows how to do the safe way - feet first, on his belly)
  
• he understands what we are saying and it is so cool. like when we ask for a kiss or today i asked him to get his ball - he brought me his ball.
  
• he has taken to mimicking - as soon as he sees us doing something new he tries to do it. i think my favorite is when he "blows his nose" if he gets ahold of a tissue or wipe he will hold it up to his nose and blow with his mouth to make the noise. he also does this when we use a tissue to wipe his nose.
  
• he is loving music - some of his favorite songs are - twinkle twinkle little star, itsy bitsy spider, and 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. he also tries to do the motions that i do for the songs.
• he loves to read! this one makes me really happy - most of the time when we are playing i spend a lot of time reading different books.
• he loves it outside - its the one place that will always calm him down when he is upset.

now for 2 things that i don't really like...

• he isn't talking - like using real words. he always babbles and makes sounds but no real words. we think is his saying "dada" for "doggy" so now we have started to just say "dog" at times he will say something that kind of sounds like "bye bye" but not all the time.
  
• he is throwing some MAJOR temper tantrums! like all out - throw his body on the floor - kicking and screaming tantrums. i didn't think this came on until a little later in life.
  

okay i think thats all for tonight... i promise i'll try to do a little better at keeping this up to date!

Happy Easter!

we have had a WONDERFUL easter! we celebrated a day early - since adam's mom was in town and adam works on sundays.... we started off the day with an egg hunt at the mall.



then after the egg hunt we went home for nap and then afterwards went up to see grammy, great grandma and great granddad. we played outside - and had a wonderful easter dinner of pizza :)

all the sunshine really tuckered out someone....

we had a great time - there are a lot of GREAT pictures - too many to post - so here is a link for spring pictures

i hope you all have a wonderful easter!

not your typical amy post...

WARNING - THIS ISN'T AN AIDEN POST - AND IT'S A LITTLE VENT-Y

i need to get some stuff out and i don't keep a paper journal anymore - so here i am and here i go! i apologize now if i offend anyone...

i feel like i've been forgotten... it's like i had a baby and was let go of my teaching job - and in turn lost all my friends (not that i had many here anyways) no one here ever calls me - to hang out or even just talk. in the past 15 days (yes i looked back in my phone) i have one incoming call from a friend - and she's in NC.

i feel like it's time to move back to NC - although will i really have friends there? i'm not sure.

the other issue - i really do like my job - so i don't want to leave it. i'm actually wishing we would have bought a house in summerville now.

just because i have a 1 year old doesn't mean that i am never able to go out and do things - yes, there are times that i will need to say no - but it isn't all the time. i'm tired of always being the one to initiate... friendship is a two way street.

random stuff

i've been pretty busy and haven't had much time to post - so this is going to be somewhat random and not in any order...

last night adam and i were putting clothes away in the bedroom and we had the video monitor on - aiden was going to bed... he does some crazy stuff in his crib sometimes - last night he was walking around his crib - putting his blankets over his head and just walking and it also looked like he was playing peek-a-boo with himself... too funny!

he's also started dancing more! i love it! yesterday we had a yard sale and adam set up the stereo so we had music playing.... aiden was standing in the driveway bouncing to the music and then he started spinning circles - and he was laughing away - too cute!

aiden loves anything that isn't actually one of his toys - he loves water bottles - today he had a water bottle that had a pop-top and he kept trying to "feed" it to me... well i opened it up and let him feed me some - and even when it was all gone he kept feeding me... well i took the bottle away and he fussed for a second and then went over to his toy box and grabbed his empty coke bottle he had... he knew exactly where to look for it!

• aiden will help undress sometimes (when he isn't too mad about getting undressed).
• he has tooth #13 coming in now.
• aiden LOVES peek-a-boo... all i have to say is "where's aiden" and then he'll cover his eyes and then he'll uncover them and i say "peek-a-boo" and he does it again.
• he really seems to be enjoying books now too - he will sit on my lap and help me turn pages (sometimes a little too fast)

i can't believe how fast he is growing up! it's amazing!!

Parent's Magazine - Kid of the Year

**This post has been updated - the link has been fixed!!**

Aiden was chosen to be in the running for Parent's Magazine for Kid of the Year!! He's got to win this week in order to move on...

Please go to this link and vote for him!


Thanks a bunch!!

2 more of aiden's firsts

lets see... aiden has his official first word - bye bye - today adam was dropping little man off at day care and he waved and said bye bye to him and aiden waved and said bu-bu! (yes he says mama and dada - but says it all the time - and not only to us)

i had to start with the exciting one... so here is the not so exciting one...
aiden burned his hand on the oven rack on sunday - i was making dinner and putting ham in the oven and as soon as i opened the door i heard him start to run (right towards the oven) i threw the ham in the oven and grabbed his hand fast - but not fast enough - he still touched it - 400 degrees of hot... he cried - i screamed and once i calmed down - i bawled. all he ended up with is a small blister on his right index finger (SO LUCKY!) he was playing 2 minutes later.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY AIDEN!

we had a great time at aiden's 1st birthday party - we had some friends over - had some pizza and snacks and then it was time for cake... aiden didn't know what to do with the cake...

but after a little bit (and a little bit of help from daddy) really got into his cake....

he wanted to share some with mommy.......

here is aiden's cake after the fact...... he made a good dent in it!

once we got all cleaned up it was time to open presents - aiden got a TON of toys! here he is with his first t-ball set from aunt sandi and uncle david.....

and he got these really cool blocks from aunt jsho! lilly really liked them too - here they are playing with them - lilly kept wanting to put the blocks away and aiden kept taking them out - lilly was getting so mad - it was funny!

his big gift from grammy and poppy was a cool picnic table - the green top comes off and it is a sand/water table. aiden crawled right under.....

and here is aiden outside with his gift from mommy and daddy - his first bike!

look at this happy boy! i think he had a great day!!

decorations for aiden's party

so i did all the decorations for aiden's party - trying not too spend too much - we have a tight budget right now... so i made aiden's birthday cake - i think it turned out pretty good!



and i made the cupcakes - i was a little rushed on the decorating of these - so these didn't turn out as well as i would have liked....



i made a timeline of pictures of aiden.... (i had actually made two but didn't have the time to make the 2nd one - it was 11pm the night before when i finished this one)




and then i made a banner....



I also made place mats that had aiden's pictures on them... but don't have a picture of them.

14 days!

my little boy is going to be 1 year old in 2 weeks!

WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?!?!

we are slowly getting ready - i am slowly getting everything together for it. we are having a party at our house the day before with family and friends. i hate that we don't have that many friends here with kids - so it's basically going to be an adult party.

we went out and got aiden's gift this weekend - with him! adam said "i can't believe we are going shopping for his birthday gift with him." - i said he isn't going to know ;-P can't tell you what it is either - you'll have to wait and see after his party!

adam has requested off for his actual birthday (sunday, march 6th) i hope it gets approved - i am hoping to take aiden to the childrens museum in chattanooga.

adventures in eating

so trying to get aiden to eat stage 3 foods and table foods has been difficult - aiden would gag so bad (which gagging is a normal part of learning to eat) that he would throw up... not just little spit up - full out. so we waited to try some more...

last week aiden finally ate stage 3 foods without a struggle (or gagging) - so then this weekend i thought - let's try some table food - so at breakfast i gave him some of my banana - and he ate that up! at lunch i gave him some of my macaroni and cheese - and he ate that up! so i talked to day care about how they like to start table foods and they were up to try whatever we wanted.... so this morning adam looked at the menu and gave the ok on some foods....

today at daycare aiden ate blueberry waffles for breakfast! ms. cecilia said that the older kids are always trying so hard to keep aiden away from their food - he was always so interested in what they were having! well - she gave him the waffle and he had NO CLUE what to do... she said he started to tear it apart and throw it on the ground! so she showed him - put a few pieces in his mouth and after that - he tore it up!! at lunch he ate half a chicken patty, half a roll and some mixed fruit and mixed veggies. they said he didn't really care for the veggies - but LOVED the bread.

so for dinner tonight - we started off eating some of his baby food (veggie chicken) and then i put some green peas on his tray...



he ate them all up! i know he loves feeding himself - i can't believe how much he is growing up!!