A Look Back 2010

Last year I did a look back post on highlights from each month of the year. It was fun to look back at what we were doing so I thought I would do it again this year.

In January, I got a little crafty and made this to warm up my feet or for my sore pregnant back. I also started taking a photography class and practiced on my two favorite guys (while my other favorite guy kept warm in my tummy). And even though I had just graduated the month before, I spend some time studying for the BCBA exam. Man and I glad that is over!

In February, Jon celebrated his 29th birthday, I took over the cooking duties (and actually that is something that I have continued to do a majority of). My great aunt would be proud. She always asks me to tell her again, who cooks around the house. She thinks it is hilarious that Jon does did all the cooking. Ha! I also started to have weekly doctors appointments and at 37 weeks, I found out I was already 3cm dilated!

In March, our good friend Aaron took some belly pictures for me, Jon and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary and of course Aedan was born! I shared his birth story and some pictures as well.

In April, my grandfather (on my mom’s side) passed away. It was pretty sudden and unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it down to see him before he passed or for the funeral, since Aedan was just a month old. I am so sad that he never got to meet his great grandson, but I know Aedan will hear many stories about him as he grows up. Aedan turned 1 month and I talked about a few things I couldn’t live without.

In May, we had a weekend visitor, got a new car and took Aedan on his first trip to see his Nonnie and Pop (my parents). I got to celebrate my first Mother’s Day as a mom and took some sweet videos of my little baby. Aedan turned 2 months old and I talked about a few things that we loved that month. I started to make plans to go back to work and Aedan had his first Daddy Son afternoon.

In June, we had some good friends visit, Aedan started going to his babysitter’s house and wasn’t a huge fan (thank goodness he loves it now). I posted a few more videos and talked about Aedan’s personality. Aedan turned 3 months and of course there were some new things that we loved.

In July, we took Aedan to the country to visit his MawMaw and PawPaw (Jon’s parents), we celebrated the 4th of July and we learned that Aedan wanted to be a tummy sleeper. Aedan turned 4 months and again there were some things we loved. And of course who can forget Bottle Bootcamp!

In August, we did some yard upkeep and had some trashcan drama. My Grandmother came to visit and Nonnie and Pop babysat so Jon and I could have a date night. I spend some time studying and Aedan spend some time doing independent play. We started making our own baby food (and still do!) and started a weekly family picnic tradition that lasted until the time change. Aedan turned 5 months and you can check out the things we loved here.

In September, I got a new accessory for my camera and I still love it! I took some cute bath pictures of Aedan, who turned 6 months (check out what we were loving then). I took my BCBA exam and we redid our office to accommodate both Jon and I working from home.

 

In October, we worked on breaking Hiro of his couch hogging habit (and I am happy to say we are still sticking to it). Aedan turned 7 months and here is what we were loving then. It was also time for me to pack up the pump. My Grandfather (on my Dad’s side) was moved to a hospice and October ended with some difficult days.

In November, my Grandfather passed away, it was a difficult week but my family really came together to support my Grandmother. I participated in a crock pot linky party and found out I passed my BCBA exam! We found ourselves in hot water (literally) one Saturday morning. Aedan turned 8 months and we were loving all of this.

 

In December, I celebrated my 27th birthday and Aedan started going to Gymboree classes. He turned 9 months and here is what we were loving. I got to show off our Christmas decor and our Christmas cards. I also wasted some time one morning to make this video. Jon and I both got some much needed time off and we celebrated Christmas with both sets of grandparents.

It has been a whirl wind of a year. While we had some difficult times with the loss of both of my grandfathers, we also enjoyed many many joyous times. I truly feel so blessed and I am looking forward to what 2011 has in store for my little family.

-Lauren-

Christmas in Plano

Like I said, after a quick breakfast with Jon’s parents, we loaded up the car and headed to Plano. It was a short two hour trip and we made it just in time for lunch. My parents did a great job of decorating their house for the holidays. The tree look amazing, along with the mantle of stockings and garland and a snow village complete with the Polar Express train running through it. But did I get a picture of all the wonderful decorations? Nope. No even one. What was I thinking!! I told my mom she would have to do everything exactly the same next year and I would do a post just on her decorations.

My great aunt was over for the day so we decided to open presents after lunch. Aedan got some fun toys including a fun little dump truck.

After we finished opening gifts, we ate a delicious dinner and relaxed for the rest of the night.

The next morning we did stockings and Santa gifts (for Aedan). My parents Santa got Aedan this little car. It is absolutely perfect for him. It has a handle on the back for him to hold onto and push as well as a tall one for us to push him. We can also put little rockers over the wheels so he can just rock on it. It even has little bars on the sides to keep him from falling off until he gets a little older. He LOVES it!

While Aedan took his afternoon nap, My mom and I went to spend some time with my great aunt. It is always good to visit with her and she always cracks me up. She is a hoot. Here she is with Aedan the day before.

When we got back, my parents and Jon and I took Aedan and the two dogs (Hiro and my parent’s yellow lab, Rubi) on walk down to the park. It was so cold, but we all had fun. I didn’t bring my good camera with me so these are from my iPhone.

We came home home Monday afternoon. We kept commenting on how well Aedan did in the car and at both grandparent’s houses. While he did have some fussy times he was pretty happy most of the time and slept great for naps and at night in his pack n play. We had a great visit with both sides of the family and got everything on our Christmas wish lists. All in all it was a wonderful Christmas and I am so blessed to have such a beautiful little family and such a loving extended family.

Now who wants to take down my Christmas decorations? Anyone? Anyone? :)

-Lauren-

Christmas in Whitehouse

I have too many pictures to make one big Christmas recap so I am splitting it into two posts. Last Thursday we headed to Jon’s parent’s house in Whitehouse (just outside of Tyler). We left right after breakfast and made it there just after lunch time. Aedan did really well in the car, although he refused to drink his bottle because it wasn’t warmed up (we are working on getting him to take room temp bottles since we will be switching to milk in just a few months!!).

Two of Aedan’s cousins were hanging out at MawMaw and Pawpaw’s house when we got there and Aedan loved having personal entertainers.

 

After Aedan (and Daddy) took a long afternoon nap we ventured outside to see some of the animals that Jon’s parents have. They have goats, rabbits, chickens and horses (and of course dogs and cats). I wasn’t sure what Aedan would think about horses but he loved them. As soon as we took him outside he was “talking” nonstop and trying to reach out to touch the horse. It was getting dark so my pictures aren’t too great, but I thought I would post them anyway.

The next day two of Jon’s sisters and their families came over. The house was packed! Jon has 3 sisters and a foster sister. Between all of them, there are 17 kids, which makes Aedan the 18th grandchild! Aedan did great despite there being about 20 people there, many of which he had never met before. We all enjoyed some yummy food and good company.

On Christmas morning we woke up and opened some more presents from Jon’s parents. One of Aedan’s gifts was a little book that he loved.

After presents and a quick breakfast we loaded up the car to make the short trip to my parent’s house in Plano. It was only a 2 hour drive and we made it just in time for lunch. More on that trip tomorrow. :)

-Lauren-

Merry Christmas!

I’m a little late, but wanted to say Merry Christmas!

We are having a blast visiting with family. I will be back with pictures and updates soon.

But until then…

Happy Holidays from all of us.

-Lauren-

A Couple of Christmas Celebrations

On Sunday night we celebrated Christmas with my extended family. We all headed over to my Grandmother’s house for lots of food and fun. It was a little bittersweet since this is the first Christmas without my Grandfather. But it was so nice to see everyone. There were 27 people all together and 5 babies! My Grandmother was an only child and she always told my Grandfather that she wanted to have lots of family around. I think they were successful! :)

I was a little worried about how our noise sensitive little guy was going to do with so many people. He was a little upset at first, but once everyone came and not everyone’s attention was on him, he actually did really well. He played with some blocks, got to try Mommy’s rice and beans, and even opened his first Christmas gift. He got a truck that he LOVES. At once point all 8 great grandchildren were all opening gifts and the living room was chaos. I took a picture with my mom’s camera so I will have to post it later, but it was too fun! Even though we were out way past Aedan’s bedtime, we all had fun and he did really well.

  All the great grandkids

Yesterday we went up to have lunch with Jon’s grandparents. We are going to be missing their big get together next weekend so we wanted to spend some time with them now. We had a good lunch and a nice visit. Now that Aedan is crawling around he does so much better. He had a blast crawling around and pulling up on everything. He also enjoyed throwing all their newspapers and magazines everywhere. :)

Now, if it only felt a little more like Christmas, everything would be perfect. The high today was in the 80s. Seriously. Sigh. At least it is supposed to get cold in the next couple of days.

-Lauren-

Bring on Some Time Off

Today marked the first day of our holiday vacation/time off. Jon has the next two weeks completely off and I only have one short meeting the week after Christmas, so mostly off for me as well!

The house is decorated, the gifts have been bought and wrapped, sweets have been made, and our holiday plans are set. My sister came into town last night so this morning we had some quality time at home.

We slept in (a little)…

Played with some toys…

Practiced unwrapping some gifts…

And all around had a good first day of vacation…

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas week!!

-Lauren-

9 Months

9 months already! Almost to double digits. :)

It has become impossible to take a picture of Aedan, sitting in his rocking chair, without having a second person to entertain him. This is what happens as soon as I sit him down in the chair…

Jon has been pretty busy during the day with work so this picture will have to do until we can take his monthly chair picture together next week.

Aedan, here is what you have been up to this past month:

• I had to reschedule your check up so I’m not sure how much you weigh, but you are heavy! You wear size 3 or 4 in diapers and size 12m or 12-18m in clothes (although your 9 month onesies still fit pretty well).
• I get you up around 7:30 during the week, and you sleep in until about 8 on the weekends. You usually take a 1.5 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. You finally dropped your third catnap, which makes it much easier to go out around dinner time. You go to bed between 7 and 7:30 every night. We read a couple of books and then you just want to be put in your bed. Sometimes I wish you wanted to cuddle more, but it is so nice that you know how to put yourself to sleep!
• You drink 4 bottles and have 3 solid meals a day. You will eat anything except for green beans, asparagus and avocado, but don’t worry you get enough green veggies because you love peas, broccoli and spinach. Your favorite fruit is mango and you are obsessed with snacking on yogurt melts. I mix them with puffs or cheerios and put them on your tray. You have gotten very good at picking up all the yogurt melts before eating the other items.
• You love bath time! You don’t use your bath ring anymore, you just sit in the tub like a big kid. You splash and kick the entire time and now you like to crawl around in the water.
• Which leads us to your big accomplishment, you started crawling at about 8 1/2 months! For a few days you army crawled whenever you wanted a toy, but then one morning you just figured it out and you haven’t stopped moving since! You are obsessed with Hiro’s water bowl and take every opportunity to crawl over to it. I spend my day constantly picking you up and trying to distract you into playing with one of your toys.

• We lowered your crib a few weeks ago because you have started to pull up. You didn’t like it at first, but now you are ok with it. You pull up on everything…your music table, the couch, your toy basket, Hiro, Mommy…
• You are always “talking”. You say “dada” all the time and will repeat it when we ask you to. You say lots of other sounds, but no mama yet. Sigh.
• You are a good little errand runner. You love to sit in the cart and look around grab things off the shelves.
• You still love Hiro, and he loves you too. Every morning he waits for me outside your door and as soon as I open it, he runs in and puts his nose through the crib rails. If you are already awake you think it is hilarious. If you are still sleeping, you are not as thrilled.
• We started going to Gymboree classes this last month. You aren’t too sure about all the noise yet, but you like all the toys and climbing equipment.
• You love to carry around a spoon and tap it on all different surfaces. You will crawl over to the tile and tap it on that, then you will tap the trashcan and whatever else you can find. The spoon also comes in handy for chewing.

• Speaking of chewing, a couple of weeks ago I noticed one top tooth coming in, and then yesterday while we were playing I noticed three! more coming in. It looks like before we know it you are going to have 6 teeth!
• You have also started reaching for people when they put their arms out to hold you. So cute!
• You still love to wrestle with your Daddy and you give him a huge smile whenever he comes home or when go into his office.
• You also like going to the sitter’s house. You get excited when I knock on the door and you rarely look up at me when I say goodbye, you are too ready to play with the toys! She says you don’t like when the other kids make loud noises but other than that you do great.

Aedan, now that you are moving around, you definitely keep us busy, but you have been so happy since you learned how to crawl. We just love seeing you explore and try new things. You make us laugh everyday and we love you so much!

-Lauren-

Christmas Card Carousel

I love checking the mail this time of year, because I love getting Christmas cards. It is so fun to see pictures and read about friends and what they have been up to over the last year. Last year I participated in Faith’s Christmas Card Carousel and I knew I would want to participate again this year!

Our good friend, Aaron, took some family pictures a few weekends ago. They turned out great, except Aedan did not feel like smiling a single time. Oh well, such is life, right? I got a great deal on cards from Shutterfly and after looking through pages and pages of options, I love the one I picked out.

I was super late at getting around to order them, and originally they were not going to come in until December 17-22! But I just got an email last night saying they will be here by Thursday. My goal is to address them all and get them in the mail by Friday. Hopefully that will happen!

-Lauren-

Things We Love Part 9

Here are a few things that we have loved this last month.

First this little music table is by far Aedan’s favorite toy right now. As soon as I bring him into the living room every morning, it is the first thing he crawls too. It gets played with multiple times a day.

Next on the list would have to be his fleece sleep sack. We have used a sleep sack ever since we stopped swaddling around 3-4 months. This month I got to break out the fleece sleep sack since it finally started to feel a little like winter here. It is so funny because every night that Aedan sleeps in the fleece sack he sleeps in. I guess he gets nice and toasty and comfortable.

I got Aedan these little fleece boots a couple of weeks ago at Old Navy. They are great. They are easy to put on and they stay on pretty well. They keep his feet nice a warm when we go on our evening walks every night.

In addition to all the fruits and veggies Aedan likes, he also loves yogurt. At first he was caught off guard by the temperature since all his food is normally room temperature or warm, but once he got over that, he loves it.

I can’t think of a fifth item right now. I’m sure as soon as I post this, one will come to me. With Christmas coming, I know next month we will have some great new favorites!

-Lauren-

Our Christmas Decor

I thought I would post some pictures of our Christmas decor. Our house is pretty small, so I don’t do too much decorating but I think some little touches can go a long way.

First our tree. Usually we move the console table in the living room and put the tree in it’s place. This year I really didn’t want to move the table for a couple of reasons. First it is where we have a basket of Aedan’s ever growing toy collections. Second, I knew I wanted to get stocking this year and that would be the only place to hang them, and third I wanted another surfaced to decorate.

So I thought about all my options, which weren’t very many. Like I said our house is pretty small and our tree is average size, so there are only a few spots for it. I finally settled on moving the couch over a little and putting the tree in front of one of our living room windows. It is the perfect place, because you see it as soon as you walk in the door and it is out of the way so that Aedan has plenty of room to play.

Next is my new nativity scene. My parents got me this for my birthday this year and I love it! We didn’t have a nativity scene before and I have so many memories of unwrapping and setting up my parent’s nativity scene when I was little. I hope Aedan has fun setting this one up in the years to come. I feel like the Willow Tree style is perfect in our home.

Then of course there are the stockings. Like I said before, this year I finally ordered our very own stockings. I love them!

Of course since this little guy is crawling everywhere these days. The stocking tend to spend most of the day piled on the blanket basket.

 

I have a few other decorations up, like this little group of friendly snowmen.

Thanks for stopping by to check out our Christmas decorations! To see more go here and here.

-Lauren-