We Love Books

I love that Aedan has reached an age where he loves to look at books. I have always loved books and reading and it is something I hope to pass on to him. There are few things better than getting totally swept away to another time/place through reading.

Obviously right now Aedan is more in the look at pictures, point to fun things and touch different textures stage of reading, but still he loves his “ook”.

Of course he doesn’t just look at one book at a time.

It’s way better to get out all your favorites and have them spread around you.

I love when I get sneak in with my camera and just capture him doing things like this.

Of course it is short lived, because he quickly realizes that I have that black thing that makes noise…

But check out this walking baby with his big boy haircut (man oh man, that is a whole nothing post!!).

-Lauren-

I Am That Mom…

You know…

the one who see this…

And immediately grabs the nearest camera (in this case iPhone)…

And instead of helping her son out of this predicament…

She begins to document the whole process (he is totally laughing in the one above by the way)…

You know for the blog.

(Don’t worry, no little boys were injured in this process and in fact when I tried to take Aedan out of the basket he protested and wanted back in). :)

Oh and ignore the random box in the side of the picture, we ordered a light weight stroller last week and it came 24 hours later (gotta love Amazon Mom!). I’ll post about it soon.

-Lauren-

4 Years Ago Today…

I married my best friend.

I love him more and more every day.

 

Happy Anniversary Jon! The last 4 years have been wonderful and I am looking forward to many more anniversaries together!

-Lauren-

A Day on My Own

Today is one of the rare days that Aedan goes to the sitter’s house and I don’t have a client to see. Usually this happens once a month or once every other month. These are the days that I can run around and get errands done as well as some work (can I get a amen for not having to take a baby in and out of the carseat at every stop!).

So after dropping Aedan off with the sitter, I headed to the post office. The post office intimidates me. I’m not really sure why. Maybe because the people that work there are oh so cheerful. :) Anyway, I had to go and I figured a time without Aedan would be best. A few weeks ago we orders and Ergo carrier. We got the sport one and while Jon and I thought it was great, Aedan was not a fan. It is super light weight and the material is mesh which would be perfect for the summer here. We were excited about being able to carry Aedan on our backs for hikes at the greenbelt, trips to the park and even music festivals. While Aedan loves to ride on Jon’s back when they play, he was not a fan of being strapped to our backs. It was basically and all out fight just to get him in the carrier and then he spend the whole time trying to get out. Sigh. Looking back I wish we had just got the Ergo from the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, we loved our Baby Bjorn, but you can’t carry them on your back with that one and I feel like if we had gotten Aedan used to this carrier when he was younger we would be able to use it now. Oh well. Luckily I ordered it from Amazon and they have a great return system. I just printed my return label, stuck it on the box and dropped it off at the post office. Done.

From there I decided it was high time I get my car washed. I have washed and vacuumed it myself a few times during the past months, but I figured it was time I actually paid to have it done. Jon suggested that I just vacuum it myself and then go through a drive through carwash. Well, let me tell you, I do not like to go through drive through carwashes. Why? Well because of my mother. See when I was little I was never a fan of the carwash. I remember sitting in my carseat and holding my mom’s hand when we would go through one. As I got a little older, my mom thought it would be oh so funny to roll down the windows and then roll them up just in time before the water started to fall. Um, I hated this! Seriously worst thing ever. My mom thought it was funny. She is one of those people who will short-sheet your bed, put toothpaste in your Oreos or wet noodles in your sleeping bag. I’m pretty sure in college she put a dead frog in her roommate’s bed and even had a friend hide in the backseat of my dad’s car to scare him when he got off work. I’m telling ya, you have to watch out for her. :) Anyway, to this day, I hate going through carwashes. So I took my car to one of those places where you get out and they drive your car through the wash and clean the inside and everything. So nice!

Next stop, McDonalds. Shh, don’t tell Jon, he hates that place. But sometimes you just need some McDonald’s fries, right? So I ordered my small fries and small drink. When I got my order, I realized their small fries have totally become medium fries. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy getting more for my money with most things, but I do not need to eat a huge thing of fries.

While eating my small medium fries, I drove to my favorite work spot. There is a private library that has a wonderful deck on the second story. They have a fountain out front and you can sit outside in the shade and just listen to the sound of the water. Love it! There is usually not too many people there during the day so it it perfect.

On my way to the library I passed a house for sale by owner. It looked super cute and it is in a neighborhood I would love to live in. Of course in this neighborhood houses are 3, 4, some probably 5 times more expensive than our house, so not exactly in our budget. Sigh. So there I was sitting outside this perfect little house enjoying my fries, when a car pulls up at the house. Awkward. A coupe gets out and they wave at me so I roll down my window and ask if this is their house. The lady says yes and asks me if I want to come take a look. I let her know that I was sure it was way out of my price range, but she and her husband insisted. Remember how I said I love looking at houses, obviously I wasn’t going to pass up a chance so I decided to take a look. Oh.my.goodness, I have found my dream house. It’s in an older neighborhood with tons of trees, and they have redone everything inside. New kitchen cabinets, appliances, countertops, floors, windows, bathrooms, everything. It was perfect. Unfortunately it is way out of our price range and we aren’t even planning on moving for a couple of more years. Anyone want to lend us a hefty down payment? No? Oh well, it was fun to look inside…

-Lauren-

Our Day

Last week Aedan was pretty fussy all week. Have you all every heard of Wonder Weeks? Me neither until Aedan was about 2 months old. A forum that I am a member of has a little information on them…

The Wonder Weeks describes in easy-to-understand terms the incredible developmental changes that all
babies go through during the first 60 weeks of their lives.

During these Wonder Weeks, babies tend to be more fussy and clingy.  Sleep is usually affect too. There is a website that you can sign up for email alerts for when these weeks are coming based on your baby’s birthday. Well for sure Aedan has fallen in line with each of these weeks. I tend to dread seeing those emails in my inbox! Some have been easier than others, but this last one was rough. Aedan was super clingy and fussy for a lot of the day.  I was worn out by the time bedtime came around.

Luckily, Aedan seems back to his normal self (which is still on the fussy side from time to time) and we had a great day! This morning we went walking with my friend around Town Lake. It was nice to be outside and working out while enjoying some good company. This afternoon, Aedan took a 3 hour nap since he missed his morning nap this morning…I love that he makes up his sleep. :) I was able to get a lot of work done so that when he woke up, we had lots of time to play.

Tomorrow Aedan has his one year check up, so I will be sure and post his weight and height then. I just know he has gotten so much taller.

-Lauren-

Things We Love–Best of the Best

I went back through each of my Things We Love Posts and came up with a list of things that I really feel like we got our money’s worth out of. You know, those things that we used a ton during Aedan’s first year.

Here are my top ten baby items…

The Miracle Blanket. Aedan was an expert at getting out of a swaddle, but he slept sooo much better swaddled those first few months. The Miracle Blanket was perfect. Only when he was ready to drop the swaddle did he finally manage to get his arms free. We used this for naps and nighttime for so long and love it.

Once Aedan was done with the swaddle, we started using sleep sacks. We love them. Aedan knows it is time for bed as soon as I lay him down to put it on. He sleeps so well in them and I never have to worry about him getting cold from kicking off his blankets.

Keeping in line with the things we have used to help Aedan sleep…we love these sheet protectors. When Aedan was about 3 months old we started to put him down on his tummy to sleep. He has always slept better this way and still sleeps on his tummy. At first we had some trouble with him drooling all over his sheet and having to sleep in a cold wet spot. I picked these up one day and we have used them ever since. In fact, even though I put Aedan down to sleep with a lovey, he has become more attached to his sheet protector. I think it has become his blanket.

When Aedan was younger he love to sit in his bouncy set. He was so happy to just sit and kick his legs and wave his arms. We used this thing every single day for a long time.

Another thing we used everyday when Aedan was younger was a yoga ball. There was a good bit of time where bouncing on the yoga ball was the only thing that would calm him right down. We even took it to visit grandparents.

After we did our Bottle Bootcamp we picked up a bottle warmer. I wish we would have gotten it sooner. It was so easy to heat up Aedan’s bottles and it was easy to slowly work him down to drinking a room temperature bottle.

Another thing I wish we had gotten at the beginning was our video monitor. It is great and so easy to use. I love being able to check on Aedan without having to go into his room.

We also love our outdoor swing. Aedan was never a huge fan of his infant swing. I would use it occasionally we he won’t take a good nap, but other than that he didn’t really like to hang out in the swing. However, he loves his outdoor swing. He loves to hang out and watch Hiro play catch or laugh at Daddy.

When we first found out we were pregnant, we knew we wanted a BOB stroller. My parents bought us one as a gift before Aedan was born. We LOVE it. It is so easy to steer and is perfect for walks around the block, around Town Lake or even a shopping trip. The only thing we don’t love is how big it is when folded up. We are thinking of getting light weight stroller for when we travel but other than that we LOVE our BOB. Anyone have a good light weight travel stroller that they love??

Finally my last item for our list of favorite baby items would have to be our LeapFrog Learn and Groove Music Table. This has been played with every.single.day since Aedan was about 5 months old. He still LOVES this table. Most definitely the item we have truly gotten our money’s worth out of.

And there you have it, our top ten baby items for Aedan’s first year. I still cannot believe I have a 1 year old!

-Lauren-

My New Toy

Did I tell y’all that I got a new toy? No? Well, let me tell you…

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I went to coffee with some good girlfriends. Two of them were talking about their e-readers, one with a nook and one with a kindle. So I came home and mentioned that I thought I wanted an e-reader.

You guys, I have to tell you, if I tell Jon I want something like new jeans (or really clothes in general), new shoes, new makeup, new things for the house…you name it, he is not too excited about it. He generally gives me a little bit of a hard time and then lets me buy what I need want. BUT as soon as I tell him I want some kind of electronic toy, he is grabbing the keys so we can go to Best Buy or he starts researching options online. Seriously, every time.

So of course he was all about an e-reader. Well actually he thought I should go ahead and get a full on tablet (like the iPad or the Motorola Zoom).  We went and checked them out and I was set on having something small, so the iPad was out. I was also set on having an e-reader and not too interested in a full tablet (Jon still thinks that is crazy). I decided I did want something with a web browser because, while I love reading books, I also love reading blogs. Thus, I decided on the Nook Color.

I am in love. It is perfect. I have always, always loved reading, but ever since having Aedan, I had gotten out of my life long habit of reading before bed every night. I am happy to say I have been reading every night again and I think it helps me fall asleep better.

Oh and since I have a tech-savvy hubby, I have a souped-up Nook and can download android apps like Facebook, Google Reader and my favorite Zillow (I am obsessed with looking at houses and always have been).  Love it, love it, love it. Now I am just waiting on the Austin Public Library jumping on the eBook rentals. Then I should be set. :)

-Lauren-

12 Months

Oh goodness, I can not believe I have a 1 year old! I keep thinking “last year at this time we had just come home from the hospital…”

 

Aedan, here is what you have been up to lately…

• Your one year appointment is next week, so we will find out how much you weigh and how tall you are then. I am guessing you are around 23 lbs. You haven’t gained much weight over the last couple of months, but you have gotten sooo much taller.
• You wear size 12m or 12-18m clothes, size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 overnight.
• You sleep from 7:30-7:30/8 most every night, although this last week you have been waking up around 4am, crying and then falling back to sleep. I think you are working on some teeth and wake up uncomfortable. :(
• You take two naps, usually 1.5 hour in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon.
• You love love love breakfast bars and fruit for breakfast and overall are eating lots more table food.
• We switched you over to milk a couple of weeks ago and you love it, but not when it is cold. We are slowly working towards you drinking a cold bottle and then we are going to work on moving from bottles to sippy cups.
• You love to clap and point and you recently started waving hi and bye to everyone, too cute!
• You still love music and will dance/sway to just about any tune, but you have a few favorite albums. As soon as we turn one on, you will come from anywhere in the house and start dancing.
• You would play outside all day if I let you. Your goal right now seems to be learning how to walk in and out of the backdoor (there is a small step down). You have just about mastered it.
• Speaking of walking, you are taking more and more steps everyday. You can stand for a good bit of time on your own and are getting more confident about taking steps. I think you will be walking, well probably running everywhere by this summer.
• You have gotten a little more clingy over the last couple of weeks, I am hoping it is just a short phase. You lose it every time I leave you at the sitter’s, but she says you calm right down as soon as I am out the door.
• Aedan, you have a little temper and are nice and stubborn just like your daddy. I think we are going to be in for it when we get to the terrible twos!
• You love to look at your books, knock down towers, play with your farm and push your toys all around the house.

 

Aedan, you definitely keep us on our toes, but we wouldn’t want it any other way. We love you so much! Love, Mommy.

-Lauren-

Things We Love Part 12

WHAT! Part 12!! I was just looking back at my posts from last year around this time. I was so ready to meet Aedan! I was DONE being pregnant. Like so done that I rearranged our bedroom furniture and even mowed the back yard in hopes that it was start labor. I had always heard that getting a pedicure could put you into labor and guess what, I got a pedicure the night before I went into labor. Next time I will have to remember that because getting a pedicure is better than mowing the yard any day. :)

Ok, so back to our favorite things. I thought I would do two posts this month. One of things we are loving this month and then one of things I think we really got our money’s worth from all year.

Here are a few things we love right now…

Aedan got this farm from my parents for his birthday. We play with it everyday and he is in love with the pig. He tried to grab the pig when he first saw the toy in the box and has loved it ever since. He wants to take it to bed and in the car. He gets a big smile on his face when he sees “piggy” sitting across the room.

Now that Aedan is attempting to walk and pushing things everywhere, we needed to invest in some real shoes. We went to Stride Rite a few weeks ago and got this pre-walkers. They were definitely pricy, but I love how flexible the bottoms are. They are perfect for the stage he is at. When he is full on walking, I am pretty sure we will go back to shopping at Target/Old Navy for shoes, but these are pretty cute for now. :)

I got this book as a gift before Aedan was even born. We read it a lot around Christmas time and it has become his favorite book. At night I grab another book and start to read, and Aedan will just try to close the book and wiggle around until I pull out Peekaboo Christmas. It is a touch and feel book as well as a peekaboo book so it is pretty much perfect. He loves it.

 

A few months ago, I started to give Aedan a breakfast bar instead of oatmeal occasionally for breakfast. They are sooo messy, but he loves them. He gets all excited when I start to open the package.

Aedan loves to push things around. He is the happiest when he is walking around and pushing things generally lets him get around. We have a few different push toys and while he plays with them all, his favorite is this little airplane. My mom and I found it at a consignment store for $10. I pulled it off the shelf and all Aedan wanted to do was push it around the store. We were planning on making it a toy that stayed at Nonnie and Pop’s house, but it was love at first sight and had to come home with us.

Stay tuned for our Things We Love Wrap Up Post and Aedan’s 12 months/1 year post!!

-Lauren-

Where Has the Week Gone?

Um, where has the week gone?!? I was on the phone with one of my clients on Wednesday and I kept saying things like “ok, I’ll see you on Thursday” or “we can talk about that on Thursday”. Finally, she asked me if I realized tomorrow was indeed Thursday. Um, what? Seriously in my mind it was Monday or Tuesday. While I am super excited about the weekend, but I had too much on my “work” plate for the week to go by so fast!

I have since caught up on my days and my school observation for tomorrow was cancelled which is a plus because I was going to have to spend the afternoon writing a report about the observation. So my day was full and now it is open. Aedan is still going to the sitter’s house for a couple of hours, so I am going to get some errands run and maybe if I have time, I will get a pedicure. :)

SO, my sister and I are pretty different. She is definitely on the extravert side and I am much more of an introvert. She loves being around large groups, and I would prefer to be in a smaller group or even alone. So we may be different personality wise, but there are some things that are pretty similar.

Case in point, this last weekend, when she was in town, we did some shopping. At one store we grabbed a bunch of different clothes and headed to the dressing room. We each put on an outfit and then came out to show each other. Guess what? We were in the exact.same.outfit. Exact shorts, tank top and shirt. Seriously? Then there is the time that we went shopping with my mom and split up to head to different stores. When we got back together, we realized we had bought the same things. Or the time that we both gave my grandmother the exact same birthday card. My sister had mailed hers from Plano and when I gave my card to my grandmother, she opened it and started to laugh. I asked her why, and she brought me Kym’s card. Too funny.

So after this last weekend, I told my sister that she should just start buying two of everything she buys for herself and put it on my tab. Well just this week, she found a super cute tank top and some red flats that I have been looking for. She bought each for herself and one for me. :) Looks like I have my own personal shopper, LOVE IT!

-Lauren-

Aedan’s First Birthday Celebration (1 of 3)

This past weekend my parents and sister came down to celebrate Aedan’s birthday. They are going to be on a trip next weekend, so we decided to celebrate a week early. On Friday night they brought my grandmother over for dinner.

First we let Aedan open his birthday gifts.

Let me tell you, Aedan hated tissue paper and wrapping paper at Christmas. One afternoon when I was trying to finish up wrapping presents, Aedan just about lost it when I got out the tissue paper. Well, apparently in the last few months, he has decided it is the coolest thing every. He was super excited about it.

He got all kinds of fun new toys including a boat for bath time, a little people farm, some books and his own cell phone. :) Unfortunately, right after I took these pictures, my camera died. Fail. Luckily we had other cameras and cell phone to document the occasion.

After he had his dinner, we gave him his first cupcake. I gave him a mini un-iced cupcake at lunch for practice and he promptly threw it on the floor, so I wasn’t sure what he was going to do. We sang happy birthday and I helped him blow out the candle. After first he wasn’t sure what to do, but that is probably because everyone was staring at him.

Obviously he figured it out pretty quick and decided that the chocolate icing was pretty yummy. The whole time he was eating, he kept saying “mmm mmm”.

On Saturday, my sister and I went to boot camp and then she went off to meet my parents to go to a family friend’s wedding. Jon, Aedan and I went down to Cabelas to shop for gun safes. Now that Aedan is getting more mobile, we decided it was definitely time to get a safe. Aedan had fun pushing the shopping cart around and looking at the giant fish. My parents and sister came back over after the wedding and we all had fun hanging out at home.

Sunday morning, we headed over to our favorite breakfast place. Aedan had fun eating my pancakes again and the waitress said he was one of the best behaved babies that come in. Hopefully he will stay that way.

For the rest of the day we just hung around the house and enjoyed the end of the weekend. We have a busy week and lots of plans for Aedan’s actual birthday next weekend.

-Lauren-

A Little of This and a Little of That

Last night I was able to have a girls night with a great group of friends. We are always so busy and usually have a hard time getting together. Last night we were all able to meet up for coffee and some good girl talk. It was so great to see them all. We decided that we are going to have a girls night at least once a month. I think it is a great plan!!

Oh, so two of my girlfriends have e-readers. One has a Nook and the other has a Kindle. I have been thinking about getting one for awhile and now I just want one even more…maybe a good anniversary gift?!? Someone will have to let Jon know since he doesn’t read this. :) Ok, do you guys have an e-reader? Do you have a Kindle or a Nook? Should I save up and just go for an iPad? How did you decide which one to get?

We are getting ready for my parents and sister to come in town. They are driving to my Grandmother’s house tonight and then all coming over for the day tomorrow. I did a little laundry this morning with my little helper…

He thought it was pretty cool.

Love the tippy toes.

He is working really hard on stepping over things. He has even taken one or two steps by himself, I think we are going to have a walker on our hands very soon.

Now, I should probably get back to cleaning up so tomorrow I can have fun making cupcakes for my little guy.

-Lauren-