It's been awhile

So I decided after many months of being lazy, that I would actually update my blog!  It seemed lazy not too, especially since starting a new blog that I have pledged to update weekly.  We have had quite a few changes in the past couple months that have been great!  I was able to quit my job in November, thanks to paying off Micah's car a little early, to stay home with the kiddos and try and get a few things done around this house.  In turn, Baylie stopped attending her preschool.  It was a little sad being that she had been there since she was 3 months old and had made quite a few friends, but she has adjusted well.  This past month, she started going to our church's MDO program a couple times a week.  This has been good for her and for me.  She was getting a little antsy being home with just me and had started commenting on missing her friends and playing with other kiddos.  This also allowed me to start working out more regularly and be a little more productive on housework, so I can spend better time with her and Aiden while they are home.  Aiden has been doing well in school and recently got his purple stripe for his orange belt in TKD.  He has loved taking TKD, and I am so glad that we finally decided to sign him up.  He was very proud to receive his academic achievement patch for a stellar report card the last nine weeks. 

Baylie's first day at new school

Aiden's orange belt

Getting to know Aiden

Now time for my first born, Aiden.  I cannot believe how quickly 6 and a half years have flown by since he was born!  It seemed like just yesterday that I was looking at this face.

Aiden was our first born, and he taught us alot about being parents.  He was a sweet and smiley baby, but he was both a night owl and an early bird which was rough for awhile, but we made it through! :)  He did sleep best snuggled up on his daddy's chest.  Aiden has his bouts with reflux, which took us awhile to figure out, but once he was on the right medicine, he was able to get going a lot quicker b/c he could be on his tummy without losing half his meal!  Aiden was quick to crawl and walk, choosing remote controls and a can of coke as his motivation.  We marveled in every little thing he did, as it was all new!  I was lucky enough to work from home when he was younger, but that become more and more of a challenge as he became much more active, and when put in a excersaucer during one of my conference calls, they asked if I was at a restaurant due to the clanging of toys in the background. :)  We found out at about 10 months that the poor little guy was a bit intolerant to dairy, so the doctor in a haste, took him off anything remotely allerginic.  He did will with the diet, I wish my wallet could say that same!  It became a challenge to me each week to find food for a older infant/young toddler that was dairy, egg, and wheat-free.  Aiden became quite a fan of Vienna Sausages, Newman's fig newtons, Newman's Oreos, and spaghetti.   We were also excited when he sprouted his first couple teeth before his first birthday!

It seemed liked Aiden just grew leaps and bounds his second year.  What started as a little guy who was just toddling around, not really saying much, finished his second year, running around, pretending to "fix" things with his tools, and boasted quite a vocabulary.  At 15 months, Aiden started back to school at the school I was helping to open in Frisco.  He did great transitioning into school, and he made new buddies quickly.  He was easy to get along with and everyone enjoyed playing with him.  People have always commented on his sweet demeaner.  He has been a people pleaser for as long as I can remember, and was always easy to discipline.  I don't think that the child has had more then 5 time outs his entire life.  All it has usually ever taken is a quick look, and he shrinks back from what he was going to do.  We found out at about 16 months that the reason our little guy wasn't making more words was because he was hearing like he was underwater due to the fluid in his ears.  A quick surgery that included placing PE tubes and removing his adenoids, helped immensely, and he began talking soon after.  Aiden quickly became a fan of home improvement after his Poppy started taking him to Home Depot once a month.  He started collecting Bob the Builder toys and watching the show.  By the time he had reached he had reached 2 years old, he was getting quite handy!

As you can see he has assisted in some projects here at the house, including our shelving unit the playroom and the repair job we had to do on the fence a couple weeks ago.  He told his Poppy a couple weeks ago that he only needs him to help hold the wood together and give him a ride to home depot, since he can read the directions and glue and hammer the wood together on his own.  I think Poppy was proud and a little miffed at the same time. 

A month after his 3rd birthday and one month before I had Baylie, the new ENT had agreed with his sleep study nuerologist that the tonsils had to come out.  They were so large that they were touching and interfering with his breathing when he was asleep (the hcild could wake up someone in the next room with his snoring!).  P;lus he was still getting sinus infection after sinus infection.  Poor guy even had to get IV antibiotics right before Thanksgiving.  The tonsil removal went well, even thought he refused to take any medicine after the surgery.  I still can't believe that he went without even a dose of Tylenol or Motrin once the anesthesia wore off.  The nurses couldn't even get it down him.  He did amazing though.  It was just a quiet 10 days after that. :) 
Aiden soon became a big brother, and he was very excited about that role.  He was quite familiar with the hospital by the time we got around to doing the sibling class and hospital tour b/c we had been in the hospital 3-4 times prior to that due to preterm labor.  He was actually helping give the tour, including showing the kids the snack room on the hall where you could get jello and graham crackers. :)  He loved his baby sister and wanted to hold her every chance he got but would soon tire of it and give her back.  He was such an attentive little guy when she was small.  One day my mom and I saw him listening to Baylie cry on the monitor, and he started to comfort her and sing into the monitor since he thought that she would be able to hear him since he could hear her.  He still loves his little sister, but the relationship has changed a bit since she is more into his things and he has also just grown up and wants to do his own thing.  But as I speak they are having their 4th slumber party of the week, so they are still pretty tight. :)

Aiden was so looking forward to starting kinder this year, and I don't think that it could have gone better.  He loves school and enjoyed being with his teacher and classmates each day.  Aiden is full of imagination and creativity, but he also loves the more analytical art of math and science.  He has wanted to be a scientist and an astronaut since he could even think about growing up.  The other day he saw a balloon in the sky, and I asked him if he thought it was going to space.  He pondered that for a second, and said yes and that he would probably be able to see it when he goes to space in the future.  He has loved his first year in kindergarten and is quite proud of being a first grader now.  He definitely has a thirst for knowledge which intimidates me b/c I am not sure I will be able to keep up!  The way the do math now is totally different, so I am afraid to teach him anything more b/c I am worried I will do it wrong.  He is loving being able to read, and he will read on his own as long as he is not pushed into it.  He was reading some chapter books for his assigned reading his past year, but I think we will stick to some easier stuff this summer.  Crazy how much they learn in kinder now!  

First day

Graduation

He loves baseball and is playing in his 7th or 8th season (can't even keep up now).  I think it is actually starting to click with him now, and he even made a couple great plays in the last game. 

It is amazing how fast 6 years can go by.  I still can't believe that he will be 7 years old this August.  He is turning into such a great kid and is still my sweet little boy at the same time.  I savor the times when he will cuddle up on the coach with me and watch cartoons or want me to play a game with him b/c I know that those days will come to an end probably more quickly than I even want to think about.  I just look forward to seeing what the future holds for him and excited about seeing him go through another year of school this fall!  I do fully intend to enjoy our summer together though first!! :)

Close up of Miss Baylie

I have decided to take a little time to write about each of the kiddos individually.  They are at such fun ages right now, and I thought there is so much about each one of them, that it seems possible to give them each their own blog entry.  Starting off with Miss Baylie, our energetic 3 year old.  If I was asked to describe Baylie in 5 words, I think they would be smart, hilarious, imaginative, mischevious, and stubborn.  As frustrated as I can get with her sometimes, she has been such a gift in our lives and shows it each day.  I just hope that she keeps all of the qualities because I believe that she could be a great leader of some sort when she gets older. 

Baylie started off as a very quiet (I know hard to believe) and easy baby.  She had a ton of black hair when she was born which soon fell out on top due to some unfortunate cradle cap.  Nothing that could be covered up a couple huge bows! :)

She was bound and determined from the start to do things on her own time.  She didn't make a peep until about 6-7 months staying very quiet, althought she makes up for it now!  She crawled until she was 13 months and didn't get her first teeth until about the same time.  She just now got in her canine teeth and she is 3 and 1/2!  Such a funny girl!!

As a toddler that quiet personailty started to go away and with it replaced a spunky and strong willed little girl.  Baylie began charming us with her coy looks and funny demeaner, but could also throw some tantrums with head butting as a special treat.  That girl could have won some wrestling matches with that move!  Once Baylie was walking, she was running and climbing in no time!  She figured out how to get into things that I would have never imagined.  Baylie was the reason that we ended up fully baby proofing the house. :)  In her toddler class, she was definitely the runt, but she let them know that she was not to be pushed around.  She had no issue pulling the other kiddos down by the hair and learned quickly what time out was about.  She was always in the 5%-10% percentile in weight for her age, but you would never know it with the amount of food the child ate!

Baylie is somewhat well known for her Baylieisms among friends and family.  Her use of words is quite creative and gets a laught even when not intended.  I have written done some of our favorites. :)

While driving back from a recent trip to see friends, the kiddos where watching movies, and the previews were on.  All the sudden I hear a very excited, "Look, it's Pooter Pan!"  Micah and I had to take a second to figure out what she was talking about then had a good laugh. 

We had some friends over and the baby needed a diaper change.  Baylie, ever vigilant, stayed by the baby's head, as he was crying because he had a little rash.  Baylie softly stroked his head and said, "Don't worry, hers gonna get some cream for you."  (She is constantly mixing up her hims and hers with she and he.) 

If asked about where Santa lives, she will promptly say, "The North Pool," and she loves a good "candy can" around the holidays. :)

Baylie is such a girly girl and loves playing (and watching) Strawberry Shortcake, Barbie, and kind of Disney Princess, and playing in her kitchen.  She is also a daredevil that enjoys jumping from one piece of the furniture to the other and can't wait to play t-ball this year, with a pink helmet, bat, and glove of course!  Baylie loves going to school and to dance class and talks about her friends at home all the time.  She also likes to make the the scapegoat for anything that goes wrong.  She loves to pretend, to the point that she will only respond to the name of the person that she is pretending to be.  Baylie is turning into such a crafter as well.  She loves just sitting at her table with paper, scissors, glue, stickers and markers and creating.  She has come up with some interesting projects on her own!

Baylie loves her big brother and wants to do everything he does, which he does not always enjoy as much.  She tags along as much as he will let her, and she is known to sneak into his bed at night when he is sleeping and snuggle up with him. 

All in all, Baylie is so much fun to watch grow up.  She will call herself "a hot mess," and sometimes she is, but it's just part of the wonderful kiddo she is! :)

2/17/11

Ok, so I am not very good at keeping up with this blog.  It seems that my brain by the end of the day is almost always to tired to think, let alone write a recap.  I will try and be better though.  :)

This month has been a crazy one!  We have had some most unusual weather for Texas, which included almost a week of from school due to ice and snow, then the next week another day off!  Cabin fever definitely set in or our household.  The first week, I though "No big deal, it will sleet and we will be in the house for a couple days" so I went to the grocery store just to stock up for dinner for the next couple nights.  Little did I know that we would be housebound for the next 5 days!  Micah ended up venturing out to go to work after the first day, so he made some stops at the nearby Kroger a couple  times that week on his way home. 

I think the worst part of it was that it was just ice, no snow until the last day.  It wasn't even possible to go outside and have fun b/c there was nothing but a sheet of ice on the ground that was about and inch thick.  Since my kids are not accustomed to ice skating yet, we decided that indoors was the best place to be.  I have to say, for being stuck in the house all week, the kids did great!  I think it was more my own cabin fever that drove me more crazy!  We stayed entertained with books, art projects, computer games, leapster, homemade obstacle courses, and toys.  I was proud b/c we didn't use the Wii all week, although I would have been open to it!  Aiden was just never really interested.  We watched a couple movies (Baylie has discovered a new love of the Barbie movies), drank a lot of hot chocolate, and even made some snow ice cream on Friday! :)

The house stayed somewhat comfortable despite the temperatures in the single digits and teens outside, with fire logs burning pretty much all day and the heater, which I waited to go out the entire time, but it stayed running!  Aiden and I preferred to stay in sweats and "comfy clothes," while Baylie felt that is was 100% appropriate to wear this:



That girls amazed me with her lack of sensitivity to cold at times.  She was also quite happy to be in her Rapunzel dress most of the time as well.

At last on Friday the snow came!  We were so excited!!!  We got about 6-8 inches of snow.  We spent most of the day outside in between hot chocolate breaks.  We started out just making snow angels and throwing snow (it was too powdery to pack into anything), then ended up sledding down the front yard in the empty box from our fire logs. :)  Our neighbor was then kind enough to let us borrow this hard plastic sheet to use as a sled.  We walked up to Aiden's school to try it out on the hills, but there were a bunch of older kids on the hill, so we decided to try the smaller hills a couple times then the kiddos were ready to go back home.  I have not ever seen this much snow in Texas.  I was joking that our kids will grow up thinking that this is a typical winter in Texas, as this happened 3 times this year!

We were glad to get defrosted and have some nicer temps this past weekend!  We had a busy weekend!  On Saturday, I helped out with our Sunday School class to serve lunch for members of the Kairos ministry who are doing trainings at our church.  It was very neat to be able to serve those who are willing to serve and minister to people whom most wouldn't spend their time with.  Kairos is a ministry that goes into the prisons and helps those who have fallen off the path and trying to find their way back.  After serving lunch, a few of the girls and I went to get lunch for ourselves then to shop for some sequins, feathers, and garter belts, otherwise known as...flapper wear!  We had a murder mystery dinner to attend that night to benefit the youth mission trip.  The setting was at the Juice Joint back in the 1920s.  I was a flapper and Micah was a gangster, so we had to dress the part!  It was a lot of fun, and Micah and I both made it out without killing or being killed. :)

 

Sunday brought the Imagination Movers concert after church.  The kids were totally surprised and super excited to get there!  Aiden wore his Imagination Movers outfit made by one of our friends, and Baylie opted out of her outfit and instead wore pink and red, as she wanted to be like Nina (IM fans, you will know who I am talking about).  We headed out to the concert to be entertained first by Choo-Choo Soul ( I think Micah was very excited to see Genevieve in person ;) ), and they did not disappoint.  They got the kids (and parents) up and moving before the show started.  The Imagination Movers were great as always.  We saw them in concert a couple years ago with Aiden, and they were just as good as the last time.  They do a great job of keeping the kids happy without it being a beating for the parents.  The music is catchy, and you find yourself singing it when the kids aren't even around.  The kids had a blast and were worn out by the time the show was over. 

First day of school

August 23rd brought brought Aiden's first day of kindergarten and Baylie's first day as a Ladybug in her preschool.  We had been prepping for kindergarten all summer, talking about "big" school, trying out the playground, taking walks up to the school so Aiden could practice riding his bike up there., etc. :)  I did all the pre-school traditions, school supply shopping (not nearly as much of a nightmare as I thought), buying new backpacks ("Old school transformers" for Aiden and Disney princess for Baylie), and new clothes shopping.  We bought alarm clocks (Aiden was particularly excited about this - just wait a couple years and that excitement will wear off) and started setting them a couple days in advance to get used to using them, although Aiden has yet to sleep until the alarm goes off. :)
The big day came and we all got ready, made Aiden's first lunch in the lunch box, and set off to go.  Aiden opted to ride his scooter instead of the bike bc we had not bought a bike lock yet (completely sold out at Target).  We took the obligatory first day pictures.

We got to walk Aiden into his classroom on the first day, so this was fun for Baylie to see everything.  Aiden did great walked in and was a littl thrown by the fact that his seat had moved since Meet the Teacher night, but found it quickly and did great!  Micah and I did pretty well too!  We went and had donuts with the other kinder parents in the library then went to drop off Miss Baylie.  She wanted some pics with her backpack like Aiden got.  Of course we agreed. :)

We went to drop off Baylie at school, and apparently she thought when she moved up to be a Ladybug (formerly a Wiggle Worm), she too would get to go to a new school.  Needless to day, she was a little disappointed when we drove up the same school and voiced this quite clearly.  Once we got her inside to see her "Auntie" (school director) for hugs and kisses, then went to her "new" classroom, she was excited again, especially when she saw her friends.

Micah and I took the day off to be able to drop off and pick up Aiden together, so we decided to take soem time that morning to run errands then work from home the rest of the day.  When we went to go get Aiden, we told him that we had planned to take him to go get ice cream just the 3 of us to celebrate his first day, we said he would prefer to go get Baylie first b/c he thought she would really want some ice cream too.  Such a good big brother! :)  We enjoyed some Marble Slab ice cream to end a good first day.

Birthday/Pre-K graduation weekend!!!

What a crazy whirlwind weekend!  We had stuff going every night starting Wednesday until Saturday.  Needless to say by Sunday we were exhausted!!  It was fun though. :)

Wednesday started with a Roughriders game with the Carltons (a late father's day gift for my FIL).  We sat in the seats for the first time since having the both kids.  Usually we prefer the grass seats with the free hat and hot dog, but my MIL was having trouble with her back, so seats with backs were best for this game.  The kids did suprisingly well despite my worries that they would be all over the place!  The stadium wasn't crowded which was good b/c it gave us a little wiggle room.  Into the 3rd inning, it was decided to be time for Dippin Dots.  Thanks to the disposable sippy cups I had brought along, we were able to split one between the kids b/c one is definitely enough for the both of them.  About the 5th inning, Baylie decided that she needed to see Daisy, so off we went in search of her.  We found her by the field, so we had to wait about 10 minutes for her to come back up, and Baylie was pumped and ready until Daisy reached out to give her a high five, and I swear that child went into a convulsion of fear!  She was fine a second later when Daisy was walking away and wanted to get another high five.  I told her that Daisy was hot and needed to go back to cool down, and she seemed ok with that.  We decided to check out the gift store where she was thrilled with all the smaller, stuffed Dueces and Daisys that she could hug and hold.  The kids left the game happy and tired, so well done for their first game in the seats.

Thursday evening we met up and the local splash park after dinner with some friends from Aiden's pre-K class.  We wanted to have one last hurrah before the graduation.  The kids had a blast, and I think Baylie enjoyed the splash park more than she ever has!  Having some friends there really helped.  Aiden loved seeing his friends out of school, including some that left earlier this summer.

Friday was Aiden's 6th birthday and his pre-K graduation.  He really wanted to go to school for his splash party with the class.  I though how ironic.  Every other birthday I have been working and took off work and took him out of school to spend time with him, and this is the first birthday I have not been working, and he wants to go to school!  He was very excited though, so off he went after a birthday donut left by Daddy before he went to work. 

It was nice to have him off at school though, so I could take Baylie shopping for her present for him since we hadn't had a chance up to that point.  My mom came over so we could work on our traditional homemade cake for the birthday.  Aiden wanted a spaceship this year b/c he is very into space right now.  Luckily my mom has a Wilton's cake pan for a space ship that was actually passed down from my grandmother.  Pretty neat!  So we ended up starting on the cake after I went to go get Aiden from school.  The spaceship cake turned out to his liking, so it was considered a success!

After we finished with the cake, we started getting ready for the big graduation.  Upon getting everyone dressed, I realized that I had donated Aiden's only pair of black pants about a month ago.  Last minute change to have Micah take Aiden to Walmart first for pants and meeting them up at the school, got us in just in time.  Aiden and his classmates performed all kids of songs and a dance.  They did the solar system song in which Aiden got to be the sun.  He had been telling me for a couple days that he was always the sun in the song, and he would continue to be even after pre-K.  Now I understood.  He stood quite proudly holding up the sun balloon as the other kiddos holding planets and stars revolved around him.  He is not usually the kind of kid to demand the center of attention, so it was pretty neat to see him as the sun. :) 

After the songs, the school showed a really sweet slideshow with pics of the kids throughout the years and then some baby pics.  Then came the actual graduation with the handing out of diplomas.  I thought I was all set, but then as soon as Aiden's name was called, I was blocked by my own father, brother, and uncle, as they stood to cheer for him!  I totally missed it, so I am hoping they at least got it on video. ;)

Afterwards, we went out to Chili's for the dual celebration.  Not exactly the quickest service that time of the evening for a group our size, but Aiden enjoyed it, so it was worth it.  Baylie fell asleep after eating one fry.  She tried to stay awake and wait but it was just too late. :)

The party on Saturday was a hit!  The kids had a blast splashing and swimming at the party.  Aiden has been such a fish since learning how to swim, so he didn't get out of the water except to switch pools.  Once home after a quick shower, he was chomping at the bit to open his presents.  He ripped through them in no time.  Once again we ended up with no duplicates!  We have been lucky with that for most if not all of his birthdays. 

We had one surprise ourselves that evening.  We went to put in Aiden's new Wii Wipeout game, and the disc already in was having a hard time coming out.  When it finally did, two photo memory cards popped out.  It was at that point that I remembered having 3 memory cards sitting on the table by the Wii.  I also remembered Baylie earlier that day trying to put the cards into the port for the SD card, and I asked her to leave it alone.  Apparently, she had not given up and the disc drive was much easier to stick all three in rather than tyring to put one in the correct slot.  So the one of three is still in the Wii, and I will be checking out repair costs this weekend.  That girl is always keeping us on our toes!