A review of December

I am slow on posting our Christmas, but with good reason. Todd has been off work since last Monday and I have just been enjoying my family! So here is a bit (okay a lot) of our Christmas and a few other things.

Alyssa with her talking baby from Santa, this was her number one wish and she takes it almost everywhere (I will let her that is) and she sleeps in a cradle beside her bed at night. Her name is Baby...shocking I know :)

And her new dollhouse. Takes up a lot of space in the playroom, but surprisingly Aiden plays nicely with it too. I really just expected him to take all the furniture out and throw it about the house, but so far it can stay downstairs.

Aiden crawling into his puppy ball pit...this takes up most of the family room...so even though I have done an "old toy sweep" we still are overtaken with toys downstairs...he loves it!

Aiden also got his own phone with an answering machine, perhaps now he will stop changing the message on our real answering machine...not likely.

By the time they were done Aiden really only wanted the Goldfish left in his stocking. When it comes down to it this boy only cares about food.

Demi opening one of his gifts, it lasted about 4 minutes until he chewed a hole in the ball and it landed in the trash.

Alyssa helping Daddy make homemade noodles. Aiden was back in bed by 8:30 in the morning, since he got up at 6 which is very early for him. My first (30 something) child got up about 5 and somehow the rest of the house was up before 6!

Some snow fun the week of Christmas.

Sledding down the driveway.

This is the only time I enjoy our steep driveway.

And I don't think I ever posted about Alyssa's preschool Christmas program. Her she is all ready to go. She did a great job singing and dancing...she even had her own line that she said into the microphone perfectly. Unfortunately the pics from the program are all dark, so this is all I've got.

So I think that is enough to catch us up for now.

Happy New Year!

~~Tracy~~

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Yesterday at Grandma and Grandpa Raines house.

A glimpse of our Christmas...so far. I hope everyone has a safe and Blessed Christmas Day. Happy Birthday Jesus!!

~~Love Todd, Tracy, Alyssa & Aiden~~

A New Week

I am so glad to start a new week, as last week was a bit terrible. Alyssa ended up in the hospital on Tuesday morning and was admitted for dehydration, low blood sugar and a temp of 103. Luckily a night of fluids did the trick and she was able to come home on Wednesday. She ran the temp of 103 for 6 days until it finally went away. The doctors never found a source of the temp (even with a very unpleasant straight catheter in the ER and two other blood draws). They wrote it off as a bad viral infection and I am just grateful it wasn't something worse. She really was a trooper during her stay. It probably helped that she had her own TV, and a terribly long movie list to pick from.

So now we get to start a fresh week and really get ready for Christmas. She ended up being 7 days behind on her Christmas candy countdown so we are slowly catching that up. Aiden apparently didn't want to wait as one day he broke into the Christmas Day one and ate all the M & M's inside...oh, if you could have seen the smirk on his face when he got busted :)

So just a few more loose ends to tie up with shopping (I know, we are ALWAYS done before Thanksgiving), Aiden and I plan to finish that up tomorrow morning after we drop Alyssa off at Preschool. Todd works until next Monday and then has 10 (maybe even 12) days off...WHOOO HOOO!!! I am very excited!!

Later this afternoon I am watching a couple of my Friend's children and then tonight it's my monthly Mommy time (AKA: a haircut).

Have a Great Week and Stay Warm!

~~Tracy~~

A few random things

This will just be a random post on what is going on at our house lately. First, a bit of a brag (I have seen some bragging lately on other blogs and thought I would join in ;-). I started running again in August mostly just to lose some weight and get in better shape. Well I am now up to 4.6 miles (and down 9.5 pounds) and feel great. A bunch of my friends are going to run the Mini Marathon in May and I had been debating on signing up as well. After just deciding not to, more or less because of the training time, Troy asked me on Thanksgiving if I wanted to run it with him...so back to the debating. I have decided to wait and do the one in October (Troy, you are willing to do that one with me right?). That way I can train more outside instead of on a treadmill. And I don't have to shell out more money at Christmastime. So that is what is new and exciting in my life (HA!).

On to the kiddos. We have been letting Alyssa watch the Christmas shows on TV at night and this is pretty much what that scene looks like:

This is her and her crew watching The Polar Express. She also had her first Preschool Christmas program last night, but that will be another post.

And Aiden, poor Aiden...he is undecided on still taking 2 naps. This is what happens most mornings around 10 am lately. He had been down to one nap for a few months, but lately his body is wanting more. So yesterday he plopped himself in his bean bag and crashed.

And here he is in a more upright position after being startled by a certain little girl trying to put stickers on him. You can barely see the stickers on his left arm, but notice it didn't phase him much.

That's all I've got for now...

~~Tracy~~

Snow

Today we had our first "playable" snowfall for the winter. Alyssa begged to go out and play in it this morning. So I let her go out back while Aiden and I stayed warm inside and watched. We had to miss church this morning because Alyssa had the stomach flu yesterday and we were waiting out our contagious period. So it was nice to get her out of the house to run around. I think she would stay out there forever, but I made her come in after about 25 minutes. I didn't put her snow pants on and she had on her rain boots because we haven't bought snow boots yet this year (although I am thinking with the right socks the rain boots may do the trick) and I was afraid she was getting cold. She literally ran circles around the yard and examined her footprints. She also went around and "dusted" the snow off of her house and swing set.

She did make sure Aiden was having fun by throwing snowballs at him!

And of course she brought some snow in for Aiden to see, I mean eat...

but he wanted nothing to do with that...

...so she grabbed a bowl and spoon and helped herself. For anyone wondering, our dog has his own separate potty area and is not even allowed in the back yard where the kids play. So the snow was "clean"!

So there is the first snow fun, I personally love the snow. From the inside that is :) Daddy is more the outside cold weather playmate!! The sled is waiting for just a little more...

Here's Proof

I told you he is just like an old man with a walker!! Here is Aiden yesterday stealing Grandpa's...nope still not walking on his own except for a few steps here and there.

Notice in the background of the picture, Grandpa is playing Wii!!

We went to Troy and Sarah's for Thanksgiving this year and had a great time. The food was awesome (of course) and it was great to see everyone. This morning Mom picked me up at 5 am to hit the Black Friday sales, it was her first time venturing out soo early. I am so glad we went, I got some great deals and crossed some more people off my list (and of course got some things for me for Todd to wrap & give me:)

Then our family went to get our Christmas tree, which has surprisingly stayed untouched by Aiden...so far. We will decorate it tomorrow which I am sure will tempt him more!

We have been having a lot of tea parties lately at our house, Alyssa is a great host. She had done away with the "tablecloth" when Aiden is attending, I am sure that is self explanatory.

Well, I am off to get some rest after a loooong day.

~~Tracy~~

2 Days in Review

Monday Morning:
6:06 am Day starts...Alyssa is awake, but a nice break as her waking has been before 5:30 am the 6 consecutive days before this.
7:30 On the phone with the Doctor's office to try and get Aiden and I in today. Appointments made for 9:45.
9:15 Leave with the 2 kiddos for appointments.
9:16 Cell phone rings, WONDERFUL hubby says he is on his way home and if I pull over he will take Alyssa with him.
9:16 and 4 seconds (or immediately): Pull into subdivision and hand over Alyssa.
10:15 Leave Doctor's office...Aiden's rash is an allergic reaction to the ibuprofen I used Friday and Saturday for terribly teething baby :( And me, well since I have been fighting a "cold" for 6 weeks they gave me something to hopefully kick it.
10:55 Leave Target with my prescription.
11:10 Home and lunchtime, lay Aiden down for nap.
2:45 Wake Aiden and the family of 4 is off to our monthly chiropractic visit.
4:45 Home and eating supper (gave in to the world and went through a drive thru for this meal).
8:00 Last child in bed and house is quiet.
8:40 I leave for the Community Center to set up for MOPS.
10:00 Return home.
11:15 or so....Sleep...

Tuesday Morning:
5:22 am Day starts...Alyssa is awake (Hmmm, back on schedule).
8:25 Leave house for MOPS.
11:25 Leave MOPS and pick up Alyssa at preschool.
11:33 Back at MOPS for clean up.
12:15 Home for lunch, Aiden down for nap.
2:10 Wake a (really sound, peaceful) sleeping Aiden to get his 2nd flu shot.
2:15 Leave house.
2:45 Aiden called back for flu shot and informed he could also get his HIB booster today too. Lucky him, now 2 shots two days before Thanksgiving.
3:30 Home for the night, and WONDERFUL hubby is cooking supper.
4:00 Eat supper and WONDERFUL hubby then does dishes and cleans up entire kitchen!!
5:00 Clean kitchen and playing with the kiddos...things are starting to look up :)
8:00 Last child in bed and house is quiet.

I will have to say that the day was also lightened when we were cleaning up after MOPS and Alyssa ran across the room and threw her arms around me and said "I love you soo much Mommy!" followed by a huge kiss and hug. Then she just went back to the table I had sat her at to wait for me.

Alyssa had her Thanksgiving feast today at Preschool and this is what they made and wore. You can't tell in the picture, but the 2 things hanging off the side are little pony tails. I had never seen this before on these handmade bands but it is super cute!

Aiden just trying to figure out what she is doing.

I will end this post with saying how very grateful I am for these past two days...There is honestly nothing more I would rather do. I am surrounded by an amazing family and am very blessed to be with them everyday.

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

~~Tracy~~

Preschool...

Alyssa's Preschool class is practicing their songs for their Christmas program and this is what I heard as she went to see Aiden after his nap:

I want to miss you a Merry Christmas
I want to miss you a Merry Christmas
I want to miss you a Merry Christmas from the Bible of my heart

Fa-threes Navi-DAD
Fa-threes Navi-DAD
Fa-threes Navi-DAD

This was all heard after she first told Aiden:
"OK, it is time to listen, I am Mrs. Herrmann. You sit like Alyssa."

Last week she didn't have her "listening ears" on a school Tuesday and Todd and I had many talks with her on how she needs to listen and obey her teacher. Also, that just because someone else is doing something, she should not do what they do. I then get report on Thursday that she maybe didn't feel good as she would not sing in class that day and she just sat quietly. When I questioned her to see if she felt okay she said "Mom, I was trying to listen!"

Oh, the power of teaching a three year old!!

Aiden's First Haircut

OK, I finally caved and let Aiden get his first haircut. It was terribly out of control an looked a bit like he had wings coming out behind his ears. There is just something about that first cut that I never want to do (Todd has been begging me for weeks, OK months, to get it cut). Maybe I just love the fly aways of baby fine hair...makes them seem more like babies than toddlers :(

So after church today I let Maw Maw cut his hair. It went as expected, him turning his head every which way but the right way. Above is a pic I got during the action...after he tore the cape off and wouldn't leave it on. He is just too busy to sit and get a hair cut, but we managed to get it done without any tears!

I am not sure if he doesn't like it, but he left his hat on for a long time after we got home tonight...

...until Alyssa decided it was time to come off and she went over and gave it a yank.

So I guess I don't have any after shots, but I think he does look different.

Hopefully he will start walking soon, he will take 2-3 steps on his own. But only if it is his idea. If he decides he wants to get to something else not too far away he will take a few steps. If Todd or I am trying to convince him to walk to us forget it, he will just sit right down.
Hopefully soon...

~~Tracy~~

Alyssa Says (Part Four)

“I’m going to the royal ball with my Daddy. He’s the prince.”

“Mmmmm…I love crunchy toes.”

A: “You done on the computer Mommy?”
Me: “Yes.”
A: “Then get off.”

We were eating a chicken brushetta bake for supper (had stove top stuffing layered with cheese):
Me: “Alyssa that is stuffing with cheese, just try a bite.”
A: “It’s disgusting with cheese?”

She will not eat any meat, whether she likes it or not, she doesn’t want to eat it. So one night we had pork chops and I told her she had to take her one bite to try it, this is what we got:
“I will put it in my mouth, chew it up, spit it out and tell you I do not like it!”
Well, guess she knows the drill. Unfortunately for her plan that night she did like it and after putting it into her mouth we got:
“MMMM, this is yummy, may I have some more?”

“Cheese, Smile (takes a picture of Aiden with her camera)…OH, that was a nice one.”

“More Pee Pee? OH MY!!” (surprising herself on the potty:)

“Mommy, you are yes Mam. Daddy, you are yes Sir!”

And the latest new "saying" by Alyssa:
In her most cheerful, excited voice possible. "Thank you Aiden, Thank you so much for sharing with me!!" This one happens right after she takes something out of Aidens hands that she wants to play with...UGH!!

Have a Good Weekend!!
~~Tracy~~

Halloween Time Review

Since I have failed to post any Halloween fun, you now get it all in one big review...

At the pumpkin "patch".

Aiden searching for the perfect one.

Trunk or Treat at Alyssa's preschool. She was way excited about the "camels" (actually llamas) across the parking lot.

Helping to clean out the pumpkins.

Aiden enjoyed it too, poor little man got buckled into the booster seat pretty quickly :)

Our little cow. Alyssa wore this costume 3 years ago, I had figured this will be the only thing I can pass down from big sister so wanted to take advantage of it. When I got it out of the tote a week ago to make sure it would fit him I saw it had pink horns. Todd wanted to buy him a new costume, but I wanted to take advantage of the one and only hand me down we would ever have in this house. So I (yes me, Tracy) got crafty and made his horns black...no one could tell :)

Our kiddos...not looking at the camera.

Alyssa as Barbie Mariposa.

And here we go...

Poor Aiden was soo tired. He was trying to fall asleep at dinner and here we were dragging him around the neighborhood past his bedtime. He did just sit back and enjoy the ride. Alyssa exclaimed "This is the best trick or treatin' ever!!!", after we went to just one house. Probably because this is the first year she really knew what she could do with that candy :) Then this morning after she asked everyone, "Did you have fun going trick or treatin' with me last night?" she picked out her one piece of candy for after lunch and after supper. Now I just have to figure out how to disappear most of it...And not into my stomach.

My "little" old man

I have recently decided that Aiden is just like an old man with a walker. I am not being mean...just factual! Remember, I am a nurse and have been around plenty of elderly men and walkers. Not to mention the fact that my dearly loved family members have used/do use them, and I am sure one day I will too.

Since Aiden has decided not walk on his own yet (please refrain from the comment of "you'll be in trouble when he does" as I can assure you there is nothing or nowhere he could get into any faster by walking, in fact my life would be much simpler if he did walk), he uses his walker to meander around our house at lightning speeds. He runs into things with it and whips it around to another direction and takes off again. If he gets stuck going from tile to carpet he will stand there and bang his walker up and down until he gets it to move or someone helps him. He has no regard to anything on the floor and will mow over it and take it with him. He sits it next to him once he has reached his destination to play and when finished will pull himself up with it and go onto his next adventure.

The funniest thing he did was yesterday. I was in the laundry room folding clothes at a quick pace (basically to finish before anyone found out where I was to come "help") and I heard the wheels coming. He started past the room and then spotted me. He stopped so fast I thought he would tumble, but no, just scooted his walker toward the laundry room door and hauled in...after he ran it into the door and readjusted for a smoother entry. He then let go of the walker and grabbed the basket on the floor (where I was placing the clean, folded clothes) pushed the basket out of the way and "helped me" do laundry. By helping I mean almost crawling into the dryer to pull out the fresh, clean clothes and throw them in the basket or on the floor.

So as I was saying, like an old man with a walker...Love them young or old!!

~~Tracy~~

Aiden's Party

Because you know I will post about Aiden's 1st Birthday Party...

In his new chair from Daddy, Mommy and Alyssa...ready to open presents!

Reading a card. (I will not bore you with anymore present opening pics other than this, they all look the same!)

Our family, avoiding an icing hand from Aiden.

Ready for cake...

Set...

Done!! MMMMM, he loved it!

Alyssa playing with Uncle Troy.

Yeah, that's my brother (Crazy Uncle Troy).

We all had a great time, it was so good to see everyone. But we missed the ones that couldn't make it!

~~Tracy~~

Happy 1st Birthday Aiden Conner!!

Happy 1st Birthday Aiden! I cannot believe how quickly your first year has gone. You have blessed our family so much more than you will ever know. You are a very special sweet, sweet boy...and we Thank God that he has given you to us!!

Your Birthday!

You have grown so much,

From your 1st 3 months of colic,

To your present personality,

Happy Birthday Aiden Conner!!

We love you very much,

Daddy, Mommy & Alyssa