A Blessed Christmas

I'm hoping you had just the Christmas you were hoping for....we were blessed with that this year! Of course, it wasn't difficult to beat last year so maybe that's why this year seemed so cheery. I admit that I am guilty of sometimes posting about the glory days and not discussing the less than glamorous times, which I'm pretty sure is exactly what I did last Christmas. I mean, it was Aiden's first Christmas....was I really supposed to write about how bad it was? It's still a pretty terrible memory so yeah, I probably should have, instead of trying to dig up whatever fluff I ended up writing. Short summary - last year Aiden got a black eye shortly after we arrived in KS, he was SO sick the entire time we were up there, our family was having "growing pains" of figuring out how to do Christmas since everyone is grown up and married now, and we drove back on Christmas Day and spent part of it stuck in an ice storm in Oklahoma. (A drive that's normally 1 1/2 hours took over 4....and Aiden was not happy for a large portion of that.....)

So, last year set the bar pretty low, and unfortunately this year's trip up to KS started off right where we ended last year. Our old friend the ice storm came back to visit. We were stopping at every rest stop, banging ice off the wipers (after having to buy new wipers at a gas station), just so that we could get visibility while driving. The quiet, peaceful conditions meant good sleeping for Aiden....(or not)....so he unhappily hung out in a whiny awake state in the back seat. A little after midnight we decided to stop for the night because we had at least another 4 hours to go, and while Ryan and I could recover from 4am night, no way, no how could Aiden recover from that, for at least a week. So the Super 8 in Blackwell, OK it was. Yuck. I'm not even going to tell that story because it takes too long and is too icky. But Aiden slept so the overall goal was achieved. 

We were back on the road by 6am and that's where the bummer Christmas story ends. Really and truly. No sarcasm. The rest of the trip was pretty perfect. Lots of family, friends, fun, relaxing, laughter, and an overall healthy (like no sickness, not healthy eating), happy time. We've had a rough go in our house the last six or so months, and Christmas was just what we (or at least I) needed. Praise God for the blessings of Christmas this year and for the most important blessing, that began Christmas thousands of year ago. 

Aiden's new "toy"....a pen he named 'tickle'.

Aiden really perfected the art of saying 'cheese!'

Aiden went out in the snow 3 days in a row. Loved it on day number one, fell on his face on day number two and quit being a fan....tolerated it on day number three. This is day two...I could also mention it was about 10 degrees and windy that day. Weather that chilly often ruins some of the fun (in my warm blooded opinion....)

One thing that remained consistent, despite how he felt about playing in the snow. He loved eating it. (I know, I know, it's surprising that my kid likes to eat something....it's not like he tried to eat his slinky from his stocking or anything...)

Merriest Christmas Wishes!

Meeting Mr. Claus

Our first encounter with Santa was.....not quite what I expected. Maybe it was the abruptness of it all. Perhaps watching me walk away while leaving him on a stranger's lap. If only Santa had given him his candy cane pre-picture time instead of post. Whatever it was, Aiden's reaction to Kris Kringle could be considered a bit tragic...and also kind of comical.

We actually thought it would be more of a role reversal, with Miss Lylah being upset about the Santa situation, but she held it together fairly well. Not sure that we got a smile from either kid, but at least there was only one, short-lived breakdown.

Don't worry though, there were plenty of other activities that resulted in smiles from the munchkins. All in all, I think they enjoyed their afternoon. Hope your last few days of the Christmas season bring you plenty of smiles!

Mmm, chocolate

I'm not sure why I still give this kid sweets. Ever since Halloween, candy is the one thing Aiden voluntarily requests. His sweet little voice will say "can-ny, can-ny?" But that's just the thing, he's so sweet about requesting the sweets, how could I not cave in every now and again?

Do we have to disrobe to eat messy sweets like chocolate? I mean, it makes clean up easier so, yeah. Look at how happy that kid is about the deliciousness all over his face. (yes, that is chocolate on his eyebrow....)

One fun milestone we hit yesterday that I wanted to make sure to jot down....Aiden started putting two words together. His first "sentence", if you can call it that. Are you on the edge of your seat, wondering what he said? Alright, I'll tell you: "More please." (requesting more food) The theme of this post - our kid likes to eat!

O, Christmas Tree!

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? I hope so! We enjoyed an entirely too quick trip up to NY to see family. It was fun, enjoyable and relaxing. Only one small unfortunate occurrence.....and that was Aiden came down with RSV. I think he actually picked it up from daycare before he left, and it just became apparent when we were a few thousand miles from home. The poor kid cannot catch a break these days. He was supposed to have tubes put in and his adenoids taken out today, but the RSV set us back a month on that. From what I hear of other cases of RSV, Aiden's is a pretty mild case so we'll be grateful for the small victories at this point.

We put up our tree Monday evening. Aiden stayed home with daddy on Tuesday (mommy on Monday). I think he got a little stir crazy from being in the house for a few days. When I left for work Tuesday morning, this is what the tree looked like:

When I came home Tuesday evening, it looked like this:

Pretty sure our little culprit who caused the gate (you can see him sizing up the tree in the first photo) enjoyed the tree a little more than Ryan that day. I'm just glad to see Aiden has some Christmas spirit....makes his momma proud!

Weekend Recap

Main highlights of the weekends: Christmas started going up around the Schweizer house (we usually wait until after Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving is waaaay too late this year and we needed to get in a little more Christmas than the calendar allowed), Aiden got a hair cut at a big boy salon (aka a regular, grown up hair salon without the video and toy distractions that can be helpful when you are trying to trim a 19 month old's hair. iPhone came to the rescue though....), it got COLD here but I still wanted Aiden to play outside for a bit so I bundled him up and we went out (poor Texas baby has no idea how to move in mittens and a down jacket), and we discovered that Aiden's head is too big for all of his hats....and big enough to fit into an adult head warmer.

See photo recap below.

Pre and post haircut (I could also say, struggling to see and grateful to have a clear line of sight):

 


Trying to figure out his winter gear (please take special note of the grunts when picking up the rocks):

Sportin' the adult head warmer on his oversized noggin:

Some Words Are Hard

Aiden has a daily expanding vocabulary. I am continually surprised by his new words, but every now and again he finds a word that gets the best of him. Most notably, these words are almost anything that starts with 'r', pumpkin ("punky") and grandpa ("peacock".....yeah, you read that right). I only take slight enjoyment in repeatedly asking my child to say these words time and time again. :) Before you judge my video quality, keep in mind - little man is not always (read hardly ever) easy to capture on video, especially when you're asking him to do something specific.

Happy Halloween!

I made Aiden a Bamm Bamm costume, but my craftiness does not make the highest quality so I sent Aiden to daycare in his Batman shirt today, knowing the costume would not hold up all day. Aunt Brooke put a cape on his Batman shirt, and I knew her handiness could withstand an entire day. The Bamm Bamm costume had already survived 2 work parties, plus he wore if for awhile tonight while hanging out with his buddy Lucas and "helping" pass out candy. (by helping I mean that he stared at everyone who came to the door)

His gal Lylah was Pebbles so we will have to photoshop a picture of the kiddos together so it can pretty much be like their couples costume worked out.

Happy Halloween everyone!

It's really hard to take pictures of an 18 month old....

At home we went with the shirtless option...(I like it best!)

...but for the work gathering, we added a shirt in.

Did I mention it's really hard to get a good pic of an 18 month old?

For Better, For Worse

I think today is along the 'for worse' line of our vows. I mean, I'm not trying to be over dramatic....there are definitely people in much worse situations so I am grateful that our 'for worse' is what it is. But our 7th anniversary will definitely not go down in the books on the 'better' side.

Things started off well late last week when Ryan gave me my gift. We had a weekend wedding and cowboy boots were suggested attire. I had just been telling Ryan how cowboys boots had grown on me in the 7 years we've lived in Texas, and wouldn't you know it, that charmer dragged a couple of work guys boot shopping and picked out these bad boys:

Such a wonderful surprise! I love them, and I wore them every day this weekend. I will try to not wear them out, but I'm a huge fan.

Don't ask about what I got Ryan because I don't want to discuss the awesome unsigned card still sitting in the other room.....Wife of the year award right here.

So, now to get to the 'for worse' part. We took Aiden to the doc on Saturday....and it appears Ryan and I both picked up a stomach bug while there. Ick. Ryan really got the worst of it. I think this is the most sick I've seen him in 7 years. To celebrate, he stayed home from work feeling miserable.

I celebrated in an equally as fun way - by getting in a wreck with a semi on the way home. I was trying to make it home just a few minutes early to check on my sick hubby and instead I ended up hanging out in the chilly weather for an hour and a half taking care of the wreck. Everyone was fine and things could have been much worse....but you know...it's the hassle and frustration - of that moment and plenty of moments ahead I'm sure.

Things did end on a cute note though....with Aiden's first attempt at 'Schweizer.' It's hard to stay fixated on the 'for worse' when you have this reminder of the 'for better.'

Happy 7 years Ryan! I'll take you on the best of days and the worst of days. You are an incredible blessing to me.

Sleep Insanity

There are some things that books, people, webpages, (wherever you like to get your info) try to "tame" down. Sleep regression is one of them. I remember Aiden's previous sleep regressions when he was an infant. That was a fair enough name. His schedule shifted a little and it took a few days to adjust. Now that he must be officially classified as a toddler, I'm pretty sure he must also leave behind the word "regression." In our house, we will replace it with the word "insanity." Sleep insanity.

This is what we went through both Friday and Saturday night. Aiden was WIDE awake from 9:30pm to 1:30am on Friday. If we'd had the slightest clue what we happening we would have just let the kid run wild. That's basically how the night ended anyway....with poor Ryan laying on the the floor in Aiden's room while Aiden rearranged all of his stuffed animals, attempted to get piggy back rides from daddy and did laps around his room. 

Saturday wasn't much better. The awakeness was also accompanied by continual very sad cries for someone to join in Aiden's insane little world. We tried to tough it out for a little longer on Saturday, but these cries were literally non-stop and horrible to hear. At one point Aiden finally sat down to cry (he generally stood in the corner of his crib, waiting for his rescuer). He was so tired from this craziness that he fell asleep sitting up. Hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.

We read that sleep regression insanity generally happens when a child is learning a new skill. Aiden's new skill appears to be his language development. He woke up Saturday morning saying words I'd never heard before - "sharkie," "picture" and "dog". (Up until now, it's been "gog"....No idea why because he says d's just fine in other words.....but Saturday morning it was gog no more!) He was enunciating, and I could understand a lot more of what he was trying to say. It really is insanity....not only the entire sleep situation but the fact that things literally change over night. These are crazy times.....

Since I didn't take any pics at 1am, here are a few from our weekend.

All the animals Aiden decided to play with Friday night.
Did I mention he's never played with these?

Aiden had a very busy Saturday...so busy we thought it
would exhaust him. Crazy us, what were we thinking?

Aiden's first motorcycle ride taught us one important
thing...we are pretty sure he has motion sickness. I think
he was trying to give me the warning look here...

First ride in the "cool" grocery cart during
Sunday's run to the store...

Family Bike Ride

We found a family friendly bike ride and decided to check it out on Saturday morning. Not only could we all get out and do one of our favorite activities, but it was for a great cause (Make A Wish) so we went for it. A few things:

One, there were only three route options - 12 miles, 42 miles, and 60 miles. Um, I haven't ridden my bike more than 12 miles since I've had Aiden. Ryan, the always athletic type, wanted the entire family to ride 42 miles.

Two, Hah. That's what I said about riding 42 miles. Both for my sake, and because Aiden hasn't ridden in the carrier for much more than an hour. The 42 mile option would mean about 3 hours at my pace. Pretty sure we would have no happy campers at the end of that ride.

Three, by family bike ride I mean we all showed up together. Aiden and I did the 12 mile route, and Ryan did the 42 52 mile route. What's that? I didn't mention there was a 52 mile option? There wasn't. The entire ride was poorly marked and Ryan added an extra 10 miles because he missed a turn. (And I'm even happier Aiden and I stuck with the wimpy 12 miles.....Ryan wasn't even a happy camper by the time he pulled in. At least Aiden or I...maybe both of us...would have been crying if we'd ridden 52 miles.)

It was a good time overall. I wasn't sure how little man would do but he was great. The weather took a turn for the nasty so the time (read 2 hours) we spent waiting at the finish line for Ryan was very chilly and misty and uncomfortable but we survived....and in good spirits. I think we'll do it again sometime.

Ready to roll out!

Aiden was a little confused about where he was riding....

I love my bike, but I wouldn't be opposed to someone towing me every now and again.

Baby Be Gone

The title. Not the kid. Don't worry, we still have our baby Aiden. But, per the state, Aiden will no longer be able to claim the title of 'baby' in the AM...he will officially be a toddler. Isn't that crazy? I'm pretty sure it's crazy. I can't believe it's been 18 months since this sweet, sweet boy became a part of our world. There has not been a day of his existence that I haven't smiled. He brings us so much joy, even when he's being crazy, destructive, take the house from spotless to disaster in zero to sixty. Even though he's making a mess, it's funny to watch his mannerisms when he does it.

I'm not much of a sap about his official toddler status because I feel like the change actually happened about two months ago. A few days before he turned 16 months, if you want to get specific. One day in the car on the way home from daycare, I looked at my little man in the rear view mirror and knew he was different, more grown up. He didn't act like a baby anymore, he was saying actual words, he understood things we were telling him. It was enough of a switch that I may have shed a few tears that night when I put him to sleep.

I've decided that parenting is the very definition of bittersweet. It is so fun and sweet to watch them grow up....so far every stage has been more fun than the last. But, it's sad for it to be the end of a stage because you never get to go back there and the stage you just left had things you loved about it too. It's also bitter because you know they are just working their way toward being a big person with every new stage, and I don't even want to think about the things that happen when big person happens (girlfriends, college, moving out). That's just a scary place to me right now so I'm going to end this post. Luckily, I get to keep him as a little person for awhile longer.....and enjoy him doing things like chilling in the lounge chair and cuddling in my lap.

Visitors!

September brought lots of visitors, both family and friends. Mr. A loves anyone who loves on him so I'd say we were a happy bunch overall.

Early in the month my family came to Dallas a few days. It was kinda like family vacation gone crazy from a planning perspective so instead of venturing out to the great unknown, everyone else came to us (no complaints about not having to travel!) and had a Dallas vacation so we had a bit of a staycation. During our Dallas time we went down to the Perot Museum, which I've been to once before....and loved. The place is awesome. When Aiden gets a little older and can appreciate it more, I think we'll become members. Still, I'm pretty sure his 17 month old self is already a fan. There's tons of room for him to run, lots of things to touch, and even a children's play area. Did I mention that it's awesome?!?

His absolute very most favorite display was seeing the different states of water. He loved feeling the big ice block, splashing in the melted down water, and trying to catch the vapors. He may have also attempted to drink from the display....

I forgot to mention that Mal, Elijah and I also performed an experiment while we were there (so fun!) to determine what cleaners actually clean. Let's just say that we were relieved to find out dish soap and hand soap seem to be doing their parts, but I might as well throw away the hand sanitizer that I use, um, all the time. Seriously, after the results we got, I'm not actually sure why I continue to use it.....

Did you think this post was done because I've already posted 12 pictures? That's silly. I have so much more. (Side note, I've got to get back to shorter, more frequent posts. I think all of our schedules benefit.)

Aiden's gal pal Miss Lylah brought her family in town last weekend. I don't intend to pressure their future together....all I'm going to say is that we already have some pretty good slideshow material. Aiden doesn't say many names (Mama, Daddy, Mimi, Dado...maybe a Mal)....but he does say Lylah. And in this cute, sweet little voice. Aiden needs to work on his boundaries so he spent some time crowding Lylah's space, but she was very generous and didn't get upset with our little 'I-want-to-be-wherever-you-are' guy.

We went to the Plano Balloon Festival, spent some time relaxing at the house and park, and went out for Thai food. What's that? You were wondering if Aiden likes Thai? You shouldn't ask such funny questions.