Robot Bed

So now that Mason has arrived, he's going to be the one to need the pack-n-play at the sitter's house, as well as when we go home to viait family. I decided to get Aidan a Nap Mat, which basically a padded sleeping mat that has an attached blanket and built-in pillow.

Hopefully this will work.

 I guess we'll have to wait and see this weekend at Nani & Poppy's....

I'm crossing my fingers that he'll sleep on it this weekend without giving us a problem before I send him to the sitter's on Monday.

(yes, I finally go back to work on Monday! Looking forward to seeing all my work friends!)

So last night I had brought it upstairs after washing it and Aidan decided Mason needed to "sleep" in it. So while poor Mason is all tucked into the new Robot Bed, as we call it, Aidan just keeps bringing him things he thinks Mason needs to sleep with.

He ended up being surrounded by Mickey, Minnie, Ducky, a truck and a car.

(for some reason I can't get the picture to upload in the right orientation, even though it is saved the right way...so you may have to tilt your head to get the full cuteness effect!)

It was really sweet to watch him hook Mason up with all of his own favorite lovies for sleeping!

How long do we think this sweetness and sharing will last?

;)

"Share" is a 4 letter word in this house

We hung out with Austen today for a while and I realized that in the past few months I have failed to take my token "A Team on the couch" picture.

So I attempted, and instead I managed to get a progression of pics of Aidan stealing a car from Austen.

Oy.

In the end they each had a car and were happy, but Austen's face in the 3rd picture after Aidan steals the car is priceless!

Grandpa's Visit

This past weekend my Dad came to visit while Ry was out of town seeing a buddy from college before he ships out to Iraq.

Thank goodness, too, because Mason decided it would be a wonderful weekend to scream his face off.

Constantly.

And of course Aidan enjoyed the attention and being spoiled.

 As per his usual, Grandpa brought enough of Aidan's favorite snacks to feed an army:

Bribery

If you've been following my blog from the start you may remember my post about what a picky eater Aidan is.

That seemed to changed the week after Mason was born when Nani was able to get him to eat anything she put in front of him.

It seemed to continue on after she left and as of last week, he is pretty much eating like a normal kid!!(hopefully I'm not jinxing this....)

We have successfully been able to reason with him and use "treats" as bribes to finish his dinner.

That's right. I'm not above bribery...don't judge.

We also follow through with all "threats/bribes". You don't eat, you don't get your treat.

Tonight's treat was Watermelon (this was after he ate salad, sausage, peppers and potatoes!!)
A funny sidenote on the sausage is that it was pretty spicy but he tried it anyway. Had a slight panicked look on his face, told us it was hot...then continued scarfing it down. A few minutes later he had his napkin in his mouth wiping his tongue off!! (No doubt trying to get rid of the "hot") Yet it still didn't stop him and he just kept eating it!!

He told us he loves watermelon and scarfed it right down:

As an added treat...this is how I found him sleeping the other night:

Grillin'

Last night after dinner Aidan walked over to our cooler, opened the little flip-stop storage compartment, and announced he was going to grill me a hot dog.

So of course I had to go into the house and get him a "hamburger flipper" to complete the look.

He then told me was cooking Daddy some soup and he was even cooking Mason "anudder bottle".

He was also very concerned about our safety because he kept telling us it was "berry berry hot".

Aidan-isms of the week:

He put a sticker on my forehead and said "you look cool, Mom"

While patting my ponytail he said "nice haircup, Mom".



Birthday Party Fun!

One of the benefits of having a child with a summer birthday is being able to have an outdoor birthday party.



That is, unless it rains.

And rain it did.

I had the same game plan for the party this year as I did for Aidan's first birthday party last year. We set up 2 kiddie pools in the backyard, brought out all the kid's tables and chairs and set up a tent/canopy for some shade for the adults next to the pools. Last year it worked out great because it was about 100 degrees with 95% humidity. Perfect day for kids to go swimming.

This year? Not so much.

After Ry and his brother spent all morning getting everything set up and moved around outside, about an hour before the party was supposed to start the skies opened up.

Damn.

I had about 20 people coming, 8 of them being kids. I had no rain date/backup plan. I had no indoor activities planned for these kids, and nowhere for the adults to gather in the house because all the chairs and tables were outside. So now the hostess inside me is completely panicking. What do I do with all these guests to keep them entertained???

Well, Ry and Adam brought the canopy up to the deck and got it situated so people could sit at the table on the deck and stay dry, which was really nice, and worked out well because we were even able to do the cake outside too. As for the kids, well as they tend to do they entertained themselves just fine inside and outside too.

I made Aidan's cake this year because in checking out the construction cakes at local supermarkets I found all they were doing was putting plastic construction vehicles on a plain white sheet cake. I thought to myself: "I can do better". And voila, we had a homemade chocolate cake with an edible construction scene complete with chocolate candy rocks from my favorite candy shoppe, Fuzziwigs. I used crushed oreos and graham crackers for all the "dirt" too, which Aidan was convinced was real dirt when he started playing with the cake.

I know Aidan had a blast with all his friends and we were also glad that Uncles Amma and Donnie were able to join us for the weekend party festivites too (even if the insanity of all those kids inside our house may have been intimidating...)!!

Shiny Shoes

While putting some clothes away yesterday with Aidan underfoot (as usual), he discovered his dress shoes in the closet and insisted on wearing them.

And I thought: " so it begins..soon I'll have a kid wearing hilarious mis-matched combinations of clothes he picked out himself, or even better a super hero costume to the grocery store"...right Michele?

I chuckled and agreed to let him wear them but told him he had to pick out some socks too.

He didn't want the Buzz lightyear Socks.

He didn't want white socks.

He didn't want blue dress socks with cars on them.

He wanted red and white striped Santa Mickey socks.

Ok, you're the boss, kiddo.

We also had our first lost toy heartbreak yesterday after a trip to the pediatrician for Mason's well visit.

He's allowed to take one toy wth him when we leave the house (and that started about a year ago because it's easier for me to keep track of only one extra thing while we're out and about).

Well, he chose one of the new matchbox cars that grandpa got him, which he got along with 2 others. He's been playing with them as a trio all weekend long. They belong together. All three of them are apparently like a little unseparable team.

So he has it in the waiting area. Then we run into a friend from work who is there with her daughter. I'm trying to keep tabs on Aidan who is playing with some toys with other kids (you know, making sure there is sharing and no hitting, etc.), and trying to keep an eye on the stroller with Mason in it all while I chat.

We get back to the exam room and we no longer have the car. The nurse offers to go back out and look for it, but alas she comes back empty-handed.

Now I feel bad. Real bad. This was a gift that my dad had JUST given him. Argh. How careless of me!

So anyway we get home, and I just hope that he just doesn't notice that it's missing.

Yeah.

Right.

Well he sees the other 2 cars from the trio on the table and asks where his other one is. I told him we lost it at the Dr's office, and he starts crying and sobbing " I want my truck Mom, you go find it. Go find it, Mom!"

Now I've gone from feeling real bad to feeling like the worst mom in the world. I'm on the verge of tears when I call my dad to tell him what happened and he gets Aidan to stop crying long enough on the phone to tell him that he's going to go get him a new one and send it in the mail ASAP.

Grandpa to the rescue!

I should also mention that in addition to the one replacement car, Grandpa got duplicates of the other 2 cars in the trio "just in case"...plus a bunch more. Now we have about 9 more cars coming to the house. I think Grandpa went a little overboard, huh? ;)

Aidan turns TWO!

Aidan's Second Birthday was July 28th.

Whoa. Where have the last 2 years gone? Two? My baby turned two?!?

How could this happen? ;) I can obviously still remember the day he was born like it was yesterday, and all the nerves and excitement the day had to offer! Aidan was a scheduled C-Section just like Mason, so I don't have a funny or entertaining birth story to share, just that everything went exactly as it should and 2 years later I am looking at my healthy, chatty, intelligent toddler.

In honor of little man's big day we headed over to Jess's for a birthday playdate with Austen.

The boys had a blast as usual, and Jess even had an ice cream cake for Aidan! I will say that I was completely shocked when Jess lit 2 candles and Aidan told me had to blow them out, then proceeded to lean in toward the cake and actually blow the candles out!! I have NO idea where he learned how to do that!

He was even more spoiled on his big day when we let him have soda with his dinner and presented him with his second birthday cake of the day!

Oh, and let's not forget the presents!!

We got him a remote controlled Lightning McQueen car, some sandbox construction vehicles, and a ZhuZhu pet to join the one he got for Christmas.

.....and that wasjust from us.
He got some cool Matchbox jets/planes from Wells and Maddox, and of course
Grandpa and Uncle Larry brought some gifts with them too when they visited this weekend. (And in Grandpa's case that means he bought out Toys R Us....)

I dread seeing the state of my living room once we've had his party this coming weekend, and he adds to his toybox....

This year I also decided to take his 2 year pictures myself instead of dragging him to Portrait Innovations where they use all those cheesy backdrops and props.