Snow place like home

Isaac’s Quote of the Day

2012-02-08T17:54:00.001-08:00

(Patron asks to have strawberry mixed into his pina colada)

P: “Excuse me, I can’t drink this.”

I: “I’m sorry. What seems to be the problem?”

P: “It’s pink!”

…strange what happens when you mix strawberry into a basically white drink…

English Humor

2012-02-06T18:23:00.001-08:00

A restaurant in Newark reopened under a new name a year or two ago, and they had a sign out front for MONTHS after opening. It read:

WE SERVE CREPE’S.

That always bugged me. After several months, they moved the apostrophe so the sign read, “WE SERVE CREPE S!” I guess that’s better.

Seeing the following comic made me think of that sign.

Isaac’s Quote of the Day

2012-02-01T22:37:00.001-08:00

“Excuse me, waiter, why is there beef on my child’s hamburger?”

Cuties for my Cutie

2012-01-24T16:59:00.001-08:00

Aiden has a new love of peeling his California cuties all by himself… Mr. Independent!

You have to love these little winter beauties!

A Little Different

2012-01-20T17:23:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I went with something a little different than I had planned for the bathroom, but I like it.

Thanks to information and suggestions from Brooke and Sarah, we painted the cabinet and got some fun knobs. Thanks to my mom for color ideas and support in the paint aisle, where I felt like a fish out of water. Thanks to both my parents for helping me put the cabinet back up on the wall when we did not know what we were doing.

Here’s the new look:

Linguistically Gifted He is Not

2012-01-17T17:50:00.001-08:00

I expected to understand a nearly two year old better, but we do okay even though I don’t know what he’s saying a lot of the time. Here are some of his recent attempts to communicate…

It’s just a few of us who understand him at all, isn’t it? (sigh)

His Father’s Lashes

2012-01-11T21:37:00.001-08:00

This boy definitely has his daddy’s eyelashes.

It’s a good thing he’s so cute. Today I warned, “Don’t run away!” and he echoed “Run away!” and took off across the room.

Lucky he has those long lashes…

Layers

2012-01-02T15:48:00.001-08:00

It must be cold.

When choosing clothes for the day this morning, Aiden picked out a Hawaiian outfit someone just gifted us.

Later, he asked me to help him put on another shirt and two sweaters. It was hilarious.

It only lasted about fifteen minutes before he was asking for help taking the extra layers off, but he sure got me laughing.

Disclaimer: Sophie looks scary in this photo, but I promise she was just licking her lips, wishing Aiden would drop his cookie for her.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T15:42:00.000-08:00

We celebrated New Years with risotto and Ticket to Ride. My parents and sister all tied, lol.

Here’s how I know it’s going to be a good year though: I beat Isaac. All things are possible!!!

Only by a few points, but it still counts. (He usually whoops me.)

Bring on 2012!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-26T15:33:00.001-08:00

from our family to yours!

21 Months Old!

2011-12-16T16:43:00.001-08:00

I am constantly surprised by how old Aiden is getting. At 21 months old, he keeps us very busy. He is sometimes an incredible helper, and sometimes…

Well, he’s broken four Christmas ornaments so far this year. They are all reparable, but still… thank goodness for super glue!

He uses things in unconventional ways…

He loves to be silly. He is happiest when he has a room full of people paying attention to him as he runs around, dances in circles, laughs in a strange way, etc.

He is very active. Whether he is running or walking, crawling or climbing, throwing or rolling or jumping… he’s on the move. This makes it a challenge to sit through church, and I am so grateful to our patient Nursery workers for being so sweet to our crazy little boy amidst all the little girls in there.

Aiden has a new favorite song. Sometimes he will smile at me and say “Toes!” Then as I sing “Head, shoulders, knees and toes,” he mostly just grabs his toes and tries to sing along (ah eh toes! ah eyes! etc.), ending with NOSE! It’s pretty hilarious to me.

Seeking Creative Solutions

2011-12-11T22:49:00.001-08:00

Dear Blogosphere,

Our bathroom is nearly complete. We have to do a little painting, put the baseboards back up, and remount the medicine cabinet.

Sadly, our medicine cabinet, which has never matched the bathroom, still doesn’t match the bathroom. I like it, but it’s a completely different color from our other cabinetry (notice it on the floor on the left below).

So, here’s my question for you: Is there a way to paint or stain or otherwise make this cabinet match better? Or should I not care?

Comments welcomed.

One More Day Touring the Bay

2011-11-29T21:12:00.001-08:00

We went over four bridges on the bay this week. This, of course, was our trip over the Golden Gate.

We hiked around Muir Woods to see the redwoods and enjoy some of God’s beautiful creations.

I’m not sure why, but Aiden loved this exhibit. I loved that there was a little Asian boy reading the plaques (dates representing when the rings of this old tree grew, labeled with events like the Revolutionary War) and asking his dad, “So this tree watched the Americans fight the British? Dad, really?” I didn’t hear his dad’s answer, but I was impressed the tiny boy had a general idea of the Revolutionary War even though he didn’t seem to see that a CA tree would not see that particular war...

After Aiden landed on his knees in the mud, he walked around like this, saying “Ick!” Even after we wiped off his hands, he was worried about his pants and walked for awhile without bending his knees so the pants wouldn’t touch his skin, and he kept staring at the mud spots. It was so funny; maybe he has a little of me after all!

The temple lighting was Saturday night, and we went to see it after the initial rush. It was beautiful, as always. I love to look at the lights and the beautiful temple and the nativity and feel how much our Heavenly Father loves His children to bless us with so much.

The perfect ending to a great week: Fenton’s ice cream. Have you seen the Disney movie, Up? We were tempted to sit on the curb with ice cream cones, but it was FREEZING outside. We certainly enjoyed our ice cream inside though.

Spending Black Friday Outside

2011-11-29T20:37:00.001-08:00

We spent the morning in Santa Cruz, at the beach and driving along the coast, past the lighthouse with the surf museum. We ate lunch at Flames, and the BYU students joined our ward’s youth at the temple that night.

Aiden was dying to take off his shoes and socks and walk the beach… until the water actually washed up over his toes. Then he wanted UP, UP, UP!

This otter swam so close to the pier we were on! It was awesome.

I was a little bummed to see that the mall was CRAZY. There was no parking anywhere remotely close, and there were more parking attendants and police here than at MLB games. Well, close, you know. I don’t feel like I missed out though.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T20:21:00.001-08:00

We had SO MUCH delicious food for Thanksgiving, and it was SO FUN to see a bunch of friends and family! I’m so grateful to everyone, especially my mom, who put together such a delicious meal.

Aiden warmed up to everyone pretty quickly. I’m thankful to have a little boy who will hang out with other people and isn’t afraid of people he doesn’t see every day.

Our visitors from BYU… I’m so thankful they could visit!

Naturally, Aiden would do anything but slow down for a picture. I’m grateful for him anyway. He brings lots of joy to our family.

Some of us went to see a movie that night while others stayed in to watch a movie while Aiden napped. I am grateful Isaac let me go out for a fun outing without my boys—it’s nice to have some girl time sometimes.

A Day in the City

2011-11-29T19:43:00.001-08:00

We were so excited to have our sisters Mandy & Sarah come out for a Thanksgiving visit! They brought Mandy’s boyfriend Bryant and Sarah’s friend Emily and took turns driving Mandy’s car for the long drive. The first day they were here, we went to San Francisco and saw the coastline, Golden Gate Park, Fisherman’s Wharf, and Ghirardelli Square, among other things.

Almost Done!

2011-11-19T12:48:00.001-08:00

Hooray! We get to use our new shower once the sealant has set!

Happy 11-11-11!

2011-11-12T20:20:00.001-08:00

As usual, I was pleased to have my birthday off for Veterans’ Day. It was amazing.

First, someone came to start working on our bathroom! We are hoping to have the bathroom fixed up before Thanksgiving.

Step 1: Tear out old, cracked shower. It is a fiberglass one-piece and original to the condo, so it took some cutting to remove and fit out through the door. Many thanks to the talented man who took it out and away for us. See the disgusting drywall? Yeah, that’s going to be coming out next.

Then, we went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with my parents and brother. This is just one beautiful thing I ate today.

After lunch, we watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the final movie, which Mom & Dad got me for my birthday.

Then Aiden and I took a nap, and Isaac got some things prepared for our 11-11 party. We had 11 adult friends and family members (plus 5 kids), and we ate 11 types of appetizers and desserts.

My gift from Patrick… XI

Isaac and I stayed up until 11:11 to make a wish and see that I officially turned 27. We also watched the episode of the Twilight Zone that aired on November 11, 1960—In the Eye of the Beholder/Private World of Darkness.” It’s crazy, lol, but I love it.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday as much as we did. Thanks to everyone who made it such a wonderful day!

Aiden as his favorite animal

2011-11-02T22:32:00.001-07:00

Aiden was more into Halloween this year. He can’t say “Trick or Treat,” but I did start him off signing please and thank you… that lasted about three cars at our Trunk-or-Treat, and then he was wandering around looking amazed half the time and reaching for candy the other half the time. Stinker.

Aiden liked having people put things in his pumpkin… too bad Mommy and Daddy are eating it…

Running

2011-10-29T18:39:00.001-07:00

This morning Isaac and I participated in the Marsh Madness 10K in Palo Alto with two other couples from our ward. I came in in the five-minute range I’d hoped, slow though it was. Jon, Danielle, and Isaac all finished in under an hour! They are my heroes.

I learned three things:

1. I am not more motivated by a race than I am just running on my own. I had to keep myself from stopping to pet the doggies we passed.

2. Some marshland is SUPER stinky. I’m glad there was only a mile stretch or so that smelled so nasty.

3. Free hamburgers taste even more delicious than normal after running six miles.

The superstars! (and me)

What a difference a year makes

2011-10-24T22:19:00.001-07:00

Pumpkin hunting with our nineteen month old… In typical Aiden fashion, he did a lot of standing and staring at everything until we encouraged him to hold our hands and walk around to look at the pumpkins.

I can hardly believe how much he looks like a little boy now, and at this time last year, he was still such a baby!

Once he found a pumpkin that was small enough for him to carry around, he would hardly put it down. He is calling it a ball, but at least he likes it, right?

Our big toddler loves to play, run around, babble, and tackle people or the dog. He is loving being the only boy in Nursery with ten or so little girls. He is talking a little more and has said a few sentences like '”Where’s the book?” He is good with routines but has a hard time breaking them. I am not, for instance, allowed to forget any part of his bedtime routine or he cries “teeth” or “book” or whatever I have neglected to do. He’s getting into everything and trying to make his own decisions, but someday I will admire that independence, right?

18 Months Old & Newark Days

2011-09-17T14:56:00.001-07:00

Aiden is eighteen months old! We found out at his well-baby check-up that he is about 31 inches tall and 20 lbs. 10 oz., which according to this pediatric chart, puts him in the 20th percentile for height and off the chart tiny for weight. The doctor switched us to a worldwide chart the last time we were in because it maps small kids better since kids worldwide are less chunky than Americans, and he is around the 10th percentile worldwide. He had a pre-screening for autism and does not seem to exhibit any indicators. He checked out healthy and had three shots—two in his arms, which he has never had before. It was SO sad.

with Grandma Snow and Aunt Sarah when they visited last month

Aiden is trying to be a big helper lately… sometimes it is not so helpful, but he tries. He says “way!” when he finds something he thinks belongs in the trash and tries to throw it out. We have our trash cans locked up or out of reach so he can’t throw everything away. When it’s time to go somewhere, he makes sure everyone has “szewz,” keys, and his diaper bag.

He is very playful and loves to dance and be chased.

This weekend is the 56th annual Newark Days celebration of our city. Isaac ran in the “Newark Mile” fun run today… it’s a deceiving name because it’s actually 2.5 miles.

He was one of about four people from our ward who ran this year along with dozens of other residents, and I thought he did a great job. He was just happy he survived. We considered running as a family with the jogging stroller, but Aiden got a cold this week and gave me a mean sore throat and runny nose, so I opted not to make my painful breathing any heavier than it had to be. Plus, I would have taken at least 8 minutes more than Isaac, ha.

After the race, we stayed for the annual parade. Aiden liked pointing out doggies (Ees!) and horses (ors!), and he enjoyed watching the floats and trucks and bands go by. One group threw out fortune cookies, and he enjoyed eating the fortune cookie while he watched the following floats.

Isaac, meanwhile, had to snap a picture of the float for our attendance area elementary school, Snow. He likes that they are the Snow School Blizzard Bears.

We had to leave a little early so Isaac could do a service project painting the home of an elderly couple in our ward before going to work all the rest of the day, but it was a great morning spent as a family.

Labeling

2011-09-05T14:19:00.001-07:00

Aiden has been getting better and better at understanding what we are talking about. It amazes me sometimes when he reacts to something I’ve said without thinking he knew what I meant. He has been memorizing body parts, but when I sit him down in front of the camera, he would generally rather play with toys, touch the camera, or do anything but what I want. You can tell I had to splice together several videos, and he always pays attention better at the beginning, ha.

He is getting so grown up!

2011-09-05T13:18:00.001-07:00

but he still loves Sandra Boynton

He sure loves animals

Grand Bahama Island

2011-08-29T00:11:00.001-07:00

What a great end to the summer! We thoroughly enjoyed our family trip the the Bahamas, and we feel very lucky that Hurricane Irene didn’t come through until a few days after we left.

We had a LONG trip out with a 4.5 hour flight to North Carolina, a 6 hour layover, and then a <2 hour hop over to the island.

Aiden felt left out without a hot chocolate cup of his own, so we got an extra cup and filled it with water. He was thrilled.

We had a great little balcony facing the channel. The island is full of channels that were originally used to transport lumber.

We got a lot of ice cream. It was humid, which Isaac adjusted to much more quickly than I did. The moderate California weather has completely spoiled me.

The public beach was never crowded. We never saw more than a dozen people at any beach, actually… maybe because a giant hurricane was working its way toward us?

Aiden was a great traveller. He was good on most of our flights, he was happy to be pushed around in his stroller, and we stayed close enough to the beach that we easily got back for his afternoon nap every day, so he was peaceable for all our outings.

I remember reading about a conch shell in Lord of the Flies, but not only did I not know how to say it, I had never had it. I was missing out—it’s good.

Aiden loved our balcony.

We went snorkeling over a coral reef, which was AWESOME.

This is the Ghost Ship from Pirates of the Caribbean. It was docked maybe a third of a mile from our hotel.

We took an island tour that included a walk through Garden of the Groves, which was beautiful.

I was really bad about making sure I was in some pictures. Here’s one of the few to prove I was actually there, lol.

We had a lot of fun, and it was a very relaxing way to end the summer before another crazy school year starts up. Hope everyone had a beautiful summer as well!

One To Start

2011-08-24T01:06:00.001-07:00

17 Months Old and the Toddler Dilemma

2011-08-13T22:21:00.001-07:00

Aiden is 17 months old now! He is just starting to make more of an effort to communicate, which makes us all very happy. He is trying to say “please,” which he also signs fairly regularly now. He is still trying to say “flower” and mostly says “ball,” but I hear him make attempts at words more often, and even though they don’t sound clear, I can tell he is trying more.

He is fascinated with trying to figure out how things work. He loves to play with buckles, attempt to put on his own shoes, put his sippy cups in drink holders, and try things over and over to see how they function.

He is finally getting a little taller, but he is still so skinny, we are having quite a time with his pants. He wears a lot of 9 month pants still, but they are getting short (seen below, accentuated by elastic), but he has many 12 mo. pants that fall right down because he’s so thin. We are glad that it is summer and he mostly wears shorts anyway.

Not a great picture, but this is the cheeser smile he’s been giving me lately…

Now for the toddler dilemma… Aiden has reached the stage where he wants to be Mr. Independent. He’s so cute, and I want him to learn to do things like feed himself on his own, but oh my, what a mess he makes…

Okay, I love how he opens his mouth huge for every bite.

He was coloring nicely and didn’t want my help, and before I knew it, he colored the grout. This is AFTER I scrubbed it. Ideas for cleaning red crayon out of grout?

He’s such a cute little stinker though. He has his four front teeth on top and three front teeth on the bottom but gained a bottom molar.

Anyway, I can’t believe he goes into Nursery next month, leaving me to actually listen to my classes at church sometimes… maybe.

Here’s a video of him eating… it’s clear what a funny kid he can be.

On The Lake

2011-08-10T22:03:00.001-07:00

Aiden was having fun by the end, but the first hour he wasn’t too sure about the boat… or the life vest, which we took it off for awhile, and he was much happier.

We took turns tubing…

Dad, Mom, Mandy and Isaac took turns driving the boat.

It was a great day on the water… but a word to the parents out there: Do not focus your sunscreen efforts only on your family and neglect yourself… you may end up roasted.

Vacationing in Tahoe

2011-08-06T23:02:00.001-07:00

We took a trip up to Tahoe for almost a week, and we enjoyed some family time at the cabin, at the beach, and on the lake.

Don’t mind the picture dump… or the fact that nothing is edited. Cursed computer problems.

Sticks make great toys. Did you know the stick has been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame? Amazing.

Nice try, sweetheart…

He loved the hole Grandpa dug for him.

At Virginia City, one-time capital of Nevada…

At Mormon Station, Genoa, NV… Aiden was elated to run around the park.

Mom & Dad rented a boat on the lake for a few hours, which was a blast. Aiden didn’t like to be wet, so he snuggled me for a long time at the beginning while he adjusted, but he ended up having fun. We rode around the lake and went tubing. More to come on this…

Oakland Zoo

2011-08-06T22:19:00.001-07:00

Summer School ended on July 20, so the very next day, we took a trip to the zoo. Aiden enjoyed it more this time than the last few times we went.

He kept the hat on for most of the outing! The glasses… not so much

He has been super excited about locating cup holders and placing his sippies in them recently.

We tried the carousel… he went from almost smiling before it started to clutching me for dear life by the time it stopped.

All in all, it was a nice walk and fun to see the animals. Remind me not to try to take him to a restaurant afterwards next time; that was a whole different excitement.

Aiden likes the zebras… but he loves to point out balls even more

A Voice Only a Mother Could Love?

2011-07-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

lol, Aiden was loving singing karaoke with Daddy and Aunt Mandy the other day.

The kid LOVES to sing!

16 months old!

2011-07-15T01:40:00.001-07:00

Aiden may finally be 20 pounds. Isaac still weighs him in at 19, but he sure seems heavy to me now!

He babbles some great sentences now; I wish I knew what he was saying. He says “banana” sometimes, and he has said balloon and a few other things once or twice, but nothing new that’s consistent. His favorites are definitely “Mom,” “ball,” and “doggie.”

He has been enormously cranky lately off and on; I have my fingers and toes all crossed that it is a new tooth or something that will pass quickly. When he is not crying, he is quite a lot of fun.

He likes to brush his teeth and hair, and he likes to hand our shoes to us when it’s time to leave. He is adamant about feeding himself a lot now, which makes meals messier, but it’s fun to see him practice. He sits better for books now than he has in the past, which makes me so excited, I might have picked up a few books lately… I’ll save that for another post. Suffice it to say that he especially likes big books and finding the ball in every book possible. For example, in his counting book, he finds the ball, points and says “ball.” In his doggie book, he flips to the page with the ball to point it out… and sometimes he finds something round that isn’t really a ball, but he lets us know what it looks like!

He is showing himself to be very compassionate lately. He looks very upset when he hears other kids crying. The other day, he walked over to a crying 3 year old, dropped the ball he was playing with, put his hand gently on the boy’s shoulder, smiled, and said “Hi!” in as bright a voice as ever. He stroked the boy’s hair and stayed there until he stopped crying. It was pretty adorable.

He is definitely keeping us on our toes, climbing and running and staining everything… I can’t even count how many stains I have treated in the last month; it feels like nearly every day there’s at least one item. I have to say, I’m getting pretty good at it.

In spite of the challenges, sixteen months is tons of fun, and I can’t wait for summer school to be over in a week so I can stay home with him for a month.

Happy Fourth of July!

2011-07-05T00:06:00.001-07:00

This morning we went to our ward breakfast at the park. Aiden was happy there were balls to play with.

Mom, Mandy and I had a girls’ trip to the Great Mall and went shopping. Mandy and I have definitely ended up with much the same fashion sense.

Aiden took a nap, Mandy and I painted our nails, Isaac got to come home early from work, and we had a family dinner.

We went to the home of a family in our ward to watch fireworks. Aiden was pretty enthralled… with the dogs, the tetherball, and also the firecrackers…

That’s Mandy… she wasn’t quite fast enough…

Legal in our city? No… but these big ones were fun to watch over the trees…

We’re sure grateful to live in America! Land of the free, home of the brave… can you believe he smiled like this for the tripod? lucky.

15 months old!

2011-06-15T22:54:00.001-07:00

This kid is getting more active day by day. Since he loves the water, I’ll post pictures from the pool today.

At fifteen months old, Aiden still loves to dance and sing. Isaac got a karaoke disc for the Wii for his birthday, and Aiden loves to sing along. His smooth moves are getting more evolved… instead of just a “diaper dance,” he now has some crazy footwork and spins.

He still eats really well, pretty much whatever we’ll give him, although he often blanches at the first bite.

He is starting to say “hi” and wave to random strangers in stores, restaurants, church… He loves the attention when they respond. He especially loves other kids.

He has a scary-good arm and is totally in love with balls. He found a giant exercise ball at a friends’ house last week, and he pushed it around chanting “Ball” for a good hour, at least.

He is very curious. He wants to see what we are doing all the time, use the things we are using, walk where we are walking… unless we’re outside and I want him to walk home with me, lol. THEN he walks wherever he wants, picking up whatever he finds on the ground, pointing at birds, etc.

He is getting better at communicating. He says just a few words still (Mom, Dad, BaBa for bottle, Hi, Ball, Dah for dog, No, Up, and Haylie), but he sometimes will sign “milk” or “more,” and he’s getting better about pointing or bringing me objects related to what he wants (i.e. bib when he’s hungry).

It’s scary to see what a little boy he is now instead of a little baby, but it’s exciting to see him learn and to see his obvious pride when he does something new. Every day is a new adventure!

Finding the Good

2011-06-07T19:23:00.001-07:00

~~I have so much work to do~~ ~~BUT~~ the school year is almost over!

~~Isaac’s school is very expensive BUT~~ it’s not as expensive as it looks since we get some back in credit card points by charging it.

~~I am not looking forward to summer school BUT~~ I feel totally okay spending a little portion of our tax refund to go on a great vacation this summer!

~~Aiden smudged chocolatey fingers on my white sweater BUT~~ I get a chance to bleach it! Again!

It’s almost Isaac’s birthday! Hip hip Hooray!

These “jean diapers” from a friend at work make me smile every time I see them!

so does this little man. :)

Visiting Great Grandma Chase

2011-06-04T23:00:00.001-07:00

It’s interesting to be around someone whose memory is getting worse all the time. I’m not sure she REALLY knew who we were this whole visit, but she was happy to have visitors. She kept saying what a good walker he was for a ten-month old. We corrected her a few times, reminding her that he is 14 months old, but finally we just went with it. After all, he IS a great walker for ten months old! She also at one point told me she knew I’d had the baby but didn’t know if it was a boy or girl, and then she was surprised when we pointed to his birth announcement, which she’s had up for a year, and his first birthday pictures, when she was at his party. Poor Grandma. It must be hard to forget everything.

Our Little Handful

2011-06-01T00:40:00.001-07:00

I thought Aiden was getting into everything already, but he is teaching me new tricks all the time. A few from this weekend:

He likes to put on a strongman show where he lifts my five-pound weights with both hands and carries them a short distance. I have to hide them now because he also likes to drop them, and I am terrified he will drop one on his foot.

He learned how to lift the toilet cover. Apparently he thought it would be fun to drop toys in the water. Ew.

He learned to climb on the couch without a footrest! and how to color… on my students’ work. Oops. I’m just glad he didn’t poke holes in the couch. Thank goodness this was on my lap desk (which was also covered in pen).

He mimics everything we do. Isaac is now under strict instructions not to throw balls across the room or way up in the air. This is Aiden lifting up the rug just after watching Isaac do the same thing to straighten it out.

He sure is a handful, but he’s OUR handful, and we love him!

(dropping another toy, not dipping his hand in, thank goodness)

Brooke and Jon… Part 2

2011-05-23T00:40:00.001-07:00

CA open house at the Seversons’ home this weekend…

sign-in book with “their story” written by Brooke and illustrated by Bird

crossword puzzles created/compiled by Danielle

Brooke’s fabulous playlist had everyone rocking out… even Rapunzel

picnic blankets available

and of course, a very happy bride and groom

14 Months Old!

2011-05-22T23:56:00.001-07:00

At 14 months old, Aiden is quite the athlete. He loves to throw everything (yesterday at an open house in someone’s backyard, he was getting a kick out of picking up and throwing dirt clods), climb on furniture, and kick balls around while chanting “Ball.”

He is getting heavier to carry around for long periods of time, but still not quite 20 pounds. He enjoys sitting for longer periods of time (sometimes) to read books, but he is mostly pretty active.

He LOVES fruit of all kinds, especially strawberry lately. I am getting used to the need to regularly treat food stains in his clothing.

well… he loves fruit of all kinds… except kiwi. Crazy kid.

He has started coming to me just for a hug sometimes, and it always makes my heart melt.

He is a singing and dancing machine… he loves to do “the diaper dance” whenever he hears music, and he sings along with the hymns at church, the radio in the car, or when he hears one of us singing. It sounds sort of like a loud “ah” varying between a few pitches, but it’s cute.

Our little sweetheart

Happy Mother’s Day!

2011-05-12T00:39:00.000-07:00

We had a very happy Mother’s Day here with church and flowers in the morning, naps in the afternoon, and steak and pie in the evening.

This little man makes our home bright and fun, and makes me happy to be a mom!

(note Sophie’s nose in the bottom picture. She wasn’t sure Aiden was safe like this.)

Try not to be jealous

2011-05-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

Brooke brought me a chocolate frog from Harry Potter World. It came complete with (holographic) trading card: Godric Gryffindor.

Best. Bridesmaid. Gift. Ever.

What Do You See?

2011-04-30T23:04:00.001-07:00

Is this…

A. exhausted father and son after a night of son refusing to sleep?

B. snoozing father and son after a “man campout” in the front room?

C. a pleasant afternoon nap, where the floor seemed as good as bed?

What do you think? A, B or C?

what

the

answer

I’ll never tell.

To the Zoo…

2011-04-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

I have enjoyed my Spring Break immensely. We had so much fun that I am semi-dreading going back to work on Monday. I’m trying to be positive.

One final fun outing we had was to the Oakland Zoo. It’s a pretty small zoo, but it was a few hours of fun. Aiden enjoyed it much more this time than the last time we took him. He particularly liked the zebras. He seemed to think they were dogs and started saying “bow wow” to them, but I guess all four-legged animals could hypothetically say “bow-wow” to a one-year old, right? He also had no fear in the petting zoo, not even around the biggest goat I’ve ever seen in my life.

After the zoo, we went to the Ice Creamery for lunch. Aiden had more fun waving to the other patrons and walking around than sitting in his high chair and licking my ice cream.

Utah #3: Visiting Family and Egg Hunting

2011-04-28T02:25:00.001-07:00

We dyed Easter eggs at Matthew & Stephani’s place.

Aiden hunted for Easter eggs in the park by our hotel.

I enjoyed the many ice cream locales I miss from Utah.

Aiden took a swim, and he loved every minute of it!

Utah #2: Congratulations Newlyweds!

2011-04-28T00:28:00.001-07:00

After graduation, we were all over the place… in Highland for Brooke & Jon’s luncheon, in American Fork for their wedding, in Provo to check into our hotel and unload our car, and in Salt Lake for the reception. It was crazy, but of course crazy good!

Aiden and his girl friend, Naomi. She is five weeks younger, but clearly taller!

Learning to run… yikes!

Matching ties from Tie One On… such a fun store.

Did I mention Brooke’s mom knows Moses from BYU? He was my FAVORITE this season! I’m sorry for bothering you and your lovely family, Moses, but you are just as nice as you seem on the show!

It was so good to see Val and Charles again! If only they’d move to the Bay Area once he graduates from law school. (wink, wink)

Utah #1: Congratulations, Graduates!

2011-04-27T00:31:00.000-07:00

We had a busy weekend! Isaac, Aiden and I made a trip out to Utah with my mom at the start of my Spring Break to see Matthew and Stephani graduate from BYU, attend Brooke’s wedding, and help my sister move into her first apartment. It was quite the busy trip.

We drove all night in the hopes that Aiden would just sleep most of the trip, but that was just wishful thinking. He was a little tough, but after about fourteen and a half hours in the car, we finally rolled into Provo. Thursday was mostly a blur after that, but I know I helped Mandy pack and took a nap, visited with family, and I think I ate somewhere in there.

Friday morning we started off at Matthew and Stephani’s graduation. Matthew walked with Stephani and the McKay School of Education, where he got his BS in Construction Management, and Stephani graduated in El Ed.

Yippee!

Reason #528 why I love my hubby

2011-04-17T15:25:00.001-07:00

He spent time today reading the Almanac and reciting facts to me.

It’s not something I would opt to do… so thank goodness one of us likes this kind of thing! I’d hate to end up with a child who was interested in the size of San Bernadino County (did you know it’s three times bigger than the state of Hawaii!?), and not have a husband who could share in his/her enthusiasm.

13 Months Old!

2011-04-14T19:25:00.001-07:00

At thirteen months old, Aiden is turning into quite the little man instead of Mommy’s baby.

He is climbing on EVERYTHING.

He still loves the dog, and he gets a kick out of chasing the dogs around a room.

He is developing quite the feisty personality. He throws little tantrums when he can’t have what he wants, but we are sitting them out and praying he figures out quickly that his cries do not change our minds.

He sort of blows kisses (he has a hard time with the throwing part, lol), signs milk, waves bye bye (he does this when he’s ready for bed at night in addition to when we say “bye bye”), high fives, claps, and points.

He says “mama,” “dada,” “Hay-ee” (the dog, Haylie), “hi",” and “ball.” I can hardly wait for him to learn more words because it will be so much easier, right?

He is walking everywhere and is hard to shop with now unless I have something to strap him into because he squirms around in my arms because he’d rather walk on his own. and of course, pick up everything that looks cool. Today he picked up a Cutie someone had dropped in the parking lot. Ew.

He is smarter than I am. Yesterday I was trying to show Mandy via webcam how he says Haylie, and while I was asking him about the dog, he was waving around my mouse pad and hugging it. It wasn’t until he pointed at it and finally said “Hay-ee” that I realized her picture is on our mouse pad. Oops.

and since this is mostly an Aiden blog now, I’ll just throw in one photo of Isaac for your viewing pleasure.

He may kill me for this.

lol

Thank you Grandma Anderson and IKEA…

2011-04-09T14:37:00.001-07:00

for my very own snow cave!

building with Daddy

checking it out

enjoying :)

General Conference Amusement

2011-04-02T16:41:00.001-07:00

We are enjoying General Conference today, and I am pleased to say that I have caught every talk so far. *knock on wood* Keeping Aiden amused and still paying attention is proving to be interesting. Cheerios work wonders for awhile, let me tell you.

I had to laugh (and snap a quick picture) when I looked down during the afternoon session to see what Aiden had left on my leg.

Hope your weekend is as SMILEY as ours!

Big Boy Haircut

2011-04-02T16:36:00.001-07:00

We finally really buzzed A’s hair this week.

So far, the poor kid seems to have my fine, wispy hair. We were getting tired of the wispies hanging over his collar and ears, even a little, so it was time for a buzz. It was the first time we’d cut the hair on the top of his head, having only buzzed around the sides back in November. It was about four inches long on top.

We are so lucky to have such an easy going kid. He was having a blast.

Isaac used his master haircutting skills to cut a lovely, tapered even cut. It took me by surprise at first to see his soft baby hair all gone, and I feel like he looks so much older now. I’m adjusting though. :)

I sure love this kid!

A Beautiful Day

2011-03-30T18:49:00.001-07:00

The weather has been so lovely the last few days, and especially after the abnormally cold and wet weather we’ve been having lately, we just couldn’t stay inside! After we both got home from work, Isaac and I took Aiden for a walk to the park and played on the swings.

Isaac was so proud that Aiden sort of pumped his legs a little bit… I think it was a fluke.

Then we all went for a fun dinner at Dickey’s. We love their delicious BBQ style meals AND the free ice cream cones that come with them. That might be Aiden’s favorite part.

mmmmmmmmmm

Ouch

2011-03-29T20:58:00.001-07:00

I don’t know if you can see that, but Aiden beaned Isaac right on the bridge of his nose with a toy a few weeks ago, and it swelled up like crazy and turned colors, but it’s mostly back to normal now.

I guess we’d better look out. Aiden definitely has an arm!

On a cuter note, Aiden points to our noses sometimes when we ask.

Waiting Room

2011-03-19T16:10:00.001-07:00

I forgot I was going to post these pictures from when we went to visit Dad in the hospital last month. Aiden is too little to allowed up to the rooms, so Mom and I took turns visiting Dad and being with Aiden in the waiting room. I took pictures of him to take up to Dad, and these are some of the funny ones I got…

He is pretty interested in the camera now…

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

2011-03-17T00:15:00.001-07:00

from our little leprechaun

ONE year old!

2011-03-13T23:52:00.001-07:00

Aiden is now...
*learning to express more affection. He likes to snuggle his head into your shoulder and grab your hand and smiile. He likes to bonk heads with Isaac.

*learning how to high five
*holding up one finger to indicate his age (mostly he just does it to mimic, lol)

*waving bye bye, sometimes when we just say "bye"
*walking more and more

*noticing when a family member leaves the room (Yesterday, he cried when I came back from a walk without the dog, who was waiting in the car... He looked all around and didn't see her and burst into tears until I said "Should we go get Sophie?" and then he waved bye bye, lol)

*anxious to eat whatever food we are having. He’s pretty good about eating anything we’ll let him have.

birthday ice cream from Grandpa
*learning to play with and throw balls.

*my favorite one year old around!

Happy Birthday, Aiden!

First Birthday Party!

2011-03-13T00:10:00.001-08:00

We had Aiden’s first birthday party today. We invited just a few friends and family members because our condo is pretty small, and I think we were about at our maximum capacity! It was fun to eat and talk and watch the kids play on the floor. We especially loved watching Aiden go after his cupcake. That is, we enjoyed watching him go after his cupcake AFTER I told Isaac to blow out the candle. I am glad that you can not hear me begging Isaac to blow out the candle, but you can kind of hear my grandma saying how different Aiden is from when I was one and didn't want to even touch it. Isaac made the rookie father mistake of putting FIRE right in front of a baby’s face. (??????????) Luckily, all is well. Enjoy the footage.

He got frustrated about the frosting being stuck on his hands, and he got a little fussy, but he calmed down and continued to demolish the cupcake. After about five minutes, he finally figured out it was tasty, and then he ate a lot of it, actually.

Here’s the new skill we’ve been working on… Aiden, how old are you going to be on Sunday?

King of the Box

2011-03-12T17:32:00.001-08:00

Best. Toy. Ever.

Walking is NOT fun.

2011-03-03T23:49:00.001-08:00

Can you see the boo boo under his lip? He fell down and put a tooth through his lip! It was the most horrific moment of my life, passing even the time I broke a rear view mirror into pieces hitting a post and the time I busted my own knee open. Thankfully, my mom was there, and she put on a calm voice and checked everything out and had me wash the blood out of my sweater. (sigh)

Thankfully, he seems to be fine. It is healing quickly, and while he woke up a lot that first night, he has seemed unaffected since then, and it’s been almost a week.

Walking is not fun. Walking is dangerous.

Teach me how to Jimmer!

2011-02-26T23:57:00.001-08:00

This afternoon we watched the BYU v. SDSU men’s basketball game. BYU won.

This is Aiden’s Jimmer Fredette impression.

GO COUGARS!

Two Legs

2011-02-22T20:35:00.001-08:00

Sometimes we think Aiden thinks he is a dog. He likes to crawl, he makes barking noises, the chases the dogs and plays fetch for long periods of time, and he likes to carry things in his mouth.

Finally we see some evidence of a two legged being…

He is getting more and more confident every day, and it’s fun to see him do a long string of steps all in a row without sitting down or throwing himself into our arms.

Warning: Nerd Post

2011-02-19T23:23:00.001-08:00

Sad News: Our local Borders is one of the locations the company is closing.

Good News: We went to enjoy the sales at Borders today and found three fun books for Aiden!

He likes them already. He pulled them right off his shelf to read with me tonight. This one is a finger puppet snowman book which kept him amused through most of the very long line at Borders today. He loves that the snowman dances around in the middle of the book while we read!

This is a very short book, but it has the awesome feature of asking questions with sliding covers over the answers. You can see on the cover I slightly slid the answer “a cat.”

This last one is my FAVORITE. It will grow with him because it starts off with cute pages saying things like “ONE lamb” and counting up to ten, and then there are pages for you to count items, and it goes on to count by tens up to one hundred; talks about pairs, groups, and halves; telling time and even…

Look at that! It recognizes that you should say “fewer” when something is countable! Yes, that’s my nerdy English teacher moment of the day. Hey, it could be worse.

11 months old, by Aiden

2011-02-13T22:21:00.001-08:00

Don’t mind my drool. Daddy and I had little colds this week. We are doing much better today though.

Everyone at church tells Mommy and Daddy how well behaved and cute they think I am. Mommy covers my ears so I won’t get a big head, but I don’t see how that would make my head grow.

Speaking of church, I get very alarmed if I don’t get to have bread and water. I don’t really like the water, but everyone else has some, and I hate to be left out!

I love to look at my books. Mommy loaded up the lowest shelf with board books for me, and I pull them all off multiple times every day. Sometimes I just want to make a mess or try to put them on my head, but lots of times I enjoy trying to open them to touch the pictures and babble.

I got this pint sized chair, and it’s great! I just wish Mommy would let me stand on it.

I found out that Daddy started walking when he was 10 months old, and I didn’t want to be left out, so last night before I was officially 11 months old, I took three steps from one couch to the next. I’m definitely not off and running yet because I can get by just fine crawling! I did take a step or two today just to get to Mommy’s ice cream, but I’m in no hurry to walk around.

I am trying to say “dog” and I say it to the dogs all the time, but it still sounds like “gaw” most of the time. I say “mama” sometimes as I crawl to the door when Mommy comes home from work.

I am working on my animal sounds and giving high fives.

I hate to stay still to be changed or dressed.

I love to splash around in the tub.

I love watching other little kids even when they show no interest in me.

One of my favorite pastimes is climbing all over Mommy or Daddy when they are on the ground. I like to climb over their tummies, head butt them, touch their faces, and today I even bit Mommy’s wrist. She wasn’t very happy that I broke the skin with my teeth, but isn’t it cool that I have four teeth now?!

I’m getting all ready for my first birthday cupcake next month! Good thing February is a short month because I can hardly wait!

Moo Baa La La La

2011-02-02T23:57:00.001-08:00

This is Aiden’s favorite book, hands down. He pulls it off the shelf and ~~throws~~ hands it at to me. Thank you, Sandra Boynton, for writing such a fabulous book. Isaac and I have it memorized, in case you ever want a recitation. ;)

Aiden is starting to learn to “read” along… he likes to “oof oof” on the little dog page, “quack” with the duck, and tonight he started “bow wow wow”ing. It was too cute not to try to catch on video… so here’s our best attempt at catching his animal noises!

On my Mind

2011-02-01T22:55:00.001-08:00

Aiden is cranky. Maybe his fourth tooth is coming in, and this will quickly pass. Poor baby.

I took my classes to the library for a little while each period today. Sometimes you need a change of scenery.

Dad is going in for another kidney stone blasting on Thursday. :(

I have a lot still to grade by Thursday's grade deadline. Yikes.

I ate too much for dinner. What a pig.

There is STILL a hole in our wall, and we haven't gotten a call from whomever HOA is sending to patch it. It really stinks having a hole in your wall and an active 10 month old.

I miss the Shamrock shakes at McDonalds. Where is March when you need it?

It is almost Groundhog's Day. Why is it that when it is sunny enough to cast a shadow, that means there will be 6 more weeks of winter? and still I want to know what Punxsatawney Phil will do. I must be crazy.

This is from last week. It has been SO SUNNY and not like January at all, hence the shorts. The hat is just for kicks. :) I like to look at this picture while he is sleeping and think of how not cranky he is most of the time.

Thanks, Grandma Snow

2011-01-23T00:49:00.001-08:00

For Christmas, Grandma & Grandpa Snow got me a set of books and this cool poster. I love the colors, and Mom says it’s good to have the ABCs on my wall where I can see them every day.

Thanks!

Love,

Aiden

Congratulations!

2011-01-18T19:44:00.001-08:00

Since they are “facebook official,” I suppose I am not letting the cat out of the bag by saying

CONGRATULATIONS!

I’m so excited for you guys! I can’t wait to see you two tie the knot!

Wow

2011-01-17T00:24:00.001-08:00

Tonight I watched this video: http://radio.lds.org/eng/programs/conversations-episode-26

and it made me cry. Yeah, I’m a weeper.

Then I made Isaac watch it (okay, most of it… he’s not quite as mushy as I am)

and then I spent the rest of the evening rolling around on the floor with my baby and husband and even the dog because you know what? It really is such a blessing to be a mom.

Thanks for the reminder, Stephanie.

http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

Ten Months Old!

2011-01-14T20:49:00.001-08:00

Poor Aiden. We didn’t do anything very fun for his ten-month-day. This week Isaac went to the dentist to suffer the wrath of the drill, Isaac’s Grandpa Hanson died, and we entered the early stages of having our bathroom torn up because we have unknowingly had a leak filling up our floor. (sigh) It’s been a rough week.

We sure are glad to have our sweet little ten-month old along for the ride though! He is quite the trooper about cutting his first top tooth right now. Mostly. At ten months…

*He has two and a half teeth.

*He is cruising around furniture more comfortably, and his balance has improved a lot recently. He will sometimes take a step without holding anything, just to get from one handhold to another, but he’s not really walking.

*He loves food. He will sit pretty nicely at the table as long as he has food, and he is much better at getting cereal or puffs or bits of banana into his mouth than he was a month ago.

*He reaches for anything and everything within his grasp and gets tired of things quickly, so we are always looking for something new to let him check out.

*He smiles really big for people he knows and reaches out his hands to them. He is also pretty content sitting with people he doesn’t know as well, at least for a while.

*He likes to splash in his baths and play with toys in the water. I won’t let him have any bath toys with holes that could potentially collect water since I saw this news report on sludge in bath toys (*shudder*), but he loves his new alphabet pieces from Aunt Teresa. Thanks, Teresa!

Oh, and Sophie has this protective thing where she won’t leave his side while he’s in the tub.

*He smiles for the camera, and usually then he tries to come get it. I have to be quick and keep untouchables out of his reach at ALL times.

*He says “mama” when he wants to come see me, particularly when he is hungry. I don’t know that he knows that’s a name, but he does it consistently, and I think it’s cute.

Happy ten-month-day, Aiden! You’re turning into such a big boy!

Why I love Photoshop & Lightroom

2011-01-13T00:02:00.001-08:00

Have you seen that commercial about The Cloud giving some lady the family nature never could? If not, you really aren’t missing out, but it is kind of a good point that digital photos and imaging make it a lot easier to end up with a pretty great picture than was once possible.

For instance, I started with the following picture, which is pretty dang cute of everyone except Aiden, who smiled much better for other pictures.

so I head-swapped him. I also cropped it and warmed it up a little. Much cuter.

Then I had this one from family pictures. I had the camera set on auto because I really haven’t practiced enough to be confident with manual yet, but I wished later that I had tried at least on some shots because auto was a little all over the place; some were so overexposed they were not even salvageable. So sad. Thankfully, some of them turned out pretty cute. It’s hard to get 16 people facing forward and looking ready for the camera at the same instant, you know?

Voila! Head swap success. (and cropped and warmed again)

I have the ability to get a little artsy with Lightroom if I feel so inclined, and it’s so easy!

I can even do something disgusting like this… (okay, officially I did this about 8 years ago with another program)

and now that I have frightened you all, I will go back to just cropping.

mostly ;)

Little Friends

2011-01-10T02:11:00.001-08:00

These two played pretty nicely while the mommies and daddies played Ticket to Ride: Europe and chatted. Thanks, Jon & Danielle, for having us over!

Tonight Aiden played with Naomi, who is about five weeks younger than he is. I was hoping he would give her this flower, but he was more into just waving it around to himself. :)

Naomi was super cute about smiling for the camera, but Aiden just ignored me, lol.

Nothing is Safe

2011-01-08T23:35:00.001-08:00

Someone has been very interested in EVERYTHING he can get his hands on lately… cups of water, anything of the dog’s, books, magazines, cords of any kind, tablecloths, laundry baskets, trash cans, you name it! Here is just one of the weird places he has crawled this week…

and the beginning of yet another session of “empty all the shelves within reach!”

He keeps us on our toes, but isn’t he cute?

Aiden’s First Plane Ride

2011-01-02T14:53:00.000-08:00

Last week we were able to make a trip to Tennessee to visit with a whole bunch of family! It was Aiden’s first time on an airplane, and I have to say, he was a very pleasant passenger.

It was also his first time to see snow, but this hardly counted because it was so little, you can’t even see it in the picture. If you look really hard, you can see one tiny flake near his left foot.

Aiden saw his Great Grandpa and Grandma Hanson; Great Uncle Denis & Aunt Nora; Grandma and Grandpa Snow; uncles and aunts Kevin, Emily, Jon, Whitney, Matthew, Stephani, Sarah, and Teresa; and cousins Grace, Anne, and Oberlin! It was quite the party.

sorry Grandpa! I hope your face has recovered from Aiden!

Many of these family members he was meeting for the first time, and I thought he was pretty friendly. He wasn’t a big fan of hanging out in the play yard, regardless of whether he had a cousin there to play with him.

In general, they seemed to get along though. :) Can you tell which one is 27 days older?

The four little Snow & Bylund cousins

We had lots of fun playing games, talking, visiting the zoo, seeing some Memphis sights, and just enjoying one another’s company.

It was a great trip, and while it is nice to be home, it is sad to have to go back to work and get right into the daily grind again. Thanks to our gracious hosts and to everyone who tolerated our CA internal clocks and sleep schedules.

Happy New Year! May 2011 bring us all many more great memories!

Happy New Year, all!

2011-01-01T21:21:00.000-08:00

2011 is bound to be a great year. It has an 11, after all.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T23:05:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas. Aiden especially liked the toy he got that made noise. and bows. and bags. and trying to eat tissue paper. You know… normal baby stuff. ;)

Isaac loves this particular Christmas present… nice glare, right? lol (Isaac wants me to mention that this is apparently his thinking face.) Thanks, Mom & Dad!

Santa and his reindeer…

He was really good about having stuff on his head all day, lol…

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

A thinks he is a dog

2010-12-24T23:09:00.000-08:00

He has taken to carrying stuff around in his mouth while he crawls lately. I am trying not to be disgusted.

Loving this book

2010-12-24T19:44:00.000-08:00

I am in the process of reading Matched by Ally Condie. It's the coming of age dystopian novel (a la Hunger Games and many others) that I am an absolute sucker for... sort of a cross between The Giver and Uglies. I am about two-thirds of the way through and totally sucked in. I am procrastinating grading papers and finishing my Christmas wrapping and packing for our trip in two days because this book is so awesome. I have it from the library, but I may have to buy my own copy... I knew I shouldn't have started reading it until the plane ride. Oh well. Too late.

Bonus! I just found out the author went to my alma mater, BYU. ROCK ON.

My recommendation... Read it. Love it.

Meeting Santa

2010-12-19T00:45:00.001-08:00

Aiden was the littlest reindeer at the ward Christmas party tonight. He met Santa for the first time, and sadly he was not a big fan, but while he looked a lot like he was going to cry in the beginning, he held it together.

What a kind patient Santa!

9 Months Old!

2010-12-14T22:05:00.001-08:00

Aiden is three-quarters of a year old! He had his pediatrician appointment today, so we can pretty confidently say that he is 17 lbs. 7 oz., 27 inches long, and his head is 17” around… that’s a lot of sevens!

This nine month old loves to grab everything—books off shelves, necklaces (he broke one of my chains this week :( ), remote controls, etc. He is cruising around furniture and walking confidently while holding onto someone’s hands, but it is very rare that he will take a step without both hands firmly attached to someone or something, so maybe he won’t walk on his own for a while yet. He is crawling really fast when he’s after something, responds to his name, eats most anything we have given him so far (cottage cheese was a big fail), and smiles at strangers most of the time as long as they don’t try to hold him.

Aiden got his first kids’ menu and crayons tonight! Never mind that we didn’t actually order anything for him, and we didn’t even let him touch the crayons… He was happy just waving the menu around in the air and smiling at the waitress. :)

Christmas is Coming!

2010-12-13T02:45:00.001-08:00

I can’t wait for Christmas. It’s my very favorite holiday, and I’m so excited that this will be Aiden’s first! We decorated the tree and the front rooms. Aiden is fascinated by the lights.

We took family pictures and wrote the annual letter. As always, it is a challenge to get two adults, a baby and a dog facing the right direction and looking normal, but we continue to try.

Aiden is in the spirit of giving.

Braving the Tub

2010-12-09T00:29:00.001-08:00

That’s right world, he is really too big for the sink, and I finally gave in and switched to the tub. Someone from work gave us this great bath seat, and he adjusted quite nicely to sitting in the seat and playing with the temperature duck while he was scrubbed.

I have to say, it kind of weirds me out how not baby-like he looks here. Is he really growing up so quickly?! What happened to my little semi-alien looking cone-headed newborn? Was that really so long ago?

Moving on, here he is rough-housing with Daddy. I still don’t love anything that means he might possibly get hurt, and it’s no secret that Isaac is totally accident-prone, but Aiden sure has a blast playing with Daddy.

Finally, Aiden is lately in love with talking on the phone. Mostly, he just smiles a lot when someone is talking to him, but sometimes he babbles a little or at least makes noises so someone can tell he is there. It’s actually pretty hilarious. The kid has a temper though, and he doesn’t like to have the phone taken away. We are working on not throwing temper tantrums, but that’s a difficult concept for a nine-month old.

Crawling and Climbing

2010-12-05T02:46:00.001-08:00

Name that color!!

2010-12-05T02:02:00.001-08:00

because Mommy and Daddy can’t.

Feeding Sophie

2010-12-04T02:59:00.000-08:00

Today Aiden was practicing feeding himself small bits of bread. It’s hard for him, and he mostly just drops the bread on himself or has it fall off his tongue, but he’s trying anyway. I went into the other room for a minute and heard him giggling, so I poked my head around the corner so I could see what was happening. He had his arm stretched way out to the dog, who was gently licking the bread in his fingers, and he was giggling up a storm. He did this a few times, but of course not while I had the camera out, which is far too fascinating to not stare at.

This is the best I could get, but I still think it’s hilarious. We are going to have a lot of work to do teaching him about not throwing food to the dog…

Black Friday

2010-11-27T21:22:00.001-08:00

For Black Friday, I did NOT go shopping. We decided to go to Muir Woods with much of the family that was in town. We were not as clever as I might have hoped, and Muir Woods was super more crowded than normal! It was still gorgeous. It is trips like this that convince me we live in one of the most lovely places on earth because of how many different kinds of natural beauty we have nearby.

These are some of the tallest trees in the world…

cutest little tree gnome I’ve ever seen:

That evening, I was lucky that Danielle was willing to watch Aiden while Isaac was at work so I could go to the temple for Curtis’ first time through. It was wonderful to see so much family there, and I was excited to see that all the lights were up already! It definitely gave me the bug to want to get Christmas decorations up at home!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-26T21:12:00.000-08:00

We had a big Anderson Thanksgiving this year with both of my grandmas, Uncle Dean & their three daughters + family, Uncle Ryan & family, Aunt Janae & family, and our family minus Mandy. It was quite a big group, but nice to see everyone.

Aiden was pretty fascinated by his cousin (second cousin? cousin once removed? what is my cousin’s son to Aiden?), Finnley, who is almost exactly one year older.

We had a ton of food. Isaac and I did three bowls of veggies, and we have enough left over to last us a LONG time.

Some of the guys went out front to play football. I like how awkward Isaac looks in the above picture, lol. He really didn’t look so awkward in person.

Everyone enjoyed talking and playing cards, and Patrick entertained many of the kids for a long time by telling funny stories.

Aiden had so much fun on his first Thanksgiving that he didn’t nap (or even get cranky!) until everyone was gone, around 8 PM. He was pretty zonked by that time.

All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Sophie broke into Haylie’s dog food container later that night and ate about four days’ worth of food, so she isn’t doing so well today. Apparently she felt left out of all the eating, having not gotten a single scrap. (sigh)

Nerd Post

2010-11-23T12:41:00.001-08:00

I am in love with this new board book. I got it as a Christmas present for Aiden when Brooke took me to a gorgeous bookstore that has ladders and smells like books as soon as you walk in. Then I loved it too much to wait for Christmas. Good thing Aiden doesn’t understand Christmas yet.

I love this book because it has great vocabulary for a baby book (clever, yearns). It uses end rhyme and some alliteration, and the pictures are adorable too. It’s pretty amazing. I especially love that Aiden likes it!

New Hiding Place

2010-11-22T22:27:00.001-08:00

Crawling is a fun new adventure for Aiden, who is finding exciting new places to play and hide.

For instance, he lately loves it by or behind the toilet in our bathroom, and he gets there lickety-split when I put him down to brush my teeth or do my hair.

You’d better believe we are cleaning around our toilet more regularly now than we ever have before.

It’s Getting Cold Out

2010-11-21T23:28:00.001-08:00

So apparently we are going through La Nina, which means to me that our weather is harder to predict and more flip-floppy than we are used to. We’ll have a week that is so hot it’s setting records, and then we’ll have cold and rain. It’s weird.

Anyway, I am learning that it takes a lot longer to bundle up myself and a baby than it used to take to bundle up just me. He has little shoes that don’t just slide on like mine do, and wiggly arms that take some maneuvering to get in a jacket…

It’s worth the effort to get him snuggled up in this little teddy bear coat though.

Cruising

2010-11-18T23:37:00.000-08:00

Aiden has taken to cruising around the furniture lately. He loves to pull himself to standing and take a few steps here and there. Sometimes he takes his hands off entirely and just leans on the couch or something. His balance leaves something to be desired, but he is certainly working on it. I find this semi-terrifying, but he thinks it’s a blast.

He is also working on his second tooth! This one is not coming in as smoothly as the first one seemed to. It makes me sad.

8 months old!

2010-11-13T22:47:00.000-08:00

Some things I love about our eight-month old…

*how he turns around more often now when we say his name... I think he is finally recognizing it
*how he is fearless and trying to cruise around furniture a step or two at a time and trying to sit from standing even though he ends up falling down fairly often. This is also terrifying for me, but I'm trying to keep him as safe as I can without keeping him from learning.

*how he bounces himself to sleep sometimes in his JumpNGo

*how when he is dozing off in my arms, he looks up and me questioningly if I talk as if to listen for more, then smiles and/or coos and drops back off
*when he tries to give kisses (even though sometimes he just licks my cheek or often he grabs my face with one hand and my hair with the other)
*how he lights up when he sees me or Isaac or Sophie (or my mom or dad)

*the way he is getting more expressive every day… pulling funny faces and making his opinions clear

*how he looks like Peter Pan in the green sleeper he just started wearing... it has no feet, and for some reason, he reminds me of Peter Pan

Happy Veterans’ Day!

2010-11-12T01:15:00.001-08:00

Thanks to all of the veterans, my grandpas included, who have been brave and dedicated enough to fight for the freedoms we enjoy in this amazing country we are fortunate enough to live in!

Aiden says thanks too. It looks a little like we posed this, but Aiden did it all himself and was kind enough to not move while I pulled out the camera, lol. He was so sleepy…

It was my first birthday as a mommy. We went out to eat. Twice. It was a lot of food.

We also had cheesecake. It was AMAZING. I am trying to ignore how fat I feel now.

What a fun thing to be a mom! I got a webcam for my birthday, so if any grandparents or cousins out there want to Skype or something… Aiden is now available!

Thanks to everyone who made this such a wonderful birthday! Love you all! and Happy Half-Birthday to Stephani!

First Haircut!

2010-11-07T21:11:00.001-08:00

We finally did it. Aiden’s hair has been SO uneven… and it still is. At least now it won’t hang all long and mullet-like over his collared shirts/rompers.

We put the drape on him kind of as a joke… it didn’t stay on for longer than it took to get a picture. He didn’t mind the clippers at all. We gave him a block to play with and let him watch in the mirror, and he was perfectly happy.

Bye bye baby hair. I saved some of it for the baby book. Sappy, sentimental mommy? I suppose, but it’s just so soft!

He really wants some chompers to come in quickly.

Can you see his first tooth on the bottom yet?

Happy Halloween 2010!

2010-10-31T22:48:00.001-07:00

Aiden’s first Halloween! After church, we dressed in costumes for family photos and to Skype Mandy. This particular photo is a little blurry, but Aiden looks so excited!

Can you tell that he just adores his dog? I mean PIG.

Aiden’s first pumpkin… Maybe next year we will carve or decorate…

Also, Aiden sprouted a tooth or two this week. I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to take a picture. I keep getting these kinds of faces…

Here’s my best shot… You can’t really tell what it is, huh? Oh well.

Anyway, Happy Halloween all! Hope you had a fun holiday.

The Big Bad Wolf

2010-10-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

Meet the Big Bad Wolf.

He ate two little pigs (to be resurrected tomorrow…), but here he is with the Brick Pig. I know, she’s scary.

Some people thought he was a mouse, but here he is using his sharp new teeth to chow down on pig nose. Clearly, he is a BIG BAD WOLF. (Or at least a little bad wolf, right?)

Climbing and Finding a Mirror Friend

2010-10-29T02:30:00.000-07:00

Visiting with the TN Snows… Adventures in SF and… the air

2010-10-22T00:42:00.001-07:00

Tuesday Isaac, Aiden, Cathy, Bruce & Teresa went to San Francisco for the day while I was at work. Looks like they had a blast.

(one of my personal favorite locations…)

Late that afternoon, Teresa and Isaac experienced the sensation of free fall at iFly.

Aiden was wiped out.

It was a great visit with the Snows. Our couches are up for grabs any time someone wants to come visit! We’d even be willing to get you an air mattress. ;)

A Day at the Park

2010-10-18T00:32:00.000-07:00

First time on the swings

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-17T12:27:00.001-07:00

Aiden is enjoying time with Grandma and Grandpa Snow & Aunt Teresa while they are here visiting. Saturday, we took a little trip to Perry Farms’ pumpkin patch down the street from us. He looked a little bit like he was on sensory overload, but I think it was a fun trip anyway.

We’re looking forward to more fun together over the next few days!

7 Months Old

2010-10-15T00:21:00.001-07:00

Our whole family is celebrating Aiden being seven months old by sharing a cold. Fun fun.

On a different note, Aiden is very quickly becoming a crawling, grabbing monster. It is exciting and scary all at the same time. One of his favorite things to do is to sneak up on a sleeping or resting dog and grab her leg or tail. I can’t say the dogs enjoy his mobility much.

Here he is only six days ago…

Here he is tonight:

I need to get baby proofing supplies. Any suggestions out there for what to proof and/or what to use?