Bad Blogger!

How horrible am I??? I've got the WORST blogging skills! Ahhh well, it is what it is! The summer has come and gone and I am just getting around to writing! So much has taken place over the last 3 months!

June was filled packing and preparing to move. Tyler graduated from 2nd grade and jumped right in to summer! He attended his first football camp and began a summer program with the Boys and Girls Club. We settled on our house June 29th and the moving began!

July was busy with moving and a beach trip to Oak Island, NC. As always the weather was spectacular and the week was filled with fishing, cruising the intracostal, and soaking up the sun. The end of July was the start of football practices for Tyler and that pivotal point when you know summer will soon be over!

August was another busy month as we tried to unpack and organize our new home. Football games began and Tyler headed back to school as a 3rd grader! Tyler's football team is off to an awesome start and is successfully defending their JV Champions status. Tyler is playing extremely well. He has scored several touchdowns and is playing QB some of the time.

September has kicked off and the feel of fall is definitely in the air! As always, little Aedan has been a trouper coming to work with me everyday! He continues to grow and his silliness makes everyone laugh. He loves to wrestle and play ball with his brother. He is such a big boy now!

The next couple of weeks will be busy with weddings and a trip to Tennessee (for a wedding) and of course FOOTBALL. I've attached some photos for your viewing pleasure!

We're Moving!

This is a picture of our new home! We settle on June 30th! We are very excited and can't wait to start moving in July. More pictures to come!

Yes! We Still Exist!

I know, I know . . . I'm horrible about blogging! I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted! Honestly, it really doesn't feel like that long ago, time just seems to fly by. So much has happened though in the past couple of months and I'll do my best to update. It may take me a few posts though!

I'll start with the baby! Aedan is now almost 13 months! I simply can't believe it! He is changing, growing, and learning so much everyday. He started walking right when he turned 10 months! Each day he is moving easier and at a much quicker pace. He waves bye-bye and loves to tackle you if you are on the floor at his level. He climbs the stairs and has figured out how to go down them as well, but we still try to avoid the stairs for safety reasons :) He loves playing outside and tries to mimic EVERYTHING big brother Tyler does (skateboarding, riding a scooter, the bike, you name it!). Aedan had his one year check up and he weighs in at a whopping 22 lbs 11oz. He is 31 inches tall. We have started to look into daycare options and its sad to think that my days of bringing Aedan to work with me are coming to an end, but his activity level is continually increasing, making it difficult to keep tabs on him.

Tyler is nearing the end of 2nd grade and is soooooo ready for the summer break! Now that the weather is warm he is spending most of his time outside and is enjoying every minute of it. He has been taking drum lessons at the Cumberland Valley School of Music, and I must admit, for an 8 year old . . . I think he does rather well (although a quieter instrument would be nice). He had a great year in wrestling, but we are thinking it may be his last. He really wants to play basketball and of course it's just impossible to do both.

We took a short trip to OCMD at the end of April. Eric and never been there and it had been YEARS since I was there to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the boardwalk. We had a great trip, the weather was spectacular and we lucked into the MD Kite Exposition. It was the perfect time of year to visit OC. We are thinking of making it an annual "spring" break.

Tis the Season!

Time is flying by these days! I barely have the time to write (so I'm sneaking it in at work, again). The holidays are fastly approaching and I must admit, I can't wait! I am looking forward to another 1st Christmas, even though I know little Aedan won't remember anything.

So what is our little guy getting into these days??? The answer is EVERYTHING! We can no longer turn our backs on the little guy, not even for a second. In the blink of an eye he can disappear, crawling at warp speed. We've experienced first boo-boos (cuts on the nose from pulling objects down on top of himself) and our first dirt eating episode (the basil plant, where he ate BOTH the dirt and the plant). He has learned how to crawl up stairs (but not down). He LOVES to pull himself up and stand. He is learning to move about while on his feet, but still very much prefers to crawl. Aedan is easily amused by his big brother often laughing uncontrollably at Tyler's antics. For some reason, Tyler can make little Aedan laugh like nobody else can! It must be the brotherly love.

Tyler is also keeping me busy, of course. We've moved from a very successful football season (Tyler's team one the Championship in their division) to our 2nd year of wrestling. Last year Tyler had an awesome season with a record of 11-1. Our hopes are high for this year as well, but we know that his opponents will be more challenging this year. The overall goal however is that Tyler enjoys the sport, win or lose. Tyler is also having an awesome year in school. Since moving him to a private Montessori school there has been a complete transformation in his willingness to learn! Not once has he come home from school this year and said "I hate it, its borning." (that was the standard response I received everyday last school year).

In other mom news, I went to a Tina Turner concert in November! It rocked, she rocked! I'm trying to cut out a little more "me" time (especially now that I am no longer breastfeeding). Eric is now pretty comfortable being with Aedan alone for extended periods of time, so it's giving me some of my "freedom" back and I am thoroughly enjoying every minute I get! I will try and post more often and with more pictures! Especially with the holiday festivities!

I Voted!

I couldn't think of a "good" title for today, and since today IS election day, I figured "I Voted" was an appropriate choice! But don't worry, I don't intend to get all political here . . . I'm not one to argue politics! But I do think it's very important for each and every person to vote, and that is a belief I hope I can pass down to my children.

So what's new since last post? Little Aedan is now pulling himself up and standing! It's all he wants to do! Usually when he accomplishes the task of standing he then screams with a "look at me" shriek! Aedan also has two teeth that came in on the bottom! I can't believe how quickly things change!

While little Aedan is just starting to have his baby teeth come in, Big Brother Tyler continues to lose his! Tyler lost two more teeth in the past week! And let me just tell you, he is making out like a bandit with the tooth fairy!

Another Halloween has come and gone and we are now on candy overload! Tyler went as the "Scream" guy with special effects blood dripping down his face and Aedan was a little Dragon. Aedan was completely oblivious to the events and decided that sleeping was a much better way to spend his time during the annual trick-or-treating. I've noticed that over the last couple of years, the number of houses "actively" participating in trick-or-treating has slowly declined. And by "actively" I mean you go to the door ring the bell, someone comes out with a candy dish and makes a comment on your costume and gives you candy. Now it seems that MANY are opting for a much lazier route. The new trend is to sit a bowl of candy on a chair on your front porch (unattended) and let the kiddos help themselves. Maybe we will just have to find another neighborhood to visit next year . . . one that makes it worthwhile!

Aedan has had a few nights of sleeping-through-the-night success! And I thought it would soon be smooth sailing . . . but of course we now have a runny, stuffy nose, so Mommy continues with the waking torture! One of these days I will sleep again!

On a positive note, Aedan continues to enjoy his exploration in "real food." We have successfully gone through all the veggies (he has rejected none of them, hallelujah!) and we have begun to include meats and fruits. We are practicing picking up cereal puffs and trying to get them in our mouth . . . a very tricky task! I will be so glad when the little guy can finally feed himself! It will give us both some much needed freedom!

6 Months Old!

So here here is our little man! Six months old already! He actually turned six months on Wednesday, but I held off to post until after his doctors visit today so I could report a few stats. Aedan is a whopping 18 lbs 4 oz and 26 1/2 inches long! He's growing like a weed and overall very happy and healthy!


I made it six months with breastfeeding and I'm ready to close down production! Mostly because Aedan is totally losing interest! I would gladly continue if I felt like it was what he wanted, but now that we have been eating cereal and very recently veggies, it seems like he is just sooooo over the boob! But I am completely proud of myself for making it 6 months! I only nursed Tyler for about 2 1/2 months, so this has been quite a LONG journey for me (but a total money saver)! I will continue to pump until the wells are dry, but I don't expect that to take very long. Ever since we started "real" food, it's like my body immediately started to turn off the mammaries!

So what is Aedan doing these days? He is sitting up and attempting to crawl. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. He does move around pretty quickly though by doing an "army" crawl. He also has begun saying "da-da" although it is usually more like "da-da-da-da-da-da." I am trying to learn baby sign language and I bought 3 "My Baby Can Talk" videos, which Aedan absolutely loves to watch! I know you are not supposed to plop your kid down in front of the TV, but when I am trying to get ready in the morning - TV is a life saver!

On the downside - still NOT sleeping through the night! AGGGGHHHHH! I am so ready to pull my hair out! Then there are nights where not only does Aedan get me up, but his big brother does as well! Nights like last night! Big brother Tyler doesn't like to get up and go to the bathroom alone, so what does he do . . . wakes Mommy up! So needless to say, I am one tired Mommy most of the time, but really how can I complain when both of my boys are so healthy and happy. Aedan will eventually get there, and I'm sure if I was strong enough to do the cry it out method, he would get there a lot faster. But I don't like letting my little guy cry too long and trust me, I'm not sure it would work with him. The one night I did attempt the "cry it out" method he cried for 2 hours straight! Since then, I've just given it up to a higher power to decide when the "time" will be!

Almost 4 Months!

Wow, how time flies!

Our little guy is growing up so fast! I can't believe that at the end of this week he'll be 4 months old! He is changing so much everyday! He recently began rolling over from his back onto his stomach (he had mastered rolling from his stomach to his back in June). He is now quite the little mover, we definitely have to keep our eyes on him. He loves to play with his toys and everything goes straight to his mouth! We visit the Dr. next Monday and I am anxious to see how much he has grown.

Mommy is still VERY exhausted since the little one is still not sleeping through the night. Things had been getting better, but in the last few weeks Aedan seems to be regressing. We are now back to getting up twice during the night and it's really putting a drain on Mommy's energy level! We've tried just about everything! I've given the little guy formula right before bed. He's had formula with a teaspoon of cereal right before bed. I've tried Chamomile in his bedtime bottle and NOTHING seems to help! I never had this issue with my first child, by 2 months he was sleeping wonderfully through the night. It has just been very different this time around! And who would have thought that it could be so different from one child to the next! From what I've read, 4 months really is the magic number when it comes to baby and sleep. At least, I'm REALLY hoping that's the case!

So what have we been doing the last two months! We've managed to take 2 beach trips to NC, both very fun and well worth the long drive with a baby! Aedan enjoyed sleeping in his tent on the beach while big brother Tyler played in the water. Most recently, we took a day trip to Rock Hall, MD where the "boys" (Pappy, Daddy, Tyler, Uncle Pat and a few others) spent the day fishing on the bay while Mommy, Grammy and Aedan spent the day exploring (and a little shopping). We visited the Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge where we walked around and enjoyed the different scenery (especially the butterfly garden!).

Overall the past two months have gone by so quickly and I can't complain too much! Aedan is such an adorable little guy! Everywhere we go people flock to him. Word seems to travel quickly when an extremely cute baby enters a building, and Aedan usually hams it up for his admirers by giving them a grin and playfully hiding his face in my shoulder. His vocabulary (okay, baby-cabulary) keeps growing. He now loves to intertwine his ooooh's and aaahh's with a few squeals and shouts. I think he's going to be a talker - like his Daddy!

I admit I've been slacking, but it has been hard to find the time to blog, especially for someone who is already BAD at it! I'm hoping to get back on track and I am vowing to make a serious effort to keep up! So, until next time!