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8 Months, Thanksgiving, and Snow

November was an eventual month for us as we traveled to Ohio for five days to visit my brother and his family for Thanksgiving - fun, and the norovirus (stomach flu) spread within our family for a couple of weeks - not fun.



Aiden is now eight months old and is a little more mobile - or at least trying to be. He rolls all over the place and is trying to figure out how to crawl. His attempts are funny in that he lunges forward and then usually ends up on his face or just sticks his butt in the air and then yells because he wants so badly to move but doesn't know how. I have been warning Aubrey that soon she will have to move to the kitchen table to do most of her activities or Aiden will be joining her. He definitely is already trying to make his voice heard in that whenever Aubrey takes a toy away from him he yells and cries - the fights are starting. Aiden also had a tough week before Thanksgiving in that he had the stomach flu and was pooping and projectile vomiting for five days - not fun for both him or us. He couldn't keep anything down - poor guy, but is doing much better. Unfortunately he spread it to the rest of our family on our RV trip to Ohio, but no one had it as bad as he did.

I think I feel the start of his first tooth coming soon (we have slow teeth growers as Aubrey didn't get her first tooth until she was eight months either). We have been waiting for some teeth as he wants to eat real food so badly - he watches everything you put in your mouth and will yell of you don't give him a taste. He is even starting to master puffs in order to feed himself. Still no brakethrus in his sleeping habits as he still wakes one, two, or three (when he is sick) times per night - I finally think my body has gotten used to it (I haven't had a full nights sleep in over a year now) in that someone at work told me I don't look as tired anymore (thanks - I think?).





For Thanksgiving we took an RV with my parents, and my sister's family to Dayton to spend Thanksgiving with Chris, Kathie, and Lucas. In total we had six adults, four kids under 3, and three dogs. The kids loved it and called the RV "the bus". We had a good time and were able to go shopping, the guys went golfing, and we took Max and Aubrey to see Tangled in 3D. Thanks to Chris and Kathie for letting us take over their house for five days - we hope it wasn't too bad.









This past weekend was also the first snow we got. Aubrey wanted to go outside to play right away - I don't think she remembered the snow from last year. She wansts to wear her boots all the time now and walk in the snow - she helped Daddy put up the Christmas lights this weekend too.





Not sure when I will have the time to blog again this month as our December is filled with 30 year old birthday parties, two year old birthday parties, work parties, xmas parties, breakfast with Santa, and of course Christmas. Will have lots of pictures soon!

Aiden is Seven Months

Aiden is growing so fast and seems to be getting bigger and bigger each week - I am sure we will reach the 20 pound mark soon. He can sit up all by himself now and wants to be a part of the action with the kids. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to laugh hysterically at Aubrey all the time. Everything she does he is fantasized by. How they are interacting is so cute and we have tried to catch the laughs on video camera a couple of times. Aiden is slowly becoming my happy baby and smiles most of the time. He'll let you know when he is hungry or tired by bucking when you hold him - a trait Aubrey also had when she was a baby. He loves his food and wants to be a big boy and eat real food, but hasn't mastered the hand to mouth coordination yet. We also recently went and got pictures taken of Aubrey and Aiden - they turned out so cute! Here is our favorite one:

You can tell how much they adore each other!

Our big little boy . . .

October flew by

Here's a couple of picures to show what we were up to in October . . .



Pumpkins . . .


More pumpkins . . .


Smiles . . .


More smiles . . .


And dressing up!

Aiden is Six Months

Happy half birthday Aiden! You are well on your way to becoming our big little boy. We don't have a doctor's appointment until next week to compare stats, but I think you may be close to around 18 pounds. You love to smile and lots of people have been commenting on what a happy baby you are (little do they know that is just because you are being held by mommy or daddy all the time). The ladies at daycare are still trying hard to get you to take a bottle, but you eat baby food well so that is what you have most of the day and then nurse most of the night. So that means still not sleeping thru the night but you are working on it. You love laughing at Aubrey and she loves to entertain you. You are getting so close to sitting up by yourself and can do it for a couple of seconds before tipping over. You like to jump in your jumperoo and watch the doggies. You make lots of noises and like talking to yourself in the morning when you first wake up. Unfortunately, you have also been our sick little baby for the past month with ear infections and a chest cold which you needed an inhaler for for wheezing, but you take it like a champ and are barely fussy. The doctors called you a happy wheezer but all you did was smile for them! We love you more and more each day - if that is even possible - and want time to slow down so we can enjoy these stages as long as we can.





You and mommy have had lots of "mommmy and me" time recently. We have enjoyed trips to daddy's rugby games and we even took a trip to Michigan for Lucas' baptism with grandma and grandpa while daddy and Aubrey stayed home. You had lots of fun playing with mommy in the car, sleeping with mommy in a hotel, and playing with cousin Lucas. Mommy and daddy were Lucas' sponsors and here is a picture from the day.

Aiden is Five Months

Aiden is more like five and half months now, but I haven't had the time to blog with two busy little ones. Aiden's biggest accomplishment this month is that he has finally learned to roll over. He can roll from his tummy to his back, but has yet to do the other way. I think it took him a little while longer because he has always hated being on his belly (a huge difference from Aubrey who loved laying and sleeping on her belly). He is getting the hang of it now and will play for short periods of time on his belly. He would much rather sit up or stand (with help) to see whats going on.

Aiden is learning to like his baby food, but would much rather eat what we are eating. He won't open his mouth sometimes for baby peas or green beans, but will always open up for our mashed potatoes or to suck on a piece of fruit.

He is still not a very good sleeper and wakes up about three times a night. I have accepted this and think my body has adapted to little sleep. Aiden goes down about 7:30 0r 8pm and I have to wake up at 4:30am for work. He takes multiple small cat naps throughout the day.

Aiden is definitely a growing boy and already wears 6-9 month clothing. We will see how much he weighs at his next 6 month visit.

Here are some pictures of Aiden this past month and from when uncle Andre came to visit. He loves to smile!

Mommy's big helper and cereal

Aubrey has turned out to be a great big sister and wants to help with Aiden whenever she can. Aiden has started cereal and Aubrey has to be the one to feed him every night. We are working on getting the spoon to his mouth (not his eye) and gently putting it on his lips (not down the back of his throat)! Aiden is a trooper (not gagging too much) and just enjoys the entertainment of his big sister. He has yet to master swallowing but will get a couple of spoonfuls down. I am sure once we move to fruits and veggies he will get the hang of it and my laundry load will increase due to Aubrey's feeding technique.

Not sure . . .

Thinking about it . . .

Success!!

Sister and Brother

More weddings and Visitors from Germany

Congrats to my cousin Matt and his new bride Sharon. They had a wonderful but hot outdoor ceremony and a fun reception at the PAC. These pictures are stolen from Erika. (If you notice, Aiden and Mya are missing from some of them - thank you, thank you Emily and Brian!)















The next day Dominic's parents had a cookout for Dominic's aunt, uncle, and cousins who are stationed in Germany right now. It was good getting to catch up and made me realize what good babysitters I am missing in Dominic's cousins - Aubrey loved them!



And I had to post these cute pictures of Aubrey and Layla from the other weekend - getting them both to smile and look at the camera was hard, but adorable.