Our 1 year old

I want to give a recap on the busy day we had today and write about how I think Aiden's birthday party turned out as adorable as I hoped, but I'm tired.  That recap can be tomorrow.  Right now I'm just going to say Happy Birthday to the sweetest one year old I know.  

I can't think of anything Jon or I wouldn't do for this little man in our life...for either of our little men.  I know Aiden won't remember his first birthday but to me it means a lot to celebrate the life of a boy who means so much to us.  Before having kids, I couldn't quite comprehend how much having kids would change my life but I know they have changed me for the good.  I don't know whether or not if Aiden is our last child but I still can't help feeling nostalgic and wishing that time had slowed down just a bit.  

Happy Birthday, cutie.   

Life lately

Anyone else loving the fact that it's starting to feel like spring might be coming soon?  I know it snowed/hailed today but on Saturday, I barely wore a jacket...and that day gives me hope for future weather. A couple weeks ago, we had a few nice days in a row and we took full advantage of those.

 I'm excited to build a house in the future, but I have to admit that it's nice having three parks within a 1-5 minute walking distance.   I keep trying to convince Jon that since we'll have a larger piece of land, we have to include a playground in our landscape designs.  I also want an indoor pool, huge kitchen, sitting area in my bedroom, walk-in closets, the highest materials possible, jacuzzi tub, library, vaulted ceilings, workout room, and an apartment attached.  For some reason, he thinks I'm slightly unrealistic. ;)  Oh yeah, and I want a huge greenhouse that I can turn into my tropical getaway...and a mini house for guests.  I obviously have humble tastes.

Also, Aiden has been to multiple doctors because he failed his hearing test.  Wanna know the answer they all give me?  Earwax.  So what do I do?  Give him baths every day and pour warm water in his ear and take showers at night with him because he can't sleep because his ears are hurting him(and nope, he has no ear infection).  Finally, the last doctor I go to mentions there's this magical little bottle, that's over the counter, that can soften his earwax.  Am I the only person on this planet that didn't know that stuff existed?  I'm really glad I've paid hundreds of dollars for doctors to say, "get his ear wet and come back in a week" and then tell me he still has earwax.   Maybe doctors think something so obvious isn't worth mentioning but believe me...it is.

Good thing Aiden has a great time at the doctor's office.

This last Saturday, we all went to a birthday party for Kami's little boy and the boys were in little kid heaven.  Trampoline, swing set, dart guns, junk food...pretty much everything Patrick could ever want in life right now.

 Aiden really loves the slide.

 Any else have a problem taking group pictures with little kids? ;)  It's like we were yelling, "Hey, no one look at me!  Yep, just keep examining that grass everyone.  Or cry, that works too."

Patrick really loved the trampoline.

That pretty much sums up anything exciting that might have happened lately.  Other than that, we've just been working and trying not to go crazy inside.  I should become one of those crafty moms that has fun crafts for her kids but I'm just not.  And I'm starting to accept that about me and that I can be a fun mom in other ways.  Like, wrestling with my kids and giving them piggy back rides or chasing them around outside.  I love my little boys more than I can say but these winter months make me simultaneously bored yet pushed to my emotional limits.   Numerous times a week, Patrick points to his swimming gear and asks for summer to come.  At least we're on the same page.  I hear ya, bud.

We're pretty much the next flappy birds :)

Flappy fins is now ready for you all to download. :)

Sooo...remember how I mentioned a few months ago that Jon and I are developing apps together?  Well, we posted our first game tonight!  We're still working on our original games(they're a little more in depth) but when flappy birds came out and became so popular, we(along with every other developer in the world) did our own knock off.  So even though there are a million flappy...things, please download our game and we will be your best friends forever.  If you want us to be.  Also, this game was put together really fast and I think I spent a total of one hour on the graphics(note: I got my degree in music and I barely know how to turn on the computer so the graphics thing is all new to me) so be relatively kind to us in your reviews but we do want to know what you think.  Just don't write something like, "hey, this is the dumbest game I've ever played.  Nothing like flappy birds."

Thanks. :)

Right now it's only available on android devices but it will be coming soon to ios and whatever else is out there... Jon's the technology person so I should have had him write this post.

Here's our icon.  

 We just posted it and have a total of 3ish downloads so it's a looong ways down the list of flappy games so just keep scrolling down until you find it.  Or, you can find it faster by typing flappy fins jaybird in the search bar.  For those curious, the word jaybird is part of our "company" name.  Jay was my dad's middle name so the name was/is a dedication to him.  If you don't see the splash screen when you first open up the game, it's because Jon's trying to add it as I type this.  It might not be updated until tomorrow.  But, the game is still available to download.

We realize there's another game called Flappy Fins.  It's dumb.  Don't download it. ;)

My boys

After having no pictures for my last post, I decided it was time to break out the camera...ipod.  (My last post now has updated pictures for those of you interested in taking a look.)

I'm really glad I get to hang out with these two all day.

                                         
I'm already looking forward to and dreading the day they go to preschool/kindergarten.

11 months on Valentines Day

Guess who turned 11 months old on Friday?

Valentines Day happened to fall on the same day Aiden turned 11 months old.  Karolyn and my mom were kind enough to volunteer to watch our kids on Valentines night until Saturday morning so, we celebrated his 11 month birthday by dropping him off. ;) Really, I wasn't sure how he would do sleeping away from home but he didn't skip a beat and did really well.  Thanks again, mom and Karolyn!  It was definitely a nice break.

Aiden hasn't changed very much from his 10 month post but he's getting more and more vocal all the time.  He now says mama, as well as dada(Jon was pretty excited that dada was his first word), but usually mama just comes when he's upset.  When he sees food he says nana but I'm not sure if that's because that's what we call bananas or if it's random.  Either way, he's in the phase where he vocalizes most everything with grunts or cries.

His stubborn side has definitely come out.  Goodbye to eating anything we put in front of him.  His taste buds have developed more(I guess that's what it is) and while I wouldn't say he's incredibly picky, he definitely lets us know when he doesn't want something.  Usually he'll toss all of his unwanted food to the floor and watch the dogs eat it.  He's gotten really good at pointing to what he wants and if he doesn't want it, he shakes his head quite emphatically.  It's really cute, except for when I really want him to eat his peas.

On Sunday, Aiden took his first 2 steps!  He hasn't done more than one step since then, but he's getting there.  I have mixed emotions about this.

I can't really say what Aiden prefers to play with.  Usually he wants whatever Patrick has.  He still likes to chew on everything but I guess, going along with the walking thing, he likes to play with things he can push.  Ex: his walker, laundry baskets, wagons, tonka trucks, etc.  He is definitely my water baby and could play in the tub for hours if I let him.  When he's not in the tub, he likes to find water wherever he can get it.  Lucky for me, that includes the dog bowls and the toilet...

He's learned to clap, point at what he wants, and wave hello or goodbye to people.  I love watching his uncoordinated wave.  Aiden knows he has him mom wrapped his cute little finger.

In less than a month my baby turns a year old.  I already started shopping/planning for his birthday party because I am so excited but the other part of me can't believe a year went by so quickly.  I love the baby phase but at the same time, I find it so cute to see Aiden and Patrick become more interactive with each other.  Here's to one more month of calling my baby a baby.  I might have to start thinking about getting me another baby soon...;)  Completely kidding.  Two crazy little boys who are dependent on me for most everything, mixed with potty training and teething, mixed with incredible morning sickness sounds about as appealing to me as chopping off my own arm. :)

Anyway, we love you Mr. Aiden!  I don't know what I would do with myself if I couldn't look forward to those slobbery kisses all over my whole face.    

We're done with this winter stuff.

This is how we feel about winter nowadays:

Just as I started bragging to people about how we have avoided most of the sickness this year, we got hit.  And once we got hit, it was like our immune systems shut down and we started getting sickness after sickness.  This isn't a pity post, I'm just sayin' we're a little tired of being cooped up in the house.  We're ready for some warmth and sunshine!  Remember that post where I said we loved snow?  That happy feeling is gone. ;)

I'm just extremely thankful that my kids are pretty happy while they're sick and when they don't feel well, they conk out at night...for the most part.  I can only think of one night that Aiden woke up in the middle of the night wanting some cuddling and a bottle.

Aiden failed his hearing test(he needed to be checked since he'd been in the NICU) so we ended up at the doctor's office to see if he had an ear infection.

Who knew the doctor's office could be fun?  I never leave wishing I could stay longer...

 Turns out, small ear canals+ear wax=not that great of hearing.  We go back to check his hearing in another week so hopefully the ear wax was the only problem.


Among all of this sickness stuff, we've managed to have a little fun.  Like the superbowl!  What an intense game...

This is what the kids did while the adults were yelling.  If you can't tell by Clayt's shirt, we were rooting for the losing team. :)

It's been pretty dang cold here(hello, I had to go deliver something this morning at 7:00AM and froze my tooshy off, almost literally), so I have zero desire to bundle up the kids to go play outside.  Our outlet?  McDonalds!  Thank you indoor playground.  Thank goodness their chicken nuggets are so healthy for us.

Oh, and laundry baskets have been pretty fun as well.

 Remember when I posted this picture of Patrick around the same age?  That year and a half sure went fast...

I'm beginning to think all my kids will look nothing alike.

Cross your fingers we start getting some warmer weather around here.  30 degrees would be nice...we have to be a little realistic.

Patrick at 2 1/2 yrs.

Patrick,

Today you turned 2 1/2 years old.  You keep growing so quickly, I wish you would slow down!  At the same time, it's so fun watching you grow and change.

What would we do without you, bud?  You keep life exciting, frustrating, happy, and crazy.  Mostly, happy. :)   I love watching how good you are with your brother(except when he takes your cars), I love watching how good you are to other little kids and I love seeing how much love you have for your aunts, uncles, grandparents, and your parents.  I can't get enough of hearing those words, "I luh you, mama."  Every morning I walk into your bedroom and you say, "Oh hi!  Guh mornin mama!"

We took you to McDonalds the other day and my heart burst with pride as you played with the other kids and were so kind.  A little boy was hiding under the slide and you climbed under with him and said, "you okay?  you need help?"  And from that moment on, you two were best buds for the rest of the time we were there.  A little bit later you saw a little girl crying and you went up to her, hugged her, and said, "you want mommy?  what matter?"  She started playing with you as well and you would hold out your hand to help her up the steps or over little obstacles. Aiden was trying to play in the baby section, and you kept coming over to him to make sure he was ok.  Moments like those make me so proud of you.  Yesterday I read a story to you about a little baby elephant whose mom leaves him for a little bit and you started crying for the baby elephant.  I was surprised that you understood so much of the story but I was more surprised that you had so much care for what happened to the baby elephant.  It was a moment that I got to see just how tender and caring you are.  I hope you never lose that sweet spirit that you have.

Keeping it real here, as I'm typing this post you just tried taking the Mater truck from Aiden, causing Aiden to fall and hit his head on the kitchen floor.  You are definitely protective of your toys and have a habit of pushing Aiden over when he's trying to get in the way of what you want.  Each day consists of a little crying from Aiden as you try to steal whatever toy he's playing with because for some reason, the toys that someone else is playing with are always more fun than the toys you're playing with.  However, on the upside, you are so quick to say you're sorry and give a hug.  We're just working on skipping the violent part before the hug comes. ;)

You're vocabulary is increasing all of the time.  You're always speaking in sentences but more and more of them are becoming clear.  You sometimes have your own language and add words into the phrases but you're getting there.  A lot of times, your sentences will sound something like this; "hey mom, me ma wants a me ma play with a ma truck!" Meaning, "hey mom, I want to play with a truck!  Or, "I want a me ma blankie!"  Meaning, "I want my blankie!"  I don't know where you got it from but you love using me and ma as filler words.  We're working on it.  One of your favorite phrases to say is, "Sure, mama!"  Conversations go like this a lot:
                                 Me: "Hey Patrick, do you want some food?"
                                 Patrick: "Yeah, sure."
                                 Me: "Do you want a sandwich?"
                                 Patrick: "Sure, mama.  Sure, sure, sure, sure"
I don't know what it is about the word, sure, but you really love it.
                                   
As far as counting goes, you can count up to ten and have done it all by yourself before but rarely does that happen.  Usually you just count up to three and then want someone else to count with you.  I think your counting skills come from counting so many cars over and over again.  Mom is almost as obsessed with keeping track of them as you are. 

By far, your favorite toys are cars and play doh.  Preferably you play with the two together.

You also love reading books, playing in the bath, playing in the snow, going to the park, wrestling, watching movies and jumping on anything you can...usually your bed.  

This week we started the potty training thing for the third time and I think we're finally ready.  You're more ready and just as importantly, if not more so, mom is also more ready.  Today you went on the toilet without any coaxing from anyone.  We're crossing our fingers that the process keeps going well.  It's time. ;)  

Patrick, bud, you mean the world to us.  You keep mommy and daddy on our toes and sometimes we lose patience and forget that you're only 2 but you are incredibly patient with us.  We love you.  We love your endless hugs and "I luh yous."  You're in the phase where you like to try to push boundaries but I wouldn't change a thing about you.  You add so much to our family that would be impossible to replace.  We love you, bud.

Mom and Dad

Aiden at 10 months

Aiden,

Today you turned 10 months, little man!  Where does time go?  Today I was thinking about how I only have a couple months to start thinking about/planning your birthday party.  You're still my little baby so I don't even want to think about that yet.

This month you said your first word.  I was rooting for you to say mama and we all know I tried to encourage you into saying it but dada came out first.  It was about a week ago when daddy walked in the room for bedtime and you excitedly said, dada!  Daddy was so proud. :)  The last couple of days, mama has come out more often but usually it's because you're upset over wanting some food.  At least you still associate me with food. :)

You're walking along furniture like a pro but haven't gotten the desire to walk out on your own.  You have a walker that you like to push around for a little bit but you're quite content to just crawl around for now.  Mommy is more than ok with that.  No need for you to grow up faster than you have to.

You still eat food like it's the greatest thing ever and the only thing I can think of that you really haven't liked is horseradish.  Sorry to put you through the torture of trying it, but we were curious if you'd eat, literally, anything.  Not quite, but you're pretty darn close.

You're still pretty easy going and love to play with whatever your brother is playing with.  If Patrick isn't around, you favor blocks, legos or stuffed animals.  You love to take blocks, or anything hard, over to the kitchen floor and throw it down just to hear the noise.  You're content to play by yourself but you get over-the-top happy when someone is paying attention and playing with you.  I guess dumping things out of buckets is pretty great, too.

This month you finally through broke two bottom teeth!  I haven't been able to get a picture where you can see them clearly but you're pretty cute with those little teeth.

You love to throw your head back and forward while saying ahhhh-booo!  Sometimes it's more like ahhhh-buh but either way, it's adorable.

Jon took this picture this morning during Aiden's first nap

We love you little man.  We love your sweet spirit.  We love your constant smiles and laughter.  We love all of your slobbery kisses.
Happy 10 months!

Done

Humor me for a moment while I contemplate over the last few years.  6 years ago Jon returned home from his mission to the Dominican Republic.  5ish years ago he re-started school back at BYUI and soon after that, he married me.  Over those last 5 years of school, we have acquired 2 dogs, worked 1, 2 and 3 jobs at a time while going to school full time, bought our first car, moved into the first place we could call ours, had 2 adorable little boys, neglected friendships, built relationships, painfully watched my father battle cancer and cried more times than we can count because of the challenging journey we're on called life.  We're tired.  More like, exhausted.  But we're done...for now.
I am so grateful that we can say goodbye to the chapter we call, "the college years."  How nice it will be to not say the words, "do you have a lot of homework and work tonight?  I guess I'll see you around bedtime, then."
To be honest, there were a lot of times we wondered if it was worth it.  For some, college life is great but for others it's a challenge.  I enjoyed college but I was single.  Supporting a family and going to school is soo much harder and even though we wanted to quit, I am so glad Jon didn't.  He knew getting a degree would be good for our family.  Education is important and we want our children to know that we think it is important.  All of those years of sleepless nights and all of those hours of studying set Jon up to do jobs that he loves.  I'm so grateful for that.
I'm grateful that I was able to see our little family get stronger, despite the challenges around us.  I'm grateful that I could fall deeper in love with my husband as I saw him struggle under all of the pressures he was under and rise to the occasion.  I love knowing that no matter how busy he gets, family is still the most important thing to him, by far, without question.  There were many nights he had an overwhelming homework/work load to do and he'd push it aside to listen to me cry...and then he'd stay awake till all hours of the night finishing what he needed to.  I'm pretty happy I get to be his partner in life.
Challenging times have a way of showing us just how strong and capable we are and I hope that's the lesson we learned over these last few years.  We're stronger than we thought we were.

2013 wasn't perfect but we were blessed.  It brought Aiden to us which was definitely a highlight of the year.  It also brought a new job, my first triathlon, races, camping, a 2nd birthday for Patrick, graduation and lots of other experiences that I am grateful for.  I feel like 2014 is going to be a good year for us.  I hope it will be.  I've come to learn that you can't rely on anything happening how you plan it, but we do have a long bucket list of things we want to accomplish.  Either way, I'm happy to have loved ones by me, including these cute boys.

Happy New Year.  Here's to hoping 2014 is a good year for everyone. :)

Aiden,

I have a half written post about how your dad finished college this last month and a post to write about New Years and highlights of this past year but for now, I just want to write a post about how much you are loved.  Hopefully you and Patrick will look back on these little notes, someday, and see just how much you are adored by your family.  Aiden, I don't know how else to put it.  I adore you and your sweet spirit.  You've been pretty sick these last couple of days, little man, and it breaks my heart.  You are so miserable yet you, somehow, manage to stay in good spirits and give your mom those adorable smiles that make me happier than I can express.  You have been our biggest gift this year and I don't know what we would do if you and your brother weren't apart of our lives.  I think I need you more than you need me.  You remind me of everything good in this life.  Trials have tested our family over the past couple of years but you remind me that there's so much to be thankful for.  You remind me that there's a bigger plan.  At the risk of sounding cheesy, you radiate goodness and brought with you a little piece of heaven when you were born.  I love you forever, little man.
Love,
Mom