Day at the zoo

Clinton has a rare weekend off, so we decided to go to the zoo today. I have been wanting to come to the San Diego Zoo since I moved to Southern California 6 years ago. It was awesome experiencing another "first" with our sweet baby boy.

I also wanted to let everyone know that my baby slept longer than ever last night! He slept from 8:30 straight through to 7:15 YIPPEEEE!!!! Yeah we are at the zoo! Just up from a nap and raring to go.

Mommy and Aidan at the Pygmy Hippo exhibit. They were so cute.

Can you find Aidan in the aquarium?

Daddy getting some sweet lovin'

Waiting in line to see the Pandas.

Meet sweet Zhen Zhen. She is 10 months old just like Aidan. She is also a busy little baby just like Aidan and sooo fun to watch!

Daddy getting some sweet toe sugar.

You like my new hat? Mommy bought it for me because she says it fits better than my other one.

AAHH a peaceful sleep after a full afternoon at the zoo.

Fun at Gymboree

Aidan and I went to Gymboree for the first time today. How fun! Aidan had a ball. It consisted of "circle time" ( I hate to admit it but I almost started crying because I have lead so many circle times myself and now MY child was participating in one! but I got myself together so all the other moms wouldn't think I was crazy!) If I haven't mentioned it Aidan loves music so he was very into the songs -clapping his hands and giggling. Also, if I haven't mentioned it Aidan has become very active so he loved all the movement activities with mommy during circle time. He then had free time where he got to explore lots of different tunnels and play with the balls and crawl around the mat. They closed with goodbye songs, bubble play, and parachute play. Aidan was mesmerized by the bubbles. It was probably the only time he sat still the entire time.

It was really interesting observing Aidan when we first got there. This is the first time we have ever been in a setting where there were other babies and moms. Most of the babies were being very shy and sitting on their mommies laps. Not my child- he immediately crawled over to the baby beside of us and started "talking" to her. His eyes were filled with amazement like "Hey there are other little people like me". He made it his job to go and visit with every mom and baby there. I think I have a charmer and social butterfly on my hands.

It is getting very difficult to get a good picture of Aidan because he is always on the move. Here are my attempts from today and the past couple of days. This is to much fun mom!

Aidans first name tag - how cute.

watching the bubbles in amazement

Playing with the balls.

O.k. mom please put the camera down and come play with me.

Playing in the living room with his bag of blocks. He would much rather play with the bag than the blocks.

catch me if you can!

Oh you want me to pose - sorry it is just not going to happen I just don't do that anymore, I have to much to see and to many things to do.

Here I come!

Here I am!

Sunset and kisses

Every night when I rock Aidan to sleep I always have a beautiful sunset to watch. I thought I would share one of them with you even though the pictures don't do them justice. We also have great views of the city and Qualcom stadium at night. My camera could not capture those images. View from Aidans bedroom window

View from the balcony off of our bedroom.

This is just a cute video I took of Aidan the other night after his bath. The lighting is terrible but you can see him giving mommy "kisses" before he decides to flip over ( something he always does in about 3 seconds when I have him on his changing table if I don't keep him occupied by giving him a toy or singing to him)

Why we moved to San Diego

We had a great weekend. I was reminded why exactly we left the beautiful Newport area and moved to San Diego. It was not a special weekend. We didn't do anything for Memorial Day. As a matter of fact Clinton had an event this weekend- which is the point. Normally he would leave around 4am on Friday morning and we would not see him until late Monday night/ early Tuesday morning. It would be just A and I for the weekend. Don't get me wrong I LOVE spending all the time I can with my baby but daddy would be gone 4 of the 7 days just about every week. This weekend it was a different story. Clinton still worked 20 hour days this weekend, but at least he was home every night! Also, every day Aidan and I would go see him at lunch time and stay and watch the course for a couple of hours and watch daddy in action. We would then drive 15 minutes home when Aidan decided he had enough. It was great! Aidan loved seeing his dad and getting to spend time with him and not to mention all the other attention he got from students and staff. Aidan was going through a little spell where he had stranger anxiety. Can I tell you that this spell is history. He would reach out for just about anyone around for him to hold him. He actually broke mommies heart a little this weekend when a student basically highjacked him from me and kept him for almost an hour. I was watching from the back of the room. She was playing with him and making him laugh. It broke my heart when I went up to her to reclaim my baby and the little stinker didn't want to come to me! Traitor!! Just kidding. I am glad that he is getting used to being around other people and feeling comfortable. I know he must get tired of looking at my mug 24/7.

Although I am still learning my way around and getting used to the area I am glad we moved to San Diego. It was the right thing to do for our family.

On a different note, this evening after dinner the light was streaming in through our sliding glass door. I thought it would make for some interesting pictures. Here are the results.

This is a picture of Annabelle barking at her own reflection in the window. Too funny.

This is my favorite of the bunch.

Bees and Aidan's new skill

Bees Bees Go AWAY!

One of the problems we are having in our new house is with the bees. They decided to move in a couple of weeks before we did. We have done everything to get rid of them including killing the hive and the queen and then sealing the hole so the returning bees could not get back in. The dag gone bees will not get the hint and just leave. So every day when I walk out of my house with my baby I have to walk under a hive of bees. They decided to nest conveniently above my front door!

As I was driving yesterday to meet Clinton for lunch Aidan decided to start spitting. It is a new skill that he is having fun perfecting. When I was feeding him dinner last night he decided to spit while he had food in his mouth with the result being food all over me and the table. I had to run and get my camera to get it on film. The video is a little dark which is a shame becuase the look on his face is priceless. I guess boys will be boys!

Walkin' with Dada (or something like that)

Aidan has been pulling up for over a month now. Clinton has been "walking" with him since he has been 3 months old. He is acutally getting good at balancing ( although not really demonstated in this video). In the background you can see all the toys and stuffed animals I have used to block the edge of the fire place attempting to make it safe for him. It took him all of 1/2 day to figure out how to crawl over the stuff I placed there and crawl on the brick ( now that cant be very comfortable for the knees).

Aidan will be 10 months old next week. I started planning his birthday party last night. I was going to have a huge pool party to utilize our great new space but have decided to do something small with a rubber ducky and frog theme instead. We will still have it outside by the pool area and invite only a few special people to come over.

The house is coming along nicely and I will take some pictures once we are totally done.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Back Online!

I'm here at my new house!

I think it is really cool I have so much room to crawl, but mommy still has me blocked in so I can't go far.

One of the hiccups we have encountered is no air conditioning. It really wasn't a big deal until we had a heat wave. It was so hot in Aidans room I let him take a nap in his pack and play downstairs where it was still fairly cool. The guy was here today looking at it so he could fix it.

No more living with boxes everywhere. Yee Haw! Although Aidan thought they were really cool to use to pull up.

Yeah! I am finally back online and able to post. We have been here for 2 weeks and we just got internet connection today. Clinton has been using his air card, but I have been without service. I never realized how much I used the internet until I went without it. There were so many things that I thought " oh I'll just look it up on the internet - including directions which are much needed especially when you are in a new city- and then I remembered I didn't have it yet. What a great feeling to be back online.

Our move was successful with only a few hiccups and we are settling in nicely in our new digs. I only have a few more boxes to unpack and a few things to put in the attic. Somehow we managed to fill this entire house up which is 3 times the size of our townhouse. It just shows me how cramped we really were living. Its nice to have a "place for everything and everything in its place". It is also nice to be able to utilize our kitchen table again and not have stuff stacked in piles everywhere!

Aidan is adjusting to his new environment. He has plenty of room to crawl around and is loving it! He is pulling up on everything and cruising around the furniture. I don't think it will be long before he starts walking. He will walk with Clinton holding on to just one hand. Mom and I took him for his 9 month check up before we moved and he now is 30 inches tall and weighs 20 lbs

Annabelle is having a more difficult time adjusting. She is terribly allergic to something and has many sneezing fits throughout the day. She is also having problems with her neck again and has been whimpering around a lot. I gave her some of the medicine that I had left over from when she had neck problems last year and it seems to be helping. We have artificial grass here and we live on a huge hill with a hillside across the street from us. There is no place really good for her to walk and go potty. She has been forced to use the bathroom in the weeds and dirt which of course she hates. She just looks at me like "Why are you making me walk in the dirt?- you know I hate to get dirty" .

Mom went home on May 1st a few days before we moved and we miss her a lot! We are hoping she comes back for Aidans birthday in July!

I have 1200 emails to go through ( 95% which are junk mail) today. If you have emailed me and I haven't responded I apologize!