Disneyland

For my birthday mom, aidan, and I went to Disneyland. We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe and it was yummy! We actually did not even make into the park until 4:00 by the time we finished lunch and shopped at Downtown Disney. Shopping is my FAVORITE thing and it was MY birthday so it was ok. We ended up spending from 4 until 8 in the park and that ended up being the perfect amount of time. I was so excited to get Aidan his first pair of mouse ears! The only problem is that as soon as I put them on him he pulled on the rubber band strap and snapped himself in the cheek. Poor baby. He has wanted NOTHING to do with the mouse ears since then. We have made several attempts to get a good picture of him with them on since then with no luck. Mom bought him a Mickey baseball hat and we have managed to get him to wear it. Aidan was a trooper and only slept one hour the entire day and that was in the car driving from San Diego to Anaheim. By the end of the night I just went ahead and put his new Mickey pajamas on him so he could just crash in the car on the way home and I put him in the bed when we got home.

Unfortunately Clinton had to work so he was not able to participate in the fun. However, something tells me we wil be taking many more trips to Disney in the future! As for me it was the perfect day!

Lunch at the Rainforest Cafe

Aidan was so cute meeting Mickey. The first thing he did was reach over and pull on his nose.

Us in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle.

The hat that we DID manage to get Aidan to wear.

Having a blast on the carousel

and the Dumbo ride....

standing in line to ride the train

AH! Disney at night. Absolutely magical!

The castle at night.

Aidan in his new Mickey P.J's watching the birds and dancing in the Tiki Lounge.

My only regret of the whole day was taking Aidan to ride the Pirates of the Caribean ride. What the heck was I thinking? That ride is dag gone scary for an 18 month old! It is amazing how you suddenly start "seeing" things differently when you become a parent!

Mimi is here!

Mimi is here! We picked her up on Wednesday from the airport. We went straight to Seaport Village for a yummy lunch and ice cream. Yesterday we celebrated my birthday at Disneyland! What a blast. Here are a few pictures of the first day. I will post Disney tomorrow.


The reunion..... mimi and her baby

Aidan looking very happy after some Ben and Jerry's
Silly boy. I know this isnt the best picture as Aidan was attempting to grab the camera but I LOVE the look on his face. It is sooo Aidan!

Blast from the Past

Since my camera is dead and I havent gotten any pictures this week, I thought I would post some pictures of Aidan this time last year. It is so amazing how he has grown and changed! He is not a little baby anymore but a toddler.

Mimi will be here tomorrow! Did I mention on our last visit to my moms Aidan decided her name is Mimi and NOT Nana! Go figure. Aidan just started calling her Mimi one day and the name stuck. We are so excited to see her. I am sure she will have her camera so I can resume my picture taking. We are taking Aidan to Disney on Thursday for my birthday so stay tuned for pics....

Last January Aidan had just learned to sit up on his own!

Oh the exersaucer! I think this is by FAR the best invention for moms!! It provided HOURS of entertainment!! A MUST for every mama!

New Look!

How do you like my new look? Nikki from Blogs for a Cause did it for me. I highly recommend her! She is soooo great to work with and all of the money she receives goes to fund her mission trips or to charity. Quite a young lady! Her link is on the side.

I have been watching the inauguration all day and I have to say I am really impressed. I am not a huge Obama fan but I am willing to give him a chance and see what he can do! I love how he wants to move the country forward and END the war! Is it possible there may be peace at last? I really enjoyed his speech. Oh and I looved the fact that Rick Warren did the opening prayer! I used to attend his church when we lived in Orange County. I had a few problems with the church because they would not allow babies in the sanctuary but I have to say that just about everytime Rick taught I was moved to tears. He is a man with a HUGE vision of peace throughout the world! He teaches that Peace begins in the home. Speaking of which I have also been on facebook today and some of the hatred that is spewing from some peoples mouths ( although it as been mostly VERY supportive) is just so pitiful and sad. The racist comments are just the worst and something that I dont tolerate very well. I dont understand racism at all! Sure you may have your beef with individual people and groups but to hate an entire race just because they have different colored skin than you is just wrong! How can a person that has so much hate have peace in their heart? All I have to say is that Obama has a h*** of a job ahead of him and I would not want to be in his shoes in a million years! I will judge Obama not on the color of his skin but what he can do as President. Like I said I am not a huge Obama supporter and kind of skeptical but lets see what he can do. Now.... this is Aidans blog about him so this will be the last of my 2 cents on the subject, so those of you that are gritting your teeth right now can just relax.

My camera died in Australia and I haven't gotten it fixed or replaced yet so I am having picture taking withdrawal. I have used Clintons a couple of times. Above is the picture of our "Cookie Monster" Aidans newest trick is to get food out of the pantry. As you can tell he found the cookies and my doesn't he look proud of himself! He has had a cold since Saturday so he was having a pajama day that day. Thankfully he is feeling much better now!

Baby #2?

Lately Clinton has been talking a lot about adopting again. I surprisingly have mixed emotions about this. We always talked about having 4 children ( mind you this was before our first). I LOVE kids and LOVE being a mama, but wonder what it would really be like having 2 children. I have a tough time imagining what it would be like as I am an only child. I know this may sound terrible, but I cant imagine loving another child as much as Aidan. I am afraid the second baby would be like second best ( ok- now I sound really bad). I also think about things like the fact that Clinton travels a lot and a lot of the time it is like I'm a single mom. I also like to travel and sometimes I do it solo when I am flying to the east coast. This means they would outnumber me! Now I know some of you may be laughing your butts of right now - especially those people with multiple kids. I read other peoples blogs who have 2, 3, 4, 5+ kids and I am just amazed! I really admire and respect these people.

As I think about all the negative aspects I also think about the positives... Kids are just amazing creatures and especially babies. I KNOW I have it in my heart to love another child as much as Aidan and that my love would only double. I also personally think that Aidan would make a great big brother. I watch him play with other kids at places like the park and wish that he had more opportunities to play with others. Now I am not totally naive and I know there are LOTS of siblings out there that don't get along even as adults! Hopefully, this would not be the case. The thought of another child warms my heart.

Just the fact that I am thinking about this so much probably means that we will eventually end up adopting again ( especially since I just saved our homestudy agency under "my favorites" yesterday). I am not sure of the time frame. I would like to start the process after Aidans second birthday ( there is just something about a 2 year old that I think they need their mama more than ever at that age) and so hopefully we would bring home another bundle of joy closer to his third birthday. The only thing I can do is leave it in Gods hands and see what happens!

adventures in showering and Aidan uses a fork

I have been really lucky in that Aidan is a great napper. Up until the past week he would always take a 2 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. It has always been my routine to shower and get ready during his morning nap. Yesterday when I still had my pajamas on at noon I realized I would have to figure something else out. I needed to get out of the house fairly early today so I had to get ready early. I think Aidan might be a little busier than most babies ( at least that is how it feels to me) You literally can not turn your head without him getting into some type of mischief. His favorite place to get into mischief is the bathroom. I decided to bite the bullet today and experiment with showering while locking him in the bathroom with me. I childproofed our very large bathroom the best I could and put out a clothes basket of "non toys" that I knew would peak his interest ( think fly swatter, brush, little box of costume jewelry, etc...) . Our shower is a glass stall so I could watch him the entire time. He immediately took the bate and proceeded to examine all the "stuff" I put out for him to explore. This took an entire 2.3 minutes and he was offf... to see what he could find. What I forgot to do is block the toilet with the seat to my make up table so this was his first target. He ran over to the toilet and proceeded to unroll the entire roll of toilet paper and put it into the toilet. His next target was my glasses that I mistakenly laid on my makeup table just before I got into the shower ( I made sure daddies glasses were protected but forgot about my own). I ran out of the shower and grabbed them just before they were getting ready to go snap. I got back in the shower and hurried up and got back out just as he was opening the drawer to my makeup table and was getting out my makeup. That little boy can destroy a room in no time flat! After I got dressed we had a serious conversation about "NO NO things" and " YES YES things" ( the title of one of his books). He protested a little but at least he played with the basket of stuff I put out for him while I dried my hair and finished getting ready. Yikes!!! There are millions of moms in the world and I am SURE they are able to shower while they have toddlers. I just need to find out their secrets. Ha Ha... Any suggestions?

Now on to some pics. Yesterday Aidan used a fork for the very first time. He ate some sgetti ( as he calls it) and was very proud of himself....

Open wide....
Tee Hee... I just managed to get some sgetti in my mouth!

Did you see me use that fork mom?

Now let me see how my Chargers are doing! oh not to good!

What am I modeling?

Back in the day when I was teaching special needs students I realized what a powerful tool modeling can be. I havent really given this much thought lately until the past couple of days. Aidan is modeling everything he sees Clinton and I do. Yesterday he decided to get out Annabelles dog food and feed her. He got the patty out of the package and attempted to tear it into little pieces like I do ( but because she eats freeze dried raw meat I had to immediately take it away from him). This morning Clinton got a soda out of the cabinet and opened it. Aidan followed right behind him and got one out too. He attempted to open it ( the correct way mind you) but his fingers are just to little. All this monkey see monkey do business has really got me thinking about exactly what am I modeling for Aidan? I want him to grow up an intelligent and compassionate young man. Before Aidan was born I was really into making a difference for others and making a difference in the world ( mainly through teaching and work). Since he has been born I have been the all consumed mommy. It has been so much fun being a stay at home mama and just having him to worry about. It is time to think about what I am actually teaching him. I want him to grow up thinking about others and how he and his actions impacts the world.
I think it is about time that I start modeling that for him! I'm not sure what that is "going to look like" but I see volunteer work in my future. I have always felt drawn towards orphans and individuals with special needs, so it may be something along those lines. I am going to start being very conscious of everything I do and how I treat others on a daily basis. That means giving a hand to people I see in need, supporting others when I can, and yes maybe even giving money to those individuals begging for money ( although I have mixed feelings about this because why exactly are those individuals begging for money and not looking for a job?- ok maybe I get to stop being judgemental as well).

It is really hitting home what an awesome responsibility it is to be a parent. I intend on doing the very best I can!

Pictures from Oz Part 2

Today I have finally managed to get Aidan on his regular schedule. He has been sleeping in really late and going to bed really late. He is back to his 7:45 bed time and 7:00 wake up time. We have been busy since we have been home. Jemma is still here visiting from the UK. We went to Seaworld on Sunday and whale watching yesterday. We saw some really beautiful whales and dolphins. Yesterday afternoon Aidan had a well baby doctors appointment and got stuck 3 times ( poor baby). I am happy to report that the doctor says he is doing well. He is in the 90% for height and 50% for weight. I got a little worried about him in Australia because he went through a " no eating" phase for a couple of days. I figured it was due to the 6 teeth he got while we were there. Aidan is still walking on his toes at times so I talked to the doctor about my concerns. She said we would keep an eye on him until he turns 2. At that time we will discuss a referral to a neurologist. She thinks that it will work itself out. The fact that most of the time he walks on his entire foot is a good sign and so Cerebal Palsy is not a concern.

Tomorrow I hope to get the rest of my Christmas decorations taken down and stored. I also have another project I am working on. The back room of our house is a mess. It is a multi purpose room. It is where we have our big screen, a play area for Aidan, tons of DVD's and anything else that hasnt managed to be unpacked since May. It is also where we have our company meetings and where people sleep when we have guests and the other 2 guest bedrooms are occupied. It is my goal to get everything organized and stored. I want the area to be functional and for us to have a system for the DVD's so our employees can check them out. I will take some before and after pictures for you. I am sure it will take some time.

Now here are the final pics from Oz.....

Every evening we would take Aidan somewhere like the park to blow off some energy. While we were in Cowes the fair was in town, so one night we went there after dinner. Mamas sweet boy

Riding the teacups with Aidan

Clinton blowing off some energy doing some flips at the fair.

Clinton and Josh ( his god son and nephew)

Me and Melissa

Me and Lynette

Blowing bubbles with Bec

Playing in the sand with Auntie Lynette and Bec

The Nobbies at Philip Island

Eating at a Chinese restaurant for Malcolms birthday.

The surprised birthday boy

New Years eve we had sparklers, glo sticks, played rummy, and watched the fireworks from Sydney on tv ( we are getting old)

A sand castle display in Frankston. There were lots of dinosaurs there all made from sand.

Wow this is a big cucumber! From Grandma Helens garden.

Feeding the Wallabys at the wild animal park.

Look closely and you can see the Koalas asleep in the tree behind us.