Baby Weston

We went to Cincinnati last week to see the Wiggles. The other reason for going was to visit Sheri and baby Weston. Cara and I have been wanting to go for awhile now. I saw the Wiggles were going to be there so I thought it would be the perfect time. It was also Sheri's birthday a couple of days ago so even more of a reason to go! Weston has been at Childrens Hospital in Cincinnati for 2 months now. He will be 9 months old on the first of September and has been in the hospital his entire life except for a couple of weeks here and there. It has been a hard and long road for him. He has multiple issues, but the one that is keeping him in the hospital is the issues with his lungs. They just can't seem to get him off the big hospital ventilator. The have attempted to wean him off several times to a vent that he can have at home ( even then he would require 24 hour nursing care) but his little body just can't handle it right now. I think the next step is to discuss long term care. The Rasberries have some difficult decisions to make in the near future. Can you please pray for Weston and the Rasberry family? Sheri very rarely leaves Weston's side and she continues to be upbeat. She has a husband and 5 year old at home ( 4 hours away) that she misses terribly. She is Superwoman in my eyes and I don't know how she does it. "All things are possible with God" is the only way I can describe it. Weston was resting comfortably on Wednesday and Thursday so we were able to go out to lunch and she was able to take a little break. I was so happy that we were able to see her and spend a little time with her and that very special baby.

Sheri and baby Weston Aidan making himself at home at the hospital

at the Ronald McDonald house. I was so happy Sheri finally decided to get a room there. At least she now has a place to sleep when Weston is having good nights and a place where she can get a meal. It is a VERY NICE place. Please consider throwing in your change in the "Ronald McDonald House" fund the next time you are at McDonalds. They do so much good for so many people.

Cara really wanted to go on the "Duck Tour" while we were there. It is a vehicle that goes both on land AND in the water and they give you a tour of Cincinnati. They gave us these "quackers" to blow while we were on the tour. It was Aidan's favorite part. He also LOVED the part when we went down in the water.

I LOVE this look on Aidan's face. It says, "Im rotten and I know it". lol!

The Wiggles!

On Wednesday Cara, Aidan, and I made a 4 hour road trip to Cincinnati. It was a multipurpose trip but one thing Aidan and I did was to see the Wiggles! I have been wanting to see them for sooooo long ( and I thought Aidan would enjoy it as well- lol!). No really Aidan received some birthday money from Gigi. I gave him a choice of going to the toy store to buy a new toy or to go see the Wiggles. He chose the Wiggles and I couldn't have been happier. The show was so good! I couldnt believe the energy of those guys! The theme was "Wiggly Circus" and they actually performed some circus tricks. Those guys have to be in such great shape! It was high energy for 2 hours straight. Aidans favorite was "Hot Potato". Thanks Gigi for the birthday gift!

There were a couple of surprises. First Murray ( the red wiggle) was not there. He evidently had some family obligations and was replaced by Rico. I loved him! He did a great job. The second surprise was when Anthony came out ( my personal Fav!). He has the most striking blue eyes and great salt and pepper hair. He came out and was totally bald! I couldn't believe it. He had shaved his head and had NO hair! Sam made a joke during the show and called him "Sinead O'conner" of course all the adults were howling.

It was a very long day and Aidan was a little tired to say the least. We drove 4 hours, spent the afternoon at the hospital ( more on that later), drove to another friends house and then went to the show. He wasn't able to take a nap that day but loved the show. I have some cute video of him dancing and then pooping out ,laying on the seat, and sticking his thumb in his mouth that I will post later. enjoying some cotton candy. He needed a little "pick me up" after a looong day.

Anthony doing one of his "tricks"

Fruit Salad. Yummy Yummy! ( how do you sing that song for 18 years and STILL do it with SO MUCH enthusiasm?)

Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car. ( Notice Anthony's bald head)

Wake up Jeff!

Jeff is more than awake!

The stand in Wiggle- Rico with Dorothy the Dinosaur.

Wags

Henry the Octopus

Jeff being the strong man

This picture cracks me up

Toy Soldiers. Jeff, Rico, and Sam actually came into the audience during this part and picked up flowers for Dorothy and Bones for Wags ( the bones were donated to the humane society). I got a close up picture of Sam but it didn't turn out.

Chevy, Fords, and Buicks oh my!

Aidan's fascination with cars and trucks continues. He names every single car he sees as we are driving down the street. He can identify Fords, Chevy's, Buick's, Kia's, Hyundai's, Dodges, Toyota's, Hummers, Saturn's and Jeeps. Last week I took him to the library and he got his first library card. He decided to check out some nonfiction books on cars and loves them! He chose one titled Muscle Cars and one titled Hot Rods and one titled Corvettes. I am learning a few things myself. Did you know there is a difference between Hot Rods and Muscle Cars? The era of muscle cars officially ended in 1971. Hot Rods are cars that are made from an old car and turned into something else. Who knew??? He also got some other alphabet books. He really loves anything that has to do with letters. He is such a little sponge right now and it is so fun to watch!

Aidan is in the questioning stage right now. You know the stage where they ask 1000 questions a day, enough to make you tired by the end of the day... I love it though and answer each one the best I can and never say " I don't know". I know it is his job right now to ask questions and this is how he is learning. I also know that it wont be long until he knows everything and mom knows nothing so I am going to enjoy it while it lasts. I was happy the other day when Cara and I went to Hobby Lobby. Cara said that she would take him for awhile. I said " good ,you can answer questions for awhile" . lol. By the time she handed Aidan back ( about 30 minutes later) I think she was already exhausted. lol. She said that she was so flustered by the time we left that she forgot to go to Kohls ( another store she had intended to browse in) lol! A funny story- Cara had Aidan in the shopping cart. She told him " I need to go over there to find something" ( I think she wanted to find a wreath). Aidan responds "if you are in a store and lose something you go to lost and found, that is where you find things that are lost". I LOVE 3 year old logic! I have to say I am really enjoying him being 3 so far.

One of Aidan's favorite things to do when he is playing with his riding toys is to play "traffic jam". lol! so here are some pictures of Aidan's "traffic jam".

Aidan has finally worked up the courage to drive his jeep that Mimi bought him for Christmas. He didn't go far but at least he wasn't terrified of it.

After that evening of play we came inside and it was about 15 minutes until Aidan's bath time. I told him he could play downstairs while I did a few things upstairs. I came down at 7:30 to get him for his bath and this is how I found him. Passed out cold! There are more days than not that he DOESN'T have a nap so we have been having earlier bedtimes. SWEET!

Aidan rides the little yellow bus

Last winter I bought Aidan this little yellow bus. I paid $5.00 for it at Magic Mart. He hasn't played with it much at all since I bought it home. In the past couple of weeks it has become his favorite toy! He RIDES it everywhere around the house. Needless to say it is NOT a riding toy. I am just waiting on him to crush it. You can see from the picture that it is starting to collapse and he has peeled most of the sticker off. Oh well, at least we got our 5 bucks out of it. lol!

Boy talk

The weather is starting to cool off a little ( meaning it is not in the 90's) so I decided to take Aidan to the park this evening. It is always hit or miss when we go there because I find not many people take their kids to the park in WV. I guess it is because in WV people actually own land with their property ( unlike California) and most kids have swing sets in their backyards. We were in luck today because there were a couple of families there and one man had 5 boys with him! Yay! Aidan was in HEAVEN! I feel so bad because Aidan is SUCH a social butterfly and LOVES playing with other kids but as an only child he is stuck here with me all day. I attempt to put forth as much effort as possible to put him in situations where there will be other kids but its still not the same as having another little person he plays with on a regular basis.

There was a little boy there today named Aaron who turned 4 yesterday. Aidan immediately sought him out and climbed on one of the horse swings with him (its hard to explain the horse swings as they are ANCIENT- but it is basically a swing with a horse on each side, so 1 kid or 2 kids can ride- so much fun for the kids!) Being the social butterfly Aidan Kai is, he immediately started a conversation with Aaron. He was shy at first but it didnt take long for him to warm up to Aidan. I LOVED listening to their 3 / 4 year old conversation. It went something like this...

Aidan- "my name is Aidan"

Aaron- just stares at Aidan

Aidan- "I like your shoes, did you get them at Ordstroms?" ( Aaron had on Crocs. I bought Aidan a pair of Crocs this summer at Nordstroms and he LOVES them and begged to wear them to the park this evening but I made him put on his sneakers) .I'm pretty sure this is not a question most 3 year old boys would ask, but he IS his Mama's boy! lol

Aaron- just stares at Aidan

Aidan- I'm 3.

Aaron- " I'm 4, my birthday was yesterday"

Aidan- "Did people come to your house?" "What kind of cake did you have?"

Aaron- " I had a baseball cake"

Aidan- " Oh, I had a train cake"

They then proceeded to get off the horses and move on to the next set of horses. I'm not sure why I was so entertained by their little exchange of words but I found it to be super sweet. I guess it is because it is showing me that Aidan is growing up. He no longer just plays alongside other kids but does his best to interact with them as well. Sigh... My baby is DEFINITLEY no longer a baby.

So Aidan spent the evening at the park laughing, giggling, playing tag , stepping in mud, getting dizzy on the merry go round, climbing, swinging, sliding, and getting filthy dirty. Just as we were about to leave the ice cream truck showed up. Aidan sat happily with the 5 other boys and ate his ice cream. It was a perfect summer evening! I just wish I had my camera.

The picture above was taken last week the morning I told Aidan we were going to the pool. He immediately got his swim trunks and put them on over his pajamas. You cant see the pants because the are pushed up. lol! I think he is making a fashion statement.

When it's just to hot to go outside and play...

The temperature has been inching up and last week we had a heat index of 105. It has been to stinking hot to go outside and play. I like for Aidan to play outside as much as possible but we have gotten very little outside time this week. I have been looking for activities to keep us busy. I have had this finger paint for a long time now and decided it was finally time to break it out. I wasn't sure how he would like it since he is kind of funny about putting his hands in strange textures and doesn't especially enjoy "messy play". However, he really enjoyed it! His favorite thing to do is run his cars through it, but you can see from the pictures he did put his hands in it. We now have about a dozen masterpieces around the house. lol!

I have been working on Aidan's baby book today. I am keeping this blog as a "baby book" of sorts but I started a book a couple of years ago and decided to go ahead and complete it. I have spent a lot of time today going through his blog to get dates and so forth and looking through old pictures and videos. What a treat it has been! I'm so glad that I started this blog to document his life and our adventures.

As you can see I got another blog makeover. Nikki from Blogs for a Cause ( see sidebar) did it for me. This is the third time I have worked with her and she never disappoints! I love it!

staying cool

The weather has been so hot and humid here lately so we have been finding ways to stay cool...

1. having water gun fights...

2.keeping cool ( and looking cool I might add) at the wave pool...

3. playing at a friends pool...

Summer + Water = Fun Times!!!

The lessons learned from being Aidan's Mama

I would first like to apologize for the REALLY bad grammar and spelling in the last post. Aidan woke up from his nap and I didn't get a chance to proof read it. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it. HA!

Lately I have been thinking about the lessons I have learned from being Aidan's mama. He teaches me so much every day. I decided to sit down and start documenting them. Here are the things I came up with off the top of my head....

-sometimes if you whisper it is more effective than raising your voice.

- Hot Wheels have many different uses. They can run on train tracks, can talk, and are especially fun to run through finger paint.

-Sometimes cheese and crackers are ok to eat for breakfast.

-If you ONLY want to eat cheese and crackers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for days on end that is ok also, as long as it means you are eating something.

-If you use a Clorox bleach pen, Tide stain remover, Oxy Clean, AND regular detergent it still isn’t powerful enough to remove Aidan size stains.

- little boys should never, never, never wear white ( see above).

- Sometimes kids ways of doing thing is MUCH more effective than adult ways of doing things.

- A water wheel can be moved by energy from water , wind power, and good old boy power.

-When you are shooting baskets they can be worth 2 point, 3 points, 4 points, or 8 points. -whatever you feel they are worth at the time.

- Mosquitoes and ice cream do not mix, especially when they get stuck in the ice cream on your face. Ouch!

- cushions thrown off of a coach make a GREAT obstacle course.

-sometimes it is better just to sit back and watch to see what a person can create rather than giving instructions on what to create.

Thank you Aidan for teaching me and reminding me about the innocence and brilliance of childhood. I love you !

Aidans 3rd birthday part 2

For Aidans official 3rd birthday party we had a Thomas themed party. We invited a few neighborhood kids over. I was really excited that Sheri and Lauren could be there. Weston is still at Childrens Hospital in Cincinatti so please continue to pray for him. Sheri came home for the weekend and Jeff ( her husband) stayed with Weston. It has been a LONG time since I have seen Sheri and was soooo happy to see her! Cara also came as well as Nana Deuce and Cousin Terri, of course my mom was there too! We felt blessed to have so many family and friends around.

I got creative for this party and I have to admit it felt REALLY good to be creative after a 3 year break!

Here is Aidans party in pictures.I had to break it down into 2 seperate posts because there were so many pics. The bulk of them are in the next post.

Aidan with his Thomas "3" shirt. I love it!

The birthday cake.... Weeee..... Aidan is 3! I also put a railroad track on the sidewalk.

To begin the party I read "Trains, Cranes, and Troublesome Trucks". It was the theme of the party and one of Aidans favorite books.

reading the story.

The kids then did a craft and made their own trains.

continued in the next post......