Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Little ladybug birthday






Here are a few pictures from Kaylen's first birthday. She had a great time. While I don't think she realized all the hoopla was centered around her, she was thrilled to have so many people she knows in one room. She loved all her new toys and had a great time demolishing her lady bug cake. So, now she is officially a toddler. That sounds so weird to say. Baby or big girl, we will continue to enjoy all her sweetness. (until the terrible twos hit that is...yikes!)




Thursday, October 15, 2009

Following Kim's lead

So a friend of mine, who followed a friend of hers, decided that blogging, while fun, often creates this picture perfect world of your life...whatever! So, in order to keep it real, here are just some of the not so perfect things going on in my life:

*Kaylen is a year old this Saturday and is still using a pacifier at night. I said I would break her of it by 8 months at the latest. I know I need to do it, but I'm one of those mothers who just can't make her kids "cry it out". So, when she has buck teeth later in life and hates me for it, I deserve it!

*On the topic of Kaylen and hitting the one year mark, she is no where near walking. You never want your kids to be "delayed" in anything, so of course I worry. To be honest, she is kind of a chicken. Through the inner workings of my private mind, I know I want to raise a smart, strong, independant woman. I know it is weird to associate her walking timeline with her personality traits of adulthood, but as a mother you constantly worry.

*Aiden, bless his heart, is the social director of life. This is not a good thing. He has his "rules" for everything! Games, playtime, bedtime, eating; you name it he has rules that go along with it and when you don't follow the rules, life quickly becomes a meltdown. I know that this is partly just his personality, but I also know that I have been a part of this growing bad habit. For Aiden, I do not worry about him becoming a strong, independant sole...this will not be problem! However, I do want him to learn that we all need to work together and get along. You can't always have your way and you need to be part of the solution, not the problem. Trust me, we're working on it!

*Aiden can't draw...period! I fear the right side of his brain is actually not intact. He can scribble like nobody's business, but to actually draw anything coherant; good luck. Shouldn't he have learned this by now? Worse yet, was I suppose to teach him and didn't!

*I have had so many "bad parent" moments, I have lost track. Every time I say it will be the last time, but of course that doesn't happen. I just hope my kids aren't old enough to remember my mistakes and that someday I will hone in on my parenting skiils before they realize what a bad mom I am (kidding - just some days).

*I'm going back to school. While I know this will be good in the long run, I contantly worry that this is affecting my family in the present. Am I spending enough time with my family? Is my homework distracting me from my family? Really...how irritable am I from the late night of studying? Only time will tell.

*Trent and I have become one of those old married couples. Yikes! When did that happen? We never go anywhere, we never do anything. Luckily, we rarely ever fight, but sometimes I don't really feel like we converse either? While I love our kids to death, sometimes you can't help but admit they suck the life out of your marriage. On the other hand, the kids have strengthened us in many other ways, so I guess you take it one day at a time and hope for the best.

*This year, my Dad turns 60. My Mom is not that far behind. This sounds so old (sorry Mom). I know the day will come that I won't have my parents to lean on, and that scares me to death. They are my rock. They are always there for whatever I need; cooking tips, parenting advice, plumbing & electrical emergencies, or just general life instructions. What is worse is the thought of explaining to my children why they can't see their grandparents anymore. Life lessons are the hardest to learn!

This is only a small glimps of the many worries and fears I think about on a daily basis. You do the best with what you have and hope for the best possible outcome. I'll go with the Beetles - all you need is love. If I need more than that, I may be out of luck :-)

Friday, October 2, 2009

Visit to the fire hall


The fire hall had their annual open house a while back. What a perfect chance for Aiden to go check out some real fire trucks. They let all the kids get in the trucks, play around with the sirens, the whole bit. It was awesome. Now, (shocker) he wants to be a fireman when he grows up. That or a transformer...it's a toss up.




Monday, September 28, 2009

I'm a big girl now!

I can't believe it, but Kaylen is 11 months old already. I have ordered all her birthday stuff, but still can't fathom it's time to actually have her first birthday party. SO bitter-sweet! I was gone for four days last week (conference in Dallas) and she changed so much in the short time I was gone. Before I left, she was barely pulling herself up on the furniture, was crawling but not very fast and was very hesitant at walking. When I came back, she was pulling herself up on everything in site, crawling like a mad woman and will walk anywhere as long as she has something to hold on to. How quickly they change :-)

She is also getting quite the vocabulary. Here is her growing list of words:

Mama
Dadda
Aidan (Ayda)
Dog
Cat
Hot
Uh Oh
Wow
Hello (Heywoh)
Up
Yuck
Papa
And her first two word sentance: Papa Bill

Thursday, September 3, 2009

First day of school



Today was Aiden's first day of preschool. Amazingly, it wasn't as sad as I thought it would be. To be honest, I fully intended for HIM to have some tears over the whole ordeal. He is still a mama's boy and pretty hesitant with new situations. Well, not today. He ran in, hung up his book bag and went on like he owned the place. I had to go chase him down to get a hug and kiss goodbye. Ouch...hurt to my ego. Really, it was nice to see him act like such a big boy. So, I have a few years to get myself used to the preschool schedule and then it will be on to kindergarten. That may be a bit harder!







Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Irrigating with Grandpa Bill

Here is Aiden's comments after irrigating with Grandpa Bill last night:

Aiden: "Grampa, whatcha doin?"
Grandpa: "I'm setting this dam so we can irrigate"
Aiden: "Grampa wees not 'pose to say damn"

The Grrr Reen Wall Duhs

Trent, Kristin, Aiden and Kaylen