Glasses

Finally getting around to getting my Christmas present...I know I know. But it's been the last thing on my mind. I know why I never get glasses over contacts. Holy crap they are expensive! But now since my prescription isn't changing drastically year to year I finally bit the bullet. I could have picked them up right then if I was normal, but having so much astigmatism required a 2 week delay. Boo!

My doctor was running a Buy 1 Get 1 Free promotion and I was ALL over it (Thanks Dr. V)! So I began the hunt...no, no, maybe, no. Why are finding frames so hard? I narrowed it down to 1 after 30 minutes of looking, and of course it didn't come in black and brown or it would be simple. So I asked the lady helping me to find frames to fit my round face, she should be good at that right?! And yep she did great! Picked one I would have never picked.

So I got 1 metal (Vera Bradley) and 1 plastic (Guess). Different looks and exactly the same price. $179.

Seriously $179 and that was just for the frames. Of course the ones I liked were all $150-250. lol Then add in the lenses $95 each plus the non-glare (required for how much I'm behind a computer) $99 plus the EV 4.0 (required because of my astigmatism) $30 you are looking at $499 each!

Having a mini stroke yet? lol Wes about did when I told him the price, hence why I told him to seriously not get me anything else for last Christmas I just knew it was going to be bad. (He's so lucky to not be blind like me!!) Now you see why I was so excited to get another one FREE!! Just imagine if I had to pay for both contacts and 2 glasses out of pocket. You are looking at like $1500. Dang you special eyes! lol Thank goodness for insurance for covering one!

The sole purpose of me getting them now is I'm hoping night feedings won't be so awful this time because I won't be blind!! haha Less straining, less headaches = Happy mommy! Plus it will allow me to take my contacts out earlier to give my eyes a break. I am very happy with my purchase and just hope Aiden and Brody have their daddy's eye sight!!

Happy Times

Adult night was so much fun. However we got lost in the maze several times. lol It doesn't help when people rip off the question to tell you which way to go....I can't imagine going to it when it's "haunted" I would FREAK!! Seriously, we were so close to the corn we were walking in single straight line. Total children of the corn thoughts running through my mind. But luckily it wasn't haunted that night. :-)

Sunday was a good day. I finally got to see my nieces! Aiden was so excited! We haven't seen them since March due to circumstances. But I hope we can see them some more. Aiden got some more battle scars too. He has SO many bruises all over him (clumsy kid). When they were out on the 4-wheelers he rides on the back seat and next thing Grande knew he let out a little whimper so got pulled up front with Harlee when we see the knot by his right eyebrow. Poor little guy must have hit the metal part. He is one tough kid though. (He's showing me all his "boo boos" in the pics)

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Guess who's Christmas gift came in Friday. Brody! We love it! Almost done with my Christmas shopping...3 more to go! yah!

Found the perfect gift for my "nephew", Ryan. lol Love him like family. Can't wait for our boys to grow up together! He will be right around the starting stages of crawling so what's better than to chase a dog!? Especially when you're in a dachshund loving family.

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Sad I don't get to see Brody this week. My doctor's ultrasound tech is on vacation, so I get to see him twice next week. Monday and Friday! Getting so spoiled.  As the end is coming near I think I'm most worried about Aiden. I hope he doesn't get too jealous. One good thing is Daddy isn't playing winter baseball so they can go on adventures while Mommy is home.

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I think we have finally hit the "terrible 2s". He's not too terrible, but his favorite word is "No" and not listening. Feel like we are constantly snatching him to the side whispering "What did we say about that word. You don't say that to mommy or daddy. If we tell you to do something you do it. Yes Ma'am/Sir.". Quickly followed by a soft and quiet "Yes Ma'am/Sir. I love you." with a big hug. Been waiting for this day....

Yesterday morning Aiden was super cranky and just not listening. I was already feeling bad, lots of pressure, and just wanted to sit back down, but we had to get out the door so I could go to work and him school. After the 6th "No" I wanted to lose it. But I went in the bathroom shut the door. Told Aiden I needed a moment. He's at the door banging "Mommy what's wrong?" Caught my breath opened it and asked him "You tell me why Mommy is upset?" then he replied "I help now." THANK YOU! Cranky morning babies go down early that night. Payback for the awful mornings. lol

Movements

I finally did get some good news. My hemoglobin levels are good. Passed something. lol
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Aiden is becoming a football lovin kid. Both Monday and last night we let him snuggle in bed with Daddy to watch the games. Resulting in both of them passing out...it was the cutest thing ever! He loves him some daddy, can you blame him?!

Where was Mommy? Well from 7-10pm Brody was a WILD man (one reason why Aiden was on Daddy's watch). I'd never seen my stomach move that much. I was in so much pain! My pelvic bone was just throbbing because he was kicking/punching so much. I tried everything to get him to calm down. Rubbed my belly, took a "relaxing" (not so relaxing this time) bath, but nothing worked. Misery.

Then when it came bedtime I was so exhausted and in aftershock pain I could barely move. You could forget laying in bed. I slept on the couch sitting completely up, pillows all behind me to relieve the back pain. Doesn't sound comfy, but trust me it was! Slept like a rock.

These rough nights happen at least 1-2 nights a week now. So this weekend I'm going to take it easy. No projects, no cleaning other than basic dish cleaning, and maybe I'll do 1 load of laundry. I'm trying to save my energy for Saturday night. Me and Wes are joining some of our close friends for dinner and going to go to the non-haunted corn maze while Aiden spends the night with Gabby and Grande. It's nice to have some adult time with our friends.

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We live out in the country part of Memphis, so Aiden gets to experience seeing different things grown and harvested. After the corn came the cotton. Seems like it grew in no time, because they are already bundling it up and clearing the lands. Aiden has been calling the cotton "snow" and the barrels are "big snowballs". lol Maybe this year he will get to play in the real snow longer than he did last year.
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The other day we had our team breakfast at Cracker Barrel and my sweet coworkers surprised me with a gift basket. We are good on the clothes front, so I really appreciated all the baby essentials since we don't buy them anymore because Aiden isn't a "baby". Sniff Sniff! Oct 6th is our Diapers and Wipes shower our friends are having for us. Can't wait to for that! We have such amazing people in our life! So blessed!

Good with the Bad

It's official my body is telling me this is my last child and there is no doubt Brody will arrive via C-Section. As much as I wanted to have him natural, I just want him to be born without complications. So I will take what I can get.

As I mentioned before. Ever since I failed my 3 hour glucose test awhile back I've been tracking my sugars and faxing them to my doctor and nutritionist weekly. Then since Sept 11th we decided that I need to have weekly ultrasounds and blood samples taken. The good, I get to see Brody with the bad, my arms look all jacked up from blood being drawn (bruise easily).

My sugars are doing great according to my doctors (yes doctors. never thought I would be seeing 2). Brody didn't gain much weight they were predicting maybe an ounce gained. But now the concern is all my fluid. Not only am I labeled "high risk" now I get another label. Polyhydramnios. I had high fluid levels with Aiden but apparently it's a lot more this time. Apparently Brody didn't get the memo that the swimming pool is closed after Labor Day. lol

Normal fluid levels may vary, but are usually considered an AFI of 5-25 centimeters or a fluid level of about 800-1000 mL. I was measuring 34 centimeters yesterday. When they told me the normal range I knew I was way over, so thoughts ran like crazy. Was it something I've done? Can I stop it? What does this mean?!

They did comfort my uneasy mind. And it explains why this time I've been having more pains and aches. It's been putting more pressure on my lower back. Why I get so tired when I feel like I'm barely moving. Why my feet are already swelling and after busy days just throb in pain.

So why is this happening? Gotta love this answer. "We don't really know the true relating causes for high fluid or even low fluid. Everybody behaves differently." Ugh. Not what I wanted to hear.

What does this mean? I will continue my weekly ultrasounds. I might be put on bed rest (desperately trying to avoid this....because my huge upgrade project goes live Oct 14th. Must be able to come in the office until then at least!). During those ultrasounds they are going to be paying close attention to Brody's development because he might have to come out even earlier at 37 weeks (Halloween baby).

The one thing they are focusing on the most is his lung development. They can't finish his ultrasound until they see multiple breathing movements. And if it's like yesterday it took nearly 30 minutes. Brody was in full on nap mode. The tech had to push on my belly multiple times to try to wake him up (ouch). Which only made Brody turn over sticking his butt up in the air. Tap tap tap again. He rolled to his side. Then they had me lay on my side. Nope Brody was napping hard.

So they brought out the buzzer?! If you have ever had that whoa it feels weird. Buzz! Oh cow Brody got pissed! Kicked and punched me like crazy and rolled over (OUCH!). A few breathing movements but they wanted to see more. Buzz! Again I was a punching bag but finally he let them get a good view/records. Thank goodness!!!

Right now our sole goal is no preterm labor, so I won't have to have an emergency c-section. I'd prefer to "bake" him to 39 weeks Nov 12th, but if he has to come at 37 or 38th it will be okay as long as he's ready. No NICU please!

Sunflowers

I told you these would eventually be posted. ;-) Here are a few out of the billion I shot. Have I mentioned how adorable my son is?! Cheeseball!

Fun weekend of projects in our household. Never ending.....
Wes got to experience once again the joys of puttying drywall and sanding in a tight space (Brody's closet).Then he put up the kitchen fan! YAH!! SO SO SO excited about this one. Now I won't sweat while I'm cooking. lol Both our kitchen AC vents are on the other side of the room far away from the stove, so once you have the stovetop and oven on it really heats up over there. The little things make life better. I bought it in July (haha yes we are just now getting around to installing it) back when all Hunter fans were on sale. Regular price $159. I paid $114!! Felt like I was stealing it. lol

And I got both Wes and Grande's approval. Goes perfect in the kitchen, and you know I love the burlap shades! It was really hard finding a bronze under 48in blade fan. SO much better than that dim light.

This spring I will finally get around to painting the ceiling. lol At least I know now the color I want. I'm excited to break out of the box from white ceilings and go a tan/buff color.

Since today was Wes' off day it was mainly daddy-son bonding over football, while mommy started some organizing/little projects in the kitchen. My feet were throbbing by the end of the day. Aren't they just cute! Carbon copies but at least Aiden has the McDanal blue eyes :-) Got something from me at least. lol Love them!

My 1st project today was making Apple Butter. Since I'm going to be on maternity leave during Christmas time, I had to think of something to give my coworkers in November. It's my 1st time making it...dang was GOOD and easy!!

2nd project was clearing as Wes says my desk aka the kitchen table. We have no true entry way or mudroom so it's my dumping ground for Aiden's stuff. Well a while back I made Aiden a command center board and now that there is 2 I made one for Brody. I painted over holes (I'd chalked months ago haha) and hung those puppies up with a new hook system. Can't wait to add Brody's picture and bags!

3rd project/chore was basic decluttering and cleaning the kitchen and laundry while Daddy and Aiden went over to Gabby and Grande's to help cover the pool. You wouldn't think I would be so tired, but my feet were definitely sore from standing all day. Nothing a long relaxing bath can't handle.\

Can't wait to see Brody on Wednesday!

Wipes

Well we had a frustrating night and day. Last night I'm doing a load of laundry and noticed both our toilets start to bubble.....uuuuuuhhhh what is that?! Then once the washer started to drain the hall bathroom near the main line started to backup. Both the toilet and tub. GROSS!!!!!! Our bathroom was fine.

The next morning I stayed home to wait for Roto Rooter. Wes took a shower and used our toilet no issues. So I did a test since the hall bath went back down overnight...out came the plunger. Toilet flushed fine and water drained in the tub. So I did a load of laundry. Bubbles again, but no backup. I move on to our bathroom by cleaning our jets (I fill it all the way up with hot water, 1 cup of bleach and vinegar and 1 tab of dish detergent run it for 10 minutes). After it was done it tried to drain. I noticed it was barely moving and the hall bathtub started to have a soapy backup. YUCK!

Then the repair guy shows. He ran a bunch of tests too. No backups for him. But I didn't clean the backup from the night before so he knew it did occur. (Our luck nothing happens). As he was working in the hall bath he informed me that Aiden's flushable wipes are probably the issue, and bubbles always indicates the main sewer line from the house to the street is having some type of issue. So out came his big machine and camera. No roots in the line (thank goodness) and oh wait......there it is. WIPES! UUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!

Our line is now clear and I will never flush another "flushable" wipe again! He informed us that those things are horrible. Yes they are flushable, like they get through the toliet, but then they get stuck in the main lines because they don't disintegrated as fast as tissue. UGGGGHHH wish I knew that. It was a over $200 lesson, but at least it won't happen again. Live and learn right?! So watch out mommies and avoid those "flushable" wipes.

Brody in 3D

Warning. Random post with lots of different unrelated topics.

I swear Aiden says the cutest things these days. We got Buzz Lightyear and the backup Rexy in the mail (but he only saw Buzz). As we all were in the living room playing and hearing about his day, we asked him if he likes Buzz. He says "Yeah! Buzz keeps paci safe and Rexy keeps juice safe." hahahaha well that's just great!! I was worried there for a minute. ;-)

Then at bedtime he wanted Rexy on one side and Buzz on the other. Both tucked underneath the covers too. Oh and I had to give them kisses goodnight too. He is so cute!
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Wednesday, I had to work from 2:30am-10:30am, on call yuck but I have to do it once in awhile so it's not too bad. But I told Aiden Gabby was taking him to school because I can't leave my PC and he was SO SO excited...I imagine this drop off will be very hard. He asked today if she was coming to school and I said she was going to work like Mommy and Daddy. "I wanna go to work." hahaha Go for it!
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We have the best neighbors as I've mentioned before! Always doing sweet things for us. Wes comes home this afternoon to find a card at our door with a gift card and a thank you note for mowing the ditch all summer. So unnecessary, Wes does it regardless. Good deeds always returned.
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Our big thing we are working on with Aiden is not to bully. This weekend he definitely showed us what he's got. We gave Carlos and Aiden a drink, next thing we know Aiden is getting mad at Carlos (hitting him and yelling) because he thinks he took his drink. But it was sitting next to me. I told him over and over no no that's not yours Aidens, here is yours. Didn't work because next thing we know Aiden TOTALLY man handled Carlos and pulled a WWE move on him taking him to the ground. Carlos is in complete shock. I snatch Aiden up, spank him, the waterworks gets pouring. I explain to him what he did wrong and to tell Carlos he's sorry and give him a hug. But I definitely want to nip this in the butt because with him being the size of a 4 year old it's very easy for him to "bully".
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Now the real reason of the post.
Tuesday I was at the doctors office from 8:30-11:30. Man! I met with my nutritionist, then my obgyn, but to start off the day I got to see the Brodster! Last time I got to see him was during my 19week appointment. Everything looked great, they got some great pictures due to the large amount of fluid. His position is horizontal, head on my left side. We caught him sleeping his back facing up and his head tucked into me. Once we got him moving she was so surprised I could feel all his movements because of the amount of fluid, I was like ehhh I feel EVERYTHING! (The one good thing about lots of fluid, great pictures. But it explains why I have trouble sleeping sometimes and have to stay elevated.)

I now have to go in weekly (yeah for seeing him that much!) to measure. But right now he was weighing 4.5lbs, small considering I have 10lb babies. lol They were expecting him to weigh 6! OMG! His head isn't measuring HUGE haha ear to ear it was normal (maybe he will get to wear all the baby hats Aiden never could wear). 10 toes and 10 fingers. We could see some hair on his head. They also had to turn on the 3D for some shots needed so they turned it on for my facial shots. :-) I was excited about that since I never did that with Aiden. He looks JUST like his big brother! What do you think?!

It's kind of amazing all what they could see. They took pictures of his kidneys, stomach, heart, esophagus, spine, umbilical cord point of entry on him, and normal head, feet, tummy shots. Then they flipped a switch and it was blue and red lights showing his blood flow. Very cool. Then they took sound waves of his umbilical cord (did you know it pulsates?) and his heartbeat was 156bpm.

I'm definitely getting more uncomfortable now...my belly is rock hard and because of all that extra fluid the doc said I should take it even more easy these last few weeks. Easier said than done, but I will try. I still have the biggest organizing project left....the kitchen. It might take me more than 1 weekend to finish that at my recommended pace. :-( Daddy is finishing up on Brody's closet this weekend and next (finishing off the dry wall, installing baseboards, painting, installing the organizer fun stuff right!?)

Weenie Dogs

The weather here is AMAZING!!!!! A thunderstorm came through on Friday night after several days of 100 degree weather causing it to drop in mid 70s! Heaven!!!

Since Daddy was off both Saturday and Sunday we relished in it. Saturday we headed to the Germantown Festival to watch the weenie dog races. Yes you read correctly. Quite hilarious! (Soooo signing up Erica's dog next year) But after walking around for 2 hours Mommy was spent and we were quickly approaching nap time. However we wanted to do one more "fun" thing for Aiden. Stopped at the local yogurt shop. Yum!

Once Aiden woke up from his nap it was off to Gabby and Grande's for a sleepover and man was I happy. I was exhausted! So thankful for the little breaks, but I missed my little guy and he was SO happy to see me Sunday. What can I say he's a momma's boy! :-)

Today when Aiden came home we spent the afternoon watching the Jaguars play. Tough loss, but it was still a good game. Aiden was hilarious, he would see Daddy get excited so he started cleaning up. (without any orders) Then once the rug was clear he said "Momma can I jump?!" haha of course. He jumped and jumped, clapped and clapped. He was having a blast! Then he started acting up aka bullying Murph and the meltdowns started. Okay off to naptime. Went down at 2pm and still is down. He always sleeps right through to bedtime after a sleepover at G&G's (has way to much fun there! Kicking his Gabby all night. lol Poor Gabby!)

Speaking of Gabby, Friday was Grandparents day at his school and he was SO excited when I told him at dropoff. He got to eat breakfast with his Gabby and when it was time for her to go he tried to leave with her. Just imagine the waterworks.

Once Aiden was down for his nap I was in high gear to clean out Brody's closet. Wes is painting, installing baseboards, and installing the closet organizer next Sunday. Which meant I had to organize ALL my craft supplies. Man. Took forever but I did it. I now have 3 small plastic bins in the back of the coat closet for all that stuff now.

I am completely exhausted again. Up down up down. And after fighting the grocery store crowd for an hour I am spent. So the rest of the evening I'm on the couch relaxing....well folding clothes. lol never can truly relax.

Rexy Party

Aiden's world revolves around Rexy, so should his birthday party.

Invitation:
Easiest invite ever. Been wanting to use it for awhile now.

Food:
Easiest food EVER!
Pizza. Hello PIZZA PLANET!

Alien Cupcakes for guests. Talk about simple. To make it even easier I'm going to buy those eye balls and for the mouth turn a chocolate chip pointy side down.

Rexy Smash cake. Love the idea of Rex busting through the cake, but I'm going to use a plastic toy.

Activity:
Bouncy House! Aiden is obsessed with them and there is a place in town that rents them out for the day at a very reasonable price. Since his birthday is in such an unpredictable weather month we are going with the safe option and putting it in the church gym.

Supplies:
Back in March when I was checking out the clearance rows at Target and stumbled across Toy Story party supplies marked 70% off. I didn't know it then but I knew eventually we would have a Toy Story Party. Glad I thought ahead. Check out how AWESOME I did!
3-16 Napkins $0.81 each.
4-8 Plates $0.81 each.
2-8 Favor Bags $0.71 each.
3-4 Sheet Stickers $0.47 each.
1-8 cups $0.42 (adults will get solid Solo cups)
1- Jumbo Coloring Puzzle $2.08
Total: $9.35 with our extra discounts

Rexy

Okay I've been recording my blood sugar adventure for about a week now...and every day I'm normal even when I've had stuff that isn't "healthy" aka Chickfila/McDs. So frustrating, but good at the same time. No medicine for this momma! Can't wait to hear what the nutritionist and doctor says next Tuesday. I don't like being labelled "high-risk" when I'm not. Off that soap box.
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Rexy has DESPERATELY needed a bath lately so I finally convinced Aiden to help me bathe him. He was all into it....while Rexy's spots were soaking with Oxiclean Aiden took a bath himself. I wrapped him in a towel and we did the same for Rexy. Aiden was so freakin adorable with him!!

But clearly we needed Rexy dry before bedtime, so this meant putting him in the dryer....started off good he placed him in...and then NOOOO REEEEXXXXYYYY! WW3 started. The pouting, the tears, the crying. Lordy! We kept telling him over and over Rexy is getting dry he's not going anywhere you can watch him if you want. That wasn't good enough. The longest 20 minutes of my life.....

But he was happy as could be when Rexy came out. Praise the lord! He looked brand new! What did we learn? Must have a backup Rexy. haha So me and Wes hopped on Ebay and found 1 that included a Buzz Lightyear too for only $16 brand new. SOLD! haha (We are the tricksters!) But you don't understand Rexy goes EVERYWHERE with Aiden, so this was a MUST purchase!!
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I love the Toy Story movies too, there are so many rumors about a Toy Story 4 and I would be ALL over that! Both in the theater and a DVD purchase. Come on Pixar!! But for now I get teases....Think I might take Aiden to see Finding Nemo just so we can see this short film...How could you NOT love these characters, kids and adult friendly.

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Which all leads us to our next subject after talking with Wes last night we decided Aiden's birthday party theme must change. It has to be a Rexy/Toy Story theme party. Which I was totally okay with because it's so easy! Made it a separate post. REXY PARTY
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Last and most random. Today I'm finally picking out glasses! haha Yes it was my Christmas present and I'm just getting around to it...but better late than never. Other bonus my doc is running a buy 1 frame get 1 frame free! Score! I will really appreciate this in the AM with Brody. I am soo blind without my contacts. Blur city!

Organization 4

Project 4 the hallway bathroom cabinet.

Before
This cabinet really was a dumping ground since it is rarely used anymore. We only use the toilet and sink in here since Aiden currently takes baths in our room, but eventually we want both boys to take them in here so it's time to get organized.

After

I took the toilet paper out of the POS cabinet, which freed up a lot of space down there. I thought it made more sense getting one of those holders right next to the toilet than forcing people to do a reach around into the cabinet.

For the drawers I picked up a couple cheap dividers from Walmart (like under $5 for all of them). The bottom drawer holds Murph's hairbrush and clippers along with Daddy's clippers accessories.

The middle drawer is random. Travel accessories, extra soap, etc.

The top drawer is for Aiden's hairbrush and comb.

To finish off this room I need to get another towel bar since two butts will be in there soon, but there is no rush on that.

Perfect Child

Sunday I took Aiden on a little adventure with me to the bookstore. He got to play with the trains and lego tables while Mommy checked out some new books. He was perfect told me every time he needed to go potty (always worry about that on long trips out). I found the best book for Brody (Mommy and Daddy) to give Aiden at the hospital. I'm a Big Brother by Ronnie Randall. It was SOOO cute! It's about how a little boy wants to play with his little brother but his little brother wasn't big enough. Then about how his little brother starts to play aka take his trains and the older brother is upset. Then ends with teaching the older brother how he can play with his little brother. Things that I know Aiden will go through. Wes loved it too! Go Mommy!

After the bookstore I had to go pick up Murph some dog food and a few organizing items at Target. Something I rarely do with Aiden because either A. he's wild wanting to run all over the store or B. grabbing everything off the shelf. So I was dreading it, but HAD to go. Murph ran out of food last night....so we pull up. I tell Aiden firmly if you get out of my sight you're butt is back in the cart no questions. If you leave the isle we are on, you're butt is back in the cart no questions. "Yes Momma." And wouldn't you know it he was PERFECT! Didn't even try to grab stuff at the register....seriously hate that stuff. I think they do it to torture Mommies. I was so thankful because Brody was a moving machine today and very low, so my pelvic area was throbbing. So much I made Aiden climb in his car seat, I could barely pick him up.

So when we got home, Daddy took over and we all ate lunch watching Pocahontas. Been forever since I've seen that....did you know Mel Gibson is the voice of John Smith?!?! After lunch we moved to the couches. Aiden wanted to sit in-between my legs, so I ask him if he wanted a pillow his response....."No momma I've got Brody." hahahaha well yes you do. hahaha wow! Things he says.
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Monday me and Aiden woke up bright and early and proceeded with our day. Which started off with a bath since we didn't take one the night before. He loves to go "swimming" and hunts for the bar of soap in the water.

Next while Daddy was at work we headed to the Zoo. Aiden was SOOOO excited the whole ride to see the "Ani-malls". I told him like the day before, "if you don't listen to Mommy or try to run far away no matter where we are, how long we've been there we will turn back around and go back home. So you have to be good or no animals." And I meant it. Since I was alone and knew it was going to be hot the last thing I wanted to do was overstretch my limit (woke up with Brody really low and just a pushing on my pelvic bone again).

First stop Cat Country. Aiden loves this exhibit and making Tiger sounds. I let him out of the stroller for a closer look and his little mind was just a working. "Momma whats that." "Momma where did it go" "Momma he's napping." Then we started to walk to the next cat, without me saying a word he grabbed onto the stroller and waved saying "Bye! Bye Tiger!" It was the cutest thing ever. He proceeded to do that every time. (Who is this kid?! 2 days in a row of a perfect child with no whining or pouting?!?! Who are you?!?! lol)

The best good-byes were....Prairie Dogs= "Bye Dogs! Bye!" Cheetah= "Bye Cheetos!" hahaha Cheetos?!

After the cats we went to go ride on a few rides before hopping on the train. I was beginning to get parched so I asked him if he wanted an Icee. "YEAH!!!" Thanks to our souvenir cups it was only $4 to fill both our drinks. By this point we skipped over the birds (not a fan of birds) and headed over to the Farm. I was beginning to get tired, so luckily this part has benches all around so Aiden could wander in the barns and pins by himself but I could still see him. Did I mention it was hot?! And about this time he slipped on a muddy spot getting all dirty, so it was the perfect time to rest, change clothes, and eat lunch. We had already been there for 2 hours. Thank goodness they have buildings where you can eat that are AIR CONDITIONED! Lifesavers!! We barely made a dent in all the exhibits. lol

After we nibbled a little bit it was time to head home, but since I knew we wouldn't be at the fundraiser next weekend and Aiden was being so good we stopped by the Gift Shop. Something we never do. I was looking at the stuffed animals for Brody and told Aiden he could pick out 1 thing. What does he bring me? A 99 cent bag of gummy worms. (I was worried after I said my statement he would pick out something that was like 20 bucks. lol) As I'm driving I'm talking to Aiden, asking what animal did he like the most, if he had fun, etc....no responses. I turn around and see this....

Yup I think it was safe to say he had fun. When we got home Daddy was coming home himself and all 3 of us took an afternoon nap. We had a fun, packed, exhausting weekend. Thank goodness this is a short week.

Reader

Aiden amazes us every single day! To see how much he's developed in the past 3-4 months is SO impressive. I won't lie I was a little worried, because yes I was doing what they say not to do by comparing him to other kids his age. Mainly about his speech. It was behind, saying very few words and no double+ words. But this summer it's like a light bulb went off and he talks SO much now! He picks up things so fast night.

Literally last night he read me the entire Brown Bear, Brown Bear book all by himself with no help. Every single word!! Then once he was finished I got Wes to come in his room and flipped to a random page and asked him to read to Daddy. Again perfect! It made us both so so happy and he was happy too!

Since he is understanding more, I'm noticing less pouts/meltdowns. But don't get me wrong they are still there! haha Like this morning. He got it in his head that he wanted a Popsicle?! I quickly reminded him when have you ever had a Popsicle for breakfast, that's right NEVER! They are for after school and only if you listen to your teacher and be good. Pout Pout Okay Momma. (He must have been dreaming of pops)
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Look what came in the mail yesterday!! I showed it to Aiden..."That's mine?! Yeah!!"

Organization 3

Project 3 Aiden's room and closet.

Before
His room isn't too bad. It's mainly his closet.

After

The room. Just reorganized his books. Removed the activity table (baby toy). His red chair cover is in the wash so that's why you don't see it now.

The big change the closet! First I removed all 2T clothes. Sniff Sniff! Growing up too fast! You might be wondering why I have a million hangers...lol well I air dry all of Aiden's clothes so I need extra for the shorts/pants/pjs in his chest.

Purchased one of those white cubical units from Target (I got it for $34 since they were having sales since the back-to-school rush is over). Since both boys will eventually be in here each will have 3 bins (different colors), but right now we just have Aiden's which stores shoes, wipes, pull ups.

End result I'm really happy!! Looking in his closet it doesn't feel like a bomb went off. Now to only figure out what to do with all that dead space...suggestions?! I didn't even touch the dead space because I have no idea what to do there....