Hector's back!

Last year, we jumped on the "Elf on the Shelf" bandwagon, 

..Aidan's elf, "Hector" is back to work putting a smile on Aidan's face this Christmas season!

The morning after Thanksgiving, Hector made his appearance!

The story says that he flies back to the North Pole every night to tell Santa how Aidan is doing.. 

and he hides in a different spot every morning for Aidan to find him!

I love the fun & wonder of it all.. the look on Aidan's face every morning is just priceless!

Hiding in Aidan's little Christmas tree in his room:

While Daddy was on a business trip in Texas last week, Hector took it upon himself to sleep in Aidan's bed for a bit.. since Aidan & Mommy were sleeping together while Daddy was gone!

Hector also loves to play with Aidan's toys..

..or hide out in the kitchen..

.. OR, play little jokes on Aidan! 

Aidan woke up today to find this waiting for him..

Silly Hector!!!

Gotta love our little elf, he's so much fun!

5 Question Saturday!

Haven't done this in awhile.. thought I'd try to start back up again!

1. What's your favorite Christmas cookie? 

I LOVE the good 'ol Christmas sugar cookies, with lots of icing.. they are my favorite!

2. What's your favorite holiday movie & why? 

Definitely Elf!!! 

I absolutely love this movie & how silly it is.. if you haven't watched it, you must! It will definitely put a smile on your face.

3. Is there a gift that you have bought your kids that you wished you hadn't after you opened it? Not yet, but this year.. I got an awesome deal on this for Cyber Monday..

$20 for a box of 1600 Legos!!!

I KNOW that I am going to regret getting it for Aidan, as I KNOW that I am going to step on one of them in the middle of the night or something.. plus, it will probably start a new love for Legos & I HATE how expensive those little pieces of plastic can be! 

4. What is the messiest room in your house at the moment?

Right this moment, I would have to say our living room. Aidan is playing with his toys, and they seem to get everywhere lately!

5. What is the furthest you have driven for the holidays? 

Not very far, we have always stayed in town. I'm so thankful that both of our families live close by! 

30 weeks!

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile.. 

I think that it is true that you DEFINITELY don't take as many pictures 

with your second child as you do your first.. oops!

Anyways, I made it to 30 weeks on Tuesday!

I can't believe that I am in my third trimester already.. it's going so fast!

Here's my lovely belly!

Our little girl hasn't been moving very much lately, 

so while at the doctor last week they had me take a non-stress test, 

which we failed miserably! 

Poor little girl just doesn't want to move for Mommy!

So.. we got to take a peek inside & see what she is up to in there! 

She was just fine, the ultrasound tech said that she may just be a sleepy/lazy baby.. 

wouldn't that be wonderful??!! 

(compared to Aidan lately, that would be GREAT!)

Here she is! 

I wasn't expecting another ultrasound, 

so it was nice to see how much she has grown since our last peek!

The only other concern is that I have developed gestational diabetes...

I am checking my blood sugar 4 times a day & Aidan loves helping & reminding me.. 

it's just SO hard to stay away from the sweets this time of year! :(

I go see my nutritionist this week to find out if I need to go on insulin, 

as my numbers are higher than she wants them to be.. wish me luck!

One more thing that I am struggling with is insomnia.. NOT fun!

As I type this, it's 4 am & I have been up since 1.. very frustrated that
I can't sleep & dreading the duties of the morning when Aidan wakes up..
hopefully I'll grow tired soon!

..I would like to thank my mom for being so wonderful over the weekend by
watching Aidan for me while I got some rest during the day.. LOVE YOU MOM! :)

glow stick bath!

Lately, I have been completely addicted to Pinterest.. I am embarrassed to say that I have wasted WAY too much time exploring all the goodness of that website!

Anyways.. I stumbled upon one of my friend's pins.. glow stick baths! 

Once I saw it, I KNEW that we had to do it with Aidan.. 

he LOVED it!

My pictures are terrible, he wouldn't sit still very long.. he was having so much fun!

Aidan was in the tub for a good hour that night! :)

..better late than never!

Yeah, so it's been awhile since I have posted anything..
I have no excuse, except complete laziness! 

We haven't been up to very much around here, Aidan is really enjoying preschool, and I am counting down the days til we have our new baby!
I have been VERY tired lately, and not very ambitious! :(

We celebrated Aidan's 4th birthday at Gull Meadow Farms this year, can't believe he's 4 already!

He had fun running around Pumpkin Lane with everyone, and of course.. the presents! 

We also had a bunch of fun carving pumpkins this year..
Aidan wanted NOTHING to do with the insides of the pumpkins! 

I LOVE this pic of Tony showing Aidan the pumpkin guts.. he looks like he is terrified! ;)

We still had fun carving though, Aidan told us what he wanted & we went to work! 

For Halloween this year, Aidan wanted to be Wolverine! He had fun chasing people around with his fake claws, and loved trying to keep up with all the kids while he was trick or treating.

We went trick or treating in my Dad's neighborhood, I love it because it's where I went as a kid! Plus, the houses are spread out a bit, so Aidan gets tired before he gets too much candy! ;)

first day of preschool!

Aidan started preschool last week! 

I still can't believe that our little guy is in school.. 

it sure is quiet at home without him here in the afternoon!

Here's some pics from his first day!

Posing at home for Mommy:

Waiting for the doors to open to his classroom!

Aidan's preschool teacher, Ms. Kline LOVES the Cat in the Hat & Dr. Seuss, 

so it is EVERYWHERE in the classroom! 

I love how it is painted outside on the windows too! 

Once we got in, Ms. Kline gets a hug from each child &
squirts their hands with anti-bacterial lotion.. 

it took me forever to figure out why Aidan looked like he was praying in this picture.. 

he was rubbing his hands together!

(Tony had fun teasing me that Aidan was praying for Mommy to stop taking his picture!!) 

Once he was settled, it was hard for me to leave him! 

I was kinda lost at home without him the first day, but am slowly starting 

to enjoy my little bit of freedom.. gonna have to enjoy it while it lasts, 

the baby is coming in January! :)

At 4:00, I make my way outside and wait for the bus.. 

..he's home!

Aidan is growing up SO fast, and he loves school! 

it's a GIRL!

Well, we had the big ultrasound yesterday..

we found out that we are having a little girl!

I was a bit surprised at first, as I was expecting another boy..

but now that it has set in, I am so excited for our little family!

Here's a picture of her! 

I found out that I have an anterior placenta.. 

so she is cuddled right up next to it & it was very hard to get a decent photo of her! 

After our appointment, we went shopping for Aidan's little sister!

Aidan picked out this cute puppy for her, and we got her a couple outfits..

Aidan is so excited!

We have her name all picked out, but Tony & I decided not to share until she is born!

We have found that it is offending quite a few people, but we wanted to have some sort of surprise.. because we definitely couldn't wait to find out the sex! ;)

more swimming!

Aidan's swim instructor offered one last swim class for the summer, 

and I am so glad that we signed Aidan up!

The class was only a week, but each session was an hour long.. 

he learned so much & came SO far in a week!

Finally kicking those legs hard!

..and finally reaching in front of him to swim!

The most important milestone this week was conquering Aidan's fear of going underwater..

Here the kids are singing "Ring Around the Rosie"..

LOVED that when they got to.. "and they all fall down.." they all went completely underwater!

I was SO proud of Aidan!!!

Can't wait til next summer!

week 19.

Going into my 19th week already & I am feeling MUCH better,

and can even go through the day without a nap now! 

There's really nothing exciting to report.. I am still patiently waiting to feel the first baby movements, I am such a worrier, and hope things are okay for baby in there!

Cravings: Spaghetti-O's!!! I eat them almost everyday for lunch.. Aidan thinks they are gross & makes fun of Mommy for eating them all of the time. 

Patiently awaiting: September 12th! We *hopefully* will find out the sex of the baby!

Aidan is very excited about the new baby!

He will talk to my belly & kiss it, it melts my heart :)

We had the opportunity to watch my friend Amanda's newborn baby Brendan yesterday, 

Aidan was over the moon in awe of him! 

It was great practice for me, 

and fun to see how Aidan reacted to a baby in the house for a few hours! 

Aidan did great, and loved Brendan.. 

..except when he started to cry he asked, "when does Brendan go home Mommy?" :)

I think Aidan will make a great big brother! 

little fish!

For the past two weeks, Aidan has been taking swimming lessons!

Today was the parent's day.. where we could stay and watch what the kids have learned.. 

I was so excited & proud of Aidan with how far he had come in just two weeks!

Aidan was the only boy in his little class, here's the kids getting wet to start!

A big accomplishment of Aidan's this week was finally putting his head underwater, 

here's a cute video of the kids going under.. 

.. LOVE how Aidan barely puts his head in, but so proud that he actually tried.. 

he has been so stubborn about it!

Next, we got to see Aidan's swimming progress!

First time around with his instructor Pam & a noodle,

..second time around with floaties & Pam's son.. 

he loved that no one was holding onto him! 

They finished up with a few more laps of the shallow end,

Aidan was so happy to show me how he could swim, I loved watching him today! :)

I'm such a proud Mommy!

surprise!

Most of you know that our son is obsessed with all things John Deere.. and we have been looking for a  good 6 months on Craigslist for a ride on Gator for Aidan.. with no luck! 

That was until earlier this week, when I found a promising lead for a Gator for Aidan! 

Grammie & Grampie wanted to get it for him for an early birthday present, and last night.. it was delivered to him!

We had Daddy take Aidan for a walk so we could get the Gator out of the truck.. when Aidan walked back up to the house, there it was waiting for him! 

SURPRISE!!

I absolutely loved the look on his face, he was so happy!

Here he is, checking everything out :)

He was off before we could even get any good pictures of him in it!

 .. I think he LOVES it!

He even had to go inside to get his John Deere hat.. love this boy!

And here is the final product, all stickered up & ready to go! 

Thank you Grampie & Grammie, I know that Aidan will enjoy this "toy" for many years!

Aidan loves you!!! :)

week 15.

I am finally out of my first trimester!

I was feeling very nauseous, but that has now subsided.. 

I am still struggling with fatigue & could sleep all day long if I didn't have any Mommy duties!

Aidan has been wonderful, he lets me rest if I need to & 

is very curious about the "baby in Mommy's belly"..

 he also has nicknamed the baby "Puddin".. 

and we have told him several times that we are NOT going to name 

his little brother or sister Puddin!!! :)

(Thank you to the toddler show Bubble Guppies for the lovely name idea!)

Other than being extremely tired, I am doing great! 

I'm starting to get a belly & already wearing maternity pants.. 

I can't even button my regular ones anymore!

big trucks!

Last week, Aidan & I went with our playgroup to see the big trucks at the library..

there were so many trucks to explore, 

Aidan was in heaven!

Out of all the huge vehicles, the Gator was his fav!

Later that night after dinner, Aidan had more fun.. 

Tony's cousin Art had the combine out in the field behind our home,

and he got to take a ride!

Our son LOVES combines, so he was beyond excited!

We've got one spoiled kid!!! :)