The past few months

The past few months have flown by in about 10 minutes, or so it seems. Life has gotten crazier since we moved back to Sacramento, and we are busy bees!

Aidan is now 2 years and 4 months old, and can do just about anything he wants to (and everything he's not supposed to!) Just this morning, Ben discovered Aidan in our pantry eating chocolate chips off the floor. He dropped an open bag, and they spilled everywhere. He's a sneaky guy - he closed the door so we wouldn't know what he was up to! Ben walked in and Aidan said, "Look at this great big mess!" So Ben cleaned up the choc chips and threw them in the trash can. I later discovered Aidan eating the chocolate chips out of the trash can (they were in the chocolate chip bag, but still). I guess he really, really, really wanted some chocolate! At least he was polite and offered me some.

Now that he's two, Aidan can run, jump, climb anything, figure out how to open stuff, turn on the xbox and put a dvd in, push the dining room chairs around to get to high places, open doors, and generally be very helpful. He can say any word you throw at him, and he has a very good memory. It's fun to have a full-on conversation with him. I ask him what he wants to do, what he wants for dinner, or where he wants to go and he will give me an answer. It's pretty amazing communicating with such a little person!

Here are some of the latest photos.

Say "cheese!"

Having a little fun in the mud!

Hard at work with the new wheelbarrow.

Always outside, always busy.

Drawing at his new table.

Wheelbarrow

Aidan's Birthday Party

I just realized that I never posted pictures of Aidan's 2nd Birthday.

We had a great day. I made homemade Mac 'n cheese, and put up streamers and balloons everywhere.

Aidan has really gotten the hang of opening presents, and he loved the decorations and especially the cake!

I'm just gonna take a big bite right now!

So yummy! Ice cream cake.

Reading the card.

Aidan's BFF Lucy helping him open the present from her.

Our friends the Tennys. We miss you guys - move to Sacramento!

We were too busy having fun to take a lot of photos, so that's about all I've got. It was a successful day!

Okay, okay...

I've gotten some angry verbal feedback that I don't update this nearly enough, (thank you, Julie and Jeanette), so now that we're slightly more settled into the new house, I will give it the old college try to update more often.

Yes, new house! We bought a house waaaaaaay back in October (October 1, 2009) in Sacramento. It was a "fixer" in the most literal sense - built in 1955, original owner who maybe updated it once in the 70's, wasn't taken care of at all, etc. The owner passed away, and her daughter put the house on the market maybe a year later. From what I've heard from neighbors, it took almost all of that year to clean the junk out of the house. When we toured it, it was a nightmare of dust, cobwebs, dark wood paneling on approximately half the walls in each room, and horrid old cabinets, appliances, and linoleum (gasp!). Naturally, Ben and I said, "Perfect! Let's get it." So we did.

I quickly drew up some plans, got building department approval, and we began our journey into headache-land and bank-depleting-ness. It was a very bumpy road. What started as, "Let's remodel the kitchen, update the bathrooms, add a couple electrical outlets and light fixtures, and throw in some new flooring and paint," turned into total overhall. New electrical throughout the house, new mechanical, new plumbing, complete remodels of both bathrooms, new texture and paint throughout the house, skylights, all new windows, new doors...basically everything is new. We doubled, then tripled our budget and added an extra month and a half of time to our schedule. We went tile shopping, hardwood floor shopping, light shopping, carpet shopping, granite shopping, plumbing fixture shopping, and paint shopping. And finally, after many calls from contractors, many checks written, and many stressful months, we moved in. On Friday, March 12, movers came to our house in Modesto and packed our stuff into a truck. The last box was unloaded around 7:30pm. We had done it! But it wasn't finished. Will it ever be? Who knows, but we're here and we are so happy with the results.

We've now been in Sacramento for two and a half weeks, and we couldn't be happier. It just feels like home.

Here are some "before" shots of the house.

All together now - "Ewww!" You thought I was kidding about the wood paneling, huh!

Next I will post some demo shots.

Then we got even crazier.

But then things started to come together.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of in between photos, so we'll go straight to the (almost) finish line.

So there you have it. That's what I've been up to for the past five months. It's been fun (sorta)!

I've been lazy!

I have been so lazy, as you can tell by my lack of Aidan Updates. I'll do a quick one now, and hopefully get around to posting a big update after next weekend.

So yeah, next weekend. I'm very excited yet sad, because we'll be having Aidan's 2nd birthday party! I can't believe he is two years old already. It's gone so fast, it's almost a blur! I'm glad I have this blog to remember when all the new stuff happened.

Aidan is speaking in full sentences now. Some of his longer ones are, "Doggy wants to go outside and go pee-pee on the grass," "Maybe we'll see a choo choo train and a skid steer and a police car and an ambulance and..." or, "Go home and get sand toys and come back to the park." He is quite the conversationalist!

He says and does the cutest things, like, "Mama carry you," (he means Mama carry me), Mama (or Dada) likes ____ (insert food, such as "cookies"), and "Mama sit next to you," (meaning, Mama sit next to me). Just last night, about an hour before bedtime, Aidan climbed up on the couch with his pillow and blankets and said, "I watch Thomas the Train." I said, "You want to watch Thomas?," to which he replied, "I need to take a break." Too cute!!

He loves to help me "cook," always wants to read "a couple books," and loves to play games and do puzzles and art projects. He's such a good boy! He's just growing up too fast.

22 Month Update

Aidan is now 22 months old. Just two months away from being 2! I don't even know what to say about that...so I'll just show you some pictures from the last month.

Christmas card photo outtake #1.

Coloring with Mama on the floor.

Aidan LOVES to color with his crayons, but he loves to sit at the table and draw with colored pencils even more. And he's always ready for a "new page."

Aidan also LOVES to jump. We put all the pillows from the couch on the floor and he leaps off the ottoman into them. Here he is, getting some serious air.

Dada decided to dress Aidan up once we got the Christmas tree decorated.

Aidan, stand in front of the tree and smile. Nevermind that you don't have pants on. No, we won't use this photo to embarass you in front of your girlfriend someday. Promise.

Bringing home the Christmas Tree!

Aidan and dada and the Christmas tree. Aidan loves to say, "Sismas tree, sismas lights, sismas cards and sismas presents."

Tonight, we went for ice cream after dinner and decided to go look at Christmas lights around the neighborhood. As we drove around, Aidan said that there were "free candy canes" (three candy canes). So Ben said, "More than three. 1, 2, 3, 4..." Then, Aidan said "five." Ben said "six," Aidan said "seven," Ben said "eight", Aidan said "nine, ten!" We had no idea he knew how to count to ten! I thought three was the highest number he knew. We clapped and told him, "Wow, that's really good Aidan," to which he replied, "Nice job!" He is so funny, and such a chatterbox. He will repeat anything we say.

He still wants to go to the park all the time, likes to go to the grocery store, and wants to "go get" the cat all the time. He is very painfully shy around strangers, but I'm hoping he'll outgrow that soon.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, and a wonderful new year!

we are not encouraging this, but it is pretty funny. He put Sarah's shoes on all by himself and he liked the loud noise they made on the bathroom tile.

Lucy and Aidan looking for snails to throw against the fence.

Jonny dangerous on top of the refer.

Grandpa and Aidan in the wagon.

big changes

Well Aidan has changed a lot in the past month and a half. He now can talk and talk and talk. He can ask for pretty much what ever he wants. It could be blueberries, cereal, juice, milk, wa-water, kitty, doggy, etc. My favorite new trick is that he can make all the animal noises. You ask him what does a rooster say and he will tell you. He also has started to dance whenever there is music on. It has been a really fun time for us. It seemed like a month ago he couldn't talk at all and now he can repeat almost anything you throw at his.

Aidan likes to help dad with the mo-motor

Aidan really likes Ice Cream, but he calls it "ice cream man"

Drawing "car cars" is his favorite hobby

Aidan was a doggy for halloween.

New Words

Aidan is really working hard on his vocabulary these days. He repeats a LOT of words that we say. I guess now we have to be more careful about what we say.

Just now, he dumped out his bowl of goldfish crackers and said "mess!" Then he pointed to the bowl and said "bowl." Then he held up a cracker and said "fishy!" Then, he dropped one on the ground, said "mess, boom-boom fishy." Whenever he falls down or when he drops something, we say, "did you fall down and go boom-boom?" He has picked that up, so he says "boom-boom" all the time.

The other day, I was trying to get Aidan to let me change his poopy diaper (this is always a fight), and I said, "Aidan, let me change your diaper. It's gross!" So he immediately said, "gross!" He ran around saying gross all day. Too cute!

19 Months!

Aidan is 19 months today. He is growing up so fast. Some new developments include some new teeth (he is up to 14, with two more on the way), saying new words every day, and getting more stubborn! When he wants to do something, he wants to do it now and won't take no for an answer. If "no" is the answer, then I can expect a tantrum. At least once a day he throws himself on the floor and whines and cries when he doesn't get what he wants. It's very frustrating, but I just let him go and try to talk him out of it.

We took a trip to Lake Tahoe this past weekend, and it was a very relaxing vacation. Ben's whole family was there, and my dad made the long drive up. The weather was perfect, and Ben and I had a lot of help watching Aidan so we could have our own time. We both got to read, play games, and go to dinner by ourselves! We always miss our little guy when we're away, but it sure is nice to have a break.

On the deck, in Tahoe.

No more pictures, mommy. Put the lid back on!

Aidan has built up quite a car collection. His cars, trains, trucks, and motorcycles are his absolute favorite toys. He spends hours a day playing with his cars, and must take a couple with him everywhere we go. I always keep a handful of cars in my purse, just for that reason.

Here is a photo of most of his collection. He has more, but I couldn't find them at the time!