Milestones!

October has just begun and Aiden and Mady have already reached some major milestones!

AIDEN:

My little man started PRESCHOOL this month!!! As I mentioned in my last blog, Vic and I registered Aiden in a beautiful new school that opened very close to our house. October 1st was his first day and I think it went pretty well. We're still very much in the adjustment period, but his teacher is confident that Aiden will be comfortable with his new environment soon.

So, here's my little guy on the first day. Thanks, Pinterest, for the super cute idea! I'm planning on doing this on the first day of school from now on. I think it will be fun to see how his answers to those questions change (although, I think his favorite color is actually blue. He just said orange because Daddy was peeling him one at the time). Daddy dressed him... can you tell? =) HTTR!

It was a good thing Vic came with me to drop Aiden off. I don't think I would have left! There were quite a bit of tears. It was pretty difficult for me to leave him there, considering the only place we've ever left him is with family. Usually, at Grandma and Grandpa's, we sneak out when he's busy playing, but his teacher, Ms Jones, really encouraged me to say goodbye to him, so that he knew I was leaving and would be back later to pick him up. That's when the water works started.

The great thing about Aiden's preschool is that they send me a daily report with pictures of what Aiden did that day. It's nice to know that he's not crying for the entire time he's there and actually looks like he's having fun!

Each class they have a special guest who teaches them something new. Some of the most recent visitors have been a music teacher, someone to teach them Spanish and one to teach Chinese. Ms Jones says that Aiden's favorite class is music. There's one picture of him where he is dancing around with the other kids, too cute.

You'll notice in almost every picture, Aiden has his trusty "Banket" and sippy cup with him. I think once I get a series of pictures where his comfort items stay in his cubby, I'll know he's finally adjusted.

Aiden loves these wooden fruits that they have in their toy kitchen. The two sides of the fruit are velcroed together and you use a wooden "knife" to cut them apart.

Art!

I promise there are other kids in the class, there are about 6 of them total, but I'm not permitted to post any pictures of the other kids. The cutest pictures are the ones where Aiden is sitting with or playing with his classmates. =)

We also decided to enroll Aiden in an art class this Fall. The MC Dept of Rec offers so many cute classes for kids, so we signed him up for "Tiny Hands". The class is once a week and so much fun. I love the structure of it... that it has no structure! The super nice teacher explains 2 art projects and just let's us go at it! I'm discovering that Aiden loves to paint!

Here's Aiden hard at work on a Fall centerpiece, which is now very proudly displayed on our kitchen table. I have to admit, being the Type A person that I am, I have to be really mindful about just letting him do and create anything he wants. I have the tendency to want to tell him that he missed a spot with his painting or decoupage... but I have been so good and have kept my mouth shut! The funny thing is, I have raised such a neat and clean kid. One of the projects was to make a tree using your hand prints as leaves... my Aiden preferred using a paint brush to make his leaves. =)

Ta-Da!!

Aiden loved this little tree project, more so because of all the little beads he got to play with!

Here are some more fun pics of our little guy:

Aiden loved riding the train at Tyson's Corner Mall. I think it was a good $10 spent, don't you? I think Daddy may disagree. =)

Lunch at Uncle Mark and Aunt Josefina's! I still can't believe that we all have kids now. Here Aiden is playing trucks with Mikayla, Logan and Jaden.

Sweet Mikayla giving Mady a kiss goodbye.

Grandpa with his grandkids!

Mady and Chloe <3 p="">

MADY:

Our little Madelyn is turning 6 months old this month.. CRAZY! I feel like time is flying by so much faster than it did when Aiden was a baby. Mady changes a little bit every day and gets cuter by the second. For the most part, she's a very happy baby! She smiles all the time, and the best smiles come first thing in the morning. HOWEVER, if you are not holding her or paying attention to her... watch out!!

Mady LOVES Rocky. She stares at him all the time! I love hearing her giggle when he brushes by her or licks her toes. I feel bad for Rocky though, when this little girl starts crawling... he's in trouble for sure!

We were eating dinner one night and Vic was holding Mady.... this is what happened when he tried to eat his food:

GIVE ME! Is exactly when I think she was thinking. SO, I thought to myself, it's time to start SOLIDS!!

Here we go!

I thought Mady would really love to eat solid food, but I think she's still trying to get used to the thicker texture and the process of eating. She wasn't too fond of the oatmeal I was giving her, so we went straight to carrots, which seems to be working better.

I anticipate Mady will be a good and non- picky eater... let's see if I'm right!

Storytime with Daddy!

More to come for the Fall. I'm looking forward to taking the kids to Butler's Orchard for the Pumpkin Festival and trick or treating!  We're going to let Aiden choose what he wants to be this year and already got Mady her costume. Guess what they're going to be? =)

As Summer Turns to Fall

What a fantastic summer it has been. As September is coming to an end, it's hard to believe how fast time is flying by! I feel like I say that in every blog post, but it really does feel like it... sometimes I wish life had a 'pause' button.

Lots of updates!

One of Aiden's favorite books is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He and I have lots of fun naming all the foods the caterpillar eats and his favorite part is when the caterpillar turns into a beautiful "buttefry", as Aiden would say. When I found out that Brookside Gardens has a butterfly garden, I knew it was a place I had to take him. So with Auntie Julliann and Auntie Elizabeth along for the trip, we had a great time!

I had no idea that there would be SO MANY butterflies! They were everywhere! It was quite a sight. Aiden and I have chased random butterflies during walks around the neighborhood, but I don't think he was anticipating them being so close, you really could just reach out and grab one. He was a little afraid at first, as they would zoom by his face, but I think he enjoyed himself.

Here's a sampling of some of the ones we saw up close.

I think what Aiden really loved about Brookside is all the fun places there were to run around! 

One nice thing about going on outings with the Aunties, aside from the great company, is that they LOVE our kids, so they can't get enough of them! They are uber helpful too, which is always a plus. =)

Hello, Mady!

This was my attempt at a group picture using the self-timer on the camera. I think my husband would be proud. =)

This summer was so hot, so we took Aiden to the Germantown Splash Park for some fun in the water. Aiden LOVES the water, in all forms: pools, fountains, puddles, when it rains, baths, and straight from the faucet! This kid is a water baby for sure.

It's fun to see how much Aiden has changed over the past year. Here's a picture of Aiden at the Splash Park last year, clinging onto Daddy for dear life as they walked through the water to stand under the mushroom:

And here he is this year, barreling through the water into Daddy's arms, Go Aiden!

Here are some more pictures from this summer at the park:

Aiden with the frogs (or 'flog'... Uncle Brian will get that one!)

Mady also enjoyed the water park =)

Aiden had so much fun at the park and when he was all tuckered out, came to us and said, "I tired, go home now?". Aw, sure buddy.

Our little Madelyn just turned 5 months old and she has already developed quite a personality!! I just absolutely ADORE her. She coos all the time and is such a happy baby. I think her giggle is one of the best sounds in the world.

Mady is SO different from Aiden. I have to say, she's a bit of a diva.. but I guess that's ok for a girl. ;) Aiden was always pretty content and wasn't a big crier, but Mady... oh boy... she's got a set of lungs and is sure to let you know if she isn't happy! She LOVES being held, almost a little too much, but is so snuggly and cute, how can you not want to hold her all the time?!

I love Mady's hair! She has so much of it and it has this adorable curl to it. It's getting pretty long, and almost into her eyes, but I cannot bring myself to cut it. So I've been having fun buying hair clips and bows for her hair (shout out to Aunt Ellen for all the cute clips!), another different and fun thing about having a girl!

She also loves to put everything in her mouth... toys, fingers, feet, Mommy and Daddy's clothes, EVERYTHING. We'll definitely have to keep a careful eye on her when she starts moving around a bit more to make sure no small objects are within her reach. This is very different from Aiden, who never put things in his mouth.

Mady's become a rolling pro, can roll from her back to her stomach and vice versa, and prefers to roll to her left. She's trying so hard to crawl and is starting to get the motion down, but hasn't been able to actually go anywhere. She has, however, discovered that rolling can be used as a means of transportation and now rolls herself everywhere... even to the other side of the room! And boy is she FAST!

Our next big milestone with Mady will be starting solids!

Everyone that meets Mady says she looks like my mom. I personally think she looks a lot like me when I was little. I'm the girl in the green dress in the picture above, being held by my mom. What do you think?

Here's a picture of Mady with Grandpa Gordon. We went to Bobby's Burger Palace to celebrate his birthday. Those pudgy fingers must be tasty!

After a bath... Crazy hair!! I think I should start using baby conditioner...

The next big thing with Aiden is starting PRESCHOOL!!! A beautiful new preschool opened up near our house and we went to visit it with the intent of signing him up for next year (good preschools have long wait lists!). But he LOVED it there, so much that the director that was touring us told us he looked ready now. NOW? Mommy isn't ready!!

We registered him anyway to secure his spot at the school and knowing that we could delay his October 1st start if we wanted. We took him to the preschool orientation and he had a blast! His teacher is absolutely wonderful and Aiden took to her very quickly, which is pretty amazing since he has a bit of stranger anxiety. He loved his new classroom and, while sad for me, it was comforting to know that we made the right decision to start him in school sooner than we had initially planned. 

Here are some pics from his new classroom:

The classroom is filled with so many great toys, pictures, and things for Aiden to learn. We had a great feeling walking into his classroom, being able to really picture all the fun Aiden was going to have at school.

He even gets his own little cubby space for his stuff.

SO, Aiden starts school 10/1/13. I think there will be a lot of tears that day (more from Mommy considering at orientation Aiden let us leave him alone with the teacher while we finished registering him and cried when we had to LEAVE). I was pretty hesitant at first about starting him now. I have loved having Aiden home with me, teaching him and watching him soak things up like a sponge. I felt that starting school meant that was it... he's in school from now on... and I want to hang onto him for a bit longer. But I realize that this will be so great for him, allow him to socialize with other kids and learn things in new ways. Plus it will let me spend some quality time with Mady doing the things I did with Aiden when he was her age. We're starting him off slow, only a couple days a week for a few hours, which I think is a good way to start. 

More to come on his first day!

Another thing that happened this summer was the passing of my Grandmother, my mom's mother. She went very peacefully and we all got a chance to say goodbye. This gave us a chance for our entire family to get together, which is something that rarely happens due to busy schedules. It was fun hanging out with all my cousins... and watching all our kids play with each other! 3 generations in one room... amazing. =)

My Grandmother was laid to rest at the same Memorial Garden as my parents. I don't bring Aiden and Mady here to see them as often as I should, mostly because it's still pretty hard for me to go knowing that they are both there. But it was nice to spend some time there with them. Aiden helped me put some new flowers at their plaques and I told Aiden that Grandpa and Grandma were here and that they love him very much. 

Our first summer as a family of four has been great!!! Can't wait to see what's up for the Fall! =)