Happy 4th Birthday Aidan!!

So our little man is 4 today!! We can't believe how far he has come!! I remember it like it was yesterday. We were packing and getting ready to meet our little guy. We were so surpirsed and happy when the doctor (and Daddy) said that "It's a boy!!" We knew our lives were forever changed! I feel as if he should still be a baby and that these last few years have flown by WAY to quckily.

Aidan,

We love you so much and are so happy to be your parents. You are the best son, big brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, friend, and person. We can't wait to see what type of man you become one day!! Our wish for you on your birthday is that you become the man that you want to be and that you strive for the best in life in all that you do!! We love you so very much bug!!

Now to all of our 4 blogger friends, here are some pictures from when he was in my belly to current!! Hope you enjoy!!

I was ready to meet him here

I felt huge here!!

before he was here!

waiting to meet our baby

checking each other out

admiring how perfect he is!

our little man 1 day old!

1st family photo

Daddy and Aidan

Mommy and Aidan

Probably my most favorite picture ever of him...with Papa!!

One of my more favorite pictures of him!

Cheese!!!

being goofy

Where has time gone??

We love you bug!!

Love,

Mommy, Daddy & Brookie

Mother's Day

So, my Mother's day was fairly laid back and not very exciting. I had asked John to request the day off of work and he claims that he didn't get the request in on time. Turns out (he just admitted) that he just didn't put in for the day off (Garlic Jim's). It bothered me slightly because the only thing I wanted was for him to take the day off and for us to spend the day as a family. Oh well. Turns out he has all week to make up for not taking the day off. He was laid off this week again.....

Back to what we did. I took some cinnamon rolls out of the freezer the night before and told John that's what I wanted for breakfast. He obliged and made them for me. All he had to do was throw them in the oven and take them out when they were done. Easy. When he left for work, I got up (10:30am, we slept through his alarm for church). After I was ready to go we went to my mom's and hung out until I needed to get Aid down for a nap. Here's the thing....I don't cook or clean or anything that I normally do on Mother's day so lunch was going to be a drive-through somewhere. Aid LOVED it!! We took my mom's car, left Brookie with my mom and did a drive-through of McD's.

Not a healthy lunch but lunch none the less and I didn't cook. After that he crashed hard, tired boy. My brother and Erik came by just in time to sit down with my mom and I to watch Bride Wars...I thought it was cute!! When that was over, we ordered pizza from John and waited for the HOT delivery boy to come (ok, that's what I thought, not my mom). I woke Aid up about 10 minutes before John came to the house. He had wanted Lexi to wake him up but they weren't there yet and we thought they wouldn't be there until after John had come and gone.

We have never had John deliver pizza because we don't get our discount unless we pick up, but somehow he was able to get our discount!! So he walked in with our pizzas and I think Aidan was quite impressed!! It was fun being able to kiss the delivery guy and thank him for our pizza!! ; ) So we ate, hung out and then we all went home. By the time I got out of my mom's house, John was getting off of work. Aidan, Brooke and I dropped Michael and Erik off at the bus station and then headed home to bed (for Aidan).

It was a pretty laid back Mother's day and we thought about going to the aquarium or the zoo but since John has been laid off so much we decided to just make the best of being together as a family...we haven't done anything extra special, but I think tomorrow if he doesn't work at my mom's or his parents house we will hopefully do something fun like the park or something else. Oh well. At least we have time as a family while he isn't working....hope all the mom's out there had a blessed and happy mother's day. I sure enjoyed spending it with my mom and sister even if I couldn't spend it with my hubby.

Added one last post....

Ok, so I figured while Brookie was sleeping that I would add this post that I figured I would get to later. It never seem's to happen later. I always forget to add the blog. So enjoy!!

Aidan's 1st field trip!!

So Aidan had his first field trip to Kelsey Creek farm on April 28th. The neat thing was that I use to go to this farm when we lived in Bellevue and when I was his age. It was fun knowing this and remembering the different things that I use to do and to watch my own son enjoy the farm. He wasn't feeling well and we were a bit unsure that we were really going to make it but he seemed fine and we went. Turns out that night he ended up with a fever and wasn't feeling good at all. Poor guy. But he sure had fun and ran around crazy with his friends on the playground. What fun!! We decided we would all go. It seemed silly to not enjoy it together when John was home too!! It was suppose to be a no sibling tour but we took Brooke for obvious reasons. I am looking forward to more field trips in the future!!

the entire class before the tour

Aidan scowling at me...never smiles at me.

petting the pony with Teacher Lori

petting a chick

Brookie went to the doctor after the field trip and was diagnosed with Bronchiolitis but she was a trooper. Luckily it wasn't to terribly cold and she was pretty warm in the moby.

one of the 2 new goats. It was their 3rd day on the farm

Daddy looking official

Aidan reading signs and being curious

thinking where he should plant his seed

planting his pumpkin seed

petting the sheep that RAN to the fence to see us!!

one last group picture that he ended up walking out of...I think he got a bit overwhelmed on top of not feeling well.

I got one of just him though...eyes closed but it's a picture of my little guy!!

Check below...more blogs below

So I just posted a bunch of different blogs. I think there are 3 below here, so make sure you check those out too. I have one more that I want to post but I will wait a few days. Enjoy!!

Mother's Day Tea at Best Beginnings!!

[we were just about to eat our yummy strawberry shortcake that Aidan served to me!!]

On Tuesday at Best Beginnings was Mother's Tea day!! It was great!! We showed up at school at 2am and waited until our "date" escorted us to our seats. Aidan was the first and he came out being shy, and put my corsage he made on my wrist with a lot of help from me, and grabbed my hand and said "C'mon mom.." and drug me into the room.

[ Don't know how to turn the picture the correct way. (new camera) They are cowboy/cowgirls galloping in on their faithful steads!]

HE chose where we were going to sit and even pulled my chair out for me and waited until I sat down before he sat down in his chair...any coaching from his teachers?? I think maybe so!! ; )

[My cowboy Aidan was the cutest by far!!]

We waited until everyone was seated and then the kids were called one by one from one of the two teachers to go and get our food that we were going to eat at our tea. Aidan got mine and served me strawberry shortcake with a Hershey kiss on the side. It was so delicious. We also had a little Dixie cup of juice. I gave mine to Aidan because he wasn't hungry (remember he was just in the ER the night before and still wasn't 100% yet) but he was SO thirsty. I think he drank three Dixie cups full.

Next came the entertainment portion of the afternoon. The kids got up and sang 3 or so songs that were all about mom!! It was so sweet. Aidan was so sweet because he didn't sing. I think I have a pretty shy little guy on our hands. I also think it was part of him not being 100%.

[ During the silly song where he danced like crazy!!]

Once they sang their songs, they left the room so that we could see a video that his Teacher Lori had put together. It was so precious!! I would love to have a copy of the DVD!! It even had a few of us mom's crying...we blamed the allergies and all the pollen.

[My sweet date to the wonderful tea!!]

When they came in they were cowboys/girls. It was so cute They sang another song and then came and gave us their cowboy vest and horse that they made and bandanna!! We helped them take their vests off and then they went up and got their gifts for us. It was super sweet!!

[Goofy as usual!]

At Dad's night a few weeks ago, they made the corsage and a button and a card for me. I put the button on right away. It was a bunch of beads (small beads) glued to a pin. It was sweet. Aidan's card said the sweetest thing too. He thanked me for being his mom and for giving him Brookie Kathaleeny. He obviously loves his sister a lot!! That was the best part knowing that he is thankful and is happy that she is a part of our family!!

[Ok, 2 pictures of us...we had a bunch more but Aidan wouldn't smile for the camera. FINALLY I tickled him and he did. Do you see my corsage?? He made it with Daddy on Dad's night.]

We were able to do pictures with a cute backdrop after we were done with everything. His teacher, Teacher Gretchen who has been out since just after Christmas due to illness painted it for this special occasions since she couldn't be there too. We sure do miss her a lot!!

[ Oh and another highlight was to see this on the way home...he was pretty excited!!]

After we took our pictures we gathered up our stuff and his school bag and went home. We even got to see this cool tractor on the way home...he LOVES tractors so this was pretty cool!! I can't wait until the next school event!! I am so thankful that we can provide this for Aidan.

Brookie has a............

So, on Monday between dealing with everything with Aidan I was letting Brookie nibble on my fingers/hand while we waited for Dr. Schmitz to come in. All of a sudden I felt a tooth. Yes, you heard me correctly!! I looked and sure enough!! She broke through an entire 1 1/2 months earlier than Aidan!! Wahoo!! You go girly!! She is still gnawing like crazy so I believe that the next is a close second!!

Also, she is SO close to rolling over!! My baby is growing up!! I'm guessing within the week she will have rolled for the first time. Soo, stay tuned for the latest stuff our little angel is doing !!

Monday-May 4th

WOW!! That is all I have to say. I am SO over us all being sick. Aidan woke up on Monday with an all over body rash. It had the welts and everything. So we dosed him up with Benydryl and he finally stopped itching. The side effect....he CRASHED and hard. He slept for a good 4 hours. He fell asleep early too as in around 10:30am!!

I called our pediatrician's office and they got us in with our pediatrician at 3:30pm. So, we got there and the waiting room was PACKED!! I have not ever seen it that busy. We waited the longest we had ever waited both in the waiting room and after we had been taken back. Our doctor said it was because of the flu outbreak.

So she took a look at Mr. Man and sure enough it was a non-contagious rash. His rash had spread from mainly his torso to his face and head as well while we were waiting for the doctor. It blanched when she pressed on it and as long as it wasn't purple and was still blanching then he was fine. If it turned purple and didn't blanch then we were to call in.

We headed to Costco to grab some dinner (pre-made meal we have to just heat up) and get our picture from memory card to CD. While we were there Aidan's lips started swelling. People were looking at him like he was going to make them sick. I understand that but we can't be cave people especially if we aren't contagious. So, back to his lips. They doubled in size in 20 minutes. We swung by my mom's on the way home (we drive by anyway) and she noticed it too. They looked like they were going to explode.

John and I were REALLY nervous. His face and nose started to swell as well. I felt horrible for him. He was tired and was just wanting to go to bed. We called the doctors office (after hours nurse line) on the way home and they called back and recommended dosing him up with more benedryl. He was also running a fever at this point. (this is what they think caused the rash in the first place). If it (the swelling) wasn't improved in 45 minutes, then we were to take him to the ER. 45 minutes later......we were headed to Seattle Children's Hospital.

We could have gone somewhere closer but since they specialize in kids I figured we would have a less scary experience going somewhere like that. So we got there, parked (he slept the entire way) and walked to the entrance. 2 nurses met us at the door and asked us a slew of questions regarding if we have had the flu recently a cough, or fever. Of course Aid had both. So they masked us up immediately, purelled our hands and even took us in a different door to our own waiting area. Everyone who saw us was all masked up and had protective stuff on...just in case. John even got a sticker on him that said "Monday:no flu." So in other words they weren't sure if we could possibly be a swine flu case.

We were shown to our room and the phone began ringing. It was the person who needed our insurance information. She didn't even come in (only to grab the insurance card and she stood at the door). The doctor came in with two masks on. She diagnosed Aidan with hives. Same as our pediatrician. I felt a bit silly but got over it quickly since we didn't know if it would spread to his throat/mouth (swelling). Thankfully he is fine now. We were told to keep him comfortable and it will come and go for a few days to a few weeks possibly.

After we went to Dicks for food. John LOVES it there. I never have cared for it until Monday night. I would go again and I think John is on cloud 9 about this!! By the time we got home around 11pm Aidan was asleep. We had been gone for about 2 1/2 hours total. I figured we wouldn't get home until after midnight at the earliest!! I was very impressed!! On Tuesday Aidan woke up rash free!! His hands and feet were and are a bit swollen still but there is no other sign of the rash. We are just thankful it was something that was very simple to fix (with time). SO hopefully we are all on the mend....knock on wood. Hope you are all healthy!!

Sickies

**Warning, this blog talks about us being sick...and Aidan threw up, so if you don't want to stomach reading that, stop here...sorry had to warn.**

Ok, so what a week...two...maybe three it's been in our house. About 3 1/2 weeks ago I started to feel icky. Sore throat, the works. Well about 2 1/2 weeks ago, Aid had a fever and wasn't acting like himself at MOPS so he missed school. He bounced back until that Friday. Then the cold hit. I continued to get worse and after 2 weeks of being sick I went to the doctor. That was this past Monday 3/27. I was diagnosed with Bronchitis. Aidan went to the pediatrician that same day too. His ears hurt, his throat hurt and he had a cough. He was miserable and looked like it.

He was fine, but that night Brookie started coughing really hard and the next morning as I drove to work, she was having a really hard time catching her breath. Well she and I went into the pediatrician later that afternoon. Sure enough she had exactly what I though. Bronchiolitis (bronchitis in babies). The good news was it wasn't pneumonia, and that she didn't have to go to the hospital. Bad news she had to do an inhaler which felt like I was smothering my baby. It helped immensely though. We did it every 4 hours for 24 hours, then every 6 hours for 24 hours, and then every 8 hours for 24 hours and now its as needed. So so far she is doing ok....except that she also has pink eye which was diagnosed the next day when she went into her appointment for a re-check to make sure she was getting better not worse from the meds. So drops three times a day for her.

So he has been fine all week except for last Monday when he wasn't feeling good...he threw up twice (super sensitive gag reflex) and has had a fever off and on for the last week. But then he act's fine. When he went in with John for Brookie's re-check (I had to work during our regular pediatrician's hours) she looked at him and he was super gunky (eyes) and she said both kids had pink eye. Fast forward to today. He has been doing better and acting like he normally does when he is healthy. Well, we had gotten home from a trip to Target and he randomly threw up. We took a bath and got into bed. He was also hungry after this. He was sleeping and started coughing and threw up again. Not just once, but a few times. He kept saying "scary" which it is!! I felt so awful for him. We couldn't help him more than try to soothe. I can't figure what is going on with him. I think we will be calling our doctor in the morning even if it is a Sunday and see what they think.

I really hope it isn't the flu because I feel like we have been sick and trapped in our apartment for forever! I want to go out and be in the real world. Luckily I am able to go to work because John hasn't been working at UPS for the last week and a half (another story entirely) so I leave Aidan at home but then I come home and we mope about our apartment and hope and pray we get better. John has a cough and snotty nose but otherwise he has dodged it....knock on wood.

SO needless to say, we are a walking petri dish and can't seem to get healthy here. My good friend and hair dresser just had a baby recently and when I brought food to them last Monday, I didn't even go near sweet Scarlett because I was fearful that we might pass something onto her. I want to go and ooh and aah at her. So for now we are sick but we should be on the mend soon!! Sorry if this is all over the place, I am so worn out (even if John let me sleep until 1pm) it is almost 1am here. We'll be better soon and if not I might move out and live in a box until everyone is healthy. Kidding. It's been beautiful here too!! Good night...trying to go to bed now.