This morning we went to a Halloween party for little kiddos at my friends house. I was so excited to see my kids in their costumes! Of course, they looked adorable.
This year Aidan is a pirate
Maya is a witch
Arabella is a cow. That’s right, a cow. It was so hot today that Arabella lasted a whole 2 minutes in her costume.
We had a fun time. So excited for Trunk or Treat tomorrow night!
Um, YEAH! See this pretty little face?
This little stinker is too smart for my own good! Today, she became aware of her trach:( This VERY bad news for me. Why? Well, now I get to live every minute of every day terrified that she is going to pull it out! It’s interesting to see her go through the same stages Aidan did with his trach. You can read about the first time Aidan pulled his trach out here. She is now constantly pulling out her gauze (the white cotton thing that you see poking out around her trach). This isn’t dangerous but she has also occasionally, started tugging on her trach. Big no, no! I just hope that she doesn’t pull it out. If she does, I pray I see her do it.
Today she did start doing something that I approve of. She clapped for the first time today! It’s so cute! Can’t wait to get it on video:D
I’ve been playing with my new Photoshop Lightroom program. Can you tell?
I’m not that great at it but I do think this picture turned out AWESOME!
(Aidan dressed himself. Fun/embarrassing new phase.)
Finally! It took a good 10 1/2 months for Arabella’s 1st tooth to peek through. Here it is!!!
All of a sudden my baby girl isn’t quite a baby anymore:( She’s crawling and pulling herself up on everything. She loves to watch Aidan & Maya play. She laughs and laughs and I just know she is itching to be able to run so that she can play with them. This next picture is such a classic Arabella pic.
3 great things I love about this picture:
1) HER NEW TOOTH!
2)HER PIGTAILS!
3) This little girl is nuts! She went through a phase where she would drip milk all over her face during each bottle. Crazy girl!
LOVE HER!
What a busy few days we have had! Rich’s birthday was on Wednesday but we celebrated a little bit here and a little bit there. He had a BIG exam on Thursday so he had to study all day on his birthday:( So sad. But, we had a good time anyways. I gave him his gift which was a plaque that I had made for him with a really fantastic quote! “The will to win means nothing if you haven’t the will to prepare.” It has the triathlete symbol in the corner. He’s always pushing himself to train for his triathlons because he wants to do his very best. When I read that quote it made me think of him and his dedication to training.
Thursday, the day after his birthday, I had a surprise for him. On his birthday I e-mailed several of his friends from school and asked them to meet me at some picnic tables on campus. I lied to Rich and told him that I had to make some cupcakes for relief society…NOT!!!
(forgot to take a pic before they were half gone)
I threw a little party for him with some of his buddies after their exam.
Aidan looks like such a stud in this picture!
He was totally surprised! Love you, Rich!!! You are the greatest!
Today, I was thinking about all of the things I love about Aidan. Why? No idea. Just thinking. So, here is what I was thinking…Age 3 is hard. It’s REALLY hard, for me at least. It’s also REALLY good. Along with the attitude came this sweet big boy gentleness that I love. He can be super feisty and super sweet. Lately he has been really loving. He’s an affectionate boy who likes being hugged, kissed, snuggled and just playful.
*I LOVE that lately he has wonderful manners and always says thank you. Actually, it’s more like, “Oh, taytew mommy.” Rich thinks he over uses his thank you’s but is that possible? I don’t think so. For example: Last week I was giving him a hair cut. I just use clippers on the sides and then I blend and cut the top with scissors. Keep in mind that this kid has tons of hair. Every time I would snip his hair with the scissors he would say, “Taytew mommy”. I loved it:D
*I LOVE that he “wud’s” me. The first time he ever offered me a “love you” was when we were in the hospital after his surgery. He wasn’t feeling too good and I had just covered him with his blanky and put Marley (stuffed animal) next to him. I gave him a kiss on his cheek and he looked at me with his sleepy little eyes and said, “wud ew mommy”. So sweet. Ever since then I love telling him that I love him because he always responds with a “wud ew mommy”.
*I LOVE how nurturing he is. Maya and Arabella are the luckiest little sisters in the whole world. Now, I’m not gonna lie and say that he doesn’t pick on Maya and make her cry sometimes. He does. But I can see the love that he has for them when he talks to Maya in such a nurturing way. Sometimes I catch him saying things like, “Do you want the toy Maya? Ok, I’ll get it. Here you go Maya.” He takes care of her. Just the other day I saw him carrying Arabella. Yes, I did say carrying Arabella. He picked her up and took a few steps with her. Of course he just kind of plopped her down on the ground in a not so gentle way but he loves her so much and is always asking if he can hold her. What a great big brother.
Obviously pre-Aidan’s haircut. It looks much better now.
So, 3 year olds might be tough but the sweetness that he brings into my life is so worth it. I say that now because he’s in bed. We’ll see what I say tomorrow when they are all screaming:D
Someone once told me that my blog made it seem like I had the perfect life. This was several months ago and I’m still thinking about it. Hmmm…really? After thinking about it I guess I do only write about the good days. I don’t know why. Maybe I don’t want to burden everybody with my woes? Maybe I don’t want to seem ungrateful and whiny? Maybe I don’t want to remember all of the hard times or maybe I’m just in denial! I have recently started my own private blog which serves as a personal journal just for me. I have found myself making a post to this blog and then going to my personal blog and unloading all of my stresses. So, I guess my question to you is, did I really have you fooled? Do you really think that I have the “perfect” life?
This has really been something I’ve been thinking about for the past year or so. You know how you look at other families at church or you read their blog and they just seem to have it all? Well, I won’t name names but there was somebody that I always looked at as just having it so good and easy and perfect until I spent more time with this person. Then I realized that we ALL have our struggles. Nobody’s life is “perfect”. Our struggles might be different, some more difficult than others at times but we all have hard times.
I definitely am very blessed with an amazing husband that loves me and 3 incredible kids. But no, my life is not perfect. If by some miracle I’ve managed to deceive you into thinking that it is, please message me so that I have somebody to unload on;)
All of my friends say this every time we think about how old Arabella is, “It seems like she was just born a couple months ago!” So true! These past 10 months have really just flown by! It’s been an adjustment but one that is well worth it. Arabella is getting so BIG!!! Ok, maybe not. She is probably the only 10 month old I’ve ever known to still be wearing size 1 diapers. The girl can eat a ton and not gain a pound! Lucky! She is very long though. Tall and skinny:D She is finally getting her 1st tooth. Rich and I were getting nervous. We thought we were going to have a toothless child! Maya got her 1st tooth when she was 5 months old so we were just a little anxious.
Sporting her Halloween baby legs.
She is simply ADORABLE!
Today she had her 1st of many french braids. She doesn’t sit as still as Maya but we’re working on it.
This big girl has been holding her own bottle for 2 months! Have I mentioned that I think she is cute?
For the past couple of weeks she has been attempting to crawl. She’s getting better and can actually cover about a foot of ground. This is her going after a yummy snack she threw down from her highchair for later;)
This little girl is awesome! She is still taking 2 naps a day. Laughs hysterically at Aidan and Maya when they are being silly. LOVES her mama! Makes us all so very happy that she is part of our family. We love her and her fun personality. Love you baby girl!
