Aiden is 2 months old!

This cutie patootie is 9 weeks old today. He had his 2 month check up and he's doing great! Here's his stats:

23 inches long (20th percentile)

14 lbs 4 oz (92nd percentile)

41.5 centimeters head circumference (off the charts)

So our little man is a short chunk with a huge head. :)

Developmentally he's doing fabulous. Even though he's got a huge head, he's got really strong neck muscles and can hold his head up quite well. His doctor was really surprised to see how high he held his head up and for how long. Aiden also has great vision and can track really well. He kept trying to track the medical student who was helping his doctor. She was wearing a bright blue shirt and Aiden kept watching every move she made. :) It was cute.

Aiden has a condition called laryngomalicia (essentially soft larynx or airway), which means that he has soft cartilage in his airway that partially collapses when he breaths in. In most people this cartilage is hard and keeps the airway open. Aiden's case is not severe, and so he's still able to breathe fine, but he breathes loudly and is often squeaky. His doctor said this cartilage should harden up by the time he's 6-9 months and the squeaks should disappear.

Aiden gets colicy for a couple of hours every night, and although it's a pain in the neck for mom and dad, he's perfectly fine. He should hopefully grow out of the colicy stage by the time he's 4-6 months. Four more months of colic. Whew! We can do this...

Aiden is doing well and most of the time he's pretty happy. :) We get to see this happy smile often!

We love you Aiden!

Easter in Review

We started off our Easter celebrations with our neighborhood Easter egg hunt on Saturday. Esther had so much fun and didn't care that she only found 2 eggs. :) She was in such a good mood (thank heavens!) she was willing to smile for a picture or two. :)
The cute kiddos with the Easter Bunny.

Esther was really friendly with the Easter Bunny. Don't worry, it was Mike in the bunny suit. :)

This is what Esther did when I said look at the camera. :) And she insisted on holding Aiden's hand, which made my heart melt. :)
Isn't that the cutest little hat?

I got the bunny ears for Esther, but then she wouldn't wear them and insisted that I wear them, so I did. But I forgot I had them on and ended up wearing them for the entire Easter egg hunt.
We tried them on Aiden and I think we discovered the cutest bunny in town.

Apparently Esther found him irresistable too because she had to steal a kiss. :)

Later that night we went out for a family walk with the kids. They were so cute in the stroller, and other than Esther's elbow to Aiden's face, they did well. :)

This is Esther before church this morning. Thanks for the adorable dress, aunt Lesley. :)

She loved her Easter gloves.

She can be such a ham sometimes!

Here's a family picture after church today. :) Esther was all out of smiles.

Thanks for the lamb, Grandma Smith!
Finding everyone's Easter eggs.

Mike and Esther and Aiden gave me purple pansies for Easter. :) They hold a special place in my heart. :)

This has been a very special Easter for me. I'm so grateful to have our little family and for the gift of the atonement and resurrection that gives us the chance to be a forever family. :) Love to you all this beautiful Easter day.

I love my life, despite the hic ups along the way

Last night was a bit of a rough night for me. It started out with Esther jumping on the couch with her toothbrush in her mouth. She gagged and emptied her stomach onto me and now has a gapping wound at the back of her mouth. That caused a lot of drama. Aiden woke up to Esther's screams (kids don't do well at the sight of their own blood, I've decided) and he decided he was hungry. But I was covered in yuck, as was Esther, so I couldn't touch him. Mike was at a friend's house practicing a song for church next week, but thankfully he came running when I called him. Literally running. Our friends live just down the street and he ran home not really knowing why other than I called and said I needed him home. My hero!

Then in the middle of the night I woke up to feed Aiden, but I heard a noise in our kitchen. I walked in the kitchen only to find it was flooded. A tube in our dishwasher had burst open and it was pouring water all over the kitchen. Once again I called our for Mike and he came running to save the day with lots of towels. It took forever, but I think we got it mostly sopped up.

Then this morning I woke up and there was snow on the ground and flurries were flying. ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Thankfully it's all melted by now, but it was definitely NOT what I wanted to see after a long night. In fact I was kinda throwing myself a little pity party all morning. Aiden was fussing all morning and I was exhausted. But then I realized how blessed I am.

I married my hottie night in shining armor who is always there to save me and whom I adore. We have two wonderful children who bring such joy into my life. Last night (before the drama began) Esther let me hold her in my arms and we sang Primary songs for about a half hour. For those of you who know a two year old, you'll know that 30 mins is quite a long time for them. It was so sweet to be able to share that moment with Esther. And even though Aiden was fussy all morning, I realized what a blessing it is to be able to stay home with him everyday. And he often gives me this smile:

which of course just melts my heart. :) I love that little man!

Mike is such a wonderful husband and father. He works so hard to do special things for all of us. The following picture is when Mike took Esther out on a date to go star gazing. It was so sweet and Mike said he hopes he'll be able to do that with her for years to come. How sweet is that?

Aiden does the cutest things with his hands sometimes and this is one example. :)
Mike is probably Esther's best friend. If he's home, she usually wants to be snuggling with him. She was really tired one night (because she hadn't napped) and so she was extra snuggly. She had told Mike to lay down and then she snuggled up on him. It was so sweet I had to snap a picture to remember it. :)
Esther is so funny sometimes. She doesn't really smile for pictures much anymore. Here's what she did when I said "Smile!" Oh and her sound effect for the picture was a growl. :)
Mike always comes home and then tries to do whatever he can for his kids. He was tickled when he went to change Aiden's diaper and found him wearing this. :) It's true, we all love you Mike!
This next picture cracks me up. Aiden was doing tummy time and Esther joined in and then instructed me to do the same. By the time Mike snapped the picture Aiden had fallen asleep from all the effort of keeping his big head up! :)
Here's another picture of Esther's reaction when I said "Smile!" I had just done her hair and she was trying to pull the pig tails out. Since her hair was wet, they went straight out. Then she made what I call her baby monster face, complete with growl. :)
Me and my kids! I love being a mom to these two! :)
Esther is too adorable! She loves to play the piano and sing. She's definitely got talent, this kid. :)
I love my family and I feel so blessed, despite the bumps in the road. :)

Blessing Day

Two Sundays ago was Aiden's blessing day. It was a really special day for us. I'm a sentimental fool, so we had several things that were sentimental to me. First of course is sweet little Aiden. :)

Next was the blanket he is laying on in this picture. My Grandma Cole made it almost 33 years ago when my oldest brother was blessed.
I wish I could say I made this cute little sweater outfit, but I didn't. I did find it on a great deal though. I'm hoping to bless all of our boys in this outfit, assuming we're blessed with more. :)
My sister made the incredibly cute hat and bootie set. She is so talented! :)

Esther wanted to get in on the pictures. :) Notice she's wearing my shoes. :)

It was really special to have family here for his blessing. Mike's parents and my sister, Lesley, were here. Thanks so much for coming!
Although we don't have pictures of it, three of Mike's co-workers came for the blessing as well. It was really special sharing the day with them. Oh, and Mike spoke in church that day too, which was really neat. :)

Grandpa and Grandma come to visit

Mike's parents came to visit us two weekends ago. It was so great having them here! Esther and Aiden loved having them here. They spoiled them with so much attention! :) And they just all around spoiled all of us! :)

Here's Grandma and Grandpa meeting Aiden for the first time. :) They're captivated by him too. :)

Grandpa is a Greenbay packer's fan, so we couldn't resist putting Aiden in this outfit. :) Notice even his socks have footballs on them. :)

Could this be a glimpse into the future? Could our big boy end up a football player? :)

Thanks again for coming to visit us Grandma and Grandpa! We love you lots! :) (Sorry, this is the best picture we could get...it was time for the kid's naps)

Sisters! Sisters! there were never such devoted sisters!

Last week my sister, Lesley, came to visit us for a week. Although we're 6 years apart, we are really close friends. :) She came right after Esther was born and I was so excited when she asked if she could come after Aiden was born. :)

She was a great help with Esther and Aiden and of course we had so much fun together! We always laugh so much and try to squeeze in a lot of shopping. :)

This isn't the best picture of us, but it was taken after two days of shopping. We were really successful in our shopping trips, probably too successful. :) We play hard when we're together, and we consider shopping play. :)

Aiden is smiling all the time these days! :)

Esther wanted to be in the picture with Aiden, and this is when she did when I said "smile!"

Lesley with Aiden. It's hard to read, but Aiden's shirt says "I like hanging with my aunt" :) And as you can tell from Aiden's big smile, it's true. :)
Esther wanted to be in the picture, but didn't want to smile for it. She's such a goose!
We not only went shopping, but we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum and went out to eat too much, but it tasted so good! :) She was also here when Aiden was blessed, but that's another post. :)
I love you sis! Thanks so much for coming and visiting! We miss you so much, even though it's only been three days! Esther asks for you all the time and Aiden fusses because he's not being held all the time anymore. :) I'm so blessed to have such a great sister! LOVE YOU!