1 year ago today!

1 year ago today Aiden Joseph came into our life.  And it has been more blessed, more joyful, and more complete having him in our family.  We couldn’t imagine not having him as our son and brother to Cale.  It’s kind of bittersweet for me today as his momma.  My little baby is growing up and it’s way too fast.  Although I absolutely love this stage he is in right now-it’s so much fun, I will someday soon miss the baby stage I have a feeling.  We are almost done nursing too-down to 1 nursing a day and will probably be done by next week.  This too is bittersweet-I am so ready to be done, but also will miss the time we have had just me and him the last year.  Luckily for me right now he is still a cuddly and wants to snuggle with his momma!  I think I will make him snuggle even when he’s 10! 

What is he into at 1 year old-just about everything-from the dogs water bowl, to the refrigerator everytime we open it, to trying to get into the toilet, to wreaking havoc on Cale’s train table!  He is so much fun, so mello and easy going, smiles and laughs often and is just an all around awesome!  He is so adventurous at this age and brave.  He is not afraid of much.  For his birthday today we took him to the Crestwood Aquatic center where they have a kid pool with lots of fun things to play in.  He was all about going through the fountains, splashing in the water, going under some of the water fountains.  Just so willing to try new things.  He loves to be spun around, loves to swing, loves balloons, and loves to do anything.  It’s going to be so interesting to watch him grow and see him explore his world around him more and more.  He still loves to yell talk-loves to say momma, dada and his own version of doggie.  He loves to dance, crawls as fast as someone running and I think that eating may be one of his favorite things to do-he loves everything-meats, cheese, fruits, veggies, breads, anything and he pretty much eats it!

This past weekend we had a small get together for Aiden with a few close friends and family.  It was great getting everyone together to celebrate his birthday.  There will be pictures to come soon!

Aiden-you have no idea how much of a joy you are to our family.  I adore you, am so proud to be called your mom and can’t wait to see what you like in life, what you want to do, what your interests will be and to see the boy and then the man that God develops you into. 

Life is good.  Thank you God for my 3 guys.  This is truly one blessed momma and wife!

Amtrak

For quite some time now we go on a regular basis to the Kirkwood Train station to watch the Amtrak trains-we know their schedules by heart.  Cale has always seen them, but never riden on one.  For Memorial Day this year, I had work off on Monday, May 28th so we decided to take the kiddos on their first Amtrak Ride.  Cale had a blast!  We rode it to Washington, stopped and ate lunch and then caught a train back.  Here are some pictures from the day.  Cale sat by the window the whole time and looked out and was just super excited to be there.  It was definitely a great family day!

 

This is pretty much how Cale spent the whole train ride!

Aiden checking out the views on the train

Love this kid and his many expressions

Hanging out by the train station in Washington waiting for our Amtrak to take us home.  There was an old caboose that Cale had a good time exploring.

Aiden waiting for the train

My boys on the caboose

Florida trip

We went to Florida this year for our family vacation.  We drove there so took 2 days to do so.  We spent the first day and 1/2 in Gainesville, FL where I used to live catching up with good friends.  We stayed at Cat and Darren's farm and Cale was in heaven.  He got along great with Noah and Izzy, got to feed some cows and horses and just loved hanging out.  It was great to see my girlfriends too and finally introduce them to the kiddos.  They had never met them before.  Jeff and I usually try to go to Florida on our own for a vacation so we have not taken them yet.  It was great to introduce the kids to some of my favorite girls!  We headed to Ormond Beach on Monday, May 7th and stayed there through Friday.  Then started the trek back home.  We spent a lot of time on the beach while in Ormond Beach.  Cale and Aiden were like little fish-I think they could live at the ocean.  Aiden loved splashing in the waves and playing in (and trying to eat) the sand.  Cale loved running in and out of the waves and building train castles with Jeff on the beach.  The only bummer was that I got strept throat Monday night and was pretty much out of commission through Wednesday and Aiden got an ear infection so he wasn't feeling great.  But we made the most of it-Jeff took the kiddos to the beach a lot while I rested which was great.  On Thursday, we headed into St. Augustine for the day.  Such a cool town with so much history.  First order of business was to ride the trolley train through the town-it was awesome and Cale had a great time.  Then we went to Castillo de San Marcos-an old fort and walked through there.  It's right on the water and beautiful. Then we headed into Old St. Augustine to walk around the shops, eat some lunch and get some ice cream.  That was a great day!

On the way home, we decided to make a trip out of our 2nd day.  We stayed the night in Chattanooga and then headed to Ruby Falls and Rock City the next day.  We had a good time walking around as a family and seeing the sights!  Cale thought walking through the cave to see the falls was pretty cool and Aiden did great in the Bjorn.  After that we headed back to St. Louis and got in early Saturday evening.

I will say it's exhausting taking 2 small kiddos on vacation, but totally worth it.  We had some good family time, the kiddos loved the ocean and that was so cool to see and we just got to spend a lot of time together!

Anna, Cat, Michelle and me

Me and Michelle

Michelle and Cat hanging with Aiden

Feeding the horses carrots-we went through a lot of carrots!

Me, Cat and the kiddos

Happy boy on the trolley train in St. Augustine!

Aiden liked the trolley train too

Chilling outside Cracker Barrel one night after dinner

Taking an ice cream break in St. Augustine

A boy and his ice cream

Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, FL

Ready, set, fire!

Aiden at the fort

Some of the seashells Cale collected at the beach

Our last day at the beach

Ruby Falls, TN

Rock City, TN

Aiden chilling at Rock City

Magic House

 They had a sand castle exhibit and the kiddos enjoyed playing in the sand!

 Anna-Beth and Dave's little girl

 Aiden loved the water table!

 Anna and Cale playing in the water

 And now we pour the water all over ourselves

On May 26th we got to go to the Magic House with some good friends-the Salvatierra's.  We had a great time hanging out with them!

Our sweet not so little anymore Aiden

Aiden is almost 1 year old-I can hardly believe it!!!  He'll be 1 on the 21st.  This year flew by.  Seriously.  Aiden-you are at such a fun stage right now.  You are a happy kid and almost always smiling and talking.  You are into everything right now and i mean everything-trash cans, toilets (trying to pull up on them), pulling books off the shelf, dumping the dogs water bowls out, putting everything in his mouth, taking track off of Cale's train table, crawling everywhere!  You talk all the time-you now say doggie, although you don't say it completely like doggie-you say something to the extent of  dog when you look at the doggies so we know that is what you mean.  You love to yell a lot too-that's how you communicate a lot of times-it's hilarious.  And man can you eat!  You love food-any food-meat, cheese, fruits (especially berries), bread, veggies-I think you will eat us out of house and home when as you grow older!

  He started crawling on May 17th by taking his first 4 crawls, steps, not exactly sure what you call them.  And now he is super fast and is starting to pull up on things so I imagine it's only a matter of time before he starts walking.  He will take multiple steps when you hold his hands. 

I am still nursing him and plan to start weening him this week-we'll start with 1 oz of whole milk this week.  And then we will go from there.  Aiden and I have quite a bond right now-he is truly a momma's boy and as ready as I am to be through this stage of nursing, I do treasure the moments that we have together when it's just him and I.  He's such a sweet snugly boy!