a chef when he grows up?

I bought a kitchen set for Aiden right after he turned a year old. It was a simple $4 set from Wal-Mart nothing special. I cannot believe the ROI I've gotten from this economical little set. Next to his train table, the kitchen set is hands down his favorite toy. He makes pretend tea, rice, chicken, and oatmeal several times a day.

that famous shot of Aiden

I have taken this shot like a thousand times trying to get a picture that matches in color, lighting, focus, and quality to Aiden's picture (below) taken by a professional photographer. As you can see, I'm not a professional photographer...yet. But I do like this picture of Sky...her eyes look amazing. She is eight months old in this picture. It was taken in our family with my Nikon D40. By the way, as my cousin Elizabeth puts it "I scored a blue-eyed kid". When I look at this picture, I can't take my eyes off of her eyes. It's like looking into the eyes of an angel.  The blue eye gene is credited to Adam and his grandmother  - Grandma Weymer.



This is my favorite pictures of Aiden. He is seven weeks old in this picture. The photo was taken in the living room of our Centreville home by a professional photographer. I have this picture hanging in our bedroom over the fireplace next to the picture of Sky. The photographer told me recently that she displays this picture of Aiden in her studio and she gets a lot of comments on it from customers. She says many customers actually request a picture of their child that is like the picture of "that little boy" (my Aiden). He's famous! When I look at this picture of Aiden, I feel like I'm looking into the eyes of an angel.

she mimics us

Sky is now regularly repeating some of the sounds she hears. If she hears Aiden say mommy or momma or daddy or dadda she repeats it as "ma ma ma ma" or "da da da da". Its very cute. It is really cool and interesting to hear her speaking voice.

Happy Nawroz and Happy Easter!

This was Sky's first Nawroz (New Year) and Easter. She did great. She even let the Easter Bunny hold her without even the slightest whimper. Hey, a seven foot white bunny can be very intimidating!

Aiden on the other hand was very cautious with the Easter Bunny. While he shook hands with the bunny and graciously accepted the lollipop the Easter Bunny had to offer, he was very skeptical of the bunny's size 14 basketball shoes. After a polite "thank you" (for the lollipop), he quickly instructed me to take Sky back from the bunny's arms. Smart kid. Protective brother.

beach weekend

We were at the beach this past weekend.  Aiden had a lot of fun outside.  He loves to fill his wagon with sand over and over again. The weather in Virginia Beach is usually about 10 degrees warmer than Northern Virginia so that's always nice.   Here's Sky enjoying her bath in the kitchen sink of the beach house. 

She loves to the running water on her skin. I have to be very careful to wash under all of the skin folds or her skin gets very irritated. 



She doesn't even mind the water falling over her head. I think she is going to be water sports loving kid...good thing we have this little beach house.

lucky Sky

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Sky is my lucky charm. No joke. My favorite two numbers have always been 7 and 11. Sky was born on 7/11/07 and she weighed 7 lb 11 oz...the only thing that would make her luckier if she was born with a four leaf clover shaped birth mark. ; )

teeth clean, brush yucky

Right now our biggest challenge with Aiden is brushing his teeth. He does NOT like to brush his teeth at all. We actually wrestle him down to the ground and force open his mouth every night. It is such an ordeal. Our pediatrician said it would get easier with time but I don't see that happening. We've been brushing his teeth daily for almost 2 years now and still no improvement in his attitude towards brushing. We've tried bribery, singing songs, saying the letters a-e-i-o-u, and practically standing on our heads...still he doesn't want to brush his teeth.

Today he actually tried to give me an excuse..."Aiden teeth [are] clean, Mommy. Aiden not eating dirty. See aaahhhhhh. Aiden brush dirty. Yucky. Brush yucky. Aiden teeth clean. See aaaahhhhh."

Nice try Aiden.

best eater

Sky waiting patiently for her dinner.  She is such a good eater.  He eats fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, cereal, bread...you name it. Unlike Aiden, she can also sit in her high chair for long periods of time. Aiden doesn't last long in a high chair...he starts squirming if he sits there longer than 5 or 10 minutes.

When I'm cooking, I often roll her high chair over to be close to me so that she can see what I'm doing. She is very observant and babbles the entire time.  She's very good company.

he fixed my car

Yesterday Aiden "fixed" the front wheel of my car. He brought out all of his tools - hammer, screw driver, wrench, bolt and nut, etc. He worked on my tire for a good ten minutes and then came over and told me that it was fixed. Okay, sounds great. I gave him a big hug and a sincere thank you. Over dinner he told me several times how my wheel was broken and how he had fixed it. I could see how proud he was of his accomplishment so I indulged him a bit more. I pick up the phone and pretended to call Daddy (who wasn't home yet). Here's how my pretend (real to him) conversation went.

Me: Hi Adam, did you know my wheel was broken?!

>>Aiden is eating his dinner and listing intently to my conversation.

Me: Yeah, my wheel was totally broken and I couldn't drive my car anymore. I couldn't even go to the office!

>>Aiden has stopped eating dinner and is really eavesdropping on my conversation with Daddy (or so he thinks).

Me: Yes, it was completely broken. But don't worry, Aiden got his tools and fixed it. Yeah, he had all the tools...a hammer, a screw driver, a wrench and he even had some screws. He worked on the car for a while and now it fixed! Totally fixed and I'm so happy!

>>Now Aiden is smiling ear to ear and is really proud of himself.

Me: Yeah, Adam, so when you come home, you can just relax and read a book. You don't have to fix the car because Aiden already did it!

>>That last statement put him over the top. He looked so proud and so happy with himself it was adorable. I looked over at him and he tried to conceal his smile and went back to eating his dinner. He is such a little Adam.

eight months old today

Sky turned eight months old today. She is getting over a nasty virus (probably the same one Aiden had ten days ago). Her second tooth (bottom incisor) also cut through today. Now she has TWO whole teeth. Life is good for this little girl and even better for her parents.

So what does she do at eight months?

- Sits really well...so well that even Aiden has a hard time knocking her over
- Bounces in her Exersaucer so loud that you worry that the thing is going to fall apart
- Looks like a baby ballerina pirouetting in her bouncy swing
- Grabs anything she can possibly reach. The other day right before I was left for the office I was holding her in one arm and attempted to take a sip of my tea with the other. Before I could even take a sip, she smacked the cup out of my hand and all over me...and she thought it was funny!
- Eats with her hands although she still doesn't like lumpy foods
- Stands well if she's balanced and supported
- Likes to watch Aiden do just about anything
- Loves to get a break from her diaper
- Sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night, sings and makes really loud raspberry sounds and then goes back to sleep on on her own
- Makes raspberry sounds when she is full -- thereby blowing any additional spoonfuls you give her back all over you
- She says "aaaah tadt tadt tadt tadt tadt " and smile and looks at you in hopes that you'll repeat what she says.
- Wakes up very very very happy....if she could do back flips she'd do them right after waking up from her nap.

Stop Daddy! Aiden coming!

Adam left for a conference in Baton Rouge early this morning. We wanted to be straightforward with Aiden so I told him. Here's how it went:

Aiden: Daddy go?
Me: He went to a meeting in an airplane.
Aiden: Daddy went in airplane??
Me: Yup and he'll be back very soon.

-- 2 or 3 hours later while we're outside he sees airplane fly overhead

Aiden: Stop Daddy! Aiden coming! Stop Daddy! (yelling at the plane)
Me: Daddy will come back after his meeting, okay?
Aiden: Mommy get phone. Call Daddy. Aiden crying. Go airplane with Daddy.

they stick together

Earlier today I caught Aiden helping himself to cookies in the pantry. One cookie was okay but more than that and he'd ruin his lunch so I locked the pantry after I explained to him that it wasn't a good time for a snack. Well, that resulted in a mini-tantrum. No biggie. I ignore the tantrum and he usually chills out after a couple of minutes. Well, now he has an ally - Miss Sky. When Aiden cries Sky gets very upset. While the crying in stereo is a little much, it is heart warming to think that they care so much about each other already. She has a very tender heart!

lip-ice

Aiden has found his new love in life - Chapstick or more endearingly referred to by Aiden as "lip-ice". He walks around the house with his lip-ice in his pocket and stops and applies a little on his lips (and chin) and then goes about his activities. Lets just hope he doesn't get too attached to the lip-ice like his Uncle Dullah.

Nana Beth scored all the points in Aiden's book for introducing him to lip-ice. She came up last week to give us a hand since we were all sick with the cold or flu. Thank you, Nana Beth!

picture of her first tooth

Here's a picture of Sky's first tooth! Do you see it on the bottom?

my love bugs

I have a feeling they will have a very close relationship their entire lives.

Aiden and Sky,

You two are my pride and joy. No matter what happens, no matter how many years go by, no matter how much the world changes - I want you both to keep one promise with me and Daddy and that is to always be there for each other. Stay in daily or at least weekly contact with each other, celebrate your successes is together, overcome your challenges together, confide in each other, listen to each other, advise each other, hold each other, and just be there for one and another - physically, financially, emotionally and spiritually. Remember, you came from the same place and you're both very loved. When you take care of each other, you're taking care of Mommy and Daddy.

I love you both with all my heart for eternity.

- Mommy