Aidan and Emma have a new Blog!

Please check it out, I have decided to combine Aidan and Emma's blogs into one! Go to: http://aidanandemma.blogspot.com

Emma and Aidan's blogs

I know I have some followers that only check Emma's blog. Aidan does have a blog on a different site and if you want to follow that one it is: http://aidan-memoirs.livejournal.com I am thinking about combining there blogs into one, b/c I have a hard enough time updating one, since Emma is over a year now, I thought I could creat one that was for both of them, make it easier on me atleast! ha!

I need to upload some new pictures I've taken, things have been super crazy around our house with an open house recently and Aidan still getting over this stomach bug which I just found out today it was bacteria related and not a virus, you can read more about that on his blog. Emma is just getting around so fast these days, she doesn't even crawl anymore, but her poor legs are showing a new walker, she has scraps and bruises from tripping and falling down, but she usually just brushes it off and keeps on going, much different than her brother! ha! She is so adventurous as well, when we go to the playground she wants to climb up there right behind Aidan. We went to the park yesterday and I let her climb up behind Aidan and I had to climb up behind her, not the most fun for me, but I didn't want to deny her the enjoyment of climbing up to the slide. She climbed all the way up to the top and it was a huge slide probably about 10 feet or more off the ground, I tried to make her lay on her back and slide her down with Chris waiting at the bottom and he said she was grining from ear to ear when she got to the bottom! Fearless! It took Aidan probably until he was 2 1/2 to get up the nerve to go down big slides. I think I am going to have my hands full with Emma. :)

Emma trying to Swing

I just had to post this video that my mom took of Emma last weekend. She has had this baby swing for a while and Papa Rick has yet to put it up and Emma discovered it while playing and tried her best to swing in it and is clearly upset with her Papa for not having it up for her. too cute!



I ran across this video of Aidan when he first started walking, so cute when they are learning how to walk. It really doesn't seem like that long ago. He's 3 now and he and Emma both started walking around 15 months.

Emma's starting to walk!

Here is the video of Emma the other day walking around! Enjoy!

We are Walking!

Well, I can't believe it, my little baby is walking! She has been teasing us for about a month or less with a few steps here, few steps there, but the past few days she has started walking across the room and can get up from a sitting position and walk off. She has been really good at standing for about a month a half, her one year pictures were mostly of her standing, she has really good balance when she is standing still. She is still very unstable and will fall down after about 10-12 steps, but she is on her way. I got some video of her walking this weekend and will hopefully post it this week. They are so cute when they first start walking, all babies have that drunken walk with their arms in the air, so funny to watch. I love to see the excitement in her face when she is walking or has walked across the room and she turns to see if we saw her, too cute!

On another note, I'm so ready for my two babies to stop fighting over me, although part of me loves that they both want me to hold and cuddle them or sit in my lap, its also so frustrating and tears at my heart b/c I end up having to choose one over the other b/c they will both hit and poke at each other if I try to hold them both at the same time. Emma has gotten really good at this and thinks its hilarious to poke at his eyes and pull his hair which he totally freaks out when she does this. She is tough one though, when he does push her or try to be a bully big brother, she is right back at him and is very determined. I still nurse Emma in the evenings and that is usually when Aidan wants to sit in my lap and watch tv or wants me to pick him up, makes my evenings super stressful and Chris trys to intervene and help out, but it usually ends up with them crying louder which I feel bad about too for him. He has a hard time with the crying and whinning, which I do too, but I guess I can tolerate it longer than he can, mommy thing I suppose. This too shall pass I know, but its definitely tough having two so close in age, I'm glad I did, but its hard and exhausting at times!

Beach Trip 2009

We recently got back from our annual family beach trip to Ocean Isle Beach, NC. We had so much fun getting together with the family. Although I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. The kids had a lot of fun, but there was a lot of fighting over mommy the whole week and boy was it exhausting. I think my family definitely was feeling exhausted for me, b/c as much as everyone including Chris wanted to help me they couldn't when all either of them wanted was me. Don't get me wrong I definitely feel loved by them both, but it is really hard to try to confort both of them at the same time when they are fighting for my attention. Aidan's favorite words that week was "My Mommy!" while he is trying to push Emma away from me, Emma is going to be tough after all of this with her brother, b/c she does not hesitate to push him back. She is closer and closer to walking, but still would rather crawl or her fav to walk around on her knees. I'm not rushing her to walk by any means, but I will be glad in some ways when she does start walking b/c it will mean that Aidan will start walking around everyone again too! Since Emma gets carried around most places, he wants to be carried too and usually by me. Maybe I'll develop some toned arms after all this carrying 35 pounds around! ha! Even though they have times fighting they also have the sweetest moments too when they are laughing and playing together, its so cute. I need to try to get some of those on video. Here are some pictures from the beach. I am also going to post some on Aidan's blog as I need to update his too.

Emma playing on the playground at the beach.

Standing up by the slide


Loving the slide!

Playing in the sand in front of our beach house.

Sweet Girl

Playing with her brother in the sand

Sitting pretty

Hanging out with her cousin Matti by the pool

Sitting in her brother's beach chair.

Playing with Matti.

Playing with Daddy in the Pool

Playing with my brother

I love this picture even though the film is overexposed. I can probably crop it to print.

This one turned out so well of both of them playing in the tunnel.

Playing in the sand.

I'm getting the hang of pushing these things.

Having fun riding around

Emma loves her big brother (most of the time) ha!

Aidan making Emma laugh in the baby pool.

Hanging out on the front porch.

Playing with my cousins and brother on the beach.

My little dare devil

Emma is going to keep me on my toes that is for sure! She is growing and changing so much and doing her best to keep up with her big brother. She is also trying to keep up with her cousin Carter, he is almost walking and she is not far behind. She took her first couple of steps this past week and has started walking some when holding on to her hands and occasionally with only one hand. She is so different in how Aidan was at the same age, he has and still is very cautious when doing anything new, for example the slide, it took him until recently maybe a little over 2 1/2 before he got up the courage to go down any slide, now he does it with ease. But, Emma is different, she is already going down even the tallest of slides with the biggest grin on her face and wanting more! We recently went to my dad's for a cookout and he took me and all the grandkids for a ride in his "mule" tractor, similar to a golf cart but lots more power. We went all over the property and up and down the driveway, fast enough to blow our hair back and Emma was holding her arms up the whole time like she was on a rollercoaster! too funny! She loves checking out the horses, chickens, dogs, and the kittie. Yesterday we went out to lunch to Chickfila and let Aidan play in the playground, another recent discovery of his, took him until recently to get up the nerve to go ALL the way through. Since no one was in there I let Emma crawl around and check things out, next thing I know Chris's Dad is asking me if I put her up there, she had climbed up all by herself and was about 3 steps up into the playground. Well, she was having so much fun I didn't want to yank her out, so I let her keep going. She was so proud of herself and was having so much fun and just kept climbing and climbing. Well, then I started realizing that I should have stopped her after I couldn't see her anymore. I kept asking Aidan what she was doing and he told she was right here. Then, I asked him if she was near the slide and he said yes, I asked if she was comng down the slide, well, i'm not sure, but I think he misunderstood and gave her a little shove b/c I heard him say "Here she comes". Next thing I know she is tumbling down the slide, poor little thing, very startled. She did not get hurt thank goodness, just a little scared, but after crying for a minute or two she started pointing like she wanted to go back. Oh man am I in trouble! ha ha!

I took her to the park on Saturday and had her 1 year pics taken with Becky Vanderveen and had so much fun. The weather was perfect and I think we got some good shots, Emma did a lot of standing, I didn't realize until then how good she was at standing for periods of time. She did not however like the damp grass. When I put her down in the grass she imediately picked her legs up and gave me a look like ewww, gross what did you just put me on! It didn't take her too long to get use to it though and was crawling around in know time. The only bad thing was I think she had a reaction to the wet grass and now has nice red bumps on her legs. Here is a picture that Becky put on her blog from the session. My sister and Carter came to watch and ended up in a few of the pictures at the end. Here they are on the grass together. Emma was pooped! ha!

1 year and already a Diva!

Emma recently had her 1st birthday and had lots of fun! I will post some pics of her eating her cake. She has really started showing her personality lately and I get the feeling she is going to give me some trouble when she gets older, she is very strong willed and isn't going to take crap from anyone, esp. her brother. Ha! She is really on the move lately and is crawling up a storm and is crusing and climbing with ease. I'm waiting for her to take those first steps, not sure if it will be anytime soon she seem pretty comfortable doing what she doing now. She is doing so much more at her age than I remember Aidan doing, I know all kids do things at a different pace and maybe its b/c she trying to keep up with Aidan and her cousin Cooper. I recently took them to McD's for some ice cream and to play on the playground. Aidan has finally gotten to where he likes climbing through the playgrounds and going down the slides. Well, there was no one there that day so I let Emma play at the beginning on one of those tunnels and she climbed part of the way up, I had to go in there after her. Well, I ended up climbing in there with her and Aidan (pretty picture if you can imagine) probably not meant for someone in her mid-30s! I have a nasty burn mark on my elbow from the stupid plastic tunnel. Its a lot harder to climb up those things than I realize esp. while holding a 1 year old. What was I thinking! Killed my knees as well! I finally get to the top and start wondering what the weight limit is on this thing, yikes! Go to the slide and hope I don't scare Emma to death and of course being an adult and of a good size we went barrelling down the slide and phenominal speeds and static electricity the whole way down as well. Emma loved it though, didn't scare her a bit, she wanted to go again, I've created a monster! Then, when I pryed her fingers off of the playground b/c I certainly didn't want to do that again she proceeded to have a complete tantrum, bending backwards and boy was I glad we were the only ones there that day. I had also gotten Aidan and myself an ice cream cone, I was going to let Emma just try a little, well she had a different idea and clamped down on that cone and would not let me get it back from her and she proceeded to eat the entire ice cream and cone! I will post some pics of that as well. She is definitely going to keep me on my toes!

Here she is at her last photo session (10 months)

Here is her Hello kitty Cake

Here she is with her cousin Matti Newton

Here she is enjoying her ice cream cone! with the death grip on it.

Enjoying her 1st ice cream cone at McD's!

This pic is from a while back, but it cracks me up! Diva!

Eating birthday cake! I didn't think about how that black icing was going to look on her face! ugh!

Eating cake!

I can't believe she actually wore the hat, probably b/c she was too busy with her cake!

Aidan and Emma at Easter! Happy to be dressed up aren't they!

Emma on the move!

Emma is really moving around these days, she has really taken off. I finally got some recent video of her crawling and pulling up. Of course, Aidan wanted to get in and stand in the spotlight! I have a feeling she will be telling him a thing or two when they are more the same size!

This first one was from a week ago.


this video was taken last night. and yes, if you are wondering what is on Aidan's head its one of my headbands, I was wearing one last night and he had to put one on too. I kept making me think of that strange guy on American Idol with the headbands! ha!


I have another video of Aidan singing his ABCs I'm going to post on his blog, so cute!

Growing up way too fast!

Its been forever since my last post and I only have myself to blame. Part of the reason was my job loss back in October and then just being busy at home with Emma I never thought to get on the computer for some reason. Funny how it takes me going back to work to think about updating Aidan and Emma's blogs. I will post pictures soon I just wanted to write some things down before I forget.

Let's see...Emma started crawling at 10 months, now at 11 months she is really crawling all over the place and pulling up. I know she will be crusing anytime. The days of me being able to leave her on our bed and not worry about her getting off are over! She will probably be running all over the place by the summer I'm sure. We are sooo still struggling with sleep at night and during the day. I think I am sleep deprived for sure. She was actually sleeping through the night around 6 months of age and then when she started crawling and pulling up she decided she was going to cry everytime she woke up. I did the "cry it out" with Aidan and it worked great for him, but for some reason I keep puttint it off with Emma. Aidan's crying broke my heart too, but Emma seems to have the different kind of hold over me! ha! I hope I can figure out something soon, I don't know how much more of no sleep I can take.

The best part of having 2 little ones is watching the interaction between the two of them. Emma is finally starting to really interact with Aidan and vice versa. Aidan will talk to her in the car and sometimes will say things like" Emma watch this or Emma look" and will make a funny face or do something silly and I will hear her chuckle. She really watches his every move and definitely trys to mimick him.

okay, all for now. I will download some pics and video asap! :)

9 months old and a new year

I have been so slack in updating both my babies blogs. It sounds crazy but I had so much more time and energy to blog when I had a job. To update everyone if you don't know I lost my job back in October and am still on the job hunt, I've had some promising interviews but waiting to hear back from those potential employers, we'll see. So, in the meantime I have been a SAHM to Emma while looking for a job, some of you may think this sounds like the life of leisure, well I'm here to say, YEAH RIGHT. Even though Emma has not started crawling yet, she can still get around where she wants to go and if she gets her way she wants me to carry her there on my hip. I'm so struggling with daytime naps with her, she seems to not need a nap or is content to sleep on me after nursing which I must admit I don't mind her doing from time to time, its relaxing for me as well. I certainly have enjoyed this time at home with her which is probably why she is so good at the naps! ha! She does great at night time, still getting up in the middle of the night to nurse, which the Ped. keeps telling me that she doesn't need that night time feeding anymore, but whatever I'm doing what feels right to me. She goes right back to sleep and doesn't get up until the morning so I don't see anything wrong with it. We had a good 9 month visit with just one shot, so not too traumatic, I usually nurse her immediately afterward and it calms her right down. One thing I realized recently is that I really have to make more time for myself doing something with friends. Its so difficult to do that when nursing, I plan to nurse for atleast a year or as long as Emma wants to, but I am ready for a little freedom too. She's fine taking a bottle during the day, well sometimes she has to do a little coaxing my MIL tells me, but its the night time nursing that I don't think she would do well without. We'll see I may try to do it soon. Here are some recent pics of my sweet girl, I have some video I am downloading to you tube that I would put on here soon as well.

Here she is on her new rocking horse she got for Christmas.

Emma and Aidan in there cute matching outfits from Uncle Gary & Aunt Julie, love these!

Emma having fun in the tub, love the chubiness!

She is so looking at her brother in this shot!

Having fun at Christmas!

Aidan and Emma hanging out in her crib!

Pics of Emma courtesy of the Vanderveens, so need to order my pics when I can afford it!

Here's a video of Emma watching a Christmas Elmo doll sing:


Here's a video of her on her new rocking horse she got for Christmas: