Undressing

A couple of mornings ago I looked at my video monitor and thought "Wow, his little bum is pointing straight at the camera and it doesn't look like it has anything on it!" I went into his room to check it out and this is what I found...
He had pulled off his pants, socks and his diaper. He thought it was so much fun that he has done it several times since that morning. Luckily for us there have not been any poopy diapers, just wet ones but this means that now for naptime and bedtime we have to put him in onesies or sleepers so that we don't end up eventually having a big poopy mess!!


A little side note... Aiden decided to give me a really really nice Mother's Day gift. He fell asleep in the car for basically the first time since he was 11 months old. We were so shocked but ecstatic! What a nice little surprise for mama. Thanks for the thoughtful gift Aiden!

Jonny's Bday BBQ with no Jonny

Our friend Jonny was planning on celebrating his 33rd birthday with us on Sat, May 8th by hosting a BBQ. He had already purchased all the food and was ready go when his wife went into labor the morning of the party. Since we are such awesome friends, we decided we just couldn't let all that good food go to waste so we just had to have the party without him. Yes, I am laughing at us even now as I am typing this post. Almost everyone still came (we switched locations from his house to our friend's the Cersey's) and we enjoyed the food, the mustaches and the draw the mustache on Jonny game.
About the mustaches... Jonny (or his wife, I'm not sure) decided it would be fun for the bday celebration if all the guys grew out crazy mustaches for his party. This meant that all the men for the previous week had gotten really furry faces, especially my dearly beloved husband, Ryan. It was like kissing sandpaper with sharp nails sticking out... I finally told him I just couldn't kiss him until he shaved his face because it was hurting too much! So we had already sacrificed some kisses for this party by the time his wife went into labor so we were most DEFINITELY still going to have the mustache contest with or without Jonny!
We really wished he could have made it but we still honored him for his big day even though he wasn't there. And yes, for those of you wondering if we finally held him a real party, we did get together a few days after the sweet new baby was born and had some cake and gave him presents (planned by his wife who had just given birth, yes she is amazing). HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONNY and thanks for the fun party!! :)
(Little side note: Aiden saw some toys under the Cersey's couch and decided to crawl under it to reach them. He ended up getting stuck (his big head couldn't fit back under) and started to cry. And yes, I took the extra time before I rescued him to take a picture because it was just too cute and funny to pass up. See the top left picture of the above collage.)

The Brodys and The Averys

In May we were able to attend a baby blessing for Avery Edelman. She is so dainty with such cute girly features. She did great all through Sacrament except for the blessing- she cried the whole time! Oh well, bound to happen. Afterward, we had refreshments with the group. Then we headed to Ryan's dad's house for a Mother's Day dinner.
Also in May we got to welcome into the world Avery Jane Wood, daughter of our friends Jonny and Nicole. She is so sweet and tiny and I love holding her. Her momma is amazing and was already up and about as soon as she got home from the hospital. I wish I was like that right after having a baby! Congrats guys, we love your sweet new addition!


In April we had 2 bday parties to go to on the same day both for a Brody. One was for Brody Quale, one of Aiden's friends, who turned 1. He LOVED his cake and did a good job of getting it all over him. If you ask him how old he is he will hold up 1 finger- it is so cute.


The 2nd party was for our nephew Brody who turned 2 years old. His parents rented ponies for the party and all the kiddos got to take a turn or 2 on a horse. Aiden got his turn and was unsure about the horse but still enjoyed riding it twice. The birthday boy sadly didn't want to ride the horse and cried. His mom tried to ride the horse with him but he still cried. It was sad since the ponies were for him but at least all the other kiddos loved the horses.

Camping

(Note: my computer had some big issue while I typed this post so please ignore any weird font styles, etc. Thx.)
We decided to do a last minute camping trip with the Rusch clan last month. We mentioned going up to a Lake Hartwell campground but then decided with all the kiddos it might be better to stick closer to home. Instead we stayed on Emily's parents property (they have I think around 150 acres??) in Monroe. We did tinfoil dinners that night and roasted marshmallows and also had a cherry/blueberry chocolate cobbler. yum.
Emily and Jon decided to call it a night around 10pm so they could try to get their oldest boy to go to sleep in his own little tent. Aiden was already asleep so Ryan and I decided we might as well go to bed too. How I wish we could have slept!! Jack took a couple hours to fall asleep (he was singing songs to his daddy) and then right after he fell asleep Aiden woke up and started crying. I finally got Aiden out of his pack and play and snuggled him in my sleeping bag with me but he wouldn't fall asleep. After 3 hours of this I finally put him back in his crib around 6am and then Jack was awake at 7am. Yip, I got a grand total of 1 hour of sleep. It was awesome. We have sworn off camping with kiddos until they are at least 5 years old.

This is how Aiden and Jack interacted. Aiden would have an item, Jack would come take it away and stare as Aiden melted down and started crying and then Jack would give him the item back. Aiden would then stop crying. I think it fascinated Jack to see the response he got out of Aiden. That morning we had a yummy breakfast of sausage, bacon, eggs and fruit. Then we broke down camp and headed out to Hard Labor Creek to hike a little 1 mile trail. Aiden pretty much walked most of the way on his own. Afterward we ate a little picnic lunch and then headed home to let Aiden get a good nap since he only slept for 5 hours that night. When we finally made it home Aiden took a 4 hour nap he was so exhausted poor baby. Well, now the Horsleys have learned that if we want to go camping we leave the little one behind!
Hiking at Hard Labor Creek.

Friends

The beginning of April I went and spent the night at my friend Sarah's house while her husband was out of town. She just had her daughter Avery at the beginning of March so I was in heaven. I got to hold and kiss the sweet little angel all day. We ate out and rented a movie and just chilled with the baby. Thanks Sarah for the fun visit!
Now that the weather is warmer we have been hitting up the park playground weekly. We did a picnic lunch one week and unfortunately for us there was no shade so we were incredibly hot as we sat and watched the kiddos play. Aiden and his BFF Drake enjoyed sharing a bag of cheetos. This is how it went down.... Drake has the bag and eats some cheetos, Aiden sees the bag grabs it out of Drake's hand and eats some himself, then Drake takes it back. Sharing, it's beautiful. :)

Aiden also got some cousin time the other week. This picture pretty much summed up their play time. Aiden would get in the car, Brody would want to join him so he would squeeze into the car with him. Then Reagan would want to play too so she would join by climbing on top of the car. Then I had to hold onto Reagan and the car and try to push the whole lot around! The kids loved it.

I need tips on teaching Aiden how to play with bigger kids. Currently what usually happens is Aiden is playing with a toy, then a bigger kiddo sees it and takes it away. Then Aiden starts crying and comes running to me and I give him hugs and tell him its alright. I worry sometimes that I will make him into a whiner if I keep this up. Should I be doing this or should I somehow be teaching him to toughen up and deal??