Dear Ayden

You are 22 months old today. Sitting in front of me is a picture of you at 6 months old. Those eyes and that smile haven't changed on bit! You amaze me and frustrate me all at once. Bedtime last night was rough. Daddy left and met a friend which normally isn't a big deal. You always went to bed for me with no problems. I guess it started this morning. You actually got out of bed on your own and began making your way down the stairs. I met you halfway. I thought it was cute at the time. It wasn't so cute when you did it more times than I care to know in the span of an hour when it was already past your bedtime. I lost my cool about half way in. I could have definitely used a wing man.

Okay, enough venting!

I love watching your little brain work. At our Sunday morning breakfast spot daddy put some jelly on your toast. Of course you liked it, you eat PB&J. You began dipping your toast in the jelly and sucking it off. When your toast got soggy, you bit it off and started all over again.

You LOVE being outside and usually cry when it's time to come in. Sometimes I can convince you to come in minus the tears but it's usually 50/50.

You tend to yell in the car, just to yell for no apparent reason. This however, scares your brother and makes him cry.

You went from calling Cohen "Doe" to "Toe". I like to call him "Co" which is where your version comes from.

Your list of words is quite long. Some new ones include:

dip, help, you do, read, law and safe (I was explaining to you why you need buckled into your carseat)

You play rough and tend to make other kids cry. You're not being mean, you just don't understand the word gentle. We're gonna have to work on that.

Dear Cohen

You were 4 months old yesterday! Oh how the days fly by! You smile, you coo, you laugh. You are content in the exersaucer for short bursts at a time looking at the toys. For the past week or so your sleeping habits have changed. I just remind myself that you are a growing boy and need me to fill your little tummy. You like to lay on the couch and (dare I say!?) look at the tv. You are still most happy in my right arm, facing out, watching the world around you. Each day your little sponge brain takes it all in. You no longer get mad the second you're on your tummy. You can hold your head up a look around. You drool like crazy. You chew and suck on your hands (and mine) every chance you get. If you follow in your brothers footsteps I don't expect a tooth anytime soon.

Tomorrow is your 4 month check up. I'll come back and add your stats.

Update:15 lbs. (55th percentile)
26-3/4 in. (95th percentile)

Guess I've Been Busy...

I did not realize that it had been so long since I blogged! Who would have ever thought 2 boys under 2 would keep me busy?!

July has been a busy month so far:

Went to the Fray concert with Sam and had a great time!

I have been to 2 Crushers games and enjoy them more than the Indians. I think it's just the small setting. (Hmmm, wonder why I like the House of Blues so much...)

Dad and Gail were in town. We went to Mill Hollow, my family reunion, had dinner and Wii time here at the house, went out to dinner and to Alex's graduation party.


Went to a bachelorette party Saturday. Let me add that I had on a fabulous new white dress which is now tinted lime green and has a tye dyed look to it thanks to me washing it with a (you guessed it) lime green dress. I am still working on it and may resort to bleach (eww!). Let me also say that Andy had the boys by himself! I was quite proud!

I made it to the gym 3 times this week!

I got a new phone today (much needed!) and I bought a cool hard case for it on ebay.

Goodbye infant carrier, hello convertable carseat! Cohen is so much happier in the car now! He's even playing with some rings that I bought at Target (my favorite store). I didn't switch Ayden until he was 6 months and able to sit on his own. So until then, I will wear Cohhen in one of the three slings that I own, put him in the stroller or carry him depending on the situation. So far this has been working out great.

Cohen found his toes the other day! He laughed too! I need to get that on video. He also rolled over at exactly 3 months. Ayden didn't do that until 4 months.

Ayden LOVES his 4 wheeler (and daddys too). Actually it's more like obssessed!

He rode on his cousin's dirt track the other day. It was super cute! Andy blew off work that day and spent the it with us.

And lastly, we are rockin' the mohawk, just like daddy!

Wow, that was long! I promise I will blog sooner!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I most certainly did not scream like the little girl I am when Andy came home with the baby snakes he and Ayden were playing with the other day. Andy did not really have them in a Gymboree bag.

We did not head to the International Festival where they were scanning people with a metal detector at the door! Is that really a safe place to take your kids?!?! They don't do that at the Jamboree!

I am not the die hard softball fan that stayed at Andy's game yesterday through the rain. It was not their first win of the season. I mean really, who would have their 3 month old out in that? The mom with the 21 month old little boy who had a blast playing in the mud!

Ayden was defiantly not a soaking wet messy little boy who was wearing a mostly white shirt. I'm smarter than that, right?

I did not take my camera to the game only to realize that it had no memory card in it and the internal memory was full.

I did not have a sleeping Cohen in the Moby wrap with Ayden's hat on him, chasing Ayden around the fields for 2 hours.

Overall, I had a good weekend. Cohen is changing from a newborn to a baby right before my eyes. He was so good with all of the things we did this. Ayden, of course ran non stop ALL day yesterday. Can I bottle up some of his energy and save it for myself?!

Making Me Time (is there such a thing?)

Not really.

Monday I decided that I'd like to start running down my road. I run on the treadmill at the gym but I really need to kick it into high gear and shed some pounds. So I figured that this would just be extra points, right? I mean going to the gym two times a week does something right? It makes up for all the Hersheys Dark Chocolate Kisses that I consume on a daily basis, right?

Actually it comes down to me being lazy. The weight came off so much easier with Ayden...sigh...
I'm breastfeeding so I carry some extra weight for this reason, or so I've been told. I don't remember that being the case with Ayden. Of course he ate so much more than Cohen so naturally I was burning more calories.

Okay, getting off topic here.

So back to my run. I put Cohen to sleep and told Andy he could spend some time with Ayden then put him to sleep. I get out of the house. I get some Me Time and Andy gets to spend some extra time with Ayden since usually when 8pm rolls around I jump on that and get Ayden off to bed. Andy of course lets him stay up later. I have been referred to as the Nazi for that. Thanks Andy.

I return from my run (doing better than I thought I would) about 40 minutes later. Andy is sitting on the stairs going back and forth with Ayden who is in his bedroom.

Ayden: Daddy? Daddy?

Andy: Go to sleep buddy.

Ayden: Daddy? Daddy?

Andy: Lay down Ayden.

You get my point. This goes on for a while. Andy retreats to the couch. I'm on the floor stretching and all of a sudden I see Ayden's bedroom light flashing on and off. I tell Andy and we both start cracking up. So then Ayden starts laughing too becasue he hears us. At this point, I'm staying out of the process. Andy started it, he can finish it.

I'm now on the computer (surprise there!) and I hear Andy gasp. I look up and gasp too. Ayden came down the stairs, peaked his head around the wall and scared the crap out of both of us.

He proceedes to come down the rest of the stairs, walk to the patio door and let the dogs in who had been barking. Okay, time for me to step in and be the mom. I scoop him up, we kiss daddy and up the stairs we go. It's almost 9:30!!!! I, the Nazi, put Ayden back in bed with a quick song and some hugs and kisses then leave and shut the door (key point there Andy). He falls alseep shortly there after.

Tuesday went a little better. Ayden was actually asleep when I got back, Cohen, not so much.

We'll see how tonight goes...

Playing With Photoshop

Honestly I have wanted to learn photoshop for a long time, I've just never taken the time to sit down and do it. Here is my attemp at bluring the background and doing an eye pop. Thanks to Simply Jenna for her inspiration.


Before:


After:

Aaaaaahhhhhhh!

This is me screaming!

Wait I've done that already today...

Easy button, easy button where are you????

Good thing I can start over tomorrow!