Tootoons!!

Timmy said today. "Yay!! Mickey Tootoon!!" When I told him he could watch a mickey cartoon if he let me clip his nails. I thought it was super-cute. :)

The A-man

Aaron did two remarkable things yesterday! He followed directions for the first time! I said to Timmy, "I need a kiss! Who has a kiss for me?" and he gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek. Aaron was watching so intently, that I gave it a try to say "Aaron, I need a high five, give me a high five!"

He crawled from the wall to the couch, stood up while holding my knees and put his hand to my outstretched one! Whoa!

I was so surprised that he knew what I had said and did it!

Then he also mimiked (not my words, but...) the syllables of something I said. I said something to Timmy, and he tried to mimik me by saying Na-Na! I said the word again and he tried to mimik it again. I was so surprised that he was trying to repeat!

Aaron turned 11 months yesterday, and I am constantly surprised that my little newborn is not a newborn anymore. He has a very playful personality and never stops moving. They other day he started putting his head down on my shoulder and letting me sway him before bed. He had just done the same for Scott too, and Scott and I were elated! It's fun to have our little mover stop for a minute and just let you hold him. That, however, is a very rare occasion!

Baby Grace

BIG NEWS!! We have a new niece!! Kent and Christa welcomed Grace Parker on April 14th. She was nice and healthy at 8 lbs 12 oz! Congratulations!!! We are super excited for you and can't wait to see her in person this September!

Nice job Christa! She pulled off another amazing unmedicated birth!

Oryando

We went to Orlando (AKA Oryando...if you are Timmy) last week, tagging along while Scott attended the AIAA Conference. We thought we may as well bum along and enjoy a free hotel.

Traveling with the whole family was pretty crazy. We had the double stoller, a large suitcase, 2 car seats, a carry on bag, a large backpack, the portable DVD player case, the portable potty seat (had to keep that handy), the diaperbag and my purse. It was CRAZY! We are normally very light packers, but when you are going to be in a hotel and have kids, you have to take everything you need, or pay twice as much for it later, and have to make time to go buy it.

Monday, while Scott attended the conference the boys caught up on sleep, went swimming, on a walk and out to lunch with Scott and some of his friends. A low key day.

Tuesday, I took the kids to Beach Club at Walt Disney World and we toured around their man made beach and walked on the boardwalk. Lots of fun and totally free!

That night Scott competed in the student presentations and WON 1st Place! His award is called the Harry Hilton Award and he will get a cash prize with a certificate! Whoo hoo! Way to go Scotty! It paid for most of our trip down there!

Wednesday, I was invited to attend the awards luncheon, which was lovely. Scott's friends Pavana and Shiva were nice enough to watch the boys for an hour so I could see Scott get his award! That night we went to SeaWorld for 2 1/2 hours and got to see a lot of neat penguins, sharks, pet tricks, and go on a few kids rides.

Thursday, we did day 2 at SeaWorld. Timmy wandered away while I was getting Aaron out of the stroller by the Manatees and gave me a scare! But he was found and we got to see lots of neat things, especially the dolphin show! That night we returned with Scott for a couple of hours to see Shamu and Arctic Adventure. Scott and I even got to each do the roller coaster. My first in a couple of years!

Friday was our big Disney World day! We spent the whole day at the Animal Kingdom. It was SUPER crowded! We didn't like that much, but we enjoyed the safari ride, asia walking tour, Nemo Show, Lion King Show and meeting Mickey, Donald and Goofy at Mickey's Camp. All in all it was a fun day! My favorite part was just strolling around after the rides closed and enjoying the serene atmosphere with only a few people around! The whole day was free too, since we took advantage of the "give a day of service, get a day at Disney" promotion! Go Disney!

Saturday, we both agreed was the highlight of the whole trip! We owe that to our great friends Cari and Hutch who hosted us at their home for 2 nights and took us kayaking at the local state park. There is a spring there with crystal clear water and you can kayak on a river from the springs. We saw an otter, an alligator, a blue Heron, fish and enjoyed a pristine beautiful area in canoes and boats. The boys loved it...Aaron loved it when we finally figured out to let him stand at the very front of the boat and hold on to the sides. He dug it. Timmy was falling asleep in the kayak on the way back. Funny!

Afterward, we enjoyed great food and great naps all around! Tim and Aaron particularly enjoyed Jane who entertained them with playing chase and other fun things! We had a great day with you guys! Thanks Hicken Fam!

Visiting Uncle Scott and Aunt Nancy

We had a great time visiting my brother Scott in March. Arizona had excellent weather and was a nice vacation from home. It was so fun to hang out with he and Nancy and the kids had a lot of fun together. Thanks for hosting us and cooking us yummy food Nancy and Scott!!

Poor Brooklyn and Jackson got a bug and were throwing up on Saturday. :(

Brooklyn and Timmy - the sippy fans

Everyone got feeling better though and we had a fun time together. Here's me and the boys at the "big park" by S & N's house.
We had some fun tea parties in the backyard. Here is Aunt Nancy entertaining her 4 neices and nephews!

Bummer!

I'm trying to stay afloat amid a ton of doctors appointments lately. I just got bad news that my wrist has a more serious injury than I thought, and will most likely have a hard time healing. It's been 4 months already, and it's not better. I was hoping it would be a physical therapy issue, but it's probably a torn ligament, which is not an easy fix. Super-lame!

Das Nuffing Egg

Today Timmy and Olivia were playing. She picked up an empty Easter egg and opened it. Timmy explained "Das Nuffing egg" (That's a nothing egg)

Chuck E Cheese!

Today was the boys first time at Chuck E Cheese! We went for Alfredo's birthday party and they both had a blast! Timmy kept saying over and over...."Das Chuck da Mouse! Hi Mouse! Das a Bird! Hi Bird" He loved to look at all the games and the big puppets of Chuck E Cheese and his bird.

Aaron surprisingly LOVED the car ride where you sit next to a plastic Chuck and drive the car. It even takes a photo of you with Chuck. He just sat there and moved the steering wheel and pushed the buttons over and over. He was just so happy there. It was surprising to see my little baby play with a ride like that. I thought he was still too little for that!

Thanks Sosa's for a great day!!

Favorite new toys

Timmy's favorite new toys are the plush Disney toys I got from the Frosted Mini Wheats boxes several months ago. I never thought that cereal box toys would be so well loved. I pulled them out the other day, and he carries them around and says their names over and over.

When one is missing he will cry and cry and whine until we find it. But yesterday....I hid them, so that I didn't have to hear the whining anymore. :)

He has Nemo, Dori, Mater, Mickey and Pluto. He can say all their names perfectly, which is so sad, because he used to say "Yo-Yo" for pluto, and now he's a big kid, pronouncing correctly....excuse me while I cry.

Nana

I have one more potty story to share. So, if you don't like bathroom talk, just skip this post altogether. :) Timmy was sitting on his potty yesterday eating a banana. When he got to the end of the banana, somehow, he dropped it into the potty while he was sitting there, and he's crying for me to get it out! I stand him up and there it is floating in urine like a log. I'm like "Um...nope...we can't wash the nana off this time, sorry buddy." :)

STAIRS!

Aaron climbed up 4 stairs today! Then he tried to sit down, and of course, I was there to hold him and keep him from falling down all of them. He's so cute and wobbly when he pulls himself up. Scott said "Funny that he can pull himself up those huge steps, but he can't keep his gut off the ground when he crawls." :) He's an army crawler. And a fast one at that, I'd add.

Oh Dear!

Well, I suppose a few Potty incidences are in order the first week of solid potty training. It's a rite of passage, right?

Well, our problem is that Aaron seems to think that Timmy's potty is the most fun toy in the house. Doesn't matter whatever else I show him with all sorts of colors and noises and blinking lights. If the plain white boring potty is around, that's what he wants. He likes that the bowl is so easy to pull off and bang on the ground.

So, I'm struggling between keeping it OUT where Timmy can have easy access, and putting it up HIGH where Aaron can't get access. Tricky, tricky.

Here's todays incident. Timmy's doing great with his new big boy underwear, and today right after he went in his little potty, Aaron woke up. So, I get him and bring him down before emptying the potty. (1st mistake) Then I lay him down to change him and the timer in the kitchen goes off that my pancake for him is done. So I run over to turn it off, and turn around and Aaron has ALREADY crawled to the potty, taken out the bowl, dumped the contents out and is laying in it!!!

Aaaak! Aaron!

Luckily this is on the hard wood floor and fairly easy to clean, but still....gross!

Note to self. Empty potty right away!