Holden Smiles!

Holden is 7 weeks old now and has changed so much in the last two weeks! We're still at my parents' house at the moment, but we're going back home this weekend (they have finally fixed the water heater and closet in Aiden's room). I'm really excited for Matt to see how much Holden has changed. He's starting to gurgle and coo and smile!

I know this isn't the best picture, but it's the first time I managed to get a part of a smile on film. I'm loving this sweet, happy baby!

I Blame it on Sleep Deprivation

Aiden is finally able to dress himself! I'm sure he could have done it earlier, but he just wasn't willing to try. Well, this morning, I picked out his clothes and laid them out for him. I was watching him get dressed while I was feeding Holden. He put his shirt on and he was so proud! Then he started to put on his jeans. When I saw what I had given him, I started cracking up! He had no idea why I was laughing until he stood up, but he was laughing too. I just happened to have my camera right beside me.

My little sister had left her skirt on the floor in the room Aiden is staying in. I just assumed it was his jeans and told himto put them on. Oops! He was laughing and said, "Mommy! Boys don't wear these things!"

Quotes From Aiden

I haven't been writing down the funny things Aiden says as much as I used to. I need to get back into that habit. But here are a few quotes that I want to remember:

Aiden was playing with Holden (showing him a rattle while he was lying on a blanket) when he looked up at me. He said, "Mommy, when are you going to get another baby in your tummy? Next time can we get a girl?"

Aiden is completely used to the fact that I have to constantly carry Holden around in order to keep him from crying. While I was in the shower yesterday morning, Holden fell asleep in his swing in the bathroom. He was still sleeping when Aiden called me. When I went in the room, he studied me for a second and said, "Mommy, is Holden back in your tummy?"

I was getting ready to go workout after I put Aiden to bed. I kissed him goodnight and he asked me to lay down with him. (My mom was holding Holden at the time). I stayed with him for a few minutes and then told him that he needed to go to sleep and I needed to go exercise. He patted my stomach and said, "That's OK, Mommy. I want your tummy to stay big forever." Thanks a lot buddy! LOL

Oh My... MOLD!!!

I mentioned yesterday that the maintenance crew at our apartment paid us an emergency visit because we had a leak in our water heater. Well, they came back this morning to do some more work and brought a contractor with them. After spending less than a minute in Aiden's room, the contractor came to talk to me. He told me that there was a substantial amount of mold in Aiden's closet (the door to the water heater and gas is in Aiden's closet, but it's locked and we don't have a key to open it). He said that with a new baby and a young child, we would need to move out until early next week while they tore down and replaced the walls in the closet. Wow! I went back to Aiden's room to check it out and couldn't believe it. There was mold on the wall from the floor to ceiling in that closet! Absolutely no way that much mold grew overnight and they didn't even mention that there was mold And THEN they said they would give us a furnished apartment tomorrow; it would be fine for us to stay with the mold tonight. Um... no! I packed a suitcase for the boys and me and we left for Tennessee immediately. (Matt is staying at a hotel since he can't miss school) I had been planning on visiting my parents next week so we just got here a little early.

The 8 hour car ride by myself with Aiden and Holden... At one point, I had a terrible headache, it was dark and rainy, Holden was crying, and Aiden was shouting at Holden to stop the whining... But all in all it went way better than I anticipated! We got here safely and that's all that matters!

I love our apartment. It's in a great area and it's really nice~ sooo pretty. Still, I know that there will be maintenance issues. However, we pay four times the rent that we paid in TN and I am just really disappointed in the way the management handled the situation!

A Day With Daddy: Dinos & Jack o Lanterns

Matt had a day off from school so we decided to have a family day. We haven't been able to have one in quite some time since Matt has to study so much. We took the boys to the Smithsonian museum of natural history. I got in some exercise (6 miles of walking!) and Holden slept in his wrap the entire time. I thought Aiden would enjoy seeing the dinosaur bones, but I guess he's a little too young. He obviously doesn't understand how old they are and he kept saying, "Daddy, they have real dinosaurs in Tennessee!" (He still remembers going to the children's museum last winter when they had the robotic dinosaur display.) He loved the bug display though! It's more interactive. We still had a good day!

Once we got home and finished dinner, Matt asked Aiden if he was ready to carve the pumpkin. Of course he wanted to. Matt got Aiden to tell him how to do the eyes, nose, and teeth and then he carved it.

Aiden really wasn't interested in playing with the pumpkin goo! After putting his hand in the pumpkin once, he let Matt take over!

Aiden was really excited about "putting fire" into the pumpkin

The fun still hasn't stopped for Aiden... This morning when I went in his closet to pick out his clothes. I thought the carpet felt a little wet. Then when we were downtown, Matt got a phone call saying that the maintenance crew had to go into our apartment because the water heater had a bad leak. They have been in Aiden's room all evening and are supposed to be back tomorrow. But until then, all of his toys are in the middle of the floor and he is camped out in the living room with Holden and me. Something tells me I'm not going to get much sleep tonight!

I LOVE Fall!

My favorite season has always been summer. I love hot weather and being able to go swimming, and going to the beach, but I think October through December is my favorite time of the year now. There are just so many fun activities to do this time of year and it's so much more fun when you have a little one to share it with.

Matt's school has a student spouse club and I have joined the parent tot group. We have met a few times for playdates and Aiden is really enjoying it. Recently, we went to a fall festival with the group. I love everything about these farms from the corn mazes (which we didn't do!) to the hayrides and pumpkin patches to the playgrounds. We've gone to the one in TN each fall and I'm really going to miss it this year.

This is the first year that Aiden has actually been able to enjoy it. Too fun!

Aiden LOVED the hay jump. It was really hard to get him to move on to other activities!

Then he had lots of fun on the big slides. He sat on a piece of burlap and made sure to scoot to the very end of the slide each time! I was so proud of him going up the stairs and waiting in line by himself. I couldn't go down the slide wearing Holden and it was too crowded to go back down once he got to the top. He told me that he was a big boy and he could do it by himself!

The only bad part about our trip? I am hopeless at driving in the DC area! I get lost ALL the time. I printed out directions from Mapquest to get to the farm and figured I could just follow those directions back home. Wrong! It took us 20 minutes to get to the farm and an hour and a half to get back home! I think a GPS would be a good investment for me!

A Bit of a Rant

I'm a stay at home mom now so all of the cooking, cleaning, shopping, and errand running falls on me. And that's fine. I love being able to stay home with my boys. And I understand that Matt is really busy with med school and all of the studying that's required, but I sometimes feel like he doesn't understand how much I do! I feel like I'm constantly running around cleaning and picking up and have nothing to show for it... I make sure the house is spotless before I go to sleep (sleep? that would be the hour or two I get at a time while holding Holden!) every night and this is what I wake up to...

An empty cake container, glasses, and dishes from his office (at least he brought it to the kitchen, right?!)

An empty cereal box and bag, cereal and milk on the counter, more dirty dishes, and cereal on the floor....

Dirty clothes on the floor right next to the hamper!

I'm a stay at home mom, not a servant! I love my husband. He's a great guy and a wonderful daddy. He will do anything for me... except clean up his messes!