Aiden :: 12 Months

Hahaha, oh buddy...my only consolation is that we got some better "First Year" photos :)

Aiden,

My sweet boy...today you are 1 year old. I can hardly believe that we are already celebrating your whole first year! When your brother and sister turned 1, there was much celebrating in our house. Making it through the first year with twins is a HUGE accomplishment, and it felt like we were crossing some invisible finish line. While we are certainly celebrating the mark of your first year, this milestone feels different. Tucking away my baby boy's first year feels...gosh, what are the right words? It's not quite sad, but there is a part of my heart that is aching over the fact that I no longer have a baby. That many of my "lasts" as a mother will be yours. Of course, you will always be my baby boy {there's no escaping that}. But the fact of the matter is that you no longer fit fully in the crook of my arm, you are slowly growing more independent, and your little baby tiny-ness is a thing I will just have to cherish in my Mama-heart. When I put you to bed this weekend, knowing that today was coming, ready or not, my heart was bursting with love over the adorable boy that I get to call "mine." Because sweet boy, you weren't "supposed" to be. And yet God, in His loving-kindness, gifted you to me and your Daddy. And worked out a million little details to make sure I got to hold you in my arms. And there just are not enough words to express my gratitude, my joy, my love. I love you so much it hurts sometimes. And I thank Jesus every day for your beautiful life. I pray that you grow into a man who has a fiery passion for Jesus, gently caring for and loving the people around you. I pray that you forever have an adoring and close relationship with your brother and sister, that you continue to light up with joy whenever those you love are around. I cannot wait to see how you continue to grow, and I thank Jesus I get a front row seat to your development. I love you, Little Man!

Love, 

Mama

AIDEN MICHAEL

Stats :: 29 pounds {we'll get your height at your check up later this week}

Clothing/Diaper Size :: you are wearing 24 months/2T clothing and size 5 diapers

Loves :: petting Sasha {mostly just pulling out her fur}, snuggling {with whoever will let you barrel into them}

Dislikes :: changing clothes, not having Mama or Daddy close, having your faced cleaned

Eat :: we have been working on weaning you from the bottle, and we are down to less than 15 ounces a day. we are going to start transitioning you to whole milk this week, so I'm sure the bottle will be a thing of the past very soon {which I am definitely OK with!} this month you tried spinach, cantaloupe, and probably other things Mama just can't remember haha. you basically eat what we do now, so I forget what's "new" to you.

Sleep :: you are still taking a morning and afternoon nap, and sleeping through the night. you are moving a little more in your sleep, as we will lay you down in one position and then will find you in another when we get you up {something new for you!} you are still a back sleeper, and most of the time, you sleep with your right arm under your back.

Play/Development :: you have become pretty proficient and FAST at crawling! sometimes you go so fast that you get too much ahead of yourself and topple over, but even that doesn't seem to slow you down that much haha. you are standing on your own, sometimes as long as 10 seconds! you haven't really taken any steps yet, so we'll see when you decide to walk. we can see it on your face that you WANT to walk, you just haven't made any efforts toward that end quite yet.

Unique to You :: you scream to get our attention for something that you want. so we're trying to work on some better communication. just in the last week, you had 4 top teeth come in {sorry buddy!} you are our little fiery redhead, full of personality and smiles. you love your family, always wanting to be close and part of the action. you are STRONG...you will pull up on anyone and anything, bury your head in our chests, and act as though you are ready to wrestle haha. you will climb on top of your brother and sister, ready to play, which is sometimes met with love and sometimes not. you just barrel your way through and over and in...and we love you for it!

Aiden is One in a Melon!

This weekend we celebrated Aiden's first birthday with a One in a Melon birthday party!

It was so fun to plan and decorate for this party. I was able to use mostly card stock and my Silhouette Cameo; it was pretty easy to just put up a bunch of watermelons everywhere :)

We had watermelon {of course}, fruit, watermelon popsicles, pretzels, crackers, and then we ordered pizza. And of course, our sweet treats were courtesy of Aunt Lindsay!

Thank you, Pinterest for the idea on watermelon popsicles

Aiden's little cupcake :)

I made Aiden's "One in a Melon" t-shirt and made Eli a matching watermelon shirt. I found Maddie's cute little watermelon dress on Zulily, and she LOVED wearing it {even took a nap in it}.

Eli insisted on wearing his Mickey Mouse house shoes haha

LOVE these two :)

We just had family at the party, and it was so fun to have the people who love him the most there- grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins. He loved opening presents, but like all little kids, loved the bags and paper more haha. He got some new clothes, some books, and some fun toys. Our gift to him was a restored Cozy Coupe, and he loves it! Of course, his brother and sister are also REALLY excited about it, so it will be interesting to have the 1 toy that all 3 kiddos want to play with...

Eli got some sweet reading time with Uncle Bryan

Aiden had his first sweet treat for his party, a cupcake. He didn't really seem to know what to do with it, and wasn't really much of a fan. But I think that had more to do with all the birthday song attention than the cupcake itself.

We had such a fun time celebrating our sweet baby boy. I still can't believe he is already one year old! We are so thankful for our Little Man and how he rounds out our family :)

Happy 1st Birthday, sweet boy! You are definitely One in a Melon :)

Baby Firsts :: Aiden's First Haircut

We took Aiden to get his first haircut yesterday! We took him a lot earlier than we took Eli, but Little Man has a lot more hair! It's still pretty thin, but it was getting to be pretty shaggy {including a nice little grandpa comb-over haha}, so we thought a good little trim was in order :)

Turns out, Aiden's not a fan of getting a haircut. He was upset most of the time, and just really couldn't sit still. The lady was very patient, and was able to get a pretty decent haircut despite everything.

Feeling a little nervous, but still ok at this point

Being Mr. Flirty Pants

Not loving the cape...or the lady with the scissors

Sad little boy

He didn't like the cape, but it at least kept his hands from pushing the comb and scissors away

I finally decided to see if standing up with him would work better, and it helped a little. Not a lot, but he at least stopped screaming. And again, the lady was VERY patient with him.

That look haha

Sweet boy...making Mama feel terrible for making you get a haircut

And once the haircut was all done and the cape was off, he was ALL better. Just like that :)

Now he's ready to turn 1 and look good doing it! :)

A Ruby Anniversary

Today my super adorable parents celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary! 40 YEARS.

1979. The year of the silver tux and velvet bow tie.

My parents seem to have it figured out. No seriously.

They have known each other since they were teenagers; they were high school sweethearts. They got married when they were 20 and 21, so they have been together pretty much their whole lives. They basically grew up, became adults, figured out life as adults together. 

Neither of my parents were believers when they got married. And it wasn't until they were in their 30s when my mom was invited to a Bible study and came to know Jesus as her Savior through the study of God's word. My dad thought she had joined a cult, so he started going to the Bible study to see what she had gotten mixed up with, and he came to know Jesus as his Savior through the study of God's word. And they have been faithfully serving Jesus and each other ever since. True story.

I share that because it is just such a testament to God's amazing grace and faithfulness to them. To keep them together despite their young hearts and personality differences, to bring them both to saving faith in Him so close together, and to grow their marriage stronger over the last couple of decades. Praise God for His blessings over my parents!

My parents certainly don't have a perfect marriage, but I think it comes pretty darn close. And it's because of their love for Jesus and their love for each other that we are now celebrating their ruby anniversary! They serve each other in countless ways, support one another in the small and big things, and seem to spend every waking moment together {not really, but kind of...they really like just being with each other!} They have shown us such a wonderful example of what's truly important in marriage and in life, something that I have grown to appreciate even more over the course of my own marriage.

Mom and Dad, thank you for being such an amazing example of commitment and selflessness. Thank you for fostering the closeness in our family, for creating fun memories, and for being the steady "home base" for our family. Most importantly, thank you for teaching us what it means to love unconditionally, sacrificially, and faithfully.

Still smiling, just as happy as can be, 40 years later!

Happy Anniversary, you crazy lovebirds! :)

Double Trouble, Episode 2

In honor of National Twin Day, I thought I'd share some of the recent antics of our twin toddlers. These two sure know how to make messes and get into things they're not supposed to touch. And uncontrollable giggling usually means trouble. I understand that all toddlers have their share of antics, but when you have a built-in partner in crime, it just makes for that much more fun {for them}!

I shared some of their antics here, and of course, they like to get into the pantry, take off their diapers, and play with Butt Paste. It's never a dull moment around here!

I found them hiding in my closet eating toothpaste {and spreading it on my clothes}

And while I was cleaning up the toothpaste mess, they got into my pen bag and decided to write on each other. This definitely could have been worse, so I'm glad I caught them before they did too much damage.

They found Aiden's formula containers and decided to have a taste. For the record, semi-wet {meaning, not shaken up in a bottle} formula is basically paste. And it was EVERYWHERE. Sasha joined in on this one too, since she had a free-for-all of powder to lick off the floor.

They sure can push my buttons, and they definitely keep me on my toes, but for all the crazy antics, there is nothing like having twin toddlers. Because while there is certainly double the trouble, there is also double the sweet giggles, double the fun, and double the love. And I wouldn't trade it for anything!