Christmas 2011

This year was the first year with my little family. I had so much fun with them.

Christmas Eve we all went to my parents house in the evening. Michael cooked a wonderful dinner and I baked some pumpkin cheesecake bars. Everything turned out perfectly. We opened individual gifts from one another as well. Ayden walked away with some adorable pajamas and an awesome KU outfit. Michael got a video game, and I got some much appreciated gift cards.

Christmas morning we all went to church and then went back over to my parents house for "Santa" presents and pizza bread for lunch. Michael and I both got wonderful things, and Ayden got some pretty fun stuff as well! He seems to be a big fan of his new jumper, which both Mom and Dad will probably enjoy just as much, ha. It keeps him busy. ;-)

My first Christmas with my family went extremely well. It just may be my favorite Christmas so far! Here are a few pictures from our two days together.

5 Months Old

This past week Ayden turned 5 months old. I've been trying to take a picture of him every month, but sometimes it doesn't always happen. This weekend we got him a nice Christmas outfit, so I made sure to snag a few pictures of him in it.

Happy five months!

Growing Like A Weed

It really is crazy how fast time has flown by. Tomorrow, Ayden will be five months old. He is learning so many different things and his personality is really starting to shine through.

We have been practicing with him on sitting up. He does a pretty decent job of it. He has started to catch himself when he falls, and is able to steady himself back up. It doesn't always work out for him, but he is improving.

He has for sure found his voice, and I think he quite likes it. He will jabber on and on in different octaves and levels. It can be kind of embarrassing when we're in public, for his octaves can get quite high and loud, but it's definitely not a terrible embarrassment. It's cute and he's happy so I don't mind one bit.

He has started reaching for me and I ABSOLUTELY love it. The first time he did it Michael was holding him and I had just come home from work. I went over to say hello to him and he smiled and reached for me. At first I thought maybe I just got lucky, but when I went to change out of my work clothes and came back, he did it again.  I may have a mama's boy after all! Ha.

Ayden is routinely sleeping through the nights and has been for probably a couple of months now. We had to adjust to daylight savings time, but I think that only took us about a week to fix. I would say he probably sleeps on average about ten hours during the night. Thank goodness. :)

I'm looking forward to celebrating Christmas with him. Although I know he won't have as much fun with it this year as I will, it'll still hold some good memories for our little family

He really is growing fast...maybe even faster than a weed!

Tis The Season!

Christmas is one of my favorite holiday's. I love being able to decorate! I was kind of off to a late start this year due to our Thanksgiving traveling, so I was anxious to start.

Michael was sweet enough to help me set up. I had a lot of fun today. I can't wait until Ayden can help decorate and enjoy the holiday with us!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving Michael and I were able to fly to Utah and spend 5 days with his family. We had a wonderful time and I am very grateful for the time we spent with them.

I was kind of nervous about flying with Ayden, but he did a wonderful job. It's definitely a lot of work flying with an infant, but with as good as it went, we will likely do it again.

I'm glad Ayden was able to see his grandparents again, and meet other family members including Michael's son Noah. It was neat seeing the three of them interact together. When Ayden first saw Noah, his eyes got really big. It was almost like he couldn't believe there were other people around his size. Noah was very sweet with him as well. I know this week made Michael very happy.

We hope to make it back out to Utah soon. We're crossing our fingers that with Michael's new job, it will give us the extra resources and time to go on more trips.

Here are a few photos from our week. I'll post more to Facebook later.

Playing

Here recently, Ayden has really been into feeling different textures. It's very interesting to see him study what he is touching. He has also been grabbing toys and bringing them to his mouth. I love watching the different stages with him. His personality is really starting to come through. He is growing so fast, and it's kind of bittersweet. It's sad to see him grow but it's very neat at the same time.

Last night Michael and I went through his clothes and started a bin. We put the clothes that he has outgrown as well as the ones that are no longer in season. It was crazy to look at his newborn clothes! Looking at him now, it's hard to believe he was that small!

He brings such joy to my life. Big or small. ;-)



Playing with his new toy




Feeling Bailey with his feet. This went on for quite some time. He enjoyed feeling her and she assumed he was petting her. It was a win win.




Making friends



Sweet Giggles

We were having a rather sweet and fun morning together. I love my little guy!

Pumpkin Carving

Yesterday evening Michael, Ayden, and I went over to one of our friends house to carve pumpkins. It was a lot of fun. Michael definitely takes pumpkin carving very seriously! Ha. We decided to do a pumpkin together since Ayden came to help us. It turned out great! Michael carved Edward and Bella from the movie Twilight. We are both fans of the movie. Here is the end product along with our extremely adorable little boy! He makes for a great model. ;-)

Loving October

This past weekend we were able to enjoy a visit from Michael's sister Rachel.

She arrived Friday afternoon. Unfortunately I had to work until the evening, but once I was able to leave work, Michael and I took her to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants out on the east side of town. After dinner, we took her on a mini tour of our downtown/old town area because we weren't too far from it.

Saturday we took her out to lunch. We took her to Buffalo Wild Wings. Apparently Rachel is really big into eating wings, and Michael and I  both like that place, so we figured it would be a fitting place to eat. She seemed to really enjoy it.

Sunday was kind of a lazy day. Rachel was kind enough to cook us breakfast and we just  lounged around the house. It was very nice. Towards the evening we treated Rachel to some frozen yogurt. We took her to the same place we took Michael's parents and two younger sisters when they came in to town to visit.

 I really enjoyed having Rachel spend the weekend with us. It was fun getting to know her better and I look forward to continuing our friendship.

On other news, Michael took a new job. He is no longer working in a stressful call center and is now graphic designing for a local firm here in Wichita. His first day was yesterday and he seemed to really enjoy it. I think this will be a good move for  him and for us. I can't express how happy and proud I am of him. We have definitely had a lot of ups and downs this past year, but I think things are finally looking up for us. I am excited for this coming year!

I can't believe the month of October is almost over. It's definitely been my favorite month. Now we are looking forward to Halloween and next month when we will be flying to Utah to enjoy a nice family Thanksgiving. We've got our flights booked and are counting down the days!

Preview

More pictures will be posted on my facebook later. :)

All Kinds Of Updates!

So I realize I have been slacking in the blog world, but I have just been so busy! Hard to believe a baby can keep you busy, right? Well, instead of making separate posts, I will just make one big one.

Ayden is a growing weed. He is now wearing 3-6 month clothes, and he just barely turned 3 months old. He is weighing roughly around 14 pounds. I feel like with as much as I pick him up, or have to carry him in his car seat, that I should have super arms in no time! He is becoming so much fun. As each day passes, we get a little closer to him learning how to laugh.

Ayden is now sleeping in his crib in his own room. He quickly out grew his bassinet which made us have to tackle his dislike for his crib. Surprisingly though, he didn't seem to mind it at all. He must have felt like he was needing more space as well.

Michael and I have started mixing rice cereal into his food at night to help him sleep longer. He is one growing and hungry boy! It has seemed to help some. My next obstacle is keeping his room temperature at a comfortable level for him. Depending on the weather, his room is the hottest or coldest room in the house. I have a space heater in there currently, so I am hoping that helps him not wake up from being cold.

Such a learning process!

Also yesterday, October 14th I was given the privilege to marry my best friend, my soul mate, and my partner in crime. We decided to do something small and intimate. I really tried getting into the wedding planning stuff, but I found myself just not that all into it. I thought maybe I would have felt different after having Ayden, but I always ended up coming back to something small. So, we got Michael and nice shirt and tie, and I bought a nice dress from Von Maur. I absolutely loved it!

For dinner, we decided to go to PF Chang's. It was such a fun time. And, for dessert, we brought back home a 6 layer chocolate cake. We both joked that that would be our wedding cake. We were of course too full to eat it last night, so I'm excited to dig into it this weekend.

This afternoon, Michael and I are going to have our "wedding" pictures done. We are going to a place called Botanica Gardens. I can only imagine how pretty the gardens are now that Fall is upon us. Truly, this is the one thing that I would miss with not having a traditional wedding. So, I made sure we would have nice pictures to help remember such a wonderful day.

For now, I think those are all of my updates! Below are some of the pictures we took before we went out to dinner. Later, I will be sure to post some of the pictures that we are taking this afternoon.

Just For You

Last week Michael and I attended my friend Kayla's youngest child Noah's birthday. While we were there she asked me if I wanted a "little brother" onsie that Noah was never able to wear. I of course jumped on the offer.

Thanks Kayla! ;-)

Chili Festival

This Saturday afternoon Michael and I decided to visit Old Town and try out the annual chili festival. Michael had never been, and it had been ages since I had last gone. We had a good time trying different kids of homemade chili's. There were tents upon tents lined up serving a small portion of their chili in hopes of winning at the end of the day. Here are a few pictures from our family outing.



Gettin' started!



My sweetheart



Hanging out




He's not even making it hard anymore.




So handsome!




Chili Cook Off



2 Months Old!

I cannot believe how fast time is flying by. I'm definitely enjoying every second of it though. Ayden has been such a blessing. I love the little guy more than what words could possibly describe!

A Special Day

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. Michael was very generous to me this year.

Unfortunately I had to work all day. However, Michael was nice enough to bring Ayden and some food to my work on my lunch break. It was great to be able to eat with my little family.

Then, once I was able to get off of work, Michael had a bunch of surprises waiting for me. He gave me a beautifully written card as well as a CD that I have been wanting for a while now, and a very sparkly diamond heart necklace. We also had dinner at one of my favorite places called Sumo's along with several of my good friends! That by far was the biggest surprise. I had no idea they would all be there waiting for me. I had such a great time.

Thanks again to everyone that made it out last night, and my dear Michael for making me feel extremely special.

Family Pictures

Here are just a few of the family pictures we took this morning. I will add the rest to facebook. They were a lot of fun to take!