Long time, no write...

I'm embarrassed that I haven't updated my blog in over 8 months. I'm reminded of that old Doug Stone song, Too Busy Being In Love.

"I could have written a play so sweet and so funny
Given old Mr. Shakespeare a run for his money

Written the words to the prettiest tune

That would never leave a dry eye in the room

My only excuse for not doing enough

I was too busy being in love

Yes, I was too busy being in love."

I'm completely in love with this little boy of ours! My days are filled with Aidan, Aidan, and more Aidan.

Let me try to update you a bit on the miracle that is our son:

-Aidan is 19 months! I know, I can't believe it myself. The time is just flying by.

-He took his first steps on September 2nd. From there it took him about a month and a half to fully walk and not rely on crawling any longer.

-He loves to show his running moves now and makes Liam and I laugh hysterically by getting his arm-action going. Liam is convinced that a gold medal is in his future. :)

-He has more teeth than I can count. I could try, but he won't let me. He has all 8 up front (top and bottom), his four molars in back and is getting his "canine" teeth now. Poor guy slobbers all of the time. I change his shirt, only to have it drenched within an hour.

-He loves to dance and has serious moves. LOL. He gets his whole body into it. It's the funniest thing I've seen. His favorite dance music is anything with a beat, but he especially loves the Irish songs that his daddy sings to him. I sing a quick version of "You are my Sunshine" which also starts his foot tapping. In the morning, we turn on a c.d (usually The Corrs) before I have to go to work and he puts on a mini-show for us.

-Speaking of work, I started back in August. It was REALLY hard, but I'm lucky that Liam can stay home 3 days a week (he does have one class this semester on Wednesday afternoon), so Aidan is with him most of the week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he goes to the sitter. I couldn't ask for a better person to watch my child. He loves Miss Hope! On Wednesdays, he goes to my sister's house for a couple of hours until I get off work. It's about the best set-up, aside from me being a stay-at-home mommy.

-He has just learned to slide down the big slides at the park all by himself. Liam and I have been taking him to the mall playground for the past several months, and I was so proud of him the day (about a month ago) when he learned to sit down and put his feet out in front of him so that he could slide down the little, bitty slide. We must have clapped for five minutes straight. Well, after he mastered that, he was onto the next challenge. He saw an older boy slide down on his belly, and so Aidan had to give it a whirl, as well. From there, he wanted to slide down the bigger slides at the park. Liam takes him often on the days that he has him and then we go a lot over the weekends too. This past weekend, I climbed to the top of the equipment and sat down and then went to put A in my lap. Liam said, "He can do it by himself now." So, I watched as my 19-month-old son's little body whirled around the big slide all the way to the bottom and into the waiting arms of his daddy. He was laughing hysterically the whole time. I don't think I took a breath until he was safely at the bottom.

-He loves to eat! His favorites are grapes, cheese, applesauce, bananas, manderin oranges, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, pizza, crackers, and cookies (of any type).

-He weighs about 30 pounds

-He climbs on everything and loves anything with stairs. Seriously, he could entertain himself for hours with some stairs.

-He can say between 40-60 words, but its hard to keep track because he's learning new ones everyday and will repeat whatever we say. Out of those, he uses about 30 on a regular basis. He says, "Mama", "Dada", "Yay-Yay" (Uncle Jason), "NeNe" (Aunt Nichole), "Yake" (Jake), "Lella" (Ella), "Baby" (Ava and every other child around his age or younger), "mil" (milk, along with sign), "ju" (juice), "caker" (cracker), "cooky" (cookie), "baba" (drink), "Nana" (either banana or his Nana- my mom), "Papa" (my dad), "Mamaw" (his "Grandma-Great"), Nay-Nay (Aunt Lindsey), "Lello" (hello and telephone), "Bye" (he's constantly going up to strangers and telling them "hi" and "bye"), "box" (blocks), "puppy", "soo" (shoe), "meh" (mess- he says this each time he finishes a meal and looks at all of the food on the floor), "tee" (teeth for when he wants to brush his teeth), "wok" (walk), "no", "my" (mine), "Mimi" (Mickey Mouse- His Favorite!), "Gooy" (Goofy, a close second), "li" (slide), "dow" (sit down), "luloo" (I love you), "choo-choo" (train), Gigi (Gidget- the name of one of our dogs), "boo" (book), "spoo" (spoon). It's seriously too many to try and name, but he's talking up a storm.

- He knows the names of many animals and some of their sounds. Some of his favorite are cow ("moo"- he knows both the name and sound and will point them out whenever he sees them), horse (the "neigh" sound comes out like someone clearing their throat), puppy, fish (he makes a fish face), gorilla (he pounds his chest and says, "oo-oo-oo", duck ("quack"), he makes the roaring sound for lion, tiger and bear, cat ("kitty"), giraffe ("raf").

-He loves to bring books to Liam and I and ask us to read them. ("boo")

-He loves to explore and gets into everything! We're way past due for child-proofing the house.

-As I mentioned, Mickey Mouse is his favorite. He loves him (and Goofy, Donald Duck, and Minnie Mouse too)! First thing in the morning when he wakes, he always asks for a drink and then "Mimi", which means he wants to watch a Mickey Mouse cartoon. His daddy will usually go find one on YouTube and then they'll watch it together for a few moments. I'm planning on having a Mickey Mouse themed birthday for his 2nd birthday.

- His new funny trick (he loves playing jokes on his mommy and daddy) is when you ask him how old he is, he holds up 5 fingers and says, "five". We taught him about 6 months ago to hold up one finger to this question. Well, one day, I asked him and he held up one hand. I laughed and said, "You're not five, you're one." Since then, he always holds up 5 fingers and laughs hysterically when you correct him. For a variation, sometimes he says "nine." Such a funny boy!

-His receptive language is AMAZING. He understands so much of what we ask him to do. The other day, Liam asked him to go and get his shoes and put them on the couch and he did!

-When he goes to the bathroom now, he'll point to the front of his diaper and make a whiney noise and say "pee-pee" or "my pee-pee". Not sure if this will translate to an early potty-trainer, but here's hoping. I'm planning on starting this over summer break.

-He loves his cousins so much! He idolizes Jake and Jake is so patient with him (unless he starts messing with his football figurines- LOL). He and Ava are so sweet together and hug and kiss on each other. About the only time that the tears start is when their arguing over the other one's sippy cup, but Ella is his favorite (if he really does have a favorite). She's also the one he fights with the most. They definitely have this love-hate thing going on. It will be interesting to see how their relationship will change and grow as they get older.

-He loves giving kisses, though most of the time when we try to give him a kiss, he wipes his face after and says, "Yu" (yuck). A funny thing that his daddy taught him.

-He can't be perfect, though we think he's pretty close, so of course we're dealing with some pretty major defiance at times. If he wants to do something that we've said no to, he'll kind of smile and continue on his way. When we go to pick him up, he often throws himself on the floor and starts to cry. Get ready for this...he's been known to hit us too. :) This all started around 14 months of age. The terrible twos hit us early!

-My favorite time of day is when we snuggle up together at night for bed. I know it's probably not the best way to get him to fall to sleep, but we love to cuddle up and watch t.v (after reading, of course :) ). Aidan drinks his bottle (I know, another thing that we need to make a break from) and we hold hands. Love that little boy of mine!

-I know that there are about a zillion more things that I should add, but I can't remember just now. So, here's what you've all been waiting for...PICTURES!

Aidan and his Papa Des (Liam's dad) when he was here visiting from Ireland over the summer


The thumb is never far from his mouth, though now its only when he's tired or unsure of something or someone new

Aidan and Ava (July 2011)

Taken about two weeks before his birthday

Aidan and his cousins (September 2011)

Gotta love this face!!!!

The kids were dressed as the Wizard of Oz for Halloween. Jake was The Tin Man, Ella went as Dorothy, Aidan as The Cowardly Lion, and Ava as Glinda, The Good Witch.

Aidan and Ava entertaining the family on Thanksgiving Day

Family Picture (December 2011)

Not really a fan of Santa