Clark Christmas

We celebrated the Clark Christmas this past weekend. It was so nice to this side of the family; since, we rarely get the chance to get together. It was the Meyer boys job to plan this years event & I must give Brad a huge ovation for putting together such a wonderful party. Great job, babe!

Meyer Party

We went to the Meyer (2nd cousing party...as Brad refers to it) party this past weekend. Santa took some time off from the North Pole to come visit us...the kids either loved him or were scared to death! Aidan was so content in Santa's arms, whereas our Joseph would only get close enough to give a high 5 & as long as mommy was holding him!

St. Nick visited the kids last Saturday. He knows to leave their stockings at Grandma and Grandpa's house, so we can all get together and visit...he's so clever that way! The kids had such a great time eating pizza and delicious Christmas cookies (not Joseph's green face), opening their St. Nick stockings, watching Thomas on TV, and ending the night in the tub! I love any and every excuse to get together with family! Such a great night!

Children's Museum at Union Terminal

The day after Thanksgiving was such a treat...no we didn't brave the "Black Friday" shopping; but spent the day with my mom and John and our boys. Joseph is a little "obsessed" with Thomas the Tank Engine these days, so we knew we wanted to take him to see holiday trains. We decided to head over to the Children's museum and it was AMAZING! What a treat to have such an interactive and fun place to take the boys. Not only did we see trains, Joseph played and played...he loved the water exhibit! This was also the first time that we saw a glimpse into the future of having an independent child...Joseph bravely and excitedly rode a train BY HIMSELF (Brad was too big to ride) and was in such awe that when the time came to get off we had to rip him from the train door...I almost starting crying watching my little baby sitting in the engine of the train.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful! Brad and I were surrounded by family and friends that we love dearly, our two healthy boys, and each other! I have so much to be thankful for this year...but forever 2008 will be the year of the birth of Aidan and he, along with Joseph, are my 2 biggest blessings!

Aidan's 4 month stats...

We had Aidan's 4 month check up on Monday and I am happy as pie to say he's doing GREAT! He's progressing right on track and is such a good baby!
His current stats are:
Height 26.75 inches (95%)
Weight 16.11 pounds (80-90%)
It looks like we may have a basketball player (tall and thin).

Joseph's 18 month stats...

Joseph is progressing beautifully! He is such a blessing and joy in our lives; truly amazes us everyday with his cute antics. At his recent visit to the pediatrician he received flying colors! His current stats are:
Height 35.5 inches (97+ percentile)
Weight 30.5 pounds (95+ percentile)
His gross motor & fine motor skills are on target; as well as his vocabulary! Doc says we can expect a language explosion in the next 6 months. As much as it's bittersweet that our baby is growing up, it's very exciting to see him blossom into his own person. May God bless our beloved boy!

Aidan and Joseph (3 months & 18 months)

We recently had family pictures made by a friend of mine in my MOPS group. She did an excellent job.. especially with the chaos of having Joseph more interested in the toys there than taking pictures. On top of that, Aidan had enough and began crying towards the end...it was an experience; but, isn't that what life's all about!

Aidan

Photos by Daddy while changing him for bed.

Halloween 2008

What a great Halloween!!! We all ventured over to Uncle Joe & Aunt Michelle's house to celebrate the night with family. Joseph, Ruby, and Jillian had a ball; Joseph was Frankenstein (first attempt of making a homemade costume...looked pretty good, if I do say so myself), Ruby was a pink poodle, Jillian was a monkey, & baby Aidan was a skeleton (although we did a poor job of getting a shot of his costume). They quickly got the hang of the whole "trick or treat" thing and by the end of the night they had begun to dig into their goody bags as they were pulled in their wagons around the neighborhood. Joseph was a riot...chocolate all over his face & not the least bit interested in sharing...we'll be teaching that virtue sooner than later.

Aidan's 2 month stats...

Aidan had his 2 month pediatrician appointment yesterday and thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law (who watched Joseph), Brad and I were able to take Aidan & have a morning with just the 3 of us...we haven't had one of those since we were in the hospital when he was born. I was sure glad to have the hubby there, because little A got 4 shots in this 2 little thighs. The little guy screamed like it was going out of style...definitely blessed with lungs! He checked out great (minus the milk intolerance) and is growing like a weed!

His new stats:
Height 25.5 inches (97+ percentile)
Weight 14.10 pounds (97+ percentile)
Head 90 percentile

The neatest thing is that he and Joseph weighed the exact same at their 2 month visits; however, Aidan is 1/2 inch longer! We have some linebackers on our hands!!!!

What.....no dairy?!!!

Okay, so we've been having issues with Aidan for a while now regarding fussiness and congestion. He was to the point that he required someone holding him at all times (and even then that didn't always work) to put the crying at ease. Then he developed sniffles that never went away, & finally a rash on his torso, arms, legs. We went to the pediatrician 3 times in 2 weeks and finally (after sampling his poo...which has been very runny (but I thought that's how breastfed babies poos was suppose to be)) discovered that he has an intolerance to the protein in milk! What a relief to figure that out...but, I have to give up dairy if I want to continue breastfeeding! It has been 4+ days with success and we have a new baby on our hands...smiling & cooing; however, mommy is a little irritated. I never realized it...but, EVERYTHING has milk/dairy in it!!!!!!!!!!
Please send a prayer my way that I can keep this up; otherwise, we'll be switching to formula. The doc recommends Alimentum, which at our Kroger's cost us $25.99 for the smallest canister....can you believe that????????

And he's off...

The next Tiger???

Brad and Joseph spend a lot of time walking the green behind our house...Brad captured this precious moment of Joseph holding the flag...so cute!!!!

Joe & Michelle's Party

This past weekend Brad's brother, Joe and his wife, Michelle, had a house warming party. It was a great time with soooo many kids (5 years ago there was only 1, now there are like--15). Uncle Clark was taking kids for a ride on a wagon being pulled by the lawn mower; however, Joseph did not want any part of it...instead, he was happy being pulled in the wagon behind the other kids! Too cute!