Summer Break 2013 Part I

Holy cow! Does anybody else feel like the summer is just flying by? It simply isn't fair. I haven't had hardly enough time to play with Aiden in the pool and even less time to write about him! I have so many funny stories and updates and pictures, but my OCD self will not let me tell them out of order.

So from the beginning of Summer Break 2013

We've been trying to get out and do at least one special thing every weekend together. Like a movie, a museum trip, a picnic, etc. We started by mini golfing....

This was Aiden's first time mini golfing, and he requested that Uncle Nik and Sam come with us. And naturally, when he cheated THE WHOLE TIME, it didn't bother anyone...

He was really captivated by all the props and statues - but we are going to have to work on his golf etiquette since he just kinda wandered to and from which ever holes he wanted.

We got to do a little hiking up Coal Creek Canyon to see the "Tree House"

Stopping along the way to look at the art in the woods and picking up sticks.

Then chasing Mommy with the sticks.

Aiden also made sure that Mommy wore lots

and lots....

and lots of sunscreen. 

He is getting to be so grown up, and often pretending he is the parent and I am the child. Fine by me...wonder when he'll start paying rent and doing laundry? A girl can dream :)

For Father's Day we had a really mellow BBQ at Randalicious' house - everyone ate way too much after promising to Aiden that we would all go to the park and play baseball on the REAL baseball field. So all of the food-comatose adults had to buck up and work it off.

Luckily, the rain gave us a reprieve and had us running for home after two quick innings in which only Aiden was up to bat.

He didn't seem to mind when we got home though because Aunt B & Uncle Dave brought more sugary goodness than he'd ever seen in his life to make ice cream sundaes with!

Since the start of summer though, Aiden's diet has really changed at home. I still allow him to have sugar at his grandparent's and other caregiver's houses. But at home we have pretty much nixed sugar and nitrates completely. Poor kid - his cookie jar is filled with granola. But, he is doing really well physically and behaviorally with the cut back on all that crap - so I can only feel a little bad that he doesn't have cookies and hot dogs at home hardly at all.

Since he's doing so much better, he is getting along great in summer camp and talks on and on and on about his guys friends these days. Christina (his little girlfriend) isn't in camp so he is just enjoying his little bromances. He even asks if he can have "So and So" or "Whatshisname" over to his house.

Such a sweet kid.

More Summer 2013 updates to follow.

Call this a Whirl Wind

I have thought a great deal about what to title this post in order to describe the last two weeks - Jury duty, modeling gig, new apartment, Aiden updates, and fiery red hair - but there's just no way to be clever about it.

Jury duty was super intense, not only could I not talk about it, but I didn't really want to. And now that it's over, I still feel so burnt out on it that I still don't wanna talk about it, but I learned a lot met some really cool people and walked away from the experience feeling really good about my decisions.

I also had a modeling job which was a lot of fun, but super exhausting, and since it was for a hair company I had to get my hair done (by them obviously) so now I have copper-red hair...my hair has balls now they said!

Aiden got to spend half of this last week at Grandma and Grandpa Tennant's house so I could start packing and cleaning for our big move this month, but that meant he had to miss Aunt B's birthday which both parties were bummed about. We had a good time though, having family dinner and cake at home.

I am super excited to take Bre to use her Charming Charlie gift card and even more excited to go get a massage with her - it's about that time of year for us :)

After Bre's birthday I spent the next couple days cleaning and dropping things off at Goodwill, then I headed up the mountains to get Aiden and see Mom and Chris' new place.

It is beautiful!!

I am really looking forward to basking in the sun on this patio in the summer.

Aiden loves that there is water everywhere and tons of rocks to throw into it!

To the right of this bridge is their own private fishing pond complete with a canoe - Aiden is in heaven!

Watching him throw sticks and pine cones into the water reminded me a lot of Pooh Bear and Piglet playing Pooh Sticks.

Sadie is clearly enjoying her new boundless space, both the grass and the water.

I took Kane with me to get him some exercise -- he's hard to see out there in all that wide open-ness.

Aiden also got some play time with his pal Bella. She's about 2 years old and they had a great time, throwing sticks, playing in the mud and fighting over who's toy is whose. There was some serious nap-needing happening at the same time as a couple major bouts of only-child-syndrome.

For all the whining and crying happening on Sunday though, I have no complaints - Aiden spent the whole weekend in big-boy underwear with only one accident (which we kinda suspect was on purpose/out of curiosity) and we started the week out splendidly by wearing big boy underwear to school today!

Pillow Talk

"Mommy," said Aiden all snuggled in bed.

"Yes...?" I inquired.

"I like Dave."

"You like Dave?" I repeated.

"Mmmhmm," he thought for a second, "And B. I like B."

"Oh that's good," I said, "I like them too, but I bet they are sleeping, why don't we go to sleep?"

"Okay." And then he got really quiet for a minute before, "Mommy?"

"Yes Aiden."

"I like Grandpa's house," he said matter-of-factly.

"I supposed that's good," I told him, "I like Grandpa's house too."

"Grandpa sleeping?" he asked.

"Yep." I lied.

"Oh," he paused, "Mommy, I like Sam."

"I think Sam likes you too Honey, now close your eyes."

"I like witch," he responded.

"You like the witch?" I asked, puzzled.

"Yep, and I like beach," he replied.

"I'm glad you like the beach, the beach is fun, huh?"

"I like frogs too."

And then he went to sleep.

It all started when...

I said I didn't want to be home alone on Friday night, and wouldn't you know, my weekend filled up quicker than the line at Khol's on a Khol's Cash weekend (and that's fast!)

I had a hair appointment Friday evening which always takes a good chunk of time but it's nice to just sit and chat/catch up with Kaitlin when I see her, and it's relaxing...call me crazy but that feeling when the foil is being pulled out of my hair - it nearly puts me to sleep!

Anyway, by the time my hair was done and I was on my way to a dinner date with Randalicious, it was nearly 9 and Bre and Dave were meeting us at the Morrison Inn. Also on the way was my uncle Brian who was being a bachelor for the weekend, and by the time Dad and I got there, everyone was working on margaritas already.

Excited about finishing up all my homework and being done with school I jumped right in.

I know this looks gross, but I have never tried raspberry before and I was a little worried when it came out brown but it tastes like they use raspberry iced tea to make it --- sooo good!

We spent the evening laughing and telling funny jokes - mostly at the expense of the men at the table and the waitress even brought a sparkler to the table with my sopapillas as a "Congratulations!" on graduation - I think she overheard a toast we all shared on the subject.

After her second margarita, Bre informed the table what time it was...

So we named as many presidents as we could and called it a night.

On Saturday, I spent the morning having a much delayed book club discussion over "Gone with the Wind" and then went shopping with one of my best friends. Can I just say, I love Khol's. Between their reusable coupons, every day sales and Khol's Cash, I finished up my shopping this weekend and came in under budget. Including something for myself which I skipped on last year.

When I got home with all my goodies it was time to start wrapping. For a while it seemed like Bre might have more presents under the tree than anyone - only because I forgot all the stuff I have been stock piling for Aiden. Now there's hardly any room for the presents from the North Pole!

It took all day, but everything I have is wrapped, so as long as I can wrap things as they come in the mail I will be stress free Christmas Eve!

For dinner on Saturday night I met Bre, Dave and Dalton for dinner -- Bre and I have been competing for check in points on FourSquare and had to clue Dave in so we could get free chips and salsa...this is becoming my favorite app very quickly - second free appetizer in less that 5 days.

Then we headed over to the Denver Botanical Gardens Trail of Lights at Chatfield.

First, it was very pretty and some of the displays were highly impressive.

Secondly, it was freeeeezing!

All in all, really pretty lights but for $9.50 a person you can probably enjoy hot chocolate in your warm car and much funnier displays in your neighborhood. But I was really happy to get out of the house and spend more time with my sister - if you had told me 5 years ago I would think she was one of my best friends - I would have laughed at you. But I couldn't be more grateful, especially at this time of year and at this point in my life, that I have her so close to me.

I am also really glad to have Aiden so close and cuddly these days too!

Here's to keeping ahead at the holidays!

A Love Like That

Today, I asked my sister to tell me some things about her boyfriend. I have hung out with him a lot, shared many giggles and love how happy he makes her. But I just don't know enough to get a good, non-gag gift for him for Christmas.

When she responded back to me with a list of things to know about him, I laughed at first -- it's funny the things we notice about people and find important. It was truly touching.

And whenever I go to his facebook wall to make a joke about/at him, I see that they are sharing inside jokes of their own that come from tv commercials or funny youtube videos. In my mind's eye, I can see the two of them sitting on the couch together at night, laughing and talking and connecting.

I want that. I am so inspired by the journey my sister has taken to become a happy person and it makes me want to put everything I have into doing the same.

Creepy Croup Monster

I would say Aiden's cough began maybe Thursday. It was slight and rare. On Friday evening it was more pronounced as we were both partaking in a game called "sleep even though you can't breathe." And by Saturday afternoon, the cookie project I had planned for us (stay tuned for that post) became "Ummm Aiden, maybe you should take your zombie germs in the other room and color and I will let you know when you can come wash your hands 8 times then cut them."

I made plans with one of me besties to FINALLY see Paranormal Activity 3 that night, and asked my sister to babysit -- as long as she was comfortable with Aiden's cough of course. So Aiden hung out with her for a couple hours while I went to the movie.

It was sooooo good. The last 20 minutes was just continual jaw-dropping. Special effects, as per usual, were small, understated, and INTENSE. There was a scene in which it appears one of the children is sneaking up on the babysitter dressed as a ghost - a la white sheet. When the babysitter turns around the sheet collapses on the floor - shnikkies!!

Anyway, Aiden had crashed hard just before I picked him up and so I took the sack of potatoes home. By the time we walked around the block, up 3 flights of stairs and got inside, I decided we were going to be stationary on the couch. He was breathing a little heavy and I was worried about his cough, so call me a creeper but I pretty much sat there listening to him breathe.

Around 4 am he woke up, very agitated, like I have never seen before. Whimpering and crying, and he said, "Help me, cant breathe."

I scooped him up and we sped all the way to Swedish Hospital.

Luckily, the admission people have a soft spot for blonde haired blue eyed babies and got us in to see a doctor right away. Aiden was very cooperative with the doctors and they diagnosed him with Croup -- little did they know Dave already did this, but they wanted to take credit for it.

So next he got a dose of steroids to reduce the swelling in his Larynx (it's viral so no antibiotics) and motrin for his fever, then we just had to sit and wait and see what happened.Unfortunately, Croup gets worse at night for whatever reason - and this steroid treatment isn't something that you can get over the counter so they told us we might have to bring him back.

We got to go home after a few short hours there and tried to get some rest. He did really well most of the day and even spent some time walking around the apartment covered in a white blanket, not saying a word, and creeping me out big time. But as it got closer to bed time he got worse and worse.

Kelly brought us some chicken noodle soup which was so helpful and thoughtful. Turns out, Croup is contagious and Mommies who get it, don't get to sit at home on the couch and watch movies so I got a nice warm meal and after a steam shower we were off to bed....

Boy was it a restless night. If I wasn't coughing Aiden was. We slept with the window open so Aiden could breathe the cold air like the doctor told us, and we spent a couple hours in the bathroom with the shower just running. We watched How to Train Your Dragon and Megamind and when the sun came up it was off to work for Mommy while Aiden when to snuggle up at Grandpa's. This is gonna be a long week for us.

Big Changes

Late last week, Aiden and I stopped by my sister's apartment to help with some stuff and drop off some clothes. While we were there, I sat Aiden down for a little chat. I said, "Do you think it will be okay if we live here Bubba?" He looked around, hesitant. Then we went into the bedroom and I said, "Your bed will go in here with my bed, and we will have a sleep over every night, won't that be fun?" He still seemed unsure. So we sat down at the table and I told him, "This is going to be a really big adventure, and Mommy is a little scared. So I really need you to to come with me on this adventure, to make it fun, and to hold my hand. It's Mommy's job to protect you and your job to give Mommy lots of kisses so that I can keep doing my job."

Then he gave me a kiss, and we decided to have an adventure.

Saturday morning, around 5 am, Aiden climbed out of bed and came wandering down to the basement where I was sleeping, all by himself in the dark. He then proceeded to play "Musical Beds" between the basement and upstairs for a couple hours, before everyone decided it was time to get up.

Being up so early on a Saturday has perks -- we decided to go get donuts from Donut Hut for everyone (Bre and Dave and Dad) who was going to be moving all morning.

By the time we got the donuts to the apartment, Bubba crashed.

So Bre and I had a nice little chat over coffee and donuts, got organized and waited for Randalicious to show up so we could start some moving. But of course, when you make plans, nothing ever works accordingly. The  movers called to say they were running late and Aiden woke up to join us at the table.

After breakfast, Aiden hung out with Grandpa for a bit while I went with Bre to take care of my paperwork for the apartment and we got a load of stuff moved. Then Aiden and I met up with Mom and Chris to start moving big things.

The first load we took from the storage unit was painful. I have never had to physically move my dresser myself before, the furniture company delivered it when I bought it and a couple guys moved it to my last house   for me so this was the first time I ever picked it up. Holy crap. I never want to do that again.

When we got back to the apartment with our first load, Chris and I were exhausted, so we decided to do a little organizing and my Grandma came over with dinner, so the plan was to take a break and eat.

I took the opportunity to make my first decorating decision.

Then, what do you know, Katie comes walking in -- with a present.

I had suspected that my friend Rachel was planning to come over and help me but that was about it. So when I saw Katie, I was really confused. Sure enough, Rachel came in next with Dylan, and they had a present with them too! Before I knew it, my one bedroom apartment was full of people and presents to help get me settled. Thank God! I was so relieved to have help.

Typically, I really don't ask for people to help me with these types of things because I hate imposing on their time and priorities, plus moving sucks. I can't believe all these people just decided they were going to help and then showed up and got the damn thing done. And on top of that, everyone brought me kitchen stuff!!

When Steve and I divided everything up, I told him that nothing we owned was worth fighting over, so I didn't  end up with much to get myself started on. Which is okay, just stressful. And I am the last person in the world to tell people I need things or to ask for them, so I do realize how truly blessed I am that people just kind of return that karma by taking care of me anyway.

I am so lucky to have my parents. Its hard to always be able to tell them how much you appreciate them and sometimes you just kind of hope they know. But without my mom and Chris and Randalicious I would be totally lost.

After I got to open all my new kitchen stuff, we ate dinner and took a breather.

The Grand-papa's wouldn't take a break though, they kept right on workin...

Grammie made lasagna and garlic bread and salad for dinner, so I was ready for a nap when we finished eating. But, we rallied together and made another big trip to the storage unit for all the heavy stuff. Between Katie and Rachel's cars we nearly cleared my stuff out. And between Jake and Dylan (total rockstars!) Chris and I hardly had to carry anything else.

After that big load, we enjoyed some cake, and the boys got to have the only beer I had in my fridge for their efforts.

The next day, moving was easy. Chris and I were able to finish all the heavy lifting and all that was left was to put the place together. It was so stressful. Since my bookshelves weren't put together, I couldn't put my books away - which constitute about half my boxes. I had to go to Walmart for essential things Aiden and I would need (his dishes and silverware, pots and pans, cleaning supplies, etc) and the essentials sure add up quick.

On top of it all, Aiden decided that he likes exploring and has been continually trying to sneak out the front door at every opportunity. So now, along with my welcome mat, there is a baby gate outside my front door. He hates the baby gate, and has decided to throw things out into the hallway as often as possible, hoping I will let him go get them.

Bre, sensing my frustration and helplessness, came over to save the day. She helped me finish laundry, clean my dishes, put things away and even got Aiden out of my hair for a solid hour so I could get things under control.

Aiden was just as grateful as I was, and showed his thanks to Aunt B in the nicest way...

By jumping on her.

Needless to say, it has been a chaotic couple of days. But that's how adventures are. Chaotic and crazy. A little bit scary. Sometimes lonely. Messy and unpredictable. Surprisingly difficult and surprisingly sweet.

Thanks again to everyone who helped and big thanks to my mommy for making it all happen.

Young at Heart

After what felt like months of planning, we finally celebrated Randalicious' 60th birthday this last weekend at one of his favorite spots - The Morrison Inn.

Bre spent a good amount of time trying to track down not only his old work colleagues but also some of his really old friends (as in they have known my dad since high school or grade school).

We reserved the upper "sun-room" of the restaurant and went early to set up with 60 black balloons - we really wanted to make sure he felt...distinguished.

The trickiest part was getting the balloons into the upper sun-room of the restaurant, but once we had it figured out, we had about an hour to kill before people started arriving. So we had a nice leisurely margarita.

Dad's Birthday cake had his graduation photo on it -- it got a lot of giggles and "Who is that?!" comments.

The gift we got for him, besides his awesome party, was a framed photo of the 3 of us having margaritas together at...The Morrison Inn of course!

Randalicious was the first to arrive, mostly because we wouldn't have recognized his old college pals ourselves. And sure enough, they were the first buddies of his to follow in after him.

On the far right is his best pal Gary, who he has known since 2nd grade and lived with a couple times in college...sounds familiar huh? I was very impressed with this bunch for behaving so well...maybe old age is making them docile?? Doesn't sound right...

We got a couple good family shots, which of course means more fancy photo frames for Christmas and then Aiden helped Papa blow out his birthday candles.

A couple of my pals who came (because in my small circle parents are interchangeable) helped out with birthday cake distribution, so I got to relax and enjoy Aiden's meticulous cake eating for a couple moments...

After everyone was filled up with tequila, jalapeno poppers, and raspberry cake, we wrangled the old guys for a couple group shots.

Goofballs.

It was so nice to see Randalicious catch up with the guys, he certainly needs it from time to time. And it was a wonderful way to spend the end of the weekend - margaritas with friends. 

Out of the tree of life, I just picked me a plum
You came along and everything starting to hum
Still it's a real good bet, the best is yet to come
The best is yet to come, and babe, won't that be fine
You think you've seen the sun, but you ain't seen it shine