Aaron's First Birthday!!

Yesterday we celebrated Aaron's 1st birthday. Where did the past year go?? Exactly 1 year ago today I was cuddling with my new baby - he was 1 day old in this picture.

I was also quickly figuring out what no sleep was like, and would continue to be like for approximately 7.5 more months. Man, I sure am glad those days are over. 

Yesterday Bryan and I spent the whole day with Aaron doing fun, birthday things. 

First things first....birthday presents!

We had Aaron open his gifts right when he woke up. And by Aaron open, I mean I opened and he just focused on his new chair. He really loves his Mickey Mouse chair! And I think he likes his John Deere tractor, especially when the really annoying fun tractor sounds come on. What was I thinking??

After presents I wanted to make him a special breakfast, so I made him a waffle. It immediately went on the floor. Guess he's not into waffles just yet. 

For lunch Aaron got his first Happy Meal. None of that meal went on the floor. 

After lunch we went to the Miller Park Zoo. It's a pretty decent zoo for Bloomington. The big cats are usually sleeping any time I've been, which was the same for this trip. But it was still pretty cool to see the other animals. Some of Aaron's favorite animals, alright, alright - they're my favys, were the billy goats, the otters (they look like little old men), the monkeys, and the tortoises. 

After the zoo we ran some errands, got pizza and headed home. I even got Aaron to eat some of his birthday cupcake before throwing most of it on my freshly mopped floors. That was my blonde moment for the day. Why did I think it would be ok to give him a huge cupcake anywhere but outside?

This past year has been the absolute best. He makes me so incredibly happy. It's amazing how much love you can have for one person....your person. He's learning and changing so much each day, and I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us. 

Some of Aaron's Favorites (in no particular order): 

1. Mickey Mouse

2. Music - still the "Hot Dog Song" 

3. Reading books

4. Imitating sounds, especially "baaahhhhhh" for a sheep 

5. 'Lil Crunchies (they're like stale Cheetos) 

6. Giving mommy kisses

7. Getting into cabinets & drawers

8. Balls 

9. Saying "ahhhh" after he takes a drink 

10. Bananas 

Aaron's first trip to the lake

Last week my family and I went down to Lake Sinclair in Georgia. My aunt and uncle have a lake house there (my mom's brother). I was very excited to take Aaron to the lake. I love going to the lake, and want Aaron to love it, too. And boy was it an exciting trip. Filled with many firsts, and lots of vomit. And, NO, that is not because I drank too much vodka - although I definitely deserve a vodka IV drip after this trip. But I digress.

You quickly realize, though, that it's not really a vacation for you once you have kids....especially very mobile babies. Sorry, mom and dad, for all of those trips to Indiana Beach, various amusement parks, the Ozarks, etc. Did you guys really have fun??

But this trip was a chance for many firsts for Aaron. First time meeting Uncle Kurt, Aunt Deb, Sam and Collin. First time in a lake. First time on a jet ski - we rode the Ed (the jet skis are named Ed and Willa after my grandparents). First time on a boat. And I think he enjoyed it all.......

until the vomiting started. See, I really wasn't referring to myself. My poor baby got the flu on night #3. Vomited all over me. And this proceeded for the remainder of the trip. I haven't been puked on that much since I gave birth to him. Now I know what a frat house toilet feels like. You can really tell you're a mom when you just sit there and let your baby puke all over you, and use your shirt and hands to catch the vomit and/or wipe the puke off their face. One of the beauties of mommy-hood. It was pretty stressful for me, and vacation quickly became "suckation".

It was Aaron's first time being sick, and he handled it very well. I guess I still consider myself lucky that I made it almost a whole year before he really got sick.  We cut our trip just a little short to get back home. I think being at home, in his own surroundings, and back with his daddy helped him. I took him to the doctor Friday and was told that something was going around. I also called the babysitter and she had 3 sick kids this past week. I can report that he is feeling much better, and he is keeping food and formula down now. A big relief for this mommy.

But the above pictures do prove that he did have a fun vacation. It was a nice trip spent relaxing by the lake and visiting with our family. At least for the first 3 days....

Photo Shoot with Grandma

Grandma Nickel loves pictures. And she especially loves doing photo shoots with Aaron when she has him on Fridays. Pretty soon he's probably not going to let her do this, so she has to take advantage now before he hates getting his picture taken.

I had to share a couple of pictures from last Friday. So cute & funny!

Cubs Rooftop Game

I got to experience my first rooftop game over the weekend. Every year my dad goes up with some people from his company and some family members And every year I'm not invited. So this year I invited myself! Hey - it was my 30th birthday after all. So Bryan, myself, and a bunch of my family drove up to Chicago, met up with my brother, his friend, my cousin, and her boyfriend and headed to Wrigleyville.

It was a Cubs/Cards weekend, and I was kind of surprised by the number of Cardinal fans there were in Wrigley. We all go booed when we....CUBS FANS IN CHICAGO....got on the L to head to the game. We were the only Cubs fans in that car. Seriously. But I always like meeting new friends.

If you've never been to a rooftop game, you really should try it. It may seem like a lot of money for a ticket, but that includes all you can eat food and drink until the 7th inning. You have really clean bathrooms (and you don't have to feel guilty getting up and saying "excuse me" 500 times to get out of your row), a few different bars to choose from, TVs to watch the game on, bleachers at the very top, great food, and a really awesome view of the stadium and the city. It was very relaxed and easy. AND....they walk around serving cookies, brownies and carrot cake towards the end of the game. Yes, please!

It really is always a good time in Wrigley as long as you don't mind a little claustrophobia, and a team that probably will lose. Which they did.

Go Cubs!

Fun at the Lynn's

One of my best friends, Allison, and her husband were back in Bloomington over the weekend to visit her family, so we had to go over to see our Lynns and swim in the pool! Allison's parents have an awesome back yard and pool. This was Aaron's first time in a big pool. He liked it....as long as I was holding him. He also had a good time playing outside of the pool with all the pool toys, and in the stream with aunt Allie. He was pretty tuckered out after a couple of hours, and fell asleep on Nancy's lap while drinking his bottle.

It was so nice to visit with them. I miss my friend when she is gone. We had a really fun afternoon!

Back Home

Last weekend Aaron and I went back home. I still call my parents' house "home". Do you still refer to your parents' house as home? When my parents still lived in Philo, that was really going back home. Since they've moved to Mahomet, though, I still refer to it as home. I guess home is where the heart is, and where your mom and dad are, and where the good food is.

So we spent Saturday in Mahomet to help my mom do some painting. I requested ham & beans for lunch with cornbread. YUMMO! It's more of a fall meal, but there really is no bad time for ham & beans. A good friend of my mom's gave her a bunch of her kids' toys that they no longer play with. Have you ever cleaned hundreds of Legos in the tub? That is a day long process. But Aaron and Jackson have TONS of things to play with when we have get-togethers at mom and dad's.

My grandpa and grandma Thomas were on the last leg of their journey back from Montana, so they stopped by to see Aaron since it had been a couple of months since we'd seen them.

Starting my baby on corn bread early on - he loved it, of course

My grandma Thomas always has such good luck finding things at garage sales. Before Aaron was born she was on a mission to find me any and every size picture frame so I could complete my picture vignette going up my staircase. Now she is on missions to find good quality toys. She found this Radio Flyer trike. Aaron can't ride it yet, but he will be able to soon enough. Too soon. Stop growing!

Then we went to my actual hometown - Philo!!! This was impromptu on our part. My mom was going down to my aunt and uncle's house because there was a street dance, and of course we had to tag along. And, YES, I took the scenic route through town to my aunt and uncle's house. I had to show Aaron all of the sites....even if he was asleep in the backseat. OK, I needed to see the sites. First stop, drive creepily slow by the house I grew up in. It still has the street address number wreath my mom made to go at the end of the drive. Then we drove by some of my old friends' homes, the home where I nannied the sweetest little girls ever - slow creepy drive by this house, too. Drove by the old cow farm where back in the day we used to always test out if the electric fence was on with pieces of straw. It was always on. We finally made it to the other side of town where my aunt & uncle live - this town is not very big. You can walk the perimeter without breaking a sweat.

We sat out on the patio, visited with the fam, grilled out, and smelled the sweet, sweet air that is Philo. It was so nice to be back home.

"I love being in my mommy's hometown so much!!"

Fun with Grandpa & Grandma Nickel

On the first and third Fridays of the month Aaron spends the day at his grandpa and grandma Nickel's house. He has a lot of fun over there playing and going to the park to people watch - he's just like his mama. Here are a couple of pictures from last Friday with them.

Getting big 

LOVES swinging

People watching :)

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago.....such a sweet picture of Aaron and his grandpa