Easter

I'm going to try and update more since Sean was teasing me about falling down on the job. Aiden picked up a cold this past week and was out of commission for several days. I always feel so torn about what to do when he get sick because on one hand I want to swoop in and cuddle him (even though he HATES it when he's not feeling well) and on the other hand all I can think about is how everytime he sneezes on me I'm five billion germs closer to getting sick myself which will be miserable for BOTH of us. Of course I ended up coming down with it by Friday night.

I woke up on Saturday and felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Fever, chills, extreme dizziness and nausea. It was bad enough that Sean and my mom pretty much took over with Aiden, for which I was extremely grateful. I felt so much better by Easter morning, still sniffly but not anywhere near as flu-like.

We ended up having a really wonderful Easter. The only unfortunate things were that a) Sean had to work that evening and b) the camera battery died! We didn't get a single picture of Aiden with his basket of goodies or in his Easter clothes. We went to church in the morning and then had a lovely dinner at my mom's house with my aunt and uncle. I was worried that things wouldn't feel the same with Sean at work but there were so many people around that we still had fun.

The past couple of days have been warm, feeling almost like summer, and Sean has even had a little to spend with Aiden. We've been taking Aiden for bike rides, cleaning up the yard and spending time at the park.

Aiden has been reveling in the attention from Sean and he keeps amazing me with how much he's growing. He's starting to overcome a lot of his shyness and is much more eager to talk to other children. Another weird quirk: he's a backseat driver. We were heading towards a red light when he said "Woah mom, slow down, red light ahead!". Uh, yes, I'm aware. He's constantly warning me about parked cars and oncoming traffic. The kicker, however, was when we were driving to my mom's house which is only a few blocks away, and he gave me turn by turn directions. He got every left and right turn correct and I finally asked him to show me his left and right hands to see if he really knew, and voila, he did.

Back!

Wow, usually I don't wait two weeks to put up a blog post. I kept taking pictures and thinking of things I wanted to write down but then the weather got warmer. We started spending almost every day at the park or walking by the river and I kept forgetting to post anything. And then life got crazy. Sean's job has gotten crazier. I didn't think it was possible to add more stress and hours to an already ridiculous schedule but they always manage think up new ways to do it. It's amazing.

Anyways, we did manage to sneak off to Boston for a day and a half last weekend. This trip had been a lifeline for weeks, we just kept looking forward to it and counting down the days. I imagined a couple of sunny days leisurely roaming around the city, chatting with college friends and dining out. In reality it was about forty degrees with 30mph winds. We had dinner with friends the first night and the rest of the time was just us. The city was a madhouse with crowds pouring in for both a Redsox home game and...the Boston Marathon. Yeah, whoops, we didn't realize we'd picked the same weekend.

What could have been a desperate weekend of dodging crowds and bone chilling high winds was actually really relaxing. It was nice to visit friends, however briefly, and it was a relief to be out of town, alone together, and just not thinking about work or chores or anything other than how many pastries we could eat for breakfast.

Aiden had a wonderful time and was thoroughly amazed by things like tours buses, the facade of one particular Chinese restaurant and the pigeons in Boston Commons. Easy to please.

What was perhaps the most amazing thing was that Aiden, who has a tendancy towards anxiety over new things, willingly slept alone in one of the hotel beds, tried lots of new foods, happily chatted with people he hadn't seen in a year and beautifully behaved the entire time. That alone felt like the best vacation I could have asked for.

Overnight Guest

Bear is staying with us for a few days while Sean's mom is out of town and Aiden couldn't be more excited. I was a little worried how Bo and Bear would get along since she's skittish around other dogs and he's just never been around any since leaving his sisters.

I left the two of them together Sunday while Aiden and I went to church. When we headed out Bear was nervously whining and Bo was running circles around her. When we got back the two of them were curled up together and perfectly calm.

Guest of honor.

Resident canine.


Fifty pound difference.

I'm glad that they seem to get along so well. Bear is always very calm and sedate and doesn't seem to mind both Bo and Aiden zinging around her in circles. Bo even tries to herd her like a sheep. When they go out together he waits for her at the door and follows behind, always keeping an eye on her.

Seriously, I need to take a page out of her book because nothing seems to faze her. Maybe she recognizes that all of the noise and attention is just their way of showing love? Or maybe she's just too lazy to shoo them away?

Sign of Spring

Aiden just got his first real bike. It's bright orange with flames and even has a hand brake (that he can barely wrap his hand around. Luckily it also brakes if you backpedal). When Sean first put it together it looked enormous and I was certain that Aiden would be too short to ride it but then he climbed on and pedaled across the room.


With his first bike comes his first helmet. It's also very flashy with a picture of Lightening McQueen on it. He loves to carry it around but refuses to wear it, and for this reason, he hasn't gotten to ride the bike yet. We keep offering to take it to the bike path or the park but he scrunches up his nose at the helmet.

Hopefully soon he agrees to the helmet and we can get him outside on the bike path. Otherwise, I may need to have my dad (who use to participate in a lot of biking road races and has therefore taken a few spills) explain in greater detail just exactly WHY we wear helmets.

Sign of