A trip to the Zoo

We took Aidan for a trip to the Metro Richmond Zoo today. It was a lot of fun because it is a smaller zoo so there aren't a lot of people and you can feed most of the animals. Aidan had a blast running around and making animal sounds. He loved the ducks and birds. He learned the word zoo and gym on the way there. One of his new favorite words is oatmeal. He loves to eat oatmeal for breakfast and we hear him say "I want oatmeal" about 50 times before it's heated and ready to eat. We're working on patience!

Our Toddler!

Where has the time gone? It's hard to believe Aidan has turned into a little toddler. Brad and I are both amazed at how quickly Aidan picks things up. Seems like he's learning a new word everyday! His newest words are Ball, Juice, Nala and ice. He's even made his first attempt at stringing two words together---"what's this". He can make the sound of just about every barnyard animal. When we were in PA in June, we took a trip to the zoo with Grandma, Aunt Laura and Derek. Aidan loved it! He was running around with wide eyes taking everything in. He was especially excited when we found Nemo in the aquarium. Aunt Laura bought him his very own "Nemo" and he sleeps with him every night.

Bed-time and nap-time are finally an easy part of our routine! Aidan goes to bed about 9p.m. after we read his favorite stories and usually wakes up at about 8am. Then at 1pm we read another story and Aidan picks his favorite book to take to nap with him. He "reads" it for a bit in his crib and falls asleep for about 2-3 hours! He even plays in the crib now rather than crying when he wakes up! It's so nice having a set routine where Aidan doesn't fight sleeping and we can catch up on chores and sleep ourselves!

Last bit of news- Brad is very modest and would never boast about this himself, but since I'm his proud wife, I don't mind. Brad coached another successful season of Spotsy High baseball and was the recipient of 4 prestigious awards. He won:

--High School Coach of the Year (voted on by his peers at Spotsy High)

--District Coach of the Year (voted on by the other district coaches)

--Regional Coach of the Year (voted on by the other region coaches)

--Free Lance Star Coach of the Year (voted on by FLS staff based on stats, expectations, etc...)

I'm sure he'll be embarrassed when he reads that I added this and ask me to take it down, but I'll take my chances.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Aidan's baseball lawn chair
Mr. Crazy
Lunch really made him tired!
Cool dude in mommy's sunglasses!
Helping daddy wash mommy's car!

Aidan is a year and a half!

...and has officially become Mr. Independent. Everything has to be done his way on his own terms. He's also very determined. When he's got his mind on something, he's going to get it done whether or not mom and dad approve. He acts like such an adult now. He loves to do little chores around the house--his favorites are watering the plants and throwing garbage away! He is also an expert animal noise maker. His words now include: Stone, Bush, Ball, Mom, Dada, Papa and Nala. We took him on a little train ride at UMW this past weekend and he loved it. He kept putting his arm up and saying "choo choo". Enjoy your summer!

New Shoes!
Eating all by himself!
Mr. buttcrack
Coloring easter eggs!
Bathtime!


Aidan is now 17 months and becoming very independent. He can now say mama, dada, papa, uh-oh and stone. He understand everything you say and loves to help out around the house. Aidan now wants to do EVERYTHING by himself. He loves to play outside and especially in his sandbox...which is where we learned the word stone. He still loves basketball and baseball. Hope everyone is well.

Mr. Goofball!
Aidan loves bananas!
Aidan survives his first encounter with the Stomach Flu...and graciously passed it onto mommy, daddy, and Aunt Laura!
#1 rule...Aidan has to try everything you eat!
Aidan loves to climb in his toys!

WE'RE BACK! Sorry for such a delay in posting new pictures---hope we didn't lose any loyal viewers! So what's new with Aidan? He is becoming quite the little toddler. He's mastered walking and has even started running and jumping. When he wants to show off, he'll do this little "jump/run/dance" walk and gets so excited. He has watched mommy water the plants in the house so he now gets the watering can out of the cupboard and walks around to all the plants "watering" them. It is very cute, but we've had a few close calls with the plants. He also now has a little bird on a pirch hanging from his ceiling and he LOVES it. No matter where we are in the house, if you ask him where his birdie is he'll go running and pointing to his room.

Goofing around
Christmas morning
First haircut
silly straw
fun with dad



Aidan had a great Christmas. We were in PA for a week and had a lot of fun. He enjoyed seeing everyone and he loves all his new toys! Aidan had his first haircut on Dec. 23. He didn't cry, but kept shaking his head "no" when she was about to take a snip. Aidan's 11th tooth is now coming in...a molar on the top of his mouth. Oh and how could I forget the big news...Aidan is officially a man on the move now. He took his first steps on Dec. 17 and has now mastered walking short distances. With all this action comes quite an appetite. He LOVES peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and any kind of cracker.

Aidan turns 1 on November 29!
We had Aidan's first birthday party in PA this past Saturday. Aidan had a blast. He got lots of fun toys and plenty of clothes. Despite feeling under the weather, he enjoyed his birthday cupcake. We really enjoyed seeing everyone. Special thanks to Aunt Laura for being the party planner! Aidan battled his first serious cold last week. He woke up with a 102 degree temperature and had a nasty cold. We had a couple of rough days, but he fought through it and he's back to his happy self. It was great spending time in PA and we can't wait to come back for Christmas!

HALLOWEEN!


The game was too much for him!

Halloween and a new video!
Aidan had a blast during Halloween. We took him around to the neighbors and we even got a few roars out of him. He loved playing with the candy in the bucket. We pulled out a dancing reindeer that Grandma and Grandpa Drane bought Aidan last Christmas and he loves it. We posted a new link to the left of a video of Aidan dancing with the reindeer. We can't believe Aidan will be one year old soon. The time has really gone by fast!

We took Aidan back to Snead's farm because he liked it so much. Thought we'd share the photos of Aidan feeding the horse. Also, I figured out how to post video to the blog. There is a link on the left to Aidan's fiesta dance. Now that I know how to do it, we'll post new ones in the future. Hope everyone is doing well.

Aidan's saying Mama...Finally!
He's also started clapping! We had a fun weekend. We took Aidan to a farm with a pumpkin patch on Saturday. He got to see cows, a horse, chickens and llamas. He even fell backwards into some chicken poop. Just a day on the farm! We had a great time. Then on Sunday we went for a walk at Alum Springs Park. Aidan loved the swings and the slide. We got some fun pictures!