Aching Back

So it's been over a week since I have blogged. Last weekend we spent an entire day out and about doing errands and just being together as a family. On Saturday Shane got his hair cut, Aedyn and I checked out the Dollar Tree,and then we met up and had a leisurely lunch at Panera. We then drove over to the Thousand Oaks mall and milled around. Shane really wants a MAC so we went to that store and checked out the merchandise,but it was too busy to get any help so we drove back to Simi Valley Mall and went to the MAC store there. We didn't get a MAC, but checked out Souplantation instead. This is where Aedyn discovered the shiny spoon,ooh ahh! Once he grabbed onto it he didn't want to let go.



Let's see,Sunday was a laybackday at home. Shane then got up at about 3:30 am to leave by 4:15 am to get on his plane at 6:00 am going to Rhode Island. He had a work meeting back east. He returned last night, Thursday, as did I. I think it would have been harder for all of us to be apart but i found something to keep me busy. I drove down to Riverside to pack my Mom's house in order to move her this weeekend. Between playing, feeding and cuddling Aedyn and organizing andpacking boxes, my weekwas very full. I hadso many back aches from lifting and bending and then also stomach aches,(from laughing with my sis and Mom) my body definitely got a workout. Well, I have one day of downtime and then back to Riverside to finsh packing and then to AppleValley to celebrate sis-in-law Charity's birthday!! It has been a long week, but it's not over yet.



Oh, yeah and to top it alloff, our Kia is still in the shop, they said there was delay in getting the parts. This is so frustrating.!
Beyond that, life is good!

5 months old today!

Grandma Helen feeding me my cereal. Laughs with Grandpa Young
Laughing at Grandpa Young because he was making the funny face you see in the picture below.
Aedyn passed out while reading (slobbering on)his new soft squishy book. He's going to be a reader.

Last weekend when we went to see Wicked Grandma and Grandpa Young "babysat"(I hate that word) Aedyn and all 3 had a fabulous time. Aedyn kept them in stitches with laughter and they tuckered him out, and gave him so many kisses I think his cheeks were slimmer by the time we returned home. Boy did he sleep good that night.

Wow! It's so incredibly unbelieveable that Aedyn is 5 months old today!It seems he has grown and changed overnight. Literally sometimes; he was losing some of his initial baby hairs and it's growing back on top of head overnight. His hair is so fuzzy and soft now,but he still does have his bald spot in the back. He is getting really long(or tall),too. He loves all the new food he has tried. He is moving onto fruit, of course he loves banana, and he has also tried pears and peaches and loves them aswell. Every time he takes bite of fruit he savors the flavor by puckering and squishing the fruit in his mouth. It's so funny! Aedyn is a precious gift. We are so blessed!

Silly Pictures

Ok, so when I was hanging out in Riverside my sissy and I got a little wild and needed a laugh so we used her photo program on her MAC to take some pictures of Aedyn. We were peeing our pants, it was so funny!(Disclaimer:No babies were hurt in the taking of these pictures).

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!

Aedyn Eating Peas

MMMMMMM PEAS!

He's so talkative!

For the past couple of days Aedyn has been talking up a storm. He is testing out his vocal chords by squealing,screaming,and yelling, not in pain but out of pure curiosity to see what his voice can do.



Happy Birthday Aunt Kathy! We celebrated with Roast dinner made by Mom , oh and Brownies,too.
No Kathy is not drunk,just tired, and Jon didn't feel well!

Party,party, party!!!! A birthday picnic of Cuca's mexican food, a small taco stand in Redland's.
It was definitely shorts weather!
Daddy tastes yummy! This is us waiting in line for Casey Jr. train ride!

Kisses from Bella. This is Aedyn in his Bumbo chair.It helps him sit up, and works great for feeding when we don't have a highchair.
Aedyn giving squeezes to Elmo while out on a walk with Mommy and Aunty Kathy. Oh,and he has graduated to the big boy stroller.
How does everyone like my new do?! It is actually only a computer generation from a makeover website.

At the Mac store

I thought it would be fun to post while at the MAC store.  Shane really wants to get a MAC now.  Particularly a laptop.

We saw Wicked yesterday and it was great, not spectacular in our eyes, but it had a good story.

Gotta go!

I Promised Pictures!

So in my other post I promised pictures,but I am a couple days late.So here they are. I will make a picture story of what's been happening.

So here is Aedyn mastering eating his rice cereal. He really loves the banana flavored kind.

This feeding was later in the evening and he was a wee bit grumpy, as you can tell by his face!
This is Aedyn waking up from one of his naps.The moment before i shot the picture he was giggling at his Pooh friends in his crib , but then he saw the camera and became fixated.
There's Our Happy BOY! This is usually the mood Aedyn is in.
Ok, this is Mommy playing dress up at the Dollar Tree. (Amber, I thought you would enjoy this and reminisce about out dress-up time in Target at Halloween).
Chillin' in the Big Boy Chair
Trying out Peas for the first time! So far Aedyn has had 5 different verggies,peas,carrots, squash, green beans, and sweet potatoes! He loved all but the peas, but was able to stomach them.

On Wednesday February 6, we decided to hang out with Kat for her birthday. Shane decided to take the day off and we had a fabulous time! Thus, the boob buttons on Kat. She decided to call herself Kathy Jane for the day. She is strange, but we love her!
Shane, Aedyn and Kat in Mickey's house. Kathy loves doing laundry, so this picture is so appropriate!

Aedyn Meeting Mickey Mouse for the first time!

More pictures to come in another post!

The balance of life!

Yesterday, Aedyn and I arrived home in good time; it only took us about 1 1/2 hours as opposed to the 3 hour trek to Riverside last Thursday. It was great to be home! It was great to get back to our routine and see and be with Daddy. Aedyn was so happy to see his toys. Right after I fed him he played in his exersaucer for at least a 1/2 hour just as happy as can be. Oh by the way, Aedyn is "talking" up a storm. He babbles constantly, to himself,to his toys, to Mommy and Daddy, to strangers (we gotta nip that one in the bud), he is a very social little boy. He always has to be (or know) where the action is! On Tuesday night, (still at Kat & Jon's), they have a group of friends meet at their home, and Aedyn just played on his playmat while looking at everyone and talking to them.Of course then he promptly went to sleep so Mommy could socialize herself!

We did get an update on the KIA. Basically the fuel injection system is shot (too much gas is being pumped into the engine and flooding it) and we have to wait for approval from our extended warranty company so the parts can be ordered and they can fix what we hope is the only problem. The approval will take a couple of days, the parts will take a couple, the repair will take a couple, so we are looking well into next week before we get our car back! This blows,but such is life and we are fortunate to have another running car!

So the balance of life comes when something in your life is not exactly good news, and then you receive great news with something else. We had our appointment with the social worker, it was very laid back and short. We found out we only have two more things to complete in order for the report to be done; the 5 month old doctor's checkup report and the home visit! Once those are done our social worker can submit his report to the court and we can make a date for a hearing to finalize!!! Aedyn turns five months on the 21st of this month, the social worker will do his home visit the beginning of March and submit his report ASAP. We could have a finalization hearing date by late March, early April! We probably won't have to wait until June. Of course we need to call our lawyer and see what he says, but the sooner the better. This way the tribe has less time to try to pull any stunts! So this is Great and Unexpected news!!!!

I will post some pics later today. Oh, Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Stuck in Riverside!

Well, Aedyn and I are "stuck" in Riverside. Not really, but we are unable to return home without a functioning vehicle. Last Thursday I came to Riverside with Aedyn to visit with my Mom, I was coming anyway the next day, but thought I would help out my Mom with a few things. Then on Friday Shane took off early so we could surprise Kathy for her birthday with a nice dinner! The surprise didn't come out as planned (leaving communication up to the menfolk will almost always get the wires crossed), but nonetheless Kathy was still surprised. Saturday was a nice day of a walk to Starbucks in the morning, a nice drive to Redland's to eat Cuca's Mexican food in the park, then back to Kat and Jon's for a lovely dinner cooked by my mother in the evening! We finished the night with some games and headed off to bed. The next morning we planned to head home, both of us having our cars, but there was a glich in the plan. I drove Jon and myself to the donut shop, and on the way the car, Kia Amanti, started acting up. This similar event happened to us Christmas a few years ago on the way to my brother's. I would push on the gas and nothing would happen and then all of sudden it would zoom into gear. When coming to a stop the car would idle and start shaking because the RPM's were at 3-4 while stopped. We safely made it back to Kat and Jon's, donuts in hand, and then Shane took a look at it. The car smelled of gasoline, and as he drove it around the block white smoke came out of the tailpipe. He parked it back on the curb, we called around trying to find a mechanic open on Sunday, that was a joke, and then finally decided to have it towed to the nearest KIA dealership. Shane followed in our other car, dropped of the keys, came back loaded up the Montero with his stuff and headed home. The service department opened the next morning and called to confirm our car troubles, but did not get around to running tests until late Monday afternoon. They said they needed to run a second test, but did not get around to that until about 10:30 Tuesday morning. I waited around for a call to get the results and the diagnosis, but no one called so I called myself and they said, and I quote" the technician said the readings were weird from the engine compression test" and that they were waiting to hear from the KIA technician they called earlier, and basically they have no idea what is wrong with the car, but just that it is not running correctly. I am so upset about this, so I have to wait another day. But, if they don't fix it by tomorrow then I will have to buy a rental car to get home, because we have an extremely important appointment Thursday morning! We decided for me to stay because we thought they might have a diagnosis and started fixing it by now, but it doesn't look promising.

Our appointment is our first office visit with our social worker doing our post-placement paperwork for our adoption! This is so very exciting, because everything is moving towards finalizing the adoption, the tribe still has not taken the next step.

The worst part about all of this is Aedyn and I are in Riverside and Shane is in Simi. This Sucks! Shane misses Aedyn like crazy, he misses me too, but this is the first time he has been away from Aedyn since he was born. He is lonely and bored, we miss our family of 3 being together! Even though we have been in a diffferent place Aedyn has been a real trooper, the only thing is I think he misses sleeping in his crib, we have a packn'play but it is not the same, he's a little more fussy in the morning than usual.

The best part about being stuck in Riverside is I have been staying with my sissy and Jon, and Heather,(Jon's sis) too. I always feel welcome at their house, but they have been so wonderful with putting up with me and all my stufff. Hey when you travel with a baby, they come with a lot of stuff! I have really enjoyed spending some extra quality one-to-two(me and Aedyn being the two) time with Kat. She mentioned this is the most time she has been around a baby consistently and she thinks it's cool. Kat is a wonderful Aunty, and she pitches in with spit-up, poopy diapers, and playtime all with a smile on her face. In my opinion, my sissy will make a beautiful mother!!!

So that has been my long extended weekend. We are ready to go home! And say goodbye to Riverside, at least until we have to drive back and pick up the other car once it's been fixed!

Oh, and I would normally post pics, because I know everyone wants to see them, but it will have to wait a couple more days!