Kelsey's 2nd Birthday Celebrations

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Kelsey's 2nd Birthday

Kelsey woke up with THIS:

Pink Eye. We even confirmed it with the doctor so I decided to postpone Kelsey's party that was supposed to happen that afternoon, to Friday. I made her whole wheat, oatmeal, banana, and chocolate chip pancakes. They were YUMMY! This one is a heart with a smiley face.

After breakfast, she built a "castle." She likes being the princess of her castle.

That night, we picked up Tally from work so he could celebrate with her before going to Young Men's. My mom called right as we got home so she got to celebrate over Skype with us and even took pictures from her computer! It was almost like she was here and I loved it. My mom, Tal's mom, and my grandma sent money for Kels (thank you!) so Kels and I went to the toy store earlier in the day and picked out some food for her kitchen. Luckily, she had forgotten about them and was so surprised when she opened them. Tal and I bought her a wooden kitchen and she has not stopped playing with it and all the wooden food since! The food is in pieces, stuck together with velcro. They come with a wooden knife and you can cut them and them put them back together. She's really great at it and loves cutting them, but isn't so good at putting them back. That's okay, I love playing with it too and don't mind putting them all back together, organizing them in her kitchen, and pretending to eat them with her. I should take a picture of all of them food, it's darling. I'm reliving my childhood.

I didn't make her a cake for this night because I was going to for her birthday party. I just bought this strawberry & cream roll that was really tasty. My mom & grandma sent the candles so I thought they would go well on this cake. Plus, one of the wooden food items was a roll cake like this. The face that Kelsey is making in the following picture is how she blows. She puts her top teeth on her bottom lip and blows. Funny kid. She was a bit scared of all the "fire" so Tal blew them out for her.

Finally, the next Wednesday, September 23rd, we had her birthday party even though two of her friends couldn't make it.

We started with the cupcake decorating. Someone wanted two party hats, which makes her look like she has horns! I also love that the tie on her shirt came undone and her shirt is falling down! Where is her mother?

Sprinkles, Sprinkles, and more Sprinkles

You can just imagine what her cupcake looked like. The balls are marzipan fruits and veggies which were cute in theory, but not yummy.

Mariah

Joseph

Eva, helping me man the cupcake decorating

Kelsey, thrilled that everyone is singing to her. Don't look closely at the cake. It's crap. I need to take a cake decorating class. I have so many talented friends! It tasted good though (I think). Carrot cake made with wheat flour, maple syrup, agave syrup, applesauce...a bit undercooked but very moist, and semi-healthy.

Yum! She is actually eating her cupcake, I didn't let her dig in like her 1st birthday

Our new friend Mary who just moved here, sweet baby Tyler (who Kelsey loves to play with), and Roberta. We got to chat for a bit while the kids played.

The happy little brother before he had a blow out. He got so excited he just couldn't contain himself ;) (that one is for you, dad).

This is Aiden getting TOO much attention from his sister and her friend Mariah. He's learning early to just put up with the ladies (he actually fell asleep right there a few minutes later while Kels was opening her presents).

Kelsey and the kids playing with all her new toys

I'm just glad we got to have a birthday party for her, despite all the sicknesses. Thanks for making it a fun day for her!

two month old BOY

We are loving our newest member of the family.

We just went in for his two month appointment. He's 6030 grams or 13 pounds and 56 centimeters or 22 inches. He was a brave boy for his shots. He cried when the doc gave them to him (and looked at me like how could I let this happen to him, but not as bad as his circumcision), but was smiling again a minute later. It was Kelsey who was crying...then throwing up. Fun times.

He has become a LOT more smiley. He is such a happy little guy and will sit in his swing for an hour or more sometimes, just chillin. We have a few nicknames for him: Aidster, Aiders, buddy, little man, smiley boy, big boy, chubster, Baby Aiden.

Kelsey likes to push the swing as high as it will go. Sometimes I look over and they're both smiling/laughing.

Poor guy was circumcised this month. They don't do it at the hospitals here so we had to take him to a special clinic to have it done. Tal and I debated whether or not to have it done, but in the end, we decided "like father, like son." I took him to the clinic while Mike & Anna watched Kels and Tal worked. They gave me the option to stay or leave the room but highly suggested I stay. I think the part he hated most was being given the local anestesia. He looked at me like I had betrayed him. I prayed a LOT going into this and really felt the Lord blessed me to be strong through the whole ordeal. I nursed him in the beginning of the procedure but by the end he was too sad/mad to nurse so I just held his hand. It was pretty quick - 5 or 7 minutes - and then onto recovery. It's always hard to see your baby bleed and be in pain and I questioned myself several times about why I did this to him. Now that it's all better and that everything healed well, I can say I'm glad we did it. He couldn't make that decision on his own later...it's one of those things you either do when they're young or if you don't, you hope they never have to when they're older!

Prepping for the procedure. They used the Plastibell Method.

Just chillin' on Lake Zurich

Sitting up in his bumbo chair. He's a social baby and likes to be where the action is at.

He's a good eater, eating every 2.5 to 3 hours except at night. He'll wake up around 1am (some nights I just stay up until then), eat, and fall right back asleep. If he wakes up before 6, I just put the binky in and bring him into bed with me. Then I feed him when he wakes up at 6 and we fall back asleep. He's always up by 8:30, but usually it's around 7:30.

He's still wearing size 2 diapers but they're getting a bit tight. He could easily be in 3's. I still have some left of the 2's so I'm determined to use them all. I remember having a lot of leftover 2's with Kelsey. Guess my babies just grow BIG fast.

Cocoon Photo shoot

I love those chubby arm rolls and how he's holding his hands like he's praying

Isn't this hat darling? A lady at my church made it for a service project. I loved it and asked her if I could borrow it for a photoshoot. She said I could have it as a gift to Aiden. Score! I love the little sheep on the side. It reminds me of the Switzerland and the sheep farm by our house.

Taken at the end of the shoot - right when he woke up.

Evolution of a YAWN...

I didn't like that big yawn!

Happy to play in sister's bed

He loves to "talk" already. He loves to coo or make gggg sounds. He loves having a "conversation" where you back and forth with him. I wonder if he'll be a talker.

He's so flirty/smiley!

A funny little face

Sleeping so peacefully

Wait, give me a minute to wake up

Oh, Hi mom

You've stolen our hearts little man!

No Longer Two under Two

As of today, I have a two year old and a two month old. How fun is that? Sometimes fun, sometimes hard work! Kelsey can be sweet, too sweet, and sometimes mean.

Kelsey has been very sweet and good to Aiden lately. The other day I stopped and watched them interact for a few minutes. Kelsey was leaning over the swing talking to him and playing with his feet. He gave her the biggest smiles and cooed at her. I learned again the meaning of JOY.
I should have had Aiden in focus and Kelsey out, but it's hard to switch the focal point in the moment. I actually like the way her eyelashes look and if I spent time on it, I could make it look cool in photoshop. I love that she's touching his fingers and he looks content and happy...and he's looking at me.

When it was still sunny outside, we went to the beach with some friends. Kelsey didn't want to walk the 5 minutes to our house and didn't want to ride on the front of the stroller, so I let her ride in the bassinet. I didn't have the Baby Bjorn, so I curiously put Aiden in with Kels. She loved "holding" him. By the time I got home, both of them were asleep so I brought the bassinet (so heavy) up the stairs. They miraculously stayed asleep and took their afternoon nap like this. That was also JOY.
I love how he's "hugging" her and holding on to her dress. So sweet.
They were both so sweaty when they woke up, but so happy!