Today...

We made a pizza for dinner tonight. We bought fresh pizza dough from Publix and put sweet Italian sausage, red peppers, and onions on it. Yummmmmmm....Aislynn helped with the dough:

We rolled Kieran in the kitchen and while we baked the pizza, he ate his puffs-he devours these things. He starts getting all excited when you pull the box out and keeps checking out his tray to see where they are:)I got this cute video of him babbling and blowing raspberries-funny guy:)

I have been trying to take more videos lately:)

8 Months and an arm update

Just to let you know, there is a picture of Aislynn's arm after her arm update at the bottom of this post-so if you are squeamish or get grossed out easily, don't look! I will post a warning before the picture:)

**Okay, I tried to make a big space before the picture, but when I publish the post, it moves it up...so don't look after the picture of her in the bath if you don't want to see her boo boo**

Here is a picture from our picnic yesterday. I think this is the best I will ever get at both of them looking at the camera at the same time and smiling! It is still cute though:) Aislynn is going to miss Lillian so much, she was telling the nurse at the doctor's office about her best friend Lillian moving to Utah:( The little man is 8 months today-eek! It was a little harder to get pictures since he moves around more now:) He really wasn't into sitting in the rocker for long. A little about Kieran at 8 months:

• is crawling-seems like each day he adds on another little forward movement, he will be fully moving pretty good soon!
• has 3 teeth-one of his top teeth came in a couple days ago and the one right next to it looks like it will pop through pretty soon
• is in size 3 diapers and 6-9/6-12 month clothes
• eats 3 solid meals a day and loves puffs (he gets SOOOOO excited just seeing the container!). I have tried offering him little pieces of banana, but he wasn't into it...just liked playing with it:)
• is getting more vocal...babbling more and more and varying his voice inflection. Just like his sister, when Shaun is talking, he starts babbling really loud, hee hee!
• when he is sleepy, he says "mmmmm" "mmmm" and buries his head into my chest
• loves to play...his favorite toys are a little radio that plays music and lights up, his little teething giraffe that squeaks, and a little Leap Frog activity table that has different things to do on it (that used to be Aislynn's and we took the legs off so he can reach it-once he can pull up, we will put the legs back on)
• is starting to get more interested in books...I've been incorporating books into his bedtime routine. Sometimes he looks, but sometimes he just tries to eat the books:) What's funny, is that I started with the touch and feel type books, so now he feels the pages of all the books:)

And here are more pictures:

Being able to get around a little better means you can get stuck in weird places...like under the crib:)

So now Aislynn's arm update. She got her cast off today and didn't have to get another one, YAY!!! She was so brave. The weird saw thing they used to get her cast off made her a little nervous, but she did good during that. Once her cast was off, she could see the pins sticking out and the bandages over her scar from the surgery and her voice got all wavery, poor honey, she was trying to be such a brave girl!! She didn't like getting the x-rays taken either b/c I couldn't be there holding her hand. When the doctor took the pins out, she was nervous, and then he squeezed where they were to get the goop out and she started crying then. But then she got that all wrapped up and was better. The doctor said that her arm is about 75% healed, and he showed me on the x-ray where it was still broken, but he said it was MUCH MUCH better (only Shaun saw the original x-ray). He said that kid's bones heal much faster and he wanted the pins out so her arm won't get infected and she needs to start moving her elbow. She is supposed to wear her sling for 1-2 weeks so that she will be more cautious while wearing it and it will slow her down. The doctor said no playgrounds or anything like that for 6 weeks (our follow up appointment) and that as long as she doesn't fall on it, it should heal up nicely. So that's that! Glad she is out of the cast now! One of the first things she wanted to do was take a good long bath so she could play!!!***Now don't scroll down if you don't want to see her boo boo****

This is the best picture I could get. The 2 white dots on her elbow are the holes where the pins were and you see her incision from the surgery. I took the butterfly bandages off after her bath and cleaned up the dried blood and the scar is not *that* bad. Her poor little arm:( It is skinnier than the other one and her skin is so dry where the cast was. She got a little upset when we were at home because her arm was itching so bad and I think she thought that would stop once the cast was off. We got some lotion to moisturize and relieve the itchiness. Her arm feels soft too, definitely lost some muscle tone, but I know that will all change pretty quickly!

On the way to being on the move...

I took this picture Sunday and I love it because it captured Sunday afternoon perfectly:) Aislynn playing computer games on www.starfall.com, Kieran playing on the floor and see that big piles of laundry? That was what I was doing:) I would like to take more pictures like this...that capture our everyday life.

Sunday night, Kieran started crawling!! Just a few movements, but he is slowly figuring it out. I estimate we have about 1-2 weeks before he is fully mobile. Brynne came over Monday and after dinner we were all sitting on the floor trying to get him to crawl some more. Here is just a short video of him trying too:) Sorry it is so dark!!!

Here is a video of some big baby giggles:) And here are some pictures I took yesterday of Kieran trying to crawl:) We tempt him with different toys to get him to crawl to us...Aislynn was using her lion stuffed animal, "Mufasa," to get entice him here.

Sweet Victory! This picture totally cracks me up:) Just when Kieran can reach the toy, Aislynn moves it away...poor guy. I guess big sisters are supposed to torture their younger brothers though, right? ;) We are off to a picnic with Lillian and Megan. They are moving back to Utah on Monday:( Totally bummed about that, they have been great friends to us and we will miss them A TON! I don't think Aislynn totally gets the concept yet, she thinks they are just going on a trip:( Tomorrow we go to see the orthopedic surgeon and get this cast off. Keep your fingers crossed that everything looks all better and we don't have to get another cast. I will give an update tomorrow about that.

Long and random...

It's been awhile, so this is going to be a kinda long post with tidbits from the past week:)I got this picture earlier in the week because I have been wanting to do a scrapbook page for a long time now about Shaun reading bedtime stories. The way he reads them is so very entertaining:) He makes the characters come to life by giving them voices and personalities. Sometimes he changes the voices of well-established characters or he changes the words to the story and this makes Aislynn "mad" and she corrects him and they both laugh over it. Some of the favorite stories/characters that he does the best are: The Little Red Hen, Little Critter, Fancy Nancy, Milk and Cookies, Amelia Bedelia, The Paper Bag Princess, Bear Shadow...and I am sure there are some I am forgetting. I think Aislynn is such a lucky little girl to have a Daddy that reads to her every night like this...and I love watching them bond like this:)I wanted to get a picture of Aislynn's cast, and finally she let me:) We will go on Thursday to get this one off. Hopefully she won't have to get another one, but if she does...I think she can get one that is able to get wet.Aislynn wanted me to write her name on the cast:)

Snapped these while taking the cast pictures, just thought I'd share:)

Kieran is working on getting his top teeth in. Who knows when they will come in, but we have had some cranky nights this week. And as you can see below...he always wants to have something in his mouth. You better watch your fingers around this guy...he is a little snapping turtle!

I have done some scrapping in the past week or so, and here is what I have come up with:

This is a lift of a layout by Ann Costen that was in the May/June (I think?) issue of SB Etc.

This is a lift of one of my friend Shel's layouts.

This is a lift of one of my friend Kathy's layouts.

This is a lift of a layout from Ali Edwards that was in the November issue of Creating Keepsakes.

I have had these picture printed out FOREVER (Easter 2008), but just now scrapped them. I was forced to scrap what I had printed out since we were out of printer ink:)

More old pictures:)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Waving Hi and a Message

Aislynn was working on this "word message," not to be confused with a phone message according to her. I asked her what it said and she said "I love my Mom and Dad. I love you Kieran. I love myself." Sweet girl:) This is the first time I have uploaded a video, so hopefully it works:) Kieran's new trick is waving. My Mom came over last Saturday for a few hours and as soon as he saw her he started waving. The other morning, when he woke up, Shaun and I went into his room, and as soon as he saw us he waved and got the biggest grin on his face! He likes to wave to Aislynn A LOT, and sometimes when I am nursing him, he starts waving at me. It is adorable! So I kinda got it on video-he is doing it best when the video first starts-so pay attention, lol!!

28

started off with chocolate chip pancakes. Aislynn and I decided that this should be a birthday tradition:D She told me these were the best pancakes ever and that I should be the pancake king, ha ha.I used my birthday as an excuse to set up the tripod to take a family picture and no one could complain about it, ha! LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture:)

We did a little shopping...why is it that when you can buy clothes-there is nothing? So I got some scrapbooking stuff from Michaels-that is less depressing because I don't have to try it on, lol. And no matter what size I am, I can use those:) The hats we HAD to wear according to Aislynn:) Yummy cupcakes ended the day. I have a feeling 28 is going to be a good year:)

I took these a few days ago: peek-a-boo is a favorite game around here. Kieran is starting to try to hold a blanket or burp cloth up to his face and he waits until I say, "Where's Kieran" then he pulls it off, I yell "BOO" and we get some serious smiles and giggles. Love it:)

Long, long, and even longer post...

Are you wondering what she is looking at?

We had some little visitors today:) There was another kitten, but it was messing around in the bushes. The Momma has been hanging out on our street, getting into every one's trash for awhile now. I didn't know she had kittens until about a week or two ago. Well, I happened to look out on the front porch and saw them sleeping on the sunny spot of our porch. I called Aislynn over to look and then they saw us through the window and ran off. I put some cereal and water out there and in a few minutes they were back:) After awhile they left, and Aislynn said she wanted to keep them, lol. I kinda caught her off guard here. Right after this, she got mad and told me no more pictures!

I got these when I was taking pictures of my scrapbook projects below. How CUTE is that shirt? It is by the same lady that made the guitar one. He looks like a little man. Aislynn was teasing the poor boy all day because of his tie:)

The picture below is what I could get of Aislynn's cast. She didn't want me taking any of her today:( She got this cast on yesterday and she did awesome! I didn't really know what to expect when they took off the dressing, and it was pretty hard to look at. Shaun got a picture, but it is gross, so I am not posting it. The incision they made was about 3-4 inches long, with the center of it being around her elbow. She had 12 stitches, which they took out. The pins were just sticking out of her arm and her arm was still swollen and bruised:( I think if it had been an adult arm, I wouldn't have been so bothered by it, but since it was a little one's arm, esp. MY little one, it made it even worse. She was a little nervous when they pulled the stitches out, but she did really good otherwise. Then it was time for the cast and she wanted a red cast! This cast is a little better because at least some of her long sleeve shirts will fit over it! It is not as bulky as the wrap/splint was. We go back the 28th and the doctor will take the cast off and get x-rays, then determine if he can take the pins out (probably can) and if she needs another cast or not.

I finally have been able to get some pictures of these projects! I felt SOOOO good to be creative:) I really need to try to figure out how I can squeeze a little creative time in each day. Even if it is just for 15 minutes. I lifted this layout from an Ali Edwards layout that was in one of the recent issues of Creating Keepsakes.

Now for my December Daily Album. Here are my thoughts on it...I liked doing it, but it was hard for me to add the pictures/journaling on the premade pages. The result of making the pages beforehand is that is has more of a journal feel, which is good for this type of album, I think. I did have to make some changes once I actually got into the month, but it all worked out. I wanted to use different sizes/types of pages in the album to give it a more funky feel. Here goes...Cover...I added stitching to every page and wish I would have added some here around the border...but I had already adhered the paper, rats! At least the ribbon has a little stitching on it.Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5-A little envelope...inside is a film strip with pictures of Aislynn and hot chocolate and a little journaling card.Day 6, I used a couple transparencies and I really like how those came out, giving you a peek into the following days.Day 7Day 8Day 9Day 9, continued...this was originally day 10, but I had to switch some thing around later in the album, so I wrote the recipe we used for the cookies on the back.Day 10-This envelope was originally day 13, but we wrote letters for Santa this day, so I moved it here and made copies of the letters to put inside. On the back of the envelope, I wrote a little journaling.Day 11Day 12Day 13, I added this page since I took the envelope for day 10.Day 14Day 14-The original day 14Day 15-no pictures, so just some journaling about the dayDay 16-I made a little pocket and put all the recipes of the treats we made this season in there.Day 17Day 18-I wish I added more of these big pictures in the album:) Oh and there is a typo on this page, but oh well!Day 19Day 20-Another transparency pageDay 21Day 22Day 23Day 24Day 25-I added a little journaling card with every one's initial and their corresponding journaling.I made a pocket to keep all of the Christmas cards we received.This is the back inside cover and I added one of our Christmas cards to it.

So would I do it again? Yes, I think so. It was a lot of work, but I love the outcome, and I like the idea of doing one each year and pulling them out each Christmas to look back:)